Georgia Tech provides housing for more than 8,000 students on campus, but what about the other 15,000? After living on campus for some time, many students seek a greater sense of independence and responsibility by moving off campus.

A common problem for students considering off-campus housing is finding the best place to live. Not everyone has the luxury of choosing from several great neighborhoods, but Tech students do. Regardless of which corner of the city you choose, be sure to weigh all of your options. There are many factors to consider, including roommates, utilities, monthly expenses, commute times, and parking fees.

Different areas will offer different benefits, but there are a few places worth investigating if you’re apartment hunting. Make sure you tour the entire property, and drive around the area at different times to see what it’s like early in the morning and late at night. Don’t settle on a place solely for its price and make safety and well-being top priorities.

Student-oriented apartments

Many apartment complexes close to campus are either partially or specifically for student living. Besides proximity, these places have the benefit of allowing residents to live among other students and sign individual leases while still sharing a space. A few popular options, which are not approved housing or endorsed housing by Georgia Tech, include:

• The Standard
• Square on Fifth (SQ5)
• The Mark
• UHouse
• 935M

Neighborhoods close to campus

Home Park: The closest neighborhood north of campus, Home Park is known for its large student population and affordable living. While it doesn’t offer much in the way of restaurants or shops, one can’t overlook the fact that it is home to Antico Pizza and Sublime Doughnuts, both favorites among students. Furthermore, it is close to Atlantic Station and Howell Mill Road, two vibrant commercial districts. If you’re on campus after dark, you can get a ride home from the Stingerette through the Safe Ride Home program.

Highlights: Antico (1093 Hemphill Ave. NW), Sublime Doughnuts (535 10th Street NW), Firehouse Subs (537 10th Street NW), Tannour Mediterranean Grill (398 14th Street NW).

Website: Home Park

Downtown and Centennial Place Apartments: Many students choose to live in Centennial Place because of its proximity to campus. Residents can easily walk or bike there, or to the bus stop at North Avenue Apartments, and the North Avenue MARTA station is nearby to get to other places in the city. Tech students will be in good company with students from Georgia State University, whose campus buildings dot the downtown area. For those who want to take advantage of attractions such as the Georgia Aquarium, the World of Coca-Cola, the Center for Civil and Human Rights, or State Farm Arena, downtown makes it convenient to do so.

Highlights: Georgia Aquarium (225 Baker Street NW), World of Coca-Cola (121 Baker Street NW), CNN Center (190 Marietta Street NW), Skyview Atlanta (168 Luckie Street NW)

Websites: Atlanta Downtown

Midtown: Georgia Tech is in Midtown Atlanta, and it is relatively walkable to campus. Midtown is home to families, young couples, singles, and students alike. If you’re a runner, you’ll benefit from the proximity of Piedmont Park and its abundance of trails, including the BeltLine, which runs right along the park and through Ponce City Market. Midtown is also a good option for those who don’t own a car, since it’s close to MARTA, campus, and options for groceries and the like. Midtown has both apartment complexes (such as Marq on Ponce, Biltmore at Midtown, and Piedmont Park) as well as many apartments rented by smaller landlords (which are generally less expensive) for those not as particular about amenities. If you spend a lot of time in Tech Square, Midtown could be more convenient than living farther west, and apartment complexes on the border between Midtown and Tech Square include SQ5, UHouse, and The Standard at Atlanta.

Highlights: Fox Theatre (660 Peachtree Street NE), Woodruff's Art Center (1280 Peachtree Street NE), Publix (950 W. Peachtree Street NW), Ponce City Market (675 Ponce de Leon Ave. NE), Atlanta Botanical Garden (1345 Piedmont Ave. NE), BeltLine access, MARTA access.

Website: Midtown Atlanta

Westside: Atlanta’s Westside offers a handful of apartment complexes and small homes, both of which are ideal for students. The area is rapidly developing, with new restaurants and niche shops springing up on every corner. Though a boon to residents’ social lives, it also means increasing prices. The commute from Marietta Street is easier than ever on foot and bike thanks to the Path Parkway. 

Highlights: Ormsby’s (1170 Howell Mill Road), West Egg (1100 Howell Mill Road).

Website: Westside Provisions

Atlantic Station: Though Atlantic Station can be pricier than other off-campus options, it’s really close to campus and offers other benefits. Residents are within walking distance of the outdoor shopping mall, IKEA, movie festivals, an 18-screen movie theater, weekend sidewalk markets, and restaurants. Stinger buses travel to the south side of Atlantic Station — though not as frequently as they do on campus — providing a solid transportation option in a pinch.

Highlights: Regal Cinemas 18 (261 19th Street NW), Target (375 18th Street), California Pizza Kitchen (264 19th Street NW), IKEA (441 16th Street NW).

Website: Atlantic Station

Virginia Highland: Just past Midtown to the east, many students frequent the Highlands for its restaurants, bars, and shops. The Highland is known for attracting twenty-somethings and offering lower rents. Though it will take a car, bike, or long walk to MARTA to get to campus, it offers plenty of entertainment options within walking distance. It's also home to multiple coffee shops for those who prefer such venues for studying. 

Highlights: DBA Barbecue (1190 N Highland Ave.), Fontaine's Oyster House (1026 N Highland Ave. NE), La Tavola (992 Virginia Ave. NE), Paolo's Gelato (1025 Virginia Ave. NE), 

Website: Virginia Highland District

Buckhead: Buckhead is an uptown district within the city of Atlanta, comprising over 100,000 residents. It is an upscale residential and commercial district with internationally renowned shopping and dining. Located approximately six miles (or just over nine kilometers) from Georgia Tech, Buckhead is a little farther from campus than other neighborhoods and thus requires using public transportation (MARTA) or a car. Buckhead features shopping centers and malls, hotels, restaurants, bars and nightclubs, and high-rise office buildings and condominiums. 

Highlights: Le Colonial (3035 Peachtree Road NE), Lenox Square Mall (3393 Peachtree Road NE), Phipps Plaza (3500 Peachtree Road NE), Eclipse di Luna (764 Miami Circle). 

Website: Buckhead Village District

Vinings: This unincorporated "village" is more common to families and younger working couples, making it quieter and more expensive. The nightlife may not be as exhilarating, but the area offers its own social scene with plenty of restaurants, shops, and parks to explore. It's not uncommon to find excellent festivals and fairs on the weekends. 

Highlights: Cumberland Mall (2860 Cumberland Mall SE), South City Kitchen (1675 Cumberland Parkway), Mellow Mushroom (2950 New Paces Ferry Road), Bowl Lab (3621 Vinings Slope SE). 

Website: Vinings

During your search, ask yourself these questions:

• How much is the monthly rent? Is a deposit required?
• Are furniture and utilities (including Wi-Fi) part of the rent?
• Is parking available and at what cost?
• What’s the distance to campus and/or work?
• How long is the lease?
• Is it an individual or group lease?
• Can you view a model apartment and take a tour before committing?
• Do you know someone who has lived there?
• Are pets allowed?
• Does the complex provide a roommate-matching service?
• What is the maintenance and repairs policy?
• Is there a policy for guest parking and staying overnight?
• Is the landlord easily accessible if something goes wrong?

Emelianov was recognized for his contributions to ultrasound elasticity and photoacoustic imaging. He is the Joseph M. Pettit Chair Professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering and a Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar. An expert in biomedical imaging instrumentation and nanoagents for imaging and therapy, Emelianov has joint appointments with the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University. He is also a professor of Radiology at the Emory University School of Medicine and is affiliated with Winship Cancer Institute and other clinical units. 

Emelianov is the director of the Ultrasound Imaging and Therapeutics Research Laboratory, where his group works on the discovery, development, and clinical translation of diagnostic imaging and therapeutic instrumentation, augmented with theranostic nanoagents–small particles that can diagnose and then treat a specific disease. He is a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, and he has served as vice president for Ultrasonics of the IEEE Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control Society.

Fujimoto, a Regents’ Professor in the School of Computational Science and Engineering, was honored for his work in the field of parallel and distributed discrete event simulation. Discrete event simulations model operations within a system and have uses in a wide variety of applications. Fujimoto has authored and co-authored hundreds of technical papers on the subject as well as several books, which span application areas including transportation systems, telecommunication networks, and multiprocessor and defense systems.

He was also named a 2019 Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference (I/ITSEC) Fellow. The announcement for both of these recognitions came only two years after he was named an Association for Computing Machinery Fellow in 2017.

Sarkar, the Stephen P. Fleming Chair of Telecommunications in the School of Computer Science and co-director of the Center for Research into Novel Computing Hierarchies, received his distinction for contributions to compiler technologies for high-performance computing. His work in this area spans multiple aspects of parallel computing software including programming languages, compilers, runtime systems, and debugging and verification systems for high performance computers.

Sarkar has numerous recognitions in the field. He became a member of the IBM Academy of Technology in 1995 and an ACM Fellow in 2008. He has been serving as a member of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Scientific Computing Advisory Committee (ASCAC) since 2009 and has served on CRA’s Board of Directors since 2015. 

The IEEE – short for the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers – is the world’s leading professional association for advancing technology for humanity. Through its 420,000-plus members in more than 160 countries, the association is a leading authority on a wide variety of areas ranging from aerospace systems, computers and telecommunications, biomedical engineering, electric power, and consumer electronics.

Dedicated to the advancement of technology, the IEEE publishes nearly one-third of the world’s literature in the electrical and electronics engineering and computer science fields, and has developed nearly 1,300 active industry standards.  The association also sponsors or co-sponsors more than 1,900 international technical conferences and events each year. 

CREATE-X was established to instill entrepreneurial confidence in Georgia Tech students and provide them with the knowledge, skills, and experiences needed to create their own future. From its humble beginnings with eight teams, the program has expanded to include three distinct branches: Learn, Make, and Launch. These branches cater to the multifaceted needs of entrepreneurial students, offering courses, mentorship, seed funding, and opportunities to develop and launch startups.

Through our value pillars of experiential education, entrepreneurial confidence, and real-world impact, we strive to enable our students to solve the problems they are passionate about solving. And as we look to the future, CREATE-X aims to become the nation’s top startup campus, launching 300 startups each year. 

Our commitment to nurturing student innovation and expanding entrepreneurial education remains steadfast. We invite all Georgia Tech students, faculty, alumni, and the public to join us in this exciting journey. Together, we create the future.

Download our report.

Interested in creating your own startup?

Georgia Tech students, faculty, researchers, and alumni interested in developing their own startups are encouraged to apply to CREATE-X’s Startup Launch. The program provides $5,000 in optional seed funding, $150,000 in in-kind services, mentorship, entrepreneurial workshops, networking events, and resources to help build and scale startups. The program culminates in Demo Day, where teams present their startups to potential investors. The deadline to apply for Startup Launch is March 19, 2025. Spots are limited. Apply now for a higher chance of acceptance and early feedback. 

For students interested in taking a CREATE-X course, consider exploring Startup Lab, Idea to Prototype, and CREATE-X Capstone Design. These courses can be taken in any order to fit your schedule, and they offer opportunities for funding and other resources. The deadline for applications and registrations for these courses is Jan. 6 for Spring 2025 and May 12 for Summer 2025. 

And as always, we invite you to attend our CREATE-X events. CREATE-X hosts workshops and events throughout the year, focusing on brainstorming and receiving feedback on startup ideas, networking and building a team, understanding the legal landscapes of startups, hearing founder insights, and witnessing the latest innovations at Georgia Tech. We hope to see you there.

Interested in supporting CREATE-X?

Faculty members interested in getting involved with CREATE-X can participate as teachers or mentors in various programs such as Startup Lab, CREATE-X Capstone, Idea to Prototype, and Startup Launch. Faculty can also apply for the next cohort of the Jim Pope Fellowship when it opens in the spring. For additional information or inquiries, contact the director of CREATE-X, Rahul Saxena, at rahulsaxena@gatech.edu.

For those interested in donating to or partnering with CREATE-X, your generosity and collaboration is greatly appreciated. Donations to CREATE-X can be made through Georgia Tech’s Give Campus portal. For questions and requests to collaborate, please email create-x@groups.gatech.edu.

CREATE-X appreciates the unwavering support from our community, donors, and partners. Your contributions have been instrumental in shaping the entrepreneurial landscape at Georgia Tech. 

To our students, we encourage you to continue being bold, creative, and fearless in your pursuits. CREATE-X is here to support you every step of the way, providing the resources, mentorship, and opportunities you need to turn your ideas into reality. 

In this new role, McDaniel is committed to supporting the students she teaches and providing additional support to teaching assistants (TAs) and new faculty.

"I started working at Georgia Tech in 2015. Mary and I have worked closely for all these years,” McDaniel said. “I’m honored to take on this role and continue the work we’ve done together.”

In addition to supporting Hudachek-Buswell, McDaniel’s primary focus is strengthening SCI’s teaching assistant (TA) program, which now includes over 500 TAs who support the administration of computing courses.

McDaniel’s dedication to supporting and nurturing the program stems from her years of experience working with TAs. She will provide support in many areas, such as training and payroll, and address any challenges they might face.

"My classes are good because my TAs are good," McDaniel said. "The best part of my job is working with them and teaching them how to teach. By helping my TAs succeed, I can reach more students and improve the overall teaching experience. It's about creating a solid foundation for them so they can, in turn, support the students effectively."

Before joining Georgia Tech, McDaniel taught high school for 20 years, gaining valuable experience in educational settings that shaped her approach to teaching and mentorship.

McDaniel is passionate about teaching courses that support both non-major and CS-major students. She finds joy in creating accessible and engaging learning environments for all students, fostering a deep understanding of computing concepts even for those not pursuing a career in the field.

“I had been a chemical engineering major until I took my first coding class,” she said. “I love to teach students that have never coded before and it’s nice teaching non-CS majors how they can use code to help them solve engineering problems.”

McDaniel’s commitment to excellence in teaching has been recognized throughout her career. In 2018, she received the William D. "Bill" Leahy Jr. Outstanding Instructor Award, and in 2024, she received the Monica Sweat Outstanding Lecturer in External Engagement Award. 

In addition to her focus on TAs and the courses she teaches, McDaniel is passionate about mentoring new faculty members. She has informally helped new colleagues get settled into the department and set up their TA programs, but she hopes to formalize this support. 

"I think it’s important to have a more structured approach to help them get up to speed," she said.

As the new interim associate chair, McDaniel’s vision for SCI will contribute to its ongoing success as the school continues to serve thousands of students each year.

College of Computing Professors Michael Bailey, Dana Randall, and Thad Starner are among 55 Fellows named today by ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery, for their “transformative contributions to computing science and technology.”

"Computing technology has had a tremendous impact in shaping how we live and work today,” said ACM President Yannis Ioannidis. “The ACM Fellows program honors the creativity and hard work of ACM members whose specific accomplishments drive innovation and make broader advances possible.”

According to its news release, ACM is recognizing Bailey, founding chair of the School of Cybersecurity and Privacy, for his “contributions to cybersecurity and internet measurement.” Bailey has authored more than 90 papers on the performance and security of complex distributed systems.

Randall is a professor with joint appointments in the School of Computer Science and the School of Mathematics. The ACM fellowship acknowledges her “contributions to the theory of Markov chains and programmable active matter.” Her research in randomized algorithms and stochastic processes connects computer science, discrete mathematics, and statistical physics.

A professor in the School of Interactive Computing, Starner is being honored as an ACM Fellow for “contributions to and leadership in the wearable computing research community.” His research combines wearable and ubiquitous computing technologies with AI, pattern recognition, and human-computer interaction. 

Starner, Randall, and Bailey are longstanding ACM members. The 2024 ACM Fellows were selected by the ACM membership “for making possible the computing technologies we use every day.”

"We congratulate Michael Bailey, Dana Randall, and Thad Starner on this significant achievement. Their contributions to the field of computing have not only advanced knowledge but have also benefited society,” said College of Computing Dean Vivek Sarkar.

“We are fortunate to have such distinguished colleagues from different schools in our College. Their achievements are a source of pride for us at Georgia Tech and will continue to inspire future generations of computer scientists."

ACM will formally recognize the 2024 Fellows at its annual awards banquet on June 14 in San Francisco. Additional information about the 2024 ACM Fellows is available through the ACM Fellows website.

Now, Zhigang Peng, a professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Georgia Tech and graduate students Phuc Mach and Chang Ding, alongside researchers at the Scientific and Technological Research Institution of Türkiye (TÜBİTAK) and researchers at the University of Missouri, are using small seismic sensors to better understand just how, why, and when these earthquakes are occurring.

Funded by an NSF RAPID grant, the project is unique in that it aims to actively respond to the crisis while it’s still happening. National Science Foundation (NSF) Rapid Response Research (RAPID) grants are used when there is a severe urgency with regard to availability of or access to data, facilities or specialized equipment, including quick-response research on natural or anthropogenic disasters and other similar unanticipated events.

In an effort to better map the aftershocks of the earthquake event — which can occur weeks or months after the main event — the team placed approximately 120 small sensors, called nodes, in the East Anatolian fault region this past May. Their deployment continues through the summer. 

It’s the first time sensors like this have been deployed in Turkey, says Peng.

“These sensors are unique in that they can be placed easily and efficiently," he explains. "With internal batteries that can work up to one month when fully charged, they’re buried in the ground and can be deployed within minutes, while most other seismic sensors need solar panels or other power sources and take much longer time and space to deploy.” Each node is about the size of a 2-liter soda bottle, and can measure ground movement in three directions.

 “The primary reason we’re deploying these sensors quickly following the two mainshocks is to study the physical mechanisms of how earthquakes trigger each,” Peng adds. Mainshocks are the largest earthquake in a sequence. “We’ll use advanced techniques such as machine learning to detect and locate thousands of small aftershocks recorded by this network. These newly identified events can provide new important clues on how aftershocks evolve in space and time, and what drives foreshocks that occur before large events.”

Unearthing fault mechanisms

The team will also use the detected aftershocks to illuminate active faults where three tectonic plates come together — a region known as the Maraş Triple Junction. “We plan to use the aftershock locations and the seismic waves from recorded events to image subsurface structures where large damaging earthquakes occur,” says Mach, the Georgia Tech graduate researcher. This will help scientists better understand why sometimes faults ‘creep’ without any large events, while in other cases faults lock and then violently release elastic energy, creating powerful earthquakes.

