ABOUT WHO I AM

Well, I am a college student currently attending  Arizona State University (ASU) for Industrial Design. I am not an Arizonan, but transfered over from my home state of Texas. Basically I've lived in the Houston area most of my life (I'm 23 and I moved to the area when I was 4). Arizona is not that much different from Texas, both are HOT and have a variety of climates that range from mountainous all the way down to having desserts (major exception being the Gulf Coast in Texas - Try finding a coastline in Arizona!).
 
      Anyways, my original degree plan was to be a Mechanical Engineer. About two years ago, I had the opportunity to work at Johnson Space Center as a summer hire for Lockheed Martin.  That was a very exciting job and I ended up working there for two years (part time during school and full time during the summer and winter break). Actually, working at JSC is what made up my decision to switch to Industrial Design. While I was able to do things that I liked and that were unique: design things with CAD, work on major projects for the International Space Station, and get to work with a great group of people, I learned that it wasn't what I really wanted.  In my experience there, I learned that mechanical engineers really only care about the validity of their structural designs through mathematical formulas and testing.  I didn't really like math THAT much to be a mechanical engineer, though if I really wanted to be an engineer I could. But, I have always been artistically gifted - specifically with pencil and paper. I've also had great interest in designing things and coming up with new ideas and ways of doing things.  So, as it happened, I discovered industrial design about one year ago at my former junior college where I was just about to finish up my Associate's degree and transfer to the University of Houston.  Industrial Design is what I thought engineering was, creating things for the benefit of mankind with regards to form, function, and materials.
  
       What I would really like to do is go into transportation design, a more specialized version of industrial design. However, I don't want to work for "The Big 2" or Daimler Chrystler. America needs to have a good, safe sports car which is inexpensive and enviromentally friendly - but still runs on gas - NO ELECTRICS, not yet anyways.  I always wanted to build my own car and drive it on the road and have found an interest in kit cars. I believe this could be a route to an affordable, reliable, well made performance vehicle, one that basically suits the individual person.  While the purchaser wouldn't assemble the vehicle, the principles involved in constructing kit cars could be adapted to create a production sports car. The superior strength  of the tube frame over a stamped steel frame/body, the ability to design a body which doesn't have to be a load bearing part of  a vehicle and therefore more freely shaped and made to be taken off when working on the vehicle, the simplified electronics, the reduction of weight, and use of a rotary engine for the best HP per cubic inch; all will help in designing the preiminant performance vehicle for the price.
     
      That's about it for this section, but you're more than welcome to search my site and see what I like to do (including a few of  my drawings) and what web links I like.