Engineering Commons^™

Diversity And Inclusion In The Workplace: A Comparative Analysis Between A Large And Small Company, Andrew K. Hernandez

Construction Management

The construction industry in recent times have seen an increase in inclusivity and diversity among the workplace. The industry seems to make improvements and steps to create an overall accepting workforce. However, there is still a need to produce a more inclusive work environment. There are many organizations and legal requirements that push for improving diversity throughout companies, but still the industry struggles to do so. Improving diversity in the workforce can reach out to more personnel with talent and skill to possibly attack the trade labor shortage in this industry. Analytical research methods in these reports were used to …

Pre-Construction Documents For A Mobile Food Assembling & Distribution Station, Winnie He

Construction Management

On Christmas Eve of 2018, Jessica He Liu, a chef in Los Angeles opened her home to friends and family to volunteer and help assemble food boxes and personal hygiene products and distributed these goods out to those in need. What started off as a goal to spread kindness during the holidays, became a yearly traditional non-profit volunteering event for those families involved. In March 2020, the deadly COVID-19 pandemic took the world by surprise, causing a copious amount of social distancing guild lines to be formed and enforced. Although there was still a slight hope that the pandemic would …

Should Teamwork-Based Content Be Taught In The Cal Poly Construction Management Curriculum?, Matthew J. Sharman

Construction Management

At California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly), in the Construction Management (CM) curriculum, there is a lack of teamwork-based content. This content includes negotiation, conflict resolution, and fundamental skills for working collaboratively with others such as social-emotional intelligence, empathy, and communication. The nature of the Cal Poly CM Program is to teach students about the aspects of the construction process, however what is missed is teaching how to work effectively in teams. They fail to teach this because of the strict curriculum of focusing on learning objectives rather than teaching individuals how to be effective construction managers. …

Blockchain Technology In The Construction Industry, Marco C. Reza

Construction Management

The construction industry has not advanced as quickly as other industries in the aspects of time, cost, and quality; but Blockchain could be the solution. While there have been improvements in the construction sector such as BIM or Prefabrication, nothing compares to those in other industries. This brings the search for a new technology that would boost construction to a new level of productivity. One technology that could potentially do this is Blockchain. Blockchain, defined in a big picture, is like a shared google sheet where anybody could add information but nobody could delete it. This technology could change the …

Virtual Recruiting: The Impact Of Virtual Interviews & Hiring Events On Construction Students, Abram G. Briones-Colman

Construction Management

Recruitment from college construction programs was drastically altered by not being allowed to gather in person in large groups for the majority of 2020. Companies could no longer recruit in person as they had at past college events, and instead connected and communicated with students virtually. The construction management department at California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly), bridged this gap between recruiting companies and current students, at a virtual career fair using a collaborative hub built on Microsoft Teams. Data was gathered from students via a survey after attending this first departmental virtual fair, to measure impacts …

An Analysis Of The Cost Impacts Experienced By Drywall Subcontractors During Covid-19, Brenden Schow

Construction Management

Covid-19 has presented issues in many forms for the drywall tenant improvement (TI) industry due to regulations and restrictions instilled in the Bay Area, California. This report details appropriate implementation of force majeure clause in contracts, stay-at-home orders with regard to construction and updated OSHA requirements. It then goes into analysis on cost impacts observed by various drywall companies operating in the Bay Area and how they are created and controlled. This analysis is supported by interviews conducted with representatives from six different drywall subcontractors who are involved in the estimating and bidding process. Interviews consisted of eight open ended …

The Discipleship Home Pergola And Firepit Area, Andreas V. Rasmussen

Construction Management

This report illustrates the complete process of the implementation of an outdoor space consisting of a hardscaped firepit area covered by a pergola in the backyard of the Discipleship Home in Oceano, CA. This project was carried out by two construction management students, Andreas Rasmussen and Logan Smith. Logan Smith’s primary focus was the pergola while I was in charge of the hardscaping and natural gas firepit directly underneath the structure. The project was completed in December of 2020 with the use of quality materials purchased from local businesses and the help of local equipment rental store, Grover Tool & …

Oasis Church: Designing And Building A Pergola For The Discipleship Home, Logan Keil Smith

Construction Management

The senior project idea for building a pergola, fire-pit, and paver hardscape was designed and executed by Andreas Rasmussen and Logan Smith. With the necessary background knowledge in landscape construction and the required funding, the Discipleship Home in Oceano, California, gave these two construction management students the opportunity to build an outdoor aesthetic area for residents of the Discipleship Home. This document provides information regarding the design, acquired funding, construction process, lessons learned and conclusion after the project was finished. The purpose of the project is to provide a peaceful place in which the residents of the Discipleship Home can …

