BE Magazine - Volume 4, Issue 3 - (Page 12)

Racing Concrete Canoes Future civil engineers transform challenge into triumph Laura Meier, Ph.D. BE Careers Network T he “America’s Cup of Civil Engineering” is won not by the speed of sails, but rather by the strength of concrete. The 20th annual American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) National Concrete Canoe Competition took place on Lake Sammamish at the University of Washington. As with the America’s Cup, the thrill of the races attracted cheering crowds. But for competing teams, these three days in late June were the culmination of a year’s worth of project management, design challenges, and fundraising efforts. For the ﬁfth consecutive year, ﬁrst place was captured by University of Wisconsin— Madison. Its canoe, Descendant (named after a sculpture on campus), was environmentally friendly in its construction, maneuverable in turns, and fast—winning the women’s and men’s Endurance races as well as the women’s Sprint races, and placing third in the men’s and co-ed Sprint races. The team also tied for ﬁrst place with University of Nevada, Reno for best Design Paper, and placed in the top ﬁve for both Final Product and Oral Presentation. As the winners of the 2007 National Concrete Canoe Competition, the Badgers will be invited to the 30th Annual Dutch Concrete Canoe Challenge, taking place in November in the Netherlands. Second place overall winner was University of Florida, with University of Nevada, Reno in third place, Western Kentucky University in fourth place, and California State Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo placing ﬁfth. Concrete Canoe competitions were ﬁrst developed as intramural activities in the 1960s, and in the following decade expanded to regional competitions held by ASCE student chapters. These competitions challenge civil engineering students with real-world, hands-on experience, applying their knowledge of structural and hydrodynamic design to build concrete canoes that not only ﬂoat, but are also durable and race worthy. In 1988, ASCE teamed with founding sponsor BASF Construction Chemicals (formerly Master Builders) to start the National Concrete Canoe Competition, ﬁrst hosted by Michigan State University. Twenty years later, BASF has been joined by other industry sponsors: American Concrete Institute, Baker Construction, Bentley, Holcim, Norchem, ICS Penetron, Pennoni Associates, Propex Concrete Systems, and U.S. Silica—all of which help to support and fund the national event. Santanu Das, vice president of Bentley’s Integrated Engineering Group, marveled: “The level of teamwork displayed is incredible. From utilizing engineering tools like project management and analysis software to setting up milestones that spanned over a year, which is imperative when dealing with phased construction, to driving a U-Haul cross country—what these students experienced is not that far 12 BE MAGAZINE | Volume 4, Issue 3

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of BE Magazine - Volume 4, Issue 3

Contents Rising to the Challenge News BE Newsletter Highlights More ITS Sightings Racing Concrete Canoes Lights, Camera, Action! Making the Cut People’s Choice Awards 2007 Executive Keynotes Building Clear Vision of a Dream Concrete Results Reaching New Heights Building News From Bentley Golden KIWI Awards 2007 Civil A Coordination of National Highway Proportions Training Troops Beautifying Highways, One Sign at a Time Civil News From Bentley Geospatial Facility Facelift Planning for Uncertainty Geospatial News From Bentley MicroStation at the Heart of LiDAR Surveying Solutions Plant Making the Grade Data Deja Vu Data Clouds Provide Clear Visual of Underground Saving Precious-Metal Mining Time Plant News From Bentley Advertisers Index Special/Academic The Art of Visualization Training Is Key To Delivering State-of-the-Art Solutions Bridging the Information/Infrastructure Gap

BE Magazine - Volume 4, Issue 3

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