2013 EERI SEISMIC DESIGN COMPETITIONSeattle, Washington, February 12-15The annual competition is hosted by the Earthquake Engineer-ing Research Institute (EERI) organization featuring schools from throughout the US, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Eastern Europe, and Southeast Asia. UMass is proud to be the only school from New England and one of only three schools from the Northeast to participate in this west coast competition.

The project involves the design, seismic analysis, construction, and shake testing of a 5' tall, 15" square balsa wood tower. The project focuses on multiple load path design along with SAP based structural analysis of historical and designer based earthquake time series. The structures are tested on a shake table that records deflections and accelerations at the top and bottom of the tower.

In the past three years, the UMass seismic design team has grown from 4 members to 25. Two years ago, the team placed dead last at 28th. Learning from their mistakes, the team clinched a 10th place finish at last year’s competition in Memphis, TN. Videos of the seismic shaking of each tower can be viewed on the EERI website at: http://slc.eeri.org.

2013 STEEL BRIDGE COMPETITIONMIT, Boston, April 19-20The steel bridge project involves design, fabrication, timed construction, and loading of a 20' long, 3' wide steel bridge. Following design criteria set by ASCE and AISC, the team bal-ances the tradeoffs between the fast assembly of a minimally built-up, lightweight bridge to the high structural performance of a robust bridge. All bridges are loaded to 2500 lbs.

The project rewards ingenuity in the design of fast acting, easily installed connections and focuses on the optimization of the construction assembly process without sacrificing structural per-formance. This year UMass Amherst will be sending 15 students.

2013 CONCRETE CANOE COMPETITIONUMass Dartmouth, April 26-27The concrete canoe project, a time-honored classic of ASCE, entails the design, strength testing, material selection, setting, curing, and ultimately the racing of a 20' long concrete canoe. This year’s team of 25 students must integrate various materials to develop a concrete mix that is less dense than water, yet that can still support the weight of four rowers. A mold is then formed to produce a canoe that fits within the tolerance of prescribed dimensional parameters. The mix is spread over the mold and left to set for 28 days in a humidity tent.

Our chapter hosted both the New England Regional Concrete Canoe Competition in 2009 and the Steel Bridge Competition in 2012, hosting between 10 to 15 participating university teams. For the students involved in the hosting coordination effort, it was a great opportunity for them to hone their planning, organi-zational, logistical, and critical decision making skills.

Since its charter formation in 1950, the mission of the ASCE Student Chapter is to enrich and complement the UMass Am-herst Civil Engineering student experience. We promote stu-dent involvement in scaled, real world, design-build projects integrating the traditional divisions of structural, geotechnical, environmental, and traffic engineering. The ASCE student chapter fosters cross-collaboration between undergraduate students, graduate students, and professors, and provides the opportunity to interact with working professionals.

In addition to promoting knowledge of the multi- disciplinary fields of civil engineering, the student chapter affords the opportunity for students to meet and gather outside of the classroom through scheduled social events and site tours of iconic structures and active work sites. Last year, both student and professional members toured the new Laboratory Science Building on the UMass Amherst campus, a cutting-edge multi-use facility, in conjunction with the Region 1 Assembly.

The student projects develop communication skills and a strong work ethic, challenging students to be resourceful and creative. Most importantly, it makes the abstract thought and theory of the classroom a tangible reality as students design the projects and bring them to fruition as fully fabricated structures that are tested against other university’s projects at national and regional competitions, learning from past failures and successes alike.

Emphasis is placed on documenting and reporting the design and construction techniques employed in each of the projects. These criteria are assessed in the evaluation of a written professional report, a poster, and an oral presentation. All three project teams are responsible for producing a stand alone poster that speaks to the design, strength, construction, and expected performance of each structure.

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University of Massachusetts AmherstAmerican Society of Civil Engineers130 Natural Resources Road224 Marston Hall, Amherst, MA 01003https:// blogs.umass.edu/ascesc/

UMass Amherst ASCE Fundraising GoalsTo continue with these projects and to participate in the competitions, the ASCE student chapter needs your help. While some materials are donated by local firms, the proj-ects require additional funding to cover the complete cost of materials and so that those students traveling to the competitions can do so regardless of their ability to pay for travel. While both the Steel Bridge and Concrete Canoe competitions take place in New England, the Sesimic Design competition is a national event hosted on the west coast in conjunction with the EERI Seismic Engineering Convention. We are proud to represent the region, sending approximately 12 students to Seattle, Washington, for the 2013 Seismic Design Competition in February.

For the 2012-2013 academic year, the ASCE student chapter requires $16,000. We invite you to help us meet this goal. A donation as little as $50 can purchase all of the fasteners for the steel bridge and a donation of $300 can help a student travel halfway to Seattle.

UMass Amherst ASCE 2012-2013 Budget

General Chapter Funds Monthly Chapter Meetings, Pizza $ 900 National Meeting Attendance $ 680 UMass Chapter Balsa Wood Competition $ 200 ASCE Awards $ 20 SUB TOTAL GENERAL CHAPTER $ 1,800

Seismic Design Competition, February 2013 Registration Costs $ 300 Balsa Wood $ 500 Consumables $ 100 Shipping & Crating $ 300 Flights, 12 Students $ 7,200 Hotel $ 800 SUB TOTAL SEISMIC DESIGN $ 9,200

Steel Bridge Competition, April 2013 Registration Costs $ 350 Machined Elements $ 350 Drill Bits $ 50 Nut & Bolt Fasteners $ 50 Competition Tools $ 200 Hotel $ 800 SUB TOTAL STEEL BRIDGE $ 1,800

Concrete Canoe Competition, April 2013 Registration Costs $ 350 Mold Construction $ 700 Concrete Testing Tools $ 150 Power Sanders $ 60 Construction Materials $ 500 U-Haul Truck Rental $ 500 Gas for U-Haul Truck $ 140 Hotel $ 800 SUB TOTAL CONCRETE CANOE $ 3,200

GRAND TOTAL ASCE EXPENSES $16,000

Go to: http://www.umass.edu/giving/ to give a gift online, and click on the GIVE NOW button on the upper right hand corner. On the Make a Gift Online page go to the dropdown menu under “Allocated To.” Please click on ALLOCATED TO and scroll to: College of Engineering, where a second dropdown will appear and click on American Society of Civil Engineering. If you prefer, you can mail a check to: University of Massachusetts Amherst, College of Engineering Development Office, 130 Natural Resources Road, 140 Marston Hall, Amherst, MA 01003. Please make your check out to: University of Massachusetts Amherst; and on the memo line: ASCE Student Chapter. Thank you for your consideration.

November 2012

UMass Amherst ASCE Student Chapter Mission Statment