"University of Wisconsin - Madison"
(1st place overall; 2nd in paper; 1st in presentation; 9th in product)

Presentation:

Four men and one woman dressed in casual attire gave UW-Madison's presentation.  It was based on a wilderness camping scenario where two campers, one male the other female, meet two members of the concrete canoe team from the University of Wisconsin.

The interactive dialog worked well to describe the project.  The male camper was skeptical about the team's performance and this gave the team an excellent opportunity to present the innovative and salient features of the canoe project including the application of new software.  The admiration showed by the female toward one of the male team members added a light humorous touch.  The cast outlined the project management scenario along with some of the problems encountered during the project.  Nicely done!

The judges began the question and answer session by asking the team to elaborate on the difference between Class C and Class F fly ash.  Then, they asked them to elaborate on their troweling guide.  The team was also questioned on the extent of their participation.

"Was anything special done to determine the amount of pre-stressing used in different layers during construction?" and "What was the most innovative feature of the project?".

The judges commented on the significant figures mentioned in the report and questioned the precision to which certain quantities were determined.

"How did you pre-stress your fibers?" and "What is one thing that you may do differently next year?".  "Did you evaluate the drag coefficient for the design?" and "Did you track person hours during the project and can you estimate the level of effort?".

Overall this was one of the strongest efforts of the day; the only weakness came while addressing the issue pertaining to significant figures.

Product:

Name: Chequamegon
Length: 22'
Weight: 145 lb
Color: baja red

Vital Stats:

The University of Wisconsin, located in Madison, Wisconsin, was the representative from the Great Lakes Region.  This year marked their ninth consecutive appearance at nationals.  They have four top ten finishes to their credit and this was their first national win. 

Canoe/Materials/Facts:

Chequamegon is an asymmetrical, sharp-entry canoe with a large rocker and flat hull design.  It consisted of three lifts of concrete with two layers of fiberglass reinforcement.