Building 134
P.O. Box 5000
Upton, NY 11973-5000
phone 631 344-2345
fax 631 344-3368
www.bnl.gov

managed for the U.S. Department of Energy
by Brookhaven Science Associates, a company
founded by Stony Brook University and Battelle

News Release

Number: 03-18
Released: March 12, 2003
Contact: Diane Greenberg, 631 344-2347 or Mona S. Rowe, 631 344-5056

Patchogue-Medford Student Wins Brookhaven
Lab’s Bridge Contest

UPTON, NY — Both first- and second-place winners in Brookhaven National Laboratory’s 2003 Model Bridge Contest built bridges that held more than 110 pounds, the limit on weight according to the contest rules. But Patchogue-Medford High School senior Michael Eckart (left) made a lighter bridge, winning him first place.

Eckart’s 14.6-gram bridge held 3,417 times its own weight at the 110-pound limit. Kevin McKeon (right), a Center Moriches High School junior, placed second with a 16.5-gram bridge that held 3,024 times its own weight at the 110-pound limit. With the students is Marty Woodle, a retired Brookhaven Lab engineer who volunteered as a judge at the contest.

Michael Malusa of Huntington High School placed third with a bridge that weighed 14.2 grams and held 84.7 pounds, or 2,706 times its own weight. Laura Titus, another Huntington High School student, won the aesthetic award for the best-looking bridge.

All four winning students received a trophy and a gift certificate to Borders. The two top winners will be sent to the 2003 International Bridge Building Contest in Chicago, Illinois, on April 26, with their round-trip airfare paid by Brookhaven Science Associates, the organization founded by Battelle and Stony Brook University that manages Brookhaven.
 

The U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory conducts research in the physical, biomedical, and environmental sciences, as well as in energy technologies. Brookhaven also builds and operates major facilities available to university, industrial, and government scientists. The Laboratory is managed by Brookhaven Science Associates, a limited liability company founded by Stony Brook University and Battelle, a nonprofit applied science and technology organization.