Getting high-resolution data of the fault structures is another priority. “The fault line ruptured in the first magnitude 7.8 event has a bend in it, where earthquake activity typically terminates, but the earthquake rupture moved through this bend, which is highly unusual,” Peng says. By deploying additional ultra-dense arrays of sensors in their upcoming trip this summer, the team hopes to help researchers ‘see’ the bend under the Earth’s surface, allowing them to better understand how fault properties control earthquake rupture propagation.  

The team also aims to learn more about the relationship between the two main shocks that recently rocked Turkey, sometimes called doublet events. Doublet events can happen when the initial earthquake triggers a secondary earthquake by adding extra stress loading. While in this instance, the doublet may have taken place only 9 hours after the initial event, these secondary earthquakes have been known to take place days, months, or even years after the initial one — a famous example being the sequence of earthquakes that spanned 60 years in the North Anatolian fault region in Northern Turkey. 

“Clearly the two main shocks in 2023 are related, but it is still not clear how to explain the time delays,” says Peng. The team plans to work with their collaborators at TÜBİTAK to re-analyze seismic and other types of geophysical data right before and after those two main shocks in order to better understand the triggering mechanisms.

“In our most recent trip in southern Türkiye, we saw numerous buildings that were partially damaged during the mainshock, and many people will have to live in temporary shelters for years during the rebuilding process,” Peng adds. “While we cannot stop earthquakes from happening in tectonically active regions, we hope that our seismic deployment and subsequent research on earthquake triggering and fault imaging can improve our ability to predict what will happen next — before and after a big one — and could save countless lives.”

This scenario played out this weekend at the DARPA AI Cyber Challenge (AIxCC) semi-final competition held at DEF CON 32 in Las Vegas. Team Atlanta, which included the Georgia Tech experts, were among the contest’s winners.  

Team Atlanta will now compete against six other teams in the final round that takes place at DEF CON 33 in August 2025. The finalists will keep their AI system and improve it over the next 12 months using the $2 million semi-final prize.

The AI systems in the finals must be open sourced and ready for immediate, real-world launch. The AIxCC final competition will award a $4 million grand prize to the ultimate champion.

Team Atlanta is made up of past and present Georgia Tech students and was put together with the help of SCP Professor Taesoo Kim. Not only did the team secure a spot in the final competition, they found a zero-day vulnerability in the contest. 

“I am incredibly proud to announce that Team Atlanta has qualified for the finals in the DARPA AIxCC competition,” said Taesoo Kim, professor in the School of Cybersecurity and Privacy and a vice president of Samsung Research. 

“This achievement is the result of exceptional collaboration across various organizations, including the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), industry partners like Samsung, and international academic institutions such as KAIST and POSTECH.” 

After noticing discrepancies in the competition score board, the team discovered and reported a bug in the competition itself. The type of vulnerability they discovered is known as a zero-day vulnerability, because vendors have zero days to fix the issue. 

While this didn’t earn Team Atlanta additional points, the competition organizer acknowledged the team and their finding during the closing ceremony. 

“Our team, deeply rooted in Atlanta and largely composed of Georgia Tech alumni, embodies the innovative spirit and community values that define our city,” said Kim. 

“With over 30 dedicated students and researchers, we have demonstrated the power of cross-disciplinary teamwork in the semi-final event. As we advance to the finals, we are committed to pushing the boundaries of cybersecurity and artificial intelligence, and I firmly believe the resulting systems from this competition will transform the security landscape in the coming year!”

The team tested their cyber reasoning system (CRS), dubbed Atlantis, on software used for data management, website support, healthcare systems, supply chains, electrical grids, transportation, and other critical infrastructures.

Atlantis is a next-generation, bug-finding and fixing system that can hunt bugs in multiple coding languages. The system immediately issues accurate software patches without any human intervention. 

AIxCC is a Pentagon-backed initiative that was announced in August 2023 and will award up to $20 million in prize money throughout the competition. Team Atlanta was among the 42 teams that qualified for the semi-final competition earlier this year. 

Revised on Nov. 10, 2023

Whether the issue is being credited in a study or disagreeing over grade policies, Kyla Ross knows academic issues are best solved by people familiar with academia. That’s one of the reasons why she applied to be the assistant vice provost for Advocacy and Conflict Resolution.

“Since I’ve held faculty positions at multiple institutions and was previously a postdoctoral fellow and graduate student myself, I can approach each conflict I’m working through with empathy,” Ross said. “I find it motivating to not only help faculty, postdocs, and students with their current challenges, but also to equip them with helpful strategies for future conflicts they may experience. I welcome the opportunity to consult with them so that more in our community learn how to leverage the positives while limiting the negatives of conflict.”

Ross completed her Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University in 2006. Next, she served as a postdoctoral fellow in the National Institutes of Health-funded Fellowships in Research and Science Teaching (FIRST) Program. In 2008, Ross joined the faculty at Georgia State University, and then returned to Tech in 2016 as the director of graduate training in Biomedical Engineering.

“My diverse experiences have helped me gain perspective as an administrator, teacher, and coach," Ross said. "I've helped students and faculty navigate advisor/advisee relationships. And over time, I've developed an appreciation for the ways that people communicate. I wanted to teach others how to connect even in difficult situations, so when I saw this job ad, it felt like it was written for me.”

We asked Ross about how she helps students, postdocs, and faculty, and how people can work through conflict in their own lives. Here’s what she said.

Who do you work with on campus, and what are some of the most common inquiries you receive? 

I serve faculty, postdocs, and graduate and undergraduate students. When it comes to students, a lot of grievances that I receive are about course concerns like grading or class policies.

Common concerns reported by graduate students and postdocs include communication challenges with their advisors and disputes regarding authorship and publication. For example, graduate students and postdocs might need to clarify authorship order when working on a research project.

In addition, faculty often come to me requesting strategies for how to maintain positive work relationships with their advisees and colleagues.

What is the process for a student to submit an academic grievance?

Students may file an academic grievance through an online form. Once submitted, I investigate and seek resolution on the case. The first step is to get curious about the perspective of each individual involved and talk with them. I often also connect and consult with campus units, like the Office of Disability Services or the Dean of Students, to investigate further and to ensure that the solution adheres to campus policy.

Describe what your day-to-day job entails.   

Most of my days involve some combination of consulting, coaching, interviewing, and writing. Even if an individual doesn’t want to file a formal complaint, people can email me about any concerns. I host sessions on how people can navigate challenging conversations and manage conflict, as well as consultations to teach communication and conflict resolution skills. When people do choose to file a complaint, I’m available to investigate the concerns and mediate when needed.

What is the most satisfying part of your job? 

I like knowing that I can help the people who come to me. Sometimes, the conflicts I’m dealing with are quite challenging and individuals are entrenched in their own positions. When that happens, it’s very satisfying to detangle the problem and help everyone involved find closure.

What is the most challenging part of your job, and how do you deal with it? 

At times, it can be challenging for all parties to achieve closure. For example, we might have found a resolution that all have agreed to, and then one party shares information that changes the best way forward. To avoid getting frustrated myself, I try not to get attached to one party’s needs, so that it's easier to determine what will help everyone involved. I also remain focused on my own emotions, particularly when it's clear that others’ emotions are running strong. Even if the solution we come up with doesn’t totally solve things for all parties, I seek the best possible outcome for all involved.  

Can you provide a couple of strategies for handling conflict?

First, check out the resources we have to offer, which include workshops on active listening and effective communication. These can help you manage conflict if and when it arises. Students can reach out to me by email to ask about attending these workshops.

When it comes to working through conflicts, maintaining open communication with people goes a long way. It’s healthy to disagree but being mindful of how you’re coming across will help you to avoid confrontation. This mostly comes down to being self-aware. It's important to remember that the only person that you can control is you. 

For more information, visit provost.gatech.edu.

The career fair represents possibilities­–all of the potential paths your future could hold laid out before you under one roof. You want to make a good first impression on prospective employers, but it can be overwhelming.  
 
“Career fairs can be pretty nerve-wracking,” said Christina Hall, graduate career development advisor in the Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Education. “The All-Majors Career Fair hosts close to 200 employers each day, so you want to walk into the fair with a strategy.” 
 
Hall’s strategy can be boiled down to a simple, catchy rhyme, “What to wear, what to say, and what to put on your resume.” Whether your goal for the career fair is to network, get an idea of who is hiring, or get a job, Hall provides her advice so you can get the most out of the All-Majors Career Fair. 

Before the Career Fair

Research, strategize, prioritize. Hall recommends you determine the top five employers you want to talk to and rank them in order of high priority to low priority. “Be strategic and rank the employers because it’s a big event, and you have a limited amount of time,” said Hall. “Pick your top five and make those your primary targets. If your top choice has a long line, hit up the other employers first and then go back and wait so you’re making the best use of your time.” The list of employers who are attending the career fair can be found here.
 
Prepare a “career fair-friendly” resume. “For a career fair, a one-page resume is ideal,” said Hall. “Bring a few more copies than you think you will need. We have employers who just show up on the day-of, so there may be someone unexpected there, or you might have some extra time to talk to an employer who you weren’t originally planning to meet.”

Day of the Career Fair

Follow the business professional dress code (but do wear comfortable shoes). According to Hall, the attire for the career fair is business professional. Business professional attire means pants (no jeans), closed-toe shoes, button-down shirts, and suits. “Sometimes, students think that they don’t want to be too dressed up,” said Hall. “In my opinion, nobody looks at you negatively for being too dressed up. The issue would always be not being dressed up enough. You want to look professional, but you’re also on your feet. I feel so bad for some of our students because by the end of the fair, I can tell their feet really hurt. Don’t wear heels if they’re not comfortable for you.” 
 
Bring a small bag to carry your essentials. Backpacks are not allowed on the career fair floor. Hall recommends opting for a small bag packed with your portfolio, multiple copies of your resume, and water. 
 
Arrive early. “Just like everybody else, the recruiters are more tired towards the end of the day,” said Hall. “If you’re there earlier, they are more energetic and responsive. Towards the end of the day, I don’t think it’s a waste of students’ time to go later on, but just know that you may not get the response that you would have gotten first thing in the morning.” 

Approaching an Employer

Practice with employers who are not one of your top priorities. “If you get there, and you’re nervous, do a couple practice runs with employers that you are less intimated by so you can get the kinks out before you talk to that top company on your list,” said Hall. “Talk to an employer whose booth is a little bit slower. If you freak out, and you want a minute to practice with somebody, we will have staff available to give you that last-minute boost.” 
 
Be friendly, confident, and demonstrate interest. “You want to try to be as friendly and positive as possible to make a good impression,” said Hall. “Recruiters are people too. They respond to somebody who is friendly and polite.” According to Hall, students who convey confidence and show that they have researched the company are more likely to stand out to an employer. “It makes the employer feel like you’re not just here to talk to everybody, and you really want to talk to them,” said Hall. 
 
Introduce yourself with a 30-second past, present, and future elevator pitch. “Rehearse what you’re going to say because the more prepared you are, the easier it is to speak flawlessly and feel confident,” said Hall. “We call it an elevator pitch, and it’s essentially coming up with a 30-second commercial of yourself. Past, present, and future is a good way to go about it: ‘I’ve recently done this, I’m currently doing this, and I would like to do that in the future.’”

After the Career Fair

Get the recruiter’s business card for a follow-up message. Hall says that one mistake students often make is not following up with a recruiter after the career fair. “If you meet a recruiter, and you have a great conversation with them, try to see if you can get their specific contact information,” said Hall. “After the fair, you can follow up and thank them for talking to you. Send your resume again because it never hurts to send it one more time and add them on LinkedIn.” 
 
The Fall 2023 All-Majors (In Person) Career Fair will be held Monday, Sept. 11 and Tuesday, Sept. 12 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Georgia Tech Campus Recreation Center. View the list of employers and get more career fair tips here. 

The University System of Georgia (USG) Board of Regents announced 12 first-time Georgia Tech appointments to Regents’ distinctions for 2023 and affirmed the renewal of existing distinctions for four esteemed faculty members.  

Inside, Regents’ Professor Seymour Goodman sits surrounded by the mementos and artifacts he collected while researching computing from around the world. Goodman visited all seven continents before coming to Georgia Tech in 2000, and despite an academic career of more than 60 years at eight R1 research institutions, he says he won’t retire until he has finished one final project. 

“Here I am, maybe not for much longer, but I am determined to see the curriculum for the School of Cybersecurity and Privacy (SCP) through,” said Goodman. “Everyone here is building a career and I am dismantling one.” 

The twice reappointed Regents’ Professor joined SCP when it was founded in 2020 with the goal of taking Georgia Tech’s existing Master of Science in Cybersecurity (MS Cybersecurity) and expanding it to fit the interdisciplinary scope of the new school. Additionally, Goodman is determined to create a cybersecurity undergraduate thread in the College of Computing. 

However, it is a long and difficult road to get any course or curriculum approved. Goodman must find the common ground between computing, engineering, and policy topics along with their students and faculty. Over the next two years, the school anticipates creating more than a dozen new courses and at least one additional undergraduate thread.

“We must serve what we expect to be great demand among the large and growing undergraduate and master’s student populations in the College of Computing and elsewhere in Georgia Tech,” Goodman said. “This is particularly challenging since we see the school and cybersecurity in an interdisciplinary light.”

There is no blueprint for a cybersecurity school like this, but this isn’t Goodman’s first time spearheading a one-of-a-kind project. In fact, he has built his entire career around it.     

In the early 1970’s, researchers in the United States had little to no knowledge of the work being done by computer scientists in communist countries and many assumed there was nothing worth studying. Goodman recalled one colleague claim that computing in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was completely stifled by its authoritarian government. Goodman decided to spend the next 17 years personally studying of the development, diffusion, and absorption of computing in communist countries. 

“This effort started in 1975 as an outgrowth in my interest in Soviet science and scientists who were important to my Ph.D. dissertation,” said Goodman. “Our research took us to every communist country except Albania and North Korea.”

Technically, Goodman did set foot on North Korean soil, but he doesn’t count that as an actual visit. As Goodman and his Ph.D. students traveled from country to country, they observed the progress and problems of Soviet computing. The project came to a natural conclusion when the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991, which Goodman witnessed first-hand.

“I was part of the last US National Academy of Sciences delegation hosted by the Soviet Academy of Sciences,” he said. “While we were there, we became the first to be hosted by the new Russian Academy of Sciences.” 

Shortly after starting the multi-year research effort into computing, Goodman decided to start another one, but this time he and his students would study the global diffusion of the internet. Following the closure of the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) in 1990, computer scientists were at odds over how to expand and implement a similar network for the public.

The consensus at the time was that this computer network, what would become the internet, would only be available to a handful of countries by 2000. Goodman’s estimate, however, was much higher. He believed the internet would be in 60 countries by the end of the century. He was off by a factor of three. 

Goodman, then a professor at Stanford University, grabbed his passport once again and traveled around the world to research a unique problem. He and his students were looking for resources that could support an internet infrastructure.  

“We were looking to see if they had computers and electricity,” said Goodman. “In 1993, computing was being invested in by the U.S. Department of Defense and technology accessibility was a big deal at Stanford.”

During 1989 and 1990 Goodman visited over 50 countries, specifically developing countries believed to be a lost cause for internet access by researchers at the time. In his 1994 paper, The Global Diffusion of the Internet: Patterns and Problems, Goodman argued that despite the rapidly growing number of internet users, less wealthy countries and individuals were being left behind when it came to internet accessibility.

Again, the project came to a natural end when the internet and cellular technology found its way into every country and territory on the planet by the end of the 2000’s. Their last concentrated effort focused on the continent of Africa and included efforts to bring cybersecurity to countries who were just getting extensively networked. Both projects took Goodman to over 100 countries and to all seven continents.

“I saw an early need for internet security,” said Goodman. “I was brought to the College of Computing at Georgia Tech by our first dean, Peter Freeman, in 2000 because of my background with information security and critical infrastructure.” 

Today, Goodman serves jointly in the School of Cybersecurity and Privacy and Sam Nunn School of International Affairs where he studies international developments in information technologies and their related public policy issues. Throughout his career he has published over 150 papers and has served on almost every kind of committee imaginable.

But his work is far from over. Goodman has a vision for the cybersecurity curriculum at Georgia Tech that not only includes a revitalized master’s program and new undergraduate thread, but an interdisciplinary cybersecurity curriculum that can be implemented across the Institute as well.  

“I believe it is our obligation as a school to get this done,” said Goodman. “This is my current and final concern with computing at Georgia Tech.”

The School of Cybersecurity and Privacy, one of five schools in the top ten ranked College of Computing, was formed in September 2020. It builds on the strong foundation and continued success of the cybersecurity research, education, and service efforts at Georgia Tech that began more than twenty years ago.

The school’s work is both interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary. Many current faculty have joint appointments with other schools in the College of Computing, as well as with the School of Computational Science and Engineering within the College of Engineering, the Scheller College of Business, the School of Public Policy, and the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs, both in the Ivan Allen College of the Liberal Arts.

The conference is a top tier research venue, and this year the Georgia Institute of Technology has six papers authored and co-authored by faculty and students from the School of Cybersecurity and Privacy (SCP). Each work represents a collaborative effort from across universities and institutions over the course of several years. 

Here is a sample of the five public papers being presented at the flagship annual conference. 

Guarding Against Remote Cyberattacks 

A research team from Georgia Tech and Fudan University conducted the first systematic study of XRCE, a remote cyberattack on devices caused by injected malware, in cross-platform applications. Several high-profile platforms, such as Microsoft Teams and Slack, have been susceptible to injection issues, but XRCE has not been closely studied nor has its root cause been understood. 

The team built a generic model of applications compatible with multiple operating systems to define XRCE’s attack scenarios, surfaces, and behaviors. They took what they learned and compared it to current cyber defenses of 640 real-world platforms and noted their weaknesses to this type of threat. They discovered that 75% of the platforms studied may be affected by XRCE, including Microsoft Teams. 

To solve this problem, the group of researchers developed XGuard, a defense technology that will automatically mitigate XRCE attacks and all possible variants identified from the study. Understanding and Mitigating Remote Code Execution Vulnerabilities in Cross-platform Ecosystem is the first research paper studying and preventing XRCE, the team hopes their work will raise awareness on the new cross-platform application vulnerabilities they uncovered. SCP Ph.D. students Feng Xiao, Zheng Yang, and Joey Allen were leading authors on the paper along with Assistant Professor Guangliang Yang of Fudan University, Georgia Tech Research Security Specialist Grant Williams, and SCP Professor Wenke Lee.  

