USC ASCE members at the 1st Annual CEE Department Ski Trip at Big Bear Mountain
CEE Department Ski Trip
All posts by Nick Halsey
2014 Practice Canoe Fresh out of the Mold
After pour day, we decided to re-pour this year’s canoe with a better reinforcement product, as the reinforcement led to the canoe being much thicker than we had designed. But we’re saving this first canoe for practice! Here it is, fresh out of the mold:
Yes, it’s so smooth, it’s shiny!
Steel Bridge Update
Our Steel Bridge team is working hard to finish building their top-secret design by March 1st. This will allow plenty of time to tweak and finish the bridge, as well as practicing assembly for the competition. We’re excited for PSWC 2014 and will be selecting our competition team in the next few weeks.
We can always use more help; please email steelbridge@uscasce.com to join our mailing list!
Pour Day 2014
Our 2014 Pour Day for Concrete Canoe went well, with three layers of concrete and two layers of carbon fiber grid reinforcement going into our homemade mold in about ten hours of work. Roughly fifteen members helped out including a few dedicated non-canoe-team helpers. We finished off the bulkheads, so the only remaining concrete placement will be for the edges and any patches.
Finishing off the mold, start time: 10:30am 
Covering the mold with contact paper 
The rush of helpers is here 
Smoothing all the cracks 
Laying ropes to gauge the concrete’s thickness 
Waiting for concrete 
laying more ropes 
Mixing the first batch of concrete! Start time: noon. 
Placing the first layer, in sections 
Kelly and Noah placing the first layer 
Smoothing the first layer of concrete 
Smoothing the first layer of concrete 
Preparing dry concrete mix in the mix room 
Placing the first layer 
Elise and Rosa, still mixing endless buckets of concrete 
Lucy and Erin weight concrete ingredients 
First layer of reinforcement, second layer of concrete 
Still mixing concrete 
Breaking apart fibers in the mix room 
(late) lunch break: pizza! 
Several people spent the whole day making concrete in the mix room! 
Weighing stuff for concrete in the mix room 
Completed first layer, with most of the second layer 
Second layer in progress 
Second layer in progress 
Finishing the first layer on the ends 
Working on the ends 
Lucy and Kelly placing concrete 
Second layer of reinforcement, third (final) layer of concrete 
Waiting for more concrete 
Donut break 
Placing the final layer 
Finishing the ends 
Finishing the end 
Spray-foaming the bulkheads into place 
We’re done – time to build a canoe tent 
Assembling PVC pipes for the tent 
Finished canoe 
Tented canoe, time to clean up! 
Time for a celebratory meal – end time: 8:30pm
2014 Workshop for Student Chapter Leaders
Four USC ASCE members attended ASCE’s 2014 Workshop for Student Chapter Leaders – Regions 8 & 9 (WSCL) this past weekend in Phoenix, AZ. WSCL is designed to give current and future chapter officers training, while facilitating networking opportunities with other students and professionals, allowing good ideas to be shared between schools.
Conference sessions covered topics from presenting each university’s successes and challenges to discussing how to better connect students from different universities to an overview of the new format for next year’s annual report.
Networking was also a critical component of WSCL. Making connections with other students and with Civil and Environmental Engineering Professionals from ASCE Younger Member Groups and ASCE Section and Branch leaders is important for a variety of reasons. Ideas within and outside of ASCE can be shared, friendships can be formed, and potential career opportunities can be created.
In addition to the student-focused sessions, several events were held with the younger members and section and branch leaders, whose conferences occurred simultaneously. Highlights included several networking events (including meals!), a speech by ASCE President-Elect Robert Stevens, and a Q & A session with ASCE’s President, past President, and President-Elect.
Overall, WSCL was a great experience where we made new connections and formed new and exciting ideas for USC ASCE. If you’re at all interested in a leadership role at USC ASCE, get excited for WSCL 2015 in Seattle, WA!
PSWC 2014 Planning Underway
Our USC ASCE team for PSWC 2014 has been finalized. We’ll be bringing 43 of our members to San Diego State University from April 2-6 to compete against 17 other universities in concrete canoe, steel bridge, environmental, geotechnical, surveying, technical paper, concrete bowling, scavenger hunt, sports teams, and several other events.
We’re finalizing details of our travel plans now, while also organizing the smaller competition teams. Once we have all of individual schedules and teams filled out, team captains will coordinate meetings/practices to prepare for victory!
Our design teams can always use more help to design and build the concrete canoe, steel bridge, water treatment system, and geowall. Even if you aren’t attending PSWC this year, you can make a big impact on our teams and help propel them to win!
Check out our calendars for updates on all of our meeting times and info for getting involved!
2013 Annual Report
USC ASCE’s Annual Report for the 2013 calendar year is now available. Required for all student chapters of ASCE, the annual report offers an opportunity to evaluate our accomplishments, goals, and improvements over the past year, and to reflect on opportunities for improvement in the coming year.
Concrete Canoe Showcase
The Concrete Canoe Team has just launched a new showcase website for our Concrete Canoe! The site features a concise summary of each year’s canoe going back to 2011, including key pictures, the design paper, PSWC results, and more.
Now that 2014 is almost upon us we need your help to finish designing and to build our next canoe. If you’re interested in canoe email canoe@uscasce.com for more info on how to get involved!
Website Redesign
We’ve launched a visual redesign of our website, addressing several concerns about our site’s usability that came up in our Fall 2013 survey.
Previously, we used a custom child theme of the Twenty Thirteen WordPress theme. Now, we’re using Twenty Fourteen, with the Fourteen Colors plugin.
The new design features images more prominently and boldly (see the design team pages, for example, Concrete Canoe). It’s higher contrast and more readable. And most importantly, it provides several tools for us to highlight the most important content, for example, through the new sidebar on the left of the screen.
Continuing our commitment to open source software, I contributed heavily to the development of Twenty Fourteen, so that we could make it better for both our uses at USC ASCE, and for thousands of other sites worldwide.
We hope you like our new design!
Previously:
2013 CEE Department Holiday Party
USC ASCE Members at the 2013 CEE Department Holiday Party