The mostly unlikely of substances float if engineers are involved. Tri-State University men and women civil engineering teams proved that by placing fourth of seven Indiana schools in the 2008 American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Great Lakes Concrete Canoe Competition April 24-26 at the University of Evansville.

Sixteen students and three faculty members represented TSU’s ASCE chapter, with entries in the concrete canoe and concrete bat competitions. The competition includes seven different competitions for 15 schools, including Rose-Hulman in Terre Haute, Ind., Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind., and schools in North Dakota, Illinois, and Wisconsin. Winners of the steel bridge and concrete canoe competitions advance to national level competition.

The TSU canoe, named “Noah’s Ark” because of similarities to its namesake, successfully completed the women’s endurance race. However, a shear failure occurred during the men’s endurance race, causing the canoe to capsize.

Nonetheless, it continued to float, with the TSU students swimming it back to shore to cheers from the crowd. With the defeat of the University of Notre Dame and Valparaiso University, TSU claimed at least the northern Indiana champion title, according to TSU chemical engineering professor Doug Schmucker, who photographed the contest.

The Thunder concrete bat entry weighed the least of all bats at just over 4 pounds, with the heaviest bat weighing in at 8 pounds. The typical alloy composite bat used in official softball today has an approximate weight of 1.5 lbs or less. TSU hitters placed no lower than fifth out of 12 schools, Schmucker said.