The Judging Committee recently selected the winners of the Engineering Student Design Competition, also known as the Big Beam Contest. PCI’s Student Education Committee (Dr. Sergio Breña, Chair) organized the Big Beam Contest (sponsored by SIKA Corp., PTAC, and ASPIRE Magazine) and assigned the judging committee (Dr. Richard Miller, Chair).
The objective is for teams of students to fabricate and test a precast/prestressed concrete beam with the help of local precast concrete PCI producer-members. Prizes are awarded to the top 20 performers in consideration of efficient design, highest load capacity, and other categories.
Entries were ranked by total number of points earned per the contest rules and the first-place team was from the Saint Martin’s University, Lacey, Wash.
Overall Results
First place: Saint Martin’s University [Kraken Again]; Lacey, Wash. Faculty advisor: Jill Walsh, PhD, PE PCI producer: Concrete Technology Corporation; Tacoma, Wash. (Austin Maue) Student team: Cameron Reece, William Miller, Paul Rumbles, Jarad Roschi, Joel Rogers, Clarinda Marion, David Rowland Points: 61.75 Award: $2000, plus other prizes
Second place: Oregon State University; Corvallis, Oregon Faculty advisor: Keith Kaufmann, PhD, PE PCI producer: Knife River Prestress; Harrisburg, Ore. (Dusty Andrews) Student team: Madhav Parikh, Thomas Fruin, Kolton Mahr, Spenser Maunu, Makenzie Ellett, Andy Truong Points: 61.25 Award: $1750
Third place: Missouri University of Science and Technology; Rolla, Missouri Faculty advisor: John Myers, PhD, PE PCI producer: Coreslab Structures, Inc; Marshall, Missouri (Scott Fitzgerald) Student team: Eli Hernandez, Hayder Alghazali Points: 58.50 Award: $1500
Fourth place: Iowa State University; Ames, Iowa Faculty advisor: An Chen, PhD PCI producer: Forterra Pipe and Precast; Tacoma, Washington (Austin Maue) Student team: Nathan Ryan, Chris Levandowski, Jacob Eull, Conner Schaeffer Points: 57.25 Award: $1250
Fifth place: Red River College [Team Danger Zone]; Winnipeg, Manitoba Faculty advisor: Robin Hutchinson, PhD, P.Eng. PCI producer: Lafarge Canada, Inc; Winnipeg, Manitoba (Ifan Lim) Student team: Justine Helbren, Dylan DesJarlais, Kristen Cartman, Kevin Jury Points: 56.25 Award: $1250
Sixth place (tie): Northern Arizona University; Flagstaff, Arizona Faculty advisor: Robin Tuchscherer, PhD, PE PCI producer: Tpac (a Kiewit Western Company); Phoenix, Arizona (Vincent Rossi) Student team: Mohammed Alradhi, Qusai Al Ghalbi, Kacy Aoki, Rick Wilson Points: 54.50 Award: $1000
Sixth place (tie): U.S. Military Academy; West Point, New York Faculty advisor: MAJ Lyle R Milliman PCI producer: Blakeslee Prestress, Inc; Branford, Connecticut (Rick Fitzgerald) Student team: Gbenga Olaolorun, Evan Pape Points: 54.50 Award: $1000
Eighth place: University of Minnesota Duluth [Team 1]; Duluth, Minnesota Faculty advisor: Ben Dymond, PhD PCI producer: Molin Concrete Products; Lino Lakes, Minnesota (Paul Kourajian) Student team: Muhammad Bajwa, Colton Moore, Corey Schlosser Points: 54.00 Award: $1000
Ninth place: University of South Florida [Team 1]; Tampa, Florida Faculty advisor: Rajan Sen, PhD PCI producer: Standard Concrete Products; Tampa, Florida (Ryan Cartwright) Student team: Asad Elmagarhe, Walid Elsiwi, Kai Zhu, Poe Poe Hlaing, Jaydeep Ghorpade Points: 53.25 Award: $1000
Tenth place: University of Missouri Kansas City; Kansas City, Missouri Faculty advisor: Ganesh Thiagarajan, PhD PCI producer: Coreslab Structures; Kansas City, Kansas (Terry Fleck) Student team: Phanindra Kumar Kosaraju, Akash Ashok Iwalekar, Scott Jackson, Aaron Lee Points: 52.00 Award: $1000
Eleventh place: University of Washington [Project Atlas]; Seattle, Washington Faculty advisor: John Stanton, PhD PCI producer: Concrete Technology Corporation; Tacoma, Washington (Austin Maue) Student team: Bowei Liang, Jordan Miyahara, Rayna Mumbower, Gun Woo Park, Rui Xue, Jon Zhdanov Points: 51.25 Award: $500
