(1) Positive Statement
What are you most proud of in your block presentation and/or your senior project? Why?
I am extremely proud of the depth of research in my project and the real life experiences i had. My months of researching grading helped me cultivate a deep understanding of the subject and my on the job experiences allowed me to see what i learned in real life. To see my months of hard research come of the paper and become life experiences was amazing and something i am very proud of.
(2) Questions to Consider
a. What assessment would you give yourself on your block presentation (self-assessment)?
I would give myself an AE Due to the fact that i hit all P considerations and still went above and beyond through my mentorship examples, use of effective research and display of my project through a field trip.
b. What assessment would you give yourself on your overall senior project (self-assessment)?
I would Give myself an AE. I effectively researched and presented my senior project topic as well as successfully answered my EQ. I did more than the necessary number of mentorship hours and went above and beyond through my in depth relationship with my mentorship and the learning experiences it provided.
(4) (What didn't work) If you had a time machine, what would you have done differently to improve your senior project if you could go back in time?
Finding research was difficult at times especially due to confidentiality and the lack of scholarly articles available. I was able to over come this later however by going through the works of civil engineers if i had a time machine i would have started that process earlier.
(5) Finding Value
How has the senior project been helpful to you in your future endeavors? Be specific and use examples.
The senior project has deepened my knowledge of the construction field immensely and has made the work much more relatable. My time at Earth Tek has also given me great worker experience and something to put on my resume. This year long project has also been a great exercise in patients, I had to keep a calm head while navigating all the tiny aspects of a project that could keep me from graduating. In the end my senior project gave me a window into the engineering world a world in which i wish to work this insight has better prepared me for my career and is an amazing experience.
Tuesday, May 26, 2015
Wednesday, May 13, 2015
Blog 22: Mentorship
Literal
- See side of blog
- Mentor contact
- http://www.earthtekeng.com/
- Earth Tek Engineering
- 909-393-2000
- Tom Chavez (mentor)
- 714 412-4017
- thoschv@msn.com
Interpretive
What is the most important thing you gained from this experience? Why?
My time at Earth Tek Engineering was amazing. It was such an experience to see the construction world first hand. I learned lots of things in my time there but nothing impacted me as much as sitting in on real life construction meetings. It was so amazing to see all the things i researched in practice. During these meetings arguments over contract disputes took place and almost every single factor in construction and argued over the table. It was hard to keep up with all the terms but i was able to observe construction at its most involved level. Almost all of the staff was present at these disputes and every member had their own knowledge to contribute. THe fact that I was able to see all elements of grading at once and how they interacted made it the most amazing experience of my senior project. Being able to sit in and understand was the culmination of months of hard work.
Applied
How has what you’ve done helped you to answer your EQ? Please explain.
My mentorship was my primary source for answering my EQ, What is the most important factor in ensuring a profit in a grading operation? My work there has helped in in so many ways. Discussions with my mentor helped me define terms and overcome obstacles such as lack of sources. Talking with my mentor helped me come up with my eq and my three best answers. Tom was there the whole time to help me and guide me in my research. My mentorship also provided me a great place to learn about grading and focus my project. I was able to work with various employees in various sections of the company giving me a broad sampling. My mentorship also allowed me to comb through their old construction reports which was essential to answering my EQ. By looking through what went wrong in various old jobs and dissecting the various factors I was able to accurately answer my EQ with primary sources. I was able to look at how factors affected construction profit first hand. The work at my mentorship gave my EQ answer so much more depth and validity.
Monday, May 4, 2015
Exit Interview
(1) What is your essential question, and what are your answers? What is your best answer and why?
My essential question is: What is the most important factor in ensuring profit in a grading operation?
Through my work at my mentorship as well as personal research I came up with three answers.
1.Proper Estimation.
2.Proper Pre-construction Planning.
3. Proper management on all levels.
All of these fully answer my EQ and are each highly supported by in the field experiences. However my many discussions with my mentor and my second independent component all pointed toward one answer being the best. My first answer( proper estimation) is the best answer to my essential question for four reasons. First, It is the answer that best encompasses and affects construction profit, the main focus of my question. Second, estimation has the most direct relationship to profit (estimation sets up crucial contract prices). Third, Estimation has the most impact on the construction process as a whole due to compounding factors. Finally it was the most heavily supported,coming up time and time again as the root cause of errors in the grading process.
