Annual Report 2021-22 (July 2021 – June 2022)
Table of Contents
Executive Summary .................................................................................................................................. 1 Leadership Update.................................................................................................................................... 2 Faculty and Staff ....................................................................................................................................... 2 MBA Mentor Initiative .............................................................................................................................. 3 Coronavirus and T&M............................................................................................................................... 4 Admissions and Program Statistics ........................................................................................................... 4 Minors..................................................................................................................................................... 10 Curriculum .............................................................................................................................................. 10 Class of 2023 Academic Updates ............................................................................................................ 11 Scheller Student Features....................................................................................................................... 17 Corporate Statistics ................................................................................................................................ 18 Corporate Affiliate History...................................................................................................................... 19 Corporate Affiliate Guest Speakers ........................................................................................................ 20 Salary Statistics ....................................................................................................................................... 21 Student Employment with Corporate Affiliates ..................................................................................... 22 T&M Events by Category ........................................................................................................................ 25 Career Development Events ................................................................................................................... 25 Capstone Events ..................................................................................................................................... 33 Corporate Partnership and Academic Events......................................................................................... 38 International Events ............................................................................................................................... 42 Alumni Events and Involvement ............................................................................................................. 43 Alumni LinkedIn Initiative ....................................................................................................................... 47 Community Building Events.................................................................................................................... 50 Administrative Events ............................................................................................................................. 50 Denning Awards...................................................................................................................................... 52 Scholarships ............................................................................................................................................ 55 Class of 2022 Capstone Projects ............................................................................................................. 60 Class Photos ............................................................................................................................................ 75
COVER PHOTO: The cover photo features the graduating T&M Class of 2022.
Executive Summary The Steven A. Denning Technology & Management (T&M) Program helps create cross-functional leaders in technology and business-related fields by building upon Georgia Tech’s outstanding programs and curriculum. Classes emphasize experiential learning and include hands-on elements, allowing Denning T&M students the opportunity to offer interdisciplinary-team solutions to real-world problems faced by the program’s corporate affiliates. The Denning T&M Program is open to all Georgia Tech undergraduate students, including the Scheller College of Business, the College of Computing, the College of Engineering, the College of Design, the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts, and the College of Sciences. Business and Engineering students who complete the program earn a 22-credit minor in Engineering & Business. Computer Science and IT Management students earn a minor in Computing & Business. Students from all other colleges earn a minor in Technology & Business. Vision: To develop a generation of collaborative, professionally adept, ethical, and successful business leaders with an openness to seeking and learning from alternative points of view and with the capability to leverage technology to improve the state of the world. Mission: To be the flagship interdisciplinary program at Georgia Tech, offering minors at the intersections of technology and business, involving rigorous academic and professional training in collaboration with world-class faculty and corporate partners across a breadth of industries. There are two sides to the program: students and corporate affiliates, and the five-member T&M faculty/staff team, with the support of our exceptional professors, bridge these two sides. Additionally, as the alumni base expands, the team strives to incorporate them into the program whenever possible. When it comes to supporting our students, we offer rigorous academic challenges paired with events to encourage their growth as individuals and team members. We categorize our events as career development, corporate partnerships, academic, international, alumni-centered, community building, and administrative. When it comes to establishing and nurturing our corporate partnerships, the T&M Program team works closely with each affiliate to meet their specific innovation and hiring needs. From on-site visits by our Administrative Director and Senior Manager, Corporate Relations & Student Counseling to office takeovers, the T&M career fair, and capstone project development, mentoring, and execution, we listen intently and execute process improvement to benefit affiliates and students alike. This report includes our curriculum and information on our events to create a broad view of the T&M Program’s opportunities. In addition, it will touch on students, alumni, and corporate affiliates to show the unique ecosystem known across Georgia Tech as one of the unique offerings available to undergraduate students.
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Leadership Update Dr. Han Zhang has completed the sixth year of his six-year term as the Faculty Director of the Steven A. Denning Technology & Management Program and renewed his contract for three more years. He is a Professor in Information Technology Management (ITM) and the Steven A. Denning Professor of Technology & Management. Dr. Zhang’s research focuses on the economics of information technology, online trust and reputation, online word-of-mouth, and the evolution of electronic markets. His research on the institutional setup to help small businesses grow in the digital economy has been used as the basis for testimony before the Congressional House Committee on Small Business. He currently serves as a senior editor for MIS Quarterly, a top-tier journal in the information systems field.
Faculty and Staff The T&M Program staff have been working together under the guidance of Faculty Director Han Zhang for six years and Administrative Director Bob Burgess for eight years. Sheena Brown (Academic Program Manager) handles all events, student recruiting and attrition, scholarships, and finances. Anne Lynch (Communications Manager) and John Stanford (Senior Manager, Industry Engagement & Student Counseling) partner to coach the students for career success. After offering career guidance, John passes the students back to Anne for writing advice. Between the two of them, the students receive the oneon-one attention needed to excel. John also coordinates all corporate engagement to nurture industry partnerships, while Anne maintains alumni engagement. Sheena Brown
Academic Program Manager
sheena.brown@scheller.gatech.edu
Robert “Bob” Burgess
Administrative Director
robert.burgess@scheller.gatech.edu 404.894.3899
Anne Lynch
Communications Manager
anne.lynch@scheller.gatech.edu
404.385.3108
John Stanford
Senior Manager, Industry Engagement & Student Counseling
john.stanford@scheller.gatech.edu
404.385.4504
Han Zhang
Faculty Director
han.zhang@scheller.gatech.edu
404.894.4373
404.385.7688
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T&M Faculty, Staff, and Student Assistants: John Stanford, Sarah Shin, Jack Terry, Ava Gribble, Bob Burgess, Sheena Brown, Sam Hatcher, and Han Zhang. Ava Gribble, senior undergraduate office assistant, led her peers Parker French, Sam Hatcher, Kylee Johnson, Anaya Patel, Sarah Shin, and Jack Terry as undergraduate office assistants during this academic year. In addition, Chris Arms, Charles Blondeau, Dylan Hutcheson, Colton Orr, Amada Shojaee, Scott Spencer, and Kyle Winkler served as MBA Mentors.
MBA Mentor Initiative In the spring of 2016, we began an initiative to support our undergraduate students with full-time MBA students. The list of past MBA Mentors includes Rob Smith, Carson Moore (T&M alumnus from the Class of 2011), Zach McClure, Elizabeth Noe, Jack Beall, Stephen Spicher, Julie Deng, Eric Frey, Shrinka Roy, and Luke Sewell. MBA Mentor Team
Capstone Projects for the Class of 2022
Chris Arms & Dylan Hutcheson
NCR, Siemens, and Southwire
Charles Blondeau
Boeing, Naval Nuclear Labs (NNL), and Ware2Go
Kyle Winkler & Colton Orr
Atlanta Braves, Caterpillar, Equifax, and Steelcase
Scott Spencer & Amanda Shojaee
Georgia-Pacific Operations, Georgia-Pacific Innovation, PACCAR, and Tempus Ex
MBA Mentors worked five hours per week and focused on coaching the teams with their writing, presentations, and business cases. Each year, we hire four new MBA Mentors in the fall semester, so that at any one time, there are eight to distribute between the capstone projects.
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MBA Mentors: Chris Arms, Scott Spencer, Dylan Hutcheson, Charles Blondeau, Kyle Winkler, and Colton Orr.
Coronavirus and T&M The T&M Program began operating in a hybrid fashion Friday, March 13, 2020, when the Georgia Tech community was asked to leave campus due to Covid-19 protocols. However, during this past academic year, all official T&M Georgia Tech classes operated in a face-to-face mode of delivery, with the Scheller building recommendation for all to wear masks while in the building. For the extra T&M events this past academic year, we were cautious as we incorporated in-person events. We encouraged students to make choices they were comfortable with regarding attendance. For example, we scheduled two optional etiquette dinners; we are happy to report that 35 students attended each one. Overall, the T&M events this year were not severely impacted by Covid-19.
