Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine Vol. 94 No. 3 Fall 2018

MAKING THE WORLD

A BETTER PLACE

A L U M N I

A HOUSE FULL OF HOPE

POSITIVELY CHARGED

M A G A Z I N E

INSIDE THE DEAL ELECTRIC WITH ADIDAS D R E A M S

VOLUME

94 NO.3 FALL

2018

Sam Nunn is still trying to save the world.

“I have seen firsthand how Georgia Tech helps young people meet their potential and prepare for a meaningful future.”

— Darrell Gray Darrell Gray — who has served as senior manager of Georgia

had to pay for childcare, private school, sports, summer

Tech’s Wardlaw Center since 2001 and worked in the Office

camps, or “the biggest one of all, which is college tuition.”

of Human Resources for three years before that — learned

And, even for someone whose hobby is experiencing

to give at his parents’ side. They taught him to give from the

other cultures, there’s only so much travel he can do. Gray

heart and expect nothing in return. His reward, they assured

has been to the Bahamas, Belgium, China, Costa Rica, the

him, would come, but it would not be on this earth. His legacy,

Czech Republic, England, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, and

though, would be.

Hawaii — and an Alaskan cruise is next on the agenda.

So, in the fall of 2017, with a milestone birthday coming

So Gray decided to start celebrating his birthday early

up in 2018 — his 50th — he started thinking about what

by committing $100,000 from his estate to deserving

that legacy would be. Gray already works with the Light

students for college tuition. Some of it will go to his alma

of Hope Ministry at his church, cooking food and serving it

mater, Johnson and Wales University, some will go to his

to the homeless. And he already volunteers as a mentor to

church’s college scholarship fund, but the bulk of his gift —

Tech students — his current mentee is a Ph.D. candidate

$50,000 — is going to endow Georgia Tech scholarships.

from China.

“I have seen firsthand how Georgia Tech helps young people

As a widower with no children — his beloved wife, Carolyn,

meet their potential and prepare for a meaningful future,”

who worked at the Georgia Tech Research Institute for 17

Gray said. “If I can help remove financial barriers to their

years, lost her battle with breast cancer in 2011 — he hasn’t

success, I will have done something truly meaningful myself.”

Founders’ Council is the honorary society recognizing donors who have made estate or life-income gifts of $25,000 or more for the support of Georgia Tech. For more information, please contact: 404.894.4678 • founderscouncil@dev.gatech.edu • gatech.giftplans.org

FULL PAGE CAPITAL ANALYTICS

YOU CAN’T SPELL RAMBLIN’ WRECK WITHOUT MBA. As an alum, you know that solving problems means tackling issues from every angle.

At Georgia Tech Scheller College of Business, we equip you with the knowledge you need to tackle a whole new set of challenges, from operations and finance to commercialization and strategy. Our globally-ranked MBA programs feature specialized curriculum and in-depth practicums designed to prepare you to thrive in today’s innovative, entrepreneurial world of business, all right here at the Institute you know and love.

Please join us for our 2018 MBA Open House, November 3, to gain an insider’s perspective on our Full-time, part-time Evening and weekend Executive MBA programs.

Learn more at GaTechScheller.com

TECH SAVVY. BUSINESS SMART.

PUBLISHER’S LETTER

Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine Vol. 94, No. 3

Yellow Jackets Have a Drive for Doing Good GEORGIA TECH’S STRATEGIC PLAN, which was set in 2010, lays out how the Institute is constantly striving to define the technological research university of the 21st century.

To achieve that goal, the plan states “we will be leaders in influencing major technological, social and policy decisions that address critical global challenges.”

Well, you don’t have to look too hard to see that Yellow Jacket alumni are already doing their part to make the world a better place. More than ever, graduates come to Tech not just to learn so they can earn a good living, but to develop expert skills that they can share with society. This issue of the Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine is themed “A Better Place,” and you’ll find in these 108 pages just a small measure of all the good that Tech alumni, faculty and students are doing around the globe.

Front and center—and right in your face on our cover—is former U.S. Senator Sam Nunn, Cls 60, Hon PhD 08, who has followed up his distinguished career as one of America’s great statesmen by creating the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI).

The NTI is an international group that works to reduce the world’s weapons of mass destruction in each of their various forms—nuclear, biological, chemical and even cyber.

There’s a good reason Nunn’s name is on the School of International Affairs in the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts, where he serves as a distinguished professor.

Though he technically never graduated from Tech (read the story stating on page 50 to find out why), Nunn remains a huge fan of the Institute (especially the men’s golf team) and will be our keynote speaker for 2018 Homecoming and Reunion Weekend. (See a list of all the exciting Homecoming events on page 80.)

Other stories in this issue range from Tech students who’ve developed a mobile app for stopping human trafficking

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(page 16) to faculty members who are working to advance opportunities for women and minorities on campus and in STEM fields (page 26) to alumni who are applying their expertise to fighting hunger, poverty and disease, and to overall improve the human condition.

But it’s not all heavy stuff. You can checkin with an alumnus who is converting classic, gas-guzzling cars to run on electric power (page 60) and a psychologist who’s focused on how positivity can improve our work-life balance (page 44).

Speaking of positivity and impact and making the world a better place, I want to thank all 31,140 of you who donated to the 71st Annual Roll Call. Your generous support of Georgia Tech’s Fund for Excellence set an all-time record of $10,082,897, including $6.7 million in unrestricted giving, to support the academic mission of Tech.

Such donations enable true academic excellence at Tech in underwriting scholarships and fellowships for the brightest students, supporting faculty efforts and providing the Institute financial flexibility to put money toward where it’s needed most. Roll Call is one of the most distinctive characteristics of Georgia Tech. And we’re very grateful for your support—as are the students who will go out into the world and make a difference.

PUBLISHER Joseph P. Irwin, IM 80 VP MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS Dawn Churi EDITOR Roger Slavens ASSISTANT EDITOR Melissa Fralick DESIGNERS Karen Matthes and Josh Baker COPY EDITOR Rebecca Bowen STUDENT ASSISTANTS Erting Zhu & Chandler Witucki EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Bird Blitch, IE 97, Chair David Bottoms, Mgt 01, Past Chair Sheri Prucka, EE 82, MS EE 84, Chair-Elect/Vice Chair of Roll Call Brent Zelnak, Mgt 94, Vice Chair of Finance Shan Pesaru, CmpE 05, Member at Large Magd Riad, IE 01, Member at Large Jocelyn Stargel, IE 82, MS IE 86, Member at Large Tyler Townsend, IE 98, Member at Large Joseph P. Irwin, IM 80, President & CEO BOARD OF TRUSTEES Michelle Adkins, IM 83; Clint Bailey, TE 97; Lee Baker, IE 90; Carlos Barroso, ChE 80; Amrit Bhavinani, CM 09; Trevor Boehm, ME 99, MS ME 04; Jeff Bogdan, Mgt 88, MS MOT 98; Rita Breen, Psy 90, MS IE 92; Randy Cain, IE 91; Katie Davidson, Mgt 89; Sam Gude, MBA 08; Julie Hall, Phys 99; Scott Hall, ME 96; Cathy Hill, EE 84; Tim Holman, MS EE 88, PhD EE 94; Keith Jackson, Mgt 88; Plez Joyner, EE 89; Ross Mason, IE 92; Juan Michelena, TE 85; Angela Mitchell, PTCH 04; Jerald C. Mitchell, MBA 11; Alex Muñoz, Mgt 88; Anu Parvatiyar, BME 08; Blake Patton, IE 93; Amy Phuong, IA 05, MBA 14; Bert Reeves Jr., Mgt 00; Amy Rich, MBA 12; Jean Marie Richardson, Mgt 02; David Sotto, BME 09, PhD BioE 15; James Stovall, CS 01; Kristen Thorvig, STC 98; Betty Tong, ME 93, MS ME 95; David Touwsma, IE 97; Brian Tyson, EE 10; Stephenie Whitfield, Bio 93; Bruce Wilson, EE 78, MS EE 80 ADVERTISING Joseph P. Irwin (404) 894-2391 joe.irwin@gatech.edu GEORGIA TECH ALUMNI MAGAZINE (ISSN: 1061-9747) is published quarterly by the Georgia Tech Alumni Association, 190 North Ave. N.W., Atlanta, GA 30313. Periodical postage paid in Atlanta and additional mailing offices. © 2018 Georgia Tech Alumni Association POSTMASTER Send address changes to: Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine, 190 North Ave. N.W., Atlanta, GA 30313.

JOSEPH P. IRWIN, IM 80 PRESIDENT & CEO GEORGIA TECH ALUMNI ASSOCIATION

TELEPHONE Georgia Tech Alumni Association (404) 894-2391

On the Cover: Former U.S. Senator Sam Nunn, portrait photo by Ben Rollins

TABLE OF CONTENTS D E PA RT M E N T S

GREEN GARAGE

This iconic MG is just one sports car that alumnus Ben Horst, ME 16, has been customizing to run completely on electric power.

60

Features 50

60

68

PREVENTING WAR & PROMOTING PEACE

FOLLOWING ELECTRIC DREAMS

MAKING THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE

Former U.S. Senator Sam Nunn, Cls 60, Hon PhD 08, is trying to save the world— but he can’t do it alone.

Atlanta-area Eddy Motorworks, founded

by Tech alumni, converts classic gasguzzling sports cars into electric wonders.

Meet seven Yellow Jackets who are truly making a difference in the world through their ingenuity and drive to serve mankind.

Kaylinn Gilstrap

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D E PA RT M E N T S

SWAGGER TIME

Roman Reigns, current WWE pro wrestling star and former Yellow Jacket football player, helped unveil Tech’s sharp, new Adidas uniforms.

32

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Karl Moore/Georgia Tech Athletics

TABLE OF CONTENTS

10 Around Campus

38 In the World

12 Cracking the Cancer Code Three Tech engineers are tackling the disease.

16 Talk of Tech 24 Tech Research 26 Stronger Together Georgia Tech’s ADVANCE Professors work to ensure that the Institute is inclusive for all.

40 A House Full of Hope Hope’s Path helps former foster kids find success.

44 Dollars & Sense 46 Balancing Act Former Navy Admiral Sandy Winnefeld, AE 78, is fighting the opioid epidemic.

30 On the Field

All about what’s going on at 190 North Avenue

The latest news and views from Georgia Tech

The scoop on Tech’s studentathletes and alumni 32 A Brand New Brand Georgia Tech Athletics embraces the “Three Stripe Life” in its new partnership with Adidas.

Ramblin’ Wrecks generating buzz beyond the Institute

76 Alumni House

78 Welcome New Trustees 80 Yellow Jackets Unite Get Ready for Homecoming and Reunion Weekend Oct. 11-13.

82 Alumni Travel 86 Ramblin’ Roll 92 In Memoriam

102 Tech History

Memories and artifacts of Tech’s storied past 102 An Imperfect Storm Two Georgia Tech alumni share a link to the tragic sinking of the HMS Otranto.

106 Back Page

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FEEDBACK MORE ABOUT ‘MA TECH’ In the Spring 2018 issue of the Alumni Magazine, you asked readers, “Where Did ‘Ma Tech’ Come From?”

I first heard the name “Ma Tech” my in 1981. My fraternity brother had a class to attend and asked me if I wanted to attack “The Hill” together with him. I didn’t know what he meant. (“The Hill,” of course, is the steep incline up Bobby Dodd Way that students often had to climb to get to classes.)

He told me that Ma Tech doesn’t reward those who merely walk up “The Hill”—you had to charge up it to prove your fortitude, which I would need to obtain my engineering degree at Tech. So after attacking “The Hill” over 500 times during my time at Tech and putting in the additional effort, I finally earned my bachelor’s in chemical engineering from dear, old “Ma Tech.” Thanks mom!

TOM ROLLBUHLER, CHE 85 WOODSTOCK, GA.

REMINISCENCES OF WREK AND ZAPPA Thanks for bringing back fond memories of listening to WREK, Georgia Tech’s student radio station, in the Summer 2018 issue of the Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine (Vol. 94 No. 2).

When I was a junior in 1979, computing time on the mainframe was a precious commodity. I was commuting into campus one Sunday morning listening to WREK and hoping to get some cyber time. The DJ announced a contest for concert tickets, not by phone, but only for the first four listeners to drop in person by the studio.

I had just exited onto 10th Avenue and was able to get to the WREK studio front door before the contest announcement was complete. I rang the bell and the DJ came to the door looking surprised. As best I remember it, he looked me over and asked, “Man, do you live under the steps or something?”

My fellow Tech Band member Randy and I enjoyed front row seats in the nearly empty Fox Theater for a midnight show with Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention. For me, it was a quintessential WREK moment.

DAN MITCHELL, CHE 80 GRANITE FALLS, N.C.

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NOT JUST ANOTHER RAMBLIN’ WRECK PHOTO I thought you might enjoy this photo of me (Dennis McCunniff, Chem 77) and Chris Healy, ME 17, MS ME 18, posing in front of the Ramblin’ Wreck. Chris was the Ramblin’ Reck Club driver in 2017, and I am the obstetrician (now retired) who years ago delivered him into this world.

His father knew I was a fellow Tech alumnus and a big Yellow Jackets fan living in North Carolina, and he urged me to rendezvous with Chris when Tech football played Duke in Durham last year. There was an alumni get together at a local restaurant where many stopped by to have

their pictures taken with the Wreck.

After our reunion, Chris gave me a lift in the Wreck to Duke’s campus. While I brought him into the world, I worried he might take me out during the drive, with the Wreck’s double clutch and idiosyncrasies. But seriously, it was a thrill I will never forget!

DENNIS MCCUNNIFF, CHEM 77 WINSTON-SALEM, N.C.

Editor’s Note: Dr. McCunniff was featured in a story that appeared in a 2009 issue of the Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine (Vol. 96 No. 2) that highlighted his career as an obstetrician and his role delivering thousands of babies.

WANT TO GET IN TOUCH? Send letters to: Editor, Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine, 190 North Ave. N.W., Atlanta, GA 30313, or editor@alumni.gatech.edu. Share your personal news, birth and wedding announcements (with photos!), out-and-about snapshots and in memoriam notices at gtalumni.org/magazine.

STEM and Business Education for the Working Professional

pe.gatech.edu/alumni2018

DROWNPROOF YOUR CAREER. CONTINUE YOUR SUCCESS STORY

Around Campus

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PLAYING BY THE ‘RAT’ RULES New members of the Georgia Tech Marching Band proudly wear their RAT caps during practice for their first season of Yellow Jacket football. These days, RAT caps are optional, but marching band freshmen are among the few first-year students who still follow old-school RAT rules to the letter.

Cheers to these students and the band for keeping Tech traditions alive.

Christopher Moore

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AROUND CAMPUS

Cracking the Code on Cancer

BY GEORGIA PARMELEE

Three Tech engineers take on “The Big C” in very different ways.

THE NUMBERS TELL A SAD STORY. Nearly one out of three people in the United States will have cancer during their lifetime, according to the American Cancer Society. While a cure remains at large, innovative treatments like immunotherapies, stem cell replacement and gene therapy are advancing quickly. Screening tests are also playing a role in catching cancer early, so doctors can apply aggressive treatment to send cancer into remission.

Among those working to change the story on cancer are engineers—faculty members, staff and

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students—across Georgia Tech. And they’re not just biomedical engineers, but also those with backgrounds in mechanical and electrical fields who are well-versed in biomechanics, diagnostic imaging, microfluidics, sensors, systems design, molecular engineering and personalized care algorithms. While these terms might not conjure up the typical images of health care, medicine or clinics, these engineers are playing an instrumental part in identifying and treating “The Big C.” Meet three top Tech engineers working to crack cancer’s code.

CATCHING CANCER ON A CHIP TRAINED AS AN ELECTRICAL ENGINEER, Fatih Sarioglu, assistant professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, studies how microsystems, sensors and computational analysis can fight cancer. His Biomedical Microsystems Laboratory at Georgia Tech is creating smart chips that can diagnose and monitor cancer through blood analysis.

“When faced with the problem of cancer and the way it spreads and metastasizes, it made me consider how it is an engineering problem as much as it is a biological one,” Sarioglu says. “Cancer has many faces—it’s very heterogeneous. And we need new approaches to detect it.”

In the past, scientists would search for cancer cells in the blood using a microscope, much like searching for a needle in a haystack. The chips that Sarioglu has created are designed to literally catch cancer cells with its bifurcated design. The fluidic nature of the chip separates cancer cells from healthy blood cells as the blood flows through, enabling researchers to study these cells to discover chemical or physical markers to identify them from other cells in the body.

“The blood stream is a hostile environment, and cancer cells travelling in clusters can protect themselves,” Sarioglu says. “Because of the bifurcation, the chip catches metastasizing clustered tumor cells, while the single healthy cells keep traveling through.”

Once the chip catches the cancer cells, they can be extracted while still alive and intact and studied for metastases and gene sequences. With access to whole, undamaged cancer cells, researchers can test various treatments to determine which will have the greatest impact on the cancer outside the patient body.

Alternatively, a mutation can be detected, which can help guide the selection of the appropriate gene therapies for the patient. Catching cancer cells in the

Assistant professor Fatih Sarioglu researches how computational analysis can fight cancer.

blood at this early stage may also serve as early detection before the cancer has proliferated and become symptomatic.

Massachusetts General has already licensed Sarioglu’s chip technology, and

it is being used in clinical cancer studies and basic cancer research. The chip has worked on patient samples, identifying cancer cells in breast cancer, prostate cancer and melanoma.

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AROUND CAMPUS AN ANTIBODY BUNDLE THAT TARGETS CANCER CELLS

Associate professor Susan Thomas leverages the power of the immune system to develop treatments.

LEVERAGING LYMPH NODES FOR IMMUNOTHERAPIES IMMUNOENGINEERING i s a n emerging research area that applies engineering principles for the study of the immune system. Its goal is to develop better therapies that leverage the immune system to treat disease. In Susan Thomas’ lab, immunoengineering—also known as cancer immunotherapy—is being applied to the lymphatic system to help the body fight cancer and stave off disease.

“Rather than looking to chemo or radiation to fight cancer, we are now in the era of immunotherapy,” says Thomas, an associate professor of mechanical engineering.

“Many new cancer immunotherapy drugs have been developed or are being developed, and they are incredibly powerful.

However, they only work in a fraction of patients. Our goal is to make these powerful cancer-fighting drugs work effectively for more patients.”

To do this, Thomas is exploring how to better deliver drugs to the lymphatic system—tissues where a large percentage of a patient’s immune cells reside. “It may sound counterintuitive, because for so long we have tried to specifically get drugs to cancer cells only,” Thomas says. “However, immunotherapies often work directly on immune cells. If we can get these drugs to immune

cells more effectively, those cells then have a better chance of fighting the cancer.”

Thomas says she is often asked why an engineer would conduct cancer research.

“Cancer is a big problem in society and engineers love to solve problems,” she explains.

“Turns out, there are many engineering fundamentals that can be used to help understand cancer as a disease, as well as to develop better ways to diagnose or treat a patient.”

As an example of the engineering Thomas uses in her work, she studies the mechanics of the immune system—how fluids, molecules and cells move in the body. Mechanics help her better understand how cancers progress, develop and metastasize, which helps optimize drug delivery for targeted therapies.

“Harnessing the lymphatic system for immunotherapy really is a radical but practical and rational approach,” Thomas says. “It hasn’t been explored at all clinically. Almost every week I’m meeting with clinicians who are interested in these types of cancer therapies, but they have very little understanding of how to optimize their delivery. They can see the potential impact that engineering can have on the cancer immunotherapy field because they are hungry for new tools to use to help their patients.”

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ANTIBODIES ARE LARGE PROTEINS in the body that are used by the immune system to identify and neutralize foreign objects like bacteria and viruses. A new type of immunotherapy looks to use the body’s own antibodies to target and neutralize cancer cells. Currently, antibodies themselves cannot get into a live cancer cell, but Julie Champion, associate professor in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, is creating a bundle of antibodies that can get in.

Imagine the antibody bundle as a key that unlocks the cancer cell. In Champion’s lab, she is engineering antibody protein design and assembly, combining six proteins with three therapeutic cancer-killing antibodies that can be sent directly to the cancer cell—and get inside.

“Antibodies exist to fight cancer, we just need to get them into the cells,” Champion says. “If we can do that with the protein bundle, the antibodies can kill or inhibit cancer cells from growing.

Also, the bundle can deliver any antibody therapy we want it to, so it will work for various treatment regimens.”

The other benefit of an immunotherapy like Champion’s protein bundle is that it only targets cancer cells. Many cancer therapies, such as chemo and radiation, kill all the body’s cells, even the healthy ones, leaving the patient exposed to other illnesses and with a weakened immune system. The protein bundle can carry the cancer-fighting antibody specifically to cancer cells, only destroying them.

Champion is also working on a cancer vaccine. It’s not given to prevent cancer—rather, it’s used in existing cancer patients to help their bodies better recognize the disease. Often, when a patient isn’t fighting off the cancer like it should, it’s because the body doesn’t recognize it as foreign: The cancer has tricked the immune system into thinking it belongs,

arts@tech Enjoy the Arts on Campus! therefore suppressing the usual immune response. The vaccine stimulates the immune cells and ensures the body knows the cancer cells are foreign.

The vaccine research in Champion’s lab also leverages protein design to build nanoparticles directly out of peptides identified from the surface of cancer cells. These particles train and stimulate the immune system to recognize and fight only cancer cells that have the peptide on them, leaving the healthy cells alone and intact. The cancer vaccine is also a durable cure. If the immune system can recognize and fight the cancer, when it comes back in five years, the body will know how to fight it again. “The power of immunotherapy is that you’re working with what’s already in your body,” Champion says.

“So you can engage the body to fight for itself.”

In the future, Champion is considering how she can scale up production of the protein bundles to make them a viable therapy for more patients at a lower cost. The hope is that in five to 10 years, all cancer patients will have access to cutting edge treatments, giving them more than a fighting chance.

January 12

Manual Cinema:

The End of TV January 25-26

Komansé Dance Theatre: Skid February 9

Fifth House Ensemble:

Journey LIVE Gameplay Concert February 16

Mark Nizer

4D Comedy Juggler February 23 Callas in Concert–

The Hologram Tour February 23, 2019

Through cutting edge technology and extraordinary theatrical stagecraft, this first of its kind live concert brings famed opera star Maria Callas back to the stage as a hologram through breathtaking state-ofthe-art digital and laser projection for a live full concert experience featuring original recordings digitally remastered. Accompanied live on stage by the Georgia Tech Symphony Orchestra.

Callas in Concert

with the Georgia Tech Symphony Orchestra

March 8

Robbie Lynn Hunsinger:

Music Technologist in Concert March 29

Maya Kodes:

The Virtual Singer

Faculty member Julie Champion studies how human antibodies can be used against cancer. details and more events at

arts.gatech.edu 404-894-2787

TALK OF TECH

Computing Students Develop App for Reporting Human Trafficking

BY DAVID MITCHELL

UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS in Georgia Tech’s College of Computing helped develop a new version of a mobile app aimed at fighting human trafficking around the globe. Airline Ambassadors International (AAI) partnered with the students to give flight crews and other airport workers improved tools to effectively pinpoint threats and tip off authorities in airports and on planes.

First developed in 2015, the Tip Line app received needed updates from five computer science students in the junior design class who worked to make reporting to authorities faster and more reliable, primarily by bringing trained users directly into contact with local law enforcement at the destination airport rather than relying on largely unreliable national hotlines.

According to the International Labor Organization, forced labor and human trafficking affect more than 40.3 million victims and generates $150 billion annually. “Human trafficking is one of the fastest-growing activities in transnational crime,” says William Cheng, one of the Tech students who worked on Tip Line.

“However, it has a weakness. When a human trafficker is transporting a victim in the air, the favored method of transport, they become vulnerable because they are in a public location surrounded by airport security and an unwilling

victim. With this vulnerability in mind, our team aims to drastically reduce trafficking by giving flight attendants the proper tools to recognize and report.”

The TIP Line app, available on both Apple iOS and Android platforms, leverages trained airline professionals who have graduated from the AAI CTIP (Counter-Trafficking in Persons) training class and been given a registration key to use the app, ensuring that law enforcement will take any tip from the app seriously. It’s currently used by over 7,000 trainees— airline flight crews, airport staffs, and others—who can monitor more than 168 million passengers each year.

