technology

For their work on Disney/Pixar’s summer smash hit movie “Brave,” two former Texas A&M visualization students are nominated for an Annie award, the highest honor bestowed by the International Animated Film Society.

The teaching this fall of an experimental undergraduate visualization studio was significantly enhanced by the “vertical studio” concept: in addition to learning from peers and interaction with their instructor, the students gained valuable knowledge through mentor/protégé relationships resulting from a unique mix of novice and veteran students.

Art as therapy for chronic pain and “the disembodying effects of the digital age” were themes of final projects by Natalie Pittman and Jose “Weecho” Velasquez, who will walk the Reed Arena stage Dec. 15, 2012 as the first two graduates of Texas A&M’s Master of Fine Arts program.

A new, $250 million stadium to house Baylor Bears football will be designed with the help of a building information modeling system coordinated by Ken Stone ‘11, a Texas A&M construction science former student. “It should be a very exciting project because the design team is 100-percent on board,” said Stone, an engineer with Flintco, LLC.

A federal study aimed at enhancing plant safety throughout the U.S. chemical manufacturing system benefitted from the work of Michael Lindell, a professor of urban planning at Texas A&M University who contributed sections on risk and decision analyses and emergency management.

The facades of buildings in a forgotten urban area on the north end of Main Street in downtown Bryan were enlivened on Nov. 2 with digital projections created by students in a Texas A&M senior graphic design studio.

Historic sites at California’s most famous prison, in the jungles of Belize and closer-to-home in the town of Belton, Texas are three of the most recent documentation projects undertaken by Texas A&M’s Center for Heritage Conservation.

An institute promoting the study and application of creativity and innovative thinking at Texas A&M and throughout a network of partners is under development at the College of Architecture.

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.

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.

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.

Environmental design students partnered with a San Antonio design firm to fabricate plates supporting a giant dinosaur sculpture made from canned goods that will eventually provide hunger relief to south Texans as part of a unique annual food drive contest.

A 7th grader’s excitement at Texas A&M’s VizKids camp this summer was chronicled by his hometown newspaper in Pittsburg, Texas.

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.

This fall marks a milestone for Texas A&M University with the first cadre of Master of Fine Arts in Visualization students beginning their studies. The university's first MFA degree program is designed to prepare artists for art-oriented vocations.