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Fall 2014
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  • Spring 2016

    Spring 2016: Premium Blend

    Found in everything from space shuttles to dental fillings, composite materials have thoroughly infiltrated modern society. But their potential is still greatly untapped, offering researchers ample opportunity for discovery.

  • Fall 2015

    Fall 2015: Collision Course

    Within the particle showers created at the Large Hadron Collider, answers to some of the universe’s mysteries are waiting.

  • Spring 2015

    Spring 2015: Almost Human

    Model systems like pigeons can help illuminate our own evolutionary and genomic history.

  • Fall 2014

    Fall 2014: Small Wonder

    UT Arlington's tiny windmills are bringing renewable energy to a whole new scale.

  • Winter 2014

    Winter 2014: Overdue for an Overhaul

    The stability of our highways, pipelines, and even manholes is reaching a breaking point.

  • 2012

    2012: Mystery solved?

    Scientists believe they have discovered a subatomic particle that is crucial to understanding the universe.

  • 2011

    2011: Boosting brain power

    UT Arlington researchers unlock clues to the human body’s most mysterious and complex organ.

  • 2010

    2010: Powered by genetics

    UT Arlington researchers probe the hidden world of microbes in search of renewable energy sources.

  • 2009

    2009: Winning the battle against pain

    Wounded soldiers are benefiting from Robert Gatchel’s program that combines physical rehabilitation with treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder.

  • 2009

    2007: Sensing a solution

    Tiny sensors implanted in the body show promise in combating acid reflux disease, pain and other health problems.

  • 2006

    2006:Semiconductors: The next generation

    Nanotechnology researchers pursue hybrid silicon chips with life-saving potential.

  • 2005

    2005: Imaging is everything

    Biomedical engineers combat diseases with procedures that are painless to patients.

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Space

Park Power

New landscape architecture case studies link values to public amenities 

Sameepa Modi and Dylan Stewart

Sameepa Modi and Dylan Stewart studied the impact of Klyde Warren Park.

Constructing a new park, nature trail, or other public amenity is usually seen as a way to improve the quality of life of a community. But landscape architect Taner Özdil and his students think that only scratches the surface of the potential impact.

“There is a growing call to explain the effect of landscape architecture and what it does,” says Dr. Özdil, whose team included then-master’s students Sameepa Modi and Dylan Stewart. “We are a part of that call.”

To that end, the researchers conducted three case studies for the Landscape Architecture Foundation’s Case Study Investigation Program to show the environmental, economic, and social benefits of notable landscape projects in the region. Their subjects were Klyde Warren Park in Dallas, the UT Dallas campus landscape plan, and Buffalo Bayou Promenade in Houston.

Among their more notable findings was that the addition of Klyde Warren Park increased property values, increased physical activity among its patrons, and reduced carbon dioxide in downtown Dallas.

Modi hopes the knowledge and lessons discovered through their studies will inform future landscape projects.

“The research looks at how a project affects everyday people," she says. "Is it beneficial or just beautifying? Does it make the community members’ lives more livable? Research helps us make a better future.”

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