Class of 2009: Dalnews features some of the 2,700 graduates who'll walk across the stage of the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium during Spring Convocation, May 19 to 27.
 |
| Andrew Shouldice |
For as long as he can remember, Andrew Shouldice has been drawing, doodling and painting. He confesses that sometimes he鈥檒l even sneak a sketch when he should be tackling a classroom problem.
That love of design hasn鈥檛 dissipated as he鈥檚 moved into the databases and disc drives world of computer science. With a focus on computer animation, Andrew鈥檚 honours thesis provides a model for ocean surface simulation鈥攎anufacturing the perfect seascape for everything from video games to flight simulators.
鈥淵ou want the ocean to be physically accurate, but my take is that you have to always make it look good at the same time,鈥� he explains. 鈥淵ou need to be conscious of the balance between something that is technically correct and something that simply is awesome to watch.鈥�
Mr. Shouldice, originally from Dartmouth, transferred to AV俱乐部 looking to get more out of his education than a technical degree. 鈥淚 wanted to do something a bit more meaningful鈥 wanted to stretch myself, push myself more.鈥�
A stellar student with several awards and Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council grants to his name, Mr. Shouldice has been a familiar face in the Computer Science Society, serving as president, social rep and undergrad rep. He鈥檚 not only donated his time but his talents.
He created the pixilated version of the Dal shield that adorns the society鈥檚 most popular T-shirt, and also designed the Computer Science grad ring that many of his fellow graduates will be purchasing for the first time this year.
鈥淭o me, design is about coming up with something aesthetically appealing that communicates an idea,鈥� he says. 鈥淎bove all else, that鈥檚 what鈥檚 important to me.鈥