Bug Hunting in Self-driving Cars

Autonomous driving systems (ADS) are steadily becoming a reality, and experts expect them to be safer than human drivers. Unfortunately, there continues to be cases of accidents, including fatal ones, caused by flaws in ADS. A systematic approach to find and eliminate bugs in ADS is needed but did not exist.

Georgia Tech Ph.D. student Seulbae Kim first authored a research paper that designed an automated fuzz-testing framework, DriveFuzz, that repeatedly tests an ADS under realistic driving scenarios that evolve over iterations. Fuzz testing is known to be effective in finding bugs in traditional software systems. Kim and his colleagues demonstrated that fuzz testing can be applied to a non-traditional system, such as ADS, a cyber-physical system, to reveal unknown bugs.

Specifically, DriveFuzz mutates the system’s map, mission (initial position and goal position), actors (other vehicles and pedestrians), puddles, and weather of the scenario to stress the ADS. It looks for safety-critical vehicular misbehaviors, such as collisions and various traffic infractions. By testing two industry-grade open-source ADS, the team found 30 new bugs that lead to misbehaviors.

DriveFuzz: Discovering Autonomous Driving Bugs through Driving Quality-Guided Fuzzing Detection was written by SCP Ph.D. student Seulbae Kim, Major Liu (University of Texas at Dallas), Junghwan "John" Rhee (University of Central Oklahoma), Yuseok Jeon (UNIST), Yonghwi Kwon (University of Virginia), and Chung Hwan Kim (University of Texas at Dallas). 

Separating the Good Onions from the Bad

The Onion Router (Tor) network provides anonymity to users by routing traffic through many computers across the globe. Users can also host websites anonymously on the Tor network without revealing their personal identifiable information. The Tor network has helped many journalists, activists, and whistleblowers in their dangerous line of work. However, the Tor network has also been used by malicious attackers to operate large cybercriminal enterprises. 

Differentiating between legitimate Tor users and malicious Tor users is extremely challenging since the Tor network encrypts and anonymizes all traffic between end hosts and servers, which makes traditional security detection systems ineffective. Researchers at Georgia Tech have found a way to identify when malicious software (malware) like ransomware uses the Tor network. The technique uses statistical network packet features and machine learning algorithms to differentiate between malware and legitimate users. The novel approach can be incorporated into traditional security systems to supercharge their capabilities and help identify malicious use of the Tor network. 

Exposing the Rat in the Tunnel: Using Traffic Analysis for Tor-based Malware Detection was written by Priyanka Dodia and Mashael AlSabah of Qatar Computing Research Institute; SCP Ph.D. student Omar Alrawi, and Tao Wang of Simon Fraser University. 

Brining the Hammer Down

A rowhammer attack causes a binary digit, or bit, to flip in memory cells without directly accessing them. This side channel attack was used by SCP Associate Professor Daniel Genkin and a team of researchers from across the country to access the private session key from FrodoKEM. This security software was developed to keep encryption keys safe from quantum computers, however the process was corrupted by the team’s attacks. 

When Frodo Flips: End-to-End Key Recovery on FrodoKEM via Rowhammer was written by Michael Fahr (University of Arkansas), Hunter Kippen (University of Maryland), Andrew Kwong (University of Michigan), Thinh Dang (George Washington University), Jacob Lichtinger (NIST), Dana Dachman-Soled (University of Maryland), Daniel Genkin (Georgia Tech), Alexander H. Nelson (University of Arkansas),Ray Perlner (NIST), Arkady Yerukhimovich (George Washington University), and Daniel Apon (The MITRE Corporation). 

Another paper being presented this week on rowhammer attacks is HammerScope, written in collaboration with researchers from SCP, Israel, and Australia. The research explores the correlation of rowhammer attacks with the instantaneous power consumption of the memory which the attack needs to succeed. This correlation is used to mount various software-based power analysis attacks on memory. 

The team showed how this can be used to compromise secret information in certain scenarios. HammerScope demonstrates yet another adversarial consequence of rowhammer which signifies the need for more robust and secure memory units in the future.

HammerScope: Observing DRAM Power Consumption Using Rowhammer was written by Yaakov Cohen (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev & Intel Corporation), SCP Ph.D. student Kevin Sam Tharayil, Arie Haenel (Jerusalem College of Technology & Intel Corporation), Genkin, Professor Angelos D. Keromytis with the School of Electrical & Computer Engineering at Georgia Tech, Yossi Oren (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev & Intel Corporation), and Yuval Yarom (University of Adelaide).

“A lot of times when you have an online program, you feel like an online student, but not really that university’s student,” said Ana Rusch, associate director of diversity, equity, inclusion, and student life for the Online Master of Science in Computer Science (OMSCS) in the College of Computing. “You should have that pride. You should be a part of those traditions. It’s so amazing to give students that pride and connection to Georgia Tech.” 

Rusch joins David Joyner, executive director of online education and the OMSCS in the College of Computing, to discuss ways online students can connect with the Georgia Tech community. 

Join a virtual club. Rusch and Joyner have been cultivating an online student center to help centralize virtual club opportunities, facilitate connections, and create community.  

“Online students are very self-starting, and they take ownership,” said Joyner. “We’ve seen them starting some of their own organizations. They started the Women in Tech club several years ago. They set up their own local meet-up groups, their own special-interest clubs.” 

According to Rusch, the online student center allows the club connections to happen organically, and they’re still 100% student-led.

Scope out the forums and engage with online communities. “Slack and Reddit are the ‘lobby’ for some of these engagements,” said Joyner. “You join Slack because it's where we point people, but then from there, you find out about these other communities and other places.” 

An alumnus recently shared with Rusch and Joyner that one of the things he misses most about being in the online program were the human connections he made as an online student. 

“I think when you’re online, it can help you engage more and maybe even allow you to feel more comfortable with being your authentic self,” said Rusch. “Many people come together on Slack and Reddit. When you’re an online student, you can connect via Reddit, even during working hours. It’s always available 24/7. You have this great group of friends that you create–this community–that’s always there.”

Stay in the know about virtual events to attend. Rusch created a running calendar that lists all of the on-campus events that are either online, hybrid, or have a streaming option. 

“It has really connected this bridge between our [online] students and Georgia Tech,” said Rusch. “Some of our students don’t miss a single event. There are so many amazing online events and opportunities there.”

Connect with professors. “Make yourself known to your professors,” said Rusch. “We have coffee hour chats. You don’t have to stop by every week, maybe just once or twice in the semester. Make yourself known in any which way that you feel comfortable with and makes sense to you, whether it’s coffee hour chats or posting on a forum or submitting your project in the student showcase.”

For Joyner, his online students are able to make long-lasting impressions through their virtual “paper trail.” 

“Being a student online means that pretty much everything you do is passively aggregated,” said Joyner. “When I get an email from a student asking for a recommendation, I’m able to pull up your entire assignment history and can talk about your individual projects.” 

Use the course forums to make connections. “The course forum is really what I consider the ‘classroom’ to be,” said Joyner. “The course forum is where the discussion that would happen in person happens online. The structure of the forum gives students a lot more ownership.” 

Joyner explains that while it would be weird for a student to raise their hand in class and say, “I know you have a lesson plan for today, but I’ve got something I want to talk about.” 

“Online, you can do exactly that,” said Joyner. “You’re not competing with the instructor for some finite time resource. You’re able to post a thread that says, ‘I’m interested in starting a study group. Who would be interested in that?’ Or ‘Anyone else live in Atlanta who wants to form a study group for the semester?’ You can do that without it feeling as if you’re competing with the professor.”

Create goal-oriented virtual meetups. In Joyner’s experience, if a virtual meetup doesn’t have a goal, it ends up being the first thing that falls off the to-do list due to everyone’s busy schedules. “When there is a shared goal in mind, it creates some kind of inertia around being in touch with one another.”

Participate peripherally. “Being aware of other students of the community as a whole has an effect on its own that can stop you from feeling isolated,” said Joyner. “Even if you never engage in an event, even if you never post, even if you never make a friend that you follow up with later, just seeing other people going through the same kind of struggles, same kind of exercises, and knowing that you’re not alone is a powerful thing–just knowing that you are part of something.”  
 

Kardomateas has spent over thirty years improving aircrafts from a structural standpoint. More specifically he investigates ways to ensure that aerospace structures retain their structural integrity. He focuses on the special part of mechanics called fracture mechanics, which studies the conditions for the initiation and propagation of cracks and debonds. “Fracture mechanics and damage tolerance have been very successful in that, nowadays, airplanes don’t usually come down because of structural failure,” explained Kardomateas.

He credits his lifelong scientific triumphs to his education in the United States and Greece, his collaboration with past and present colleagues at Georgia Tech, and the academic system in America. “The environment at Georgia Tech fosters collaboration and innovation. The higher education system provides opportunities through the collegial network in scientific forums where ideas can be exchanged with those inside and outside of your institution.” Former AE School professors, including the late Bob Carlson, and George Simitses, inspired him as colleagues and also acted as mentors to him.

Kardomateas earned a diploma from the National Technical University of Athens in Greece and both his master’s and doctoral degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 1989, he joined the School of Aerospace Engineering's faculty at the Georgia Tech. He has authored three books, An Introduction to Fatigue in Metals and Composites, Structural and Failure Mechanics of Sandwich Composites, and Mechanics of Failure Mechanisms in Structures. He is also the editor of six volumes on the topic of failure mechanics of composite and sandwich structures, an associate editor of the Handbook of Damage Mechanics: Nano to Macro Scale for Materials and Structures, as well as the author of about 200 papers published in refereed journals or as parts of books.

In addition to his work at Georgia Tech, he has served the discipline in several capacities. The ASME Fellow has operated as an Associate Editor of the Journal of Applied Mechanics, and the AIAA Journal, as a Contributing Editor of the International Journal of Non-Linear Mechanics and as a guest editor of the International Journal of Solids and Structures and the Journal of Mechanics of Materials and Structures. In addition, he has served as the technical chair of the 2014 ASME Congress, general chair of the 2015 ASME Congress, and the steering committee chair of the 2017 ASME Congress. He was the elected chairman of the Applied Mechanics Division Composites Committee and the program representative of the Aerospace Division Structures and Materials Committee.  Kardomateas has also served in many other panels and committees including as the Chair of the Daniel Guggenheim Medal Award Board, and on the Organizing Committee of the sixth, seventh, tenth and eleventh Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing’s International Conferences on Sandwich Structures; he has also served on external evaluation committees for many academic programs.

Currently, the medal winner is working on his next book that focuses on the fracture and fatigue of metallic and composite aerospace structures, which will include his latest research advances in the field.

Ferri is being recognized for her longstanding commitment to engineering education and innovative use of technology, her prolific publication record, and her influence on other faculty at Georgia Tech. A faculty member in the Georgia Tech School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) since 1988, Ferri was the first female Ph.D. graduate in electrical engineering at Georgia Tech and was ECE’s first female faculty member. She has served as the School’s associate chair for undergraduate affairs since 2013 and was its associate chair for graduate affairs from 2006-2012.

Ferri has introduced inexpensive, portable hands-on experiments into ECE courses, including core lecture-based courses that traditionally had no laboratory component. She has also redesigned the core circuits courses, taken by both ECE and non-ECE majors, to use innovative flipped and blended classroom techniques driven by course analytics. By implementing these tools and responding to student feedback, student engagement and performance has dramatically improved, as well as consistency in coverage and quality across multiple sections of the courses.

“I love the ‘aha moment’,” said Ferri. “I see it all the time with the hands-on experiments in class, when students’ eyes light up because an abstract concept comes to life and suddenly makes sense. You would be surprised at how many just break out laughing because they get such a kick out of it. That reaction is the best part of teaching.”

Through a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant, Ferri created the Teaching Enhancement through Small-Scale Affordable Labs Center to develop and integrate these portable experiments across the ECE curriculum. Approximately 3,000 students per year use these devices in ECE courses, taught by over 25 instructors. Over 700 K-12 students have also been exposed via camps, workshops, and tours of ECE facilities. Ferri has also been awarded an NSF grant with researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Virginia Tech, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Howard University, and Morgan State University. Their goal is to build a community of developers and users of these experiments that are not only centered on ECE topics, but can be expanded to other STEM fields.

Ferri has been consistently involved in educational issues within the Georgia Tech community. She currently co-chairs the “Commission on Creating the Next in Education,” charged with making recommendations for the Institute to become a leader in innovative and effective education and co-curricular programs. During 2013-2014, she led the GT1000 Review Task Force, which reviewed the status of this freshman seminar course and made recommendations on how to enhance its effectiveness in providing resources and advice to promote student success in college.

Ferri has also had an international impact on engineering education. She has conducted NSF-sponsored workshops at premier engineering education conferences, devised and shared best practices at numerous cross-disciplinary events, and published her work on student learning, strategies, and results in the top conferences and journals in the field of engineering education. She was an invited speaker at a National Academy of Engineering symposium on education.

“Bonnie’s reputation among students and colleagues consistently upholds not only the tremendous impact that she has had on our students, but also the caring and compassionate heart she has for them, her clear vision of their potential, and her ardent desire for their success,” said Steven W. McLaughlin, Steve W. Chaddick School Chair and ECE professor. “We sincerely appreciate her many years of hard work and dedication to our students and to improving our instructional programs.”

In addition, 39 Tech alumni who are now studying at other institutions were awarded a fellowship, and two current Georgia Tech students received an honorable mention. ­Between 2015 and 2021, 233 Georgia Tech graduate students received the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, ranking Tech among top recipient institutions nationwide.

“We are very proud of our current fellows and welcome the new class of fellows,” said Bonnie Ferri, vice provost Graduate Education and Faculty Development. “We are very honored that they selected Georgia Tech for their graduate education.”

The Graduate Research Fellowship recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in NSF-supported STEM disciplines who are pursuing research-based master’s and doctoral degrees. The five-year fellowship includes three years of financial support including an annual stipend of $34,000 and a cost of education allowance of $12,000 to the institution.

Individuals from more than 500 academic institutions apply to the program. This year, a total of 2,193 applicants were offered an award.

Introducing Tech’s 51 graduate student awardees and honorees for the 2022 NSF Graduate Research Fellowship:

Chemistry

• McKinley Paul, macromolecular, supramolecular, and nanochemistry

Computing/Interdisciplinary/Engineering

• Amanda Hsu, computer security and privacy
• Joanne Kim, robotics and computer vision
• Sachin Konan, artificial intelligence
• Scott Mayberry, robotics and computer vision
• Fiona Ryan, robotics and computer vision
• Sruthi Sudhakar, robotics and computer vision
• Maxwell Xu, artificial intelligence

Engineering

• Raghav Acharya, chemical engineering
• Erik Barbosa, mechanical engineering
• Zachary Beller, mechanical engineering
• Isabella Bowland, bioengineering
• Yana Charoenboonvivat, aeronautical and aerospace engineering
• Sarah Chen, mechanical engineering
• Anna Cobb, industrial engineering and operations research
• Anjana Dissanayaka, biomedical engineering
• Austin Fan, chemical engineering
• Mary Gale, biomedical engineering
• Shaylyn Grier, biomedical engineering
• Matthew Guess, mechanical engineering
• Alexander Heiler, chemical engineering
• Hana Herndon, civil engineering
• Kendreze Holland, bioengineering
• Shelbe Johnson, bioengineering
• Valeria Juarez, biomedical engineering
• Anna Kaehr, chemical engineering
• Calib Lanier, chemical engineering
• Kristian Lockyear, mechanical engineering
• Meghan Meredith, industrial engineering and operations research
• Nia Myrie, biomedical engineering
• Zachary Olkin, aeronautical and aerospace engineering
• David Ramsey, aeroanautical and aerospace engineering
• Jamie Salinger, chemical engineering
• Shanmurugan Selvamurugan, aeronautical and aerospace engineering
• Erin Shappell, bioengineering
• Samuel Talkington, electrical and electronic engineering
• Hogan Welch, mechanical engineering
• Amanda West, electrical and electronic engineering
• Anonto Zaman, aeronautical and aerospace engineering
• Corey Zheng, biomedical engineering

Geosciences

• Claire Elbon, biogeochemistry
• Madeleine Hardt, paleoclimate
• Emily Hughes, planetary geology

Life Sciences

• Tucker Lancaster, computationally intensive research

Materials Research

• Matthew Kuner, computationally intensive research
• Thomas Marchese, metallic materials
• Aubrey Toland, computationally intensive research

Physics and Astronomy

• Harry Tuazon, physics of living systems

Social Sciences

• Matthew Lawson, public policy

Honorable Mentions

• Mi Do, life sciences and biophysics
• Tatiana Gibson, geomorphology

“Winning 3MT has boosted my confidence significantly,” said Alva. “I am currently doing an internship at Philips in Boston, and I have utilized many aspects of my 3MT speech when introducing myself and my research to my coworkers. The ability to clearly articulate complex research is a vital skill that should be honed for all graduate students.”

In addition to 3MT, Alva was the master’s ceremony commencement speaker at Georgia Tech in 2015 and has presented at a variety of competitions and seminars. We followed up with Alva to get her tips for nailing a presentation.

Record yourself and check the audio transcript. “I would use my phone or tablet to record a video of myself and generate transcripts,” said Alva. “I noticed that I speak quite fast when I am nervous. If you’re speaking too fast, the transcript will have errors; I would use that as a tool to gauge the pace of my speech. I practiced until [the transcript] had no errors. The video also helped with checking if the facial expressions and gestures I made while talking were appropriate and helpful.”

Know your audience. “The speech you are giving is about the audience,” said Alva. “You want them to understand your story.”

To ensure that her presentation was accessible to a broad spectrum of listeners, Alva rehearsed her presentation in front of non-specialists and specialists. She would ask the different groups questions, such as “Did you understand this term? What do you think of my research? What do you think I am doing?” to help gauge if her message was clear to an audience with various backgrounds and interests. 

Practice makes perfect (but don’t over-practice). “It’s not the number of times you practice; it’s how you practice,” said Alva.

According to Alva, it worked best for her to rehearse once every day for three days rather than three times in one day, for example. “We had about three weeks, and I would practice once every afternoon during downtime in the lab,” said Alva. “This strategy also helped with not over practicing as that can ruin how you deliver the speech. It has to be organic.”

Get familiar with the room. On the day of the 3MT competition, Alva arrived early to the venue to do a practice run. “It was very useful to get familiar with the room, to visualize how the audience would be,” said Alva. “That definitely helped calm my nerves.”

