Committee on National Concrete Canoe Competitions
The Committee on National Concrete Canoe Competitions (CNCCC) is composed of American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) members who have primary responsibility of reviewing and establishing the rules for each year's competition. The CNCCC also assists students by providing clarifications of the rules, and assists regional competitions by supplying information to the regional hosts and judges. As part of the National Competition, the CNCCC assists the judges and the host school, and runs the events on race day.The CNCCC consists of eight ASCE volunteers who dedicate countless hours to this event. The committee members are educators and practitioners from across the nation who care a great deal about the competition and want to make it fun, challenging, interesting, and rewarding. Many past and present committee members have been involved in the concrete canoe competition as an advisor, competitor or judge. Four of these individuals are at-large members who serve four-year terms; two are corresponding members who serve one-year terms. A member from ASCE's Committee of Student Activities (CSA), who serves as the official contact person to the CSA, and an appointed staff member from Master Builders, Inc., also serve on the committee. ASCE also appoints a staff contact member who acts as a liaison between the CNCCC and ASCE.
The members of the 2003-04 CNCCC are:
Jason Lien (Chair and At-Large Member)Mike Carnivale (At-Large Member)Jan Olek (At-Large Member)Greg Bickett (At-Large Member)Candy Ammerman (ASCE CSA Contact Member)Charles Nmai (Master Builders, Inc. Contact Member)Ray Cook (Corresponding Member)Scott Rutledge (Corresponding Member)Ping Wei (ASCE Staff Contact)
Questions regarding rule interpretations prior to the National Competition should be directed via e-mail to the CNCCC by e-mailing cnccc@ermail.asce.org. Teams are encouraged to contact the CNCCC prior to implementing any radical changes in design or to avoid misinterpretation of rules at the Regional Competitions. Please note that only questions directed to cnccc@ermail.asce.org will receive an official response from the CNCCC.
Jason Lien, P.E., is the president of StructureWorks, LLC, a software development company specializing in 3-dimensional parametric modeling, automated drawing production, enterprise data systems, and engineering applications for the prestressed precast concrete manufacturing market. Jason served as a judge at the 2000 National Concrete Canoe Competition in Golden, Colorado, and as a returning judge in the 2001 National Competition in San Diego, California. He currently serves as the Chair of CNCCC. Jason is a graduate from the Colorado School of Mines and registered professional engineer.
Michael Carnivale, III, P.E. is a geotechnical engineer with the US Army Corps of Engineers, Philadelphia District specializing in dredged material facility design and management, beachfill operations, and foundation and embankment design. A registered professional engineer in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Mike is a graduate of Drexel University (B.S.) and the University of Rhode Island (M.S) and is currently pursuing his doctorate in geotechnical engineering at Drexel. He serves as a practitioner advisor to the Drexel ASCE Student Chapter and is an adjunct instructor teaching a course in Foundation Engineering. Mike has been involved with the concrete canoe competition for nearly a decade participating as a competitor, serving as a technical advisor, as well as spearheading the 2003 National Competition held in Philadelphia. This is Mike's first year as a member of the CNCCC.
Raymond Cook, P.E., Ph.D., a graduate of the University of Illinois and Cornell University, Ray is an Associate Professor at the University of New Hampshire, where he teaches structural design courses for seniors and graduate students. He conducts research in concrete microstructure and high performance concrete as applied to bridge structures. He has been involved in regional concrete canoe competitions since 1985, has been a member of the CNCCC since 1997. He is also a member of ACI, ASCE, SENH, Sigma Xi, and ASEE. He is the ACI chair of subcommittee 211-A, which is currently rewriting the ACI concrete mixture proportioning document, ACI 211.1.
Ping Wei is Senior Manager of Student Services at the American Society of Civil Engineers. In this capacity, Ping works with and provides assistance to the Department Heads Council Executive Committee, the Committee on Student Activities, the Committee on Scholarships, and the 269 ASCE Student Chapters, Student Clubs and International Student Groups. Ping has a Bachelors degree from The University of Chicago and a Masters degree in Higher Education Administration from George Washington University. She has more than ten years of experience in academic advising and student services, and has been working with Master Builders in coordinating the National Concrete Canoe Competition since 1998. Ping is the ASCE appointed Staff Contact Member.
Candy Ammerman is a Lecturer at Colorado School of Mines where she has taught in the Division of Engineering for more than 20 years. Her areas of expertise include structural engineering and land surveying. Candy has been the Faculty Advisor for the Colorado School of Mines' student chapter of ASCE for the past ten years and has been honored as the Zone III Faculty Advisor of the Year for 2000, 2001 and 2002. She participated in the National Concrete Canoe Competition as a judge in 1998 and as returning judge in 1999. Candy was the ASCE Faculty Advisor when the Mines' chapter hosted the 13th Annual NCCC in Golden, Colorado. In addition to ASCE, she has served as the Faculty Advisor of Tau Beta Pi and is currently the Faculty Advisor for the Mines' chapter of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE), listed as the 4th largest student chapter of SWE in the nation.
Charles Nmai, Ph.D., P.E., FACI is Chief Engineer at Master Builders, Inc., where his responsibilities include providing technical guidance and support in the areas of admixtures and high-performance concrete, concrete durability, claims investigation and troubleshooting of concrete problems. A Purdue graduate and a licensed engineer in Ohio, Charles is also a Fellow of ACI International and currently a member of the Education Activities Committee (EAC). He instructs two ACI seminars, "Practical Concrete Materials for Concrete Designers and Specifiers" and "Troubleshooting Concrete Construction." Charles was exposed to concrete canoes at the University of Kansas where he obtained his M.S. degree, and was a judge at the National Competition in Fort Collins, CO. Charles is the MBT appointed Staff Member.
Jan Olek, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Civil Engineering at Purdue University, where he has been involved in research on properties of cement, concrete, aggregate; and supplementary cemetitious materials for a number of years. Jan is a Fellow of the American Concrete Institute (ACI), past Chairman of ACI Committee 123 on Research and Current Developments and TRB Committee A2E01 on Durability of Concrete and a former Associate Editor of the ASCE Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering. He is currently a member of the ACI committee 211 Proportioning of Concrete Mixtures, 231 Properties of Concrete at Early Ages, 234 Silica Fume in Concrete and 236 Material Science of Concrete. This is Jan's first year as a member of the CNCCC.
Gregory Bickett, P.E., S.E., is the principal partner of Bickett Engineering, an engineering consulting firm specializing in structural and civil engineering of transportation projects, including the design and construction management of bridges and highway improvements. Greg has twice served as lead judge at the1998 regional competition hosted at California State University, Sacramento and the 1999 regional competition hosted at the Colorado School of Mines, and he also served as a judge at the 1998 National Concrete Canoe Competition hosted by the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology in Rapid City, South Dakota. Greg is a graduate of California State University, Chico, and earned his Master of Science in Structural Engineering from California State University, Sacramento.
