Leyla
Battista
About Me
Why Biosystems? I chose Biosystems Engineering for its versatility and growth in its fields of application. With a degree in Biosystems Engineering I can continue on to graduate or medical school or seek immediate employment. Regardless of the choice to continue my education or obtain employment after graduation, I believe that Biosystems engineers will be increasingly sought out for their unique skill set. In addition to taking general engineering courses (i.e. thermodynamics, statics, calculus, linear differential equations, etc), the Biosystems Engineering curriculum also includes biology and chemistry courses. Unifying an engineering major with life science courses allows for the development of exceptional analytical abilities, applied math skills, concrete knowledge of the living world, and capability to design practical solutions for issues in all aspects of the world. All of my hobbies involve some kind of hands-on activity. All of my hobbies involve physical activity, making something, or going somewhere. When I think of my Biosystems engineering degree, I think of a future job in which I will be active and outdoors and have the incredible opportunity to blend my active lifestyle with my engineering career. I relate Biosystems to innovation in the field of sustainability and environmentally friendly design. In order to design products to protect the natural beauty of the earth, one must love its beauty and seek to be in its presence. Being outdoors is where I find the peace and I am always in awe of the natural beauty that surrounds me. Thus, I believe that a degree in Biosystems will afford me the greatest opportunity to protect what I love. This senior design project is allowing me to gain valuable experience in sustainable design.
Client /
Yarbrough Elementary School
Department /
Biosystems
University /
Auburn
Year /
2017-2018
Yarbrough Elementary School Senior Design
Individual Reflection
February 20, 2018
Prior to the project, I thought I definitely wanted to work in civil-environmental consulting. This project has given me the opportunity to work as a consultant to a real world client. I have been faced with design constraints, formulated objectives and deliverables, and learned how to put together a cohesive design to accomplish the client's goals. This project has become very important in my recent professional decision making process as it has allowed me to "try out" the type of job I was interested in. Although I have enjoyed my work on the assignment, I have come to realize that I prefer my work to be research based rather than consulting. Had I not been given the opportunity to work on this assignment, I would not have been able to focus my professional interests. This has greatly impacted the jobs I am seeking out as well as my proposed research interests for graduate school. Even though I may not be doing this type of consulting as a career, the project has allowed me to become familiar with relevant technologies and practices, work on a diverse team, and complete a real life design. Additionally, I have vastly improved my team building, leadership, public speaking, and technical writing skills.
Although I have worked on numerous group and individual projects in previous classes, the senior design project has been extremely different. The senior design project has required a much higher level of technical and economic analyses and a bigger time commitment. Senior design is much more like a job than it is a simple class project. From the very beginning, I have had to step out of my professional comfort zones. We were not initially given the school's water and electrical consumption. At the time, our team was puzzled as to how to proceed. We had to actively obtain data for similar buildings and calculate a reasonable estimate for the school's consumption rates. This taught me that in a real project, I may not always be given the necessary materials but it is my job to make a reasonable design assumption and continue with the project. Moving forward, we began to throw together a variety of ideas but had a very hard time formulating distinct design alternatives. At this point, we have successfully created these alternatives but it took us approximately 6 weeks to decide on the proper design components to create two separate alternatives. Through this, I learned that I need to be better about brainstorming and making constructive notes in my design notebook. At present, we recently submitted our design report and presentation. We received feedback and are making adjustments to our report and presentation. I am learning that the design process is iterative and that being able to receive criticism is crucial to the design process. All of these aforementioned skills are extremely important because my real world work will require me to make assumptions, seek outside help when I need it, accept criticism, and drive to improve my design at every stage of the process. After completion of this project, I will be much better equipped to join either the work force or graduate program.
