Sybrina Atwaters (BS, EE 1994; MS, HTS 2009; Ph.D. 2014) has been named director of OMED: Educational Services.

As part of Institute Diversity’s Center for Student Diversity and Inclusion (CSDI), OMED is charged with the retention and development of historically underrepresented minority students at Georgia Tech. In the role of director, Atwaters will provide oversight and leadership of various OMED programs and initiatives such as Challenge, Edge, Focus, and Transitions.

“We’re looking forward to the impact Dr. Atwaters will have on student success and development at Georgia Tech," said S. Gordon Moore Jr., executive director of CSDI. "Her previous experiences in STEM research, sociology, and student programming will serve OMED and the larger Tech community extremely well.”

Atwaters previously held roles as OMED’s assistant director of Outreach Initiatives and as outreach support for OMED’s African-American Male Initiative (AAMI), an Institute and state-supported program to provide academic resources, mentoring, and leadership training to support the enrollment, retention, graduation, and career placement of African-American males at Tech. Simultaneously, she managed the Challenge program, OMED’s signature five-week, academic intensive summer residential program for incoming first-year students and Focus, the Institute’s graduate recruitment initiative hosted by Institute Diversity.

She is a three-time graduate of Georgia Tech, holding a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and master’s and doctorate degrees in sociology of technology and science. She also holds master’s degrees from Emory University and Georgia State University.

Atwaters brings to the role ten years of experience as a senior wireless design engineer and more than a decade of STEM diversity research and programming. Her research interests have included the intersection of sociology and technology as well as social inequality in higher education.

Atwaters has also taught Intro to Sociology and Women in Science & Engineering courses at Georgia Tech. She has also served on the board of the Georgia Tech Black Alumni Organization (GTBAO) and currently serves on the Georgia Million Women Mentor and Complete College Georgia (CCG)-GT steering committees.

During her undergraduate and graduate studies, she was an active member with the Institute’s Xi Alpha chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc.; a member of the executive board of the Georgia Tech chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers; a member of the Black Graduate Students Association; and a President’s Fellowship recipient.