George Tan, a third-year Ph.D. student in the College of Sciences, has been named a 2016 Sam Nunn Security Fellow. He joins seven other Ph.D. students from other Georgia Tech units who will bring their backgrounds to bear to help develop policies addressing problems of national and international importance.

Working under the guidance of Amanda Stockton, Tan studies biodiversity and variations of geochemical signatures in terrestrial analogs of Mars. One of Stockton’s research focus is developing organic analysis instruments that can be used to search for extraterrestrial life.

As a Sam Nunn Security Fellow, Tan is interested in learning how emerging technologies will impact future global conflicts and national security.

Tan is the fourth Ph.D. student from the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry to be named a Sam Nunn Security Fellow since 2012. Following are the chemistry majors immediately preceding Tan:

• Jennifer Beveridge, 2014-15 fellow, now in the fifth-year of Ph.D. studies under the guidance of M.G. Finn
• Marchello Cavitt, 2013-14 fellow, graduated in 2015 under the guidance of Stefan France
• Ariell Marshall, 2012-13 fellow, graduated in 2014 under the guidance of Joseph Perry

Sam Nunn Security Fellows are selected on the basis of scholarly merit. The fellowship program examines issues at the intersection of science, technology, and security. Fellows participate in an international security seminar and learn about policy processes through field trips to key governmental and nongovernmental organizations in the Southeast and Washington, D.C.

“The current fellows were selected from a pool of more than 45 applicants,” says Margaret E. Kosal, the director of the Sam Nunn Security Program in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs. She and a group of alumni fellows reviewed applications. Kosal made the final selections.

The fellowship awards a stipend and covers expenses for two field trips, including one week in Washington, D.C., in the spring semester.

Following is the list of 2016 Sam Nunn Security Fellows:

• Victor Chukwuka, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering
• Andrew Conant, George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering
• Pete Exline, George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering
• Seth Gordon, School of Aerospace Engineering
• Rockie Marie Rodriguez, Sam Nunn School of International Affairs
• Anmol Soni, School of Public Policy
• Wes Stayton, Sam Nunn School of International Affairs
• George Tan, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry

Pictured from left are Wes Stayton, Pete Exline, Rockie Marie Rodriguez, Seth Gordon, Andrew Conant, Victor Chukwuka, Amnol Soni, and George Tan. Photo courtesy of Margaret Kosal.