Twelfth place: Minnesota State University, Mankato; Mankato, Minnesota Faculty advisor: Farhad Reza, PhD, PE PCI producer: Wells Concrete; Wells, Minnesota (Dustin Jones) Student team: Alex Fiebiger, Abdul Nabiev Points: 50.25 Award: $500
Thirteenth place: Lehigh University [Team 1]; Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Faculty advisor: Clay Naito, PhD, PE PCI producer: J&R Slaw, Inc; Lehighton, Pennsylvania (Jeremy Klotz) Student team: Alia Amer, Yixin Chen, Safwan Waheed Points: 49.25 Award: $500
Fourteenth place: University of South Florida [Team 2]; Tampa, Florida Faculty advisor: Rajan Sen, PhD PCI producer: Standard Concrete Products; Tampa, Florida (Ryan Cartwright) Student team: Sarah Mobley, Hani Freij, Juan Rivera, Ajay Gulati Points: 47.75 Award: $500
Fifteenth place: Lehigh University [Team 2]; Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Faculty advisor: Clay Naito, PhD, PE PCI producer: J&R Slaw, Inc; Lehighton, Pennsylvania (Jeremy Klotz) Student team: Christian Consalvo, Meridith Meyer Points: 46.50 Award: $500
Sixteenth place (tie): University of Minnesota Duluth [Team 2]; Duluth, Minnesota Faculty advisor: Ben Dymond, PhD PCI producer: Molin Concrete Products; Lino Lakes, Minnesota (Paul Kourajian) Student team: Matthew McDermott, Bryce Hansen Points: 46.50 Award: $250
Sixteenth place (tie): California State University, Sacramento; Sacramento, California Faculty advisors: Eric Matsumoto, PhD, PE PCI producer: Clark Pacific; Woodland, California (Chase Wells) Student team: Jonathan Mougharbel, Meagan Yoeono, Tashley Covington, Robert Denison, Mingshen Chen, Kyle Lundblom Points: 46.25 Award: $250
Eighteenth place: Western University [Team 2]; London, Ontario, Canada Faculty advisor: Aiham Adawi, PhD, P.Eng. PCI producer: Prestressed Systems, Inc.; Windsor, Ontario (Anil Mehta) Student team: Paige Newman, Andrea Hamilton, Kenny You, Maria Garcia, Sara Hanbali, Asif Rajani, Connor Zarglis, Sara Sago Points: 45.75 Award: $250
Nineteenth place (tie): The University of North Carolina at Charlotte; Charlotte, North Carolina Faculty advisor: Brett Tempest, PhD PCI producer: Prestress of the Carolinas; Pineville, North Carolina (Dana Pearson) Student team: Islam Elsayed, Gregory Loflin, Luis Paredes, Jeffrey Poe, Edward Powers, Caitlin Purvis, Houston Sims, Edgar Torres Points: 45.50 Award: $250
Nineteenth Place (tie): Western University [Team 1]; London, Ontario, Canada Faculty advisor: Aiham Adawi, PhD, P.Eng. PCI producer: Prestressed Systems, Inc.; Windsor, Ontario (Anil Mehta) Student team: Ethan Barrand, Tyler Barrand, Tamer Ellaw, Brigette McMillan, Brianna Hall, Mohamed ElGendy, Zhi Nan Wu, Houtan Mesbahi, Holly Liu Points: 45.50 Award: $250
Best Report: The judging committee considers the overall presentation of the report when deciding on a best report winner. In addition to verifying the report contains all the requested sections and required signatures, judges look for clear presentation of data, professional look and formatting, and an overall well-written report.
Oregon State University; Corvallis, Oregon Faculty advisor: Keith Kaufmann, PhD, PE PCI producer: Knife River Prestress; Harrisburg, Ore. (Dusty Andrews) Student team: Madhav Parikh, Thomas Fruin, Kolton Mahr, Spenser Maunu, Makenzie Ellett, Andy Truong Award: $500
Best Video: Contest requirements include a video taken of the beam being tested. Teams are encouraged to be as creative as they wish when preparing the final video. Videos with a storyline related to the big beam competition are clear standouts and the judging committee may elect an entry to receive a best video award.
Western University [Team 1]; London, Ontario, Canada Faculty advisor: Aiham Adawi, PhD, P.Eng. PCI producer: Prestressed Systems, Inc.; Windsor, Ontario (Anil Mehta) Student team: Ethan Barrand, Tyler Barrand, Tamer Ellaw, Brigette McMillan, Brianna Hall, Mohamed ElGendy, Zhi Nan Wu, Houtan Mesbahi, Holly Liu Award: $500
All videos are posted online on PCI’s Big Beam Channel on Youtube; search PCI Big Beam.
