Academics

Civil engineering students win third place at national surveying competition

From left: Brian Naberezny, Kevin Katchko, Rob Hug and Theodore Frear Credit: Penn StateCreative Commons

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — A team of three Penn State students won third place in the 16th annual National Society of Professional Surveyor’s (NSPS) Student Competition held March 13 as part of the National Surveying, Mapping and Geospatial Conference. The theme of this year’s competition was "High-Precision Vertical Control Applications," and the Penn State team chose "Connecting the Campus Leveling Network to the North American Vertical Datum of 1988" as its project.  

This project required the team to perform a 1.6-mile differential leveling survey to connect reference points used in introductory surveying classes at University Park with the North American Vertical Datum of 1988. The team combined its data with three semesters of leveling data collected by students from the introductory surveying classes and performed statistical blunder detection and least-squares adjustments to determine the final elevations of the reference points.

Schools competing in the NSPS Student Competition are judged by a panel of practicing professionals. Teams are required to prepare and submit for judging a site-specific safety plan addressing all potential hazards; a 20-page technical report and a project binder containing supporting documentation for all aspects of the project; a poster presentation summarizing the project and results; and a 25-minute oral presentation followed by a Q&A session from the judges and the audience. 

The team from Penn State consisted of undergraduate students Theodore Frear, Robert Hug and Kevin Katchko, who are pursuing concurrent degrees in civil engineering and surveying engineering. Brian Naberezny, instructor in civil engineering at Penn State, served as the team adviser. Team members received participation medals and a third-place crystal bowl. 

This project was made possible by several supporters. Frank Lenik and Leica Geosystems loaned the team equipment to perform their survey. Financial support was provided by the Pennsylvania Society of Land Surveyors; Pennsylvania Land Surveyors Foundation; Charles Ghilani; David Jensen; Adam Crews; Brian Kelly; and Charles Unangst.  

Differential leveling to transfer NAVD 88 elevations to the campus. Credit: Penn StateCreative Commons

Last Updated March 29, 2017