Two Albert Nerksen School of Engineering civil engineering teams are headed to the 2026 Student Steel Bridge Competition (SSBC) National Finals from May 22 to 23 at the University of Texas at El Paso. Cooper's Sustainable Solution Team and Steel Bridge Team both competed earlier in April at the Metropolitan Student Conference and Symposium. The Sustainable Solution Team placed first in their portion of the competition, which challenges students to incorporate sustainability into everyday engineering problems, while the Steel Bridge Team placed second in the main competition. 

For nearly 40 years, SSBC has challenged students to extend their classroom knowledge to a practical and hands-on steel-design project. Each student team develops a concept for a scale-model steel bridge to span approximately 20 feet and to carry 2,500 pounds. Teams must then determine how to fabricate their bridge and plan for an efficient assembly under timed construction conditions at the competition. Bridges are also load-tested, weighed, and judged on aesthetics. More than 200 schools competed this year at the regional level with about 40 teams advancing to the finals.