Rebecca's Bio

Rebecca's Resume

Rebecca S. Allen is a fifth year student pursuing her Bachelors and Masters in Architectural Engineering at Pennsylvania State University specializing in Mechanical Systems, graduating in June 2006. She has excelled academically in the last 5 years as a member of the Schreyer’s Honors College and constantly challenged herself with the additional course work and one-on-one interaction with the AE faculty to learn beyond the confines of the classroom.

Throughout her college career Becca has made it a point to be involved in a variety of activities both in and out of the engineering community. She served as an engineering mentor through the Women in Engineering program, putting on programs for Girl Scouts of all ages. Becca’s ambition and drive have been recognized by her faculty and peers by being selected at a department representative, and honored with the James M. Pohlen Memorial scholarship for her ability to balance engineering with her extra-curricular activities.

She also joined our Greek Community, serving as the President of her sorority (2004), Gamma Phi Beta, as well as the Associate Vice President (AVP) of the Panhellenic Council (2005) which governs all of the sorority organizations. Through her position as AVP she was able to serve as a leader on the Overall Committees for both Penn State’s Homecoming and Dance Marathon where she acted as a Greek liaison, team builder/leadership developer, as well as helping to plan and organize all the events for each activity. Penn State’s Homecoming is a weeklong celebration each fall full of activities meant to bring together our students, alumni, faculty and community. Penn State’s 48-hour Dance Marathon is the World’s Largest Student-Run Philanthropy (with more than 10,000 students involved), raising over $4.1 million annually to help fight childhood cancer. Because of her passion and drive for these organizations Becca was honored by Glamour Magazine for her efforts to improve her community and featured in their June 2004 issue. Becca was also one of 35 seniors selected in 2005 for a senior honor society due to her well-roundedness as a student leader, academic excellence, and overwhelming Penn State Pride.

However, there is much more to Becca than her involvement at Penn State. During the summer of 2004 she studied abroad in Rome, Italy where she finished an Architecture minor and exhibited her work in a showcase at Collegio Romano. The following fall semester she studied engineering at the University of Leeds in Leeds, England.

The summer of 2005 found Becca back in England interning in the London office of Buro Happold Engineers as one of their Happold Trust Scholars. She gained a lot of experience working with the Building Services engineers researching new and innovative technologies, compiling precedence studies for relevant projects, and completing energy calculations that comply with newly instituted Energy Regulations in England. The experience also allowed her to work closely with Structural, Environmental, Façade, and Fire engineers, where she became very familiar with international building codes and design regulations, emphasizing energy efficiency and emission reductions.