MSOE students won the Mechanical Contractors Association of America Student Chapter competition and brought home a $10,000 prize. This is the third time MSOE took first place.

Twenty-seven universities from across the U.S. and Canada submitted entries, and only four advanced to the final round in Phoenix at the MCAA Annual Convention. MSOE competed against McMaster University, University of Missouri-Columbia and Wentworth Institute of Technology.  

Joseph Batcher, Nathan Bevers, Matthew Blain, Riley Buol, Brendon Demille, Zachary Gaatz, Lucas Grohmann, Lucas Hass, Benjamin Kaplan, Anna Rowe, Brooke Scott, Logan Stone and Trevor Symbal delivered a 15-minute presentation and answered questions in front of a panel of mechanical contractors and conference attendees.   

Students were tasked with a proposal to be the prime contractor on the mechanical portion of the addition and renovation project at Indiana University’s Memorial Football Stadium. This year’s project details were provided by Harrell-Fish of Bloomington, Indiana. As the acting mechanical subcontractor, student chapters were tasked with purchasing all equipment and materials and providing all necessary labor and equipment to complete the entire mechanical scope of work. The project included all plumbing, piping and HVAC work.  

The MCAA Educator of the Year award went to Dr. Blake Wentz, professor and chair of MSOE’s Civil and Architectural Engineering and Construction Management Department, and MSOE’s team advisor. This is the fourth time Wentz has earned this designation.