Please join the College of Sciences as we welcome new members to our Advisory Board

One alumnus is using his Earth and Atmospheric Sciences degree to perfect state-of-the-art weather forecasting for the business world. Another member’s Biological Sciences education allows her to assist veterans with their cancer treatment plans. Yet another is using her Applied Physiology degree to work on the next generation of wearable electronics. 

They're among nine Georgia Tech College of Sciences alumni who are committed to volunteering their expertise and time to help the College continue its growth and success.

The College of Sciences Advisory Board provides advice to the Dean and administrators regarding priorities and directions for sciences education and research. Board members are from the private sector and academia, and include both alumni and other individuals who are interested in the success of the College and Georgia Tech.

Five of the new members accepted invitations to join the Advisory Board during the 2022-23 school year:

  • James Belanger
  • Eva Heintz
  • Stewart Long
  • Jack McCallum
  • Jessica McDermott 

For the 2023-24 school year, the new board members are:

  • Nigamnarayan “Nigam” Acharya
  • Angela Clark
  • Tracy Giest
  • Tia Williams

New Advisory Board members:

Nigamnarayan “Nigam” Acharya

Nigamnarayan “Nigam” Acharya (M.S. CHEM ‘11) received a Bachelors of Science degree in Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Political Science from the University of Wisconsin – Madison and a Juris Doctorate Degree from Emory School of Law. 

Acharya currently serves as a shareholder at Greenberg Traurig, LLP., where he provides long-term representation for companies from initial startup to maturity. He  helps life sciences and chemical companies protect and capitalize on intellectual property rights. His practice includes patent and trademark prosecution, corporate formation and life-cycle advice, negotiating and structuring complex business agreements (licenses, material transfer agreements, research agreements, and partnering agreements). 

Archarya has an in-depth knowledge of business and science that allows him to counsel pharma and chemical companies. He was a founder and board member of a tech company, which he eventually sold. 

James Belanger

James Belanger (B.S. EAS ‘07, Ph.D. EAS ‘12)  joined Engelhart Commodities Trading Partners in August 2021 and is currently the Head of Weather. He is responsible for leading a team of entrepreneurial scientists and software developers who are developing state-of-the-science weather and climate forecast systems to provide a quantitative edge for Engelhart's commodity trading business. 

Prior to joining Engelhart, Belanger was a senior scientist for five years at The Weather Company, a division of IBM, where he was responsible for providing scientific expertise in the design and implementation of IBM’s artificial intelligence algorithms for customer and business weather products.  During that time with the Global Forecasting Sciences and Technology team, Belanger’s science contributions helped IBM’s forecast accuracy edge grow against the competition. In 2021, IBM was named the world’s most accurate forecaster by ForecastWatch, the nation’s premier authority in meteorological accuracy validation. 

Belanger began his graduate work at the University at Albany before returning to Georgia Tech to complete his EAS Ph.D. Before transitioning to the private sector, Belanger was a research scientist and School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences faculty member for four years. His research focused on improving tropical cyclone forecasts and landfall impacts to establish more resilient electrical and emergency management infrastructure systems. 

Belanger and his wife Laura live in Peachtree City with their two children, Andrew and Katherine. 

Angela Clark

Angela Clark (B.S. BIOS ‘94) has spent her career as an environmental scientist evaluating the potential risks of contamination to human health and the environment at hazardous waste cleanup sites for military bases. 

Clark has supported the U.S. Department of Defense for nearly 30 years in its  environmental, facilities engineering, and planning programs, serving as a technical lead, project manager and client account manager. She is currently a senior vice president at HDR Engineering, Inc., the largest employee-owned architecture/engineering firm in the world, and is located in Milwaukee, WI. 

Tracy Giest

As the Lead of the Human Research Lab for Fitbit/Google, Tracy Giest (Ph.D. BIOS ‘15) heads a team of scientists, program managers, and research assistants focused on designing and executing experimental protocols to develop and validate the next generation sensors and algorithms for Fitbit and Pixel Watches.  

Giest’s fascination with human movement and physiology led her to study under School of Biological Sciences Professor Young-Hui Chang, who is also Associate Chair for Faculty Development in the College of Sciences. Her research focused on the intersection of neurological control and biomechanics as it relates to human walking, running, and cycling, and amputee locomotion.  

