Engineering students place at conference

On Friday and Saturday of last week, 30 UA engineering students participated in the American Society of Civil Engineers 2008 Southeast Student Conference in Florida, and returned to Alabama with many honors in tow.

There were 26 teams from schools in Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia and Florida at the conference, which is held annually.

The UA team placed third in a competition building a tower out of balsa wood, fourth in econo-survey, a competition that combines aspects of land survey and engineering, first in a "Mystery Event," which was a skit they performed, and second in a professional paper-writing contest.

The University's team was made up of volunteer members of the UA chapter of ASCE.

"There were several different events that they competed in," said Michael Triche, a civil engineering professor who traveled with the team.

The conference included concrete canoe and steel bridge competitions, in which the students had to construct the devices and test them.

The canoe had to be built out of a special floatable mixture of concrete and compete in a race.

"It floated and they placed," Triche said. "They didn't place in the top five, though."

The UA students fared better in the steel bridge competition, which they had been preparing for since October.

"We had meetings once a week, and we would design and check the rules once a week to make sure they were right," said Nick Crane, a senior majoring in civil engineering.

The metal shop at the University provided the steel parts the students designed in March, and they started practicing putting it together swiftly and carefully.

Crane, a co-captain on the bridge team, was not able to travel to Florida, but said he was very involved in the design process.

The team had to assemble their bridge quickly, and it had to hold a burden of at least 2,500 pounds.

"They measure many aspects of the bridge," Crane said.

The bridge built by the UA students weighed approximately 265 pounds, was five feet tall, and spanned 20 feet in length.

The University placed fourth overall in the bridge competition, fourth in the economy section, and second in the speed of construction.

"Auburn got disqualified this year, which was great for us," Crane said.

"I was really pleased with this year's bridge," he said. "Especially since we were disqualified last year."

In the 2007 competition, the UA team used bolts that could not withstand the pressure that was put on the bridge, and it fell, he said.

Crane said the team from the University is very young, and includes several students who had not attended the conference before.

Robert Morris, a senior majoring in civil engineering, said he thinks he and the team did well.

"I think that it was a great accomplishment that we came home with three trophies," he said. "We can step it up and be better next year."

"It was a team effort," Morris said. "Everybody gave their part in certain areas."

Triche expressed similar sentiments. "I think they did great, though they might have done better on the steel bridge," he said. "They've tried their hardest, and they did very well. It's very competitive. Very, very, very competitive."

The students also placed in several smaller competitions.