2009 NSPS Surveying Student Competition Winners - Salt Lake City, Utah
Theme: Calculating Devices & Methods for Surveyors – Past to Present
1ST PLACE – Ferris State University
2ND PLACE – Michigan Technological University
3RD PLACE – Oregon Institute of Technology
To see photos of the 2009 Surveying Students competitors in action please follow this link:
http://acsmannual.winkflash.com
Code: slc2009
2010 NSPS Surveying Student Team Competition
PRE-NOTIFICATION — To facilitate communications, all teams planning to participate in the 2010 NSPS Student Competition should advise Competition Coordinator David Lee Ingram of their intentions to participate and should designate their contact person and email address no later than January 15, 2010. Please direct questions concerning the Competition to Mr. Ingram at your earliest convenience.
David Lee Ingram
140 Old Bridgewater Road
Mt. Crawford, VA 22841
(Voice) 540-828-2778
(FAX) 540-828-2683
Emails: [email protected] or [email protected]
PAPER (50 points) — The subject of the 2010 Student Competition will be Forensic Surveying related to Accident Scenes. The paper could discuss methodology, technical standards, equipment to use, examples of actual accident surveys, safety considerations, needs of the end users, and other appropriate subject matter.
The paper should not exceed 30 double-spaced, typewritten pages.
Each team will provide seven (7) hard copies as well as one digital copy, formatted using Microsoft Word, on a compact disk. Email submissions will not be accepted. Submissions must be received at the office of the Executive Director of ACSM no later than 5:00 pm EST on Friday, March 19, 2010.
There will be no exceptions to this deadline. It is the responsibility of the team to verify receipt of the paper by ACSM.
POSTER SESSION (10 points) — Each participating team shall prepare one poster with information derived from the paper or the results of their field exercise. The dimensions of the poster shall be a minimum size of 24 inches by 36 inches to a maximum size of 36 inches by 42 inches. The contents shall include the school name, team members, sponsors (if any), and any material necessary to provide a concise and complete visual summary of the chosen subject. The posters will be displayed in the exhibit hall for viewing by attendees of the 2010 ACSM Conference. Commercial printing and laminating is permitted (but not required), but all layout and graphics must be the work of the students. Two copies will be submitted and they will be retained by NSPS.
FIELD EXERCISE (40 points) — The field exercise will consist of 2 parts. The FIRST PART will be a (reconstruction) survey of an actual accident scene completed at home in advance of arrival at Phoenix. The teams should work with a police department (campus, local, county, state – your choice) to survey the scene of an accident (not limited to automobile) and try to work with an attorney (plaintiff / prosecutor or defense) to prepare exhibits that would be used in court. The SECOND PART will consist of an oral presentation of the project at the ACSM meeting in Phoenix. The NSPS Education Committee will host a day long Workshop Session on Forensic Surveying for these presentations.
NOTES ABOUT THE FIELD EXERCISE:
1.) Safety considerations for the students should be first and foremost.
2.) The students should not expect to replace the police evidence team or any professional surveyor retained to do the work.
3.) Severe accidents with blood and gore are not to be the goal. A fender bender may be used to illustrate many aspects of a forensic survey.
4.) This should probably be characterized as a “reconstruction” survey as the students should not be on site immediately after the accident. They might work with a police department so that they may observe and photograph the accident scene, but additional field work should not take place until after everything is cleared up.
5.) Under NO CIRCUMSTANCES should the students be expected to provide any evidence to anyone and all work products should contain a clear disclaimer against anyone using the results of the student survey.
NOTES ABOUT THE COMPETITION:
1.) We are releasing information about the competition early so that the students and faculty can start planning earlier than usual and perhaps even turn this into a class project. If a school’s catalog would permit, perhaps a “special topics” class could be arranged for next year or perhaps a “senior independent study” could be arranged for the members of the team.
2.) This would also lend itself to interdepartmental cooperation. As an example, if there is a law school on campus, perhaps law students could be involved. Engineering students could be involved to discuss design aspects that may have lead to the accident. A law enforcement program would certainly offer some cooperative possibilities. And there are surely many other areas of expertise that surveying students could draw on.