This contest is a local, sub-contest of the national West Point Bridge Design Contest. The national contest is hosted by the US Military Academy (USMA). The local contest is hosted by your local chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers (for Massachusetts, that is the Boston Society of Civil Engineers; for Maine, it is the ASCE - Maine).
The contest is open to all students K-12 in their own local state. Students use free software put together by West Point and available for free download to design the cheapest bridge they can that can carry the truck. When you click on the truck button, your design comes to life and if it can't make it - CRASH!
When you enter the local contest (register with the local code), you are automatically entered in the national West Point Online Bridge Contest.
About the national contest, the USMA gives the following information.
The purpose of the contest is to provide middle school and high school students with a realistic, engaging introduction to engineering. We provide this contest as a service to education--and as a tribute to the Academy's two hundred years of service to the United States of America.
The contest will provide you with an opportunity to:
- Learn about engineering through a realistic, hands-on problem-solving experience.
- Learn about the engineering design process--the application of math, science, and technology to create devices and systems that meet human needs.
- Learn about truss bridges and how they work.
- Learn how engineers use the computer as a problem-solving tool.
We also hope you will have some fun pitting your problem-solving skills against those of other virtual bridge designers around the globe.
Last updated 11/07/06 by ksf