Being an Intern at Cyclone
Hi, I’m Brian, currently working as an intern at Cyclone Energy Group. Through last summer and this year, I strongly feel that it has been an interesting experience working at Cyclone Energy Group and I would like to share with you what it’s like to be an intern here.
Atmosphere
The workplace is set up as an open office, where all of us can easily walk up to each other. This reflects the cooperative nature of our daily work. I certainly benefitted a lot from this environment since I got much needed help to get me started in the beginning.
Energy Model
Creating energy models of buildings can be demanding yet rewarding. At Cyclone, I learned to use the IES VE modeling software, commonly recognized as the best in the industry. With guidance from experienced modelers, I took a little over a month to finish a 19-story residential high-rise LEED project. It brought me great satisfaction to generate the final report and see how energy efficient the high-rise is predicted to be.
Site Visits
Often times, I go out on a building site visit with the commissioning team or the retro-commissioning team. Seeing the buildings operating (or under construction) in front of me is worth a thousand words, and gives me a real motivational sense of why these building services are important. Moreover, I was really excited to be able to join Cyclone’s meetings with building engineers, building owners, and/or contractors. Thanks to being part of the discussion, the general procedures became more tangible to me.
Research Projects
The balcony study is one of my most interesting projects where I helped to install a weather station on the rooftop of City Hyde Park, a residential high-rise by the Lake Michigan. I got the chance to play with a full-size weather station capable of recording information like solar radiation, humidity level, wind speed and direction, etc. We assembled all the prepared components and set the weather station on the southeast corner of the rooftop to avoid unnecessary shades. In the meantime, I took in the mesmerizing view of the lake and the city skyline as much as I could from an incredible angle.
Outside of work
There are plenty of opportunities to fill up the after-hours.
We actively participate in ASHRAE organized events. It could be a formal presentation on the latest changes to the ASHRAE Standard 90.1, or it could be a casual social event with food, drinks, and watching sports. In either case, it is a perfect time to network with people in the industry.
We also get together on summer weekends to grill some food and just enjoy the beautiful weather.
The best part is, when I travel anywhere within the city, I can always find a noticeable building that has been a client of Cyclone. And it feels good.
