Our New Office will be a Hands-on Learning Place for Mechanical Engineering Students

One of our firm’s three major goals with this project is to forge a deeper bond with our community, and one way we’re doing that is an idea brought forward by Shawn Dinkuhn, a Project Coordinator in our firm. Shawn, who is the project’s LEED® Administrator, had the idea of introducing our unique HVAC system to the engineering program at nearby Olympic College, thinking that they might be interested in what we’re doing to become the most energy efficient office building in Western Washington.  And they were indeed interested, but what we didn’t realize is that not only did we interest OC’s program, but Washington State University’s as well.  It turns out that WSU is offering a four-year BS degree in mechanical engineering taught by their full-time staff on OC’s campus here in Bremerton. 

Dr. Marvin J. Pitts, PE, WSU’s  Program Coordinator and Professor of Mechanical Engineering, is excited about having an in-town location to bring students to see firsthand how a progressive engineering solution became integral to the design of the entire office project and the achievement of our LEED® Platinum goals. WSU and OC students will be able to set up day labs in our office, monitoring and collecting data from building systems while fulfilling objectives taught in  engineering analysis and design, fluids (ME 303), heat transfer (ME 404), and thermal systems (ME 402).  Eventually, RFM will offer internships to engineering students through OC’s Program for Work-Integrated Learning. These internships will focus on collecting and analyzing energy data from software programs integral to the HVAC system, and comparing that data to the building’s pre-construction energy model.   

Rice Fergus Miller is excited about this new community connection Shawn is building for us.  Having students in the studio will be a lot of fun!

Steven Rice, LEED AP®