UNF hosts 17 universities for ASCE engineering design competitions
The University of North Florida is hosting the Southeast American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) engineering design competitions this weekend at the Coxwell Amphitheater. The competition challenges 571 engineering students from universities throughout the southeast to conceive, design and build engineering feats including a floating canoe out of concrete, a study steel bridge and a real tiny wooden home. Students work in teams to test and strengthen their project management knowledge and creativity while transforming engineering concepts from the classroom into real-world skills.
Participants will see incredible visual displays of engineering talent, watch the canoes perform the “dunk test” to measure potential to float, meet the students including a team from University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez sponsored by Crowley, and learn about the projects. The canoes that pass the dunk test will race the following day, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, March 25, at Hanna Park.
The first ASCE Concrete Canoe Competition was held in 1988, but the history of Concrete Canoe goes back to the 1960s, when a small number of ASCE Student Chapters began holding intramural concrete canoe races. This elite competition combining engineering excellence, hydrodynamic design, and racing technique is known as the "America's Cup of Civil Engineering."