Students highlighted in gold elected to share their research in the virtual symposium format.
Those not highlighted in gold contain the originally submitted abstracts.
To see more information on each project, please click on student names.
Emma Astad
Children’s Literature and Nutrition Education
Maria Todd, Biology
2019-2020 King Creativity Scholar
Heart disease is the number one killer in the United States. In a country as developed, and technologically advanced as the U.S., this is unacceptable. People of lower socioeconomic status are more likely to experience the effects of this troubling statistic. Children in these communities even more so. Improper nutrition and poor eating habits during childhood can drastically affect health well into adulthood and even for future generations via epigenetic phenomena. Thus, it is imperative to educate children from low socioeconomic communities on the importance of healthy eating so that they might develop habits that carry into adulthood. What better way to do this than to depict foods as having “superpowers?” After all, antioxidants in berries can help protect cells from free radicals, and curcumin in turmeric can modify the release of stress hormones from the adrenal glands, thus aiding in the decrease of bodily inflammation. My interactive book, sets out to convey these everyday biological miracles as extraordinary magical feats to excite children about the power contained within healthy foods. Everyone deserves the opportunity to live their fullest lives without having to worry about preventable illness cutting them much too short.
Calie Bell, Ila Dannelley, Paisley Humpert, Lily Loose, Mattie Mint, & Hannah Mitchell
IMPACT: A Sculptural Mixed Media Performance Presentation
Mary Visser, Art & Art History
2019-2020 King Creativity Scholar
Our world is in a perpetual state of frantic motion - one where we barely have time to observe and evaluate what is around us. In this work, we hope to enable others to slow down and understand what consequences our disposable lifestyles carry. By combining multiple mediums, we will create a tangible, immersive experience for viewers that will spur a somber reflection of our own personal impact on this planet. Our team will be constructing a series of four artworks that will allow us to experience the physical impact of what we throw away in our lives, and its slow but invisible devastation it has on our environment. We will document these pieces in a complementary series of large print photographs that will be displayed alongside the wearable sculptures. Our objective is to communicate our ideas visually to an audience in a way that is simultaneously compelling and moving, so that others would be inspired to look beyond their own busy lives and visualize a unified world for us all.
Sara Boyd, Christine Gutierrez, Joseph Roybal, & Kirby Steckel
Food Delivery Robot
Steve Alexander, Physics
2019-2020 King Creativity Scholar
This project will result in a prototype robot that delivers food or other items to users in a number of different environments. If successful, we plan to add additional capabilities to expand its range and ability to operate in tougher conditions. The robot will be able to follow given coordinates to make deliveries and sense any obstacles in the way, and it will be able to detect when a customer has taken away the delivery. This will allow for easier access for users with disabilities, and add a general convenience for all. The robot will be battery-powered and in the future, upon completion, we plan to add the ability for the robot to return to a charging station when not in use.
Sam Buehler & Sage Clay
Heather Hall Sustainability Kiosk
John Ore, Theatre
The purpose of this project was the creation of a public information kiosk in the Sarofim School of Fine Arts Center (FAC) to display information relating to Professor John Ore’s long-term project in making Heather Hall Black Box Theatre an energy neutral space and to provide an engaging history of sustainable initiatives at Southwestern, past and current Green/S.A.F.E. funded projects, a tribute to Heather McGaughey (‘04), and more. This kiosk represents the culmination of Ore’s project; over the course of its creation, we learned how to lock down a computer for public use using KioWareTM software, construct a web page to display kiosk content using WixTM, and coordinate and work with various departments across campus, including Marketing, Facilities Management, and FAC administration. This collaboration ensured appropriate location, design, and content of the kiosk in addition to giving us a consistent source of outside feedback. The kiosk is located just outside of Jones Theatre and we encourage all to explore its content during our exhibition.
Teresa Cropper, Madison Flores, & Olivia Stankus
“The Bay of Pigs: A Historical Film for Children”
Jethro Hernandez Berrones, History
“The Bay of Pigs: A Historical Film for Children,” aims to illustrate the 1961 American incursion in the south coast of Cuba, also known as the Bay of Pigs Invasion, through the lens of a children's television show. The temporal scope of the production begins with the transfer of power between Cuban President Fulgencia Batista and Fidel Castro, and concludes with Castro release of the Cuban exiles. Characters include Fulgencia Batista, Fidel Castro, President Eisenhower, and President Kennedy, who are each represented as sock puppets designed with semi-accurate facial features and dressed according to historical record. Following the presentation, the production’s narrator engages in a brief historiographical discussion concerning opposing interpretations of the event. Through the use of mid-twentieth century music and background, sock puppets, and intentional language, this production conveys a multifaceted historical event to a target audience of children in between the ages of five and twelve.
