Architectural engineering student team wins national championship at AEI Forum

A team of University of Nebraska-Lincoln architectural engineering students became national champions, taking first-place honors at the American Society of Civil Engineers' (ASCE) Architectural Engineering Institute (AEI) International Student Design Competition (ISDC) on April 22.

This is the first time a Nebraska team has taken won the overall competition and the Building Integration category.

The Nebraska team, all students in the Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction, also took first place in Mechanical Systems Design, second place in Structural Systems and earned the award for Outstanding Achievement in Innovation – Building Envelope.

The team members, who are taking Clarence Waters’ Team Design AE 8030/8040 course, are Nathan German and Jennifer Solheim (Mechanical/Acoustics); Dalton Rabe, Noor Albahrani, Adam Hanson and Ben Stodola (Electrical/Lighting); Ali Al Lawati, Nicole Aschoff, Meredith Butler and Nathan Schmidt (Structural).

“We are very pleased to be the national champions of architectural engineering,” said Waters, Aaron Douglas Professor of Architectural Engineering. “Nebraska AE is blessed with outstanding students and outstanding industry support to mentor them. Omaha is the best place in the world for AE.”

The competing teams were tasked with designing the renovation of War Memorial Hall on the campus of Virginia Tech. The goal was to create a student health, wellness and education hub, while maintaining the historic ambiance of the building, which was constructed in 1924.

From the 11 teams that entered the competition, three were chosen as finalists and asked to present their designs at the annual AEI Forum, which was scheduled to take place in Cincinnati, Ohio. With the nationwide shutdown because of the COVID-19 pandemic, teams submitted recorded presentations to the jurors and participated in a question-and-answer session.

Each year, the AEI International Student Design Competition attracts the top architectural engineering undergraduate and graduate students from leading academic institutions that offer architectural engineering degrees. The goal of the annual competition is to provide a unique venue for students to showcase their architectural engineering knowledge and skills. The competition encourages collaboration, research, innovation and peer review.

Projects are judged in building integration, and in one or more of the following four categories: structural systems, mechanical systems, electrical systems and construction. Sponsors provide the funding for the annual competition and this year, AEI instituted First and Second Place named awards in each of the five categories.