2023 Gateway Arch Engineering Contest

The 2023 Gateway Arch National Park Engineering Contest was the 7^th contest and boasted a record eleven schools competing. This year’s contest was exceedingly difficult as the teams had to design an automatic system that would raise and lower the Gateway Arch Riverboat docks. The contest final was held at the McKelvey School of engineering at Washington University in St. Louis Missouri.

Opening Speaker

The opening speaker at this year’s event was Ananya Benegal whose topic was “Great Minds Think Differently”. Ananya is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science at the James McKelvey School of Engineering, Washington University, and studies the influenza virus in the Vahey Lab.

She discussed a range of remarkable engineering advances, from high sensitivity virus detection to quantum computing, and her fascinating presentation emphasized how engineers are able to apply high level scientific thinking to solve complex world problems.

Here, she shares a polymer brain model that aids researchers in studying the mechanics of traumatic brain injury.

The Presentations

After the PowerPoint presentations, the teams ate lunch while the judges tallied scores and conferred. The students also had the chance to take a good look at the Washington University Race Car Club’s Indy Style race car. Each year the club designs and builds a race car that will be raced in Michigan against other colleges’ cars. The students were very impressed with the car and club members answered their questions.