Competitions

ASCE Concrete Canoe Competition

Since the early 1970s, American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) student chapters have competed to be the best at designing, constructing, and racing concrete canoes. During that time, canoe mixtures and designs have varied, but the long-established tradition of teamwork, camaraderie, and spirited competition has been constant. Each year, teams, their associates, judges, and other participants build upon this tradition. This year, teams answered a call for Technical Proposals and Enhanced Focus Area Reports and are competing to be the winning bid on a prototype standardized canoe design for future concrete canoe competitions. Learn more about the competition.

AISC/ASCE Student Steel Bridge Competition

ASCE and the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) are partnering to offer the Student Steel Bridge Competition (SSBC) at ASCE Student Symposia.
The Student Steel Bridge Competition challenges students to extend their classroom knowledge to a practical and hands-on steel-design project that grows their interpersonal and professional skills, encourages innovation, and fosters impactful relationships between students and industry professionals.
Each student team develops a concept for a scale-model steel bridge to span approximately 20 feet and to carry 2,500 pounds according to the competition rules. The team must determine how to fabricate their bridge and then plan for an efficient assembly under timed construction conditions at the competition. Bridges are also load-tested, weighed, and judged on aesthetics.

ASCE UESI Surveying Competition

The ASCE UESI Surveying Competition’s educational and professional goals include a recognition of the importance of basic surveying principles to all civil engineering projects. Students will be required to use standard field and office equipment and procedures to solve common problems encountered in industry. A clear understanding of and ability to apply basic surveying principles will assist the graduate civil engineer in communicating and working with the surveying professionals on the job site and during the design process. Learn more about the competition.

The ASCE UESI Surveying Competition rules describe five tasks: a topographic mapping project with a presentation and four field tasks.

ASCE Sustainable Solutions Competition

The ASCE Sustainable Solutions Competition challenges students to develop a stronger understanding of sustainability and learn to incorporate sustainable solutions into everyday problems that engineers incur. Students are encouraged to be creative in their solutions and use all resources available. Learn more about the competition.

2024 Topic

The fictional City of ASCE is well known for its early 20^th Century waterfront and manufacturing hub on the Big Brown River to support the budding industrial economy at the time. However, a decline and abandonment of the riverfront has since occurred. The City is seeking proposals to revitalize and redevelop three blocks of the waterfront area using the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure’s Envision framework to meet the City sustainability goals.

Paper & Presentation Competition

Per ASCE’s Code of Ethics, engineers govern their professional careers on the following fundamental principles:

– create safe, resilient, and sustainable infrastructure;
– treat all persons with respect, dignity, and fairness in a manner that fosters equitable participation without regard to personal identity;
– consider the current and anticipated needs of society; and
– utilize their knowledge and skills to enhance the quality of life for humanity.

Civil engineers are responsible for planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting and advancing the health, safety, and welfare of the public. Technology, particularly the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI), has the potential to change engineering in the future and design the built environment for generations. Ethical responsibilities of an engineer may or may not align with the use of AI on engineering projects.
Discuss how engineers need to evaluate their ethical responsibilities as they determine whether or how to use AI to aid in their work.<a

UPDATED Link to Rules: 

GeoWall Competition

The objective of the Geo-Wall competition is to design and build a model wrapped faced mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) retaining wall using kraft paper reinforcement. The competition objective is for students to design a wrapped face segmental MSE wall using the least amount of facing and reinforcement material needed to support the retained soil plus both vertical and horizontal (static and dynamic) surcharge loads. 

Link to Rules: GeoWall_Competition_Rules_2024

Mystery Event

The Hydrology & Hydraulics (H&H) Mystery Competition will take place in two sessions on Saturday, March 9^th in the Gallery Lounge. Each school has already been assigned a session in which they may compete in this mystery event. At registration, you may enter a team of 1-4 undergraduate students by simply stating that your school wishes to participate. It will be a very fun indoor event that is interactive and highly competitive during the session – all schools should consider entering! We will at the time of registration give your school the Quick Start Guide to prepare for the competition. At that time, it will no longer be a Mystery!

Concrete Beam Competition

Teams will compete to build a miniature prestressed concrete beam using unconventional materials. This competition is meant to test students’ innovative problem-solving skills in addition to a fundamental understanding of structural design. All beams will undergo a list of evaluations including determining the amount of prestress force that has been applied to the beam, and maximum load capacity in shear and flexure. The students will be given all the materials required to construct the beam as well as some tools that they will be able to use at their discretion to assist in determining prestressing force. The students will be allowed to use creative problem-solving when determining the cross-section of the beam while remaining within the geometric constraints provided. All beams will be submitted to the judges to confirm geometric constraints have been respected and to determine prestress force and load capacities. Each team will be required to submit a short report showing estimated prestressing and moment capacity.