Teams of student engineers from Michigan and Ohio will be building concrete canoes and steel bridges this Friday and Saturday, as Michigan State University hosts the American Society of Civil Engineers 2016 North Central Student Conference.
The conference features two intercollegiate design contests: The concrete canoe competition at Lansing’s Hawk Island Park and the steel bridge construction competition, which will be at MSU’s Breslin Center.
The events are free and open to the public.
The concrete canoe competition is Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Hawk Island Park is located 1601 E. Cavanaugh Road, Lansing.
The steel bridge competition is 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday. The best time to view competition is from 8 a.m. to noon.
This regional contest is part of the National Concrete Canoe Competition, which provides students with a practical application of the engineering principles they learn in the classroom, along with team and project management skills.
The event challenges the students' knowledge, creativity and stamina, while showcasing the versatility and durability of concrete as a building material. The organization’s first national concrete canoe contest was hosted by MSU in 1988.
The steel bridge competition is a varsity-level challenge for competing ASCE civil engineering student teams. Students work for months to design, fabricate and erect a 21-foot long steel bridge. The requirements are strict -- to support 2,500 pounds with minimum sag.
“Almost all of the work is done by students, everything from concrete design and steel fabrication to project management and communication,” said conference chair Patrick Schwyn, a junior in civil engineering from St. Joseph, Michigan. “In some ways participants also get a head start in material they have yet to learn.”
Winning teams in both competitions will then move on to national competitions.
This year’s teams are from:
Case Western Reserve University (steel bridge only)
Lawrence Technological University
Michigan State University
Michigan Technological University
Ohio Northern University
University of Detroit Mercy (concrete canoe only)
University of Michigan
University of Toledo
Western Michigan University
The national competitions are sponsored by the American Institute of Steel Construction and the American Society of Civil Engineers.