Over the past five years, Heather has dedicated much of her time and effort toward a combined bachelor and master degree from the Penn State Architectural Engineering program.  Now on her final stretch, the fifth year thesis, she looks forward to graduating this spring. These past five years have been an unparalleled learning experience. However, after five straight years of schooling, (online summer classes as well) she is ready and willing to take a break and go make some money.

Never one to sit idle, Heather has been involved with a wide variety of clubs and organizations while on campus.  This school year has been the year of the Solar Decathon, as she has been spending a great deal of her free time helping with the design, procurement, and construction of the mechanical system for a 100% solar powered home. As well as working with SolarD, Heather is Allocations Chair for the Engineering Undergraduate Council, distributing thousands of dollars of funds to the engineering organizations on campus. Other organizations with which Heather has been active include: the Women in Engineering Program, the Society of Women Engineers, MASCSA (the NCAA athlete tutoring program), ASHRAE (the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air Conditioning Engineers), and (just recently) Phi Alpha Epsilon, the Architectural Engineering Honor Society. When she is not trundling along in the wake of her various clubs, homework, and other committments, Heather likes to play intramural sports, work out, and assault her neighboor's ears with her atrocious violin skills.

To occupy her summers, Heather worked as an engineering intern with three outstanding companies. These include the Whiting-Turner Contracting Company, Burt Hill, and CJL engineering. For Whiting-Turner, she had to relocate to Baltimore, MD, while with Burt Hill she moved to Washington DC. CJL Engineering was located near her hometown in Pittsburgh, PA. The constant relocation of these career choices has helped Heather develop into a very independent, flexible individual, and she loves the challenge and thrill of traveling to new places and participating in unknown environments. While at these companies she absorbed engineering skills, excellent communication skills, a high level of professionalism, and an efficient, accurate work ethic.

Now facing the reality of graduation, Heather is looking forward to her first full-time job with Cannon Design in Buffalo, NY. She is deeply thankful to all of the influences that have helped her along the way: Penn State professors, co-workers, her friends and family, the AE department, and all of her employers. Hopefully she will weather this next step in her career with as much strength as she faced her time here at Penn State.

Heather's Homepage.