B6 Reflection

AE 410/510 is the rare type of college course that exists somewhere between core content and elective- a course that sets out to teach relevant information regarding an emerging and significant, but not (yet) ubiquitous, facet of a major's given industry. This course offers a knowledge pool which stands only to benefit those who would explore it, but yet may not even come up in conversation during a job interview. I digress, "relevance during job interviews" is hardly a valid quantifier of a course's value.
I think it goes without saying that humanity, at this point, will only ever become more deeply ingrained with and reliant upon the incredible technologies we have invented. This is as relevant in every day life as it is in any industry- creative, technical, or otherwise. It is human nature to invent new and iterative means of demonstrating some degree of understanding and control over the world around us. The wide umbrella of intelligent building systems is perhaps one of the better examples of this truth. The granularity of the data that the sensors discussed in this course are able to measure as well as the interoperability and synergy of the internet of things through which these sensors operate both embody the engineering spirit of hair-splitting efficiency and system optimization. Beyond simply being inevitable, I feel the pursuit of new technologies for the sake of improving the work we are able to do in our industry and the efficiency with which we are able to do it is both righteous and worthwhile. The advent of BIM in itself is a major game changer for the engineering industry that I greatly look forward to benefiting from and employing in my day to day life.
Even though it appears as though my career trajectory at this point is angled more towards the construction management facet of our industry, I plan to strive to incorporate as many intelligent building systems as possible to aid in my work. This includes BIM, database software, and certainly some subset of sensors relevant to the construction side of the industry.
I feel that my entered into this course with a vague idea of what "intelligent building systems" meant and the breadth of what the term encompassed, however it was quickly made apparent to me that I was much less savvy than I had assumed. That is to say, I learned a great deal from this class and i look forward to implementing it throughout my career.