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The nominations are in, and the inaugural class of the College of Sciences Staff Advisory Council is preparing for its first virtual meeting later in September.
According to its mission statement, the Council represents and advocates for the diverse collective body of staff within the College and will interact directly with the Dean of the College of Sciences. The Council serves as a liaison between the staff and College leadership, providing an avenue for a significant contribution of staff expertise. The Council aims to use these perspectives to provide recommendations to the Dean of the College, as well as to inform leadership members within each independent school regarding staff matters.
Please join us in welcoming the Council’s 15 members from across the College of Sciences, and in learning more about each member’s background, work, goals, and interests in serving:
Emma Blandford
Assistant Director of Living Learning Communities, Dean’s Office:
Background: I have a unique position to be able to interact with folks from across the college in order to best serve my students. I interact with first-year students on a daily basis, and connect them with the resources that they need on campus to be most successful. The team of amazing staff in the College of Sciences makes this college not only work, but run like their home-away-from-home. I have also been a part of the working group that formed the initial College of Sciences Advisory Council voting process, mission and vision.
Why I’m joining the Council: As a member of the council I would work to learn about the wide variety of positions, responsibilities, and needs of the professionals across our college. I am also interested to serve in a way that allows folks to be more than who they are at work, to introduce holistic wellness opportunities and connections to inclusive programming in order to support the whole-person experience.
Paula Ewers
Faculty Support Coordinator, School of Biological Sciences:
Background: Strong service-oriented skills, educational background, high level of attention to detail and results driven workforce professional with proven success in demonstrating expertise in service management and coordination. Professional in customer service, project management, team management, and budget management.
Why I’m joining the Council: Throughout my years of experience in the College of Sciences I have identified areas of opportunity and areas of success, and I would love to assist in building a stronger culture. I want to give back to this amazing college and provide feedback where I can.
Shantel Floyd
Research Administrative Manager, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry:
Background: I have a strong understanding of processes both on the finance and administration side. I have 5-plus years of experience supporting a center with a focus on broadening participation (development of unique programming). I also have experience partnering with people in the College of Sciences and the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. I am trusted by colleagues and I have the ability to relate to colleagues on all levels. I was chosen as a Chemistry representative on several pilots. I mentor new staff and those starting new programs like those that I've run in the past. I have also partnered with IBB on several projects and events. I have the ability to create great working relationships across the board.
Why I’m joining the Council: Serving on this council will enable me to stay connected with activities that will help my fellow staff members in both education and the working environment, and to help with collaborations and open communication channels throughout all levels of the Institute. I will also have the opportunity to actively participate and contribute to conversations and solutions about the goals of the campus community.
Susan Harris
Financial Administrator, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry:
Background: I have 30-plus years working with sponsored project funding. I have 10-plus years working in academic units with faculty and admin teams. I have a deep respect for the process and want everything to be done within policy.
Why I’m joining the Council: I am hoping this team will be able to help identify and address concerns in their departments, and we can help make Georgia Tech a better place for all.
Chung Kim
Academic Program Coordinator, School of Biological Sciences:
Background: I've been working at Georgia Tech’s School of Biological Sciences for the past three years as an academic program coordinator. My favorite, most fulfilling aspect of this position is interacting with and supporting our graduate students to successfully complete their degrees. I consider myself to be a good listener, team player, and a detail-oriented person.
Why I’m joining the Council: I believe that by being part of the College of Sciences Staff Advisory Council, I would play an important role in building bonds among the staff, faculty, and administration. If given an opportunity, I would be glad to contribute my time and efforts in making a positive difference for the College and its schools.
Gary Longstreet
Academic Program Manager, School of Physics:
Background: First, I'm honored to be nominated. With more than 20 years in higher education, I offer a very diverse background, having worked for both public and private universities. At Georgia State University, I served on the Staff Advisory Council for several years and then represented staff on the University Senate Committee as a senator.
Why I’m joining the Council: I understand the needs of staff and the valuable role we play at all different levels. With everything happening in the world today, it is vital that staff be heard, supported, appreciated, and understood that we make things happen at the Institute and beyond.
Lea Marzo
Assistant to the Chair, School of Mathematics:
Background: I have been in higher education for over 13 years, six of those years at Georgia Tech. I have also been a graduate student for eight years and I believe that I can offer some insight from both a staff and a student perspective.
Why I’m joining the Council: I would like the opportunity to serve on the College of Sciences Staff Advisory Council because I will put the interests of the workers above my own. I believe that I am a team player and will work to the best of my abilities to ensure that the voices of the staff members are represented.
Erin Nagle
Faculty Affairs Administrative Manager, Dean’s Office:
Background: After three years in the College and at Georgia Tech, I have met many wonderful staff members whose own stories and experiences I have enjoyed hearing about. I believe in a strong sense of community where staff contributions are highlighted and explored. I am a good listener and problem solver, and I genuinely care about staff development and morale. Budgets are tight and that limits what can be spent on development activities, but discussion and community building are free.
Why I’m joining the Council: Outside of our evolving national issues, College staff are facing multiple challenges on a routine basis right here on campus. Processes are frequently changing, and ‘newness’ has been our constant companion. It is difficult to keep up with our changing local environment and also keep on top of important work endeavors. I feel that strengthening our sense of community and support network within the college is our most powerful tool in facing ongoing challenges.
Alison Onstine
Laboratory Manager, School of Biological Sciences:
Background: My position as manager for the Biology teaching labs provides me with both a student-facing role and a window into the challenges facing staff within research labs. It’s my hope that these varied perspectives will help find commonalities in the challenges that staff in both traditional academic and research roles face. I will use all the tools at my disposal to foster the trust needed to become an effective representative for CoS staff.
Why I’m joining the Council: I see the amazing efforts already underway to bring voice to staff within the College and am eager to bring my skills to benefit these initiatives. Staff at Georgia Tech, in my experience, are challenging to unite as a group because of their disparate roles within the Institute. Due to our new social distancing challenges, there is more urgency than ever for staff to come together and build the community necessary to effectively be heard by administration.
Chinneta Pettaway
Research Administrative Manager, School of Mathematics:
Background: I have many years of experience prior to Georgia Tech working directly with chairs and executive management. I was able to form diverse leadership teams, which helped improve morale and retention within the department. My years at Georgia Tech working for the former Dean of the College of Sciences and the other leadership members allowed me the ability to understand the mission and vision of the College. I was able to utilize that knowledge with my transition to the School of Mathematics, to help with the development of the newly formed Southeast Center for Mathematics and Biology.
