STUDENT COMPETITION ON COLD-FORMED STEEL DESIGN

2025 COMPETITION WINNERS

The top winners of the 2025 CFSEI Student Competition on Cold-Formed Steel Design were announced by the Cold-Formed Steel Engineers Institute (CFSEI), with winning students hailing from the University of Massachusetts Amherst,  Marqutte University, and Milwaukee School of Engineering.

The CFSEI Student Competition on Cold-Formed Steel Design promotes higher education in cold-formed steel structural design and encourages students to use creative thinking skills to solve engineering problems.

This year’s competition attracted entries from universities across the United States and Canada. To ensure their success, participants were paired with industry mentors who had expertise in cold-formed steel design and construction. All entries were judged by a panel of industry professionals and ranked based on the design’s quality, constructability, and presentation.

First Place	Second Place	Second Place
Ryan McLaughlin, University of Massachusetts Amherst

“This is the only competition of its kind in the cold-formed steel industry,” said Jeffrey Klaiman, P.E., CFSEI managing director. “It requires participants to utilize their knowledge of the latest innovations in manufacturing, Building Information Modeling, and logistics technologies, and to apply that knowledge in developing a cold-formed steel solution to a specific design challenge that they could face in the workplace.”

Tammy Gleed, P.E., general manager at ClarkDietrich Engineering Services, LLC, and a CFSEI competition organizer, said: “This year’s participants were tasked with repurposing a vacant space on the 19th floor of an existing dormitory to accommodate a surge in new students. The project required the use of non-combustible materials, making cold-formed steel (CFS) an excellent choice. The goal was to convert the existing 2-bed units into 3-bed units by integrating a sleeping loft, thereby increasing the total available square footage.”

 Awards

• 1st place student will receive a $2000 USD monetary award and an award plaque.
• 2nd place student will receive a $1500 USD monetary award and an award plaque.

Winners will have an opportunity to give a brief presentation at the 2025 CFSEI Expo in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Click here to view the competition details.