1966 – 1970

Student Union Senior Project

by Lon Blumenthal

My senior mechanical engineering project was to do an analysis of the new student union building for the design the heating, ventilating, and air conditioning systems. I measured the building dimensions, all the rooms, all the windows, and stood for countless hours at many interior locations to count the number of people standing, walking, eating, and so on (for the latent heat part of the calculations). Many would ask what I was doing, standing there clipboard in hand, and after explaining my purpose, the most common reply was "very cool." At the end, I presented my design to my professor and the class. Felt pretty good at the end when the professor said I was within 5% of the actual design. Best 'A' I ever got.