The 2008 Nevada Concrete Canoe Team: 

2008 Project Manager - Suzanne Durr

Mechanical Engineering Student

Suzanne became involved with concrete canoe at the end of the 2006 and continued her involvement as a paddler in 2007.  This year, Suzanne stepped into the Project Management position to help organize and guide the team through 2008.  So far, she has been instrumental in conducting weekly meetings, heading up fundraising efforts, and acting as the team treasurer.  She is a prospective presenter for this year's team and has earned that position by being involved in every activity, including: hull design, mix design, analysis, construction, and paddling.  She is an asset to this year's team with her amazing organizational skills and unmatched enthusiasm for the project.

Geotechnical Engineering Graduate Student

Corbin has been with concrete canoe since the beginning; he was part of the 2005 team, All In, when Nevada made their first concrete canoe appearance in seven years.  He is well known as Nevada's Hull Design expert and has designed every canoe since 2005.  He has developed an amazing spreadsheet that closely predicts all of the performance characteristics of a given hull design.  Since this is Corbin's last year at UNR, he made a point to pass on all of his knowledge by teaching hull design classes throughout the month of September.  In addition, he is helping guide the team this year by making sure that critical deadlines are met.  He has also helped the paddling team by showing them proper paddling techniques and by critiquing the paddlers.  Corbin has been a part of the Nevada concrete canoe team for som many years that his leadership will be missed in the future.

2008 Academic Adviser - Kelly Doyle

Structural Engineering Graduate Student 

Kelly has been with the concrete canoe team since she was a paddler and a presenter in 2006.  In 2007, she became more involved in concrete mix design and has since taken over the position of Mix Design Engineer.  At the beginning of the year, Kelly taught mix design classes to anyone interested in learning about the process.  Currently, she also oversees all of the concrete batching and generates the mix designs for the team (with the help of Michael Taylor's infamous mix design spreadsheet).  In addition, Kelly is the official team photographer and she maintains the concrete canoe website.  As a veteran paddler and presenter, she enjoys helping the younger members with preparing for the competition as it nears.  This is her last year as a graduate student and she hopes to impart as much information as possible on future team members before she leaves.

2008 Technical Consultant - Michael Taylor

Structural Engineering Graduate Student

Michael is the most infamous person of the Nevada Canoe Team; each year he says he is leaving the team, yet somehow manages to appear in our organization chart.  But what do you expect from someone that the the license plate NVCANOE?  Michael has been a part of this team since 2005 and is the most experienced mix design engineer I know.  Despite the fact that he is now working full time as a Bridge Engineer for NDOT, he still manages to provide advice to the mix design team and attend the most important meetings.  In addition, he has taught several of the underclassmen how to use SAP over the past few weeks so they can perform the analysis on the canoe.  We all appreciate what he has done for the team; that's why they call him the Godfather.

2008 Construction Adviser - Chad Lyttle

UNR Large Scale Structures Laboratory Staff

Chad has been involved with concrete canoe since its feeble beginnings in 2005.  He has the reputation for being the construction expert, and his steel working skills are legendary.  After his Project Management role for the 2006 team, he took at break from concrete canoe; he came back strong at the end of 2007 and is largely responsible for our first place finish in final product at the 2007 NCCC.  His unique eye for detail always notices something that can be improved and his desire for a flawless product ensures that every imperfection is addressed.  This year, Chad has taken the role as Construction Adviser and he is determined to pass his knowledge along to the underclassmen.  Without him, the construction team would be lost.

2008 Construction Engineer - Mark Cukrov

Civil Engineering Student

Mark was roped into the concrete canoe team last year as a freshman.  After we took him to the regional and national competitions in 2007, he became hooked.  When he's not studying or playing frisbee, you will find Mark doing something involving concrete canoe.  He has taken on the role of Construction Engineer in hopes of learning everything that Chad can teach him.  He is extremely ambitious and is a major proponent of constructing two full-scale concrete canoes this year.  In addition, Mark has been highly involved with hull design (giving us the great idea of adding a body line to this year's design) and mix design.  With all of the knowledge he had gained, we have decided that Mark will be presenting this year at the Mid-Pacific Conference.  He has also been attending paddling practices since July and will be paddliing in two races this year.  We hope that Mark remains this excited about the concrete canoe program and continues to make it a success throughout his senior year.