Admissions and Program Statistics Sixty students from the T&M Program Class of 2022 completed minors in either Computing & Business, Engineering & Business, or Technology & Business. In Fall 2022, 58 students in the Class of 2023 will begin the Pre-Capstone class, and 67 students in the newly admitted Class of 2024 will begin classes. The Class of 2024 of 67 students has an average GPA of 3.76 and spans 16 Georgia Tech majors. Aerospace Engineering (AE) Architecture Business Administration (BA) IT Management Finance General Management Marketing Operations and Supply Chain Management Strategy and Innovation
Computer Engineering (CMPE) Computer Science (CS) Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Economics Electrical Engineering (EE) History, Technology, and Society Literature, Media, and Communication Industrial Design (ID) Industrial Engineering (IE)
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Biomedical Engineering (BME) Civil Engineering (CE)
International Affairs Mechanical Engineering (ME)
Women students represent 44% of this class, Latino students represent 13.4%., African American students represent 7.5%, and students identifying as two or more races represent 10.4%. We continue to reach out to all Diversity & Inclusion offices across campus to recruit a diverse cohort.
College of Design 6%
College of Sciences 2%
Ivan Allen College 7.58% Scheller College of Business 36%
College of Engineering 33%
College of Computing 15%
Class of 2024 Demographics by College
Other 0%
Prefer not to answer 1%
Asian 30%
White or Caucasian 57%
Black or African American 6% Hispanic or Latino 6%
Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander 0%
American Indian or Alaska Native 0%
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Demographics by Origin from 2016-2024
Prefer not to answer 0%
Female 43%
Male 57%
Demographics by Gender from 2016-2024 Additionally, beginning in the fall semester of 2015, the T&M Program has offered “Express Admission” to all incoming Scheller College of Business Dean’s Scholars. Forty Dean’s Scholars have accepted the offer to date. Several students have stated that a key factor in their acceptance of the Scheller Dean’s Scholarship was the fact that they received “Express Admission,” which means they can declare their desire to join the program in their first year without formally applying or interviewing. Those accepting the offered “Express Admission” begin the T&M Program in the fall of their sophomore year.
Class of 2022 Dean’s Scholars: Isabel Evans (operations and supply chain), Bennett Kraus (IT management), and Zach Sewell (IT management).
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The percentage of majors and concentrations represented in the T&M Program from the College of Engineering and the Scheller College of Business over the years are found in the graphics below:
Breakdown of College of Engineering Majors from 2010 – 2024
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Breakdown of Scheller College of Business Majors from 2010 – 2024
There have been 2,706 applications received up through the Class of 2024, with 852 students accepted into the program.
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There have been 718 students accepted through the Class of 2022, with 668 earning one of the three T&M minors.
500 450 400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 College of Engineering
Scheller College of Business
College of Computing
Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts
College of Design
College of Sciences
Enrollment Growth by College through 2024 (Total Enrollment = 865) College of Engineering Scheller College of Business College of Computing Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts College of Design College of Sciences
444 268 116 16 14 7
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Minors
Curriculum
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Class of 2023 Academic Updates The 2021-22 Academic Year (AY) was a transition year. We are proud of our students for adapting to a face-to-face delivery mode for all official Georgia Tech classes. Dr. Eric Overby and Dr. Karthik Ramachandran teach our first-year students as a cohort, with the year culminating in a poster competition on April 25, 2022. Also, Scheller College majors (that are not ITM majors) take coursework with Dr. David Ku or Dr. John Cressler. During the second year, pre-capstone and capstone courses permitted virtual meetings during those class times when students worked on their projects. This option enabled their corporate sponsors, MBA mentors, faculty, and staff to join their virtual meetings during those times. Some groups met in person while sponsoring a virtual meeting, while others decided to be 100% virtual during those times. This enhanced flexibility during capstone project meetings was well-received by all stakeholders. Also, for the first time, 100% of the capstone project deliverables were rated by their capstone sponsor as “Exceeded Expectations.” Dr. Eric Overby teaches Analysis of Emerging Technologies, the first T&M Program cohort course each fall. The students learned a structured approach to analyzing an emerging technology. They applied that approach to several emerging technologies, including those related to artificial intelligence, blockchain technology, energy and transportation technologies, and more. This year’s class was energized to be back in the classroom full time.
Dr. Eric Overby teaching.
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In Dr. Eric Overby's class, T&M Class of 2023 students Sanjana Balusu (computer science), Shumraze Fawad (industrial engineering), Meghana Gongalareddy (finance), Rubica Runton (biology), Ashley Smith (biomedical engineering), Isabella Turner (biomedical engineering), and Cindy Wei Zhou (IT management) presented to their classmates and Tempus Ex employees Annie Gerhart, Brandon Monteith, Sarah Kanik, and Julia Wilkins about augmented reality at live sporting events. After the student presentation, the Tempus Ex team exchanged ideas with them and the entire class.
Students discuss augmented reality at live sporting events with Tempus Ex employees. | Students present on the same topic. Dr. Karthik Ramachandran teaches Product Development, the second T&M Program cohort course each spring. Both the professor and the student were excited to be in the classroom for a lively edition of the class. The students pushed themselves all around Atlanta working with nonprofits, startups, and small businesses, and advanced their product ideas for a successful showcase. An audience of faculty, staff, students, alumni, and parents voted for the most creative projects and the ones most likely to have an impact. Team Habit Building won “Most Creative Project” (1st Place) and Team Baby Clothes won “Most Creative Project” (2nd Place). Team Work Attire won “Most Likely to Have Impact” (1st Place) and Team Mask Distribution won “Most Likely to Have Impact” (2nd Place).
Rubi Runton (biology) pitches to Dr. Karthik Ramachandran.
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Team Habit Building – “Most Creative Project” (1st Place)
First row: Jennifer Duong (computer engineering) and Cindy Zhou (IT management) Second row: Dr. Han Zhang, Elizaveta Egorova (industrial design), Sofia Laskowski (finance), and Meghana Gongalareddy (finance). Jennifer Duong writes, “For our project, we initially focused on how to help young children who take medication at school remember to take their medication. As we brainstormed different solutions, we realized the core of this problem was how to stick with a habit and decided we could extend our solution to anybody wanting to build any habit. While prototyping, we discovered that accountability from others helped people succeed with their habit the most. With this information, we designed a community-based habit-building app that rewards people for consistently doing their habit and connects them with friends so their friends can see their progress and encourage them along the way!”
Team Habit Building with their poster.
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Team Baby Clothes – “Most Creative Project” (2nd Place)
Dr. Han Zhang, Kalieann Wetherington (marketing), Jacob Keenan (strategy and innovation), and Kate Moore (strategy and innovation). Kalieann Wetherington writes, “Our group looked into how quickly babies grow out of their clothes, specifically in the first two years of life, resulting in many parents needing to buy new clothes every 2-3 months. After interviewing many parents and visiting a local children’s clothing consignment store, we discovered a gap in the market for providing low-cost, sustainable baby clothing that also appeals to traditionally popular clothing styles. Our final prototype is a form of smocked clothing that can be adjusted in key areas, such as shoulders and pant length, to help parents fit the clothing to their baby as they change sizes.”
Team Baby Clothes: Kate Moore (strategy and innovation), Kalieann Wetherington (marketing), John Igieobo (computer engineering), and Jacob Keenan (strategy and innovation).
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Team Work Attire – “Most Likely to Have an Impact” (1st Place)
Dr. Han Zhang with Sarah Yang (biomedical engineering), Lindsey Mains (industrial engineering), Rubica Runton (biology), and Meah Konstanzer (IT management). Not pictured: Ashley Smith (biomedical engineering). Rubica Runton writes, “Our group redefined the shopping experience to merge the benefits of shopping in person with the benefits of shopping online. Through research and interviews, we found that 91% of shoppers were not satisfied with the fit of their clothing, and they were disappointed with the lack of affordable options and the time required to shop, try on, and return items. So, we designed a product called Opus comprised of three stages to improve the user shopping experience. First, a LiDAR scanner measures the user’s body to determine their size. Next, the size measurements are entered into the item selector GUI along with other user needs, such as price range, color, and fit. Finally, a clothing try-on experience, prototyped with the app Forma, allows the user to virtually try on clothing items on mannequins and a picture of their body to visualize fit. Opus, in the future, can be integrated with brand-specific measurements and item inventories to streamline the shopping process for shoppers and stores.”
Team Work Attire with their poster.
