Cover | Indice Anotado, 13 years of Mid-Career research investigations from architecture students of the Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico.

Jorge Rigau, FAIA, founding dean of the School of Architecture of the Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico; Miguel Rodríguez, current dean; and funds from the Historic Preservation Office of Puerto Rico have made it possible to publish the Índice Anotado (Anotated Index). This publication documents the Mid-Career research investigations completed by students at the School of Architecture of the Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico.

These texts were completed between 1996 and 2009 and executed by students at the end of the 3rd year of study. Their topical range is extensive, and most are complemented by photographs, drawings and inventories that will be useful to others following similar lines of research. While the collection is mainly about Puerto Rico, some projects look at Cuba, Dominican Republic and Panamá.

The index is organized by themes, and while some overlap, researchers will have to asses the focus areas of each of their topics to find relevant investigations. The documents are written in Spanish, but the the index provides a blurb about each of them in English to expand the ideas to a larger audience.

Copies of the full writings will be available for public consult at the library of the Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico and at the library of the Historic Preservation Office. The Índice Anotado has been designed by Alberto Rigau and published by Editorial Revés.

The presentation was a 25 minute summary of the research and work carried out on my final study at the graduate program: Design as Choice Architecture: informing consumers about debt-related behaviors. The following video is a recording of the original May 4th exposition.

In retrospect, having worked on this final project felt more like a rite of passage than anything else, signaling a transition into a deeper and meaningful design life. I am happy to report that all requirements for graduation were successfully met and I have been granted the degree of Master of Graphic Design. :)

The interface for my final project is slowly changing… incredible the difference that a small change can produce…

As I have written before before, this past week was the Fourth Annual NC State University Graduate Student Research Symposium. Marty Maxwell Lane, Deb Littlejohn and I were asked to present our current research at the event. In retrospect, it was just like presenting for judges back in one of my high school science fairs… Presentations were made with the aid of posters. We participated in the Humanities and Design category, where I am happy to report that I was recognized with a first prize for the current research I am carrying out with my final project. :)


Duane Larick, Dean of the Graduate School and Associate Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Studies, myself, JB Clark, Vice President, UGSA, and Terri Lomax, Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Studies. Photograph by Rebecca Kirkland.

Symposium Winners. Photograph by Rebecca Kirkland.

Symposium Winners, by Category…

Agricultural Sciences
1st Place > Cary Rivard, Plant Pathology
2nd Place > Ramon Molina-Bravo, Horticultural Science

Education
1st Place > Matthew Campbell, Mathematics Education
2nd Place > Maura Murphy, Adult and Higher Education

Engineering
1st Place > Sumit Gangwal, Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering
2nd Place > Gheorghe Bunget, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Humanities and Design
1st Place > Alberto Rigau, Graphic Design
2nd Place > Jennifer Salazar, Landscape Architecture

Life Sciences
1st Place > Elizabeth Rueschhoff, Plant Biology
2nd Place > Monica Iglecia, Zoology

Mathematical and Physical Sciences
1st Place > Brian Williams, Physics
2nd Place > Justin Kennemur, Chemistry

Social Sciences and Management
1st Place > Erin Banks, Psychology
2nd Place > Roxana Toma, Public Administration

Today was a day for/of presentations.

In the morning I had the opportunity to share my current research with the accepted candidates for next year’s incoming graduate graphic design class. The presentation, a shortened version of my Orals Presentation, went really well.

In the evening, I volunteered to present at the 2nd annual Intercom Research Exchange at the College of Design. The event had two ways in which we could share our research with the university community: via a poster where the research was presented in a printed format (you can see Rebecca Tegtmeyer’s poster here), or via a Pecha Kucha styled projected presentation.

Marty Maxwell Lane also did a Pecha Kucha style presentation to share her research on the way teens understand visual content online (it’s much more than that, but that my version of her project in a sentence. I am sure she will kill me soon over this butchering… ;)

Last semester, before I got interested in consumer behaviors and their repercussions, I explored gesture based interfaces as a possibility for my final project. Today, while organizing my current archive, I found this old copy of the HP Touch Smart ad. It is still impressive.

Rebecca Tegtmeyer and Marty Maxwell Lane represented the NC State Graphic Design Masters Program at the MFA panel on the last day of the conference. They did incredible.

The presentation, following a format that I do not remember the name, lasted for 10 mins. In that short time, Rebecca and Marty were able to speak about the pedagogical approach of the NC State Curriculum, explain the structure of the program, delve into projects briefings, and they still managed to show 2 fully developed investigations, culminating in the marriage of everything that had been explained before into well executed pieces.


A little bit about studio culture.

Design thinking had to come up.

Cameo appearance to me!

The biggest concept map ever seen by man! Great job Rebecca…

WEEEEEEEE!!!!

Marty brought down the house as she explained her research and development of processes…

…all culminating with the on-line community project from last semester.

YOUR WELCOME, but the thanks really go to you! You represented us in an incredible way!

These are some images of the installation that was part of our first semester studio project where the class attempted to define design thinking in terms of a series of thinking strategies and cognitive frameworks.

As part of my academic charge this semester, I underwent an independent study with Santiago Piedrafita. In it, we explored various possibilities on how to develop, build and maintain a common curricular system between the different faculty members and the students of the department. What follows is just one of the many presentations since the final work is still underway.