|
News Release
Office of News and Information
212 Whitehead Hall / 3400 N. Charles Street
Baltimore, Maryland 21218-2692
Phone: (410) 516-7160 / Fax (410) 516-5251
|
March 22, 1995
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Ken Keatley
jkk@resource.ca.jhu.edu
|
Engineering Students Vie in Concrete Canoe, Steel
Bridge Contests
Civil engineering students from several area universities
will soon get the chance to test their mettle - using metal and
concrete.
Concrete canoe races and a ateel bridge-building competition
will highlight the regional conference of student chapters of the
American Society of Civil Engineers, Saturday and Sunday, April
1-2. Fielding student teams will be conference host Johns Hopkins
University, Morgan State University, Catholic University,
the University of Maryland and George Washington University.
Note: Members of the Johns Hopkins team -- and their
concrete canoe -- will be available for preview coverage in the
days leading up to the event. Call Ken Keatley, (410) 516-7907,
to make arrangements.
Saturday, from 9 a.m. to noon on the J-lot parking area of
the Homewood campus, the teams will square off in the steel
bridge-building competition. Guidelines call for the teams to
design, fabricate and construct a 1:10 scale model of a bridge
that would cross a river valley in a mountainous, rural region
and be used by heavy trucks. The bridge must be constructed
entirely of steel, using hand tools supplied by the teams. Awards
will be given for construction speed, efficiency, economy,
aesthetics and overall performance.
Sunday, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., at the Hammerman area of
Gunpowder Falls State Park in eastern Baltimore County, the teams
will take to the river for a series of concrete canoe races. The
canoes, built beforehand, must be comprised of a portland cement-
based concrete mixture, and conform to rigid design and
construction requirements. Co-ed, men's and women's races on both
a short and long course will be held, and will account for 40
percent of a team's points. The remaining points will be earned
through a number of academic judging criteria.
The overall winner of the concrete canoe competition will
represent the region in the national finals, sponsored by the
American Society of Civil Engineers and Master Builders Inc., in
June.
The theme of this year's regional conference is "Engineering
& Sports," and will feature presentations Saturday afternoon from
experts in that area.
All presentations will take place in the Clipper Room in
Shriver Hall, on the Homewood campus. The schedule:
2 p.m. - Nick Jones, associate professor of civil
engineering at Johns Hopkins University, will lecture on brain
injuries and boxing. Dr. Jones is part of a team of Hopkins
researchers studying the central nervous system function of
boxers. He has developed an accelerometer, a device worn in
boxing helmets to determine how blows to the head impact the
magnitude and direction of head movement.
3 p.m. - Bruce Hoffman, of the Maryland Stadium Authority,
will speak on the design and construction of Oriole Park at
Camden Yards.
Directions to the steel bridge-building contest, from
downtown Baltimore: Take Charles Street north to 29th Street.
Turn left onto 29th; at the traffic light, bear right onto Wyman
Park Drive. Almost immediately, turn left, again onto Wyman Park
Drive. Take the second right onto Bowman Drive, which will lead
to the J-lot parking area.
Directions to the concrete canoe races, from downtown
Baltimore: Take I-83 to the Beltway, heading east. Take Exit 35,
heading eastbound on Route 40 (Pulaski Highway). After about 5
miles, turn right on Ebenezer Road. Stay on Ebenezer for about
6 miles; the entrance to the Hammerman area of Gunpowder Falls
State Park will be on the left.
Directions to the conference lectures, from downtown
Baltimore: Take Charles Street north to 29th Street. Turn left
onto 29th; at the traffic light, bear right onto Wyman Park
Drive. Almost immediately, turn left, again on Wyman Park Drive.
Take the first right. Parking is in the lots to the left.
Johns Hopkins University news releases can be found on the
World Wide Web at
http://www.jhu.edu/news_info/news/
Information on automatic e-mail delivery
of science and medical news releases is available at the
same address.
|
Go to
Headlines@HopkinsHome Page
|