Concrete Canoe, Sustainable Solutions and Surveying Contest winners advance to compete in Society-wide contest in June at Louisiana Tech University

RESTON, Va. – The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) 2022 Mid Pacific Student Symposium took place at the University of California, Davis March 31–April 2, 2022. At the event, nearly 550 civil engineering students from 10 universities across California, one guest team from Oregon Institute of Technology, and six universities in China who participated virtually, put their academic and project management knowledge to the test participating in annual society-wide competitions including the ASCE Concrete Canoe and ASCE Sustainable Solutions Competition – Tiny House Challenge, and the AISC (American Institute of Steel Construction)/ASCE Student Bridge Competition.

The California State University, Sacramento won the ASCE Concrete Canoe Competition, however because they did not fulfil all of the eligibility requirements, the University of California, Berkeley team who placed second will advance to the finals. The Zhejiang University team won the ASCE Sustainable Solutions Competition.

The Concrete Canoe and Sustainable Solutions winning teams have qualified to compete at the 35th Annual ASCE Society-wide Competitions June 3–5 at Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, LA. The University of California, Berkeley team won the AISC (American Institute of Steel Construction)/ASCE Student Bridge Competition, qualifying for the National competition May 27–28 at Virginia Tech University in Blacksburg, VA.

The ASCE Concrete Canoe competition requires students to collaborate as teams and use engineering skills to design and construct a seaworthy canoe made entirely of concrete. Each team must compete in multiple categories: Technical Proposal, Technical Presentation, Enhanced Focus Area, Final Product, and several racing events, for a chance to move on to the finals where the winner will compete against 23 other teams from schools around the globe.

The ASCE Sustainable Solutions Competition challenges students to develop a stronger understanding of sustainability and learn to incorporate sustainable solutions into everyday problems that engineers incur. Students are encouraged to be creative in their solutions and use all resources available. This year, students delve into a tiny-home community challenge to address homelessness.

“Congratulations to all the winners of the ASCE Mid Pacific Student Symposia competitions,” said Dennis D. Truax, President of ASCE. “These competitions serve as an excellent litmus test for students who are able to demonstrate their civil engineering knowledge, innovative ideas, and ability to work with others for all to see. We are proud to recognize the work these students have put in throughout the school year and wish them luck at the Society-wide Competition in June. However, regardless where they finished in the competitions, we applaud each student and each program that participated in this year’s symposia and recognize the hard work all the students have put in their projects during the school year.”

In its 35th year, the ASCE Concrete Canoe Competition, the student symposium’s flagship event, challenges civil engineering students to apply the engineering principles learned in the classroom to a real-world task, while utilizing project management and team building skills. The Concrete Canoe program consists of both athletic and academic events. The competition is designed to test the knowledge, creativity and stamina of each team. Over the course of the school year, teams plan, research, and construct a canoe out of concrete. The competition evaluates teams on design and construction, a technical proposal, an enhanced focus area, a formal business presentation, and five different races—men’s and women’s slalom races, men’s and women’s sprint races and a co-ed sprint race.

The Society-wide Concrete Canoe Competition+ is organized by ASCE and hosted annually by a university student chapter, thanks in part to funds provided by the ASCE Foundation.

The following schools participated in the symposium:

  • California State University, Chico
  • California State University, Fresno
  • California State University, Sacramento
  • Cal Poly Humboldt
  • Oregon Institute of Technology (guest team)
  • San Francisco State University
  • University of California, Berkeley
  • University of California, Davis
  • University of the Pacific
  • Universite Laval
  • Dalian University of Technology (virtually)
  • Hohai University (virtually)
  • Southeast University (virtually)
  • Southwest Jiatong University (virtually)
  • Tongii University (virtually)
  • Zhejiang University (virtually)

About the American Society of Civil Engineers

Founded in 1852, the American Society of Civil Engineers represents more than 150,000 civil engineers worldwide and is America's oldest national engineering society. ASCE works to raise awareness of the need to maintain and modernize the nation's infrastructure using sustainable and resilient practices, advocates for increasing and optimizing investment in infrastructure, and improve engineering knowledge and competency. For more information, visit www.asce.org or www.infrastructurereportcard.org and follow us on Twitter, @ASCETweets and @ASCEGovRel.