University of Iowa mechanical engineering Ph.D. student Robert Hart won first prize at the Student Simulation Challenge at the American Society for Composites 30th Annual Conference at Michigan State University. He was awarded a $1,000 prize.

Hart is a Department of Defense SMART fellow working in collaboration with the U.S. Army Tank and Automotive Research and Development Engineering Center. This year's challenge theme was the design of a composite structure that transfers load from one location to three other rigid supports in 3-D space.