It’s All in the Mix – UE Wins BIG at ASCE Great Lakes Regional Conference
April 6, 2009
The University of Evansville Civil Engineering ASCE Concrete Canoe team beat huge odds by winning the 2009 Great Lakes Regional Conference Concrete Canoe competition held at Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. UE was then named overall conference champions – the grand prize of the frosty weekend.
The canoe, named Sasuke for a Ninja warrior and weighing in at a hefty 330 lbs, not only floated, but sliced through the water beautifully to make UE’s team the first in five years to beat powerhouse Wisconsin-Madison. Wisconsin-Madison has moved on to the national competition each year for the last 14 years, winning the national title 5 times and the international competition in 2007. This year, UE’s team will be packing up their canoe and going to nationals instead. The national competition will be held June 11-13 at the University of Alabama-Tuscaloosa.
14 other teams also competed including Purdue, USI, Rose-Hulman, Illinois and Notre Dame. UE is one of the smaller schools in the conference, but has proven that it can compete with great success with even the larger, better funded university engineering programs. As sophomore, Jamin Heldt put it, “I would say (it takes) dedication, innovation, and a little bit of heart”.
The Concrete Canoe competition is judged based upon canoe aesthetics and design, the academic merits of the design report and presentation, and the results of several races – run this year in frigid temperatures. UE’s ASCE team won first place in best aesthetics and durability and in the overall concrete canoe contest. When asked about the secret to success for this year’s concrete canoe, Dr Mark Valenzuela answered “It’s all in the mix!”
UE students also competed in steel bridge, concrete golf ball, mystery design, and technical paper and presentations. Senior Kyle Shatto won first place in the technical paper and presentation competition with his paper on Sustainability and Civil Engineering. UE’s concrete golf team won second place.
UE’s civil engineering program continues to produce winners who are not afraid of stiff competition. Dr Brian Swenty, Mechanical and Civil Engineering chair at UE says “We could choose to compete with schools our size, but we prefer going up against large civil engineering programs – and we CAN and DO compete at their level.”