{"637004":{"#nid":"637004","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Stay at Home Summer: Courtney Astore Balances a Packed Schedule with Comedy, Community Connections","body":[{"value":"\u003Cdiv\u003E\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThis month, the College of Sciences is checking in to see what our students are up to and how they\u0026rsquo;re doing. In the face of an unprecedented pandemic, we want to know: what does summertime look like? Read the other stories in our Stay at Home Summer series:\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cul\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/news\/stay-home-summer-sophia-martin-gets-creative-fosters-positive-mental-health\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ESophia Martin Gets Creative, Fosters Positive Mental Health\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/news\/stay-home-summer-nylah-boone-stays-connected-social-media-incorporates-self-care-activities\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ENylah Boone Stays Connected with Social Media, Incorporates Self-Care Activities\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/news\/stay-home-summer-nylah-boone-stays-connected-social-media-incorporates-self-care-activities\u0022\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/news\/stay-home-summer-edward-freeman-uses-resilience-strategies-navigate-summer-uncertainty-0\u0022\u003EEdward Freeman Uses Resilience Strategies to Navigate a Summer of Uncertainty\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECourtney Astore\u003C\/strong\u003E is a second year Ph.D. student in the Bioinformatics program. While her summer days are packed with virtual classes and research activities, Astore shares that she\u0026rsquo;s also set aside time for exercise, time with family, and leisure activities like reading.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EA typical day for Astore this summer: \u0026ldquo;Wake up, make a cup of coffee, check my emails, proofread grant proposals, attend virtual lectures (as a student and teacher!), code (lots of code...), more coffee, virtual group meetings for class, writing papers for publications, reading literature, checking Covid-19 numbers on Worldometer, cycling, cooking, and virtually talking with my family and friends.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;From teaching to researching to also being a student, my free time is limited,\u0026rdquo; she shares. \u0026ldquo;However, I love staying busy \u0026mdash; and I especially love the research I do in my group.\u0026rdquo; That research group is Jeffrey Skolnick\u0026rsquo;s Center for the Study of Systems Biology, where Astore creates computational tools to study disease etiology (the causes of diseases) for enhancing diagnostic and therapeutic measures.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;I\u0026#39;m thankful that we are able to have virtual group meetings. It\u0026#39;s fun seeing my colleagues out of the normal, everyday setting,\u0026rdquo; says Astore. Although she says that the transition to virtual meetings has been seamless, Astore shares that she misses in-person work dynamics. \u0026quot;I am really missing working [on campus] at Georgia Tech; there is an evident vibe that motivates me.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBeyond her research group, this summer Astore is taking Applied Combinatorics and Introduction to Database Systems, and is a graduate teaching assistant for the Biological Principals Lab. She also operates a blog called The Binary Blonde on Instagram, where she shares relatable content about her experiences as a woman in science.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;I started The Binary Blonde last year, primarily to encourage women and individuals with disabilities to pursue careers in STEM by sharing my journey and experiences in becoming a scientist,\u0026rdquo; explains Astore.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EHer username stems from an experience at a high school science fair, when she realized that very few women there were competing in computer science.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;When I was in high school, I competed in several science fairs \u0026mdash; I loved every inch of it,\u0026rdquo; she says. \u0026ldquo;People at my school started calling me \u0026lsquo;the researcher\u0026rsquo;. I never thought twice about missing out on the \u0026lsquo;normal\u0026rsquo; kid things to work on my projects. I also never thought twice about being a woman in STEM. In fact, I didn\u0026rsquo;t even know that women are less likely to participate in\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ESTEM related endeavors and careers, until I began realizing that I was incredibly outnumbered in the computer science category.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;To a degree, I felt uncomfortable and unworthy, but I didn\u0026rsquo;t let that stop me as I was incredibly excited to share the findings of my work,\u0026rdquo; Astore shares. Her final moniker came from a friend she met at another meeting, the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. \u0026ldquo;I remember discussing a machine learning algorithm I implemented with a new friend. He immediately said, \u0026lsquo;Hey, we should call you the binary blonde!\u0026rsquo; \u0026mdash; and it stuck.