Why I’m joining the Council: I'm interested in serving on the College of Sciences Staff Advisory Council to help bring awareness and understanding to issues occurring on the school level. I'd like to advocate for the staff in the schools to help improve a safe and healthy work environment for everyone regardless of race, color, or creed. Importantly, we need to add to an effective communication avenue between management and staff. This will allow staff members to feel comfortable speaking about problems without fear of being reprimanded.
Ruth Pierre
Academic Program Coordinator, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry:
Background: I am very passionate and have a strong desire to help others. I interact with staff, students, and faculty at different levels and enjoy getting to know and collaborate with people on projects. As a staff member for over seven years, I have been involved with various offices across campus and listened to concerns, comments, and complaints from various staff. I’m personable, have a willingness to take charge, excellent organization skills, and a strategic thinker are several strong skills set that would be a positive addition to the Staff Advisory Council.
Why I’m joining the Council: I want to be involved with the College of Sciences Staff Advisory Council to help bring about positive change. I want to be a voice of changes that affect policy and procedures for staff. We are in critical times and need people who can represent diverse viewpoints across a broad spectrum of topics. I would like the opportunity to work with other staff to create productive and positive outcomes.
Renay San Miguel
Communications Officer, Dean’s Office:
Background: I spent 25 years in journalism, including 10 years at national broadcast and cable TV news outlets. I currently use my position to tell the stories of the great research going on within the six schools of the College. I also tell the stories of the interesting, talented people behind that research, and the staff and students who make up the Georgia Tech College of Sciences community. My skills include communications in writing, audio podcasting, and video hosting/production/editing.
Why I’m joining the Council: The College of Sciences has been very good to me. As a staff member, I've appreciated the kindnesses extended to me by administrators and other staff members. I want to pay it forward by assisting the Advisory Council as it helps staff deal with day-to-day and long-range goals and challenges.
Kathy Sims-McDaniel
Development Assistant, Dean’s Office:
Background: I have worked as a teacher, counselor, program coordinator and event planner, just to name a few occupations. In my spare time, I have also volunteered on several different social projects.
Why I’m joining the Council: I believe the combination of my education and experience will make me a highly motivated addition to the Staff Advisory Council. I would like to serve on the Council because I feel I can be an advocate for our colleagues, and can work collectively with fellow Council members as a vehicle for positive change.
John Wallom
Information Technology Professional Manager, Academic and Research Computing Services (ARCS):
Background: I have been in higher education information technology support for 21 years, and in that time I helped create student worker run IT support centers, worked on several institution wide committees, and worked with University System of Georgia security groups to establish best practices for smaller USG institutions. On top of a broad technical knowledge, I have also worked to establish several new teams, from entire institute support teams to new units within a college. I believe that experience will help when forming the first College of Sciences Staff Advisory Council.
Why I’m joining the Council: I have always stepped up to voice my concerns when staff are in need, or are not being taken into consideration. The staff of the College of Sciences needs to have people who will be an advocate for them, and I believe that I am someone who can definitely fill that role.
Casey Whitt
Financial Administrator, School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences:
Background: I will bring skills related to the position of Financial Administrator. In a previous position I also served on a college staff advisory council, periodically working on grievance hearings and coordinating a benefits fair. Also, I volunteered on various carnivals, including one that educated employees on proper protocol in case of a fire.
Why I’m joining the Council: I want to serve on the College of Sciences Staff Advisory Council because I believe that I can represent the opinions of the staff in a fair and impartial manner, and assist the Council to relate ideas and solutions that will assist the department to grow as a team with the College administrators.
Every year, the College of Sciences reserves a date in early fall to host a special awards dinner that honors several faculty members for exemplary teaching, research, mentoring, and community development during the previous school year.
Of course, like many other plans in 2020, this year’s event had to be put on hold because of the pandemic — but that hasn’t stopped the College from honoring faculty with special sponsored awards that spotlight innovation in both lecture halls and labs.
Please join us in congratulating seven faculty members receiving College of Sciences awards for outstanding work during the 2019-2020 school year, and in thanking our alumni and friends who make these awards possible:
Eric R. Immel Memorial Award for Excellence in Teaching
Chris Jankowski, Director of Graduate Advising and Assessment and Assistant Director of Teaching Effectiveness, School of Mathematics
This award is presented to a faculty member in recognition of exemplary teaching in foundational undergraduate courses (classes that are typically taken by a selection of different majors) in the current or previous academic years.
Cullen-Peck Scholar Awards
Steve Diggle, Associate Professor, School of Biological Sciences; Jennifer Curtis, Associate Professor, School of Physics; and Chris Reinhard, Assistant Professor, School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
These awards will recognize research accomplishments led by College of Sciences faculty at the associate professor or advanced assistant professor level.
Leddy Faculty Family Fellowship
Stefan France, Associate Professor, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry
The award will be made to further the goals of the College by supporting development of the research and training program and quality of instruction of a faculty member in the College. The major criteria for selection will be proven accomplishments in research and teaching, the potential impact of the award on the career development of the recipient, and his or her interest and capacity in advancement of pedagogy and actual methods and practices of teaching.
CoS Faculty Mentor Award
David Sherrill, Professor, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Since 2002, the College of Sciences has supported various forms of formal mentoring for junior faculty. In addition, each of its schools has its own faculty mentoring program where, through informal consultations, the members of the community share their experience, provide advice and encouragement, and help the next generation succeed. The College and its ADVANCE Professor jointly established the College of Sciences Faculty Mentor Award to recognize these mentors.
Ralph and Jewel Gretzinger Moving the School Forward Award
Raquel Lieberman, Professor, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry
This award recognizes the leadership of a school chair or senior faculty member who has played a pivotal role in at least one of the following areas: Diversifying the tenured or tenure-track faculty composition in view of gender or race; creating a family-friendly work environment; or providing a supportive environment for junior faculty.
The newest edition of the SoM yearly publication The ProofReader is now available online at the link below.
