Congratulations to the WSU Steel Bridge team – 9th overall out of 46 teams in the national steel bridge competition. “There were a lot of good teams there and a lot of new things to learn,” said Team Captain Ryan Edwards.
May 27, 2010 Update:
Good Luck and Go Cougs!
The WSU Steel Bridge Team is on the road today, driving to the national competition at Purdue University in Indiana. Team members, including team captain Ryan Edwards, Trevor Jensen, Mark Sanders, Ben Staehr, and Dirk Rogstad, are driving through Iowa in an eight passenger van with a large steel bridge packed up in boxes in the back.
Starting in Pullman, the approximately 30-hour drive is the longest ever for Edwards and some of his teammates.
Make a Donation to the Steel Bridge team competition!
April 26, 2010
Second Time in Two Years: Steel Bridge Team Takes First (AGAIN) at Regional Competition
Photo Courtesy of Kent Barnes
Approximately 300 civil engineering students from throughout the Northwest came to WSU to race concrete canoes, build steel bridges, and participate in the annual Pacific Northwest Regional American Society of Civil Engineers student conference. The April event drew students from Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Alaska and British Columbia, to WSU.
WSU’s Steel Bridge team took first in the competition and was invited to participate in the national steel bridge competition in May at Purdue University in Indiana. In 2009, the WSU steel bridge team took sixth in the nation.
The WSU Concrete Canoe team took third at the regionals.
Each university team includes approximately 15 to 20 students who prepare for months to construct their designs. The teams have new specifications to meet each year, and at the end of the allotted time, the bridge and canoe designs judged to be the best win.
“The students get all those business skills but a lot of good engineering design skills as well,” Shane Brown, assistant professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and ASCE advisor. “It’s neat. They are really challenging problems.”
In addition to the two main competitions, WSU hosted an old-fashioned surveying competition, a concrete horseshoe competition, and an environmental competition that required students to design pervious concrete samples. . The weekend also included a student-coordinated awards banquet at Schweitzer Event Center.
Brown emphasized that the weekend was entirely organized by the students and that competitors and coordinators alike put in hundreds of hours to prepare and create a successful event.
“They get personal skills, good engineering skills and they contribute a ton to the department,” Brown said.
It is a fun weekend that required hours of planning and preparation. However, the competitors have excellent design experience under their belts, and the coordinators learned management, organization and communication skills.
“We tried to create a good, enjoyable experience for everyone, and being a part of it was exciting,” said Marcus Miller. co-chair of the conference.
Thank you! Your Gifts in Action
The ASCE students organized fundraising and judging for the ASCE conference. Many other schools have high budget events, but WSU students raise all the funds themselves, which was particularly challenging in tough economic times.
“The donors really stepped up, and we raised as much as we needed,” said Marcus Miller, co-chair of the conference. “Everyone wanted to help.”
Thank you to the following donors:
Cary Kopczynski & Company Structural Engineers
Esvelt Environmental Engineering
PBS Engineering + Environmental
Stacy and Witbeck Incorporated
The students also approached professional engineers in the community to be judges at the event.
“It’s a neat way to bring students and practicing engineers together for a fun weekend,” said Shane Brown, faculty advisor for ASCE.