2007 Winners Announced!

PCI Announces 2007 Engineering Design Awards (Big Beam Contest)
The Student Education Judging Committee selected the Engineering Student Design Award (Big Beam Contest) winners at its meeting at PCI headquarters on July 31, 2007. First place winners from each of the six PCI Zones, along with the International entries considered as Zone 7, competed for the overall championship. The overall, Zonal, Innovative Design, and Mix Design Winners, along with the associated PCI and CPCI Producers, are listed as follows:

OVERALL CHAMPIONSHIP

First Place:

University of Nebraska (Team #2), Lincoln, Nebraska (Zone 3)
Faculty Advisor: George Morcous
Student Team: Amin Akhnoukh, John Daly, Kevin Simmons, Elizabeth Parsons, and James Wingert
PCI Producer: Coreslab Structures (OMAHA) Inc. (Brian Peterson)
Award: $2000 along with other prizes
(To be honored at the PCI Convention in Phoenix, Arizona)

Second Place:

Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon (Zone 1)
Faculty Advisor: Keith Kaufman
Student Team: Jignesh Vadodaria, Quang Nguyen, Eric Yost, Greg Murphy, and Brett Karnes
PCI Producer: Knife River Corp., Harrisburg, Oregon (Pat Hynes)
Award: $1750 along with other prizes

Third Place:

University of Illinois (Team #1), Urbana, Illinois (Zone 4)
Faculty Advisor: Dan Kuchma
Student Team: Jordan Card, Jonathan Loo, Ray Foltz, and Jorge Garzon
PCI Producer: Prestress Engineering Corp., Blackstone, Illinois (Marty McIntyre)
Award: $1500 along with other prizes

Fourth Place:

University of Texas (Team #2), Austin, Texas (Zone 2)
Faculty Advisor: Ozzie Bayrak
Student Team: Charles Hammond, Meredith McLeroy, Marc Rached, Alan Kreisa, and Will Srubar
PCI Producer: Coreslab Structures Inc., Cedar Park, Texas (Bill Doughty)
Award: $1250 along with other prizes

Fifth Place:

Red River College (Team #1), Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada (Zone 7)
Faculty Advisor: Robin Hutchinson
Student Team: Gavin Clement, Bob McDonald, and Nathan Stahl
CPCI Producer: Lafarge Canada Inc., Winnipeg, Manitoba (Ifan Lim)
Award: $1000 along with other prizes

Sixth Place:

Clarkson University, Potsdam, New York (Zone 5)
Faculty Advisor: Jubum Kim
Student Team: Daniel Borcz, Justin Gentzke, and Daren Weber
PCI Producer: Jefferson Concrete Corp., Watertown, New York (Rita Seraderian)
Award: $1000 along with other prizes

Seventh Place:

University of North Carolina, Charlotte, North Carolina (Team #1)
Faculty Advisor: Shen-En Chen
Student Team: Brian Zapata, Mathew Manus, Chris Clark, Wes Gibson, Robie Goins, Paul Mazur, Jacob Mock, Michele Moorrees, Kevin Orr, and Nick Townley
PCI Producer: Prestress of the Carolinas, Charlotte, North Carolina
Award: $1000 along with other prizes

ZONAL WINNERS

Zone 2 Second Place:

University of Texas, Austin, Texas (Team #3)
Faculty Advisor: Ozzie Bayrak
Student Team: Seongyeong Yang, Jung Yeon, P.S. Lakshmipriya, Ankur Sepaha, and Shiv Shanker
PCI Producer: Coreslab Structures Inc., Cedar Park, Texas (Bill Doughty)
Award: $750 along with other prizes

Zone 2 Third Place:

University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho
Faculty Advisor: Ed Schmeckpeper
Student Team: Jeff Mitchell, Mike Shaw, Aaron Gfellar, and Dirk Handricks
PCI Producer: Central Pre-Mix Prestress Co., Spokane, Washington (Chuck Prussack)
Award: $500 along with other prizes

Zone 2 Fourth Place:

University of Texas, Austin, Texas (Team #1)
Faculty Advisor: Ozzie Bayrak
Student Team: Chris Heckmannn, Carrie Holland, Sean Mac Lean, Andrew Schuh, and Sam Slatnick
PCI Producer: Coreslab Structures Inc., Cedar Park, Texas (Bill Doughty)
Award: $250 along with other prizes

Zone 3 Second Place:

University of Missouri, Rolla, Missouri
Faculty Advisor: John Myers
Student Team: Jared Brewe, Dave Holdener, Mike Murphy, and Yoswee Tanizawa
PCI Producer: Coreslab Structures (MISSOURI) Inc., Marshall, Missouri (Jim Myers)
Award: $750 along with other prizes

Zone 3 Third Place:

University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska (Team #3)
Faculty Advisor: George Morcous
Student Team: Jichong An, Hany Maximos, and Andrew Sorensen
PCI Producer: Concrete Industries Inc., Lincoln, Nebraska (Mark Lafferty)
Award: $500 along with other prizes

Zone 3 Fourth Place:

South Dakota School of Mines & Technology (Team #1)
Faculty Advisor: M. R. Hansen
Student Team: Aboubaker Farah, Mathew Heringer, Bret Budd, Rebecca Vandine, and Cassandra West
PCI Producer: Gage Bros., Sioux Falls, South Dakota (Chris Baer)
Award: $250 along with other prizes

Zone 4 Second Place:

Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio (Team #2)
Faculty Advisor: Halil Sezen
Student Team: Allen Bonham, Jeffery Box, Steven Nocera, and Andrew Norman
PCI Producer: High Concrete Group, Springboro, Ohio
Award: $750 along with other prizes

Zone 4 Third Place:

Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Terre Haute, Indiana
Faculty Advisor: James Hanson
Student Team: Danielle Steinke, Jeffery Gauthier, Rachel Howser, Elitsa Voeva, and Erik Dolmseth
PCI Producer: Coreslab Structures (INDIANAPOLIS) Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana (Phil Wiedemann)
Award: $500 along with other prizes

Zone 4 Fourth Place:

West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia
Faculty Advisor: Roger Chen
Student Team: Joseph Sweet, Jeong-Hoon Choi and Haibin Huang
PCI Producer: Sidley Precast, Youngwood, Pennsylvania (Phil Wiedemann)
Award: $250 along with other prizes

Zone 5 Second Place:

Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts Faculty Advisor: Brian Brenner Student Team: Carlo Jacob, Duncan Kopp, Brian Mackey, and Heather Shields PCI Producer: Rotondo Precast, Rehoboth, Massachusetts (Rita Seraderian) Award: $750 along with other prizes

Zone 5 Third Place:

University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts
Faculty Advisor: Sergio Brena
Student Team: J. P. Telemague, Ryan James, Michael Sullivan, Ethan Wilkins, Jeffrey Seymour, and Michael Milano
Precast Producer: Unistress Corp., Pittsfield, Massachusetts (Rita Seraderian)
Award: $500 along with other prizes

Zone 6 Second Place:

University of North Carolina, Charlotte, North Carolina (Team #2)
Faculty Advisor: Janos Gergely
Student Team: Ryan Fairchild, Nick Deblasis, Mohiuddin Syed, Becky Mathews, Jonathan Hamrick, Billy Royal, David Speer, Dalton Espaillat, and Antoaneta Koleva
PCI Producer: Prestress of the Carolinas, Charlotte, North Carolina (Peter Finsen)
Award: $750 along with other prizes

Zone 6 Third Place:

North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina
Faculty Advisor: Rudi Seracino
Student Team: Catrina Walter, Caleb Pike, and Bernard Frankl
PCI Producer: Metromont Corp., Charlotte, North Carolina (Peter Finsen)
Award: $500 along with other prizes

Zone 7 Second Place:

Co-Winner #1 University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada
Faculty Advisor: Maged Youssef
Student Team: Shahria Alam, Salah El-Fitiany, Mohammad Siddique, and Tom Greenough
CPCI Producer: The Prestressed Group, Windsor, Ontario (Phil Wiedemann)
Award: $625 along with other prizes

Co-Winner #2 Red River College, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada (Team #2)
Faculty Advisor: Robin Hutchinson
Student Team: Doug Fielding, Steve Penner, and Lisa Daman
CPCI Producer: Lafarge Canada, Inc., Winnipeg, Manitoba (Andy Dutfield)
Award: $625 along with other prizes

Zone 7 Fourth Place:

Co-Winner #1 Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada (Team #1)
Faculty Advisor: Andrew Take
Student Team: Daniel Aleksov, James Cranford, Charles Ferguson, Robert Schmidt, and Gregory Woltman
CPCI Producer: Pre-Con, Brampton, Ontario, Canada (Amir Fam)
Award: $200 along with other prizes

Co-Winner #2 Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada (Team #2)
Faculty Advisor: Andrew Take
Student Team: Thomas Browne, Craig Enns, Jennifer Gratton, Steven Reid, and Beverly Stinson
CPCI Producer: Pre-Con, Brampton, Ontario, Canada (Shane Sherar)
Award: $200 along with other prizes

OUTSTANDING REPORT WINNER

University of Texas, Austin, Texas (Team #3)
Faculty Advisor: Ozzie Bayrak
Student Team: Seongyeong Yang, Jung Yeon, P.S. Lakshmipriya, Ankur Sepaha, and Shiv Shanker
PCI Producer: Coreslab Structures Inc., Cedar Park, Texas (Bill Doughty)
Award: $500 along with other prizes

INNOVATIVE DESIGN CONTEST WINNER

Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
Faculty Advisory: Clay Naito
Student Team: Tim Cullen, Cliff Jones, Chris Trautner, and Tanya Wulf
PCI Producer: High Concrete Group, Denver, Pennsylvania (Hank Bonstedt and Monica Schultes)
Award: $2000 along with other prizes

MIX DESIGN CONTEST WINNER

University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario, Canada (Team #2)
Faculty Advisory: Sreekanta Das
Student Team: Tyler Griffth, Thao Nguyen, Brad Ryan, and David Skillings
CPCI Producer: National Precast In., Roseville, Michigan (Phil Wiedemann)
Award: $1000 along with other prizes

The Big Beam Contest is organized by PCI’s Student Education Committee (Pat Hynes, Chair) and sponsored by Sika Corporation. The objective is for student teams to fabricate and test a precast, prestressed concrete beam with the help of local precast concrete producer members. Prizes are awarded for the most efficient design, highest load capacity, best report, and other categories.

Applications for the 2008 Big Beam Contest are due at PCI by March 15, 2008, and test reports by June 15, 2008.

For additional information on this program, contact PCI Research and Development Director Paul Johal at (312) 360-3213 or email: Paul johal.