USU Students say, ‘Yes We Can-oe' Taking Top Honors at the 2026 ASCE Concrete Canoe Competition

Concrete Canoe

The concrete canoe team works with their canoe that won first place.

The concrete canoe competition is a society-wide challenge that provides students an opportunity to gain hands-on experience by building a canoe out of concrete to test their cement mix designs and project management skills. This is a year-long effort where students prepare the geometric design and structural analysis, cast the canoe and it all culminates with racing their canoes and conducting an oral presentation. This competition can require an intense commitment of 150 to 300 hours of work on the project.

Steel Bridge

The steel bridge team poses with their bridge that earned them first place.

Another society-wide challenge is the AISC Student Steel Bridge Competition. The rules change each year, challenging the students to develop a practical and hands-on steel-design project that is lightweight, fast to construct and innovative. Each student team must develop a concept for a scale-model steel bridge to span approximately 20 feet and hold 2,500 lbs. The bridges are load-tested and judged on design and construction.

Surveying

The survey team works through the winter weather to capture first place.

The surveying competition consists of eight possible tasks students will have to compete in, although only four are selected and aren't revealed until the competition. This means students must prepare for any and all tasks. To be successful in this category, students must interpret and present the information of a boundary topographic survey in a way it would be presented by a professional surveyor.

Construction Institute

The Construction Institute team presents their plan to replace and rebuild an existing structure, winning second place.

For the construction competition, students are given a prompt that includes a site where they must create, rehabilitate, or fix a structure, eliciting a real-world situation. This year the team was tasked with replacing an existing building, requiring them to determine how to demolish it, replace it and consider all the possible issues and budget – all in four hours.

Transportation

The team celebrates after a second place win in the transportation challenge.

As a regional competition, students are challenged with a task pertaining to a regional issue. In 2026, students had to determine how to solve traffic challenges in Orem, UT. The team determined that the railroad significantly impacted traffic movements and pedestrians and suggested moving it to a lower corridor.

Concrete Bowling

The concrete bowling team poses with their Aggie Mint ice cream bowling ball that helped them win first place.

You heard that right, concrete bowling. In this fun competition, students construct a concrete bowling bowl and participate in a short presentation about the cement mix and how they built their ball. Finally, they bowl five frames to determine the best bowler. The theme for the Utah State bowling ball this year was a scoop of Aggie Blue Mint ice cream.

Non-Technical Paper

Mattheus Wardle after placing second in the non-technical paper portion of the competition

Each year, one student from each university is tasked with writing a non-technical paper based on the selected topic, conducting in-depth research and presenting their piece for the competition. Mattheus Wardle was the 2026 USU student to compete in this category and received second place. The topic this year was, "Engineering the Public Welfare: How Civil Engineers Engage and Advance Communities Through Ethical Infrastructure Design in accordance with the ASCE Code of Ethics."

The Pursuit of Excellence Continues

Of the 38 USU students that participated in this competition, 10 will be competing in the concrete canoe competition and six will be competing in the surveying competition at the 2026 ASCE Civil Engineering Student Championships at Fairmont State University in West Virginia, June 25-27, 2026.

Six students will also be competing at the Student Steel Bridge Competition (SSBC) National Finals University of Texas at El Paso in El Paso, TX, May 22-23, 2026.

"They're doing amazing and we're still going to make improvements," said Ball. "Students won't be satisfied until they take first in everything."

To support the USU ASCE Student Chapter and their continuous innovations, please consider becoming a sponsor and reach out to Steve Larson below. Donations help to cover the costs of attending competitions.