At Entuitive, we have a great team of creative, collaborative, and advanced people, and that includes our talented co-op students. In this post by Ruth McGuire, Building Envelope Specialist, we hear about which projects she worked on and what she learned this fall in our Toronto office. Take it away, Ruth!

Admittedly, I did not know anything at all about building science or building envelopes prior to university! I study architectural engineering at Waterloo University, which has been a great program so far, offering a wide breadth of potential career paths for students. In my second year, I was very lucky to get matched with an excellent mentor in the Women in Engineering (WiE) club, who first got me interested in building science. I then became doubly lucky to have another great mentor during a previous co-op term who got me specifically interested in building envelope.  

I was excited last summer to see a co-op job opening at Entuitive on the Building Envelope team as this felt like a natural progression into my interests. Funny enough, I was introduced to Entuitive inadvertently in my second year when one of my professors encouraged my classmates and I to explore the Entuitive U activities to broaden our views on potential career outlooks.  

While the first few days were a tad nerve-wracking, I immediately felt welcomed immersed in the team with the amount of friendliness of the Building Envelope team and of course the supplied jellybeans.  

Entuitive’s Building Envelope and Sustainable Performance teams celebrating together at their joint holiday party.

On the day-to-day, my tasks alternate between thermal analysis, research tasks, reviewing submittals/ specifications, and site visits with accompanying report writing when needed. I really enjoy the balance of work as no two days are the same! The variety of work has also allowed me to work with almost every member of my team, which has been really rewarding and a great way to learn. 

A standout project this term was reviewing a hospital roof replacement early on in my term, where Fariz Dhalla got me jumping into site visits (or more like crawling under rooftop units!). I started report writing almost immediately into my work term, and I was quickly trusted to attend them by myself. It was a great experience for learning first-hand from site, interacting with others in the industry, and turning around many reports in a short time frame. Other memorable experiences include the continuous bonding with Kevin Zhang and Michael Kmetiuk over THERM and WINDOW projects, as well as reviewing a glass floor with Paul Carter.

I would stress to future co-ops the importance of having a great mentor within your team (thank you so much Marlene Marzook) and not shying away from asking questions, even if you think they’re silly!