A team of six civil engineering majors from the University of Evansville won the University’s first-ever victory in the Student Design Presentation Competition at the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Indiana Section meeting in Indianapolis on Wednesday, March 21.
With a presentation of their senior design project, a redesign of the Lincoln Avenue/Outer Lincoln Avenue/Newburgh Road intersection on Evansville’s East Side, UE’s team outperformed civil engineering students from Purdue University, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, and three other Indiana universities.
UE’s team (Zaid Abdulmajeed of Damascus, Syria; Eli Cook of Paoli, Indiana; Brandon Frazier of Clarksville, Indiana; Mick Montcalm of Lincoln, Illinois; Jake Nardulli of Springfield, Illinois; and Ryan Sisk of Ridgway, Illinois) began working with the City of Evansville in August 2011 to analyze traffic data and develop a site plan for the intersection. They surveyed the busy intersection, developed design alternatives, prepared a decision matrix, and created a final design to improve safety and accommodate increased traffic in the area.
Last week, this team was chosen to represent UE in Indianapolis through an internal competition among three senior design project teams. Five UE civil engineering alumni judged the presentations and selected this team to participate in the statewide competition.
The ASCE Student Design Presentation Competition required teams to give a 12-20 minute presentation that addresses solutions to a real-world problem. A panel of three professional engineers from Indianapolis, all of whom earned their degrees outside Indiana, judged each team on its technical merit and communication abilities.
“UE’s team has claimed second place numerous times, but has never won first place outright,†said Brian Swenty, chair of the Department of Mechanical and Civil Engineering. “This student team spent hundreds of manhours on this project, and their success in the competition demonstrates that civil engineering students at the University of Evansville possess both technical knowledge and outstanding communication and presentation skills.â€
“Considering that nationally renowned engineering programs such as Purdue and Rose-Hulman participate in the annual Student Design Presentation Competition, expectations are extremely high,†Swenty added, “so I couldn’t be prouder of our students’ performance.â€
