Student Chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)

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2007 Conference

April 12-13

L to R: Tim Palik, Becki Arneson, Ty Coukup, Joe Johnston, Jim Staebler
Daniel Ross Thad Hunter, Richard Price, Kerri Puckett, Ben Nemec
Aaron Crego, Paul Cox, Chris Potter, and Dr. Edgar

Thursday, April 12

The work is over, time to take our projects to the competition. The scheduled time to leave was 4:00PM, and we actually left at, 4:30PM. We loaded the bridge, then the canoe and headed to Boulder, CO. On the way down, the canoe suffered a little damage to the gunwale which worried the rowing team, but El Capitan was confident in its strength and reassured the canoe would hold. We arrived in Boulder in a few hours, got our room, registered, and toured the city of Boulder for a few hours before going to sleep, prepared to compete the very next day!!

Friday, April 13

Opening Ceremonies

Opening ceremonies were right on time; the crew transporting the bridge got a little lost, but arrived just in time. Kerri presented the Chapter in a planetarium, doing a great job describing our chapter and some of the things we do. Although she called CU, CSU, overall it was a good presentation.

Steel Bridge

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Construction Video

Time for the big show, the steel bridge, we were confident in our bridge and were ready to dominate it. Building on last years design, our bridge stood out among the rest, being one of only two beam bridges amongst a sea of truss bridges. As soon as it was our turn to build the bridge, we were done, finishing it in only 2:11!!

The day was full of even more excitement when 2 bridges completely failed and 2 others had serious deflection issues.

Later that evening, full of confidence, we at the Olive Garden, pondering the next day events and making fun of Richard and the very masculine drinks he was having.

Saturday, April 14

Concrete Canoe

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The canoe presentations were scheduled for that morning, and as always they were very technical. New Mexico did a great job with their presentation, confusing everyone that did not have some engineering background, and some of those who did. As Wyoming approached the stage, the wall displayed “The University of Wyoming, 2007, Steel Bridge.” At that moment everyone knew what they were in for, but no one expected the bathing suits and ties. After the presentations one of the judges asked what our biggest worry was and Daniel Ross ended the presentation with “The water in going to be cold.”

Closing Banquet

Time for the awards, and boy did we run away with the bridge, winning weight, aesthetics, speed, economy, efficiency, and first overall. What a great way to end a 3 day competition. Overall it was successful; a national bound bridge, and a canoe that was built in four weeks that did not break. Good job guys, time to prepare for nationals in Southern California... Fishing anyone?

Conference Team
L -> R Chris Potter, Dr. Edgar, Jim Staebler, Kerri Puckett, Ben Nemec
Joe Johnston, Richard Price, Daniel Ross, Becki Arneson, Thad Hunter
Aaron Crego, Tim Palik, and Paul Cox