199-Pound Concrete Canoe Takes MSOE Team to Montreal
| Published: 04/29/2008 |
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Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE) students took second place in the Concrete Canoe Competition, sponsored by the American Society of Civil Engineers. Their bright yellow canoe, named "The Wedge" in honor of Wisconsin's dairy heritage, weighed in at 199 pounds. The team traveled to the University of Evansville in Indiana on April 26 to take part in the Great Lakes Conference regional competition. The team will travel to the national Concrete Canoe Competition June 18-20 in Montreal, Quebec, hosted by the École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS). This is the third time MSOE will be taking part in the national competition.
The races, both endurance and sprint combined, count for only 25 percent of the total score. An academic paper, a business presentation detailing their design, and the final product each account for an additional 25 percent. The canoes also must pass a "swamp test" prior to the races. The students completely submerge their canoes in a tank of water to prove they are still able to float horizontally when filled with water.
As an organization, the MSOE student chapter of the ASCE finished in second place in the Great Lakes Conference, finishing only behind UW-Madison. To earn second place overall, MSOE's team also participated in several other competitions:
Geotechnical Competition - 1st place
Concrete Canoe Competition - 2nd place
Environmental Competition - 3rd place
Balsa Bridge Competition - 3rd place
Concrete Baseball Bat - Did not place
Steel Bridge Competition - Did not place
Technical Paper Competition - Did not place
Other members of the Great Lakes Conference include: University of Evansville, University of Notre Dame, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, University of Southern Indiana, Tri-State University, UW-Milwaukee, Bradley University, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Marquette University, Valparaiso University, University of Illinois at Chicago, Illinois Institute of Technology, UW-Madison and Purdue University at West Lafayette.