UA engineering students participate in ASCE conference

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Engineering students from The University of Alabama traveled to Florida Atlantic University in March to participate in the American Society of Civil Engineers Southeast Student Conference.

More than 1,000 students from 25 universities in the southeastern region of the United States, as well as Puerto Rico and China, competed in the three-day event from March 16-18, 2017, at FAU’s Boca Raton campus and other nearby locations.

UA civil engineering students placed in three competitions. Coming in first place in the Traffic Engineering contest was the team of Davis Duncan, a junior from Brentwood, Tennessee; Blair Deshong, a senior from Springhill, Florida; Nathan Rhomberg, a senior from Saint Charles, Missouri; and Tyler Rhodes, a junior from Hoover. In the Professional Paper competition, Emily Gould, a senior from Charleston, West Virginia, placed second. The team of Kaitlyn Payne, a senior from Puxico, Missouri; Rachel Thornton, a senior from Eugene, Oregon; Gould and Rhodes placed third in the Balsa Wood Bridge contest.

The University came in 15th in the overall competition with 2750.1 points.

“We are very proud of the accomplishments of our student teams and gratefully acknowledge the support of everyone who helped make this possible,” said Dr. Derek Williamson, associate professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering.

The conference was comprised of 34 competitions including Concrete Canoe Design Paper, Concrete Canoe Design Presentation, Concrete Cylinder Strength, Concrete Frisbee, Concrete Cornhole, Best Duct Taping, Steel Bridge Efficiency, Steel Bridge Construction, T-shirt Design and more.

“Our steel bridge team brought a good bridge to competition and (was) supported during their qualifying build time by arguably the most enthusiastic and loudest cheering for any steel team,” Williamson said. “I received comments from multiple observers, including the head bridge judge, that this product was a great improvement over those of the last several years.”

ASCE is the nation’s oldest engineering society and the largest publisher of civil engineering content in the world. Eighteen ASCE student conferences take place throughout the United States each spring to increase student awareness and interest in civil engineering.

For the full list of winners from the 2017 ASCE Southeast Student Conference, visit 2017asce.fau.edu.

Photos by the Florida Atlantic University College of Engineering and Computer Science can be found here.