Projects

The bridge competition is SAMPE's main student event. Teams from universities around the world design and build composite beams from scratch, with each entry falling into one of several material and geometry categories. At the conference, the beams are loaded to failure and scored based on load-to-weight efficiency. SAMPE UW enters multiple categories each year. Below are the design posters for our 2026 entries.

New to SAMPE Seattle 2026, the Pickleball Paddle Design Competition is open to all SAMPE student chapters. Teams design and build their own paddle using whatever materials and methods they want, whether that's carbon fiber layups, 3D printing, sustainable materials, or something more experimental. It's a creative challenge that pushes you to think about performance, manufacturability, and aesthetics all at once.

Entries are judged on originality, utility, fabrication quality, and visual design, then tested on-site for mechanical stiffness. Each team also puts together a technical poster covering their design choices, material selection, and how they made it. The poster is judged alongside the paddle itself.

Sponsored by Shimadzu and Stratasys, the Student Additive Manufacturing Competition is about pushing the boundaries of what you can make with 3D printing. Teams design and fabricate parts that take advantage of additive manufacturing's ability to create complex geometries that would be difficult or impossible with traditional methods. Entries are evaluated on design innovation, manufacturing rationale, and structural performance.