Anjelica created this 3D model of the Vanderbilt University Central Library in the Minecraft game environment. She generated a 3D model with assistance from the library's GIS specialist that is included in the libray's "Picturing Our World" exhibition.
Minecraft is among the best-selling video games of all time. Players of the game use a limited collection of blocks to build a wide array of structures, from palaces to libraries. Recently, scientific organizations such as the Danish Geodata Agency, and the British Geological Survey have recreated geologically accurate maps in Minecraft. The goal is to engage new generations of users with geological data using this new medium. The dean’s fellow will create a Minecraft “world” of the geological aspects of the Vanderbilt University. The world will be created by taking existing geographic information system information about Vanderbilt’s campus and uploading it to a Minecraft server. The game will permit students, faculty, and staff to explore the distinctive geological features of the campus. We will also have a cross-section of the Minecraft world rendered using a 3D printer for display in a library exhibition.
Anjelica Saulsberry is a senior, graduating with a major in Neuroscience and a minor in Child Development from Vanderbilt University. She has completed three summer fellowships with St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in the Mckinney-Freeman Laboratory aiding in research to further understand the maintenance and potentiation of Hematopoetic stem cells. She is currently a member of the Harrison Laboratory in the Vanderbilt Medical Center analyzing the role of diet in the relationship between metabolic syndrome and Alzheimer's pathology. She is a recipient of the Creative Enterprise and Public Policy Scholarship and completed a summer internship with Boston Healthcare for the Homeless to learn first-hand how a non-profit healthcare organization is adapting to changes under the Affordable Care Act. She was Vanderbilt University's Student Ambassador at the 2014 Southeastern Conference (SEC) Symposium on Obesity Research in Atlanta, GA, and she is excited to attend medical school in the fall of 2015.