building a better texas

Students seeking jobs and internships in the construction industry had considerably more companies to choose from than in recent years at the Texas A&M Department of Construction Science's fall 2012 career fairs.

Outstanding alumni of Texas A&M’s College of Architecture discussed how their education paved the way for successful careers and professional accomplishments at a public panel discussion Oct. 26 in the Wright Gallery.

A new structural system with the potential to significantly reduce the amount of steel required to construct bridges, arches, domes and columns is being developed with cues from nature by Michael Bunch, a Ph.D. architecture student at Texas A&M.

Relief efforts after a natural disaster should include local businesses as well as households, because “one can’t return without the other,” said researchers at the Hazard Reduction and Recovery Center investigating Galveston’s recovery after 2008’s Hurricane Ike.

Juan Rodriguez ‘93, a former construction science student at Texas A&M, will develop education, public, interior and special projects as the new vice president of public/private projects at Balfour Beatty Construction’s Houston office.

Three graduate students at Texas A&M pursuing facility management certificates were awarded scholarships by an international FM foundation based on the students’ essays, leadership skills and letters of professional intent.

The Building Information Modeling Texas Alliance, a statewide group of construction industry professionals led by Julian Kang, associate professor of construction science at Texas A&M, is advancing the industry’s use of BIM, which improves productivity in building design, construction, and maintenance.

Faculty research from the 2011-12 academic year was featured at the 14th Annual Texas A&M College of Architecture Research Symposium: Natural, Built, Virtual Oct. 22 at the Langford Architecture Center on the Texas A&M campus.

A new mobile app developed by SMARTreview, a startup company co-founded by Mark Clayton, professor of architecture at Texas A&M, provides designers and regulators quick access to fire safety codes adopted in the U.S. and many international regions.

Shannon Van Zandt, the new director of the Center for Housing and Urban Development, is redefining and expanding the center's mission after its separation from the Colonias Program, the center's primary focus since its inception in 1991.

Due to the destruction of natural resources and poor community planning efforts, Texas remains extraordinarily vulnerable to hurricane damage, said two Texas A&M urban planning professors in an Aug. 28 Bryan-College Station Eagle report as Hurricane Isaac barreled through the Gulf of Mexico.

Student access to the latest high-tech building information modeling hardware and software at Texas A&M is one of the continuing benefits of a $1 million endowment created to honor the late Charles McMullan ’58, a former associate professor of construction science.

More than 200 building construction industry practitioners will gather Nov. 8-9 in San Antonio for “BIM: Reality Check and Future Agenda,” a conference exploring present and future applications for building information modeling.

Designing healthcare facilities in today’s world of accelerating change, uncertain economies and a growing population is the subject of this fall’s Architecture-For-Health lecture series at Texas A&M.

The Colonias Program at the Texas A&M College of Architecture is increasing the availability of potable water to residents of colonias, impoverished communities in the Texas border region, as a partner in the Texas Water Project.