The Enduring Threats Of California Wildfires: How Construction Companies Must Adapt, Connor Welch

Construction Management

California wildfires are among the most pervasive and commonly occurring natural threats to the state. Especially considering the incremental increase in frequency and destruction of wildfires, there is a crucial need for modernized policies aimed at both preventative measures as well as viable responses. My project will analyze how the exponentially growing prominence of California wildfires has affected the landscape of the construction business, revealing the need for modernized protocols that could aid in prevention. These factors include the full scope of short and long term economic damages inflicted by wildfires, fluctuations in labor and material prices, and resulting disruptions …

Analysis Of Working From Home Vs Working At The Office, As A Construction Company In The Bay Area, Kyle M. Ruff

Construction Management

In 2020, working from home has become an increasingly popular trend amongst construction offices across the Bay Area to combat the spread of COVID-19. This meant that employees who used to commute were now able to work from home. This paper analyzes the impacts working from home has on the productivity, work-life-balance, and overall well-being of a Bay Area construction office employees . A survey was issued to the estimating department of a large general contractor in the Bay Area, with the intent of finding the impact working from home had on the three aspects of working life, as previous …

Making Commuting Satisfying For The Employees By Allocating Them To The Proximate Jobsite, Yoo H. Kim

Construction Management

Building a structure is a long process and it is the construction manager’s job to verify and be prepared for any curve balls that can occur. However, construction managers can often get busy and get carried away by their responsibilities and inevitably pay less attention for employee's life after work. For my Senior Project, I have put together a website that can be used by the construction managers to allocate work not only based the skillset but also based on proximity. The name of the website is ✦Proximate and it uses Google Earth Outreach (free tool) to make allocation possible. …

Understanding Culture Within The Construction Industry Through Lifelong Learning (Slo 24), Skylar Schrank

Construction Management

Understanding cultural differences is a crucial step for the success of a construction firm. Creating a common ground for diversifying the perspectives of individuals in the construction industry will prove to progress the success of a company and the projects that are a part of these firms. This study guide will define what culture means for construction, the different types of cultures in the construction industry, as well as how to implement cultural background in our education for cultural understanding. The result will be an understanding on how culture poses a risk to construction and how these risks can be …

Returning To Learn By Doing, Jeremiah W. Miller

Construction Management

The objective of my senior project was to help return the Cal Poly SLO Construction Management Department to their hands-on labs after the COVID-19 Pandemic forced all learning to go virtual. To return to hands-on labs, I needed to create a set of protocols that faculty and staff could use before, during, and after the labs to prevent the spread of COVID-19. These protocols needed to be simple enough that professors could use them every day and effective enough to make students feel safe to continue attending in person labs. If these protocols were to be accepted, they would need …

Implementation Of Bluebeam To The Fundamentals Of Construction Management Course, Kirk Arena

Construction Management

This project based senior project was brought about by Paul Weber and Matty Reed and was originally intended to take the paper-based binders from the Fundamentals to Construction Management course and organize these binders in Bluebeam. Bluebeam is an industry standard for nearly all construction projects, and an early adoption of the software could allow students to familiarize themselves with a tool that they will use after college or during internships. After deliberating with Paul, we concluded that we could better educate students by creating exercises that allow students to learn the tools available in Bluebeam through interactions in the …

Programmable Battery Management System, Jason Erbert

Electrical Engineering

Lithium batteries provide excellent energy storage capabilities at a relatively high density; however, precautions must be taken with these high energy devices to ensure safe operation. A battery management system (BMS) provides protection by monitoring cell and pack voltage levels and maintaining them in a specific range. They limit the output current and disable the output in extreme conditions. Most devices in the targeted power range (<1000W) do not allow the user to manipulate the values for maximum current, cut-off voltage, or other limits. This project introduces the Programmable BMS (PBMS), which instead allows the user to select these values through a physical interface. The interface displays measurements including pack voltage and output current, and it reports additional characteristics of interest such as the battery’s temperature, state of charge, and cumulative number of charge cycles. This level of access and control permits users to receive the maximum performance and safety from common lithium battery packs.

