Firm Name and Location:
Day and Zimmerman
1818 Market Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104
E-mail: cfresh@citnet.com
Degrees: B.S. in Architectural Engineering, B.S. in Civil Engineering, and Masters in
Engineering Management
Title: Professional EngineerQuestion 1: What recommendations would you have for students entering the field? Ms. Freshcoln said that the most important thing a student can do is to take advantage of every opportunity made available. She added that even though certain opportunities do not seem particularly appealing at the time, it is always advantageous to pursue all options. In addition, it is her belief that students should not short sell themselves by giving up on tasks that they would otherwise feel incapable of. You learn a lot from hands on experience, she goes on to add. Her final word of advice was that when you see something that needs to be done, don’t hesitate for someone else to do it. Question 2: What company(s) did you work for while on co-op here at Drexel? All three co-op cycles were spent working for Philadelphia’s Electric Company (PECO Energy). However, although Ms. Freshcoln did not particularly like her job there, she had gained a vast amount of knowledge from the experience. Question 3: What is a typical day like in the shoes of an AE? First she laughed and said, “The days always begin with a nice hot cup of coffee.” Then Ms. Freshcoln went on to add that a typical day consisted of building designs, load calculations, researching codes, drawing, spec. Writings, creating bids, and answering field questions. In addition to her basic duties she would often have to submit proposals. Question 4: What are the high points and low points of being an AE? “Calculations,” she responded. “I hate calculations.” However, Ms. Freshcoln seemed to enjoy the responsibility of giving advice to construction workers in the field. She said, “You take pride in knowing that you’re the only one on site qualified to make certain decisions.” Also on this subject, she highly recommended that we all spend some time on the construction site in order to get a first hand look at what the techniques of construction are and how to design structures to make construction more effective. Architectural Engineers do not just work from blueprints but need to see the real thing in order to get a better perspective of the job at hand. Question 5: What do you think is the main difference between architecture and architectural engineering? Ms. Freshcoln answered: Architects are designing for function, but also for aesthetics whereas Architectural Engineers are creating structures more for function. Not to say that Architects do not care about function or that Architectural Engineers don’t care about aesthetics, it’s that the two disciplines’ focus are slightly different. Also, Architectural Engineers are more able to communicate with the different types of engineers because of our knowledge of all the systems of a building, whether it be electrical, plumbing, or other. Although many architectural engineers are specialized, like I am a Structural Engineer, Architectural Engineers are trained to know all of the systems. Question 6: What made you enter the field of Architectural Engineering? Her first major was in Computer Engineering, then Civil and Architectural (the one she ended up pursuing). She was never interested in the field of Architecture because of its major art component. Drawing was not something that was appealing to her at the time. Also, an engineer held a brighter future, more stable, which is still true today. Question 7: Is holding a master’s degree more beneficial in the work that you are in? It all depends on what you foresee yourself doing in your career. If you want to teach or be a program coordinator at a college or university, then a PhD is necessary. If the company that you are working for requires candidates for promotion to hold master’s degrees then you need one. However, Ms. Freshcoln has even seen people without formal training and degrees become very successful. Pursuing a master’s or PhD all depends on your interests. It isn’t a must that you get a master’s degree. Question 8: Being a woman myself, what did you find most challenging, if anything, entering this professional field, which is primarily male? While attending Drexel University, she was one of the few girls in here engineering classes, however that never bothered Ms. Freshcoln. She did put the name Chris on here resumes instead of Christine in hopes that she would be more likely to get the interview if they thought that she was male. Stories about construction workers and the problems that may arise were told to her, however she never experienced any problems because her boss would not allow it. Ms. Freshcoln added that she thinks female engineers need “more paper” or degrees to gain respect and position. The only other downside of being a female engineer is that after work you have to go home and cook and clean and do the laundry while he male coworkers don’t always have those chores to do after a day of work. There is however a bonus of being a female engineer that Ms. Freshcoln informed us about. There are more opportunities out there being there are so few females in the profession.
Ms. Freshcoln is located on the far left in the white hardhat.