Abstract: This talk presents ongoing work on a representation-learning framework for chemical spectra that models spectra as localized structure rather than conventional representations. The work investigates whether incorporating additional information about spectral morphology can improve reconstruction, interpretability, and downstream learning while preserving physically meaningful structure.

Bio: Reinaldo Mock is a 3rd-year ML Ph.D. student at Georgia Tech. His background is in biomedical engineering and mathematics. His research focuses on developing interpretable, field-ready ML methods for scientific sensing and decision-making. He is advised by Professor Jing Li and GTRI researchers Roman Aranda and Eric Pooser. His current interests include physics-informed machine learning, representation learning, and uncertainty quantification.

Abstract: We prove an Q(L/T) lower bound for first-order optimization of convex functions smooth relative to negative entropy on the simplex, showing mirror descent is nearly optimal and acceleration is generally impossible.
Unlike prior results, our prox-function is standard rather than pathological.
We extend the same non-acceleration result to quantum optimization over spectrahedra.

Committee: 

Dr. Coskun, Advisor       

Dr. Yezzi, Chair

Dr. M. Wang

Committee:

Dr. Bernard Kippelen, ECE, Chair, Advisor

Dr. Juan-Pablo Correa-Baena, MSE, Co-Advisor

Dr. Azadeh Ansari, ECE

Dr. Stephen Ralph, ECE

Dr. Ajeet Rohatgi, ECE

Dr. Natalie Stingelin, MSE

Title: Optimization in Scientific ML - is Accuracy Certification a Viable Goal?

Abstract: Generating nonlinear reduced models for parametric families of PDEs or learning associated parameter-to-solution maps often leads to minimizing a convex energy in a Hilbert space over a nonlinear hypothesis class. Hence, optimization over the budget of trainable weights, defining the hypothesis class, becomes (highly) non-convex. In this talk we discuss adaptive strategies for enhancing robustness and accuracy of optimization success, revolving around "conditional convergence guarantees". The main conceptual constituents are natural gradient flow in combination with an adaptive network expansion. Adaptation aims at increasing alignment with an ideal descent path determined by the gradient in the ambient (infinite dimensional) Hilbert space. This can be further combined with perturbed proximal point methods that can be understood as approximate implicit Euler schemes for the ideal Hilbert space gradient flow. The rationale is that each proximal point step is (much) easier to realize than the global optimization task because in each step the initial guess gets the closer to the optimum, the smaller the step-size. This adaptation to an implicit ideal Hilbert space gradient directions is of interest because the dynamical systems arising in the context of natural gradient flows are generically extremely stiff or even DAEs. Exploiting stable variational formulations of the PDE system, allows one to derive in certain relevant cases a posteriori criteria to check whether an approximate proximal step is sufficiently accurate to guarantee convergence. Roughly, network expansions are triggered when these criteria fail to be met even when the step-size reaches some lower bound. In this sense the results can be understood as "conditional convergence" with accuracy certificates. Part of the material draws on the recent paper [1].

Bio: Wolfgang Dahmen is a Research Professor in the Department of Mathematics at the University of South Carolina, where he previously held the SmartState Chair and Williams-Hedberg-Hedberg Chair. He earned his Ph.D. from RWTH Aachen and his Habilitation from the University of Bonn and has held faculty appointments at the University of Bielefeld, the Free University of Berlin, and RWTH Aachen. His research spans applied and numerical analysis, approximation theory, model order reduction, high-dimensional problems, and scientific machine learning. Dr. Dahmen is a recipient of the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize, the Robert Piloty Prize, and the Keck Futures Initiative Award of the US National Academies. He is an elected Fellow of both SIAM and the AMS, a member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina and the North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences, and former Chair of the Foundations of Computational Mathematics (FoCM).

Participants

• Adm. Sandy Winnefeld, former Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Distinguished Professor of the Practice
• Stacey Dixon, former Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence, Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Distinguished Professor of the Practice

This event is part of the Ivan Allen Advantage Alumni Speaker Series. Refreshments will be provided. All Georgia Tech students, faculty, and staff are welcome to attend. A limited number of 1:1 and small-group mentorship slots will be available to students who RSVP for the event.     

About the Speakers 

Gene Kansas is the founder and CEO of Gene Kansas | Commercial Real Estate where he has spent over two decades protecting, conserving, and caring for Atlanta’s cultural spaces. Gene also founded Constellations in 2017, a civic and socially based shared workspace in the reimagined Southern Schoolbook Building on Auburn Avenue. Each Gene Kansas project blends an appreciation of culture and history with creative, responsible, and vital refashioning that brings new relevance to space and how it is used by clients, neighborhoods, and the city.  Among many accolades, Gene received the 2016 Ivan Allen, Jr. Legacy Award from the School of Literature, Media, and Communication and the Ivan Allen Dean's Appreciation Award in 2026.   

Paul Oh is the vice president of public policy and external affairs at the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce and was recently named to the Georgia Tech 40 Under 40 class of 2026. Since joining the Chamber in February 2020, Paul has been responsible for strengthening the chamber’s relationships with local, municipal, state, and federal officials, while also expanding its public policy initiatives. He also represents the chamber within Gwinnett County’s international community. Over the past five years, Oh has helped formalize partnerships with 14 bilateral chambers and business associations, significantly expanding the chamber’s reach with the county’s diverse international business community.

Journey to the Georgia coast with G. Wayne Clough, CE 63, MS CE 65, HON PhD 15, President Emeritus of Georgia Institute of Technology and Secretary Emeritus of the Smithsonian Institution, and author of the new book, The Ever-Changing Georgia Coast: A Natural History of Its Creation, Transformation, and Future.

Meet us at Scheller Tower in the heart of Tech Square for a special conversation between Clough and Georgia Tech College of Sciences Dean Susan Lozier as we travel “by kayak, seaplane, and ATV to explore the rich geological history and fascinating ecology of this exceptional natural treasure” — Georgia’s Golden Coast — and understand the facets of its vibrant ecosystems through a story that is “part travelogue, part natural history, and part nature guide.”

Audience Q&A and a book-signing reception with refreshments will follow the conversation. Copies of Clough’s new book will be available for purchase and signing at the program. This event is free and open to the public. 

RSVP here to be entered into a drawing for one of 14 signed copies of the new book — one for each of Georgia’s major barrier islands. Pre-event registration is encouraged. Space is filled on a first come, first seated basis.

