University Advancement

Public Relations and Strategic Communications

NEWS RELEASE

Hundreds of Student Engineers from Around the Country
to Converge on CSUN to See Who Can Build the Better Bridge

(NORTHRIDGE, Calif., May 4, 2007) — More than 500 civil engineering students from across the country will be gathering at Cal State Northridge later this month to see who can build the better bridge.

Students from about 45 colleges and universities will be taking part in the National Student Steel Bridge Competition, sponsored by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and the American Institute of Steel Construction, on May 25 and 26. This is the first time Northridge has been asked to host the event, which is designed to test how well the students can design and build a 20-foot long steel bridge capable of supporting a 2,500 pound load.

Stephen A. Gadomski, chair of CSUN’s Department of Civil Engineering and Applied Mechanics, said being selected to host the event was "a feather in CSUN’s cap."

"We’ve never been asked to host before," Gadomski said. "So, this is quite an honor."

He noted that the university’s civil engineering students have worked hard to earn the honor of representing the school as competitors, pointing out that this is the sixth time in the past eight years that CSUN has been invited to take part in the national competition.

Senior civil engineering student Hector Gonzalez, captain of the CSUN team, said being part of this year’s national competition is particularly sweet because the team "earned" its spot rather than taking advantage of an automatic invitation usually extended to the host university.

"We could have taken advantage of the free ticket if we wanted to, but that’s not how we wanted to get to nationals. We wanted to earn our way," Gonzalez said, which is what the CSUN team did by placing first overall in the regional steel bridge competition held last month at the University of California, San Diego.

The regional contest was a mirror of what the team will face later this month. The students had to design and build a 20-foot long steel bridge capable of supporting a 2, 500-pound load. The bridge is brought to the assembly area in pieces and is then put together. The teams are judged on construction speed, aesthetics, construction economy, lightness, stiffness and structural efficiency. Overall performance was based on cumulative scores in all six categories.

Northridge placed second in speed at the regional competition with a construction time of 13.68 minutes with penalties. The team placed first in construction economy, using only four assemblers, and in the middle of the pack for the weight of their bridge.

"The goal of the steel bridge team now is to reduce the bridge weight and to speed up the construction time so that we may be more competitive at the nationals," Gadomski said, adding that he had no doubt that the team would improve its performance.

In addition to Gonzalez, Northridge’s team consists of seniors Nallely Olguin, Paul Mendoza, Gevork Mkrtchyan, Miriam Nguyen, Jose Sanchez, Jose Rodriguez, Carlos Chaidez and Victor Turcious. Their advisor is civil engineering and applied mechanics part-time lecturer Edward Larson.

The national competition begins Friday, May 25, when all of the bridges will be on display and judged on their aesthetics.

On Saturday, May 26, each team will assemble its bridge, racing against a clock while at the same time making sure it doesn’t make a mistake.

"Because this is a representation of an actual bridge, time is very important," said senior civil engineering student Edgar Flores, a member of the CSUN ASCE student chapter, which are helping to coordinate the national competition. "Mistakes are penalized; if anything is dropped or out of bounds, even assemblers, it is taken into account in the final score."

The bridges will be tested to ensure they 1) have less than one inch side-sway deflection when a load of 50 pounds is being applied and 2) can carry 2,500 pounds vertically.

Gonzalez said he and his teammates are confident they’ll do well later this month.

"To tell you the truth, we were more nervous before the regionals because we wanted to earn our way to the nationals," he said. "We’ve seen the scores of the other teams and compared them to those in our region. Right now, we’re in the process of redesigning a couple of things with our bridge, just some minor adjustments. When the time comes, I know we’ll do fine."