RAPID CITY, S.D. (April 17, 2013) – The South Dakota School of Mines & Technology student chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) placed second out of 13 schools at the 2013 ASCE Rocky Mountain Regional Conference April 4-6, in Logan, Utah.
The steel bridge team finished in third place overall and will continue on to nationals held May 31 in Seattle, Wash. The steel bridge competition requires students to design, fabricate and construct a steel bridge scored on efficiency, measured by weight and stiffness, and economy, measured by construction speed. The 17-foot bridge was constructed in 6:56 minutes with two penalties and weighed in at 119 pounds, making the SDSM&T bridge the second fastest and the lightest bridge at competition.
The concrete canoe team had the lightest boat, placing fourth overall and in racing. This year’s theme for the canoe was The Tippy Hippie based on Hippie Hole. The concrete canoe competition requires students to design and construct a canoe that is judged on a design paper and presentation; appearance and conformance to specified dimensions; and speed in sprint and endurance races.
The pre-design team placed third overall in a competition that challenged students to design a ventilation system for an orphanage.
In the two paper competitions, Mines student Gina Rossi received third place for her non-technical paper and presentation on engineering ethics and licensure and Kaleb Nielsen-Sheffield took sixth place with his technical paper presentation.
In addition, the ASCE student chapter took third place in the Canstruction competition. In this event, competing teams showcase their talents by building giant sculptures made entirely out of canned foods. At the close of the conference, all of the food used for Canstruction was donated to local food banks for distribution to pantries, shelters, soup kitchens and elderly and day care centers. The School of Mines students collected approximately 2,300 cans.
The concrete canoe and steel bridge teams are part of the Center of Excellence for Advanced Manufacturing and Production (CAMP), a student-centered, hands-on engineering program. A key part of the CAMP experience involves designing, building, testing and competing in a variety of engineering challenges. The program actively combines the classroom experience where students apply their developing technical skills in real-world situations that involve fundraising, planning, deadlines and international competitions where the teams test their mettle against universities from around the world.