3-time winner NJIT heads to national bridge comp following regional win

NJIT's team took first place at the 2008 Metropolitan Regional Steel-Bridge Competition. Click here for more information.

Much whooping and cheers could be heard for miles along the New Jersey waterfront as a team of NJIT civil engineering students ascended to the throne for the third consecutive year as top civil engineering students in the New York Metropolitan Region.

These 14 NJIT engineering students, all from New Jersey, took a first place overall win in the 2008 Metropolitan Regional Steel-Bridge Competition. The event was held this past weekend at Stevens Institute of Technology.

“I'm so proud of our team,” said team co-captain Indira Hernandez, Elizabeth. “Each member contributed to this victory. Team effort, dedication and hard work definitely paid off.”

“Nishant Shah, Parsippany, the other co-captain, looks forward to the upcoming national competition set for Memorial Day at the University of Florida, Gainesville. “Our strategy is to optimize construction time with the least amount of builders while reducing the overall weight.”

The NJIT students competed against engineering teams from City College of New York, Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute, Cooper Union, Rutgers University, the College of New Jersey and Stevens. The NJIT team included Giancarlo Fricano, Bridgewater; Shafali Patel, Jersey City; Hertzler Awuy, Edison. Other members were: Tien Tran, Belleville; Arthur Aquino, Jersey City; Kaeside Iwuagwu, Englewood; Eric Wilson, Sparta; Tiago Rodrigues, Woodbridge. Yet more were: David Lam, Northfield. Hai Pham, Jersey City; Joseph Juzwin, Mt. Arlington; Alberto Rodriguez, West Orange.