ProofReader 2020
Volume XI Contents
- Meet Six Graduating Students from the College of Sciences Fall 2019 Graduates
- School of Mathematics’ Summer REU Program Hosts its Largest Session Yet
- New Faculty Member Alex Blumenthal In the News for Recent Work
- Honors
- Georgia Tech Researchers, Alumnus Reflect On Moon Landing’s Impact on Science
- Faculty Awards
- Recent Promotions
Georgia Tech Launches Frances O. Hite Scholarships to Support Women in Mathematics
Student Research Awards and Honors
- TA Awards
- Featured Article: How to Get Far with Small Effort, By Rafael de la Llave
- Robin Thomas Tribute
- External News
- Alumni Contribution by Ben Elkins: Felix Hausdorff's Poem "Den Ungeflügelten"
Since winning a National Science Foundation CAREER Award in 2012, School of Mathematics professor Dan Margalit has leveraged funding to stage five topology workshops, each designed for students interested in that field of math.
In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, this summer Margalit joined 13 fellow mentors and 57 math students from around the world for the first online-only Georgia Tech Topology Student Workshop, held across the week of June 8-12. After pushing past concerns about frozen screens and reduced student interaction in the online format, Margalit shares that the new workshop went smoothly and was quite a success.
How successful? Participant Rhea Palak Bakshi of George Washington University shared:
"I got to interact with so many people from diverse backgrounds and I learned so much math from all the excellent talks that I listened to. I learned how to give a good talk, and your suggestions at the talk workshopping session were very helpful. I felt as though I belonged to the math community. I feel a lot more prepared and confident entering the job market this year, all thanks to the workshop. I feel as though I have grown as a human being. A math conference has never had such an effect on me before."
“It went really, really well,” Margalit says of this year's workshop. “I get that the students want to see each other and hang out in the dorms or in person. That’s important. But as far as teaching and other components go, it may turn out to work better than the usual things."
Margalit says that’s because the workshop offered up sessions related to topics outside of math, such as work-life balance, job searches, and effective communications. Current events and social unrest also prompted the addition of sessions to discuss being a person of color, and women in mathematics.
Online social events — including trivia and game nights, afternoon meetings with “tea time”, and instructor-led yoga sessions — “helped foster community,” another goal of the NSF-funded workshops, Margalit says.
Of course, many sessions focused on the latest research in topology: the study of objects with properties that can be bent, twisted, stretched, and otherwise deformed without tearing or breaking its surfaces. Topology applications include string theory in physics, “big data” analysis, and machine learning.
We spoke with Margalit about this year's topology workshop and what lessons he and other faculty can glean from staging a weeklong virtual gathering of students and mentors.
What was involved in organizing this online topology workshop?
The organizers included myself and three students from Georgia Tech: Caitlin Leverson and Marissa Loving, both post-docs. Also Becca Winarski, who just took a job at Holy Cross — she was one of my first graduate students. She graduated in 2014 and helped with our first topology workshop in 2012.
There were a lot of things to organize — planning what the sessions should look like, planning social events, etc. The five of us met frequently. We had a model. We had done it four times before, but never online.
What did those sessions look like? What topics did you cover, and how did you cover them?
We really kind of went all out. It wasn’t "open to the public", but "if you accept, we hope you’ll come to everything". So we had sessions on the experiences of people of color in math, on what to expect during the job hunt, the habits of mathematicians. We had breakout sessions on work-life balance, and being a woman in math.
We wanted to foster interactions, so students could ask questions in the chat boxes, on the microphone, they could also ask questions in anonymous form. We got some new questions that we never got before.
Students were put into randomized sessions every ten minutes, so you really got to meet everybody. We had office hours, where I would say, ‘I’m up early, I’m here on Zoom,’ and people would come and ask questions. My students organized three social events, one like an icebreak, but also trivia and game nights. We had tea time, and Vinyasa yoga a couple of mornings. All of that helped foster community. We had different people every time. This way it wasn’t the same groups for five days.
How did you help the students learn effective communications techniques during this online workshop?
Communications has been a focus the last couple of times we’ve done the workshop. The highlight for me has always been when students give talks at the end of the week. We only had time for ten talks this year because of our limited schedule.
On the first day, we presented on how to give a good talk. We had a worksheet with nine things on it: what draws an audience from the beginning, where’s the tension in your talk, things like that. Then we workshopped. (Cornell’s) Katie Mann, another organizer, took the first talk she ever wrote, and we workshopped that.
During the week we had them in groups, so each of the ten speakers were paired with four to five participants who were not giving talks. They met a few times during the week to workshop things and make the talks better.
The goal is to change attitudes and get people thinking about how to be successful in math. The idea is you can improve yourself by asking for help and thinking critically about your talk.
Were there times when the pandemic directly influenced the materials you presented during the workshop?
We talked about how the job market would be really tough with the pandemic. We also talked a lot about the fact that they’re not all going to get jobs in academia. In 2012 I was telling people, ‘if you want to do it, you’re going to make it.’ Now we’re telling people there’s not going to be enough jobs, so we dealt with overcoming the stigma of leaving academic pursuits. We had a career panel with six people, all from totally different careers not involved in academia.
Four of them were from our first workshop. It was amazing to me to see people I mentored eight years ago coming back. That felt really satisfying. One of them got a job at the National Security Agency because he met a friend of mine who worked there. She got an internship, and is now an employee.
How did the video platform and other technologies hold up with 57 students attending online from all around the world?
There were no major mishaps. Maybe some tiny mishaps, but it all worked. We set up [the virtual] meetings and people showed up. We put them in breakout rooms, asked questions, staged discussions.
I was worried — staying up late at night worrying about internet connections, or worried about people getting accidentally kicked out of a meeting — but none of that happened. It all worked.
What are the biggest lessons for you on staging a virtual topology workshop for the first time? How would you apply those to remote learning for a semester?
The biggest lesson is that we could not have enough structured scheduled opportunities for informal human interactions. That was because we added tea times and office hours at the end of the week, and because we were really enjoying it, and people really wanted to chat.
In the mornings for the first half of the week, we had the ‘room’ kind of loose so organizers could scheme and plan, and then we let everybody in the room. Later in the week, we opened the room early and if people wanted to come in and chat, they could do that. Or we put them in breakout rooms. The questions could be about math or life. It can’t just be about the session. You have to have that virtual ‘hallway’ where you chat after sessions. No matter how we did it, people just ate it up.
The tea times? We thought those might be awkward, but they were just awesome. People loved meeting each other and sharing laughs.
There’s this myth that being in person is the only way to achieve community and connection, and the lesson is — that really is a myth. We can do things deliberately, we can foster community and connection online.
We tried to be understanding. For me, separately from the online part of this, is about the conference acknowledging the humanity of being a mathematician. When you meet with your advisor, you’re going to talk about theorems you’ve proven, etc. What strikes me is every time we do this conference, there’s a thirst for talking about things like imposter syndrome, or what it’s like to be a person of color or a woman in math. It’s very cathartic and nourishing to be able to have these discussions, and in the future we’ll continue them.
