NC State ASCE student chapter scores high marks at Carolinas Symposium

The NC State student chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) traveled about 150 miles south to compete at the 2024 ASCE Carolinas Student Symposium at UNC Charlotte on April 4-6. The 31 students participated in a variety of competitions and brought back several prizes.

In the Concrete Canoe Competition, students were challenged to design, construct, and race concrete canoes. It was the first year since before the pandemic that NC State participated in the competition, scoring third place.

“Students worked hard to bring it back, design and construct a canoe to transport to the conference,” said Zoe Smith, a recent CCEE grad and former president of the NC State ASCE chapter. “We were very excited that it survived transportation and floated at the lake.” 

In the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC)/ASCE Student Steel Bridge Competition, the NC State chapter took home second place. Teams were required to construct a prefabricated steel bridge in under 45 minutes with construction constraints such as a river that cannot be crossed, no members or tools touching the floor, and only six builders. Bridges were also load-tested, weighed, and judged on aesthetics. 

The NC State team won second place in the Sustainable Solutions Competition, which challenged students to develop a stronger understanding of sustainability and learn to incorporate sustainable solutions into everyday problems that engineers may encounter by simulating a request for proposal (RFP) that responds to a real-world challenge.

In the Transportation Competition, students analyzed a real-life traffic problem then designed, drafted and presented their designs to a panel of judges. The NC State chapter scored first place. The team also won third place in both the T-shirt competition, where they designed a shirt that incorporated the conference’s theme of “Builiding Rome,” and the 3D Printed Bridge Competition, where they designed, fabricated and assembled a non-metallic, 3D-printed bridge capable of withstanding vertical forces applied at the top.

While attending the conference students socialized and networked with other university students, watched other competitions and explored UNC Charlotte’s campus. 

“The ASCE Symposium was a great opportunity to present our projects and interact with teams from other schools,” said recent CCEE grad Brandon Tucker. “I personally enjoyed cheering on the concrete canoe races, and I learned a lot from the judge’s feedback at our sustainable solutions presentation.”