The University of Macau (UM) said in a statement yesterday that a student team from its Faculty of Science and Technology’s (FST) Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering recently won a grand prize at the 4th National Structure Design Contest on Information Technology for College Students.
The statement noted that the competition is one of the nation’s most influential competitions in the civil engineering field, with the event aiming to “enhance students’ abilities in producing technological innovation and practical skills in carrying out technological projects”. With a topic proposed by industry experts, the contestants were required to design a “prefabricated dormitory building on a college campus according to the plan and restrictions, with an appropriate structural selection and layout”.
The statement underlined that the teams also needed to use “structural analysis software” provided by the organiser to conduct structural calculations and submit their designs in accordance with analysis results and design specifications.
The public university said that its team, which comprised students Wang Yuanyu, Xu Yujin, and Wang Yuanhang, led by the department’s Associate Professors Lok Man Hoi and Lam Chi Chiu, competed with 1,413 teams in the undergraduate postgraduate category, being the only university team from Hong Kong and Macau to win a prize.
The competition, the statement added, attracted almost 9,000 students in 2,259 teams from 342 universities across the nation, with only 50 teams having won a grand prize.
Aside from having discussion sessions between the UM team members and their professors prior to the contest, the statement underlined that they also practised “Building Information Modelling (BIM)” techniques “to overcome the various technological issues” and put their knowledge to practise, the statement pointed out.
According to the statement, the contest was organised by the China Civil Engineering Society in conjunction with various entities such as Tsinghua University’s School of Civil Engineering, and the Architectural Design and Research Institute of Guangdong Province.
This undated handout photo provided by the University of Macau (UM) yesterday shows the three members of the UM team – Xu Yujin (left), Wang Yuanhang (centre), and Wang Yuanyu. The quality of the photo is the one supplied by UM.
