Dunkin is an IISE Fellow, the highest classification of IISE membership that recognizes outstanding leaders of the profession who have made significant, nationally recognized contributions to industrial and systems engineering. She has served as chief information officer at the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, as well as chief strategy and innovation officer at Dell Technologies. She has also held numerous leadership positions at Hewlett Packard, largely in the areas of manufacturing, research and development and IT. She currently serves as a distinguished external fellow with Georgia Tech’s Strategic Energy Institute.  

Dunkin holds appointments as a distinguished professor of the practice in Georgia Tech’s School of Cybersecurity and Privacy and in the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School of Public Policy. She is also a distinguished external fellow at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI).

“The Emerging Technologies forum is a great opportunity for practicing ISEs to get exposure to a range of emerging technologies in a short period of time and identify those that they want to experiment with and implement in their organizations,” Dunkin said. 

The Aug. 26 event, which will be held virtually from 1-5 p.m. EDT, will explore technologies shaping the future of industrial and systems engineering, including artificial intelligence, digital twins, and robotics and autonomy. 

As event chair, Dunkin will be joined by experts from the healthcare, aerospace, logistics, manufacturing and technology industries, including representatives from Royal Caribbean, The Boeing Company, UPS and other organizations. 

The complimentary event is open to engineers and improvement professionals of all backgrounds. Registration is available through the IISE Emerging Technologies Forum website. 
 

The alumni on the list were chosen by the Georgia Tech Alumni Association. The announcement was made on July 15. Representing the College this year are:

• Max Mahdi Roozbahani (MS CE ‘16, MS CSE ‘16, PhD CSE ‘19), Senior Lecturer, School of Computing Instruction. He is also the founder, president, and CTO of Filio, an AI-powered visual documentation platform that began through CREATE-X. His work connects large-scale computing education, entrepreneurship, and applied AI for construction, engineering, and infrastructure. At Georgia Tech, Roozbahani teaches machine learning, data and visual analytics, and natural language processing while mentoring students and teaching teams across campus and online programs. Through Filio, he helps organizations turn field media into documentation and reporting tools used by thousands of professionals nationwide. His teaching honors include the Class of 1940 W. Roane Beard Outstanding Teacher Award and the College of Computing Dean’s Award in 2026.
• Kourtney R. Wright (CS ‘15, MS CS ’23), Senior Director, CIAM Operations, Equifax. A California native, Kourtney R. Wright is currently based in Atlanta, working as a senior director of operations at Equifax. She is a two-time Georgia Tech graduate, having earned a bachelor’s in computer science in 2015 and a master’s in computer science in 2023. Wright currently serves as the secretary of the Georgia Tech Black Alumni Organization (BAO) and as a trustee for the Georgia Tech Alumni Association Board of Trustees. In addition to serving her alumni community, Wright has been recognized for her commitment to mentorship and advocacy for women in STEM, most recently by the Equifax BOLD Network as the 2025 Rising Star.
• Suo Yang (MS AE 14, MS CSE 15, PhD AE 17), Associate Professor, University of Minnesota. A distinguished Georgia Tech alumnus, he earned his PhD and master’s in aerospace engineering, alongside a master’s in computational science and engineering, followed by postdoctoral research at Princeton University. Yang has authored more than 100 publications and pioneered modeling for advanced aerospace propulsion. He has received four prestigious Department of Defense Young Investigator awards and the inaugural CSSCI Early Career Award. A leader in AIAA and education, Yang advances critical technologies for the U.S. Armed Forces and global energy industries while upholding Georgia Tech’s legacy. 
• Anqi Zhou (MS CSE ’13), Senior Vice President, Head of Fair Lending Oversight & Analytics, Truist. Passionate about people and technology, Anqi Zou leads Fair Lending Oversight and Analytics at Truist, advancing fair treatment and access for tens of millions of consumers. Over her banking career, Zou has held roles spanning quantitative analytics, corporate investments, technical talent management, and AI innovation. She also serves on the boards of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metro Atlanta, 21st Century Leaders, and the International Community School, where she champions access and opportunity for youth. Zou lives in metro Atlanta with her husband, Craig, and their two children, Alivia and Arnold, and enjoys using golf as a platform for connection, community, and impact. Zou holds a master’s degree in computational science and engineering from Georgia Tech and a bachelor’s from Wake Forest.

The annual 40 Under 40 program honorsTech graduates impacting every industry worldwide and work to improve the way we live, even in the early stages of their careers. 

You can learn more about this year’s honorees at the 40 under 40 website, and through a visualization of this year’s class on the same site.

“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: 

Elyse Heidelberg, PSY 2008 

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.

Zuri Hudson, BIO 2013 

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!

Lauren Margulieux, M.S. PSY 2014, Ph.D. PSY 2016

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.”

A Helluva Scientist

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.”

Leading Global Conservation Efforts

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.”

Scientific Storytelling

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.”

Collaborative Conservation

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.”

A Lasting Georgia Tech Connection

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!”

“I was a young engineering student, getting ready to graduate when I learned that the Dean of Students had put me up for the Alvin Ferst Student Entrepreneur of the Year Award,” said Moore, Founder & CEO of Artisan Financial Strategies. “Sitting at that table with Mr. Ferst, my mother, and my grandmother, something shifted inside me. I didn’t just receive an award that night. I received an identity.”   

But the recognition itself was only part of the story. 

For Moore, sitting at the table with Alvin Ferst (IM 1943), an entrepreneur and philanthropist whose legacy continues to inspire innovation, she experienced a defining shift in perspective. 

“For the first time, I understood that I wasn’t just an engineer looking for a job. I was an entrepreneur. Someone who wanted to build, lead, create, and solve problems,” said Moore, who has enjoyed more than 20 years of successfully navigating wealth management. “The word entrepreneur resonated immediately because I always knew I would have made a terrible employee. I was confident enough to believe I could build a better mousetrap than most, and during my internships I struggled working for people when I felt like I had better ideas. The Alvin Ferst award gave me the language and the permission to own that about myself.”   

This realization would go on to influence an entire career trajectory, one rooted in leadership, innovation, problem-solving and maybe the most important lesson for Moore. 

“Fail forward. Keep beta testing, keep trying new things, and understand that failure is not just okay, it is part of the process. It is a numbers game. But the deeper lesson for me has really been about network,” said Moore, who also credits ISyE Professor Emerita Jane Ammons as an amazing role model in her studies, keeping her focused on her path at GT and beyond. “Having the right people around you, mentors and teammates who have done it before, people you can pick up the phone and call on a moment's notice, that is everything. Those relationships have shaped my business more than any single decision I have ever made.” 

ISyE has long played a role in cultivating these moments of discovery. Through programs, mentorship, and recognition, ISyE empowers students to explore entrepreneurship alongside their technical training. 

“Core processes are everything when you’re building a business, and systems thinking is deeply baked into the ISyE curriculum. That training shaped how I approach building projects and companies. I think in a very linear way, and having that methodical, process-oriented foundation has been a real asset,” said Moore, who in recent years led a TED Talk on how couples can use to have productive conversations about financial planning. “Where it has made me better as a leader is in understanding my own blind spots. I know what I am really good at, and I have learned that hiring people who think just like me is the wrong way to go. Building a team that complements your weaknesses and challenges your thinking is not just good practice, it is what makes the whole thing work. ISyE teaches you to optimize systems. Part of that is knowing which inputs you are missing.”  

Whether through competitions, experiential learning opportunities, or engagement with alumni and industry leaders, ISyE encourages students to see themselves not only as engineers, but also as innovators capable of shaping industries and communities.

“Entrepreneurship is not only about launching a company; it is about developing the confidence and discipline to identify meaningful problems, design better systems, and create value for others,” said Professor Kamran Paynabar, Associate Chair for Innovation, Leadership, and Entrepreneurship and Fouts Family Chair. “That mindset is deeply connected to what we teach in ISyE. Our students learn how to structure ambiguity, use data to make better decisions, and improve complex systems. Those same capabilities are essential for entrepreneurs.”

Paynabar says ISyE’s culture of support extends well beyond graduation with alumni continuing to engage with and inspire one another, creating a network where shared experiences and mentorship help reinforce entrepreneurial growth across generations.

“Entrepreneurship often begins with curiosity, persistence, and a willingness to test ideas in the real world,” Paynabar said. “Our alumni prove that there is no single path to entrepreneurship. Some started with a senior design project, some built companies through years of perseverance, and some applied ISyE thinking in entirely different industries. What connects them is the ability to see systems, understand people’s needs, and keep improving.”

In a full-circle moment years later, Moore, a “finance whisperer,” had the opportunity to connect with a member of the Ferst family, reflecting on the profound impact of that early recognition. The experience served as a reminder that the influence of mentorship and belief often reaches further than anyone can anticipate.

“This story still gives me chills. On the call, Leigh Ferst, Alvin’s daughter, and I started talking through our backgrounds. When I mentioned Georgia Tech and the award I had received from a man named Alvin Ferst, the whole conversation shifted. That is when she told me her father was Alvin Ferst. I burst into tears on the phone,” said Moore. “I was able to tell her that that award had changed my life. It gave me my identity. It gave me the permission to see myself as an entrepreneur at a moment when I had no idea who I was supposed to be. Personally, and professionally, it was one of those full-circle moments you could not write if you tried.” 

Composed of influential executives, industry leaders, and academic representatives, the ISyE Advisory Board plays a vital role in providing strategic guidance, industry perspectives, and philanthropic support to advance the School's initiatives and maintain ISyE's standing as the top-ranked industrial engineering program in the nation.

New Advisory Board Members

Brandon Melton (B.S. IE 2004, MBA 2018)

Assistant Vice President of Strategy, Wellstar Health System

Brandon leads strategic initiatives across the health system, applying systems engineering approaches to healthcare operations and strategic growth.

Francisco Uriarte (B.S. IE 1990)

Managing Partner, ESP Advisors 

Francisco offers deep expertise in executive consulting and private capital investment, helping advise organizations on long-term strategy and growth execution.

Yoan Mattos (B.S. IE 2000)

Vice President of Enterprise Applications, Hawks Basketball, Inc.

Yoan brings technology leadership from the sports and entertainment industry, driving enterprise technology and digital transformation for the Atlanta Hawks.

Chris Anderson (B.S. IE 2008, M.S. Analytics 2021)

Data Science Principal, Georgia Power Company

Chris blends industrial engineering methodologies with advanced analytics, applying machine learning and statistical modeling to complex utility and energy infrastructure challenges.

Betsy Higgins (B.S. IE 1991)

Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Oglethorpe Power Corporation

Betsy brings extensive leadership in capital allocation, financial strategy, and energy infrastructure management.

Aarav Gupta (B.S. IE Class of 2027)

Student Representative and President, Georgia Tech Chapter of IISE

Serving as the board's student member, Aarav represents the voice of current undergraduates. As president of the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE) at Georgia Tech, he works closely with student leaders and faculty to strengthen student-alumni connections.

