Thirty graduate students won their share of a $10,000 pot of prize money in the fourth annual Graduate Research Exhibition held last weekend in Kern Graduate Building.

Prizes of $1,000, $500 and $300 were awarded based on intellectual content, visual appeal and verbal presentation. The research projects were divided into five categories: arts and humanities, social and behavioral sciences, life and health sciences, physical science and engineering.

A team of electrical engineering graduates consisting of Kamarthi Vidyasagar, Taiwei Lu, Xin Xu and Sumati Rajan placed first in the engineering category with their project,"Optical Neural Networks and Their Applications in Manufacturing." James Sheehy (graduate-anthropology) won first place in the social and behavioral science category for his study on ceramic pottery in Teotihuacan, Mexico.

Barbara Pennypacker (graduate-plant pathology) won in the life and health category for her study on alfalfa performance under drought stress. Christopher Shuman won in the physical science category with his study on French reconnaissance satellite performance in geographic linear imagery.

Vidyasagar said his team was happy with its performance, and attributed the win to team cooperation. Fellow teammate Lu said he will use the funds to further work in his field of research by going to conferences and exchanging ideas.

Shuman said his work would give research in the satellite imagery sensing field more visual resolution and detail. He said he was going to use the prize money to further his dissertation and continue work towards his doctorate.

Juergen Plischke (graduate-chemical engineering), a third place winner, said half of the goal in doing good research is to communicate what is being studied in terms that can be easily understood.

Juliette Lecomte, a judge in the physical science division, said she was impressed by the high degree of quality, care, presentation, and overall content of the exhibits. The goal of the exhibition was to communicate a better perception of what is being researched at the University, she added.

"I think it's very important to keep in touch with the rest of the community and to explain what it is you do and why you do it and relate it to other areas and interest," Lecomte said.

Eunice Askov, chairwoman of the Committee of Graduate Research for the Graduate Council, said she was very pleased with the number of exhibitors.

"The exhibitors are enthusiastic," Askov said. "It's generally a stimulating exhibition. You can learn a lot from the variety of fields."

She noted there was a need for more entries in some of the categories of research such as in arts and humanities where few entries were received.

"We'd like to see more entries in the areas where we didn't have entries. It's really a matter of the associate dean encouraging the students and finding financial support. It is an expensive proposition," she said. "Having some support from their college would help."

Askov said the competition provided a valuable experience for the students to share research with the University and the community.

"We invited a lot of businesses and industries from the area to come," she said. "It helps make Penn State look good in a wide variety of research being done by graduate students."