The School of Civil and Environmental Engineering is proud to congratulate doctoral student Surendra Bhatta on receiving First Place in the 2026 Computational Mechanics Committee (CMC) Student Paper Competition at the Engineering Mechanics Institute (EMI) Conference.
The prestigious competition, organized by the Computational Mechanics Committee of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), recognizes outstanding student research contributions in the field of computational mechanics. Bhatta's paper was selected as the top submission among a highly competitive pool of entries and was recognized during the EMI 2026 Awards Ceremony.
In his award-winning research, Bhatta developed advanced surrogate modeling techniques to efficiently predict thermal and mechanical responses during friction stir welding of aluminum plates. His work aims to make complex computational simulations faster and more practical for manufacturing process optimization, helping engineers improve production processes while reducing computational costs.
"My work is inspired by the goal of making advanced computational simulations faster and more practical for manufacturing process optimization," said Bhatta.
Bhatta conducts research under the guidance of Professor Jeongho Kim. His research focuses on finite element modeling, surrogate modeling, and data-driven prediction of thermo-mechanical responses in friction stir welding. These approaches combine computational mechanics and data science to address real-world manufacturing challenges.
The recognition highlights both the quality and originality of Bhatta's research as well as the growing impact of computational mechanics research conducted within the School. According to the competition organizers, submissions were evaluated on the significance, innovation, and technical merit of their contributions to the field.
Please join us in congratulating Surendra on this outstanding accomplishment and national recognition of his research excellence.
Bhatta is advised by Professor Jeongho Kim.
