Steel bridge team places in top third

The University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) School of Computing and Engineering’s steel bridge team – SteelRoos – placed 14th out of 48 teams in the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)/ American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) National Student Steel Bridge Competition at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The SteelRoos placed in the top 20 in Stiffness, Lightness, Economy and Efficiency.

The timed competition took place May 22 and 23, and required teams to design, fabricate, construct and test steel bridges, which would be judged on construction speed, design aesthetics, lightness, stiffness, strength and deflection and other characteristics. Each year, the ASCE/AISC modifies the rules to encourage students to think of new solutions and to keep the competition competitive.

The UMKC/SCE students who represented UMKC at the national competition are Aaron Castro, Chris Farney, Kyle Dunning, Stephen Huffman, Mark Crawford, Angela Kartsonis, Marc Phillips, Matthew Spurrier and David Kidd.

At last year’s national competition, the SteelRoos finished in the top 10 and beat out engineering powerhouses such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech).

The University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC), one of four University of Missouri campuses, is a public university serving more than 14,000 undergraduate, graduate and professional students. UMKC engages with the community and economy based on a four-part mission: life and health sciences; visual and performing arts; urban issues and education; and a vibrant learning and campus life experience.