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Team Mask Distribution – “Most Likely to Have an Impact” (2nd Place)
First Row: Malia Yuhl (biomedical engineering), Pearson Rackley (civil engineering), and Corinna Alting (environmental engineering). Second Row: Dr. Han Zhang, Caleb Yarbrough (finance), Adam Poteet (IT management), and Robert Ridgeway (finance). Malia Yuhl writes, “For our project, we investigated the mask distribution process to buildings on campus at Georgia Tech in light of the pandemic. We witnessed disposable masks in classrooms become contaminated, wasted, or unreplenished. We identified an unmet need to replace them in a uniform manner across campus proactively. Our final prototype was a spring-loaded mask dispenser with a tissue box-like access point and fitted with a sensor measuring the number of masks left based on the extension of the spring. This information gets sent to a database that shows the percentage of masks left in various classrooms in real time, as well as the building managers overseeing those areas. This could automate reminders to put in new mask orders before they fully run out, making the lives of those currently involved in mask distribution much easier. And the concept can have many applications beyond just personal protective equipment!”
Malia Yuhl pitches her team’s project.
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Dr. David Ku teaches ME 3141, Cutting-Edge Technologies Seminar, to all business students except those studying IT Management. Dr. John D. Cressler, a faculty member from the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, teaches CoE 3002, “Introduction to the Microelectronics and Nanotechnology Revolution,” each fall to the same subset of T&M students. Dr. Cressler writes, “Fall 2021 went off without a hitch with our standard approach of learning the scientific and engineering underpinnings of microelectronics and how it is profoundly reshaping both technology and life on Earth and assessing the societal impact of this transformative technology. Discussion threads, team debates on contentious topics, and a team-based capstone electronic ‘widget deconstruction’ project followed, as normal. Great fun for all!”
Scheller Student Features The Scheller College of Business featured T&M Class of 2021 Alex Dunaway (operations and supply chain) in their “Countdown to Commencement” series about Fall 2021 graduates and two T&M students in their series about Spring 2022 graduates: T&M Class of 2021 Nikita Dani (IT management) and T&M Class of 2021 Conor Walsh (finance). As a Denning scholar, Alex was a member of the Georgia-Pacific capstone team, and when interviewed, he discussed the importance of networking. Alex writes, “The biggest lesson I’ve gained from studying business at Scheller is that your network is everything. Very few people succeed in business completely on their own. A key to my success has been developing relationships with people that want to see me succeed and asking them for help along the way. Often, it’s surprising how much people want to help, but you’ll never know if you don’t ask. A friendly conversation with a professor or an advisor can lead to a professional relationship, and one day that relationship could sprout an opportunity. But without making that initial effort, those opportunities will never have the chance to materialize.” As a Denning scholar, Nikita was an Equifax capstone team member. And while at Tech, she interned at Steelcase and Koch Industries. Her favorite course was T&M professor Dr. Eric Overby's “Analysis of Emerging Technologies.” The classmate Nikita admires most is fellow T&M alumna Emily Salmond. When asked about Dr. Overby's course, Nikita said, “This course was discussion-based, and Professor Overby focused on a new emerging technology in each lecture. I really enjoyed the discussion and the way Professor Overby incorporated industries and events to help us understand the technology being discussed. I left every lecture feeling like an expert in a new industry, and I loved that we were discussing issues that were current hot topics in the business world. I particularly enjoyed forecasting how we thought the issues with each emerging technology area would play out.”
Alex Dunaway
Nikita Dani
Conor Walsh
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As a Denning scholar, Conor was a Naval Nuclear Laboratory capstone team member. Conor's favorite Georgia Tech professor was Dr. John D. Cressler. Conor writes, “He teaches a course called “Introduction to the Microelectronics and Nanotechnology Revolution.” I took this class as a part of the Denning Technology & Management Program, which allows Scheller students to obtain a minor in engineering and business. This course was extremely interesting and changed the way I view technology in my daily life, but the biggest thing that stood out to me was the way Dr. Cressler conducted the class. He clearly cared very deeply for his students, and he would go out of his way to intentionally make sure we were doing well. I took this course during the Covid-19 pandemic, which was obviously an isolating time, but Dr. Cressler made sure that his students knew they were cared for.”
Corporate Statistics The 2021-22 AY marked the official beginning of the T&M Program’s partnership with the Atlanta Braves and Tempus Ex. We also continued our partnerships with Boeing, Caterpillar, Equifax, Georgia-Pacific, Navy Nuclear Labs (NNL), NCR, PACCAR, Siemens, Southwire, Steelcase, and Ware2Go for a total of 13 corporate affiliates for the Class of 2022. Georgia-Pacific sponsored an operations project as well as one for their innovation division. We had a total of 14 capstone projects for the Class of 2022.
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Corporate Affiliate History
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Corporate Affiliate Guest Speakers Denning T&M Program students benefited greatly by meeting and speaking with the following corporate executives who served as guest speakers in Dr. Overby’s and Dr. Ramachandran’s classes this year. Equifax Jeff Dugger, Distinguished Data Scientist
Equifax Leigh Ellis, Global Program Manager, HR Operations
Equifax Ashley Stewart, Talent Acquisition
Home Depot Dave Albracht, Former Senior Director, eCommerce Product Management & UX
NCR Jay Arcement, Senior Product Manager, Innovation & Integration
Tempus Ex Erin Devoir, Executive Assistant to the CEO
Tempus Ex Annie Gerhart, COO and Co-Founder
Tempus Ex Brandon Monteith, Senior Director, Corporate Development & Strategy
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Salary Statistics Across the board, students who graduate from Georgia Tech with one of our three minors realize a financial benefit in their starting salary. The graph below illustrates the differences across the five colleges for alumni starting full-time jobs in the summer of 2022. We used a two-year average median to account for anomalies in salary data caused by COVID-19. Also, the average hourly rate for T&M students interning was $29.53/hour.
Two-Year Average Median for T&M vs. 2021 College Median
“T&Mers in Treasury” at NCR: Meghana Gongalareddy (finance) and Alexander Langan (finance)
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Student Employment with Corporate Affiliates The Denning T&M Program is pleased to report that eight students worked for T&M corporate affiliates during the academic year, and 25 are currently working in a summer internship. In addition, five students started a full-time position with a corporate affiliate in 2022.
BOEING
Name
Major
T&M Cohort
Drew Nizialek
Industrial Engineering
2022
Zachary Sewell
Business, IT Management
2022
Shumraze Fawad
Industrial Engineering
2023
James Joh
Electrical Engineering
2023
Jacob Castle
Business, IT Management
2023
CATERPILLAR
Name Diego Garcia
Major
Mechanical Engineering
2023
EQUIFAX
Name
T&M Cohort
Major
T&M Cohort
Nicholas Meyer
Computer Engineering
2022
Raveena Vellingiri
Neuroscience
2022
Name
GEORGIA-PACIFIC Major
T&M Cohort
Parker Quarles
Business, IT Management
2022
Zachary Bellis
Mechanical Engineering
2022
Lekha Gowda
Business, IT Management
2023
NCR
Name
Type Summer Internship Summer Internship Summer Internship Summer Internship Summer Internship Type Summer Internship Type Summer Internship Summer Internship Type Full Time Academic-Year Internship Academic-Year Internship Academic-Year Internship
Major
T&M Cohort
Type
Courtney Canouse
Business, Operations & Supply Chain Management
2022
Full Time
Divita Chillakuru
Industrial Design
2022
Full Time
George Missailidis
Industrial Design
2022
Full Time Academic-Year Internship
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NCR
Name
Major
Siddhartha Vemuri
Computer Science
2021
Lulu Gao
Industrial Design
2022
Angelica Fernandez
Business
2022
Alex Langan
Business, Finance
2022
Nicholas Rokos
Mechanical Engineering
2022
Meghana Gongalareddy
Business, Finance
2023
Lekha Gowda
Business, IT Management
2023
Samuel Kaplan
Business Administration, Finance
2023
Rebecca Settlage
Business, Operations & Supply Chain Management
2023
Alex Sohrab
Computer Science
2023
Akash Mahesh
Computer Science
2024
Sheila Trinh
Business, Operations & Supply Chain Management
2024
Carolyn Yuan
Computer Science
2024
SIEMENS
Name
Major
T&M Cohort
T&M Cohort
Louis Grady
Mechanical Engineering
2021
Robert Ridgeway
Business, Finance
2023
Caleb Yarbrough
Business, Finance
2023
SOUTHWIRE
Name
Major
Type Full Time
Business, Strategy & Innovation
2022
Stephen Hellier
Mechanical Engineering
2022
Ashlyn Sasser
Industrial Design
2021
Name Kate Moore
Major
Business, Strategy & Innovation
Type Summer Internship Summer Internship Summer Internship
T&M Cohort
Eliott Gardy
STEELCASE
Type Academic-Year Internship Academic-Year Internship Summer Internship Summer Internship Summer Internship Summer Internship Summer Internship Summer Internship Summer Internship Summer Internship Summer Internship Summer Internship Summer Internship
T&M Cohort 2023
Summer Internship Academic-Year Internship Type Summer Internship
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Name
TEMPUS EX Major
T&M Cohort
Sid Balaga
Business, Strategy & Innovation
2022
Suzanne Kalkstein
Industrial Engineering
2024
Type Academic-Year Internship Summer Internship
Diego Garcia (mechanical engineering) interning at Caterpillar.
