Cal Poly Concrete Canoe Places 5th in the Nation
SAN LUIS OBISPO – Cal Poly students took first place in coed sprint, took home the top artistic design award and finished fifth overall in the national collegiate Concrete Canoe Competition, held recently in Seattle.
Cal Poly's concrete canoe team finished first in the coed sprint race and a second in “final product” judging. Cal Poly also brought home the ACI Innovative Design Award, which recognized the canoe’s unique, M.C. Escher-inspired tile mosaic design detail.
Each year, students from Cal Poly’s Society of Civil Engineers (SCE) pit themselves against teams from approximately 220 colleges across the U.S. in a year-long contest involving design know-how, project management, engineering expertise, oral and written presentations, endurance, imagination and sheer muscle.
The 20th Annual ASCE National Concrete Canoe Competition was held at the University of Washington on June 14-16. Cal Poly’s team was led by civil engineering seniors Jason Kump from Nipomo, John Layous from King City, Jason Marshall from San Luis Obispo, and Skye Orvis from Livermore.
“One of the highlights was winning the design award,” said Marshall. “It really represented the time, effort, and teamwork that went into the project. We also won a race for the first time. Our coed sprint team placed first by a tenth of a second—it literally came down to a photo finish.”
This was the second year in a row that Cal Poly scored well at the national level: in 2006, the team came in second. Cal Poly’s winning formula, according to Marshall, includes faculty support, student interest, and the spirit of innovation.
“Two huge reasons for our success are professors Garrett Hall and Eric Kasper and from the Civil Engineering Department,” notes Marshall. “They’ve always been supportive of whatever we need, whether it is fundraising, access to rooms, or technical help. Plus, we have an extremely large and active SCE chapter. Almost everyone in the chapter helps out in some way; during construction day, we actually have more students working on the project then we can use!
“The last thing that has lead to Cal Poly's success is the ability of our students to think outside of the box. No idea is too strange or obscure. We try dozens of different ideas; some work and some don’t. This ability to try new things has helped us immensely in the competition. It lead directly to the ACI Innovative Design award, one that, hopefully, we can continue to win in the future.”
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