WKU News
WKU civil engineers win 2015 Ohio Valley regional conference
- Wednesday, April 1st, 2015
First-place concrete canoe, steel bridge teams qualify for national events
WKU civil engineering students finished first overall in the 2015 Ohio Valley Student Conference March 25-28 at the University of Cincinnati and Cincinnati State Technical and Community College.
WKU civil engineering students, faculty and staff attended the 2015 Ohio Valley Student Competition at the University of Cincinnati.
WKU’s concrete canoe and steel bridge teams won their competitions and qualified for national events this summer. WKU teams also won the balsa wood bridge and geotechnical engineering competitions.
A total of 14 colleges and universities from Ohio, Kentucky and Western Pennsylvania competed in civil engineering competitions.
Concrete canoe
WKU finished first overall in the concrete canoe competition and advanced to the National Concrete Canoe Competition at the University of Clemson on June 20-22. The team placed first in final product and second on the canoe report and on the presentation. In the canoe races, WKU swept all of the competitions, finishing first in men’s, women’s and co-ed sprint, and first in men’s and women’s slalom.
WKU’s 2015 concrete canoe team: (back row, from left) Lucas Guinn, S. Kent Jones, Joe Owle, Andrew Keightley, Nick Beasmore, Michael Pickett, Elijah Garcia, Jacob Cowan, Dylan Jones and faculty advisor Matt Dettman; (front row, from left) Jackson Daugherty, Clintyn Weimer, Kayla Frye and Hilary Richards. Not pictured: Rachael Wilson and Thad Billingsley.
“This year’s team really stepped up their effort to bring home the victory,” said Professor Matthew Dettman, concrete canoe team faculty advisor. “Our region has really improved in the canoe competition over the last several years, and we really had to bring an outstanding product in order to win. Every phase of our team was extremely well prepared from the design paper to the oral presentation to our paddlers. It was a total team effort. I couldn’t be more proud of this group of young men and women.”
Concrete canoe team members include co-captains Dylan Jones of Berea and S. Kent Jones of Somerset; Lucas Guinn of Monticello; Andrew Keightley of Destrehan, Louisiana; Jackson Daugherty of Morgantown; Elijah Garcia of Chino Hills, California; Jacob Cowan of Columbia; Michael Pickett of Radcliff; Joe Owle of Cherokee, North Carolina; Thad Billingsley of Scottsville; Clintyn Weimer of Mt. Vernon, Indiana; Nick Beasmore of Lawrenceburg; Rachael Wilson of Elkton; Kayla Frye of Nancy; and Hilary Richards of Johannesburg, South Africa.
Steel bridge
WKU finished first overall in the steel bridge competition and advanced to the National Student Steel Bridge Competition at the University of Missouri-Kansas City on May 23-24. This is the third year in a row that the team qualified for the national competition. The team placed first in stiffness, display and structural efficiency, and second in construction speed, economy and lightness.
WKU’s 2015 steel bridge team (from left): Dr. Shane Palmquist (faculty advisor), Lindsey Gadberry Phelps, Khaled Alammar, C. Jeremiah Short, Raymond Van Zee, Kyle Parks, Justin Hopkins, Ben Mullins, Blake Adams, Dalton Hankins, Allyson Alvey, Ashane Netthisinghe and Sarah Hay.
“The students, using the knowledge gained from last year’s trip to the national competition and engineering coursework taken at WKU, designed and constructed an innovative truss bridge structure,” said Dr. Shane Palmquist, steel bridge team faculty advisor. “The team was truly dedicated and unified, practicing hard to win the competition. I am extremely proud of them and their accomplishment.”
Steel bridge team members include: tri-captains Kyle Parks of Bloomfield, Justin Hopkins of Russellville and Dalton Hankins of Greenville; Sarah Hay of Louisa; Lindsey Gadberry Phelps of Somerset; Ben Mullins of Waynesburg; Allyson Alvey of Paducah; Raymond Van Zee of Russellville; Ashane Netthisinghe of Bowling Green; Khaled Alammar of Kuwait City, Kuwait; C. Jeremiah Short of Greenville; and Blake Adams of Monticello.
Balsa wood bridge
WKU teams finished first and second in the balsa wood bridge competition. This was the third year in a row that WKU won this competition.
Balsa wood bridge team construction during regional competition. Back row: Raymond Van Zee and Clark Parker; front row: Blake Adams and James Thomason.
Team members include Raymond Van Zee of Russellville; Blake Adams of Monticello; James Thomason of Bowling Green; Clark Parker of Morgantown; Taylor Bowling of London; Tyler Baker of Lawrenceburg; and Jeremy Marin of Guthrie.
Team advisor, Dr. Warren Campbell, said: “Two bridges from WKU were summited for this competition, and the bridge summited by the first four team members held an amazing 40 percent more load than any other bridge in the competition.”
Geotechnical engineering
WKU finished first in the geotechnical engineering competition. Team members include Ben Mullins of Waynesburg; Justin Hopkins of Russellville; Drake Riley of Bowling Green; Lindsey Gadberry Phelps of Somerset; Jessica Collins of Somerset; and Ryan Spaulding of Springfield. The competition was to build a mound of soil the fastest and tallest using the least reinforcement as possible.
Surveying
WKU surveying team members (from left) Dylan Givens, Ethan Smith, Logan Howe and Collin Ray.
WKU finished third overall in the surveying competition. Team members include Dylan Givens of Benton; Logan Howe of Madisonville; Collin Ray of Owingsville; and Ethan Smith of Lancaster. Dr. Ronald Gallagher, surveying team advisor, said this year’s competition involved pacing, running a sewer line, and performing a stake out.
Concrete bat
WKU finished second in the concrete bat competition. Team members include Trey Baston of Tompkinsville; Aaron Smith of Somerset; and Allen Brown of Monticello. The competition was to construct a reinforced concrete bat. Judging was based on bat aesthetics and lightness as well as the distances that balls were hit during the competition.
Concrete horseshoe
In the concrete horseshoe competition, Sean McCarty of Campbellsville and Stewart Parker of Owensboro competed in the event to construct a reinforced concrete horseshoe and play a game of horseshoes. Horseshoe aesthetics was also part of the competition.
Civil site design
Jeremiah Short of Greenville, Dalton Hankins of Greenville and Daniel Hammer of Tompkinsville competed in the civil site design competition to create a design in AutoCAD according to the specifications provided. Judging was based on accuracy, speed and the process used to create the layout and drawings.
Environmental engineering
Michael Pickett of Radcliff, Elijah Garcia of Chino Hills, California, and Megan Jones of Glasgow participated in the environmental engineering competition to design and construct an apparatus to filter contaminants from a water supply in a cost effective and efficient method.
Technical paper
David Miller of Louisville participated in the technical paper competition that involved writing a paper and giving a professional presentation on a civil engineering topic. The topic this year was should the design engineer of record who signed and sealed the plans be held responsible to any degree for injury or death to builders or bystanders that occur during construction.
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