Students Compete to Assemble Bridges, Race Concrete Canoes

04/24/2014

Contacts for media: Nancy Cicco, 978-934-4944 or Nancy_Cicco@uml.edu and Christine Gillette, 978-934-2209 or Christine_Gillette@uml.edu

* Media Advisory *

Saturday, April 26 and Sunday, April 27

What:  What does it take to design and build a steel bridge and be the fastest to assemble it by hand? How do you engineer and construct a canoe made of concrete that can win races? Two teams of UMass Lowell students will put their skills to the test during the regional rounds of national collegiate engineering competitions at the 2014 New England American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Student Conference.

Joining UMass Lowell will be 20 student teams from Central Connecticut State University, University of Connecticut, University of Hartford, Universite Laval, University of Maine, UMass Amherst, UMass Dartmouth, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Merrimack College, University of New Hampshire, University of New Haven, Northeastern University, Norwich University, University of Rhode Island, Roger Williams University, Tufts University, U.S. Coast Guard Academy, University of Vermont, Wentworth Institute of Technology and Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

For the first time in recent history, both competitions will be hosted by one institution – UMass Lowell – over one weekend. The challenges are:

• Steel Bridge Competition, Saturday, April 26 – Teams are judged on how quickly they can assemble a bridge they have designed as well as its structural efficacy, economy, lightness and stiffness, and the quality of a presentation about their work. Competition, 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.; oral presentations and award ceremony, 4:45 to 7:45 p.m.
  Media availability: UMass Lowell team members and advisers will be available for interviews from 10 to 11 a.m. in the press box, located in Box 119 on the concourse at the Tsongas Center at UMass Lowell. 
• Concrete Canoe Competition, Sunday, April 27 – Teams are judged on their canoe’s design, construction quality, a presentation about their work and the results from men’s and women’s canoe races. To qualify for racing, the canoe must pass a “swamp test,” during which it will be submerged under water and must resurface on its own. Judging and swamp tests, 8:15 to 10 a.m.; races, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and awards, 5:30 p.m.
  Media availability: UMass Lowell team members and advisers will be available for interviews from 9 to 10 a.m. on the beach at Bare Hill Pond.