“`html
From concrete canoe regattas on Lake Herrick to steel bridge fabrication outside the Driftmier Engineering Center and two-story wooden structure construction at the Intramural Fields, the University of Georgia campus was filled with engineering-related activities this spring.
Between March 6 and 8, the UGA College of Engineering welcomed over 700 students from 19 institutions across Florida, Georgia, and Puerto Rico for the American Society of Civil Engineers Southeast Student Symposium. The event relied on nearly 150 judges and volunteers for support.
The event was jam-packed with contests, professional and personal growth opportunities, and networking to celebrate civil engineering and the ASCE community. The ASCE Southeast Student Symposium is one of 19 regional student gatherings organized annually to commemorate civil engineering and the ASCE community. This marked the first occasion the University of Georgia has hosted a symposium since the founding of the UGA chapter in 2015.
“It was a tremendous honor to host the ASCE Student Symposium,” remarked Stephan Durham, interim dean of the College of Engineering and co-faculty advisor for the ASCE UGA chapter. “Significant hours of meticulous planning and preparation were invested in this conference. I take great pride in our chapter.”
ASCE is an engineering organization dedicated to progressing technologies, fostering lifelong education, promoting professionalism within the civil engineering field, cultivating civil engineering leaders, and advocating for infrastructure and environmental stewardship. The UGA ASCE chapter has rapidly positioned itself as a robust student-led organization with a high degree of participation and activity in one of the fastest-growing programs within the College of Engineering.
UGA ASCE students lower their concrete canoe, Argo III, into Lake Herrick. (Photo by Lillian Ballance)
Perhaps the most awaited highlight from the competition was the yearly concrete canoe race. Since the 1960s, ASCE student chapters have vied to excel in designing, constructing, and racing concrete canoes. Throughout the years, canoe recipes and designs have varied, yet the time-honored tradition of teamwork, camaraderie, and spirited rivalry has persisted.
The conference also featured the annual Student Steel Bridge Competition, co-sponsored by ASCE and the American Institute of Steel Construction. This competition prompts students to apply their classroom knowledge to a tangible and hands-on steel design project that enhances their interpersonal and professional competencies, encourages innovation, and nurtures valuable connections between students and industry professionals. Each student team formulates a design for a scale-model steel bridge aimed to span approximately 20 feet and sustain 2,500 pounds. The teams are tasked with determining how to manufacture their bridge and strategizing for an efficient assembly under timed construction conditions during the event. Bridges are subsequently load tested, weighed, and evaluated on aesthetics.
“Each university rallied behind their teams, cheering and singing their fight songs in what became friendly competitions among themselves, offering opportunities to employ their technical abilities through hands-on design,” stated Gokul Dev Vasudevan, the other co-faculty advisor for UGA ASCE.
The University of Georgia took home first place in the symposium’s cornhole competition. (Photo by Lillian Ballance)
In total, the symposium encompassed 18 distinct competitions. The UGA chapter concluded with two accolades, including first place in “Concrete Cornhole,” a challenge where students crafted and constructed a concrete cornhole board to be judged and utilized in a double elimination bracket tournament, and third place in the society-wide Sustainable Solutions competition, wherein students develop a sustainability-driven proposal to address a real-world challenge.
The post UGA hosts civil engineering student symposium appeared first on UGA Today.
“`