Gieist’s postdoctoral work focused on investigating robotic exoskeletons for stroke rehabilitation at North Carolina State University with Greg Sawicki, who is now at Georgia Tech). 

As a former middle school teacher with Teach for America, and an industrial biomechanics consultant for one of the largest railroad companies in the U.S., Giest has a unique blend of professional experience that has led to her current leadership role at Google.

Eva Heintz

Eva Heintz (Ph.D. CHEM ‘04) started her career at Procter & Gamble before moving to Solvay, a chemicals/materials company, where she is currently a Global Strategic Key Account Manager and Large Deals Coach. 

Throughout her career at Solvay, Heintz has held various roles including R&D Manager, Global Marketing Manager, and Senior Global Marketing & Sales Excellence Manager. In addition to her day job, she is also the Chairwoman for Solvay North America, Inc. GGF, and Founder/Chairwoman of Solvay X-Factor (ERG).

Her passion for giving back to the community is demonstrated in her roles such as Chair  of the Board of Directors of BEATs, Inc., a local non-profit using hippotherapy for children and adults with physical and mental challenges, as well as previous roles in non-profit boards such as The Swinney Foundation.

Stewart W. Long

Stewart W. Long (B.S. PHYS ‘75) is Managing Director of Energy Consulting Group. A retired engineer and engineering program manager, Long has extensive experience in commercial power reactor engineering and operations, and in defense research & development. 

Long, a retired U.S. Army Lt. Colonel who also has a degree in nuclear engineering, is a published author of U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) reports and conference papers. 

Long’s experience includes serving as Managing Director and Co-Founder of Patriots for Reliable Electric Power, a Pennsylvania public benefit company providing expert advice on protecting the nation’s electric power grid. He retired from Westinghouse Electric Co. with multiple domestic and international assignments including: Fellow Engineer, Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) Commissioning & Operations; Manager, NPP Engineering & Construction Integration; Resident Site Manager at Arkansas Nuclear One NPP; Startup Technical Advisor at Yonggwang NPP (Korea) and Barakah NPP (United Arab Emirates). 

Long was appointed as Senior Fellow for the NRC’s Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and served as U.S. Army field officer in Korea and as Nuclear Research & Development officer at Lawrence Livermore National Lab.    

Jack McCallum

Jack McCallum (B.S. BIOS ‘66) has a Masters of Science in History from Texas Christian University, a Ph.D. in Medicine from Emory University, and a Ph.D. in History from Texas Christian University. 

McCallum has board certification in both adult and pediatric neurosurgery, and has held teaching appointments in medicine and history at several universities. He has also been founder and chief executive officer for four successful companies. 

A generous gift from the McCallum Family Foundation has provided scholarships to reward outstanding undergraduate students for their academic excellence and performance in Georgia Tech research labs. The McCallum scholarships enable undergraduates to engage in an exceptional undergraduate research program. 

In 2022, the McCallum Family Foundation donated a $1 million gift to create the Jack and Dana McCallum Neurorehabilitation Training Program. The new initiative will be used over the next four years to support research from graduate students, postdoctoral scholars, and faculty, as well as train new scientists in neurorehabilitation. 

McCallum has published two books and numerous articles dealing with both medicine and history, and he has taught history at the graduate and undergraduate levels for 17 years.  

 Jessica McDermott

Jessica McDermott (B.S. BIOS ‘04) is Assistant Professor of Medicine, Division of Medical Oncology, at Rocky Mountain Regional Medical Center. Her major committee and service responsibilities include interviewing fellowship applicants in Hematology/ Oncology. She is also a member of the committee that completes final ranking.

Since 2014, McDermott has served as a member of the Head/Neck Cancer Tumor Board at the University of Colorado Cancer Center. She participates in weekly multidisciplinary meetings, where she reviews all head/neck cancer patients at the university. 

McDermott is also a Veterans Administration Hematology/Oncology tumor board facilitator, participating in weekly meetings where she reviews veteran cancer patient treatment plans.  

Tia Williams

Tia Williams (B.S. EAS ‘96) credits her mother, a chemist, for opening her eyes to the world of science, and that fascination was validated when she worked in Georgia Tech’s Air Quality Lab.

