TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Several University of Alabama College of Engineering students recently won awards at the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Regional Student Conference in Miami.

The UA student chapter of ASME received the award for Outstanding Student Section by earning a perfect baseline score in the Ingersoll-Rand Competition for reporting the year’s activities, the first Southeastern school to do so. They also received the award for having the most students in attendance.

Heather Hendrix, a Dothan native and senior majoring in mechanical engineering, received third place for her poster titled “LED Warning Signals: Field Testing for Railroad Applications.”

Destin Sandlin, a Priceville resident and senior majoring in mechanical engineering, received the award for best technical presentation in his division for “Threaded Assembly in Microgravity.”

Thomas Saunders Jr., an Alexander City native and junior majoring in mechanical engineering, received second place for his poster titled “Boring Bar Design.”

Founded in 1880, ASME International is a nonprofit educational and technical organization with 125,000 members.

In 1837, UA became the first university in the state to offer engineering classes and was one of the first five in the nation to do so. Today, the College of Engineering, with about 1,900 students and more than 90 faculty, is one of the three oldest continuously operating engineering programs in the country and has been fully accredited since accreditation standards were implemented in the 1930s.