Madison Delmar
Henry Hill and the Texas Hill Country: An Interactive Coloring Book
Romi Burks, Biology2019-2020 King Creativity Scholar
The Texas Hill Country (THC) represents one of the most notable regions in Texas. People travel from far and wide to see the rolling limestone hills, bubbling streams and karst taverns. The THC also supports a large variety of iconic species that help keep the region stable. To help educate future generations about the diversity of the THC, I will create a coloring book. This coloring book will be aimed towards children and will include pictures and a story that together educate about the region. It guides readers on an adventure through the THC, hosted by Georgetown native Henry Hill, a cottontail rabbit. His tour travels through several different THC ecosystems including caverns, streams, and forests and introduces readers to a variety of different species including armadillos, live oaks, yuccas, bats, white-tailed deer, and cedar. Depending on the feedback of this pilot project, the coloring book may be sent to visitors’ centers and nature centers throughout the area for consideration of adoption. Keeping visitors and residents informed about important ecological components of the region will help spread awareness about and conservation of the ecosystems that define and uphold the Texas Hill Country.
Christine Gutierrez
Between The Lines
Star Varner, Art and Art History
2019-2020 King Creativity Scholar
Between the Lines is an interactive art exhibition comprised of several sets of three to four comic-book-styled sequential panels. Each set of panels tells a story, although the central panels are temporarily obscured by a black curtain. Seeing only the first and last panels in each set invites the audience to construct their own narrative by reading “between the lines” before pulling back the curtain to uncover the hidden panels. This audience interaction with the artwork reveals the misreadings that result from missing context, recalling the current challenges of navigating media bias and clickbait and the misinformation that results.
Using traditional forms of comic construction, the image is first drawn and inked on Bristol Board, colored and rendered digitally, and finally printed and hung on the wall.
By interacting directly with the pieces, much like the turning of pages in a comic book, viewers may dive deeper and more personally into the work to discover parallels between the work and assumptions they make every day. These artworks rely on the space between the viewers’ perception of the narrative and their realization of the intended narrative once the full set of panels are visible. Between the Lines as a series of artworks is influenced by studies in semiotics, the study of signs as language, and the pop-art movement of the 1950s.
Claire Harding & Cameron Henkel
Using AI to Sort Recycled Materials
Steve Alexander, Physics
2019-2020 King Creativity Scholars (Harding & Henkel)
2019-2020 King Creativity Scholars (Harding)
This presentation is on a SCOPE and capstone project, where a deep learning artificial intelligence is used with a raspberry pi camera to sort recycled materials. Recently in the recycling industry, China has stopped accepting the United States recycled materials to recycle. The United States uses a single stream recycling program, which is a big part of the problem, instead of people sorting the materials before they get to the plant, workers have to sort them. The main reason for this is that the materials are not sorted properly and are contaminated.. To solve this problem, I have implemented an AI to sort items as they pass under a camera connected to a raspberry pi computer. The items go through a conveyor belt, the camera takes a picture and sends it to an AI to determine the material. Once the material is identified, a motorized sorting arm distributes it to different containers. This project is a prototype for a larger scale system that would hopefully improve the way that trash is sorted into recycling.
Kayla Ingram
Exploring Lesbian Shakespeare
Michael Saenger, English
This project examines the works of Shakespeare through the lens of lesbian desire, learning from the Pride Films and Plays FL!P Fest and its all-female performances to create a meaningful woman and lesbian focused performance of Shakespeare. The performance that inspires this project is titled "Sapphic Switcheroo" and consists of sapphic focused all-female performances of scenes taken from classic comedies (including Shakespeare’s As You Like It). The viewing of this show along with the interview of the directors deeply inspires and informs the performance done at Southwestern. After the performance, a group discussion guides the audience and performers through the process of developing the show, the theory informing it, and the influence of the "Sapphic Switcheroo". The on-campus performance seeks to question how we perceive lesbian desire, both past and present, and how Shakespeare functions for a modern audience and potentially queer audience.
