MONDAY, MARCH 23, 2015 I SERVING TEXAS A&M SINCE 1893 I © 2015 STUDENT MEDIA I ©THEBATTONLINE
the
BATT
THE BATTALION I THEBATT.COM
A little more than a 'modest house'
Housemates create an in-house
recording studio to foster B-CS music
By Katie Canales
■ MV hen three housemates went looking
for a way to tap into the local music
V V scene, they found the solution in the
dining room.
Industrial engineering senior Tim Dorman,
Zach Castillo and mechanical engineering se
nior Will Davis transformed part of their small
white “modest” house into a recording studio
in October 2014, and Modest House Sessions
was born.
The studio showcases local and touring art
ists on its YouTube channel, which has gar
nered up to 8,000 views on its videos.
They have recently started booking shows to
expand beyond in-house recordings. In Febru
ary, they collected bands that had previously
done sessions to perform in what they called the
Modest House Showcase at the Grand Stafford.
“Mainly what we’re focusing on right now
is really enriching and cultivating a music and
art scene in the Bryan-College Station area,”
Dorman said.
Inspiration came to the three one night
when they recorded and filmed a session of
their own, which was later uploaded, to their
YouTube channel and named “Prelude.”
Domian said they see more and more inde
pendent artists emerging in the music world,
which is why they focus on not only live ses
sions, but also booking shows, managing bands
and working on their craft with them.
“We’re trying to make ourselves a one-stop
shop where people can come to record be
cause in the future, there’s not really going to
be labels as far as music labels are concerned,”
Dorman said. “When you’re looking into the
future, a lot of artists are going more indepen
dent. So if we as a studio became more serious
about [making] this a lucrative, endeavor, we’ll
kind of have to figure out how to adapt to how
the future’s going to be like.”
One of Modest House’s goals is to track
bands touring within its proximity and invite
them to the house to do sessions. The recording
studio got its first big break when a Nashville-
based band called Judah and the Lion agreed to
do a live session at the house.
“They played on Letterman, which is really
cool, and it was cool that we got to have them
in our house because it was the first legit artist
coming through,” Dorman said. “And we’ve
had more luck on that -— getting artists who
are touring through the area.”
The recording group also maintains a focus
on local talent, inviting students and residents
in Bryan-College Station to perform in their
house, in addition to branching out to outside
artists.
MODEST HOUSE ON PG. 3
NATION
ENGINEERING
TEXAS
Bush School
grads pitch
in on federal
budgeting
By Nikita Redkar
Three Texas A&M Bush School grad-
uates helped lend an Aggie touch to
the presidential budget, assisting in its con-
struction for Fiscal Year 2016.
Benton Arnett, Travis Stalcup and Pat
rick Issa acted as program liaisons to the
Office of Management and Budget, the
largest office within the Executive Office
of the President.
Issa, Class of 2013, is employed by the
Federal Emergency Management Agen
cy, an agency of the U.S. Department of
Homeland Security that coordinates re
sponses to disasters in the United States.
He said he took part in a presidential man
agement fellowship that allowed him to be
employed by FEMA while simultaneously
working on the budget.
“The federal budget process takes six
months and begins after all federal agencies
send their own budget requests to OMB,
FEDERAL BUDGET ON PG. 2
PROVIDED
Former students Benton Arnett,
Travis Stalcup and Patrick Issa were
program liasons involved in creating
the budget for Fiscal Year 2016.
Mechanical engineering senior Andrew Nelson demos the race car Saturday
built by 21 A&M students with a budget of $52,000.
10 years later,
Texas City
explosion serves
as benchmark
PROVIDED
The oil refinery explosion in Texas City
on March 23, 2005 killed 15 workers and
injured hundreds.
Oil refinery safety measures have
changed in the decade since the blast
Aggie engineering students
turn $52,000 into a race car
By Srinivas Marshal
A team of 21 senior mechanical en-
gineering students will showcase the
race car it built over a course of nine
months as part of its senior capstone de
sign course with the ultimate goal of a po
dium finish in June at the Formula SAE
International event in Lincoln, Neb.
Formula SAE is a student design com
petition organized by SAE International,
formerly Society of Automotive Engi
neers, in which teams are charged with
designing, building, testing and compet
ing with a prototype race car across a se
ries of static and dynamic events. A&M
students built the race car with most parts
and systems manufactured in-house with
a budget of just $52,000.
“It is the pinnacle of my education at
Texas A&M and the greatest thing I’ve
ever done in my life,” said Natalie Mar
shal, leader of the powertrain team and
mechanical engineering senior.
For the 2014-2015 academic year,
the group was split into five basic sub
systems: aerodynamics, chassis, electrical,
powertrain and suspension.
“From extensive studies using lap
simulation software to see variations with
change of weight, torque, transmission
ratios, power curves and general intuition
on how things would actually work out
on the track, we chose the 600 CC 2008
Yamaha-R6 Engine,” Marshal said, de
scribing the team’s decision in choosing
an engine.
Katherine Letourneau, a member of
RACE CAR ON PG. 3
By Jennifer Reiley
^ | Ten years ago Monday, a hydrocarbon vapor
cloud explosion tore through the Texas City
oil refinery, killing 15 workers and injuring more
than 100 others. Today, those affected have played
a role in changing the way safety is viewed in the
petroleum industry, an industry brimming with
Aggies.
Texas A&M Regent Anthony Buzbee repre
sented 165 clients who were injured in the explo
sion in cases against British Petroleum, the com
pany that owned the refinery at the time.
“I think the industry learned a lot from the ex
plosion,” Buzbee said. “I know from my involve
ment in other refinery accidents that the BP 2005
explosion has been studied by its competitors and
those in the industry in an effort to learn from the
disaster.”
Buzbee said he has seen change in the industry
over the last decade, but said he still has doubts as
to whether BP itself learned a lesson. He said BP
admitted fault right away, but continued to chal
lenge the severity of the workers’ injuries.
TEXAS CITY ON PG. 2
m
TEXAS ASM
MEN'S BASKET
vs LOUISIANA TtCH mimes
ITSGAMEDAY!
/7?££ADMISSI0N
WITH STUDENT ID
TONIGHT I 6pm I REED ARENA
LUNIT