A team of students from Missouri University of Science and Technology will travel to southern Illinois to test the principles of bridge building by constructing a scale model of a steel bridge as part of the American Society of Civil Engineers’ Mid-Continent Student Conference.

The conference will be held Thursday, April 4, through Saturday, April 6, at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville in Edwardsville, Ill. Missouri S&T’s Steel Bridge Team will compete with other regional collegiate teams to construct its bridge as fast as possible.

The group will be judged on bridge weight, construction speed and rigidity. Aesthetics are scored if needed as a tie-breaker. Penalties are assessed for infractions ranging from dropping bolts, holding two pieces of the bridge at once and stepping over designated lines.

This year, the team’s bridge weighs 155 pounds and has 44 pieces. The back span is 12 feet long and the cantilever is 3.5 feet long. The group spent all of the fall semester designing the bridge. In the spring semester’s lead up to the competition, they have been fabricating the bridge in the Student Design and Experiential Learning Center on the S&T campus, spending approximately 750 hours total in the shop.

A maximum of six people can physically construct the bridge during the competition, so the 28-member team decides beforehand who has the best coordination and speed to represent S&T. Those six team members practice up to two hours a day, every day, to reduce the time it takes to construct the bridge. While the bridge is constructed, the remaining members of the team provide support from the sidelines.

Dr. Timothy Philpot, associate professor of civil, architectural and environmental engineering at S&T, is the Steel Bridge Team faculty advisor, and Sarah Padgett, a junior in civil engineering from Topeka, Kan., is the 2013 team leader.

For more information about the competition please visit the 2013 ASCE Mid-Continent Student Conference website at http://www.ce.siue.edu/asce/MCSC/default.html or contact Brent Vaughn at bvaughn@siue.edu.

The following students are part of the 2013 Steel Bridge Team:

Sermad Amir, a junior in civil engineering from Ballwin, Mo.
Takota Anderson, a senior in mechanical engineering from Stark City, Mo.
Zachary Bardot, a senior in architectural engineering from Luebbering, Mo.
Natalie Bouxsein, a senior in civil engineering from Sugar Hill, Ga.
Joel Cates, a sophomore in mechanical engineering from Pawnee, Ill.
Michael Ishmael, a junior in mechanical engineering from Grain Valley, Mo.
Jermy Jamison, a junior in mechanical engineering from Lone Jack, Mo.
Micah Johnson, a senior in mechanical engineering from Warrenton, Mo.
Samuel Johnson, a senior in engineering management from Maryland Heights, Mo.
Nicholas Kaesik, a senior in civil engineering from Freeburg, Mo.
Matthew Klegseth, a freshman in civil engineering from Kansas City, Mo.
Lynsey Lahey, a senior in civil engineering from Kirkwood, Mo.
Sheryl Mattox, a senior in architectural engineering from Archie, Mo.
Cameron McCormick, a senior in civil engineering from Lee’s Summit, Mo.
Francis McCoy, a sophomore in civil engineering from Kansas City, Mo.
David Muller, a senior in architectural engineering from Ballwin, Mo.
Holly Olson, a junior in mechanical engineering from Nanjemoy, Md.
Sarah Padgett, a junior in civil engineering from Topeka, Kan.
Kyle Roberts, a senior in civil engineering from New London, Mo.
Samuel Rothove, a senior in metallurgical engineering from Westphalia, Mo.
Austin Shull, a junior in architectural engineering from La Monte, Mo.
Samantha Smith, a senior in civil engineering from Washington, Ill.
Zachary Smith, a junior in civil engineering from St. Peters, Mo.
Sonya Snyder, a sophomore in metallurgical engineering from Las Vegas, Nev.
Charles Stankovic, a sophomore in civil engineering from Saline, Mich.
Nicholas Traub, a sophomore in civil engineering from Green Bay, Wis.
Darrell Wallace, a senior in civil engineering from Lee’s Summit, Mo.