Defining Moments for CEE Steel Bridge Team During their First Place Win at Nationals!

For the first time ever, CEE's Steel Bridge Team placed first among 42 participating schools in the 17th annual National Student Steel Bridge Competition, a competition sponsored by the American Society of Civil Engineers and the American Institute of Steel Construction Inc.

See video of Cal building the bridge at Nationals.

Berkeley's success was a team effort in every respect. Team members put in countless hours in the design and fabrication of the bridge. More hours were put in by the student builders as they practiced assembling the bridge against the clock. Students gave up their spring break to work in the shop, tweaking the fabrication, improving their construction speed. Seniors missed commencement in order to to attend nationals which happened to be the same weekend.

CEE staff machinist, Dick Parsons, tirelessly instructed students on how to use shop machinery. He, along with fellow staff members, Jeff Higginbotham and Joan Chamberlain, figured out how to transport the bridge to the nationals in Florida. Joan knows everything there is to know about van rentals. Jeff and Dick built the boxes to ship the bridge home again safely.

The yearlong dedication demonstrated by graduate and undergraduate team members, the CEE faculty and staff, paid off when Berkeley earned its first place win ever. And for each person, their involvement with the team, and what they got out of it, was unique. See some of their comments below.

"I would dream about the bridge design. The next day I would come in and make adjustments to the design and test it. We adjusted everything. We tested everything." - Nathan Langdon, Bridge Designer

"The key moment for me happened right before the regional competition when the bridge was complete and I assembled it for the first time in the shop. I saw the product of countless person hours, and I knew that Cal's bridge was completely student designed and fabricated." - Nathan Scheeval, Team Welder

"I was going to retire last year, but the bridge team surrounded me and said don't retire! Stay another year and we'll win at nationals!" - Dick Parsons, CEE staff machinist

"As the builders assembled the bridge for the final time, the rest of the team was cheering them on from the bleachers directly above. Our team had extended over two semesters, and stretched across multiple workshops and labs. It was rewarding to see it all come together on the national stage. And although a bridge from another school failed with a terrific boom in the midst of our assembly process, we were poised. The commitment we had made to one another which was reinforced over the year, was not to be shaken that day." - Raman Bhatia, Project Manager

"I plan on doing bridge until I can't anymore." - Ashley Kita, Builder (and the team's sole Bioengineering major)

Congratulations, everyone!