University of Florida earned “America’s Cup of Civil Engineering” in June 2015 at the 28th annual American Society of Civil Engineers’ (ASCE) National Concrete Canoe Competition (NCCC). After three days of competition against 21 other teams, the University of Florida team and its canoe, ForeverGlades, came out on top.
Over the course of the school year, 215 teams of civil engineering students logged thousands of hours researching, designing and constructing their unique concrete canoes in a quest for the winning combination of creativity, knowledge and teamwork to advance to the national competition, which took place June 20-22 at Clemson University in Clemson, South Carolina.
“It’s exciting to see the next generation of civil engineers demonstrate such impressive teamwork, leadership, creativity and ingenuity as they embrace this challenge,” said Mark Woodson, P.E., F.ASCE, president-elect of ASCE. “I am grateful to Clemson University for all of their hard work hosting the National Concrete Canoe Competition to help make this event such a success.”
The competition consists of both academic and athletic events, and the scores are divided into four components which are each worth 25 percent of the team’s final score. Students write a technical paper detailing the design and construction of their canoe and then give oral presentations about their year-long project. They are also judged on their final product, the canoe, and their accompanying display, which further explains their design process. Finally, they put their canoe to the test in a series of five race events—men’s and women’s slalom/endurance races and men’s, women’s and co-ed sprint races.
The winning team receives a $5,000 scholarship and a trophy. Second place team receives a $2,500 scholarship and a trophy, and the third place team receives a $1,500 scholarship and a trophy.
The complete 2015 ranking is as follows:
Rank – School (Canoe name)
University of Florida (ForeverGlades)
California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (Jumanji)
University of California, Berkeley (Bearea 51)
Ecole de technologie superieure (Samba)
Clemson University (Ole Blue)
University of Nevada, Reno (Aquatone)
University of Wisconsin – Madison (Baraboo)
University of Massachusetts Lowell (Backfire)
University of Washington (Ska’ana)
University of California, Los Angeles (Arcturus)
Michigan Technological University (Talvi Sielu)
Fairmont State University (Adamas)
University of Wisconsin – Platteville (Safeguard)
New Mexico State University (Grand Ascension)
The Citadel (The Swamp Fox)
University of Evansville (Julie)
Western Kentucky University (Western Reserve)
University of Maryland (Seabiscuit)
Texas A & M University (The Mystery Boat)
Southern Illinois University Carbondale (Carbondale Royale)
New Jersey Institute of Technology (Valhalla)
Mississippi State University (Misha Sipokoni)
The National Concrete Canoe Competition is organized by ASCE with generous support from: the ASCE Foundation, Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corp., Bank of America, GEICO, Pearl Insurance and UPS.
