RIT Engineering Technology Students Shine in Competitions

By land and by sea—well, make that pond—two groups of Rochester Institute of Technology students shined in weekend competitions in Kansas and New York.

Coming off a fifth-place finish a week earlier at the Mini Baja Brazil in Sao Paulo, RIT captured fourth and eighth places at the Mini Baja West, April 26 to 28, in Manhattan, Kan. Competing with two cars against more than 100 others, RIT earned second place in the cost category and third place for design. RIT was also recognized with the Hawk Teamwork Award for the team that best exemplifies the spirit of teamwork. For winning the award, RIT garnered a $500 cash prize and a trip for two team members to the Richard Petty Driving Experience in Orlando, Fla.

The event was the second of four spring competitions for RIT’s mini-Baja team of mostly mechanical engineering technology majors. Next, the team goes to the Mini Baja East, May 10 to 12, at the University of South Carolina in Columbia and the Midwest Mini Baja, June 1 to 3, in Troy, Ohio, for Society of Automotive Engineers-sponsored competitions.

Also over the weekend, RIT’s concrete canoe team captured second place at regional competition, April 27 to 28, at the United States Military Academy at West Point. RIT’s 10-member team of civil engineering technology majors won or finished second in four of five races in competition against five colleges from across New York state.

"We had the lightest and strongest canoe and the only one that made it through without patching," says Jason Nabewaniec, co-captain of the RIT team. "We are quite happy with how everything turned out."

At the same event, another group of RIT civil engineering technology students earned third place in a steel bridge construction competition. The team built its bridge in seven minutes and 46 seconds and took first place for having the bridge with the least amount of deflection.

Concrete canoe and steel bridge competitions are sponsored by the American Society of Civil Engineers.

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Note: RIT’s Department of Civil Engineering Technology, Environmental Management and Safety, in the College of Applied Science and Technology, offers undergraduate degrees in civil engineering technology, environmental management and technology, and safety technology; and certificates in industrial environmental management, environmental science, safety and health technology, and structure design. RIT’s civil engineering technology is one of only two in New York state.