THUNDER BAY – The Lakehead University steel bridge team earned top prizes at the recent American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Western Great Lakes Student Symposium in Chicago earlier this month.
Lakehead won three awards including first place in lightness, second place in aesthetics and third place in construction economy. The team ranked fourth place overall among the 16 universities competing.
The team was comprised of third- and fourth-year civil engineering students, including captain Zachary Morgan, co-captain Karl Prentice, Lovely Faith Donaldson, Ibrahim Shaheed, Mohamed Abi, and Wadika Faisal.
In this year’s competition, students had to design and fabricate a 1:10 scale model steel bridge spanning 21 feet over an extra-wide eight-foot river, which was subject to height restrictions to minimize interference with its surroundings.
The bridge was then tested under 2,500 pounds of weight to confirm its stability, strength and stiffness.
“Ever since I started at Lakehead, my goal was to be on the steel bridge team,” Morgan said.
“I have had an amazing experience learning skills that will impact my life and my future career.”
The competition included conceptual design and details design, fabrication, erection, and testing.
“Every challenge we faced was not just an obstacle, but a valuable opportunity for growth and learning, guiding us to redefine success through perseverance and ingenuity,” Prentice said.
“As a team, we embraced the unpredictable knowing that tenacity fuels innovation and resilience.”
“The competition weekend was a fantastic experience, especially seeing the diverse designs and innovations from many different universities,” Donaldson said.
In addition, third-year civil engineering student Nadine Elmehriki participated in a paper competition, representing the Lakehead ASCE student chapter.
Faculty advisor Dr. Yanglin Gong led the Lakehead delegation with support from technologists Cory Hubbard and Kailash Bhatia. Construction company Facca Inc. and the Iron Workers Local 759 in Thunder Bay were major sponsors for the team.
“The bridge competition challenges our students to extend their classroom knowledge to a practical, hands-on design and construction project that grows their professional and interpersonal skills,” Dr. Gong said.
Dr. Jian Deng, chair of civil engineering in Lakehead’s faculty of engineering, said the department of civil engineering is incredibly proud of its students.
“Their performance was exceptional and they once again demonstrated that Lakehead can compete and win against tough competition from top U.S. universities in the region.”