2. What process did you go through to arrive at your best answer?
The process of finding by best answer was the focus of my second independent component. I looked through various old jobs that my mentorship completed and searched for a pattern or theme with the ones in which profit was not optimal. The most common factor turned out to be errors in estimation. Estimators had improperly predicted the construction cost by not calculating for soil contamination, the possibility of high material price or simply failed to understand the complete scope of the project. I then had many discussions with my mentor about common factors and he agreed with me. estimation is so often a cause for error because an extremely minor error will compound throughout the project in a butterfly effect. My best answer was also eluded to through my research as improper estimation came up all the time.
(3) What problems did you face? How did you resolve them?
The first problem i encountered was a lack of sources. There are not many sources on grading and construction, most of the knowledge is learned on the job and the sources i did have from my mentorship were confidential. I was able to overcome this by searching harder for sources and relying more on discussions with my mentor. My second problem was defining proper estimation. Estimation can encompass a lot. talking with my mentor kept helped me define it and differentiate it from construction planning. (the focus of estimation is to calculate the completion price of a project for use in bidding.)
4) What are the two most significant sources you used to answer your essential question and why?
My mentor was my most significant source in finding the answer to my eq, he is extremely well qualified and knowledgeable in the field of grading and estimation. Through sitting in on his meetings and my interviews I learned so much about the problems graders commonly face and how profit is generated throughout the project. My second most significant source was the Earth Tek company records of current and past projects. In these huge files i was able to look through old projects and find out what went wrong. I was able to see the effects of estimation compound through a project and i was able to see how commonly estimation came up as an error. These real life examples were an excellent primary source that showed my essential question in real life.
My essential question is: What is the most important factor in ensuring profit in a grading operation?
Through my work at my mentorship as well as personal research I came up with three answers.
1.Proper Estimation.
2.Proper Pre-construction Planning.
3. Proper management on all levels.
All of these fully answer my EQ and are each highly supported by in the field experiences. However my many discussions with my mentor and my second independent component all pointed toward one answer being the best. My first answer( proper estimation) is the best answer to my essential question for four reasons. First, It is the answer that best encompasses and affects construction profit, the main focus of my question. Second, estimation has the most direct relationship to profit (estimation sets up crucial contract prices). Third, Estimation has the most impact on the construction process as a whole due to compounding factors. Finally it was the most heavily supported,coming up time and time again as the root cause of errors in the grading process.
2. What process did you go through to arrive at your best answer?
The process of finding by best answer was the focus of my second independent component. I looked through various old jobs that my mentorship completed and searched for a pattern or theme with the ones in which profit was not optimal. The most common factor turned out to be errors in estimation. Estimators had improperly predicted the construction cost by not calculating for soil contamination, the possibility of high material price or simply failed to understand the complete scope of the project. I then had many discussions with my mentor about common factors and he agreed with me. estimation is so often a cause for error because an extremely minor error will compound throughout the project in a butterfly effect. My best answer was also eluded to through my research as improper estimation came up all the time.
(3) What problems did you face? How did you resolve them?
The first problem i encountered was a lack of sources. There are not many sources on grading and construction, most of the knowledge is learned on the job and the sources i did have from my mentorship were confidential. I was able to overcome this by searching harder for sources and relying more on discussions with my mentor. My second problem was defining proper estimation. Estimation can encompass a lot. talking with my mentor kept helped me define it and differentiate it from construction planning. (the focus of estimation is to calculate the completion price of a project for use in bidding.)
4) What are the two most significant sources you used to answer your essential question and why?
My mentor was my most significant source in finding the answer to my eq, he is extremely well qualified and knowledgeable in the field of grading and estimation. Through sitting in on his meetings and my interviews I learned so much about the problems graders commonly face and how profit is generated throughout the project. My second most significant source was the Earth Tek company records of current and past projects. In these huge files i was able to look through old projects and find out what went wrong. I was able to see the effects of estimation compound through a project and i was able to see how commonly estimation came up as an error. These real life examples were an excellent primary source that showed my essential question in real life.
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