New Advisory Board Leadership

Jeff Anderson (B.S. IE 1991) – Advisory Board Chair

Jeff Anderson, co-founder and chief growth officer at Kaizen Analytix LLC, steps into the role of advisory board chair. With over 25 years of experience leading business development, sales, and analytics strategies across global brands, Anderson brings a passion for data-driven innovation and alumni engagement to board leadership.

Peyton Johnston (B.S. IE 2006) – Advisory Board Vice Chair

Peyton Johnston, chief of staff to the executive vice president at The Home Depot, assumes the role of vice chair. Johnston brings extensive experience in cross-functional strategy, innovation, and operational transformation across top-tier management consulting and retail enterprise environments.

For a full directory of current board members, strategic task forces, and engagement opportunities, visit the ISyE Advisory Board webpage. 

Graduates with liberal arts degrees are typically associated with skills increasingly in demand as AI’s influence grows — creativity, critical thinking, and communication. But how do hiring managers react when those liberal arts graduates also have enhanced science and technology training? 

The Georgia Tech Class of 2026 celebrated one of its most significant accomplishments last week. Among those crossing the stage for the 2026 Spring Commencement is Marina Vemmou, who will be receiving her Ph.D. in computer science.   

As a machine learning (ML) theorist, Xinyuan Cao spent her Ph.D. at Georgia Tech digging into the mathematical foundations of artificial intelligence (AI). 

“From my seat, I can feel the energy. I see the momentum. We're all about growth and change,” said Vivek Sarkar, dean and John P. Imlay Jr. Chair of the College of Computing. 

“But those are just words. What's really behind the words is all the hard work put in by all of you.Today's celebration is for the entire College, all of you, and all your hard work.”

Students, faculty, and staff from the School of Computational Science and Engineering (CSE) were among those recognized at the celebration. Their accomplishments reflected a year dedicated to excellence in research, teaching, and service. School of CSE award recipients included:

• Grace Kim, M.S. computer science (CS) student: Donald V. Jackson Fellowship
• Sri Ranganathan Palaniappan, M.S. CS student: Donald V. Jackson Fellowship
• Ethan Yang, M.S. CSE student: Marshall D. Williamson Fellowship
• Alumnus Austin Wright (Ph.D. ML-CSE 2025): Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award
• Huili Huang, Ph.D. CSE student: Outstanding Graduate Research Assistant Award
• Arlene Washington-Capers, school administrative officer: 25 Years of Service Acknowledgment

Two lecturers in the School of Computing Instruction with ties to the School of CSE received awards at the celebration.

Max Mahdi Roozbahani received a Dean’s Award, which went to instructors who taught class sizes over 350 students this year. A Class of 2019 CSE alumnus, Roozbahani teaches CSE 6242: Data and Visual Analytics.

Nimisha Roy received the Monica Sweat Outstanding Lecturer in External Engagement Award. She earned her Ph.D. in CSE in 2021. 

Professor Polo Chau advises Kim, Palaniappan, and Wright, and recommended them for their awards. 

Chau is an associate director of Georgia Tech’s M.S. Analytics program, which won the UPS George D. Smith Prize at the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS). The award recognizes excellence in preparing students to become practitioners of operations research and analytics.

For Kim, the Jackson Fellowship was the latest achievement in a year decorated with accolades. She was one of two School of CSE students to receive the National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program award (GRFP). Kim was also selected for a Fulbright U.S. Student Program Research award.

Ph.D. student Abir Haque was CSE’s second NSF GRFP awardee, receiving the grant to advance research in scientific computing. Advised by School of CSE Professor and Associate Chair Edmond Chow, Haque additionally received a Department of Energy (DOE) Computational Science Graduate Fellowship.

Chow was appointed to several leadership roles this year in the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM). The organization selected Chow as vice president for programs. SIAM also named him as co-chair of next year’s Conference on Computational Science and Engineering. 

NSF presented the CAREER award to two CSE faculty. Assistant Professor Yunan Luo received a grant to build artificial intelligence models to study understudied proteins in biology. 

Elizabeth Qian is an assistant professor in the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering with a joint appointment in the School of CSE. Her NSF CAREER award will support research developing machine learning methods that learn from multi-fidelity data.

Researchers from the School of CSE were finalists for the 2025 Gordon Bell Prize. Assistant Professor Spencer Bryngelson led a team that included Ph.D. students Ben Wilfong and Anand Radhakrishnan, Research Staff member Dan Vickers, and alumnus Henry Le Berre (CS 2025). 

The team achieved the largest computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation to date, exceeding the current record by a factor of 20. The group simulated interacting plumes of 33 rocket thrusters inspired by the SpaceX Super Heavy booster.

Bryngelson advises Melody Lee, an undergraduate student who was one of three Georgia Tech students to receive a Barry Goldwater Scholarship this year. She received the award to continue research at the intersection of quantum computing and CFD.

Assistant Professor Qi Tang received the DOE Early Career Research Award. He is the first-ever faculty member from CSE and the College of Computing to receive the award. 

The $875,000 award will support Tang for five years as he researches particle data processing and compression, with applications in fusion, accelerator, and nuclear physics.

Tang was also selected as a Summer Early Career Scholar of Digital Futures at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden.

Bryngelson and Tang were selected as collaborators for three DOE Predictive Science Academic Alliance Program (PSAAP IV) Centers. The program leverages the academic community to advance science-based modeling and simulation. 

One of Tang’s students, Alex de Magalhaes, received a SPARK Award scholarship from the Georgia Tech Strategic Energy Institute. The award recognizes outstanding student engagement in energy research.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarded prestigious R01 grants to three CSE faculty, each valued at $1.2 million. 

Assistant Professor Anqi Wu is using the grant to study multi-animal social behavior using advanced representation learning and reinforcement learning. 

NIH awarded a grant to Assistant Professor Kai Wang and Professor B. Aditya Prakash to build an AI framework to efficiently treat patients diagnosed with diabetes and other chronic diseases.

Prakash advises M.S. student Sudarshan Anand, who claimed two awards at the 2025 International Conference on Biomedical and Health Informatics. First, Anand was the champion of the conference’s data challenge competition. Then, the conference selected him as a Young Professional NextGen Scholar. 

Ph.D. student Yiqiao (Ahren) Jin was selected as a 2026 MLCommons ML and Systems Rising Star. He was one of 39 total awardees and participated at the 2026 ML and Systems Rising Stars workshop is hosted by AMD.

Assistant Professor Victor Fung won a 2025 Google Scholar Program award. He received the award in the Applied Science category for multi-modal scientific agents for in silico materials discovery and inverse design. The Research Scholar Program provided up to $60,000 to early-career professors to support advancement of their research.

This year, the College of Computing selected School of CSE Professor Rich Vuduc as director of Georgia Tech’s Center for Scientific Software Engineering (CSSE). The center was formed in 2022 from an $11 million investment from Schmidt Sciences. Georgia Tech was one of four universities that Schmidt Sciences selected to host a center. 

CSSE develops custom software tools and best practices to meet scientists' needs. Overall, this approach accelerates the pace and quality of scientific discovery.

Vuduc advised alumnus Elizabeth Hong (CS 2025), who received a Fulbright U.S.-Korea Presidential STEM Initiative Award. Designed to promote academic and cultural exchange, the award provided graduating college seniors and graduate students funding to pursue independent research projects in Korea on STEM topics of their choice.

Vuduc advises Ph.D. student Max Hawkins, who was selected for the OMSCS Pre-Doctoral Fellowship program. 

The program provided Hawkins support to design and teach a one-credit, pass/fail/audit seminar course. Hawkins taught Computing at Scale: The Design, Operation, and Societal Impacts of Data Centers in Fall 2025 and a research course in Spring 2026.

Hawkins also received a $3,000 scholarship through the 7X24 Exchange Atlanta Scholarship Program. He was one of three scholarship recipients awarded to students in the greater Atlanta area with research interests in the data center industry.

Vuduc advises Team Phoenix, Georgia Tech’s student cluster competition team. Team Phoenix placed first among USA participants and sixth internationally at SC25’s IndySCC competition (30 total teams, 12 USA and 18 international). The team was graded on optimizing techniques and running industry standard benchmarks on supercomputers. 

The team included computer science undergraduate students Alexander Ichtovkin, Alex Kim, Aiden Lambert, Sahil Samar, Seth Yiming Shi, and Venkata Sai Aditya Reddy Devarapalli. Graduate students Charles Lindsey and Jay Saraha mentored the team coached by Research Scientists Jeff Valdez, Aaron Jezghani, and Will Powell.

Alumni Ziyi (Francis) Yin (Ph.D. CSE-CSE 2024), Rafael Orozco (Ph.D. CSE-CSE 2024), Mathias Louboutin (Ph.D. CS-CSE 2020), and Professor Felix Herrmann received an honorable mention for the Best Paper of 2024 from the journal Geophysics. The award, presented in 2025, recognized the group’s work on WISE: a full-waveform variational inference via subsurface extensions.

Georgia Tech approved both of CSE’s promotion cases this year. Elizabeth Cherry will be promoted to full professor. Srijan Kumar will be promoted to associate professor with tenure. 

That sense of purpose shaped Spring 2026 Commencement, where School of Computational Science and Engineering (CSE) graduates celebrated years of research, collaboration, and discovery.

“Today, we celebrate you, your accomplishments, and your potential,” said Georgia Tech President Ángel Cabrera in his commencement address to Ph.D. graduates.

“I thank you for choosing a career of science and research when some question science and research. We need you to continue on this path. The world needs you.”

