Vaughn College students Marvin Blackman, Joseph Kamel and Shahidul Islam were awarded the Best Student Paper prize recently at the American Society for Engineering Education’s St. Lawrence Section’s annual meeting.

The Vaughn trio, all mechatronic engineering students scheduled to complete studies this summer, received a cash prize and plaque for its paper titled “Innovative Cargo Screening Using a PLC System.” The paper illustrated how a programmable logic controller can be used to improve security screening at airports.

The ASEE conference was held at Excelsior College in Albany in late March. Prize winners were announced on April 22.

The ASEE brings together engineering educators from across its many sections in the United States and Canada to promote excellence in instruction, research and public service. The St. Lawrence Section comprises New York state and parts of Ontario and Quebec, Canada.