{"497451":{"#nid":"497451","#data":{"type":"news","title":"25 Years and Counting: GT Honors Mavris, Smith and Pierson","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWhen Dimitri Mavris, Marilyn Smith and Wanda Pierson began their tenure at Georgia Tech, the Hubble Telescope had just been launched.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe spacecraft Galileo had just given the world a dazzling glimpse of Venus - as it sped toward\u0026nbsp; Jupiter.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAnd many of the students that Mavris, Pierson, and Smith\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003Ecurrently\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/em\u003Ementor\u003Cem\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/em\u003Ehad not been born yet.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EThe year was 1990.\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETwenty-five years later, these three GT-AE stars were among the many GT employees honored for their years of service during a special celebration, hosted by President Bud Peterson, April 6. The celebration also recognized 10-year employees, like Dr. Mitchell Walker, Michelle FIelds and C-STAR\u0027s Cindy Pendley.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor all of the time they\u0027ve put in, these three \u0022quarter-century-colleagues\u0022 are still bringing it to Georgia Tech each day - inspiring students and their fellow employees with the same energy that delivered them here at the tail end of the disco craze. Where did the time go? We asked them about that.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022rtecenter\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EDIMITRI\u0026nbsp;MAVRIS\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022rtecenter\u0022\u003ERecently appointed to the position of Langley Distinguished Professor in Advanced Aerospace Systems Architecture,\u0026nbsp;\u003Cstrong\u003EDimitri Mavris\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp; was named a Regents Professor last year.\u003Cstrong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022rtecenter\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat does Prof. Mavris miss most?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022Nothing,\u0022 said the head of AE\u0027s Aerospace Systems Design Lab.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022With every year that goes by, Georgia Tech is getting better and better. The place has grown by leaps and bounds -- academically, in stature, and in size. But I must say that Juniors closing has left a void. \u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMARILYN\u0026nbsp;SMITH\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ELike Mavris, Prof.\u0026nbsp;\u003Cstrong\u003EMarilyn Smith\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003Eearned her undergraduate, masters, and doctorate from GT-AE before coming back to join our faculty.\u0026nbsp;Recently selected as a 2015 Technical Fellow by the American Helicopter Society, she has been a towering presence in the field of rotorcraft technology and innovation.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat does Smith miss the most?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u0022Conversation\u003C\/em\u003E. I find myself emailing Dr. Hodges who \u0027lives\u0027 in the office next door to mine rather than getting up to talk to him. In public all you see are people checking cell phones, even when they are at dinner with someone.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022rtecenter\u0022\u003EShe is currently planning to retire from the School, effective December 2015, so we asked her what she\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u0026nbsp;will\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/em\u003Emiss.\u003Cbr \/\u003EAs the program manager for the Georgia Space Grant Consortium,\u003Cstrong\u003EWanda Pierson\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003Ehas helped launch the careers of many ambitious young men and women during her time at Georgia Tech. The statewide consortium of 17 universities, two non-profit organizations, and two industrial affiliates, all work to increase the diversity of students and professionals in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics-related fields.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022rtecenter\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWANDA\u0026nbsp;PIERSON\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022I have seen great expansion in the department in terms of size and diversity of faculty, staff, students, and facilities. The campus is now so large that I feel like I need to take a tour to learn about all of the new buildings. Also, it was inevitable, but still shocking to realize that a large number of faculty and staff are younger than I am.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EI will miss working with student groups and all of the many people I have met.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Dimitri Mavris, Marilyn Smith, and Wanda Pierson were the GT-AE employees honored for their 25 years of service during a special celebration, hosted by President Bud Peterson."}],"uid":"30502","created_gmt":"2016-02-09 15:13:04","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:20:38","author":"Sapna Mistry","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2015-04-15T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2015-04-15T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"318401":{"id":"318401","type":"image","title":"Dimitri Mavris","body":null,"created":"1449244974","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 16:02:54","changed":"1475895027","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:50:27","alt":"Dimitri Mavris","file":{"fid":"200003","name":"mavris2.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/mavris2_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/mavris2_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":135628,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/mavris2_0.jpg?itok=B_O80vpi"}},"496721":{"id":"496721","type":"image","title":"Marilyn Smith","body":null,"created":"1455120000","gmt_created":"2016-02-10 16:00:00","changed":"1475895256","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:54:16","alt":"Marilyn Smith","file":{"fid":"204602","name":"smith-marilyn-preferred.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/smith-marilyn-preferred_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/smith-marilyn-preferred_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":116625,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/smith-marilyn-preferred_0.jpg?itok=jIUgUcNX"}},"497471":{"id":"497471","type":"image","title":"Wanda Pierson","body":null,"created":"1455120000","gmt_created":"2016-02-10 16:00:00","changed":"1475895256","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:54:16","alt":"Wanda Pierson","file":{"fid":"204632","name":"wanda_pierson150today.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/wanda_pierson150today_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/wanda_pierson150today_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":52690,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/wanda_pierson150today_0.jpg?itok=LW-cT22e"}}},"media_ids":["318401","496721","497471"],"groups":[{"id":"1239","name":"School of Aerospace Engineering"}],"categories":[{"id":"136","name":"Aerospace"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"}],"keywords":[{"id":"129851","name":"Dimitri Mavris"},{"id":"126111","name":"GT-AE"},{"id":"129861","name":"Marilyn Smith"},{"id":"136441","name":"Wanda Pierson"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":["kathleen.moore@ae.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}