Can-structing learning for engineers
After being defeated by BYU’s castle of cans last year, USU’s civil engineers are back for some revenge. A canned food drive on campus will gain cans for USU’s team at the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) contest called Can-Struction.
Can-Struction is a competition where teams must build a structure using only cans, said sophomore Emily Henderson. The structure they build must fit within a certain size requirement, and they are judged based on how well the structure holds together, how good it looks, how many cans they have and, most importantly, if it looks like the structure that they are trying to recreate, Henderson said.
The competition this year will take place at the home school of last year’s champions, BYU.
Henderson said, “We better beat BYU.”
But in order to do that, they must have as many cans as they can possibly get. There are collection boxes in the TSC, the LDS Institute building and the Engineering building. However, because they need more cans, they will be coming around to all the dorm rooms Wednesday from 5 to 8 p.m. to collect as many cans as possible. They have been collecting since Spring Break and still haven’t received many cans, said Chris Poulson, junior of civil engineering and president of ASCE at USU.
After the competition, all of the cans will be donated to the Logan Food Pantry, so donations will go to a good place, Henderson said. Henderson and Poulson each emphasized the importance of getting cans.
The building competition is later this April, and the food drive is running until April 1. The ASCE needs as many cans of food donated as possible, Henderson said.
Henderson suggested searching BYU ACSE Can-Struction on YouTube to see exactly what BYU did last year to win the competition. This year’s theme is landmarks.
Poulson said his favorite part of the drive is “providing younger students with an opportunity to use engineering to some degree.”
“The Can-Struction competition is relatively simply so even freshmen can help out and not feel under-qualified,” Poulson said. “It’s also a great way to help out during this economic struggle we are currently in. Many people will benefit from the cans donated. “
Poulson also said it is a lot of fun doing the project, because it’s “great to be able to help out and also be involved in something that isn’t just papers and homework.”
Henderson said it’s pretty incredible what BYU built last year, and the Aggies are going to try and beat them this year. Henderson said they still aren’t sure what they are going to be building exactly, and it probably depends on how many cans they get.
–adam.ward@aggiemail.usu.edu