![The winners of the audience award for the Create@UH Spring 2026 Katy showcase were three Systems Engineering students. [Left to right] Nirathi Govindu, instructional assistant professor and Director of the Systems Engineering Program; students Vivian Pan, Andrea Guevara Guerra and Kristy Hoang; and Jamison Kovach, Professor and Associate Dean for Student Success and Undergraduate Support Services.](/sites/ccoe.egr.uh.edu/files/images/news/2026/winning-team-01-crop.jpg "The winners of the audience award for the Create@UH Spring 2026 Katy showcase were three Systems Engineering students. [Left to right] Nirathi Govindu, instructional assistant professor and Director of the Systems Engineering Program; students Vivian Pan, Andrea Guevara Guerra and Kristy Hoang; and Jamison Kovach, Professor and Associate Dean for Student Success and Undergraduate Support Services.")
A team of three students from the Industrial and Systems Engineering Department at the Cullen College of Engineering emerged from more than 40 other groups to win the Audience Award at the first Create@UH Showcase held at the University of Houston’s Katy campus.
Kristy Hoang, Vivian Pan and Andrea Guevara Guerra earned the award for their research poster, “Optimizing Extrusion Geometrics for Multi-Chemistry Processing.” The three are scheduled to graduate in December 2026. They were paired on their project by Nirathi Govindu, an instructional assistant professor and Director of the Systems Engineering Program, after a survey revealed their shared interests.
A photo gallery from the event is available here!
Their research tried to tackle the technical gap caused by current screw selection technology, which relies on trial and error.
“I am currently an intern at Axalta Coating Systems, the company that sponsored this research, so the project actually originated from my request to collaborate with them,” Hoang said. “We were officially assigned the project by Axalta's Process Technology Team and have been working together since February 2026. Despite the tight timeline, our team has been dedicated to gathering as much comprehensive data as possible to build a strong baseline for the study.”
All three said they were surprised when they learned they had won the audience award.
“I was honestly really shocked,” Guerra said. “We didn't expect to win because there were so many impressive projects with things people could directly interact with, like VR headsets and hands-on computer demonstrations. Compared to that, our project was more detailed in processing and data-focused. We brought our 3D-printed kneading blocks from our project's screw design to help people visualize what we were studying. But winning the audience was really unexpected. It felt rewarding to see people interested in our project and genuinely curious about the work we were doing.”
Pan added, “I was very surprised, as a lot of the projects showcased were incredible and very interesting. I felt proud of our team as well, since we put a lot of effort into this project since February, and winning the award meant a lot to us because it meant that people enjoyed listening to and understanding our process.”
Each wanted to thank the Process Technology Team at Axalta for the guidance and feedback they provided from start to finish.
“We are also incredibly thankful for Dr. Govindu’s support as our faculty advisor,” Hoang said. “She played a key role in helping us refine our ideas and ensured that even our most complex concepts were presented in a clear, digestible way for a wider audience.”
The award was announced at the end of the showcase event. Students presented their research via posters at the showcase, describing it to professors and professionals as they walked the floor of the Katy Academic Building.
The showcase featured keynote addresses from Amir Mahmoudkhani, the head of offshore technology and innovation for Jacam Catalyst, a manufacturer and full-service chemical provider of oilfield chemicals; and Eric Bannavti Suiseka, an author and IT project manager with expertise in digital literacy and cybersecurity.
There were followed by a lively panel of industry experts and Cullen graduates that provided a mixture of career and practical advice to the showcase participants. The panelists were Gavin Garvey, Industry Engagement Director for UH Innovation; Hareesh Janakiraman, now a consultant in design services for microcontroller-based products following a 27-year engineering career at Texas Instruments; Abdullah Abdel-Khalek, an applied AI engineer for braeden, an engineering and consulting firm; and Kevin A. Wolf, a project engineer at Booth & Associates.
Create@UH is a program to enhance the experience for undergrads doing course-based projects. It provides students with real-world design projects, typically by collaborating with industry, as well as the space and equipment needed to complete their projects. Showcase events are held at the main, Sugar Land and Katy campuses. For more information or to sign up for the next showcase, visit the program’s website.