2026 Student Design Competition winning entries announced

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The Aluminum Extruders Council (AEC) and the Extrusion Technology Foundation (ET Foundation) have announced the winning entries in the 2026 Rick Merluzzi International Aluminum Extrusion Student Design Competition. University, college, design, and high school students from around the world submitted more than 100 entries for the opportunity to receive a cash scholarship award.

AEC Extruder Members MI Metals, Inc., Oldsmar, FL, Pennex Aluminum Company LLC, Wellsville, PA, and Bonnell Aluminum, Newnan, GA, sponsored the cash scholarship prizes, which totalled USD 17,500. Judges for the competition included Carl Holderbaum, AEC Die & Tooling Team Leader and Director of Operations at Bonnell Aluminum’s Newnan, Georgia plant, and Craig Werner, ET Immediate Past Chairman and CEO of Intelligent Extrusion LLC, Lake Forest, Illinois.

The following seven students have been awarded cash scholarship prizes in this year’s competition:

In first place, winning a USD 5,000 scholarship, is Octavia Chitty, a sophomore industrial design student at Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, for her E-VAWT, Extending Vertical Axis Wind Turbine. This ingenious design enables the vertical wind turbine to adjust its vertical axis blade diameter using an extruded aluminium guide strut fixed rod. When the screw rod rotates, the wind turbine’s blade moves along an aluminium extrusion Guide strut rail to condense the turbine’s diameter, thus reducing torque to allow the turbine to safely operate in strong wind conditions.

The second-place winner of a USD 4,000 scholarship is Shawn Chen, a sophomore industrial design student at Purdue, for his modular storage system, the Mule, for use in truck beds. His innovative extruded aluminium design incorporates a truck bed racking system that enables his MuleBoxes to easily be reconfigured and organised for use by tradespeople and farmers to adapt their work truck to task-specific demands to optimize carrying capacity and reduce time spent looking for tools and to reduce tool theft and work injuries from awkward lifting.

The third-place winner of a USD 3,000 scholarship award is Stanislaw Zielonka, a sophomore industrial design student at Purdue, for his LZRWrap vinyl wrap cutting system. His wall-mounted device serves as a laser vinyl wrap cutter and precision measuring tool for the automotive/vehicle industry. The unit holds heavy vinyl rolls, improving workflow and becoming part of the car wrapping studio’s workspace. The streamlined process uses a long, 20mm x 20mm aluminium extrusion and a custom extruded profile to accomplish the cutting and measurement functions.

The Sustainable Design Challenge award of USD 3,500 was awarded to Issiah Tabatt, a sophomore industrial design student at the University of Wisconsin-Stout, Menomonie, Wisconsin, for his Floatovoltaic System of solar power generation. His design provides integrated functionality into the extruded aluminium profile for solar panel framing, connecting panels together over a body of water, and housing wires and cables. The extrusions provide structural support – minimising environmental impact while maximising durability.

The Honourable Mention for Sustainable Design USD 1,000 scholarship award was awarded to Samuel Lenk, a junior industrial design student at University of Wisconsin Stout, for his Extruded Aluminum Water Sterilizing & Cooling System. His design offers an easy-to-ship system that can be quickly deployed to sterilize and cool water in remote and low-tech areas where access to filtration, UV sterilisation or iodine tablets is limited. His extruded system uses aluminium’s conductivity to help cool the water faster. Extruded heat sinks are welded together post-assembly that integrate directly with a standard propane tank for medium-to-large-batch sterilization applications.

Note: This article has been shared by Aluminum Extruders Council  and has been published by AL Circle with its original information without any modifications or edits official to the core subject/data.