WHO WE ARE

The Oregon State University Steel Bridge Team competes in the annual Student Steel Bridge Competition (SSBC). The team is a collaboration between the OSU student chapters of American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) and American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), as well as the welding department at Linn Benton Community College (LBCC). Our team's goal is to provide students with hands-on learning experiences, opportunities to develop professional skills, and a supportive, fun community united by shared passions for engineering and turning the seemingly impossible into reality.

 

WHAT WE DO

The SSBC requires the team to design and fabricate a 1:10 scale model steel bridge completely from scratch each year. Students work as a team to design a bridge that overcomes the unique challenges presented for each year's competition. Each challenge mimics a real-life engineering challenge that certified engineers must account for. The creation of our bridge is a year-long project that culminates in competing at the Pacific Northwest Student Symposium regional competition with the opportunity to qualify for the National Student Steel Bridge Competition.

 

DESIGN, FABRICATE, AND ASSEMBLE

Students are provided with opportunities to develop professional skills including communication, teamwork, project management, and problem-solving, along with opportunities to develop engineering skills such as truss design, cost estimating, and developing proficiencies in commonly-used engineering softwares (RISA3D, AutoCAD, BlueBeam Revu, and Excel). The fabrication process of the bridge also provides students with the opportunity to learn how to weld and construct with steel.

The assembly portion of the competition requires our team to bring the disassembled members of our bridge to the regional competition and put the bridge together live in a timed contest against other colleges and universities. After the bridge is assembled, it is loaded with 2500 lb to measure the vertical deflection and 50 lb to measure the horizontal deflection. Our bridge is ranked against other schools based on the categories of aesthetics, construction speed, lightness, stiffness, construction economy, structural efficiency, and cost estimation.

Watch our 2024 team build our bridge at the Regional Competition at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, BC here!

 

THANK YOU TO OUR 2023-2024 SPONSORS

Your generous support means the world to us! Thanks to your contributions, we were able to provide impactful experiences to our student members, afford steel and tools to construct our 2024 bridge, and send our team to compete at the 2024 Pacific Northwest Student Symposium in Vancouver, BC.

If you are interested in sponsoring our team for the 2025 competition, please reach out to our Co-Captains Justin (whittiju@oregonstate.edu) and Brianna (yubr@oregonstate.edu) for more information about sponsorship levels and how to donate.

 

PERFORMANCE HIGHLIGHTS

  • 2017: Host of the National Student Steel Bridge Competition, ranked 3rd at Regionals and 23rd at Nationals
  • 2016: Ranked 3rd at Regionals and 23rd at Nationals
  • 2015: Ranked 2nd at Regionals and 15th at Nationals
  • 2014: Ranked 1st at Regionals and 9th at Nationals
  • 2013: Ranked 4th at Regionals
  • 2012: Ranked 5th at Regionals
  • 2011: Ranked 6th at Regionals
  • 2010: Ranked 4th at Regionals
  • 2009: Ranked 4th at Regionals

 

CONNECT WITH US

 

Justin Whittier

Co-Captain

whittiju@oregonstate.edu

Brianna Yu

Co-Captain

yubr@oregonstate.edu

Quentin Beers

Design Lead

beersq@oregonstate.edu

 

John Gormley

Fabrication Lead

gormleyj@oregonstate.edu

 

Taylor Megy

Assembly Lead

megyt@oregonstate.edu

Judy Liu | American Institute of Steel Construction 

Dr. Judy Liu

Faculty Advisor

judy.liu@oregonstate.edu

 Spencer Adams - Jacobs | LinkedIn

Spencer Adams

Practitioner Advisor

spencer.adams@jacobs.com