UF civil engineering students are participating in a regional competition to showcase the project they have invested hundreds of hours during the past year to complete.
The UF Steel Bridge Team is competing in the American Society of Civil Engineers’ southeast conference in Tampa to qualify for the national conference.
The team’s bridge, constructed entirely of steel, is 5 feet high and 17 feet long — one-tenth the size of an actual bridge, said team co-captain Andrew De Alba, a 23-year-old UF civil engineering senior.
Designing the bridge took the group about five months, he said.
After crafting the pieces, the team practiced building the bridge in the fastest time possible. For two months, Kyle Willems, a 20-year-old UF civil engineering sophomore and assembly team member, practiced five hours every day.
Last year, the team was penalized for design choices that went against regulation, which kept them from qualifying for nationals.
“We’ve put a lot of time into practicing, and everyone will be doing their best to avoid penalties,” Willems said.
De Alba said he is competing for a second year because it lets him apply his knowledge from class on a real-life project.
“One of the most fulfilling things I’ve ever done is to design something on paper and see it get built exactly how I drew it up,” he said. “That is what a structural engineer does for a living, and having the chance to do it in school is incredibly rewarding.”
[A version of this story ran on page 8 on 3/28/2014 under the headline "UF bridge club competes in SEC"]