Williams originally came to campus as a chemical engineering major, but switched to the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. By leveraging the programming languages she learned while visualizing her lab science data, Williams transitioned into software engineering, building a 25-year career in the software industry working for enterprise software giants Oracle and Salesforce. 

Williams is now a Group Vice President of Design and Product Experience for San Francisco-based New Relic, which provides cloud-based tools that monitor all software and technologies used in a platform, website, or mobile application.

 

Hundreds of thousands of honeybees make their home atop The Kendeda Building for Innovative Sustainable Design, and it's up to Janelle Dunlap to make sure the hives thrive.  

Dunlap was hired earlier this year as the Urban Honey Bee Project's (UHBP) first-ever beekeeper in residence. Throughout her residency, she'll conduct research into the pollinator's place in our ecosystem and how beekeeping may offer relief to veterans dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), while connecting with the bees through art.  

Dunlap had been gardening for over a decade, but in 2016, when she got the urge to find new ways to engage with nature, she recalled a powerful piece of imagery that shaped her childhood — Wu-Tang Clan's music video for “Triumph” and its depiction of the group's members as a powerful swarm of Africanized killer bees.  

"The political messaging and tying Africanized killer bees in with the stereotypes and the tropes of African Americans in the media, and the way that that was so poetically tied in, visually stuck with me,” she said. “It was the first time I recognized a political message being articulated through art. For that reason, it stuck with me that bees were a form of strong symbolism tied to resilience." 

Living in Charlotte, North Carolina, Dunlap became a certified beekeeper under the Mecklenburg County Beekeepers Association in 2017. She continued practicing as she moved around the country, with stops in Chicago and Denver, eventually landing in Atlanta in 2021. Looking for a way to connect to the local beekeeping community, she attended an April presentation by UHBP Director Jennifer Leavey, who offered Dunlap a chance to get involved at Georgia Tech.  

She now handles the inspection of the hives on The Kendeda Building roof, where she monitors for pests and ensures the bees have proper nutrition to sustain their population through the seasons. The UHBP began in 2012 with the goal of educating the Tech community on the importance of these pollinators within the Atlanta ecosystem and beyond — a charge that Dunlap carries on.  

Over the next year, she will continue working on her sound art project that examines the frequency at which bees “buzz” and how it, along with the responsibilities of beekeeping, is being used by VA hospitals and programs to ease the effects of PTSD. While the science behind the connection is still being explored, beekeeping was recommended more than a century ago — to soldiers returning home from World War I — according to a CNBC profile of Bees4Vets, a nonprofit based in Nevada.  

From the Hive to the Canvas 

Whether it was baking sourdough bread or learning a new language, many people, including Dunlap, took the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic to pick up a new hobby. She began a master's program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago with the goal of using beeswax in encaustic painting, which uses hot wax mixed with pigments. The use of natural materials collected through her beekeeping practice connects Dunlap to her work.  

“It's a way of tapping into another level of consciousness. It's a way of articulating the noncommunicable relationship between me and the bees. When there's a language gap between people, we try to fill it in with translation, but without a direct way to translate the language or the sensation that I feel from the bees, this allows me to document my practice in an abstract form,” she said.  

By layering the wax and applying heat throughout the process, Dunlap watches the pieces take shape, often with the unpredictability of an active hive, as she says the art “can create itself.” She collects the wax in small amounts, knowing that she can only produce her art if the bees are healthy.  

"It's an eco-conscious practice, making sure I don't use more than I need," she explained. “I love the landscape it creates, and it's all about me creating a direct relationship with my medium and knowing that I earned it by developing a relationship with the bees." 

As Dunlap continues her year-long residency with the UHBP, she intends to help educate the community, both on campus and around the Atlanta area, in the hopes that more prospective beekeepers will explore their curiosity to unlock the full potential of the practice. 

"It's been a practice that keeps unveiling itself to me," she said. "As you get more engaged, you learn there is so much more to it than just the day-to-day hive inspections. There is a lot of beauty to it as well." 

Students at Tech have several ways to get involved with research and beekeeping, including the Living Building Science VIP team, the Beekeeping Club, and various classes and workshops hosted by the UHBP

Please join Provost McLaughlin for a virtual town hall on Tues. Oct. 31 from 11 a.m. to noon. The town hall is open to faculty, staff, and students and will offer a few academic updates, as well as a live Q&A session.