Instead of sending tips to one of over 190 global national hotlines, many of which only function during local work hours and also suffer from a high rate of false reporting, TIP Line’s reporters are automatically brought into contact with the correct authorities, many of whom have also taken the peer-to-peer training class with airline personnel.

TIP Line works better than similar apps because of its peer-to-peer and time-urgent nature, as well as allowing video, photo, voice and text to be

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anonymously transmitted to assigned law enforcement in real time.

The “TIP Team,” as the Tech students call themselves, aims to present the app to Interpol in hopes of further integrating it with enforcement agencies and, eventually, taking it beyond just human trafficking. Undergraduates Cheng, Heather Schirra, Kenta Kawaguchi, Kyle Al-Shafei and Micah Jo were connected with the AAI through Jim Foley, professor emeritus in the School of Interactive Computing.

Foley learned that the organization was using a rudimentary first version of the app that needed improvements. Cheng and Schirra are continuing work on the app this fall.

NEVER STOP LEARNING: TWO NEW PODCASTS LAUNCH AT TECH

STAY IN SYNC with your alma mater without having to take off your headphones.

Georgia Tech this fall has launched two dynamic podcasts that showcase the Institute’s expertise in curiosity-driven exploration and how science and engineering make a difference in our world.

ScienceMatters, produced by the College of Sciences, pulls back the curtain on research and celebrates the discoveries and achievements of Tech scientists and mathematicians. In just about 15 minutes per episode, the podcast shares stories of what’s going on in Tech labs operated by award-winning faculty and enterprising students, as well as analysis of top science trends by Institute experts.

Meanwhile, The Uncommon Engineer podcast, hosted by College of Engineering Dean Steve McLaughlin, explores the role of engineering in our daily lives.

The podcast covers topics ranging from healthcare to the environment to data privacy in the digital world. In each episode, McLaughlin talks to cutting-edge engineers to discover how their research impacts our world.

Subscribe to the ScienceMatters podcast at www.sciencematters.gatech.edu, and The Uncommon Engineer podcast at www.podcast.coe.gatech.edu.

RECYCLOSAURUS STOMPS INTO TECH THIS SUMMER, a new breed of dinosaur roamed the earth. And we’re not talking about the DNA-spliced star of the latest Jurassic World movie. Made of recycled plastic bottles, Recyclosaurus took up residence at Georgia Tech on the first floor of Clough Commons, and members of the campus community unknowingly contributed to its creation.

The sculpture was engineered by Turkish artist Baris Karayazgan, who created it as part of an art therapy project with the Art Reach Foundation and the nearby Clarkston Community Center. Georgia Tech’s Office of Solid Waste Management

and Recycling donated around 1,000 of the 10,000 bottles needed for the project—so for students, faculty and staff who recycled a plastic bottle on campus in the past, it may now live on forever as part of the Paleo-plastic creature.

More than 325 children who enrolled in a summer camp with the Clarkston Community Center participated in the creation of the Recyclosaurus over the course of two weeks. The Recyclosaurus left campus but still lives in the Atlanta area, now on display at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History.

—KRISTEN BAILEY

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TALK OF TECH

Andrew Young Receives Ivan Allen Jr. Prize for Social Courage

BY LAURA DIAMOND

BY DAVID MITCHELL

CIVIL RIGHTS LEADER. United States Congressman. United Nations ambassador. Atlanta mayor. Minister. Andrew Young’s lifelong dedication to public service and human rights helped change the course of history. For his decades of selfless and important work, Young was given the Ivan Allen Jr. Prize for Social Courage, under the stewardship of Georgia Tech.

Young was a key strategist and negotiator during the civil rights campaigns that led to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. When he was elected to Congress in 1972, he was the first African-American representative from the Deep

South since Reconstruction. President Jimmy Carter, Cls 46, Hon PhD 79, appointed him as ambassador to the United Nations in 1977, making him the first African American to hold that position. Young later returned to Atlanta, becoming mayor and leading the effort to bring the Olympics to the city.

Today the ordained minister continues to champion efforts to end poverty and hunger worldwide and works to support the next generation of visionary leaders. His life demonstrates how religion, education, politics and activism can be combined in ways to support the public good. “It doesn’t take courage when you know something is

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right,” Young says. “It takes determination and you see a vision and commit to it and you risk your life and your future.”

The Ivan Allen Prize honors those who demonstrate leadership to improve the human condition despite personal risks and challenges. Young has long had connections to Georgia Tech. He was a commencement speaker in December 2010, and the following year he returned to campus to participate in the freshman reading project.

“Georgia Tech students are blessed to be in this city because I think we are the city of the future, not that we have accomplished everything now, but that all of the basic ingredients of an amazing future are here in our midst,” Young says. “We have a kind of courage and vision that really is necessary for global transformation of the urban environment. So, the thing that has sustained me is the experience that everything we have believed in looked difficult when they were conceived.”

The Ivan Allen Jr. Prize in Social Courage honors the people behind the efforts to improve the human condition. The award is named for former Atlanta Mayor Ivan Allen Jr. and funded in perpetuity by a grant from the Wilbur and Hilda Glenn Family Foundation. Recipients are awarded a $100,000 stipend.

The inaugural prize was awarded in March 2011 to former U.S. Senator Sam Nunn. Past recipients include Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter, U.S. Congressman John Lewis and humanitarian activist Nancy Parrish.

ASTRONAUT BOE GETS THUMBS UP FOR BOEING COMMERCIAL SPACEFLIGHT GEORGIA TECH GRADUATE Eric Boe, EE 97, is going back to space. The Yellow Jacket astronaut has been selected by NASA to fly aboard Boeing’s first commercial crew flight test, which is expected to lift off from Florida in the middle of 2019.

Boe is one of nine people named to be one of NASA’s first commercial astronauts to ride on the first major crewed flights of Boeing and SpaceX vehicles. He has been working with both companies since 2015, developing and testing spacecraft that will eventually launch Americans into space from U.S. soil for the first time since the Space Shuttle program ended in 2011.

Boe, Chris Ferguson and Nicole Mann will ride aboard Boeing’s Starliner capsule, which will sit atop an Atlas V rocket. Their successful test flight will pave the way for two different astronauts to take the Starliner to the International Space Station for Boeing’s first operational mission at a later date.

“It’s amazing to get to this point,” says Boe, who grew up in Atlanta and graduated from Henderson High School in Chamblee. “Watching the small incremental changes come together to make revolutionary change has been an amazing thing. Space flight is about people. I’ve watched

people and teams come together these last few years, and now we’re getting close to space flight. I’m looking forward to the journey.”

Boe was first selected as an astronaut in 2000. He flew on the Space Shuttle Endeavour in 2008 with fellow Georgia Tech graduates Sandra Magnus, PhD MSE 96, and Shane Kimbrough, MS OR 98. Boe traveled into space again during Space Shuttle Discovery’s last mission in 2011. So far, he’s spent nearly 29 days in space.

In total, Georgia Tech has sent 14 astronauts into orbit, which is tied for second among public universities.—JASON MADERER

TALK OF TECH

Wall Street Comes to West Peachtree

BY STEVEN NORRIS

GEORGIA TECH WAS ONE OF THE FIRST COLLEGES IN THE COUNTRY to build a Wall Street-style trading floor on its campus, and inside it the Institute is helping to create the next generation of investment bankers, stock traders and financial experts.

During the regular semester, you can find undergraduate students building Excel models and master’s students from Georgia Tech’s Quantitative and Computational Finance program hard at work in in the Ferris-Goldsmith Trading Floor, a

2,000-square-foot facility located on West Peachtree Street. But when summer rolls around, the high-tech haven is also open to high school students who learn the ins and outs of personal finance and investment.

These young minds are starting early, learning how to calculate a mortgage and car payments and even finding out about starting a retirement plan as early as possible.

“We talk about risk and return, living below your means, keeping low fees—some of those core fundamental

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topics of finance,” says Jonathan Clarke, associate professor in the Ernest Scheller Jr. College of Business.

“The younger you can start these conversations, the better off they’ll be long-term.”

The dual-display computers and scrolling stock information inside the trading room utilize much of the same technology employed by professional brokerage firms across the world.

Students are broken up into groups where they buy and sell stocks based on up-to-the-second evaluations.

“At these workstations we are able to simulate a real-time trading environment,” explains Jacqueline Garner, a lecturer in the Scheller College.

At the end of the week, the teams calculate the total profits they have made from their stock trading decisions.

“We discussed different strategies like buying when stocks are down or selling when they’re up. I suggested buying Google and Starbucks stocks for my team,” high school junior Zavan Croom says.

“In the beginning we tried to play it safe and invest in what we thought were solid stocks,” says high school senior Audrey Jordan.

“We went all in on a risky stock, and luckily it paid off. We went from last place to first.”

“I think the competition element really makes this fun for these students,” Garner says.

The Ferris-Goldsmith Trading Floor was made possible by generous gifts from Jere Goldsmith, IM 56, a Tech alumnus who retired as first vice president of investments at Merrill Lynch, and his late wife, Barbara, along with Joyce Ferris, widow of Dakin Ferris Jr., Cls 50, a former Yellow Jacket who served as vice chairman of Merrill Lynch.

The students are having fun learning in the space, but Tech faculty are hoping for a more long-term payoff.

“I think a lot of people struggle with even the basics,” Garner says.

“Understanding how a mortgage works. Understanding how a retirement plan works. The sooner you can start understanding, the better.”

Adds Clarke: “If we had more 20-year-olds and 30-year-olds prepared to make better financial decisions, we’d all see the benefit of that.”

TECH UNVEILS ONLINE MASTER’S DEGREE IN CYBERSECURITY THIS FALL, Georgia Tech announced a new online cybersecurity master’s degree that will be offered for less than $10,000 and delivered in collaboration with edX. The Online Master of Science (OMS) in Cybersecurity is designed to address a severe global workforce shortage in the field. According to the 2017 Global Information Security Workforce Study, the shortage is expected to reach 1.8 million people by 2022.

A master’s program in cybersecurity isn’t new to Georgia Tech. The Institute has offered one on campus since 2002, running $20,000 for in-state students and $40,000 for those out-of-state. But Tech is the only nationally ranked Top 10 university to offer an online version of the program, providing greater access and affordability to those interested. Applications for spring 2019 are open now until Oct. 1, 2018.

The OMS Cybersecurity program will launch Jan. 7, 2019 with 250 students and will scale over time to meet demand and student needs. The program is designed to serve working professionals who can study part-time and earn the degree within two to three years. It is richly technical and offers the same three interdisciplinary tracks available on campus, including information security, policy and energy systems.

“Georgia Tech’s OMS Cybersecurity degree pairs world-class computer science,

engineering and public policy instruction with Georgia Tech Research Institute’s legacy of applied research in areas related to military, government and law enforcement,” says Rafael L. Bras, provost and executive vice president for Academic Affairs and the K. Harrison Brown Family Chair. “As demand continues to grow, Georgia Tech is proud to deliver innovative, affordable, top-quality education in high-demand areas, like cybersecurity, to learners around the nation and world.”

OMS Cybersecurity is Georgia Tech’s third at-scale online master’s degree program. It will follow the same model as the groundbreaking online Master of Science in Computer Science (OMSCS) program, which launched in 2014 on Udacity. So far, approximately 10,000 students have enrolled for the $6,800 OMSCS degree. The Institute followed on that success in 2017 by launching the Online Master of Science in Analytics on edX, with 706 students currently enrolled in the second semester of the program, which costs less than $10,000 total. OMS Cybersecurity is an interdisciplinary collaboration between Tech’s School of Computer Science in the College of Computing, the School of Public Policy in the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts, and the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering in the College of Engineering.—LANCE WALLACE

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TALK OF TECH

Abdallah Named New EVP for Research

BY JOHN TOON

GEORGIA TECH HAS HIRED alumnus Chaouki T. Abdallah, formerly provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at the University of New Mexico, to be its new executive vice president for research (EVPR). The EVPR directs Georgia Tech’s $824 million research program and is part of the Institute’s four-member executive leadership team.

As a professor of electrical and computer engineering, Abdallah, MS EE 82, PhD EE 88, has led research and taught courses in the general area of systems theory with focus on control and communications systems.

He moved into the EVPR role at Tech in mid-August, succeeding Stephen E. Cross, who stepped down after serving as Georgia Tech’s first EVPR for the past eight years.

“Dr. Abdallah has a proven track record as an administrator, scholar and researcher, along with experience collaborating with industry, government and community partners,” says Georgia Tech President G.P. “Bud” Peterson.

“As a Tech alumnus who has remained engaged with the Institute, he brings a unique perspective. We’re looking forward to working with him to enhance Georgia Tech’s basic

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and applied research and maximize economic impact.”

In addition to his roles as provost and EVP for academic affairs at the University of New Mexico, Abdallah served the university as acting president, interim president and president. He also was the first recipient of the New Mexico ECE department’s Lawton-Ellis Award for combined excellence in teaching, research and student/community involvement. He has received research funding from the National Science Foundation, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, other national laboratories and various companies.

“After an academic career of 30 years at the University of New Mexico, I am very excited to be joining one of the premier institutions of higher learning in the world,” Abdallah says. “I look forward to contributing to President Peterson’s cabinet, to advocate for and lead the research enterprise at Georgia Tech, and to help ‘Create the Next’ in research.”

Abdallah is married to fellow alum Catherine Cooper, IE 90, a logistics expert. Their twin sons, Carter and Calvin, are now first-year students at Tech. Abdallah is fluent in English, French and Arabic, and serves on Georgia Tech’s ECE Advisory Board. Abdallah is a senior member of IEEE and a recipient of the IEEE Millennium medal.

His predecessor, Cross, stepped down in late June to return to his research faculty position in the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI). In welcoming Abdallah, Peterson thanked Cross for his many accomplishments in leading the research program. In addition to dramatic growth in research volume, Cross led the formation of Georgia Tech’s system of 11 interdisciplinary research institutes (IRIs) to coordinate research in areas of specific interest to industrial companies.

“I want to take this opportunity to thank Steve Cross, who has served us well as Georgia Tech’s first EVPR,” Peterson says. “I am personally grateful for his leadership in the development of our 25-year strategic plan, ‘Designing the Future.’ In his EVPR role, he has worked to enhance Georgia Tech’s research impact by bringing together GTRI, the Enterprise Innovation Institute, IRIs and other Institute research, encouraging collaboration, making it easier for government, business, and industry to partner with us, and building innovation neighborhoods around the campus.”

Abdallah’s selection resulted from a national search led

by Georgia Tech Provost Rafael L. Bras, who holds the K. Harrison Brown Family Chair.

THE UNCOMMON

ENGINEER

A podcast presented by the Georgia Tech College of Engineering

It’s all about engineers, impact and you.

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Volume 94 No. 3 2018 | GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE | 23

RESEARCH

The More May Not Be the Merrier

BY JOHN TOON

Tech research on fire ant colonies discovers that 30 percent of workers do 70 percent of the work.

FOR ANTS AND ROBOTS operating in confined spaces like tunnels, having more workers working does not necessarily mean getting more work done.

A study led by Georgia Tech researchers and published in the journal Science shows that in fire ant colonies, a small number of workers do most of the digging, leaving the other ants to look somewhat less than industrious. For digging nests, this less-busy approach gets the job done without creating traffic jams in crowded tunnels. Faculty and students found that applying the ant-optimization strategy to autonomous robots avoids mechanized clogs and gets the work done with the least amount of energy.

In fact, optimizing the activity of autonomous underground robots could

be useful for disaster recovery, mining or even digging shelters for future planetary explorers. “We noticed that if you have 150 ants in a container, only 10 or 15 of them will actually be digging in the tunnels at any given time,” says Daniel Goldman, a professor in Tech’s School of Physics. “We found a functional community benefit to this seeming inequality in the work environment. Without it, digging just doesn’t get done.”

By monitoring the activities of 30 ants that had been painted to identify each individual, Goldman and colleagues discovered that just 30 percent of the ants were doing 70 percent of the work. However, that is apparently not because the busiest ants are the most qualified. When the

researchers removed the five hardest working ants from the nest container, they saw no productivity decline as the remaining 25 continued to dig.

Ant tunnels are narrow, barely wide enough for two workers to pass—a design feature hypothesized to give locomotion advantages. Still, the ants know how to avoid creating clogs by retreating from tunnels already occupied by other workers—and sometimes by not doing anything much at all. Robots built to capture aspects of the dawdling and retreating ants showed that as many as three robots could work effectively in a narrow horizontal tunnel digging 3D-printed magnetic plastic balls that simulated sticky soil. If a fourth robot entered the tunnel, however, that produced a clog that stopped the work entirely.

GOODBYE PLASTIC, HELLO CRAB SHELLS? FROM LIQUID LAUNDRY DETERGENT packaged in cardboard to compostable plastic cups, consumer products are increasingly touting their sustainable and renewable origins. Now Tech researchers have created a material derived from crab shells and tree fibers that has the potential to replace the flexible plastic packaging used to keep food fresh.

The new material, described in the journal ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering, is made by spraying multiple layers of chitin from crab shells and cellulose from trees to form a flexible film similar to plastic packaging film.

“The main benchmark that we compare it to is polyethylene terephthalate (PET), one of the most common petroleum-based materials in

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transparent packaging,” says J. Carson Meredith, a professor in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. His research team devised a way to suspend the cellulose and chitin nanofibers in water and spray them onto a surface in alternating layers. Once dried, the material is flexible, strong, transparent and compostable.—JOSH BROWN

“CORAL TICKS” WEAKEN DEGRADED REEFS A PREVIOUSLY OVERLOOKED PREDATOR—a thumbnail-sized snail—could be increasing the pressure on coral reefs already weakened by the effects of overfishing, rising ocean temperatures, pollution and other threats.

The snail damages coral by sucking fluid from it like a tick, and may have been ignored because it camouflages itself on reefs and doesn’t move around to leave obvious signs of its attack. In experiments done directly on Fiji Island reefs, scientists quantified the impact of the snails, and found that snail attacks could reduce the growth of Porites cylindrica coral by as much as 43 percent in less than a month.

The research, reported in the journal Ecological Applications, was supported by the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation and the Teasley Endowment to Georgia Tech.

“Once the reefs are down and nearly

out, these snails are piling on,” says Mark Hay, a Regents and Teasley professor in Georgia Tech’s School of Biological Sciences. “The Porites coral is kind of the last man standing, the last hope for some of these reefs coming back, and they are the ones these snails selectively prey on. As you get fewer and fewer corals, the snails focus on the fewer and fewer of these colonies that remain.

This is part of the downward spiral of the reefs.”

In areas protected from fishing, Postdoctoral Fellow Cody Clements never found more than five of the creatures —whose scientific name is Coralliophila violacea—on a single coral colony.

But on degraded reefs where fishing was permitted, he found hundreds of the snails on some declining coral colonies, as much as 35 times more than colonies in the protected areas.

—JOSH BROWN

Want to read more about Georgia Tech’s cutting-edge research? Sign up to receive the Institute’s monthly research e-newsletter or twice-yearly Research Horizons magazine at www.rh.gatech.edu/subscribe.

CLOSING SECURITY HOLES IN ENCRYPTION SOFTWARE GEORGIA TECH RESEARCHERS have helped close a security vulnerability that could have allowed hackers to steal encryption keys from a popular security package by briefly listening in on unintended “side channel” signals emitted by smartphone processors, memory chips and other components.

The potential attack, which was reported to software developers before it was publicized, used intercepted electromagnetic signals from the phones that could have been analyzed using a small portable device costing less than $1,000. Unlike earlier intercept attempts that required analyzing many logins, the “One & Done” attack was carried out by eavesdropping on just one decryption cycle. “This is something that could be done at an airport to steal people’s information without arousing suspicion and makes the so-called ‘coffee shop attack’ much more realistic,” says Milos Prvulovic, associate chair of Tech’s School of Computer Science. “The designers of encryption software now have another issue that they need to take into account because continuous snooping over long periods of time would no longer be required to steal this information.”

The side channel attack is believed to be the first to retrieve the secret exponent of an encryption key in a modern version of OpenSSL without relying on the cache organization and/ or timing. OpenSSL is a popular encryption program used for secure interactions on websites and for signature authentication.

Details of the research were presented at the 27th USENIX Security Symposium.

After successfully attacking the phones, the researchers proposed a fix for the vulnerability, which was adopted in versions of the software made available in May. —JOHN TOON

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ROUNDTABLE

Stronger Together

BY MELISSA FRALICK

Georgia Tech’s ADVANCE professors work to ensure that the Institute—and the career world beyond—is inclusive for all.

GEORGIA TECH’S FACULTY is among the best in the world.

And Tech’s top professors include women who have achieved prominence in their fields, including the traditionally male-dominated areas of science, technology, engineering and math.

Through its ADVANCE program, Georgia Tech is working to increase representation and advancement of women in academic, science and engineering careers.

Tech’s ADVANCE program features six professors—one representing each college—who are not only exceptional

Q

WHAT EXACTLY DO YOU DO IN YOUR ROLE AS AN ADVANCE PROFESSOR?

BERIL TOKTAY: I see the ADVANCE Professorship as a mixture of advocate, change agent, adviser and cheerleader. As an advocate, it is my job to surface issues and bring them to the attention of the administration. As a change agent, I collaborate both laterally and with the administration to make progress on those same issues. As an adviser to the administration, it is my role to share my thoughts honestly and constructively. And as a cheerleader, I elevate and celebrate individual and collective achievements.

KIM COBB: I serve as liaison between the faculty and the administration as an advocate for equity, diversity and inclusion. At the same time, I work closely with members of the administration —from the president’s office to school chairs—to advise, coordinate and raise awareness of various initiatives. One of the most rewarding and fulfilling aspects of my role is to work alongside five

researchers and teachers, but also serve as role models and advocates for women and minorities on campus.

These six women are accomplished faculty members and experts in their fields, and through the ADVANCE program are also giving back by helping to increase the representation and participation of women and minorities at the Institute. We asked these ADVANCE professors to talk about their experiences in academia and the work they do to create more equity, diversity and inclusion for those following in their footsteps.

other amazing ADVANCE Professors as we share best practices and build capacity and momentum for Institute-wide efforts.

PINAR KESKINOCAK: I listen via one-onone and small group meetings to get a pulse from College of Engineering women, particularly faculty and graduate students, regarding their concerns on issues such as equity, work-life balance and leadership opportunities. I also gather and analyze data to better understand Georgia Tech’s current state and areas for improvement, and advocate for potential changes in policy or practices. One of the data-gathering activities we did as a team was to look at faculty hiring data, starting from applications, to interviews on campus, to offers, and then accept/reject decisions.

We wanted to better understand this pipeline, especially considering the percentage of women and minorities at each stage.

Q

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CAN YOU GIVE AN EXAMPLE OF HOW YOU’VE ADVOCATED FOR OR ADVANCED THE

WORK OF FEMALE AND MINORITY STUDENTS, STAFF AND FACULTY AND WHAT IMPACT THAT HAS HAD? MARY FRANK FOX: One of my goals has been clarifying the evaluation process. I’ve done this by leading a team assessing Ivan Allen College school handbooks for clarity and continuity in guidelines and policies, as well as developing a document with the organizational factors (based on research) that support clarity and equity of evaluation. I participate in the dean’s workshops on reappointment, tenure and promotion, and have developed a set of practices that clarify criteria for promotion to full professor. These have been important because evaluation is the “lever for advancement.”

DANA RANDALL: It is exceptional and noteworthy that women on the faculty of the College of Computing are represented across all areas of the discipline.

However, this is less true of the student body, and we continue to see certain sub-disciplines with far more gender balance than others. We have hosted

BERIL TOKTAY

KIM COBB

PINAR KESKINOCAK

Scheller College of Business

College of Sciences

College of Engineering

Professor of Operations Management, Brady Family Chair, and Faculty Director for the Ray C. Anderson Center for Sustainable Business

Professor of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Georgia Power Chair, and Director of the Global Change Program

Professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering, William W. George Chair, and Director for the Center for Health and Humanitarian Systems

MARY FRANK FOX

DANA RANDALL

CATHERINE ROSS

Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts

College of Computing

College of Design

Professor of Public Policy and Co-Director of the Center for the Study of Women, Science & Technology

Professor of Computer Science, Adjunct Professor of Mathematics and Co-Executive Director of the Institute for Data Engineering and Science

Harry West Professor of City and Regional Planning and Director of the Center for Quality Growth and Regional Development

Delphine Lee

Volume 94 No. 3 2018 | GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE | 27

ROUNDTABLE various events to create a forum for women in less balanced areas in the College of Computing to be able to speak up and create a community, and give them access to women faculty and students in other areas with whom they can discuss opportunities and challenges.

