Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What does “Visualization” mean exactly? (Context: I received a Master of Fine Arts in Visualization from Texas A&M University.)

I encounter this question a lot, since Visualization is not a common degree name. Most people’s minds jump first to the field of data visualization, but data viz is only a small part of the larger scope covered by my graduate program in the Texas A&M Department of Visualization (aka “the Viz Lab”).

Put succinctly, the Viz Lab sees Visualization as the fields and topics where art and science merge. In practice, the program is known for its education related to technical roles in computer animation (such as modeling, rigging, shading, lighting, and rendering), but it also teaches and conducts research in fields like computer graphics, VR/AR, video game development, graphic design, art theory, and fine art practice. The graduate program admits students with a variety of backgrounds (art, computer science, and others), and helps them become well-rounded creatively and technically during their studies. This cross-disciplinary structure is fairly unique, and there are only a handful of similar programs in the United States. (These include Clemson’s Digital Production Arts program and the Entertainment Technology Center at Carnegie Mellon.)

The Texas A&M Department of Visualization currently offers two graduate degrees, a Master of Science and a Master of Fine Arts, both in Visualization. There is a fair bit of overlap between both degrees, but the main difference between them (aside from the obvious technical/creative focus implied) is in their final projects. An M.S. student completes their degree with a final research project, an associated thesis paper, and a thesis defense presentation. MFA students are instead expected to create a “body of work,” or a collection of art projects completed throughout the program, and then stage an exhibition of this work, accompanied by a paper and defense presentation. (Other differences include the fact that the MFA program is slightly longer, and that an MFA is a terminal degree equivalent to a Ph.D., meaning that MFA graduates can teach at the university level.)

(For more about the Texas A&M Department of Visualization, please visit https://viz.arch.tamu.edu/about/.)

For more about what I studied in the Viz program, see my About Me page, my Resume, and my Portfolio.

Q: It sounds like you produced a lot of artwork for your MFA. Where can I find that on your site?

Currently, you can see a few examples of my MFA work in the header images/videos for the Seam Stitching and Visual Rust sections of my portfolio. I used both of those software tools in creating pieces for my MFA body of work, and you can read more about the process in creating those tools there.

That said, this website is currently geared towards being a professional portfolio, so I’ve focused on work-related projects rather than extensive galleries of my creative work. I may add more of that in the future, but in the meantime, please contact me if you’re interested in seeing more of my work! I also occasionally share some of my creative projects on Twitter.

Q: I noticed that you have an outlook.com email address listed in a few images and videos on the site, but everywhere else, you list a gmail.com email address. What’s up with that?

I kept my Outlook email in images and videos to try to keep internet bots from being able to scrape that address and send me spam. I didn’t want visitors to have to jump through hoops to get in touch though, so I listed my Gmail address in links and buttons to make things easier. (My Gmail address has been out on the net for a lot longer, so I don’t mind it being scraped as much.) I use my Outlook address most often for job-related email, but I check both, so use whichever one is more convenient for you.

Q: What does your username “hadvil” mean?

The short answer is that if you say it out loud, it kind of sounds like “Hatfield,” my last name.

A longer answer is that I lived for a few years in the Pacific islands of Micronesia, specifically the islands of Chuuk, serving a mission for my church. Chuukese pronunciation works differently than it does in English, so it was hard for most people to pronounce my last name. A Chuukese pronunciation sounded more like “Atfin,” which, due to other Chuukese pronunciation rules I won’t get into, can be also written in Chuukese as “Advil”. I added back an “h” to distinguish it from the medicine, and thus arrived at “hadvil”!

Q: What about “samhat”? I noticed your business cards are kind of hat-themed.

That one actually goes back all the way to preschool, when a Sam Hansen was in class with me, Sam Hatfield. Sam H. or even Sam Ha. was not sufficient to distinguish between our names, so I signed all my craft projects in that class as Sam Hat. I used samhat at various times throughout the years, and it ended up being my alias at Microsoft.

The whole hat thing kind of came about at Microsoft too, when a friend of mine there kept introducing me by saying, “This is samhat, he has a bunch of crazy hats.” I actually wasn’t that big into hats back then, but her introduction has become a self-fulfilling prophecy. I’ve begun accumulating and wearing more and more hats since then, to the point that I decided to integrate hats in the design for my business cards.

Which is to say: I am now legally obligated to wear a hat to all industry events and meetups I go to.