Questions may also be submitted in advance by emailing provostsoffice@gatech.edu. Questions should be received no later than 5 p.m. on Fri. Oct. 27.

Join the event: https://c.gatech.edu/oct31townhall

Event Details

David Hu, professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and School of Biological Sciences at Georgia Tech, has been elected a 2023 American Physical Society (APS) Fellow for his innovative experiments in biological fluid mechanics and his willingness to share them with young scientists. Hu’s nomination came from the APS Division of Fluid Dynamics (DFD). 

The APS Fellowship Program recognizes members who have made exceptional contributions in physics research, important applications of physics, leadership in or service to physics, or significant contributions to physics education. Each year, less than 10 members from the APS DFD community receive this elevation and this year only eight Fellows were selected.

“I am humbled to be elected among my teachers and mentors who have taught me everything I know,” said Hu. “I see that I have a responsibility, like the previous generation of fellows, to represent the subject matter well, make the difficult decisions, and help foster the next generation of fluid mechanics, whatever it may look like.”

Read more about David Hu's journey in fluid mechanics on the Mechanical Engineering website.

David Hu, professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and School of Biological Sciences at Georgia Tech, has been elected a 2023 American Physical Society (APS) Fellow for his innovative experiments in biological fluid mechanics and his willingness to share them with young scientists. Hu’s nomination came from the APS Division of Fluid Dynamics (DFD). 

The APS Fellowship Program recognizes members who have made exceptional contributions in physics research, important applications of physics, leadership in or service to physics, or significant contributions to physics education. Each year, less than 10 members from the APS DFD community receive this elevation and this year only eight Fellows were selected.

“I am humbled to be elected among my teachers and mentors who have taught me everything I know,” said Hu. “I see that I have a responsibility, like the previous generation of fellows, to represent the subject matter well, make the difficult decisions, and help foster the next generation of fluid mechanics, whatever it may look like.”

Read more about David Hu's journey in fluid mechanics on the Mechanical Engineering website.

Georgia Tech and the College of Sciences community sends its condolences to the family and friends of James (Jim) Reedy, a former professor and chair of the College's former Department of Health & Physical Education. His family held a memorial service on October 23 in Atlanta, Georgia.

Philip Sparling, professor emeritus in the School of Biological Sciences, shared the following message in honor of Reedy:

“Dr. Jim Reedy, a longtime department chair at Georgia Tech, passed away on October 4th at age 85. Recruited in 1978, he led major changes in his unit’s mission and curriculum that included an expansion from physical training classes to courses in lifetime fitness, human anatomy, exercise physiology, and biomechanics. He provided resources to new faculty to develop research programs and transformed the Department of Physical Education & Recreation into the Department of Health & Performance Sciences, a unit within the College of Sciences (today as part of the School of Biological Sciences). He served as chair for 20 years under four different deans (1978-1998). He retired in 2000. Dr. Reedy was a charismatic, passionate, and gifted administrator who had a lasting impact on the GT community.”

James Reedy obituary

James Alan Reedy, beloved husband, father, grandfather and friend passed away peacefully on October 4, 2023, in Atlanta, Georgia. He was 85 years old. Born in Clintwood, Virginia, he was preceded in death by his parents Corbett and Lelia Reedy, loving wife Kay Reedy and sister Nancy Olson. He is survived by his children Jody Reedy Andrade (Billy), Betsy Reedy Sawyer (Ryan), Bryan Dunlap (Kelley), Bo Dunlap (Jill), and Greg Kershner (Leigh). Jim was a proud grandfather to his fourteen grandchildren: Cameron, Grace, Tyler, Eli, Sidney, Paige, Grant, Jackson, Meredith, Eliza, Isabella, Sechaba, Talia and Meti. 

Jim was a graduate of John Marshall High School in Richmond, Virginia and Bridgewater College where he resides in the Hall of Fame for men’s basketball. He earned a master’s degree from Long Beach State and doctorate degree from Vanderbilt University. 

Jim had a strong Christian faith grounded from his youth and his parental teachings. This led to a work ethic that was admired for its integrity and dedication to the field of health and physical education. A life-long educator, he served in many roles including teacher, coach, athletic director and college administrator. He began his career at Bridgewater College and finished at Georgia Tech as department head and professor of the Health and Performance Sciences Department. His influence upon those with whom he taught and mentored lingers to this day. 

