UNF Engineering Students Win Awards, Head to Nationals

Contact: Joanna Norris, Assistant Director
Department of Media Relations and Events
(904) 620-2102



The University of North Florida Student Chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers recently competed in the Southeast Regional Conference in Gainesville and brought home numerous awards, including a spot in a national competition.

The conference, held March 29 through April 1, consisted of 14 undergraduate student competitions, three of which were national competitions. UNF competed in all three national competitions—the Steel Bridge, Concrete Canoe and Professional Paper. This year, 24 civil engineering programs from the Southeast region were represented at the conference.

In the Steel Bridge competition, the UNF team won second place overall, sending the team to the National Steel Bridge Competition next month in Salt Lake City, Utah. The steel bridge team also won first place for efficiency and several second-place awards for stiffness, construction speed, aesthetics, construction economy and lightness. Students designed, fabricated and constructed a scale model of an actual bridge. Teams were timed and tested for both lateral and vertical deflection under a required load.

For the Concrete Canoe competition, a student team designed, constructed and raced a 22-foot long canoe, “The First Shot,” made from concrete. The competition was based on a visual display, swamp test, canoe races, technical paper and presentation. The UNF team placed 7th overall out of 22 teams and finished in the top 5 in co-ed races as well as in the top 10 in the men’s and women’s sprint.

UNF also competed in 10 other competitions and received several commendations, including 3rd place, high strength concrete cylinder competition; 4th place, environmental competition; 4th place, professional paper/presentation competition; and 5th place, plan reading competition.


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