Engineering students float boat, build bridge

The team that designed and built UD’s entry in the concrete canoe competition included (front, from left) senior Elizabeth Hahn, senior Nicole Reader, senior Patricia Braun, senior Allison Vollmer and (back, from left) senior Mike Zettlemoyer, senior Matthew Savage, senior Eric Harbeson, sophomore Jason Carpenter and senior Nicola Marucci.

1:15 p.m., May 18, 2004--UD student members of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) traveled to Penn State University recently to compete in the annual Mid-Atlantic Region ASCE engineering challenge and came away with some top awards.

Twenty-one UD students attended the competition, where they competed in two different events: the steel bridge and concrete canoe competitions.

In the steel bridge contest, students were challenged to build the lightest, strongest bridge within specific dimensions made only from structural steel. UD students placed first in construction speed and economy, and took second place overall in the competition. The bridge had to be 25 feet long and only 3 feet wide, and it had to be constructed in pieces and then assembled in a timed portion of the competition. The bridge was then loaded with 2,500 pounds and judged on the amount it bent, or deflection. The construction time, weight, dimensions and amount of deflection were then put into a formula to determine a winner.

Andrew Cadmus, president of UD’s ASCE chapter and steel bridge project manager, said that students began work on the bridge in November and finished just hours before they were set to depart for Penn State. “I am so proud to have been a part of such an awesome team of students who worked so hard for so many months,” he said.

The students who designed and built UD’s entry in the steel bridge competition included (seated and kneeling, from left) senior Andrew Cadmus, junior Christi DeSisto, senior Evan Brodsky, junior Rachel Smith, senior Jaime Lussi, senior Jennifer Sagar, senior Rebecca Saduk and (standing, from left) sophomore John Connelly, senior Adam Smith, sophomore Dane Stokes and senior Michael Cimino.

Students who participated in the concrete canoe challenge had to build a 300-pound concrete canoe that could not only float, but win races as well. The 21 foot long canoe, named “Chicken Ship” by UD’s ASCE team, performed well, taking second place in the women’s distance and sprint races.

“We all went there to have fun, and that’s what we did,” Cadmus said. “We presented the University of Delaware well by being competitive and having a great time as well.”

Article by Kevin Tressler, AS ’04
Photos by Kathy Atkinson

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