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThis summer, Astore has used The Binary Blonde to share her experiences working remotely and staying motivated in the midst of a global pandemic. Recently, Astore shared a comedic TikTok video about \u0026lsquo;the many faces at a Ph.D. defense,\u0026rsquo; where she role-played as advisor, judge, and her own boyfriend to show what it\u0026rsquo;s like to defend a thesis.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;This TikTok video was actually my first one! Although I\u0026#39;m quite far from my actual thesis defense, it\u0026#39;s nice to imagine what it may be like.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAstore also uses her social media pages to send support to the Georgia Tech community and everyone affected by Covid-19.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;We may never be ready for what tomorrow holds, but I truly hope this brings more importance to healthcare workers, scientists, and engineers working diligently to save us, find cures for us, and keep us safe,\u0026rdquo; urges Astore. \u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;m excited that I am in a position to be a positive contributor to help combat Covid-19. Let\u0026rsquo;s invent better preventative, diagnostic, and treatment options to help us be prepared for times like this.\u0026quot;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\u003C\/div\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\u003C\/div\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAstore balances summer work with staying connected with others through social media blog page and virtual meetings.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Astore balances summer work with staying connected with others through social media blog page and virtual meetings. "}],"uid":"35185","created_gmt":"2020-07-16 16:18:04","changed_gmt":"2020-07-31 00:12:21","author":"kpietkiewicz3","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2020-07-28T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2020-07-28T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"637005":{"id":"637005","type":"image","title":"Courtney Astore is balancing teaching, classes, and research this summer.","body":null,"created":"1594916421","gmt_created":"2020-07-16 16:20:21","changed":"1594916421","gmt_changed":"2020-07-16 16:20:21","alt":"","file":{"fid":"242323","name":"courtney1.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/courtney1.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/courtney1.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":99198,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/courtney1.jpg?itok=VYeyEBNR"}},"637007":{"id":"637007","type":"image","title":"Astore is a member of Jeffrey Skolnick\u2019s Center for the Study of Systems Biology research group.","body":null,"created":"1594916552","gmt_created":"2020-07-16 16:22:32","changed":"1594916552","gmt_changed":"2020-07-16 16:22:32","alt":"","file":{"fid":"242326","name":"courtney2.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/courtney2.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/courtney2.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":74718,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/courtney2.jpg?itok=AEf1Df2k"}},"637006":{"id":"637006","type":"image","title":"Astore meets with her colleagues virtually, and shares that \u0022it\u0027s fun seeing my colleagues out of the normal, everyday setting.\u0022","body":null,"created":"1594916488","gmt_created":"2020-07-16 16:21:28","changed":"1594916509","gmt_changed":"2020-07-16 16:21:49","alt":"","file":{"fid":"242325","name":"courtney3.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/courtney3.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/courtney3.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":119115,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/courtney3.jpg?itok=G4jURiUk"}}},"media_ids":["637005","637007","637006"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/article\/stories-unprecedented-semester","title":"Stories from an Unprecedented Semester"},{"url":"https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/news\/academic-coaching-and-student-success-resources-key-summer-progress","title":"Academic Coaching and Student Success Resources: A Key to Summer Progress "},{"url":"https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/news\/health-initiatives-announces-summer-2020-well-being-offerings","title":"Health Initiatives Announces Summer 2020 Well-Being Offerings "},{"url":"https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/news\/mental-health-resources-available-during-challenging-times","title":"Mental Health Resources Available During Challenging Times "}],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"1275","name":"School of Biological Sciences"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"},{"id":"42901","name":"Community"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"}],"keywords":[{"id":"185268","name":"summer at home"},{"id":"167141","name":"Student Life"},{"id":"1738","name":"blog"},{"id":"167543","name":"social media"},{"id":"8621","name":"connections"},{"id":"1564","name":"community"},{"id":"1808","name":"graduate students"},{"id":"166882","name":"School of Biological Sciences"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGrace Pietkiewicz\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCommunications Assistant\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCollege of Sciences\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nkatiegracepz@gatech.edu\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["kpietkiewicz3@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}