This story by Joshua Stewart originally appeared in the Georgia Tech News Center.
Receiving the letter of welcome to membership in the National Academy of Sciences or the National Academy of Engineering is a career high point for American scholars. Election to the academies recognizes a lifetime of impact and achievement, and ranks among the very highest honors for those fields.
Likewise, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences dates back to our country’s founding and honors the nation’s most-accomplished people — all the way back to Benjamin Franklin and Alexander Hamilton.
All of which makes this spring a remarkable one for Georgia Tech, with seven faculty members from all kinds of disciplines elected to these academies over the span of just a few weeks.
“Georgia Tech is regarded as one of leading research universities in the nation because of the outstanding work of our faculty,” said President Ángel Cabrera. “We are tremendously proud that seven of them were recently named to the most prestigious national honorary and leadership organizations in the nation, a fitting recognition for their respective accomplishments and a reflection of the caliber of the Georgia Tech faculty.”
Election to these academies puts new members in rarefied company: Only 2,309 people in the U.S. can call themselves members of the engineering academy, just 2,403 have been elected to the sciences academy, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences boasts 13,838 members inducted over two and a half centuries.
Adding Tech faculty to the membership rolls of all three was a bright spot in a springtime mired in dark news about the global COVID-19 pandemic. It is also a testament to the breadth and depth of scientific endeavors across Georgia Tech’s research enterprise.
National Academy of Sciences
The induction of three Georgia Tech scholars into the National Academy of Sciences marked a significant milestone for the Institute. It’s the the first time three members of the Tech community joined the Academy in the same year — and they represent three different colleges.
Marilyn Brown (who also joined the National Academy of Engineering and was part of a 2007 Nobel Peace Prize-winning team) studies energy in the School of Public Policy, Randall Engle studies attention and memory in the School of Psychology, and Arkadi Nemirovski studies optimization in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (Nemirovski is also an adjunct professor in the School of Mathematics).
Until now, just one current faculty member was among the Academy’s membership.
» Brown, Engle, Nemirovski Elected to National Academy of Sciences, May 8, 2020
National Academy of Engineering
Georgia Tech researchers make up more than 10% of the National Academy of Engineering’s membership, a number that grew by four this spring.
That includes Marilyn Brown. While Brown is not strictly an engineer, the Academy cited her for bridging engineering, policy, and social and behavioral studies to achieve cleaner energy.
The other new members are Thomas Kurfess, who has helped guide the digital transformation of manufacturing in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering; Susan Margulies, a brain and lung injury scholar and chair of the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering; and Alexander Shapiro in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, who studies optimization modeling that involves uncertainty.
» Four Georgia Tech Faculty Elected to National Academy of Engineering, February 10, 2020
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The list of this year’s inductees into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences includes artists and activists, lawyers and experimentalists, bioethicists and anthropologists. Singer/songwriter Joan Baez, filmmaker Richard Linklater, and former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder are some of the newest members.
So, too, is Susan Lozier, dean and Betsy Middleton and John Clark Sutherland Chair in Georgia Tech’s College of Sciences. Lozier studies the ocean and large-scale circulation, particularly the seas’ role in climate variability and climate change.
She joins six other Georgia Tech faculty members in the Academy, which was founded in 1780 by John Adams, John Hancock, and others to advance learning in service to the public good.
» Lozier Elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences, May 7, 2020
Despite the current worries and stressors facing researchers because of the Covid-19 pandemic, an overview of the grants awarded during the 2020 fiscal year shows the state of the College of Sciences research program remains strong, according to Julia Kubanek, Associate Dean of Research.
“This year, assistant professors among our six schools have been recipients of an Office of Naval Research Young Investigator award, a Cottrell Scholar award, a Sloan Research Fellowship, and four National Science Foundation CAREER awards,” says Kubanek, who is also a professor in the Schools of Biological Sciences, and Chemistry and Biochemistry. “Other early and mid-career faculty have been named Kavli and Scialog Fellows, experiences that will expose these faculty to additional collaborative and funding opportunities through engagement in elite research networks.”
Kubanek says multiple large-scale, broadly conceived proposals for center funding and graduate training grants, led by science faculty, are currently under peer review. “These future projects will grow our leadership and impact in research communities across psychology, biological sciences, chemistry and biochemistry, earth and atmospheric sciences, physics, and mathematics,” she says.
Here are the major grants and awards presented to College of Sciences faculty in FY20 (links lead to previous coverage of the announcements during the Spring 2020 and Fall 2019 semesters):
Collaborative Covid-19 Research Receives National Science Foundation RAPID Grant
Antibody testing research, led by Biological Sciences’ Joshua Weitz and Emory University professor Benjamin Lopman, earns an NSF urgent funding grant to further study Covid-19 ‘shield immunity’.
Rahnev Receives Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award
School of Psychology assistant professor Dobromir Rahnev is one of two Georgia Tech winners of the Office of Naval Research's Young Investigator Program Awards. Rahnev will research how the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps can use technology and science to update and enhance job skills training.
Elisabetta Matsumoto Is 2020 Cottrell Scholar for Research on the Math and Science Behind Knitting
Elisabetta Matsumoto, an assistant professor in the School of Physics, is a 2020 Cotrell Scholar thanks to her research on the mathematics and physics hidden in the knots and weaves of knitting.
Jenny McGuire, Lutz Warnke Receive NSF CAREER Awards
A pair of College of Sciences professors -- Jenny McGuire in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences/School of Biological Sciences, and Lutz Warnke of the School of Mathematics -- are receiving coveted National Science Foundation CAREER Awards, which will fund future research for five years.
Colin Parker, assistant professor in the School of Physics, and Henry (Pete) LaPierre, assistant professor in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, have also just received FY20 National Science Foundation CAREER Awards.
Georgia Tech Faculty Awarded Research Fellowships by Sloan Foundation
Yao Yao, assistant professor in the School of Mathematics, is among 126 early career researchers selected to receive 2020 Sloan Research Fellowships.
Scialog: Signatures of Life in the Universe Fellows Named
Four College of Sciences early career scientists – Jen Glass, Chris Reinhard, Gongjie Li, and Amanda Stockton – are named Scialog Fellows for a new research initiative, Signatures of Life in the Universe.
