Combining interests

Trevor Brown's interests were so diverse that it was natural that he would start at Iowa State as an open option major.

Glance at Trevor Brown's resume and you will notice the wide range of interests that he employs. He has been a member of both the Iowa State Singers and the Madrigal Singers on campus, served as the webmaster for many different organizations including Iowa State's Center for Sustainable Environmental Technologies, and been involved in video and film productions while on campus.

But Trevor's two primary interests are science and art. By his own admission, he switched majors more times than the average student.

"I changed majors five times before I found the right match for me," he says. "When I was just in art, I needed that science discipline. When I was taking science courses I went crazy being in a lab all day."

So Trevor combined his interests to major in biological / premedical illustration (BPMI).

"BPMI is the perfect blend of the two disciplines for me," he says.

Computer game
Trevor's interests in science and art enabled him to become active with the Virtual Reality Applications Center on campus. There he is the art director and digital artist of "Meta!Blast," a 3D virtual cell video game which biology professor Eve Wurtele will soon use in her classroom.

"Digital (art) design is where BPMI is heading," Trevor observes. "It has opened up so many different avenues for biological illustrators."

"Meta!Blast" is one of those avenues for Trevor. The video game is designed to give high school and college students an interactive approach to understanding the inner workings of a plant cell.

Students will play "Meta!Blast" much like they would "Tomb Raider" or any other computer game. The student will "drive" a sub through a plant cell and try to save the last remaining plant on the planet while going through a list of missions that correlate with the introductory biology text.

"In 'Meta!Blast" I think we have effectively combined both education and entertinament in a way that very few other individuals have tried to tackle," Trevor said.

Trevor Brown

2007 December Graduate
Biological and Pre-Medical Illustration

 

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