Adrian Pollock Award

Dr. Marvin Hamstad

Dr. Marvin Hamstad

Professor Emeritus, University of Denver (US)

Dr. Marvin Hamstad (Ph.D. ME/Solid Mechanics, University of California, Berkeley) has been continuously involved in acoustic emission research and applications since 1971. This AE work ranged from nondestructive testing applications to materials characterization. He has worked in the field of composite materials since the 1970s. His various research efforts have resulted in more than 135 papers. From 1971-84, he was at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. From 1984-2010, Dr. Hamstad was Professor of Engineering at the University of Denver. He is currently Professor Emeritus. Since 1992, Dr. Hamstad has had positions working on AE at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Boulder, CO. He was chairman of the Committee on Acoustic Emission from Reinforced Plastics for 16 years, where he initiated the AECM international symposiums (1983-98). Dr. Hamstad was an associate editor of J. Structural Health Monitoring, and currently serves as a co-editor of the JAE.

Young Researcher Award

Dr. Els Verstrynge

Dr. Els Verstrynge

Assistant Professor, Catholic University of Leuven (Belgium)

Dr. Els Verstrynge is Assistant Professor at the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium. She has a dual background in structural and architectural engineering. Her research interests include multi-scale numerical and experimental analysis of degradation mechanisms in brittle construction materials, historical masonry and RC structures, advanced NDT and integrated monitoring, such as acoustic emission sensing. She has spent research stays at the Technical University of Delft (2009), the University of Minho (2012) and Stanford University (2016). She currently supervises a group of five PhDs and postdocs, with a research focus on “Multi‐scale assessment of damage and degradation in existing structures”.

Dr. Markus Sause

Dr. Markus Sause

Professor, University of Augsburg (Germany)

Dr. habil. Markus Sause studied Physics at the University of Augsburg and earned his doctoral degree in 2010 in Experimental Physics at the same place. In 2015, he succeeded with his Habilitation in Experimental Physics. Since 2016, he is Professor at University of Augsburg at the Institute for Materials Resource Management. In 2019, he received the “Science Award” from the German NDT society (DGZfP) for his outstanding contributions to the field of nondestructive testing. Since 2014, he is member of the EWGAE executive committee and active in several other committees dedicated to the testing and analysis of fiber-reinforced materials. His research interest span the mechanics of fiber reinforced composites, their destructive and non-destructive testing as well as numerical methods to interpret the material behavior resulting in >100 publications. A special focus is given to bridge the gap between destructive testing approaches and non-destructive inspection to perform in-situ analysis of material failure.

EWGAE Student Paper Award

The student award is presented to one or more students to recognize their outstanding academic achievement in a research project dealing with some aspect of acoustic emission technology, which may range in scope from fundamental research to industrial applications. Any current or recent (within one year) university or college student (including Master and PhD students) are eligible. Students must be enrolled in a university or college at the time of submission. The award will be evaluated based on the paper submitted by the student to the EWGAE conference. While it is understood that research does not take place in a vacuum, the work described should represent the student’s own efforts, and the student should be the first author of the conference contribution. The student must attend the AE meeting to receive the award (meeting registration fee is waived for the winning student) and must present the work orally during the conference. Selection of the winners is made by majority vote of the Awards Committee members following the listed criteria. The result of the awards will be announced during the gala dinner of the conference.

  • Prize: 300 €, free conference registration, and award certificate.
  • Criteria:
    • Originality of the presented research.
    • Clear explanation of the objective and challenges.
    • Clear, concise description of techniques and instrumentation.
    • Description of data analysis including filtering.
    • Understandable presentation of results and conclusion(s).
    • Effectiveness and appropriateness of methods used.
    • Knowledge of existing and relevant AE background.
    • Usefulness and/or relevance to an AE audience in the spirit of a working group.