{"57675":{"#nid":"57675","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Nash Siblings Honor Parents with lSyE\u0027s First Junior Faculty Endowment","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAttending Georgia Tech is often a family tradition. But few families can claim the business success of the Nash family: H. Ronald Nash, IE 1970, of InterWest Partners venture capital groups Dallas, Texas, office; Michael R. Nash, IE 1974, vice president of CT Communications in Concord, North Carolina; and Deborah Nash Willingham, IE \u002778, vice president of Windows Marketing at Microsoft.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe three siblings have joined together to fund an ISyE junior faculty endowment in honor of their parents, Mary Anne and the late Harold R. Nash, EE 1952. The fund will provide resources to recruit and retain some of the best young faculty in the industrial engineering field. The Nashes encourage the School to use the fund to attract and support female applicants to the faculty. \u0022The growing presence of women at Tech was one of the seminal transitions during our time there, and we all identify with the need to accelerate that trend. Outstanding role models play an important part in that development,\u0022 state the Nashes in their commitment letter.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe three Nash siblings aren\u0027t the only family members to attend Georgia Tech. Mike married Ellen Evatt, TEXT 1973. Another sister, Mary Alice, married Arthur Ivey, CE 1981 . Ron\u0027s son David is now a junior in ME, and Mike\u0027s daughter Jennifer is a sophomore in architecture.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EBoth Deborah and Ron are members of the ISyE Advisory Board. Chair John Jarvis is pleased with both the family\u0027s personal and financial commitment. \u0022Many families send multiple generations to Georgia Tech, but only a select few choose industrial engineering as their \u0027family\u0027 major,\u0022 he says. \u0022I am proud to know them and especially appreciate their collective decision to create the Nash Family Endowment Fund.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":"","uid":"27279","created_gmt":"2001-02-01 01:00:00","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:06:35","author":"Barbara Christopher","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2001-02-01T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2001-02-01T00:00:00-05:00","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":""}},"57676":{"#nid":"57676","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Several ISyE Faculty were Recognized by IIE in 2000","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EProfessor John Bartholdi and Don Eisenstein won the Award for Technical Innovation. Justin Myrick, director of the Health Systems Resource Center, was elected a Fellow. Don Young, who died in 1999, was also elected to Fellow posthumously.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EProfessor Ellis Johnson won the prestigious INFORMS John Von Neumann Theory prize for 2000. He shares the prize with Manfred Padberg of Carnegie Mellon University.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EAssistant Professors Hayriye Ayhan and Anton Kleywegt have received the National Science Foundation\u0027s CAREER Award. This award recognizes outstanding scientists and engineers early in their career who show exceptional potential for leadership at the frontiers of knowledge. It is the highest award bestowed by the U.S. government on young scientists and engineers.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EOTHER FACULTY NEWS\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EHer students and fellow faculty may not know it, but Assistant Professor Victoria Chen brings more than engineering expertise to the Tech campus. Dr. Chen is an accomplished dancer, with a resume that includes the Johns Hopkins Dance Company and the Princeton Ballet Society. In addition to her Statistic Modeling and Design classes, she also teaches modern dance for the GT Options program.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EAmy Pritchett has been selected as one of 16 recipients of the XVI Sixteen Award, given by the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The award honors Department students and alumni under age 35 whose innovation and vision are expected to create a future of opportunity.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EProfessor Richard Serfozo has a new book, \u003Cem\u003EIntroduction to Stochastic Networks\u003C\/em\u003E, published by Spring-Verlag. Dr. Serfozo\u0027s book describes the theory of stochastic network flows that arise in computer\/telecommunications, manufacturing, supply chain, biology and other areas.\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":""}},"57680":{"#nid":"57680","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Dr. Augustine 0. Esogbue","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThere are just some people who can\u0027t resist solving a problem or being involved...\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EProfessor Esogbue happens to fit the mold. In talking with Dr. Augustine 0. Esogbue, I learned that he joined the Georgia Tech faculty in June 1972 as an associate professor, under a joint appointment with the Health Systems Research Center, after a four-year stint as an assistant professor of operations research at Case Western Reserve University. In 1977, Esogbue was promoted to the rank of full professor with tenure, becoming the first African American in the history of Georgia Tech to do so.