“We are proud to celebrate three outstanding College of Sciences alumni who have been recognized for their professional achievements, leadership, and impact,” says Leslie Roberts, director of Alumni Relations and Corporate Engagement in the College. “Their accomplishments reflect the many ways our alumni are making a difference in their communities, professions, and the world.”
Meet the College of Sciences honorees:
Clinical Psychologist, Assistant Member | St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
Elyse Heidelberg is a clinical psychologist and assistant member of the clinical faculty in the Department of Psychology and Biobehavioral Sciences at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. She is head of the New Oncology Program in Psychology, a clinical program that integrates psychological assessment and intervention into the care of all oncology and transplant patients at St. Jude. Heidelberg’s clinical and research interests include promotion of coping and adjustment through early psychological assessment and intervention, AYA oncology, pain and symptom management, and pediatric palliative care.
Favorite Tech Memory: Watching Georgia Tech beat Georgia in Athens in 2008 with my brother (also a GT grad!). THWG.
Pediatric Hematologist/Oncologist | Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and Emory University
Zuri Hudson is an assistant professor of hematology/oncology at the Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta (CHOA) and Emory University. She received her bachelor’s degree in biology prior to medical school at Lincoln Memorial University-DeBusk College of Osteopathic Medicine in Cumberland Gap, Tennessee. Prior to matriculation, she served in AmeriCorps focused on emergency management and disaster relief. She did her pediatric residency at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri, where she completed a chief year prior to a fellowship at CHOA/Emory. She stays active on campus at Georgia Tech through Student-Athlete and Pre-Med Mentor Jackets and College of Sciences fairs.
Favorite Tech Memory: Any rideout, clutching the side of the Ramblin’ Wreck. 10/10 feeling that I’ll never be able to recreate!
Associate Professor | Georgia State University
Lauren Margulieux is an associate professor in the Department of Learning Sciences at Georgia State University. She is also the founding director of the Snap Inc. Center for Computing in Teacher Education, where she leads efforts to integrate computing and AI into Georgia State’s pre-service teacher preparation programs across all disciplines. Margulieux’s research focuses on computer science education for computing and programming novices, with a particular emphasis on promoting computational literacy for all learners.
Favorite Tech Memory: Getting a very supportive end-of-year evaluation from the faculty despite not submitting materials while finishing my dissertation and job search.
Learn more about the 2026 class on the Georgia Tech Alumni Association’s website or by exploring the interactive honoree dashboard.
]]>It’s a role she knows well.
For more than 11 years, Stoinski has served as president, CEO, and chief scientific officer of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, leading efforts to help the world better understand and protect Rwanda’s mountain gorillas — a species with only about 1,000 left in the wild.
Although she now oversees a multimillion-dollar budget and 400 employees worldwide, she never planned to be a CEO.
“I’m a scientist at my core,” says Stoinski. “Day to day, I function more as a leader and executive, but I still think of myself as a scientist first.”
Her job covers a wide range of responsibilities, including fundraising, public speaking, budgeting, and strategy. One week, she might find herself observing gorilla behavior in Rwanda; the next, she’s back in the U.S., discussing conservation on the popular Armchair Expert podcast.
“I love my job,” she says. “It doesn’t feel like work; it’s a passion.”
One of the reasons Stoinski chose Georgia Tech for her Ph.D. was its connection to Zoo Atlanta.
Her doctoral advisor, the late Terry Maple, emeritus professor in the School of Psychological and Brain Sciences, served as director of Zoo Atlanta, giving students rare access to conservation-focused research.
“The zoo was our lab. I studied elephants, lemurs, gorillas, and golden lion tamarins, both in the zoo and in the wild in Brazil and Africa,” says Stoinski.
She appreciates how Georgia Tech prepared her for the challenges of her career.
“The rigor of a Georgia Tech education is something you need as a scientist,” she says. “I also had the opportunity to do a lot of public speaking and teaching, which are huge parts of my job now.”
After earning her Ph.D., Stoinski spent 14 years with Zoo Atlanta while also working with the Atlanta-based Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund. She became CEO in 2014 and now oversees conservation and research programs in Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Under her leadership, the Fossey Fund has expanded its footprint, including opening its Ellen DeGeneres Campus in 2022, a 12-acre research and education center in Rwanda.
The site includes labs, classrooms, and a restored landscape, where roughly 250,000 plants from 110 species have been planted to reestablish native ecosystems.
“We host hundreds of students — including groups from Georgia Tech, and support dozens of graduate and postdoctoral researchers, from countries all over the world including many from Africa,” she explains. “Seeing their excitement and commitment gives me lots of hope for the future.”
A Gorilla Story follows the Pablo family of mountain gorillas living on the slopes of Volcanoes National Park in northwestern Rwanda.
“The Pablo group goes back to Dian Fossey’s time,” explains Stoinski. “It’s the largest group of gorillas ever recorded, at one point reaching 65 individuals. An average gorilla family is about 10.”
Due to Rwandan regulations, filming could take place for just one hour each day. Filmmakers and scientists would often have to hike for five to six hours to reach the gorillas.
Because Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund researchers have followed these gorilla families for decades, they were already familiar with the individual gorillas, including six generations of family history, which “makes the story incredibly rich,” says Stoinski.
