Since printing its first volume in 2008, The Tower has progressed from a publication that simply binds together research articles to one that captures the stories and faces of undergraduate research across the Institute.

The journal, which publishes each semester, gives undergraduate researchers the opportunity to have their articles accepted to a peer-reviewed publication. The fifth edition includes work from the College of Engineering, College of Sciences, Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts and Scheller College of Business. It also highlights opportunities available through the Fellowships Office and provides insight into the Institute’s research strategy through interviews with Executive Vice President for Research Steve Cross and Integrated Sciences Curriculum Coordinator Jennifer Leavey.

In this issue, the staff has honed the journal’s look, incorporating high-quality photography and a simplified layout. For guidance, they went to Van Jensen, editor of the Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine, whom Editor-in-Chief T.J. Kaplan credits for “his sage advice on how to design a brilliant journal with limited resources.”

This edition also features the journal’s first guest article, which came from an undergraduate researcher at the University of Oregon.

“One of my goals as editor is to improve our relations with other undergraduate research journals across the country,” Kaplan said. “I believe that this is the beginning of an article exchange program that will serve to foster such relationships.”

The journal’s student staff not only puts out the print edition, which also can be read online, it maintains a blog, hosts events and produces videos featuring undergraduates and faculty around campus. The Tower’s signature event, the Undergraduate Research Kaleidoscope (URK), hosts brief research presentations in a casual setting, modeled after the PechaKucha format.

Submissions to The Tower are accepted on a rolling basis and can be in the form of articles, dispatches, perspectives or synopses. The journal also continually accepts staff applications. More information on both can be found at gttower.org.

Pick up your copy of The Tower’s fifth edition at various locations around campus.