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On the left: Kate Moore (strategy & innovation) is a Supply Management Intern at Steelcase; she is pictured here finishing up her 3rd week at Steelcase headquarters in Grand Rapids, Michigan. On the right: Lekha Gowda (finance) and Cody Kaplan (finance) interning at NCR.
T&M Events by Category As mentioned in the Executive Summary, we categorize our events as career development, corporate partnerships, academic, international, alumni-centered, community building, and administrative. This section will elaborate on these events to allow the reader to see how the Denning T&M Program supports its students and corporate partners across multiple dimensions.
Career Development Events When it comes to career development, T&M strives to provide as many hands-on workshops and events as possible to allow students to practice their communication skills frequently. The students consistently refine their elevator pitches and conversation skills to build confidence for competitive interviews and public speaking opportunities by consistently interacting with our corporate affiliates. Each student starts off their T&M tenure with an official headshot in business formal to use on their LinkedIn profile. They also participate in a rigorous resume review with Communications Manager Anne Lynch to stand out amongst their peers when it comes to clarity, keyword optimization, formatting, and intrigue. All students, current and on-campus alumni, are eligible to be included in a bound resume book that corporate affiliates await every fall at the Corporate Affiliate Job Fair.
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Shumraze Fawad’s LinkedIn profile showcasing his T&M headshot At the Fall 2021 Corporate Affiliate Job Fair, Senior Manager, Corporate Relations & Student Counseling John Stanford welcomed affiliates while setting up their tables in the Academy of Medicine. Over the course of the event, 110 students met with recruiters to explore internship and full-time positions. Most notable was the strong T&M alumni presence representing corporate affiliates.
Southwire team (left) and Steelcase affiliate talking to student (right).
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Carly Schmitt (alumna and affiliate) and Leigh Ellis from Equifax | Rob Stoker from Boeing
NCR affiliates Stephen Wright, Kate Groce (alumna and affiliate), Liz Welsko (alumna and affiliate), Tony Burdett, Daniel Hermann, Ellen Brown (alumna and affiliate), and Ford Coleman (alumnus and affiliate).
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Ava Gribble (student assistant) speaks to Cole Alford from the Atlanta Braves and Caterpillar affiliate speaks to a student. During the job fair, our students pitch themselves to prospective employers and capstone project sponsors. In the more intimate setting of the T&M Suite, John Stanford and Sheena Brown host office takeovers. These events last from 10:00 am – 2:00 pm and allow the companies to pitch themselves to our students. Students enjoy these informal events where they can learn more about the company culture while practicing their business conversation skills. September 1, 2021 September 9, 2021 September 10, 2021 September 10, 2021 September 15, 2021 September 28, 2021 October 1, 2021 October 5, 2021 April 21, 2022
Georgia-Pacific Caterpillar Boeing Breakfast with Rob Stoker Boeing IT Navy Nuclear Labs (NNL) Boeing with Stacie Sire Southwire Tempus Ex Boeing with Rob Stoker
Office Takeover Schedule
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Fielding Widner, Nicole Finley, Lisa Carlson (alumna and affiliate), John Stanford, And Michelle Voykovic (alumna and affiliate)
Stacie Sire from Boeing speaks to T&M women.
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Brandon Monteith from Tempus Ex speaks to T&M students. Additional workshops allow T&M students to stand apart from their contemporaries. This year we hosted a Virtual Presentation workshop with Katie Temple, two Business Etiquette Dinners, two Dress for Success workshops, and a resume writing workshop for students and alumni with professional resume writer Marie Plett. In January 2022, Katy Temple, CEO of Katy Temple Media Coaching, coached all T&M students on presenting more effectively on camera. She taught over Zoom and received high praise from our students for her engaging workshop. Katie is an award-winning sports broadcaster, and the students also enjoyed watching her reel highlighting on-air work interviewing professional athletes.
Katy Temple
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In January 2022, Peggy Parks, CEO of Parks Image Group, led the students in an etiquette class.
Anne Lynch underneath a camera before Peggy Parks teaches her etiquette workshop. | Peggy Parks and Anne Lynch
Peggy Parks teaching. | Alex Kalenchits (computer science), Aboubacar Barrie (marketing) and Cody Kaplan (finance). In April, the T&M Program students who will begin coursework in the upcoming fall semester are provided a Dress for Success Workshop taught by Nicole Guerrero and Lester McCarter. They separate the class into two groups based on gender to prepare students for interviews and important corporate events. We invited all current students to attend because we canceled the workshop for the last two springs due to COVID-19.
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While Lester was teaching the men how to tie their ties and project confidence with their body language, Nicole taught the women how to stay authentic within the confines of business formal, business casual, and casual in the workplace. In addition, she covered labels on three suits and invited our students to feel the different materials and guess the price points. Our alumni community’s real-world experience was the foundation for both workshops, as 75 alumni completed our survey to prepare for the event. Alumni answered questions on what they’re wearing to work and provided industry-specific advice. For example, except for the Tech industry, most alumni advised students to dress one level up and that they can always remove their jacket, or tie as the case might be, to dress down if things feel more casual.
Lester McCarter ties Trey Tiffin’s tie | Lester McCarter and Nicole Guerrero | Students test suit material.
Marie Plett speaks over Zoom on Applicant Tracking Systems during a student and alumni resume workshop.
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Capstone Events Before the academic year begins, corporate sponsors solidify their capstone project and start refining it if needed with the T&M team. About one month into the semester, September pre-capstone class sessions are reserved for affiliates to give their capstone project pitches. Most students have already met the speaker at an office takeover, making it easier for them to envision themselves working alongside the project lead for six months. The capstone project pitches also allow affiliates to get feedback in the form of the Q&A session on how our interdisciplinary students would propose tackling their problem. This academic year, we revealed the groups online, and teams immediately went to breakout rooms with their company sponsors.
Maegan Sherrill delivering the Southwire pitch to the Class of 2022.
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Madeleine Geller (business), Abbey Salas (biology), Grace Pfohl (computer science) and Tyler Smith (civil engineering) from the Caterpillar capstone team. The Caterpillar capstone team traveled to Texas this November, and here’s what team member Grace Pfohl had to say: “We traveled for a three-day immersion trip to explore Caterpillar's facilities in Austin, Texas, and the surrounding region. We visited the HOLT CAT dealership in Georgetown, Texas. We met with Craig Johnson (Service Manager) and Gregory Brown (Parts Manager) to understand how the CAT dealership operates within the Caterpillar value chain. We also toured the Caterpillar Seguin engine plant with Chris Koers (Engineering Manager) to see how Caterpillar manufactures engines. The main purpose of this trip was to understand the different parts of the Caterpillar value chain and how our project on 3D printable structures may be able to assist each part.”
Matthew DoVale (mechanical engineering), Courtney Canouse (operations & supply chain management), Michael Mandujano (finance), Benton Poore (affiliate), Jamison Porter (alumnus and affiliate), and Zach Sewell (IT management).
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The Georgia-Pacific LLC operations capstone team traveled to their site visit in style. Here’s what team member Michael Mandujano had to say: “We joined Jamison Porter (GP corporate sponsor and T&M alumnus) and Benton Poore on a trip to the Savannah River Mill, where we were given a tour of the 2,000-acre facility site. We learned the process behind turning pulp into paper and everything in between. Our main goal of the trip was to gain a current understanding of how paper cores are being used and stored today and talk with on-site managers about how our team’s deliverable can help with forecasting and core storage to potentially save the company hundreds of thousands of dollars.” The Class of 2022 Capstone “Draft” Board
Class of 2022
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Corporate affiliates remain involved throughout the year as they interact with their capstone team and the T&M staff. In April, capstone students presented their findings in-person or over video conferencing platforms. One of more T&M staff members attended the 14 final presentations to the corporate sponsors and fellow executives. The corporate affiliates were overwhelmingly impressed with the students’ presentations. Twelve out of 14 projects were recommended as Best Project of the Year by at least one of their sponsors.
