BE Magazine - Volume 4, Issue 3 - (Page 14)

cracking in concrete canoes. Current practice commonly uses an expansion joint to allow for expansion and contraction of concrete, but this student team modiﬁed the idea by using collapsible joints in their mold to allow for compression during the curing process—with the impressive result of zero visible shrinkage cracks. Team co-chair Elizabeth Miemietz, a graduating senior who has participated for three years, believes the best part of the competition is “letting everyone see our ﬁnished product…and competing with division one schools. We’re a little school—we don’t even have a graduate program to turn to for advice from grad students—but everyone sticks together year to year in this competition, building on past years’ designs.” Team member Elizabeth Roesler added, “This is the ﬁrst year we were able to do structural analysis on our canoe, using STAAD.Pro. Durability is always an issue, but with our analysis we knew the thin walls would hold and allow for a lighter design.” The design proved excellent, allowing the team to place in the top ﬁve in four of the ﬁve races—including second place for men’s Endurance and third place for women’s Endurance. They placed ninth overall. After meeting student teams at the National Concrete Canoe Competition, ASCE’S 20-YEAR CHALLENGE In the 1960s, a group of civil engineering students had what everyone else thought was a crazy idea. They would take a building material nearly everyone was familiar with, concrete, and use it in an extraordinary way—they would design, build, and race a canoe made of concrete. Despite their success, those students never would have believed that a nationally recognized competition would evolve from their experiment, and they certainly never thought that in 2007 the national competition would be celebrating its 20th annual event. While the shape, size, and speed of the canoes have changed throughout the years, the innovative spirit and creativity of the competitors remains the same. “Over the past two decades, the students who have participated in the National Concrete Canoe Competition have represented the best and the brightest of the engineering profession, and this year’s class is a continuation of that tradition,” said ASCE President Bill Marcuson, Ph.D., P.E., Hon.M.ASCE. “The creativity, innovation, and teamwork these students have displayed over the past three days assure me that no matter what challenges come their way—energy, transportation, global water supply—they will be prepared for success.” Allan Bommer, Bentley’s chief design engineer, Structural Concrete Products, concluded, “The experience of designing, building, and racing the canoes will be valuable to these students throughout their professional lives. It may be their ﬁrst and last opportunity to be involved in all phases of an engineering project—from design to construction and operation.” Although concrete is the most commonly used building material in the world, the students, sponsors, and more than 550 attendees of the 20th Annual ASCE National Concrete Canoe Competition proved that there is always much to be learned—and a lot of fun to be had—in the race to improve the world’s infrastructure and to shape future engineers. Dr. Laura Meier began her career in academia as an About Laura Meier, Ph.D. instructor at Binghamton University for six years. In 2002, Laura joined the academic team at Bentley in BE Careers Network. She now acts as academic program manager for North America, helping schools throughout the United States and Canada to cultivate tomorrow’s engineers, architects, and infrastructure professionals. v Second Place: University of Florida 14 BE MAGAZINE | Volume 4, Issue 3 http://content.asce.org/inside/nccc2007/index.html http://content.asce.org/inside/nccc2007/index.html http://www.be.org/en-US/Be%20Careers/

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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