"California Polytechnic State University at Pomona"
(8th place overall; 9th in paper; 6th in presentation; 9th in product)

Presentation:

California State Polytechnic University - Pomona represented the Pacific Southwest Conference and made their third national appearance.

Pomona relied on 3 people to make their presentation; 2 men and 1 woman.  The presenters were dressed in suits and the presentation was business oriented.  The team used 1 screen and did not include any video.

Following a team introduction, the team described the philosophy underlying their theme.  Then they described their stress analysis and pinpointed the maximum service load.

The team elaborated on the design goals that they established for their mix and outlined the major obstacles that they faced and overcame during the mix design process.  They mentioned that they studied 79 different mixes before coming up with one that met the required specifications.  The team outlined the methodology employed to select the constituents in their final mix and showed a nice pie chart to document their selection.

Construction came next. The team described the methods that they considered and elaborated on the one selected to fabricate their entry.  Then they brought their presentation to conclusion.

Questions and Comments:

• Were the changes made in hull design based on a literature survey?
• Can you explain why the loads corresponding to the paddlers were modeled differently while considering different load cases?
• How were the different panels that were generated in the sheet method joined together?
• What sort of research did you do to select the aggregate blend used in your final mix?
• What quality control standards were used to ensure that your team met the required 6% air content?
• Would you employ the same method again?
• How did you ensure that the compaction rate applied to fabricate your canoe would work?
• Did the person who prepared your impressive engineering drawings have any intern experience?

Product:

  
Cal Poly - Pomona fielded "The Wedge."
Length: 19' 8"
Weight: 256 lb
Color: white and blue

The team employed two layers of a blown glass mesh to reinforce their hull and met the sieve requirement by using Macrolite, Poraer siscorspheres, and K-1 micro-spheres.  They employed a sheet-crete method and blended fiberglass fibers into their mix. 

Vital Statistics