KHAmpetition is a design workshop and competition created by Kimley-Horn to provide students with real world engineering problems and a chance to apply their skills in multi-disciplinary problem solving. In February, four student teams competed in KHAmpetition. They developed and presented plans for the former site of Harrelson Hall, and received feedback from practicing engineers. Members of the winning team shared a $2,000 scholarship award presented by Kimley-Horn. This event has been held four times since its inception in 2011. Professional staff from Kimley-Horn represented various civil engineering practice areas and worked closely with CCEE faculty member Steve Welton to prepare workshop materials using real project information.

The teams were asked to re-envision the demolition of Harrelson Hall, a building on NCSU’s campus which was recently demolished, and to provide a proposal for the interim use of the site.

Students were asked to apply core engineering principles, address public safety, consider sustainability criteria in their approach, and create value for the university with their interim site use solution.

KHAmpetition is open to any undergraduate student, with each team being led by one graduate student. The competition takes place in a day-long workshop setting, giving students a glimpse into the life of professional consulting engineers applying their skills in multi-discipline problem solving. At the end of the workshop each team is allowed 10 minutes to present their proposed design approach, followed by questions from the review panel.

“Our staff really enjoy the preparation and the interactions with students on the day of the event,” KH Senior Vice-President Richard Rohrbaugh (1981 BSCE) said. “We’re always inspired by how much creativity the students bring to the topics.”