Accolades

Amekudzi-Kennedy Honored for Curriculum Innovation

Professor Adjo Amekudzi-Kennedy has been named the 2020 winner of Georgia Tech’s Curriculum Innovation Award.

This award is given annually to one faculty member for improving the quality of education at Georgia Tech through pedagogical and curricular innovation.

Amekudzi-Kennedy is the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering’s associate chair for global engineering leadership and entrepreneurship. She was selected for the Curriculum Innovation Award in recognition of her work leading the development and implementation of the Global Engineering Leadership Minor (GELM).

The program, which is administered through CEE, is one of three tracks in the Institute’s Minor in Leadership Studies, alongside business management and public policy tracks.

New Research Center Will Study Mine Tailings and Industrial Waste

Assistant Professor Jorge Macedo established The Tailings and Industrial Waste Engineering (TAILENG) research center, a consortium of faculty at four universities: Georgia Tech, Colorado State University, UC Berkeley, and the University of Illinois. The center will be dedicated to studying mine tailings and industrial waste in an effort to build safer waste storage systems and reduce the likelihood of catastrophic failures. Through fundamental and applied research, TAILENG will work to: improve the resilience, safety, and sustainability of infrastructure in the mining and power industries, with a focus on innovative and economical technologies; advance the state of the art and practice in the design, operation, and closure of tailings and industrial waste storage facilities; and improve the understanding of anthropogenic geomaterials.

Paulino’s Research Recognized with Medals from Three Organizations

Professor Glaucio Paulino has been selected as the winner of three medals in 2020 that recognize his pioneering origami and tensegrity engineering research and contributions to the field of mechanics.

He received the Raymond D. Mindlin Medal from the American Society of Civil Engineers, the Daniel C. Drucker Medal from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and The J.N. Reddy Medal from the Mechanics of Advanced Materials and Structures journal.

He is the first professor from Georgia Tech to receive each of the three medals. Paulino, who holds the Raymond Allen Jones Chair in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, has more than 240 scholarly publications and has attracted international attention for his work on computational mechanics, topology optimization and origami engineering.

Singh Wins National Award for Women in Transportation

Ph.D. student Prerna Singh has been selected for a national scholarship for graduate students in transportation.

Singh, a third year Ph.D. student and graduate research assistant in the Infrastructure Research Group, was selected out of more than 50 candidates to win the WTS Leadership Legacy Scholarship.

The Leadership Legacy Fund was established to honor the past, present and future leaders of WTS—a group for women in the transportation industry—by awarding an annual scholarship to female graduate students pursuing careers in transportation.

Each year, the scholarship provides a $5,000 award to a young woman working toward a graduate degree in transportation or a related field. Candidates must demonstrate leadership skills and an active commitment to community service.

Georgia Tech’s ASCE Chapter Named Distinguished Chapter for Region

The Georgia Tech chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers was named the 2020 ASCE Distinguished Chapter for the region.

The honor is awarded annually to the most outstanding student organization in each region. Region 5 is comprised of chapters from Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Puerto Rico.

“Receiving this award is just a small testament to how dedicated our members and fellow officers are in making an impact in the civil engineering world,” said Peter Psaltakis, a civil engineering major and GT ASCE Conference Chair. “From working hard on the projects and competitions for our annual conference to socializing and networking with fellow students, faculty, and corporate sponsors, the members in our chapter always strive to help grow and better our student chapter on a day-to-day basis.”

Luo Honored with Graduate Student Award by American Chemical Society

The American Chemical Society recognized Civil and Environmental Engineering doctoral student Cong Luo for his research productivity and academic performance.

Luo is one of 20 students nationwide to receive the Environmental Chemistry Graduate Student Award from the Society.

“It is definitely the highlight of my graduate career,” said Luo. “I have always felt like ACS was such a prestigious community to be a part of.”

Luo’s research focuses on the elimination of pharmaceutical pollution in wastewater.

“Equal access to safe water is a basic human right and an essential condition for a healthy life no matter where you live,” said Luo. “I hope that my research work in water treatment could bring the world a little bit closer to that.”

Environmental Engineering Team Places 2nd in International Design Competition

A team from Georgia Tech took the No. 2 spot at the Water Environment Federation’s international student design competition.

The team created a design report and presented their results in Chicago in September 2019.

The design was a project for the Gwinnett County Department of Water Resources. The work for the project initially began in Professor of the Practice John Koon’s environmental engineering senior design course. The team evaluated the use of treated municipal wastewater as a source of drinking water that Gwinnett County could use to supplement its water supply. The team was comprised of recent environmental engineering graduates Claire Anderson, Samuel Boyce, Blake Linder, and Eleanor Thomas. The Georgia Tech group was advised by a team from engineering firm Black & Veatch.

Afolabi Awarded Sloan Scholarship

Moyosore Afolabi has been selected to receive a scholarship from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation’s Minority Ph.D. program.

Afolabi is a Ph.D. student in environmental engineering and an NSF graduate research fellow whose research focuses on the development of novel membrane filters for the removal of emerging contaminants from wastewater. Afolabi is from Houston, Texas, and received her bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Texas at Austin.

The Sloan Foundation’s Minority Ph.D. program was established in 1995 to help diversify the Ph.D. degree-holding workforce in the United States by increasing the recruitment, retention and graduation of underrepresented minority doctoral students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Georgia Tech is one of eight University Centers of Exemplary Mentoring that are currently funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Schreiber Named SMART Scholar

Ph.D. Student Trent Schreiber has received a SMART Scholarship from the U.S. Department of Defense.

