Marshall University’s SAME-ASCE chapter competed against other universities during the annual Virginia Conference. The conference, on March 22-24, allowed Marshall’s engineering students to participate in various competitions, such as the construction of a concrete canoe and steel bridge.

“I am very proud of everyone who dedicated their time and effort to competing in ASCE Virginia’s Conference,” said Megan Bates, junior electrical engineering major and Marshall SAME-ASCE chapter president. “We placed in all of the small competitions including getting third place oral presentation portion of the concrete canoe competition. I am very excited to see what next year has in store for us.”

Marshall students received second place during the shirt design competition, third in concrete Frisbee toss, and third in steel hockey stick and concrete hockey puck shootout. For their concrete canoe, they received sixth place.

Caleb Mitchell, senior engineering major and Marshall University SAME-ASCE chapter vice president, received third in the Marr Technical Paper Competition with his paper on the vulnerability of connected vehicles to hacking.

During the steel bridge competition, the bridges were judged based on appearance, construction speed, lightness, stiffness, cost, efficiency and performance. Marshall’s steel bridge did not hold up under the required weight, however the bridge itself only weighed 80 pounds–120 pounds less than the next lightest bridge.

Ginny Blake can be contacted at [email protected].