Before the event, Alva recommends finding a similar setting to rehearse the presentation. “Go to spaces where you can practice out loud,” she said. “A bathroom is great because you can see yourself in the mirror, but the only problem with that is the location is so small. Georgia Tech is awesome because we have so many conference rooms available to us. Go to a larger space or find an empty classroom and practice your speech. Your voice can change in larger spaces, so see how you throw your voice in a setting similar to where you will be presenting.”  

Break your speech up into sections. “When I wrote my speech, I put in pauses,” said Alva. “But I added another thing. I divided my entire speech into six sections, about 30 seconds each. First, it helped shape an outline in my head, so if I ever stumbled with one point, I knew what the next point would be. I used the section breaks to take a deep breath to prepare for the next section.”

Plan a recovery (for emergencies). Have you ever been presenting, and suddenly your mind goes blank? You don’t have to let a stumble detract from your overall presentation. “One of my peers gave a really good tip,” said Alva. “If you can’t remember what you just said or if you realize that you are not going to wrap up your presentation in time, just say ‘thank you’ to conclude your speech or to move onto your next point. A simple ‘thank you’ allows you to recover while remaining authoritative and confident in the eyes of the audience.”

Utilize all resources available. “See what resources are available,” said Alva. “Use them all. I made use of resources such as the Center for Teaching and Learning. They really helped me with my slide for 3MT and my body language. Don’t feel shy to ask people for feedback. ‘Hey, do you have some time to look at my presentation, and where do you think I’m going wrong?’ These resources are all very helpful extra sets of ears and eyes.”

“There is an abundance of accessories and tools out there that can help you brew a great cup of coffee,” said David Lane, co-founder at Blue Donkey Coffee. “With the right choice and use of accessories, along with always using high-quality, freshly roasted beans, you can brew delicious coffee.”     

We may never be able to fully achieve the experience of a favorite local café, but Blue Donkey Coffee's (BDC) product team provides their tips for ways we can improve our home-brewed coffee.  

Choose the right filter for your taste. According to BDC’s product team, the three main types of coffee filter materials are paper, metal, and cloth, and each one creates its own, unique flavor. “Paper filters remove most of the oils and sediments from your coffee, creating a light, clean, and crisp cup of coffee,” said BDC. “Metal filters are typically composed of a fine stainless-steel mesh that strains out most of your coffee sediments yet retains the natural oils and micro sediments into your cup. The result typically is a creamier, heavier body, and rich cup of coffee compared to a paper filter. Cloth filters are a great choice if you would like a clean, crisp cup yet would like to retain some of the natural flavorful oils from your coffee. Cloth filters typically yield a medium body, rich, aromatic brew.”

Perfect the water-to-coffee ratio. “Your coffee-to-water ratio essentially determines the strength of your coffee,” said BDC. “With freshly roasted, freshly ground, high-quality coffee, we recommend using 1/16 brew ratio.” In other words, one ounce of ground coffee to 16 ounces of water. “Start at a 1/16 ratio, and you can tweak it stronger or weaker based upon your personal preference.”

Wash the carafe. BDC recommends washing the carafe after each brew. “Over time, with heavy use, your coffee carafe will build up coffee sediments and oils,” they said. “The sediment build-up will indeed affect the flavor of your coffee. Thus, it is highly recommended to use a coffee carafe cleaner to remove those sediments.”

Find the right bean. “The most common types of coffee beans are Arabica and Robusta,” said BDC. “Arabica beans are higher quality, more flavorful beans and typically grown in higher altitude environments. Robusta beans are typically easier to grow, grown in lower elevations, require lower maintenance, and are generally mechanically picked, yielding a lower-grade coffee and flavor. Most specialty coffees are Arabica beans.”

Temp your water. According to BDC, the ideal water temperature for a standard pour-over or drip brew is 200 to 205 degrees Fahrenheit. “You can check the water temp with a food-grade thermometer or purchase a temperature-controlled gooseneck kettle,” said BDC. “Also, it is important to use filtered water with any brewing method.”

Detect bean freshness. “There are several ways to detect your coffee’s freshness,” said BDC. “The first is to note the volume of gases and bubbles your coffee releases when you first “bloom” your coffee. To bloom your coffee, pour just enough hot water, temped at 200 to 205 degrees Fahrenheit, over the grounds to soak them and wait about 30 seconds. This will release some of the carbon dioxide in the beans and bubbles will form on the bed of grounds. The fresher the coffee, the more bubbles you will see. Older, staler coffee will be flat, and very few gases will be released.” BDC recommends purchasing whole bean coffee and grinding right before you brew to yield a more aromatic, vibrant, flavorful, and fresh-tasting brew.

Three must-have tools for every kitchen. In addition to always using freshly roasted whole beans, BDC recommends the following tools for brewing great coffee at home:  

1. A great quality burr grinder: Grinding your coffee freshly, consistently, and evenly is one of the most important aspects of great-tasting coffee. If the grinding is uneven and inconsistent, your coffee will tend to taste either sour, bitter, or harsh. A high-quality burr grinder will ensure your coffee granule size is consistent and even, which will produce a smoother more flavorful cup.
2. A food-grade scale: For rich, vibrant, consistent tasting coffee, a scale is highly recommended. A scale will enable you to pinpoint the strength you like and consistently brew your recipe with the correct ratios. Measuring by volume is inconsistent and can vary greatly.
3. Temperature-controlled gooseneck kettle: As mentioned before, having your water temperature between 200 to 205 degrees Fahrenheit is crucial to ensure targeted extraction. A temperature-controlled kettle will ensure you are brewing within the targeted temperature every time. A gooseneck kettle is also good to have as it provides more control for you to brew with a slower steady swirling motion to ensure full extraction.

“Chronic stress can be pretty nasty, especially for brain functioning,” said Mary K. Holder, academic professional in the School of Psychology. “We know that chronic stress is associated with difficulty concentrating and mind fog, higher reports of anxiety, depression, and other affective conditions like irritability.”

Sure, you can’t get rid of stress, but there are steps you can take to keep your mind sharp and finish the semester strong. Read on for five of Holder’s tips for managing stress to improve brain function.

1. Take a walk. Walking and other physical exercise can help clear your mind. “There is evidence that even a 10-minute brisk walk can improve self-reported mood state,” Holder said. “Walking can lower blood pressure, which is elevated during a stressful experience, and is thought to release endorphins, a neurotransmitter associated with pleasure.”

2. Learn “paced breathing.” According to Holder, the way we breathe can alter our brain. Deep, slower breathing leads us toward a “rest and digest” mode and reduces overarousal or anxiety. She suggests using a “paced breathing” method. “Paced breathing refers to the counting of the breath,” Holder said. “Inhale for a count of four; hold for a count of two; exhale for a count of four.”

3. Phone a friend. Holder mentions that a brief conversation with a friend can provide emotional-based coping. “Basically, with emotional-based coping, we try to process the negative emotions that surround some stressful situation and then express them,” she said. “Emotional-based coping doesn’t reduce stress, but it may change our perception. So this could be venting to a friend not to fix the problem but just to express how it’s making us feel.”

4. Bring nature to you. There’s evidence that spending time in nature reduces stress, but sometimes it’s tough to make time to get outside. If that’s the case, you can bring nature to you. Incorporating indoor plants or flowers into your home can improve perceived health ratings and self-reports of stress, Holder said. In a study published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, researchers found that, “Three minutes of observation and meditation of yellow or red flowers might have strong positive immediate impacts on individuals’ well-being. While flowers have a positive effect on people, the color of the flower impacts those positive effects as well. The yellow flowers, in particular, were most capable of improving the participants’ feelings of relaxation compared to the red and white flowers.”

5. Sleep on it. Holder pointed out that, among other tactics, incorporating tips one through four into your day can reduce your stress to set you up for a successful night’s sleep. “It should take about 15 minutes from going to bed to falling asleep,” she said. “If it doesn’t take that long, it’s likely because we’re sleep deprived. If it takes longer, it may be good to get up and do something relaxing, like reading a book.” Holder added that sleep is important for strengthening memories and helping us forget unnecessary information. In a study published in Frontiers in Psychology, researchers state that when you learn something new that you want to commit to memory, you should review the contents shortly before you go to sleep to help absorb the material.

Since 2007, SCPC has put on Sting Break each year with a different theme but the same crowd-pleasers: free student appreciation with carnival rides, large inflatables, food, music, and giveaways. The experience is even more special to students because of the faculty and staff volunteers who facilitate the activities and distribute the giveaways. These outside-the-classroom opportunities to connect are invaluable to both students and volunteers, with the added bonus that having staff allows SCPC to limit the number of student volunteers needed to put on the event.   

“It’s one of my favorite events each year - it’s nice to see students in a relaxed setting, enjoying the festivities,” says 2022 event Chair Paula Punmaneeluk. “Our volunteers seem to have a lot of fun interacting with students too, so it has been exciting to lead the planning this year to make that happen again!” 

After two years of covid-related challenges, the team behind Sting Break is looking forward to bringing the event closer to the full experience known previously. With the support of Georgia Tech Licensing, SGA, Buzzfunds, and Parents Fund, this year’s event will host 2,500 students in activities spread across Tech Green and the W21 parking lot, all with the theme Sting Break on Deck. Having enough staff and faculty volunteers to facilitate will be critical – those interested in serving as a volunteer should fill out this form to receive more information about volunteer roles and goodies.  

Students will be able to sign up for tickets to Sting Break after Spring Break. Details will be announced on the Student Center Programs Council social media, @GTSCPC and Campus Tickets.  

Four Ivan Allen College teams received grants to explore their multidisciplinary research:

• Brian Woodall, professor in the School of International Affairs, for the project “Critical Infrastructure, Disaster Resilience, and Megaregion Sustainability”
• Laura Taylor, chair and professor in the School of Economics, for the project “The Health Effects of Air Pollution: An Interdisciplinary Research Program”
• Yanni Loukissas, associate professor of digital media in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication, for the project “Planning for a Media Arts Residency at Georgia Tech”
• Rachel Whitlark, assistant professor, and Margaret E. Kosal, associate professor, both in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs, for the project “Navigating the Nexus: Climate Change, Clean Energy, and Nuclear Nonproliferation”

“Cutting-edge science increasingly requires a team approach,” said Rob Butera, vice president for Research Development and Operations, and professor in the College of Engineering at Georgia Tech. “The Seed Grant Program is making that happen with a biannual cycle, injecting millions of dollars of funding into our research enterprise so we can solve the tough problems.”

According to Butera, faculty typically start out in their careers by establishing modest research programs, in which they are the sole principal investigator. Their research tends to target relatively narrow goals that can be addressed within their discipline.

Formation of an effective research team can be challenging. “It takes time to develop the right team of contributors,” said Rebecca Terns, director of Research Development at Georgia Tech. “That’s where the Seed Grant Program comes in. It provides the opportunity for faculty to identify the right partners to help them address a problem and develop the skills to be effective together.”

Research sponsors like the National Science Foundation are increasingly providing opportunities to pursue more complex problems through large-scale projects with multidisciplinary teams.  These funding opportunities provide multi-million-dollar budgets to support integrated teams of researchers and practitioners from diverse fields across engineering, science, liberal arts, design, and business. These projects often go beyond multidisciplinary research to include related education, community and industry engagement, and workforce development activities. The recently awarded NSF Artificial Intelligence (AI) Research Institutes being led by Georgia Tech investigators are large, multidisciplinary projects that include intensive programs in these types of related areas. 

Putting together projects of this scope is a huge undertaking. “That's a level of project management complexity and proposal development that faculty are [traditionally] not prepared for,” said Butera. “Our Seed Grant Program prepares them for what’s ahead.”  

These larger complex team efforts are supported by the Office of Research Development, formed in April 2020 and led by Terns. The Office provides strategic and practical support to faculty developing proposals for large-scale research programs, such as the JANUS Space Technology Research Institute, which is led by Mitchell Walker, professor in the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering. The goal of the JANUS STRI is to improve testing and development of high-power electric propulsion systems for space flight.

Butera hopes the Seed Grant Program will provide much-needed assistance for faculty who aim to develop proposals and win funding for these sorts of large, multidisciplinary research projects.

However, Butera and Terns emphasize that in addition to larger projects, the seed grants are also meant to support teams in tackling smaller projects that simply require more collaboration than is typical. “We learned from the workshops we held for the 2020 Seed Grant Program that seeking the right collaborators and putting a complete initial team together was an effort that needed support.”

“Larger teams are not a requirement for effective multidisciplinary research,” said Terns. “You want the right size team for the job.”

The Teams

The Seed Grant Program provides two different types of awards. The first, titled “Forming Teams and Establishing Collaborative Expertise,” aims to support forming new research collaborations. The second award, “Moving Teams Forward,” focuses on advancing collaborations that already exist. For the 2021 funding round, 17 different proposals were awarded a total of approximately $1 million. For the 2022 funding round, 14 proposals were awarded nearly $900,000 total. 

The deadline to apply for the next round of funding is March 19, 2022.

This story was originally published by Georgia Tech Research. A complete list of the teams is available in their article

Department:              School of Literature, Media, and Communication

Title:                           Assistant Professor of Science-Fiction Film

Hometown:               Wailuku, Maui, Hawai‘i

Alma Mater(s):         University of Hawai‘i-Mānoa

1. Who had the greatest influence on your education and/or career path?

As a non-traditional scholar who went through graduate school three separate times over three decades to earn my Ph.D., balancing my academics with family caregiving work, I have benefited from a host of dedicated academic mentors. This includes departmental and faculty-senate chairs, teaching-center coordinators, playwrights, fiction authors, poets, social scientists, cultural-studies scholars, area-studies researchers, program heads, and social-justice activists. I feel as if I were spiritually raised by a village of the best Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander intellectuals and artists of the late 20^th century onwards to become the eclectic (read: funky and imaginative) researcher I am today.

2. What's the goal of your research? What do you hope to change with it?

I aim to unearth community social networks and worldviews/values within the homogenizing and exploitative mass-media workplace of global capitalism. This has been established through the rise of cultural creative labor and through inclusive and reciprocal management-worker relations. I wish to work collaboratively with diverse minority community members within the media industries to broaden and enrich cinematic-narrative work at all levels and in non-abusive, culturally meaningful ways. Mass media should be refreshed with matters of relevance as well as with formally fresh approaches; this only happens if non-hegemonic (relatively unprivileged, in terms of long-term political position within the larger social structure) creative workers are not just hired, but also given creative control and true voice in media platforms.

3. Why did you decide to teach at Georgia Tech, and what's the best part about working here?

As a lifelong student of the speculative arts, I found the Science Fiction Studies program at the School of Literature, Media, and Communication (LMC) incredibly original and attractive. It offers a nationally respected minor within Georgia Tech’s undergraduate curriculum, events and activities that push scholars and students at the thrilling intellectual discourses of science-fiction, fantasy, horror, fairytale, and superhero/comics studies. The chance to work with Dr. Lisa Yaszek, Dr. Susana Morris, and others whose research unearths the multiracial and non-binary histories of speculative and fabulist storytelling was too promising to pass up! Georgia Tech’s amazing library collection of Science Fiction works, the Science Fiction Lab, the campus student-run podcast series themed to Science Fiction — the whole institution screams studies of the future through understanding our imaginative representations.

The best part is Georgia Tech’s students, who we get to “catch” while they grow into 21^st-century technocultural professionals. They seem the perfectly informed group of learners for our genre’s subject matter of vision, invention, and scientific and technological ethics.

4. What moment in LMC/at Georgia Tech stands out as the most memorable?

Teaching my first class, LMC 3206 (Culture and Communication) in Fall 2021, and within a month of the August start date, realizing that average Georgia Tech undergraduates were way smarter than even the honors program students I had previously instructed. I have been spending the past few months trying to figure out how to adapt my classroom/online pedagogy to become a teacher worthy of their raw intellectual skills, career ambitions, and overall life potential.

5. What's your favorite course to teach and why?

Currently, I am teaching LMC 4813/8803 (Special Topics in digital media for undergraduate and graduate students). Together with the M.S. Global Media and Cultures (GMC) program, we hope to transform it into a cross-listed, regular GMC course offered by the School of LMC. I am developing it as an “Oral Traditions to Screenplay” class, as a channel to pass on my theoretical and formal knowledge of scriptwriting and the fantastic genres to students.

6. When you're not working, what do you like to do?

What? No work?!

7. If you weren't doing this, what would you be doing?

Writing and producing in a network, cable, or streaming scripted series that combines comedy with fantastic or speculative genre and labor politics. It would have to be a workplace-themed story concept. I love tales of everyday jobs in the global economy, about the types of strategies that ordinary people adopt inventively and relationally to survive neoliberalism. We have all been trained to operate as salvage capitalists, but what are alternative economic modes we take up on the way to getting through this savagely unequal century? Those moments of connection and subversion and necessary humanity? That kind of writers’ room. Maybe with monsters.

8. Do you have any advice for LMC students at Georgia Tech?

Trust your gut or develop one that can be trusted. Be kind to, and observant of, others. Your generation, raised within the richness of all the information our culture can generate and our tech can distribute, has so much knowledge … how can you evolve that information into societal ethics and spiritual wisdom? Find that inner compass early on, and you will save yourself (much, but not all) heartbreak and valuable life energy.

9. If prospective students or alumni are interested in what you do, can they contact you? What are some topics you can speak to?

Students can best start by taking one of my classes or bringing a specific project to me for advice. I am interested in learning what concerns and excites students and how they are making a go at life, especially through their labor and any expressive arts they have undertaken. During my 28 years and counting in academia, one of the delights is that student interests have evolved so much, yet some basics — making a living, finding a meaningful path forward that reflects one’s values, staying healthy and grounded, discovering joyful practice, coming to terms with the universe/God/existential dilemmas — seem to persist. What can you teach, how can you inspire me, if we were to cross paths? Am I meant to offer you what I have, my knowledge and hard-earned insights? We won’t know until we talk.

Do you have an outstanding student, faculty member, staff member, or alumni you'd like to see spotlighted? Nominate them here.

The IEEE Grade of Fellow is conferred by the IEEE Board of Directors upon a person with an outstanding record of accomplishments in any of the IEEE fields of interest. IEEE Fellow is the highest grade of membership and is recognized by the technical community as a prestigious honor and an important career achievement.