“You see grief, relationships, alliances — all of it,” she says. “Ultimately, I hope that connection leads people to care and to take action.”
Stoinski’s career is all about taking action — and inspiring others to do the same.
“We need people on the ground doing this work, but we also need people outside of our field to support and be aware of what’s happening to gorillas and the planet’s biodiversity,” she says.
She encourages Tech students to stay informed:
“Even if you’re not going into conservation, take a class, listen, learn,” she says. “Unfortunately, there are real challenges facing the next generation.”
She frequently points out that by helping gorillas, we’re saving ourselves, sharing that gorillas live in the Congo Basin, one of the most important ecosystems on Earth. By dispersing seeds and maintaining forest structure, they help sustain environments critical for climate stability and planetary health.
“Protecting gorillas means protecting those ecosystems, which ultimately support human survival.”
Stoinski maintains strong ties to Georgia Tech through research collaborations and student engagement. Projects over the years have included helping to establish the Center for Geographic Information Systems and Remote Sensing at the University of Rwanda, geospatial mapping, and architectural design and planning.
She invites alumni and students to engage with the work firsthand.
“I encourage more Georgia Tech alumni and students to work with us or come see us. And if you want to meet with a Georgia Tech grad, I lead tours: we can put on our Tech gear and take a photo with the gorillas!”
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“Dingjing’s selection for this honor is a remarkable recognition of the originality, impact, and promise of her scholarship,” says School of Psychological and Brain Sciences Chair Tansu Celikel. “This achievement is especially significant for Georgia Tech as she is the first person from the Institute to receive this distinction and only the third recipient from the state of Georgia.”
Shi obtained her Ph.D. in Quantitative Psychology from the University of Virginia in 2020. After working as an assistant professor at the University of Oklahoma, she joined Georgia Tech in 2025.
“Receiving this award is an honor and a responsibility,” says Shi. “This international recognition of my early work encourages me to keep pushing the scientific boundaries of my field and to continue pursuing research that creates meaningful and lasting real-world impacts.”
As a quantitative methodologist, Shi develops statistical and computational models that focus on reducing dimensionality (the number of attributes, features, or independent directions needed to describe an object, dataset, or mathematical space); improving classification; and enabling technology-based, real-time adaptive assessment in psychological, brain, biomedical, and health-related research. Specifically, her research transforms complex brain imaging outputs (such as MRIs and EEGs), real-time ecological assessments, and multi-sensor wearable streams into compact, information-rich representations, and she designs personalized, adaptive intervention systems to deliver context-aware and dynamically updated support for individuals.
Shi’s work has been funded by federal agencies such as the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the Federal Aviation Administration, and the Department of Homeland Security. She was a recipient of the SAS Institute Advanced Statistical Fellowship as well as the Citation Abstract Award from the Society of Behavioral Medicine.
“I’m excited to work at Georgia Tech in the School of Psychological and Brain Sciences because its strong focus on technology and psychological brain sciences aligns perfectly with my research program,” says Shi. “Being part of such a stimulating academic environment, with outstanding colleagues and talented students, makes it an ideal place to contribute, collaborate, and grow as a researcher and educator.”
]]>“Our renaming as the School of Psychological and Brain Sciences better captures both who we are and where we are headed,” says Tansu Celikel, School chair and professor. “It reflects a shared vision for the future of our School and the many contributions of our faculty, staff, students, alumni, and partners. I am deeply grateful for the support of the Institute, the College of Sciences, and our School throughout this process.”
“I congratulate Tansu and the entire School of Psychological and Brain Sciences community on this exciting new chapter,” says Susan Lozier, dean of the College of Sciences, Betsy Middleton and John Clark Sutherland Chair, and professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. “This is an important milestone in the School’s history and a testament to the vision and dedication of its faculty and staff.”
Over the past century, psychology at Georgia Tech has evolved along with the Institute, expanding from a handful of courses in applied psychology to a dynamic, interdisciplinary offering. Today, the School is home to nationally ranked research and academic programs serving hundreds of students each year. It also includes more than two dozen laboratories focused on five distinct research areas: adult development and aging; cognition and brain science; engineering psychology; industrial/organizational psychology; and quantitative psychology.
According to Celikel, the new name follows a period of significant educational innovation and growth in the School’s research enterprise.
“In recent years, the School and its partners have advanced new academic opportunities in areas such as neuroscience, computation and cognition, mental health and well-being, learning, people analytics, and accelerated B.S./M.S. pathways,” he says. “These programs prepare students to study human thought, behavior, and brain function using tools and perspectives from psychological science, neuroscience, data science, computation, artificial intelligence, and human-centered technology.”
The School’s new interdisciplinary initiatives and collaborations include centers of excellence in computational cognition, neuroscience and neurotechnology, and human-AI-robot teaming. These areas bring together faculty, students, and partners from across the Institute and beyond to address questions with broad scientific, technological, and societal impact.
The update retains the School’s mission, degree titles, curriculum requirements, and academic programs. The new name also provides a “clearer and more accurate identity for the work already taking place across the School and positions it for continued growth in teaching, research, and external engagement,” says Celikel.
The School will host special events throughout the fall semester to mark the official launch of the School of Psychological and Brain Sciences — and a new era in research and education.
For more information, visit the School of Psychological and Brain Sciences FAQ.
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