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ACI (American Concrete Institute) Student Competition On March 17th - 21st twelve UMD Civil Engineering students traveled to Dallas, Texas to compete in the American Concrete Institute (ACI) Fiber Reinforced Concrete Bowling Ball Competition at the ACI spring convention. Twice a year ACI holds an international conference for the concrete industry. Faculty, students, practitioners, suppliers, and many others attend the conference that includes workshops, committee meetings, sessions, and student competitions. ACI is the code writing body for the national Concrete Building Code and has a membership of over 14,000 people worldwide. Unfortunately, UMD didn’t bring home another top three finish, but
everyone had a great time and it was a good learning experience for all of us! Thirty-eight teams competed at this year’s spring convention from all across North America. Each team was challenged to demonstrate the effect of fibers in reinforcing concrete, and to gain experience in forming and fabricating a concrete bowling ball that would carry a maximum load and roll straight after sustaining an inch of deflection. Team one placed 19th while Team two placed 22nd. Team members included: Matt Fournier, Dan Abramson, Allison Carlson, Kyrstyn Haapala, Justin Baker, Phil Koktan, Kyle Berg, Ben Thiesse, Andrew Venaas, Chelsea Hoplin, Miranda Anderson, and Jared Olson. Dr. Eric Musselman and Dr. Eshan Dave were the faculty advisors. The UMD ACI Student Chapter would also like to thank all of those organizations that helped make this trip a reality. Without their support we wouldn’t have been able to attend the convention. The sponsors were: Minnesota Concrete Council, American Engineering Testing, Meyer Borgman Johnson, Krech Ojard & Associates, World Block, Country Lanes North, Concrete Paving Association of Minnesota and Arrowhead Concrete. The ACI Student Chapter is looking forward to competing in the ACI Egg Protection Device Competition in Toronto, ON, Canada next October. If you are interested in sponsoring or participating in this competition please contact ACI Student Chapter President Matt Fournier at four0044@d.umn.edu.
Top Left: Matt Fournier rolling Team 1’s ball down the ramp. Bottom Left: Group picture of team members, from L-R: Kyle Berg, Dan Abramson, Allison Carlson, Jared Olson, Matt Fournier, Ben Thiesse, Justin Baker, Andrew Venaas, Chelsea Hoplin, Phil Koktan, Kyrstyn Haapala, Miranda Anderson, and Dr. Eric Musselman Faculty Advisor.