For my internship, I shadowed a systems engineer working for Setty & Associates, a systems engineering firm. I went in thinking that this was a civil engineering firm but after I learned about the world of systems engineering, I found this discipline to be excellent to apply to building design. My goal was and is to explore my interested career field (civil engineering) and delve into architectural and engineering design. Because of the difference between the expected career field and my internship, I am able to focus on building design holistically and learn how to make buildings efficient, in terms of health, sustainability, affordability, and naturally.

Overall, my internship consisted of a lot of discussion about air systems and heat loads, along with analyzing and organizing building plans and contact lists. I also had the amazing opportunity to sit in on a meeting with a geothermal heating company, which gave me valuable insight into cheaper heating options.

On the first few days, we focused heavily on heat transfer, since they specialize in air quality systems. On day one, my mentor brought me to a meeting that would have normally been for new hires, but they decided to include me in it and let me see what Setty was really about. After talking about heat transfer for 30 minutes, he also allowed me to sit in on a meeting between him a group that specializes in geothermal venting. Even though he had some questions, he explained to me the idea of using geothermal vents to both heat a building and flush heat out of a building.  He also kindly went into the job of a generic engineer, explaining colleges and also future plans. He provided extremely helpful insight on respected colleges in Virginia, along with job opportunities around Charlottesville. My mentor also made sure to explain to me how engineers get jobs and how they display their expertise to companies and clients.

In the last few days, I got into doing more hands-on work. There were a few projects I tackled, along with some sources I read. I got to review and analyze the structure and design of an Apple Retail store. I also got to update the contact list for surrounding companies and partners in the business. This ranged from governmental officials to job-hunters (people who look for projects for Setty's to do). Also, I was placed in charge of renaming and organizing files for a building at VSU. The files presented were for a project that Setty "won," and they were to help start Setty off with the architecture and systems placement of the building. One of the last projects I did was research and analyze air curtains. My findings can be seen on the Google Slideshow, as it goes into depth about air curtains and their uses.