ETCM Team Places 3rd at National Concrete Competition

A team of Construction Management and Civil Engineering Technology students from UNC Charlotte placed 3rd in the 2017 ACI/ASCC Concrete Construction Competition, an international competition sponsored by the American Concrete Institute (ACI) and the American Society of Concrete Contractors (ASCC). This year’s Lee College of Engineering team from UNC Charlotte was comprised of ETCM students Bill Weaver, Jonathan Rich, Mark Stevenson, Gunnar Wright and Joseph O’Campo. The faculty advisor for the team was Dr. Tara Cavalline and the graduate student advisor was Blake Biggers. The team was invited to the ACI Spring 2018 Convention in Salt Lake City, Utah, to present their solution to ACI’s Construction Liaison Committee.

The competition is open to all university, college and technical school undergraduate students at universities in the U.S. and abroad. Student teams develop a solution to a project problem statement issued by ACI that requires students to address a specific challenge that a project manager or field engineer might face on a concrete construction project. Responses are judged on the basis of clarity, technical quality and economy. The problem this year required the team to develop a construction safety plan for a large warehouse project that featured both concrete and masonry construction activities.

Over the past several years, the UNC Charlotte team has been highly successful in this competition, winning twice (2013 and 2015) and placing third twice (2016 and 2017). Two UNC Charlotte teams placed in the top ten in the 2014 competition.