ASCE Concrete Canoe Competition

Joe Cook,
Junior, Civil Engineering

Athens, OH 8 April 2013 – It floats!!! That was the big news for the members of the Ohio University student chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers. This past weekend our student organization, which I am currently president of, competed in the Ohio Valley Student Conference in events such as concrete canoe, steel bridge, environmental engineering, surveying, and technical paper competitions. We competed against other ASCE student chapters in the Ohio Valley region such as Ohio State University, Akron, University of Cincinnati, University of Kentucky, Youngstown State University, Pitt, Carnegie Mellon, Western Kentucky University, and Cleveland State University, the conference host this year.

Our biggest accomplishment this weekend was launching a canoe and bringing it home in one piece. This is the fourth consecutive year our organization has built a concrete canoe, and this is the first time the canoe didn’t fail structurally in the water or during transport. I was personally captain of the environmental engineering team, we developed a bench scale column filter to remove phosphorous, the major component in fertilizer and a major contributor to toxic algal blooms, from simulated storm water. Although the results aren’t currently available, our independent tests yielded promising results.

The coolest thing about my team’s design was the implementation of iron pigment we derived from acid mine drainage near campus. Using this source of iron we are effectively treating two water quality issues with one product. The following link is to a story about our concrete canoe team; note that our canoe was affectionately dubbed the Yellow Submarine. If you take a look at the pictures it becomes apparent why.

Read the Russ College news release for more details on the competition.

Aviation Fraternity Alpha Eta Rho

Grant Rhue,
Junior, Aviation

Athens, OH 24 February 2013 – For the three years I have been in the Department of Aviation here at Ohio University undergoing flight training, I have been an active member of the fraternity, Alpha Eta Rho. The Omicron Upsilon chapter or “hangar” of the international flight oriented fraternity has been a major part of my college career varying from helping me study for check rides and certifications for flying to networking with other flight schools and industry professionals throughout the country. We have toured various aviation facilities including United Airline’s Washington’s Dulles flight operations to the freight operations of Air Net in Columbus, learning more and more into what each pilot job requires and what it takes to keep such large operations moving day to day.

Last year, our chapter participated in the first ever national conference hosted by the Omicron Sigma Upsilon Chapter of Ohio State University in Dublin, Ohio. All of our members
participated in breakout sessions varying from different subjects of fundraising to alumni connections. My breakout group worked on the national bylaws of the fraternity, which were run
by the president of the Fraternity, Capt. Robert H. Clement who had flown with Tom Cruise in the F-14 Tomcat for the shooting of the movie, Top Gun.

We are preparing to go to Kalamazoo, Michigan this April to attend the second annual Alpha Eta Rho National Conference, hosted by the Theta Chapter of Western Michigan University. We will be participating again with the other hangars from all across the country in the breakout sessions again and will be taking part in the Student Leaders in Aviation Conference, or SLACON.

Preparing for the ASCE Steel Bridge Competition

Evan Boso,
Junior, Civil Engineering

Athens, OH 29 January 2013 – Over this year, I have been working with a team of students to design, fabricate and build a steel bridge. The purpose of this is to compete in ASCE’s (American Society of Civil Engineers) Ohio Valley Student Conference. The conference includes many other universities within the Ohio Valley, such as Ohio State, Pitt, Carnegie Mellon, Akron, and Cincinnati. The conference brings these schools together, holding competitions such as an environmental competition and concrete canoe, as well as having guest speakers. This provides the students an
ability to make friends, network, and find out exactly what branch of civil engineering they may want to get into.

The competition includes all stages of process: conception, design, fabrication, and erection. The hope is that those participating in the competition gain practical experience in structural design, fabrication, construction planning, organization, project management, and teamwork.

I’ve personally enjoyed this working on this project. It’s provided me an opportunity to work with other people in my major I haven’t previously spoke to. It’s also provided me an opportunity to work on something out of class that is more realistic than crunching numbers or working through theories, though a fair share of theory and number crunching were involved in the process.

SWE National Conference

Emily Blaha,
Junior, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

Athens, OH 27 November 2012 – The Society of Women Engineers (SWE) is one of the student organizations I am involved with on campus. SWE’s mission is to stimulate women to achieve full potential in careers as engineers and leaders, expand the image of the engineering profession as a positive force in improving the quality of life, and demonstrate the value of diversity. I got involved with SWE my freshman year because it was a way to meet upperclassmen and feel connected to the engineering college, since the majority of my classes were non-engineering classes like math and science.

SWE is also a great organization because it is open to everyone–all Russ College students are welcome to join! We put on a wide range of events throughout the year that help our members and that benefit the community. Each year we have a Girl Scouts Day where we introduce area girl scouts to engineering and do small science experiments with them, and we also plan the Dean’s Picnic for the Russ College. For professional development we have speakers who come and talk about their career and life experiences, and we also go to regional and annual SWE conferences, which are great for networking and job hunting.

The SWE Annual Conference, WE12, was held at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas this year. Our Ohio University section sent 14 students to the conference from November 7-10 with generous funding from the Russ College. It was such a great experience!

At the conference there are presentations about professional development, K-12 outreach, new technology, graduate school, and much more. The most important aspect of the trip for me was the career fair. There were around 250 companies and universities recruiting for full-time, co-op, internship, and grad school positions. I am currently looking for a co-op or internship for this summer, and had the opportunity to interview with a company that day. I was able to speak with many different companies, especially ones that do not attend the OU or regional career fairs.

SWE Plans for 2012

Courtney Sterrick,
Junior, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

Athens, OH 29 September 2012 – I’m so excited about our Society of Women Engineers school chapter this year! We’ve held two meetings this semester and have had great turnouts both times. The number of members has practically quadrupled since I joined SWE two years ago. I can’t wait to see the enthusiasm everyone brings to the table!

On October 20th, SWE will be holding its second annual Girl Scout Day. The event is designed to introduce Girl Scouts to engineering. Several of last year’s events included making flashlights (to learn about electricity), sticking skewers through balloons (to learn about polymers), and siphoning water (to learn about pressure differences). The final event of the day was an egg drop competition. All of the girls seemed to have a really great time, and I can’t wait to help out again this year!

From November 7th-10th, a group of 19 people, including me, will be attending the SWE National Conference in Houston, Texas. Although 8 of us attended the Regional Conference in Cincinnati last year, it will be the first time any of us have attended the National Conference. This conference is a great way to meet other professional and collegiate members (to whom we refer as SWEsters). SWE conferences are also known for their large career fairs. It’s an excellent opportunity to speak with employers from big-name companies like The Dow Chemical Company, DuPont, McAfee, Microsoft, and Whirlpool. Whether you are interested in a co-op, internship, or full-time position, this is a great place to network.