The first official event of the Pro-Thesis semester is the Thesis Match event. The thesis students pin-up a 3x6 poster that is meant to explain the student’s thesis, and each of the 16 committee candidates comes around and has an individual discussion with each student.

 

Sixteen 5-minute conversations! Needless to say, I got pretty tired of saying the same thing over and over, though in reality my presentation changed as I got input over the course of the evening. The focus of my thesis changed quite a bit during the 4-hour event. It evolved from a basic design project of the rehabilitation center itself to an entire campus master plan including housing for the soldiers and their families. Ambitious, definitely. At this stage, I worry that the scope of the project might be too large to produce a compelling design solution in the time-span of one school year, but I am determined.

 

At any rate, I digress. Below is the poster that I presented at the Thesis Match Event:

 

 

Whew! Pulling at the heart strings and inspiring at the same time. On the top left panel is the Center for the Intrepid, a similar project that SmithGroup designed in San Antonio, Texas in 2007. I have been in contact with Lora Schwartz, a designer from SmithGroup who worked on the Intrepid project, and have invited her to join my committee as an advisor/mentor during the thesis process.

 

To Lora, thank you for your inspiring words and ideas! I very much look forward to working with you over the next year.

 

After speaking with all 16 committee candidates, we were asked to rank each of them from 1-16. My final committee turned out being high on my list.

 

Committee Chair: Brian Kelly

Committee Member: Steven Hurtt

Committee Member: Garth Rockcastle

Advisor/Mentor: Lora Schwartz

 

Overall I am pleased with the committee selection. There is a good variety of experience and expertise on the panel and should conjure up some great critiques and conversations. I’ll formally introduce you to my committee members in the next update.

 

Now, with all the formalities out of the way, the real work begins!

 

Thanks for reading,

R