PERSONAL REFLECTION
I'm Austin Brown and I made a choice to pursue a degree in Biosystems Engineering. I have always been awed by the environment of which I have lived in, and fascinated by the many diverse environmental places I have not yet seen. I enjoy working with others to learn new perspectives on how one might solve a problem or view an opinion. I am not a genius but I do really well in achieving goals of my own interest, and believe the Biosystems program will spark an interest to set me on a profound career path.
My first dream was to become a National Park Ranger. Exclusive access to the serene park, as well as the joy of teaching people about its wondrous nature was appealing. I was later inclined to pursue a job that was better in supporting my financial need and sought to find a solution. I chose Biosystems Engineering in hopes of working in the field. I thought if I must get a degree it would have to be this one. I saw it as an opportunity to help nature and its ecological system, or to help those with less means of generating a reliable food source. I believe this degree will provide many opportunity choices in experiencing different environments, aiding the environment, and helping those in poor civilizations.
My career goals are simple in that I want a job that does meaningful work for people and their environment. Working for an organization that teaches third world civilizations new agriculture methods, or working to protect our environment from the ever growing population. It would bring me joy knowing my work was able to help a cause bigger than myself.
DESIGN PROJECT REFLECTION
Since entering college I have become more aware of the amount of trash I can create within a week. I have thus started recycling in an effort to reduce this waste. Composting is much like recycling in that we are reducing the amount of waste created by converting it into something else. We are also reducing the need for synthetic fertilizers or any store bought soil. Composting is a valuable tool in developing a sustainable food supply for areas that struggle with food insecurity. It can easily help aid in someones home or community garden to make it flourish. This project relates well with my own career goals in that it aims to reduce waste by allocating it to a more efficient system where it can be reused to help others.
​
The workload for this design was well organized between each group member which helped in accomplishing our task before the deadline. This design taught me a valuable lesson in time management, in that I would not have performed well for my group if I delayed my work. The design was also helpful in building my team communication and trust skills that are vital in long projects such as this one. Through organized team meetings, with my group members and instructors, I learned to put more trust in others. This new found trust allowed me to observe, learn, and appreciate what my group members were able to accomplish.
My work for the project began with analyzing the different composters that could potentially be used for the design. I based my recommendation for the composter mainly on capacity, like loading rate, and affordability. From that process I recommended the Earth FlowTm 2010 Site Built mixing system. It was by far the cheapest composting option, even with the necessary design of a vessel. My other main contribution was the cost analysis of the design, as well as, certain annual cost. The cost estimate of the design proved to be tedious work when unexpected changes to the design had to be made, thus rendering a new cost estimate. However tedious it may seemed it was insightful to learn which parts of the design were most expensive and how to lessen them.
Some other of my work on the design was producing a cover page, utilities page, and existing conditions page or the design drawings. A title block was prepared by a group member was used for every drawing which made work a little easier. The existing conditions drawings required mainly annotating conditions like contours, structures, and utilities already present on the site. AutoCAD work for the utilities pages proved more complex in that it required actual drawing and placement of lines like sanitary sewing piping, electrical wiring, and potable water lines. Each drawing, except the cover page, also required notes and a scale bar to be used by the contractor. This work with AutoCAD is vital in many industries, and will prove useful in future work that may involve preparing design drawings or reducing them.
The cost estimate, along with the CAD drawings, I prepared are provided in the links below.
The economic analysis can be found here.