The Missouri S&T Steel Bridge Design Team won first place at the American Society of Civil Engineers’ (ASCE) Mid-America Student Symposium for the fifth consecutive time. The competition was held at Kansas State University April 13-15.

The Steel Bridge Design Team designs and builds a one-tenth scale model bridge according to a real-world problem set by the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC). This year teams had to design a bridge that could handle everything from pedestrians to service vehicles in the San Diego National Wildlife Refuge. Teams are judged in categories including construction speed, efficiency and the weight of the bridge.

“It was almost a full sweep,” says Krysta Swartz, a senior in civil engineering and project manager for the team. “We placed first in aesthetics, stiffness, cost estimation, construction speed, construction economy, and structural efficiency, and placed second in lightness.”

The team, advised by Dr. Nicolas Libre, associate teaching professor of civil, architectural, and environmental engineering at Missouri S&T, hopes to put their bridge engineering and construction skills to the test at the national competition June 2-3 at the University of California-San Diego. And they’ll be both defending champions and hosts next year, when the regional 2024 Mid-America Student Symposium takes place at Missouri S&T.

The team wishes to recognize the continuing support of Dr. Roger LaBoube, the founding advisor of the steel bridge team. LaBoube is a Curators’ Teaching Professor emeritus of civil, architectural, and environmental engineering and director of the Center for Cold-Formed Steel Structures. The team also wishes to thank the civil, architectural, and environmental engineering department, the Kummer Student Design Center, official team sponsor Lexicon, and its donors.

For more information about the team, visit steelbridge.mst.edu.

The following students are members of the Steel Bridge Design Team:

• Krysta Swartz, project manager, a senior in civil engineering from Caseyville, Illinois          
• Carter Blake, assistant project manager, a senior in civil engineering from Lake St. Louis, Missouri              
• Patrick Keough, lead design, a senior in civil engineering from Huntington Beach, California
• Seth Filipsen, secretary/treasurer, a junior in civil engineering from Overland Park, Kansas
• Hannah Butkovich, chief of public relations, a senior in civil engineering  from Bethalto, Illinois
• Zachary Parr, lead fabricator, a sophomore in mechanical engineering from Old Monroe, Missouri             
• Cole Allen, a senior in civil and architectural engineering from Wentzville, Missouri           
• Aaron Antal, a junior in architectural engineering from St. Charles, Missouri
• Louis Blessing, a junior in civil engineering from St. Louis
• Kyle Bryan, a senior in civil engineering from St. Peters, Missouri
• Garrett Coggin, a junior in civil engineering from Ozark, Missouri               
• Patrick Distler, a senior in civil engineering from New Bloomfield, Missouri           
• Angela Elguezabal, a senior in civil engineering from St. Louis
• Alex Gibson, a senior in civil engineering from Germantown, Tennessee
• Justice Gorsline, a junior in architectural engineering from Oak Grove, Missouri  
• Katelyn Griebel, a sophomore in geological engineering from Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania           
• Aidan Holtz, a junior in civil engineering from Wentzville, Missouri            
• Jacob Johnson, a junior in mechanical engineering from Lohman, Missouri            
• Danielle Laurie, a sophomore in architectural engineering from Chesterfield, Missouri
• Hossein Libre, a first-year student from Rolla, Missouri   
• Crystal Luong, a sophomore in civil engineering from St. Louis     
• Ethan Mitchell, a senior in architectural engineering from Blue Springs, Missouri
• Teresa Nagle, a sophomore in civil engineering from Northglenn, Colorado           
• Dominic Pona, a junior in civil engineering from Imperial, Missouri            
• Steven Puder, a senior in architectural engineering from Waterloo, Illinois             
• Eric Rogman, a senior in civil engineering from Independence, Missouri 
• Ethan Scheulen, a sophomore in architectural engineering from Westphalia, Missouri      
• Eric Ssesanga, a senior in civil engineering from Kampala, Uganda                             
• Benjamin Walter, a first-year student in mechanical engineering from Old Monroe, Missouri        
• Michael Winner, a graduate student in civil engineering from St. Peters, Missouri.            

About Missouri University of Science and Technology

Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T) is a STEM-focused research university of over 7,000 students. Part of the four-campus University of Missouri System and located in Rolla, Missouri, Missouri S&T offers 101 degrees in 40 areas of study and is among the nation’s top 10 universities for return on investment, according to Business Insider. For more information about Missouri S&T, visit www.mst.edu.