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Concrete canoe, steel bridge competitions at WMU

March 19, 2010

KALAMAZOO--Western Michigan University will host the 2010 American Society of Civil Engineers North-Central Regional concrete canoe and steel bridge competitions on campus Friday through Sunday, March 26-28. The conference will be held at the WMU Parkview Campus engineering complex, with the concrete canoe races being held at Ramona Park in Portage, Mich.

Eleven universities from Michigan and Ohio will be attending the conference, with a total of nine concrete canoe teams and seven steel bridge teams competing. This is the first time WMU is hosting the event.

Civil and construction engineering students will compete for best design of a concrete canoe that floats and uses recycled materials. They also will compete in building a 20-foot-long steel bridge that can hold 2,500 pounds and can be assembled quickly from pieces no longer than three feet, six inches. WMU's entry in the 2009 regional concrete canoe competition--the Black Pearl--won third place, the best that WMU has done since it began competition in 2002. The past year was the first time a WMU team entered the steel bridge competition.

This month's conference also features a friendly Steelcrete Putt-Putt event for the schools to compete in and a Technical Paper Presentation Competition in which participation is required for a team to qualify for Nationals. The paper topic this year is "Ethics and the Civil Engineer of 2025."

About 265 students will compete and be critiqued by 35 industry judges, professionals, faculty and guests. WMU's team faculty advisor is Dr. Osama Abudayyeh, associate dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

WMU ASCE Concrete Canoe
2010 team members

• Jozef Aniszczyk, a senior from Saginaw, Mich.
• Nicole Clement, a sophomore from Watervliet, Mich.
• Allie Doty, a sophomore from Homer, Mich.
• Adam Eaton, a senior from Scottville, Mich.
• Alex Frazier, a junior from Paw Paw, Mich.
• Dan Guastella, a senior from Whitmore Lake, Mich.
• John Hannich, a senior from St. Joseph, Mich.
• Nate Herberg, a senior from Jackson, Mich.
• Jeff Landers, a junior from Jenison, Mich.
• Perry Lyford-Stojic, a junior from Kalamazoo
• Nick Mannon, a junior from Portage, Mich.
• Jason McCubbin, a senior from Galesburg, Mich.
• Matt Moran, a sophomore from Plainwell, Mich.
• Steve Morris, a junior from Grand Rapids, Mich.
• Lindsay Mukans, a junior from Grand Rapids, Mich.
• Paul Pagano, a senior from Pinckney, Mich.
• Andrew Peruski, a junior from Cass City, Mich.
• Devin Render, a senior from Manchester, Mich.
• Britney Richmond, a senior from Chesaning, Mich.
• Mike Romkema, a graduate student from St. Joseph, Mich.
• Matt Sinkovitz, a senior from Jackson, Mich.
• Ryan Stoughton, a junior from Otsego, Mich.
• Kimberly Warners, a senior from Kalamazoo
• Mike Wesoloski, a sophomore from Grayling, Mich.

WMU ASCE Steel Bridge
2010 team members

• Caleb Batts, a junior from Kalamazoo
• Zach Deary, a sophomore from Essexville, Mich.
• Lavern Filipunas, a freshman from Kalamazoo
• Brad Gerbasich, a senior from Toledo, Ohio
• Steve Houren, a junior from Novi, Mich.
• Joe Johnson, a junior from Clinton Township, Mich.
• Josh O'Keefe, a junior from Athens, Mich.
• Chris Sawyer, a senior from Grand Rapids, Mich.
• David Schmidt, a senior from Rochester Hills, Mich.

For more information, visit the WMU ASCE Student Chapter online.

Concrete canoe contacts

• Mike Romkema, michael.a.romkema@wmich.edu
• Paul Pagano, paul.j.pagano@wmich.edu

Steel bridge contact

• David Schmidt, david.schmidt@wmich.edu

Media contact: Deanne Puca, (269) 387-8400, deanne.puca@wmich.edu

WMU News
Office of University Relations
Western Michigan University
Kalamazoo MI 49008-5433 USA
(269) 387-8400
www.wmich.edu/news