Iot Camera System For Monitoring Strawberry Fields, Simon Schoennauer

Master's Theses

A wireless imaging system for monitoring strawberry fields provides enough quality image data for computer vision algorithms to make meaningful yield predictions. This report contains a design for a wireless sensor network modified with mesh networking techniques to extend coverage range and a solar energy harvesting system to improve sensor node lifetime. A two hop system with six nodes is implemented in a laboratory environment validating the communication systems integrity over an 800’ range. Moving from a primary battery system to solar energy harvesting increases the module lifetime indefinitely.

Hypersonic Heat Transfer Load Analysis In Star-Ccm+, Robert Comstock

Master's Theses

This thesis investigates the capabilities of STAR-CCM+, a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software owned by Siemens, in predicting hypersonic heat transfer loads on forward-facing surfaces. Results show that STAR-CCM+ predicted peak heat transfer loads within +/- 20% of experimental data on the leading edge of a delta wing design from the X-20 Dyna-Soar program with 73^o of sweep. Steady-state laminar simulations were run as replications of wind tunnel tests documented in NASA CR-535, a NASA technical report that measured and studied the hypersonic pressure and heat transfer loads on preliminary X- 20 wing designs across a wide range of …

B-Plane Targeting With The Spacecraft Trajectory Optimization Suite, Jared Graef

Master's Theses

In interplanetary trajectory applications, it is common to design arrival trajectories based on B-plane target values. This targeting scheme, B-plane targeting, allows for specific target orbits to be obtained during mission design. A primary objective of this work was to implement B-plane targeting into the Spacecraft Trajectory Optimization Suite (STOpS). This work was based on the previous versions of STOpS done by Fitzgerald and Sheehan, however STOpS was redeveloped from MATLAB to python. This updated version of STOpS implements 3-dimensional computation, departure and arrival orbital phase modeling with patched conics, B-plane targeting, and a trajectory correction maneuver. The optimization process …

Incorporating Shear Resistance Into Debris Flow Triggering Model Statistics, Noah J. Lyman

Master's Theses

Several regions of the Western United States utilize statistical binary classification models to predict and manage debris flow initiation probability after wildfires. As the occurrence of wildfires and large intensity rainfall events increase, so has the frequency in which development occurs in the steep and mountainous terrain where these events arise. This resulting intersection brings with it an increasing need to derive improved results from existing models, or develop new models, to reduce the economic and human impacts that debris flows may bring. Any development or change to these models could also theoretically increase the ease of collection, processing, and …

Personality And Mood For Non-Player Characters: A Method For Behavior Simulation In A Maze Environment, Noah L. Paige

Master's Theses

When it comes to video games, immersion is key. All types of games aim to keep the player immersed in some form or another. A common aspect of the immersive world in most role-playing games -- but not exclusive to the genre -- is the non-playable character (NPC). At their best, NPCs play an integral role to the sense of immersion the player feels by behaving in a way that feels believable and fits within the world of the game. However, due to lack of innovation in this area of video games, at their worst NPCs can jar the player …

A Novel Method To Commercialize Medical Devices Initially Developed At California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo, Christina Grigorian

Master's Theses

California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo is a university that encourages students to approach learning hands-on. As such, there is cutting-edge technology being developed by students in all departments on campus. Being that the university possesses an outstanding biomedical engineering department, there are groundbreaking medical devices that students are creating at Cal Poly SLO. These are devices that can better the lives of individuals suffering from ailments or fulfill needs in the medical industry. Subsequently, it is vital that these devices make it out of campus laboratories and into the hands of consumers. In order to move a product …

Investigation On The Use Of Small Aperture Telescopes For Leo Satellite Orbit Determination, Luis R. Curiel Iii

Master's Theses

The following thesis regards the use of small aperture telescopes for space domain awareness efforts. The rapidly populating space domain was motivation for the development of a new operation scheme to conduct space domain awareness feasibility studies using small telescopes. Two 14-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescopes at the California Polytechnic State University and the Air Force Research Lab in Kirtland AFB, NM, in conjunction with a dedicated CCD camera and a commercial DSLR camera, were utilized to conduct optical observations on satellites in Earth orbit.

