Support the UMass Amherst Concrete Canoe Team!

Thanks for giving us a look! 

Who Are We?

The UMass Amherst Concrete Canoe team is one of the school’s American Society of Civil Engineering (ASCE) student chapter design teams. The ASCE national organization hosts an annual Concrete Canoe Design Competition in which UMass has been intermittently involved. After multiple years of non-engagement, the UMass team made a strong run in last year's competition, fueling them for a more successful competition this year. The competition consists of a year long engineering challenge where schools must design, construct and race a canoe made substantially with concrete. The challenge helps create a space for engineering students to apply classroom knowledge to a real world project. Throughout the competition, the team will gain experience in concrete design, material testing, technical writing and formal presenting. 

Competing in the Northeast division, UMass Amherst made great strides in their first year competing after multiple years of inactivity. Our team was able to proudly deliver a canoe to the competition, pass floatation requirements, and successfully race on the water. 

Now that our team has some knowledge and experience surrounding the competition, the goal for the 2023-2024 competition is to build on our success. With your help, hopefully our team will be able to place in the top five schools within the northeast division. More importantly, we wish to continue building a space for young engineering students to learn, grow and support each other during their undergraduate experience. 

What's Our Plan?

The UMass Amherst Concrete Canoe Team is currently in the process of developing and testing our concrete mix design. With the help of UMass faculty, our team is evaluating the strength and weight parameters of concrete mixes with varying amounts of material. We are also in the beginning stages of fabricating a new mold that will be used in the construction process during the spring semester. Once our mix design is complete, we will move onto the calculation phase of the design process. This incorporates both the unit weight of our mix, as well as the dimensions of the canoe, to adjust calculations that confirm our canoe will successfully float and function properly.

Where Will Your Donations Go?

All donations, big or small, are greatly appreciated by the team. Donations will be used to help pay for regional symposium registration dues, materials that will be required to build the full scale canoe, and our means  of transportation to the competition.