The building information model developed by the UM team
A student team from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Macau (UM), recently received a grand prize at the Fourth National Structure Design Contest on Information Technology for College Students, after competing with more than 1,000 teams across China. It is the only team from Hong Kong and Macao to have won a prize in the competition.
This year’s competition attracted nearly 9,000 students in 2,259 teams from 342 universities across the country. During the event, the UM team competed with a total of 1,413 teams in the undergraduate postgraduate categories. Only 50 teams have won the grand prize, with a rate of around 3.5 per cent. The UM team comprised of three students, namely Wang Yuanyu, Xu Yujin, and Wang Yuanhang. They were led by Lok Man Hoi and Lam Chi Chiu, two associate professors in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Before the competition, the team members held discussion sessions with each other and their professors regularly. They also practised techniques of Building Information Modelling (BIM) in order to overcome the various technological issues. The practices also gave them a chance to put their knowledge into practice.
The competition was organised by the China Civil Engineering Society, with assistance from the School of Civil Engineering of Tsinghua University, the School of Civil Engineering and Transportation of South China University of Technology, the Civil Engineering and Architectural Society of Guangdong, and the Architectural Design and Research Institute of Guangdong Province. As one of the most influential competitions in the field of civil engineering in the China, the event aims to enhance students’ abilities in producing technological innovation and practical skills in carrying out technological projects. The topic of the competition was proposed by experts in the industry. The participants were required to design a prefabricated dormitory building on a college campus according to the plan and restrictions, with an appropriate structural selection and layout. The teams were also required to use structural analysis software provided by the organiser to carry out structural calculations and submit their designs according to the analysis results and design specifications.
UM is committed to enhancing education in technology and innovation and actively encourages students to participate in various competitions to broaden their horizons. This award reaffirms UM’s competitiveness, teaching standards, as well as research and innovation standards in professional fields such as civil engineering and environmental engineering.
