THUNDER BAY — A team from Lakehead University was the top Canadian entry and finished 11th among 34 schools in the Student Steel Bridge National Finals in Blacksburg, Virginia.
The annual competition is sponsored by the American Society of Civil Engineers and the American Institute of Steel Construction.
Lakehead's team was led by Dr. Yanglin Gong and included Damien Grayda, Paul Graham, Matthew Scott, Felix Lasalle and Philip Duke.
The May 27 and 28 event requires teams to build a 20-foot-long bridge to suit a given hypothetical environment.
Competitors must determine how to design and fabricate the bridge, then plan for an efficient assembly under timed construction.
The bridges they build on-site are then load-tested and weighed.
Lakehead's team brought back two awards — second in lightness and second in cost estimation.
In April, they took first place overall when they competed against 13 US universities in a regional event in Illinois.
Grayda, the team captain, described the final event in Virginia as "an amazing way to finish my studies."
"In all my years of being in post-secondary, this certainly is the accomplishment I am most proud of," he said, adding that the team worked hard, faced adversity and overcame numerous challenges throughout the process.
Co-captain Graham commented that taking the project from inception all the way to construction was the best learning experienced he had had at LU.
Lakehead has participated in the competition for 21 years, but this was the first in-person event since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In total, about 150 schools competed in 20 regional events leading up to the final.