About the Author

G. Wayne Clough, born in South Georgia, received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, served on the faculties of prominent research universities, and traveled the world as a geological and earthquake engineer. He served as president of the Georgia Institute of Technology from 1994 to 2008 and as secretary of the Smithsonian Institution from 2008 to 2015. He was named Conservationist of the Year in 2020 by the Satilla Riverkeeper, and his book Things New and Strange: A Southerner’s Journey Through the Smithsonian Collections won him Author of the Year in History by the Georgia Writers Association in 2020. His new book is The Ever-Changing Georgia Coast: A Natural History of Its Creation, Transformation, and Future.

About the Moderator

Susan Lozier is dean and Betsy Middleton and John Clark Sutherland Chair in the College of Sciences at Georgia Institute of Technology. One of the world’s foremost physical oceanographers, Lozier is the international project lead for the Overturning in the Subpolar North Atlantic Program (OSNAP). She recently served as president of the American Geophysical Union and currently serves on the Board of Trustees for the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the Board of Directors for the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. Her recent honors include election as a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2020 and receipt of the Henry Stommel Research Medal in 2022, the highest honor given to an oceanographer by the American Meteorological Society. In 2025, Lozier was named Faculty of the Year by the Georgia Tech Graduate Student Government Association.

About Presenting Science

Hosted in collaboration with the Georgia Tech Friends of Sciences, the Presenting Science series hosts distinguished researchers and thought leaders who share the latest findings and topics of interest with the Atlanta community. Our audience includes professionals, faculty, staff, alumni, students, and researchers throughout the greater metro community. Our alumni and student audience — from the College of Sciences and across the Institute — are among the most engaged. 

Lead photo: Salt marsh coast near Skidaway Island, Georgia (Maxwell Guberman / Georgia Tech).

Event questions: Leslie Roberts
Media questions: Jess Hunt-Ralston

Featured Speakers

Adharsh Rajagopal works in DRAM Device and Cell Technology at Micron Technology, where he develops advanced memory technologies for next-generation semiconductor devices. His expertise includes semiconductor device physics, materials characterization, process integration, and thin-film technologies. Before joining Micron, he conducted doctoral research at the University of Washington focused on high-performance tandem perovskite solar cells and emerging photovoltaic technologies. He holds a doctorate in materials science and engineering.

Michael Hamilton is the James B. Davis Professor in electrical and computer engineering at Auburn University and leads wiring, interconnects, and packaging efforts for quantum computing at Google Quantum AI. His research spans superconducting and cryogenic devices, advanced packaging and integration technologies, nanotechnology-enabled electronic and photonic systems, and semiconductor device performance in extreme environments. He previously served as director of the Alabama Micro/Nano Science and Technology Center and worked at MIT Lincoln Laboratory.

Event Details

Date: Tuesday, November 3, 2026
Time: 9:15–10:45 a.m.
Location: Marcus Nanotechnology Building, Georgia Tech

Adharsh Rajagopal will speak from 9:15 to 10 a.m., followed by Michael Hamilton from 10 to 10:45 a.m. 

Registration

The Brand Lecture is presented as part of Microelectronics Day, a full-day event hosted by the Institute for Matter and Systems. Registration is free, and all Brand Lecture attendees must register for Microelectronics Day to attend.

Register for Microelectronics Day

📍 Meeting Location & Transportation

• We will meet on campus at 1:00 PM and carpool to Amicalola Falls (about 1.5 hours away).
• If you RSVP, you’ll be added to a carpooling sheet to help coordinate rides. You’re also welcome to arrange your own transportation and meet us directly at the trailhead.
• We expect to arrive at the park around 2:30 PM.

🗓️ Tentative Schedule

• 1:00 PM – Meet at campus & leave
• 2:30 PM – Arrive at Amicalola Falls
• 3:00–6:00 PM – Group hike at the falls
• 6:30 PM – Dinner (bring your own food/snacks; hot water for simple meals will be available)
• Evening – Campfire, games, and community time
• Morning – Pack up after breakfast, optional short hike, head back to campus (depends on driver/plans)

🍴 What to Bring

• Snacks and/or easy meals you can prepare with hot water (e.g., instant noodles, oatmeal, dehydrated meals)
• Plenty of water and electrolytes
• Warm layers (it can get chilly at night!)

✅ Safety & Notes

• All participants will sign a waiver before attending.
• We’ll stay together as a group for hikes and evening activities.
• Cell service can be limited — plan ahead.
• Bring only what you need and keep track of your belongings.

George Scheller Tower Room 0232

This is a joint effort of SOS, Scouting, and Trailblazers. This event will occur weekly, so do not worry if you can not make this one. Email me at gbaker38@gatech.edu or join our slack at https://trailblazers-2fo1434.slack.com/ if you have any questions and to join the GroupMe. 

Location: The Kendeda Building Patio
Date & Time: Wednesday, October 21, 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

This conference is a chance to meet IE students from other universities, share experiences, make new friends, and build connections with people who have similar interests and goals. Whether you’re looking to explore a new area of IE, grow your network, learn from experts, or simply get more involved in the IE community, the Southeast Regional Conference is a great way to do it. Come attend to see what makes Georgia Tech’s IE community so special.

For upcoming details regarding scheduling, RSVP-ing, registration costs, and other logistics: keep an eye out on our website: https://www.gtiise.org/conference

Follow the sound. Sink into the groove.

Siren’s Groove is calling you to the other side. Step into a night of glowing lights, high-energy hyperpop, and a shipwrecked world where the only way out is to follow the music. DJ Sudie, resident DJ at Pisces, will be bringing the sound as you get lost in the groove.

Come ready to dance, explore, and get lost in the glow. With themed decor, free food, an open photo booth, and music throughout the night, Siren’s Groove is your next stop after getting lost at sea.

Friday, October 16    7:00–9:00 PM

Loop Atlanta

665 Marietta Street NW, Atlanta, GA 30313

Get lured in. You might not want to find your way back.

Come to fine tune your skills, meet some cool people, and, of course, learn! 

Whether you are already in your mentor/mentee group, or this is your first time hearing about SASE Kin, we invite you to destress with under- and upper-classmen and bond over group activities and dinner!

Dinner will be available. This event is open to all students! 

Location and time: 6:30-8:00pm in College of Computing 102

The Center for Student Engagement invites all students, faculty, and staff to Buzz to the Booth, a series of civic engagement events designed to help the campus community register to vote, vote early, stay informed on key election deadlines, and connect with others around voting and civic participation.