This is true for women, and for underrepresented minorities as well. My perception is that while women are more easily accepted in junior-level roles, bias and other barriers become bigger, and more pronounced, as women advance in their careers.

TOKTAY: A good example is the Diversity and Inclusion Fellows program, which offers a one-year fellowship to approximately 20 faculty, staff and students who propose initiatives that contribute to diversity and inclusion on campus. This program fills the need for bottom-up diversity and inclusion initiatives that draw on the unique experiences and talents of the campus community. As co-director and co-founder of the program, I consult with each fellow in shaping their project, connect projects to areas of the Institute that would benefit from them and champion their adoption.

RANDALL: Sexual harassment and unsafe work environments for women and various underrepresented groups are by far the biggest societal concerns across fields. None of these other issues around gender and identity can be addressed until we create an environment where everyone feels safe to speak up, contribute and be fully valued.

Q

WOMEN’S ISSUES HAVE COME TO THE FOREFRONT IN TODAY’S CULTURAL LANDSCAPE: SEXUAL HARASSMENT AND ABUSE, THE GENDER WAGE GAP, DISCRIMINATION IN STEM FIELDS, AND MORE. WHAT ISSUES DO YOU FEEL ARE MOST PRESSING? WHAT SHOULD WE BE FOCUSED ON ADDRESSING FIRST?

CATHERINE ROSS: Not just one, but many issues are pressing.

Thomson Reuters Foundation asked about 100 people in Britain, Italy, the United States, Ethiopia, Kenya, Senegal, India, Thailand, Brazil and Colombia what they saw as the biggest challenge for women. The overwhelming response was, “the world would be a better place for women if they had access to more and better quality jobs.” Of course, we know that access to higher quality education leads to a better quality job, which brings us back to the role of the Georgia Institute of Technology and other institutions of higher learning.

FOX: Key here are the subtlety and complexity of systemic discrimination that creates inequitable outcomes in salaries, positions and advancement. This is complex because it involves organizational climates, patterns of who is valued (and why), practices of evaluation and forms of inclusion or exclusion. These are pressing issues because so much of people’s lives occur in these organizational settings and the features of organizations shape outcomes for all.

KESKINOCAK: This is a tough one, and they are all somewhat related to each other. Women are less likely to stay or advance in the workforce, or seek leadership positons, especially if there is harassment, inadequate family support or discrimination. I think bias, whether it is implicit or overt, is still a big issue.

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Q

WHAT IN YOUR OPINION IS THE GREATEST CHALLENGE FACING WOMEN ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES TODAY? AND WHAT DO YOU THINK CAN BE DONE TO MEET AND OVERCOME THAT CHALLENGE?

FOX: A big challenge is the prevalence of the “pipeline model.” From this perspective, the issue becomes keeping women and other under-represented groups “in the pipeline” so that they emerge into careers in an “orderly and expected” progression. This view—introduced in the early 1980s—has governed many practices, policies and initiatives, with less than positive outcomes, despite good intentions. A more realistic and effective model is the “pathway” approach, which involves considerations of institutional influences like marriage and family, relations of power that favor or disfavor some groups, and organizational arrangements that create advantages and disadvantages in interactions, evaluation and rewards.

RANDALL: What often holds women back in certain academic disciplines is not their inability to “lean in” but rather the unwillingness of some men to “lean out.” The nature of many STEM fields, in particular, can be more challenging for certain women as everyone is struggling to make their own voice heard. This is compounded by implicit bias—unconscious stereotypes or assumptions about groups of people—which is now well-documented in job acquisition, letters of recommendation, teaching evaluations and so forth. While some of these biases undoubtedly can hinder careers, the wave of discussions around this topic has made many more people aware of these tendencies, and it has made others vigilant about countering such behavior in others.

COBB: As a mother to four, I am particularly sensitive to the challenges related to childbirth, especially in the face of federal parental leave policies that lag those of all other developed nations. However, bias represents a more universal, and often

more subtle, threat to the well-being of women. And it’s not just women—racial and ethnic minorities, members of the LGBT+ community, as well as the disabled face a range of biases, sometimes multiple biases at once. While it is important to continue our collective work as an institution to raise awareness about sources of bias and design policies to mitigate its effects, it is equally important to build a community where personal experiences are shared and valued, and where everyone sees themselves as an active participant in the solutions to these challenges.

TOKTAY: There are no silver bullet solutions, but it’s very important that those in leadership positions make it a priority to try to understand how people experience life on campus, and make a conscious effort to model inclusive behavior.

Q

WHAT OBSTACLES HAVE YOU PERSONALLY FACED AS A WOMAN IN YOUR FIELD? DO YOU THINK CONDITIONS HAVE IMPROVED OVER THE YEARS FOR YOUNGER WOMEN WHO ARE FOLLOWING YOUR CAREER PATH?

ROSS: For me, this is a particularly potent question being both African American and a woman. The struggle to obtain a college education was a tedious and precarious one which was made more difficult because of limited family resources and persistent barriers of racism. In many instances, I was not selected, invited, referenced or acknowledged simply because of who I am and how I look. However, I took advantage of every opportunity that came my way, including volunteering at professional agencies, accessing scholarship and work-study opportunities, visiting universities and deciding that I would identify people who were supportive and with whom I could learn. While there are fewer obstacles today, we need only to look at the status of women (especially African-American women) to know we have much further to go.

RANDALL: Being a woman in mathematics and computer science creates challenges, but it also creates opportunities. I have personally experienced just about every possible type of discrimination at various stages of my career, but I’ve also had more access to leadership and scientific roles than I might have otherwise due to systemic efforts to achieve greater gender balance. These additional experiences helped ameliorate the unfortunate reality that other people made themselves less accessible, and certain opportunities may have been less readily available to me as a woman. To thrive, you have to learn to distinguish these experiences and maximize the settings that are supportive and inspiring. I believe that overall, recent

progress by diversity-promoting programs (like ADVANCE) has been helping to increase access and support for younger women entering academia.

COBB: I have faced my share of challenges, big and small, that left me feeling extremely isolated. But as a tenured, white professor, I also came to realize that I had the capacity and privilege to advocate for the kind of structural changes that could ease the path for women and other under-represented minorities.

I’m thrilled to have a formal appointment as ADVANCE Professor, wherein I can engage for real-world change as part of a team of accomplished, hard-charging, like-minded women. It is a steep hill to climb, but the process of climbing towards equity and inclusion every single day is one of the most rewarding aspects of my professional life. The dozens of amazing young women I have mentored in my lab, in addition to my own three daughters, remind me that while our work will never be done, small wins accumulate through time to open doors for them that might have been closed for me, and that keeps me going.

Q

HOW HAS GEORGIA TECH BEST SUPPORTED THE ADVANCE PROGRAM EFFORTS ON CAMPUS?

ROSS: Georgia Tech has supported the work of ADVANCE Professors beginning with our launch of the Equity, Diversity, and Excellence Initiative. Our work seeks to support each academic unit’s attempt to become a place that promotes gender equity, bias awareness, open communication on Institute climate and culture, and more significant interaction with higher administrators, while convening programs such as the Annual Diversity Symposium. The Institute has also supported our requests for data to better understand the hiring, interviewing and employment practices across colleges.

KESKINOCAK: We are grateful for the support from the highest levels, including our president, Institute Diversity, college deans, and beyond. For example, the Strategic Planning Advisory Group proposal, which was written with the leadership of ADVANCE professors along with others, had strong support from Institute Diversity as well as the colleges, and led to three new initiatives: the Diversity and Inclusion Councils, the Fellows/ Ambassadors Program and the Personal Narrative Library.

FOX: Georgia Tech has taken values of equity and diversity and made them integral to the fabric of the Institution. This has occurred through bias awareness workshops, accountability of data collection, the amplified voices of previously marginalized groups and respect for ADVANCE goals.

Volume 94 No. 3 2018 | GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE | 29

On the Field

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Karl Moore/Georgia Tech Athletics

TECH’S NEW-LOOK LOCKER ROOM

This summer, Georgia Tech Athletics finished the first project of its Athletics Initiative 2020, a $4.5 million renovation of the Yellow Jackets’ football locker room located underneath the north stands in Bobby Dodd Stadium.

The new 8,100-square-foot facility features updated branding, as well as a state of-the-art hydrotherapy area, upgraded showers, multiple audio-visual systems and much more. Nearly two dozen Tech alumni helped in the design and construction of the locker room.

Volume 94 No. 3 2018 | GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE | 31

ON THE FIELD

A Brand New Brand

BY TONY REHAGEN

Georgia Tech athletics embraces the “Three Stripe Life” in its new partnership with Adidas that adds some swagger to the Institute’s time-honored traditions— and its bottom line.

TAQUON MARSHALL noticed the difference almost immediately as he stepped into the locker room at Bobby Dodd Stadium. And when the Yellow Jacket quarterback and team co-captain arrived for pre-season training camp in early August, he knew there was more than just that start-of-the-season buzz in the air.

Sure, he felt the joy of reuniting with his teammates, as well as the perennial optimism for the clean-slate season ahead. But there was something else, something new. And it was as obvious as the pristine practice and warm-up gear hanging in each football player’s locker.

The interlocking GT logo on the uniforms was refined and the Georgia Tech Athletics Association had a new

wordmark based on the classic T-E-C-H sign atop Tech Tower. Everything featured a new color, called Tech Gold, which was revealed last spring but harkens back to the Institute’s storied days of John Heisman.

However, the most significant change on the uniforms and training gear was relatively small—the new brand emblazoned on every shirt, shoe and pair of running shorts. It was the iconic three stripes of Adidas. Earlier this summer, the Athletics Association completed a new multi-year, multi-million-dollar partnership between the athletics department and the omnipresent German apparel manufacturer.

“Now we’re aligned with one of the best brands in the world,” Shah says.

“Adidas is both established and emerging, on the cutting edge of innovation.

That’s what Tech is doing, too. We’re kind of like long lost twins, in a way.

And we’re finally coming together.”

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It was the dawn of the “Three Stripe Life” at Tech.

For student-athletes like Marshall, that means more than just dseamless streamlined jerseys and lightweight cleats. It also means a new image and attitude.

“Adidas brought some swag with it,” Marshall says.

And that swagger isn’t contained to the football field or the basketball court. “The fans are getting a better variety of things,” he says. “I think they enjoy the switch as much as we do.”

But the Yellow Jackets’ brand new look is about more than just a feeling.

Better equipment enhances on-thefield performance. Fashionable threads not only sell out at the Tech book store, but they also help sell the nation’s top young recruits on coming to Tech.

“College athletics is an arms race,” says Simit Shah, CmpE 99, Tech’s assistant athletic director for brand and ideation. “It’s all about facilities, staffing and budgets. When you are going

Karl Moore/Georgia Tech Athletics

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ON THE FIELD into recruiting, they want to see what you have, what you’re training in, what you’re traveling in. For recruits, that’s one of the top three things they look at.”

More than anything, this new era enhances the Institute’s overall brand reputation. After all, college athletics is big business.

“It’s about athletes, students, alumni and ticket holders,” Shah says. “We want Georgia Tech logos to be on the best quality products. Now we’re aligned with one of the best brands in the world. Adidas is both established and emerging, on the cutting edge of innovation. That’s what Tech is doing, too.

We’re kind of like long lost twins, in a way. And we’re finally coming together.”

HOW THE DEAL CAME TOGETHER Tech’s search for an apparel partner began in late 2016. The athletics department knew that their previous five-year agreement with Russell Athletic would expire in the summer of 2018, and Russell had already begun to de-emphasize its presence among Power Five conference athletic programs. That left Tech’s options wide open.

The timing was ideal. Todd Stansbury, IM 84, had just returned to Tech to take over as athletic director after occupying the same position for two years in

Assistant Athletic Director Simit Shah

“It’s something to be proud of,” Mitchell says. “You can be proud of the name on your chest. Overall, the morale of the team is better—you look good, you feel good, you play good.”

Oregon State, a region where both Nike and Adidas base their U.S. operations.

Stansbury had contacts throughout the apparel business, and he was eager to lead his alma mater into in finding its future look. “Finding the right partner is incredibly important,” Stansbury says.

“While it’s definitely important for our fans and alumni and our overall brand, I think it’s especially important to perhaps our two most important constituencies: our student-athletes and recruits.

“It’s important to our student-athletes to have apparel and equipment that not only looks good, but also is made of state-of-the-art materials and design that allows for maximum performance. And in this day and age, your gear—believe it or not—plays an important role in recruiting.”

In addition to on-field performance and image, there were also some practical concerns that would need to be addressed by the new suitors. Russell had been a fine partner when it came to jerseys and wrist bands, but the company didn’t make shoes or baseball equipment—Tech always had to look elsewhere for those needs.

Stansbury and his administration wanted the new supplier to be a one-stop shop. Several candidates immediately emerged, including Nike, Adidas and Under Armor. Initial overtures were made and reciprocated.

“It’s a little bit of a dance, as contracts at other schools expire in the same time frame,” Shah says. “There’s a mutual courting process, and everyone is

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trying to find the right match.”

Tech hardly had to take the lead during this courtship. As a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), considered one of the top five athletic conferences in the country, the Yellow Jackets were a prized prospect. “When we look at our elite schools—our Power Five conferences—we’re looking for partners that we can really amplify in the marketplace and have an integrated partnership with,” says Jim Murphy, Adidas sports marketing director for NCAA. “Our job is to really go in and understand what makes Georgia Tech so unique so we can then articulate that and really start to tell their story and ours together in the marketplace.”

When a team of Adidas reps arrived in Atlanta in the spring of 2017 for the multi-day pitch meetings with Tech officials, the two parties hit it off almost immediately. Murphy and Shah agree that both parties share core values— particularly the Institute’s dedication to being on the cutting edge of technology.

“A big part of Georgia Tech’s values revolves around innovation, community and moving the world forward,” Murphy says. “Adidas, being a global brand, we pride ourselves on being a leader in innovation and using innovation to make the world a better place.”

The six-year contract was officially announced on Aug. 22, 2017. Every year through 2024, Adidas will provide $3 million worth of apparel and equipment (Russell had supplied $1 million in gear and $1 million in cash) to the

BREAKING DOWN THE ADIDAS DEAL

6

YEARS

LENGTH OF PARTNERSHIP Tech’s beloved mascot Buzz now wears custom—and far more comfortable—Adidas kicks.

400-plus Yellow Jacket student athletes across 17 varsity sports.

This includes more than just uniforms and shoes. The three stripes will be on workout pants, wrist bands, coaches’ visors and support staff polo shirts. Even Buzz, the beloved mascot, has received a new pair of custom Adidas shoes. “We are making sure our athletes are getting everything they need,” Shah says.

PUTTING THE PARTNERSHIP INTO ACTION Once the agreement was finalized last summer, the real work began. The athletic department set toward conceptualizing its new look. It formed focus groups consisting of alumni, students, athletes and fans.

For aesthetics, administrators looked to mesh Tech’s storied past with its drive toward the future. They then took the idea to Adidas, who then cemented its reality. For instance, the new logo and wordmark were inspired by the old-fashioned block font of the Tech Tower lettering, but then infused with a sleeker bent. The serifs were angled to resemble a yellow jacket’s stinger. The new color, Tech Gold, was a nod to the paint scheme of the Ramblin’ Wreck— and it also comes in a metallic variation.

The first batch of fan gear—t-shirts, polos, water bottles—hit stores in April. Shah says some apparel sold out in less than 24 hours. “I was actually shocked that we’ve gotten such overwhelmingly positive feedback,” he says. “It’s such a historically hotbutton topic—especially the uniform design. Adidas is hyper-focused on the social media response, and we’ve

Danny Karnik/Georgia Tech Athletics

gotten a great response to the stuff we put out. I love the enthusiasm.”

Having passed the initial fan test, the new gear next faced the scrutiny of the football players, who finally got to try on their new game uniforms in August.

Marshall especially liked the form-fit of the jerseys, making it tougher for opposing tacklers looking for something to pull on. The fabric remains light even when soaked in sweat. The cleats are likewise light-weight and durable, with a solid grip on the soles. And Marshall’s offensive linemen say their pants are less restrictive.

But of course, underneath the shiny new helmets, the players are just like most college students. For them, function doesn’t completely trump form.

Senior co-captain Brant Mitchell is just as excited about how the clothes look. The seamless jersey with tightcropped sleeves. The new “Stinger Stripes” running down the side of the pants. The new “White Out” kits with blue numbers and white jerseys, pants and helmet. “It’s something to be proud of,” Mitchell says. “You can be proud of the name on your chest. Overall, the morale of the team is better—you look good, you feel good, you play good.”

He’s equally pleased with the workout gear he’ll get to wear on campus. It provides that “swag” that his teammate Marshall referred to. “You walk into a classroom, you want people to know who the athletes are,” Mitchell says. “You want them to stand out for how hard they work and what they do for the school. So when you get those pants and that hoodie, you can be proud.”

$18.66 MILLION

TOTAL VALUE (OVER SIX YEARS)

$13.11

MILLION

AVERAGE VALUE OF CONTRACT ANNUALLY THAT INCLUDES $200,000 IN CASH AND $2.91 MILLION IN GEAR

17

NUMBER OF VARSITY SPORTS INCLUDED IN DEAL

$1

MILLION

RETAINER FEE CASH BONUS IF FOOTBALL TEAM REACHES THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP ($500K FOR MEN’S BASKETBALL) PLUS $500,000 FOR ACC CHAMPIONSHIP IN FOOTBALL AND $250,000 IN MEN’S BASKETBALL

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ON THE FIELD

2018-19 MEN’S BASKETBALL SCHEDULE (AS OF SEPT. 13) HOME GAMES (DESIGNATED BY ALL CAPS) TO BE HELD AT MCCAMISH PAVILON

A MINI PREVIEW OF THE MEN’S HOOPS SEASON THE GEORGIA TECH MEN’S BASKETBALL TEAM is getting ready for a rebound season, with Head Coach Josh Pastner welcoming back six of the Yellow Jackets’ top nine players from last year. The team’s hopes are centered on a promising sophomore group that includes point guard Jose Alvarado (Brooklyn, N.Y.), wing guard Curtis Haywood II (Oklahoma City, Okla.), and forwards Evan Cole (Cumming, Ga.) and Moses Wright (Raleigh, N.C.).

Seniors Brandon Alston (Vienna, Va.) and Abdoulaye Gueye (Dakar, Senegal) and transfer guard Shembari Phillips (Atlanta) hope to provide some veteran leadership. Tech also welcomes a freshman class ranked No. 41 in the nation that includes four-star guard Michael Devoe (Orlando, Fla.) and three-star forwards Khalid Moore (New York, N.Y.) and Kristian Sjolund (Katy, Texas).

The team’s non-ACC schedule includes rival Georgia at home at McCamish Pavilion on Dec. 22, as well as 2018 NCAA Sweet 16 team Tennessee, the Big Ten’s Northwestern and the Big East’s St. John’s.

TECH TO HONOR CALVIN JOHNSON’S HALL OF FAME CAREER MEGATRON, AKA CALVIN JOHNSON, will be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame later this winter for his stellar career as a Yellow Jacket wide receiver. And Tech will be celebrating this honor through a National Football Foundation Hall of Fame On-Campus Salute on Nov. 10, in conjunction with the Yellow Jackets’ highly anticipated ACC football game versus the Miami Hurricanes.

These on-campus salutes have been a tradition for College Football Hall of Fame inductees since 1951. As part of the hallowed event, Johnson will be presented with his Hall of Fame plaque in an on-field ceremony during the Tech-Miami contest.

One of the most successful wide receivers in the history of both college and professional football, Johnson was a three-time all-ACC honoree and two-time first-team allAmerican during his three-year Georgia Tech career (2004-06). After winning the Biletnikoff Award and Paul Warfield Trophy (both presented to college football’s top wide receiver), Johnson was selected by the Detroit

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Nov. 3.

FLORIDA TECH (exhibition) Nov. 9 LAMAR Nov. 13 @ Tennessee Nov. 16 EAST CAROLINA Nov. 21 TEXAS RIO GRANDE VALLEY Nov. 23 PRAIRIE VIEW A&M Nov. 28 @ Northwestern (ACC/Big Ten Challenge) Dec. 1 @ St. John’s, Miami, Fla. (Hoophall Miami Invitational) Dec. 9 FLORIDA A&M Dec. 17 GARDNER-WEBB Dec. 19 @ Arkansas Dec. 22 GEORGIA Dec. 28 KENNESAW STATE Jan. 2 USC UPSTATE Jan. 5 WAKE FOREST Jan. 9 VIRGINIA TECH

Jan. 12 @ Syracuse

Jan. 16

@ Clemson

Jan. 19 LOUISVILLE Jan. 22 NOTRE DAME Jan. 26. @ Duke Jan. 29 NORTH CAROLINA Feb. 2 @ Florida State Feb. 6 CLEMSON Feb. 10 @ Notre Dame Feb. 13 @ Virginia Tech Feb. 16 FLORIDA STATE Feb. 20 PITTSBURGH Feb. 23 @ Miami Feb. 27 @ Virginia Mar. 3 BOSTON COLLEGE Mar. 6 @ NC State Mar. 12-16 @ ACC Tournament (Charlotte, N.C.)

Lions in the 2007 National Football League Draft. He was named a member of the College Football Hall of Fame’s 2018 class in January and will be officially inducted on Dec. 4 in New York City. He’ll be Georgia Tech’s 19th all-time inductee.

In the World

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Todd Spoth

TAKING NOTHING FOR GRANTED Through Texas-based Hope’s Path, alumnus Brian Dunn, IE 98 (on right), helps give former foster kids some basics they don’t often have—a place to live, opportunities to develop work skills and faith-based support in building positive relationships.

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IN THE WORLD

A House Full of Hope

F

BY BRIAN HUDGINS

Co-founded by alumnus Brian Dunn, IE 98, Hope’s Path helps former foster kids build lasting relationships and find success as adults.

FOR YOUNG ADULTS who have bounced around from one foster home to another as children, the search for strong human connections often lead them to some dangerous places. But in Spring, Texas, some fortunate few have found Hope’s Path, a nonprofit program that connects these former foster kids with opportunities to train at local businesses, provides room and board while they build their independence, and offers faith-based guidance for building productive, lasting relationships.

“Many of those young men have been in foster care since age 5 or 6,” says Brian Dunn, IE 98, Hope’s Path co-founder and president of the board of directors. “A lot of them try to save any remaining family relationships they can. Frequently, they are trying to go back to their hometowns or wherever to connect with a mom or an uncle. At this point in their lives, a void as big as the Grand Canyon stares out at them.”

The outcome, unfortunately, usually does not include a family reunion. “They are often left alone to try and live their lives,” Dunn says. “A lot of these kids end up victims of human trafficking, homeless, addicted to drugs and incarcerated.”

According to a 2016 National Youth in Transition Database survey, 26 percent of 21-year-olds who had aged out of foster care reported experiencing homelessness during the last two years. Twenty-five percent of those 21-year-olds reported they did not have Medicaid or some other health insurance.

“At Hope’s Path, we are trying to get them on a sustainable, vocational path,” Dunn says. “Working on soft skills is one of the things unique about us. There are other programs that focus on life skills like balancing checkbooks. But those interpersonal relationships are so important. What does it mean to work as a team?”

For many of the young men who come to the Hope’s Path, they’ve been referred by a social worker, child protective services worker or staffer at a Houston homeless shelter. Program participants then go through an application and interview

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process. Once they’ve been accepted, they are given the title of intern. It is a verbal first step on that path-to-work journey, Dunn says.

In addition to helping the men with soft-skills development, a team of six mentors is assigned to each intern to educate them individually about basic finances, health care needs, transportation options and social skill development. Hope’s Path has the capacity to take in 12 to 14 interns at a time.

Dunn and others recognized from the start that the most important aspect of getting these young men on the right track was providing a house for them—one that offers a striking difference from the temporary shelters they are accustomed to.

The 10,000 square-foot, two-story home on an acre lot features multiple bedrooms, a kitchen, deck area and work spaces that give them a truly homey environment where they feel safe and cared for.