Lauren Muskara
Exploring Relationships: The Art of Science
Star Varner, Art & Art History
2019-2020 King Creativity Scholar - Awarded Walt Potter Award
The art exhibition "Muskara et al. (2020)" presents a body of work that blurs the division between the fields of art and science. Comprised of large realistic and minimalist-inspired paintings aimed at amplifying the molecular components of objects, this series questions the connections between scientific exploration and the expressive, conceptual aims of art. Whereas the work in this series appears to be created with traditional painting materials, foreign matter was incorporated into the paint, which calls into question the meaning of the pieces presented. For example, the painting "Pomacea maculata" physically contains copper sulfate which is a substance that in reality kills the very object represented in the painting, the apple snail. Artworks like the diptych "Pomacea maculata and Copper Sulfate" aim to question concepts of what is “real” (copper sulfate, paint, canvas) versus “illusionistic” (centuries of art mimetic traditions) versus “abstract” (the abstract shortcuts the sciences use to demonstrate concepts like chemical structures) to ignite conversations between the relatively uncorrelated fields of art and science.
Brandt, Briahna
Brandt, Briahna
Protect Your Pets From Cyanobacteria Harmful Algae Blooms When Cooling Off This Summer
Romi Burks, Biology
In August of 2019, the hot temperatures in the Hill Country (Austin, Texas) allowed for a cyanobacteria harmful algae bloom (cyanoHAB) of the genus Oscillatoria that released neurotoxins into Lady Bird Lake, Red Bud Isle, Auditorium Shores, and along Barton Creek in between Barton Springs. The areas affected include popular places where pet owners take their dogs in the summer. Due to the high levels of neurotoxins in the cyanobacteria, five dogs became fatally sick. A social media campaign will be launched to educate the public on Oscillatoria cyanobacteria and create awareness on how pet owners can protect their pets and themselves. The campaign will focus on what Oscillatoria cyanobacteria looks like, when it will most likely appear, what the symptoms of neurotoxin poisoning are, and why the cyanoHAB occurs. A social media campaign is the best medium to present this information because of its ability to maximize the spread of education and awareness. This important campaign seeks to keep pet owners and their pets safe, and also to understand the effects of climate change in the Hill Country.
Chastain, Rebecca
Rebecca Chastain
Hey, Listen! Sounds of the Hill Country
Romi Burks, Biology
In an increasingly urbanized world, people feel less and less connected to the natural spaces they inhabit; the Hill Country is a rare gift of ecological beauty and deserves appreciation from its residents. In order to foster a stronger sense of community responsibility to the natural spaces of the Hill Country, I will produce an intentional, interactive display with the purpose of deepening a feeling of connection between observers and their environment, educating the observer on various Hill Country animals and their ecological importance, and emphasizing the important role citizens play in scientific research. The project will be set up on a laptop and will invite participants to put on a pair of headphones to listen to iNaturalist recordings collected and submitted by citizen-scientists while they learn about the animals they hear and their importance to Hill Country ecology. These curated animals will include selections representing birds, amphibians, mammals, and invertebrates, including prized local species such as the Golden-Cheeked Warbler. Upon completion of the interactive experience, they will be invited to take a flyer that explains the importance of citizen science and how to use iNaturalist to contribute to research and connect with nature.
Colegrove, Audrey (19-20 KCF)
Audrey Colegrove
Using Hands-on Learning to Engage in Physics at an Early Age
Pooja Shrestha, Physics
2019-2020 King Creativity Scholar
There is a big push for STEM in education, but we don't see a lot that actually inspires children to follow a career in STEM. Far too often physics is thought of as a subject that is far too hard to understand - that you are only successful in physics if you are the next Einstein or Hawking. This project group, along with the support of the SU Physics club will work to create an elementary-aged mini-curriculum for a small traveling science circus with hands on demonstrations, to inspire in children the love of physics. This program is designed with the intension to expand and continue in the following years as a community project for the Physics Club.
Creasey, Colton (19-20 KCF)
Colton Creasey
Reconstruction and Structural Design of a Scaled-down Historic Swedish Langskip
Steve Alexander, Physics
2019-2020 King Creativity Scholar
The goal of this project is to recreate the process in which a traditional langskip Karvi would be made, the only difference being that it would be scaled down to 1/20th size. I would start by constructing the bow and the stern of the ship. From there I would lay the keel, attaching the front and end, all of these pieces would be made out of oak. Then the sides of the ship would be layered on top of this, made out of pine. The boards will be screwed together. Overall the ship will end up around 5 feet long and 10 inches wide at its max, depending on the keel size.