AlRegib is being recognized “for contributions to perception-based and context-based visual signal processing.” He has been an ECE faculty member since 2003 and is a Georgia Tech ECE Ph.D. alumnus. AlRegib holds the John and Marilu McCarty Chair Professorship and is the director of the Center for Energy and Geo Processing and the Omni Lab for Intelligent Visual Engineering and Science. He and his team of nine Ph.D. students work on robust and interpretable machine learning algorithms and systems for a wide range of applications such as autonomous systems, medical imaging, medication development, and subsurface imaging. They are interested in advancing the fundamentals and deployment of these systems in real-world scenarios. AlRegib was the technical program co-chair for the International Conference on Image Processing 2020 and GlobalSIP 2014. He served two terms on two IEEE Signal Processing Society Technical Committees–Multimedia Signal Processing and Image, Video, and Multidimensional Signal Processing. AlRegib is an editorial board member for the IEEE Transactions on Image Processing and the Elsevier Journal Signal Processing: Image Communications. In 2017, he led a team that was selected to organize the inaugural IEEE Video and Image Processing Cup.

Degertekin is being recognized “for contributions to micromachined ultrasonic and optomechanical transducers and systems.” He holds the G.W. Woodruff Chair in Mechanical Systems and joined Georgia Tech in 2000 as an assistant professor. Degertekin leads the Micromachined Sensors & Transducers Group and advises six Ph.D. and master’s students in mechanical engineering and electrical engineering. He also advises three postdoctoral scholars/visiting researchers. Degertekin’s current projects include acousto-optical sensors for safer interventional and diagnostic MRI procedures, wireless intracranial ultrasound imaging systems, capacitive parametric ultrasound transducers (CPUTs) for wireless energy transfer and sensing, capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducers (CMUTs) systems for Transcranial Focused Ultrasound-based drug delivery in the brain, and intravascular ultrasound imaging system development. He also has served as an associate editor for the IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control and IEEE Sensors Journal.

Ferri is being recognized “for contributions to hands-on learning and leadership in higher education.” She has been a professor in ECE since 1988 and served as the School’s associate chair for Undergraduate Affairs and associate chair for Graduate Affairs. Ferri is now the vice provost for Graduate Education at Georgia Tech, a post she has held since 2017. She has previously been recognized for her work in educational innovation and scholarship through the IEEE Undergraduate Teaching Award and the Regents Award for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. In addition to educational research, Ferri performs research in the area of systems and controls and is a proud Ph.D. electrical engineering alumna of Georgia Tech. She currently serves as the general chair of the 2022 American Control Conference, to be held June 8-10 in Atlanta. The conference is co-sponsored by the IEEE Control Systems Society. 

Raychowdhury is being recognized “for contributions to energy-efficient adaptive integrated circuit design.” An ECE faculty member since 2013, he is the Steve W. Chaddick School Chair and leads the Integrated Circuits and Systems Research Lab, where he and his team of three postdoctoral researchers and 13 Ph.D. students work in the broad area of design and application of heterogeneous technologies in digital and mixed signal circuits and systems. They particularly emphasize work in design of on-chip sensors, machine-learning classifiers, neuromorphic hardware, on-die voltage regulators and power converters, and dense memories and logic for low power, resilient, and adaptive systems. Raychowdhury is a mentor for IEEE Young Professionals and Women in Circuits and is a Distinguished Lecturer for the IEEE Solid State Circuits Society. He has served on the technical program committees of 16 IEEE conferences in the last five years. Raychowdhury is the technical program chair for the IEEE Custom Integrated Circuits Conference 2022, and he served as the technical program chair of the IEEE International Conference on Artificial Intelligence Circuits and Systems in 2021.

Saeedifard is being recognized “for contributions to modulation, control, and protection of multilevel converters for high-voltage DC transmission.” An ECE faculty member since 2014, she currently holds the Dean’s Professorship, which is housed in the College of Engineering. Saeedifard leads the Advanced Power Electronics Lab, where she and her current team of nine Ph.D. students work on modeling, control, cyber-physical protection, and application of various power electronics systems for efficient and secure integration, transmission, and utilization of renewable energy systems, as well as vehicular electrification. Saeedifard has been previously recognized with the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society J. David Irwin Early Career Award and the IEEE Region 3 Outstanding Engineer Award. She is currently serving as the co-editor-in-chief of the IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics. 

Wang is being recognized “for contributions to biomedical informatics and AI.” She earned her doctorate in ECE from Georgia Tech, and is a Wallace H. Coulter Faculty Fellow and a Georgia Distinguished Cancer Scholar in the Coulter Department. Wang has been a member of the BME faculty since 2002 after working at Lucent Technologies Bell Labs, and currently advises more than 20 trainees in the Bio-Medical Informatics and Bio-Imaging Laboratory (Bio-MIBLab), including one NIH K23 Scholar and 10 thesis students at all levels from BME, ECE, computational science and engineering, and biology, along with Ph.D. students in bioinformatics, machine learning, and the Coulter Department M.D./Ph.D. program. Her research focuses on biomedical big data analytics and artificial intelligence, particularly biomedical and health informatics for predictive, personalized, and precision health. Wang was recently elected chair of the Association for Computing Machinery Special Interest Group on Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, and Biomedical Informatics (ACM SIGBio) and as vice president-elect of conferences for the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. She is a Kavli Fellow, an American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering Fellow, and an International Academy of Medical and Biological Engineering Fellow.

In addition to the six Georgia Tech faculty members named as IEEE Fellows, three ECE alumni were also elevated to Fellow status. They are M. Brian Blake, Apurva Mody, and Anh-Vu Pham. Blake, who is the president of Georgia State University, was recognized “for contributions to web-based software engineering.” Mody, who is the founder and CEO of AiRANACULUS, was recognized “for leadership in cognitive dynamic spectrum sharing and standards.” Pham, who is a professor in the Department of ECE at the University of California, Davis, was recognized “for contributions to organic packaging technologies."

The IEEE is the world’s leading professional association for advancing technology for humanity. IEEE and its members inspire a global community through its highly cited publications, conferences, technology standards, and professional and educational activities. Through its 400,000-plus members in more than 160 countries, the association is a leading authority on a wide variety of areas ranging from aerospace systems, computers and telecommunications to biomedical engineering, electric power, and consumer electronics.

Dedicated to the advancement of technology, the IEEE publishes 30 percent of the world’s literature in the electrical engineering, computer science, and electronics fields, and has developed a portfolio of nearly 1,200 standards and more than 900 projects under development. The association also sponsors more than 1,600 annual conferences and events worldwide. The IEEE has almost 3,500 student branches at colleges and universities in over 100 countries. To learn more about IEEE or the IEEE Fellow Program, please visit www.ieee.org.

Now in its 197th year, The Franklin Institute Awards Program pays tribute to its namesake and America’s first citizen scientist, Benjamin Franklin, by honoring 13 individuals for their extraordinary achievements in science, engineering, and business leadership. This awards program is the oldest comprehensive science and technology awards program in the United States and has recognized more than 2,000 of the most pioneering scientists, engineers, inventors, and innovators from across the globe.

Dupuis is being honored for pioneering the technology known as MOCVD (metalorganic chemical vapor deposition). This technology provides the materials quality and ultra-precision required for many device components central to modern life, including LEDS, transistors, lasers, and high-performance solar cells. 

His contributions to the development of MOCVD are among the most significant contributions made in the growth of semiconductor devices in the last 40 years. His work on the understanding and improvement of the MOCVD process was the key development that led to the demonstration of the first MOCVD-grown III-V compound semiconductor heterostructure solar cells, injection lasers, the first CW room-temperature quantum-well lasers grown by any materials technology, and the demonstration of high-reliability MOCVD lasers. These important achievements have had a great impact on the efficient use of energy in the world.

Dupuis has been a faculty member in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) at Georgia Tech since 2003. He holds the Steve W. Chaddick Endowed Chair in Electro-Optics and is a Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar. Dupuis also leads the Center for Compound Semiconductors. Prior to his arrival at Tech, he was a chaired professor at the University of Texas at Austin and worked at Texas Instruments, Rockwell International, and AT&T Bell Laboratories.

Dupuis has received several major honors in the last six years. Earlier this year, he and four of his colleagues were awarded the 2021 Queen Elizabeth Prize in Engineering for the creation and development of LED lighting. In 2019, Dupuis was honored with the Materials Today Innovation Award for his development of the MOCVD technology and seminal contributions to compound semiconductor materials and devices. In 2015, he was one of five pioneers to receive the Draper Prize for Engineering in recognition of the significant benefit to society created by the initial development and commercialization of LED technologies. 

Dupuis has also been recognized with the IEEE Edison Medal and as a Fellow of the IEEE, OSA, the American Physical Society, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Brown, who is now a fourth-year computer science major, took GTRI's Embedded Systems Cybersecurity (ESCS) VIP class during the spring and fall 2021 semesters, which he says has had a direct influence on his future career goals.

"By joining the ESCS VIP team, I was able to confirm my interest in the field of cybersecurity, and eventually come to love the work I was doing in the course," Brown said. "I have no doubt that I’ll be choosing to pursue cybersecurity once I graduate – in fact, I hope to come back to Georgia Tech to obtain a master's in cybersecurity. All of these life-changing decisions may have never been made without the help of VIP."

All Hands on Deck

VIP extends project-based learning beyond a single semester, with students participating for up to three years. Instead of traditional class lectures, they work together to create solutions for real-world challenges – from designing a technology aimed at increasing voter turnout to developing next-generation medical devices that advance the treatment of widespread illnesses.

"The goal of the VIP Program is to enable everyone — undergraduate students, graduate students, researchers, and faculty — to work together in a way that benefits all of them," said Edward Coyle, the John B. Peatman Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Georgia Tech and a Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar who is the founder and director of the VIP Program. Coyle is also director of the broader VIP Consortium of universities around the world that run VIP Programs.

VIP Programs are now active in over 40 universities, with more than 4,500 students participating per term around the globe. The entire Georgia Tech VIP program currently serves 86 VIP teams involving more than 200 faculty and over 1,300 students. GTRI has 13 VIP teams that involve roughly 40 faculty members.

Coyle said the long-term and multidisciplinary nature of the program allows students to make significant contributions to faculty research efforts while also learning and practicing important professional skills, such as organizational and subject-matter leadership, as they work on real teams that develop solutions to real problems.

Teams consist of 10 to 20 students, who work closely with faculty advisors and graduate student mentors. Classes are held once a week, though team members usually hold additional meetings outside of class. Prospective students who are interested in joining the program can apply to a team that interests them on Tech's VIP website.

Lee Lerner, a GTRI principal research engineer and VIP program lead, said VIP remains one of the most effective tools for hiring young talent with the right set of skills.

"It's a big gamble hiring a research faculty member straight out of undergrad, but we can do that with VIP because we spend enough time with the students to know if a job offer is going to pay off or not," Lerner said. "VIP has turned out to be one of the best things for recruiting that we've ever done."

Beyond acquiring hands-on experience, Lerner said students also learn soft skills such as effective communication, team work, time management, and critical thinking as they figure out how to simplify and explain abstract concepts. Lerner's co-instructors for his course, Configurable Computing and Embedded Systems, are GTRI research engineers Elbert (Mike) Ruiz and William Stuckey.

Fired up

Chris Roberts, a GTRI principal research engineer who is the lead instructor for the ESCS class, has been a part of the VIP program for four years. Through VIP, Roberts is able to work with students to create solutions for tomorrow's challenges.

In Roberts' ESCS class, his students examine and assess the existence of cybersecurity protections in IoT (internet of things) hardware devices. The internet of things refers to a network of interconnected electronics, vehicles and home appliances that interact and exchange data.

This year, Roberts' class is centered around fire alarms – particularly identifying holes in the existing cybersecurity protections for these devices and figuring out how to ramp up those protections against potential cyber threats.

"Most people don't think too much about cybersecurity and fire alarms and how they can mix," Roberts said. "But we're investigating and proving that you can actually do very malicious activities to fire alarm systems."

Roberts noted that as bad actors keep getting craftier about how they launch cyberattacks, they could soon target common systems such as fire alarms. Roberts and his students are taking on the role of a cybercriminal – deconstructing fire alarms and figuring out ways to exploit the system and demonstrate that they can take control of it completely.

"This is unique research that I have not seen anyone else address yet," Roberts added. "We're making great headway." Roberts teaches his VIP class with former students and co-instructors Allen Stewart and Jacob Ashmore.

Stewart, who earned his master's degree in electrical and computer engineering at Georgia Tech in 2019, said he most enjoys working with his hands to solve real challenges. Stewart also finds it rewarding helping students think outside the box to solve problems. "I enjoy working with students who haven't dealt with this kind of thing before, helping them get more comfortable breaking things and hacking stuff to create solutions," Stewart said.

Future Focused

The benefits students obtain from VIP extend well beyond graduation.

Craig Raslawski, a Georgia Tech double alum who earned his undergraduate degree in computer engineering in 2018 and a graduate degree in cybersecurity in 2020, now works for KPMG as a cyber associate. KPMG is a professional services firm and one of the Big Four accounting organizations that also includes Deloitte, Ernst & Young, and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Though Raslawski only took Roberts' ESCS class for one semester, the experience he gained gave him the confidence to avoid struggling from "imposter syndrome" – or the belief that one's success is undeserved and has been illegitimately achieved – while working as a graduate research assistant in GTRI's Cybersecurity, Information Protection, and Hardware Evaluation Research (CIPHER) Laboratory.

The Technical Excellence Award, first presented in 1991, is the highest technical award presented by SRC. It recognizes research of exceptional value to SRC member companies. This award recognizes key contributors of innovative technology that significantly enhance the productivity and competitiveness of the semiconductor industry. The nominations are from the industry, indicating the extent to which the research outcomes have been applied by the industry. In the history of this award, Raychowdhury is the second Georgia Tech researcher to win this award and the third person to receive this for contributions to the design of digital VLSI circuits.

A Georgia Tech ECE faculty member since 2013, Raychowdhury leads the Integrated Circuits and Systems Research Lab. He received the award for the contributions of his group in the digital linear regulator technologies for power management in Systems-on-Chips. The research conducted over the last eight years has now significantly impacted both internal research and product pathfinding in multiple SRC member companies. His nomination was supported by Intel, IBM, Qualcomm, and TSMC.

The QFA program supports key professors and their research, with the goal of strengthening Qualcomm’s engagement with faculty who also play a key role in Qualcomm’s recruiting of top graduate students.

Krishna was chosen for the QFA for his contributions to the modeling, analysis, and design of high-performance, energy-efficient hardware acceleration platforms. 

Data movement is a key challenge in modern computing platforms, especially for Big Data applications like machine learning, on the edge and the cloud. The latency and energy cost of communicating data from memory to the chip often surpasses that of the actual computation, limiting scalability. 

Krishna’s lab has been working on specific solutions to mitigate this challenge. His research has developed systematic mechanisms to understand the relationship between computation mapping and the resulting off-chip/on-chip communication. They also develop interconnection topologies and communication protocols to optimize system performance and energy efficiency. Several Georgia Tech ECE graduate students who have worked with Krishna on these topics through his advanced courses and research projects are now researchers at Qualcomm.

Raychowdhury was chosen for the QFA for his contributions to low-power system-on-a-chip (SoC) design, including his group’s work on embedded power management and delivery circuits that have impacted Qualcomm’s internal research and development.  

Fine-grain power management plays a critical role in improving the energy efficiency of low-power SoCs and requires a closed-loop control between system software and embedded hardware. Over the last several years, Raychowdhury’s group has pioneered novel control topologies for improving the integration and performance of embedded voltage regulators and the co-regulation of voltage and clocking circuits. Raychowdhury's students have obtained multiple Best Paper Awards and scholarships based on their work, and several of his Ph.D. graduates are now researchers at Qualcomm’s Processor Research Group.

She will be presented with this award at the 2021 U.S. C3E Women in Clean Energy Symposium, to be held virtually November 3-4. This awards program recognizes mid-career leadership and achievement and is administered by the U.S. Department of Energy, Stanford University’s Precourt Institute for Energy, the Texas A&M Energy Institute, and the MIT Energy Initiative. 

Saeedifard is being recognized for her expertise on clean/renewable energy conversion and carbon dioxide emissions reduction, based on using advanced power electronics-based energy conversion technologies. During her career, she has developed novel, extremely efficient (greater than 98%) power conversion circuits for low-cost and reliable energy harvesting of large-scale wind and photovoltaic farms. 

Another area on which Saeedifard has focused is the control, expansion, and protection of High-Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) transmission systems for energy and savings. She has worked to improve transmission resiliency of bulk power transmission of renewable energy resources over long distances. 

Saeedifard’s leadership in IEEE professional societies, IEEE journals, and educational contributions will also be recognized at this event. She has been a member of the Georgia Tech ECE faculty since 2014.

What is clear is that campus involvement and leadership skills are crucial to becoming a member. The ANAK Society’s activities and members are hard to pin down, but every year, the ANAK Award is presented at the Faculty and Staff Honors Celebration to honor a faculty member who has demonstrated “outstanding service to the Institute and to the student body.” ANAK members vote on who to give the award to, and, starting this year, staff members will also be honored. Sidartha Rakuram, former ANAK president, talked about this year’s ANAK Award and the decision behind naming Dr. Jennifer Hirsch and Dr. Benjamin Holton as this year’s winners.

Both were honored at this year’s virtual Faculty and Staff Honors Celebration in April. When asked about picking Hirsch as a recipient, Rakuram explained, "She has been an amazing leader at the Center for Serve-Learn-Sustain in the Office of Undergraduate Education." Hirsch established the SLS Affiliated Courses Program and, under her leadership the past six years, the number of SLS affiliated courses has grown significantly. She is also a founding leader of the sustainability education network RCE Greater Atlanta, officially acknowledged by the United Nations University – one of more than 175 Regional Centres of Expertise on Education for Sustainable Development across the world.

This year, SLS was part of the Racial Injustice and Sexual Violence collective, which advances the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal of Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions. The collective aims to develop a plan to address issues of inequality and accountability for racial injustice and sexual violence on campus by identifying “gaps, systemic barriers, and areas for improvement that may exist within our institution due to policies, practices, and other norms.” In Rakuram’s words, Hirsch has “pushed Georgia Tech forward in many ways and is an inspiration to the many students who work with her."