Jim enjoyed daily exercise, delicious food, a good old movie, anything sports related and especially time with family. He had a gift for storytelling and could captivate an audience with his humorous tales and poems. Over the past several years, he began to write novels and had several published that relied on the connections he had with people throughout his life. He chose joy daily and his encouraging spirit will be forever missed.

Georgia Tech and the College of Sciences community sends its condolences to the family and friends of James (Jim) Reedy, a former professor and chair of the College's former Department of Health & Physical Education. His family held a memorial service on October 23 in Atlanta, Georgia.

Philip Sparling, professor emeritus in the School of Biological Sciences, shared the following message in honor of Reedy:

“Dr. Jim Reedy, a longtime department chair at Georgia Tech, passed away on October 4th at age 85. Recruited in 1978, he led major changes in his unit’s mission and curriculum that included an expansion from physical training classes to courses in lifetime fitness, human anatomy, exercise physiology, and biomechanics. He provided resources to new faculty to develop research programs and transformed the Department of Physical Education & Recreation into the Department of Health & Performance Sciences, a unit within the College of Sciences (today as part of the School of Biological Sciences). He served as chair for 20 years under four different deans (1978-1998). He retired in 2000. Dr. Reedy was a charismatic, passionate, and gifted administrator who had a lasting impact on the GT community.”

James Reedy obituary

James Alan Reedy, beloved husband, father, grandfather and friend passed away peacefully on October 4, 2023, in Atlanta, Georgia. He was 85 years old. Born in Clintwood, Virginia, he was preceded in death by his parents Corbett and Lelia Reedy, loving wife Kay Reedy and sister Nancy Olson. He is survived by his children Jody Reedy Andrade (Billy), Betsy Reedy Sawyer (Ryan), Bryan Dunlap (Kelley), Bo Dunlap (Jill), and Greg Kershner (Leigh). Jim was a proud grandfather to his fourteen grandchildren: Cameron, Grace, Tyler, Eli, Sidney, Paige, Grant, Jackson, Meredith, Eliza, Isabella, Sechaba, Talia and Meti. 

Jim was a graduate of John Marshall High School in Richmond, Virginia and Bridgewater College where he resides in the Hall of Fame for men’s basketball. He earned a master’s degree from Long Beach State and doctorate degree from Vanderbilt University. 

Jim had a strong Christian faith grounded from his youth and his parental teachings. This led to a work ethic that was admired for its integrity and dedication to the field of health and physical education. A life-long educator, he served in many roles including teacher, coach, athletic director and college administrator. He began his career at Bridgewater College and finished at Georgia Tech as department head and professor of the Health and Performance Sciences Department. His influence upon those with whom he taught and mentored lingers to this day. 

Jim enjoyed daily exercise, delicious food, a good old movie, anything sports related and especially time with family. He had a gift for storytelling and could captivate an audience with his humorous tales and poems. Over the past several years, he began to write novels and had several published that relied on the connections he had with people throughout his life. He chose joy daily and his encouraging spirit will be forever missed.

Are you a College of Sciences student wondering about your post-undergraduate journey? Whether you're considering graduate school, medical school, or doctorate programs, the road ahead can vary significantly. Join us for an enlightening panel discussion with our experienced advisors, who will guide you through the intricacies of each path.

 

Date: Thursday, October 19th, 2023

Time: 4:00 PM 5:00 PM

Location: Exhibition Hall - Home Park Room, Georgia Tech Campus

Featuring Panelists from the Pre-Graduate Pre-Professional Advising Team

  • Shannon Dobranski - Director of Pre-Graduate & Pre-Professional Advising
  • Francisco Castelan- Assistant Director of Pre-Health Advising
  • Karen Mura - Prestigious Fellowships Advisor

This informative session will cover:

  • The diverse pathways available after your undergraduate degree
  • Key requirements and considerations for each route
  • Insights from successful alumni who have navigated these paths
  • How to make informed decisions about your future
  • Don't miss this opportunity to gain valuable insights and have your questions answered by our expert panel. This event is on-campus and exclusive to Georgia Tech students. Please register through CareerBuzz to secure your spot and take the next step towards your future success.

