The University of Toledo chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) recently brought home a first-place win from a national collegiate surveying competition.
Undergraduates Holden Cobb, Tristan Hughes, Caleb Kaiser, Liam Kiley, Zachary Liette and Jason Waisner participated in the competition organized by the ASCE’s Utility Engineering and Surveying Institute amid the broader Civil Engineering Student Championships at California Polytechnic State University in late June.
From left, Liam Kiley, Holden Cobb, Caleb Kaiser, Zachary Liette, Tristan Hughes and Jason Waisner celebrate a first-place win at the ASCE UESI Surveying Competition at California Polytechnic State University in late June.
The competition challenges student engineers to use standard field and office equipment and procedures to solve common problems encountered in industry. UToledo ranked first in topographic maps, which teams prepared in advance and presented at the competition, and second in field tasks. That earned them the top spot overall.
“I cannot be prouder and more excited,” said Kaiser, a civil engineering senior and captain of the surveying team. “It still does not seem real that we went all the way across the country for a short four days and competed against the best surveying teams from big-name schools such as Clemson, Alabama, Illinois, Florida and Georgia Tech to win No. 1 overall and come back to Toledo, Ohio. The team has put forth a lot of effort over the past two years to get where we are today. It has most definitely been worth it.”
Cobb, Kaiser, Kiley, Liette and Waisner and Hughes are joined on the team by Shane Franck and Nolan Siefring, who were not able to compete in California.
Each team member is studying civil engineering and most are also pursuing a minor in surveying, an attractive offering within the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering that allows students to meet the academic requirements for license as a professional surveyor in Ohio.
“I am extremely proud of our survey team,” said Michael Pniewski, a surveying instructor and advisor of the campus chapter of ASCE. “Their win at the national competition is testament to the quality of the courses we offer through the surveying minor. Land surveyors provide the information needed by civil engineers to design the infrastructure we all rely on, and UToledo is preparing the next generation by offering courses toward meeting the education requirements to be licensed as professional land surveyors.”
The team’s national win followed qualification with a first-place win at a regional competition at Michigan Technical University in April.
This is the second year the student chapter has competed in the national competition and follows an eighth-place finish in 2024.
