UND Engineers to host conference and bridge building contest March 18-19

The Department of Civil Engineering, part of the School of Engineering and Mines, will host the 2011 American Society of Civil Engineers Midwest Conference March 18-19 in Grand Forks.

The conference will include the American Society of Civil Engineers/American Institute of Steel Construction steel bridge competition, in which nine universities from across the Midwest will be participating.

The conference runs from 8 a.m. to noon on March 18, on the second floor of the UND Memorial Union with technical presentations at 9 a.m. in the Memorial Union Lecture Bowl. The conference moves to the Grand Forks Ramada Inn, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., for the Student Conference Paper Competition in the hotel’s Amigo Room.

The Steel Bridge Competition is scheduled to run 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., March 19, in the multi-purpose room of Hyslop Sports Center. Student teams will display their bridge plans and posters then compete for first place by putting their bridge together piece by piece.

The mission of the ASCE-AISC Student Steel Bridge Competition is to supplement the education of civil engineering students with a comprehensive, student-driven project experience from conception and design through fabrication, erection and testing. The competition increases awareness of real-world engineering issues such as special constraints, material properties, strength, serviceability, fabrication and erection processes, safety, esthetics and cost.

The bridge competition is open to the public.

— David Dodds, writer/editor, University Relations, 777-5529, daviddodds@mail.und.edu.