A group of Texas A&M university studies majors recently traded sidewalks for sand dunes and classroom seats for salty ocean air while they learned how to document historic buildings in Barbados this past summer.

Sophomore construction science student Jordan Maywald won $50,000 and first place on the national ABC-TV show “The Great Christmas Light Fight” on Dec. 9 for a beautiful, massive light display constructed at his family’s Austin home.

Some community parks are square, a reflection of the city block where they’re located, but irregularly shaped parks reduce the mortality risk of residents who live near them, concluded a study by Huaquing Wang, a Ph.D. Urban and Regional Sciences student and Lou Tassinary, professor of visualization.

It’s been 20 years since the collapse of Bonfire, the Nov. 18, 1999 tragedy that took the lives of 12 Aggies and injured 27 others. Five years later, the Bonfire Memorial, which celebrates the tradition, history, spirit and dedication of those involved in Bonfire’s tragic collapse, was dedicated.

The Master of Urban Planning program at Texas A&M has vaulted into the upper echelon of programs of its kind in new rankings published by Planetizen, an independent, online platform that reports urban planning news and resources.

The Texas A&M landscape architecture program’s longstanding status as one of the nation’s best was reaffirmed in new rankings that also include an acknowledgement of Galen Newman, associate professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning, as an exemplary educator.