When asked about the inaugural staff recipient, Rarkuram said, “Dr. Holton’s impact this past year has been undeniable and his patience and empathy while working with students, faculty, staff, and parents has been clear to all of us.” Dr. Holton has played a key role in coordinating Georgia Tech’s Covid-19 response. His leadership has been vital in rolling out Tech’s Covid-19 policies and protocols, as well as the Institute’s surveillance testing and vaccination programs. “Georgia Tech is safer and healthier because of him and his team at Stamps Health Services," Rakuram said.

For more information on the ANAK Award, visit the ANAK Society website.

An IEEE MTT-S Distinguished Microwave Lecturer typically deliver five to seven talks per year. For each class of these lecturers, only three or four are selected worldwide each year. Manos Tentzeris, who is ECE’s Ken Byers Professor in Flexible Electronics, previously served in this role from 2010-2012.

During his two-year term as an IEEE MTT-S Distinguished Microwave Lecturer, Wang will lecture on broadband and energy-efficient RF/mm-Wave/THz integrated circuits and systems for beyond-5G and 6G communications and sensing. He will also speak on wireless systems for ultra-reliable low latency communications (URLLC), sensing, and hardware security.

Wang is the director of the Georgia Tech Center of Circuits and Systems (CCS), and he leads the Georgia Tech Electronics and Micro-Systems (GEMS) Lab. His research interests include innovating analog, RF, mm-Wave, and THz integrated circuits and hybrid systems for wireless communications, sensing, and bioelectronics applications.

Wang is the recipient of the 2020 DARPA Director's Fellowship, 2020 Qualcomm Faculty Award, 2018 DARPA Young Faculty Award, 2017 IEEE MTT-S Outstanding Young Engineer Award, and 2015 National Science Foundation CAREER Award. He held the Georgia Tech ECE Demetrius T. Paris Professorship from 2014-2018.

Calhoun is the Distinguished University Professor of Psychology at Georgia State University. He is the director of the Center for Advanced Brain Imaging, a joint venture between Georgia State University and Georgia Tech. Calhoun is also the founding director of the Center for Translational Research in Neuroimaging and Data Science, a tri-institutional effort supported by Georgia State, Georgia Tech, and Emory University to increase cooperation among Atlanta brain imaging researchers.

Calhoun is a Georgia Research Alliance (GRA) Eminent Scholar in Neuroscience and Neuroinformatics, and he also holds appointments in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Georgia Tech and in neurology and psychiatry at Emory University School of Medicine. His research is focused on developing new ways to analyze and use complex brain imaging data by drawing on advanced machine-learning approaches.

Khan is receiving this award for his research on ferroelectric field-effect transistors for embedded non-volatile memory applications. Ferroelectric field-effect transistors is one of the most-promising device technologies for artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) hardware, due to its energy efficiency and compatibility with high-volume semiconductor manufacturing. The project will focus on solving the critical voltage problem of this device technology, by identifying and implementing new strategies for interface defect reduction in and the downscaling of the ferroelectric gate-dielectric stack. 

Khan works on advanced semiconductor devices that will shape the future of computing in the post-scaling era. His research group currently focuses on ferroelectric devices in all aspects ranging from materials physics, growth, and electron microscopy to device fabrication, all the way to ferroelectric circuits and systems for AI/ML/data-centric applications.

His early career work led to the first experimental proof-of-concept demonstration of a physical phenomenon, namely the negative capacitance, in ferroelectric materials, which can reduce the power dissipation in electronic devices below the “fundamental” thermodynamic limit. Negative capacitance is currently a vibrant research area in materials science, condensed matter physics, and electrical engineering, and it is being pursued by all major semiconductor companies for advanced transistor technologies.

In the past, Khan has received multiple awards, including the NSF CAREER Award (2021), the Intel Rising Star Award (2020), Qualcomm Innovation Fellowship (2012), TSMC Outstanding Student Research Award (2011), and the University Gold Medal from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (2011). He was also named to the Center for Teaching and Learning Class of 1934 CIOS Honor Roll for his outstanding teaching in ECE8863 Quantum Computing Devices and Hardware in Fall 2020.

Khan’s group currently consists of seven graduate students and two research staff members. They publish in flagship microelectronics conferences, such as the International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM) and the Symposium on VLSI Technology, and in journals including IEEE Electron Device Letters, IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices, Nature Electronics, Nature Materials, and Nano Letters. His students received multiple international and Institute-level awards, including the IEEE EDS Masters Student Fellowship (Prasanna Ravindran, 2020) and the Georgia Tech ECE's Colonel Oscar P. Cleaver Award (Nujhat Tasneem in 2018 and Zheng Wang in 2017) for achieving the highest score on the ECE Ph.D. preliminary examination, which was the criteria for the award up to 2018.

Cressler and Romberg were both honored with IEEE medals at the IEEE Vision, Innovation, and Challenges Summit (IEEE VIC Summit) and Honors Ceremony, held virtually May 11-13, 2021. Cressler was honored with the 2021 IEEE James H. Mulligan, Jr. Education Medal for a career of outstanding contributions to education in the fields of interest to IEEE. Romberg was honored as a co-recipient of the 2021 IEEE Jack S. Kilby Signal Processing Medal for outstanding contributions in signal processing.

John D. Cressler

As the recipient of the 2021 IEEE James H. Mulligan, Jr. Education Medal, Cressler was honored “for inspirational teaching and mentoring of undergraduate and graduate students.” He was recognized with this award on May 11 by IEEE President-Elect Ray Liu.

Cressler is the third faculty member from ECE to receive this honor. Previous recipients include Ronald W. Schafer (1992) and James D. Meindl (1990, while with Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute). The James H. Mulligan, Jr. Education Medal was established in 1956 and is sponsored by Lockheed Martin, MathWorks, Pearson, and the IEEE Life Members Fund.

“This is a tremendous honor for John, and his commitment to teaching and mentoring — and to the success and well-being of our students – is a tremendous model for all of us to follow,” said Magnus Egerstedt, Steve W. Chaddick School Chair and Professor in ECE.

Cressler is the Schlumberger Chair Professor in Electronics and the Ken Byers Teaching Fellow in Science and Religion at Georgia Tech. He has been the associate director of the Georgia Electronic Design Center since 2015. Cressler joined the Georgia Tech ECE faculty in 2002 after spending a decade as a faculty member in the Department of ECE at Auburn University. He received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in applied physics at Columbia University and his B.S. degree in physics from Georgia Tech in 1984.

Cressler couples his passions for teaching and mentoring with being the leader of one of the largest, most visible, and most productive silicon-germanium (SiGe) research groups in the world. He and his colleagues have written over 700 refereed journal and conference papers, and he has graduated over 100 Ph.D. and master’s students who are now leaders in the electronics industry, academia, and government and research labs or who have started their own successful companies.

Cressler is a mainstay in the microelectronics instructional program in ECE and has introduced first-of-a-kind courses – CoE 3002 Introduction to the Microelectronics and Nanotechnology Revolution and ECE 6444 Silicon-based Heterostructure Devices and Circuits – that use textbooks that he has written and that have been adopted by other universities around the world. He also teaches IAC 2002 Science, Engineering, and Religion: An Interfaith Dialogue in the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts. This course is open to undergraduate students of all years and majors and has always been positively received by the students.

Cressler has received many top teaching and mentoring awards from Georgia Tech and from IEEE and Eta Kappa Nu. His goal for his Ph.D. students is to fall in love with research, while maintaining a good work-life balance, and to provide a safe place to fail and to be creative and innovative. In the classroom, Cressler believes that the keys to success are passion for what you teach, being real, being and sharing who you are and what you believe with your students, and being approachable and showing that you care.

Cressler said that teaching is his life and vocation, and he counts teaching and mentoring as his great passion in the classroom, lab, and life. “My accomplishments are best measured by the success of my students,” Cressler said. “Receiving an award for teaching and mentoring, which is something very close to my heart, means a great deal to me.”

To view Cressler’s award presentation from the IEEE VIC Summit and Honors Ceremony, please visit https://ieeetv.ieee.org/channels/communities/awards-hall-c-day-1-ieee-vic-summit-and-honors-ceremony. His presentation starts at the 6:40 mark.

Justin K. Romberg

As a co-recipient of the 2021 IEEE Jack S. Kilby Signal Processing Medal, Romberg was honored “for groundbreaking contributions to compressed sensing.” He received this medal with his colleagues, Emmanuel Candes, who holds The Barnum-Simons Chair in Mathematics and Statistics at Stanford University, and Terence Tao, a professor of mathematics at the University of California at Los Angeles.

Romberg and his colleagues were recognized with this award on May 12 by IEEE President-Elect Liu. He is the fourth faculty member from ECE to receive this honor. Previous recipients include Thomas P. Barnwell (2014), Ronald W. Schafer (2010), and James H. McClellan (2004). The IEEE Jack S. Kilby Signal Processing Medal was established in 1995 and is sponsored by the Kilby Medal Fund.

“This is a tremendous honor for Justin, and our amazing faculty track record in receiving this award speaks of the high regard in which our digital signal processing program is held around the world,” said Egerstedt.

Romberg holds the Schlumberger Professorship and is the associate chair for Research in ECE. He is also the senior director for the Center for Machine Learning at Georgia Tech. Romberg joined the ECE faculty in 2006 after working as a postdoctoral scholar in Applied and Computational Mathematics at Caltech for three years. He received his B.S.E.E., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees from Rice University in 1997, 1999, and 2004, respectively.

Romberg, Candes, and Tao were recognized for their 2006 paper, “Robust Uncertainty Principles: Exact Reconstruction from Highly Incomplete Frequency Information,” which demonstrated that structured signal samples could be reconstructed perfectly from very few samples. The paper established the field of compressed sensing, which is considered one of the most important developments in signal processing in the last 50 years.

This paper spurred a flurry of research activities, with engineers and scientists exploring ways to use compressed sensing in a variety of applications. Compressed sensing has been used in wireless sensor networks, more efficient data aggregation, and improved data recovery, and has resulted in energy-efficient network routing protocols, reduced data transmission requirements, and improved network security.

Compressed sensing has even been used in astrological imaging and medical imaging. The first images of black holes from the Event Horizon Telescope were based on compressed sensing reconstruction methods. However, the greatest success of compressed sensing can be found in MRI imaging, where the technology is used to shorten the imaging process drastically without losing image quality.

Romberg said that one of the best things about the work in compressed sensing is how it has introduced him to ideas and people in many different areas of applied mathematics, such as harmonic analysis, optimization, and applied probability and statistical learning.

“It has been extremely rewarding to be exposed to new ideas from these fields by interacting with researchers on a common problem set,” Romberg said. “It has also been a pleasure to see how this early work was translated into different problem domains and built a strong foundation for me across disciplinary research, which is something that I have valued throughout my career.”

To view Romberg’s award presentation from the IEEE VIC Summit and Honors Ceremony, please visit https://ieeetv.ieee.org/channels/communities/awards-hall-a-day-2-ieee-vic-summit-and-honors-ceremony. His presentation starts at the 4:55 mark.

This award is presented to engineers who are 35 years of age or younger for technical and educational achievements and for involvement in local/transnational IEEE PES activities and leadership, professional society activities, and community and humanitarian activities. 

Molzahn has been an assistant professor in the Georgia Tech School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) since 2019. His research focuses on improving power system reliability and resiliency by developing and analyzing algorithms that help engineers better design and operate power grids. Challenges addressed by his work include power flow nonlinearities, large-scale problems, stochasticity from renewables, and the transition from centralized to distributed paradigms. His major contributions to the field are in power flow nonlinearities, large-scale security-constrained optimal power flow, and distributed optimization. 

Molzahn is a leader for the Power Systems Computation Conference (PSCC). He currently serves as the chair of the technical program committee for the 22nd PSCC to be held in 2022; he was the vice-chair of the technical program committee for the 21st PSCC held in 2020. Molzahn has also been a reviewer and session chair for earlier editions of the PSCC and a member of past technical program committees. He and his colleagues won second place at the U.S. Department of Energy ARPA-E Grid Optimization Challenge in 2020. He was a guest associate editor for special issues of the IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid and the IEEE Journal of Emerging and Selected Topics in Power Electronics. 

At Georgia Tech, Molzahn is a fellow of the Strategic Energy Institute and the faculty advisor for the Georgia Tech Energy Club. He is also involved in activities with the U.S. National Academy of Engineers (NAE). Molzahn was invited to attend the NAE-organized 2019 German-American Frontiers of Engineering (FOE) Symposium, and he accepted a request to serve on the organizing committee for the 2020 EU-US NAE FOE Symposium, which will now be held in November 2021.

The article, "Anti-science Misinformation and Conspiracies: COVID-19, Post-Truth, and Science & Technology Studies (STS)" is available (open-source) here.

Find the article here.

During the conference, scholars gathered at the California Institute of Technology to develop a transnational approach to the circulation of knowledge for a number of case studies of interest to historians of science and technology. But, despite the increasing news coverage of the novel coronavirus, which had first emerged in China and was beginning to spread across national borders, Covid-19 was not at the forefront of the conference participants’ minds.

“It is striking now that Covid-19 was not even mentioned once: the first official case was recorded in California a week later,” Krige reflected. “It is also striking that it is at face-to-face workshops like this, not virtual meetings, that strong bonds of intellectual friendship and respect are built.”

One such intellectual friendship Krige established was with Sabina Leonelli, professor of Philosophy and History of Science at Exeter University. The two are co-authors of a recent article published in the journal History and Technology (March 2021).

Covid-19 Research Across Borders

When the pandemic hit Europe, the two scholars recognized that the response to Covid-19 would be a case of particular importance to the study of transnational knowledge flows, and they sought to develop a historiographical discussion of the issue as it unfolded.

“Sabina and I felt that we had to engage intellectually with what was evidently an unfolding tragedy of historical importance,” Krige said.

They were particularly interested in the tension between national responses to the pandemic and the need for international efforts to share data and develop technology to combat the spread. This is explored in their article through two case studies of events that the authors had witnessed first-hand in Europe.

For the first case study, Krige examined a debate which had unfolded while he was on national lockdown in France over whether to adopt a Franco-German-developed contract tracing app or one developed by Apple and Google. The French government ultimately rejected the system imposed by the large global data management platforms, in favor of the one developed transnationally, which still maintained user data privacy while also being more effective for healthcare workers due to the centralization of the data under the national pandemic response. Other issues, such as interoperability between different phones and apps, were also discussed in the debates surrounding the contract tracing apps. While France chose the app they saw as being more conducive to their national response, other European nations, including Germany, adopted the Google and Apple app instead. These decisions, Krige writes, were deeply rooted in the individual nation’s history and the way that the apps were promoted to the public.

Leonelli, meanwhile, had been involved with doctors in Italy who were trying to find ways of collecting and disseminating big data on cases seen in their clinics, rather than in hospitals. In the article, she discusses how the front-line experience doctors in Italy attempted to share regarding the importance of monitoring oxygen levels in Covid-19 patients was not well understood as a key predictor of death internationally until April 2020, months after the Italian doctors had raised the alarm, because of national healthcare factors like the number of patients per general practitioner. This failure to understand and interpret the local experience when shared across borders, the paper argues, shows the urgency of devising standards and technologies for the dissemination and discussion of local findings quickly, as “knowledge does not move transnationally by itself.”

The Need for Transnational Data Sharing Standards

For the authors, the Covid-19 pandemic has only highlighted the political pertinence of transnationalism. Their two case studies ultimately confirm what is already well-known to scholars of science and technology studies – collaboration on science and technology is dependent on agreed standards and protocols for data collection and sharing across borders. Additionally, they argue that there is a need for co-production and interoperability between different national strategies and their performance, not marred by any prior assumptions about Global North hegemony or superiority.

“We can only regret that the structures that we analyzed had little success in curbing fragmented competitive national responses to the distribution of knowledge, and vaccines, between the rich industrialized countries,” Krige said, “All the more distressing for it being at the expense of the poor elsewhere in the world.”

Krige and Leonelli’s paper, “Mobilizing the Transnational History of Knowledge Flows. COVID-19 and the Politics of Research at the Borders,” is available (open access) at https://doi.org/10.1080/07341512.2021.1890524.

Raychowdhury has been a member of the ECE faculty since January 2013. Prior to joining Georgia Tech, he was a research scientist at Intel for five years and graduated with his Ph.D. in ECE from Purdue University in 2007. 

Prior to attending graduate school, Raychowdhury worked as an analog design researcher for Texas Instruments for one-and-a half-years. His research interests are in low power digital and mixed-signal circuit design, design of power converters and sensors, and exploring interactions of circuits with device technologies. He serves as the co-director of the Georgia Tech Quantum Alliance, which is part of the Institute for Electronics and Nanotechnology.

Raychowdhury leads the Integrated Circuits and Systems Research Lab, where he advises 14 Ph.D. students, four postdoctoral researchers, three undergraduate researchers, and one master’s student. Recent work from his group includes the invention of a battery-less camera system, time-encoded analog signal processing for ultra-low power Edge-Intelligence and Edge-Robotics, a unified voltage-frequency controller loop for mobile platforms, adaptive digital control for linear regulators for embedded power management, and circuits that enable advanced memory technologies. 

His students have won prestigious fellowships and 13 best paper awards, and his team’s work has been publicized in the technical and popular press, including CNN, Wired, TechCrunch, R&D Magazine, and Phys.org. To date, Raychowdhury has graduated seven Ph.D. students and seven master’s students. He holds 24 U.S. and international patents and has published six book chapters and over 200 refereed journal and conference papers. He serves on technical program committees for several IEEE conferences. 

Raychowdhury led Georgia Tech’s effort to establish two research centers chartered by the Semiconductor Research Corporation and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The Applications and Systems-driven Center for Energy-Efficient Integrated NanoTechnologies (ASCENT), which is led by the University of Notre Dame, investigates the next generation of platform technologies that will enable break-through performance and energy-efficient computing platforms. The Center for Brain-Inspired Computing Enabling Autonomous Intelligence (C-BRIC), which is led by Purdue University, focuses on the next frontiers of artificial intelligence, both in terms of algorithms and hardware perspectives.

Equally committed to teaching and providing meaningful experiences for undergraduate and graduate students, Raychowdhury teaches courses in advanced VLSI systems, digital system design, and the physical foundations of computing. He is the site director for the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD)-sponsored SCALE Workforce Development Program for System-on-Chip (SoC) Design, which is a partnership with Purdue, The Ohio State University, and the University of California, Berkeley. This effort is focused on developing an SoC design curriculum, involvement of undergraduate students in research, and placement of students in internships in government labs and the DoD. 

