ASCE Student Chapter 2026 Pacific Southwest Conference Awards

74 students from the UH Manoa ASCE Student Chapter participated in 12 technical events at the ASCE Pacific Southwest Symposium (PSWS) at California State University, Los Angeles on March 28th – March 30th, 2026, under the guidance of faculty advisor, Dr. Oceana Francis.

The team placed 4^th overall in the conference with 14 colleges participating. The Prestressed Minibeam team placed 1^st. The Steel Bridge team placed 3^rd overall, including 1^st place in aesthetics, and 3^rd place in construction economy. The Concrete Canoe team placed 4^th overall, including 1^st place in men’s sprints, 1^st place in coed sprints, 2^nd place in men’s slalom, 2^nd place in women’s sprints, 3^rd place in final product prototype, and 1^st place in spirit of the competition award.  The Transportation Design event team placed 3^rd, the Surveying event team placed 5^th, the Sustainability event team placed 5^th, the Construction Institute placed 5^th, the 3D Print Bridge team placed 6^th, the Timber Strong Design Build team placed 7^th, the Environmental event team placed 7^th, the Mead Technical Paper placed 10^th, and the Geowall team placed 11^th.

The entire team worked very hard preparing for this annual conference and all students were great competitors in Los Angeles, CA. The PSWS is the largest ASCE conference in the USA. The UHM Conference Co-Chairs were Dawn Nakamaru and Jordin Martos, who worked tirelessly to ensure everything went well and everyone had a good time. The chapter was led this year by the following officers: President – Amier Ishaque ; Vice-President – Zoe Fukuda-Seki ; Treasurer – David Uyeda ; Recording Secretary – Kylea Medeiros and Corresponding Secretary – Kevin Soe.

The ASCE Student Chapter is proud of our work and accomplishments at this year’s PSWS. We also want to thank the professors and faculty that supported and mentored us while preparing for the technical events such as the Prestressed Minibeam, Environmental, Design Build, Construction Institute, Concrete Canoe, and Steel Bridge.

These accomplishments reflect how the ASCE student members apply concepts learned in the curriculum to the competitions/projects. Students are able to strengthen their technical knowledge, teamwork, leadership, and professional development. Striving for higher placements in the futurecan only help better prepare us as civil engineers.

The Student Chapter is very grateful to the 30 companies, the College of Engineering, ASCE Hawaii Section, and UH Manoa SAPFB for their financial support totaling over $40,000 to help enable us to participate in PSWS in Los Angeles, CA this year.