The University of Dayton's American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Steel Bridge Team delivered an impressive performance at the 2025 American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) Student Steel Bridge Competition, held as part of the ASCE student symposium hosted at Michigan Technological University. This marks a major turnaround from last year's showing and a proud moment for the team.
The competition challenged students to design and construct a scale-model steel bridge with the lowest possible "cost," which was calculated based on two key factors: structural performance and construction efficiency.
UD's bridge earned third-place honors in three of the most competitive structural categories: lightness, stiffness and structural efficiency. These results reflect significant engineering achievement, considering the bridge was required to carry a vertical load of 2,500 pounds at one of 11 possible locations. Vertical deflection under that load played a major role in determining each team's structural cost.
On the construction side, the team built its 32-member (a beam, column or truss) steel bridge in just 14 minutes and 21 seconds. That performance placed them well ahead of the competition's 30-minute penalty cutoff and signaled strong teamwork under pressure. During construction, builders had to manage strict spatial limitations, including out-of-bounds zones beneath the bridge and rules preventing any bridge piece from touching the ground except at its ends.
This year's performance is all the more impressive given UD's results just one year ago.
"Last year was our first year competing in recent memory, and we did not do very well," said Tim Helfin, last year's UD chapter president. "We had the heaviest bridge and the longest construction time. To go from that to having one of the lightest bridges and one of the faster construction times was a huge accomplishment. I am very proud of our team for achieving this."
And their growth didn't go unnoticed by other schools.
"I talked with numerous other returning teams who were incredibly impressed with our improvement," Helfin said. "No one had forgotten last year's bridge misgivings, but they also will not forget how much we improved."
The competition was part of a broader ASCE symposium, where participation in additional events was required for teams hoping to compete in steel bridge. The event reinforced ASCE's commitment to supporting student engineers through real-world learning experiences.
"There are so many things that come with membership in ASCE," Heflin said. "Involvement in ASCE promotes networking, provides leadership development, promotes education outside of the classroom and provides access to many different competitions."
Heflin emphasized how competitions like this prepare students for success beyond college, prompting career growth.
"Every employer of civil engineers in the U.S. knows what ASCE is and probably was involved in the organization at some point in time. They know just how important ASCE can be for your professional development, and they also know how much competitions teach things that can never be learned in the classroom," Heflin said.
With a dramatically improved performance, the UD team has cemented itself as a rising contender in the steel bridge competition circuit, and demonstrated the transformative power of hard work and involvement in experiential learning outside of the classroom.
Main image: Members of UD’s Steel Bridge Team pose with their steel bridge creation.