Raychowdhury was ECE’s first recipient of the National Science Foundation CISE Research Initiation Initiative (CRII) Award, which he received in 2015. He was chosen for the IEEE/ACM Innovator under 40 Award in 2018, the Intel Faculty Award in 2015, and the Qualcomm Faculty Award in 2020. Prior to his arrival at Georgia Tech, Raychowdhury won the Intel Labs Technical Contribution Award in 2011, several best paper honors, and top awards for his doctoral research while at Purdue University. He is a senior member of IEEE and a member of the Association for Computing Machinery.

Below is the Choice Review of the book:

This 18th volume in the "Food, Health, and the Environment" series from MIT Press focuses on the social and environmental consequences of the precipitous rise in meat production and consumption since the latter half of the 20th century. In this edited work, scholars from the US, the Netherlands, and Malaysia consider implications ofthe global meat industry's effects on a range of social and environmental issues, including climate change,  food insecurity,  workers’ rights, and animal welfare. Chapters explore themes that include the role of government and the concentrated power of corporations in shaping the structure of the meat industry, the paradox of simultaneously increased meat production coinciding with greater impact of hunger worldwide, and social and environmental injustice. The book is sure to suggest sobering conclusions aboutthe inevitable result of a continued unchecked increase in meat production and offers some cause for optimism about possible individual and structural responses. Each chapter includes tables and footnotes, and the volume concludes with an extensive list of references. Library collections supporting food science or environmental studies programs will be expected to acquire this book.

Moving your academic career forward means more than just giving the perfect lecture. That’s why the new Office of Faculty Professional Development (OFPD) is taking a holistic approach.

“Faculty need many skills beyond teaching and research,” said Bonnie Ferri, the vice provost for Graduate Education and Faculty Development. “They need to be able to communicate, mentor, manage teams and projects, network, and innovate.” 

OFPD offers events and resources to assist Georgia Tech faculty in maintaining productivity, developing their careers, and engaging in the Tech community.

“We support faculty in developing the skills they need in their work as scholars, intellectual leaders, and mentors at Tech and beyond,” said Brandy Simula, professional development specialist in the Office of the Vice Provost for Graduate Education and Faculty Development. “We provide resources and services that support faculty productivity and well-being.”

For example, OFPD offers an annual professional development workshop series with several workshops a month, hosted by and for faculty, on topics ranging from developing grant proposals to effective mentoring to understanding freedom of speech as a faculty member. 

The office also offers a monthly faculty writing retreat, which offers tips on writing productively, support on moving past writer’s block, and dedicated time to making progress on the project of your choice. Whether you’re brainstorming for a grant proposal or putting the final touches on your manuscript, you  can join these retreats to work on any project at any stage of completion. 

Finally, OFPD offers the annual new faculty orientation and year-long orientation for new faculty leaders. For more information on upcoming programs and events, visit OFPD’s programs and events page.

If you’re looking for more individualized professional development opportunities, Simula is also available for one-on-one faculty development consultations. These are tailored to your needs and are the first step in finding resources for any professional development issue (e.g., building a five-year strategic plan for your career or working on academic time management skills). Faculty can read more and register for a consultation.

In addition to the resources and programs offered through OFPD, faculty also have free access to live professional development workshops, an extensive webinar library, and 14-day writing challenges through Tech’s institutional membership to the National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity (NCFDD). To access these workshops, register for an NCFDD membership using your Tech email address.  

Questions? Contact Simula at brandy.simula@gatech.edu.  

The title of Khan’s award is “Antiferroelectric Negative Capacitance Transistors for Ultra-low Power Computing,” and it will start on March 15, 2021 and end on February 28, 2026. 

Today's society is experiencing an unprecedented growth of its digital footprint – be it in the form of uploading a photo on Facebook, live-streaming a teaching module to a massive global audience on YouTube, or commandeering a revolution via Twitter. This convenience of modern computing, however, comes with a steep cost in terms of energy use and environmental impact. Today, the global information infrastructure, such as data centers, emit as much greenhouse gases as that of the state of Nevada or a country, such as The Netherlands or Malaysia, and constitute around 1 percent of world-wide electricity demand. According to scientific estimates, this fraction may increase to a double digit percentage in the next 15-20 years. 

At the core of this predicament lies the fact that the fundamental building blocks of digital hardware – the transistors – have long been overdue for a prime upgrade in terms of their energy efficiencies. The proposed research aims to explore an energy-efficient transistor concept – known as a negative capacitance field-effect transistor, using a new class of materials called antiferroelectric oxides. 

Khan joined the ECE faculty in 2017. His research is on advanced semiconductor devices—devices that will shape the future of computing in the post-scaling era. His research group currently focuses on ferroelectric devices, in all aspects ranging from materials physics, growth, and electron microscopy to device fabrication, all the way to ferroelectric circuits and systems for artificial intelligence/machine learning/data-centric applications. Khan’s Ph.D. work led to the proof-of-concept demonstration of the negative capacitance phenomenon in ferroelectric materials, which can reduce the power dissipation in electronic devices below the ‘fundamental’ thermodynamic limit. This culminated in the initial development of the field of negative capacitance.

Khan has published 2 book chapters and 70 journal and peer-reviewed conference publications, and he has given 20 invited talks and tutorials at premier microelectronics and ferroelectric conferences. Khan currently has one patent pending at Intel. 

Khan’s awards include the NSF CAREER award (2021), Intel Rising Star Award (2020), Qualcomm Innovation Fellowship (2012), TSMC Outstanding Student Research Award (2011), and the University Gold Medal from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (2011). His group at Georgia Tech consists of six Ph.D. students and three research engineers, many of whom won Institute-level and international awards, including an IEEE Electron Devices Society (EDS) Masters Student Fellowship (2020). Khan’s research is supported by the National Science Foundation, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Semiconductor Research Corporation, and Intel Corporation. 

Khan has also developed a graduate course, ECE 8863A Quantum Computing Devices and Hardware, as a part of the campus wide response to the national prioritization of quantum computing, known as the National Quantum Initiative Act (NQIA) that was signed by the U.S. president in 2018. Khan recently received the Class of 1934 CIOS Honor Roll award for excellence in teaching this course in Fall 2020. 

This award was established in 2005 through a gift from School of Mechanical Engineering's Regents’ Professor Emeritus Geoffrey Eichholz. It was created to reward senior faculty members who made a long-term contribution to introductory undergraduate education and were outstanding teachers for students taking freshman and sophomore core courses. Recently, the award has broadened to recognize faculty at any point in their careers who excel in teaching core and general education courses, and who help students establish a solid foundation for their education at Georgia Tech.

Last November, more than 50 Institute faculty, staff, and students gathered for the initial meeting of the Georgia Tech Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Council (GTDEIC). The campus representatives were appointed by President Ángel Cabrera, and the group was tasked with monitoring and assessing the Institute’s progress toward becoming a model campus community for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). In the months ahead, it will also submit recommendations to Cabrera and the Institute’s executive leadership team for consideration in developing strategic actions.

Enhancing diversity has been one of Cabrera’s top priorities. “Our Diversity and Inclusion Council is one of several action steps announced this past summer to deliver on our promise of inclusion,” Cabrera said in 2020. “As outlined in our new strategic plan, we are striving to remove barriers to access and success, and to build an inclusive community where people of all backgrounds have the opportunity to learn and contribute to our mission.”

Since that initial November meeting, the GTDEIC has launched three working groups comprised of Council members and issue-area experts from across the campus: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Plan; Campus Climate Assessment; and Covid-19 Impacts on Faculty.

“A diverse and inclusive campus is an empowered and engaged campus,” said Archie Ervin, vice president for Institute Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and GTDEIC chair. “A focus on diversity helps improve productivity, recruitment, and retention. Through these working groups, we will address immediate areas for DEI improvement.”

Pearl Alexander, executive director of Staff Diversity, Inclusion, and Engagement and GTDEIC vice chair, added, “One of our groups is crafting a comprehensive DEI plan that will be a blueprint with actionable strategies for implementation within the next five years. Another is redesigning our climate assessment to align with Institute goals for culture transformation, while the third is addressing the impacts of Covid-19 on women faculty and faculty of color. Each working group’s co-leads are working methodically and inclusively to identify strategies that will close gaps and deliver the greatest DEI impact possible. There will be many opportunities for leading, modeling, and living our values to make significant and lasting change.”

The Working Groups

The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Plan Working Group is developing a blueprint that mobilizes the DEI-related objectives of the new strategic plan, which include: amplify our impact, champion innovation, connect globally, expand access, cultivate well-being, and lead by example. The group will work across three focus areas: creating an inclusive and equitable community; recruiting, retaining, and developing a diverse community of students, faculty, and staff; and supporting innovative and inclusive scholarship and teaching. The final draft of the blueprint will be submitted to Cabrera for review by the beginning of June. The group’s efforts will be supported by Georgia Tech Strategic Consulting (GTSC).

“Diversity today unlocks innovation tomorrow and creates unlimited opportunities for our students, faculty, and staff,” said Rashaad Owens Sr., GTSC consultant. “I believe Georgia Tech is poised for a brighter future with its renewed commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion in the new strategic plan.”

The Campus Climate Assessment Working Group will be led by Keona Lewis, associate director of Institute Diversity Research, and Joseph Ludlum, assistant director for Academic Effectiveness.

“One of the most enlightening tools we have for identifying racial and gender disparities is our campus climate survey,” Lewis said. Originally developed between 2011 and 2013, the survey has provided valuable information on individual and community experiences and their impact on people’s sense of belonging at Tech. “Over the past eight years, we have used what we have learned to address issues such as racial discrimination and bias and the lack of opportunities for the professional development of women staff — and launching Leading Women@Tech, the Inclusive Leader's Academy, and workshops to address bias in hiring promotion retention.”

The group’s goal is to create new research questions to capture data needed to measure the strategic plan’s DEI goals as well as the impact of current initiatives and programming. The Campus Climate Assessment group has formed three sub-teams for survey revisions: faculty, staff, and students. “This will allow us to measure our progress on achieving many of the new DEI objectives in the strategic plan through an exploration of the lived experiences of the Georgia Tech community,” Lewis said.

There are many reasons to be concerned about the short-and long-term impacts of Covid-19 on the well-being and advancement of faculty. “Data strongly suggest that the pandemic might exacerbate existing structural inequities in academia, as the burden of caregiving, differential access to resources, and mental health challenges exact a higher toll on women and underrepresented minority groups,” said Dana Randall, ADVANCE Professor for the College of Computing. “For this reason, the ADVANCE Professors formed this working group to develop a systemic approach to mitigating the impacts of the pandemic on the well-being and career progression of women faculty at Tech.”

“The overarching themes and outcomes we expect from a working group are twofold,” Kim Cobb, ADVANCE Professor for the College of Sciences, added. “First, our effort will aim to prevent the impending loss of women and underrepresented minority faculty from Georgia Tech, either through recruitment elsewhere, negative tenure or promotion outcomes, or by choice due to dissatisfaction with current working conditions and opportunities for advancement. Second, we will aim to improve the well-being and support for those faculty most negatively affected.”

The Covid-19 Impacts on Faculty Working Group will be co-chaired by an ADVANCE Professor and another member of the GTDEIC, with approximately 10 additional tenure-track faculty members. Specific areas the group plans to tackle include: campus climate and workplace satisfaction, promotion and tenure, retention, and the coordination of research and activities around Covid-19 and its impact on faculty.

“Establishing the GTDEIC represents the Institute’s commitment to engage all sectors of the Tech community,” Ervin said. “By identifying opportunities to achieve our aspirations for an inclusive community, and by demonstrating our value to be a community that thrives on diversity as a critical element of campus culture and climate, we are doing just that.”

“After an extensive search, we’re so glad to welcome Dawn to our team,” said Bonnie Ferri, vice provost for Graduate Education and Faculty Development. “Her enthusiasm as well as her years of experience when it comes to supporting faculty, postdoctoral scholars, and students make Dawn an important asset who will help our office as we put Georgia Tech’s new strategic plan into action within our unit.”   

Since 2020, Baunach has served as the interim associate dean for Faculty/Student Development and Strategic Initiatives in the Norman J. Radow College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Kennesaw State University.

Baunach came to Kennesaw in 2016 to serve as a professor of Sociology and chair of the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice. During her time at the university, Baunach received Kennesaw’s Teresa M. Joyce Presidential Diversity Award and served as diversity fellow for the Office of Diversity and Inclusion.

She also established a College Diversity Council and Makerspace Advisory Board within the Radow College of Humanities and Social Sciences, and created a New Faculty Series to support new college faculty in their first year.

Prior to 2016, Baunach spent 20 years serving in roles ranging from director of Graduate Studies to interim chair in the Department of Sociology at Georgia State University. In these positions, her accomplishments included creating an alumni advisory board, developing a faculty affiliate program for scholars internal and external to the university, increasing graduate student enrollment by 50%, and doubling funding levels for graduate teaching and research assistants.

Baunach earned a bachelor’s in sociology from Duke University, and a master’s and Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Virginia.

“I’m thrilled to join Georgia Tech's community of world-class faculty, graduate students, and postdoctoral scholars, and am looking forward to helping them grow and succeed,” Baunach said. “Plus, I’m especially excited about collaborating with my colleagues in Graduate Education and Faculty Development on initiatives that support leaders in technology — leaders who can use their skills to ultimately improve the human condition. This position feels like a perfect fit for where I’m at in my career.”

SGRs are open to proposals in any area of research pursued by IAC faculty. Grants are given to a few competitively selected research initiatives for faculty time, graduate student time, equipment, travel funding, or other research related resources. Other grants cover finishing a contracted book or major article, preparing a creative work for exhibit, preparing an invention for wider release, collecting data, traveling to an archive or other research site, fostering research relationships with academic or other potential partners. Preference is given to cross-school and interdisciplinary projects that are expected to lead to more ambitious proposals for external funding.

Congrats to all!

Calhoun is being recognized as an internationally renowned research scholar in the development and use of advanced neuroimaging approaches to study the biological underpinnings of schizophrenia. According to his nomination, Calhoun is a pioneer in the fields of data-driven brain connectivity, dynamic connectivity, and multimodal data fusion, and he has been a key visionary in the development of neuroimage-based markers of brain health and disorder. 

Then nomination goes on to say that Calhoun has shown an impressive ability to build a bridge between the development of advanced algorithms and their extensive application. He has been a leader in open science, making these technologies available to all in the field through multiple software tools, tutorials, and training workshops. 

Calhoun is a Georgia Research Alliance (GRA) Eminent Scholar in Neuroscience and Neuroinformatics, and he also holds appointments in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Georgia Tech and in neurology and psychiatry at Emory University School of Medicine. He is the founding director of the Center for Translational Research in Neuroimaging and Data Science (TReNDS), a tri-institutional effort supported by Georgia State University, Georgia Tech and Emory to increase cooperation among Atlanta brain imaging researchers. He is also the founder of the Center for Advanced Brain Imaging, a joint venture between Georgia State and Georgia Tech. 

Enhancing diversity has been one of Cabrera’s top priorities. “Our Diversity and Inclusion Council is one of several action steps announced this past summer to deliver on our promise of inclusion,” Cabrera said in 2020. “As outlined in our new strategic plan, we are striving to remove barriers to access and success, and to build an inclusive community where people of all backgrounds have the opportunity to learn and contribute to our mission.”

Since that initial November meeting, the GTDEIC has launched three working groups comprised of Council members and issue-area experts from across the campus: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Plan; Campus Climate Assessment; and Covid-19 Impacts on Faculty.

“A diverse and inclusive campus is an empowered and engaged campus,” said Archie Ervin, vice president for Institute Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and GTDEIC chair. “A focus on diversity helps improve productivity, recruitment, and retention. Through these working groups, we will address immediate areas for DEI improvement.”

Pearl Alexander, executive director of Staff Diversity, Inclusion, and Engagement and GTDEIC vice chair, added, “One of our groups is crafting a comprehensive DEI plan that will be a blueprint with actionable strategies for implementation within the next five years. Another is redesigning our climate assessment to align with Institute goals for culture transformation, while the third is addressing the impacts of Covid-19 on women faculty and faculty of color. Each working group’s co-leads are working methodically and inclusively to identify strategies that will close gaps and deliver the greatest DEI impact possible. There will be many opportunities for leading, modeling, and living our values to make significant and lasting change.”

The Working Groups

The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Plan Working Group is developing a blueprint that mobilizes the DEI-related objectives of the new strategic plan, which include: amplify our impact, champion innovation, connect globally, expand access, cultivate well-being, and lead by example. The group will work across three focus areas: creating an inclusive and equitable community; recruiting, retaining, and developing a diverse community of students, faculty, and staff; and supporting innovative and inclusive scholarship and teaching. The final draft of the blueprint will be submitted to Cabrera for review by the beginning of June. The group’s efforts will be supported by Georgia Tech Strategic Consulting (GTSC).

“Diversity today unlocks innovation tomorrow and creates unlimited opportunities for our students, faculty, and staff,” said Rashaad Owens Sr., GTSC consultant. “I believe Georgia Tech is poised for a brighter future with its renewed commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion in the new strategic plan.”

The Campus Climate Assessment Working Group will be led by Keona Lewis, associate director of Institute Diversity Research, and Joseph Ludlum, assistant director for Academic Effectiveness.

“One of the most enlightening tools we have for identifying racial and gender disparities is our campus climate survey,” Lewis said. Originally developed between 2011 and 2013, the survey has provided valuable information on individual and community experiences and their impact on people’s sense of belonging at Tech. “Over the past eight years, we have used what we have learned to address issues such as racial discrimination and bias and the lack of opportunities for the professional development of women staff — and launching Leading Women@Tech, the Inclusive Leader's Academy, and workshops to address bias in hiring promotion retention.”

The group’s goal is to create new research questions to capture data needed to measure the strategic plan’s DEI goals as well as the impact of current initiatives and programming. The Campus Climate Assessment group has formed three sub-teams for survey revisions: faculty, staff, and students. “This will allow us to measure our progress on achieving many of the new DEI objectives in the strategic plan through an exploration of the lived experiences of the Georgia Tech community,” Lewis said.

