Welcome to Matthew Peyton's Senior Thesis e-Portfolio. Throughout the 2010 - 2011 school year, I will be working with the Hospital Patient Tower to investigate the design and construction. During the fall semester we will be analyzing the building systems with heavy emphasis on the structural components followed by a proposal of design changes. In the spring semester I will be focused on completing the analysis of my design change proposal.

The course sequence of AE 481W and AE 482 makes up what is more commonly known as AE Senior Thesis. This year long capstone design project is one of the major highlights of the five year professional degree BAE program. This capstone project is required for all undergraduate students in the Department of Architectural Engineering at Penn State. Senior Thesis consists of obtaining outside sponsor who provides the student with an actual building that will be used as the model for a variety of technical and management tasks throughout the year. Based on the building, students will investigate the project, perform technical analysis, develop project criteria and eventually prepare a proposal for advanced design changes. This is followed up by a semester of intense effort to complete the goals of the proposal. A formal written final report is required as well as verbal presentation to a jury of faculty member. It is important to note that students are required to include work in their primary discipline area of AE as well as to demonstrate breath capabilities in several other architectural engineering areas.

The top students selected by the AE faculty from the first presentations, will represent their class and compete for awards by presenting a second time to an invited jury of about 50 visiting practitioners from all over the country.
The Capstone Project Electronic Portfolio (CPEP) is a web-based project and information center. It contains material produced for a year-long Senior Thesis class. Its purpose, in addition to providing central storage of individual assignments, is to foster communication and collaboration between student, faculty consultant, course instructors, and industry consultants. This web site is dedicated to the research and analysis conducted via guidelines provided by the Department of Architectural Engineering.