technology

Variant: Limits, a video game developed in part by Texas A&M visualization students and in use throughout the U.S., is now helping Chinese undergraduates succeed in introductory calculus, one of the toughest classes to pass on a university campus.

For his work enhancing healthcare design standards, Kirk Hamilton, professor of architecture at Texas A&M, was elevated to fellowship in the American College of Critical Care Medicine. He is only the second architect to be inducted into this elite national society.

Pixar artist and Texas A&M former visualization student Sarah Beth Eisenger ’13, who has used her technical wizardry skills on many acclaimed Pixar films, returned to The Viz Lab to help Vizzers craft digital shorts in the Department of Visualization's Summer Industry Workshop.

Lighting is a secret weapon in animated movies — it’s used in every frame, yet when done well, viewers will never notice it. Pixar artist and Texas A&M former visualization student Jon Kiker has used his technical talents to create lighting for some of the studio's best films.

Student video game designers created electronic games from scratch in Chillennium 2018, a giant, Texas A&M student-run game jam competition Oct. 12-14, 2018 in the university’s Memorial Student Center.

Virtual reality devices could become a new tool to help students who struggle with public speaking anxiety, said Amir Behzadan, Texas A&M associate professor of construction science.

The wide variety of research and creative work by faculty and doctoral students will be showcased at “Natural, Built, Virtual,” the college’s 20th annual research symposium, October 29, 2018, at Preston Geren Auditorium.

In the future, structures will be created onsite by 3-D printers, and the construction and manufacturing industries will have much more in common, according to a multidisciplinary Texas A&M faculty team envisioning how technology will change building.

To prepare for a future in which structures are built with material from large-scale, 3-D printers, College of Architecture faculty are developing and testing environmentally responsible printing methods in a two-year study funded by a $500,000 X-Grant.

Faculty researchers at the Texas A&M Department of Visualization are investigating how virtual reality-based experiences can become more comfortable, safe and effective, said Ann McNamara, associate professor of visualization, in an article she penned for RTÉ.

Texas A&M, ranked among the top video game design school in the nation and among public universities, is the premier game design school in Texas, according to new ratings by Animation Career Review, an online career resource for aspiring artists.

A recent National Academies report championing the integration of science and the arts validates a Texas A&M visualization professor's multi-year National Science Foundation-funded initiative to elevate the role of art and design in STEM fields.

Twenty-five former Texas A&M visualization students, or Vizzers, were part of the Pixar Animation Studios team that returned a famous crime fighting superhero family to the big screen in “Incredibles 2,” smashing box office records and earning critical acclaim.

Working with an industrial scale robot and polystyrene blocks at the renowned Autodesk BUILD Space in Boston, a Texas A&M team is developing a full-scale, light-weight vault structure from interlocking and uniquely dimensioned structural modules.

Jing “Eric” Du, Texas A&M assistant professor of construction science, is creating a virtual reality emergency simulation system to train firefighters for dangerous missions with a $465,000 National Institute of Standards and Technology grant.