In 2014, KieranTimberlake team members worked together with Total Learning Research Institute President Kerry Joels and participants from Gilbane Building Company and Travis Alderson Associates to create a building information model (BIM) of a virtual base on the planet Mars.  
 
The team recently received a National Institute of Building Sciences Member Award for its support of the STEM Initiative for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education. The awards ceremony will take place during the Building Innovation 2015 conference in Washington, DC, this week.  
 
The BIM model is a key aspect of the Mars City Operations Challenge, which teaches high school and community college students to act as facility managers responsible for maintaining the virtual base. The Challenge will launch at schools nationwide in fall of 2015.