Find full details in the Civic Engagement Engage portal. Events at a glance:

• Early Voting on Campus | Wednesday, Oct. 14 & Thursday, Oct.15 | 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. | Multicultural Lounge *Bring government-issued photo ID
• Election Day Watch Party | Tuesday, Nov. 3 | 7 – 10:30 p.m. | Cypress Theater

内容介绍：门徒祷告等候的圣灵，在五旬节降临了！被充满的使徒却说起了方言 - 讲原本不是他们乡谈的语言！目睹围观的众人也惊讶猜疑：「这是什么意思呢？」

”他们就都被圣灵充满，按着圣灵所赐的口才说起别国的话来。”(徒 2:4)

聚会安排

6:30-7:20PM 吃饭与交流（提供免费的中餐）

7:20-7:40PM 敬拜与报告

7:40-9:00PM 查经、分享交流与彼此代祷

Hi everyone! This Friday, we’ll study Acts 2:1–24 — “The Coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.” We look forward to sharing, discussing, and reflecting together 😇

The Holy Spirit, whom the disciples had been prayerfully waiting for, came at Pentecost! Filled with the Spirit, the apostles began speaking in other tongues—languages that were not their own! Amazed and puzzled, the crowd witnessing this asked, “What does this mean?”

4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. ——Acts 2:4

Schedule

6:30–7:15 PM – Dinner and Fellowship (Free Chinese dinner provided)

7:15–7:35 PM – Worship and Announcements

7:35–9:00 PM – Bible Study, Sharing, Discussion, and Prayer for One Another

The Center for Student Engagement invites all students, faculty, and staff to Buzz to the Booth, a series of civic engagement events designed to help the campus community register to vote, vote early, stay informed on key election deadlines, and connect with others around voting and civic participation.

Find full details in the Civic Engagement Engage portal. Events at a glance:

• Early Voting on Campus | Wednesday, Oct. 14 & Thursday, Oct.15 | 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. | Multicultural Lounge *Bring government-issued photo ID
• Election Day Watch Party | Tuesday, Nov. 3 | 7 – 10:30 p.m. | Cypress Theater

Iqbal's research interests are in the area of international relations with a specific focus on the consequences of militarized conflict, issues related to political violence, and state failure. Her scholarship lies at the nexus of international conflict and comparative politics, combining aspects of domestic and international processes to assess the dynamics of global security and political instability. She is the author of War and the Health of Nations and State Failure in the Modern World.

Special emphasis is given to Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine and particular applications and more details are described on the lab web page.

Faculty host: Alexander Vlahos

 

Whether your background is in communications, public policy, business, media, or another discipline, this Trek offers valuable insight into real-world career paths, practical networking experience, and a firsthand look at what it takes to drive a major professional sports organization. Spaces are limited, so reserve your spot to connect with fellow Yellow Jackets and explore your career possibilities!

Please complete the registration form to indicate your interest by Oct. 29 at 4:30 p.m. Note: Completing the form does not confirm your registration. Only 30 spots are available, and you will receive a follow-up email if your application is accepted. 

Ask questions about the CoC's newest program, "Technology Design and Ethics in India," a 6-week program (May 17 - June 25, 2027), with 4 weeks of online instruction followed by 2 weeks of continued GT instruction in Mumbai, India. Drop in for a few minutes to ask your question or stay the whole hour and hear what other students are asking. 

Program Courses:

The 2 foundational Computer Science courses of the program will be taught by Georgia Tech CS faculty and Program Director, Naveena Karusala.

• CS 4001 – Computing & Society (Ethics Credit) - Students will critically examine how issues around technology, such as globalization, bias, privacy, and others, affect people worldwide.

• CS 3751 – Intro to User Interface Design - Students will explore culturally situated approaches to design and, through the course project, create an inventive design artifact.

No questions and ready to go? Apply HERE. Email contact: indiaprogram@cc.gatech.edu. To learn more about available virtual meeting opportunities, visit cc.gatech.edu/india.

Critics & Press Quotes 

"The joy of I AM is the joy of being entirely yourself, entirely present in the moment." — The New York Times 

"Takes her signature interweaving of African diasporic dance forms to new heights." — The New York Times 

"Redefines the boundaries of contemporary dance while emphasizing Black joy and cultural liberation." — The Daily Princetonian 

"The dancing seethed with declarative empowerment... an unabashed celebration." — Interludes 

Artist’s bio: 

Camille A. Brown is a prolific Black female Director and choreographer whose work taps into both ancestral and contemporary stories to capture a range of deeply personal experiences and cultural narratives of African American identity. Through the medium of dance, she is successfully balancing careers in Stage, TV, and Film. She is the Artistic Director and Founder of her company, Camille A. Brown & Dancers (CABD). Her trilogy on race, culture, and identity has won accolades: Mr. TOL E. RAncE (2012) was honored with a Bessie Award in 2014, and a 2003 Bessie Award nomination for Outstanding Revival; BLACK GIRL: Linguistic Play (2015) was Bessie-nominated; and ink (2017) premiered at The Kennedy Center, to was performed at The Apollo Theater in 2022, and has received critical acclaim. She received a Bessie Award nomination for her latest work, I AM (2024), in 2025. In 2026, CABD will celebrate its 20th anniversary!

• 3:30 p.m.- Ramblin' On: Miles of Memories party on the Instructional Center Lawn begins
• 4:30 p.m.- Ramblin On: Miles of Memories bike ride begins
• 5:30 p.m.- Event Concludes

Student Name: Tracy Dumakor

Thesis Title: Physical and thermodynamic characterization of pipecolic acid: solubility, solid-state forms, and phase behavior.

Thesis Advisor: Martha Grover

Thesis Co-Advisors: Andreas Bommarius, Ronald Rousseau, Heike Lorenz

Committee Members: Martha Grover - ChBE, Andreas Bommarius - ChBE, Ronald Rousseau- ChBE, Henry La Pierre - School of Chemistry and Biochemistry

Date: 10/26/2026

Time: 9:00am - 11:00am

Location: Ford ES&T Room 1387

Dissertation Title: "Essays in Health and Development Economics: Economic Shocks, Maternal and Infant Health, and Loneliness"

Abstract:

This dissertation studies how policy interventions and economic conditions affect health and well-being, with a particular focus on maternal and infant health, social dimensions of health such as loneliness and social isolation, and economic hardship. I examine these questions in India and the United States. 

The first chapter evaluates India’s nationwide conditional cash transfer program, Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana, and its effects on maternal and infant health outcomes. This program offers cash incentives to pregnant women and new mothers for their first child, conditional on pregnancy registration, at least one antenatal care visit, and completion of the child’s first vaccination cycle. Using a difference-in-differences design, I find no significant effects on pregnancy registration, antenatal care visits, maternal anemia, birth weight, or child vaccination. These findings suggest that administrative and service-access barriers may constrain program uptake. 

The second chapter focuses on loneliness, which has recently been recognized by the U.S. Surgeon General as a public health epidemic. This chapter examines how wealth shocks driven by changes in stock market valuations affect loneliness, using microdata from the Health and Retirement Study linked to the S&P 500 index. I find that wealth gains reduce feelings of isolation but increase feelings of lacking companionship. 