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EIn his long-term residency at Tech, Esogbue has made his mark. He is the founder and director of the Intelligent Systems and Control Laboratory whose mission is, according to Esogbue, \u0022the exploration of the use of hybrid algorithms and intelligent control methodologies for modeling and solution of complex control problems, especially those with humans in the loop.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EApplications range from manufacturing to space, from electrical power systems to water resources, pollution, and a gamut of problems facing the healthcare industry.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EEsogbue is recognized worldwide as one of the leading contributors to the literature of dynamic programming, fuzzy logic and intelligent control. He is the author of five books and 15 book chapters. He has published more than 150 technical papers, as well as made more than 300 technical presentations. He serves on the editorial boards of six international journals.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EEsogbue has displayed an uncanny skill and a high level of involvement in the community, both on and off of the Georgia Tech campus. He is a \u0027White Charter Contributor\u0027 to the Harold E. Smalley Health Systems Chair, and the founding chair of the Coalition of 100 Black Youth, Atlanta Chapter. As a member of the 100 Black Men of America, Atlanta Chapter, he has served as co-chair for Administration, Retention and Academic Excellence, Project Success, and the College 100 Mentorship Program. He has been a member of United Way\u0027s External Funding and Admissions Committee. Esogbue has received numerous commendations from various governments, including the Fulton County and the City of Atlanta, which he serves as a commissioner and vice chair of the Atlanta Sister Cities Commission. He is also the chair of the American Nigerian International Chamber of Commerce.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EEsogbue has been noted in Who\u0027s Who in Technology, Who\u0027s Who in America, Who\u0027s Who in Consulting, and most impressive, Who\u0027s Who in the World. He was elected in 1972 as Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is a Senior Member of the IEEE and has been short-listed for the rank of Fellow of IEEE, as well as for the Nigerian Academy of Sciences. In 1996, he was awarded the First Mentor of the Decade Award from the Office of Minority Affairs at Tech. Esogbue, who was a three year letterman in soccer at UCLA and member of the PAC 100 All Conference Soccer Team, is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Georgia Tech Athletic Association.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EAsked if there was a special moment or a moment when he felt \u0022complete\u0022 with his career, Esogbue answered, \u0022Being the first winner of the Golden Torch Lifetime Achievement in Education Award of the National Society of Black Engineers. I accepted that award with infinite pleasure and yet humility. It was particularly special because the presentation was made in an Academy Award system atmosphere in Kansas City in March this year, by one of my highly regarded mentees, Dr. Gary S. May, who is an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering here at Georgia Tech.\u0022 In his acceptance speech, he noted that \u0022one of the fringe benefits of being an academician is being rewarded with awards for doing what you truly love to do and an avocation of sorts, and for producing generations of leaders.\u0022 Among his most treasured achievements is serving as the Founding Advisor (since 1976) of the celebrated Georgia Tech Society of Black Engineers, which has won far more national honors than any other chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers. He also considers as gratifying his role \u0022as the author of a 1984 road map for Georgia Tech\u0027s Affirmative Action (Faculty) Plan, which studied and developed a plan to increase the number of minority faculty from a paltry value of four to more than seven times that number in 15 years. Georgia Tech is now in the enviable position of having the highest number of black faculty of any majority engineering school, one of the highest producers of black master\u0027s and doctoral students in engineering in the United States, and the top institutional choice for matriculating black graduate students. It was clearly not the case in the 1970s and 80s. This is significant progress,\u0022 he added.\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":""}},"57685":{"#nid":"57685","#data":{"type":"news","title":"The Importance of Second Chances","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ETwenty years ago, Doreen Seaquist Hogan was your typical Georgia Tech freshman, juggling the issues of school work, social life, and growing up. A \u0022straight A\u0022 honor student, with a love of sports, academics, and music, she fit right in on Tech\u0027s competitive campus. Her successful future looked like a done deal. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe fall of Doreen\u0027s senior year, it all came to a grinding halt. A family tragedy shattered her world, plunging her into depression and threatening to destroy her hard-earned future. But for the faith of one professor, she was ready to drop out of Tech and forfeit her dream to be an industrial engineer. Doreen tells her story now to honor ISyE Professor Faiz Al-Khayyal and the many other professors like him who reach beyond their students\u0027 failures to understand their pain. In doing so, they help lost individuals rediscover the confidence and ability they need to persevere.