A team of NDSU engineering students has advanced to a national steel bridge-building competition. The team took second place at a regional competition held as part of the 2017 American Society of Civil Engineering Midwest Regional Student Conference held March 30-April 1 at NDSU.
Lakehead University of Ontario finished first overall. Iowa State University, South Dakota State University and the University of Manitoba rounded out the top five. Lakehead University and NDSU advance to the national competition scheduled May 26-27 at Oregon State University. NDSU won the national competition in 1995, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2010.
The NDSU team is co-captained by Aaron Anderson and Brandon Smith and includes Jake Roepke, Zach Ness, Kyle Hoefs, Max Schumacher, Austin Pauly, Erick Francis, Matthew Oen and Jordan Wurtzberger.
Teams from each participating school built a 20-foot steel bridge, spanning a 7-foot river, as quickly and efficiently as possible. The bridge must support 2,500 pounds without deflecting more than three inches. Teams were judged on construction technique, construction time, lightness, aesthetics, stiffness, economy and structural efficiency. NDSU placed second in construction speed, first in lightness, fourth in bridge stiffness, second in economy and first in efficiency.
The Student Steel Bridge Competition provides design and management experience, opportunity to learn fabrication processes, and the excitement of networking with and competing against teams from other colleges and universities.
More than 200 engineering students, faculty members and professionals from a five-state area and Canada traveled to Fargo for the conference. The event, hosted by NDSU’s chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers and the NDSU Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, also featured guest speakers from the Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute, City of Fargo, Houston Engineering Inc., Sandman Structural Engineers and KLJ.
The steel bridge-building competition first began in 1992 at Michigan State University and grew quickly in popularity and participation.
As a student-focused, land-grant, research university, we serve our citizens.