“Going from shelter to shelter is nothing but Band-Aids,” Dunn says. “It doesn’t give them hope. We want to show them what a real home and a real workplace looks like. They too often don’t have any idea.”

At the home, the staff—which includes house mothers— provide daily guidance on life skills and Christian teachings, but everyone is also given space to do their own thing. “The young men are assigned mentors and organically they build real, lasting relationships,” Dunn says. “These guys used to have no one looking out for them, but here they have their own public relations team, their own personal board of directors.“ Chris Younts, 25, has been an intern at Hope’s Path for the past 18 months. He previously worked for a glass company before taking the step of obtaining a graduation certificate as a heating and air conditioning technician. Younts started an apprenticeship with a company in Conroe, Texas, this August.

“I have grown spiritually by being involved in groups and being part of a community here,” Younts says. “Your mentors see you through the programs and help you look for a place to live. But mentors don’t do things for you. They show you how to do it.”

Progress shows up in various steps—it might be holding a job and stringing together multiple paychecks. It can include paying for a car repair. And sometimes it’s gaining the knowledge that you are not only able to help yourself, but also other people. “Hopefully I can use the knowledge and skills that

Todd Spoth

Tech alumnus and youth pastor Brian Dunn helped locate and transform a house into a home where former foster kids can learn to transition to adult life in the real world.

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IN THE WORLD

Interns at Hope’s Path get life counseling from Brian Dunn (center) and other staff members and volunteers.

I have learned to assist someone in need,” Younts says. “Like someone who doesn’t have the money or skill to have their AC system repaired.”

Jeremy Branch, 23, is another intern who has been with Hope’s Path since December. He is working toward earning his GED and is pursuing employment opportunities simultaneously. “This is teaching me to be a better man,” Branch says. “They’re helping me learn to pursue goals without skipping steps.”

The doors to opening Hope’s Path could never have opened if Dunn hadn’t embarked on his own personal journey of learning.

Dunn lives in nearby Woodlands, Texas, where he works as a community pastor at StoneBridge Church. His transition from earning a degree in industrial engineering to becoming a member of the clergy was a short one. After “getting out” of Tech, he earned a master of divinity degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

“I went to working for a church straight out of Georgia Tech,” says Dunn, who long has been driven by his Christian faith. While his church work was a given, he never thought he’d be a driving force behind an organization like Hope’s Path.

After having two biological children, Brian and his wife, Whitney, decided to adopt a 3-year-old boy from China. The adoption process led Dunn to discover the plight of orphans abroad—and in their own backyard in Texas. Dunn found out about a gathering of church, nonprofit and child protective services leaders who were looking for better ways to help kids in dire need. Within those meetings, Dunn focused on a specific problem: the jarring reality for children who age out of foster care.

Getting a full grasp of the issue was a process for Dunn. “I may have been guilty of thinking it was a governmental problem or it’s a child protective services problem,” Dunn says. “But it’s a societal

“Going from shelter to shelter is nothing but Band-Aids,” Dunn says.

“We want to show them what a real home and a real workplace looks like.

They too often don’t have any idea.”

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problem. I talked to a staff member at a local prison. He said they calculate the number of cells they need based on the number of foster kids who are set to age out of the system.”

So Dunn decided to do something about it right in his own backyard.

In 2014, he and four other co-founders started to work together to create Hope’s Path. They found, purchased and renovated a home through backing from community businesses, churches, individual volunteers and donors. Office space, conference rooms, a kitchen and an apartment suite for house parents became ingredients in the space that can handle about a dozen young adults or so at a time. Hope’s Path officially opened in December of 2016.

Along with Dunn, executive director Terri Jaggers is one of the original visionaries behind the organization. A clinical assistant professor at Sam Houston State University, Jaggers is a former foster kid herself. Aside from the job skills that many long-term foster care kids lack, she has noticed they have often fallen behind in other crucial areas.

“These young men don’t even know what they like,” Jaggers says. “Do they like milk? Everything has been parceled out to them and they have received only what was given to them. They lose their ability to express their opinions and dream.”

Jaggers knows all of this first-hand. “I went into foster care when I was 4 years old and I was expected to be a statistic in foster care. I was determined not to give up. I didn’t stop dreaming.”

She says Dunn has played a variety of crucial roles at Hope’s Path: adviser, problem solver and business coordinator.

“Brian is the glue that holds all of us together,” Jaggers says. “He has a calming and deliberate sense of purpose. He coordinates the business and faith-based communities. Industrial engineers have that sense of detail. Hope’s Path requires so many diverse people.”

DOLLARS & SENSE

Positively Charged

N

BY KELLEY FREUND

Psychologist Elizabeth Cabrera can’t help but spread the word about the importance of making positivity a priority in our work and personal lives.

NEARLY TWO DECADES AGO, Elizabeth Cabrera found herself completely stressed out. Not only was she a mom to two small children, but also she was working to earn tenure at a university in a foreign country. Her life had become a tricky balancing act between work and family, and she found herself struggling to get it right.

Then Cabrera, MS Psy 93, PhD Psy 95, started studying positive psychology—a scientific field that looks at the strengths that enable individuals and communities to thrive. The research impacted her on such a personal level, she felt the need to share it with the world. Through her company Cabrera Insights, she now focuses on applying this science of well-being to the workplace, teaching leadership courses and giving seminars on building positive work environments.

In 2015, she published Beyond Happy: Women, Work, and Well-Being, and she continues to share research and practical ideas on her blog. Additionally, Cabrera serves as senior scholar for the Center for the Advancement of Well-Being at George Mason University. She’s also First Lady to GMU President

Carbera has given multiple TEDx Talks on the power of positivity.

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Angel Cabrera, MS Psy 93, PhD Psy 95, whom she met while studying at Tech.

The Alumni Magazine sat down with Cabrera to gain insights on how we can improve our happiness both at work and at home.

IS THERE A PARTICULAR REASON WHY ‘POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY’ IS SUCH A GROWING FIELD RIGHT NOW? Today there are norms we have in our society that are hurting our well-being. The workplace is more demanding, and we’re expected to be “on” 24 hours a day, seven days a week. And through technology, our ever-present smart devices, we have lost the ability to disconnect. People are looking for something to improve their life, and I think positive psychology has answers for that.

IN YOUR 2018 TEDX TALK, YOU DISCUSSED THE IMPORTANCE OF FOCUSING ON POSITIVE EMOTIONS. CAN THAT REALLY HELP? Positive emotions are important for our well-being and productivity at work, as they help us think smarter and be more creative. We tend to focus on negatives—that’s our survival instinct. But that can lead to chronic stress. For individuals or leaders in the workplace, making an intentional effort to concentrate on what’s going well, rather than just on our problems, can really shift everything. When we dwell on what’s good in our lives, it generates positive emotions and boosts our well-being by reducing stress and anxiety, and increasing resilience. A simple intervention for this is to habitually end each day by thinking about three good things that happened. It really does teach you to look for those things throughout the day and to develop a proclivity for focusing more on the positive. Leaders in the workplace can start a meeting by talking about an achievement the team has had. Or at the dinner table, you can ask your family members about the best thing that happened during their days. It’s something that’s simple but can have a big impact.

WHAT ELSE SHOULD WE BE DOING TO INCREASE OUR WELL-BEING? A lot of our stress comes from constantly thinking about our to-do lists—especially what we should be tackling but aren’t. Multitasking not only hurts our

productivity, but it causes cortisol, a stress hormone, to be released in our brains. If we can learn to focus on single tasks in the present moment instead of trying to think about 100 things at once, that solves a lot of our stress issues. If you have a task to do at work, and you shut down the social media and your emails, turn your phone off and spend 45-60 minutes focusing on that task, you’re going to do it so much better. Additionally, our positive relationships with co-workers, friends and family are the most important factor for our well-being. Being around people makes us happier and close relationships give our lives meaning.

WHAT OTHER WORK-LIFE BALANCE ISSUES INTRIGUE YOU? I recently wrote a blog about the importance of rest and renewal. There are three things we need to start doing more of. One is taking breaks throughout the day at work. Research shows we’re more productive if we work for a maximum of 90 minutes and then get up and move around. Another thing we need to do is disconnect when we get home—stop looking at emails.

And the last one is vacations—take one! There was a study that came out about millennials and how they are vacation shaming. But there’s parallel research showing that not taking vacation increases the risk of depression, heat attacks, diabetes and burnout.

WHAT DO YOU LIKE ABOUT WRITING A PROFESSIONAL BLOG? I’m very much an extrovert, and I thought extroverts didn’t like writing because it’s sitting by yourself for hours.

But once I started working on things I was passionate about—this idea of positive psychology—I grew to like writing. Every topic I write about requires a lot of front-end

research, and that involves learning new things.

HOW HAS YOUR TECH EDUCATION HELPED YOU THROUGHOUT YOUR CAREER? It’s interesting to get a psychology degree from an engineering school. We had a six-hour course in statistics each semester during our first two years, and that gave us an understanding of research methods and how to analyze data. It was much more rigorous on the quantitative side of things, which you don’t always get in a psychology program.

Because of my Tech education, I can read these technical articles, recognize whether it’s a good study and what the results mean, and then I can present it in a way everybody can understand.

“Positive emotions are important for our well-being and productivity at work, as they help us think smarter and be more creative,” Cabrera says.

“We tend to focus on negatives— that’s our survival instinct. But that can lead to chronic stress.”

Alexis Glenn

WHAT’S NEXT FOR YOU? I’ve been preparing a course for The Great Courses, a service that allows people to stream lectures created by professors from all over the country on every topic you can imagine.

My course is called “How to Build a Thriving Workplace: A Leader’s Guide.” It’s based on all the research I’ve been doing for years and all the classes I’ve been teaching, but I’m hoping this is going to reach a larger audience and have a bigger impact.

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BALANCING ACT

The War on Opioids Gets Personal

BY KELLEY FREUND

Following the loss of his son Jonathan to a drug overdose last fall, former Navy Admiral Sandy Winnefeld, AE 78, decided to do something to save others from a similar fate.

“THE DEEPEST IMPACT EVER LEFT ON ME WAS BY A PERSON I HAD NEVER EVEN TALKED TO. I NEVER GOT TO FIND OUT HIS NAME, AND HE WASN’T EVEN AWARE OF MY PRESENCE. HOWEVER, WE BOTH HAD ONE THING IN COMMON THAT MADE AN INSTANT CONNECTION BETWEEN US. WE BOTH SHARED THE DISEASE OF ADDICTION.”

J

—JONATHAN WINNEFELD

JAMES “SANDY” WINNEFELD wants you to know that no family is safe from the opioid epidemic. He’s speaking from experience—his son Jonathan wrote those words for a college essay one month before he died from a heroin

overdose in September 2017.

Drug overdose is now the leading cause of death for Americans younger than 50. Last year alone, 72,000 people in this country died from overdoses— more Americans than have died in combat since the beginning of the Vietnam War. The addicted population is spread across every segment of society. It’s a disease that doesn’t care about your status—it hits those who come from all walks of life, even someone like Jonathan, whose father was an admiral in the Navy and the former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

“It’s not only about people living under underpasses with needle marks on their arms,” Winnefeld says. “There are a lot of people who look just like Jonathan who we’re losing to this epidemic.”

For Winnefeld, his family’s journey with Jonathan’s drug abuse was a wakeup call to the power of addiction. Even as one of the most powerful men in the military world, Winnefeld couldn’t stop it. When Jonathan died, Winnefeld decided to tackle the issue using the lessons his family learned along the way.

What could they help change so others wouldn’t have to suffer?

Winnefeld describes his son Jonathan as someone who didn’t have an enemy in the world. He was creative and a gifted baseball pitcher, but he grew up with anxiety and depression and was misdiagnosed as having

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attention deficit disorder. When Jonathan was prescribed Adderall by a psychologist—one of the worst medications you can give somebody who has anxiety—it contributed to his desire to self-medicate. Not only did he want to use it to handle his depression, but also to come down from Adderall’s effects. After Jonathan reached eighth grade, Winnefeld and his wife, Mary, realized Jonathan was experimenting with alcohol and drugs, and stepped in.

From the beginning, getting their son the help he needed proved difficult.

There wasn’t enough capacity around northern Virginia for outpatient treatment, and Jonathan was placed on a waiting list. During that time, his experimentation had turned into full addiction, so Sandy and Mary began looking into long-term inpatient treatment. But they couldn’t find a place that could handle Jonathan’s dual diagnosis of mental health and drug addiction.

When they eventually found a facility, their insurance wouldn’t cover it, so they paid out-of-pocket for 15 months of treatment.

But the high cost became an afterthought as Jonathan began to heal.

“We watched our son recover before our very eyes,” Winnefeld says. “We could have a conversation with him.

He got his ambition back, and he even received his emergency medical technician qualification.”

Kaylinn Gilstrap

Sandy Winnefeld holds the last picture he and his wife, Mary, ever had taken with their son Jonathan.

Gary W. Meek

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BALANCING ACT Jonathan was on his first ride-along shift as an EMT when his crew received a call about a man suffering cardiac arrest from a heroin overdose in a McDonald’s bathroom. When they arrived, Jonathan began chest compressions.

They eventually loaded the man into an ambulance and drove him to the hospital, unsure whether he would survive.

It was a pivotal moment in Jonathan’s struggle with addiction. He wrote: Whoever the man was had managed to change my life. I could see myself in him. Now I see that I must take advantage of being sober because so few addicts get the chance to live life to its fullest potential.

For Jonathan, that meant putting his EMT certification to use helping others. A month before starting school at the University of Denver, he took a course for his electrocardiogram (EKG) qualification, traveling downtown to a paramedic training facility—which happened to be next door to Denver’s heroin market.

The disease of addiction needs little to return. Winnefeld points out that even brief flashing images of drug paraphernalia are enough to trigger a flood of dopamine in a recovering brain, which in turn can cause a relapse. And addicts are even more vulnerable when access is easy. As Jonathan walked home one night, he couldn’t turn the heroin down.

Sandy and Mary had no idea about the relapse when they dropped their son off at school in early September.

But four days later, they received the call from a school administrator— Jonathan had been found unresponsive in his bed, one of several victims of a fentanyl-laden batch of heroin that had spread through the Denver area that week. Their son was gone, but the ending to his college essay stuck with his family: I now live my life with a new-found purpose: wanting to help those who cannot help themselves.

In the wake of the tragedy, the Winnefelds decided to carry out Jonathan’s

“It’s hard to know when you’ve actually saved a life,” Winnefeld says.

“But then you get an email that reads, ‘I’m sitting in a hospital room with my 14-year-old son, who is addicted to opioids. We decided to get him into long-term inpatient treatment, and the reason we’re doing this is because we’ve read your stuff.’ Then you think, ‘OK, maybe we’re making a difference.’” mission on their own. In November 2017, they started a nonprofit, Stop the Addiction Fatality Epidemic (SAFE), to aid the nation in reversing the opioid epidemic and to prevent other families from suffering like they did.

The SAFE team travels the country to speak with experts, policymakers, law enforcement, medical providers, community- and state-based organizations, and families who have struggled with opioid addiction.

Everything the organization does is based around six concepts—those that Winnefeld feels the nation needs to address in order to end the epidemic: public awareness, prevention, prescription medicine management, law enforcement and medical response, treatment and recovery, and family outreach and support. Using these concepts, SAFE works to create safer communities by gathering and publicizing best practices from across the country, and they are partnering with the Association of Recovery in Higher Education to ensure that recovery programs or other support services are present on every college campus.

It’s easy to measure SAFE’s input— how many people the group has spoken

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to and the programs being put together based on best practices—but measuring output is tougher. “It’s hard to know when you’ve actually saved a life,” Winnefeld says. “But then you get an email that reads, ‘I’m sitting in a hospital room with my 14-year-old son, who is addicted to opioids. We decided to get him into long-term inpatient treatment, and the reason we’re doing this is because we’ve read your stuff,’ Then you think, ‘OK, maybe we’re making a difference.’”

Winnefeld knows it won’t be easy for those families. Finding the right treatment options and going through the recovery process was a frustrating experience for him and his family. But as SAFE works to end America’s opioid epidemic—carrying out the mission Jonathan felt called to do one of his first nights as an EMT—Winnefeld hopes he and his wife are making that process a little easier. “I think Jonathan would be amazed that those demons he was dealing with—the tragedy that ended in his loss—has galvanized an organization that is having this kind of impact,” Winnefeld says. “I think he’s probably smiling right now, proud to know that his mission of helping others is being continued.”

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PREVENTING

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& peace FORMER U.S. SENATOR SAM NUNN, CLS 60, HON PHD 08, IS WORKING TO SAVE THE WORLD FROM WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION. AND NOBODY KNOWS BETTER THAN HIM THAT NO MAN, NO PARTY, NO COUNTRY CAN GO IT ALONE IN THIS RACE BETWEEN COLLABORATION AND CATASTROPHE. STORY BY ROGER SLAVENS

SAM NUNN may have recently turned 80 years old, but there’s no sign of him slowing down. And with good reason. His mission is an urgent, unending one: nothing less than halting the threat of nuclear war and other catastrophic loss of life caused by weapons of mass destruction (WMD).

“We are in an ongoing race between cooperation and catastrophe, and right now cooperation is not running a very strong race,” Nunn says. “When you look at these weapons, whether they’re nuclear, chemical, biological or now even disruptive—cyber—in nature, they constitute an ongoing problem that will never be completely solved.

PHOTOS BY BEN ROLLINS

However, every bit of progress reduces risk, saves lives and makes the world a better place.”

After spending more than 24 distinguished years of service as a Democratic U.S. Senator from Georgia—during which he chaired the powerful Senate Committee on Armed Services for eight years—Nunn left Congress in 1997 to pursue more focused interests. He returned to his roots as an attorney, becoming a partner at top Atlanta law firm King & Spalding, and he sat on numerous corporate, governmental and nonprofit boards. Nunn even took a faculty position at Georgia Tech, where he still serves as a distinguished professor in the Sam Nunn Volume 94 No. 32 2018 | GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE | 51

program. This program was designed to ensure that Soviet nuclear, biological and chemical weapons were accounted for and dealt with after the country’s break-up into separate, independent republics.

Thanks much in part to Nunn’s passionate leadership and diplomatic prowess—backed by the Nunn-Lugar Act and then the NTI—the international community has worked together to deactivate thousands of nuclear warheads and secure nuclear materials around the globe since the effort started nearly 30 years ago.

Nunn’s mission to avert catastrophe continues in earnest today, but the threats keep

i

“In the last 20 to 25 years, we’ve gone from 50 or so countries that have weapons-usable nuclear material down to 22,” Nunn says, with an earned sense of pride. “And it’s happened under both Democratic and Republican administrations, starting with President George H.W. Bush.”

Securing nuclear materials is a rare topic that policy makers on both sides of the aisle have often agreed upon. But then Nunn built a strong reputation of bipartisanship during his distinguished tenure in the U.S. Senate—he wasn’t afraid to work with his Republican counterparts and often broke ranks with his party to develop solutions that he felt were in the best interest of the American people.

“If you want a real, sustainable solution to anything in this country then or today, you have to include both parties, both Democrats and Republicans, in the process,” Nunn says. “When you have the majority in Congress, you might be able to pass legislation without the support of the other side, but when the pendulum swings back and you lose that majority, they’ll likely work to undo it immediately.

“It can be a vicious circle.

We’re seeing that happen today with the Republican-led Congress erasing as much of President Obama’s legacy as possible. And as soon as the mid-term elections this November, the pendulum could swing back and everything could be again reversed. It’s like

“

changing. The growth of terrorism, the rise of rogue nations with nuclear aspirations, and the renewed tension between the U.S. and Russia all make it a more challenging task than ever.

The work is compounded by an ever-increasing arsenal of technological threats, which include state-sponsored cyber attacks designed to disrupt everyday life and laboratories researching and even recreating dangerous diseases that could be weaponized.

This is the story of how Sam Nunn is still trying to save the world. And how he somehow manages to carry his share of the burden with a sense of optimism and hope.

running on a rug.”

Or, in other words, our elected officials need to find some common ground or understanding before they will be able to make any lasting progress.

In the case of the Nunn-Lugar Act, progress was indeed made when shared interest not only united the parties but also created an unlikely partnership with Russia. “The U.S. government forged a close relationship with Russia to account for the nuclear materials and weapons that the Soviet Union produced, but were no longer in Russia’s possession,” Nunn says. “Over about a 12-year period, our nations worked together for a cause that benefited the whole world. We located and transported nuclear weapons back to Russia, where they were dismantled and the nuclear material was extracted, blended down into low-enriched uranium and repurposed as fuel for countries around the globe to use.”

Nunn says that one of the amazing statistics people have a hard time grasping is that, from about 1995 to 2013, 10 percent of electricity in the U.S. came from nuclear power using nuclear material that had once been in weapons pointed at us. “This was truly turning swords into plowshares,” he says.

Through the Nuclear Threat Initiative, Nunn and his staff continue to foster similar international collaboration to deal with dangerous weaponry and materials.

“Governments have to do the heavy lifting when it comes to securing weapons of mass destruction, but the public has to be informed and officials from different countries have to focus and cooperate,” Nunn

“

School of International Affairs that was named in his honor.

However, Nunn says his most important pursuit was co-founding the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) with his long-time friend and media mogul Ted Turner in 2001. The NTI was the natural evolution of Nunn’s work that began in Congress to secure and dismantle nuclear, biological and chemical stockpiles from the former Soviet Union and other countries around the globe.

Ten years before, Nunn reached across the aisle to collaborate with Richard Lugar, then a Republican U.S. Senator from Indiana, to author the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction

“IF YOU WANT A REAL, SUSTAINABLE SOLUTION TO ANYTHING IN THIS COUNTRY THEN OR TODAY, YOU HAVE TO INCLUDE BOTH PARTIES, BOTH DEMOCRATS AND REPUBLICANS, IN THE PROCESS,” NUNN SAYS.

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says. “It’s not an easy thing—that’s why we’re here to encourage and enable the process.”

The NTI was founded in 2001 after Tim Wirth, then the president of the UN Foundation, urged Ted Turner, a friend of Nunn’s and a philanthropist with deep pockets, to speak to Nunn about their shared interest in reducing the risks of nuclear weapons in the world.

“Ted and I got together and started talking about what we could do,” Nunn remembers. “I had been out out of the Senate for a few years then, repairing my badly damaged balance sheet by working at a law firm and sitting on a bunch of corporate boards. We decided we were both serious enough about doing something about the threat that we would conduct a scoping study for six months and see if he and I agreed on what the goals ought to be.”

While they agreed on the overarching mission, they didn’t

agree on how long it would take. “Ted thought you could get rid of nuclear weapons very quickly when we started this,” Nunn says. “He was imagining a Hail Mary, while I knew it would be more like three yards and a cloud of dust, having gone through the process before with the Soviet Union.”

As envisioned, the NTI would work with governments to encourage their efforts to secure weapons-grade nuclear materials and weapons of mass destruction across the globe by building up public awareness and support— helping to serve as a catalyst for governments to keep doing more. Nunn still believes the long-term goal should be to get rid of all the unsecured nuclear weapons on the planet. “That’s what 191 countries signed up for with the Non-Proliferation Treaty of 1968,” he says. “The problem is that the treaty didn’t outline the steps on how to get there.

That’s a role the NTI has strived to fill, working with former

Volume 94 No. 3 2018 | GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE | 53

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Nunn says. “The idea was to have a facility that would provide low-enriched nuclear fuel to countries who want to build nuclear power plants.”

The IAEA estimates that about 30 countries are interested in building nuclear power facilities. However, to start their own programs they would either have to buy it from an existing supplier or make it themselves. The concern is that if they decide to go it alone, the technology for enriching uranium for use in power plants could also be used for developing weapons. Nunn and the NTI wanted to make sure that no new countries would be tempted to follow that path.

The European Union, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Norway, the United Arab Emirates and the United States all contributed money toward the low-enriched uranium bank. In 2010, the IAEA voted to start the bank and in 2015, they selected Kazakhstan—the world’s largest producer of uranium ore—to host it.

“It took more than 10 years, but we were able to make it happen by working hand-in-hand with the IAEA and governments around the world.”