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EDoreen\u0027s story was particularly painful. Her mother, a longtime MS sufferer, succumbed to the emotional stress of her illness and took her own life. The family was racked with questions and guilt. Her death followed within a few years of the death of Doreen\u0027s brother at the age of 24. It was the beginning of fall quarter, so after leaving a week for the funeral, Doreen returned to a full load of classes. But her heart wasn\u0027t in it.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022I didn\u0027t share my circumstances with the faculty\u0022 she remembers, \u0022I didn\u0027t want any special treatment. It was then that I met Dr. Al-Khayyal in Operations Research. I had failed his first test, really bad, as I just couldn\u0027t crack a book after my mom\u0027s death.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022I\u0027ll never forget him bringing me into his office and saying, \u0027Seaquist, I expect more from you. What is going on?,\u0022 she continues. \u0022I pretended to be numb to the whole process, but turned around at the last moment and shared in confidence with him that my mother had passed away, with no further details. From that point on, Dr. Al-Khayyal said that if I worked hard, I could pull my grade up. He gave me no free lunches, and I worked very hard in his class.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EShe eventually got a B. \u0022It was knowing that I could confide in a teacher, and that he believed in me, supported me, and was there to go through any questions I had that made all the difference in the world,\u0022 she says.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe rest of Doreen\u0027s senior year was a blur, but she graduated and has worked with McDonnell Douglas\/Boeing for 17 years. Her contributions have earned her numerous awards and accolades. She\u0027s now working on her MBA. After avoiding campus for 15 years because of the painful memories, Doreen\u0027s been back twice, meeting Tech\u0027s star quarterback Joe Hamilton on her most recent visit. Her California license plate proudly reads \u0022JOJATEK\u0022.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EDoreen is married to another Boeing employee, Eric Hogan, whom she met on the production line. She remains close to her father and her brother, Don, and is actively involved in her church. She would like to hear from other Georgia Tech graduates at \u003Ca href=\u0022dhogan.ie83@gtahzmni.org\u0022\u003Edhogan.ie83@gtahzmni.org\u003C\/a\u003E.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EDuring that awful year, Doreen made Dr. Al-Khayyal a seashell plaque, which still hangs in his office today. I share this story every now and again with people to share the human spirit,\u0022 she says, \u0022and how necessary is sometimes to give people second chances.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EShe adds, \u0022It also signifies that professors not only have brains, but hearts.\u0022\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":""}},"57687":{"#nid":"57687","#data":{"type":"news","title":"IEs Show Winning Entrepreneurial Spirit - Brady \u0022Tripp\u0022 Rackley","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EBrady \u0022Tripp\u0022 Rackley, IE 1992, has been named Ernst \u0026amp; Young\u0027s eFinance Southeast Regional Entrepreneur of the Year. Rackley is vice chairman of Digital Insight, an Internet banking firm. In November, he competed for the National Award in Palm Springs.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EE-business awards are a new addition to Ernst \u0026amp; Young\u0027s annual awards. As with the traditional business categories, e-business winners must be primarily responsible for the growth of a company. Companies must have operated for at least two years and show a profit. In publicly held companies, the founder must be an active member in top management. He or she must possess first mover advantage, or have established a recognized digital brand.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ERackley was the founder, chairman, and CEO of Atlanta-based nFront, Inc., a leading provider of Internet banking services for small to mid-size financial institutions, which merged with Digital Insight in February 2000.  He possesses a comprehesive background in both software development and banking technology and is considered an authority on bank technology issues.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022I was honored to be nominated and honored to win. In the past few years, we\u0027ve grown from one employee to more than 800,\u0022 Rackley said, noting that his company growth fully embraced the whole entrepreneurial spirit. \u0022A lot of companies are success stories, but only a few entrepreneurs stay from concept all the way through. I\u0027ve enjoyed all the pieces at every stage.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ERackley is a director of the Alexander Tharpe Fund and the Technology Executives Roundtable board and serves on the ISyE Advisory Board.\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":""}},"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":""}}}