Academics

Robert Riggs, an outstanding alumnus of Texas A&M’s College of Architecture, blogged about students’ portrayals of their experiences with social media in “From Gutenberg to Zuckerberg,” a video project he assigned as a guest lecturer in the college’s summer 2011 Design Process class.

Charles Culp and Jeff Haberl, professors of architecture at Texas A&M and associate directors of the Energy Systems Laboratory, welcomed visitors at the lab’s June 2001 open house in at is new facility in Valley Park Center II, 402 Harvey Mitchell Parkway.

Shape Modeling International 2012, an annual forum featuring the latest computational techniques and mathematical theories in shape modeling — the creation of digital representations of shapes — will be hosted May 22-25, 2012 by Texas A&M’s College of Architecture.

Carol LaFayette, associate professor of visualization at Texas A&M, is heading a 3-year, $190,000 National Science Foundation-funded effort to form a pilot national network intended to become a focal point for innovation by bridging the gap between scientists, artists and engineers.

Five graduate students pursuing certificates in facility management at the Texas A&M College of Architecture earned scholarships from the International Facility Management Association, as well as travel/attendance packages for an October conference.

Students in a construction science class are preparing bids for an off-the-electrical-grid high school concept based on a project in Addison, Texas, where they took a site tour led by contractor Satterfield & Pontikes.

Peter Lang, associate professor of architecture, discussed his border studio initiatives in the Los Lomas colonia at the June 24-26 Dwell on Design conference in L. A. His students developed survival strategies and partnered with colonia residents to improve the border community.

Forster Ndubisi, head of Texas A&M’s Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning, and his counterparts at two leading Chinese universities have agreed to explore the possibility of academic exchanges by signing letters of cooperation during meetings in China.

Visitors to the 2011 Luleå Art Biennial in Sweden are taking a virtual trip in an underground ant colony in “atta,” an immersive installation by Carol LaFayette and Fred Parke, professors of visualization. At left, patrons wear Stereovision glasses to view the colony on four screens arranged in a semicircle.

Students in the Master of Science in Land Development program prepared for careers in the property industry by visiting three of the Houston area’s most notable mixed-use developments, then worked with the developers to craft leasing proposals for a hypothetical business.

The approximately 40 students and faculty at Texas A&M’s College of Architecture who earned introductory accreditation in an internationally recognized “green” certification system earlier this year can credit part of their success to classes led by Patrick Daniels, a graduate student pursuing three masters’ degrees at Texas A&M.

Four teams of construction science students charged with developing a lean construction delivery schedule for a new jail presented their work to a jury of industry professionals in a competition at the Texas A&M System offices.

Environmental design major Jordan Mason and his research mentor, professor Stephen Caffey, are featured in a new video highlighting the benefits of undergraduate research at Texas A&M, discussing Mason’s 10-day field trip to research European Baroque-style churches.

For top-notch teaching during the fall 2010 semester, Stephen Caffey, assistant professor of architecture at Texas A&M, earned a Student Recognition Award for Teaching Excellence from the Texas A&M University System. Caffey, who teaches Survey of Art II and History of Modern Art, received a check for $2,500.

An idea to rent folding bicycles from a kiosk earned first prize and $3000 for Patrick Daniels, a Master of Science in Land Development student, and Martin Griggs, a Master of Urban Planning student, in the 2011 Ideas Challenge, sponsored by the Center for New Ventures and Entrepreneurship.