Nunn says. “I’ve traveled to Kazakhstan twice in the last three years. This is a country that despite its uranium riches had given up all of its nuclear weapons and at one time had the fourth or fifth largest arsenal in the world after the Soviet Union diss o lve d . P re s i d e nt Nu rs u l ta n Nazarbayev and his country have been really great to work with and I helped convince him—way back when we started exploring this idea—that Kazakhstan should take the lead on the fuel bank.”

A third major accomplishment of NTI is that it helped create the World Institute of Nuclear Security (WINS). “Recently I announced at its headquarters, also located in Vienna, that WINS now has almost 5,000 members—nuclear operators who are committed to best practices in civil nuclear power and handling nuclear materials securely,” Nunn says. “These operators have always been concerned with safety, but they haven’t been as focused on security. Safety inspectors often go in and find the plant equipment and systems working properly with no dangers, but then discover there are no locks on the doors or areas open for sabotage. We want WINS to be the security counterpart to what IAEA has done on the safety side.”

All in all, the NTI doesn’t claim exclusive credit for any of these wins, Nunn says. Again, unsurprisingly for him, it’s all about collaboration. “The Nuclear Threat Initiative has always been meant to be a strong influencer and to help broker cooperation among our allies such as Britain and France as well as our sometimes colleagues, sometimes

“

U.S. Secretaries of State George Shultz and Henry Kissinger, along with former Secretary of Defense Bill Perry. We’re also working closely with the U.S. government and other nations to make progress. In different moments in time, we’ve had enough international consensus to take major leaps forward.”

But in the last three to four years, Nunn says, it’s been very difficult for the U.S. and Russia to work together because of Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, annexation of Crimea, support of the Syrian regime and suspicion of meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. “Any time these two countries can’t cooperate with or trust each other, the world gets much more dangerous,” he says. “That’s happening right now.”

The risks with nuclear weapons and materials, in particular, have changed significantly in the past two decades.

Nunn isn’t as worried that a country will intentionally let loose its nuclear arsenal as he is that it will sell some weapons or materials to—or have them stolen by—terrorist agents who would have no qualms about using them.

“North Korea might be tempted to launch a nuclear missile, but ultimately it’s got a return address and they know they’d be doomed if they did,” he says. “That’s a huge deterrent.

But because the country is so desperate and poor, they could try to sell nuclear materials or weapons for big sums of money.”

To keep pressure on countries with weapons-usable nuclear materials, such as highly enriched uranium or plutonium, the NTI has developed the Nuclear Security Index with the help of the Economist Intelligence Unit that ranks countries on how secure their nuclear materials are from theft, as well as how secure their nuclear power facilities are from sabotage. (See “2018 Nuclear Security Index Rankings” on page 57.)

“The index has moved the needle considerably,” Nunn says. “Governments don’t like it when they score poorly— and neither do their citizens. So many countries have taken it upon themselves to either get off the index completely by eliminating their nuclear material stockpiles or moving up in the rankings by locking down their materials with better security and processes.”

Another big success of the NTI is the launch this year of an international nuclear fuel bank based in Kazakhstan that was initially funded by business magnate and investor Warren Buffett. “Back in 2006, Warren put up $50 million as seed money through the NTI and allowed me to go to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna, Austria, to propose the world meet us 2-for-1 on the challenge,”

“ANY TIME THESE TWO COUNTRIES (THE U.S. AND RUSSIA) CAN’T COOPERATE WITH OR TRUST EACH OTHER, THE WORLD GETS MUCH MORE DANGEROUS,” NUNN SAYS. “THAT’S HAPPENING RIGHT NOW.”

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adversaries like Russia and China,” Nunn says. “Thankfully, no matter our differences, we all share a vested interest in securing weapons of mass destruction.”

FROM GEORGIA TECH TO A LIFE IN POLITICS Growing up, Sam Nunn certainly never imagined he’d one day be so influential in matters of policy making and world security. He never intended to go into politics, though his father, Sam Sr., was mayor of Perry, Ga., and his great uncle Carl Vinson served as a Democratic U.S. representative from Georgia for 50 years. Vinson was a widely respected public servant who had a Naval aircraft carrier named for him, the USS Carl Vinson.

No, the outdoors and sports were Nunn’s first loves. As a teenager, he worked on the family farm, earned the rank of Eagle Scout and stood out as a basketball player, captaining his high school team to a Georgia state championship. Basketball, inevitably, was what brought Nunn to Georgia Tech.

But it was only by a chance encounter with Tech basketball coach John Hyder that he became a Yellow Jacket.

“My process for deciding which college I was going to attend, in my view, is not a very good example for young people today,” Nunn says. “I think I ended up in a great spot, but I had two key things on my mind at the time. I was looking to play basketball at the collegiate level and I also wanted to join the Naval ROTC. Auburn and Georgia Tech offered both, and each university was part of the competitive Southeastern Conference (SEC) back then.”

Some small colleges had offered him a scholarship to play basketball, but not any major university. Nunn was only 5 feet 11 inches tall and—in his words—slow.

“I wasn’t going to be a superstar,” he says. “Originally I was set to attend Auburn in the fall of 1956 and I even had a roommate—until about three weeks before school started.

That’s when I was preparing to play in a North-South high school all-star game, and the [Tech] Coach Hyder came to practice every day—the game was held in O’Keefe Gym on Tech’s campus—to scout us. After watching me play, he

THE SAM NUNN FILE Full Name: Samuel Augustus Nunn Jr. Birth: Sept. 8, 1938 in Macon, Ga. Hometown: Perry, Ga. Family: Wife Colleen Nunn; daughter Michelle Nunn; son Brian Nunn; grandchildren Vinson, Elizabeth, Kingsley and Sam Current Roles: Co-founder and co-chair of the Nuclear Threat Initiative (recently stepped down as CEO); also distinguished professor in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at Georgia Tech

Nunn primarily came to Tech for its basketball and Navy ROTC.

asked me to think about switching from Auburn to Tech. He said he didn’t have any scholarships to give right then, but if I did well, I’d have a chance to earn one. So I switched, and attending Tech became one of the best decisions I ever made in my life.”

However, Nunn’s freshman year at the Institute proved to be full of ups and downs. “I flunked the first test I ever took at Tech—the eye test to get into Naval ROTC,” he says.

“I’d never worn glasses, never had seen an eye doctor, but found out I had 20/80 vision, which made me ineligible for Naval ROTC. One of my reasons for going to Tech was gone the first day.”

Nunn shrugged off the disappointment and switched to Army ROTC, which didn’t have the stringent vision requirement. “Everybody took ROTC at Tech those days—we still had the draft,” he says.

But some good things happened, too. At Tech’s 1956 homecoming, Nunn won the Freshman Cake Race against U.S. Senate Service: 24 years of service, hundreds of other runners—not bad including an eight-year tenure as chair of for someone who thought himself the Senate Armed Services Committee; also something of a slowpoke. “It came as served on the Permanent Subcommittee on a complete surprise,” Nunn says. “I’d Investigations and the Intelligence and Small never run track before, but I was in Business Committees. better shape than I had thought. I Major Legislation: The Department of guess I had been practicing basketball Defense Reorganization Act and the Nunn-Lugar all summer long in our cracker-box Cooperative Threat Reduction Program gym in Perry, with no air conditioning (aka the Nunn-Lugar Act) in hot weather and lost weight and Georgia Tech Honors: Inaugural recipient built up my stamina. It’s more of a of the Ivan Allen Jr. Prize for Social Courage, marathon than a sprint, but I had no awarded by Georgia Tech and the Ivan Allen idea I’d even contend.”

College of Liberal Arts; honorary PhD Nunn played basketball from the bestowed in 2008 get-go at Tech, and also joined the

Volume 94 No. 3 2018 | GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE | 55

golf team his sophomore and junior years.

“I just loved playing basketball,” he says. “We had two scholarship guys—Bobby Tillman and Dave Denton. The rest of us were, I’d say, recruited walk-ons. Denton was a great basketball player and he eventually became All-SEC. Tillman turned his attention to baseball and wound up being a catcher for the Boston Red Sox and the Atlanta Braves.” (Tillman played nine seasons in the major leagues.)

Academically, Nunn did well at Tech, except for one area.

“I had difficulty with mechanical drawing—it’s not that I didn’t work hard on it, I guess I just was missing a part of my brain for it,” he says. “In any case, you had to pass three courses in mechanical drawing to graduate—no matter your major—and I struggled to get a ‘D’ in the first course on the second try. In my third year, I realized it would take me too long to pass those courses so I left for Emory.”

The Institute finally bestowed Nunn with a degree—an honorary doctorate in 2008. “I told the crowd at commencement that I was delighted to be back at Georgia Tech now that it’s dropped mechanical drawing as a requirement and added women. When I attended, there were no more than a dozen women enrolled.”

Nunn finished his undergraduate studies at Emory University and went on to earn a law degree from the Emory School of Law in 1962. He has since held a strong affinity for both Emory and Tech over the years, and he remains a huge fan of Yellow Jacket sports—especially the men’s golf team.

After leaving Tech, he signed up for the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve, where he served on active duty for six months at Cape May, N.J., and remained in the reserves until 1968. Once he completed his active-duty service, he attended law school, passed the bar and joined the staff of the House Armed Services Committee in 1962. After one year in Washington, D.C., he returned to his hometown of Perry and set up his shingle

to practice law, while also helping to manage the family farm.

But it didn’t take long for Nunn to realize he had an affinity for public service. He was named president of the Perry Chamber of Commerce and then decided to run for a seat in the Georgia House of Representatives, winning in 1968. Nunn then ran for the U.S. Senate in 1972, besting incumbent U.S. Senator David Gambrell in the Democratic primary and then Republican U.S. Representative Fletcher Thompson in the general election. “The elections back then were a lot different than they are now,” Nunn says. “I didn’t have any money personally to fund a campaign, and I think I raised and borrowed somewhere between $600,000 to $700,000 for the primary, the run-off and the general campaign in a state-wide race. When my daughter (Michelle) ran for U.S. Senate in 2014, she spent somewhere close to $17 million.”

And it wasn’t just the amount of money involved that was different. “The time spent raising money for campaigns also is far greater today,” Nunn says. “I spent most of my time—about 95 percent of it—traveling around the state and meeting people, talking to them, doing interviews and the like, but only about 5 percent on fundraising.

Today it’s practically the reverse.”

CHANGING TIMES MEAN CHANGING PRIORITIES

The complexity of running for office isn’t the only thing that’s changed since Nunn’s early days as a U.S. senator. Geopolitics has undergone a countless series of drastic shifts over those nearly 50 years, the latest being the Trump administration’s turning of tradition and decorum on its head.

Nunn sees both the good and bad in it. For one, he thinks President Trump was right to meet with Kim Jong Un to discuss the disbanding of North Korea’s nuclear endeavors. “I’m one of those that believes Trump should have talked to North Korea,” he says. “I think that was a good thing to do. But I had hoped for more to come from it—a better understanding about how far along the North Koreans are with weaponizing their Nunn (left) co-founded the Nuclear Threat Initiative with Ted Turner (right) in 2001. nuclear materials, to get an inventory, some kind of baseline.”

But he’s frustrated that all that was achieved in the initial meeting was a faith-based agreement. “It was nothing tangible, though we did break through and talk to them,” Nunn says. “We pushed back from a cliff of a conflict which we would win, but would likely be a disaster for South Korea and our allies.

There would be a huge amount of death and destruction if we ever got into a war with North Korea.”

Nunn is waiting to see what comes next in negotiations with North Korea. “Now both Trump and Kim Jong Un have to put some

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meat on the bones, to get some agreements in writing,” he says.

“And it can’t be just nuclear— North Korea also has biological and chemical weapons. Plus they’ve got a couple million people fully armed sitting 30 miles from Seoul.”

He believes that ultimately, the move has to be toward the denuclearization of the isolated country.

“But that’s going to take some big economic carrots and promise of progress,” Nunn says. “And South Korea is going to have to play a huge role, as well as Japan. It’s simply not going to happen overnight, but rather it will take a few years, at best. I think the Trump administration is beginning to understand what’s involved and what’s at stake. It’s a problem the president inherited, and to his credit he’s tryi n g to d o s o m e t h i n g a b o u t it—though it’s just the beginning and what’s been accomplished so far shouldn’t be exaggerated.”

On the other hand, Nunn thinks President Trump and his officials blew it with Iran. “I was in favor of the Iranian nuclear agreement, even though it wasn’t perfect,” he says. “The deal only addressed the enrichment of nuclear materials to make nuclear weapons, not the development of intercontinental ballistic missiles or antagonistic behavior in the region. Still, the U.S. under President Obama led a strong coalition, which included Europe, Russia, China and India, in bringing Iran to the table through economic pressure. When Trump canceled the deal, it caused huge strains with our allies. Not only have we left them hanging, but also we’ve told them we’re going to penalize them if they move forward with a deal on their own. It’s a mess, and the Trump Administration has no plan B.” Nunn thinks the most important aspect of the Iranian nuclear agreement was the buying of time to figure out a way to resolve critical issues with Iran and their neighbors in the Middle East. “The deal had

bought us about 15 years, but in 15 years—if you look at all the polls in Iran and look at the discontent of the young people—a lot of things can happen to stabilize the country and the region,” he says. “I think the Iranian agreement was a real step forward, and I think opting out of it was a strategic mistake. For one thing, the next time we try to get a coalition together on anything in the world and try to leverage a strict economic embargo, it’s going to be very hard to do. We’ve sorely damaged the trust we had with our world partners.”

Still, Nunn likes to be optimistic.

“There’s ample time for Trump to open up a discussion with Iran like he did with North Korea,” he says.

“It would be a smart thing to pursue.”

Other pressing matters concern Nunn, especially the possibility of terrorists gaining access to nuclear materials or the NTI’s dawning grasp of the biological threats that exist throughout the world.

A small nuclear weapon—small being half the size of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima during World War II—could be put together by people with a little nuclear knowhow, he says. “It wouldn’t be easy; it would take some expertise. But the way to make a crude nuclear weapon is out there, and all it would take is to gain access to plutonium or highly enriched uranium. That’s what the NTI is trying to prevent.”

Even a small device going off in a major city would have catastrophic and lingering effects. “If you had that happen, not only would there be immediate damage and loss of life, but the confidence of the world would be shaken,” Nunn says. “It’s critical that we—the NTI, the U.S. government, our allies, our wary partners—never let this happen.”

Biological weapons may pose an even more difficult threat to deal with than nuclear, he says. “When an outbreak happens, you don’t initially know whether it’s Mother Na t u r e t h a t ’ s b e h i n d i t o r

NUCLEAR SECURITY INDEX RANKINGS ► The NTI’s 2018 Nuclear Securi-

ty Index finds that the steps countries have taken to reduce the threat of catastrophic nuclear terrorism are jeopardized by a deterioration of political stability and governance, an increase in corruption, and the expanding presence of terrorist groups around the world. The Index also finds that many countries remain poorly prepared to defend against rapidly expanding and evolving cyber threats to nuclear facilities.

However, at the same time, the Nuclear Security Index—published every two years—finds that despite these growing risks, progress has accelerated to secure, minimize and eliminate the world’s deadliest materials, as well as to ensure the security of nuclear facilities. Today, only 22 countries have weapons-usable nuclear materials, compared with 32 when the first Nuclear Security Index was released in 2012.

THEFT RANKING

(22 Countries with Weapons-Usable Nuclear Materials) COUNTRY RANK & SCORE #1 (tie) Austria and

Switzerland 94/100 #3 Canada 89/100 #4 (tie) Germany and Japan 88/100 #12 (tie) United States and United Kingdom 79/100 #21 Iran 37/100 #22 North Korea 24/100

SABOTAGE RANKING

(45 Countries with Nuclear Facilities) COUNTRY RANK & SCORE #1 Finland 97/100 #2 (tie) Australia and Canada 93/100

#4 (tie) Japan and

United Kingdom 91/100

#11 (tie) United States, France, Netherlands 87/100 #44 Iran 27/100 #45 North Korea 24/100

Volume 94 No. 3 2018 | GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE | 57

HOPES AND FEARS FOR THE FUTURE

like Ukraine and Syria—it puts the world on edge,” he says.

“Our two countries together control 90 percent of the planet’s nuclear weapons and materials. Heightened tensions between us are always dangerous. And the only way we can get this problem under control is by working together.”

His biggest fear is that some kind of accident or incident could trigger something catastrophic. “On top of the normal worries is that we appear to be at cyber war with each other, whether it’s meddling in elections or creating cyber viruses that can infect businesses and utilities or stealing sensitive data,” Nunn says. “If this activity spreads to warning systems, and command and control systems, if either of us tries to make false warnings on nuclear activities, we take a quantum leap toward destruction.”

On the other hand, while there’s plenty to worry about, Nunn is also optimistic about mankind’s progress and the overall state of the world. “Looking back on the past 30 years, we’ve made amazing progress almost all the way across the board,” he says. “Through technological advances and humanitarian efforts, we’ve lifted millions and millions of people out of abject poverty. And though it seems like there’s untold conflicts and clashes in the world, there are far fewer wars being waged. China and India, in particular, have made great economic strides.”

In balancing these fears and hopes, Nunn believes that fostering good relationships between nations, even among those with differing goals and ideals and situations, is more important than ever before. Similarly, Nunn believes the relationships in the U.S. between Democrats and Republicans need to be repaired.

“We’ve got to figure out a way to set aside our differences and work together again at all costs, both on matters of foreign policy and with issues on our home front,” he says.

“Thinking back, there wasn’t a single significant piece of legislation I ever passed in the Senate that didn’t include a Republican partner.

We need that mindset again. Unfortunately, right now, heading into the midterm elections, if you’re a candidate who says you want to work together with your rivals—that you want to cooperate and build upon common goals—then you’ll probably be defeated. I’ll say it again, we have a choice between cooperation and catastrophe and right now, right here, we’re making too many bad choices.”

Nunn regrets that diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Russia are at a low point. “Whenever we’re in conflict, not necessarily physical but rather political in nature—and right now we’re at odds on many fronts and in many places

The Honorable Sam Nunn will be the Keynote Speaker at Georgia Tech’s 2018 Homecoming & Reunion Weekend. See page 80 for more details.

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something more deliberate and sinister,” Nunn says. “And the facilities required to research and develop bio agents are much easier and smaller than with nuclear—you can fit a biological laboratory in a small conference room while development of weapons-usable nuclear material take pretty massive footprints.”

The NTI has taken several steps to reduce biological threats. First, they worked with the World Health Organization to set up a revolving fund of millions of dollars to assist health investigators, especially in poor countries, to travel to affected areas and set up research and medical efforts immediately after an outbreak is detected,” Nunn says. “The fund has been turned over a number of times already,” he says.

In addition, the NTI has helped set up early warning and detection centers around the world. “The most unlikely success story is a working coalition in the Middle East, where Israeli, Palestinian and Jordanian health officials all work together whenever there’s an outbreak,” Nunn says.

“Even with the tensions very high in that area, they overlook their differences and collaborate to solve problems.”

One problem Nunn sees on the horizon in biological agents is CRISPR genome editing. “Scientists have made great strides in manipulating DNA with some huge upsides, but there’s also very worrisome downsides,” he says. “For instance, there’s a group in Australia that has developed a way from scratch to develop a synthetic horse pox. It’s a first cousin to smallpox, which we of course know devastated the world at one time, and to the horror of a lot of people they’ve published their work for anyone to try to copy. Suffice to say that this generation and future generations are going to be dealing with threats we never dreamed of a few decades ago.”

One final way NTI is grappling with such developments is to create a Biological Threat Index—similar to its effective Nuclear Security Index—that will measure countries’ capacities to deal with contagious diseases. “We’ve done a pilot project with about four countries and over the next year to 18 months we’ll produce our first biological index,” Nunn says. “The goal is to encourage nations to improve, and we’ll point the way.”

“THINKING BACK, THERE WASN’T A SINGLE SIGNIFICANT PIECE OF LEGISLATION I EVER PASSED IN THE SENATE THAT DIDN’T INCLUDE A REPUBLICAN PARTNER,” NUNN SAYS. “WE NEED THAT MINDSET AGAIN.”

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Electric Dreams Gas-guzzling classic sports-

cars get major performance and eco-friendly upgrades at Atlanta-area startup Eddy Motorworks, co-founded by Tech alumnus Ben Horst.

STORY BY TONY REHAGEN // PHOTOS BY KAYLINN GILSTRAP

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b

Ben Horst knew he was destined to be an engineer from an early age—much to his parents’ frustration. Horst was the child who took apart all of his toys, particularly anything with wheels and an electric motor.

“I would ruin them,” says Horst, ME 16.

“I’d get a toy train with a motor as a Christmas present, and by the end of Christmas Day, it would be non-functional.”

Eventually, Horst’s folks just started buying him tools so he could assemble his piles of miscellaneous parts into things that actually worked. Again, his affinity for engines drew him to automobiles. He built his first go-kart out of natural-gas piping when he was still in high school. “I don’t know what it is about cars,” he says. “There’s something really rewarding about designing and building a car. It’s rewarding to build anything that works, but with a car you are able to get in it and have an adrenaline experience in the thing you built.”

Today, Horst’s gear-head tendencies are paying off in more than just adrenaline. In 2017, he and two fellow Tech grads— Josh Preissle, ME 16, and Kenny Adcox, ME 16—founded Eddy Motorworks in Atlanta. And what the trio does is something truly special. They take apart classic and specialty cars and put them back together again, replacing old gas-gulping engines with 100 percent electric powertrains. And in a warming world increasingly obsessed with hybrid and electric transportation, Horst and his company’s conversions have become the talk of the turnpike.

Horst’s quest for the cleaner classic car began at Tech back in 2013. He just didn’t know it at the time. He arrived as a mechanical engineering student at the Invention Studio, the student-run machine shop on the second floor of the Manufacturing Related Disciplines Complex, and started tinkering with the new toys. “Any tinkerer will tell you that as soon as you see a new tool, you start to think about what you can build,” he says. “I saw the water jet and laser cutters and started thinking about being able to build car-level components.”

In between two engineering internships at General Motors, Horst also joined Georgia Tech’s Solar Racing Team, where he got to see electric motor and battery technology up close. “It was so simple,” he says. “Especially compared to fixing a carburetor, which is this magical machine with emotions. I kept thinking ‘How cool would it be to build a go-cart with four independent electric motors?’”

During his last GM internship, Horst shared the concept for this ultimate go-cart with his roommate, whose father had connections at engine manufacturer Briggs and Stratton. Together, the interns came up with what they called the PH571—PH for Performance Hybrid and 571 for the

apartment they had shared in Michigan.

The idea was to pair a 0.99-liter Briggs and Stratton V-twin with an HPEVS AC35 motor and a Smart Car battery, using the gasoline engine to pump out the baseline power while the electric motor provided the bursts of speed. By their calculations, the combo could achieve more than 100 horsepower and 90 miles per gallon or 50 miles of battery range for the ultra-light 1,300-pound tube frame.

The PH571 became Horst’s senior design project in 2015. He gathered a team of fellow student computer scientists and engineers, including Preissle, to make the high-performance hybrid vehicle a reality. The car was named best interdisciplinary project at the Tech Capstone Design Competition, and the win led to an invitation to and acceptance in the Institute’s CREATE-X Startup Launch program. Horst and Preissle received $20,000 in seed funding, free legal advice and entrepreneurial mentorship to start their own company. From this, Eddy Motorworks was born.

The company needed to jump-start business, so Horst and Preissle dropped their own cash to fund their first gas-to-electric sports car conversion project, a British MG MGB coupe they rebuilt in their garage in Scottdale, Ga. The project took months of their time and money, but they recouped much of their effort by eventually selling it to a local car aficionado.

Their first commission came through last autumn when Eddy Motorworks was hired to “electrify” a 1983 Mercedes-Benz 380SL. The goal was to create a car that was on par with the best electric vehicle on the market, the Tesla S, which has 200 to 250 miles of range, is fastcharging, and can go 0 to 60 miles per hour in just 3.5 seconds.

The challenge with such a conversion project, however, is all that power comes from batteries that take up a considerable amount of space. So how do you fit all of them within the sleek frame of a 1980s roadster and still make it look like a classic luxury car? “It’s like playing Tetris with batteries,” says Horst, who serves as Eddy Motorworks’ president.

The solution involved cramming several battery packs into the engine bay, the fuel tank area, and one underneath the trunk. Each pack is outfitted with a state-of-the-science carbon-fiber enclosure and waterproof connectors. The result is an ongoing $70,000 redesign that should, when completed, run with just about any electric car on the road.

