On March 27th 2008, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) held its annual South Eastern Regional Student Championship in Orlando. Student members from the entire South-eastern United States representing twenty six Universities participated in this event. The conference consists of competitions that are civil engineering oriented where students apply knowledge they have received in class to approach open-ended problems. The Florida International University participated with a fifty-member team.

One of the competions (the Concrete Cylinder Competition) consists of designing a concrete mix that will crush at a specific compressive strength. The score is based on the closest compressive strength to the specified target, while having the shortest casting duration. This year's designated target was 3000 psi.

Florida International University had a two-person team for this competition: Alejandro Motta (Captain) and Daniel Battan. Alejandro and Daniel opted for a regular concrete mix without any admixtures and a 0.38 water-cement ratio and a casting time of 24hrs. Their scheduled crushing time was set for 7:40am., at which time they had acheived a concrete strength of 2985 psi, only 15 psi from the 3000 target value. This amazingly close crushing strength gave them the first place in the competition out of 23 Universities that competed.

FIU is proud of Alejandro and Daniel and would like to congratulate them and the FIU ASCE Chapter for their achievement.