Midwest civil engineering students converge in Lincoln, April 19-21, for canoe races, bridge building and more

It's been a decade since the American Society of Civil Engineering "Midcontinent" regional event came to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Expect some unusual activities, including bowling with concrete balls and watercraft that seem impossible to float.

Teams of engineering students will participate from universities in the central Midwest – including UNL, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Missouri and Kansas. Winners advance to a national ASCE competition. Civil engineering students get to practice and compete in areas they study for future careers in the design, construction, and maintenance of physical and naturally built environments.

The schedule of events includes:

• Thursday, April 19 -- steel bridge building inside the Devaney Center indoor track area, 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m. 
  The Devaney floor will look like Lincoln's skyline, with multiple building projects by students.
• Friday, April 20 -- concrete bowling at UNL's Vine Street Fields (17th and Vine streets), 1-3 p.m. 
  Teams vie for high score -- with bowling balls crafted from concrete.
• Saturday, April 21 -- concrete canoe races at Holmes Lake, 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m. (awards at 4:30). In this centennial year of the Titanic's sinking, UNL students' concrete canoe aims to survive a crossing of Lincoln's Holmes Lake ahead of a dozen other competing teams from Midwest universities.