The University of Notre Dame’s American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Student Chapter traveled to Lexington, Kentucky, for the 2026 ASCE Indiana-Kentucky Student Symposium from April 9th through April 11th. Over 300 students from 12 universities across Indiana and Kentucky participated.
The Notre Dame ASCE Student Chapter earned a podium finish in 10 of the 13 competitions, resulting in a second-place finish overall at the symposium. Notably, for the first time in school history, the student chapter earned top-two finishes in three signature build competitions: Concrete Canoe, Steel Bridge, and Timber Strong. The Steel Bridge team qualified for its first-ever national competition, to be held in El Paso, Texas, in late May.
The Notre Dame ASCE Student Chapter was represented by 63 students, a record for a symposium not hosted on campus. The team included 8 seniors, 28 juniors, 11 sophomores, and 16 first-year students.
Competition Breakdown
Trivia Competition (1st)
The Trivia competition, featuring multiple rounds of civil engineering questions, kicked off the symposium following the opening banquet. The Notre Dame team of seniors Nicole Vacarro, Mary Elizabeth Balof, Evan Johnston, Nick May, and Zach Dooner took first place. This marks the third consecutive year Notre Dame has won the trivia competition.
Concrete Cornhole (1st)
The Concrete Cornhole competition required teams to create a traditional cornhole board from concrete, adhering to the mix and structural design specifications. Each university team then used its concrete cornhole board in a round-robin and tournament-style competition. Despite a round-robin loss, the Notre Dame team of junior Will Hurd and sophomore Griffin Milligan ended the competition with a four-game winning streak to win the tournament. The Notre Dame team, led by senior Nick May, also won the overall competition.
Steel Bridge Competition (2nd)
Students designed, fabricated, and constructed a 20-ft steel bridge, which was load-tested, weighed, and judged on aesthetics. This year’s competition required students to have a main span and also a cantilevered end, adding to the design’s complexity. The bridge, composed of parts no longer than approximately three feet, had to be assembled while considering geographic constraints, including a hypothetical river that could not be crossed during construction. Points were awarded based on construction time, number of builders, total weight, aggregate deflection, and lateral deflection. This was only the second year that the Notre Dame team successfully completed all the loading conditions. Furthermore, their second-place finish earned them a national championship invitation, the first in school history. Senior Braeden Snow and sophomore Sabrina Schonewise led this year’s bridge team.
Concrete Canoe Competition (2nd)
Front Row (L-R): Lily Hirt, Hillary Guarango, Jayna Cruz, Corinne Mansour, Luci Jensen, Sabrina Schonewise, Nicole Vaccaro, Joshua Johnson, Anna Murphy, Zax Quirk, Daniel Sheng
This competition featured seven 20-foot concrete canoes, which were raced in a combination of slalom and sprint courses. In addition to the races, the teams were evaluated on their reports, final products, and presentations. The Notre Dame canoe, Vengeance, was superhero-themed and featured a life-size comic book display and a skyline including Notre Dame buildings along its side. Senior Nick May captained the team to a second-place finish for the third straight year. Prior to this three-year streak, the Notre Dame team’s highest finish in the competition was third place.
Timber-Strong Competition (2nd)
The Timber-Strong Competition featured eight teams competing to assemble a 2-story structure in 90 minutes. In the months leading up to the competition, the team produced calculations and a BIM model to prove structural stability and predict beam deflection. This year’s design featured a Notre Dame-themed castle, complete with banners and a functional drawbridge. The team, captained by senior Nicole Vaccaro, finished second overall, which is the highest finish in program history!
Water Treatment Competition (2nd)
Notre Dame, led by senior Zach Dooner, designed, constructed, and tested a water filtration system to remove various contaminants from water using readily available materials. The team, which ranked best in color among the six competing teams, finished in second place overall.
Sustainable Solutions Competition (2nd)
The Sustainable Solutions team, captained by junior Liam Powell, was responsible for proposing a site plan for a proposed data center development. The team designed the cooling specifications for the data set, considered community concerns, and created site plans and a 3D rendering. The Notre Dame team finished second overall, tying its highest finish in program history.
Student Symposium Paper (2nd)
Senior Evan Johnston presented the Student Symposium Paper for Notre Dame, which required students to answer, “How Civil Engineers Engage and Advance Communities Through Ethical Infrastructure Design in accordance with the ASCE Code of Ethics.” Evan finished in second place in the competition.
