University of Akron's Geo-Challenge Design Team wins multiple awards at Geo-Congress 2024
The University of Akron's Geo-Challenge Design Team in Vancouver, B.C., Canada for Geo-Congress 2024.
The Geo-Challenge Design Team at The University of Akron (UA) recently attended Geo-Congress 2024 held in Vancouver, B.C., Canada. The annual event, hosted by the Geo-Institute of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), serves as a gathering for geotechnical professionals and students to exchange ideas, innovations and best practices in the field of civil engineering.
A key part of the event is Geo-Challenge which consists of five individual student competitions: Geo-Wall, Geo-Prediction, Geo-Poster, Geo-Video and Geo-Shirt. UA’s team was selected to compete in three of these events and received awards in each category, which included the winning design for Geo-Shirt, second place in Geo-Video and second place in Geo-Wall.
Geo-Shirt and Geo-Video Competitions
Pictured left, JoAnna Shafer holding up her winning Geo-Shirt design, and pictured right, Shafer presenting her Geo-Video submission.
The Geo-Shirt competition requires students to design a t-shirt for student participants in the Geo-Challenge competitions. The winning design is selected before Geo-Congress, and all students and attendees receive a t-shirt when they arrive.
Geo-Video challenges students to create a short video about a geotechnical engineering concept. The videos are submitted prior to the conference and three finalists are selected and invited to attend Geo-Congress for final judging.
This year, for the first time, UA participated in both events. JoAnna Shafer, a third-year civil engineering student, decided to give the competitions a try since she wanted to be involved in the Geo-Challenge Design Team but was on co-op this past fall and could not be a part of Geo-Wall and meet regularly.
“At an ASCE meeting last semester, team captain Jesse Pennington shared that the Geo-Challenge Design Team needed members to participate in Geo-Wall, however, there were other aspects of the competition to get involved in,” said Shafer. “That semester I was on co-op, so I could not ensure I would be able to meet up consistently, but I still wanted to be involved with the team. I decided to compete in Geo-Shirt and Geo-Video, that way I could compete and be able to work on my submissions after work.”
Shafer received the winning Geo-Shirt design and second place in the Geo-Video competition.
Shafer started with Geo-Shirt, creating a design that resembled the beautiful Vancouver skyline. She saw it as a fun opportunity to be creative and draw, something she had not done in quite a while but always enjoyed. She then used this same drawing concept for Geo-Video.
Following the creative prompt, “to reflect the past, assess the present, and imagine the future of geotechnical engineering”, she drew and animated a video about the soil properties of the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
“I was the first student from The University of Akron to participate in these categories, which was such an honor and very exciting,” said Shafer.
Her creativity and commitment paid off as she won the Geo-Shirt competition and received second place in Geo-Video.
Geo-Wall Competition
The Geo-Wall team constructing their MSE retaining wall during the competition.
Geo-Wall is an event where the objective is to design and build a model mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) retaining wall.
“This was my third year competing in Geo-Wall,” shared Pennington. “To be able to compete at Geo-Congress a design report is submitted with research, equations and drawings of our design. The conference judges then select the top 12 teams in the nation and invite them to participate in the competition held during the conference.”
UA students Jesse Pennington (president and team captain), Naomi Wertz (vice president), Benjamin Noirot and Caley Barnett spent months researching, planning and practicing for the event. This year the wall had to be constructed around a tunnel and withstand a 50-pound weight, a difficult task considering the wall is constructed from craft paper taped to a poster board.
Pictured left to right: Geo-Wall members Caley Barnett, Jesse Pennington, Naomi Wertz and Benjamin Noirot holding their second place awards.
All of their hard work and preparation were rewarded as the team received an incredible second-place finish, improving on last year’s performance of third place.
Beyond the competitions
Attending Geo-Congress not only allowed UA’s students to “learn by doing” and employ what they have learned in the classroom but also provided wonderful opportunities to meet students from across the United States and grow closer as a team.
“There were a variety of networking opportunities at the conference for us to meet other teams and professionals attending the conference, including an event hosted after hours at the Vancouver Aquarium. All the student design teams got along so well that we made plans to get together outside of the conference,” said Shafer. “We all had a great time and we certainly grew closer as a team. We all made lots of friends, memories and gained further knowledge in the geotechnical field.”
Looking ahead
Next year’s Geo-Congress will be held in Louisville, Kentucky, and UA’s team is planning on being there to build on its success. In addition to the three categories they competed in this spring, the team would like to attempt the Geo-Poster and Geo-Prediction events and welcomes more students to join them.
If anyone is interested in joining the Geo-Challenge Design Team, they can contact ua.geochallenge@gmail.com or get involved in ASCE on campus. ASCE encompasses a variety of design teams at UA and offers students access to a multitude of resources and experiences.
RELATED CONTENT:
Story by CEPS Marketing.
Media contact: Cristine Boyd, 330-972-6476 or cboyd@uakron.edu.