Guest: Dr. Madhu Thangalevu; Topics: Madhu's more than 30 years of teaching his space design studio class at USC noting how things have changed over time.
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We welcomed Madhu back to the program to share with us his thirty years and more of teaching his architectural space design class at the graduate level at USC. Please note the two class flyers and outlines in PDF format that have been posted to this blog page. We opened the discussion with our guest telling us his background in India and how and why he studied architecture after studying physics and other subjects. Note what he said about creativity, inspiration, innovation. He repeated these themes throughout the program as they led him to architecture as a study and professional discipline.As we have done with other program summaries, follow the key words/tags as they do a good job of summarizing the program and in the order items were discussed. I will repeat them here for your convenience:
"Dr. Madhu Thangalevu, USC, ASTE 527 Graduate Space Architecting Studio, 30 year history, physics, architecture, creativity, inspiration, imagination, NASA, CAD programs, commercial space impact on class, cubesats, the importance of having the will to do something, international students, video games, Hank Rogers video game designer, institutional heritage, seeing how space impacts us, space weather, undergraduate students, cartoons, television, Jeff Bezos, student evolution, NASA and students over time."
In addition to these topics, Madhu took time to promote the USC program through their department of Astronautical Engineering. In addition, he talked about past leaders in the program and the department including frequent Space Show guest and friend, Dr. Mike Gruntman. As soon as Madhu went through his introduction, he started receiving emails about the students, how they had changed over the years of his teaching, then he told us that early on students wanted to work for NASA. Now that was seldom the case, instead opting for a private space company. When asked why, he talked about the privates being able to move fast, getting products and innovation to space as compared to the very long times and delays usually associated with NASA and other government agencies. Don't miss all of what Madhu had to say on this topic as it was interesting and timely.
Marshall called to ask Madhu how computer programs such as CAD programs had influenced students and teaching. You might be surprised by how Madhu answered this question so be sure to listen to all of what he said in response to what Marshall was asking. Listener Kelly in Phoenix then asked our guest just how much commercial space development had impacted his students over the years. Once again, be prepared for a surprise when you hear how Madhu answered this question. Fremont John called to ask how many of his students had gone on to start a company, maybe a 3D printing company or something similar. Madhu did not have an answer for John but did talk about the USC business incubator. Madhu then moved on to talk about the importance of video games and his class plus the industry. He called out the famous Dutch video game designer, Henk Rogers. Within the same discussion theme, Randy in Little Rock wanted to know how Madhu had changed over the last 30 years.
Madhu said he looked to various things for creativity and ideas. He identified cartoons and television. He said ideas have legs. He then provided us with a summary and invited listeners to participate in his class end of the year program which he explained plus it is also mentioned on the documents uploaded to the blog on his behalf.
Please post your comments/questions for Madhu on our blog. You can reach him through me or his USC faculty page or from the two PDF documents uploaded to our blog for this program.
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