Cal State Long Beach was the scene of multiple triumphs for CECS students last spring, at the American Society of Civil Engineers Pacific Southwest Regional Student Conference. Members of CSUN’s student ASCE chapter claimed second place in the steel bridge competition, against more than 20 challengers. The competition requires teams to design, fabricate and assemble a steel bridge measuring about 24 feet long and capable of resisting a load of 2500 pounds. ASCE specifies the guidelines ahead of time, including dimensions and the number of connections, and the bridge needs to be as light as possible and have minimal deflection. Teams are then timed as they assemble their bridges. The CSUN team assembled its bridge in just seven minutes and 58 seconds. As one of the top three finishers, the team was invited to the international championship at Brigham Young University in Utah, which attracted about 50 schools from around the world, where it finished 20th.
For the GeoWall competition, which was cosponsored by the Geo-Institute, teams had to design and build a model mechanically stabilized earth retaining wall measuring about 3’x6’ and able to withstand different loading conditions, using the least amount of material. In an unusual twist, the national competition was held before the regional, and CSUN was invited to the national event, which took place in mid-February, for the first time. The team placed ninth nationally, out of about 50 teams, then turned around and came in third in the regional competition.
“Previously we couldn’t find anyone to participate in GeoWall, but this year we did, and they did well,” says Rais Ahmad, assistant professor of civil engineering and construction management, who advises the ASCE student chapter.
CSUN students also took part in the regional concrete canoe competition, building a 22-footlong canoe from pre-stressed concrete and racing the 230-pound craft against the other contestants’ canoes. The CSUN men came in sixth in their race, and the women placed ninth. The CSUN team also came in second in the tug of-war.
Nearly 70 students took part in the regional conference, and for the coming year, that number should increase. “We have huge a group working on projects for the 2017 competition, and our goal is to improve in all sectors,” Ahmad says.
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