The competition involves schools from Minnesota and Wisconsin. Teams of five have spent months designing a mechanically stabilized earth retaining wall that will withstand a series of tests. The ultimate winner is determined by overall efficiency and how well their design performs under a variety of heavy loads.
The UMD students are part of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and took fifth place in a national competition with their Geo-Wall design. This is the first time they’re hosting a regional level of the competition and they hope to make it an annual event that will draw more college teams to UMD.
Bryce Hansen is one of the organizers of this event and a UMD Civil Engineering major. “We were very excited that we placed fifth at the national competition because we were competing against much bigger schools and groups that have been doing this competition for many years,” said Hansen. He hopes that by establishing a regional event, UMD will continue to improve on its designs for future competitions and network with other teams.
ASCE is one of more than 40 student organizations with a science or engineering focus within UMD’s Swenson College of Science & Engineering (SCSE). The college has approximately 3,100 undergraduates and 220 graduate students. SCSE is also home to ten academic departments, in addition to the Large Lakes Observatory, the UMD Air Force ROTC program, and the Iron Range Engineering program, and connects students with hands-on research opportunities through its collaboration with multiple research institutions and area businesses.
To learn more about SCSE visit: http://www.d.umn.edu/scse/