Jarrell, a third-year Ph.D. candidate in applied physiology in the College of Sciences, is sergeant-first class and senior medic in the Alabama National Guard, with 16 years of service and two combat tours to Iraq.

He shared his experiences during the National Science Foundation’s annual Saluting Veterans in STEM symposium held Wednesday in Arlington, Va. Jarrell delivered a keynote speech during the event, which featured 11 military veterans in the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program.

Jarrell said he was humbled and honored to speak on behalf of veterans. He talked about how the military instilled in him the value of teamwork, discipline and courage – skills that are helping him thrive at Georgia Tech.

“As student veterans, we are already non-traditional students who didn’t take the typical path to college,” Jarrell, 33, said, before the event. “But our experiences mean we are not as intimidated by obstacles and the unknown.”

As part of Thursday’s event, Jarrell and the other fellows shared their research and motivations for pursuing graduate school. He studies direct skeletal attachment of limb prostheses under Boris Prilutsky, an associate professor in the School of Applied Physiology.