During this time, a second commission came in the shop doors—no less than a sleek, stainless-steel-paneled DeLorean DMC-12 straight out of Back to the Future movie fame. Luckily, the order didn’t stipulate the conversion to generate 1.21 gigawatts of power or the ability to travel through time.

Yet for Horst, every build is a sort of time machine back to the kid in him who just likes to tinker. “I’m just building with intuition,” he says. “It’s fun and it’s something I’ve always wanted to do.”

“It’s rewarding to build anything that works, but with a car you are able to get in it and have an adrenaline experience in the thing you built,” Horst says.

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CONVERTING THE CLASSICS Electrifying a traditional gas-engine sports car and having it perform up to the standards of, say, a Tesla, is no mean feat. It takes a great deal of careful work—and a considerable sum of money—to strip down a car to its bare bones and build it back up again with a completely electric-powered system. Eddy Motorworks President Ben Horst, ME 16, shares a sneak peek inside the process.

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Converting the Classics

SOME DISASSEMBLY REQUIRED “It all starts with the tear down,” Horst says. “After we’ve decided on the build, we get to taking apart the vehicle (here a 1983 Mercedes-Benz 380SL). We remove the engine, transmission, differential, wiring harness and anything else that won’t remain in the conversion. When we’re done with disassembly, the car will be down to its body and frame, ready for the design work to begin.”

DESIGNING THE BUILD “With the car stripped down, we begin by taking 3D imaging scans to bring the geometry of the engine bay, underbody, trunk and fuel tank area into the computer,” Horst says. “From there, we get to work designing mounting structures for the batteries, motor, charger and other major components. For the very important parts, like the motor and batteries, we perform detailed structural simulations to identify areas of high stress, employing the same software tools that major automotive companies use to ensure that parts are strong and safe. These computer models also allow us to optimize weight.”

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FABRICATION AND WELDING “With the design complete, the work now moves back into the shop where our extensive fabrication experience comes into play,” Horst says. “The batteries are mounted in the vehicles with strong, aircraft-grade chromoly steel tubes, precisely cut and expertly TIG-welded into a stiff structure.”

BATTERIES INCLUDED “Depending on the vehicle, there may be a single battery pack or multiple packs placed throughout the car to optimize weight distribution and maximize cargo space,” Horst says.

“The faceplate of the battery houses a supersafe, finger-proof, high-voltage connector that allows for quick, safe servicing. With the packs all connected, the final step before installation into the vehicle is enclosing and sealing the batteries from the elements. With sealing complete, we carefully install the assembled pack into the vehicle utilizing vibration-isolating mounts and high-grade bolts.”

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Converting the Classics

JUST DRIVE “Mounting the drive unit assembly—the motor, inverter, transmission and differential—is a similar process to the battery integration,” Horst says. “We take our computer-validated designs and send them to our CNC plasma machine, which cuts the individual parts out of sheet steel. We then carefully TIG weld those parts together into a full motor mounting structure. After a few coats of paint for rust protection, we bolt the motor into the vehicle.

We use custom-built, highstrength CV axles to interface a Tesla drive unit to the wheel hubs.

While we’re there, we upgrade brakes, bushings and bearings and install a new electric parking brake system.”

A PERFECT FIT “Each car is its own puzzle,” Horst says. “Sometime you have to get creative to fit all the parts into place, whether it’s on a classic car like the Mercedes or a race chassis (pictured here). Sometimes that even involves grinding sheet metal so that everything lines up perfectly and is safe and secure.”

MAKING THE CONNECTIONS “One of the most challenging, yet extremely important aspects of building a custom electric vehicle is designing a safe, high-voltage distribution and connection system,” Horst says. “We use a network of high-current contactors, relays and sensors to ensure that high-voltage only leaves the battery pack when it is completely safe to do so. Our battery management system constantly monitors the state of health of the battery and detects ground faults, shorts or parasitic losses that could lead to failure.”

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MISSION CONTROL “When the classic cars we convert were originally built, their electrical systems were completely analog,” Horst says. “In modern vehicles, with an ever-growing number of sensors, actuators, lights and buttons, this wiring harness would quickly become enormous. We have developed a number of proprietary microcontroller modules that we install to sense buttons and switches and actuate lights, locks and windows all around the car. This greatly reduces the number of wires we have to run.”

BACK TO THE FUTURE “We haven’t started working on this one yet,” Horst says of the DeLorean that’s waiting its turn in his shop. “But we’re excited about the challenges and possibilities this rare vehicle presents.”

DIGITAL DISPLAYS “Thanks to these interconnected vehicle control systems, we can install modern LCD displays with all the important information about your vehicle and its powertrain or we can build a custom, retro-style gauge cluster with analog-style dials and gauges. Either way, we take the time to build bezels and mounts that seamlessly integrate the user interfaces with the styling of the vehicle.”

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Nanette Hoogslag/IKON Images

MAKING THE WORLD

A BETTER PLACE SPARKED BY CURIOSITY, INGENUITY AND A DRIVE TO DO GOOD,

THESE SEVEN YELLOW JACKETS ARE TRULY MAKING A DIFFERENCE— IN DECIDEDLY UNIQUE WAYS—ALL AROUND THE GLOBE. STORIES COMPLIED BY ROGER SLAVENS

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DELIVERING WATER TO HARD-TO-REACH PLACES BENJAMIN COHEN, CE 11, CO-FOUNDER AND CEO OF TOHL When an earthquake devastated Haiti in 2010, Benjamin Cohen and fellow student Apoorv Sinha came up with an idea to provide mobile infrastructure to places hit hard by natural disasters. They designed a flexible tubi n g s ys te m — e m p l oy i n g co i l e d , high-density polyethylene—that can be efficiently and economically installed by helicopter over long distances quickly across virtually any type of terrain.

Joined by two more undergraduates, Travis Horsley and Melissa McCoy, their team fared well in student innovation competitions at Tech and then they sought funding across the globe. They received their first financing of $40,000 from Startup Chile, filed a patent for the idea and incorporated as TOHL—short for Tubing Operations for Human Logistics. One of the company’s first projects was to help the isolated community of Diego De Almagro, located in

the deserts of northern Chile, where mudslides had taken out key infrastructure and water trucks couldn’t reach the city. “We were able to install a water line and pull water from the water trucks and send it to their main water supply,” Cohen says. Since then, Atlanta-based TOHL has been involved in numerous emergency responses in earthquakeprone Chile, built permanent and mobile water infrastructure systems in Nicaragua and Kenya, and has been contracted by a number of governmental agencies and businesses, including the U.S. Department of Defense, the World Bank, Coca-Cola and CSR. While his former Tech classmates have primarily moved onto other pursuits, Cohen continues to lead TOHL and is expanding its focus on new opportunities such as leveraging the technology for fighting forest fires and optimizing oil sands mining operations.

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RESPONDING TO HUMANITARIAN CRISES WORLDWIDE EMILY CLIFTON, IAML 07 ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF HUMANITARIAN RESPONSE SAVE THE CHILDREN Emily Clifton combined her broad education at Georgia Tech with her passion for travel to embark upon a career in humanitarian response, which has taken her around the globe. She began her work in 2010 with Doctors Without Borders, where she oversaw the implementation of emergency health programs, including a measles vaccination campaign in Malawi that inoculated more than 2.5 million children, major responses to cholera epidemics in Nigeria and Haiti, and much more. In 2014, she joined nonprofit Save the Children to help lead their humanitarian response, and has worked extensively helping youth in need in Africa, Latin America and the Middle East. Last year, she coordinated Save the Children’s response to hurricane-stricken areas in Puerto Rico, Texas and Florida. Currently, she is managing the organization’s major, multi-pronged project in war-torn

Yemen, helping to provide needed services in health, nutrition, water, sanitation and child protection. She’s twice won the Save the Children President’s Award for her work on the West African Ebola Response in 2014-15 and the Somalia drought crisis in 2017. “The demanding curriculum at Tech perfectly prepared me to work in international humanitarian response,” Clifton says. “The work can be very high stress and often requires creative problem-solving—skills I picked up as a student that I draw upon every day in the field.”

SOLVING GLOBAL SANITATION WOES EMILY WOODS, ME 10 & ANDREW FOOTE, ENVE 11 CO-FOUNDERS OF SANIVATION Dealing with human waste is a huge problem in underdeveloped regions around the world. Through their company Sanivation, Emily Woods and Andrew Foote have been developing ways to provide effective, cost-efficient sanitation services for a few years now—primarily in Kenya and other parts of East Africa, where 95 percent of human waste is not disposed of safely. Thousands of children die every year in Kenya alone because of diarrhea-based illnesses, Woods says. They place modern, container-based toilets in people’s homes for free and charge just a small monthly fee to service them. Instead of just dumping the waste, Sanivation transports it to treatment centers and transforms much of it into a biomass briquettes, a clean-burning alternative to charcoal. The company also licenses its model to refugee camps to help meet their demand to provide sanitation for a growing number of refugees. As of now, Woods and Foote’s company has improved waste services for thousands of people, employed 75 workers, treated and transformed 60 tons of infectious waste and sold 400 tons of fuel briquettes. Their goal is ambitious—by 2020, they want to help more than 1 million people throughout East Africa.

RESTORING A GEM OF SAVANNAH'S HISTORIC PAST RICHARD KESSLER, IE 69, ME IE 70 CHAIRMAN-CEO OF THE KESSLER ENTERPRISE INC. Savannah native Richard Kessler grew to prominence in the hospitality industry as the right-hand man to developer Cecil B. Day, with whom he co-founded Days Inn of America just shortly after “getting out” of Tech. He’d later become president, CEO and chairman of Days Inn, before developing his own series of luxury hotels. Recently, Kessler acquired the most prominent and largest mansion in Savannah and has assembled a team of top design professionals to lovingly restore the historic, Italian Renaissance Revival style home to its previous grandeur.

Kessler is working to rehabilitate the mansion—built in 1919—back as close to its original design as possible, preserving the original architectural details and removing non-historic ductwork that lowered ceilings and obscured ornate plaster work. Once finished, the 25,000-square-foot building will serve as part residence, part entertainment space. Yellow Jackets may find Kessler’s name very familiar, as he led the project to design Tech Plaza and commiss io n e d t h e s t r i k i n g Ke ss l e r Campanile statue that sits at the heart of campus.

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USING DATA TO FIX FLINT'S WATER PROBLEM JACOB ABERNETHY ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF COMPUTER SCIENCE AT GEORGIA TECH It’s been four years since lead started leaching into the drinking water of Flint, Mich., households—and residents to this day still have to use bottled water for drinking, cooking, cleaning and bathing. Part of the reason why the situation hasn’t been fixed yet is because it’s been extremely difficult to locate the tens of thousands of lead pipes in use throughout the city. There was no telling how many households were affected because Flint officials failed to keep proper records of these water lines. But that’s where a team of data scientists, including Jacob Abernethy, a Tech assistant professor of computer science, has recently made significant progress.

Google funded research on the matter, and Abernethy and other data experts dove into a broad mix of data sets—from parcel records to U.S. census reports to city infrastructure

maps—and used machine learning to figure out which homes were most likely to have lead pipes and should have their water lines replaced. This data-based targeting has already saved the effort a considerable amount of time and money, but had it been used from the start, it could have saved the city over $10 million—or enough money to replace pipes at more than 2,000 homes, Abernethy says. However, this was one of the first times that he and other data scientists got to see first-hand how their research could make a real-life impact. “This was an issue where we had the incentives to go in and do this work very thoughtfully and deeply, and we could really make a difference,” he says.

REINVENTING THE CANE FOR THE VISUALLY IMPAIRED ALLIE HAYDON, ID 18 PRINCIPAL AT ALLIE HAYDON DESIGN

When we think of visually impaired persons navigating unusual environments, we often conjure the image and sound of the tapping of a white cane along the ground. But exactly how effective are such canes? That’s exactly what Allie Haydon wondered as an industrial design student at Tech. So she put her curiosity and ingenuity to work, researching the subject thoroughly and developing a high-tech solution. The basic cane for the blind has a lot of

limitations—for instance, it can’t alert its users about obstacles hanging in their way though the ground may be clear and it can’t moving objects. Everything from a chair to a car approaching a crosswalk becames a hazard. So Haydon added ultrasonic sensors, which work much like those in a car’s back-up warning system. Her “MakesSense” cane vibrates faster as it gets closer to an obstacle, steering the user away from it. She also improved upon the oldschool design by giving it a more ergonomic handle that reduces muscle fatigue. Haydon is working with fellow engineer and fellow Tech grad Kayla

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Hendrickson, MSE 18, to optimize the size and performance of the device. The duo will be showcasing the MakesSense cane at the Global Grad Show during Dubai Design Week later this fall.

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Alumni House

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Picture This! Photography

STRENGTH IN NUMBERS The Georgia Tech Student Alumni Association held its annual kickoff event on campus Sept. 6, signing up more than 2,000 new members in just a few hours. It was a great day full of popsicles, prizes and giving back to Tech.

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ALUMNI HOUSE

Welcome Your New Alumni Leaders

BY MELISSA FRALICK

Meet the Yellow Jackets who join the Alumni Association’s Board of Trustees in FY19.

THE GEORGIA TECH ALUMNI ASSOCIATION is proud to welcome the newest slate of leaders to its Board of Trustees. On July 1, 13 new trustees joined the 45-member board, which meets quarterly to oversee the direction and further the mission of the Alumni Association. Members of the board’s Executive Committee have also started new leadership roles for the fiscal year. Read on to learn more about the Yellow Jackets who are working hard to make sure our incredible alumni network is the best it can be.

MEET THE CHAIRMAN

headquartered in Atlanta. Blitch has a long history of leadership with Georgia Tech. He was named the 2010 Outstanding Young Alumnus and was part of Georgia Tech’s Council of Outstanding Young Engineers in 2005. While a student at Tech, Blitch was president of the Student Foundation and a member of Phi Delta Theta Fraternity. “Since his days as a student, Bird Blitch has been a leader at and for Georgia Tech,” says Joe Irwin, IM 80, president and CEO of the Alumni Association. “He brings that experience along with his great connections to the helm of the Alumni Association this year and we’re very pleased to have him representing Georgia Tech.”

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEMBERS

BIRD BLITCH, IE 97, is now chair of the Georgia Tech Alumni Association. Before stepping into the Association’s top leadership role, Blitch served on the executive committee as vice chair of Roll Call and vice chair of finance. Blitch is the CEO of PatientCo, a payment technology company

SHERI PRUCKA, EE 82, MS EE 84 will become vice chair, Roll Call. Prucka joined the executive committee last year as the vice chair of finance, and is slated to serve as chair of the Alumni Association in fiscal year 2020. Prucka lives in Park City, Utah. She is the former president and founding partner of Prucka Engineering Inc. Prucka is on the Electrical Engineering Advisory Board and is a past member of the Georgia Tech Foundation Board and the Biomedical Engineering Advisory Board.

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BRENT ZELNAK, MGT 94, will become vice chair, finance. Zelnak joins the rotation of Executive Committee permanent members and will become chair of the Alumni Association in fiscal year 2021. Zelnak is President of ZP Enterprises. He lives in Atlanta, has been active in Mentor Jackets, and recently served on the Scheller College of Business Advisory Board. He was a co-op student at Georgia Tech and served in various student leadership positions with the Freshman Experience.

DAVID BOTTOMS, MGT 01, i s n ow the past chair of the Alumni Association, having served as chair last fiscal year. Bottoms is senior vice president of benefits at The Bottoms Group and a principal of TBX B e n e f i t Pa r t n e r s , a subsidiary of the The Bottoms Group focused exclusively on the employee benefit needs of employers with more than 5,000 employees.

Bottoms is also a member of the Scheller College of Business Advisory Board, and a past chair of t h e G e o rg i a Te ch Yo u n g A lu mni Council. In 2014, he received the Outstanding Young Alumni Award at the Gold & White Honors Gala.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEMBERS AT LARGE SHAN PESARU, CMPE 05, will serve the second year of his two-year term through fiscal year 2019.

Pesaru is the founder and CEO of Sharp Hue. Pesaru, who lives in Atlanta, is active in Mentor Jackets and is a past president of the Young Alumni Council. He was selected as an Outstanding Young Alumnus in 2015.

TYLER TOWNSEND, IE 98, is serving his third year as an at-large member. Townsend is managing partner at Townsend Wealth Management. He is active in the Alumni Association’s Columbus Network and was named an Outstanding Young Alumnus in 2012. He lives in Columbus, Ga. MAGD RIAD, IE 01, joins the Executive Committee for a two-year term as an at-large member. Riad is the president and COO of Marmi Natural Stone and lives in Norcross, Ga. While at Tech, he was a co-op student, a Student Ambassador, and also served on the Student Government Association and on the FASET council.

JOCELYN STARGEL, IE 82, MS IE 86, begins her two-year term as an at-large member of the executive committee. After 31 years of aerospace and electric utility experience, Stargel is now the managing partner of Stargel Consulting. She is the former president of the Women’s Alumni Network and is active with the Black Alumni Organization.

Stargel received the College of Engineering Distinguished Alumnus award, is an emeritus member of the ISyE Advisory Board and currently serves on the College of Engineering Advisory Board. As a student, she was a member of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority.

NEW ASSOCIATION TRUSTEES CLINT BAILEY, TE 97, is vice president of HUNTER Technical Resources in Atlanta.

He was co-chair of sponsorship for the Gold & White Honors Gala and is a mentor to various campus organizations. Bailey was part of the Leadership Atlanta class of 2014.

As a student, Bailey was a member of the Sigma Nu fraternity.

AMRIT BHAVINANI, CM 09, is the owner of Arball Productions and lives in Atlanta.

As a student, he was in the Ramblin’ Reck Club, ANAK and student government. He is now active in the Entertainment/Media/ Sports Affinity Group.

JEFF BOGDAN, MGT 88, MS MOT 98, is channel manager at Motorola Solutions in Suwanee, Ga. He is a longtime supporter of Georgia Tech and has participated for several years in the Mentor Jackets program.

RANDY CAIN, IE 91, is portfolio manager at Sustainable Insight Capital Management.

He also serves as pastor of Zion Memorial Missionary Baptist Church in WinstonSalem, N.C. Cain is active in the Black Alumni Organization and is a member of the ISyE Advisory Board. As a student he was in the ODK Leadership Honor Society.

JUAN MICHELENA, TE 85, is COO of Dosal Tobacco and lives in West Palm Beach, Fla. Michelena is active in the Hispanic Alumni Network.

JERALD MITCHELL, MBA 11, is economic development director for the Atlanta BeltLine. Mitchell has served Georgia Tech as an alumni ambassador in the Scheller College of Business Executive MBA Program and as a guest lecturer for courses in real estate development and city and regional planning. He was in the Leadership Georgia class of 2013.

ANU PARVATIYAR, BME 08, is the CEO of Ethonova. She was named the Alumni Association’s Outstanding Young Alumna in 2016. Parvatiyar is active in Mentor Jackets and has already served one three-year term on the Alumni Association Board of Trustees. While at Tech, she was a Student

Ambassador and was president of the Student Government Association.

AMY RICH, MBA 12, is team director, field operations at Chick-fil-A in Atlanta. She was a member of the Student Alumni Association at Georgia Tech and now mentors younger businesswomen. She also serves as an MBA Alumni Ambassador, speaking with prospective and current students.

JEAN MARIE RICHARDSON, MGT 02, is president and CEO of iFolio in Atlanta. She currently serves on the Scheller College of Business Advisory Board. Richardson was a President’s Scholar, participated in student government, and was a member of the Alpha Delta Pi sorority.

DAVID SOTTO, BME 09, PHD BIOE 15, is strategy officer for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in Seattle, Wash. He was active in the Student Alumni Association and is now a member of the Hispanic Alumni Network. As a student, Sotto led a TiGER program.

BETTY TONG, ME 93, MS ME 95, is an associate professor in the Department of Surgery at Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, N.C. As a student, Tong was a President’s Scholar, a co-op student and a member of the Ramblin’ Reck Club, the Phi Mu sorority and ODK Leadership Honor Society. She was on her 25th reunion committee and has participated in the co-op and Asian Heritage Affinity Groups.

STEPHENIE WHITFIELD, BIO 93, lives in Newnan, Ga., and is senior vice president, SBA lending market manager at Bank of America in Atlanta. She also received a law degree from Howard University and is a member of the Georgia Tech Black Alumni Organization.

BRUCE WILSON, EE 78, MS EE 80, lives in Little Rock, Ark., and is the retired complex general manager at International Paper Company. Bruce has been a supporter of Georgia Tech through the years and served on both his 25th and 40th Reunion Committees.

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HOMECOMING 2018

Yellow Jackets Unite!

There’s something for everyone at the 2018 Homecoming and Reunion Weekend.

WHETHER YOU JUST GRADUATED or you got out 50 years ago, this Homecoming and Reunion Weekend will be one for the books. From Oct. 11-13, Georgia Tech alumni and friends from around the world will make their way to Atlanta to enjoy the great events scheduled all weekend long. There will be milestone reunion celebrations for the classes of 1968, 1978 and 1993; Tech leadership and faculty members will give thoughtprovoking presentations; and some of Tech’s most beloved annual traditions will take place leading up to the Homecoming football game. Check out the full roster of events below, and then go to www.gtalumni.org/homecoming to register!

OCTOBER 11

Homecoming Welcome and Keynote Presentation Join us for an evening with former U.S. Senator Sam Nunn, Cls 60, Hon PhD 08, who has dedicated his life to finding global peace and security.

Nunn is co-chair of the Nuclear Threat Initiative after serving as CEO for 16 years. He also serves Georgia Tech as a distinguished professor in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs.

Nunn will be interviewed by Tom Foreman, an Emmy award-winning journalist, Georgia Tech Advisory Board chair and parent of two Tech alumnae.

► Welcome Reception: GT Global Learning Center Atrium | 6-7 p.m. | Keynote Presentation: GT Global Learning Center Room 236 | 7–8 p.m.

OCTOBER 12

Faculty Feature: Dr. Charles Isbell Dr. Charles Isbell is a professor and executive associate dean of the College of Computing.

Isbell’s research focuses on artificial intelligence, specifically applying statistical machine learning to building autonomous agents that must live and interact with large numbers of other intelligent agents, including humans.

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► GT Global Learning Center Room 236 | 10–11 a.m.

Traditions Presentation: Happy Birthday Georgia Tech!

Celebrate 130 years of Georgia Tech with a deep dive into the history, stories and traditions of the Institute. Presented by Marilyn Somers, Hon 08, director of the Georgia Tech Living History Program. ► GT Global Learning Center Room 236 | 11:30 a.m.12:45 p.m.

President’s Update Georgia Tech President G.P. “Bud” Peterson will share an update on the Institute’s global, regional and local

impact as well as the many exciting things happening around campus. Don’t miss the opportunity to ask questions and meet Georgia Tech’s 11th president. ► Global Learning Center Room 236 | 1-2 p.m.

Student Panel: Student Life at Tech Today Hear what it’s like at Tech now from current students and share your own memories and advice with them. This interactive discussion will connect alumni and students for a fun and enriching experience. ► GT Global Learning Center Room 236 | 2:15-3:15 p.m.

Campus Walking and Bus Tours Georgia Tech Student Ambassadors will lead a tour around campus highlighting new buildings and Georgia Tech landmarks. ► GT Global Learning Center Atrium | 3:30–5 p.m.

40th Reunion: Class of 1978 Join classmates for a night of cocktails, a buffet dinner and entertainment. ► President’s Suite in the Bill Moore Student Success Center | 7–10 p.m.

50th Reunion: Class of 1968 Enjoy a cocktail reception, seated dinner, music from the

Pieces of Eight Band, and your induction into the Old Gold Society. ► GT Hotel and Conference Center | 6:30–10 p.m.

OCTOBER 13

Ramblin’ Wreck Parade Don’t miss this must-see Tech tradition as classic cars and engineering oddities parade down Fowler Street. ► Fowler Street | Time TBA

Ramblin’ Wreck Rally Tailgate Drop by Tech Tower Lawn for the best pre-game party around. Pick up free game day swag, have your picture taken

with the Wreck and enjoy live entertainment by The Brown Dog Band. Buzz, the Georgia Tech Band and the cheerleaders will all be there for a true Tech tailgate experience. ► 2.5 hours prior to kickoff | Tech Tower Lawn

25th Reunion: Class of 1993 Enjoy music, food, beverages, and game day swag at a tailgate with your classmates before the football game. ► Alumni House Basil Garden | 2.5 hours prior to kickoff

Old Gold Reunion The class of 1968 and prior are invited to this Homecoming tradition: The

Old Gold Society Reunion.