The third chapter examines how COVID-19 lockdown and economic support policies affected the economic hardships experienced by American households, using a household panel dataset from the Federal Reserve Board linked to the Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker. Findings indicate that nearly one in three adults experienced multiple hardships. Stricter lockdowns were associated with greater economic hardship, while economic support policies mitigated some of these effects. 

Together, these chapters highlight the role of economic conditions and public policy in shaping health and well-being. Across the three settings, the findings show that financial incentives may have limited effects when implementation and access to services constrain their reach, that changes in wealth can affect social well-being, and that government policies can influence households’ economic hardships during periods of crisis.

Committee:

Jason Lindo (Co-Chair) - Associate Chair, Mary S. and Richard B. Inman, Jr. Professor of Economics, School of Economics, Georgia Institute of Technology

Shatakshee Dhongde (Co-Chair) - Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Professor of Economics, School of Economics, Georgia Institute of Technology

Olga Shemyakina - Associate Professor, School of Economics, Georgia Institute of Technology

Mayra Pineda-Torres - Assistant Professor, School of Economics, Georgia Institute of Technology

Andrew Dustan - Associate Professor, Department of Economics, William & Mary College

Date: October 20, 2026 

Time: 12:00 PM

Location: Price Gilbert 4222 - Dissertation Defense Presentation (Georgia Tech Library Dissertation Defense Room)

Come hang out, meet other Singaporeans and friends of the community, and grab dinner together. It’s a casual way to meet new people, catch up, and explore food around Atlanta.

Everyone is welcome. Feel free to come by yourself or bring friends!

Artist’s bio: 

Okorie "OkCello" Johnson is an Atlanta-based cellist, composer, looper, improviser, and storyteller who has been featured on the Tamron Hall Show, held a Kennedy Center Office Hours Artist Residency, presented at the Democratic Republic of Congo's 2022 Biennale, and co-composed and performed Liminal: An Atlanta Concerto with the Georgia Symphony Orchestra. He has scored an Emmy award-winning documentary, Imperfect Alibi; composed the original score for American Voices Against Apartheid, which premiered at the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg before moving to the Kennedy Center; and scored a Suzi Bass Award-winning children's theatre production, Head to Toe for Alliance Theatres’ Theater for the Very Young.

His four studio albums — Liminal, Resolve, Beacon, and his most recent, Funny How Things Work Out (October 2025) — mark the milestones of an artist who has never stopped pushing. From concert halls to corporate keynotes, his cello has taken him everywhere. In 2024, that included Pixar in Oakland. In 2025, he headlined the Johns Creek Juneteenth Celebration, performed at the Aspen Institute Business Summit, and completed two concert voyages aboard the Ritz-Carlton Ilma superyacht. So far in 2026, he has taken his show to the Midwest, the Pacific Northwest, and Alaska — headlining performing arts centers in Rolla, MO, Eugene, OR, Fairbanks and Anchorage, AK to enthusiastic full houses.

He has opened for Maxwell, performed with India.Arie, De La Soul, and Big Boi of OutKast. Additionally, he regularly delivers keynote addresses and performances for organizations such as Morgan Stanley, Intuit, and the LA Unified School District. He is also the inspiration behind Lil' Okorie and the Magic Cello, a children's picture book celebrating the transformative power of music, drawn from his childhood origin story as a cellist and the impact of his live performances.

This month, we will focus on combatting loneliness by exploring how to make meaningful friendships and foster social wellness. We will also let students know how to access core services on campus that promote belonging and community. 

Please join SEWB on Thursday, October 22 from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. in the Rafael Bras Meeting Room of the John Lewis Studen Center for good discussion, yummy Dunkin’ munchkins, and giveaways. The more voices we hear, the better we can continue building a Georgia Tech that reflects and supports the needs of our students.

Let’s keep the conversation going—because your voice matters!

Abstract: Abstract: Decision-making under uncertainties has been a subject of study for many years. In particular, the decision making (optimization) for complex systems such as engineering and economic systems involves human-decision phase. This triggers the occurrences of uncertainties in the decision making phase in addition to the widely-existed inherent uncertainties in the actual systems. In this talk, such challenges will be addressed by summarizing the year’s efforts of the presenter when he was with the University of Manchester before 2016. At first, a generic framework on the decision making for uncertainty systems has been formulated into a “closed loop control design problem”, where the uncertainties in both decision making phase and the actual systems have been represented by the uncertainty injections to the “controller” and to the “plant to be controlled”. The uncertainties in human decision making phase is characterized by their probability density functions (PDF) of the brain-cell’s signal collected via brain-computer-interface (BCI). Using such a generic framework, decision making under uncertainties are formulated as a PDF control problem of objective functions and constraints- leading to a total solution for the stochastic optimization for complex systems. Two case studies will be presented together with the rationale and claims that most of the existing stochastic optimizations are special cases of the presented theory. Note that the presentation is based upon the published materials by the author.
 

Bio: Professor Hong Wang (Member of European Academy of Sciences and Arts, FIEEE, FIET, FInstMC, SMIEEE) received the BSc form Anhui University of Science and Technology in 1982, the master’s and Ph.D. degrees from the Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China, in 1984 and 1987, respectively. He was a Research Fellow with Salford University, Salford, U.K., Brunel University, Uxbridge, U.K., and Southampton University, Southampton, U.K., before joining the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST), Manchester, U.K., in 1992. He was a Chair Professor in process control of complex industrial systems with the University of Manchester (UoM), U.K., from 2002 to 2016, where he originated probability density function control theory in 1996 and was the Deputy Head of the Paper Science Department, the Director of the UMIST Control Systems Centre from 2004 to 2007, which is the birthplace of Modern Control Theory established in 1966. He was a University Senate member and a member of general assembly during his time in Manchester. Whilst he has been an Emeritus Professor of UoM, from 2016 to 2018, he was with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA, USA, as a Laboratory Fellow and Chief Scientist,
and was the Co-Leader and the Chief Scientist for the Control of Complex Systems Initiative. He joined the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in January 2019.

His research focuses on stochastic distribution control, fault diagnosis and tolerant control, and intelligent controls with applications to complex system area. He has published 6 books and 200+ journal papers in these areas together with 10+ awards/prizes at international conferences.

He is an associate editor for IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks and Learning Systems and was an Associate Editor of IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control (2002 – 2004), IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology (2013 – 2018), and the IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering. He is also a member for three IFAC Committees for the three areas of his research.

