interdisciplinary

Susan D. Clayton, a social psychologist whose work examines how people think about and make personal connections to the environment, delivered the keynote address at the college research symposium Oct. 24, 2011.

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.

Momentum is mounting for the creation of a National Science Foundation-funded network of researchers dedicated to investigating disaster resilience, vulnerability and risk reduction, said Walter Gillis Peacock, director of the Hazard Reduction & Recovery Center and champion of the interdisciplinary network proposal.

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.

Staff at the Texas A&M College of Architecture Digital Fabrication Facility, aka Architecture Ranch, helped engineering students build a hybrid race car that won first place in a contest at a NASCAR track in New Hampshire. The car's carbon fiber body panels were fabricated on the CNC mill.

Brandon Vento, a third-year environmental design student at Texas A&M and his brother Coulton, a Kingwood High School student, have developed FlashPics, a free iPhone photo application that’s drawn raves from reviewers and an article in The Tribune, their hometown newspaper.

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.

The college's Azimuth coffee shop has gained a bold, new look from a permanent installation designed by Elena Manferdini, principal of a Los Angeles firm specializing in computer-aided design of exotic forms. The structure was fabricated by students at the college's Digital Fabrication Facility.

Landscape architecture students could begin work with professional landscape designers as early as Fall 2011 in the construction phase of Circuit of the Americas, a $400 million, 1,100 acre motor sports race track, concert venue and conference center in Austin.

Elena Manferdini, principal of Atelier Manferdini, which specializes in computer-aided design of exotic forms, visited the college March 20 – 25 as an artist in residence. In a video interview, she discusses the installation she and students designed and erected in the Azimuth coffee shop.

In a room elaborately adorned with architectural installations created by Meg Jackson's design students, students from Weiling He’s studio donned their own designs, putting on a fashion show for their peers.

Texas A&M's Center for Heritage Conservation focused on the adaptation of old structures for new purposes during "Adaptive Reuse: Architecture as Found Object," the 13th annual Historic Preservation Symposium Feb. 25 and 26 at the Langford Architecture Center's Preston Geren Auditorium.