Last month, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville engineering students participated in two international construction competitions.
The American Concrete Institute (ACI) Fiber-Reinforced Polymer (FRP) Composites Student Competition was held on Oct. 27 at the Concrete Convention and Exposition in Cincinnati. While competing against 40 other universities, the SIUE engineering team placed second in the Structure Type 1 category.
Students involved in this competition include: Dalton Brookshire, of Nokomis; David Rall, of Belleville; Paityn Jansen, of Breese; Martin Witges, of Columbia; Holly Liebel, of Liberty, Mo.; Joel Kuhlmann, of Edwardsville; and Josh Hemann, of Highland.
“The SIUE Luke Snell ACI student chapter competes in an international concrete competition every semester,” explained Brookshire. “The goal of this semester’s competition was to design and construct an economical light weight concrete beam reinforced with an FRP rebar.”
At the competition, the team’s beam was tested to compare their prediction of a 3.5mm deflection and ultimate load versus the actual load of the beam. Another factor was to achieve the lowest cost per load.
“The construction industry is a small community,” said Brookshire. “Students that attend these ACI competitions not only gain knowledge of concrete properties, but also have an opportunity to network with other students and industry professionals. The relationships made during the ACI conventions prove to be extremely valuable for students upon entering the industry.”
“The students worked very hard to prepare for this competition,” added Anne Werner, PhD, P.E., associate professor in the Department of Construction. “Their second place finish in an incredibly competitive international student competition is truly remarkable.”
The Associated Schools of Construction (ASC) Great Lakes Region held their conference Oct. 14-17 in Downers Grove. SIUE engineering had two teams participating in the heavy civil and commercial categories of the competition.
The heavy civil team was comprised of Daniel Guajardo, of Oak Forest; Dalton Ratliff, of Athens; Landon Wargel, of Clinton; Maxwell Goodman, of Gurnee; and Nathan Ferber, of Saint Charles, Mo. The commercial team was made up of Michael Firtos; Marcus Burks, of Chicago; Andrew Michel, of Morton; Kourion Mack, of Peoria; and Josh Gonzalez, of Edwardsville.
“The ASC competition is a wonderful opportunity for students to interact and engage with the biggest contractors in the region,” said faculty coach Ahmed Abdelaty, assistant professor and chair in the Department of Construction. “Students work on solving problems for real projects delivered by those contractors in a competitive and motivating environment.”
The trip was made possible by funds from Helmkamp Construction, A. R. Deahl, Contegra Construction Co., Alberici Corp., and OPUS.
“Being able to participate in these international competitions greatly enhances our student’s experience and knowledge,” added Werner. “It certainly helps increase the awareness of the construction and engineering industries of the high-quality students we have at SIUE. In addition, we are very grateful to our many generous donors that make the trips to these competitions possible.”