“Surveyors of the South” Win Big at ASCE National Civil Engineering Student Competition

June 21, 2023

“Surveyors of the South” – Georgia Southern’s surveying team from its student chapter of American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), came in fourth overall in the national ASCE UESI surveying competition held June 10-12 at the University of Wisconsin – Platteville.  The ASCE Civil Engineering Student Championships comprised three competitions: the annual Concrete Canoe Competition, the Sustainable Solutions Competition, and the UESI (Utility Engineering & Surveying Institute) Surveying Competition, in which our team of students participated, having won at the regional competition at the University of North Florida earlier this year. 

Surveyors of the South ranked behind Purdue University of the Northwest (#1), Utah State University (#2), and Oregon State University (#3), but ahead of 12 other prestigious schools such as Penn State, LSU, Colorado School of Mines, and Cal State Polytechnic University.  The Georgia Southern team (pictured above) is comprised of Alex Perry, Nathan Ingram, Blake Hamby and Zenan Merritt, mentored by Dr. Roger Purcell, adjunct assistant professor of Civil Engineering and Construction.

The ASCE UESI Surveying Competition requires students to use standard field and office equipment and procedures to solve common problems encountered in industry.  The team must apply surveying principles to execute five tasks which include completing and presenting a topographic mapping project and four field tasks.   Surveyors of the South ranked first in three of the five tasks:  leveling; building stakeout; and sewer cut/fill.  The team came in fourth for pacing and fifth for the topographic mapping project. “This is a well-deserved recognition and great accomplishment for the hard-working students of Georgia Southern’s Department of Civil Engineering and Construction,” said Dr. Marcel Maghiar, interim chair of the department.  “I couldn’t be prouder of them and of the extra work Dr. Purcell did to prepare them for the competitions.”