Abstract
Since high school, I have known that I wanted to be a Civil Engineer. Even though my specific interests as an engineer may have shifted since then two things have remained constant, my interest in plan layouts and the Chesapeake Bay. Both my capstone project and my STS paper have helped me to learn even more about my interests in ways that will benefit me as an engineer. My capstone project’s purpose was to create a site design for a new fire station in Chester, Virginia. The purpose of my STS paper was to investigate further into a few of the many factors that have impacted the Eastern Oyster population in the Chesapeake Bay. As a career, I would like to design living shorelines and other erosion control measures in coastal areas. Oyster reefs can be designed into living shorelines, and I believe that doing research on them in this capacity will help me design better shorelines in the future.
Initially, my capstone members and I all completed concept plans for our fire station, adding a park space in to the remaining area of our site. We voted on one plan to be the base of our design. This plan had the fire station on the flattest portion of our site, a trail the connects back to the site of a future larger trail, and park elements like a playground and a basketball court that would promote a family friendly environment. We used Civil3D, ArcGIS Pro, Virginia Runoff Reduction Method, and TR-55 to create our design and meet design criteria. Our final design was found using a combination of the design elements in the scope and engineering design standards.
My STS research question investigated how oyster policy and oyster harvesting practice have mutually shaped the current state of oysters in the Chesapeake Bay. This question looks into two, of many factors, that have had an impact on oyster populations and the lives of people who work as commercial oyster harvesters. Research for this paper was conducted by reviewing scientific papers, policy, blogs, newspaper articles, and various other types of gray literature from government agencies, educational institutions, and nonprofits. My paper found that oyster policy and harvesting techniques mutually shaped not just oyster populations, but also each other. Harvesting practice would sometimes call for policy, while policy would sometimes change harvesting practice. This back and forth has been occurring in the Bay since around 1785, and has had an impact on many humans and organisms who live in and along the Chesapeake Bay.
