W.E.R.C. stands for the Waste Management Education and Research Consortium. For the 11th year in a row, the group has held an international environmental design competition in Las Cruces, New Mexico. From April 7th to April 14th, 2001, a group of 19 students and 4 faculty members traveled out to compete in 3 out of the 11 tasks. My particular task was Task 7. The project called for the design and development of a 1000 square foot roofing structure utilizing small diameter Ponderosa pine.
The competition consisted of four parts: the design paper, the poster, the presentation, and the bench-scale test. All aspects of the project were judged and points awarded. Upwards of 30 schools were represented at the competition. Ohio University took first place overall while our particular task took a disheartening second place behind Purdue University. We lost on the technicalities (e.g. typos!!), though I don't believe they came close to touching our actual design - and everyone at the competition knew it.
The Paper (Microsoft Word 2000) - 1,021 KB
The Presentation (Microsoft Powerpoint 2000) - 1,563 KB
Pictures of Competition Preparation - The Pregame
Pictures of Competition Itseslf - The Big Show