In my time at Iowa State University I was fortunate enough to land two internships. I worked for Baker Group, Inc. in the Summer of 2017, and Facilities Planning & Management in the Summer of 2019.

baker group

After my first year at ISU I was hired on as an intern for the construction contracting company Baker Group, Inc. Baker Group offers the following services to its clients: mechanical contracting, electrical contracting, safety contracting, sheet metal manufacturing, and controls contracting. I was in the electrical department as a project manager in specific.

In this role, being fresh into the electrical engineering program, I assisted a full-time project manager with various tasks for the summer. On top of this I spent a lot of time learning about the business of construction and contracting, as well as design necessities. However, I did not gain experience in the commercial/electrical design field. There were a few days that I spent time with the designers, but usually I was focused on management tasks.

I viewed this experience as an introduction to electrical work. I learned how to communicate with construction site workers, deliver materials to them, and make sure projects (big or small) were being tended to. Being new to this field definitely accelerated my learning experience.

The biggest task I had that Summer was a large project estimate. The only software I really became familiar with was the estimating software. I estimated an entire lighting, power, and systems project on a three story, two-sectioned office building. If I remember correctly the total estimate was around $2.7 million. I learned a lot about manpower, fees, and rates that go into a project estimate. This was my underlying task all summer.

Although I have nothing to show from this experience, there are certain learning points that I took away from Baker Group, Inc. such as how to interact with other departments within a company (collaboration), how construction and contracting works, how to manage an ongoing construction project, and how to estimate commercial building projects.

This job also opened my eyes to management. I thoroughly enjoyed working with people throughout the Summer and realized this might be an area that I will enjoy in the future.

Facilities Planning & Management - Iowa State University

The Summer of 2019 I made an internship with the university. I am currently employed here. My job has consisted of many learning opportunities under the supervision of three electrical engineers. What we do for the university consists of remodels to campus owned facilities. this includes classrooms, athletics, labs, and many other scenarios. One of the benefits of this scope of work is that I have learned about many different electrical applications in buildings and construction.

The best thing about my current position in this department is that we work on many small to medium construction projects. I have designed lighting and power to small rooms as well as large floors with multiple classrooms within. this means that most of the projects I have designed I have also witnessed the final product. Not only does this give me satisfaction with my work, but helps me better understand the things I do behind a computer.

On top of this, my supervisors are passionate about my learning. Whether it be the electrical lead forcing me to look up electrical code requirements, or another willingly taking the time to explain electrical theory when I don't understand certain things about lighting, equipment, or power. Here are some examples of my work:

I do not take credit for this design, one of my supervisors was able to finish this draft. With that being said, I did start this drawing and I was able to go back and review it after the fact. This is our new construction for the prior wing to be demolished. Unfortunately, this project will not likely be finished this year as school is in session. Being my first big design, I was appreciative of the way the lights are layed out. I had not worked with visually pleasing and contemporary lighting like in this example. One thing I also learned a lot about this summer was aesthetics for educational building design. Note: we also designed the new power and systems to this project.

This next project was my doing from start to finish. I chose this to showcase due to the learning of NEC (National Electric Code) in order to complete this design. This room was adding a new hydraulic pump, and a new motor in a different room. Of course, I asked how these motors work exactly and the construction standard for installing all of the equipment shown: