KU Engineering student groups continue to excel at annual ASCE championship

LAWRENCE — University of Kansas Department of Civil, Environmental & Architectural Engineering student groups took home several awards at the 2026 ASCE Symposium at the beginning of April. The KU ASCE chapter and Concrete Canoe and Steel Bridge programs traveled to Carbondale, Illinois, to take part in their respective competitions.

Concrete Canoe took home first place in technical proposal and second place overall for the competition, the third year in a row the team has held this position.

“I’m so proud of what the younger members have been able to accomplish after stepping into leadership roles,” said Dominic Arbini, senior in architectural engineering and Concrete Canoe captain from Fenton, Missouri. “They have truly bought into what we do and why we do it. Results aside, we all had fun and are excited about next year, talking about themes and innovations.”

This year’s canoe theme, Prairie Fire, went deeper than just its appearance. Since prairie fire itself is important to the ecosystem, the Concrete Canoe team used this as a theme of regrowth and adaptive reuse goals for this year’s canoe. Restoring a prior mold, the team set ambitious embodied carbon reduction goals for its concrete mix and looked inward to make club practices sustainable as well.

“Like the phoenix on our canoe,” said Arbini, “our team has truly risen from the ashes to become stronger than before.”

Hannah Poe, senior in civil engineering from Overland Park, was awarded third place in the Student Symposium Paper Competition. Her paper, “Ethics and the Responsibility of Engineers to Advance the Public Welfare,” explored the history of the engineering and construction of the Kansas City, Missouri, Downton Highway Loop, including insights into the damage it caused the city and what engineers are doing today to reverse and mitigate the harm done.

“I chose to write this paper because engineers must not overlook the importance of engaging with all communities that our projects impact to fully understand their needs,” Poe said.

Finally, KU’s Steel Bridge team also traveled to compete in this year’s competition and, though members didn’t take home any awards, they said they were already looking forward to the new year and new challenges.

The Steel Bridge program was designed to provide KU engineering students with an opportunity to work on a nationally competitive design team. Students involved in the program are able to develop teamwork and communication skills necessary in the workplace, steel fabrication skills, computer-aided design experience and more.

KU Steel Bridge President Molly Hageman, from St. Louis, said she is proud of the work she and her team accomplished over this past year and is looking forward to the next year.

“Regardless of the results, watching the team bond through the highs and lows of the symposium was by far the highlight of the weekend,” Hageman said. “Seeing how much we learned and grew as a team makes me really excited for next year’s competition.”

In this competition, each student team develops a concept for a scale-model steel bridge to span approximately 20 feet and to carry 2,500 pounds. The team must determine how to fabricate a bridge and plan for an efficient assembly under timed construction conditions. Finished bridges are load-tested, weighed and judged on aesthetics.

“I am immensely proud of how our KU team competed this year,” said Mandy Gibbs, senior in civil engineering and KU ASCE president from Leawood. “This is one of the most rewarding weekends of the year, and I can’t wait to see how this year’s success translates into hosting the symposium at KU in 2027.”

The ASCE Mid-America Student Symposium is one of 22 ASCE regional student symposia held annually as an opportunity for student chapters to showcase their skills and achievements in various civil engineering activities. The Mid-America Region includes 17 universities from Kansas, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska and South Dakota. KU is scheduled to co-host the ASCE Student Symposium in 2027 with Benedictine College.