UT Tyler Takes Top Honors at 2024 ASCE Symposium

May 10, 2024 | Hannah Buchanan

Student chapter named regional concrete canoe champs for second consecutive year

The University of Texas at Tyler placed first in the American Society of Civil Engineers’ Texas-Mexico Region 6 Concrete Canoe Competition for a second consecutive year. UT Tyler now advances to the national contest next month in Utah. This is the university’s first back-to-back regional championship after claiming a historic top 10 finish nationally last year.

With this year’s canoe entry, “The Tyler Rose,” the UT Tyler ASCE student chapter earned first in the oral presentation, final product and racing categories and second in design paper. At the annual competition, participants build canoes with concrete and are judged in four areas: written project report, technical presentation, canoe final product and racing.

“I believe this is the best year in the history of our department participating in the ASCE symposium, and I couldn’t be prouder of our students,” said Dr. Mena Souliman, UT Tyler associate professor and civil engineering department interim chair.

UT Tyler student teams from the Tyler campus and the Houston Engineering Center also placed
third in the ASCE Timber Strong and Steel Bridge competitions with their respective project entries, “Rosie’s House” and “UT Tyler – HEC.”

UT Tyler concrete canoe team members are Esther Fajardo of Longview, Hannah McGinnis of Tyler,
and Gerardo Perez of Terrell, team captains; and Angel Suarez of Mineola, Caleb Mobbs of Diana,
Chandler Hosch of Giddings, Christopher McMillan of Gilmer, Clay Stewart of Bullard, Keagan Rios of Caddo Mills, Luis Ortiz of Kaufman, Mason Mattern of Elkhart, Samuel Gentry of Tyler, Dominic
Patronella of Katy, Manuel Salazar of Sherman, Ernesto Colorado of Henderson, Jason Carranza of
Houston, Kristofer Niere of Whitehouse, Pierce Cole of Fort Worth, Jacquelyn Barton of Tenaha, Javier Garcia and Steven Luna, both of Mount Pleasant; Sahara Coultas and Josiah Schumacher, both of Carthage; and Ana Gay Mesa of Spain.

“We are very proud and extremely honored to have the opportunity to compete for a national title
for the second year in a row,” Fajardo added. “Hard work and commitment have allowed us to be
successful.”

As the largest ASCE student symposium worldwide, Region 6 consists of Texas, Oklahoma, New
Mexico and Mexico and includes schools such as UT Austin, Texas A&M University, University of
Oklahoma, New Mexico State University, Tech de Monterrey and Universidad Autónoma del Estado
de Morelos.

With a mission to improve educational and health care outcomes for East Texas and beyond, UT Tyler offers more than 90 undergraduate and graduate programs to nearly 10,000 students.
Through its alignment with UT Tyler Health Science Center and UT Health East Texas, UT Tyler has
unified these entities to serve Texas with quality education, cutting-edge research and excellent
patient care. Classified by Carnegie as a doctoral research institution and by U.S. News & World
Report as a national university, UT Tyler has campuses in Tyler, Longview, Palestine and Houston.