FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE RELEASE NO. 01-10
WEST POINT BRIDGE DESIGN CONTEST KICKS OFF TODAY – Jan. 28, 2010
WEST POINT, N.Y. – In response to the President’s “Educate to Innovate” program and the nation’s call to promote STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), the U.S. Military Academy’s Center for STEM Education is excited to announce the launch of the 2010 West Point Bridge Design contest.
“Having a workforce educated in STEM is an issue of strategic importance to the United States,” said West Point Dean of the Academic Board Brig. Gen. Patrick Finnegan. “West Point is eager to provide meaningful opportunities for our nation’s younger students to inspire them to engage in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics educational activities.”
The purpose of this high technology, interactive, Internet-based competition is to provide middle school and high school students with a realistic, engaging introduction to engineering through designing structurally accurate bridges using an award winning software program.
The Qualifying Round of the contest runs from Jan. 28 to March 5, 2010. Anyone may enter, but only U.S. students age 13 through grade 12 are eligible to compete for prizes. Students may compete individually, or in teams of two. Participation is free.
Each member of the winning team will receive a $5,000 scholarship and each finalist will receive a notebook computer.
To enter, students should: (1) Form a team, (2) Download and install the award-winning West Point Bridge Designer software, available for free from the contest Web site, (3) Use this software to design a bridge, and (4) Return to the contest Web site to register and to upload the bridge design for judging. The Web site will provide immediate feedback about each contestant’s current standing. Contestants may submit as many designs as they wish.
For more information, including the official contest rules, see the contest Web site at http://bridgecontest.usma.edu.
Teachers and engineering professionals who wish to run a local bridge design contest in conjunction with the national competition should see http://bridgecontest.usma.edu/local.htm for instructions.
The U.S. Military Academy provides this contest as a service to education—and as a tribute to the academy's more than two hundred years of service to the United States of America.About West Point
Ranked the “Top College in the Country” by Forbes and “Top Public Liberal Arts College” by
US News & World Report, the U.S. Military Academy is a four-year co-educational federal undergraduate liberal arts college located 50 miles north of New York City. The world's preeminent leader development institution, it was founded in 1802 as America's first college of engineering. Its mission remains constant—to educate, train, and inspire the Corps of Cadets so that each graduate is a commissioned leader of character committed to the values of Duty, Honor, Country and prepared for a career of professional excellence and service to the Nation as an officer in the United States Army. For more information, go to www.westpoint.edu.