"Western Kentucky University (WKU)"
(4th place overall; 16th in paper; 2nd in presentation; 3rd in product)

Presentation:

Western Kentucky represented the Ohio Valley Conference and made their thirteenth national appearance.

WKU relied on 3 people to make their presentation; 3 men presented.  The presenters were dressed business casual and the presentation was entertainment/business.  The team used 2 screens and included multiple videos.

 The team began their presentation with a musical introduction and continued with a musical underscore.  They described the techniques used to improve their hull design and supplemented this development with some very nice videos.

Then the team explained how they arrived at their structural requirements and presented moment curves to underscore their approach to concrete mix design.  They explained how they blended constituents to achieve the service loads and interspersed stills with videos to back up their delivery.

The team explained how they integrated free fibers into the mix and how they developed an efficient and lightweight mix.  Canoe construction came next.

The team elaborated on their construction and finishing techniques.  They mentioned the man hours spent on the project.

Project management came next and the team elaborated on what they had done.  They mentioned their safety program and brought their presentation to conclusion.

Questions and Comments:  

• Will you be playing the Star Spangled Banner prior to the competition tomorrow?
• How did the dosage of your admixtures affect your mix?
• Did you have any difficulties with your other admixtures?
• What selection process did you use to select your materials?
• Did you purposely limit the membership of your team?
• Do you feel that your relatively small factor of safety is adequate?
• Did you come up with the use of spider wire?
• How did you develop your musical theme?
• Is it a standard thing to rely on a unique theme?
• In retrospect, what did you learn from this experience?
• What kind of research did you do while selecting the free fibers employed during construction?

Product:

Western Kentucky University fielded "Rocked Out."
Length: 19' 4"
Weight: 138.5 lb
Color: natural gray and red

The team employed three layers of carbon fiber mesh and spider wire to reinforce their hull and met the sieve requirement by using 714, 1430, 2012 ceramic spheres, endospheres, and glass bubbles.  They placed two of the fiber layers toward the interior of the section and on toward the exterior. 

Vital Statistics