ROCKVILLE, Md. - A panel of judges has selected the four Mechanical Contractors Association of America (MCAA) student chapter teams that will make oral presentations of their bid proposals at MCAA’s 2007-2008 Student Chapter Competition on March 3, 2008, at the MCAA Annual Convention in Palm Desert, Calif. The finalists are:

• Colorado State University;

• Milwaukee School of Engineering;

• Northeastern University; and

• University of Washington.

The judges selected the finalists after reading, discussing, and scoring proposals submitted by 20 MCAA student chapters. In addition to the four finalists, teams that submitted proposals were from:

• California State Polytechnic University at Pomona (California);

• California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo (California);

• Fairleigh Dickinson University (New Jersey);

• Georgia Institute of Technology;

• Illinois State University;

• Iowa State University;

• Kent State University (Ohio);

• Northern Kentucky University;

• Oregon State University;

• Purdue University;

• Southern Polytechnic State University;

• University of Maryland – College Park;

• University of Nebraska – Lincoln;

• University of Nebraska – Omaha;

• University of Wisconsin – Stout; and

• Washington State University.

Criteria used for evaluating the proposals considered each written proposal’s overall quality (20 percent), project management and organization (25 percent), feasibility of construction and program schedules (20 percent), quality of the conceptual design (15 percent), and accuracy/feasibility of conceptual costs (20 percent).

Adam Snavely (The Poole and Kent Corp., Baltimore), Richard Perosa (H.T. Lyons Inc., Allentown, Pa.), and Patrick Pottichen (Collins & Collins Mechanical Inc., Bristol, Pa.) served as the first round judges for this year’s competition.

A different panel of judges will evaluate the oral presentations according to the following criteria: overall quality of the oral presentation (30 percent); feasibility of project management, organization, and schedule (30 percent); accuracy and completeness of project costs (30 percent); and answers to the judges’ questions (10 percent).

Each finalist team will have 20 minutes to convince the judges that they are the best qualified to perform the proposed work on the project - 15 minutes for a formal oral presentation and 5 minutes of answering the judges’ questions. Each team’s standing will be determined solely on the basis of their performance on the oral competition.

This year’s project is based on the 58,000-square-foot expansion of MCAA member J.F. Ahern Company’s (Fond du Lac, Wis.) headquarters and involves sustainability features.

As in past years, the prizes are as follows: $5,000 to the first place team; $2,500 to the second place team; and $1,000 to each of the other finalists. All finalists will also receive a trophy commemorating their achievement.

For more information about the competition, contact Ann Mattheis at amattheis@mcaa.org.

Publication date: 01/21/2008