Welcome to Chris Hoyman's AE Senior Thesis e-Portfolio
ABET Outcome and Reflection
481W/482 Reflection
After spending two summers working for OPP at PSU, I chose a new building on campus for my thesis project. During my time at OPP I had developed contacts that facilitated easy access to drawings and the building itself as it was constructed. The ability to go into the building gave me an opportunity to view my redesign spaces first hand. This would prove very helpful when trying to design the lighting.
The structure of the first semester helped make my initial thesis experience more bearable. Having assigned due dates and meetings to keep me on track really assisted in my success. The first semester culminated in a schematic design presentation at Lutron. The proposal for my new designs was presented before a group of lighting professionals. While the presentation itself may not have been the most fun experience, the feedback from the designers proved invaluable.
Second semester was less structured than the first, and allowed more flexibility to focus on what I felt was important. The 3D models for the spaces consumed a significant amount of time, especially the atrium. As the final due date neared I found myself running a little low on time. Despite this, I feel my thesis experience has helped me better understand time management on a design project. I now have a better idea of the work that goes into such a comprehensive project. In the end, all the hard work has paid off.
CPEP/Discussion Board Reflection
All thesis students were required to make a webpage to present their projects. The webpages grew and developed as thesis did. At first I was terrified of the webpage portion of thesis. I have practically no experience in building a webpage. My fears were soon put to rest when I discovered we would be using templates and customizing from there. I found the templates to be extremely helpful in successfully completing my webpage requirements. I also found the webpage to be an excellent way to easily share my information with professors, outside professionals, and anyone else who was interested.
The discussion board seemed like a very helpful tool, however I did not utilize it very often. Important information was funneled to my email however, as well as some of the issues other students faced. Both were useful to my own design process, and I feel the discussion board should be used again.