NCR team presenting.
John Stanford (T&M), Kate Mandrell (NCR VP), Judah Krug (computer science), Stephanie Yao (computer science), Owen Sullivan (NCR COO), Zachary Bellis (mechanical engineering), Divita Chillakuru (industrial design), Alex Kalenchits (computer science), Patrice Graves (NCR CHRO), Tony Burdett (NCR University Relations), and Daniel Herrmann (NCR VP).
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Corporate Partnership and Academic Events Understandably, career development, corporate partnership, and academic events overlap as these categories are interdependent. In fact, that’s what makes the Denning Technology & Management Program so unique. However, there are some events solely for our corporate affiliates to make sure they are getting the most of their sponsorship. In the summer, our Administrative Director Bob Burgess and our Senior Manager, Corporate Relations and Student Counseling John Stanford conduct their Summer Tour, where they connect with as many affiliates as possible. They discuss best practices, potential capstone projects, and meet new employees that may begin working with the T&M Program at these meetings. The Summer Tour is a great way to learn more about the company culture as well. Earlier in the academic year, John Stanford traveled with Naval Nuclear Laboratory to deepen our partnership. John Stanford’s Visit to CVN 72 USS Abraham Lincoln Aircraft John Stanford traveled with Naval Nuclear Laboratory (NNL) representatives Sheelah Aulet and Robert Upton on a trip of a lifetime adventure as guests of the US Navy. The goal was to further the understanding of nuclear propulsion in the Navy and the engineering minds it takes to run such safe and impressive operations. They explored the inside of a nuclear-powered submarine, and the highlight of the trip was an overnight visit to the CVN 72 USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft. NNL has partnered with the Denning Technology & Management Program as a corporate affiliate for two years now. This year, Vince Pantloni led an interdisciplinary student team through an eight-month project. The students are developing a hybrid data analytics platform that combines shipboard edge analytics with remote data analytics dockside in support of nuclear-powered ships.
John Stanford | Stephen Ruffin (Georgia Tech) Robert Upton (NNL), John Stanford, and Sheelah Aulet (NNL).
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Commencement On Monday, April 25, 2022, all Class of 2022 T&M students met at the Academy of Medicine for their Commencement ceremony. The Class of 2022 nominated two Class Speakers, and Bob Burgess announced awards for students of the year and best capstone project as well as best capstone presentation. All award winners are listed in the “Denning Awards” section.
Dr. Han Zhang with class speakers Chakrika Ratra (computer engineering) and Nick Rokos (mechanical engineering).
Class speaker Chakrika Ratra takes a selfie after her speech.
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Class of 2022 graduates and class speaker Nick Rokos.
Faculty Director Dr. Han Zhang speaking to the Class of 2022. | Administrative Director Bob Burgess addressing the Class of 2022.
Class of 2022 graduates.
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Class of 2022 graduates.
Faculty Director Dr. Han Zhang speaking to the Class of 2022 and their families.
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Corporate Advisory Panel Meeting After a two-year hiatus, we held our Corporate Advisory Panel Meeting in person at Top Golf so that affiliates could meet with each other as well as the T&M faculty and staff. At this end-of-year meeting, affiliates looked back over the year and offered advice on continuing to improve the program.
Corporate affiliates with John Stanford and Han Zhang.
International Events The sixth annual International Experience was planned for March 13 to March 21, 2020, to Beijing, China, in partnership with the Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications. Due to Covid-19 protocols, we canceled the trip. When it is safe to do so and approved by the Georgia Tech Office of International Education, the T&M Program will resume our International Experience trips over Spring Break. We hope to take students abroad again in March 2023. The T&M Program has enabled 223 students to have an International Experience while an undergraduate student. Many students have commented that they would have missed out on the opportunity to study abroad if not for the “Spring Break travel structure” and the fact that the T&M Program subsidizes the cost of the trip.
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International Experience History
Alumni Events and Involvement We did not hold any in-person social alumni events during this past academic year, but our alumni liaison, Anne Lynch, engaged with alumni one-on-one through phone conversations, LinkedIn messaging, emails, and in-person lunch meetings. John Stanford, Senior Manager, Industry Engagement & Student Counseling, also maintained open communication with alumni during the past year and focused his efforts on alumni working for corporate affiliates. Seventy-five alumni completed a Dress for Success survey, which was used to teach current students, and 33 alumni critiqued midterm presentations for the Class of 2022 capstone teams. During in-person meetings, Anne discussed ways to measure success to gather potential survey questions. Administrative Director Bob Burgess plans to execute a comparison study between Georgia Tech graduates and Georgia Tech graduates with a minor from the Denning Technology & Management Program.
John Stanford meets with Boeing affiliates and T&M alumni working at Boeing. | Anne Lynch meets with Alex Berry (T&M Class of 2016) for lunch in Tech Square.
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Anne Lynch with Julia Bodea (T&M Class of 2016) | Anne with Scott Pergament (T&M Class of 2018).
Anne Lynch with Giancarlo Vargas (T&M Class of 2020). | Anne Lynch with Tommy Antonino (T&M Class of 2015).
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This year, all capstone teams created midterm presentation videos. We then solicited alumni to critique a subset of these presentations that were approved for sharing by the corporate affiliates. Thirty-three alumni T&M Program alumni gave a total of 56 detailed critiques on the T&M Class of 2022’s midterm presentations. They also offered to meet with current students to expand on their advice. Our Denning Scholars took their projects and presentations to the next level with their expertise. We are continually impressed by our community’s generosity. T&M Class of 2011: T&M Class of 2012: T&M Class of 2014: T&M Class of 2015: T&M Class of 2016: T&M Class of 2017: T&M Class of 2018: T&M Class of 2019: T&M Class of 2020: T&M Class of 2021:
Alvin Chen and Hari Gopal Andrew Elkins and Michael Tribo Tuure Pasto and Jason Ye Grant Heffley, Taylor Kersteen, Alec Li, and Jonathan Porter Henderson Johnson II and Dalton Nechanicky Marguerite Bernard, Laura McCray Dunigan, Megan Emery, Richard Huckaby, and Olivia Jagiella-Lodise Jessica Jiang, Sarah Jory, and Sarah Selim Jared Borders, Rishab Mokkapati, and Jason Quill Karan Achtani, Ford Coleman, Kiran Gite, Davis Massey, Venkatesh Muppaneni, Lucas Nativio, Ted Vlady, and Charlie Ye Ross Cefalu and Ashlyn Sasser
Team
One Sentence Capstone Project Description
Caterpillar Equifax Georgia Pacific – OPS NCR PACCAR Steelcase Ware2Go
Develop an understanding of the impact of 3D printing on the construction industry and recommend go-to-market strategies for the industry. Analyze the collections process for services provided by Equifax to their customers and recommend data-driven process improvements to increase the time revenue is received. Investigate the excessive core waste at the Savannah River Mill and make recommendations for process improvements. Investigate the Salesforce competitive intelligence gathering process and develop a mobile app and database to increase the ease of storing and accessing that data. Improve the facility layout of the out bounding bay using a simulation. Improve the capability of on-the-floor employees by providing a tool for employees to capture knowledge and improve retention by allowing workers to train through augmented reality. Develop an understanding of Ware2Go’s onboarding process delays and recommend process improvements to minimize lost revenue.
Team descriptions for alumni feedback on their midterm capstone presentations.
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Thirty-three alumni volunteered to critique midterm presentations.
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A subset of alumni from the Class of 2020 and Class of 2021 joined the Class of 2022 at this year’s commencement. They enjoyed reconnecting with each other and voting on Class of 2023 posters.
Ted Vlady, Charlie Ye, Claire Thanner, Emily Salmond, Ally Nastasi, Claire Corbin, and Reese Howard.
Alumni LinkedIn Initiative In June 2019, we created a Higher Education page on LinkedIn for the Denning Technology & Management Program to post public content about our program, students, corporate affiliates, and alumni. Most importantly, our 668 alumni can add the T&M Program under their LinkedIn Education section to officially list the minor they earned at Georgia Tech. Once added, alumni become searchable in a directory based on location, company, career field, major, and skillset. This directory can also be queried by keyword to find alumni with expertise in anything from machine learning to corporate finance to diversity and inclusion. There are currently 616 registered alumni, a 92% participation rate. We also have 1,518 LinkedIn page followers.
