Timothy Mueller

Reflection

AE 481W/482 Course Reflection

The orginal idea of a senior thesis was somthing that I have been dreading since the end of my second year when I sat in on some of the senior thesis presentations for my AE 202 couse. Even as I entered my fifth year, I was still fearful that my knowledge was not broad enough to complete my thesis. However, I was pleasently suprised that, although challenging at times, by breaking up AE481W (the fall component of thesis) into three technical assingments I was able to focus on the different components of my building separately and complete each phase of the reseach of the current system. By enforcing the use of schedules in AE482 (the spring component of thesis) seeing how much work would need to be done each week, rather then only looking at the start and end products, eased more of my worries, again breaking what seemed so daunting into parts allowed me to realise that I would be able to complete my capstone project. The most benificial component of thesis, beyond teaching time management, is the ability to teach students a small part of what is done in the "real world". I learned that the professors at Penn State have given me an exceptional base to work from, but there many more considerations needed the design of a building, however, all these considerations can be found, you just need to know where to look and who to ask. Teaching me some of the places to look and what questions to ask was another great benifit of thesis as was interpreting the infomation these books, people, and programs into useable information pertaining to the project at hand. Finally the presentation itself taught me that no matter how much information you may have, people only need to know the necessities, and it is my job as an engineer to display this information in the most effective way possible. I also learned that if you practice enough you can fit more words then you think into 12 minutes.

CPEP & Discussion Board Reflection

Again the idea of an online thesis site was something that I dreaded due to my very limited knowledge. However, I was able to complete my webpage without any problems thanks to the help of templates and a well layed out progression of what needed to be completed and how to complete each project. The internet based thesis is also a great benifit because I was able to show it to anyone interested with the reference to one url. The discussion board also allowed me to recieve extremely valuable information in the matter of a few hours from professionals who "know what they are talking about". I found that, although I was slightly apprehensive about the modern electronic thesis, it turned out to be benifitial not only to providing me with knowledge of webpage design, it also provided an excellent medium to display my year of work.