1st PRIZE AT THE
2011
STUDENT STRUCTURAL DESIGN COMPETITION (August 2010)
Student
group won first prize at the 2011 Student Structural Design
Competition, sponsored nationally by the Structural
Engineering Institute of the American Society of Civil
Engineers. The conference will be in Las Vegas, NV in May
2011. Team members included
Matthew Bandelt, Adam
Beckmann, Brian Czenszak, and Shane Moran.
The project
team competed against schools from around the country and
received first place based on their design of a new bridge
proposal for the New Jersey Turnpike Authority.
The New Jersey Turnpike
(NJTP) is a major highway toll road connecting New
Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Delaware and is
credited as the fifth busiest toll road in the United
States by the International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike
Association. The NJTP has a dual-dual road configuration
which separates commercial traffic from automobile
traffic by a median along the northern interchanges of
the roadway (8A to 14). Traffic congestion along the New
Jersey Turnpike has steadily increased in recent years
in the central and southern portions of the turnpike
where the dual-dual configuration is not used. Over the
next 20 years, traffic is predicted to increase by as
much as 92% causing the New Jersey Turnpike Authority to
implement a widening program from interchanges 6 to 9,
extending the dual-dual configuration. The design team
was tasked with designing a 150 foot simple span bridge
used in the widening project with welded plate girders
made composite with a cast-in-place reinforced concrete
deck. The bridge design included the design of the steel
plate girders, concrete deck, elastomeric bearing pads,
bearing stiffeners, shear studs, and diaphragms in
accordance with the AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design
Specifications and New Jersey Turnpike Authority Design
Manual.
P3 Phase 2 award for
research in the field of Alkali Activated Cements
(April 2010)
Under the
advisory of Dr. Aleksandra Radlinska and in partnership with
Drexel University, sophomore Civil Engineers
Joseph Shook and
Alexandra Terpeluk won
the EPA P3 Phase 2 Award
for research in the field of Alkali Activated Cements. The
team traveled to Washington D.C. and presented their
research to the Senate Financing Committee, heads of the
EPA, and leaders in the fields of Civil and Environmental
Engineering. Among others awarded were Cornel University,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Virginia
Technical Institute. In addition to the Phase 2 award, the
team also won a Phase 3 award.
The project awarded looks into the use of waste materials
from the steel and coal industries in the production of
concrete, the second most used material on earth after
water. The team was applauded in their cement’s “greenness”.
A 95% reduction of CO2 emissions compared to the traditional
alternative, as well as minimal loss in performance and the
use of waste materials makes Alkali Activated Cement and
exciting alternative for the future and the team is excited
to get back to work. (Jospeh Shook)
1st PRIZE AT THE
2010
STUDENT STRUCTURAL DESIGN COMPETITION (May 2010)
Student
group won first prize at the 2010 Student Structural Design
Competition, sponsored nationally by the Structural
Engineering Institute of the American Society of Civil
Engineers. The conference was in Orlando, FL in May
2010. Team members included
Colin Doyle, Timothy Harrington, Nicholas Martignetti,
Brian Mellen, and
Richard Runyen. The Team
ranked above teams from schools around the country with
girls’ dormitory project for Amigos de Jesus in Honduras.
The team
proposed a 4,310 square foot rectangular dormitory comprised
of two wings connected by a common room. Design
characteristics included reinforced concrete foundations,
beams, and columns; masonry exterior and interior walls with
a stucco façade covering most of the building, a brick
façade for the front of the building, and a steel roofing
system. (Richard Runyen)
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