Ball State students have vision and are able to explore it here. They value collaboration with faculty and fellow classmates. Our innovative campus energizes their efforts with emerging technologies that are within reach. Below are chronicles of what some of our current students and young alumni are doing.

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Innovation + Phylecia Phylecia Thompson, ’10, Electronic Art/Animation, is an innovative entrepreneur. Her early love of animation and her collaborative experiences in high school with the young adults program at the legendary Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago paved the way for a scholarship at Ball State. Here, she led a student team that created an iPhone app. Ball State Digital Corps Director Jonathan Huer mentored the group. Watch Phylecia’s chronicles. (Open-caption version.) See Phylecia featured in our latest TV commercial. (Open-caption version.) Related Links • Phylecia's Blog • Digital Corps • Apple story about Digital Corp • Emerging Media Initiative  • Center for Media Design

Ideas + Sarah Sarah Conant, ’09, Exercise Science, found and solved a real-world data error for the U.S. Army Research Institute. Because she saved her team years of re-creating research on soldiers, she was awarded the Commander’s Coin—the only student ever to receive this honor. Her experience at the Ball State Biomechanics Laboratory working with faculty and other students such as John Hill, a veteran who is also a research assistant at the lab, and her Honors College project led to her student experience at the institute. Watch Sarah’s chronicles. (Open-caption version.) See Sarah featured in our latest TV commercial. (Open-caption version.) Related Links • Exercise science major  • Biomechanics Laboratory  • School of Physical Education, Sport, and Exercise Science (SPESES)  • Human Performance Lab

Immersive + Janet Working with real-world partners, Janet Kamiri, ’10, Health Education, wrote the curriculum for Project 18 that is fighting childhood obesity across the state and possibly the nation. In addition to this experience, Janet traveled with an interdisciplinary Ball State team in the summer of 2009 to conduct field studies in Kenya on child psychology. Watch Janet’s chronicles. (Open-caption version.) See Janet featured in our latest TV commercial. (Open-caption version.) Related Links • Project 18 at St. Vincent Health  • Project 18 at Ball State's Building Better Communities • News release  • Photos  • Video

Passionate + Ryan  Ryan Smith, ’07, Journalism/Graphics, is “living his passion.” He was recently nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for his work at the New Orleans Times-Picayune. His boss, Dan Swenson, a 1995 Ball State alumnus, won the Pulitzer Prize for his journalism graphics work covering Hurricane Katrina. Ryan learned the power of story integration while working on podcasts at The Ball State Daily News. Watch Ryan’s chronicles. (Open-caption version.) See Ryan featured in our latest TV commercial. (Open-caption version.) Related Links • Journalism graphics major  • Department of Journalism • Daily News