This strong, active organization of undergraduate and graduate students has a membership of approximately 100, which is about 1/4 of the total number of undergraduate and graduate students in the department. About 35% of the chapter members are also student members of the national organization of ASCE. The Southwest Branch of the Wisconsin Section of ASCE provides local advice, assistance, contact with the ASCE National and two liason persons with the Branch. Currently, Professor Bahia serves as chapter advisor.

The purposes of the student chapter are to: (1) provide exposure to the civil engineering (CE) profession (e.g., through speakers from engineering firms and agencies, attendance at professional meetings, tours of CE projects, competitions [concrete canoe, steel bridge]); (2) build relations with individuals in public and private organizations involved with CE practice, within the chapter, and with other CE student organizations (e.g., mentor night, branch/section/national meetings, projects, local/regional/national competitions); and (3) serve the campus and local community (e.g., student advising, work days with Habitat for Humanity, adopt a highway program).

The chapter has five positions, elected each semester, (president, vice president, secretary, treasurer, program chair), 10 volunteer positions (mentor night, polygon representative, database, outreach, fund raising, sports, exams, soda, web, younger member), and chairs for the Concrete Canoe and Steel Bridge Teams. Officers and committee chairs meet bimonthly and at special times to review, assess and plan activities, which include bimonthly meetings, concrete canoe and steel bridge design, construction and competition, outreach activities, membership, programs, intramural sports, social events. The chapter devotes considerable student energy and time to the concrete canoe and steel bridge competitions. Approximately 15 students are involved in the canoe work and 16 students in the steel bridge. The chapter has experienced tremendous success in the Great Lakes Regional Competition where both the Steel Bridge Team and Concrete Canoe Team try to qualify for the National Competition each year. At the National Competition since 1996, the CCT has placed 12th, 12th, 9th, 12th, 7th, 11th, and 5th. The Steel Bridge Team, beginning in 1998, has nationally placed 20th, 17th, 11th, 16th, 16th, and 2nd in 2003.

Additionally, the UW ASCE chapter hosted the largest student convention in the history of ASCE. This past June 21-24, 2002, the chapter played host to some 1500 students who attended to compete in the Concrete Canoe and Steel Bridge Competitions along with a plethora of other engineering related competitions. 2002 marked the 150th anniversary of ASCE and UW-Madison was chosen out of hundreds of other schools to host this massive event. It involved 2+ years of planning along with an unthinkable amount of hours dedicated to making everything work perfectly.

Current goals for the chapter are to: (1) increase attendance at meetings; (2) increase membership and participation, particularly freshman and sophomore students; (3) create a better transfer of knowledge and experience from older members to younger members; and (4) increase professional society contacts.

For more information on any of the information discussed above, please see the following websites:

Copyright 2005 The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System Date last modified: Thursday, 29-May-2003 17:57:00 CDT Date created: 26-Oct-2004 Content by: cee@engr.wisc.edu Thank you for visiting!