M
arshall civil engineering students grabbed the attention of other schools during this year’s American Society of Civil Engineers Virginias Conference held at Virginia Tech. The team from Marshall designed and constructed a vessel made of concrete and took home several honors as they competed with 14 other engineering schools in a series of 11 challenges. They won first place in the concrete canoe final product and oral presentation categories, and their canoe placed second overall. The team earned another first place for aesthetics in steel bridge construction, and was awarded first place for fashioning a bowling ball out of discarded cigarette filters and left-over concrete from the canoe. Marshall placed third in the T-shirt competition with a design by student Rachel Hager.
Dr. Tony Szwilski
Work on the concrete canoe began in fall 2011 with concrete mix designs and testing through the winter. A total of 12 mix designs were tested before the final mix used in the canoe was obtained. Students also had to design and build a mold for casting the canoe along with a curing chamber which enclosed the canoe for 19 days before it was stained. COMPETING SUCCESSFULLY WITH THE BEST
ADVANCING MINE SAFETY TRAINING
W
ork is under way at Marshall’s Center for Geotechnical and Applied Sciences to develop a virtual mine safety training academy that will lead to advances in emergency response training. According to center director Dr. Tony Szwilski, the Web-based environment will include an underground room-and-pillar coal mine. The platform will use a UNITY game-engine to create a unique site providing valuable emergency response exercises such as communications and decision-making in dangerous and stressful environments. The project is funded through a $117,000 award from the Brookwood-Sago federal grant program.