Callaway native wins poster competition

With his graduation just around the corner, a Callaway County native recently won a research poster competition at Missouri University of Science and Technology.

Aaron Attebery, a 2006 North Callaway graduate, took first place in the Chancellor's Fellows Research Poster Presentation, out of a field of 27 graduate students.

Working on his graduate degree in mechanical engineering, Attebery based his poster on his research into internal combustion engines - particularly advanced combustion modes and homogeneous charge compression ignition.

"To put it in layman's terms, I'm looking into a hybrid between gasoline and diesel," Attebery said, a topic he said he chose because, "there's lots of interest there due to the ever-increasing cost of crude oil."

"They are significantly more fuel-efficient than gasoline engines, and the NOx (nitrogen oxide) emissions are near zero," he said.

Attebery said the biggest challenge was trying to condense all of his work into one poster.

"We're talking tons of research," he said. "You had to take a 200-page thesis and try to explain it all in layman's terms on one poster."

According to Elaine Light, a program/project specialist in the Office of Graduate Studies, Attebery's ability to achieve that goal is what secured his first-place finish.

"The judges consistently noted both the high quality of Aaron's research and his ability to clearly explain his research in the question and answer session," Light said.

To help the tornado-stricken people of Dumas and surroundings, donations can be made to the Delta Area Disaster Relief Fund, care of the Delta Area Community Foundation, P.O. Box 894, Dumas, AR, 71639, or through the Arkansas Community Foundation, 700 S. Rock St., Little Rock, AR, 72202.