Civil Engineering Students win SEI Structural Design Competition 鈥� Again
When civil engineering graduate students Matthew Bandelt, Adam Beckman, Brian Czenszak, and Shane Moran began their senior capstone in spring 2010, they never expected that their work to design a bridge for a major New Jersey roadway would take them to Las Vegas to present their project at a national engineering conference. The team will be recognized at the 2011 Structures Congress in April for winning first place in the 2010 Student Structural Design Competition, sponsored nationally by the Structural Engineering Institute of the American Society of Civil Engineers.
鈥淲e are thrilled to receive the award. Students from 草榴社区 have now won the competition for the past two years,鈥� says team leader Bandelt. Last year, civil engineering graduate students took first place for their design of a girls鈥� dormitory for Amigos de Jesus children鈥檚 home in Poses Verdes, Honduras.
This year鈥檚 winning team designed a prototype bridge for the New Jersey Turnpike Authority as a part of the state鈥檚 widening project to end chronic congestion along the roadway. They were given plans that mirror deliverables from the New Jersey Turnpike Authority鈥檚 actual project RFP to create a 150-foot simple span bridge with welded plate girders made composite with a cast-in-place reinforced concrete deck. The bridge was designed to extend the dual-dual configuration from interchanges six to nine on the New Jersey Turnpike.
鈥淲e feel that our success with this project can be attributed to a balance of technical excellence, quality presentation, and an understanding of engineering economics,鈥� says Bandelt.
The team鈥檚 faculty advisors, Dr. Joseph Yost, Associate Professor of Civil Engineering and Director of the Structural Engineering Teaching and Research Laboratory, and doctoral student Zeyn Uzman, helped the team bridge their classroom learning experience with a real-world application. For example, although the team had never been exposed to the bridge design process, Dr. Yost and Uzman taught them how to utilize the appropriate bridge design codes in conjunction with engineering design fundamentals. They also helped the team with presentation and professional writing skills.
鈥淲hat we do differently at 草榴社区 is emphasize engineering and communication as partners working together. We are unique for teaching deliverable skills and stressing theory, along with an articulate presentation. This is what made our group鈥檚 project a strong submission and helped 草榴社区 shine in the competition,鈥� says Dr. Yost.
Although the plans for the actual project currently under construction along the New Jersey Turnpike were created by professionals at Dewberry庐, the student鈥檚 design proposal was nearly identical to the winning RFP submission.