In addition to administering its flagship CSE Ph.D. and M.S. programs, the School of CSE offers doctoral degrees in computer science and machine learning. Ph.D. students who received their diplomas and doctoral hoods on May 7 at McCamish Pavilion were:

• Muhammed Balin (Ph.D. CS-CSE 2026), advised by School of CSE Professor Ümit Çatalyürek
• Andrew Hornback (Ph.D. CS-CSE 2026), co-advised by School of CSE Assistant Professor Yunan Luo and Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering Professor May Wang
• Chengrui Li (Ph.D. CSE-CSE 2026), advised by School of CSE Assistant Professor Anqi Wu
• Xinhai Pan (Ph.D. CSE-CSE 2026), advised by School of CSE Assistant Professor Anqi Wu
• Kaan Sancak (Ph.D. CSE-CSE 2026), advised by School of CSE Professor Ümit Çatalyürek
• Agam Shah (Ph.D. ML-CSE 2026), co-advised by Scheller College of Business Professor Sudheer Chava and School of CSE Associate Professor Chao Zhang
• Kartik Sharma (Ph.D. CS-CSE 2026), advised by School of CSE Assistant Professor Srijan Kumar

This semester, 14 CSE doctoral students completed M.S. degrees and will continue their studies at Georgia Tech. They are: 

• Bin Bai (M.S. EAS-CSE), advised by School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Assistant Professor Pengfei Liu
• Afrouz Delshad (M.S. CSE-CSE 2026), advised by College of Computing Associate Dean for Graduate Education and School of CSE Associate Professor Elizabeth Cherry
• Roy Makkar Gabriel (M.S. ECE-CSE 2026), advised by School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Professor Ali Adibi
• Alina Maximovna Gorbunova (M.S. ISYE-CSE 2026), co-advised by H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering Professors Kamran Paynabar and Jianjun Shi
• Wenbo Hao (M.S. MATH-CSE 2026), advised by School of CSE Assistant Professor Peng Chen
• Xueyu Hu (M.S. MSE-CSE 2026), advised by School of Materials Science and Engineering Regents’ Professor Meilin Liu
• Dayoung Kang (M.S. AE-CSE 2026), advised by Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering and School of CSE joint Assistant Professor Elizabeth Qian
• Soohwan Kim (M.S. ME-CSE 2026), advised by George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering Professor David Hu
• Xuanang Li (M.S. MATH-CSE 2026), advised by School of Mathematics Assistant Professor Tom Kelly
• Nitya Maruthuvakudi Venkatram (M.S. AE-CSE 2026), advised by School of AE Regents’ Professor Dimitri Mavris
• Nilavrah Sensarma (M.S. BIO-CSE 2026), advised by School of Biological Sciences Professor John McDonald
• Benjamin Wilfong (M.S. CSE-CSE 2026), advised by School of CSE Assistant Professor Spencer Bryngelson
• Xiaofeng (Alex) Wu (M.S. CEE-CSE 2026), advised by School of Civil and Environmental Engineering Regents’ Entrepreneur David Frost
• Keyang (Alfred) Zhong (M.S. ISYE-CSE 2026), advised by School of ISyE Professor Chelsea White

Georgia Tech’s CSE graduate program includes 12 schools and departments participating as home units. These home units represent the colleges of Computing, Engineering, and Sciences. This approach facilitates an immersive, interdisciplinary experience in which students study computational methods within their respective domains.

Georgia Tech celebrated master’s graduates at a May 9 ceremony at Bobby Dodd Stadium. After the Institute celebration, graduates were recognized during ceremonies held by their respective colleges.

Mohammed Wazir Adain (M.S. CSE 2026)

Aditi Agarwal (M.S. CSE 2026)

Sudarshan Anand (M.S. CSE 2026)

Arjun Bansal (M.S. CSE 2026)

Shraddha Bharadwaj (M.S. CSE 2026)

Aarushi Biswas (M.S. CSE 2026)

Anurita Bose (M.S. CSE 2026)

Hao-Cheng Chang (M.S. CSE 2026)

Nai-Jen Cheng (M.S. CSE 2026)

Yida Cheng (M.S. CSE 2026)

Denys Chernenko (M.S. CSE 2026)

Aarushi Vishal Dhanuka (M.S. CSE 2026)

MacKenzie Taylor Starr Drury (M.S. CSE 2026)

Chandra Sekhar Reddy Edula (M.S. CSE 2026)

Shiqi Fan (M.S. CSE 2026)

Yuanting Fan (M.S. CSE 2026)

Wen (Ava) Feng (M.S. CSE 2026)

Amrutha Praveen Ganapathiyat Othayoth (M.S. CSE 2026)

Aman Garg (M.S. CSE 2026)

Xin Guan (M.S. CSE 2026)

Yunmei Guan (M.S. CSE 2026)

Srihas Gunda (M.S. CSE 2026)

Yihui Han (M.S. CSE 2026)

Keenan Wai-sean Hom (M.S. CSE 2026)

Shiqi Hu (M.S. CSE 2026)

Wenxin Jiang (M.S. CSE 2026)

Harneet Singh Khanuja (M.S. CSE 2026)

Hyunjeong Kim (M.S. CSE 2026)

Vijay Prabhas Kodamalla (M.S. CSE 2026)

Neel Kothari (M.S. CSE 2026)

Ziji Li (M.S. CSE 2026)

Qinye Liu (M.S. CSE 2026)

Ruixin Liu (M.S. CSE 2026)

Yibo Liu (M.S. CSE 2026)

Shenyifan Lu (M.S. CSE 2026)

Wenliya Lyu (M.S. CSE 2026)

Aditya Akash Mavle (M.S. CSE 2026)

Samuel Wesley Moss (M.S. CSE 2026)

Shruti Santosh Murarka (M.S. CSE 2026)

Karthic Palaniappan (M.S. CSE 2026)

Shrey P. Patel (M.S. CSE 2026)

Tanish R. Patwa (M.S. CSE 2026)

Tim Minh Phan (M.S. CSE 2026)

Jing Qi (M.S. CSE 2026)

Wanrong Qi (M.S. CSE 2026)

Hui Qiao (M.S. CSE 2026)

Aditya Raghavan (M.S. CSE 2026)

Araceli Rodriguez Vallejo (M.S. CSE 2026)

Chloé Saleh (M.S. CSE 2026)

Vanshika Shah (M.S. CSE 2026)

Kaichen Shen (M.S. CSE 2026)

Bohan Shu (M.S. CSE 2026)

Kunhao Song (M.S. CSE 2026)

Ajeet Karthik Subramanian (M.S. CSE 2026)

Jingyun Sun (M.S. CSE 2026)

Yupeng Tang (M.S. CSE 2026)

Michael Kenneth Thompson (M.S. CSE 2026)

Yu Chu Tsai (M.S. CSE 2026)

Viren Dipin Varma (M.S. CSE 2026)

Aarushi Chetan Wagh (M.S. CSE 2026)

Yiling Wu (M.S. CSE 2026)

Yitong Wu (M.S. CSE 2026)

Jiayi Xu (M.S. CSE 2026)

Shuyan Yang (M.S. CSE 2026)

Yiming Ye (M.S. CSE 2026)

Zhenghao You (M.S. CSE 2026)

Yijia Zeng (M.S. CSE 2026)

Jinkai Zhan (M.S. CSE 2026)

Yuehan Zhang (M.S. CSE 2026)

Xinyu Zhao (M.S. CSE 2026)

Yuqian Zheng (M.S. CSE 2026)

Alexander Zhou de Magalhaes (M.S. CSE 2026)

Shizhuo Zhu (M.S. CSE 2026)

Xiaoai Zhu (M.S. CSE 2026)

Xinjie Zhu (M.S. CSE 2026)

Between orchestra concerts, magic shows, and yo-yo exhibitions, Li thrives in the limelight. In fact, not much rattles his nerves considering the five years of pressure he endured studying computational neuroscience at Tech.

Before he returns to New York City to continue building brain-interface technologies at Meta, we caught up with Li to learn how he keeps such a cool head at Georgia Tech and beyond.   

Graduate: Chengrui Li

Research Interests: Computational neuroscience, eye-tracking experiments and data analysis, statistical machine learning

Education: Ph.D. in Computational Science and Engineering (CSE)

Faculty Advisor: School of CSE Assistant Professor Anqi Wu

What persuaded you to attend graduate school at Georgia Tech?

My undergraduate was at Sichuan University in China. We knew that the most cutting-edge technology and research were in the United States, so I participated in an undergraduate exchange program at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, during my third year. 

I wanted to pursue a Ph.D. in neuroscience while also becoming very proficient in math and computer science (CS). This led me to apply to the CSE Ph.D. program over others. Georgia Tech’s CS ranking is very high, and the CSE program is very interdisciplinary, which matched my expectations super well. I did attain a solid education in math and CS at Georgia Tech. I also advanced my interest in neuroscience and its application by studying mathematical models and algorithms.

What research project from Georgia Tech are you most proud of?

My variational importance sampling paper is a favorite. That one was based heavily on statistical inference. I spent many hours working through complicated derivation calculations, often half-awake and half-asleep after several late nights. 

This paper confirmed to me, though, that innovative research requires both hard work and inspiration, and that this endeavor can be rewarding. The paper was selected as a top 5% spotlight paper at ICLR 2024, a world-leading conference on artificial intelligence research.

Could you share more about your role as a research scientist at Meta?

I have been working on Meta’s electromyography (EMG) neural band. This next-generation human-computer interaction device connects with and navigates Meta’s AI glasses.

With the neural band, you can use finger gestures to control the display content you see through the glasses, like swiping your thumb to scroll the screen, or writing on your lap as if you had a pen in your hand to send WhatsApp messages.

How did your Georgia Tech education prepare you for this role?

By pursuing my Ph.D., I am more proficient in critical thinking, math, coding, and presentation. During my interview, I demonstrated these skills and provided my publication records. This helped me land an internship, enabled my success in that role, and led to a full-time position. Additionally, my background in computational neuroscience best matched the work on the EMG neural band team at a big tech company.

What advice would you give someone interested in graduate school?

First, be clear whether a bachelor’s or master’s degree meets your work needs, or if you are truly interested in a scientific research topic. This interest should be based on your own passion, not the current trends. Interest is an important factor in deciding to pursue a Ph.D. because you have to like the topic and like it for a long time. A Ph.D. will require you to dive deep into a subject you must be genuinely curious about.

Second, we are in a new era with rapid advances in information technology. Time is an invaluable resource and is shaped by technology. You have to think more about your time, consider where and how you spend it, and embrace ways to use it more efficiently. 

Can you tell us more about your hobbies and how you keep up with them?

I started learning violin when I was five years old, and magic tricks when I was 11. The brain is a supercomputer suitable for functional computation. Our brain is an interface between the objective and subjective, where computation plays a core role in integrating these exact mechanics into interpretations of the world. This realization was one of the important factors that inspired me to pursue my Ph.D. research in computational neuroscience.

Another comparison I’ve learned after playing violin for 23 years is that the cochlea in our inner ear is a fast Fourier Transformer that simultaneously computes the aesthetic of music for us. Performing magic tricks for 17 years taught me that all the occurrences of seemingly low-probability magic phenomena are achieved by either letting it be a certain event or exhausting all possibilities.

I also have other hobbies, like yo-yo balls. I enjoy performing all these skills in front of audiences. Performing brings me satisfaction when I see excitement and happiness from the people I entertain. I am very grateful to my parents for their cultivation and encouragement in doing things that bring me fulfillment. They taught me to be curious and explore my interests, to enjoy pastimes, and instilled the habit to not give up my passions. These were not secondary things that distracted me from coursework or Ph.D. research, but rather complementary parts of my life that bring out the best in me.

What is your favorite Georgia Tech memory?

I have a lot. For my research, I debated frequently with Anqi Wu, my advisor. These often went late into the night to defend my stances. These challenged my beliefs and made me a stronger scholar, for which I am grateful to Anqi for her time and patience.  

I also enjoyed performing in the Georgia Tech symphony orchestra with our great conductor, Chaowen Ting. I was involved with the Georgia Tech Chinese Students and Scholars Association, where I showcased magic and yo-yo performances at organization events.

That is clearest on the surface, where Shah studied how public statements by businesses and financial institutions shape market behavior. At a deeper level, though, his success was buoyed by support from professors and his mentorship of younger students.

Shah’s ability to connect and invest in others led him to partner with Georgia Tech colleagues and start a financial technology business. He returns to campus this week to officially graduate from Tech, giving us a chance to catch up about his grad school experience and life as an entrepreneur.

