John Peavey, PE
July 16, 2020
A Q&A With Our Newest P.E.!
As you may have seen in our recent news announcement, Home Innovation recently celebrated the licensure of Nay B. Shah as one of Maryland’s and Home Innovation’s most recent Professional Engineers. Home Innovation is known for conducting cutting-edge building science research, green building certification, laboratory testing, and market assessments. As part of this culture, we highly encourage and support the licensure of all of our engineers. We believe it not only adds value to our clients and our work, but is an important step in the career progression of our engineers.
Nay joined the Home Innovation team in August 2015; as a newly-minted mechanical engineer after earning his BSME and MSME from Drexel University. He came ready to apply what he had learned through his studies, and eager to learn more as he embarked on his professional career on our Building Science team.
I had a chance to sit down with Nay (virtually) after he reached this important career milestone to get his perspective on the work he’s been doing and what he’s looking forward to doing next in his career. Below are the thoughts he shared.
John: First, let me say congratulations on passing the P.E. licensure exam in mechanical engineering! Having been through it myself, I know how stressful the preparation can be and how rewarding it is when you can celebrate on the other side.
Nay: Thanks, John. It does feel really great. And I’d like to take a minute to thank you and so many of my Home Innovation colleagues for all you did to help me prepare.
John: Looking back on the five years you’ve spent here at Home Innovation, what projects have you enjoyed most to date?
Nay: I’ve had the opportunity to work on a pretty wide and varied collection of projects, but I’d say there are a few that really stand out for me, including:
- Moisture Performance of High-R Walls. This was my first project at Home Innovation. I really enjoyed working directly with builders to instrument their homes with sensors, WUFI simulations, and then ultimately analyzing two to three years’ worth of data to help compile the report.
- Performance of Windows in Walls with Continuous Insulation. For this project, I enjoyed: presenting the test results and observation, and getting to use the Out of Plane Testing (OOPs) machine to load the walls at high pressure.
John: What would you say you like most about being an engineer?
Nay: My experience in engineering thus far has taught me many things, but what provides the most powerful affirmation for me is that being an engineer gives me the power and tools to solve real-world problems that we’re facing as a society. It is rewarding to constantly learn something new about a building practice, a product, a new technology, or a piece of testing equipment. The engineering that we do at Home Innovation allows us to learn through implementation and testing. Plus, it’s amazing to make and break (test) stuff.
John: So what’s next for you in terms of project types and pushing the profession of engineering forward?
Nay: I’m looking forward to working more with our clients to test and promote innovative products or building systems. Within the home building and construction industry, I would like to keep pushing the envelope on building technologies that are less labor-intensive, elevate quality of life, and challenge the status quo.
John: Thanks for your time and insights, Nay, and for all you continue to contribute to the important work we do here. Now, get back to work!
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