Next Meeting Presentation

Post President Mark Angelo (r) thanks Bill Miles from Bergmann Associates for his enlightening presentation on the Chickamauga Lock Replacement Project that is being built on the Tennessee River near Chattanooga. 

Perhaps the most interesting facet of the presentation was the portion that covered the innovative lift-in construction methods that are being utilized for constructing and installing the segmental cofferdam that would subsequently become the landward lockwall for the new lock.  This innovative solution enabled the existing lock to continue to be utilized for navigation while the new lock was under construction.  This solution has great potential to be utilized when new lock chambers are built on the Upper Mississippi River locks as pat of the NESP program.

The attendance at the January meeting was great! Thanks to all who ventured out on a cold January day for our meeting.

SAME offers high school freshman, sophomores, and juniors the opportunity to attend a one week camp.  They learn leadership, engineering and construction skills, and have fun with students from all over the world.

The Minneapolis-Saint Paul Post would like to sponsor a high school student to attend either one of the following summer camp opportunities.  The Post will pay the Registration Fee and and ¹/₂ of the Airfare; the student's family is responsible for the remainder of the airfare.  High school students that are interested in this opportunity should:

1) review the camp website(s) and the links to eligibility requirements and application forms so that all requirements are clearly understood, and

2) contact Ben Tustison at 763-205-2651 or tustison@mbkengineers.com to submit your name as being interested in this opportunity.

The MSP Post deadline for responding to Ben Tustison regarding your interest in being considered for this opportunity is 15 March 2009.

From the qualified respondees, the Post will select one attendee and one alternate; the alternate may be able to attendee if the primary selectee is unable to attend or if additional space becomes available at the camps.  Once the Post has selected an attendee and an alternate, the selectees will be given additional instructions for submitting the required applications.  Selections will be made by 30 March 2009, which will the selectees adequate time to complete the required applications.

Click on the names of the camps below to hyperlink to the National SAME web pages that have additional details about the camps along with detailed registration information.

SAME / US Army Camp
Vicksburg, Mississippi
June 14-20, 2009

SAME / US Air Force Academy Camp
US Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, CO
June 26-July 2, 2009

SAME / US Navy Seabees Camp
Port Heuneme, California
July 19-25, 2009

The Scholarship Application Form is now available on the " Grants & Scholarships" page of the web site.  The form can be downloaded as either a MS Word file or as a fill-able PDF form.  There will again be three $1500 scholarships available.  The deadline for submitting scholarship applications is Friday, April 3rd.

Two scholarships are planned to be awarded in what is called Category I, which is for high school seniors and Post-secondary students, regardless of discipline, who are children, grandchildren, or siblings, of members of the Minneapolis-Saint Paul Post.  Sponsoring members must be a SAME Minneapolis-Saint Paul Post member for the current year and have been a member of the Post for a minimum of at least one year prior to the current year.  Applicants must be registered as full-time post-secondary students in the fall of the year of selection. 

One scholarship is planned to be awarded in what is called Category II, which is for all Student Members of the SAME Minneapolis-Saint Paul Post who will be registered as full-time post-secondary students in the fall of the year of selection.  Applicants under this category must be registered through SAME as a Student Member; student memberships are free for full-time undergraduates at an accredited college or university, or high school students.  At least one of the scholarships in this category will be awarded to a student in an engineering, science, or technology-related field.

A committee of Post members evaluate the applications.  All applications are kept confidential, and only the winners are announced.  For additional information, please contact Ben Tustison at 763-205-2651.  Scholarship Application Packages can be downloaded from the Post’s website at:

http://www.same-msp.org/PDF/Scholarship_App&Inst_2009.doc or
http://www.same-msp.org/PDF/Scholarship_App&Inst_2009.pdf

Application packages should be mailed to Ben at the following address:

MBK Engineers
ATTN: Ben Tustison, P.E.
Chairperson, SAME Scholarship Committee
16610 26th Avenue North
Plymouth, MN 55447-1844

This year's state final event for the Future City Competition took place on Saturday, January 24th at St. Thomas University.  As it is each year, it was a Blast!

This is the second year that the Minneapolis-Saint Paul Post sponsored one of the Special Awards, it was titled "Readiness for Natural and Manmade Disasters".  The award was presented to the team that demonstrated the most thought in addressing risks to its infrastructure and populous stemming from potential natural disasters and manmade disasters.  Consideration was also given to teams that have prepared their city's leadership and citizens for dealing with these types of situations.

Helping with the judging for the SAME special award were (l to r) Young Member Activities Coordinator Jane Flewellen, Post President Mark Angelo, one of the Post's newest members Robert Rimstad, soon to be new member Karl Berg, and Past President Jim Mosner (photographer).  Since we had enough judges to form two judging teams, the pace of judging wasn't as hectic as it was last year.  All the judges agreed that it was a terrific experience and will eagerly step forward to do it again next year.  Please consider helping next year, your assistance will be appreciated.

The teams that won Special Awards were presented with plaques certificates and gift bags that were provided by the sponsoring organization.  M-SP Post President Mark Angelo presented the Post's gifts to the team from Black Hawk Middle School in the Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan School District for their city called "Osiris"; they did a terrific job of discussing and demonstrating the considerations for readiness-related issues in their city of the future.

A number of M-SP Post members assisted in other various aspects of the competition.  Keith Anderson (HR Green), Drew McGovern (HR Green), Suresh Hettiarachichi (HDR), and Alan Palmer (Stanley) filled judging roles for the Computer Simulation component, Essay and Abstract, component, and Scale Model and Oral Presentation component of the competition; and Paul Eickenberg (Wenck Associates) is a member of the overall Steering Committee.

All Engineers and Engineering Societies are requested to help with this year's TechFest event at The Works in Edina on Saturday, February 28th.  This is an opportunity to help with hands-on activities; this year the students are building hovercrafts they get to bring home.  The MFESTS event organizers are calling on all engineering societies to help provide volunteers for this event.  If you are interested please contact the MFESTS volunteer coordinator Krista Johnson at Krista.Johnson@bsci.com, please put “MFESTS” in the subject line.

The event runs from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM and volunteers are needed to work the following shifts during the event:

    >  1st Shift: 8:30-11:30 AM

    >  2nd Shift: 11:30-2:30 PM

    > 3rd Shift: 2:30-5:30 PM

Here is an opportunity to have some fun and be a participant in one of the biggest Engineering events of the year.  It is expected that over a 1,000 people will attend this event.  The Works is a non-profit "hands-on, minds-on" museum that makes science and engineering fun for kids 5 to 15.  More information on The Works can be seen at www.theworks.org.

http://www.theworks.org/techfestposter.pdf