Student Biography

Rachel Chicchi is a 5th year student at Penn State, actively pursuing the integrated BAE/MAE program in the structural option. She plans to graduate May 2009 with EIT status and gain employment at an innovative structural design firm.

This past summer Rachel interned at DeSimone Consulting Engineers in New York City, where she worked on a 40 story steel building in the Diamond District of Manhattan. It was during this internship that she utilized various design programs during the construction administration phase of design. In previous summers, she worked for Buckman Architectural Group in Kenilworth, NJ, getting exposed to both the architectural and construction management aspects of the industry.

During Summer 2007, Rachel participated in the 2 month Sede di Roma study abroad program which was an unforgettable learning experience and helped her to obtain her Architectural Studies minor.

She also loves to be involved in extracurricular activities, having served multiple terms as an officer in Phi Sigma Rho (an engineering sorority), Tau Beta Pi (the engineering honor society), Phi Alpha Epsilon (the architectural engineering honor society), and Best Buddies (a service organization which pairs college students up with people in the community with intellectual disabilities). She is also actively involved in the Women in Engineering Program at Penn State, as a mentor for the orientation program for the past 3 years, and within the AE department as an AE Envoy and course grading assistant.

It is through these various educational and extracurricular opportunities that Rachel has tried to learn, grow, and develop leadership skills during her time at Penn State.

To view Rachel's resume, please click here.

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 Rachel Chicchi. 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.