Pamela Peralta-Yahya to Collaborate with Caroline Genzale on NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts Award
Pamela Peralta-Yahya, assistant professor in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, is part of the collaborative effort to study innovative aerospace concepts.
Susan Thomas, Woodruff Associate Professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, collaborates with Professor and School of Chemistry and Biochemistry Chair M.G. Finn, to try to improve treatment of follicular lymphoma.
An assistant professor in the School of Psychology will get more than $2 million in National Institutes of Health grants for two research proposals that focus on the brain's decision-making abilities, and on a promising treatment for neuropsychiatric disorders.
Physics Researchers Awarded $2.3 Million to Develop NSF Einstein Toolkit for Astrophysics
NSF awards effort led by Pablo Laguna and Deirdre Shoemaker for the development of the Einstein Toolkit Ecosystem: Enabling Fundamental Research in the Era of Multi-Messenger Astrophysics
Georgia Tech Leads Team Effort to Reduce Georgia’s Carbon Footprint
Researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology, incuding Kim Cobb with the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, are leading a first-in-the-nation effort to help identify solutions to help reduce Georgia’s carbon footprint in ways that are economically beneficial.
Georgia Tech Researchers Receive EPA South FL Initiative Award
One of the grant recipients is Neha Garg, an assistant professor in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry. The funding will support the protection and restoration of water quality, corals and seagrass in South Florida.
Fall 2019:
$1.7 M Grant for Robotic Soil Subsurface Explorer
An interdisciplinary research group from Georgia Tech, including School of Physics Professor Daniel Goldman, has received a grant from the National Science Foundation to design an advanced self-propelled robot to explore the soil subsurface and record a range of signals as it advances.
Lachance Gets $1.88 million Award
The National Institutes of Health is supporting Petit Institute/School of Biological Sciences Assistant Professor Joe Lachance’s research strategy, which includes the analysis of ancient and modern genomes, mathematical modeling, and the development of new bioinformatics tools.
When it rains, it pours. That’s how it felt last month when email after email from School of Psychology Acting Chair Mark Wheeler arrived in various inboxes, sharing the joyful news of a new award. The announcement of a $334,000 grant to Dobromir Rahnev in May has been succeeded by seven other research awards to eight faculty members.
Georgia Tech, Institut Pasteur Receive $2.5 M NIH Grant to Study Phage Therapy
Joshua Weitz of the School of Biological Sciences is part of a team of U.S. and French scientists who will research the interaction between bacteriophage, bacteria, and the innate immune response to enable use of phage therapy, even with patients with impaired immune systems.
School of Mathematics Associate Professor Is Now a Kavli Fellow
A prestigious honor for young scientists is presented to Georgia Tech's Michael Damron, associate professor in the School of Mathematics. The Kavli Frontiers of Science Symposium, part of the National Academy of Sciences, issued its invite to Damron, one of a long list of Georgia Tech researchers to receive the fellowship.
Two College of Sciences students are among dozens honored by their peers for helping to support and develop the Georgia Tech community during the Up with the White and Gold (UWWG) celebration hosted by the Division of Student Life and the Student Government Association.
Hemaa Selvakumar, a graduate research assistant in the School of Physics, was honored with the Graduate Student Excellence Award for Leadership and Service. The award is presented by the Office of Leadership Education and Development (LEAD). Selvakumar researches in the Curtis Group Cell Physics Laboratory.
Daniella Noronha received the Make A Difference Award, presented by the Women’s Resource Center. Noronha is a 2020 candidate for a B.S. degree in Applied Mathematics from the School of Mathematics.
From the Student Organizations page on the Division of Student Life website:
From creating and building community and belonging, to winning local and international competitions, our students lead the Tech community in identifying and trailblazing ways to create the next entrepreneur, innovator, social change agent, big dreamer, and much more. The annual UWWG honors the achievements, hard work, and dedication of student leaders and student organizations. The event highlights the significant role that student leadership and involvement play on campus.
The event also honors faculty and staff and the role they play in student organizations, with a portion of the program dedicated to honoring outstanding employees and their work. SGA also presents a host of awards including 10 Burdell's Best awards and the Danielle McDonald Award. These honors are designed to encourage student organizations to host or participate in programs that are beneficial in the areas of organizational enrichment, team building, networking, service, and collaboration. Organizations can earn points by participating in various events and activities in certain categories.
Learn more and watch a recap of the 2020 virtual celebration.
In the College of Sciences at Georgia Tech, 2020 started out as ordinarily as most other spring semesters on campus. Students, faculty and staff filled lecture halls, offices, and labs. They began settling into research, projects, and studying for exams — with many looking forward to spring break travels, commencement festivities, and celebrating the end of another academic year on campus alongside colleagues, classmates, mentors, and friends.
Researching a curious coronavirus
Yet, as spring semester quietly began to pick up speed, so did something else: the international incidence of a novel coronavirus. Spotlighted in an open forum held on February 10 by the Center for Microbial Dynamics and Infection, the outsized “size, speed, and strength” of this new virus was the subject of three talks and a discussion led by a pair of Georgia Tech scientists and their colleague in Washington State.
Joshua Weitz, a professor in the School of Biological Sciences and Director of the Interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Quantitative Biosciences, shared insights on coronavirus outbreak strength estimation. Phillip Santangelo, a professor in the Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, discussed opportunities for drug development. And Trevor Bedford, a faculty member in the Vaccine and Infectious Disease division of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, joined via BlueJeans video conference service to present his work on real-time sequence analysis and “nCOV” phylodynamics.
Across campus and around the world, researchers were already working together to better understand the evolution, epidemiology, effects, challenges, potential futures and possible solutions for a virus that would receive its official name the day after the campus coronavirus forum was held: severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).
A month later, sweeping spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by SARS-CoV-2, would swiftly upend schedules across campus, alongside classrooms and labs around the country — mirroring efforts underway around the globe to rapidly respond to a newly classified pandemic.
And as COVID-19 began to enter the American lexicon and universities were faced with “a worldwide challenge unlike any in living memory,” the greater Georgia Tech community had joined the fight, contributing expertise, innovation, and indomitable spirit to the effort.
Rapid response and a revamp to remote
On March 16, the University System of Georgia announced that all courses across the state’s 26 institutions would move to online instruction for the remainder of spring semester, a decision soon followed by another to conduct May and summer courses in distance format. With word that classes would resume online after an extended spring break, College of Sciences faculty, teaching assistants, and staff set to work on adjusting and revamping classes for remote learning environments.