Graduate: Agam Shah

Research Interests: Quantitative and computational finance, artificial intelligence, natural language processing, large language models (LLMs)

Education: Ph.D. in Machine Learning, home unit in the School of Computational Science and Engineering (CSE)

Faculty Advisors: Scheller College of Business Professor Sudheer Chava and School of CSE Associate Professor Chao Zhang

What persuaded you to attend graduate school at Georgia Tech?

Georgia Tech’s dedicated College of Computing strongly appealed to me. I was particularly drawn to the interdisciplinary nature of its machine learning Ph.D. program and the School of Computational Science and Engineering, both of which align well with my research interests. 

What research project(s) from Georgia Tech are you most proud of and why?

I am proud of all 20-plus research papers I have had the opportunity to contribute to at Georgia Tech. However, if I had to choose one, it would be my work on Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) text analysis, which was also highlighted in the news. 

This work is not only well-cited in academic literature, but the language model developed in the paper is also actively used by economists at many of the world’s top central banks, including researchers at the FOMC and the Bank of England. It is also used by leading financial institutions such as BlackRock and Daiwa Securities. Since its release, the model has achieved over 100,000 downloads on Hugging Face. 

What can you tell us more about your startup, ZettaQuant?

 ZettaQuant aims to solve one of the biggest challenges in using LLMs and agents: working effectively with massive underlying datasets. We serve as a layer between raw data and LLMs, helping distill billions of tokens into the relevant context that models can use. 

As a deep-tech startup, we are actively engaging with industry practitioners to better understand how to design and engineer our system to integrate seamlessly with their evolving AI workflows. Given the complexity of the problem we are tackling, particularly in advancing document intelligence systems, we are currently very focused on research and foundational development. 

How did your Georgia Tech education prepare you for starting ZettaQuant?

Not just my education, but my entire experience at Georgia Tech, extending beyond the classroom, prepared me for this journey. I met my co-founders at Georgia Tech, and many of the initial use cases we are exploring at ZettaQuant are built on open-source research I conducted there. 

In addition to research, I mentored more than 300 students through the Vertically Integrated Project “NLP for Financial Markets.” This experience taught me how to manage teams and think about building systems with a long-term vision. 

What advice would you give someone interested in graduate school?

 Most people pursue graduate school after already completing more than 15 years of education. Also, people who are admitted to a top school like Georgia Tech are often already well-positioned to secure strong job opportunities. So, graduate school should provide value beyond what you could learn outside the classroom. 

Before deciding, think carefully about what you hope to gain from graduate school that you cannot otherwise. Once you enroll, take full advantage of the faculty, research labs, networks, and seminars. Many students underutilize these opportunities during their undergraduate and graduate years. 

I would also like to quote the epilogue of my Ph.D. thesis: ‘Advice is abundant; conviction must be your own.’ Build a strong conviction about what you want to achieve from graduate school before committing to it. 

What did you do for fun and relaxation while attending Georgia Tech? Do you still keep up with these now?

 This may sound unconventional, but I spent a significant amount of time mentoring and teaching throughout my Ph.D. Many of my mentees went on to gain admission to top graduate programs. This included two students I mentored for all four years of their undergraduate studies who later joined the ML Ph.D. program at Georgia Tech. They are now teaching and mentoring students, completing a full-circle journey. 

Working with mentees and supporting their growth gives me a strong sense of fulfillment and serves as a form of relaxation. In addition, I enjoy listening to music, especially while coding, and I continue to do that today. 

What is your favorite Georgia Tech memory?

 If I had to choose one favorite memory, beyond the many exciting late nights in the lab, it would be proposing to my wife on Tech Green at Georgia Tech. She is also a Yellow Jacket, having completed her undergraduate degree here and currently pursuing her Ph.D. Our home truly is a hive of Yellow Jackets. 

Mizan Rahman knows there’s much that academia and industry can learn from each other.

He’s living proof of it.

The 52-year-old entrepreneur will receive his Ph.D. in human-centered computing (HCC) as he walks across the stage on Thursday at Georgia Tech’s Spring 2026 Ph.D. Commencement.

When Rahman was accepted into the HCC Ph.D. program, he’d already founded three successful tech startups and was an angel investor in numerous others. He also earned a master’s in computational science and engineering from Georgia Tech in 2013.

Rahman took on the challenge of a Ph.D. because he’s always been in pursuit of a holistic view of technology. One perspective he said he needed to understand was that of the end user.

“I’d already done computer science and computational science and engineering, so I wanted to look at the human dimension, the user’s perspectives, and society,” Rahman said. “You’ve got to build technology that fits into our human dynamics.”

Rahman’s journey began as an undergraduate in chemical engineering at Miami Dade College and Florida Atlantic University. He switched to computer science after his roommate, also a CS major, showed him some programming he had been working on.

“I couldn’t sleep after that,” Rahman said. “I was writing software all night. I loved solving problems through technology.”

Early Success

Rahman invented BayBuilder, a strategic sourcing automation technology, in 1999. The software was adopted by major Fortune 500 companies. Rahman estimates it has saved these companies $1 billion in procurement spending.

Baybuilder was acquired by a NASDAQ-listed firm in 2001, and he was ready to start his next company.

“I’ve been an entrepreneur as far back as I can remember,” Rahman said. “I was born with it. If I saw something that didn’t exist, I created it.”

After relocating to Atlanta, Rahman founded a new company, M2SYS Technology. Governments around the world used the company’s innovative identity technology to automate processes and deliver efficient services to citizens. M2SYS also worked with the CDC to treat HIV in Haiti and Zambia, as well as many U.S. hospitals, including Grady Memorial in Atlanta, to protect patients from fraud and receiving the wrong treatment.

Rahman’s most recent startup, CloudApper AI, introduced a new system architecture that generates secure software requiring minimal ongoing maintenance. His non-biased algorithm, which he created during his Ph.D. for CloudApper, is now used by major companies to streamline automated resume analysis and candidate scoring.

Living in Two Worlds

Rahman began his Ph.D. in 2021, but he kept his new venture to himself and his family. He didn’t tell his employees he was pursuing a Ph.D., and he didn’t disclose his industry background to his fellow doctoral students.

“I kept the other side of me far away,” he said. “The people who knew, they knew, but I purposefully didn’t discuss my outside activities and experience. I wanted to fit in, and I think I was able to do that.”

When Rahman was at his company, he was a CEO and entrepreneur, and when he was at Georgia Tech, he was a researcher. But what he was learning as a researcher began to change how he perceived his business. 

“I wanted to be a researcher and think like a researcher and not just always think about sales and marketing,” he said. “I started bringing in more ideas about how the user should be thought of in our products. I’m sure they were wondering why I was emphasizing that so much, but it was because I was applying what I was learning in my Ph.D. 

“Now I’ve been on both sides, I want to be connected to both in the future, applying research principles and practices in product development and innovation.”

Building Community Through Makerspaces

When it came time for Rahman to choose a subject for his dissertation, he returned to his roots and looked for ways technology can support young entrepreneurs and their startups. That’s when he began conducting research in makerspaces.

“I wanted to find out how we can bring innovation to a scale where anybody can participate,” he said. “I saw this happening in makerspaces where regular people learn, collaborate, and build products and companies from scratch. I saw that the community at large is facing a sustainability crisis.”

Rahman argued in his dissertation that makerspaces can play a significant role in local innovation. When people struggle to survive, it disrupts communities in numerous ways.

Rahman details four studies conducted over three-and-a-half years that show how socio-technical factors drive organizational sustainability in makerspaces and how AI tools can foster an innovative culture within them.

“The compelling thing about his research is that he shows that people come to makerspaces for the tools, but they stay for the people,” said Rosa Arriaga, associate professor and Rahman’s advisor.

“He has plenty of work from his ethnographic research that shows that a makerspace can have all the tech and resources, but if there isn’t cohesion among the people, there’s a problem.”

It Takes a Village

Rahman is the first to admit that it’s not possible for one man to run a company while pursuing a Ph.D. He needed a community. This starts with his family. His wife, Mohu Sultana, now serves as interim CEO of M2SYS and has supported Rahman throughout his Ph.D. research.

The Georgia Tech community has been part of Rahman’s life in some way since he started his career. 

Sultana holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Tech, and their daughter, Malisha Rahman, is graduating this week with a bachelor’s in economics and international affairs. Malisha Rahman has also been accepted into the HCC program and will begin her Ph.D. in the fall. 

Rahman said that any student who wants to create a tech startup will have an advantage from access to Georgia Tech’s network.

“The Georgia Tech startup community is fantastic,” he said. “There is a tremendous amount of knowledge here, and the research community can help shape the next big thing. We have CREATE-X, a place where you can find mentorship from faculty who started in industry. You’ll learn things I wish I knew before I started.”

Each week on his way to the Howey Physics Building, Harrington passed the MiRC, wondering what happened behind its doors. 

“One day I got the courage to walk in. I went to the front desk and I asked, ‘Hey, do you have any jobs for freshmen?’” Harrington recalled. “I was pointed to Bob Rose, so I walked down and had a brief conversation with him where he hired me on the spot.”

That moment—walking in with curiosity and leaving with a job— shifted Harrington’s career path from pursuing a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering and working in electronic design automation (EDA) to a life in the laboratory advancing microelectronics research. 

When he began working for the MiRC in the early 2000s, the cleanroom facilities had only three full-time employees. The small staff gave Harrington opportunities to contribute. He started with smaller tasks, from changing pump oil to sorting nuts and bolts, but his dedication quickly led to greater responsibility. 

At the time, Gary Spinner, director of cleanroom operations for the Institute for Matter and Systems (IMS), played a key role in mentoring students and expanding access to the Institute’s microelectronics facilities. Known for his hands-on approach and commitment to student development, Spinner helped guide the growth of cleanroom operations and the people who worked within them.

“Gary took note of me and said, ‘Brandon, please join the co-op program,’” Harrington said. “I quickly found my way into the cleanrooms, and from that point on, I touched basically every system, whether it was the billing software, the access control system, or the toxic gas monitoring.”

As an undergraduate co-op, Harrington advanced through the MiRC, training graduate researchers on tools and developing new or modifying existing efficiency systems. By the time he earned his undergraduate degree, he had accumulated extensive experience in the cleanrooms and graduated with an offer to be a full-time electrical engineer for the MiRC while pursuing his master’s degree.

An unexpected outcome of this role was a friendship that led him to a Ph.D. in electrical engineering. While working full-time, Harrington became good friends with then-Ph.D. student Reza Abdolvand. After Abdolvand joined Oklahoma State University as a faculty member, he asked Harrington if he would come help him start his research group.

“I was really good friends with Reza and I thought this was a way I could get his career going,” Harrington said. “So I left Georgia Tech, around 2008, to pursue my PhD from Oklahoma State.”

Today, Harrington supports the industry in a variety of ways, providing consultation for startups and large corporations alike. His work includes early feasibility studies, prototype development, productization, transfer to volume-production foundries, and yield improvement activities. 

