Oregon State Univ. student engineering team wins national awards

A team of construction engineering management students from Oregon State University won the first-place awards in two different national competitions, marking the first time that the same engineering school has won both competitions in the same year.

The student team, which was coached by OSU professor and Construction Education Foundation chair Greg Baker, placed first last month in the Associated Schools of Construction National Mechanical Competition in Reno, Nev., and last week won the Mechanical Contractors Association of America National Student Competition in Phoenix.

The team won the first competition for its ability to quickly and accurately bid a major construction project in an 18-hour day, followed the next day by a formal presentation to a mock owner's panel. The second competition was a proposal for the design and construction of the mechanical facilities for a performing arts center.

This is the first time in the history of both competitions that one engineering school has taken top honors in both competitions, said Baker, who worked as a program director for Hoffman Construction Co. before joining the OSU engineering faculty in 2002. It's wonderful to have OSU engineering students in the national spotlight, and the back-to-back first-place finishes say a great deal about the caliber of these students and the quality of the program.

Members of the student team that won the national awards include the team captain Justin Esperance, David Wales, Brad Jenks, Chris Hill, Chris Culbertson and Mark Rader. The Construction Engineering Management Program is part of the OSU Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering.

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