Madison, Wis., July 16, 2002 -- More than 1,000 civil engineering students from 112 universities and colleges gathered recently for a weekend of concrete canoe races, polluted water purification using only common kitchen items, and high-speed bridge building.
The American Society of Civil Engineers' (ASCE) 150th Anniversary National Student Conference, held June 22-23 at the University of Wisconsin - Madison, was a first-ever gathering of civil engineering students in celebration of the anniversary of the Society's founding.
Filled with events that sound a bit wacky, the conference showcases the students' skills and ingenuity through a series of competitions including the 15th annual ASCE/MBT National Concrete Canoe Competition and the 11th annual ASCE/AISC National Student Steel Bridge Competition.
"Designing a canoe made mostly of concrete or purifying polluted water with household items is not much different then the everyday challenges these students will face as the future designers and builders of our infrastructure," said H. Gerard Schwartz, Jr., Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE.
"Civil engineers are continually tasked with the responsibility of making the impossible possible for the betterment of society."
With the world's population expected to double by 2042, these students will be tasked with developing innovative civil engineering solutions to an increasingly overburdened infrastructure system.
They will be faced with supplying clean water, controlling pollution, and designing and building the transportation and public works system to support our growing world.
Students from diverse cultural and socio-economic backgrounds will be needed for their unique perspectives in developing viable solutions to our infrastructure challenges. While enrollment in civil engineering declined throughout the nineties, there was a nine percent increase in enrollment during 2000.
Civil engineering students from Clemson University outshined their peers from 25 universities and colleges at the ASCE/MBT National Concrete Canoe Competition.
The team emerged victorious by besting their opponents with their 130 pound, 21.4 foot Accomplice, a canoe of superior design and construction that proves through good engineering, concrete can indeed float.
Clemson's canoe was the heaviest in last year's competition, and the stronger concrete composite they developed for their new model allowed for a 50-pound reduction in total weight. For their overall ingenuity, the team earned $5,000 in scholarship money awarded by Master Builders, Inc., the event's sole sponsor. Clemson last won in 2000 and placed second in last year's finals.
Far from the floating bathtubs you might envision, canoes competing at the national level typically resemble fiberglass racing canoes and boast sophisticated designs aimed at achieving the best combination of speed and maneuverability.
Many of these canoes are lighter than those constructed of traditional materials and feature walls only 1/4-inch thick. The students achieve this effect by experimenting with admixtures such as latex, superplasticizers, fly ash and high-tech aggregates to develop extremely lightweight and superstrong concrete mixes.
The Water Treatment Competition was staged for the first time at the national level during the conference. Nine teams will use household items such as colanders, pots, cheese cloth and coffee filters to purify a sample of polluted water.
Once the task is completed, students will seek a daring soul to taste-test the winning sample. In addition to these three competitions, the students can also participate in an ethics paper competition, a balsa wood bridge building competition, a physical and mental challenge to test leadership developed by U.S. Air Force Academy (USAFA), a surveying competition, a concrete bowling competition and a building competition using K'NEX pieces as the primary building material.
Like the other competitions, these events are designed to augment the student's classroom experiences with an extraordinary challenge for them to solve.
Founded in 1852, ASCE represents 125,000 civil engineers worldwide and is America's oldest national engineering society. The Society is now celebrating its 150th anniversary.