Abstract: We study a class of nonconvex–nonconcave minimax problems in which the inner maximization problem satisfies a local Kurdyka–Łojasiewicz (KL) condition that may vary with the outer minimization variable. In contrast to the global KL or PL conditions commonly assumed in the literature—which are significantly stronger and often too restrictive in practice—this local KL condition accommodates a broader range of practical scenarios. However, it also introduces new analytical challenges. In particular, as an optimization algorithm approaches a stationary point, the region over which the KL condition holds may shrink, leading to a more intricate and potentially ill-conditioned landscape. To address this challenge, we show that the associated maximal function is locally generalized Hölder smooth. Leveraging this key property, we develop an inexact proximal gradient method for solving the minimax problem, where the inexact gradient of the maximal function is computed by applying a proximal gradient or sequential convex programming method to a KL-structured subproblem. Under mild assumptions, we establish complexity guarantees for computing an approximate stationary point of the minimax problem.

This is joint work with Xiangyuan Wang (University of Minnesota).
 

Bio: Zhaosong Lu is a Full Professor in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the University of Minnesota. He received his Ph.D. in Operations Research from Georgia Tech. His research focuses on the theory and algorithms of continuous optimization, with applications in data science and machine learning. Dr. Lu has published extensively in leading journals, and his research has been supported by major funding agencies, including AFOSR, NSF, and ONR. He has served on several prize committees, such as the INFORMS George Nicholson Prize Committee and the ICCOPT Best Paper Award Committee. He has also served as an Associate Editor for leading journals, including Mathematics of Operations Research, SIAM Journal on Optimization, Computational Optimization and Applications, and Journal of Global Optimization.

Learning Outcomes:

• Learn about the AV equipment and services available for your events.
• Discover tips and tricks for presenters to enhance presentation success.
• Understand the differences between AV Support and IT Support.
• Learn how to coordinate when bringing your own AV equipment or hiring a third-party AV provider.
• Identify the key details needed to plan and execute successful hybrid meetings and events.
• Gain confidence in communicating AV needs during the event planning process.

Bio: Saiprasad Ravishankar is currently an Associate Professor in the Departments of Computational Mathematics, Science and Engineering and Biomedical Engineering at Michigan State University (MSU). He directs the signals, learning, and imaging (SLIM) research group and the data-driven neuroscience of meditation (DANSOM) lab at MSU. He received the B.Tech. degree in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, India, in 2008, and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering in 2010 and 2014, respectively, from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he was then an Adjunct Lecturer and a Postdoctoral Research Associate. From August 2015 to 2018, he was a postdoc in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Michigan, and then a Postdoc Research Associate in the Theoretical Division at Los Alamos National Laboratory from August 2018 to February 2019, before joining MSU. His research interests include machine learning, computational and biomedical imaging, signal processing, image processing, inverse problems, data science, neuroscience, and physics and astrophysics applications. His research has been recognized with numerous awards including an NSF CAREER Award, IEEE Signal Processing Society Young Author Best Paper Award, and best student paper awards or finalist at numerous conferences such as the IEEE International Symposium on Biomedical Imaging (ISBI) 2018, IEEE International Workshop on Machine Learning for Signal Processing (MLSP) 2017, ISBI 2020, and Optical Imaging Congress 2023.

For CODA guest access, please contact shatcher8@gatech.edu at least 2 business days prior to the event.

While we prefer you join in person, if you are unable to attend, join online at:
https://gatech.zoom.us/j/98109284552?pwd=CrXDIye86vmEtCywAV7wmjjz1LqEY8.1
Meeting ID: 981 0928 4552
Passcode: 947902

Bio:  Saiprasad Ravishankar is currently an Associate Professor in the Departments of Computational Mathematics, Science and Engineering and Biomedical Engineering at Michigan State University (MSU). He directs the signals, learning, and imaging (SLIM) research group and the data-driven neuroscience of meditation (DANSOM) lab at MSU. He received the B.Tech. degree in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, India, in 2008, and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering in 2010 and 2014, respectively, from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he was then an Adjunct Lecturer and a Postdoctoral Research Associate. From August 2015 to 2018, he was a postdoc in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Michigan, and then a Postdoc Research Associate in the Theoretical Division at Los Alamos National Laboratory from August 2018 to February 2019, before joining MSU. His research interests include machine learning, computational and biomedical imaging, signal processing, image processing, inverse problems, data science, neuroscience, and physics and astrophysics applications. His research has been recognized with numerous awards including an NSF CAREER Award, IEEE Signal Processing Society Young Author Best Paper Award, and best student paper awards or finalist at numerous conferences such as the IEEE International Symposium on Biomedical Imaging (ISBI) 2018, IEEE International Workshop on Machine Learning for Signal Processing (MLSP) 2017, ISBI 2020, and Optical Imaging Congress 2023.

For CODA guest access, please contact shatcher8@gatech.edu at least 2 business days prior to the event.

While we prefer you join in person, if you are unable to attend, join online at
https://gatech.zoom.us/j/93328955144?pwd=qepbKpZ2pV9Jl0ocrT6JGbHCX169qw.1
Meeting ID: 933 2895 5144
Passcode: 331085

Title: Applying Scientific Computing Perspectives to Neural Network Training

Abstract: Machine learning techniques and their AI decedents are increasingly important part of modern science and engineering. They have proven to be powerful in areas such as surrogate model development, hypothesis generation, and data analysis. Often, these approaches rely on a parameterized function approximation known as the neural network. These approximators are renowned for their flexibility and relative ease of use (if not accuracy). With that ease of use comes a large computational expense. For instance, recent work has demonstrated that pre-training a LLM on the Frontier supercomputer would require two years with ideal parallelization [1]. This talk seeks to examine the neural network with a scientific computing lens to enhance our ability to understand details of the approximation and improve training. Underpinning these ideas is an aspirational hypothesis that insights will lead to multilevel (or hierarchical) methodologies to accelerate training using dramatically fewer resources. 

This talk proceeds in two parts. In the first part, we discuss an adaptive basis perspective that has proved fruitful in Scientific Machine Learning (SciML) [2]. The central idea is that the output of the penultimate layer can be seen as providing a basis for the approximation space. With this perspective we develop efficient “operator-split” training algorithms, and new initialization strategies motivated by stability concerns. The second part extends the adaptive basis perspective by considering all layers of the neural network to be basis functions in a learned approximation space. We discuss the challenges associated with the typical neural network architectures that use globally supported basis functions. We then describe Kolmogorov-Arnold networks (KANs) as an alternate architecture built on locally supported splines basis functions [3]. A one-to-one relationship between KANs and a multi-channel ReLU network is shown and used to argue a relaxation property reminiscent of properties of matrix-split iterative linear solvers. Finally, using a natural refinement algorithm combined with the relaxation property, we develop a multilevel training algorithm for KANs demonstrating it on problems in SciML.

