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ESF Student Designed Bridge Judged Most Innovative

Four teams of students from the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) in Syracuse recently competed in the 2019 National Timber Bridge Design Competition. Team Two's Wanakena Ranger School Bridge was chosen the Most Innovative Design winner out of 13 teams representing eight different institutes and universities.

Dr. Paul Crovella, sustainable construction management professor said, "These projects allow our students to develop a design, create the drawings, perform the estimate, plan the schedule, carry out the construction, and complete the testing of an 18' timber bridge to support two tons with less than half-inch deflection, and then compare those results against teams from across the US."

Team Two - Wanakena Ranger School Bridge

Project Manager-AJ Gillis, senior

Project engineer- Dillon Decangelo, junior

Drawing, production and estimating- Ethan Foti, senior

Construction and testing coordinator- Matt Fiacco, senior

Competition documentation & coordinator- Jacob Cobb, senior

"We want to develop our students to be outstanding project managers, and this is the testing ground for those skills", said Crovella, "Our students want to take on responsibility and deliver results. These projects provide them a path to do that."

Other competitors in the 27th annual competition:

New Jersey Institute of Technology

Texas Tech University

Central Connecticut State

Lawrence Technical University

University of Missouri at Columbia

San Francisco State University

Oklahoma State University