Tech design team brings home awards (Congratulations!!)

A reception and press con ference will be held Tuesday to recognize the Montana Tech Environmental Design Team’s recent success at the
International Environmental Design Contest in Las Cruces, N.M.

By the Standard Staff

The team of 14 students returned to Butte with three awards, including first-place in the bridge-building competition. In the bridge contest,
competitors designed the structure using enough smalldiameter Ponderosa pine to withstand 1,700 pounds of pressure. In tests before the contest,
the team used 9,500 pounds of pressure and still couldn’t get the bridge to fail.

“ The judges said we were head and shoulders above the other four competing schools,” said professor Butch Gerbrandt, who coached the team
along with Kumar Ganesan. “ They only gave out a first place in the category, no seconds.”

The Tech team took sec ond in the task to identify and remove uranium from drinking water. No places were awarded in the third task — detecting
iodine in soil, water and sludge — in which Tech competed.

The judges’ choice award for overcoming obstacles went to the Tech team.
All told, the team brought back $4,500 in prizes, and Gerbrandt is pleased they beat arch-rivals Purdue University in the two cate gories where they
competed head-to-head.
The contest is sponsored by WERC, a consortium for envi ronmental education and tech nology development. The week-long contest is designed to
challenge students with reallife environmental problems.

The reception starts at noon Tuesday in the Copper Lounge of the Student Union Building.

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