Introducing the ASCE Frontier Student Symposium
Author: Eva Reynal PE
February 2025
Each year, ASCE student chapters come together to compete in annual competitions and experience their first professional conference. These conferences are called the Student Symposia.
In 2022, ASCE re-aligned the student conferences to better match the ASCE regional boundaries. This resulted in all of Region 6 (Mexico, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas) coming together to attend one conference called the ASCE Region 6 Student Symposium. At the 2023 Student Business Meeting, Dr. Jim Williams (UT Arlington) declared that “Region 6” Student Symposium was a boring name compared to other regional symposia, often named for their geographic area. The student leaders agreed and proposed changing the name.
Following the 2024 Region 6 Student Symposium, the Region 6 Board and Student Activities Committee launched the Region 6 Renaming Competition, and any student member in the region could propose a name that reflected the vast geographic area covered by the Region 6 Student Conference.
Entries went on to compete in a bracket-style elimination and included: South Central, BIG 4, Tri-State International, Southwest, Rattlesnake, Red Dirt, Cowboy, Frontier, Southwestern Star, CactiVision, OkNewTexMex, Sunshine, Pan American, Wild West, Borderlands, and Great Frontier. Names were submitted by students from all 4 Sections of Region 6, and randomly assigned to face-off in the bracket, as shown below.
More than 100 students participated in the renaming competition, and after 4 weeks of voting, the ASCE Frontier Student Symposium was the winner! Frontier was submitted by Antonio Juárez Rivera (Universidad Panamericana). Along with the student voters, the Region 6 board of governors unanimously approved of the new name, and the Committee on Student Conferences and Competitions also approved of the new name, confirming that it could be used for the 2025 Student Symposium. At the 2025 Student Business meeting, the student chapter delegates will vote to formally adopt the name and update official documents.
The 2025 ASCE Frontier Student Symposium, hosted by the ASCE Student Chapter at Tarleton State University, also launched a new Symposium website (studentsymposium.asce.org/frontier) and an updated sponsorship package, matching the Frontier theme and recognizing some of the other entries: Borderlands, Wild West, Cowboy, and Rattlesnake levels. We have seen astounding support for the new name, theming, and sponsorship package this year. The 2025 student planning team from Tarleton includes: Anissa Reyes, Cody Miller, Norah Lira, and Raul Sandoval. They are supported by their faculty Advisor Dr. Raj Vuddandam, and many additional faculty and staff members at Tarleton. The events will be hosted at the Tarleton State University campus in Stephenville, TX, and Proctor Lake. More than 700 students from 33 universities will attend and participate this April, with engaging content around the student-chosen theme of “Adapting, Modernizing, and Retrofitting.”
Society-wide competitions for 2025 will include: Concrete Canoe, Steel Bridge, Timber Strong, Surveying, and Sustainable Solutions. Local competitions hosted by the Tarleton student chapter include: Mystery Design, Concrete Bowling, Geo-wall, Scavenger Hunt, Concrete Cornhole, Tug-of-War, and an FE Exam contest. Student chapters will also compete in the annual student paper competition for eligibility requirements, to move on to society-wide finals. A competition growing in popularity, the ASCE 3D Printing Competition, will also be offered in a showcase environment, to promote interest and be considered for the 2026 ASCE Frontier Student Symposium competitions.
2025 planning is in full swing, and details continue to get locked in. The 2025 ASCE Frontier Student Symposium is looking to be the biggest and best Student Symposium yet!
