A panel of forty-five industry professionals met during the afternoon to judge the top nine fifth-year thesis presentations. 

(view Jury Members) 
(view Scholarships & Awards)

TOP NINE SENIOR THESES
The following seniors garnered top honors in their class when they presented their senior projects to a jury of industry professionals at the Nittany Lion Inn on April 20, 2000.

The topic of Robert J. Avitabile’s senior thesis was “Creating and Maintaining a Safety Culture.” He provided a background of the current state of the industry related to safety concerns and explained how to develop and maintain a “Safety Culture” in a construction company.  The intent of the thesis was to develop an awareness and to evaluate the importance of making safety an integral part of a company's culture. 

Jason D. Brown’s thesis project focused on the Historic Atlantic City Convention Hall, home of the Miss America Pageant.  It involved the complete lighting redesign of four premier spaces including: Main Arena/largest enclosed space in 1929, houses world's largest organ; Ballroom/houses world's second largest organ; Garage Facade/Exedra; and Structural retrofits in the Main Arena.  His future plans include working with Ewing Cole Cherry Brott on the new Phillies stadium.

Michael J. Eskra completed his thesis project on the three-story, 75,000 sq. ft Kinlaw Library, currently under construction on the campus of Asbury College in Wilmore, Kentucky.  His design focused on improving the conditions in the 3,500 sq. ft archive storage space, located on the lower floor of the building, across all the AE disciplines.  Following graduation, he accepted a position at Flack and Kurtz Consulting Engineers,
New York, NY.

Brandon A. Kotulka redesigned the structural system of the Louis Vuitton Office Tower, located in New York City, for his senior thesis project.  He simplified the framing scheme by creating more consistent bays, used cantilevered beams as opposed to two sloping columns to support the sloping glass facade in the front of the building.  He also compared the current braced frames that resist lateral forces, with shear walls and moment frames, while taking into account the amount of usable floor area that each of these systems occupy, using net present worth analysis.

The objective of Jessica C. Locker’s thesis research was to prepare students better for the construction industry by developing a comprehensive summer internship program to promote learning both in and out of the classroom. The internship program was developed specifically for five-year construction management degree 
 

David R. Lyon’s thesis project involved an examination of Michael Grave's Human Headquarters in Louisville, KY.  Due to the proprietary nature of much of the information for this office building he was unable to determine much of the tenant's office fit-out design. Instead, the thesis focused on designing a typical office floor for architectural, structural, mechanical, and lighting concerns. The overall approach was to look for the most effective and integrated way to apply these disciplines.  The project also involved redesigning the lighting for the building's outdoor loggia for aesthetic, power, maintenance, and cost concerns.  David’s future plans include travel to Arizona and a professional goal of becoming a practicing architect.

Amanda J. Magee analyzed the feasibility of adding cogeneration and desiccant wheels to a campus steam system for her senior thesis. The desiccant wheels were used to treat the entire latent load of the building.  This reduced the chilled water demand from the campus system and saved energy.  The addition of a back pressure turbine, to replace the existing pressure-reducing valve, generated electricity when there was a demand for steam.  The electricity generated provided further energy savings.  Results of this study showed that the addition of the turbine alone would provide considerable savings.  However, the addition of desiccant wheels did not result in a reasonable payback period.  Amanda graduated with her B.A.E./M.A.E. inSummer 2000.

Kelly A. Schaut focused her senior thesis project on the Alcoa Corporate Center. The original structural concept of the proposal consisted of a post-tensioned system, but evolved into an addition of two floors of office space while maintaining the same structural steel system and examining some typical moment connections.  She examined some advantages and disadvantages of a computational fluid dynamics program and also reviewed other unique systems in the building such as: louver/curtain wall system, direct digital control, design integration and intelligent systems being developed at the Robert L. Preger Intelligent Workplace.  Future plans include a summer internship with Foreman Group in Zelienople, PA, and returning to Penn State-AE to complete her M.A.E. degree.

Christopher K. Taylor chose the thesis topic of selecting a specialty contractor.  He developed a set of guidelines to assist general contractors and owners in establishing the appropriate teams for construction projects.  In addition, he developed a system to rate each contractor on ten predetermined factors.  Through the use of these pre-qualification guidelines, the most competent and qualified teams will be established to ensure the best chance for success.  Future plans include a summer internship at a Southland Industries facility in Northern Virginia and returning to Penn State -AE to complete his M.A.E. degree.
 

A special note of thanks to all our friends and alumni who generously sponsored the cost of some of the student meals.  This is a great help to the Department in defraying the cost of the banquet and is greatly appreciated by the Department and the student recipients.

For further details contact Nancy Smith in the AE Department.