The DTU IDEERS team, the only Vietnamese participants, defeated forty-three competitors in the undergraduate category, taking top honors in their presentation entitled “Introducing and Demonstrating Earthquake Engineering Research in Schools” in Taiwan from September 20th to 22nd.
The organizer presents the IDEERS Cup to DTU
The IDEERS program is held every September by the Taiwan National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering (NCREE), in collaboration with the National Science and Technology Center for Disaster Reduction (NCDR) and the Asia-Pacific Network of Centers for Earthquake Engineering Research (ANCER). The objective is to promote earthquake engineering and seismic protection education and encourage students to participate in a creative scientific competition.
There were 101 teams of high-school students, undergraduates and post-graduates from 10 countries in the Asian-Pacific region, including Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, China, Korea, Indonesia and Vietnam. Four students from the DTU Faculty of Architecture and Construction, Ha Anh Tuan, Dang Quoc Dao, Luu Anh Tin and Ho Thu Thanh Thu, outperformed the other 43 other teams in the undergraduate category with a score of 139, 14 points ahead of the Taiwanese runners-up. The DTU team was awarded 20,000 TWD, the equivalent of $650.
The DTU Board welcomes the IDEERS team back home at Danang Airport
Dr. Nguyen Chien Thang of the DTU Center for Research and Development said:
“Taking part in the IDEERS three years in a row, DTU students always do well. 2014 demonstrated the great progress made by the talented students of the DTU Architecture and Construction Faculty. Prior to the competition, they spent one week training at the Singapore Polytechnic, where they worked with state-of-the-art technology to optimize the design of their previous housing models. This year’s contest was much more difficult but the DTU team demonstrated its skills and indomitable Vietnamese spirit to take home the top award in the undergraduate category.”
DTU Wins the International Earrthquake Engineering Competition
Before taking part in the 2014 competition, the DTU IDEERS team had won high achievements in national and international contests. Ha Anh Tuan was a member of 2013 team, Dang Quoc Dao won second prize in the 2013 Physics Olympiad and Thanh Thu won one first and one consolation prize in the 2014 National Architectural Festival. With wooden poles and sticks, glue and rubber bands, the team made a perfect house model weighing 460 grams, which could withstand an earthquake of 9 on the Richter scale.
Dr. Nguyen The Duong, Dean of DTU Faculty of Construction, said: “Over the years, we have employed the CDIO method in our training at DTU. DTU has also organized various competitions with more opportunities for students to practice and experiment. Our team of PhDs in the Architecture and Construction Faculty has overseen students in their studies and research, some of which has been published in international ISI journals. This linkage between theory and practice in their education provided a strong foundation to enable DTU students to take top honors at the 2014 IDEERS competition.”
This was DTU’s first victory, after placing seventh in 2012 and third in 2013.
(Media Center)