Students, alumni, corporate affiliates, and headhunters can use the alumni directory to find experts, future colleagues, mentors, speakers, and former classmates. Current students have used the directory
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to reach out to alumni who worked at their target companies, navigated being an F-1 visa holder, and asked for advice on pursuing an MBA. Alumni have used the directory to reconnect with former classmates and look for a new job. And corporate affiliates can now easily target alumni for recruitment. It has also facilitated city-specific alumni networking. The T&M Program’s dynamic public presence on LinkedIn enables connectivity and relationships in a way that wasn’t possible before. These relationships have the potential to drive innovation, build community, and impact future income. You can access the page at: https://www.linkedin.com/school/denning-technology-management-program.
Banner for public LinkedIn group featuring T&M students with Shenzhen University students.
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Screenshot from LinkedIn alumni directory. With the T&M LinkedIn page, we can post public content about our program, students, corporate affiliates, and alumni. Additionally, we partner with the Scheller College of Business to amplify their LinkedIn content through our audience.
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Community Building Events The T&M Program understands that a strong community fosters academic success and future alumni engagement. When the opportunity presents itself and the student interest is there, the program has financially backed additional opportunities for our scholars. Over the last year, we sponsored the Ideas to Serve competition through the Institute for Leadership and Social Impact. The competition allows Georgia Tech students to explore social problems for the problem discovery track or solve a problem in the ideas track.
Administrative Events Lastly, when running the T&M Program, certain administrative events allow us to recruit potential students, welcome the newly admitted students, help students build community, and then celebrate our program’s graduates. The academic year kicked off with the Fall Orientation in August for both the Class of 2022 and the Class of 2023. At this event, our photographer Justin Chan took each student’s official T&M headshot. In October, we host a Prospective Student Information Session during the application period, which ends at exactly 11:59 pm on October 31 every year. Administrative Director Bob Burgess kicked off the meeting and then turned it over to a student-run panel. Over 100 prospective students attended.
Andrew Norlin (biomedical engineering) fielding audience questions. | Group shot of the panel. On March 7, 2022, after admissions decisions had been made, we hosted an in-person Orientation and Welcome event to introduce the newest students from the Class of 2024 to each other and the corporate affiliates. We gathered in the Scheller College of Business, and students met with corporate affiliates in 15-minute segments. Before the event concluded, students could mingle freely to talk to affiliates they hadn’t met yet.
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Tony Burdett (NCR) speaking with newly admitted students.
Alumnae guest speakers shared advice.
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Denning Awards Class of 2022 Best Capstone Project 1st Place Tie: Equifax and NCR won based on the criteria of milestone completion and quality, feedback from corporate sponsors, and teamwork.
Class of 2022 Best Capstone Project 2nd Place Tie: Georgia-Pacific Innovation and Steelcase won based on the criteria of milestone completion and quality, feedback from corporate sponsors, and teamwork.
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Class of 2022 Best Capstone Presentation 1st Place Tie: This year, Caterpillar and Ware2Go won for their outstanding work on their capstone presentation.
Class of 2022 Best Capstone Presentation 2nd Place Tie: Boeing and Navy Nuclear Labs won second place for their outstanding work on their capstone presentation.
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Class of 2022 Outstanding Student Awards: This year, we are proud to recognize six students with the “Class of 2022 Outstanding Student Award.” These students were chosen based on nominations from corporate affiliates, with final decisions based on T&M faculty and staff consensus deliberations.
Dr. Han Zhang, Matthew DoVale (mechanical engineering, Georgia-Pacific Operations), Alexandre De Souza Andrade (industrial engineering, PACCAR), Caitlyn Nazareth (strategy and innovation, Atlanta Braves), Divita Chillakuru (industrial design, NCR), and Nicholas Meyer (computer engineering, Equifax). Not pictured: Lindsey Nicholas (computer science, Tempus Ex). Class of 2023 Outstanding Student Awards: The Class of 2023 student awards were based on nominations from your professors, with final decisions based on consensus deliberations by T&M faculty and staff.
Dr. Han Zhang with Pearson Rackley (civil engineering), Kate Moore (strategy and innovation), Meah Konstanzer (IT management), Aboubacar Barrie (marketing), James Joh (electrical engineering), Jacob Castle (strategy and innovation), and Shumraze Fawad (industrial engineering).
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Scholarships Robert L. Branner, Jr. Scholarship: The Robert L. Branner, Jr. Scholarship Endowment Fund was established in 2011 to be awarded to students who have been selected to participate in the Steven A. Denning Technology & Management Program.
Michael Carter (finance) Denning Technology & Management Program Scholarship: The Denning Technology & Management Program Scholarship was established to support Denning T&M Program students who do not qualify for the other more specific scholarships.
Evan Campbell (psychology)
Wesley O’Hara (computer science)
Salina Nihalani (computer science)
George Missailidis (industrial design)
Akhil Potturi (computer science)
Raveena Vellingiri (neuroscience)
Holland-Roller Scholarship: The Holland-Roller Endowment Fund was established by the donor for Denning T&M undergraduate College of Engineering students at the Georgia Institute of Technology. The scholarship is in memory of L. Aubry Holland, ME 1937 (1915-2003).
Corinna Alting (environmental engineering)
Ryan Anderson (industrial engineering)
Emily Bell (industrial engineering)
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Zachary Bellis (mechanical engineering)
Alexandre De Souza Andrade (industrial engineering)
Gururaj Deshpande (biomedical engineering)
Matthew DoVale (mechanical engineering)
Jennifer Duong (computer engineering)
Kennedy Eltz (industrial engineering)
Shumraze Fawad (industrial engineering)
Aravind Ganesan (environmental engineering)
Diego Garcia (mechanical engineering)
William Gay (industrial engineering)
Stephen Hellier (mechanical engineering)
Fuad Hossain (industrial engineering)
Amrit Iyer (industrial engineering)
James Joh (electrical engineering)
Nicole Kachouh (industrial engineering)
Suzanne Kalkstein (industrial engineering)
Justin Kaplin (industrial engineering)
Connor Koelsch (mechanical engineering)
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Will Lang (industrial engineering)
Kristina Lymperis (industrial engineering)
Nicholas Meyer (computer engineering)
Tyler Michael (mechanical engineering)
Drew Nizialek (industrial engineering)
Andrew Norlin (biomedical engineering)
Jennifer O’Brien (industrial engineering)
Samruddhi Panse (industrial engineering)
Derek Prusener (biomedical engineering)
Pearson Rackley (civil engineering)
Akul Rajan (chemical and biomolecular engineering)
Mason Randall (mechanical engineering)
Charkrika Ratra (computer engineering)
Kristen Riess (biomedical engineering)
Nick Rokos (mechanical engineering)
Jayce Schwartz (biomedical engineering)
Shraddha Sekhar (chemical and biomolecular engineering)
Riya Shah (biomedical engineering)
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Ashley Smith (biomedical engineering)
Tyler Smith (civil engineering)
Harsha Tambareni (electrical engineering)
Isabella Turner (biomedical engineering)
Rohit Vepa (mechanical engineering)
Oliver Whitehead (mechanical engineering)
Sarah Yang (biomedical engineering)
Malia Yuhl (biomedical engineering)
Laughter Scholarship: The Laughter Scholarship Endowment Fund was established by the donor to be awarded to Aerospace Engineering undergraduate students at the Georgia Institute of Technology who have been selected to participate in the Steven A. Denning Technology & Management Program.
Sabrina Panlaqui (aerospace engineering)
Joseph Rouse (aerospace engineering)
Lonnie A. “Aubry” Holland Technology & Management Scholarship: Aubry Holland was the founder of the Holland-Underwood Foundation, and this scholarship is in his memory.
Sid Balaga (operations & supply chain)
Courtney Canouse (operations & supply chain)
Jacob Keenan (strategy & innovation)
Parker Quarles (IT management)
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McConnell Family Scholarship: The McConnell Family Endowment Fund was established by the donor in memory of his father, Turner Lawson McConnell, COM 1928, and in honor of his wife, Patricia W. McConnell, daughter Kathleen McConnell Korotzer, and son Lawson Jackson McConnell, Jr. MGT 1988.
Adam Poteet (IT management)
Michael Mandujano (finance)
Sofia Laskowski (finance)
Ira Sabnis (IT management)
Alexander Langan (finance)
Rebecca Settlage (operations & supply chain management)
Robert Weimar (IT management)
Robert Ridgeway (finance)
Annette Weber (leadership & organizational change)
Cindy Wei Zhou (IT management) Judy D. and Stephen P. Zelnak Jr. Denning Technology & Management Program Scholarship: The scholarship endowment fund was established by the donor Stephen P. Zelnak, Jr., IM 1969, to be awarded to students who have been selected to participate in the Steven A. Denning Technology & Management Program.
