"Clarkson University"
(tied for 19th place overall; 19th in paper; 11th in presentation; 23rd in product)

Presentation:

Clarkson relied on 3 people to deliver their presentation.  They used 1 screen and presented their effort from a business standpoint.

The team welcomed the audience and after giving team introductions, they outlined the presentation content.

The team elaborated on their goals and specified how they arrived at their structural design.  They specified the critical parameters and explained how they used a flow model to establish the hydrodynamic forces.

The team said that they wanted to improve buoyancy and efficiency and specified how they achieved these attributes. 

Then it was on to development and testing.  During this phase, the team explained how they selected their reinforcement and concrete constituents.  They outlined their testing methods and elaborated on how reinforcement was placed. 

The team explained that they used a male mold and elaborated on how they created it.  They explained how the concrete canoe was constructed and elaborated on their curing and finishing techniques.

They were the only team to completely summarize what they had covered and one of the few teams to include acknowledgements.

Questions and Comments: 

• Why did you use so much air entrainment admixture?
• Do you recall what the manufacturer’s recommended dose was?
• What do you mean by the term “leaching?”
• What overall quality control methods did you employ in your project?
• The judges asked the team to justify the absorption levels specified in the design report.
• How did you arrive at the design values selected in your design?
• Why did you incorporate stainless steel into your boat?  

Product:

Canoe Name: Archimedes  
Length: 18.33 ft
Weight: 221 lb
Color: yellow

Vital Statistics (debut)