HIGHLIGHTS ADVANCED MATERIALS & PROCESSES | MAY/JUNE 2023 69 Pune Celebrates International Women’s Day ASM International’s Pune Chapter celebrated International Women’s Day with an exciting new program this year. A marathon lecture series was conducted online, March 8-10. In addition, a model making competition was organized by the Material Advantage Student Chapter of Cummins College of Engineering for Women (CCOEW) at Nagpur in association with the Mechanical Engineering Girls Association (MEGA). Both events are highlighted here. The lecture series kicked off with a talk by Debbie Aliya, FASM, owner of Aliya Analytical Inc., on “The Yoga of Failure Analysis.” A key point was that the practice of materials science-based failure analysis offers ongoing opportunities to test the accuracy of our perceptions and the quality of our mental constructs against the reality of the physical world, in a way that many other intellectual endeavors do not. The second day featured a talk by Anuya Nisal, founder and CEO of Serigen Medical Products. She spoke on “Nextgen Tissue Repair: Powered by Silk.” Her company leverages the materials science of natural silk proteins to develop unique medical products for orthopedics, breast cancer, and advanced wound care. Serigen is the world’s first company to successfully complete a clinical trial for use of silk in bone repair. The highlight of the closing day was a tech talk on “AMPRI’s Bamboo Baithak from Advanced Bamboo Composite: Toward a Sustainable Solution” delivered by Sarika Verma. The lecture was co-hosted by CSIR – AMPRI, Bhopal, India. Verma is an entrepreneur and research scientist with 21 patents to her name. She talked about a sustainable house built by using composites of bamboo, the challenges encountered in the process, and how they were overcome. As a bonus, on International Women’s Day, the ASM Pune Chapter released the Chapter newsletter, presented by Pradeep Goyal, FASM, senior vice president of ASM International. This special issue was created and edited by students from the Material Advantage Chapter of CCOEW, Nagpur. EDIFICE, a model making competition for students, was recently organized by the Material Advantage Student Chapter of CCOEW, Nagpur, in association with MEGA. The competition aimed to test creativity, technical knowledge, and problem-solving skills. Participants were expected to prepare models using known geometrical shapes, e.g., sphere, cone, pyramid, and prism. Teams prepared models that were assessed for materials selection, geometrical accuracy, strength, and toughness. Models were tested through visual inspection, drop test, and impact test to check their durability and stability. The models were then evaluated based on test results along with answers to questions from the judges. The event attracted 76 students divided into 24 groups and the top three entries were awarded cash prizes. EDIFICE was organized by the student team of Swara Tupe, Tannu Gaikwad, Shruti Suryawanshi, Shunalika Walke, Priyanka Chaudhari, Rina Kshirsagar, Tejaswini Kinhikar, and Riya Khaparde. Special thanks to Nita Gaykar, Ruta Barve, Jaswandi Gotmare, Prof. Yogesh Danekar, and D.G. Chivate for submitting details of these events. Participants wait for results from the judges. This special issue of the Pune Chapter Newsletter, released on International Women’s Day, was created by students. Dr. Sarika Verma presented a lecture on sustainable solutions using bamboo composites. CHAPTERS IN THE NEWS
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