Concrete Canoes, Steel Bridges—and Bright Futures

For the student chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) at the University of Pittsburgh, there is an annual competition that builds bridges—literally and figuratively. That event, held this year on March 27 – 29 at The Pennsylvania State University, is the ASCE Mid-Atlantic Student Symposium.

“This is the pinnacle event of the year for most ASCE chapters,” said Garret Phipps, vice president of Pitt’s ASCE Student Chapter at the Swanson School of Engineering. “We rally together so many people—it’s what we’re pulling for the entire year.”

Pitt’s team competes in the western Region 2, which has 16 member schools including Carnegie Mellon University, George Mason University, Howard University, and Penn State. Teams participate in challenges such as creating and racing concrete canoes, designing and constructing scale-model bridges, and developing sustainable solutions.

Central to the competition is the concrete canoe. While many may question the logic of a concrete canoe, for Katherine Volna, president of Pitt’s student chapter, it makes perfect sense. “What’s more civil engineering than concrete?”

Teams design a canoe, develop a concrete mix, build the form, pour the concrete, sand it, and stain their creation. Then at the competition, team members race the finished product. As Volna said, “It’s one of the crazier engineering challenges that we accomplish—creating a concrete canoe that will float.”

This year, 34 Pitt students joined the concrete canoe team and traveled to the symposium, where they placed second. “It shows the power of the community,” said Phipps. “To get around 30 people out on a Saturday to sand a concrete canoe, it’s remarkable.”

“It also helps when you have a big team to help lift a 300-pound canoe,” said Volna.

To complete the Student Steel Bridge Challenge, teams develop a concept for a scale-model bridge that can span 20 feet and hold 2,500 pounds. They fabricate pieces and then construct it efficiently within time constraints at the competition.

“These students are not just participating; they are pushing boundaries,” said Associate Professor Amir Alavi, advisor of Pitt’s ASCE Student Chapter and BP America Faculty Fellow in civil and environmental engineering. “For the first time in a national student competition, they used advanced materials like metamaterials to design bridge piers for lightweight structures, and even 3D-printed a bridge deck with metamaterial-inspired geometries.”

“In previous years, our team had struggled to finish building the bridge in time," said Volna. "This year, it was amazing that they used new technology and still built it in time and placed third.”

In the Surveying Competition, Pitt’s team placed first in the category of Topographic Mapping & Presentation, and they finished fourth overall.

Of the annual ASCE symposia, Volna said, “They’ve been the most fun I’ve had as a college student—it’s what got me so interested in ASCE.”

Beyond the thrill of competing, the events help prepare students for life after graduation. “We’re learning time-management and project-management skills and organizing a team,” said Volna. “We’re getting workforce experience even before getting an internship.”

“The community of ASCE is so powerful,” said Phipps. “Not only does it give you the experience of leading a team, but it connects you to civil engineers and industry leaders from across the country. It’s a special place. It’s fantastic.”