Most professors were already familiar with Canvas, Georgia Tech’s online course management system. But a smaller number had used Canvas’ chat and quizzing functions, or BlueJeans software to stream, record and post videos of their classes. In tandem with colleagues across campus, the College’s Academic and Research Computing Services IT support group designed and held a series of online tutorials and training sessions, led by Lew Lefton and Justin Filoseta, to help rapidly equip instructors and staff with a complete toolbox of remote teaching resources.
“College of Sciences faculty, teaching assistants and students rose to the significant challenges associated with retooling the entire teaching and learning process in the middle of spring semester,” says David Collard, Associate Dean for Academic Programs, and a professor in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry. “In this process, many faculty will likely have been introduced to new online instructional tools that they may choose to use even when we are back to teaching on campus.”
Two months together — apart
Now, after research ramp downs and campus shut downs, with safe return and recovery planning underway, and spring semester and graduation in our rear view — two months after we officially began the transition to Georgia Tech’s first semester of remote teaching, learning, and conducting critical business and research from a distance — we’re gearing up for another unprecedented moment: a second semester of remote learning for May and summer terms.
We wanted to take a moment to talk to people in the College of Sciences, to check in about the past couple of months, talk about distance learning and teaching experiences, and to ask and share answers to one really important question: So, how’s it all going?
What follows is a collection of thoughts from our undergraduates, graduate teaching assistants, and faculty, gathered over the phone and by email over the first two weeks of May 2020 by Renay San Miguel, communications officer and science writer for the College of Sciences at Georgia Tech.
How have you adapted to remote learning as an instructor or student?
Mary Holder
Academic Professional and Advisor in Neuroscience in the School of Psychology:
During the week of spring break, I led in the creation of a Canvas course for all neuroscience majors as a way to share information, forms, procedures, etc. This also provided the opportunity to answer student questions in a way to benefit all the students. We also reached out to our students in ‘ready to learn’ surveys that included questions about their personal situations after the move to online; several of the students noted in that survey particular issues, and I made it a point to reach out to those students individually to see how I could help.
I routinely start my advising sessions by asking how my students are doing, but after the switch to online, I asked more specific questions about their adjustments: Do they have quiet study/work space? Are they experiencing stressors that are disrupting their ability to study and learn? How are they supporting their mental and emotional health? While most of the students indicated that they were in safe and supportive learning environments, a few indicated they were struggling with structuring their time or maintaining motivation. Those students and I discussed particular strategies that may be useful, and I reminded them of all the Georgia Tech resources that they could access even in this distance format.
Sara Singer
Third Year Undergraduate in the School of Biological Sciences:
I found myself getting depressed and wanting to sit around all day because I felt a little hopeless. This is when I realized that I needed to start exercising more and finding some hobbies to help me recover such as gardening, cooking, blogging, etc. I made sure to interact with my family a lot, and I have especially been leaning on my siblings for that emotional and social support. While my family has been a huge help, my friends are also so important to me and I feel very distant from them during this time. I think it really helped me to find a quarantine buddy outside of my family to visit with because it allowed me to get the support I need with a face-to-face interaction.
Chrissy Spencer
Senior Academic Professional in the School of Biological Sciences:
To make things more interactive, I was told to get some of that creative thinking from the students, and some came from me. I asked all sorts of questions from them, including, how do you want to see the syllabus modified for these kinds of assignments? We always did a lot of in-class exercises, questions around math equations or images or creating graphs, where they had to do some in-depth analysis, and we always did them in teams. I didn’t want to lose that and they didn’t either, but we had to figure out how to do that.
In-class exercises were on a worksheet as a list of questions online. I set that up ahead of time and made enough copies so that every team had enough. I put the students in breakout rooms and each room had their own doc. They could all edit at the same time in each breakout room. And I could see into their breakout rooms on the tech platform. If they got one part right but got another wrong, I was able to comment in the doc and say, “go back and work on it again.” They were able to respond very quickly.
Benjamin Breer
Second Year Undergraduate in the School of Physics and School of Aerospace Engineering (Dual Major):
My solution? Create my own structure. I set a standard 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM work schedule, with a lunch break in between. As my father will attest, the morning ‘commute’ from my bedroom to the ‘office’ occasionally resulted in a delayed start. We went for walks in our neighborhood every afternoon at 5:00 PM and made dinner shortly thereafter. Once a week, we had a video call with family living in other states.
This routine established a sense of structure that enabled me to continue focusing on my work while also being able to stay connected to family and friends. From bi-weekly Skype calls to catching up individually over the phone, my friends and I discussed this new world we live in. We shared several opinions regarding the online learning experience, including the flexibility of many professors and accommodating measures being taken, such as moving to asynchronous lectures to account for students living in different time zones. We agreed that many courses seamlessly transitioned to a complete online format.
Were there any pleasant surprises from remote learning? Any creative workarounds to the new situation?
Declan McCarthy
Graduate Teaching Assistant in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry:
I’m grateful for the fact that most faculty have been extremely understanding and willing to work with students, including graduate students, regarding any of the potential issues that may have arisen as a result of COVID-19. Another sort of anecdotal experience I would like to share is regarding some of the virtual meetings we have participated in as graduate students. In spite of being physically distant from others, I feel as though I may have gotten to know a different side of my peers. In some of the meetings we have all checked in with each other and are seeing some personal aspects of each other’s lives, like seeing someone’s dog or hearing a child ask about snack time.
Marc Weissburg
Professor in the School of Biological Sciences:
I think the fact that the students understood clearly that their learning was really contingent on being able to interact with each other, and finding ways to do that outside the technology, was a nice surprise. Not every student did that, but a number of students did. That indicates to me that they were still trying to be motivated, but also at least as a result of their prior experience in class, actually talking to their classmates, they understood how valuable that was to them, and made some attempt to get that experience in whatever way they possibly could. That’s something that would always come up in course reviews, where students ended up appreciating that it was good to see they were realizing that in the moment, and they felt they needed to get that done in some other way.
I think the other nice surprise is that the students used this as an opportunity to talk about other stuff that they might not have talked about. Because it could be difficult to focus on what you’re learning, the students’ attention could wander a little bit. I remember the first week we came back doing this, I was in my home office, and I asked the students if they had any questions. One of the students said, “yeah, what’s the painting you have on your wall? It looks interesting.” We got into this discussion on what this art was about, and how I came to have it, and why art is interesting and important. It was nice to be able to have some of those normal interactions working remotely.
