UTEP Engineering Students To Defend Title At Regional Steel Bridge Competition

Engineering students from The University of Texas at El Paso will be competing in a regional steel bridge building competition on Friday and Saturday at the Pasadena, Texas Convention Center.

The team won last year’s Texas and New Mexico regional competition in Lubbock for its steel creation that was 21 feet long, 3 feet tall, 3 feet wide and weighed 208 pounds.

This year’s 26-member team will compete against dozens of other teams around the region to build a steel bridge capable of holding 2,500 pounds.

Team captain David Ledesma, who led the UTEP squad to nationals last year, said the team has been hard at work since August preparing for this year’s competition.

?They have shown a lot of dedication,? said Ledesma.

This year’s team has 14 returning members from last year’s competition, and its aim is to build a lighter and stronger bridge than in years before.

The top three teams will advance to the national competition in South Carolina in May.