This winter, the Oregon State University Student Chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers acquired a new trailer for the OSU Concrete Canoe Team.

“Funds for the trailer were acquired over a number of years, with support from the College of Engineering, the School of Civil and Construction Engineering, and generous industry partners,” said Thomas Miller, associate professor of structural engineering.

This year’s co-captains of the concrete canoe team, Maddie Hall and Haley Madland, played a key role in facilitating the purchase of the trailer.

While the 2020 ASCE Pacific Northwest Student Conference was cancelled in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the trailer will be used to transport the concrete canoe to future regional and national competitions, practices, and displays at various Oregon State and industry functions.

“Their hard work is appreciated and we were all saddened by the cancellation of the Pacific Northwest Student Conference,” said Rawan Al Naabi ASCE Student Chapter executive chair.

In addition to their work on obtaining the canoe trailer, Hall and Madland directed the team as they poured a practice canoe fall term, established a pioneering practice conference, and poured the competition canoe before the end of winter term.

“They are dedicated, committed and did an absolutely great job leading the team and preparing them to take over next year,” Al Naabi said.

Two students and a professor stand in front of a canoe trailer.
Pictured from left are team members Haley Madland, co-captain; Miller; and Maddie Hall, co-captain.

DSCN1781Last week, the OSU ASCE steel bridge team captured the team title at the  2014 ASCE Pacific Northwest Student Conference. With the victory in the steel bridge competition, OSU will advance to the ASCE national competition, held from May 23-23 in Akron, Ohio. The performance marked the first time in over 10 years the group has advanced to nationals. With a goal of raising $5500 for the trip to nationals, supporters can contribute to the trip by visiting the group’s fundraising website.

The victory in the steel bridge competition capped a solid weekend for OSU ASCE as the group placed second in the environmental competition and concrete bowling ball competition while the concrete canoe team placed third.

Portland State University hosted the 2014 student conference from April 25-27 as it featured over 350 students from universities in Alaska, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, and Montana.

A complete rundown of OSU results is below.

2014 ASCE Pacific Northwest Student Conference – OSU Results

Steel Bridge:
1st – Aesthetics
1st – Construction Speed
3rd – Lightness
1st – Overall
Concrete Canoe:
1st – Women’s Endurance
3rd- Men’s Endurance
2nd – Women’s Sprint
6th – Men’s Sprint
1st – Coed Sprint
3rd – Overall
Environmental Competition:
2nd – Overall
Concrete Bowling Ball Competition:
2nd – Overall
An additional congratulations for excellent work to:
Kristina Milaj in the Technical Paper and Presentation Competition.
The four ASCE members who participated in the Surveying Competition.

MCMEC_Open_HouseThe Oregon State University School of Civil and Construction Engineering, in partnership with OSU Wood Science and Engineering, introduced the newest addition to the Oregon BEST Green Building Materials Lab (GBML) with an open house for the state-of-the-art Multi-Chamber Modular Environmental Conditioning System (MCMEC) on Thursday, April 30.

The newly-installed unit, one of only three in North America and Europe, is designed to apply realistic environmental and accelerated weather conditions to full-sized research samples. With the capability of creating three separate chambers within the unit, researchers can simulate multiple conditions to the same sample, allowing for maximum flexibility in the design and setup of experiments.

“The ability to simultaneously test materials is what makes this unit unique,” said Jason Ideker, assistant professor in the OSU School of Civil and Construction Engineering. “For example, we now have the capability to do performance testing on a wall to see how it reacts to multiple environments at once.”

The open house served as an introduction of the unit to industry and government research partners. As a shared-use facility, the Oregon BEST GBML is available for government and outside companies to reserve for their own research.

“Oregon BEST was created to help stimulate the green economy,” Ideker said. “This lab can do specialized testing and analysis and will allow companies, from start-ups to large corporations, to do research they may not be capable of doing on their own.”

The approximately $850,000 unit was made possible primarily through grants from Oregon BEST and the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust.

For more information about the Oregon BEST GBML, contact Jason Ideker, OSU assistant professor, at 541-737-9571.

Multi-Chamber Modular Environmental Conditioning System – specifications

Temperature range: -30°C to +40°C

Temperature control: +/- 0.5°C

Relative humidity: 10% to 90%

Dew point limit at -20°C

Water spray system: 5 liters/minute

Metal Halide Solar Array: 700 Watt/m2