{"666839":{"#nid":"666839","#data":{"type":"news","title":"\u0027Pipe Dream\u0027 Becomes Reality for Alumna Returning as Faculty Member","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ETech alumna Maegan Tucker, ME 2017, is about to write a new chapter in what she calls her \u201clove letter\u201d to Georgia Tech.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ETucker\u2019s passion for problem-solving has propelled her back to Tech. In 2024, 12 years after she stepped onto campus as a first-year Yellow Jacket fresh out of high school, Tucker will be returning as a faculty member with a Ph.D.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ETucker says the most important lesson she learned at Georgia Tech is something she hopes to impart to her own students: \u201cFocus on not just solving hard problems but on hard problems that matter. Make a difference in the real world. You should be passionate about what you\u2019re doing, and you should only do something if you feel strongly about it.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ETucker has always been fascinated by prosthetics and helping people with lower limb mobility. Her research centers around achieving stable and user-preferred locomotion on robotic assistive devices.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI love the research world and the fact that you are challenged to solve open-ended problems.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EI\u2019ve always loved the intersection of human subject testing, but also pursuing solutions that aren\u2019t necessarily clinically viable at the moment,\u201d she said.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EDuring her time as an eager undergraduate at Georgia Tech, Tucker says she met some of \u201cthe most amazing peers and mentors I could ever imagine.\u201d She points to their guidance for helping her \u201cget out\u201d in 2017. When Tucker walked across the stage at her Commencement ceremony and shook hands with then-Georgia Tech President G.P. \u201cBud\u201d Peterson, she had no idea that he would play another role in her trajectory.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cBud Peterson was basically a celebrity to me. So, you can imagine my surprise when he sat down to listen to my seminar during my faculty interview in 2022! Having him in the audience definitely made me slightly more nervous, but it was also an immense honor and felt like a milestone in my academic journey,\u201d she said.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThat journey will come full circle in January 2024 when Tucker returns to her Georgia Tech roots. But first, she\u2019ll graduate in May from Caltech with her Ph.D. in mechanical engineering. In June she\u2019s getting married, and then she\u2019ll move across the country \u2014 back to Atlanta where it all began. Tucker will be an assistant professor in both the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.ece.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Electrical and Computer Engineering\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;and the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.me.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EGeorge W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI always had in the back of my head that coming back as faculty someday was always kind of a pipe dream,\u201d Tucker reminisced. In just a matter of months, her dream will be her reality.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E12 years after she stepped onto campus as a first-year Yellow Jacket fresh out of high school, Maegan Tucker will be returning as a faculty member with a Ph.D.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"12 years after she stepped onto campus as a first-year Yellow Jacket fresh out of high school, Maegan Tucker will be returning as a faculty member with a Ph.D."}],"uid":"34973","created_gmt":"2023-03-28 13:47:46","changed_gmt":"2023-03-29 14:04:30","author":"Evan Atkinson","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2023-03-28T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2023-03-28T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"670325":{"id":"670325","type":"image","title":"Maegan 01","body":null,"created":"1680011654","gmt_created":"2023-03-28 13:54:14","changed":"1680011654","gmt_changed":"2023-03-28 13:54:14","alt":"Maegan Tucker Graduation Photos","file":{"fid":"253154","name":"version-2_37384283981_o.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2023\/03\/28\/version-2_37384283981_o_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2023\/03\/28\/version-2_37384283981_o_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1659152,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2023\/03\/28\/version-2_37384283981_o_0.jpg?itok=HGfkTVKh"}},"670322":{"id":"670322","type":"image","title":"Maegan 02","body":null,"created":"1680011418","gmt_created":"2023-03-28 13:50:18","changed":"1680011811","gmt_changed":"2023-03-28 13:56:51","alt":"Maegan Tucker with Acceptance Letter","file":{"fid":"253151","name":"IMG_2664.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2023\/03\/28\/IMG_2664.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2023\/03\/28\/IMG_2664.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1256507,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2023\/03\/28\/IMG_2664.jpg?itok=pMZCl3xM"}},"670324":{"id":"670324","type":"image","title":"Maegan 04","body":null,"created":"1680011502","gmt_created":"2023-03-28 13:51:42","changed":"1680011545","gmt_changed":"2023-03-28 13:52:25","alt":"Maegan Tucker as a first-year student at Georgia Tech","file":{"fid":"253153","name":"16727453098_6bc0463283_o.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2023\/03\/28\/16727453098_6bc0463283_o.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2023\/03\/28\/16727453098_6bc0463283_o.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":421774,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2023\/03\/28\/16727453098_6bc0463283_o.jpg?itok=WLQoqvL6"}}},"media_ids":["670325","670322","670324"],"groups":[{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"}],"categories":[{"id":"145","name":"Engineering"}],"keywords":[{"id":"1925","name":"Electrical and Computer Engineering"},{"id":"516","name":"engineering"},{"id":"541","name":"Mechanical Engineering"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39501","name":"People and Technology"}],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71871","name":"Campus and Community"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022eatkinson6@gatech.edu\u0022\u003EEvan Atkinson\u003C\/a\u003E, Institute Social Media Officer\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["eatkinson6@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}