He is now the director of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) development at AMFitzgerald, where he leads a team delivering innovative solutions to clients—all because he followed his curiosity.

Harrington’s journey reflects the broader impact of Georgia Tech’s cleanroom facilities—spaces where curiosity can turn into hands-on experience, mentorship, and career-defining opportunities. By providing students access to advanced tools, real-world problem-solving, and a collaborative research environment, the cleanrooms continue to shape the next generation of engineers and innovators, just as they did for a curious freshman who decided to walk through an open door.

He first considered Tech while walking to a basketball game with his father back in the ‘90s. Hope wondered aloud if Tech could be in his future.

His father answered: “Sure, IF you can get in.”

Hope took the response as a personal challenge. “It awakened a mission to prove to everyone that doubting me was a mistake,” he remembers.

Years later, Hope did get in, but getting out proved far more difficult.

Building Resilience

As someone who’d always been good in math, Hope began in computer engineering, then switched to industrial engineering. Struggling with his classes, he was faced with a hard choice: sit out a semester or leave Georgia Tech.

He chose to stay.

“It was fight or flight,” says Hope. “I knew I had to find something I was passionate about and catalyze some momentum — or go home.”

He found that passion in the science of behavior.

“I discovered Industrial-Organizational Psychology and realized that the human element; how we work, why we lead, and how we build cultures, is a fascinating and useful science,” says Hope.

Once he found his direction, Hope never faltered. 

Today, he is a people leader at Google, who attributes much of his success to the resiliency honed at Georgia Tech. And, after once coming close to leaving without a degree, he is now returning to give the commencement address at the College of Sciences master’s graduation celebration.

Undergraduate Life

What were you involved with on campus?

Hope: I was a Georgia Tech Student Ambassador and a Co-op Ambassador. I was also a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., the Student Alumni Association, the Minority Recruitment Team, the African American Student Union, the National Society of Black Engineers, and the Freshman Activities Board.

What’s something you’re especially proud of from your time at Tech?

Hope: I was an IT co-op at McKinneys, before I switched to psychology. I was told I couldn’t receive the co-op designation on my diploma because it wasn’t in my major. I read the rules, saw no language that disqualified me, advocated for myself, and persuaded them to change their minds. If that rule is different now, it’s because of me.

Leadership Lessons

What is your leadership philosophy?

Hope: Show up as my authentic self. Part of the reason I'm able to do that is that I work at a company like Google where that's really championed.

How did Georgia Tech influence the way you lead today?

Hope: I learned that even when it looks like there are no options, there is always a way to get it done and move forward.

What concepts from psychology shape your leadership style?

Hope: The scientific method comes to mind. Create a hypothesis, leverage some data, then iterate. Stay open to being wrong. If it’s not exactly what you expect, go back to the drawing board.

How would you describe your leadership style?

Hope: I'm a teacher at heart. Knowledge sharing and helping others grow are important to me. That said, I don’t speak just to talk. I constantly ask myself: Is what I’m about to say useful? Georgia Tech taught me to value thoughtful contribution over volume.

What’s a leadership rule you follow?

Hope: I don’t know if this is a leadership rule or a life mantra, but always act with integrity. Never do or say anything you wouldn’t want printed in The New York Times. I’ve worked hard to get where I am, but it only takes one thing to ruin your reputation, and leadership is built on trust.

In your commencement speech, you talk about the importance of leadership in everyday life. How does leadership show up in your home life?

Hope: My wife and I are very intentional in parenting our two boys. Our instinct is often to teach, but sometimes the best lesson is knowing when to step back. Letting them make mistakes, then talking it through together at the kitchen table, that’s a different — and oftentimes more difficult — kind of leadership.

Paying it Forward

A deeply engaged alumnus, Hope has served on the College of Sciences Young Alumni Board, participates in Georgia Tech Connect and Roll Call, and was recently asked to join the College of Sciences Advisory Board.

What advice would you give to Georgia Tech graduates?

Hope: Constantly build your brand. Mine is important, not just for me personally, but the better my reputation, the more I can help others through the influence I carry.

Why is giving back important to you?

Hope: As a student ambassador, I saw firsthand how alumni support shapes the student experience. I remember realizing that certain buildings and programs exist because alumni gave back. It changed my entire perspective on giving. Today, I like being a part of creating something bigger and better for the next generation of scholars.

This week, Time Magazine named CrowdStrike and Pindrop Security among the 10 Most Influential Software Companies of 2026.

CrowdStrike and Pindrop appear on TIME’s new list alongside some of the world’s best-known computing companies, including Adobe, Microsoft, and Palantir. Released on April 27 as part of the outlet’s TIME100 Companies: Industry Leaders series, this recognition underscores their rising influence.

“It’s exciting to see that two out of the ten companies on this list were founded by alumni and faculty from the College of Computing. We are bursting with pride,” said Vivek Sarkar, John P. Imlay Jr. Dean of Computing. “This recognition reflects the strength of our academic and research programs, as well as the impact of our commitment to fostering a vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem.

"It also highlights how we are empowering our students and faculty to translate bold, innovative ideas into successful ventures. Looking ahead, we will further integrate entrepreneurial thinking with the computational and AI foundations embedded throughout our curriculum.”

Their inclusion on TIME’s list this year is especially notable because both CrowdStrike and Pindrop address the growing cybersecurity threat landscape, including deepfakes.

[RELATED: USNWR Ranks GT Computing No. 2 for Undergraduate Cybersecurity]

GT Computing alumnus Vijay Balasubramaniyan (PhD CS 2011) co-founded Pindrop in 2011 with his doctoral advisor, Mustaque Ahamad, and Georgia Tech alumnus Paul Judge (PhD CS 2002). It commercialized his doctoral research to help call centers determine whether callers are legitimate.

The company has also developed a deepfake protection product and recently raised $100 million in capital funding to expand its deepfake video detection business. During this expansion, the company developed Pindrop Pulse, which TIME named one of the Best Inventions of 2025.

“Identity, consent, and accountability are society’s contracts. Deepfakes erode all three,” Balasubramaniyan told TIME.

Pindrop technology can confirm participants' identities in audio/video conference calls within a few seconds.

“Vijay’s Ph.D. research was of the highest quality, and the Pindrop paper was published in one of the top-tier security conferences,” said Ahamad, Regents' Entrepreneur and interim chair of the School of Cybersecurity and Privacy.

“However, because of his work experience before coming to Georgia Tech, he also focused on the real-world relevance of his research, which led to the launch of Pindrop Security. He is a great example of impactful research that students conduct in our laboratories.”

Like Pindrop, CrowdStrike was founded to counter emerging digital threats and has evolved to combat growing AI-powered security challenges. Dmitri Alperovitch (CS 2001, MS InfoSec 2003) co-founded the company and served as chief technology officer at its 2012 launch.

Alperovitch, recently inducted into the College of Computing Hall of Fame, played a pivotal role in securing more than $150 million in capital investments for the company, helping pave the way for CrowdStrike to become one of the world’s leading cybersecurity companies. In fact, its client list includes nearly 60% of Fortune 500 companies.

“What appealed to me in cybersecurity is that you are never really done,” Alperovitch said during a recent campus fireside chat with students.

“As long as there are human beings out there that want to do you harm, there are always security problems to solve.”

Asked about the founding of CrowdStrike, Alperovitch described investigating a 2010 breach at Google by a nation-state actor as a pivotal moment for him.

“The industry refused to acknowledge this was a widespread problem, and that realization led me to start CrowdStrike,” he said. “You no longer just have to be better than your competitors. You must stay proactive and vigilant.”

Alperovitch is the co-founder and chairman of Silverado Policy Accelerator and the bestselling author of World on the Brink: How America Can Beat China in the Race for the 21st Century.

Lloyd George was back in the gym just two weeks after completing 2,002 muscle-ups in 24 hours in July of 2025, which broke the world record. He immediately started training for an even more challenging feat—the world record for the most muscle-ups done on a gymnastic ring in 8, 12, and 24 hours.

On Sunday, April 12, 2026, he surpassed all three, completing 900 ring muscle-ups in 8 hours, 1,100 in 12 hours, and 1,320 in 24 hours. (The records are unofficial until they can be reviewed by Guinness World Records.)

“I’ve sort of got a recipe for these world records now,” says Lloyd George, who used the challenge to raise money for the Wounded Veterans Relief Fund, a charity that helps veterans receive dental care. 

Since the summer of 2025, he steadily increased his training volume, pushing past 17,000 total ring muscle-ups, and completing longer sessions, including a six-hour effort of 722 ring muscle-ups.

A Harder Variant of A Muscle-Up

Ring muscle-ups are a more demanding variant of the standard bar muscle-up. The sway of the rings introduces instability and makes muscles work harder when the ropes move. The grip is also different. 

“You wrap your wrists around the rings almost like you’re trying to arm wrestle them,” Lloyd George says. Put in physics terms—a field he knows well as a doctoral student at Duke University researching trapped ions for quantum computing—the rings introduce four more degrees of freedom. 

The Math Behind His Three Attempts

His decision to attempt three world records came down to simple math. The current 8-hour record is 843, while the 24-hour record is 1,308. No formal record exists for the 12-hour category. 

“I realized that if I do two ring muscle-ups every minute, at that pace I’d get to 960 in 8 hours. There isn’t a 12-hour record, and there are for other calisthenic records, so I thought I could set that one, too,” he says. 

When he broke the bar muscle-up record in 2025, he didn’t know how challenging the final hours would be. The last 50 reps were grueling, and with the support of his friends and family who cheered him on, he pushed past his limits. Knowing what the challenge will feel like changes his mental preparation this time around.

“I think you have to play with the mental game and really ask yourself, ‘Why am I doing this?’ especially on those difficult training days. For those, I think about the charity I’m trying to raise money for that I believe in, and that this is one more opportunity to challenge myself.” 

Georgia Tech researchers are making AI easier to understand through their work on Transformer Explainer. The free, online tool shows non-experts how ChatGPT, Claude, and other large language models (LLMs) process language. 

Transformer Explainer is easy to use and runs on any web browser. It quickly went viral after its debut, reaching 150,000 users in its first three months. More than 563,000 people worldwide have used the tool so far.

Global interest in Transformer Explainer continues when the team presents the tool at the 2026 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2026). CHI, the world’s most prestigious conference on human-computer interaction, will take place in Barcelona, April 13-17.

[Related: GT @ CHI 2026]

“There are moments when LLMs can seem almost like a person with their own will and personality, and that misperception has real consequences. For example, there have been cases where teenagers have made poor decisions based on conversations with LLMs,” said Ph.D. student Aeree Cho.

“Understanding that an LLM is fundamentally a model that predicts the probability distribution of the next token helps users avoid taking its outputs as absolute. What you put in shapes what comes out, and that understanding helps people engage with AI more carefully and critically.”

A transformer is a neural network architecture that changes data input sequence into an output. Text, audio, and images are forms of processed data, which is why transformers are common in generative AI models. They do this by learning context and tracking mathematical relationships between sequence components.

