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Bullets
courtesy of
West Point Kicks Off Bicentennial Engineering Contest
Internet-Based Competition Honors West
Point's Engineering Heritage
WEST POINT, N.Y., Nov. 8 , 2001/PRNewswire/ -- Students across the nation will compete for a $15,000 cash scholarship and notebook computers, as the U.S. Military Academy kicks off the West Point Bicentennial Engineering Design Contest. For the next three months, students in grades K-12 will design virtual bridges using a high-tech, award-winning, computer-aided design software package called the West Point Bridge Designer.
The first round of the contest begins November 11, and ends February 28, 2002. Students will compete either individually or in teams of two. The top forty teams, ten from each of four geographic zones will participate in a semi-final round via the Internet, March 16. The top team from each zone and the top two teams overall will be invited to West Point the weekend of April 26, 2002 for the final competition.
Students register, enter, have entries judged and receive performance feedback entirely via the Internet. Contest software is downloaded free of charge from the web site at http://www.usma.edu/bridgecontest. Individuals and teams use the exclusive contest version of West Point Bridge Designer software program, and the Web site, to develop, test and optimize a design of an actual highway bridge. Three-dimensional animation allows students to visualize structural behavior by providing a simulated truckload test over the structure.
The contest is endorsed and sponsored in part by the American Society of Civil Engineers, which celebrates its 150th anniversary this year.
"Members of the ASCE will visit students and teachers to discuss engineering and to answer any questions they might have about the contest. Our goal is to excite students about math, science and technology," said Cathy Bale, Contest Coordinator.
The principle goal of the West Point Bicentennial Engineering Design Contest is to celebrate the Academy's 200 years of service to the nation by highlighting the institution's engineering heritage and by providing contestants with a high-quality educational experience. Teachers say it is an experience inspiring kids to learn more about engineering.
Illinois' Belvedere Junior High School teacher Larry Riccardo uses the software program in his introduction to technology course. "My students love it!" he reports. "What a great teaching tool for covering both engineering concepts and the design process." Teachers looking for a hands-on activity to extend the computer aided lesson can make use of the contest manual called "Building File-Folder Bridges."
West Point, established by President Thomas Jefferson March 16, 1802, was the first school in the United States to offer a formal program of instruction in engineering. During the first half of the 19th Century, civil engineering was the foundation of the West Point curriculum.
"Academy graduates built many of the young nation's railroads, bridges, harbors, and roads -- as well as the Panama Canal. So, a nationwide engineering design contest in West Point's bicentennial year appropriately commemorates the Academy's engineering heritage and its contributions to the development of the nation's infrastructure," said Bale.
SOURCE U.S. Military Academy
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