NEW JERSEY CENTER FOR SCIENCE,
TECHNOLOGY, AND MATHEMATICS
EDUCATION BUILDING
KEAN UNIVERSITY UNION, NJ

JOHN P . MULHERN - LIGHTING/ELECTRICAL

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 website is dedicated to the research and analysis conducted via guidelines provided by the Department of Architectural Engineering. For an explanation of this capstone design course and its requirements click here.

John P. Mulhern's AE Senior Thesis e-Portfolio

REFLECTION

The following are reflections on the work conducted in the final thesis course and the website.

AE 481W/482

The AE Senior Thesis was a challenging yet rewarding project which gave me a foundation for performing electrical engineering work in the real world. This is the first time where a project did not have a completely structured layout. This was very helpful for me because it gives me a glimpse of the design process in the real world. I learned that documentation takes a lot more time and effort than one thinks. AE 481W/482 taught me time management skills more than any project in the past. The schedules helped determine what tasks needed to be performed. The first semester helped make the redesign process tremendously easier with all the information on the building organized neatly. I am happy to have gone through this course and major because I am habituated to the amount of work building design requires.

CPEP
The CPEP website is a great element of this course because it allows our work to be revisited by people easily instead of just having a report collect dust on our shelf. Now my friends and family can see all the hard work and sacrifice that went into this thesis. The discussion board proved to be helpful as long as I allowed time for an answer. I did not utilize it for my breadths, so I cannot comment on that part. It allows us to find different points of views on design problems from other professionals in the country instead of just only utilizing faculty. The mass e-mail helped as well because if a fellow student had a similar design problem as me, I could see the professional’s take on their predicament.

ABET Outcome Survey
Important Note: These outcomes reflect a personal (student) assessment of the course, not the instructor's assessment.

ABET Outcomes for AE 481W/482	Outcome not able to be assessed	Level of ability demonstrated but below acceptable	Minimum acceptable level of ability demonstrated	More than minimum level of ability demonstrated
ABET Outcomes for AE 481W/482	(Score of 0)	(Score of 1)	(Score of 2)	(Score of 3)

a. An ability to apply knowledge of mathematics, science, and engineering				x
b. An ability to analyze and interpret data				x
c. An ability to design a system, component, or process to meet desired needs				x
e. An ability to identify, formulate, and solve engineering problems				x
f. An understanding of professional and ethical responsibility				x
g. An ability to communicate effectively				x
h. The broad education necessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global and societal context				x
i. An ability to engage in life-long learning				x
j. A knowledge of contemporary issues				x
k. An ability to use the techniques, skills, and modern engineering tools necessary for engineering practice				x
o. Engineering design capabilities in at least two (2) of the (3) basic curriculum areas of architectural engineering, and that design has been integrated across the breadth of the program				x
p. Communication and interaction with other design professionals in the execution of building projects				x

Senior Thesis Main Page Penn State AE AE Computer Labs Contact

User Note:

While great efforts have been taken to provide accurate and complete information on the pages of CPEP, please be aware that the information contained herewith is considered a work‐in‐progress for this thesis project. Modifications and changes related to the original building designs and construction methodologies for this senior thesis project are solely the interpretation of John P. Mulhern. Changes and discrepancies in no way imply that the original design contained errors or was flawed. Differing assumptions, code references, requirements, and methodologies have been incorporated into this thesis project; therefore, investigation results may vary from the original design.