2009: Steel Bridge Team

Tomorrow, May 23rd, 47 steel bridge teams will compete in the annual ASCE Steel Bridge National Competition hosted by UNLV. Teams are scored based on deflection, weight and construction speed.

To reach nationals, each team must place in the regional competition. MIT earned its spot by placing 1st in the New England Region.

More than just a competition, MIT's team has taken the opportunity to hang out with each other in the zoo-of-a-city that is Las Vegas. From chillaxing at the pool to Cirque du Soleil, the students have made the most of their time after finals.

Today, all the bridges were put on display for aesthetics judging, and teams were given time to check out what other teams came up with.

Special thanks to MIT's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and CEE alumnus Sahin Tulga for sponsoring the trip!

Paper Competition - April 4

On the day before the competition, a few of us took the T over to Wentworth Institute of Technology, the host of this year's New England Regionals, to cheer on fellow team member Emily Moberg '11 in the paper competition. This year's topic was on sustainability and engineering ethics. Showing off her stunning Steel Bridge dress, Emily presented very well and won first place out of 20 participants. It was already starting to look like a good weekend.

Regional Competition - April 5

5:30AM - Breakfast and bridge set-up as a team before the competition. Every nut is checked, every bolt tested.

8AM - All the bridges were set up for aesthetics judging and the competition was in full swing. We checked out our competition and talked to the other schools.

9:30AM - The build competition and load testing started. The bridges were scored based on aesthetics, construction speed, lightness, stiffness, construction cost and structural efficiency (a combination of weight and stiffness). Construction speed and stiffness were determined at the competition after each team assembled the prefabricated pieces and applied a 2500-pound load.

1PM - We completed a near flawless run through each stage and performed slightly better than we had expected. The stellar build team consisted of senior co-captain Jose "Jo-Z" Cano, and juniors Matt "Gonzo" Pires, Dan "Brokeback" Jimenez and Gina "Hats" Policelli.

Skip a few bridges. 99 a hundred.

7:15PM -  At the end of the day, we placed First Overall, and won the Structural Efficiency Award as well. This victory earns us a spot to compete at Nationals, which will be held in Las Vegas (VEGAS!) on May 22-23. A testimony to our well-rounded performance, MIT placed either first or second in every category.

The team (missing Dan Fourie to a crew race) hanging out with the winning bridge.
Photo / Lisa O'Donnell

The key to our success?

"Every member of the team played a signifcant role in this victory—not just the builders," said Steve Rudolph, the team's lab instructor. Team members devoted countless hours to the design and fabrication of the bridge. According to senior Lauren Biscombe '09, "the collective brainstorming and engineering that went into the preliminary, conceptual, and design phases of our bridge in the fall semester clearly proved its worth." Adding to the conversation, Jana Marjanovic '10, agreed that "..it feels good to have your hard work pay off in such a tangible way."

In addition, the four student builders (co-captain Jose "Jo-Z" Cano, Matt "Gonzo" Pires '10, Dan "Brokeback" Jimenez '10, and Gina "Hats" Policelli '10), practiced for more than 20 hours over the prior week, "in order to ensure that the five-minute build during the competition was flawless," said Jose. The extra time that they put in was reflected in their performance which fanbase Ernest Alba '09 dubbed "a work of art."

Carefully reading the rules also paid off. As Dan Fourie '12 pointed out, "the other teams were hurt by not knowing every rule clarification or dimensional constraint. Our team "rules gurus," Alex Jordan '11 and Tina Lai '09 (also co-captain), stepped in at least a couple times during the competition to clarify rules that had been overlooked by the judges themselves!"

Conferring with the judge. Photo / Lisa O'Donnell

Yet we would not have been able to do all this without some outside support. We are grateful to Professor Jerome Connor, Steve, Lisa O'Donnell, graduate students Pierre Ghisbain and Nate Boutin for their insight on design choices; and to Jimmy Duffy and Jimmy O'Donnell for their help with fabrication and design. As Tina puts it, "The committment that MIT''s CEE department and our advisors continues to make to us as a team was reflected in our performance."

What's next?

In the month that we have left before Nationals, we are planning to redesign and refabricate some components. The build team will be practicing more in order to bring down their build time. We will also be focusing on fundraising and drumming up support to go to Nationals.

Checks - addressed to Connie Chan '12 - are preferred.

This post was written by Connie Chan '12 and adapted by Adam Talsma '10

Now in its third year of existence, MIT's own Steel Bridge Team looks to defend its position as a top team in the Northeast Steel Bridge Region — and place for Nationals! The competition is in Boston this year, hosted by Wentworth Insititute of Technology, making this Saturday, April 4th a convenient opportunity to show your support for the team and check out what other schools have come up with.
 
Hope to see you there.