1. Dash, et al., Optimizing distributed training on frontier for large language models. In ISC High Performance 2024 Research Paper Proceedings (39th Intl. Conference), 2024.
2. Cyr, et al., Robust training and initialization of deep neural networks: An adaptive basis viewpoint, Mathematical and Scientific Machine Learning, 2020. 
3. Southworth, et al. Multilevel Training for Kolmogorov Arnold Networks, arXiv:2603.04827, 2026 (submitted to SISC)

Bio: Eric C. Cyr has been at Sandia Albuquerque since 2009 and is a Distinguished Member of the Technical staff. Prior to that he received a BS in Computer Science from Clemson University in 2002, and a PhD in Computer Science from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2008. His formal training is in numerical methods, and scientific computing. As a Sandian he has worked in a range of diverse areas including high-performance computing, preconditioners for multi-physics, discretizations for computational plasma simulation, sensitivity analysis for PDEs, numerical optimization, and software development for science applications. In 2018, Eric received the DOE Early Career Award to fund a focus on developing layer-parallel methods for training deep neural networks. This work has broadened his exposure to machine learning. To this end, Eric is working to extend the applicability of HPC to deep learning, understand the behavior and approximation properties of neural networks, and develop methodologies where machine learning can be used to enhance the impact of computation on science and engineering disciplines.

Student Name: Mario Zorrilla Valtierra

Thesis Title: Cooperative Degradation Effect of Nitrogen Dioxide and Ozone on Amine Sorbents For Direct Air Capture (DAC)

Thesis Advisor: Ryan P. Lively

Thesis Co-Advisor: Krista S. Walton

Committee Members: Christopher W. Jones (ChBE), Matthew J. Real f (ChBE), Jake D. Soper (Chem)

Date: 10/22/2026

Time: 9-11 am

Location: MoSE 1222

CHOOSE FROM TWO WORKSHOPS:

Workshop #1 - In-Person
Thursday, October 29 | 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. | R. Randall Rollins room 226
*lunch provided following the workshop

Workshop #2 - Virtual
Friday, October 30 | 10:00am-12:00pm | Zoom

This workshop is intended for students, faculty, and staff at Georgia Tech and guests interested in learning more about patent searching. The session will cover patent classification systems and focus on the following two patent databases: Espacenet (Open access) and PatSnap (Georgia Tech only). We will provide an overview of the database platforms and examine the unique search features of each database. Attendees are encouraged to follow along with tool demonstrations.

Advisor: Dr. JVR Prasad

Milestone: PhD Thesis Final Examination (Defense)

Degree Program: Aerospace Engineering

Title: Development of a Velocity Potential-Based Finite State Model for Analyzing Rotor in Ground Effect

Abstract: Accurate prediction of rotor induced velocities near the ground is important for rotorcraft performance, handling qualities, and control. Existing finite-state formulations for ground-effect analysis have not explicitly enforced the non-penetration of flow boundary condition at the ground because of limitations in computing induced velocities below the rotor within the wake. This research develops a velocity potential-based finite-state model (VPBFSM) that uses a dual-rotor formulation with adjoint variables to impose the non-penetration of flow boundary condition. The main rotor is represented as an upper lifting rotor through pressure discontinuities, while the ground is represented as a lower non-lifting rotor through distributed mass sources. An algebraic relation is developed to determine the ground mass-source strengths in terms of rotor loading required to enforce the non-penetration of flow boundary condition at the ground. The model is then applied to full, inclined, and partial ground effect and is evaluated through comparisons with analytical, experimental, and higher-fidelity free-wake results. For full ground effect, the predicted average rotor inflow agrees with the Hayden model with an approximate relative error of 0.006, while normalized induced-torque predictions agree with experimental measurements to approximately 3% for most cases above ground. Corresponding induced-torque comparisons for inclined and partial ground effect show errors of approximately 2% and 1%, respectively. The VPBFSM is further extended to dynamic and moving-ground conditions by accounting for wake-propagation delay and time-varying rotor-ground geometry. Finally, the quasi-steady and dynamic VPBFSM formulations are coupled with a simplified single-degree-of-freedom vertical vehicle model. Both formulations predict recovery to a new hover equilibrium in ground effect as the reduction in induced inflow allows rotor thrust to recover. Overall, the developed VPBFSM provides a reduced-order framework for predicting rotor inflow and vehicle response across full, inclined, partial, dynamic, and moving ground-effect conditions, with potential application to real-time flight simulations.

Date and time: 2026-10-22, 11:00 AM to 1:30 PM

Location: MK-317

Committee:
Dr. JVR Prasad (advisor), School of Aerospace Engineering
Dr. Lakshmi Sankar, School of Aerospace Engineering
Juergen Rauleder, School of Aerospace Engineering
David Peters, Washington University in St. Louis
Umberto Saetti, Politecnico di Milano
, 

Patents provide valuable and cutting-edge information for innovators and researchers. This workshop will begin with a brief introduction to intellectual property and then will focus on patents. The presenter will demonstrate how to conduct preliminary patent searches using publicly accessible patent tools. Attendees will have an opportunity to participate in hands-on learning activities.

The Dolores Zohrab Liebmann Fund supports graduate students of outstanding ability who demonstrate financial need. Fellows may pursue any recognized field of study in the humanities, social sciences, or natural sciences, including law, medicine, engineering, architecture, and other formal professional training. The selection committee has a strong preference for supporting scholarly endeavors.

This is a limited submission. Georgia Tech may submit no more than three candidates. Students do not apply directly to the fund and should not contact JPMorgan or members of the selection committee. Applications are submitted through Georgia Tech, which selects the candidates it will put forward.

What the fellowship provides

• Actual tuition cost, exclusive of fees.
• An $18,000 annual stipend toward room, board, and ordinary living expenses, including any income taxes on the stipend.
• Renewable for up to three years total.

Recipients are known as Dolores Zohrab Liebmann Fellows and agree to have their names published as such.

Eligibility

• Must be a citizen of the United States.
• Must be currently enrolled in and pursuing a graduate degree. Undergraduate students are not eligible.
• Must have received a baccalaureate degree at the time of application, with an outstanding undergraduate record.
• Must demonstrate a need for financial assistance.

Candidates may be of any national descent or background.

What to submit

• Submit your complete application and supporting documents to Georgia Tech by the internal deadline. 
• Transcripts and recommendation letters must be sent to Georgia Tech, not to the fund, so that they can be assembled into your packet. 
• See page 5 of the application for the complete documentation requirements.

• Redact any Social Security numbers before submitting. 

  Incomplete applications will not be considered.

