{"425571":{"#nid":"425571","#data":{"type":"news","title":"AE\u0027s Julian Rimoli asks students and faculty at ETH Zurich to \u0022Truss Me!\u0022","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWhen he unveiled\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ETruss Me!\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E\u0026nbsp;last fall, Julian Rimoli hoped the educational app would help his Georgia Tech statics students develop a more intuitive understanding of truss behavior.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESix months and 5,000 downloads later, Rimoli has more than achieved that goal. In fact, on May 28, the AE faculty was invited to the prestigious ETH Zurich, where his \u201cgame\u201d has been incorporated into the engineering curriculum and his thoughts on educational app design were the subject of a well-attended talk.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ECapping his visit was a\u0026nbsp;\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Cem\u003ETruss Me!\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003Echallenge, where ETH students competed against each other for the top score (and a cash prize).\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/ae.gatech.edu\/node\/1312\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ETruss Me!\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;is a tablet\/smart phone app that challenges players to engineer the lightest possible \u201cmoon lander vehicle\u201d in the shortest period of time. Players compete with the game or each other to overcome a series of 15 different challenges, each representing a real-world structural variance. Each level that the player \u201cwins\u201d gets him closer to attaining a \u201cgolden nut,\u0022 the ultimate prize.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ERimoli\u2019s first talk at ETH, \u201c\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/ae.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/img\/ETH-RESEARCH%20ABSTRACT.pdf\u0022\u003EMesoscale Models for Heterogeneous Ceramic Compounds under Extreme Environments\u003C\/a\u003E,\u201d focused on his AE research and was well-received. Students wanted to know more about his methodologies, his results, his career path. His second presentation,\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/ae.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/img\/Truss%20Me%21%20%282%29.pdf\u0022\u003E\u201cDeveloping Mobile Educational Apps: A Teacher\u2019s Perspective\u003C\/a\u003E\u201d got a little more personal.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ERimoli was only too happy to oblige.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe students wanted to know how I went from being an academic science guy to being a game developer. But it was really the other way around,\u201d said the Argentina native.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cSo, in my presentation to them, I showed them where I grew up, pictures of my village, and then I showed them a photo of my first love that I met when I was 12\u2026a computer.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAs a boy, Rimoli had limited access to the latest technology, so he patched together his own games using whatever electronics his family would allow him to borrow. As he grew older, this passion for computer games led him to more serious subjects, like computational physics.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cAnd that led me to pursue a Ph.D. and become a professor.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ctable width=\u0022451\u0022 border=\u00220\u0022 cellspacing=\u00221\u0022 cellpadding=\u00221\u0022\u003E\u003Ctbody\u003E\u003Ctr\u003E\u003Ctd\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/117948618@N08\/sets\/72157644501410850\/\u0022\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/td\u003E\u003C\/tr\u003E\u003Ctr\u003E\u003Ctd class=\u0022rtecenter\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Cem\u003EStudents at ETH pored over the Truss Me! challenge. Check out\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/117948618@N08\/sets\/72157644501410850\/\u0022\u003Ethe rest of the photos\u003C\/a\u003Ethat Dr. Rimoli sent from his trip to ETH-Zurich\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/td\u003E\u003C\/tr\u003E\u003C\/tbody\u003E\u003C\/table\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Julian Rimoli was invited to the prestigious ETH Zurich, where his \u201cgame\u201d has been incorporated into the engineering curriculum and his thoughts on educational app design were the subject of a well-attended talk."}],"uid":"27456","created_gmt":"2015-07-16 11:48:35","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:19:08","author":"Britanny Grace","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2014-05-29T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2014-05-29T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"groups":[{"id":"1239","name":"School of Aerospace Engineering"}],"categories":[{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"}],"keywords":[{"id":"2082","name":"aerospace engineering"},{"id":"130061","name":"Julian Rimoli"},{"id":"135381","name":"Truss Me"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":["communications@ae.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}