Keeping the Center's tradition of high competitiveness and high-achievement, two CREST undergraduate students received prizes during the Science & Technology Symposium held in the Mayagüez campus of the University of Puerto Rico on April 16, 2013. The symposium was co-hosted by the Sacnas UPRM Chapter, the IEEE UPRM Branch, and the university's Hemispheric Center Cohemis. José Moreno Quiles, senior Mechanical Engineering student won the First Place in the Poster Category for his work titled "Processing, Characterization and Optimization of Mechanical Properties of an Al/NbB₂ Composite," which was co-authored by Neshma López Meléndez, Chemical Engineering student. Additionally Seaska Pérez Avilés, Civil Engineering undergraduate, received the Second Place in the Oral Presentation Category for her work titled "Characterization and Tortuosity Index Formulation of a Polyimide Foam for Aerospace Applications," which was co-authored by Sugeily Flores Bonano (Mechanical Engineering graduate student).

Both students work under the supervision of Prof. O. Marcelo Suárez. Seaska's project is part of Sugeily Flores' research, which is also funded by the Puerto Rico Space Grant Consortium, and is co-supervised by Prof. Walter Silva.

It has become a tradition for  University of Puerto Rico - Mayagüez and CREST students to participate in the The Minerals Metals & Materials Society (TMS) Annual Meetings and to register in their Student Poster Competitions. Also it has become a tradition for this successful students to bring back to Puerto Rico, First Prizes from that competition as it happend in TMS 2013 held in San Antonio, TX on March 2-7. Marcos Corchado, Mechanical Engineering undergraduate won the First Prize in the Light Metals Division for his work titled "Effects of Zinc and AlB₂ Particles on Absorbed Impact Energy of an Aluminum Matrix Composite," co-authored by Fernando Reyes, Industrial Engineering undergraduate. In addition, Gerardo Nazario, Civil Engineering undegraduate, received the First Place in the Extraction and Processing Division for his poster titled "Porosity and Percolation in Sintered Recycled Glass for Polluted Soil Filtering." This work was coauthored by Wesley Cuadrado, Anel Arroyo, Jasmine Figueroa, Liliana Hernández, and Andrea López, all UPRM students affiliated to the Center for Education & Training in Agriculture & Related Sciences (CETARS), CREST sister center,

Eight more members of CREST, CETARS and Material Advantage participated in the conference in addition to Marcos Corchado and Gerardo Nazario: Sujeily Soto, Sugeily Flores, Luis Zapata, Ulises Barajas, David Florián, Elvin Estremera, and Neshma López. In addition to the poster contest, Neshma López, Marcos Corchado, Sujeily Soto and Elvin Estremera represented UPRM in the Material Bowl competition while Sujeily Soto and David Florián presented their work in different symposia.

Nicole Blanco Vicéns, undergraduate Industrial Engineering CREST student won first place in the Nanoscience category in the poster competition of the 2013 Emerging Researchers National (ERN) in STEM Conference . The conference was held in Washington DC from February 28 to March 3. Her poster titled "Understanding and Exploiting Compromises between Different Co-Zn Ferrite Nanoproperties” was coauthored by Zaimara E. Hernandez-Marquez (2012 Industrial Engineering graduate) and Silvana Urcia-Romero (former CREST student currently doctoral one in Florida State University). The project is a collaboration between the IRG2 and the Interdisciplinary Computational Group, led by Prof. Mauricio Cabrera-Ríos, Nicole's adviser.  Nicole is an accomplished young researcher, as evinced by a publication in the Journal of Engineering Manufacture and outstanding participation in local, national and international conferences. Her enthusiasm for interdisciplinary work has never gone unnoticed in such events.

This is the third consecutive year that CREST students have received awards at this event. The ERN Conference in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) is hosted by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), Education and Human Resources Programs (EHR) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Human Resource Development (HRD), within the Directorate for Education and Human Resources (EHR). The conference is aimed at college and university undergraduate and graduate students who participate in programs funded by the NSF HRD Unit such as the Centers for Research Excellence in Science and Technology (CREST).