The School of Architecture congratulates the team of six students from the Master of Science in Architecture–Engineering–Construction Management (MSAECM) program on winning First Place in the Constructors Association of Western Pennsylvania (CAWP) 6th Annual CAWP Student Estimating Competition. This is the first time a team from Carnegie Mellon has won the competition in all its years of participation. The team received a $1,500 prize and the opportunity to showcase their skills in front of a jury of seven contractors from across western Pennsylvania.
Carnegie Mellon CAWP 2021-22 Team:
Rutuja Dhuru, MSAECM
Poornima Krishnan, MSAECM
Yu Sugimoto, MSAECM Fast Track Program
Riti Talreja, MSAECM
Ryan Vaz, MSAECM
Johns Thomas Vellikara, MSAECM
The competition took place from February 11-12, 2022 and included seven teams from six universities. This estimation competition tasks student teams to submit a formal bid and schedule for an actual project completed by one of CAWP's member contractors. The aim is to gauge students' abilities and their technical knowledge in real-world scenarios. Participating teams consist of 4-6 members who work together over three days to prepare a formal proposal that is evaluated by a panel of seven judges, all of whom are specialist contractors from Pennsylvania.
This year's competition asked teams to prepare a bid for the demolition and reconstruction of a bridge previously tendered by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT). Carnegie Mellon's team of six graduate students from the School of Architecture and Civil and Environmental Engineering won for fielding a proposal that closely resembled the winning contractor's own bid. To prepare for the competition, the team trained for several months under the mentorship of Kevin Duris (PJ Dick - Trumbull - Lindy), Pingbo Tang (Associate Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering) and Joshua D. Lee (Assistant Professor, School of Architecture).