[10/30/2009]    Three students groups win Big Beam competition awards

University Park, Pa. — Three groups of Penn State students recently won awards at the 2009 Big Beam Competition sponsored by the Precast Concrete Institute.

Penn State students placed second, third and fourth in their regional zone. In this nationwide competition students were required to design, fabricate and test a precast prestressed concrete beam with support from a local precast concrete producer.

Preparation for the competition began in spring 2009 as part of the CE543 prestressed concrete class. Maria Lopez de Murphy, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering, was the faculty adviser.