Transformer Explainer demystifies how transformers work. The platform uses visualization and interaction to show, step by step, how text flows through a model and produces predictions.

Using this approach, Transformer Explainer impacts the AI landscape in four main ways:

• It counters hype and misconceptions surrounding AI by showing how transformers work.
• It improves AI literacy among users by removing technical barriers and lowering the entry for learning about AI.
• It expands AI education by helping instructors teach AI mechanisms without extensive setup or computing resources.
• It influences future development of AI tools and educational techniques by providing a blueprint for interpretable AI systems.

“When I first learned about transformers, I felt overwhelmed. A transformer model has many parts, each with its own complex math. Existing resources typically present all this information at once, making it difficult to see how everything fits together,” said Grace Kim, a dual B.S./M.S. computer science student. 

“By leveraging interactive visualization, we use levels of abstraction to first show the big picture of the entire model. Then users click into individual parts to reveal the underlying details and math. This way, Transformer Explainer makes learning far less intimidating.”

Many users don’t know what transformers are or how they work. The Georgia Tech team found that people often misunderstand AI. Some label AI with human-like characteristics, such as creativity. Others even describe it as working like magic.

Furthermore, barriers make it hard for students interested in transformers to start learning. Tutorials tend to be too technical and overwhelm beginners with math and code. While visualization tools exist, these often target more advanced AI experts.

Transformer Explainer overcomes these obstacles through its interactive, user-focused platform. It runs a familiar GPT model directly in any web browser, requiring no installation or special hardware. 

Users can enter their own text and watch the model predict the next word in real time. Sankey-style diagrams show how information moves through embeddings, attention heads, and transformer blocks.

The platform also lets users switch between high-level concepts and detailed math. By adjusting temperature settings, users can see how randomness affects predictions. This reveals how probabilities drive AI outputs, rather than creativity.

“Millions of people around the world interact with transformer-driven AI. We believe that it is crucial to bridge the gap between day-to-day user experience and the models' technical reality, ensuring these tools are not misinterpreted as human-like or seen as sentient,” said Ph.D. student Alex Karpekov. 

“Explaining the architecture helps users recognize that language generated by models is a product of computation, leading to a more grounded engagement with the technology.” 

Cho, Karpekov, and Kim led the development of Transformer Explainer. Ph.D. students Alec Helbling, Seongmin Lee, Ben Hoover, and alumni Zijie (Jay) Wang (Ph.D. ML-CSE 2024) and Minsuk Kahng (Ph.D. CS-CSE 2019) assisted on the project. 

Professor Polo Chau supervised the group and their work. His lab focuses on data science, human-centered AI, and visualization for social good.

Acceptance at CHI 2026 stems from the team winning the best poster award at the 2024 IEEE Visualization Conference. This recognition from one of the top venues in visualization research highlights Transformer Explainer’s effectiveness in teaching how transformers work.

“Transformer Explainer has reached over half a million learners worldwide,” said Chau, a faculty member in the School of Computational Science and Engineering. 

“I'm thrilled to see it extend Georgia Tech's mission of expanding access to higher education, now to anyone with a web browser.”

“There is incredible power in alumni stories,” says Susan Lozier, dean of the College of Sciences and Betsy Middleton and John Clark Sutherland Chair. “It’s inspiring for students to speak with alumni in the workforce, hear how they landed their first jobs, and learn from their successes — and their setbacks.”

Claire Haskell (Mathematics 2025) recently obtained her first job with Deloitte and attended the dinner to offer perspective to current students.

“I want to reassure students still in school that, even in today’s uncertain times, getting a job is still really doable and not as out of reach as it seems. Meeting Tech alumni is a great first step.”

A Night of Networking

College of Sciences Career Educator Program Manager James Stringfellow and Director of Alumni Relations Leslie Roberts organized the annual signature career event.

“We put on events like this because we want all of our students ready for their next opportunity,” says Stringfellow.

Second-year psychology major Aleena Sange attended the event for the first time, and says she will be back next year. “The alumni were really helpful and reassuring,” says Sange. “I learned what employers look for in a resume and even received advice about contract negotiations and retirement.”

First-year astrophysics student Shannon Callahan agrees. “What struck me the most was hearing how well Georgia Tech prepares you for the workforce. It gave me a lot of confidence to hear that Tech alumni hit the ground running because they’re used to learning quickly.”

The evening included casual and more structured networking, with students rotating between tables on topics such as “Using AI in the Workplace,” “Handling Conflict,” and “How to Get Hired in the Real World.”

Janessa Rowland (Earth and Atmospheric Sciences 2014) works as an operations program manager for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. She encouraged students to think beyond their major

“Sometimes an internship or class outside your major can open up the door for what you can do after Georgia Tech.”

Morgan Foreman (Psychology 2017), a technical product manager at IBM, offered encouraging insight: “People often tell you college is the best years of your life. Georgia Tech also sets you up for your dream life after college.”

2026 Internship Employer of the Year

During the festivities, Stringfellow announced Boehringer Ingelheim as the Internship Employer of the Year. The award honors a company that provides a high-quality learning environment for student interns. 

Arya Akbarshahi, a biochemistry major who spent a semester doing a co-op job at the company, presented the award, thanking the biopharmaceutical company active in both human and animal health for the learning experience provided.

“Co-oping at Boehringer Ingelheim was one of the most formative experiences in my training. From day one, I was trusted as a scientist, which allowed me to formulate hypotheses and execute experiments with direct implications for drug development strategy and decisions,”  says Akbarshahi. 

After presenting the award to Boehringer Ingelheim Senior Scientist Marc Sprouse, Akbarshahi also presented a surprise mentorship award to Sprouse.

“Marc was an exceptional mentor,” says Akbarshahi. “He challenged me to think critically about the biology, not just the assay, and consistently created space for me to take ownership and operate at a higher level.”

Sprouse accepted both awards and spoke of the benefits of working while still in school: “Getting real-world work experience while in school sets students up for success. I encourage all College of Science students to check out our website and apply for future co-ops and internships."

“We certainly didn’t think of ourselves as pioneers,” says Whatley. “We were just trying to get through.”

Today, Whatley is no longer a hidden figure as she is now recognized for her trailblazing role.  She has been honored by the Institute’s Pathway of Progress art installation, Women of Distinction Award, and scholarship endowment established by the Georgia Tech Black Alumni Organization.

As Georgia Tech celebrates Women’s History Month, Whatley’s barrier-breaking legacy is a reminder of how women in STEM expand what’s possible, not only for themselves, but for those who follow.

Following the math path

Whatley grew up in Chubbtown, a self-sufficient Black community established pre-Civil War in Cave Spring, Georgia. The first Black valedictorian of Cave Spring High School after desegregation, she loved math from an early age. Whatley often tagged along with her father who was always building or fixing something — inspiring her to use numbers to solve problems.

She majored in math at Clark (now Clark Atlanta University), graduating magna cum laude. Encouraged to attend a predominantly white institution for graduate school by Joseph James Dennis, head of Clark’s Mathematics department, Whatley and Hammonds applied to Georgia Tech and Emory University. Tech responded first with an unexpected bonus: a teaching assistantship.

“Earning money to teach math and help pay for school appealed to me,” she shares.

Finding her footing at Tech

Entering the Institute as one of the few Black women on campus came with challenges. Whatley enrolled only nine years after Georgia Tech became the first university in the Deep South to admit African American students without a court order. 

“I’m not sure they wanted us there,” she admits. “But I wasn’t nervous. I was excited to learn more math — and teach it as well.”

As a graduate teaching assistant, Whatley taught undergraduate calculus, algebra, and trigonometry. Students were often surprised to see her at the front of the classroom, as most instructors were white males. She remembers professors who encouraged her, particularly her advisor Professor Emeritus Robert Kasriel.

“He believed in me, especially my knowledge of math,” Whatley says. “He encouraged me to speak up with confidence.”

Another professor pushed her to contest a grade he felt was unfair. She chose instead to stay focused on completing her degree. Despite the obstacles, Whatley remembers her time at Tech fondly. “I really enjoyed the classroom interaction with the undergraduates and teaching subjects I loved.”

She appreciates the toughness of the education she received. “Georgia Tech rewards tenacity. If you can make it through here, you can make it through just about anything — and that problem‑solving confidence stays with you.”

Choosing to serve

After graduation, Whatley joined BellSouth as a junior engineer, working on depreciation studies and writing early computer programs in Basic and Fortran.

“I took a class at Morehouse to learn programming. We used ticker tape, punch cards, and computers that took up an entire room,” remembers Whatley.  

She spent 22 years at BellSouth, earning frequent promotions. Her career shifted into a new direction when she heard a radio request for tutors at Marietta Junior High School. She volunteered and began working with several students, including a middle school girl who still counted on her fingers. Whatley guided her toward more confident problem-solving. “All she needed was someone to take the time to work with her.”s.

Tutoring became a catalyst for change. Motivated by the difference she could make, she left corporate America.

Expanding her impact

After obtaining certification from Mercer University, she became a high school math teacher. Whatley planned to teach for just three years but stayed for four after her advisement class of ninth graders begged her to stay until they graduated. 

Committed to expanding her impact, Whatley earned an educational specialist degree from the University of West Georgia and a Ph.D. in Educational Studies from Emory University. While at Emory, she began an educational consulting career,  launching Educational Dynamix, a nonprofit firm focused on learning and development for children and educators. Her consulting work also explored the connections between music and mathematics — helping educators and parents use both to strengthen student learning.

“Teaching math was satisfying,” says Whatley. “I enjoyed going into a class where students — or their teachers — didn’t believe in their ability to do math and showing them that they could do it.”

Whatley smiles and clarifies: “When I went into education, whether I was working with students, training teachers, or helping make changes in organizational structures, I found my passion. Looking back, hopefully, I made some lives better overall.”

 Sharing family history

Whatley’s influences are felt beyond the classroom. She is the author of several books, including The Chubbs: A Free Black Family’s Journey From the Antebellum Era to the Mid-1900s, which grew out of her family’s history. Whatley began this research while assisting with media features on her cousin, University of Georgia football star Nick Chubb.

Researching her family’s story led to a surprising discovery: a crumpled bill of sale for an enslaved girl that her son tucked into her grandmother’s old trunk. That document — and the stories surrounding it — propelled her to write the book and preserve Chubbtown’s history for future generations. 

Reflecting on a legacy

Whatley says faith and family are the most important things in her life. She has been married to her husband, Melvin, for 55 years. Her daughter, son, and several relatives also attended Georgia Tech, with her daughter running track and cross country and her son playing football. “We’re a Yellow Jacket family with one Bulldog granddaughter,” she says with a smile.

Today, Whatley is honored to have the recognition that came years after graduation. “What I went through wasn’t in vain. It feels good to know that I opened some doors and helped others along the way.”

College of Engineering

Georgia Tech’s College of Engineering remained among the nation’s elite, ranking No. 4 overall in Best Engineering Schools and maintaining its position among the top institutions nationwide.

