Design-Build Team Wins National Championship

 MSOE Architectural Engineering and Construction Management students won the Design-Build national championship at the Associated General Contractors (AGC) national student competition in San Diego on March 5. They prepared an architectural design, construction estimate, construction schedule and sustainable design plan for an $80 million Colorado History Museum, and gave a presentation to a panel of architects and construction professionals-all within a 30-hour period. "MSOE was a well-oiled machine that you could see worked exceptionally well together," said Brian Hansen, competition judge. Mike Fabishak, CEO of AGC of Greater Milwaukee, presented the traveling trophy to MSOE students at an award ceremony in Milwaukee April 20. He offered his congratulations and told the team they are at the top of the mountain in terms of their abilities and MSOE's reputation. Participating in AGC's student competition bodes well for their future, as employers recognize the skill and knowledge needed to be strong competitors. The highly competitive national student competition was held in conjunction with the AGC annual convention. MSOE's Design-Build team took second place the last three years when the competition was co-sponsored by the Associate Schools of Construction. MSOE has had six national champions and placed eight times in the student competition, more than any university in the country. And last year, the Commercial Construction team took third. For this year's event, the Design-Build team prepared an architectural design, construction estimate, construction schedule and a sustainable design plan for an $80 million Colorado History Museum, and gave a presentation to a panel of architects and construction professionals-all within a 30-hour period. The building had to be designed to LEED gold certification standards. Competition judges praised the students' exceptional teamwork and professionalism, and also commented that the team's written, verbal and design presentation were top notch. MSOE Design-Build team members are Derek Burdick, Chris Cichon, Chad Kucik, Ryan Mack, Josh Wilsmann, Jamie Zimdahl and coach Robert Lemke, associate professor. Each winning team member was awarded a trophy, a briefcase with over a $2,000 in AGC benefits. The MSOE Construction Management program received $3,000, and the team holds the first traveling trophy until 2010.  MSOE competed against teams from Clemson University, Roger Williams, Iowa State University, Texas A&M, Arizona State University and Oklahoma State University for the national championship. Reprinted with permission from MSOE, originally published 4/20/2009.