Delmar, Madison & Gonzalez, Mercedes
Madison Delmar & Mercedes Gonzalez
Automating Athletic Training: A New Way to Make Ice Bags
Debika Sihi & Andy Ross, Economics and Business
Across the NCAA, there are over 500,000 athletes that will venture into athletic training rooms for specialized treatment. The large number of athletes coming from different ends of the NCAA spectrum require athletic trainers to devote much of their time to developing and administering specialized treatment. They often do not have time to do simple, everyday tasks.
One of the most common treatments athletes utilize is ice bags. The current practice of hand-making ice bags is somewhat tedious and so our project aims to build a prototype of an automated ice bag maker to alleviate time and labor costs that athletic trainers and physical therapists accrue.
The prototype is designed to allow the user to select a body part they wish to ice. The machine will then dispense the appropriate amount of ice and automatically make the ice bag. The actual mechanics of the machine include a conveyor belt that moves the filled bag under a thin tunnel to spread the ice evenly, a vacuum chamber that removes excess air, and a heat sealer to close the ice bag. By automating the process, the prototype will revolutionize the way ice bags are made across the field of athletic training.
Friday, S., Harting, E., & Henry, S. (19-20 KCF)
Sarah Friday, Emma Harting, & Shea Henry
The Stars Among Us
Mark Bottorff, Physics2019-2020 King Creativity Scholar
2019-2020 King Creativity Scholar
This project is an interactive experience that will allow users to learn about astronomy and the mythology that is associated with constellations found in the night sky. We wanted to find a way for people to learn about astronomy in a fun and interactive way that would be enjoyable for people in all disciplines. This will be done through the use of an Oculus Quest VR headset that has been programmed to display the night sky. Through this VR experience you will be able to see a 360° view of the night sky from any location at any time. Users will have the ability to toggle between different commands, such as zooming in to view a star, constellation, planet, or satellite soaring through space. The user will also be able to select any of these stellar objects and watch as they move in real time or select a date, such as the user's birthday, and see the night sky on the night they were born. The main component that will be available to the users is the command to toggle any of the 88 constellations found in the program. Once a constellation is selected, a screen will appear with information about that constellation, such as the name and mythology that is associated with it.
Gonzalez, Mercedes (19-20 KCF)
Mercedes Gonzalez
50 Days of Hill Country Ecology
Romi Burks, Biology
2019-2020 King Creativity Scholar
Widely known for its rolling hills, fine wine, and authentic cuisine, Texas Hill Country includes the geographic region of Central and South Texas that forms the Southeast part of the Edwards Plateau. However, Texas Hill Country holds so much more than what the tourist industry promotes it as. Through an Instagram Social Media Campaign, I will showcase the many beauties of Texas Hill Country to the public. Through a 50-day series of images, I will be able to display the main ecological principles and their relations to our everyday lives in Hill Country. The images displayed in the series of instagram posts/hashtags will highlight five basic ecological principles. First, protection of species conserves genetic diversity. Second, as large areas typically contain more species than smaller areas with smaller habitats, maintaining habitats provide the critical first step to conserving species. Third, all things connect to each other, but the nature and strength of those connections vary. Fourth, disturbances shape the characteristics of populations, communities, and ecosystems. And fifth, climate influences terrestrial, freshwater, and marine ecosystems. Hill Country Ecology Instagram page will serve creative and informative captions that will educate the public and showcase various interdisciplinary links. The Instagram account that will feature the 50 days of Texas Hill Country beginning February 25, 2020 through April 14, 2020 will be open to the public to view both at the Research and Creative Works Symposium as well as on their personal devices.
Gutierrez, Christine
Christine Gutierrez
Analyzing Migration of Fairy Tales
Catherine Ross, Modern Languages and Literature (Spanish)
Throughout history, tales have been passed down and used as moral lessons for future generations. These tales have been adapted for their respective audiences and therefore reflect a rich blend of cultures and ideas. The tales we know and love are vastly different than their roots, and so I am going to analyze the migration of iconic tales such as Cinderella and Snow White across different cultures using both the lenses of literary studies and feminist studies to trace these stories in order to better understand the roots behind some of the biggest influences on pop culture. I will then create a comic strip to display my findings, employing what I have learned from these tales and tie them to what I have learned about semiotics, the study of signs.
