By JULIE MILLER

Staff Writer

"What happens in New Orleans, stays in New Orleans," Dr. Raymond Sterling, professor of civil engineering, joked.

However, he and the rest of the faculty and 11 students who attended the No-Dig Conference in New Orleans March 21-25 were eager to talk about their experience.

"This annual meeting is an important networking place," Sterling said. "We had a very strong faculty and student presence. It was educational and fun as well."

The national conference is organized by the North American Society for Trenchless Technology every year.

Sterling said past conferences have been held in other places across the country such as Las Vegas, so this was a good opportunity to take advantage of the distance by bringing many participants from Tech.

The conference had many international visitors from countries including Germany, Poland, Japan and Brazil. There were about 1,400 attendees in all, Sterling said.

Trenchless technology is the use of certain methods for installing and rehabilitating underground utility systems.

Some of the notable events included the presentation of about 100 technical papers at the conference technical exhibition, where participants were able to see information of directional drilling machines, piping products and design software.

Tech students presented two papers on using a digital camera and laser to measure coordinates of the inside of an underground pipe and pipelining.

Dr. David Hall, an associate professor of mechanical engineering, said the students did a good job.

"It was great," Hall said. "NASTT really does a lot to get the students involved in the conference. It's important for us to go to see what's going on and make contacts with others in the field."

John Matthews, president of the NASTT student chapter and a senior construction engineering major, said he enjoyed the conference.

"I learned about many of the trenchless products and processes being used today and about others that are being developed," Matthews said.

"The students were able to participate in many activities. We attended educational sessions, went on a tour of the exhibit halls with some of the Trenchless Technology Industry leaders, and along with helping out the conference staff, we were able to attend the Kick-Off breakfast, the Education Auction and the Send-Off Luncheon."

The chapter won first place for its poster, "3D Wireframe Models of Pipelines Using Computer Vision," which described graduate research.

Andy Dettmer and Mikey Swanbom, both graduate students of engineering, took home first prize of $250 for their poster in the research division.

Matthews won the second place prize of $500 in Baroid's Essay Competition, "Why I Want to Work in the Trenchless Industry."

Matthews said the most exciting moment of the conference was seeing comedian and pick-pocket Bob Arno perform at the Kick-Off Breakfast.

"It was hilarious watching him steal watches, cell phones, wallets, ties and even shirts from the attendees," Matthews said. "That was very entertaining."

-30-