Paddlers for the men’s competition races are Joe Morris, left, Cameron Carris and Dan Bender.
Civil engineering students at The University of Akron are finding success both over and on the water. The UA Student Chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers steel bridge and concrete canoe teams each received First Place Overall awards at the 2010 ASCE Ohio Valley Student Conference, held April 22 to 24 in Lexington, Ky. This is the third consecutive year that the UA Steel Bridge Team placed first overall in the competition.
Both UA teams placed first in several competition categories. Also, both teams qualify for national competitions. The National Student Steel Bridge Competition is scheduled for May 28 and 29 at Purdue University in Lafayette, Ind. Meanwhile, the National Concrete Canoe Competition will take place June 17 to 19 at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, Calif.
Students also competed in several side competitions including environmental, AutoCAD, surveying, concrete bowling and ethics paper competitions. Finally, the UA students received special distinction called the Spirit of Competition Award.
Eric Hilty, left, Brian Nixdorf and Mike Jurcak transport their team’s winning structure.
According to alumnus team member Nathaniel Foote, a structural mechanics engineer for Babcock & Wilcox Power Generation Group, UA was nominated for this award by several other competing schools for assisting the other teams and host school whenever opportunities arose.
“These students represented The University of Akron, The Akron-Canton Section of ASCE, and the UA community with what can only be described as excellence,” Foote says.
About the College of Engineering
The UA College of Engineering is the fourth fastest growing college of engineering in the country (among the 150 largest; source: American Society for Engineering Education) and the fastest growing in the state. The college’s current 2,142 undergraduate enrollment represents a 54.9 percent increase in students between fall 2004 and fall 2009.
Media contact: Denise Henry, 330-972-6477 or henryd@uakron.edu.