ND students named champions of 2021 American Society of Civil Engineers Great Lakes Student Conference

ASCE students holding up 1 finger on the steps in Stinson-Remick Atrium

The Notre Dame student chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) received top honors in the 2021 ASCE Great Lakes Student Conference. Hosted virtually this year by Purdue University, the competitions took place the weekend of April 10-11 and featured 15 student chapters from Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin.

The Notre Dame student chapter participated and excelled in a wide variety of events during the competition. When all the points were tallied, the Notre Dame student chapter won the overall Great Lakes Regional Conference for the first time in school history.

  • The Concrete Canoe Competition consisted of a presentation and report detailing the efforts by the mix design and structural teams to build the Notre Dame canoe, “Much Canoe About Nothing.” Led by senior Kevin Deye, the ND team finished in third place in this competition.
  • The John R. Craig Legacy Competition involved making a video about alumni experiences and persistence in the face of adversity as related to Concrete Canoe. The ND video, designed by junior Mia Lochhead and featuring 2005 ND ASCE alum Brian Tracy, won first place in the competition.
  • In the Construction Institute Competition, a team of four sophomores, led by Andrew DeLuca, created and presented a plan for construction as if they were a construction company that had just accepted a bid for a local project.
  • In the Concrete Cornhole Competition, a team of four underclassmen, guided by sophomore Lalo Segura, not only created a cornhole board out of concrete, but also played against other teams virtually. The ND student chapter finished in third place overall.
  • Juniors Kyle Copley and Megan Kulpinski captained the Sustainable Solutions Competition, where a team provided a proposal and a 3D model for a sustainable outdoor space on a college campus. The team earned a fifth-place finish.
  • Senior Celine Castillo presented her Technical Paper in a technical writing competition and junior Ken Pendergest represented the Notre Dame student chapter in the AutoCAD Competition. 

The team worked hard all year, embracing the challenges of working within COVID-19 precautions, and the hard work paid off. The team is proud of their resilience this year and look forward to building on this success next year!

ASCE member with Much Canoe About Nothing
Students in CEEES Conference room
Concrete Cornhole Competition participants with cornhole board
Students with Geno Acosta in CEEES conference room

Conference members

Seniors

Gabriel Brown (ASCE President, Canoe Mix Design Captain)
Kevin Deye (Canoe Captain)

Celine Castillo (Canoe Structural Captain, Technical Paper)

Juniors

Jack Mowat (ASCE Vice-President, Canoe Safety Co-Captain)
Conor Milligan (ASCE Treasurer, Canoe Safety Co-Captain)
Mia Lochead (ASCE Public Relations)
Emily Yoo (ASCE Events Chair)
Kyle Copley (Sustainable Solutions Co-Captain)

Megan Kulpinski (Sustainable Solutions Co-Captain)
Ken Pendergest (AutoCAD Competition Captain)
Daniel Ringrose
Lauren Llantero
Diane Kim

Sophomores

Andrew DeLuca (Construction Institute Competition Captain)
Lalo Segura (Concrete Cornhole Captain)
Jack Sainz
Daniel Pronko

Candace Atchison
Tatiana Boehning
Bryan Barriga
Óscar Chávez
Ryan Murdock

First-Years

Gustavo Jimenez-Guzman
Joan Deitsch

Nico Dinglasa

ND faculty, staff, graduate students, and alumni who assisted teams

Andrew Bartolini, Advisor
Tina Mitchell 
Geno Acosta
James Alleman
Will Mathis  

Kevin Walsh
Brian Tracy (’05 Grad)
Ivan Ignacio Navarrete Leschot 
Elizabeth Kerr
Nick Radcliff

— Submitted by Mia Lochead, Andrew Bartolini and the ASCE team.