 

All are invited! If you are not a student or do not have access to RSVP in Career Buzz, simply email College of Sciences Career Educator James Stringfellow james.stringfellow@gatech.edu and come join the event.

Event Details

When you just can’t find anyone to hang out with on a Friday night, it might not be a comfort to know that bacteria may have you beat when it comes to a social life.

“We now know that bacteria can lead complex social lives, communicating and cooperating within multicellular groups,” says Sam Brown, professor in the School of Biological Sciences and a member/past director of Georgia Tech’s Center for Microbial Dynamics and Infection (CMDI).

Getting out and about in the microbial world leaves bacteria facing challenges such as competition from other bacteria, threats from bacteria-eating viruses, drugs that target them, and starvation when they can’t find a host organism. Brown and his fellow CMDI scientists now want to know how bacteria modify their behaviors in response to their social and physical environments. 

Two new grants totaling nearly $1.5 million will give them that chance.

One of the grants, a National Science Foundation award, focuses on how bacteria use clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats — better known as CRISPR, a cellular immune system that helps bacteria ward off threats. CRISPR is perhaps best known as a gene editing tool.

The NSF grant also includes Rachel Kuske, professor in the School of Mathematics and a CMDI member, and Edze Westra, Professor of Microbiology at the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom. The NSF is partnering with the UK’s Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) for this grant.

The other grant from the Army Research Office (ARO) will study quorum sensing, a form of cell-to-cell communication, to determine how bacteria use it to “count” cells so that collective behavior can be turned on.

Both grants can help CMDI understand microbial behavior in ways that could eventually lead to manipulating or controlling bacteria, says Steve Diggle, CMDI director and a professor in the School of Biological Sciences.

“We are delighted by these new grants as they align closely with the core mission of CDMI because they will advance our understanding of microbial interactions, behaviors, and community dynamics,” Diggle says. “The knowledge generated could have transformative impacts on both academic research and practical applications.”

CRISPR protections, but only in a crowd 

Brown wants to make it clear that he and his colleagues won’t be doing any CRISPR gene editing themselves. “Our questions are more basic, focused on how the ‘inventors’ of CRISPR, bacteria, use this system to protect themselves from infection by phages (viruses that attack bacteria) and other molecular parasites of cells,” Brown says. 

CRISPR’s role is to recognize and cut out specific sequences of foreign DNA within bacteria. Yet what Brown calls the “dirty secret” of microbiology is that lab bacteria rarely use CRISPR to deal with novel viruses.

“Instead, they use the simple trick of deleting the surface receptors that the virus uses to gain entry to the cell,” he explains. Previous work by CMDI Early Career Award Fellow Ellinor Alseth found an answer to this puzzle: bacteria are more likely to use CRISPR as an immune mechanism when they are living in a multi-species community.  What Brown hopes to decipher are the molecular and ecological mechanisms that determine how life in a community can activate CRISPR functions.

“We further aim to build mathematical models of community dynamics, capturing both species interactions and evolutionary changes in a focal species undergoing viral attack,” Brown says. “This will have applied significance by helping the design of more robust microbial communities.”

Quorum sensing = a bacterial census 

Regarding the ARO grant, Brown says the standard view for quorum sensing is that bacteria use those signals as a way of counting cells. When the extracellular signal is above a certain threshold, the population is “quorate” (that is, reaches a certain number of cells), and collective behaviors can be turned on. 

Yet an increasing body of theory, along with experiments in Brown’s lab and others, has challenged this view “by highlighting that quorum sensing behaviors can also be shaped by the physical environment, such as diffusion, flow rate, and containment,” he says. 

Also, behaviors are not “turned on” in a threshold manner with increasing density.In a high density ‘quorate’ environment, not all cells are expressing canonical quorum sensing-controlled behaviors. These challenges leave us with limited understanding of the functional roles of QS.”

“By examining the balance between intracellular mechanisms and multicellular behaviors, we will obtain a more comprehensive understanding of how bacteria collaborate and respond collectively to their environment,” Diggle adds.

Five Ph.D. scholars from the College of Sciences are the newest members of the Georgia Tech University Center of Exemplary Mentoring (UCEM) Ph.D. Fellowship program, which now includes the College’s Center for Promoting Inclusion and Equity in the Sciences (C-PIES).