Hors d’oeuvres and a full bar will be served. ► Georgia Tech Alumni House | Time TBA

Georgia Tech vs. Duke Cheer for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets as they take on the Duke Blue Devils in one of the biggest games of the year.

Football tickets purchased through the Alumni Association are for general stadium seating. Sections are determined two weeks prior to Homecoming, and seats are assigned based on availability. ► Bobby Dodd Stadium | Time TBA

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ALUMNI TRAVEL

Ramblin’ Around the World

FEATURED TOURS

BY MARTIN LUDWIG

Kentucky Derby May 1–5, 2019 Sports & Entertainment Travel

The Alumni Association offers dozens of opportunities to explore the world with fellow Yellow Jackets in 2019.

ARE YOU READY TO EXPLORE THE WORLD with the Yellow Jackets in 2019?

The Georgia Tech Alumni Association’s travel program has 45 exciting trips planned for next year, and we hope you will join us for a tour. Our trips are specifically selected for Tech alumni travelers, and you’ll discover fascinating destinations—ranging from leisurely European river sailings to more exotic expeditions packed with adventure—while making new friends along the way.

Georgia Tech Alumni Travel works with some of the world’s best tour operators with strong reputations for providing travelers with exceptional service, luxurious accommodations, extraordinary tour guides and unique itineraries you likely won’t find booking a trip on your own.

Take a look at next year’s tour offerings, and check out www.gtalumni. org/travel for up-to-date information and pricing.

Historical Wonders May 14–25, 2019 Go Next

TRAVEL KEY

Enchanting Ireland June 2–14, 2019 Odysseys Unlimited Airfare Included

Land Travel

Ocean Cruise

River Cruise

Train Travel

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Outdoor Activity

Wildlife No Single

Supplement

Great Journey Through Europe June 6–16, 2019 Gohagan & Company

Wild Alaska Escape June 9–14, 2019 Lindblad Expeditions

Glacial Adventures of Alaska July 16–26, 2019 Go Next

Exploring Iceland July 18–28, 2019 Odysseys Unlimited

Grand Danube Passage June 17–July 1, 2019 AHI Travel

Baltic & Scandinavian Bliss Aug. 13–24, 2019 Go Next

Canadian Rockies Parks & Resorts Aug. 16–22, 2019 Orbridge

Mediterranean Pathways Aug. 22–Sept. 2, 2019 Go Next

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ALUMNI TRAVEL

Island Life in Ancient Greece Sept. 5–13, 2019 Gohagan & Company

Moroccan Discovery Sept. 6–19, 2019 Odysseys Unlimited

Yosemite & the California Coast by Rail Sept. 7–14, 2019 Premier World Discovery

OTHER AVAILABLE TOURS

Journey to Southern Africa Sept. 8–23, 2019 AHI Travel

Rose Parade & Los Angeles Dec. 29–Jan. 2, 2019 Sports & Entertainment Travel

D-Day 75th Anniversary Cruise May 28–June 7, 2019 WWII Museum

Panama Canal and Costa Rica Feb. 10–18, 2019 Gohagan & Company

Canada by Luxury Rail Sept. 30–Oct. 6, 2019 Orbridge

Discover Panama Feb. 22–28, 2019 Premier World Discovery

St. Lawrence Seaway & French Canada Oct. 1–10, 2019 Go Next

Historic South & Golden Isles Cruise March 16–25, 2019 AHI Travel

Sketches of Sicily Oct. 9–18, 2019 AHI Travel

Panama to Paradise April 1–17, 2019 Go Next Atlantic Encounters April 5–19, 2019 Go Next

Great Pacific Northwest Sept. 15–23, 2019 Go Next

Great Trains & Grand Canyons Sept. 22–27, 2019 Premier World Discovery

Southern Grandeur April 7–15, 2019 Go Next

Artists & Aristocrats Oct. 29–Nov. 6, 2019 Go Next

Normandy—Honoring D-Day April 12–20, 2019 AHI Travel

Holiday Markets Cruise Dec. 4–12, 2019 AHI Travel

Dutch Waterways April 29–May 7, 2019 AHI Travel

Special Advance Notice: Switzerland, Germany, Austria and the Passion Play Aug. 3–13, 2020 AHI Travel

Valor of Normandy May 7–18, 2019 Go Next

Romance of the Douro River Sept. 24–Oct. 5, 2019 AHI Travel

Singapore, Thailand and Angkor Wat Sept. 28–Oct. 11, 2019 AHI Travel

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Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta Oct. 11–16, 2019 Premier World Discovery

Ready to Travel? Call Senior Director of Alumni Travel Martin Ludwig at (404) 894-0758. You can also email him at travel@gtalumni.org or check out the Georgia Tech Alumni Association website at www.gtalumni.org/ travel throughout the year. The tours and dates listed above are subject to change and revision. Alternate dates may be available on some programs and additional tours may be added. If you do not see the tour of your choice on the list, please contact us.

LEADERSHIP

The Leadership Circle is the cornerstone of Roll Call Georgia Tech’s Fund for Excellence

Georgia Tech’s commitment to education has produced tremendous success and leadership giving plays a key role in academic programming, research, and student support such as our mentoring programs.

“The Georgia Tech experience became the foundation for my professional success and some of my greatest friends and memories.

It is my privilege to invest in the institution and in current and future Yellow Jackets, to give back a little of what we gained.”

“Your gift to Roll Call makes a huge impact on the education that future generations of Yellow Jackets receive. Having donors who give back at the Leadership Circle level is crucial to helping Georgia Tech always stay one step ahead of the game.”

- Betsy Wallace, ARCH 96

- Ria Banerjee, BA 16

Former GTAA Board Member

Former SAA President

Mentor

Mentee

Leadership Circle donors are crucial to keeping Georgia Tech at the cutting edge of higher education. You can make a one-time gift or commit to a monthly recurring gift that brings you to the Leadership Circle level.

www.gtalumni.org/giving (404) 894-0778

RAMBLIN' ROLL

Manous to Lead Institute of Water Resources JOE MANOUS, CE 80, has been appointed director of the Institute of Water Resources for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. As director, Manous oversees a multidisciplinary field operating agency that supports the Corps of Engineers’ civil works missions through water resources planning, policy and decision-support model development; hydrological engineering; dam and levee safety; and training and national/international interface with academia, professional societies and non-government organizations.

Manous previously served as a water resources engineer and manager for international activities at the Institute of Water Resources, where he specialized in the areas of water resources and environmental security issues associated with water. He also worked closely with the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works and was an adjunct professor at George Mason University teaching courses in engineering economics and water resources.

Manous is a retired U.S. Army Corps of Engineers of-

1950s Jerry Comer, IE 59, was honored with the Green and Orange Award for Alumni Service at the 2018 University of Texas at Dallas Awards Gala on March 24. The annual award honors a graduate who has provided support and service to the University.

In December of 2003, Jerry and his wife Marilyn donated an assortment of 96 rare photographs and 153 books to the School of Arts and Humanities at University of Texas Dallas to create the Comer Collection of Photography. They have continued making regular donations of photographs to the Collection, which now has 524 images. They sponsor an annual exhibition of images from the Collection, curated by a graduate student, and underwrite the visit and lecture of an honored photographer. In addition, they

ficer and his last activeduty assignment was as academy professor at the United States Military Academy at West Point, where he taught courses in environmental engineering, water resources and environmental security.

Under Manous’ leadership, the Institute of Water Resources will continue to support its mission to ana ly z e a n d p r o v i d e r e c ommendations to lead e rs h i p o n f u tu re wate r resources challenges facing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the entire nation, while providing “state-of-the-art to state-of-0f-the practice” water resources support.

have given 1,392 photographs to the History of Aviation Collection at the Library.

1970s Craig Cuttner, IM 77, has been inducted into the Class of 2018 of Cable TV Pioneers.

Cuttner is the senior vice president of technology development and standards at HBO. Sandra Fryhofer, ChE 79, was elected to the American Medical Association Board of Trustees. She is a board-certified physician of internal medicine as well as an adjunct clinical associate professor of medicine at Emory University School of Medicine.

J. Larry Tyler, IM 70, was recently named to Bethesda Lutheran Communities Board

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of Directors, a national Christian organization providing homes and other services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Tyler is the CEO and chairman of the Practical Governance Group in Atlanta.

His organization specializes in determining proper governance and education of Health Care Boards.

Rod Westmoreland, IM 74, was named to Barron’s 2018 Top 100 Financial Advisors list.

Westmoreland is managing director of wealth management in the private banking and investment group at Merrill Lynch in Atlanta.

1980s Michael Lebovitz, ChE 84, was named senior vice president of innovation at FM

PAYTON SELECTED AS PROGRAM DIRECTOR FOR NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION FAY COBB PAYTON, IE 88, has been selected to serve as the program director in the Division of Computer and Network Systems for the National Science Foundation in 2018.

The NSF’s rotating program director initiative enables university faculty to work at the federal agency for one or three years.

As a program director in computing, Payton helps evaluate and recommend proposals for funding; engages in national outreach at academic, industry and professional conferences; and works with a team of NSF professionals committed to computing and STEM domains.

Payton is a professor of information systems and technology and University Faculty Scholar at the North Carolina State University Poole College of Management.

Her research is interdisciplinary and includes healthcare IT/informatics and disparities; data management, social media use, identities in online communities; broadening participation in computing, STEM and workforce participation; and UX/content creation.

Global Group. He now leads a team that aims to evolve FM Global’s products and services to meet the ever-changing needs of policyholders.

1990s Bryan Brooks, TE 97, graduated with a Doctor of Ministry degree from Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C.

He works as a senior pastor at Calvary United Methodist Church in Nashville, Tenn.

Merissa Gamba, CE 98, was promoted to principal at Uzun+Case LLC. She has 20 years of structural engineering design and construction administration experience in a variety of projects including educational and recreation facilities, hospitality and residential projects, mixed-use developments and aquariums.

Chris Green, EE 94, was selected as an intellectual property leader in the 2018 edition of Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business. Green works for Fish & Richardson.

2000s Sarah Christiansen, Mgt 02, was promoted to vice president of project management for

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RAMBLIN' ROLL KELLY NAMED BUSINESS SCHOOL DEAN

Nebo, a human-centered agency headquartered in Atlanta. Christiansen joined Nebo in 2012 and previously served as the agency’s director of digital marketing project management.

DENNIS W. KELLY, ME 76, has been named the inaugural dean of the Q. William Hammack Jr. School of Business at Oglethorpe University.

In September 2017, Oglethorpe announced the largest gift in its history, a $50 million commitment from alumnus Q. William “Bill” Hammack Jr. to establish the school of business while supporting its core tradition of liberal arts and sciences. The Q. William Hammack Jr. School of Business will open in fall 2019.

“After an extensive nationwide search, Dennis Kelly proved to be the ideal leader to launch Oglethorpe’s Hammack School of Business,” says Oglethorpe University President Larry Schall. “Dennis has deep roots in Atlanta’s business and nonprofit communities and has an impeccable track record of working with complex education and research organizations and identifying the resources necessary to support those institutions.”

As the inaugural dean, Kelly will serve as chief academic officer of the business school, responsible for developing a

Justin Cotton, ME 04, published an article in the American Bar Association’s Landslide Magazine. His article featured his intellectual property and blockchain law firm, The Patent Foundry.

Alison O. Clement, Phys 08, is pursuing a PhD at the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota. She accepted a position in the Supply Chain and Operations Department.

Jeffrey Clement, ME 08, is pursuing a PhD at the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota. He accepted a position in the Information and Decision Sciences Department.

Victor Jaworski, ME 07, was promoted to staff vice president, manager of brand experience in the Marketing Division at FM Global.

George Lountos, Chem 00, PhD Chem 05, received a 2017 Special Achievement Award at the 19th Annual Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research Achievement Awards Ceremony. He was recognized for outstanding contributions to structural biology research projects in support of the National Cancer Institute at Frederick.

Adrian Persaud, CE 00, was promoted to principal at Uzun+Case LLC. Persaud has 15 years of experience in the design of higher education, office, residential, hospitality, educational, justice and parking projects throughout the United States and the Caribbean. He has particular expertise in renovations, post-tensioning and structural steel design.

Rebecca Puetz, CE 07, graduated from the Murphy Deming College of Health

Sciences at Mary Baldwin University with a Master of Science in Physician Assistant Studies. Puetz was inducted into Pi Alpha, the PA Honor Society, for graduating in the top 15 percent of her class.

David A. Reed, ChE 02, was promoted to partner with the law firm Kilpatrick, Townsend & Stockton. Reed’s practice concentrates on patent infringement disputes, with particular emphasis on district court litigation, post-grant proceedings and related appeals. He lives in Atlanta with his wife Sara and their two daughters, Annie and Elizabeth.

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strategic plan to grow programs, both in variety and enrollment, generating philanthropic support to implement the vision, and working with faculty to train future liberal arts business leaders.

Kelly is currently the interim president of Smithsonian Enterprises, the revenue-producing organization at the Smithsonian Institution with three primary divisions: media, retail, and business development and licensing. Kelly also served for seven years as the director of the Smithsonian’s National Zoo.

Nisha Schmitt, IE 02, was promoted to director of retail for AMB Sports & Entertainment. Schmitt is responsible for retail strategy, overall direction, merchandising and operations for the Atlanta Falcons and Atlanta United for all retail sales channels, including retail operations for events at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

2010s Ayoka Chenzira, PhD DM 11, directed an episode of Ava Duvernay ’s Queen Sugar for Oprah Winfrey’s OWN Network.

The episode aired Aug. 1. Chenzira is the

ROCKWELL REPS AMERICA IN 2018 WORLD CUP THE U.S. MEN’S SOCCER TEAM may not have qualified for the 2018 World Cup in Russia this summer, but an Atlanta-area native and Georgia Tech alumnus still took the field. Recognized as one of the top referees in the country, FIFA tabbed Corey Rockwell, IE 98, and three other U.S.-born referees to work this year’s World Cup. During the tournament, Rockwell served as the senior assistant referee in the Belgium vs. Tunisia game and the video assistant referee in two other matches, working in three different cities: Moscow, Sochi and Kazan. “Believe it or not, I am now in a group of less than 10 U.S.-born referees to work a World Cup during its 88-year history,” Rockwell says. He’s been a Major League Soccer (MLS) referee for 14 years and celebrated a unique homecoming last year when he refereed one of Atlanta United’s matches held at Bobby Dodd Stadium before Mercedes-Benz Stadium was opened.

division chair of the arts at Spelman College.

A r ka d e e p K u m a r, M S M E 1 4 , w a s awarded the ITRI-Rosenfeld fellowship at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. This fellowship is only awarded to two PhDs globally each year for research in the water-energy nexus. Kumar is one of the first two Georgia Tech graduates to receive this fellowship.

Katrina Lawrence, CE 10, has been named the Young Government Engineer of the Year by the Philadelphia Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Lawrence is a senior projects implementation coordinator with the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission.

Akanksha Menon, MS ME 15, PhD ME 18, was awarded the ITRI-Rosenfeld fellowship at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. This fellowship is only awarded to two PhDs globally each year for research in the water-energy nexus. Menon is one of the first two Georgia Tech graduates to receive this fellowship.

Michael Norsworthy, Bio 11, received his PhD in Biological and Biomedical Sciences from Harvard University on May 24.

Martin Scoppa, PhD Arch 13, acted as a leading curatorial contributor to the United Arab Emirates Pavilion at the 16th Venice Biennale of Architecture, 2018.

He worked alongside Khaled Alawadi,

the curator, in his research team and had a leading role in the development and design of the Pavilion and its content.

Friends James Dahlman, assistant professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University, and a researcher in the Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience, has been named to MIT Technology Review’s prestigious annual list of Innovators Under 35. Dahlman invented a new way to test cancer drugs.

Dahlman’s method allows for 300 nanoparticles to be tested at once. Previously, researchers had to painstakingly test nanoparticles that delivered the drugs one by one.

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RAMBLIN' ROLL BIRTHS

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1. Charles Andrew Murff, CS 04, and Kristin Murff welcomed twin daughters Ada Gates Murff and Ruby Millan Murff on June 26, 2017. The twins joined sister Lyla. The family lives in Atlanta, where Charles works for Alora Healthcare Systems.

Windsor, N.J., where Adam works for Lockheed Martin.

and Katy Moore welcomed son Keegan Dale Moore on Jan. 14.

3. Anna Tiedemann, IE 01, and Derek Tiedemann welcomed son Logan Matthew Tiedemann on April 2. He joins brother Carter.

The family lives in Kennesaw, Ga.

6. Erica Niesse, Mgt 07, welcomed son Jackson Niesse on Feb. 7. Grandfather: Geoffrey Gill, IM 64.

2. Adam Kassim, CmpE 10, and Stephanie Kassim welcomed daughter Noelle Elizabeth Kassim on Jan. 6. She joins sister Natalie. The family lives in East

4. Ryan Pharr, Mgt 99, and Molly Pharr welcomed son Nolan James Pharr on Jan. 13.

7. Adam Brown, Mgt 09, and Lauren Brown, Mgt 08, welcomed Annie James Brown on May 26.

5. Jarrod Dale Moore, EE 07,

8. Kevin Diggs, AE 05, MS

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AE 07, and Angela Diggs, MS AE 07, welcomed Lucy Diana Diggs on April 11. The couple works for the U.S. Air Force in Niceville, Fla. 9. Samuel Formby, BC 09, and Tiffany Formby, IE 11, MS HS 12, welcomed daughter Carolina Belle Formby on July 5. Samuel works as a project manager and Tiffany is a healthcare consultant. The family lives in North Augusta, S.C.

WEDDINGS 1

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The Wealth Manager Alumni Are Buzzing About JOHN A. HANSON, CFA 11 Industrial Engineering PH: 404-822-1370 jhanson@riverstoneadvisors.com

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1. Humberto “Tito” F. Nieves, MS IS 16, and Ankita Lamba, MS IS 16, on April 19 in Mussoorie, India.

Ankita is a research software engineer for IBM. The couple lives in Sykesville, Md. 2. Lee Smith, IAML 10, and Ryan Donahue, on Sept. 16, 2017, in Seattle, Wash., where they currently live.

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3. Danielle Hansen, AE 11, and Andres Blanco, EE 09, MS ECE 12, PhD ECE 17, on Sept. 03, 2017, in Roswell, Ga. The couple now resides in Dallas, Texas.

4. Rhett Finch, IE 04, and Daphne Raves on Aug. 6, 2017, in Tucson, Ariz. Rhett is an editor for the TV show Legends of Tomorrow. The couple lives in Studio City, Calif.

Experience Excellence Encounter Creativity Embrace Peace of Mind

Georgia Tech Hotel and Conference Center … where innovative meetings thrive 800 Spring Street, NW Atlanta, Georgia 30308 (404) 838-2060 sales@gatechhotel.com

IN MEMORIAM

Gay Kimbrough Dull: Teacher, Librarian and Tech Leader GAY KIMBROUGH DULL, HON 91, OF ATLANTA, ON MAY 26. Dull was a fixture on the Georgia Tech campus, where she was actively involved along with her husband, Dean of Students James E. Dull, Hon 82, for more than 30 years.

Dull was born in Miami, Fla., where she graduated from College Park High School. She then went on to earn a bachelor’s degree from Georgia Southern University, a master’s degree from Peabody College (now Vanderbilt) and a Library/Science certification from Georgia State University.

At Peabody, she served as president of the nation’s largest chapter of the Association of Childhood Education.

She also served many years on the Georgia Southern Foundation Board.

Dull’s teaching career began in the Atlanta Public Schools and continued at the William McGuffey University Laboratory School at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.

Her expertise was recognized when

Editor’s Note: We have changed the format for the In Memoriam section of the Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine. We will include an abbreviated version of each obituary in print, while publishing the full obituaries on our website. To read more, please visit gtalumni.org/magazine.

she was chosen “Ideal Teacher of Today” in Ohio in 1955. At Miami University she met her husband, Jim Dull, then an assistant dean of men, and they were married in 1955.

Two years later, they moved to the Georgia Tech campus, where Jim became an assistant dean. In 1964, he was named dean of students.

The couple lived there for 31 years, reared two sons, John and David, and became active participants in the Tech community. Gay served as sponsor of the Dames Club for married student wives for three years and treasurer of the Alpha Xi Delta Building Corporation for 40 years, along with Shirley Mewborn as president. They were honored by having the new sorority house named the Shirley Mewborn/Gay Dull Alpha Xi Delta House. In 2012, she was awarded the Order of the Rose for 50-year membership.

Gay and Jim Dull had an open door policy and welcomed many students and alumni to their home. Gay served

1930s Frank Julian Myers, Cls 38, of Atlanta, on May 27.

1940s Edwin Ladson Barnes, ME 45, of Rock Hill, S.C., on May 20.

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the Georgia Tech Faculty Women’s Club in many capacities, including president, and received the Friendship Award in 2011.

At H o m e co m i n g i n 199 1 , t h e Georgia Tech Alumni Association selected her as an honorary alumna, and she wore her ring with pride.

In 2005, she and Jim co-authored a book called, “It’s For You,” about their experience living on campus for 31 years. All proceeds went to scholarship and student activities.

She is survived by her two sons and their wives, her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, who were the joy of her life.

John McGowan Bowen Jr., IM 47, of Gainesville, Ga., on June 13.

Albert James Hackl, ME 46, of Indianapolis, Ind., on May 12.

William Yates Irwin, CE 49, of Gainesville, Ga., on April 5.

John Earl James, CE 49, of Houston, Texas, on April 8.

George Milton Jeffares, Cls 47, of Atlanta, on April 5.

William Osteen Johnson, IM 42, of Columbus, Ga., on June 23.

Walton B. Joiner, ME 48, of Baton Rouge, La., on May 6.

John Turner Jones, TE 40, of Atlanta, on May 7.

Albert Klein Jr., EE 46, of Mobile, Ala., on July 2.

Edgar C. “Ed” Long Jr., CE 48, of Woodstock, Ga., on June 16.

James Benjamin “Ben” McKoy Jr., ChE 48, of Ft. Myers, Fla., on June 25.

William Henry McTeer, Arch 49, of Savannah, Ga., on May 30.

Guenther Hans Pomer, AE 49, of Homestead, Fla., on Dec. 27, 2017.

Eugene Marcus “Gene” Rothman, PHE 43, of Stowe, Vt., on June 2.

Virgil D. Smith, IM 48, of Tampa, Fla., on April 12.

1950s Alfred T. Acquaviva, IM 56, of Wayne, N.J., on April 19.

Grant Edwards Allen Jr., IE 54, of Atlanta, on April 12.

Anthony Louis “Tony” Allou Jr., IM 57, of Charlotte, N.C., on April 28.

Andrew Jackson Baker Jr., CE 52, of Old Hickory, Tenn., on April 18.

David Kendrick Baldwin, IE 59, of LaGrange, Ga., on May 21.

Robert Elliott Batey Sr., MS IE 50, of Nashville, Tenn., on June 23.

Lloyd Barnard Jr., IE 52, of Atlanta, on April 6.

Jacob Charles Barnhardt Jr., TE 58, of Mooresville, N.C., on May 12.

Henry William “Bill” Bartholomay, MS Chem 50, of Richmond, Va., on April 10.

Peter Derek Bergstrom, EE 59, MS EE 64, PhD EE 73, of Leesburg, Va., on May 30.

John William Bessman Jr., AM 59, of Macon, Ga., on June 16.

Donald N. Black Sr., IE 58, MS IE 64, of Warner Robins, Ga., on May 8.

WILLIAM RAYMOND HASELTON: PAPER EXECUTIVE AND PHILANTHROPIST WILLIAM RAYMOND HASELTON, OF PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLA., ON FEB. 19.

Haselton had a successful career in the paper industry and was a strong supporter of the Institute of Paper Science and Technology at Georgia Tech.

