2024 Carolinas Symposium

Symposium Information

Each year, universities from across the Carolinas come together to test their engineering mettle at the Carolinas Symposium. In contests ranging from Concrete Canoe and Steel Bridge to Surveying and a variety of challenges that are started and completed the day of competition, it is the biggest event of the year for the student chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers. In 2023, students traveled to The Military College of South Carolina - The Citadel to compete; this year, UNC Charlotte will host the symposium. Below you will find a link to the 2024 ASCE Carolinas Symposium Website; also below is the email to the Carolinas Symposium Hosting Committee to answer any questions you may have.


2024 ASCE Carolinas Student Symposium: https://studentsymposium.asce.org/carolinas/ 

Contact Email: ascesymposium@charlotte.edu

Schools competing in the Carolina's Conference (as of 2023)




Quiz Bowl

Coming down to the wire, the quiz bowl team placed 1st place at regionals in 2022! The quiz bowl is a set of FE review questions on a jeopardy format. Categories were Geotech, transportation, math(mostly economics and statistics), fluid mechanics, and etc. The majority of the questions provided were solids mechanics questions. 

Transportation

The transportation competition has a problem that needs to be solved.  Each team is given a couple hours to develop a solution, create a presentation, and present their work to a panel of judges. This is a fun and interactive challenge, requiring you to work with a team to solve a problem quickly. This past year the problem was to find a solution from an intersection. The team did well enough to place first place in Carolinas Symposium in 2023. 

Mead Paper

Each year, the mead paper is a competition each school has to do to participate in the Carolinas Symposium. The mead paper will have a different prompt each year in which students must write a paper in response.  In 2022, we were able to bring  home 1st place at the Carolinas Symposium.

Environmental

The environmental competition was a storm water management project. Students had to design a rain garden capable of a quick infiltration rate while removing nitrate and phosphate from a water sample. Scores were allocated based on removal of pollutants, infiltration rate, biodiversity/design, and cost. After competing, it later resulted in a second-place finish. 

Freshmore

This competition is meant for students classified as freshmen or sophomores in the Civil Engineering program. Up to 3 students are tasked with a simple challenge to get them introduced to civil engineering.  Students can show their creativity and quick thinking in this event.  In 2022, the task was to use gumdrops and toothpicks to construct a tower. The tallest tower standing without falling wins! The event changes every year so you can expect something different for the next Symposium.