Lakehead Sum Up

10th Overall for the 2013 Thunderwolves

Lakehead University’s Civil Engineering students placed in the top 10 at the 2013 National Student Steel Bridge Competition at Seattle’s University of Washington.

The Lakehead team was one of 49 universities and colleges at the invitation-only competition. Lakehead’s five-member team was invited in March after winning the Mid-West Regional Competition at Iowa State University.

“The steel bridge competition provides students with real engineering experience: planning and design, team work, essential problem solving skills and the opportunity to compete against other schools from Canada, the US and Mexico,” said Raquel Almeida, one of the students on the team.

“Thank you to everyone who supported us through the years. Without their help we wouldn’t have been able to represent Lakehead University and Thunder Bay,” she said.

The team improved their construction time significantly for the national competition, from 49 builder-minutes to 29 builder-minutes.

Faculty Advisor Dr. Tony Gillies said he was impressed with how hard the students worked in the national competition. “They fared extremely well. These students applied their knowledge and their abilities in a very challenging competition and for that they should be proud,” he said.

Lakehead President and Vice-Chancellor, Dr. Brian Stevenson, congratulated the students on their accomplishment. “We know our graduates leave Lakehead with a top notch education – these students are letting the rest of North America and the world know that, too,” Dr. Stevenson said.

The Lakehead Team is grateful for the many sponsors that made their participation possible, including local unions, consultants, contractors and material suppliers from Thunder Bay and across Canada and the United States.

The team is comprised of Raquel Almeida, Natalie Scalese, Cody Johnston, Randy Roth and Joe Anger with Faculty Advisor Dr. Tony Gillies and technologist support from Conrad Hagstrom and Kailash Bahtia.