Satellites were imaged during August 2019, and from January 2020 to March 2020, resulting in the collection …

Finite Element Analysis Of Total Knee Arthroplasty, Sean Yueh

Master's Theses

The total knee arthroplasty (TKA) has become one of the most successful procedures in all of medicine, with an average of over 966,000 operations performed a year. Since its introduction in 1968, the TKA’s surgical process and implant designs have continuously been improved to increase survivability. However, the need for a revision TKA – due to aseptic loosening – continues to be a problematic aspect of the procedure. Stress shielding induced by different design parameters of the implant has generated controversy in the determination of an ideal configuration. The purpose of this study is to investigate how implant design parameters …

Comparison Of Classification Algorithms And Undersampling Methods On Employee Churn Prediction: A Case Study Of A Tech Company, Heather Cooper

Master's Theses

Churn prediction is a common data mining problem that many companies face across industries. More commonly, customer churn has been studied extensively within the telecommunications industry where there is low customer retention due to high market competition. Similar to customer churn, employee churn is very costly to a company and by not deploying proper risk mitigation strategies, profits cannot be maximized, and valuable employees may leave the company. The cost to replace an employee is exponentially higher than finding a replacement, so it is in any company’s best interest to prioritize employee retention.

This research combines machine learning techniques with …

Towards On-Device Detection Of Sharks With Drones, Daniel Moore

Master's Theses

Recent years have seen several projects across the globe using drones to detect sharks, including several high profile projects around alerting beach authorities to keep people safe. However, so far many of these attempts have used cloud-based machine learning solutions for the detection component, which complicates setup and limits their use geographically to areas with internet connection. An on-device (or on-controller) shark detector would offer greater freedom for researchers searching for and tracking sharks in the field, but such a detector would need to operate under reduced resource constraints. To this end we look at SSD MobileNet, a popular object …

Improvement Of Labyrinth Seal Leakage Rates Using Additive Manufacturing, Austin L. Gasbarra

Master's Theses

The growing popularity of additive manufacturing in commercial applications has al- lowed for new ideas and new ways of thinking when designing components. Further optimization at the component level is possible, though powder metallurgy is in its infancy. This study explores the possibility of using additive manufacturing to develop better labyrinth seals in turbomachinery. Labyrinth seals have a torturous fluid path with high losses, thus limiting the amount of fluid leakage. These types of seals can be non-rotating, allowing them to better take advantage of the additive manufacturing process due to the absence of rotating stresses. Labyrinth seal performance is …

Numerical Analysis Of A Circulation Control Wing, Luke W. Bodkin

Master's Theses

The objective of this thesis was to develop an experimental method to research circulation control wings using numerical analysis. Specifically, it is of interest to perform 3D wind tunnel testing on a circulation control wing in the Cal Poly Low Speed Wind Tunnel (CPLSWT). A circulation control wing was designed and analyzed to determine the feasibility of this testing.

This study relied on computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations as a method to predict the flow conditions that would be seen in a wind tunnel test. A CFD simulation was created of a wing model in a wind tunnel domain. Due …

A Protocol For Achieving Adherent Cell Culture Within A Microfluidic Device, Tarra Danielle Sanders

Master's Theses

The goal of this study is to design a protocol for the adherent cell culture within a novel microfluidic device. Microscale cell culture protocols were developed for loading cells using poly-L-lysine to enhance adherent cell culture of murine derived NIH 3T3 fibroblasts. This work sought to develop a method for adherent microculture by examining various sterilization, surface treatment, and seeding techniques. Using a vacuum suction loading technique, air plasma treatment and a poly-L-lysine surface treatment adherent cell culture was observed within the device. The work presented here is part of a collaborative effort that aims to develop protocols for the …

Final Design Review Report: The Underdogs, Parker Johnson, Jack Montgomery, Katherine Thomas

Mechanical Engineering

Aspen is a three-legged dog with mobility issues from Berkeley, California. She was hit by a car and her rear left leg was amputated at the hip. Robin Swanson, Aspen's owner, and her friend, Audrey Beil, are the sponsors for this project. Jack Montgomery, Katherine Thomas, and Parker Johnson, “The Underdogs”, are tasked with helping Aspen regain some of her mobility and the ability to go on walks. Research was done into the problem by talking with the sponsors and looking into existing products, designs, and patents. This document, the Final Design Review Report, outlines the background information, problem specification, …

Adaptable Classroom And Workspace Table, Emily Richter, Aaron Mccallister, Jett Bolusan

Mechanical Engineering

Mr. Michael Brennan, entrepreneur and founder of Co-Act Furniture, presented the problem of a classroom and workspace table that can be quickly, easily, and safely reconfigured to accommodate different types of collaboration and learning within a limited space. Current classroom and workspace furniture lacks modularity, which limits the usability of the space. Different groups use the same room to learn in different ways; adjustable furniture would benefit their learning and productivity. Mr. Brennan has developed several prototype tables with varying features, including adjustable angle, height, and tabletop surface area. Our team, composed of three mechanical engineering students, has a project …