Competitive State-of-the-Art Structural Engineering

Abstract

The University of Alaska Fairbanks College of Engineering and Mines has a legacy with the Steel Bridge Competition. Each year, since starting nearly three decades ago, the university has pushed the limits of the competition through vigorous ingenuity and teamwork. Having a small team, where funding is hard to come by and manufacturing is all done in-house, the team would seem to be at a disadvantage. However, the team has used their obstacles as challenges to overcome rather than to deter them. Through various community outreach activities, volunteering, and professional networking the Steel Bridge team gets involved with Fairbanks and raises enough funds for materials and travel to the Pacific Northwest and then onto National Conferences. Through in-house fabrication, the Steel Bridge Team learns hands on welding and design testing, and the value of transparency between design and construction. The team also focuses on building itself, developing the people around them into better, well-rounded, well-spoken and hardworking engineers of Alaska’s future.