Alexander Barton (finance)
Claire Boerner (IT management)
Jacob Castle (strategy & innovation)
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Eliott Gardy (strategy & innovation)
Madeleine Geller (accounting)
Meghana Gongalareddy (finance)
Lauren Gordon (marketing)
Greer Hardesty (finance)
Carter Hebert (finance)
Class of 2022 Capstone Projects The backbone of the Denning T&M Program is the capstone project. Each year, our second-year students carefully weigh their options and select five projects (ranking them 1 – 5) where they believe they will be able to contribute significantly and learn the most. Then the T&M Program faculty and staff carefully form the teams using a wide array of criteria. This academic year we had 14 projects split between our 60 Class of 2022 cohort members.
Equifax after their final on-site presentation: Tracy Bracken, Jim Griggs, Gururaj Deshpande (biomedical engineering), Sreya Atmuri (computer science), Raveena Vellingiri (neuroscience), Nicholas W. Meyer (computer engineering), and Chris Stanko.
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The Atlanta Braves: The Braves Fan of the Future Corporate Sponsor: Coleman Alford MBA Mentors: Colton Orr and Kyle Winkler “Compared to previous generations, Gen Z, aged 10 to 25, is more individualistic, pragmatic, and community-oriented. Their consumption is driven by considerations of uniqueness, accessibility, and ethics. In order to help the Atlanta Braves prepare for the Gen Z fan of the future and drive revenue, the Capstone Team developed six distinct recommendations: 1) Improve Gen-Z-targeted Tik Tok and Instagram marketing strategies through trend adherence and influencer collaborations, 2) Revamp college nights and refocus kids’ initiatives, 3) Repurpose underutilized stadium seating to create a 21+ standing room section, 4) Facilitate satellite Battery “pop-up” events around Atlanta, 5) Improve investment in the local Atlanta community, and 6) Increase sustainability initiatives.”
Dr. Han Zhang, Joshua Boyle (IT management), Hannah Ninan (neuroscience), Caitlyn Nazareth (strategy & innovation), Alex Langan (finance), and Eleanor Weber (international affairs and modern languages).
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Boeing: Modular Tooling For Boeing Propulsion Manufacturing Capstone Presentation of the Year – Second Place Tie Corporate Sponsors: Ryan Kerns (T&M alumnus) and Ian Ribble MBA Mentor: Charles-Philippe Blondeau “At Boeing Propulsion South Carolina, tooling is currently built for specific use cases without the ability to reuse tooling as part designs change. This project analyzed the current market for off-the-shelf tooling solutions and used designs provided by modular platform systems to develop custom builds for given scenarios. After designing a complete set of configurations, we developed a cost analysis to understand the financial implications of moving forward with one or both of these companies. We utilized 3D printing to develop scale models that helped us better understand the physical differences between the companies and ergonomic challenges posed during assembly. This analysis was created specifically with Boeing Propulsion South Carolina in mind but also provides a starting point for future Boeing engineers to improve the modularity of tooling and reduce costs for years to come.”
Dr. Han Zhang, Oliver Whitehead (mechanical engineering), Drew Nizialek (industrial engineering), Fuad Hossain (industrial engineering), and Stephen Hellier (mechanical engineering).
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Caterpillar: An Investigation of the 3D Printable Structures Industry Capstone Presentation of the Year – First Place Tie Corporate Sponsors: Tony Agusti and Tazio Grivetti MBA Mentors: Kyle Winkler and Colton Orr “The Denning Technology & Management Program capstone team sponsored by Caterpillar Inc. investigated the current and future impacts of additive manufacturing, also known as 3D printing construction, on the construction industry. The team interviewed subject matter experts in 3D printing technology, employees of 3D printing firms, and Caterpillar employees, as well as conducted market research by visiting several industry stakeholders. The capstone team synthesized the benefits and challenges of 3D printing construction, created a report on the existing firms in the industry, and spotlighted the key firms determined to be the most shaping of the future marketplace. The capstone team created an economic analysis of the industry's profitability and explored options on how Caterpillar may be able to interact with this emerging industry.”
Dr. Han Zhang, Madeleine Geller (accounting), Grace Pfohl (computer science), Abbey Salas (biology), Tyler Smith (civil engineering), and Tony Agusti (Caterpillar).
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Equifax: Risk Mitigation Through Intelligent Collections Capstone Project of the Year – First Place Tie Corporate Sponsors: Chris Stanko and Brian Sheely MBA Mentors: Kyle Winkler and Colton Orr “The Georgia Tech Equifax Capstone team delivered a risk-mitigation predictive model that prioritizes customers who have unpaid invoices past their due date. This model prioritizes the unpaid invoices that should be pursued first based on account history risk, invoice risk, and the current amount outstanding. This model will aid collections agents in maximizing cash collected within Accounts Receivable. The current process requires excessive time and effort and contains many inefficiencies, which this model will relieve. This predictive tool leverages advanced cloud technologies like Google Cloud BigQuery, Apache Spark, and advanced modeling techniques like Hybrid Finite Impulse Response (FIR) Mean with Regularization Shrinkage, Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA), and eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost). We found an expected annual gain of $1.2 million while using this Risk Model over their current systems, which translates to an annual ROI of 600%.”
Dr. Han Zhang, Gururaj Deshpande (biomedical engineering), Sreya Atmuri (computer science), Raveena Vellingiri (neuroscience), and Nicholas W. Meyer (computer engineering).
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Georgia-Pacific – Innovation: Developing a Dust Monitoring System for the Hummingbird Digital Printing Press Capstone Project of the Year – Second Place Tie Corporate Sponsor: Max Marty MBA Mentors: Scott Spencer and Amanda Shojaee “Georgia-Pacific purchased two HP T1100S Digital Printers, also known as the Hummingbird printers, because of the emerging opportunity to print advertisements on the packaging. The Hummingbird printers use state-of-the-art technology and run at speeds of up to 1,000 ft/min. These high speeds cause significant dust build-up, which damages the internal printheads, which are the components that dispense the ink. The Denning Technology & Management Program capstone team developed a system that quantifies the dust levels within the printer using Particulate Matter (PM) sensing techniques. The capstone team built both a physical sensing device as well as a website that includes real-time measurements and data visualization tools. The system will allow Georgia-Pacific to accurately track dust concentration changes over time and adapt printer operations to reduce printhead damage.”
Dr. Han Zhang, Connor Koelsch (mechanical engineering), Rob Schleusner (computer science), Harsha Tambareni (electrical engineering) and Rohit Vepa (mechanical engineering).
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Georgia-Pacific – Operations: Parent Roll Core Spend Reduction Corporate Sponsors: Jamison Porter (T&M alumnus) and Ronald Traub MBA Mentors: Scott Spencer and Amanda Shojaee “Georgia-Pacific (GP) teamed up with the Georgia Tech Denning Technology & Management Program capstone team to investigate ways to reduce parent roll core spending at GP’s Savannah River Mill. Parent rolls are large 1–3-ton rolls of paper that are loaded by the mill’s paper machines. These large rolls of paper are bought to converting lines at the mill that convert the raw paper into finished products such as paper towels and bath tissue. The cores for these rolls are very similar to the cores that can be found inside of a roll of paper towels, just much larger. The cores are made of cardboard and range from 12” to 22” in diameter and from 27” to 135” in length. Through research, interviews, mill comparisons, and benefit analysis, the team presented a solution in the form of an investment in equipment that is projected to reduce parent roll core spend significantly.”
Dr. Han Zhang, Courtney Canouse (operations & supply chain management), Matthew DoVale (mechanical engineering), Michael Mandujano (finance), and Zach Sewell (IT management).
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Naval Nuclear Labs: Naval Nuclear Laboratory Advanced Analytics Capstone Presentation of the Year – Second Place Tie Corporate Sponsors: Kurt Snyder and Vince Pantloni MBA Mentor: Charles-Philippe Blondeau “The capstone team researched advanced analytics capabilities in nuclear propulsion systems. Leveraging industry research, expert interviews, and guidance from the Naval Nuclear Laboratory, the capstone team developed recommendations regarding three different industrial internet of things architectures that would enable data collection, processing, and analysis for nuclear propulsion plants. These architectures enable condition-based maintenance and digital twinning capabilities, as well as provide a platform for additional analytics techniques to be applied as needs evolve. Each architecture was detailed in a design document, and their implications were explored through a cost-benefit analysis. Lastly, the capstone team defined a specific use case for their recommended architecture and demonstrated the viability of a machine learning algorithm for anomaly detection on nuclear propulsion systems.”