Timeline

• December 4, 2026 — Internal materials due to Georgia Tech
• January 22, 2027 — Georgia Tech submits selected candidates to the fund
• June 2027 — Notifications sent to students

If you are awarded

• Fellows must apply for renewal by March 31 of each following year, under the terms in effect when the fellowship was awarded. 
• No reminder is sent. Missing that date ends the award. 
• A Fellow who needs to defer in order to study abroad may do so once, for up to one academic year, by notifying the fund directly.

Apply

https://gatech.infoready4.com/#freeformCompetitionDetail/2038203

Questions?

Direct all questions to the Office of Graduate Education at fellowships@grad.gatech.edu. Do not contact JPMorgan or the selection committee.

Arrive early for a Super Mario cosplay contest, and sign up at the door for the GT Esports tournament while competition slots are available.

Artist’s bio: 

Video Game Alliance (VGA) is a collective of nerds who happen to also be musicians. We perform with 6 to 9 musicians and offer two exciting experiences. VGA is committed to bringing beloved video game music to life in a live setting.

VGA is a 6-piece band that re-imagines classic video game music in an improvisatory style. You can hear selections from your favorite video games: Mario, Zelda, Pokemon, Chrono Trigger, and many more!

$5 Spectator Ticket - Come support your friends!

$10 Tournament Entry Fee - Compete live onstage accompanied by the band! 

Artificial intelligence may feel digital and invisible, but the systems powering it have a very real physical footprint. Dive into the infrastructure behind AI — from data centers and energy consumption to environmental and societal impacts — and what the rapid growth of AI means for the future of our digital society.

Reception at 6:30 p.m. Panel at 7 p.m. Co-hosted by the Michael E. Tennenbaum Family Institute for Technology and Civic Leadership.

Panelists

Wendy H. Wong, Professor, University of British Columbia – Okanagan Campus

Wendy H. Wong is Professor and Principal’s Research Chair at the University of British Columbia Okanagan, where her research examines global governance, technology, human rights, and civil society. Her book We, the Data: Human Rights in the Digital Age explores how Big Data and artificial intelligence challenge traditional understandings of human rights and won the 2024 Balsillie Prize for Public Policy. Her current research includes AI and the future of extractive politics, making her an important voice on how emerging technologies intersect with governance, data, power, and individual rights. 

Caroline Gwynn Monagle, Vice President, Strategic Initiatives, R1 RCM

Caroline Gwynn Monagle is Vice President of Strategic Initiatives at R1 RCM, a healthcare technology and services company, where she leads strategic initiatives within an industry undergoing rapid technological transformation. A Georgia Tech alumna, Monagle was recognized as a Georgia Tech 40 Under 40 honoree in 2025 and previously received the Ivan Allen Jr. Legacy Award. Her leadership experience at the intersection of healthcare, technology, strategy, and organizational change brings an industry perspective to the conversation about AI's impact on health and society. 

Marilyn A. Brown, Regents and Brook Byers Professor, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School of Public Policy, Georgia Institute of Technology

Marilyn A. Brown is Regents’ and Brook Byers Professor of Sustainable Systems in Georgia Tech’s Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School of Public Policy and Director of the Climate and Energy Policy Laboratory. Before joining Georgia Tech, she held leadership roles at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and later served as a presidentially appointed member of the Tennessee Valley Authority Board. Her research examines energy policy, efficiency, electricity systems, clean-energy technologies, and resilience, providing critical expertise on the rapidly growing relationship between artificial intelligence, energy demand, infrastructure, and sustainability. 

About the Artists

Nydia Blas is a visual artist who grew up in Ithaca, New York, and resides in Atlanta, Georgia. She is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Art and Visual Culture at Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia. She has completed artist residencies at Constance Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts and The Center for Photography at Woodstock.

Her work has been commissioned by The New York Times, New York Magazine, The New Yorker, Time Magazine, Harper’s Bazaar, and more. Blas uses photography, collage, video, and books to explore themes of sexuality, intimacy, and her lived experience as a girl, woman, and mother. Blas is widely recognized for The Girls Who Spun Gold, a collection of images that resulted from a Girl Empowerment Group she founded after observing a lack of space and community for teen girls of African descent in Ithaca, N.Y. Her first major monograph Love You Came from Greatness (2025), is an exploration of one Ithaca-based Black family and its community across many generations. The book is also a formally rigorous examination of the taxonomy and syntax of family portraiture.

Joshua Dudley Greer is a photographer based in Atlanta, Georgia, where he teaches at Georgia State University. His work has appeared in The New York Times, The California Sunday Magazine, The Atlantic, PDN, Le Monde, The Georgia Review, GUP Magazine, and Oxford American. He has received grants from the Maryland State Arts Council, Tennessee Arts Commission, and the Aaron Siskind Foundation. He has published two monographs to date – Somewhere Along the Line (Kehrer Verlag, 2019) and The Makeshift City (GOST, 2024). His work is included in the permanent collections of the Harvard Art Museums, the Museum of Contemporary Photography, the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, the New York Public Library, the Do Good Fund, and the High Museum of Art.

Yohanne Lamoulère, a photographer based in Marseille, France, graduated from the École nationale supérieure de photographie in Arles in 2004. Her preferred themes are urban peripheries and insularity in its multifaceted forms. She published Faux Bourgs (Le Bec en l’air) in 2018, a compilation of her series on Marseille. Her work has been featured in numerous exhibitions: MUCEM (Marseille), Portrait(s) festival (Vichy), Fondation Schneider (Wattwiller), ImageSingulières festival (Sète), Clervaux-Cité de l’image (Luxembourg), and is included in public and private collections (CNAP, BnF, Neuflize-OBC). A member of the collectives Tendance Floue and Zirlib, she released her first film, L’œil Noir, in 2025. 

Geoffroy Mathieu’s photography explores how environmental and political issues are made tangible in the landscapes. Through travel and immersion-based projects, he documents shifting territories, in-between spaces, and objects and actions that reveal resistances in the way in which places are used. His photography series are all pursued as poetic investigations, combining rigorous documentary research with a poetic approach to build situated narratives. He collaborates with associations, collectives, and researchers to circulate his images beyond the art world, support causes, and contribute to public debate on ecological care.

A graduate of the French Higher School of Photography (ENSP) in Arles, he lives and works in Marseille. He presents his works as publications (Actes Sud, Poursuite, Filigranes, Zoème, Wildproject, Building Books), solo or collective exhibitions, and, more recently, walked performances. He participated in the fourth edition of Regards du Grand Paris (2021), received the “Radioscopie of France” Major Photojournalism Commission (2022), and co-published Anti-installation with Jordi Ballesta (Building Books, 2023), supported by the French Center for Visual Arts (CNAP) publishing grant.