Several engineering disciplines continued to rank among the nation’s best, with multiple programs placing in the top five. The College’s consistent performance reflects its leadership in research, innovation, and graduate training that closely aligns with industry and global challenges.

Top engineering rankings include:

• No. 1 Industrial, Manufacturing, and Systems Engineering
• No. 1 Biomedical Engineering (tied), up from No. 2
• No. 2 Aerospace Engineering
• No. 3 Civil Engineering
• No. 3 Mechanical Engineering (tied), up from No. 5
• No. 4 Environmental Engineering
• No. 5 Chemical Engineering (tied)
• No. 5 Computer Engineering (tied)

College of Computing

Georgia Tech continued to demonstrate national strength in computing, ranking No. 7 overall among Best Computer Science Schools in the 2026 rankings.

Notable computing rankings include:

• No. 5 Artificial Intelligence, up from No. 6
• No. 6 Systems (tied)
• No. 13 Theory (tied)
• No. 15 Programming Language

These rankings reflect Georgia Tech’s leadership in emerging and foundational computing technologies, as well as its role in applying computation across disciplines to address real‑world challenges and strengthen industries.

Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts

Graduate programs at the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School of Public Policy earned strong national placements in the 2026 rankings, highlighting the school’s growing visibility at the intersection of technology, policy, and governance.

Highlights include:

• No. 2 Information and Technology Management (tied)
• No. 10 Environmental Policy and Management (tied)
• No. 23 Public Policy Analysis (tied), up from No. 26

Scheller College of Business

The Scheller College of Business continued its momentum in the 2026 rankings, earning a No. 9 national ranking in Best Part-Time MBA Programs, rising from No. 10 last year.

Scheller also received recognition across a range of graduate business disciplines, with several programs newly ranked in 2026.

Notable Scheller rankings include:

• No. 8 Information Systems (tied)
• No. 15 Supply Chain Management (tied)
• No. 16 Business Analytics (tied)

College of Sciences

Georgia Tech’s graduate programs in the physical sciences earned continued national recognition, reflecting strength in foundational research areas that support advances in engineering, computing, sustainability, and health.

Science program rankings include:

• No. 20 Chemistry (tied)
• No. 22 Physics (tied)
• No. 26 Mathematics (tied)
• No. 29 Earth Sciences (tied), up from No. 33

*Please note that this summary includes the latest rankings issued by U.S. News & World Report for 2026. Not all Georgia Tech Colleges, Schools, and subjects are ranked every year by this organization. 

Now a senior professional working at the intersection of business automation and AI integration, Lane balances a high-tech career with a people-first leadership style as the head of the College’s Computing Alumni Network. In this role, she promotes mentorship, global outreach, and the "non-linear" paths that shape a successful career.

In the following Q&A, Lane shares insights from her journey from a computer science student to an AI automation expert, discusses the "human" side of technology, and outlines her vision for growing our alumni community well beyond Atlanta.

What drew you to get involved with the Computing Alumni Network?

Honestly, it started for personal reasons. I wanted to expand my network and find my people. But what kept me engaged was something deeper. I reconnected with the College about ten years ago, and I quickly realized how much I'd missed by not being involved sooner.

There's an energy you get from staying close to a place that shaped you, and I wanted to help provide that for others the way I wished it had been for me.

Can you share a moment or initiative with the Network that you’re especially proud of?

We've had some wonderful events over the years — some that really stand out, others that were quieter but no less meaningful. Reflecting on it, what I'm most proud of is how the Network has endured the turbulence of the last few years.

Navigating the pandemic, adapting to significant changes in our supporting staff, and still showing up for students and each other — that resilience is something I don't take for granted.

How has the alumni community changed since you graduated?

I can't speak to the full arc. I got involved with the Computing Network in 2019, so my perspective is more recent. What I can say is that our focus has become more centered on the students, how we can give back, and how we can include our global alumni network.

Why do you think staying connected to the College matters, even years after graduation?

I'm living proof that it's never too late and that getting involved is more than worthwhile. The relationships you build here, the sense of shared identity with people who went through something hard and came out the other side — that doesn't expire. And the further you go in your career, the more you realize how rare it is to find a community with that kind of foundation.

You’re now working in AI automation—what excites you most about your work today?

What gets me out of bed every morning is the chance to make work more human again. There's a pattern I see everywhere right now where people are being used as the connective tissue between disconnected systems — doing repetitive, manual work that drains the meaning out of their days. It's deflating in a way that's hard to overstate. I believe automation, when done right, can give people back the time and energy. If I can add some genuine meaning back to someone's workday, that's a win I'll take every time.

How did your experience as a CS student prepare you for a career in tech and business?

Georgia Tech taught me how to adapt — and more importantly, that I could. It gave me the discipline to teach myself new things, the humility to ask for help when I needed it, and the confidence to know I can do hard things. That combination has been the through-line of my entire career. The specific technical skills matter, but it's that mindset that's carried me through every pivot and challenge since.

What advice would you give to current students who hope to follow a similar path?

Find a mentor, and don't wait until you feel like you need one. The relationships you build now — with professors, with older students, with alumni — will compound in ways you can't predict.

Also, stay curious beyond your major. The most interesting problems I've worked on sit at the intersection of technology and human behavior, and I never would have found my way there if I'd kept my head down in purely technical work or kept doing only what I already knew.

How can alumni best support students and recent graduates right now?

Mentoring is the highest-leverage thing you can do, especially for students graduating into such unpredictable times. It doesn’t have to be formal or structured mentoring. Sometimes it's just about being genuinely available, replying to an email, scheduling a coffee chat, or sharing an honest picture of what your career actually looked like, not the polished version. Students need to see that the path isn't always linear, and that people who have navigated uncertainty are willing to help them do the same.

What’s next for the Network—any upcoming priorities or initiatives you’re excited about?

Our big focus right now is growth — expanding the College of Computing alumni in Atlanta and beyond. There's a lot of Georgia Tech computing talent spread across the country and the world, and we want those people to feel that this community is for them, too, not just those of us who stayed local.

Making that geographic reach feel real, not just theoretical, is something we're actively working toward.

“The first time I worked on a computer there and wrote my first program, I was hooked,” he said. 

“There is something uniquely satisfying about seeing the immediate results of your work. I also appreciated how objective coding is. It either works or it does not.” 

Musaev’s journey in CS continued at Kyrgyz-Russian Slavic University, where a chance discovery set the stage for his academic path abroad. After spotting a leaflet for a presidential scholarship, he applied and was among the ten winners out of roughly 1,500 applicants. 

“As part of the scholarship, the organizers selected an American university for me, Georgia Institute of Technology, which I had not heard of at the time,” he said. 

At Tech, Musaev earned his bachelor’s in CS. He later continued his studies as a graduate research assistant and earned his master’s in CS. 

That early fascination with problem-solving and clarity continues to shape Musaev’s approach to teaching today. As a lecturer in the School of Computing Instruction (SCI), he teaches CS 2316 Data Input and Manipulation and his favorite course, CS 1331 Introduction to Object-Oriented Programming. 

“From the moment I started teaching it, something just felt natural,” he said. “I enjoy coding live in class, watching students grasp new ideas, and explaining not only how things work, but why they were designed that way.” 

Although Musaev is now rooted in academia, his career has included significant time in industry. After completing his degrees, he worked at Siebel Systems, where he developed customer relationship management software and helped transition a flagship product from desktop to the web. He then returned to Kyrgyzstan to found and manage a successful software company before returning to the United States to earn his Ph.D. 

He believes those experiences provide perspective that cannot be learned in a classroom alone. 

“My advice may be nontraditional,” he said. “Spend time in industry. Seeing how the concepts you teach are applied in practice provides an invaluable perspective. This is something you simply cannot gain from textbooks alone.” 

Since joining SCI in January 2020, Musaev has found a strong sense of community. 

“I am very happy to be part of this team,” he said. “Everyone is supportive and willing to help. It truly feels like a collaborative environment.” 

For Musaev, the most meaningful moments come from students, often unexpectedly. 

“Recently, I was walking with a head TA discussing course-related topics when a student suddenly stepped in front of us and interrupted our conversation. He told me I was the best professor he had ever had. Moments like that are difficult to put into words, but they mean everything to us as instructors,” he said. 

He said he hopes students find value in his classes and leave each lecture having learned something new.  

“I also want them to genuinely enjoy CS. It is an incredible field, and I cannot imagine doing anything else.” 

“I’m thrilled to see Professor Sherrill tackle this role for the coming 5 years. He understands the rapidly evolving opportunities to apply AI and data science approaches to the diversity of research conducted by Georgia Tech faculty and students, and has a strong agenda to help our researchers make the most of this explosive change in the research landscape.” Said V.P. of Interdisciplinary Research, Julia Kubanek. “He also has deep experience with team building and management which will position IDEaS favorably.”

As executive director, Sherrill will guide IDEaS’ current initiatives, which include the Microsoft CloudHub program that supports innovative applications in Generative Artificial Intelligence, and provide oversight and support for the joint College of Computing / IDEaS Center for Artificial Intelligence in Science and Engineering (ARTISAN), which provides  Georgia Tech faculty and research engineers expert support staff, needed cyberinfrastructure, software resources, and advice to assist faculty with projects using large data sets or using AI and machine learning to drive discovery.

Sherrill will also the lead the launch of a new strategic vision, emphasizing the Georgia Tech research community’s expertise in the development of AI and ML techniques and their application to problems in science and engineering, high performance computing, and academic software. Sherrill will focus on internal and external partnerships at IDEaS, creating new collaborative efforts in areas such as economics, policy, and the arts and humanities. He will also work to strengthen current connections across Georgia Tech’s Colleges, Interdisciplinary Research Institutes (IRIs), and the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI).

“It’s a great honor to be named the next executive director of IDEaS,” said Sherrill.  “Georgia Tech has world-class faculty and students, and an unparalleled spirit of collaboration.  By bringing together faculty from across campus and working together with some of the amazing student groups, we can leverage the power of AI to accelerate our research and maximize our impact.  IDEaS will continue to run upskilling workshops to help our campus keep pace with the rapid changes in AI.”

Sherrill is an active promoter of education in computational quantum chemistry, as well as a strong voice for the benefits of open-source software for research acceleration. He was named Outreach Volunteer of the Year by the Georgia Section of the American Chemical Society in 2017, and he is the lead principal investigator of the Psi open-source quantum chemistry program.

Sherrill earned a B.S. in chemistry from MIT in 1992 and a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Georgia in 1996. From 1996-1999 Sherril was an NSF Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley.

Sherrill is Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the American Chemical Society, and the American Physical Society, and he has been Associate Editor of the Journal of Chemical Physics since 2009. Sherrill has received a Camille and Henry Dreyfus New Faculty Award, the International Journal of Quantum Chemistry Young Investigator Award, an NSF CAREER Award, and Georgia Tech's W. Howard Ector Outstanding Teacher Award. In 2023, he received the Herty Medal from the Georgia Section of the American Chemical Society, and in 2024, he was elected to the International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science.

