Welcome to Yena's AE Senior Thesis e-Portfolio
Biosketch
Yena first entered Penn State undecided about a major, but her talent in the visual arts complemented by an innate curiosity for how and why things work made architectural engineering a natural fit. Her traveling experiences coupled with studio and architecture theory classes helped her to develop a deep appreciation for the conceptual aspects of architecture. In the summer of 2002, she served abroad at various churches in Mexico and until then had not known people could survive in the level of poverty she witnessed. Three years later, Yena had the opportunity to analyze church design from the other end of the economic spectrum by studying abroad in Italy (primarily Rome). Her time and efforts there also gave her a minor in Architecture Studies.
Yena chose to follow the lighting/electrical option because of the artistic and functional purposes the two systems play in a building. Lighting design allowed her to exercise conceptual and aesthetic creativity while the more technical aspects of electrical design helped her understand power usage in a building in hopes she would eventually be able to design systems that utilize renewable energy sources, especially solar since it has the potential to power buildings for free. Sustainable design became a passion for Yena and though it was initially conceived by her experiences in Mexico, the more she learned about it, the more it appealed to her as simply being efficient engineering and good design. Yena's most notable contribution to the world of "green" design was her role as the Lighting Project Manager for Penn State's very first and award winning 2007 Solar Decathlon team and their home, the MorningStar PA. Penn State placed 3rd in the Lighting Contest (one of ten), and 4th overall out of the 20 schools that participated from all over the world. The home is now permanently installed at PennState University Park, and serves as a research lab and public outreach center.
Yena will receive EIT certification upon graduation, and will be pursuing a PE license in electrical engineering thereafter. She will also be taking the LEED-NC professional accreditation exam before graduating, and the NCQLP Lighting Certification (LC) exam in November. She plans to use these numerous certifications to help make a more directly helpful and informed impact in the communities she will encounter throughout her career.