There are many reasons to be concerned about the short-and long-term impacts of Covid-19 on the well-being and advancement of faculty. “Data strongly suggest that the pandemic might exacerbate existing structural inequities in academia, as the burden of caregiving, differential access to resources, and mental health challenges exact a higher toll on women and underrepresented minority groups,” said Dana Randall, ADVANCE Professor for the College of Computing. “For this reason, the ADVANCE Professors formed this working group to develop a systemic approach to mitigating the impacts of the pandemic on the well-being and career progression of women faculty at Tech.”

“The overarching themes and outcomes we expect from a working group are twofold,” Kim Cobb, ADVANCE Professor for the College of Sciences, added. “First, our effort will aim to prevent the impending loss of women and underrepresented minority faculty from Georgia Tech, either through recruitment elsewhere, negative tenure or promotion outcomes, or by choice due to dissatisfaction with current working conditions and opportunities for advancement. Second, we will aim to improve the well-being and support for those faculty most negatively affected.”

The Covid-19 Impacts on Faculty Working Group will be co-chaired by an ADVANCE Professor and another member of the GTDEIC, with approximately 10 additional tenure-track faculty members. Specific areas the group plans to tackle include: campus climate and workplace satisfaction, promotion and tenure, retention, and the coordination of research and activities around Covid-19 and its impact on faculty.

“Establishing the GTDEIC represents the Institute’s commitment to engage all sectors of the Tech community,” Ervin said. “By identifying opportunities to achieve our aspirations for an inclusive community, and by demonstrating our value to be a community that thrives on diversity as a critical element of campus culture and climate, we are doing just that.”

Nikole Hannah-Jones

On Jan. 14, the 10th Annual MLK Lecture was delivered by keynote speaker Nikole Hannah-Jones, acclaimed investigative journalist. Hannah-Jones spearheaded The New York Times 1619 Project, for which her introductory essay won her a 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary. The 1619 Project shares work from Black creatives and acts as a portal to the past, present, and future with Black history at the forefront. During the lecture, Hannah-Jones highlighted the ways American history has erased Black history and the importance of reclaiming that past. She also highlighted how Black history has shaped the current American landscape, arguing that through writing and storytelling it will not be erased for future generations. 

Read a full recap of the event

Frank Brown

On Jan. 16, the Engage Symposium showcased a variety of speakers whose work aims to enhance the communities they live in. The first speaker was Frank Brown, CEO of Communities in Schools of Atlanta, which works to provide community support for students. Through his leadership in establishing youth programming, civic engagement, and assistance to children and families, Brown has become a key leader in Atlanta. The purpose of his interview with Taylor Gray was to answer the question, “How is a community of support built?” Brown highlighted the importance of relationships and urged students to join student government and other campus and social groups.   

View the full lecture

Cheneé Joseph

The second session of the Engage Symposium brought Cheneé Joseph, the executive director of the Historic District Development Corporation (HDDC), back to Tech. The Tech alumna is currently working to provide affordable housing in Atlanta through the Beltline Affordable Housing Advisory Board and revitalize Martin Luther King Jr.’s historic district. The question of the session was, “What if I was in charge?” Throughout the lecture, Joseph talked about the revitalization efforts of the HDDC and explained the steps taken to increase community engagement with the project. 

View the full lecture

Doug Hooker

The third speaker of the Engage Symposium was Doug Hooker, executive director of the Atlanta Regional Commission, which aids local government and community members to improve the region’s quality of life through the arts, community development, transportation, and homeland security. His session aimed to answer the question, “Do people know you care?” Throughout the interview, the Tech alumna wove in his experiences in various community boards over the years. 

View the full lecture  

Jennifer Abrams

In a conversation between Dean of Students John Stein and Tech alumna Jennifer Abrams, the last Engage Symposium session focused on the lessons learned throughout their careers. Abrams is part of the Piedmont Healthcare Corporation and helped lead the response to the coronavirus pandemic through her support of infectious disease physicians. During the conversation, she talked about how her experience at Tech was shaped by her involvement in student orientation and leadership roles in several student groups. The motivation behind her leadership is thinking of the people who don’t have the opportunity to be in that space.

View the full lecture

John Onwuchekwa

On Jan. 18, the MLK Day of Service 2021 closing speaker, John Onwuchekwa, co-founder of Portrait Coffee, shared the story behind his business and his take on hope as a vessel for defiance and perseverance. This personal mantra has taken him on a journey of waking up at 4 a.m. and even starting a coffee shop during a pandemic. The key takeaway was why problems can feel more bearable with the mindset, in Onwuchekwa’s words, that “the state of my soul is not going to be affected by the circumstances I find myself in.”

View the full lecture

Al Vivian

The Georgia Tech: A Call to Action lecture series emerged from the Black Lives Matter protests last summer and hosts discussions with faculty members about the Black experience at Tech. This year, on Jan. 21, the keynote speaker was Al Vivian, CEO of Basic Diversity Inc. and son of Martin Luther King Jr.’s confidant, C.T. Vivian. Basic Diversity, an inclusion and diversity consultancy, works with businesses not only to encourage more diversity in their workforce but also to deal with the challenges that come with it. 

Read a full recap of the event

Kamau Bobb

The Inaugural Petit Institute Antiracism Distinguished Lecture was delivered by Kamau Bobb on Feb. 4. A widely respected scholar involved in STEM inclusivity and outreach programs, Bobb’s experience ranges from Google to President Barack Obama’s My Brother’s Keeper STEM + Entrepreneurship Taskforce. As a founding director of the Constellations Center for Equity in Computing at Georgia Tech, he stressed the importance of researchers recognizing the pivotal point the country is in right now regarding race relations and not getting lost in complacency. 

View the full lecture

Angela Davis

For Georgia Tech’s 2021 Black History Month Lecture on Feb. 10, the highly anticipated keynote speaker was the legendary political activist and writer, Angela Davis. Over the course of an hour, students and faculty got to hear Davis’ perspective on the true meaning of political activism, what hope really means, and even going back to teaching at UCLA this spring. Undergraduate members of Tech’s African American Student Union moderated a question-and-answer session as well. 

Read a full recap of the event

First awarded in 2013 in the name of Her Majesty The Queen, the QEPrize exists to celebrate ground-breaking innovation in engineering. The 2021 winners were announced on February 2 by Lord Browne of Madingley, Chairman of the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering Foundation. HRH The Princess Royal shared a message of congratulation for the winners.

Solid-state lighting technology has changed how we illuminate our world. It can be found everywhere from sports stadiums, parking garages, inside and outside commercial buildings, homes, digital displays and computer screens and cell phones to hand-held laser pointers, automobile headlights and traffic lights. Today’s high-performance LEDs are used in efficient solid-state lighting products across the world and are contributing to the sustainable development of world economies by reducing energy consumption.  

Visible LEDs are now a global industry predicted to be worth over $108 billion by 2025 through low-cost, high-efficiency lighting. They are playing a crucial role in reducing carbon dioxide emissions, consuming significantly less energy and producing 90% less heat than incandescent lighting, and their large-scale use reduces the energy demand required to cool buildings. For this, they are often referred to as the ‘green revolution’ within lighting.

“Engineering is imperative to solving human problems. All over the world, everyone knows the QEPrize. Most importantly, this is a team prize. I was able to do what I did in the 1980s, because of what had come before. When I was modifying reactors every morning and every afternoon continuously for a year and a half, I never thought it would be so successful." Shuji Nakamura

“This is a really special moment for me. The QEPrize is so prestigious and it is spectacular to receive recognition from The Royal Family. It is a career highlight that is impossible to beat. Engineering is incredible, and I am proud to part of something that has made such a big impact on the world.” George Craford

“It is really something to share in this award with my friends and colleagues – all five of us each played an important role, and this recognition means a lot to me personally. In those early days, when we were working long days and nights hand-building reactors, Nick Holonyak mentored us. He really drew us in and inspired us to be part of the adventure that is engineering.” Russell Dupuis

“This year’s Prize winners have not only helped humanity to achieve a greater degree of mastery over the environment, they have enabled us to do so in a sustainable way. They have created a product which we now take for granted, but which will play a major role in ensuring that humanity can live in harmony with nature for many more centuries to come.” Lord Browne of Madingley, Chair, Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering Foundation

“The impact of this innovation is not to be understated. It makes lighting a lot cheaper and more accessible for emerging economies. For example, LEDs are being used on fishing boats where previously the only option would have been paraffin lamps. They are much cheaper and safer. It is not only an extreme engineering achievement, but a societal impact that has a significant impact on the environment.” Sir Christopher Snowden, Chair of the QEPrize Judging Panel

Dupuis holds the Steve W. Chaddick Endowed Chair in Electro-Optics and is a Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology; Nakamura is the Cree Chair in Solid-State Lighting and Displays in the Materials Department at the University of California, Santa Barbara; Craford is a Solid-State Lighting Fellow at Philips Lumileds Lighting Company; Akasaki is a University Professor at Nagoya University and Meijo University (Japan); and Holonyak is the John Bardeen Endowed Chair Emeritus in Electrical and Computer Engineering and Physics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

The winners will be formally honoured at a ceremony later this year; they will receive the £1 million prize and an iconic trophy, designed by the 2021 Create the Trophy winner Hannah Goldsmith, a 20-year-old design student from the United Kingdom.

About the 2021 QEPrize

QEPrize celebrates engineering’s visionaries, encouraging engineers to help extend the boundaries of what is possible across all disciplines and applications. It also inspires young minds to consider engineering as a career choice and to help to solve the challenges of the future.

The QEPrize is administered by the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering Foundation and funded by generous support from the following corporate donors: BAE Systems plc, BP plc, GlaxoSmithKline, Hitachi, Ltd., Jaguar Land Rover, National Grid plc, Nissan Motor Corporation, Shell UK Ltd., Siemens UK, Sony, Tata Steel Europe, Tata Consultancy Services, and Toshiba.

The 2021 winners are awarded a total cash prize of £1 million.

Yu leads the Laboratory for Emerging Devices and Circuits, where he and his team design energy-efficient computing systems based on emerging nanoelectronic devices. An example of his group’s work is the development of hardware accelerators for machine/deep learning with CMOS and beyond CMOS technologies.

The two areas in which Yu will present lectures include:

• Circuit Design and Silicon Prototypes for Compute-in-Memory for Deep Learning Inference Engine
• NeuroSim: A Benchmark Framework of Compute-in-Memory Hardware Accelerators from Devices/Circuits to Architectures/Algorithms

Yu has been a member of the ECE faculty since 2018. Prior to joining Georgia Tech, he was on the ECE faculty at Arizona State University for five years. Yu has received numerous awards over the last several years, including the ACM/IEEE Design Automation Conference 40 Under-40 Innovators Award, Semiconductor Research Corporation Young Faculty Award, ACM Special Interest Group on Design Automation Outstanding New Faculty Award, and IEEE Electron Devices Society Early Career Award. 

Yu has been active in IEEE CASS activities, including serving on the technical committee of Nanoelectronics and Gigascale Systems and the review committee of the IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems (ISCAS). He currently serves as the associate editor of the IEEE Journal on Exploratory Solid-State Computational Devices and Circuits (JxCDC). More information on IEEE CASS can be found at https://ieee-cas.org/

Jayant is a professor emeritus in the Georgia Tech School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE). During his career at Georgia Tech from 1998-2013, he held the John Pippin Chair in ECE and was a Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar. He was also the executive director for the Georgia Center for Advanced Telecommunications Technologies and the Georgia Tech Broadband Institute. 

Election to NAI Fellow status is the highest professional accolade bestowed to academic inventors who have demonstrated a prolific spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on quality of life, economic development, and the welfare of society. Jayant is the inventor or co-inventor of 36 patents at Bell Laboratories and at Georgia Tech, including several that are incorporated in international standards or proprietary technologies for multimedia communications. His inventions have enabled today's digital communications practice in an end-to-end fashion. They teach fundamental aspects of audiovisual signal processing, such as compression, networking, and enhancement of speech, image, audio, and video information. 

The 2020 class of NAI Fellows will be inducted at the Tenth Annual Meeting of the National Academy of Inventors on June 8, 2021 in Tampa, Florida. To learn more about the 2020 class of NAI Fellows, visit the NAI website.

More on the series can be found here.

Dr. Smith will also appear in an SEC Network documentary this Tuesday evening at 8:30 EST about Carlos Alvarez, a Cuban immigrant who went on to become an All-American football player at the University of Florida and student activist. The trailer can be found here.

The podcast explores the history of Mexico's transition from renewable to non-renewable society and examines the commonalities in drivers and patterns of energy transitions that persist over space and time. Dr. Vergara also discusses his forthcoming book (Fueling Mexico: Energy, Environment, and the Transition to a Fossil-Fueled Society, 1850-1950), the Green Revolution, the history of energy transitions in Mexico and beyond, and the politics of global climate action. 

Cressler has been a faculty member in the Georgia Tech School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) faculty since 2002. He is currently the Schlumberger Chair Professor in Electronics and the Ken Byers Teaching Fellow in Science and Religion. 

A mainstay in the ECE microelectronics instructional program, Cressler has also introduced three new courses into three different areas of the Georgia Tech curriculum, ECE 6444: “Silicon-based Heterostructure Devices and Circuits;” CoE 3002: “Introduction to the Microelectronics and Nanotechnology Revolution;” and IAC 2002: “Science, Engineering, and Religion: An Interfaith Dialogue,” which is taught through the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.  

Cressler has written books for each of these three courses. Silicon Earth (2016), now in its second edition and also translated into Chinese. Meant for a general audience, the book serves CoE 3002, which is intended for all majors, including both business and liberal arts students. Silicon-Germanium Heterojunction Bipolar Transistors (2003, with G. Niu) is the most widely cited textbook in this field and serves his graduate course, ECE 6444. In all of his courses during his 28+ year career, Cressler ends each of his classes, including IAC 2002, with a handed-out quotation and a sharing of a personal reflection relevant to his students’ lives. For this purpose, he compiled over 600 quotations and reflections in the book, Reinventing Teenagers (2004).

Cressler's career-long teaching effectiveness average is a 4.9, and he is a fully dedicated mentor to the students in his classes. On the research side, Cressler has mentored and graduated 60 Ph.D. students during his academic career (50 at Georgia Tech), and he and his team have published over 750 archival papers. The graduates of his research group have continued onto successful and meaningful careers in industry, academia, and government labs and agencies.

Cressler has received several high-level IEEE teaching and mentoring awards and has been presented with Georgia Tech’s top honors in undergraduate teaching and graduate student mentoring. In 2013, he was recognized with Georgia Tech's highest award for faculty, the Class of 1934 Distinguished Professor Award.

The purpose of the program is to help promote the careers of early career faculty members who show great promise as future academic leaders in disruptive computing technologies and to foster long term collaborative relationships with Intel. The awards were given based on progressive research in computer science, engineering, and social science in support of the global digital transition in the following areas: software, security, interconnect, memory, architecture, and process.

Khan joined the ECE faculty in 2017, with a courtesy appointment with the School of Materials Science and Engineering. He received his Ph.D. in electrical engineering and computer sciences from the University of California, Berkeley in 2015.

Khan’s research is on advanced semiconductor devices—devices that will shape the future of computing in the post-scaling era. His group is currently focusing on ferroelectric devices on all aspects ranging from materials physics, growth and electron microscopy to device fabrication, all the way to ferroelectric circuits and systems for artificial intelligence/machine learning/variable load applications. 

His research group consists of five graduate students and two research staff members. They publish in venues such as the International Electron Devices Meeting, the Symposium on VLSI Technology and Circuits, IEEE Electron Device Letters, IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices, Nature Electronics, Nature Materials, Nano Letters, and Nature.

Khan’s program is supported by the National Science Foundation, the Semiconductor Research Corporation, and the Defense Advanced Research Program Agency. His Ph.D. research led to the first experimental demonstration of the negative capacitance effect in ferroelectrics, which can reduce the energy dissipation in CMOS technology below the fundamental thermodynamic (Boltzmann) limit. One of his publications was cited as one of the nine significant papers in the history of ferroelectricity in a 2020 editorial article in Nature Materials, celebrating the 100^th year since the discovery of ferroelectricity in 1920.

After graduating from Georgia Tech with her Ph.D. in 2008, Zajic spent a year as a postdoctoral fellow at the Naval Research Laboratory and two years as a visiting assistant professor in Tech's School of Computer Science. In 2012, she joined ECE as an assistant professor, and in 2017, she was promoted to associate professor. 

Zajic leads the Electromagnetic Measurements in Communications and Computing Laboratory, where she advises 10 Ph.D. students and two postdoctoral fellows who work in the areas of propagation, enabling communication, and improving data security in challenging environments, such as vehicle-to-vehicle wireless radio communications, underwater acoustic communications, and communications inside a processor chip. To date, Zajic has graduated nine Ph.D. students and five M.S. students. She advises undergraduate students on individual projects and through the Opportunity Research Scholars Program. Zajic and her research group have received six best paper, poster, or demonstration awards since she joined ECE as a faculty member.

Zajic’s specific research interests focus on understanding mechanisms that generate electromagnetic (EM) side-channel emanations in modern computers and on locating sources of information-carrying EM emanations in complex environments. She has received over $18 million in research funding as a PI or co-PI, mostly from NSF, DARPA, the Office of Naval Research, and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research. Zajic has published over 140 refereed journal and conference publications. She has three awarded patents and five patent applications pending. Her work has been publicized locally and internationally through The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, NSF Science 360, Voice of America, Wired, and many other outlets. Zajic has served as an editor of the IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications and Wiley Transactions on Emerging Telecommunications Technologies. She also served as the chair of the Atlanta chapter of the IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Society/Antennas and Propagation Society from 2015-2017, and during that time, the group received the IEEE Outstanding Chapter Award in 2016. She received the IEEE Atlanta Section Outstanding Engineer Award in 2019. 

Equally devoted to teaching excellence and service, Zajic has developed or redesigned both undergraduate and graduate courses and has taught a flipped classroom version of ECE 3025–Electromagnetics. For her efforts, she has received several teaching awards, including the Richard M. Bass/Eta Kappa Nu Outstanding Junior Teacher Award in 2016 and the LexisNexis Dean’s Excellence Award in 2016-2017. Zajic has also participated in the Center for Teaching and Learning’s Class of 1969 Teaching Scholars Program. She is an active member of the ECE and Georgia Tech community, currently serving as the director of the M.S. Cybersecurity degree program; a member of the ECE Statutory Advisory Committee; a member of the College of Engineering Reappointment, Promotion, and Tenure committee; and a member of a working group on the professional development of graduate students, an initiative coordinated from the Provost’s Office.