SPE opens Thermoset TopCon student poster competition

Thermoset Topcon 2025 student posters. Source | SPE Thermoset Division

The organizing committee for the SPE Thermoset Division (Bethel, Conn., U.S.) TopCon invites graduate and undergraduate students to submit abstracts on innovative thermoset composite technologies for its fifth annual student poster competition. The competition will be held during the SPE Thermoset TopCon Conference at the Monona Terrace Community & Convention Center in Madison, Wisconsin May 12-13, 2026.

Judges — comprised of industry experts, SPE board members and members of the media — will review all posters with student authors on the first day of the conference, May 12. Awards will be presented to winners during a designated ceremony on the event’s second day, May 13.

Abstracts are now due by April 10, 2026, and digital PDF copies of posters are due by April 24, for pre-review by judges. Students will need to bring printed copies of their posters (24 inches wide × 36 inches high) to the conference on May 11 or early morning May 12.

Poster topics may include subjects such as:

AI and emerging industry innovations
Automotive, transportation, medical, appliances, oil and gas and more
Lightweighting
Biocomposites
Nanocomposites
Glass, carbon and hybrid fibers
Recycling and green technologies
Multi-materials
Joining technologies
Modeling and analysis of lightweight materials
CAFE standards and mandates
Cost-effective manufacturing
Use of advanced materials in innovative applications
Virtual prototyping and design
Microstructure, failure and fracture
Failure envelopes and theories
Additive manufacturing (AM)

Students and their posters will be ranked according to the following criteria:

Content (student and poster demonstrate clarity of topic, objectives and background);
Motivation for research and technical relevance to conference theme;
Methodology and approach to problem;
Quality of proposed research results/findings;
Conclusions are supported by information presented;
Presentation (display aesthetics are pleasing and there is a logical flow between sections);
Knowledgeable (presenter has a good grasp of the subject);
Understandability (poster is effective even without student being present to explain it); and
Overall rank versus other posters and presenters.

All students presenting a poster in the competition will receive free registration to the conference. Passes include breakfast and lunch May 12-13 and a networking reception on May 12. Hotel rooms will be available at a discounted rate at a hotel near the conference venue. Students will be responsible for hotel and travel expenses if required for them to attend the event.

Abstracts should be sent to Teri Chouinard (Teri@intuitgroup.com); contact Teri for a Poster Template and more info.