Having the chance to produce and work on a topic related to the AE discipline has been a great and rewarding opportunity. Being able to have full reign on the outcome is something that many other majors do not allow. The Architectural Engineering major allows the student to apply and use the information that was taught to them throughout the entire 5 year major and know that the work that is presented is done to the best of their ability. Because this information is a real life scenario, all of the results give the owners an alternative option to currently design systems, possibly altering the construction of the building.

​

The overall thesis project has been a very extensive and individualized project that really engages each person differently. Because there there is no one right answer for any specific discipline, there are a lot of options to choose from in the redesign section. This also creates the opportunity to learn exactly what I am going to be doing in the future without any safety net to fall back on. My personal experience allowed me to branch outside of the classroom to expend on already learned information. Some information that was needed for the breadth topic (electrical) was not taught inside the classroom for the electrical option. This forced me to contact industry professionals for their advice on alternative designs. I also needed to contact Auburn University, who was gracious enough to give me needed information on the campus to keep my analysis as accurate as possible.

​

The most helpful information that I was able to use within the analysis came from my Masters degree coursework. The specific class being AE 551 - Combined Heat and Power. Through the use of the masters degree, I was able to further understand the information as opposed to someone that was not in the Masters program. 

​

In the end, the process of Penn State's Architectural Engineering senior thesis has given me a much better idea of introducing my passion of mechanical design to real life scenarios outside of the classroom. Even though the classroom is necessary to understand most of what is being used inside the thesis design, I think that this class provides a much higher form of learning as understanding to each person that goes through this major.