{"524011":{"#nid":"524011","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Chem, Math Students Win Prestigious NSF PhD Fellowships","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EFour Georgia Tech students with College of Sciences affiliation have been selected by the National Science Foundation to receive the prestigious NSF Graduate Research Fellowships.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.chemistry.gatech.edu\/news\/article\/214930\u0022\u003EQuinton Bruch\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E is an undergraduate majoring in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.chemistry.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Chemistry and Biochemistry\u003C\/a\u003E. In May, he will receive the BS Biochemistry degree. To fulfill the research option of the degree, he has been doing undergraduate research since May 2013 in the lab of \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.chemistry.gatech.edu\/people\/soper\/jake\u0022\u003EJake Soper\u003C\/a\u003E, where he has been investigating C-O bond activation of alkyl ethers for C-C bond formation via cross-coupling. He will be taking his fellowship to the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, to study chemical catalysis toward a PhD.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.math.gatech.edu\/users\/jlanier8\u0022\u003EJustin Lanier\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E is a first-year graduate student in the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.math.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Mathematics\u003C\/a\u003E working with \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/people.math.gatech.edu\/~dmargalit7\/\u0022\u003EDan Margalit\u003C\/a\u003E. His research focus is geometry and topology: he spends a lot of time thinking about the shapes and symmetries of surfaces. He addresses questions such as, what kinds of symmetries does a donut of many holes have? He tries to figure out how surfaces can be arranged in space to create interactions between different types of symmetries. This type of research has applications to other parts of pure mathematics and draws connections between abstract structures and concrete pictures of curves on surfaces. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.math.gatech.edu\/users\/spetti3\u0022\u003ESamantha Petti\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E and \u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.aco.gatech.edu\/users\/matthew-fahrbach\u0022\u003EMatthew Fahrbach\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E are both first-year graduate students working toward a \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.aco.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EPhD in Algorithms, Combinatorics, and Optimization\u003C\/a\u003E (ACO). This multidisciplinary program is sponsored jointly by the School of Mathematics, the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.cc.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ECollege of Computing\u003C\/a\u003E, and the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.isye.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EH. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering\u003C\/a\u003E.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.cc.gatech.edu\/~vempala\/\u0022\u003ESantosh Vempala\u003C\/a\u003E, a computer science professor and an adjunct professor in the School of Mathematics, directs Petti\u2019s research. Petti is working on a mathematical framework to model how neurons in the brain carry out cognitive functions. Her research hopes to explain how neurons compute the functions necessary for cognition, describe neural learning mechanisms, and develop tools to understand graphical models of the brain.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/people.math.gatech.edu\/~randall\/\u0022\u003EDana Randall\u003C\/a\u003E, a computer science professor and an adjunct professor in the School of Mathematics, is \u0026nbsp;Fahrbach\u2019s advisor in the ACO program. Fahrbach is studying how random-walk algorithms using Markov chains perform when they sample from biased probability distributions. The work includes analyzing the mixing time of Markov chains, designing better algorithms, and identifying problems that could be solved by algorithmic and combinatorial tools.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.nsf.gov\/funding\/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=6201\u0022\u003ENSF Graduate Research Fellowships Program\u003C\/a\u003E recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in NSF-supported science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines who are pursuing research-based masters and doctoral degrees in accredited US institutions, according to NSF. For the 2016 competition, NSF received close to 17,000 applications and made about 2,000 award offers.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cRecipients of NSF Graduate Research Fellowships belong to an elite group of students who demonstrate extraordinary talent in their chosen field and enormous potential for impactful research,\u201d says College of Sciences Dean Paul M. Goldbart. \u201cCongratulations to our students and their mentors.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Winners of highly competitive award belong to an elite group."}],"uid":"30678","created_gmt":"2016-04-13 10:44:07","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:21:21","author":"A. Maureen Rouhi","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2016-04-13T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2016-04-13T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"524021":{"id":"524021","type":"image","title":"Quinton Bruch","body":null,"created":"1460732400","gmt_created":"2016-04-15 15:00:00","changed":"1475895293","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:54:53","alt":"Quinton Bruch","file":{"fid":"205434","name":"quinton.bruch_.capture.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/quinton.bruch_.capture_0.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/quinton.bruch_.capture_0.png","mime":"image\/png","size":86700,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/quinton.bruch_.capture_0.png?itok=I754Lg0T"}},"524031":{"id":"524031","type":"image","title":"Justin Lanier","body":null,"created":"1460732400","gmt_created":"2016-04-15 15:00:00","changed":"1475895293","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:54:53","alt":"Justin Lanier","file":{"fid":"206084","name":"justin.lanier.capture.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/justin.lanier.capture_0.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/justin.lanier.capture_0.png","mime":"image\/png","size":97645,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/justin.lanier.capture_0.png?itok=UEB9Z5Un"}},"520141":{"id":"520141","type":"image","title":"Samantha Petti","body":null,"created":"1459530001","gmt_created":"2016-04-01 17:00:01","changed":"1475895286","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:54:46","alt":"Samantha Petti","file":{"fid":"205287","name":"picture-1734.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/picture-1734_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/picture-1734_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":6621,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/picture-1734_0.jpg?itok=ECjmte3l"}},"524051":{"id":"524051","type":"image","title":"Matthew Fahrbach","body":null,"created":"1460732400","gmt_created":"2016-04-15 15:00:00","changed":"1475895293","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:54:53","alt":"Matthew Fahrbach","file":{"fid":"206086","name":"matthew.fahrbach.capture.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/matthew.fahrbach.capture_0.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/matthew.fahrbach.capture_0.png","mime":"image\/png","size":174965,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/matthew.fahrbach.capture_0.png?itok=Le52Pw-8"}}},"media_ids":["524021","524031","520141","524051"],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"}],"categories":[{"id":"8862","name":"Student Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"171914","name":"ACO program"},{"id":"170092","name":"NSF PhD fellowship"},{"id":"168854","name":"School of Mathematics"},{"id":"453","name":"undergraduate research"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39431","name":"Data Engineering and Science"},{"id":"39471","name":"Materials"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EA. Maureen Rouhi\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDirector of Communications\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ECollege of Sciences\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["maureen.rouhi@cos.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}