| Summary: | 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. List of Figures and Tables 5 Acknowledgments 6 Abstract 7 Executive Summary 8 Chapter 1 Introduction 9 1.1 What is the Steel Bridge Competition? 9 1.2 Why Participate in the Steel Bridge Compeititon? 10 Chapter 2 Method 12 2.1 Recruiting Interests 12 2.2 Fundrasing 12 2.3 Design and Analysis 13 2.4 Bridge Manufactuering and Machining 13 Chapter 3 Results and Discussion 20 3.1 Competition Results 20 3.2 Lessons Learned 21 3.3 Networking/Resume Building 22 3.4 Community Involvement 13 Chapter 4 Conclusion and Recommendations 23 References 24 Appendix A 26 I. Pictures 26 II. CAD Drawings 37 III. Fundraising Material 42
|
|---|