Welcome to Alexis's AE Senior Thesis e-Portfolio
Reflection
During the summer before my fifth year, I began my Capstone Senior Project work by searching for an appealing building to research. The hunt was not easy; after several attempts to receive permission, I finally was able to settle upon Boston University's Arena and Recreation Center. With the help of an AE grad, I was able to contact the Architect and Engineers, as well as the Construction Manager responsible for the completion of this outstanding project. The building proved to be an excellent choice for my Senior Thesis research. The Arena and Recreation Center provided an array of unique and diverse spaces to choose from in order to complete interesting lighting and electrical redesigns. The building project also was a good choice in which to conduct my mechanical and construction management breadth studies.
Throughout the past school year, I learned many invaluable lessons that will stay with me as I enter into the building design industry. One such lesson inlcudes the importance of organization and collaboration of all engineering disciplines. All building systems affect one another and it is extremely important to work together in order to create the best building design. Time management was also an important skill that I was able to apply and begin to perfect during the course of this project. The first semester provided us with a few due dates, but generally we were our own supervisor and had to make sure we progressed in our work in a timely manner. The second semester required us to continue practicing our time management with only one due date: April 12th 2007. Unlike any other project, senior thesis really taught me to create a detailed schedule of work and follow it to the best of my ability. All in all, my senior thesis project was challenging, but turned out to be an invaluable success.
The CPEP website proved to be a useful tool for handing in assignments and receiving feedback from advisors. I also appreciated the ability to post my resume, bio, and lighting portfolio for potential employers. The discussion board was also a very useful feature that allowed me to read other student's questions and/or concerns as well as post my own. Being able to read all the different discussions enabled me to think of things I might not have considered.
ABET Outcome Survey (PDF)