The Science Mathematics and Research for Transformation (SMART) scholarship is a scholarship-for-service program established to enhance the Department of Defense workforce with talented, innovative and brilliant scientists, engineers and researchers.

SMART Scholars enter the program to pursue their education in some of the leading STEM fields currently in high demand by the United States Government. Following graduation, these scholars work within labs and agencies of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Department of Defense to conduct research related to national security.

The SMART scholarship covers full tuition and fees, allowances for books and health insurance, an annual stipend, and paid summer internships.

Shailendra Tapped to Serve as Georgia Board of Regents Chair

Sachin Shailendra, CE 01, was elected to serve as chair of the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia.

With members appointed by the governor, the Board of Regents serves as the governing and management authority for the state of Georgia’s 26 public higher education institutions: four research universities, four comprehensive universities, nine state universities, and nine state colleges.

“An outstanding Georgia Tech alumnus, with strong family ties to Georgia Tech, Regent Shailendra has a unique appreciation of how public higher education can transform lives and strengthen our community,” said Georgia Tech President Ángel Cabrera.

Josh Rowan Named Head of Atlanta DOT

Josh Rowan, CE 96, has been chosen to lead the city of Atlanta’s newly formed Department of Transportation.

Rowan previously served as general manager for Atlanta’s Renew | TSPLOST Programs and has more than 24 years of experience delivering capital construction programs. He was appointed by Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms to lead the agency created to accelerate and diversify the projects that the city delivers for residents—including better options for getting around Atlanta safely, affordably and equitably.

The new agency will manage a range of transportation improvements— from roadway maintenance to sidewalk and bike lane construction to upgrading streetlights and traffic signals. ATLDOT’s mission is to make streets more accessible to people of different ages, backgrounds, and abilities.

Two CEE Alumni Win Engineer of the Year Awards

Anita Atkinson, CE 00, and John Pierson, MS EnvE 93, were among the seven impressive engineers selected to receive the Georgia Society of Professional Engineers’ annual Engineer of the Year Awards.

Atkinson, vice president of engineering and surveying at Patterson & Dewar Engineers Inc., was named the 2020 Engineer of the Year in Private Practice.

A 2000 civil engineering graduate, Atkinson has worked for the last 20 years designing, managing and leading engineering work in the area of electric utilities infrastructure. Pierson, principal research engineer at Georgia Tech Research Institute, is the 2020 Engineer of the Year in Industry.

Pierson’s work at GTRI focuses on food safety and quality. He is an environmental engineer focused on industrial treatment processes, remediation, restoration and stormwater.

Influential Women in Engineering

Georgia Tech civil and environmental engineers are well represented on Engineering Georgia’s third annual list of the 100 most influential women in Georgia.

For the second year in a row, two members of the School’s External Advisory Board made the list: Meg Pirkle, MS CE 97, and board chair Emmy Montanye, CE 82.

Pirkle and Montanye are joined by 16 other alumnae from the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering. They include women in private practice and public service, entrepreneurs, and rising stars.

The magazine built its list from the recommendations of peers, industry leaders and its own editorial board. “These influential women not only serve the industry in remarkable ways, but many of them also work to mentor and empower other female professionals in the architecture, engineering and construction world,” writer Heather Collins noted.

Honorees include Executive Advisory Board Chair Emmy Montanye, CE 82, and board member Meg Pirkle, MS CE 97. Kerrie Boyette, P.E. | Transportation Practice Leader, KCI Technologies (CE 99) Lenor Bromberg, P.E., F.ASCE | Deputy Director Community Development, City of Roswell (CE 96) Marlo Clowers, P.E., DBIA | Senior Project Manager, Georgia Department of Transportation (CE 95) Rebecca Collins Atkins, P.E. | Executive Vice President, Aviation Division Manager, Croy Engineering (CE 01) Annie Gillespie, P.E. | Chief Engineer, State Road and Tollway Authority (CE 05, MS EnvE 08) Lorraine Green, P.E., NACE CP4 | President, Pond (CHE 84, MS EnvE 93) Kate Henry, P.E. | Partner and Vice President of Aviation Services, Aulick Engineering (CE 08) Jenny Jenkins, P.E. | Marketing Lead, VHB (CE 99) Karen Jenkins, P.E., AIA | Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Shear Structural (M Arch 92, MS CE 93) Daveitta Jenkins Knight, P.E. | Georgia Transportation Operations Manager, Division Vice President; Jacobs Engineering Group (CE 94) Karyn Matthews, P.E. | Senior Transportation Engineer, Arcadis (CE 02) Emmy Montanye, P.E., LEED AP | Principal, Kimley-Horn (CE 82) Nicole Parris, P.E. | Project Director, Atkins (CE 98) Margaret “Meg” Pirkle, P.E. | Chief Engineer, Georgia Department of Transportation (MS CE 97) Tyler Richards | Director, Department of Water Resources, Gwinnett County (MS CE 82) Kellie Sak, P.E. | Regional Vice President, ZAPATA (MS CE 05) Mindy Sanders, P.E. | Senior Project Manager, Pont Engineering (MS CE 01) Angela Snyder, P.E. | Practice Area Leader, Transportation, CHA Consulting, Inc. (CE 04)