2008 Construction Engineer - Andrew Durham

Mechanical Engineering Student

Andrew became interested in the concrete canoe team after realizing that the HPV was a waste of time.  He joined us at the national competition in 2007 and became excited about the hands-on construction process of a concrete canoe.  His problem solving skills and experience with tools made him the perfect candidate to fill the role of Construction Engineer.  He works extremely well with Chad and always has great ideas to optimize construction techniques (like adding springs to the hot wire system to allow the wires to self-tension).  He is extremely dedicated to the project (another proponent of constructing two full-scale concrete canoes) and is determined to make a perfect final product that rivals the 2007 canoe, Cerulean.  In addition, Andrew has been attending paddling practices since the summer and he will be an asset to the paddling team.  He seems to have a knack for paddling and he will compete in two races this year.  Welcome to the team, Andrew!

2008 Paddling Coach - Tarin Strickler

Civil Engineering Student

Tarin joined the concrete canoe team in 2006 as one of the female paddlers.  After that, she decided to become more involved with the team by becoming one of the paddling coaches for the 2008 team.  She offered to teach the rookies how to paddle and to select the final race teams that will compete at the regional level.  In addition, Tarin has helped the team immensely by learning how to tow a 24-foot trailer with her dad's truck.  If it weren't for her commitment, the paddling team would not be able to practice with the concrete boats (they would be limited to the fiberglass versions).  Tarin has been under large amounts of pressure in deciding the final race teams and deserves the utmost respect from the entire team for being extremely diplomatic and fair about the process.  We will miss her when she graduates and can't thank her enough for all the time she has donated to the team.

2008 Paddling Coach - Joe Tartaglia

Civil Engineering Student

Joe became partially involved with the 2006 team when he joined us for several paddling practices.  He decided to help the 2008 team by joining Tarin as one of the paddling coaches.  Since he is not an actual member of the team, he has more opportunities to watch all of the paddlers from the shore and critique their paddling techniques.  He has taken on the same resposibilities as Tarin and helps drive the trailer to and from practices.  Joe also oversees the safety of the team; he is a part-time diving instructor and a member of the Reno Search and Rescue Team on the side.  After he graduates in December, Joe plans to work full-time on his upcoming rap album, which should be released sometime in mid-April.

Other Team Members:

Katie Bowden

Civil Engineering Student

Katie became interested in the concrete canoe program as a freshaman in 2007 when she was convinced to come to the first concrete pour day.  She was then invited to attend the regional and national competitions last year, where she became a dedicated member of the concrete canoe team.  This year, she has been heavily involved in the concrete mix design and has assisited Suzanne with funraising efforts.  In addition, Katie has been coming to paddling practice since last summer and she will be paddling in two races at the Mid-Pacific Conference in April.  Katie is great to have around because she has a sparking personality and always has a smile on her face.  She will be an assest to the team for years to come.

Tiffany Reichert

Civil Engineering Student

Tiffany is another person who was reeled into the concrete canoe program last year as a freshman.  She joined us at the regional and national competitions in 2007 and became interested in the academic side of the project.  Tiffany is extremely busy in her spare time, partly because she is an accomplished musician.  However, she has still taken the time to learn about concrete mix design, hull design, and analysis.  She also makes time to help the team batch concrete each week.  Tiffany is one of the sharpest individuals on the team and has a knack for remembering details.  Although she may not be a presenter at this year's competition, she is first in line (in my mind) to be a presenter next year.  I like to think of Tiffany as our Michael Taylor in training.

