CAWP hosted the 6th Annual CAWP Student Estimating Competition on February 11-12, 2022. Seven teams from six universities participated in this competition, which was developed to showcase the benefits and opportunities the heavy-highway construction industry has to offer. It was an exciting two days with teams from Carnegie Mellon University, Penn State University – Harrisburg, Penn State University – University Park, University of Pittsburgh, University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown and West Virginia University participating in the competition.

Prior to the competition kick-off, the teams received initial competition instructions and information on Thursday night. On Friday, the teams were given pre-job documents and attended a virtual pre-bid meeting. The teams then spent the day preparing their bids and schedule. There was a race to the finish as teams submitted their bids and supporting documents at 5:00 p.m. On Saturday, the teams were allotted 30 minutes to present their process and an explanation of how they arrived at their final bid to a panel of judges. At the end of the day, scores from both the actual bid and the presentation were combined to determine the winning teams of the competition.

Rutuja Dhuru
Poornima Krishnan
Yu Sugimoto
Riti Talreja
Ryan Vaz
Johns Thomas Vellikara
Brock Bowers
Jacob Diehl
Benjamin Eckenrode
Robert Quinn
Juliah Seymour

PATICIPATING UNIVERSITY TEAMS

CEO’s

Carnegie Mellon University

Rutuja Dhuru
Poornima Krishnan
Yu Sugimoto
Riti Talreja
Ryan Vaz
Johns Thomas Vellikara

Mountaineers

West Virginia University

Maram Alsaegh
Reema Alsaegh
Fawaz Bahar
Asher Bailey
Chandler Mills
Nishil Zalavadia

Major Leaguers

University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown

Brock Bowers
Jacob Diehl
Benjamin Eckenrode
Robert Quinn
Juliah Seymour

JV Call-Ups

University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown

Tristan Beauseigneur
Shane Felix
Cameron Landis
Ethan Malzi
Austin Perry
Justin Schmidt

We Are! Builders

Penn State University Park

Alex Bohlin
Jacob Carnovale
Derrick Halula
Sophia Melocchi
Nickolas Schnelbach
Brian Whiteford

Penn State Harrisburg Estimators

Penn State – Harrisburg

Carter Barrick
Bryan Bennett
Jeremiah Ddumba
James Devereux
Tyler Haubert
Matthew Mixell

Benedum Builders

University of Pittsburgh

Paige Arnold
James Clark
Stephen Crikelair
Mary Grace Mooney
Pierce O’Dowd
Jerry Wiernusz

TEAM ADVISORS

Thank you to the following team advisors, who put in weeks of work behind the scenes and with the student teams in preparation for this event.

Carnegie Mellon University
Kevin Duris, Trumbull Corporation

Penn State University – University Park
Evan Ring, Brayman Construction Corporation
Brett Fellers, Kaden McGregor,  Advantage Steel & Construction

Penn State University – Harrisburg
Paul Boggs, Trumbull Corporation

University of Pittsburgh
Joe Neubert, Independence Excavating
Dan Bruener, Fay S&B USA Construction
Kurt Karanovich, Kokosing

University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown
Josh Fetcko, Plum Contracting, Inc.

West Virginia University
Kurt Karanovich & Kevin Christy, Kokosing

COMPETITION JUDGES

Thank you to the following competition judges for volunteering their time and expertise to evaluate the student teams in their presentations.

Erik Bertrand, Mosites Construction Company

Harry Hardman, Trumbull Corporation

Paul Hartley, Fay S&B USA

Russ Hathaway, Michael Facchiano Contracting, Inc.

Chris Konopka, Mascaro Contracting, LP

Rich Mannarino, Brayman Construction Corporation

Frank Zottola, Independence Excavating

SPECIAL THANKS

Thank you to Scott Cooper, Charles J. Merlo Inc. 
for providing one of Charles J. Merlo’s jobs for the student teams to bid on.

Thank you to Katie Banks, Trumbull Corporation for preparing the vast amount of competition materials needed for the teams to compete, as well as assisting behind the scenes in the preparation leading up to the competition.

A special thank you to John Maffeo, Trumbull Corporation
for leading the planning, preparation, and execution of the competition and being an invaluable resource to the Association.