Contact: Jim Gardner, Executive Director of University Communications
(973) 596-3434/3433

Release Number: 3301

NEWARK -- Wednesday, October 22, 1997 – For the second year in a row, a New Jersey Institute of Technology architecture student has won the International CADDIE award in the Full-Time Undergraduate Still Images category. The winner was announced at CADALYST magazine’s annual CADDIES awards, held earlier this month in Los Angeles.

In last year’s competition, NJIT students took the top three places in the international design competition. This year’s second and third place winners will be announced in the magazine’s November issue.

Inspired by Isaac Asimov’s "Foundation," New Jersey Institute of Technology architectural student Damian Melo of Ridgefield Park, N.J. created "Arrival Station, Trantor." The five images submitted for the competition bring the viewer into the imaginary world of Trantor and its landing facility through the eyes of Melo and his computer. The five winning images were selected from 50 designed in Professor Glenn Goldman’s Fifth Year Studio Class last spring. Goldman required his class to base the architecture project on a work of literature.

"I’ve always been very interested in science fiction, and like many people my age I grew up watching it on TV," Melo said. "I chose ‘Foundations’ because it had a pretty neat story line. I like the way science fiction is introduced today, though, too, through computers and modeling. With Asimov known as the grand master of science fiction, I thought it was a pretty exciting combination."

Melo recently began his professional career as a designer at the Newark firm, Lineas Design Group.

"This is the best in the world," said Urs Gauchat, Dean of the NJIT School of Architecture. "Winning the CADDIE twice in a row is absolutely wonderful; it speaks extremely well of the abilities of our students. The award confirms the fact that our students are capable of producing the top student work in the world."

Professor Goldman said, "This award represents independent recognition of the quality of students we have in the NJIT School of Architecture."

NJIT’s School of Architecture is the fifth largest architecture school in the nation and is the only institution of higher education in New Jersey to offer the Bachelor of Architecture and Master of Architecture degrees.

Melo designed his project on a 180MHz Pentium Pro with 64MB RAM and Micrografix Picture Publisher, modeled entirely in 3D Studio Max. Winning images are available on or on CD by contacting Goldman: goldman@megahertz.njit.edu For further information about the contest, see the CADALYST Web site at www.cadonline.com/aulive/97caddie.html

NJIT is a public research university enrolling nearly 8,133 undergraduate, graduate and doctoral students in 73 degree programs through its five colleges: Newark College of Engineering, School of Architecture, College of Science and Liberal Arts, the School of Management and the Albert Dorman Honors College. Research initiatives include manufacturing, microelectronics, transportation, computer science, solar astrophysics, environmental engineering and science, and architecture and building science. U.S. News and World Report's 1998 Annual Guide to America's Best Colleges ranked NJIT among the top 175 national universities. Money Magazine's Best College Buys 1998 rated NJIT as the sixth best value among U.S. science and technology schools.

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