The Missouri S&T Steel Bridge Design Team competes in the Gale Bullman Building on Thursday April 21, 2016. Sam O’Keefe/Missouri S&T

Missouri University of Science and Technology’s Steel Bridge Design Team will compete at the 2016 National Student Steel Bridge Competition this May.

The event will take place May 27-28 at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. Missouri S&T’s team earned second place at the American Society of Civil Engineers’ 2016 Mid-Continent Student Conference to qualify for nationals.

Forty-eight teams will compete to construct their bridges against the clock. Bridges will be scored on its weight and rigidity, construction speed and the number of team members building the bridge. Each bridge is also “load tested” to prove its weight-bearing abilities.

Infractions such as dropping bolts, holding two pieces of the bridge at once or stepping over designated safety lines, incur time penalties.

Throughout the spring semester, Steel Bridge Design Team members worked long hours in Missouri S&T’s Student Design and Experiential Learning Center, improving designs, fabricating parts and practicing for the competition.

For more information about the competition, visit www.aisc.org.