Research

Typical gardening tasks can help older adults stave off age-related cognitive decline, said Susan Rodiek, associate professor of architecture, in an award-winning paper that brought international attention to research by two colleagues.

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.

A mathematical model developed by Robert Brown, Texas A&M professor of landscape architecture, was used in a highly publicized study quantifying the time it takes for kids to become dangerously hot when accidentally left in the back seat of a sweltering car.

Researchers are learning how to reduce highway repavement costs and maximize rural highway safety in two multiyear research projects that include Kunhee Choi, Texas A&M associate professor of construction science, and scientists from the Texas A&M Transportation Institute.

Seemingly rational choices, made in the wake of natural disasters, can produce unsound results due to “uncanny wisdom,” a term, coined by a Texas A&M urban planning professor, describing actions that eventually exacerbate problems they were meant to solve.

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.

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.

The ill effects of gentrification, like pushing lower-income families from their homes and reducing affordable housing availability, are decreased by programs that lease public property to low-income households, said Myungshik Choi, a Texas A&M Ph.D. graduate.

First responders’ lives depend on their ability to navigate structures during a emergency — a task Jing “Eric” Du, assistant professor of construction science, aims to make easier and safer with wayfinding research funded by a $220,000 NSF grant.

The iconoclastic designs of Modern master architect Victor Lundy will be researched by Susanneh Bieber, Texas A&M assistant professor of architecture and visualization with the help of a 2018 grant from the university’s Arts and Humanities Fellows Program.

For work promoting the development of research in the field of signage and wayfinding, Eric Ragan, assistant professor of visualization at Texas A&M University, was selected as an Emerging Fellow by the Academic Advisory Council for Signage Research and Education.

Enabled by virtual reality technology, visitors to the recent Bluebonnet Festival in Chappell Hill, Texas explored a historic Texas building demolished more than a century ago. The building was recreated as an immersive virtual model by Siva Ramadoss, a Master of Construction Management student.