Florida Tech Places First in Mens Sprint at the 2010 ASCE Southeast Competition
MELBOURNE, FLA.—The Florida Institute of Technology student chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) recently participated in the 2010 ASCE Southeast Student Conference hosted by Auburn University in Alabama. In the regional contest were 15 civil engineering events, including Concrete Canoe, Steel Bridge, Surveying, and Professional Paper competitions.
The team placed first in the Concrete Canoe’s Men’s Sprint category, second in the Co-ed Sprint and Men’s Endurance, and third in the Steel Bridge Aesthetics competition. Overall, the Panthers placed fourth in the Concrete Canoe competition and sixth in the Steel Bridge competition among 25 competitors. This year, Florida Tech’s Concrete Canoe team was captained by Priyanka Prakash.
Twenty-four Florida Tech students took part in 13 of the 15 challenges. Participating universities included the University of Miami, University of Central Florida, University of Alabama in Huntsville, University of Tennessee, University of South Florida, University of Florida and Vanderbilt University.
The men’s sprint team members were Andrew Bankert and Lorenzo Fevola; the steel bridge team’s co-captains were Charles Russell and Charles Womack; the co-ed sprint team members were Bankert, Mike Matern, Elena Hernandez and Nim Dailey; the men’s endurance team members were Bankert, Matern and Richard Schulman.
“This year’s competition fielded a very young team with very few seniors,” says Ashok Pandit, head of the Department of Civil Engineering in the College of Engineering. “The entire competition was a great team effort.”
This year’s Concrete Canoe and Steel Bridge team captains, sophomores Priyanka Prakash and Corey Womack, are already looking forward to next year’s competition.
Ralph Locurcio, Florida Tech professor in the College of Engineering, accompanied the team to Auburn as faculty adviser. Peter Nunes is the president of the Florida Tech student chapter of the ASCE.
In the 22 years of the ASCE’s national competition, Florida Tech is the only private university to win the Concrete Canoe event in the nation (1997), place in the top five (third in 2000, fourth in 1998) and host the event (1999).
