Cornell engineering students will be host this weekend to two major regional competitions, one to build and race a concrete canoe, the other to design and construct a steel bridge.
The competitions, which are being organized by the Cornell student chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), will bring students from 12 other universities to the campus Saturday, April 17. The two competitions are commonly held simultaneously. The upstate New York ASCE regionals were last held at Cornell in 1992.
The competing teams will be from Cornell, Clarkson University, Dalhouse University, Hudson Valley Community College, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, SUNY College of Technology in Canton, SUNY Institute of Technology in Utica, Syracuse University, the U.S. Military Academy, SUNY at Buffalo and the University of Ottawa.
Last year Cornell placed second in the concrete canoe competition held at the University at Buffalo. The contest entails designing and building a boat out of concrete. Races will be held on Beebe Lake between 1:30 p.m. and 4 p.m. There will be a men's, a women's and a coed sprint race and a men's and women's distance race. In addition, the teams will have to make an oral presentation and submit a display board and technical paper to the judges.
Judging will be by members of the Ithaca ASCE Section, which includes Cornell faculty members. The winner will advance to the national concrete canoe competition in Florida in June.
Cornell will have a total of 15 bridges competing in the steel bridge competition, which is sponsored by the American Institute of Steel Construction. The event will take place in Lynah Rink between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Winners will advance to the national steel bridge competition in Anchorage, Alaska, in June.
Each team will be timed on bridge construction, and the bridges will be loaded and the deflection measured. Students will be graded on efficiency and in such areas as minimum deflection. Judges will be members of the New York State Steel Fabricators Association.
Co-chairs for the events are Cornell engineering students Rhiannon Fernald and Adam Slivers. Leading the Cornell canoe team are students Holly McNamara, Cory Chung and Dan Mullins. The bridge team is led by students Jessica Klement and Jeff Kerr. The faculty adviser is Tim Bond, manager of the George Winter Structural Laboratory.
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