HomePast Student Beam Winners

Congratulations to our 2025 Student Beam Winners

EPDACI held its annual student beam contest at Widener University in Chester, PA, on April 12. Eight teams representing four colleges participated. This year’s contest consisted of designing and constructing a uniform depth reinforced concrete beam spanning 3’-0” reinforced with #3 bars and weighing not more than 50 pounds to achieve the highest possible ultimate load to weight ratio. Participating colleges were Universidad Nacional de Ingenieria (UNI) Peru, Widener University, Rowan University and New Jersey Institute of Technology. The contest was held at Widner’s Civil Engineering Department’s Bart Lab. The beams were weighed then loaded to failure by applying a concentrated load at midspan. Prizes were awarded to the three beams with the highest ultimate load to beam weight ratio. The deepest and heaviest reinforced beams performed the best.

The winning team was Rowan University’s NJ Deflections with a failure load of 15,905 lbs for a 48.6 lb beam to give a load/weight ratio of 327. Team members were Nate Karakashian, John Smith and Devin Moore. They were awarded the first-place prize of $1,500. Faculty advisor was Dr. Gilson Lomboy.

The $1,000 second place prize went to Four Lamas from UNI Peru with a load/weight ratio of 247. Team members were Loayza Hinostroza Dante Miguel, Morales Vargas Flavio Cesar, Vargas Salcedo Nils Ericcson, Llanos Toledo Joel Sebastian and Yenifer Alexandra Morales Gutierrez. Faculty advisor was Max Huaynalaya Rashuaman.

Finishing third was ABBA from Widener University with a load/weight ratio of 153. They received $500. Team members were Ashleigh Stehr, Brittany Mattoi, Brandon Colvin and Andrew Bergin. Faculty advisor was Dr. Mohamad Jlilati.

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