Steel Bridge Team at Iowa state university

By: EFCO Production Superintendent, Bob Hansell

> For several years EFCO has been a sponsor of the Student Chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Steel Bridge Team at Iowa State University (ISU), Ames, IA. Each year the ISU Steel Bridge Team designs and builds a model steel bridge that will be judged on speed of erection, weight, aesthetics, stiffness, construction economy, and structural efficiency.

The team works on the design, construction, and testing of the model bridge throughout the fall and winter, and then competes with students from eight other civil Engineering programs at the ASCE Midwest Regional Student Conference. The regional conference is held annually with the location rotating through each of the participating schools. The top two teams in the regional contest advance to the national steel bridge competition.

This past March, the ISU team hosted the 2005 ASCE Midwest Regional conference, with EFCO as the main corporate sponsor. Students from five states and Ontario, Canada competed on the ISU campus at Hilton Coliseum to determine which bridge was the strongest (ISU placed 2nd and qualified for the national competition).

In addition to the Steel Bridge competition, students and faculty at the ASCE Midwest Regional Conference participated in various career and leadership development activities. Guest speakers were also available to discuss the different disciplines of civil engineering and the varied professional avenues that students will have at graduation.

The sponsorship of this event is just one example of how the partnership between EFCO and ISU is a benefit to both parties. EFCO received great exposure to a large number of future Civil Engineers and the students were able to compete in a premier facility.

The Iowa State Steel Bridge team.