Counting Down The 12 Most-Read Stories In 2016

Texas A&M Today shared stories of institutional excellence, innovation in research and student ambition in 2016. Here are the ones that readers enjoyed the most:

Texas A&M Soars In New ‘Best Colleges’ Report

Texas A&M University ranks fourth among the nation’s public universities in Money magazine’s new “Best Colleges For Your Money” report and 13th overall – up two places since last year among publics and advancing seven places among all institutions of higher learning. Also, it again ranks first in the magazine’s list of “The 50 Best Colleges You Can Actually Get Into.” Keep reading…

Beat The Heat And Ski Down Mt. Aggie

When it’s 98 degrees on the Texas A&M University campus and the sun feels hot enough to turn your skin into a French fry, nothing says “cool-down” like a quick trip down Mt. Aggie, the school’s 130-foot- long ski slope. The man-made structure is used for classes in the Health and Kinesiology department, and although there is no snow on the slope, it at least gives the illusion of the white stuff to make things cooler. At least the students feel that way. Keep reading…

Texas A&M Cited As One Of Nation’s Top Colleges For Women

Texas A&M University, known for decades as an all-male college, is one of 50 U.S. institutions featured in a new “Best Colleges and Universities for Women” article — and the only public university in Texas so cited. The 2016 ranking of the nation’s best colleges for women was  compiled by College Choice, an online firm that has as its slogan “Helping You Choose the Right College.” Keep reading…

Gulf Of Mexico Radars Launched By Texas A&M Could Be Lifesavers

A system of high-frequency radars recently launched by Texas A&M University into the Gulf of Mexico will provide instant oceanic and atmospheric information that will impact thousands of commercial fishermen, oil and gas workers, shipping companies, coastal residents and others who are in or near the Gulf at any moment of the day. Keep reading…

Students Honoring Victims Of Bonfire Tragedy With Ambitious Project

Good can come from tragedy if Aggie students have anything to say about it. The student-led organization BUILD has a mission of completing 12 Texas Aggie Medical Clinics (TAMCs) this fall, each dedicated to one of the 12 students killed in the 1999 collapse of the school’s annual bonfire. Keep reading…

Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush Joins Bush School Faculty

He will teach a concentrated course in January on the role of gubernatorial leadership and its impact on government at all levels, announced Bush School Dean Mark Welsh. Governor Bush will teach the elective course during a 10-day period, Jan. 6-16, which is prior to the formal start of the university’s spring semester, but 65 Bush School students have already signed up for it, Bush School Dean Mark Welsh noted. Keep reading…

Researchers Solve Mystery Of Historic 1952 London Fog And Current Chinese Haze

Few Americans may be aware of it, but in 1952 a killer fog that contained pollutants covered London for five days, causing breathing problems and killing thousands of residents.  The exact cause and nature of the fog has remained mostly unknown for decades, but an international team of scientists that includes several Texas A&M University-affiliated researchers believes that the mystery has been solved and that the same air chemistry also happens in China and other locales. Keep reading…

Chancellor Sharp Announces $150 Million Research Campus

John Sharp, Chancellor of The Texas A&M University System, today unveiled plans to invest $150 million to create a new research and development campus to help companies move ideas from the laboratory to the marketplace while also offering a new path toward a college degree. The campus, to be located at a revamped and renamed Riverside Campus, initially will include a cluster of seven new buildings and test beds to encourage the private sector to develop secure research facilities adjacent to the System’s site. Keep reading…

Texas A&M A Top 10 Producer Of Fortune 500 CEOs

Only two institutions in the nation have more graduates serving as CEOs of Fortune 500 companies than Texas A&M University, according to a new Money magazine study. Texas A&M is credited with having six former students serving as CEOs of the largest companies in America, as tabulated in an online report by Money—the most for any university in Texas, the South or Southwest. That total is exceeded only by two Ivy League schools:  Harvard, with 10, and Cornell with nine. Keep reading…

Texas A&M A Top 10 University In ‘Service To The Nation’

Texas A&M University places among the top 10 colleges in the nation—and first in Texas —in Washington Monthly’s new rankings that take into major consideration factors such as research and service to the nation, as well as academic standing. In the magazine’s 2016 rankings released yesterday, Texas A&M placed 6th overall and 2nd among all of the nation’s public universities. Keep reading…

Aggie’s Design Adorns Starbucks Holiday Cups

The unveiling of Starbucks’ 2016 holiday cups, an event eagerly anticipated by coffee fans throughout the world, included a cup featuring intricately-drawn poinsettias created by Christina Anderson, a senior landscape architecture student at Texas A&M. Her design, available at Starbucks stores in Latin America and East Asia, is one of the global coffee chain’s 13 holiday cups. Keep reading…

First In U.S. Dutch-Style Unsignalized Intersection Installed at Texas A&M

Texas A&M’s Transportation Services and Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) completed construction on a first-of-a-kind non-signalized, Dutch-style intersection, Oct 1. The protected intersection includes bright green solar luminescent pavement markings used to delineate the bicycle pathways–also the first use in the United States. Keep reading…