The winning ways of two graduate students working in the Center's welding research program have been recognized and rewarded by the American Welding Society and the International Institute of Welding. "These two prove that the program both attracts and produces very high caliber researchers," says Dr. YuMing Zhang, Professor and Director of Graduate Studies for the Electrical Engineering Department, who has been conducting research in the center's labs since 1997.

Dr. Zhang, an award winner in his own right, oversees both the Welding Research and the Applied Sensing and Control Laboratories in the center. Together he and his students investigate weld pool surface sensors, double-electrode gas metal arc welding, control of the weld pool surface, weld penetration control and double-sided arc welding.

The first winner, Marek Weglowski visited from August 2007 until February 2008 on a Fulbright scholarship to do research with Dr. Zhang. Employed by Instytut Spawalnictwa, a research institute in Gliwice, Poland, Mr. Weglowski applied for Fulbright funding because he wanted to work with Dr. Zhang, who is internationally recognized for his work on monitoring the welding process and to use the advanced equipment available here at the Center.

Why monitor the welding process?  In this case, to establish the relationship between quality weld joints and arc light emission because that knowledge will help in controlling the welding process and making it more efficient. According to Zhang, Weglowski is a very productive, mature researcher who worked independently and had a significant impact for such a brief stay.

Interestingly, Weglowski had something in common with Dr. Kehai Li, who worked with Dr. Zhang from 2005-2007 during his PHD candidacy. Both are winners of the International Institute of Welding's Henry Granjon Prize, an annual international competition for papers devoted to research into welding technology. "It's a very prestigious award," says Dr. Zhang.

Weglowski won in 2007 for a paper based on earlier research conducted at the Institute of Welding in Poland, regarding the work he continued in Kentucky. Li’s prize was awarded for work on "double-electrode gas metal arc welding", an investigation of an innovative process funded by the National Science Foundation. 

“It’s a very prestigious award,” says Dr. Zhang, “and it speaks well of any program at UK when a Granjon winner like Weglowski, a Fullbright scholar, is attracted to the facility and the program to further his research. Li's win is very exciting because it's the first time a UK researcher has won the award. This award says a lot about the quality of the work we do here.”