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Members of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville’s GeoPrediction chapter took home the first place Mohr Circle Trophy at the GeoFrontiers 2025 competition. GeoInstitute advisor and assistant professor Saad Ullah, PhD, PE, said this is the first time the team has won a national competition during his tenure as an advisor. He said the organization has helped students grow an awareness for geotechnical engineering.

According to GeoInstitute member and civil engineering graduate student Apsy Bronoski Mbani Illo, the GeoFrontiers Competition is an annual event by the Geo-Institute of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) that challenges teams to predict the geotechnical behavior of a given system based on subsurface conditions, boundary conditions, and geotechnical loading.

Mbani Illo added that the entry process involved forming a team, registering for the competition, and submitting their report  by the deadline. Reports were judged based on technical clarity, logical methodology, and prediction accuracy.

“The team was tasked with developing seepage models to predict the response of piezometers in an earthen dam subjected to changing reservoir levels,” said Mbani Illo.

“We wrote a report about how we found those water levels,” sophomore civil engineering student Brooke Rogers said. “[We wrote] what our methodology was, what our findings were, and then we submitted that to the national competition.”

Rogers said the GeoFrontiers competition selects the top ten most accurate reports to attend the national competition, which was in Louisville, Kentucky this year.

To win, Rogers said SIUE’s team had to present their report and findings once more. According to the judges, SIUE’s GeoInstitute team reported the most accurate findings.

“It was a pretty big deal for a smaller school like SIUE to win,” Rogers said. “The other two teams in the top three were Texas A&M University and California Polytechnical Institute, which compared to SIUE, are huge institutions. It was cool to experience that out of all those teams, we were the best.”

“Personally, winning first place was an incredible achievement for our team,” Mbani Illo said. “After months of data analysis, seepage modeling, and refining our predictions, it was a rewarding moment to see our efforts recognized at the national level. It validated our approach and teamwork while reinforcing our passion for geotechnical engineering.”

Ullah said he hopes the team can receive more funding so they can participate in more events and provide more resources for students. The GeoInstitute chapter includes the GeoWorld team, which requires more funding and resources to compete in their own competitions.

Mbani Illo said he hopes more students will inspire students to take part in going to national competitions and strengthen SIUE GeoInstitute’s university presence in the geotechnical community.

“Being an exchange student, pursuing my master’s degree in civil engineering thanks to the financial support of SIUE and the International Institute of Education as a Fulbright Student, it felt like I have played my role and set a good example of academic achievement and gave back a return to investment of SIUE on me,” Mbani Illo said. “I hope that the name SIUE will remain on the prestigious Mohr Circle Trophy for this year and for years to come.” 
 
PHOTO:  (left to right) Apsy Bronoski Mbani Illo, GeoInstitute advisor and assistant professor Saad Ullah, PhD, PE, and sophomore civil engineering student Brooke Rogers