Construction Institute Competition (2nd)
The Construction Institute team was tasked with developing solutions to several construction management tasks in two hours. Tasks included quantity takeoffs, project delivery methodology, safety and quality risk mitigation, and addressing ethical concerns. The team, led by junior Matthew Scariano, finished in second place.
Concrete Horseshoe Competition (3rd)
The Concrete Horseshoe Competition consisted of designing, casting, and competing with a concrete horseshoe. Teams were required to design a mold and cast two concrete horseshoes. The teams then competed in a contest that tested students’ ability to play horseshoes and the durability of the horseshoes. Juniors Lea Garcia and Lily Hirt finished in third place overall!
Surveying Competition
The Surveying Competition required teams to conduct several field tests using a variety of surveying instruments and techniques, including differential leveling, construction layout, area estimation, and pacing. Junior Alex Morrissey captained the team, which excelled in the field tests.
3D Printed Bridge
The 3D Printed Bridge Competition required schools to design a bridge spanning 20 inches and built from multiple 3D-printed components weighing no more than 35 ounces, all of which fit together to form the bridge. The Notre Dame team, captained by Claire Burke, earned awards for the best report and best presentation.
Mystery Design Competition
The Mystery Design Competition, which had an earthquake engineering focus, tasked teams to design a structure that survived earthquake tests simulated by shaking a jello foundation.
Conference Members
Seniors
- Nicole Vaccaro, ASCE Co-President, Timber-Strong Project Manager
- Braeden Snow, Steel Bridge Designer
- Nick May, Concrete Canoe Project Manager
- Evan Johnston, Student Paper Competition Presenter
- Zach Dooner, Water Treatment Captain
- Kate Ancona, Concrete Canoe Structural Captain
- Franki Vacko, Concrete Canoe Safety Captain
- Mary Elizabeth Balof
Juniors
- Joshua Johnson, ASCE Co-President
- Liam Powell, ASCE Treasurer, Sustainable Solutions Captain
- Alex Morrissey, ASCE Secretary, Surveying Captain
- Lauren Price, ASCE Public Relations Chair, Concrete Canoe Visual Design Captain
- Lea Garcia, ASCE Community Engagement Chair, Concrete Horseshoe Captain
- Zax Quirk, ASCE Vice-President
- Claire Burke, 3D Printing Competition Captain
- Matt Scariano, Construction Institute Captain
- Shannon Dorman, Concrete Canoe Mix Design Captain
- Alex Ordaz, Concrete Canoe Safety Captain
- Wyatt Coughlin, Timber Strong Build Captain
- Earnest Carver
- Ellie Coan
- Teresa Elfrink
- Yahaira Gordillo Sinchi
- Sean Gould
- Rachel Hensley
- Lily Hirt
- Evan Johnson
- Jesus Jurado
- Scott Monroe
- Joshua Nsimbe
- Deryn O’Leary
- Daniel Sheng
- Kevin Taylor
- Michelle Tracy
Sophomores
- Sabrina Schonewise, Steel Bridge Project Manager
- Katherin Arriaza-Gamino
- Victoria Garcia Jimenez
- Sofia Klein
- Anna Murphy
- Griffin Milligan
- Andrew Nance
- Gabriella Rado
- Patrick Shaw
- Pat Teson
- Ean Tom
First-Years
- Nathan Brannon
- Will Clancy
- Franciso Contreas
- Jayna Cruz
- Kristina Erskine
- Marigny Gill
- Hillary Guarango
- Raul Hernandez
- Natalie Idzerda
- Liam Kendrick
- Duncan Lefever
- Chloe Maitrejean
- Jonah Molina
- Benjamin Montanez Marquez
- Brandon Person
- Adele Van Lieshout
ND Faculty, staff, graduate students, and alumni who assisted teams
- Andrew Bartolini, ASCE Advisor
- Brian Smith, Steel Bridge Advisor
- Noah Hollenback, ASCE Practitioner Advisor
- Elayne Swafford, College of Engineering Conference Coordinator
- Steve Blackburn
- Roberto Cuevas
- Alan Hamlet
- Tina Mitchell
- Frank Severa
- Joseph Klatt
- Kevin Walsh
The Notre Dame ASCE team is sponsored by the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences.
— Article and photos submitted by the ASCE team.