In order to do this, I will take a small selection of popular fairy tales centered around Cinderella and Snow White and analyze the variations on the tales across time and cultures and assess how these differences can impact the overall tale. The comic strip I will create will integrate the fields of literary studies and semiotics through the analysis of related symbolism, signs, overall morals, and any other necessary contextual information and relay the information in an organized, logical fashion that is both informative and easy to follow. This will help to understand the cultural influences on each individual tale due to the migration of the stories themselves.
Harding, Claire (19-20 KCF)
Claire Harding
Stars Among Us
Mark Bottorff, Physics
2019-2020 King Creativity Scholar
This project is an interactive experience that will allow users to learn about astronomy and the constellations found in the night sky. We wanted to find a way for people to learn about astronomy in a fun and interactive way that would be enjoyable for people in all disciplines. This will be done through the use of an Oculus Quest VR headset that has been programmed to display the night sky. Through this VR experience, you will be able to see a 360° view of the night sky. Users will have the ability to toggle between any of the 88 constellations found in the program. Once a constellation is selected, a screen will appear with information about that constellation, such as the name and luminosity that is associated with it. In addition to the VR headset experience, there will also be interchangeable shadow boxes displaying different constellations for viewers to look at while waiting to try the VR.
King, Courtney
Courtney King
The Event Stop
Debika Sihi & Andy Ross, Economics & Business
The wedding industry is rapidly growing with new online tools like The Knot entering the market to meet the needs of brides. Despite the saturated market of directories for brides, brides still feel overwhelmed and unsure where to start in the planning process. This lack of expertise creates a need that an innovative brick and mortar retail strategy can fill.
Value conscious brides struggle with a way to plan a luxurious wedding. Traditional wedding planners have expertise; however, this expertise comes at a high price. Alternatively, online platforms lack expertise but offer a low price.
The Event Stop creates a one-stop, pre-screened, efficient planning venue without the time pressure of the current bridal extravaganza model. The Event stop creates a better model for both buyers and suppliers by offering expertise at a low price and decreasing intermediaries.
May, Michael (19-20 KCF)
Michael May
Thermoacoustic Energy Generation
Steve Alexander, Physics
2019-2020 King Creativity Scholar
Environmentally benign power generation, waste energy recovery, biomedical prosthetics, and sensors; the applications, humanitarian and commercial potential is enormous for the patented Fellows Thermoacoustic Cycle (TAC) engine; a closed-circuit, traveling-wave, acoustic oscillator. It is a universal thermal-electric power generator that will work in any environment and utilize any source of thermal energy (solar, liquid, gas, geothermal, exhaust, field waste, open flame, body heat). It converts the incoming thermal energy into directional acoustic waves, and modifies the impedance in the gas column so that the acoustic waves couple efficiently and synchronously with the reciprocating mass of the armature of a linear generator with no bearings or lubrication. This system will operate for thousands of hours with no maintenance or sound. Our goal is to decrease the operation frequency from 5000 Hz to military standard (400 Hz) so that it will have greater consistency and higher commercial viability. With the fact that any heat source can be used, we predict applicability in any environment (industrial, commercial, and third-world).
May, Michael (19-20 KCF)
Michael May
Science to Students
Debika Sihi, Economics and Business
2019-2020 King Creativity Scholar
Science to Students (S2S) is a student-oriented learning service that provides college-level interdisciplinary lab experiments for high schools. This service is designed to bring the process of scientific discovery to life for students in a way that connects them with the natural world and human development. Students will be tasked to conduct research, analyze their data, and connect the results to present environment and ancient civilization in ways they see fit. The goal is to give students the tools to pioneer their own path into scientific discovery and see how science has impacted the world around them. Elements of astronomy, physics, mathematics, economics, history, and anthropology will all be tackled through student-driven scientific inquiry. Overall this service wants to improve science in the American education system. The Pew Research Center recently analyzed PISA data and found that America ranks 24th out of 72 countries for K-12 science education. S2S recognizes this problem and is designed to solve it, by inspiring the next generation of scientists to act upon their inherent curiosity and dynamically improve our understanding of the universe.
Nissen, Christina & Smart, Jonathan (19-20 KCF)
Christina Nissen & Jonathan Smart
Using Hands-on Learning to Engage in Physics at an Early Age
Pooja Shrestha, Physics
2019-2020 King Creativity Scholar
There is a big push for STEM in education, but we don't see a lot that actually inspires children to follow a career in STEM. Far too often physics is thought of as a subject that is too hard to understand - that you are only successful in physics if you are the next Einstein or Hawking. This project group, along with the support of the SU Physics club will work to create an elementary-aged mini-curriculum for a small traveling science circus with hands on demonstrations, to inspire in children the love of physics. This program is designed with the intention to expand and continue in the following years as a community project for the Physics Club.
