UL Lafayette students win LAGCOE research awards

Several University of Louisiana at Lafayette students walked away winners at the 2017 Louisiana Gulf Coast Oil Exposition after showcasing their solutions to the changing oil and energy industries.

Competing against students from Canada and Mexico, two UL Lafayette groups placed in first and third in the Green City Student Design competition. The challenge was to construct economical and functional solutions that would help in creating more sustainable cities around the world.

First place winners of $2,500 included Nicholas Marcil, Walker Powell, Sam Ekong, Jon Trahan, Kyle Farmer and Blair Begnaud with their design focusing on connecting the already-existing waste generators, the waste transporters and the waste treaters in the Acadiana area, using each step to then convert leftover food from the community into usable fuel.

Third place winners of $500 were John Frank, Vu Danh, Gerald Eaglin, Samantha Bonilla, and Roxana Montes, who designed a project based on converting household waste into electricity and liquid fuels. Prizes were sponsored by VerTech.

Students from 11 universities across the nation also participated in an energy research paper competition that displayed the students’ discoveries in the petroleum sector.

Bin Wang, a petroleum engineer doctoral student, placed third for his research called “An Embedded Approach for Near Wellbore Streamline Simulation” and received $250. The competition was sponsored by the Acadiana Flow Measurement Society.

Captions: (Top) First place winners (from left): Nicholas Marcil, Walker Powell, Sam Ekong, Jon Trahan, Kyle Farmer, and mentor Dhan Lord B. Fortela. (Not pictured: Blair Begnaud)

(Above) Third place winners (from left): John Frank, Vu Danh, Gerald Eaglin, Samantha Bonilla, and Roxana Montes.