- Christa M. Ernst

"Throughout my life, my basic philosophy has been to help the people around me to have more enjoyable, successful, productive, and happier lives,” says Templeton. “My 60 years at Georgia Tech allowed me to do this — influencing the lives of thousands of students and helping them to optimize their human potential. For me, this is the essence of The Spirit of Georgia Tech."

To read more about Templeton and the other alumni recognized, visit: 2026 Honorees and Event Recording.


 

“It was the era of look left and look right, and one of you will not be here at graduation,” Craig said.

Craig worked hard and graduated with his computer science (CS) bachelor’s degree in 2000, just as the dot-com bubble burst. He returned to Georgia Tech about a year later and has been here ever since.

Craig is the enterprise cybersecurity architect in the Office of Information Technology and has spent nearly three decades at Tech as a student, employee, and instructor.

Along the way, he has earned three degrees from the Institute and helped shape how Georgia Tech approaches cybersecurity in an increasingly complex digital landscape.

Craig began his career at Tech supporting student registration and other core IT systems. He moved fully into cybersecurity about 15 years ago. His technical background was strong, but he saw a gap in his experience.

“I had a lot of technical background and work experience, but not much policy experience,” he said.

Craig enrolled in Georgia Tech’s Master of Science in Information Security to fill in this gap. He said his decision to enroll in the policy track was intentional.

“If you’ve been doing the technical work for 10 years, a technical master’s helps some,” Craig said. “But it is much more useful to study the areas you do not already know well.”

Craig moved into management as his GT career progressed. This path led him once again to the classroom. This time, he pursued an MBA from Georgia Tech’s Scheller College of Business.

Craig believes the combination of cybersecurity and business education is increasingly important for leaders and others.

“There is a big gap in the industry,” he said. “You need people who understand cybersecurity and the business side, and people in business leadership who understand cybersecurity risk.”

Craig is an instructor in the online Master of Science in Cybersecurity program. He teaches incident response and often sees this gap among his students.

“Many business professionals do not know how to respond to a cybersecurity incident,” Craig said. “They are not trained in it. At the same time, many cybersecurity professionals are learning business impacts on the job.”

Craig said business knowledge is essential for aspiring chief information security officers.

“At that level, understanding how cybersecurity supports business goals is more important than deep technical detail,” he said. “You still need the basics, but you also need to talk to the CFO.”

At Georgia Tech, Craig focuses on cybersecurity architecture. His work centers on the design and protection of enterprise systems.

“For example, student information systems have a design,” he said. “We look at how firewalls and other controls fit into that design to protect the data.”

His role continues to evolve as the Institute’s cybersecurity needs change. That evolution mirrors the field itself, especially with the rise of artificial intelligence (AI).

“AI has impacted cybersecurity for longer than people want to admit,” Craig said. “Understanding what is unusual is a big part of security, and AI can be very good at that. It can also be very good at avoiding detection.”

Craig said AI introduces new architectural risks, particularly around data privacy. Tools that analyze student or employee data must be carefully designed to prevent sensitive information from leaking through training or outputs.

“You have to understand the inputs and outputs,” he said. “Otherwise, you can accidentally release data you really care about.”

Privacy has been a recurring theme throughout Craig’s career. He credits courses such as the privacy policy class taught by Professor Peter Swire, the J.Z. Liang Chair in the School of Cybersecurity and Privacy, with shaping his thinking.

“So much of security is about personal data,” Craig said. “Understanding what actually makes data anonymous or not is critical.”

Craig believes that privacy protection depends on training and system design within an institution as large and decentralized as Georgia Tech.

“Training can only get you so far,” Craig said. “People make mistakes. Strong processes limit exposure even when human error happens.”

Looking back, Craig describes his time at Georgia Tech as one of constant growth.

“The industry has massively changed,” he said. “What you learn becomes outdated quickly. You have to keep growing.”

From undergraduate student to cybersecurity leader, Craig’s career reflects both the evolution of Georgia Tech and the fast-changing world of cybersecurity. For him, the learning never stops.

The new initiative was sparked by ongoing research at Georgia Tech — and a Yellow Jacket connection: when Postdoctoral Research Fellow Hannah Youngblood’s work on exfoliation glaucoma (XFG) was featured by the BrightFocus Foundation, it caught the attention of Jennifer Rucker, an Alabama resident who was diagnosed with XFG several years ago.

Excited that the research could change outcomes for people like her — and proud that it’s happening at her husband Philip Rucker’s, EE 72, alma mater — Jennifer Rucker reached out to Youngblood and her advisor, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry Professor and Kelly Sepcic Pfeil, Ph.D. Chair Raquel Lieberman. 

“As the wife of a Georgia Tech graduate and an individual with pseudoexfoliation glaucoma, I was inspired to support the scientists whose efforts may help me and others,” Jennifer Rucker says. What followed was a meaningful dialogue and a shared sense of purpose — and the creation of the Georgia Tech Glaucoma Research Fund (Wreck Glaucoma! Fund). 

“It meant so much that Jennifer took the initiative to reach out to learn more about our research,” says Lieberman. “Moments like this remind me how deeply meaningful it is to connect with people in the broader community who are navigating glaucoma. Opportunities for such personal connections are rare, but they inspire and further motivate us to achieve our lab’s mission to improve the lives of individuals suffering from blindness diseases.”

A Personal Connection

Youngblood’s interest in glaucoma research also stems from a personal connection: her father was diagnosed with glaucoma as a young adult. Now, Youngblood studies the genetic and molecular factors behind XFG in the Lieberman research lab. 

“XFG is an aggressive form of the disease with no known cure,” Youngblood says. While scientists know that XFG is the result of abnormal accumulation of proteins in the eye, current treatments only address symptoms rather than treating the root cause of the disease.

“We know XFG is driven by protein buildup, but we still don’t know why it happens,” she explains. “My work studying specific genetic variants aims to uncover this.” 

The Genetics of Glaucoma

In particular, Youngblood is researching the role of LOXL1, a protein that plays a role in soft tissue throughout the body, including the eyes.

“Research has shown that people with variants in the genes responsible for this protein are more likely to have XFG,” she says. “That made me curious to see if the variants might be impacting the structure of the LOXL1 protein itself and how those variants might lead to disease.”

Youngblood is currently testing her theory in the lab. “My hope is that new insight into proteins like LOXL1 will bring us closer to treatments that address XFG at its source,” she says. “The new Georgia Tech Glaucoma Research Fund is a tremendous step forward in making that hope a reality.”

Support the Georgia Tech Glaucoma Research Fund

Please visit the Glaucoma Research Fund support page to give to this specific program. To discuss additional philanthropic opportunities, please contact the College of Sciences Development Team: development@cos.gatech.edu

Your investment ensures that these scholars and researchers have world-class resources, facilities, and mentors to excel in this critical work. Thank you for helping us shape the future.

“Our Advisory Boards enter 2026 with a refreshed and energized membership, bringing renewed focus, broader perspectives, and strengthened commitment to advancing our strategic priorities,” says Leslie Roberts, director of Alumni Relations for the College of Sciences.

The board is composed of alumni who obtained an undergraduate degree from the College within the past two decades or a master’s or Ph.D. degree within the past decade. In addition to participating in regular meetings, members are expected to contribute annually to the Dean’s Excellence Fund, which provides direct support to where it is most needed across the College's six schools. 

In 2025, the inaugural CoSYAB members engaged directly with students at numerous College of Sciences events. They shared industry insights and professional guidance during the College’s students-alumni leadership dinner, career education panel discussions, and “Making Science Accessible” event, which was organized by the Center for Programs to Increase Engagement in the Sciences. At the latter, board members provided feedback to graduate students testing new ways of presenting their research to general audiences. 

In the new year, CoSYAB will continue to build on these efforts to “support students, faculty, and programs in meaningful and impactful ways,” adds Roberts.

The 2026 board brings together alumni with a broad range of academic backgrounds and professional perspectives, united by a shared commitment to supporting the College of Sciences and strengthening student-alumni connections. 

Riana Burney (Biochemistry 2015) is excited to continue in the role of board chair and work alongside members who are equally committed to mentorship, engagement, and service. 

“Collaborating with passionate College of Sciences alumni to build a foundation that directly supports student engagement and strengthens alumni connections reaffirmed how meaningful it is to stay involved with the College beyond graduation,” she says.

Returning member Kristel Topping (Ph.D. Applied Physiology 2021) expresses similar enthusiasm for continuing the board’s efforts to build meaningful connections and partnerships across Atlanta and Georgia.

“I am thrilled to return as a board member because of its impactful initiatives and tremendous potential to benefit the broader community,” she shares. 

Jalen Borne (Chemistry 2022, M.S. Materials Science and Engineering 2024) is among the nine new board members bringing fresh ideas and a commitment to serving the College of Sciences community. As a member, Borne is most looking forward to supporting professional development and mentorship initiatives for both current students and young alumni.

“I'm excited to join CoSYAB because some of my greatest experiences came from the College of Sciences, and I want to use what I've learned to benefit as many future scientists as possible,” he says. 

Likewise, Edward Freeman (Biology 2021), who also joins the board this year, views his involvement in student and alumni programming as an opportunity to give back.

“The College of Sciences gave me the foundation and skills that made my transition into graduate school and the biotech industry possible,” he explains. “I want to pay that forward by sharing what I've learned with the next generation.”

2026 College of Sciences Young Alumni Board

Sathya “Sat” Balachander, Ph.D. 
Ph.D. Biology 2018

Jalen Borne* 
B.S. Chemistry 2022; M.S. Materials Science and Engineering 2024

Katherine Bridges* 
B.S. Mathematics 2025

Riana Burney 
B.S. Biochemistry 2015

Asheley Chapman, Ph.D.* 
Ph.D. Biochemistry 2021

Stephen Crooke, Ph.D. 
Ph.D. Chemistry 2018

Ralph Cullen 
B.S. Psychology 2008; M.S. Psychology 2011

Morgan Foreman, Ph.D.* 
B.S. Psychology 2017

Edward Freeman* 
B.S. Biology 2021

Alison Graab 
B.S. Earth and Atmospheric Sciences 2008

Claire Haskell* 
B.S. Mathematics 2025

Austin Hope 
B.S. Psychology 2014

Evelyn Ligon, Ph.D.* 
Ph.D. Chemistry 2019

Hannah Liu 
M.S. Bioinformatics 2017

Anita Mohammad 
B.S. Psychology 2012

Piper Rackley 
B.S. Biology 2022; M.S. Biology 2023

Anne Marie Sweeney-Jones, Ph.D.
Ph.D. Chemistry 2020

Kristel Topping, Ph.D. 
Ph.D. Applied Physiology 2021

Yusuf Uddin, Ph.D. 
B.S. Biology 2012; Ph.D. Biology 2018

Chiamaka Ukachukwu* 
B.S. Biochemistry 2013

Megen Wittling 
B.S. Biology 2018

Ashley Zuniga 
B.S. Biochemistry 2014

*new member