Sydney Popsuj
Graduate Teaching Assistant in the School of Biological Sciences:
I thought switching to remote learning would create really overwhelming and difficult testing procedures for students. This concern was also shared by the course instructors and students because it's very hard to create a fair environment for everyone while also ensuring academic integrity. After a lot of discussions with both the professors and the students, we were eventually able to devise a way of testing that took into account the myriad new variables remote learning introduced. For all of the original anxiety, we found the class averages substantially increased as did students' confidence in the materials.
Bruce Walker
Professor in the School of Psychology and School of Interactive Computing
Walker and School of Interactive Computing graduate student Brianna Tomlinson recently collaborated with the University of Colorado-Boulder to develop a new course, Sound and Sonification Design for Interactive Learning Tools, for the education technology platform Coursera.
Our interest is more about how online learning is new to many of us, and we all want to make the experiences for students as engaging and as inclusive as possible. Adding sound to our online learning materials, be it on a learning platform, or just web pages and demos and simulations, can help with both of these goals.
But it is not always clear how to start when it comes to designing sounds that would be added to our teaching materials. The Sonification Lab is well known for our research in multimodal and auditory learning tools, so we wanted to bring our expertise in this area out to the masses. We developed an online course that will help teachers, educational materials developers, sound designers, and others make sounds that are effective and engaging.
The Coursera platform provided us with a great way to bring that content to our potential audience. Since both Georgia Tech and the University of Colorado-Boulder are affiliated with Coursera, it was relatively straightforward to jointly develop the course, have input from both universities, and then release the course under both schools' catalogs. Anyone who is interested in the topic can take the course for free, and then hopefully use what they learn to make their online and interactive learning content more accessible and more effective.
What has been the biggest challenge for you after the switch to remote learning?
Sara Singer:
For me, the biggest challenge to switching online was staring at electronics all day. I used to enjoy getting to walk around campus in between classes to get some fresh air, but it’s hard to have that same feeling when I am stuck on my computer all day for classes, homework, meetings, office, hours, exams, and anything else. Staring at a screen for eight hours a day is not healthy for anyone, yet professors and students are both having to do this in order to make virtual classes work. I find that it’s hard for me to dedicate the same amount of time and energy to my work while living at home and also trying to take care of my mental and physical health. I used to be able to stay focused on my work throughout the day because I was also getting social interactions and intermediate breaks. However, it’s hard to find those same outlets while staying at home and avoiding human interaction.
Dan Margalit
Professor in the School of Mathematics:
The most important differences and difficulties were keeping a personal connection with the students, managing student anxiety, and designing assessments. The personal connection was difficult for several reasons. For one thing, I could not figure out how to get the technology platform to show me more than four students' faces at a time. It is always really helpful to see confused looks or nodding heads while teaching. Since I didn't really have that, I had to ask the students to do things like input their affirmations in the chat if they were understanding (virtual head nodding). To try to build connection, I came early to class to chat a little with the students. I even played music at the start and end of class to keep things engaging.
Benjamin Breer:
I am a big believer in what I call ‘knowledge osmosis’. Even if you are tired and struggling to pay attention, there is no substitute for in-person instruction. Just sitting in the classroom facilitates some learning, whether we are aware of it or not. I think the biggest challenge for me when switching to a completely remote learning experience was the sudden removal of the in-person classroom experience and any sense of structure: activities like research, clubs, and spending time with friends constituted the scaffolding that held my college life together.
Marc Weissburg:
What’s important in my class is that the students are actually working together, talking about it, discussing, putting ideas down on paper. That is the most challenging part of this way of learning. When we migrated to a distance format, keeping the students engaged, keeping them motivated, keeping them asking questions of themselves and of us (instructors), and not being passive was the biggest challenge. ... In class I would walk around, along with teaching assistants, and we would say, “show me what you’re doing”. None of that could happen in the format available. One of the most unpleasant surprises for me is how sterile it is to be talking to the students through a computer, where I can’t really read their body language in a way that I can when I’m in class with them. It’s really stressful, and why after a day of Zoom meetings you’re tired, you’re spending so much mental energy trying to pick up on social cues that you innately get when you’re in somebody’s presence, and now you’re trying to compensate for them.
Sydney Popsuj:
As someone who wants to become a professor of biology one day, I really struggled with not getting to engage with my students as easily. The best part of being a TA for me is getting to watch my students grow, and discovering what makes them passionate about biology. I no longer had the opportunity for students to drop by after class or recitation to tell me about how this lesson made them realize a new field they wanted to explore, or how something I taught them in recitation ended up being a question their trivia team encountered. It was rather disheartening to feel disconnected from their individual learning paths, but eventually we all adjusted.
What has been your experience with remote learning technology?
Nicole “Nikki” Aiosa
Graduate Teaching Assistant in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry:
I am a first-year GTA, and everything has been an adjustment this past year, so being flexible wasn't really new to me. It is definitely more challenging to keep the attention of my students online, but I understand it is a difficult transition for them as well. In my undergraduate studies, I took several fully online courses and some hybrid online courses where lectures were online, but you came into a lecture hall to take a proctored exam.
Chrissy Spencer:
In my course, everything went fine. The upper level courses are heavily discussion-based, and everyone was able to be on video and audio, and make it work. I checked in with the students incessantly to make sure they were okay, to make sure they could come to class and give them options if they couldn’t. The expectation was you had to be there to have face-to-face discussions with peers, but I wanted a backup plan, and several students took me up on alternative assignments. I recorded everything and posted on a Canvas site. We had access to all course material, and they did fine.
Stephanie Bilodeau
Graduate Teaching Assistant in the School of Biological Sciences:
Teaching online was easy in terms of technology, but challenging in terms of content for the ecology lab I was TAing. We just made all the labs and projects for the rest of the semester independent for students to work on in their own time, and then turned our scheduled lab periods into ‘open office hours’-like consulting sessions on BlueJeans, where students could ask questions of the TA or other students and get help on these independent assignments — sort of an extreme ‘flipped classroom’ approach. Having said that, ecology lab is meant to be a practical, interactive course, and transitioning it online this way really took away from what the students were able to learn and experience.
As a student, organic interactions with other students and with the professor have been the biggest thing lost with remote instruction. Even if all students keep video on, which our software and other platforms typically do not handle well, it is difficult to ask and answer questions, especially in large classes. I do think WebEx, which the class I teach now is using, works a bit better for this. It is also very frustrating that other students don’t always understand appropriate protocol when on a big group call, and will forget to mute their mics when not speaking, even when explicitly asked to. Some platforms allow instructors to mute everyone automatically, but not all instructors remember to do this.
