Bowling Green, Ky. - Students in Western Kentucky University's Department of Engineering are gearing up for regional competitions.

This weekend, civil engineering students will travel to Cincinnati for concrete canoe and steel bridge competitions in the 2005 Ohio Valley Regional Conference. Next weekend, electrical engineering students will be in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., for a robotics competition at the 2005 IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) Southeast Region Conference.

The civil engineering regional competition, sponsored by the American Society of Civil Engineering and the American Institute of Steel Construction, includes universities from Kentucky, Ohio and Pennsylvania, such as the University of Kentucky, Ohio State, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Carnegie Mellon and Dayton.

Western's concrete canoe team has won the regional competition for nine consecutive years. This weekend's winner will advance to the national competition June 25-27 at Clemson University. WKU's team placed 13th nationally last year after four straight top 10 finishes.

The competition will consist of academic and athletic portions as the students will compete in oral presentations and technical design papers that document how the canoes are designed, built, managed and finished. Then students compete in five races where they test the design of the canoe in strength and speed as well their own paddling ability.

Members of the WKU concrete canoe team are: Kyle Hunt of Morgantown, Andy Hawkins of Munfordville, Matt Rogers of Columbia, Will McDonough of Owensboro, Shannon Hayes of McKenzie, Tenn., Darren Stewart of Roundhill, Derek Marshall of Burlington, Kurt Cooper of Bowling Green, Ben Kidd of Glasgow.

In the steel bridge event, students construct a bridge for a speed score then load it with 2,500 pounds and measure deflection. Last year, WKU's team finished fourth overall and first in aesthetics at the regional competition. The regional winner advances to the national competition May 27-28 in Orlando, Fla.

Members of the WKU steel bridge team are: Travis Carrico of Springfield, Andrew Stewart of Scottsville, Eric Belaj of Vlore, Albania, Mitch Ratliff of Frankfort, Michael O'Reilly of Hardinsburg, James Jones of Somerset, Jason Miles of Elizabethtown, Tony Kelly of Brandenburg, Cody Humble and Adam Evans, both of Monticello.

In the regional robotics competition April 7-10, WKU students will join about 38 other teams in a contest where students must design, build and program an autonomous (not remotely controlled) robot to complete several tasks.

The following WKU students will attend the competition: Jacob Huber of Springfield, Tenn., Michael Howard and Austin McLimore, both of Owensboro, Tommy Rippy and Steven Ferralin, both of Bowling Green, Jessica Lassourreille of Edmonton, Chris Jarboe of Woodburn, and Hao-Chung Pai of Taipei, Taiwan.

The IEEE Southeast Region includes Alabama, Florida, Georgia, areas of Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and the country of Jamaica.

Earlier this semester, a team of WKU students won the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Region VI Student Design Competition. The competition required teams to design and build a remotely controlled vehicle capable of transporting as much rice as possible across an obstacle course in 10 minutes. Team members Brandon Bibelhauser of Louisville, Stephen Howard of Bowling Green and Johnny Martin of Franklin advanced to November's national competition in Orlando, Fla.

More WKU news is available at www.wku.edu. If you'd like to receive WKU news via e-mail, send a message to WKUNews@wku.edu.

For information, contact Engineering Department at (270) 745-2461.