On October 1^st, Saquib Butt, a Suffolk EE Alumni, came in and gave us a presentation of his work with photovoltaic at Boston Scientific, where he currently works. Boston Scientific is not an engineering firm instead it’s a medical equipment company. He has the role of project manager at the company, where he oversees large-scale projects and figures out the logistics of various project. His most recent project involved the installation of solar panels throughout the whole MLB campus of Boston Scientific. Through this initiative the company was able to save slightly more than 30% on energy and reduced their carbon footprint on the environment. As he stated the cost of everything was free since the installers picked up the bill. The installers would receive state and federal grants as a result and Boston Scientific would receive Carbon Tax Reductions from the government when doing their taxes. The company would begin to see the benefits of this installation appear in a few years when their energy consumption truly decreases. Saquib Butt also talked about his prior project on solar panels on a different building. As you can see in the picture only the left side of the building is covered with solar panels as of right now. He stated that it is important to have photovoltaic cells point south because it would absorb the most sunlight. All the panels are at a slight angle, which solves the problem of snow accumulation during the winter. The angle would cause gravity to pull the snow down and photovoltaic cells produce a small amount of heat that would melt a thin layer of snow. He told us that Boston Scientific is thinking about installing solar panels on the right side of the building as well since there is a lot of surface area to mount solar panels.

After his presentation, we had a Q & A session and we received a few tips on college, internships, getting a job. He believed that it is vital to do internships in order to expose your self to a true engineering environment. In these internships we have the opportunity to network and make good connections with future employers. In addition, we have the chance to apply the concepts we have learned in the class to real world problems. He also connected to us in a personal way by saying that their were times during college that he didn’t know what he was doing or never he understand the material, but its vital to keep working hard. In conclusion, his presentation was informative and full of important advice.