There’s no question that Sigma Gamma Tau chose the right student to receive its 2014 Undergraduate Award for the Southeast Region.

21-year-old Amanda Grubb is a stand-out student, with research experience to back up her stellar grades in aerospace engineering. She even tutors struggling underclassmen through the Peer Led Undergraduate Study (PLUS) program.

But it wasn’t always so sweet.

“Freshman year, first semester, I failed my first tests in every subject,” she says without blinking. “It was awful. I called home crying.”

The tears didn’t last long – and neither did the poor grades.

“My parents suggested that maybe I wasn’t studying hard enough, and they were right. I had breezed through high school and had thought I could do the same at Tech,” she said.

“After those tests, I started hitting the library every day, and by the end of the semester I had pulled off four A’s and one B.”

Her brief brush with failure gave Grubb all the motivation she needed to work hard. What launched her success were her passion for aerospace engineering and the encouragement of mentors she met along the way.

The summer after her first year at Tech, Grubb started doing research in the Ben Zinn Combustion Lab. She cannot divulge details of that research, but she raves about the experience she gained.

“The graduate student I was working with knew what I was going to be learning in my classes, so he’d make a point of telling me to pay attention to different things in the lab. They would help me make sense of stuff I was going to learn in classes. He was right.”

Grubb is also grateful for the steady guidance of her advisor, Dr. Jeff Jagoda and his colleague, Dr. Lakshmi Sankar.

“I could go to them with any questions,” she said. “It has helped a lot.”

After she graduates on May 3, Grubb will return to Georgia Tech next fall to pursue her doctorate under the guidance of Dr. Marilyn Smith. Long-term, she looks forward to a career as a professor.

“I just think it would be great to be in the classroom,” she said. “And earning a Ph.D. is what I need to do that.”

And if we are lucky, she’ll choose to teach at Georgia Tech.

Sigma Gamma Tau is the honor society for aerospace engineering. It seeks to identify and recognize achievement and excellence in the aerospace field. Sigma Gamma Tau's collegiate chapters elect annually to membership those students, alumni, and professionals who, by conscientious attention to their studies or professional duties, uphold this high standard for the betterment of their profession.