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Engineering grows to reality at Crater Mail Tribune / Bob Pennell Crater High School junior Jeff Bassett takes time during a math class to work on his entry in a U.S. Military Academy bridge-design contest. Bassett and three other Crater students have entered the contest in the hopes of collecting the top prize: a $15,000 scholarship and laptop computer. Students compete for scholarships and computers in a West Point bridge contest By JOHN DARLING For the Mail Tribune CENTRAL POINT - Thanks to a little Internet searching, the world of engineering has leapt off the textbook pages and become a real-life challenge that could net Crater High School students $15,000 scholarships and new laptop computers. Engineering teacher Doug Gardner found bridge designing software on the U.S. Military Academy Web site and got several students enrolled in the school's Bicentennial Engineering Contest. The task: Design the most economical bridge across a 40-meter-wide river and make it hold a large truck that the animated color software drives across the span. Students using the software can revise their entries repeatedly and even get help from West Point engineers. The student with the cheapest workable design jumps to the top of the list. With the several-month-long contest just started, Crater junior Jeff Bassett has leapfrogged to the top spot in the Western region. Three more Crater students, senior Chase Duran and the team of junior Nick Treneff and senior Matt Stagg, have placed in the top 20. "I don't know that much about engineering a bridge," said Bassett. "This is my first try. I use the guess-and-check method. That just means I don't know how the design and materials will hold up until I drive the truck over them. I experiment with different components, material strength and design, gradually reducing size and strength (and cost) until it collapses, then make it just a little stronger." Bassett takes the software for a spin in the Crater High computer lab, showing how a small click-and-drag of one joint weakens his structure, a simple triangle-laced arch over a flat road bed. He purposely pops in a skimpy girder at the top of the arch. Along comes the big truck. The whole thing goes in the drink. "That's guess and check," he said. Crater's bridge wizards have until Feb. 28 to design their way to being one of the top 10 designers in the West, then a three-hour, monitored competition will pick regional finalists, who travel to West Point for the April 26 finals. It's open to all U.S. students, 12th grade and under. Rules and software are at www.usma.edu/bridgecontest. The $15,000 scholarship prize ($10,000 for second, $5,000 for third place) may be used at any college. "This thing has taken on a life of its own," said Gardner. "I'm exceedingly impressed with the work they're doing. I've been checking their entries and noticed a lot of these are getting posted to the Web site at 2 a.m. They're going hog wild." The contest has sparked an interest in the study of area spans, like the Gold Hill truss bridge, said Duran, who now pauses at bridges to speculate on how and why builders did what they did. Stagg and Treneff come from a common interest in bikes, Stagg as a bike designer who's picking up tips on what makes a strong structure. Treneff has designed jumping ramps for bikes. "We're pretty confident we're going to make the finals," said Treneff. "I really want that laptop." The contest is sponsored by West Point to celebrate its 200th anniversary and by the American Society of Civil Engineers to mark its 150th. The academy wants to highlight its long engineering history (it was the first college in America to offer engineering) and excite young students about math, science and technology, said Cathy Bale, contest coordinator. "Academy graduates built many of the young nation's railroads, bridges, harbors, and roads - as well as the Panama Canal. So, a nationwide engineering design contest in West Point's bicentennial year appropriately commemorates the academy's engineering heritage and its contributions to the development of the nation's infrastructure," said Bale. On the net: Cathy Bale, contest coordinator, [email protected], www.usma.edu/bridgecontest John Darling is a free-lance writer living in Ashland. E-mail him at [email protected] . Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.