by Deborah Silliman Wolfe/College of Engineering
Armando Gomez-Farias, a graduate student in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, has been awarded the Abe M. Zarem Award by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) for showing technical excellence in his work in the air and space communities. He was selected for this award after submitting his paper, “A Novel Finite Element Sensitivity Method for Plasticity” which presents a novel method, called ZFEM, to compute derivatives for nonlinear solid mechanics models undergoing plastic deformation.
“I am very excited and honored to receive such a prestigious award,” said Gomez-Farias. “Receiving this award has not only given me pride in the work I have done here at UTSA, but it has also given me the motivation to continue working hard.”
As winner of the Abe M. Zarem Award, Gomez-Farias will be presenting his work at the International Astronautical Congress to be held in Toronto, Canada, from September 29 – October 3, 2014. AIAA not only pays for registration, hotel, and airfare to this international conference, but also pays for Gomez-Farias to travel to AIAA SciTech Forum where both he and his adviser Dr. Arturo Montoya, assistant professor of civil engineering, will be recognized.
“Armando has consistently demonstrated diligence, creativity, curiosity, and superior achievement as a student at UTSA,” said Montoya. “I am really glad that Armando received this award because it recognizes the work of the computational mechanics research group at UTSA. To be recognized by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics is a great honor and encourages me to work harder in my research career and help other students receive similar awards.”