Uof A Civil Engineering Students Earn Second Place at National G-I/SEI Wall Competition

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University of Arkansas Geowall Team

University of Arkansas civil engineering students placed second in the National G-I/SEI Wall Competition hosted by the Geo-Institute and Structural Engineering Institute of the American Society of Civil Engineers.

The goal of the competition is to design and build a model of a mechanically stabilized earth retaining wall using paper reinforcement taped to a poster board wall facing and apply an eccentric surcharge loading using a hardwood load frame that is assembled from smaller components.

The Arkansas team consisted of two graduate students, Behdad Mofarraj Kouchaki and Matthew Watters, and two undergraduate students, Don Udofia Jr. and Nichole Elliott.

Udofia, the captain of the Arkansas GeoWall Team, and a senior engineering student, describes the situation as both challenging and rewarding.

"As the captain of the team, designing and constructing the most feasible GeoWall was difficult in itself," said Udofia. "The best part of this experience was working aside graduate students, Matthew Watters and Behdad Mofarraj, and sophomore co-captain, Nichole Elliott. These individuals kept me motivated and made every practice entertaining while staying on task."

Elliott, co-captain yet only a sophomore, and graduate student Matthew Watters, were grateful for the networking opportunities that the G-I/SEI Wall Competition provided and the chance to see so many ideas be generated to solve a common problem.

"We were able to meet fellow students from across the nation involved in the same student organizations as us and compare and contrast design methods as well as see how we could improve in different areas academically," said Elliott. "it is excellent to see the engineering world constantly driving forward and having huge success in making the world a better place."

Behdad, who came to the University of Arkansas in 2015, saw the previous team in action and was inspired to join the following year. Motivated by his desire to put the theoretical knowledge he had been gaining from his past years in college into action, he joined the team and contributed to their 2nd place victory - a record for Arkansas' geowall team.

"I highly recommend all engineering students, in any level, to participate in one of many different engineering competitions that are held every year, because I believe the value of what we can learn through experiments and critical thinking is much more than what we can get by reading textbooks," said Behdad.

The competition is held yearly, during the Geotechnical & Structural Engineering Congress.