Dr. Han Zhang, Ryan Anderson (industrial engineering), Jack Fernandez (computer science), Bennett Kraus (IT management), and Parker Quarles (IT management).
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NCR: NCR Insight Collection Tool Capstone Project of the Year – First Place Tie Corporate Sponsors: Daniel Herrmann and Kate Mandrell MBA Mentors: Christopher Arms and Dylan Hutcheson “The Denning team built a mobile application to transform how NCR collected competitive insights by connecting NCR’s customer-facing employees (data collectors) with internal analytics teams (end-users). This app will reinvent how NCR collects competitive intelligence, thus creating more actionable insights for analytics teams to refine go-to-market strategies. The mobile application has various features anchored around a navigable questionnaire based on behavioral economics research and interviews with NCR employees. Data collectors will input information into the questionnaire, which is pushed to a centralized database in a format that will integrate with NCR’s technological ecosystem. The final deliverable comprised this mobile app and a roadmap for future development and launch. Ultimately, this project will deliver value and shape the future of NCR by helping inform internal teams of the insights that the customer-facing teams are gathering in the field, making the company more customercentric and furthering its innovation and product development approaches.”
Tony Burdett (NCR), Daniel Herrmann (NCR), Dr. Han Zhang, Judah Krug (computer science), Aleksandr Kalenchits (computer science), Zachary Bellis (mechanical engineering), Divita Chillakuru (industrial design), and Stephanie Yao (computer science).
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PACCAR: Redefining the PACCAR Part’s Outbounding Bay Corporate Sponsors: Alex Cagle, Adam Ernest, and Libor Lochman MBA Mentors: Scott Spencer and Amanda Shojaee “The PACCAR Parts capstone team was tasked with improving efficiency, relieving congestion, and increasing space in the outbounding bay of the company’s distribution center in Morrow, Georgia. After performing data analysis in Excel, Python and ExpertFit, constructing a simulation in Simio, and formulating and solving an optimization model in Gurobi, the team identified that the buckboard assembly area and the exports area were the two main spaces to address. The first phase of recommendations was to lower the inventory of assembled buckboards to reach a value that matched the annual demand. Opening this space allowed the exports area to be moved close to the loading doors. The reduction of travel will save 760 hours of forklift travel a year, equating to $42,500 in annual operation costs.”
Dr. Han Zhang, Evan Campbell (psychology), Kennedy Eltz (industrial engineering), Jennifer O'Brien (industrial engineering), and Alexandre De Souza Andrade (industrial engineering).
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Siemens: Enhancing Siemens Sitrans Store IQ With Predictive Analytics Corporate Sponsor: Mohamad (Moh) EL Naamani MBA Mentors: Christopher Arms and Dylan Hutcheson “For our T&M capstone, we assisted Siemens Digital Enterprise Labs in improving its remote inventory management application, SITRANS store IQ, by developing the concept and business case for a new feature. We initiated concept development by conducting market research, competitive analysis, and subject matter expert interviews. Considering this research as well as Siemens corporate strategy, we created multiple feature canvases and feature hierarchies and developed user personas, interviewing Siemens product managers and engineers in between iterations. We also decided on which industries to focus on for our final product during this period. The team then developed a click-through prototype and strategic business case, which consisted of an in-depth ROI calculation. The team’s final prototype is a Figma file of a predictive analytics feature that allows vendors to automate the filling of customer inventory based on historical data, as well as a presentation of the feature’s impact on the vendor, which includes growth of customer base, a per-tank ROI that shows returns within a calendar year, and a projection of increased cash flow.”
Dr. Han Zhang, Cameron Bell (strategy & innovation), Claire Boerner (IT management), Salina Nihalani (computer science), and Chakrika Ratra (computer engineering).
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Southwire: Analysis of Emerging Technology for Use in Wildfire Mitigation Corporate Sponsors: Alex Bunda, Maegan Sherrill, and Charles Hume MBA Mentors: Christopher Arms and Dylan Hutcheson “The frequency and consequences of wildfires have dramatically grown over the past several decades. Some of these blazes have been caused by the equipment of California utilities, which are major customers of Southwire's Utility Products business. The Denning T&M Program capstone team examined an emerging technology that Southwire, among other stakeholders, is currently investigating as a potentially more economically and temporally efficient wildfire mitigation tool in the form of a new electrical distribution system. The team conducted a multifaceted analysis assessing this distribution system and its design, materials, manufacturing, installation, and regulatory aspects, as well as the return on investment, potential markets, and risks pertaining to Southwire and its customers. After assessing these aspects of the invention, the team constructed a business case and next-step recommendations for Southwire.”
Dr. Han Zhang, Eliott Gardy (strategy & innovation), George Missailidis (industrial design), Derek Prusener (biomedical engineering), and Akul Rajan (chemical and biomolecular engineering).
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Steelcase: TrainAR Capstone Project of the Year – Second Place Tie Corporate Sponsor: Edward Vander Bilt MBA Mentors: Kyle Winkler and Colton Orr “The goal of the Denning Technology & Management Program Steelcase capstone project is to investigate the use of augmented reality as a tool to improve the company’s current training processes and outcomes. To achieve this, the team conducted a research scan into current applications of extended reality as a whole and examined software and hardware that are used to implement extended reality solutions. This research, as well as visits to the Steelcase manufacturing plant in Athens, informed the team’s recommendations for how to use augmented reality to make training more effective and autonomous, with user experience being the central concern. A three-stage prototyping plan allowed the team to explore both how video training could be created and how the trainee would view these videos in an augmented reality format. From this, a business case outlining the research, recommendations, implementation, and financial impact was developed and presented to the Steelcase corporate sponsors, along with a prototype of the new training model.”
Dr. Han Zhang, Nick Rokos (mechanical engineering), Mason Randall (mechanical engineering), Andrew Norlin (biomedical engineering), and Lulu Gao (industrial design).
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Tempus Ex: Fan Engagement App Corporate Sponsor: Brandon Monteith MBA Mentors: Scott Spencer and Amanda Shojaee “During the Denning T&M Program capstone semester, the Tempus Ex team worked on solving the issue of increasing fan engagement for NFL games. Despite NFL games having an average duration of 3 hours and 12 minutes, the ball is in action for 11 minutes. With enormous downtime, the Tempus Ex T&M Capstone team identified a business and technology opportunity to increase fan engagement. By leveraging Tempus Ex’s data, the team created a casino-style, play-by-play fan engagement app as well as a thorough business plan to generate revenue. By predicting which players will be involved and what scenarios will occur on each upcoming play, fans will be able to win prizes such as team merchandise and in-seat food/beverage delivery from stadium vendors.”
Dr. Han Zhang, Sid Balaga (operations & supply chain management), William Gay (industrial engineering), Carter Hebert (finance), and Aayush Shah (computer science). Not pictured: Lindsey Nicholas (computer science).
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Ware2Go: Streamlining Ware2Go’s Customer Onboarding Process Capstone Presentation of the Year – First Place Tie Corporate Sponsor: Addie Cleary (T&M alumna) MBA Mentor: Charles-Philippe Blondeau “The Ware2Go Denning Technology & Management Program capstone team was tasked with providing recommendations for a future state of the Ware2Go customer onboarding process. Currently, the customer onboarding process is not completely digitized for a true self-service experience. The current process has the opportunity to be streamlined, which will advance Ware2Go’s ability to realize revenue. The team began tackling this problem by conducting interviews with internal stakeholders to document the current process and identify areas of opportunity. The team then analyzed each step, identifying potential improvements and time-saving opportunities. Following this, the team focused on customer onboarding education. The team created a prototype for a customer onboarding platform that walks customers through a truly digital onboarding experience with video-based how-to guides explaining crucial onboarding tasks while creating mastery of the Ware2Go product. Lastly, the team analyzed the financial implications of their recommended onboarding process, including the potential impact on P&L. The team looks forward to future implementations in the customer education space.”
Dr. Han Zhang, Michael Carter (finance), Isabel Evans (operations and supply chain management), Carlota Guruceaga (computer science), Kristen Riess (biomedical engineering), and Robert Weimar (IT management).
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Class Photos
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