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Engineering Mechanics Institute Conference 2026 (EMI 2026)

Boulder, Colorado | –

EMI Elasticity Student Paper Competition

Purpose: 

  • Increase student involvement in the EMI conference, particularly in the area of Elasticity. 
  • Expose students to Elasticity related research from different groups.
  • Facilitate student interactions with faculty and other students to build a strong network and be ready to take on future responsibilities within the technical community.  
  • Improve student’s technical communication skills, as well as promote high‐quality submissions to the conference and journal of the EMI.

Requirements: 

  • Be a full-time student at the time of abstract submission and the main contributor to the research.
  •  Submit an abstract as the leading author in a thematic area related to elasticity to the EMI abstract submission website by the conference deadline. Submission to an Elasticity Committee-sponsored mini-symposium is encouraged but not required.
  • Participate only in the Elasticity student paper competition. Participation with the same materials in multiple competitions will automatically disqualify you from this competition.
  • Register for the conference, and if selected as an Elasticity Student Competition finalist, present the research at the student competition session during the conference.

Deadlines: 

  • January 15, 2026 – EMI Conference abstract submission deadline.
  • March 1, 2026 – Express interest to participate in the Elasticity Student Competition by emailing Prof. John Brigham at [email protected].
  • May 15, 2026 – Finalists are notified.

Process: 

  • The extended abstracts will be reviewed for relevance, quality of writing, and overall scientific merit.
  • Up to five finalists will be selected for 10-minute presentations in a special session of the conference. Note that this is a second presentation in addition to the presentation associated with the ‘regular’ EMI Conference submission.
  • The abstracts and presentations will be judged by a panel of experts selected from the Elasticity committee membership.
  • Winners and runners-up will be announced at the student recognition event during the conference.
  • Student finalists will be invited to submit a full-paper version of their abstract for a by-invitation-only special collection of the Journal of Engineering Mechanics.

Contact: 

  • Email any questions or concerns to Elasticity Committee Chair Prof. Brigham at [email protected]
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