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April 04, 2002 WKU Hosting Regional Concrete Canoe,  Western has hosted the concrete canoe regional for the past four years, but this year is adding the steel bridge and a surveying competition for the April 12-13 event. "We decided to add the surveying competition this year to expand the opportunities for students," said Matthew Dettman, civil engineering professor and concrete canoe team adviser. Teams from Western, Ohio State, Kentucky, Cincinnati, Cincinnati State, Dayton, Pittsburgh and Cleveland State will compete in the Ohio Valley regional. Western has won the concrete canoe competition for six straight years and the bridge competition for two consecutive years. "I think this competition really is a good opportunity to show the types of skills and abilities that these students have," Dettman said. "What I've always said is this competition really isn't about building canoes or building bridges, it's about building engineers and having them exercise their problem-solving abilities outside the classroom." The regional winners advance to the national competition June 21-24 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The event will mark the 150th anniversary of the American Society of Civil Engineers. Western is marking its 10th year in the concrete canoe competition with an entry named "Evolution." In the past two years, Western has finished eighth and 10th in the nation. Team members have been working on the canoe project since last August. "We wanted to look at how the canoe has evolved over the last 10 years, how it's changed, the technological changes we've seen in our canoe and the improvements we've seen in our ability to be competitive," Dettman said. That theme is carried out in the oral presentation, design paper and visual display that are part of the academic portion of the competition. Students use those areas to show judges how the project was completed including the canoe hull design, concrete mix design, construction process, research, team management and budget management. The paddling portion consists of sprint, distance and slalom races. In the bridge competition, team adviser Greg Mills said Western students have designed an entry that's an improvement on last year's bridge that finished 25th in the nation. "I'm very pleased with the results," Mills said. "They've improved upon last year's bridge and that's all we can ask." Bridges are judged on aesthetics, stiffness, construction speed, weight, construction economy, structural efficiency and overall performance. Here's the schedule for the 2002 Ohio Valley regional competition: Friday, April 12 2:30 p.m.: Tour of Stupp Bridge Company, 445 Century St. 6 p.m.: Concrete canoe oral presentations, Grise Hall auditorium Saturday, April 13 6 p.m.: Awards banquet, University Plaza Hotel Members of the WKU student steel bridge team, all seniors, include: Dan Haney of Munster, Ind.; Danny Bratcher and Josh Miller of Bowling Green; Daniel Kirby of Alvaton; Larry Shelton of Owensboro; Aaron Talbot of Greenbrier, Tenn. Members of the WKU concrete canoe team include: Clay Ellis, a Beaver Dam senior; Deneatra Flener, a Morgantown senior; Matt Shockley, a Mount Washington junior; Chris Bates, a Sacramento senior; Brian Bidwell, a senior from Conneaut, Ohio; Jason Sparks, a Woodburn senior; Scott Neighbors, a Bowling Green senior; Anthony Elmore, a Leitchfield senior; Nick Soards, a Glasgow senior; Matt Greene, a sophomore from Gallatin, Tenn.; Jason Michael, a Louisa senior; Cody Henderson, a Morgantown junior; Josh Moore, a Bowling Green senior; and Daniel Kirby, an Alvaton senior. For more on the regional competition, click on http://www.wku.edu/concretecanoe/ For a look at how the teams have worked to reach this point, click on http://www.wku.edu/canoeweb.html
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Copyright 2001 Western Kentucky University
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