National Engineers Week competition at PFW building bridges to engineering careers

The only guaranteed result at Saturday’s 35th annual edition of the National Engineers Week Model Bridge Building Contest at Purdue University Fort Wayne is that there will be a new winner in the high school division. That’s because the last four competitions were won by either Noah DeLong or Lucas Stevens. The two Homestead High School graduates are now attending PFW as freshmen studying in the College of Engineering, Technology, and Computer Science.

More than 100 middle and high schoolers will participate from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the International Ballroom at Walb Student Union. Teams and individuals build bridges consisting of no more than 200 Popsicle sticks and wood glue. The structures, which must be at least 24 inches long, are limited in height to 12 inches or less with a width of six inches or less.

The finished products are placed in a specialized machine to judge their construction, load, and durability under continuous pressure. The bridge with the highest failure load-to-bridge weight ratio wins.

The high school contest runs from 9  to 11 a.m., and the middle school contest starts at noon. The top three finishers in each division are recognized, and there are additional awards for balance of design, cleanness of glue, cleanness of connection, and creative/innovative structure form. Spectators can watch all the action free of charge.

Since 2019, including DeLong and Stevens, 42 participants in this regional EWeek competition have gone on to attend PFW. DeLong won last year and in 2022, with Stevens taking the title in 2023. They teamed up to claim the top spot in 2021.

Building a winning bridge requires a solid understanding of the forces at play and the construction itself, DeLong said.

“We would make our bridges as light as possible by sanding off as much glue as possible,” DeLong said. “We also did something that we kept secret from everyone, which was putting the bridges in the oven the morning before a competition. This helps pull moisture out of the wood and can surprisingly lighten the bridge by as much as 25%.”

DeLong, now a mechanical engineering technology major, said his strongest bridge held 1,296 pounds and weighed .69 pounds. His personal favorite was the one he made last year.

“We had always thrown around the concept of laminating sticks together into a sheet and cutting the bridge out of it,” DeLong said. “We basically made plywood out of Popsicle sticks and then used a 3D-printed jig to cut the trusses out with a Dremel. We were not sure how this bridge would do, but it ended up holding around 1,200 pounds and winning.”

For additional information, contact Blake Sebring at [email protected] or 260-385-0092 (mobile).