ASCE Student Chapter Competes at National Concrete Canoe Competition
For release: June 30, 2009
For more information, contact Dr. Roger Meier, rwmeier@memphis.edu

The University of Memphis’ American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Student Chapter participated in the annual ASCE Deep South Regional Student Conference hosted by Arkansas State University March 26-28, where they took first place in the concrete canoe competition.

The Civil Engineering students worked tirelessly for 6 months to design and fabricate The Memphis Belle, a 20-foot-long, 4-person canoe made entirely out of lightweight concrete reinforced with carbon fiber mesh.  The specially-formulated concrete used in this canoe is lighter than water… the concrete floats!  The canoe weighs just 200 pounds, which is just twice what a fiberglass canoe of comparable size would weigh.

By finishing first in this regional competition, which is one of 18 held throughout the country, the U of M Chapter earned the right to compete at the 22nd Annual National Concrete Canoe Competition, which was held June 10-13 at the University of Alabama.  22 canoe teams competed at the finals, with 10-20 members per team.

One of this year’s national sponsors was Baker Concrete Construction, Inc.  Company founder Dan Baker and several of his associates talked to scores of canoe team members from around the country and selected five of them to receive $1,000 scholarships.

One of five students selected to receive a scholarship was U of M canoe team member Stephen Edwards (CIVL ’10).