{"57690":{"#nid":"57690","#data":{"type":"news","title":"L.J. Yankosky Soars to New Heights on the Mound and in the Cockpit","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EL. J. (Leonard Joseph) Yankosky could have picked up the diploma for his master\u0027s in industrial engineering at the Spring 2000 Commencement, but he didn\u0027t make the ceremony. He was at work, pitching against Knoxville. Like most Georgia Tech graduates, Yankosky had a job lined up before graduation. But few graduates can claim an 11th-round draft pick by the Atlanta Braves! This was actually Yankosky\u0027s second season in Greenville, South Carolina, pitching for the AA Greenville Braves. \u0022My goal is the major leagues, but you set a lot of goals in between,\u0022 he says. The next step up is Richmond, Virginia, and then, Turner Field in Atlanta - the \u0022Show\u0022. If he\u0027s really lucky, he\u0027ll bypass the AAA team and go straight to Atlanta. \u0022You rise through the ranks, and the factors are out of my control. It depends on the performance of the other teams - how the other players are doing. It can work for or against you.\u0022 He adds, \u0022There is a lot of uncertainty and not much feedback. But you know when you\u0027re doing good.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EEither way, it\u0027s a long climb for a guy who has already accomplished what many can only dream. And it\u0027s especially unusual circumstances for a Tech graduate, who could be living comfortably on a high-figure salary to be living in motels in successive small Southern cities. The 25-year-old Yankosky, a native of Springfield, Virginia, has set a lot of goals for himself, and it\u0027s the light at the end of the tunnel that keeps him going. School already seems like a long time ago. He completed work on his master\u0027s in February just days before reporting to spring training. Recipient of a prestigious NASA fellowship, his graduate work focused on the Cockpit Display of Traffic Information in Airplanes, a facet of human-machine systems. Yankosky teamed with ISyE professor Dr. Amy Pritchett to add information to the cockpit\u0027s display. The ultimate goal is to increase the level of the pilot\u0027s responsibility, without taking any responsibility away from the controllers. This makes the skies safer for everyone.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022We hope to give pilots a better level of understanding of what is going on around them in the traffic flow in the air,\u0022 he explains. \u0022Additionally, we created new operations that are not currently performed by pilots in air traffic control. The two things we\u0027re having the pilots do are now being done by controllers. So what we\u0027re trying to do is give the pilot more information in the cockpit by virtue of displays and procedures instead of having to rely so heavily on the controllers and the controllers\u0027 commands to execute.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022The two new operations during their arrival routes are maintaining in-trail separation from another aircraft and having pilots merge their aircraft behind another aircraft to a common arrival stream to the airport,\u0022 he says. \u0022Our results showed that this research warrants more investigation, and we\u0027re very excited about the prospect of having this work become incorporated in the near future.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EAiding Yankosky all the way was Dr. Pritchett, whom he quickly names as a favorite professor. \u0022She made all this possible. She\u0027s a dynamic individual \u0022very understanding of my schedule and willing to work with me. We met when I was looking for a research program in human-machine systems. She told me this was the luckiest day of my life.\u0022 Lucky, because Dr. Pritchett had just received a grant from NASA, and she needed a graduate student.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EYankosky also has high praise for Dr. Alex Kirlik, who introduced him to human-machine systems. \u0022I always made it to his class. He made it fun. He\u0027s the kind of professor that is invaluable to the institution \u0022he gets students excited.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EDespite the dual life he\u0027s led for the past several years, Yankosky is still debating connections between baseball and engineering. \u0022People accuse college players of being analytical, but I don\u0027t see that. What I do see is the importance of the discipline and time management skills I acquired at Tech. We played up to five games a week during the season as well as attended classes. In some ways this is easier.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EHe hasn\u0027t run into too many other engineers on the field, either. \u0022I haven\u0027t seen anyone else with an engineering degree. There are a few out here with degrees, and a few who are close, but not in engineering. Even at Tech, all the players were in management,\u0022 he remembers. \u0022There are plenty of smart players out here, though. Many made the choice to go professional straight out of high school because of financial or other personal reasons.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EMost of Yankosky\u0027s Tech memories include baseball. \u0022I really enjoyed the experience of college baseball as a whole,\u0022 he says. \u0022I made friends for life at Tech. I had the opportunity to sign professional after high school, but this was the best move I could have made. Georgia Tech\u0027s been great to me, and I hope I can represent it well.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EIn fact, his trip to the professional mound was delayed more than the four years he originally planned. Injured as a freshman, he still had a year of eligibility left when he completed his bachelor\u0027s in 1997. No professional team came calling, so he opted for a fifth year of college ball. On the field that year he led Tech to a 41-22 record, a berth in the finals of the NCAA Midwest Regional, and a final national ranking of 15. He finished his college baseball career with a 25-4 record, the third highest winning percentage of any pitcher in Tech history.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ENot that baseball was the only thing he accomplished at Tech. Yankosky made GTE Academic All-America, twice, and was on the ACC honor roll every year. He earned Georgia Tech\u0027s Total Person Athlete Award, the highest honor given to student-athletes. He finished his bachelor\u0027s with a 3.6 GPA and his master\u0027s with a 4.0. His personal life includes his wife Shannon, an auditor for Arthur Andersen. \u0022She makes the money,\u0022 he laughs, and two cats.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ESo what\u0027s next for a guy with the future in the palm of his hand? \u0022I wish I could tell you,\u0022 he says. \u0022Right now I\u0027m 100 percent devoted to baseball.\u0022 He\u0027s interviewed with a company that understands the needs of his split personality, but the possibility of fall ball may make that impossible. \u0022I don\u0027t want to burn any bridges,\u0022 he adds.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EYankosky was once quoted as saying his goal at Tech was \u0022to make sure that I leave this institution with having contributed something both academically and athletically.\u0022 Yellow Jackets have to agree - Yankosky is destined to soar.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":"","uid":"27279","created_gmt":"2001-03-01 01:00:00","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:06:35","author":"Barbara Christopher","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2001-03-01T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2001-03-01T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"groups":[{"id":"1242","name":"School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISYE)"}],"categories":[{"id":"145","name":"Engineering"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cstrong\u003EBarbara Christopher\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EIndustrial and Systems Engineering\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.gatech.edu\/contact\/index.html?id=bt3\u0022\u003EContact Barbara Christopher\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E404.385.3102\u003C\/strong\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["bchristopher@isye.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}