“This is the first year the College of Sciences has been involved with UCEM, and it will be very impactful for the professional development for these students,” says Lewis Wheaton, C-PIES director and professor in the School of Biological Sciences. “The process for selection was highly competitive and these students really demonstrate strong scientific ability, have compelling research, and are having a powerful impact in the college community and beyond.”

The new UCEM/C-PIES Fellows:

The Georgia Tech UCEM Ph.D. Fellowship program has the goal of increasing the number of outstanding engineering, science, and computing Ph.D. students from underserved populations. The program seeks to support students from backgrounds that include African American/Black, Hispanic, Native American, and Pacific Islander. The Georgia Tech UCEM Ph.D. Fellowship provides three years of support for students who have recently completed the Ph.D. Qualifying/Preliminary exam.

C-PIES at the College of Sciences works in collaboration with the College of Engineering and the College of Computing — through the Georgia Tech Underrepresented Minority (URM) Graduate Leadership Initiative — to support the Expand Access focus area of the Institute’s strategic plan for graduate student enrollment and retention.

Meet the College of Sciences UCEM Fellows

Sarah E. Gonzalez

“I was excited and relieved to find out I was a UCEM Fellow. As everyone knows, being a grad student isn’t the most financially stable position, so anything extra is a big help,” Gonzales says.

Gonzalez researches in the lab of Associate Professor Elisabetta Matsumoto, studying knitted fabrics and their mechanical behavior. “She is my biggest supporter at Georgia Tech. We have a very tight-knit and supportive research group.”

Danielle Grau

“I was shocked and elated when I received the email with the news, and excited about the opportunity to be a part of such a prestigious fellowship,” Grau says. “I am excited to see what opportunities and relationships it will forge in the future.”

Assistant Professor Alexander Robel is Grau’s thesis adviser. “I am extremely grateful and appreciative for all the support, guidance, and encouragement he has given me throughout my time at Georgia Tech. He's a phenomenal mentor and advisor, and I wouldn’t have had any success without him.”

Sierra A. Knavel

“I was enthusiastic to hear about receiving the award,” Knavel says, “and eager to join a community that wants to help each other succeed while at Georgia Tech.”

Knavel, whose research interests include low-dimensional topology, has Professor John Etnyre as an adviser. “He is the reason I can say I'm in the math Ph.D. program, and that I know I belong here.”

Tony Lemos

“When I applied to the UCEM fellowship, I had doubts that I was accomplished enough to be chosen for this fellowship,” Lemos says. “When I received the email announcing that I had been selected for this award, it was a great surprise, and I was immediately filled with immense gratitude. I am very thankful to be one of the students to receive this gift that will help me become the first in my family to obtain a doctoral degree.”

Lemos is a research assistant in the biophysics lab of Professor Harold Kim, who is his adviser. “He has been a great mentor who helped me get this far at Georgia Tech. He is a great role model that showed me what it means to be an effective scientist. He also challenged me to grow in areas I was uncomfortable with in the lab. I am thankful for his mentorship and unending support.”

Autumn Peterson

“I was super excited to hear that I was named a UCEM Ph.D. Fellow,” Peterson says. “Mentorship has always been important to me. I would not be in the position I am in now without mentors who have supported me throughout my academic career. I am looking forward to strengthening my mentorship skills and serving as a role model for aspiring scientists coming from underrepresented backgrounds like I do.”

Peterson’s adviser is Associate Professor William Ratcliff, who is also Co-Director of the Interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Quantitative Biosciences. ‘I want to thank him for his immense support throughout my academic journey. I would also like to thank Anthony Burnetti, a senior research scientist in the Ratcliff lab. Both Ratcliff and Burnetti are both extremely supportive, kind, and knowledgeable, and I am grateful to have them as mentors.”

Earlier this year, Peterson and Ratcliff were co-awarded a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Gilliam Fellowship for Advanced Study.

“We are so proud of our UCEM/C-PIES Fellows," says Lea Marzo, C-PIES Program Operations Director. "The students selected for this fellowship are brilliant researchers and we are delighted that Georgia Tech’s Office of the President is making an investment in their success. We cannot wait to see what the future has in store for these fellows."

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