Post-Project Assessment
At the beginning of the project, I set out to learn more about the project site. I began the project by visiting the site and taking photographs of the grounds. Afterwards, I started to make task lists and worked with my team members to delegate tasks. As we moved forward in the project, we had to make design assumptions about the water and energy consumption of the school. The team had a difficult time making the assumptions and moving forward with a focused design plan. At the beginning of the project, the team had a wide variety of design ideas and had a hard time analyzing them all to the proper extent. At the conclusion of the first semester, the team had two design alternatives with 8-10 random components. After receiving feedback, we realized that we needed to make our design alternatives more focused and cohesive. Coming back from winter break, I took initiative to give our design alternatives specific titles. I then proceeded to categorize the most technically and economically feasible components by their “theme.” I then placed the components in the most appropriate design alternative category. Once we had two distinct alternatives with a cohesive list of components, each group member was assigned specific components to analyze. After a four-week work period, the team reconvened to discuss results. At this point, all of the components had been properly analyzed. The team was asked to present their work before the instructors again. After this second round of feedback, the team had even more direction and began work on the written proposal and ACAD design maps. Another task delegation list was created. Each team member spent the next two weeks working. Once the report was completed, another presentation was made in order to receive more feedback. At this point in the design process, the technical and economic analysis for both alternatives was complete and the team moved forward with a singular alternative. In our case, we elected to move forward with a design alternative containing the best components from the two alternatives. I created a final task list for the rest of the semester. The team proceeded with their individual tasks and continued to refine the report and PowerPoint presentation. While some of the other team chose to work together on all aspects of the project, we felt as though the project would be much easier if each member focused on a specific area or task of greater interest. Everyone had the ability to work on project topics that most interested them. Thus, the quality of work produced was much higher. Looking back on this project, our more independent team structure was instrumental in our success as a team. The independent work attitude cultured respect and a sense of trust between team members.
Individual Contribution
As a team member, I was responsible for much of the planning and organization. I created frequent task lists and delegated tasks. During the first semester, I compiled and organized the materials from each group member. I created our project graphics and ACAD map in the first semester. I also conducted a mapping exercise on the school grounds using the GPS Trimble. Lastly, I organized the design alternatives and conducted preliminary economic analyses on the alternatives.
Moving into the second semester, I began to correct the issues with our first semester work. I continued editing the problem statement and added a new section with graphics to the problem graphic. I worked with my team members to make a list of improvement points. I then organized the list into categories so that we could tackle the issues better. I continued my planning and organizing role within the group. After creating our list of improvement points for the project, I made a new task delegation list for the team. After divvying up the tasks, I worked individually on the technical and economic analysis for the water reduction, STEM learning, overhangs, and rain garden components of the Outdoor Landscape and Biological Engineering alternative. I utilized the EPA Stormwater calculator to quantify the impact of the various design components. I organized the second semester PowerPoint presentation and compiled all the team member’s work. After the first presentation, I reviewed the instructor feedback and made the corrections to the report. I started more detailed planning for the components I was responsible for. I created a plant list and ACAD rain garden map. I then proceeded to write the STEM lesson plans for faculty. I wrote the first draft report for the project and continued to refine it throughout the second semester with help from my group members. I wrote the group memos for the second semester and assisted in writing the objectives and deliverables. I formatted the first poster draft and worked with my teammates to polish our final poster presentation. Creating the final report and PowerPoint presentation was a team effort. All team members contributed equally to these final project elements. To see digital copies of the memos, click either of the buttons below. All of the photos shown below were ones I took during my preliminary site visit.
Future Work
This senior design project has completely changed my methodology for approaching and solving problems. Prior to senior design, I recognized engineering problems easily but had a difficult time formulating effective solutions. My analytical process for approaching problems was previously very narrow. After going through senior design, I have reconfigured my procedure to consider real world variables and issues and create sound objectives and deliverables. Additionally, I had not previously been tasked with conducting such in-depth technical and economic analysis for a project. This assignment helped me realize all the different items that need to be considered in an actual project.
Next year, I will be beginning a Master’s program in Environmental Sciences at Emory University. I believe that my engineering background and work on this senior design project will set me up for academic success in this graduate program. As graduate work is much more independent, students need to be comfortable with the following tasks: making task lists, setting deadlines, generating project objectives/deliverables, creating graphics/presentations, and writing technical reports. Senior design has equipped me with these necessary skills to succeed in graduate studies. Moving forward, I believe my experience with senior design has greatly improved my analytical abilities and capacity to solve real-world problems.