CivMin grad students win first place at ARMA Student Design Competition

L to R: Brant Zeeman (MASc candidate), Thomas de Boer (PhD candidate) and Aldo Katragjini (MASc candidate)

CivMin graduate students from the Graselli Geomechanics Group participated and ranked first in the 2024 American Rock Mechanics Association (ARMA) Student Design Competition.

The initial phase of the virtual competition featured universities from around the world with the top three student groups competing in the finals which featured UPN Veteran Yogyakarta and Chengdu University of Technology.

Team “I’ll Have What He’s Stopin'” consisted of MASc candidate Brant Zeeman, PhD candidate Thomas de Boer, and MASc candidate Aldo Katragjini. They designed a cemented paste backfill structure for a large vertically-exposed stope, with the objective of minimizing cement costs.