Blanche Lafuente is a French drummer and improviser. Trained in theater and jazz (DEM in jazz, 2018), she develops a body of work situated at the crossroads of rock, free jazz, traditional and electronic music, and performance. She is a founding member of the duo Qonicho Ah! and the trio NOUT (Jazz Migration 2021, Zenith Award 2023), and in 2025 she will launch Ganagobie, a project combining voice, dance, electronic music, and live performance. She regularly collaborates with large ensembles, notably Mats Gustafsson’s Fire! Orchestra and Kogoba Basigui by Eve Risser and Naïny Diabaté. Her work explores rhythm as a collective and sensorial force, linking music, bodies, and shared spaces.

Sponsored by: Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts; School of Modern Languages; School of Literature, Media and Communication; Georgia Tech Arts; Atlanta Global Study Center; School of Design; France-Atlanta; Villa Albertine x Consulat Général de France à Atlanta; City of Atlanta – Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs; Delta Airlines; Air France; Jade Fiducial. 
 

The Roberto C. Goizueta Fellowship supports outstanding master's and doctoral students who demonstrate academic excellence and leadership as they pursue advanced study and research. Selected Fellows demonstrate strong academic achievement, leadership, community involvement, and active engagement in Hispanic/Latino organizations. Selection also considers demonstrated financial need.

Applications are submitted through the GT InfoReady platform and reviewed by the Goizueta faculty review committee.

Award

• $6,000 per academic year, paid as $3,000 in the fall semester and $3,000 in the spring semester.
• Renewable up to graduation, for a maximum of eight terms and up to $24,000 in total support.
• No application is required for renewal. 
  • Renewal depends on continued eligibility, satisfactory academic progress, funding availability, and participation in Goizueta Fellows programming.

The fellowship is disbursed to your student account through the Bursar's Office and is viewable in OSCAR. It is not paid through HR, payroll, or GradWorks. See the Financial Aid and Bursar's Office websites for term-specific disbursement and refund schedules.

The Goizueta Fellowship may be held alongside an assistantship, another fellowship, or other institutional funding, subject to the terms of those awards. Students holding a national fellowship should confirm with that funder that concurrent awards are permitted.

Eligibility

• Must be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident.
• Must be admitted to or currently enrolled in an eligible master's or doctoral program on the Georgia Tech Atlanta campus.
• Must be enrolled full-time during the award period. 
  • Full-time enrollment is 12 hours, with at least nine of those hours taken on a letter-grade or pass/fail basis.
• Must be enrolled in a residential, on-campus program.
• Must be in good academic standing.
• Must demonstrate outstanding academic achievement and leadership engagement.
• Must meet all eligibility requirements established by your graduate academic program.

This fellowship is open to all eligible Georgia Tech graduate students. All applications are evaluated on the same criteria, and Fellows are selected without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic.

Eligible programs

All residential graduate degree programs on the Atlanta campus are eligible. Applicants must be enrolled in, or admitted to, a master's or doctoral program in one of the following:

• College of Computing
• College of Design
• College of Engineering
• College of Sciences
• Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts
• Scheller College of Business

Joint and interdisciplinary programs administered on the Atlanta campus are also eligible.

Not eligible: online and distance-learning degree programs, including Online Master of Science offerings, and programs based at campuses other than Atlanta.

What to submit

Submit all components through GT InfoReady. The student applicant submits the application directly.

1. Essay, 500 to 600 words, responding to this prompt:
   1. Describe a time when you contributed to building connection, support, or positive change within a community that is meaningful to you. What did you learn from that experience, and how would you contribute to the Georgia Tech community as a Roberto C. Goizueta Fellow? In your response, also share how participation in the Roberto C. Goizueta Fellows Program would support your academic, personal, or professional goals.
2. Statement of Academic, Research, and Career Goals, two pages maximum, which must include:
   1. Your full name
   2. Your redacted GTID in the format xx3456789
   3. Your anticipated graduation term, for example, "May 2029"
   4. A summary of your current and planned research, scholarship, or creative activity
3. Current CV or résumé
4. Letter of recommendation — optional. You may include one letter of recommendation from a faculty member, advisor, or mentor who can speak to your academic achievement, leadership, or community engagement. Applications without a letter will still be reviewed in full.

Late or incomplete applications will not be reviewed.

How applications are evaluated

• Academic achievement
• Quality and clarity of the essay and goals statement
• Leadership and active engagement in Latino/Hispanic organizations
• Demonstrated financial need
• Strength of supporting materials

Financial need is assessed using information on file with the Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid. Applicants are encouraged to complete the FAFSA so that need can be considered.

What Fellows are expected to do

• Maintain satisfactory academic progress toward degree completion.
• Remain enrolled full-time throughout the award period.
• Maintain good academic standing.
• Defer the award for any semester in which you are enrolled in INTN hours or hold an internship appointment. Deferred terms do not count against the eight-term maximum.
• Participate in fellowship programming and professional development activities, when applicable.
• Participate in the Roberto C. Goizueta Fellows community and engagement opportunities throughout the academic year.
• Submit annual progress reports, if requested.

Program benefits

• Renewable fellowship support of $6,000 per academic year
• Mentorship and networking opportunities with Georgia Tech faculty and peers
• Leadership and community engagement experiences
• Access to cohort programming, exclusive events, and professional development opportunities

Key dates

• October 30, 2026 — Application deadline, 11:59 p.m. ET
• November 2026 — Award notifications sent to selected Fellows

Apply

https://gatech.infoready4.com/#freeformCompetitionDetail/2024750

Questions?

Kurtis D. Watkins, Ed.D., Senior Director, Belonging and Student Support, Student Engagement and Well-Being — kurtis.watkins@students.gatech.edu, 404-894-9929

Diley (Dyla) Hernández, Ph.D., Associate Vice Provost for Strategic Initiatives, Office of the Vice Provost for Faculty — diley.hernandez@gatech.edu, 404-894-6310

• David Beasley, former Governor of South Carolina and former Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Programme
• Ambassador Michèle Taylor, former U.S. Ambassador to the UN Human Rights Council and Distinguished Professor of the Practice at the Nunn School

Together, they will draw on their deep experience at the front lines of global diplomacy to explore how humanitarian efforts must adapt to tackle escalating food crises in a rapidly changing world.

Seating is free, open to the public, and available on a first-come, first-served basis. Join us for an inspiring discussion on the future of global hunger relief!

Co-hosted by the Michael E. Tennenbaum Family Institute for Technology and Civic Leadership.

You can find the list of papers we’ve discussed at the link below:

https://sites.gatech.edu/bips/journal-club/

Be as creative as you can on the costumes ;)