Jeff Weagel 

Civil Engineering Student

Jeff is a junior civil engineering student that started paddling in July.  He heard about the concrete canoe team through a co-worker and decided to give paddling a try.  He has been our main male steersman this year, and we hope that he will consider coaching the paddling team in years to come.  When Jeff isn't at paddling practice, he can be found playing intramural sports, like frisbee and soccer.  Jeff is originally from Reno, but surprisingly doesn't know how to ski or snowboard.  In fact, Kyle (who is from Las Vegas) has skiied more times than Jeff.  But we don't hold that against him since he won a fight with a bear.  Way to go, Jeff.

Robert Coomes

Civil Engineering Student

Robi is this year's ASCE Student Chapter President.  He became interested in concrete canoe at last year's regional competition when he was participating in the steel bridge competition.  He soon learned the error of his ways and joined the concrete canoe team instead.  He has been attending paddling practice since July and he will be paddling in one race at the regional competition in April.  Despite his lack of spare time, Robi joins the construction team and helps out when he can.  He is willing to help the team raise money and he organizes some of the logisitcs, such and conference registration and team t-shirts.  We appreciate everything that Robi does for the team and we will miss our little princess when he graduates.

Sara Black

Civil Engineering Student

Sara is a graduating senior that became involved with concrete canoe last year.  She came to some of the paddling practices, but didn't decide that she really wanted to paddle until the fall of this year.  Sara amazed us when she was able to perform a bow steer her first day of practice.  Despite some tough competition, she made it on to this year's paddling team and she plans to be in the front of the women's endurance race.  Sara's outgoing personality makes her very approachable and a fun addition to the team (although her Halloween costume ideas may be somewhat questionable).  We are glad that she was able to join us and hope that she does just as well the entire year as one of our women paddlers.

Adam Roney

Civil Engineerng Student

Adam is the activities director for the ASCE Student Chapter and he became interested in concrete canoe last year when he went to the Mid-Pacific Conference.  He wanted to be a paddler this year, but did not make the paddling team because of his massive stature.  Adam is 6'7" and 230 lbs. (he is single, ladies) and has the possibility of making the boat unstable.  Not to mention that cracking in the chines may be a problem with someone his size.  Regardless, Adam has been a help with mix design and other random tasks that we need help with (most of those tasks requiring heavy lifting by the girls on the team).  We are glad to have Adam to help us, even though he won't be paddlig this year.

David Jayme

Civil Engineering Student

Although this guy randomly shows up to help the construction team, no one really knows who he is.  How we even learned his last name is a mystery to us all.  The only thing we know is that the concrete canoe team continually interrupts his study sessions in the ASCE Student Lounge when we have meetings.  For some reason, he decided to join the construction team (probably because he got credit in his Communications class) and he shows up every once in a while to dig holes in the form with sand paper.  Regardless, we enjoy David's contribution to the team, mostly because his grandmother cooks the entire team lunch.  Not to mention, he's our first official minority.  Thanks, David, for helping us meet our quota...one Mexican at a time.

Kyle Hollingsworth

Civil Engineering Student

Kyle is a freshman that became interested in concrete canoe when we went to his Introduction to Engineering class and talked about the project.  He has been helping with construction this year and comes to the structures lab whenever he can.  Kyle is origianally from Las Vegas and is currently a freshman living in the dorms (and is unfotuntaly confined there without a car).  He is one of the only freshmen on the team and we hope that he will be interested in concrete canoe for years to come.  Kyle's ability to join a project knowing no one on the team is admirable, and we hope to have more team members like him.

Justin Kunert

Civil Engineering Student

Justin is one of the other freshmen that joined our team this year.  He has been interested in joining the concrete canoe team since his senior year in high school.  He heard about the project when one of our team members talked about it at his high school.  Although Justin is from the Reno area, he is currently living in the dorms and trying to enjoy his college experience.  In his spare time, he likes to play golf and watch sports.  We are glad to have Justin on the team and we hope that he sticks with it over the next few years.