This year marked the 20th annual offering of the American Society of Civil Engineers’ National Concrete Canoe Competition and the fifth year that the University of Wisconsin - Madison has continued to dominate the event in their concrete canoe aptly named - Descendant.

Hosted by the University of Washington, civil engineering students from the top 22 teams from some of the nation’s best engineering schools converged in Seattle, WA to find out if their countless calculations and strenuous hours of practice have defied logic and made the impossible a reality: a canoe made of concrete that can not only float, but also race!

Each year, the American Society of Civil Engineers’ (ASCE) National Concrete Canoe Competition gives students the opportunity to learn teamwork, challenge themselves mentally and physically, and apply the engineering knowledge they gained in the classroom to a fun, “real world” project. More than 250 teams work throughout the year to qualify for the national competition and, in the process, gain hands-on experience working with concrete mix designs, and learn the properties of various materials that can be added to concrete to influence performance.

More : emediawire.com

One hundred thirty schools from 11 countries on five continents battled for the prestigious SAE Foundation Cup during the annual event May 15-20.

The UW-Madison Formula SAE Racing team poses with their championship trophy.

Sponsored by the Society of Automotive Engineers, Formula SAE is a collegiate engineering competition in which students design, build and race a formula-style racing car. The competition is divided into two portions: static and dynamic events. The static events consist of a business presentation, a cost report and design judging, representing real-world scenarios that the students will encounter during their careers. In the dynamic events, teams race their cars against other schools. The car is tested in skid-pad, acceleration, autocross and endurance.

More : .news.wisc.edu

.

The cheating episode at Duke University may cause academics to conclude the post-Enron emphasis on teaching ethics in graduate business schools is a failure.

Thirty-four first-year masters of business administration students at Dukes Fuqua School of Business were disciplined in the programs largest cheating scandal. Nine students face expulsion for collaborating on a take-home test, violating the professors rules.

Business students are more likely to cut corners than those in any other academic discipline, several studies show. A Rutgers University survey last year found that cheating at business schools is common, even after ethics courses were added following scandals that bankrupted Enron Corp. and WorldCom Inc.

More : bloomberg.com