HomePast Student Beam Winners

Congratulations to our 2026 Student Beam Winners

EPDACI held its annual student beam contest at Widener University in Chester, PA, on April 18. Eight teams representing four colleges participated. This year’s contest consisted of designing and constructing a uniform depth reinforced concrete beam spanning 3’-0” reinforced with #3 bars and weighing not more than 50 pounds to achieve the highest possible ultimate load to weight ratio. Participating colleges were Universidad Nacional de Ingenieria (UNI) Peru, Widener University, Rowan University and New Jersey Institute of Technology. The contest was held at Widner’s Civil Engineering Department’s Bart Lab. The beams were loaded to failure by applying a concentrated load at midspan. Prizes were awarded to the three teams whose beams failed at a load closest to 6,000 lbs.

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The winning team was Widener University’s The Beam Team with a failure load of 5,997 lbs, just 3 lbs away from the target of 6,000 lbs. Team members were Luke McCarron, Austin Parks and Rodrigo Morales-Salgado. They were awarded the first-place prize of $1,500. Faculty advisor was Dr. Mohamad Jlilati.

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The $1,000 second place prize went to Rowan University’s Concrete Cowboys with a failure load of 6,130 lbs. Team members were Dennis Murnane and Lucas Knoop. Faculty advisor was Dr. Gilson Lomboy.

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Finishing third was Four Llamas from UNI Peru with a with a failure load of 5,863 lbs. They received $500. Team members were Loayza Hinostroza Dante Miguel, Morales Vargas Flavio Cesar, Llanos Toledo Joel Sebastian and Miranda Hazana Luis Benito. Faculty advisors were Mag. Ing. Max Huaynalaya Rashuaman and Mag. Ing. Juan Herradda Montagne.

Click here to learn more about our Student Beam Program & see how you can get involved!