Ryan's Resume

The Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering at UNC's Gillings School of Global Public Health offers a unique perspective for the study of environmental problems, and is ranked among the top ten environmental engineering programs in the nation. The department is comprised of faculy and graduate students with backgrounds ranging from engineering to chemistry, toxicology, microbiology, and computer modeling. I work in Dr. Phil Singer's laboratory, where I am researching the efficacy of ion exchange to reduce the formation of bromate--a harmful by-product of ozone treatment, in drinking water.

Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering
Faculty Profile: Philip Singer

The Department of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering at UT Austin is ranked among the best civil engineering programs in the nation, offering ample research opportunities, world-renowned faculty, and graduate programs in nearly every subspecialty of the field. In 2005, U.S. News ranked this program in the top five Civil Engineering programs nationwide, both at the graduate and undergraduate level.
At this stage in my education, I plan to specialize in water resources, as I am very passionate about the importance of clean drinking water to any decent society. I hope to be able to use my engineering training to help provide clean water to places that lack it, particularly developing countries and other areas where poverty and sickness reign becuase of the lack of such a basic service. Toward that end, I plan to attend graduate school either to further my technical training in engineering, or to pursue public policy or a similar field relevant to development.

Department of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering
Civil Engineering curriculum information (.pdf)
Civil Engineering degree plan(.pdf)

The Plan II Honors program is a highly selective course of study leading to a B.A. from the College of Liberal Arts. The program promotes a broad-based interdisciplinary education that includes courses in varied topics such as world literature, philosophy, modern physics, biology, social sciences, and fine arts. Each component of the Plan II core curriculum empasizes writing and critical thought through graduate-style seminars and discussion-based courses. The program's motto "education for life, not a living" evinces the conviction held by students and faculty that a broad, liberal education is a critical component of good citizenship, irrespective of one's profession.

Curriculum Information
Plan II program description

Founded in 1906, the Kinkaid School is among Houston's oldest and most highly-regarded private schools. In addition to excellent academics, it offers strong athletics and fine arts programs as well. I was particularly active in the concert band and wind ensemble throughout middle and high school. I also took advantage of several opportunities to conduct independent studies. I graduated cum laude in May of 2003.

About Kinkaid
School History

CDM provides construction, operations, consulting, and engineering service to clients worldwide. I joined CDM as an intern following my fourth year of college and continued as a full-time employee after graduating.

During my time at CDM I was involved in a routing study for a major water transmission main. I learned a great deal about buried utilities, routing considerations, and the approval process for municipal projects. After completing the routing study I worked on the design of the same water transmission main. I prepared the plan and profile, determined the required locations and sizes of air release and drain valves, and assisted in the preparation of specifications.

Second, I worked on the design of the disinfection facilities at a proposed 40-MGD water treatment plant in central Texas. This work involved sizing appropriate pumps and pipes, selecting storage tanks, designing a building layout to accommodate the required quantities of chemical and provide adequate spill containment and ventilation, and performing detailed reviews of the plant's CT credit to determine optimal locations for chemical addition. I also worked with CAD draftsmen to prepare design drawings and lay out chemical yard piping.

Finally, I took part in a several preliminary engineering reports and master plans for water and wastewater treatment facilities. These involved hydraulic analysis, cost estimating, equipment sizing calculations, and odor control system calculations.

Turner, Collie, and Braden provides consulting in a variety of fields including public works, natural resources planning, transportation, and land development. I worked as an intern in the Natural Resources Planning group, where I was exposed to a variety of projects including TPDES permits, water system updates, reclaimed water system planning, and National Flood Insurance Program studies. The vast majority of my time was spent on planning a reclaimed water system for a master-planned community on the outskirts of Houston. This project involved working closely with the community's irrigator to determine irrigation demands, analying data from the community's wastewater treatment plants, and developing computer models of the expected irrigation pattern. I was fortunate to be involved in this project nearly from start to finish, so I was able to participate in each phase, from meeting with other engineers to establish a preliminary layout, to editing and distributing the final report.

The Institute for Advanced Technology is a research lab affiliated with UT specializing in electromagnetics and hypervelocity physics. The Institute researches these and other cutting-edge technologies and explores potential applications under contracts for the U.S. Army and Navy.
I worked in the hypervelocity physics department of IAT, where I was tasked with designing a projectile capable of withstanding the tremendous accelerations of a hypervelocity launch, while still being large enough to accomodate electronic instrumentation. I spent the summer modifying the existing design, modeling my proposed design, and checking and revising it with guidance from several of IAT's engineers.

The UT Learning Center is an in-house tutoring service and study resource located right inside the University's largest undergraduate dormitory. The Center offers tutoring in all basic subjects including physics, chemistry, math, introductory languages, and basic engineering courses. Student tutors are hired based on previous academic performance in the courses they tutor. I was hired to tutor calculus, chemistry, physics, and statics. Over the course of my year as a tutor I met with dozens of students, many on a regular basis. This job was a valuable learning experience for me, as it helped to solidify my basic math and science knowledge and helped me learn how to teach others.

UT's Ferguson Strutural Engineering Lab is a very large facility used by graduate students and professors in Civil Engineering to conduct pioneering research in all aspects of structural design and construction. Situated on the sprawling J.J. Pickle Research campus and housed in an old magnesium plant, the lab has plenty of room for construction of full-scale concrete and steel specimens of all types. My time as a research assistant at the lab was spent primarily helping one graduate student construct prototype corrosion sensors for placement inside concrete specimens. I also assisted another student in conducting strength tests, and gained a great deal of practical experience by pouring concrete, tying rebar cages, preparing forms, and drilling, punching, and grinding steel.

Ferguson Lab homepage
Live Webcam

Kinkaid High School adjusts its academic calendar to provide a three-week "interim term" each year following the Christmas break. During this time, students can take courses, go on trips, or, for seniors, participate in a "career development" internship. This unpaid professional exploration was set up by the school and enabled me to glimpse a large variety of enginering disciplines at Walter P. Moore. I spent approximately one week with the structural engineering group and became somewhat practiced at reading structural plans, erection diagrams, and shop drawings. I also got the opportunity to attend several client meetings. The next two weeks were spent shadowing engineers in the land development, transportation, and traffic engineering groups. I also had the opportunity to visit Houston's Transtar, the hub of the entire city's ITS network. The experience gave me an excellent introduction to the world of engineering as a career.