Pastrana, Kiana
Kiana Pastrana
The Importance of Natives
Romi Burks, Biology
My project attempts to communicate the importance of native plant species within our Texas Hill Country ecosystem, and what actions we can take to restore them. Native species contribute vital services to ecological well being, and we remain at risk of losing more than we can recover. In coordination with my internship at Austin Youth River Watch, I led the development of our greenhouse used for growing native plant species specific to the Texas Hill Country. We, myself and our River Watchers, then planted them throughout the Austin area in riparian areas where we performed most of our field work. In this, we aim to mitigate the environmental degradation that has occurred as a side effect of introducing invasive species and other anthropogenic effects. Over the course of four weeks, I documented the progression of the project through video clips, including interviews from participants. Being played on a screen with interesting visual components, the video itself attracts attention while I also complement the display with an exhibit of various native plant species on a table adjacent to the screen. This project works to illuminate the issue while providing a real-world context and a service to the community and environment.
Peterson, Jessica
Jessica Peterson
A Change in Scenery: Visualizing the Loss of Habitat due to Urban Expansion
Romi Burks, Biology
The Texas Hill Country comprises a beautiful and important ecosystem found in Texas. This area appears rich in biodiversity with over several hundred native flora and fauna. Increasing human development in the Hill Country leads to the degradation and destruction of these natural landscapes. For my project, I intend to showcase the impact of human development on the Texas Hill Country by creating a series of two paintings that showcase a ‘before’ and ‘after’ image of a Hill Country landscape. I will be using acrylic on canvas and the ‘before’ image will be of a snapshot showcasing native flora and fauna found in the Hill Country while the ‘after’ image will be of that same snapshot, but the landscape has now undergone urban development (either road or parking lot construction). I want to communicate this message because people need to see the effects we have on our landscape and what we constantly lose by changing it.
Peterson, Sarah
Sarah Peterson
What Lies Beneath Our Feet
Romi Burks, Biology
Limestone serves as the building block of the Texas Hill Country. It’s what our hills, aquifers, and karst environments are formed from and our historic buildings are built from. Without it, many endemic species would not exist and many of the springs that dot the hill country would run dry (same for our cities). Along with Austin, Georgetown is a part of the Texas Hill Country, walking around the Southwestern campus we are surrounded by the beauty of the hill country. Just as limestone is the building block of the hill country, it is also the building block of our many facilities.
For my creative works project, I will focus on the importance of limestone in hill country ecology. I want to communicate this message because most people do not bother to care about what rests under their feet or its importance. Limestone represents more than just a stone used to build our buildings.
For this project I plan to create a poem presented on a limestone slab to talk about the beauty and importance of limestone and how it is a vital part of the hill country.Life in the hill country has adapted to its unique environment, and with limestone as its framework, the region that we live in will continue to leave its residence breathless.
Rativa, Karen (19-20 Scholar)
Karen Rativa
The Beauty and The Beast of The Texas Hill Country
Romi Burks, Biology
2019-2020 King Creativity Scholar
The Texas Hill Country forms the Edwards Plateau and the Llano uplift. The area is bounded from the north and west of I-35, and from north of Austin to the west of San Antonio. The Hill Country area houses many ecological interactions between wildflowers, plants, creeks, rivers, and animals. This project contains a collection of photographs from different sites of the Texas Hill Country accompanied by small descriptions of each photograph. This collection aims not only to educate the public about the beauty found in the Texas Hill Country, but also emphasizes its ecology. By creating a visual representation of the ecological interactions of the Hill Country, we create a new value for the nature that surrounds us and our Southwestern community. Finally, this gallery of images from the Texas Hill Country encourages the public to learn more about the area and the best practices we can do to protect its ecology.
Wells, Aris
Aris Wells
Computer Input Device for Virtual Reality
Steve Alexander, Physics
The goal of this project is to design and build a computer input device that will facilitate desktop computer usage while the user is wearing a virtual reality headset or otherwise cannot periodically visually confirm the positions of their hands relative to their keyboard and pointing device. This will be accomplished by closely integrating the pointing device in a position that reduces or eliminates the need to take one’s hands off the keyboard and minimizing hand travel through a more compact layout. Ideally this device will allow for unhindered usage of conventional desktop applications with no visibility.