Marc Weissburg:
Theoretically, technology should come to the rescue, but in practicality, no. Some of this is a fundamental limitation, and some of it is some sort of software glitchiness. Theoretically there’s a way to allow the software platform to set up sub chats within the platform, so that students can talk amongst themselves. The problem is as soon as you do that, I am excluded from the conversations, so I can’t actually do what I need to do, which is listen in on what the students are doing. It has some utility for the students to talk amongst themselves, but the software, at least for me and for other people, it’s so glitchy that this function does not work very well. I’ve tried it and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. Right now it’s unreliable enough so that trying to get that to work ends up being a distraction.
What’s the biggest lesson learned for you regarding remote learning? What advice would you give to faculty and students?
Stephanie Bilodeau:
My advice to students is to take online courses seriously. Take some time before the first class and each day before the call starts to make sure your audio/video is set up, your notes or browser are accessible, and you have access to anything else you need, like Learning Catalytics or the course textbook or Canvas page. Also, show instructors the same respect you usually would and don’t email them with questions an hour before an assignment is due. Just because we are all working from home does not mean that instructors do not still have other responsibilities. In fact, they may have more.
As an instructor, take time before classes start to test out whatever platform(s) you intend to use with TAs and/or volunteer students in the class. Holding one or more voluntary ‘practice sessions’ can help. The professors I know who did this had a much smoother transition back into actual classes when Georgia Tech went fully remote. This also gives students who may be worried about their setup an opportunity to jump on with the instructor or TA and a small number of peers, and make sure things work in a less stressful environment without disrupting class itself.
Marc Weissburg:
There’s the opinion that remote delivery is a magic bullet that will make education easier and less costly, and more widely available to people, and that it will democratize education. Nothing is further from the truth. The way we do it now, online learning will disadvantage people because of the technology limitations, and it’s only suitable for a very small portion of students who have the right mental habits to be able to deal with it. It undervalues what teachers do, and gives people the false idea that content and learning are the same thing.
Nicole “Nikki” Aiosa:
We need to make these online courses much more interactive, even more so than in person. This will hopefully keep everyone more engaged.
Dan Margalit:
Overall, the class went well from a technical perspective, all things considered. So I know we can do this as long as we need to. But I don't think we should start closing down the campus in favor of online learning. I certainly missed running into my students around campus, and I know the students missed seeing each other. I do think it is a good time to reflect on what we like about being on campus, so we can be ready to do those things even better when we get back. I also think it's a good time to think about what is better about online learning, so we can continue to do those, as well!
The Center for 21st Century Universities at Georgia Tech
The Center for 21st Century Universities at Georgia Tech (C21U) is also gathering data from faculty and surveys on how the sudden switch to remote learning has impacted and evolved instruction. The goal is to find out what technologies and methods worked well, and to understand challenges and opportunities for future learning. Learn more here.
Have a story you’d like to share?
We want to hear from you. Please email renay.san@cos.gatech.edu and jess@cos.gatech.edu to get in touch.
The Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) has announced this year’s teaching assistant (TA) award winners.
“As I reviewed the nomination packets for the awards, I was impressed by the quality of teaching that our TAs bring to Georgia Tech students,” said Joyce Weinsheimer, director of CTL. “Our TAs want students to learn, and they bring both vitality and commitment to their teaching. The results are noteworthy!"
The following students received institutewide TA awards, which include $500 prizes sponsored by the Tech alumni classes of 1957 and 1972:
Undergraduate TA of the Year
- Brandon King, Industrial and Systems Engineering
- Caroline Kish, Computer Science
- Max Poff, Mathematics
Graduate TA of the Year
- Cvetelina Hill, Mathematics
- Elaine Rhoades, Physics
- Yushuo Yang, Economics
Graduate Student Instructor of the Year
- Aditya Anupam, Literature, Media, and Communication
- Yoan Delchev, Mathematics
- Anthony Harding, Economics
In addition, 45 students received school-level awards, and 169 graduate students received Thank-a-Teacher notes.
In memory of Regents' Professor Robin Thomas, family and friends are raising funds to support a graduate fellowship in the Algorithms, Combinatorics, and Optimization (ACO) Ph.D. program at Georgia Tech.
Thomas, a renowned mathematician and Regents' Professor in the School of Mathematics at Georgia Tech, died on March 26, 2020, following a long struggle against Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS).
A world leader in graph theory, Thomas joined the faculty at Georgia Tech in 1989, where he established a remarkable legacy of research and teaching that included serving as leader of the Algorithms, Combinatorics and Optimization Ph.D. program. In 2016, Thomas received the Class of 1934 Distinguished Professor Award, the highest honor for a professor at Georgia Tech, recognizing more than 25 years of outstanding achievement in teaching, service, and research.
Robin’s passing has left a hole in the School of Mathematics, and in our hearts. Robin was recognized not just for his extraordinary mathematical renown, but also for his kindness and mentorship. His Ph.D. students have gone on to research positions at prestigious universities including McGill, Princeton, University of Rome, University of Waterloo, as well as to the Tech Industry - Amazon, Microsoft, Renaissance Technologies, Walmart, etc. Indeed he lived by his advice to Georgia Tech’s 2016 Ph.D. and Masters graduates: “Follow your passion, value your education and work hard. Don’t give up in the face of hardship, and have fun.”
We cannot think of a more fitting way to honor Robin’s legacy than by supporting future generations of graduate students, scholars and leaders in the ACO program. Graduate fellowships help to recruit the most promising students to Georgia Tech and support and encourage them in their full-time course of study by allowing them to focus their attention on their studies and research.
If you would like to make a contribution, you can direct a gift to the Georgia Tech Foundation through an online gift:
To make an on line gift, please go to http://development.gatech.edu
Then click on the “GIVE NOW” box toward the top middle of the page.
Enter your gift amount at the top and again in the “Other Designation” Box.
Then in the “If other, please specify” box, put “Robin Thomas Memorial Fellowship-55D202”.
Once the transaction is completed, you will receive an automatic reply indicating the transaction was successful, and thanking you for the gift.
Please contact Courtney Ferencik (Director of Development, College of Sciences) at 404-275-2740 or Courtney.ferencik@cos.gatech.edu with any questions.
A full write-up and tribute to Robin can be found at: https://cos.gatech.edu/news/remembering-robin-thomas-regents-professor-and-renowned-mathematician
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