LATEST PROJECTS
Yarbrough Elementary School, a member of the Auburn City School System, accommodates 65 faculty and staff and 575 students from grades three to five. The school board recently sought assistance from my team to minimize the school’s energy and water footprint as well as introduce complementary education initiatives for students. This project proposed a design solution to reduce water and energy consumption by 10%. The stormwater design solutions utilized the school's existing topography and practical landscaping additions to reduce excess outdoor water demand and eliminate erosion caused by runoff. In conjunction with the proposed design solution, STEM learning activities will expose students to relevant engineering topics. As the school’s project budget was approximately $5,000 per year, the project proposed a 5-year plan in order to achieve the intended results and stay within the school’s budget.
For more information, visit the website.
Residential Site Design
My team did a site design to plan the development of a 6 acre wooded lot in Auburn, AL. The plans were developed for to include several design elements: a house, a shed, driveway, lawns, and septic field. The team planned grading and stormwater drainage for the site as well as addressing utility plans and earthwork volumes. Hydraulic analyses including hydraulic gradeline calculations were performed. Much of the design and analysis was performed using AutoCAD Civil 3D.
The goal of this project was to engineer a sustainable balanced closed aquarium microcosm that will support the needs of as many crayfish as possible for the longest time possible, but at least 7 days, while minimizing the materials and operational costs for sustainability. The ecosystem our team developed sustained two crayfish for nearly twice the required time with healthy water chemistry.
Self-Sustaining Closed Ecosystem for Crayfish
Combining Hardwood and Softwood Lignocellulosic Biomass for the Production of Ethanol
In addition to the projects above, I conducted independent research on the production of ethanol based mixing hardwood and softwood biomass at different proportions. I was able to do this as an undergraduate researcher through the SouthEast Energy Development Fellowship (SEED). I presented my research at the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers annual meeting in Orlando, Florida.
In addition to learning technical laboratory skills such as High Performance Liquid Chromatography and operation of a Pressure Reactor, I learned how to be a self-motivated, independent worker.
See below for the poster I presented.