Haselton was born on Jan. 11, 1925, in Glens Falls, NY. After graduating from Glens Falls High School, he began his higher education at Rensselaer Poly Technical Institute. After serving three years in the Navy during World War II, he attended the Institute of Paper Chemistry, Lawrence College, where he earned both a master’s and doctoral degree in Paper Chemistry in 1953.

Haselton then went on to begin his career at Rhinelander Paper Division, of St. Regis Paper Company. From 19611969, Haselton served as vice president and general manager in charge of St. Regis’s Washington state operations.

He served as president of R-W Paper Company, owned jointly by St. Regis and Weyerhaeuser. He was later promoted to Chief Executive Officer and chairman of the board for St. Regis Paper Company.

The Institute of Paper Science and Technology (IPST) was created as the

Donald T. Browne, IE 56, of Atlanta, on April 5.

William Leander “Bill” Clark III, IE 59, of Houston, Texas, on May 25.

Roy Brannen Cooper, IE 53, MS IM 56, of Decatur, Ga., on June 11.

Charles Judson Craddock, ChE 59, of Murrells Inlet, S.C., on May 2.

S. Dean Dadisman, TE 52, of West Columbia, S.C., on June 30.

Institute o f Pa p e r Chemistry (IPC) in 1929 in Appleton, Wisconsin, to support the growing paper industry through education and research. In 1989, IPC began its affiliation with Georgia Tech, where it operated as the Institute of Paper Science and Technology until merging with Georgia Tech in 2003.

As an alumnus and board member of IPST, Haselton was a generous donor to Georgia Tech. The William R. Haselton Library was dedicated at Georgia Tech on April 6, 1993.

Haselton was an active sportsman.

His love of hunting and outdoor adventures took him around the world.

Haselton is survived by his three daughters, four grandchildren, and two great grandchildren.

Thomas W. Donaldson, IM 54, of Claremont, Calif., on April 17.

Robert Thomas Dooley Jr., MS CE 57, of Charlotte, N.C., on May 9.

George Merrill Elrod Jr., ME 51, of Huntsville, Ala., on May 17.

Lawrence J. Engel, ChE 51, MS ChE 54, PhD ChE 57, of Green Brook, N.J., on March 28.

William Bates “Bill” Eubanks Jr., Phys 56, of Saint Simons

Island, Ga., on April 22.

Collins Fuqua Jr., AE 51, of St. Louis, Mo., on March 29.

Thomas J. Hallyburton, IM 52, Arch 57, of Yardley, Pa., on July 3.

Newton Gary Hardie Jr., TE 56, MS IE 63, of Spartanburg, S.C., on May 5.

George Lester Harlow, IE 54, of Cumming, Ga., on April 11.

Ralph Arthur Heisel, Arch 57, of Wallingford, Conn., on April 21.

Volume 94 No. 3 2018 | GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE | 93

IN MEMORIAM

ARNALL T. “PAT” CONNELL: PROFESSOR AND PRESERVATIONIST ARNALL T. “PAT” CONNELL, ARCH 53, M CRP 55, OF ATLANTA, ON JUNE 13.

Connell was a Georgia Tech professor of architecture, co-founder of Atlanta Landmarks, and a principle figure in saving the Fox Theater.

Connell was born in Temple, Ga., and raised in Atlanta. He graduated from Georgia Tech High School and then enlisted in the Navy. After World War II, he enrolled at Georgia Tech and earned a bachelor’s degree in architecture and a Master of City Planning degree.

From 1957 to 1963, Connell was an associate professor of urban planning at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. While teaching at Ohio State, he also served as the principal planner for the Columbus City Planning C o m m i s s i o n f r o m 1 95 8 - 1 9 6 1 .

Among his accomplishments as principal planner was the revival of Columbus’ German Village.

Connell also taught at Columbia University and the University of Virginia. While in Washington D.C., he was on staff of the National Capital Planning Commission and worked on First Lady “Lady Bird” Johnson’s project to beautify the city.

In 1967, Connell returned to Atlanta and became an associate p r o fe s s o r o f a r c h i te c tu r e a t Georgia Tech, teaching classes on urban planning and renewal and historic preservation. In the early 1970s, Connell became a pioneering champion of historic

preservation in the Atlanta area.

W h e n Co n n e l l wa s ch a i r m a n o f t h e At l a n t a C i v i c D e s i g n Commission, Joe Patten, who was the unofficial caretaker of the Fox Theatre, contacted Connell with news that the Fox was scheduled for demolition. Together, they enlisted participation from Fox organist Bob Van Camp and other Fox e nt hu s i a s ts , a n d fo r m e d Atlanta Landmarks to save the Fox. This small group of forwardthinking politicians, civic leaders and celebrities founded the “Save the Fox” movement. Within four yea rs , a f te r m a jo r d o n at io n s and support from some of the most prominent Atlanta citizens, Atlanta’s Fox Theatre was saved from demolition. He was also instrumental in preserving the Pasaquan site in Buena Vista, Ga., as well as the Castleberry Hill and Sweet Auburn neighborhoods in Atlanta.

After retirement, Connell and his late wife Martha co-founded the Great American Gallery and the Connell Gallery. Together, they provided Atlanta a premier art space with a unique vision, promoting some of the f inest artists in contemporary crafts and fine arts objects.

Many of the works that they curated now reside in leading museums and private collections.

In 2016, Connell made a generous contribution to Georgia Tech to create the Connell Workshop, a course exploring a wide range of

94 | GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE | Volume 94 92 No. 93 No.34 3 2018 2017 2016

issues in hand drawing, including to n e , l i n e , c o n to u r, g e s tu r e , composition, iterative geometry and the humanistic forces that shape them. These drawing and critical thinking investigations a r e d iv i d e d i n to two g e n e ra l categories—perception, the way we see the world, and conception, the way we attempt to order the world.

As a Georgia Tech professor of architecture, chairman of the Atlanta Civic Design Commission, and founding member of Atlanta Landmarks, Connell left an indelible mark. He is survived by his three sons, two granddaughters and three great-grandchildren.

GEORGE RILEY: GEORGIA TECH PROFESSOR Robert Dyer “Bob” Hilley Jr., ME 51, of Birmingham, Ala., on March 28.

Benjamin Franklin King III, IM 50, of Mobile, Ala., on April 13.

Russell D. Leverette, IM 54, of St. Simons Island, Ga., on April 30.

Albert Henry “Al” Lindler, ME 50, of Newport News, Va., on May 17.

Stanley B. Marx, EE 50, of New Orleans, La., on June 26.

Arthur Brian Merry Jr., Phys 52, of Fort Oglethorpe, Ga., on April 14.

Philip Joseph Nahser, Phys 59, of Burlington, N.C., on July 8.

Max Wilbur Noah, Cls 52, of Fort Belvoir Va., on June 15.

Eugene Harwell “Gene” Palmer Jr., IE 56, of St. Simons Island, Ga., on June 10.

John Henry Quigg, IM 53, of Charlotte, N.C., on May 4.

Robert E. Rankin, ME 54, of Lake Clarke Shores, Fla., on June 22.

Donald Lee “Don” Reed, IM 57, of Burlington, N.C., on June 21.

Andrew Axel “Andy” Saunders Jr., ME 57, of Cincinnati, Ohio, on June 3.

Max Leland “Lee” Spruell, Text 57, of Lansdale, Pa., on June 30.

S. Howard Smith, CE 53, of Atlanta, on July 16.

Richard S. Swift, IM 59, of Hendersonville, N.C., on March 26.

James B. Trimble, CE 54, MS CE 55, of Atlanta, on Jan. 27.

Carl Sampy Williams, ChE 50, of Dublin, Ga., on June 1.

William F. “Bill” Williams, ChE 57, of Asheville, N.C., on June 6.

Dares Emery “Day” Wirt, IM 52, of Marietta, Ga., on April 26.

GEORGE RILEY, PHD CS 01, OF DECATUR, GA., ON JUNE 20. Riley was Yellow Jacket who returned to his alma mater and became a beloved faculty member. He passed away at Hospice Atlanta after waging a courageous battle with brain cancer.

Riley joined the Georgia Tech School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) faculty in 2001, after earning his PhD in Computer Science. In the mid 1990s, he decided to pursue a career in academia after a lengthy and successful career in industry, both as an employee of a major corporation and as owner and president of several small consulting companies. From 2013-2017, Riley served as ECE’s associate chair for graduate affairs.

During his career in ECE, Riley had an outstanding reputation in teaching programming techniques, computer networking and engineering software design. He was recognized with the Richard M. Bass/Eta Kappa Nu Outstanding Teacher Award in 2008, and he received the Georgia Tech W. Roane Beard Outstanding Teacher Award in 2009. Over the years, Riley was involved with K-12 outreach activities, including the ECE HOT Days camp for high school students, and was honored for this work with the ECE Outreach Award in 2010.

Riley’s research focused on creating more efficient methods and tools for simulation of both wired and wireless computer networks. He also worked in Internet measurement methods, Internet routing protocols and development of numerical methods for monitoring and adapting finite queue sizes in packet-based networks. Riley

John Wilfred Witasick, CE 51, of Woodbury Heights, N.J., on June 16.

1960s

Harold Edward Ashe Jr., IM 63, of Woodruff, S.C., on June 27.

also worked on the application of largescale simulation methods towards the simulation-based design and analysis of multi-core systems and on-chip networks. He graduated 12 PhD students and published over 120 refereed journal and conference papers.

Always highly involved in the larger Georgia Tech community, Riley served as the chair of the Georgia Tech Executive Board, in the Academic Senate, and on the Institute Undergraduate Curriculum Committee for six years, with two of those years spent as its chair. He also led a campus wide international plan task force in 2011.

Riley is survived by his wife, Kris Nagel, PhD CS 06, also an academic professional in ECE, and his children, Patrick, Jennifer, Michael, CS 12, and Matthew, Cls 19.

William Hagood Bellinger, EE 63, of Stockbridge, Ga., on July 1.

James Knox Brookshire Jr., CE 63, of Virginia Beach, Va., on June 13.

Deloye Ray Burrell, Cls 65, Birmingham, Ala., on April 18.

Bayard McRae “Buck” Call, CE 60, of Atlanta, on June 25.

Gilbert Carter, Phys 64, of Sandy Springs, Ga., on June 27.

Raymond Greer Collison Jr., ChE 66, of Columbia, S.C., on July 1.

Volume 94 No. 3 2018 | GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE | 95

IN MEMORIAM HARRIS SAUNDERS: BUSINESSMAN AND LOYAL TECH SUPPORTER HARRIS SAUNDERS JR., ME 45, OF MOUNTAIN BROOK, ALA., ON MAY 6.

Born in Birmingham on Jan. 26, 1925, Saunders attended Ramsey High School and left early to attend Birmingham Southern College. He transferred to Georgia Tech in the Navy V12 program, and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering in 1945.

O ve r t h e co u rs e o f h i s l i fe, Saunders maintained a strong connection to Georgia Tech. He was inducted into the Georgia Tech Engineering Hall of Fame in October 1997 and received the 1998 Woodruff School Distinguished Alumnus Award. He continued to be a lifelong loyal supporter of Tech as a member of the Hill Society, the Institute’s most prestigious giving society. His estate gift has established an endowed faculty chair bearing his name in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering.

Saunders knew from an early age that he would go to work for the family business, a truck leasing company. Over a 40-year span, he worked to build Saunders Leasing System into the third largest truck-leasing and truck services company in the United States. He was the chairman of the board when the company, publicly traded on the American Stock Exchange, was sold to Ryder System Inc. of Miami in 1986. The company is credited with giving birth to the car and truck rental and leasing industry in 1916.

In retirement, Saunders became

an avid adventurer, sailing many oceans, rivers and seas over three continents. Saunders served on the board of SouthTrust Bank and Energen Corporation. He was also the founding chairman of the Truck Rental and Leasing Association, past chairman of the American Truck Historical Association, chairman of the U n i te d S t a te s Bu s i n e s s a n d Industrial Council and served on the Birmingham Salvation Army Board. He was a past member of the Young Presidents Organization and the World Business Council.

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Saunders was a longtime supporter of the Birmingham Museum of Art and the Alabama Symphony Orchestra. He was a member of the Country Club of Birmingham, the Birmingham Rotary Club, and the Club.

In his later years, he very much enjoyed his many men’s lunch groups. Though a successful business leader and entrepreneur, nothing was more important to Saunders than his family. He is survived by his wife, six daughters, 19 grandchildren and 13 great grandchildren.

John James David, Text 61, of Hartfield, Va., on May 19.

Rodger William Dodson, Arch 61, of Atlanta, on May 19.

John Marshall Drew, IM 60, of Augusta, Ga., on May 8.

Robert L. Eigel Sr., MS IE 68, of Centerville, Ohio, on April 11.

Sanford Virgil “Sandy” Ethridge Jr., IE 68, of Gray, Ga., on June 4.

Hugo H. Godoy, EE 63, of Moore, S.C., on June 29.

Charles Emory Greene, EE 66, of Shreveport, La., on Jun. 29.

Quinton Hathcock, ChE 66, of Sylvania, Ga., on May 14.

James Jay Hutchison, IM 62, of Marietta, Ga., on May 22.

Thomas O. Johnson, MS ME 62, of Louisville, Ky., on July 10.

Gerald Maurice “Jerry” Johnston, ME 65, MS ME 70, of Dallas, Texas, on March 26.

Roy Clark Joiner Jr., ME 62, of Perry, Ga., on May 21.

Kenneth Frederick Kennedy, ME 69, of Apopka, Fla., on June 27.

John William “Bill” Kesner, AM 66, of Severna Park, Md., on May 18.

Robert Emory Leonard, IM 66, of Hayesville, N.C., on June 5.

Walter Jackson McCloud II, CE 62, of Decatur, Ga., on June 29.

John M. “Marc” McLean, IE 63, of Oviedo, Fla. on March 26.

Walter Elmore McMahon Jr., Cls 61, of Birmingham, Ala., on May 21.

Dwight Alexander McPherson, EE 66, MS EE 68, PhD EE 75, of LaGrange, Ga., on July 10.

John D. “Jack” Meredith, MS IM 60, of Dallas, Texas, on March 30.

Stanley Lanier Morgan, IE 65, of Cornelia, Ga., on April 11.

Douglas D. Pointer, EE 67, of Bridgeville, Del., on June 4.

John E. “Jack” Sobraske, MS EE 64, of Mound, Minn., on May 19.

Robert Randolph Stevens, IE 61, of Lutz, Fla., on April 26.

James Anthony “Tony” Webb, CE 63, of Atlanta, Ga., on June 28.

Russell Anthony Weber, EE 68, of Tampa, Fla., on May 12.

Charles Dudley Williams, CE 61, of Buford, Ga., on May 17.

1970s William Theodore “Ted” Bennett II, MS IM 78, of Richmond, Va., on March 21.

Sam C. Bitetti, AE 71, CE 72, of Norwell, Mass., on June 1.

Richard E. Clark Jr., MS EE 73, of New Orleans, La., on May 31.

William S. “Bill” Foy, IM 75, of Quitman, Ga., On May 2.

John Bruce Malone, AE 70, MS AE 71, PhD AE 74, of Yorktown, Va., on June 17.

Strother Lee “Mac” McGinnis III, IM 70, of Miramar Beach, Fla., on June 20.

Roger Talmadge Mizell, MS SanE 70, of St. George, S.C., on June 16.

Glen Niederhauser, ME 79, of Knoxville, Tenn., on May 26.

Joe Ray Norman, Psy 76, of Marietta, Ga., on Jan. 31.

Timothy Wayne “Tim” Pullin, EE 71, of Atlanta, Ga., on April 4.

Robert Kent Purser Jr., Phys 70, of Palm Bay, Fla., on May 17.

Stephen Stafford “Steve” Putnal, IM 74, of Dry Branch, Ga., on May 22.

David J. Ross, ICS 76, of Jackson Hole, Wyo., on June 9.

John Raymond “Ray” Stoudenmire, IE 70, of Hoschton, Ga., on June 15.

Herchel Andral Vaughn, EE 71, of Austin, Texas, on May 7.

Robert E. “Bob” Warburton, AE 70, of Fort Pierce, Fla., on June 12.

1980s James Stephen Couzelis, EE 81, of Dallas, Texas, on June 24.

William Thomas Lee Jr., Mgt 87, of Atlanta, on June 29.

Jeffrey T. McMillan, IE 82, of Frederick, Md., on April 10.

Kurt Douglas Nieman, IE 89, of Topeka, Kan., on June 18.

Michael S. Wagner, CerE 85, of Covington, Ga., on April 23.

2000s William H. Greer IV, EE 09, of Linville Gorge, N.C., on April 29.

Yoonduk Duk “Debbie” Kim, MS CE 04, PhD CE 10, of Rockwall, Texas, on May 7.

William Ryan Palmer, IE 03, of Henderson, Nev., on May 29.

Robert E. Thorn, MS Arch 09, of Marietta, Ga., on July 7.

2010s Samuel Scott Kuehn, ME 17, of Atlanta, on May 6.

Friends Robert Allan Ballard Jr., of Charleston, S.C., on April 23.

Michael C. Bernard, of Atlanta, on April 9.

Martha Smith Bogle, of Atlanta, on May 30.

Beatrice Rothschild Caine, of Atlanta, on April 6.

John William Carlile, of Gainesville, Ga., on June 20.

David V. Cornelison, of Peachtree City, Ga., on April 24.

Samuel Marvin “Sam” Creech, of Belvedere, S.C., on April 2.

Pamela Suddath Culberson, of Cumming, Ga., on April 6.

John Pierce Culver Jr., of Austell, Ga., on April 8.

Glenda Portman Dodrill, of Duluth, Ga., on June 14.

Lance Dean Gilbreath, of Augusta, Ga., on May 6.

Fred “Ted” Gibson Jr., of Las Vegas, Nev., on May 5.

Betty Alexander Holtsinger, of Bartlesville, Okla., on June 5.

Harold Russell Hunt Jr., of Portage, Mich., on June 16.

Lloyd Christopher “Chris” Kettles, of Jacksonville, Fla., on June 7.

Laura G. Lawrence, of Atlanta, on July 8.

Alae Risse Barron Leitch, of Atlanta, on May 23.

Thomas Wesley “Tom” Medlock, of Decatur, Ga., on April 21.

Thomas Ellsworth “Tom” Michaels, of Spokane, Wash., on May 31.

Linda Cantrell Mitchell, of Marietta, Ga., on April 11.

Tommay T. Peacock, of Naples, Fla., on May 12.

Neva Lawrence Webb Redfern, of Atlanta, on April 21.

Victor K. Rubovsky, of Saint Augustine, Fla., on April 19.

Bivian Lee Holcomb Stephens, of Sandy Springs, Ga., on May 27.

Volume 94 No. 3 2018 | GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE | 97

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Volume 94 No. 3 2018 | GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE | 99

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Volume 94 No. 3 2018 | GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE | 101

TECH HISTORY

An Imperfect Storm

BY MELISSA FRALICK

Two Georgia Tech alumni share a link to the tragic sinking of the HMS Otranto during World War I. ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO, America suffered its worst troop ship disaster at sea during World War I: the sinking of the British troop carrier HMS Otranto.

Today, not many are familiar with the tragedy, which resulted in the loss of hundreds of lives, including more than 130 young men from Georgia.

Even fewer are likely to know that their commanding officer, Samuel E. Levy, ME 1917, was a Georgia Tech alumnus.

To mark the centennial anniversary of this tragic accident, another Tech graduate, Levy’s grandson Chuck Freedman, IE 67, is working to ensure that the legacy of the Otranto is preserved.

Freedman is helping to plan a ce re m o ny co m m e m o rat i n g t h e anniversary of the incident with the installation of a memorial plaque at Ft. Screven on Tybee Island, Ga. It’s documented that at least 130 soldiers from Fort Screven’s Fifty-fourth Artillery Replacements were among those who perished in the Otranto disaster.

Freedman is also travelling to the Isle of Islay, off of Scotland, for a ceremony memorializing the sinking of the ship.

His grandfather was one of roughly 600 men aboard the Otranto who were able to survive through a harrowing escape, while around 470 more still aboard the ship perished. Though Levy was lucky to escape the ship alive, by all accounts his journey was agonizing from the start.

America officially entered WWI in 1917, and in July 1918, the HMS Otranto,

an armed merchant cruiser, was sent to New York to ferry American soldiers across the Atlantic to join the fight. In the fall of 1918, urgent orders were sent for 580 enlisted men and four officers from Ft. Screven to report to Camp Merritt, N.J. for the journey to Europe.

2nd Lt. Samuel Elias Levy, of the Coastal Artillery Corps, was selected to command the troops. Levy’s Georgia Tech education made him a natural fit for the position.

“Lt. Levy was a near-perfect match for service with the Coastal Artillery Corps as Georgia Tech’s mission was to graduate men ‘able to grasp and solve mechanical problems,’” according to Many Were Held by the Sea, an historical account of the incident penned by R. Neil Scott. “Of particular interest was the emphasis Tech placed on developing leadership skills and character.”

The HMS Otranto departed on Sept.

25, 1918, leading the HX-50 Convoy across the ocean. There were more than 1,000 men aboard the ship, but t h a t n u m b e r dw i n d l e d a l m o s t immediately as hardship and tragedy struck the Otranto.

The ship set sail in the thick of hurricane season in the Atlantic Ocean.

Strong winds and heavy seas created mountainous waves, making the men on board violently sea sick. The stormy conditions were so severe that the men were confined below deck, where overturning buckets of vomit added to the already pungent odors of cow manure and chemical disinfectants from the Otranto’s previous journey.

M ea nw h i l e , a t l ea s t 1 0 0 m e n onboard were suffering from severe

102 | GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE | Volume 94 No.3 2018

cases of the flu. The Otranto’s sick bay was so full that the main dining room was converted into a hospital. To make matters worse, doctors had a difficult time differentiating who had come down with the deadly flu virus and who was severely sea sick.

This was no ordinary flu, but a worldwide pandemic. In 1918, the Spanish Influenza killed millions of people —epidemiologists now believe up to 50 million worldwide. This powerful strain of influenza took down even young, healthy men like those aboard the HMS Otranto.

On Oct. 2, the first flu death occurred on the Otranto. From that point forward, at least one ship in the convoy experienced a death from influenza each day, and had to reduce speed to bury bodies at sea.

As the cross-Atlantic journey neared its end, weather conditions continued to worsen. On Oct. 6, hurricane-force winds, sleet and 4060-foot waves made navigation difficult, and the ships in the convoy were pushed 20 miles north out of their formation.

Spotting a rocky coastline to the east, an officer aboard the Otranto mistakenly believed it was the coast of Ireland and directed the ship to head north. Another ship in the convoy, the nearby HMS Kashmir, correctly determined the land ahead to be the western coast of Scotland, and steered south. This put the Otranto directly into the path of the Kashmir, a half mile away.

Moving with the force of the massive waves, the Kashmir struck the Otranto, tearing a deep gash into

The British destroyer HMS Mounsey maneuvered alongside the Otranto to allow troops to jump from the sinking ship. This illustration, which originally appeared in the Davenport Daily Times, comes from a first-hand account of the shipwreck.

its side. Both ships were damaged, but the Kashmir was able to stay afloat and make it to Glasgow. Meanwhile, the Otranto’s boiler rooms were flooded, and the lifeboats were damaged in the crash.

Luckily, a British destroyer called the HMS Mounsey came to the Otranto’s aid.

The Mounsey’s captain, Lt. Francis W. Craven, bravely volunteered to take

“Lt. Levy was a near-perfect match for service with the Coastal Artillery Corps as Georgia Tech’s mission was to graduate men ‘able to grasp and solve mechanical problems,” wrote R. Neil Scott.

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TECH HISTORY

Left: 2nd Lt. Samuel E. Levy of the Coastal Artillary Corps, a 1917 graduate of Georgia Tech, was selected as the commanding officer for the troops aboard the HMS Otranto. Top right: The people of Scotland’s Isle of Islay respectfully buried the men who died when the ship crashed onto its shore. Bottom Right: The HMS Otranto was sent to ferry American soldiers across the Atlantic to join World War I.

“They were persistent about pulling every body over the shore and as best they could documenting who they were and marking the graves,” Freedman says.

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the American troops to safety.

Despite the severe conditions, C rave n wa s ab l e to s ki l l f u l ly maneuver his ship right alongside the Otranto several times to give the men on board a chance to jump to safety.

While jumping onto the Mounsey was the best bet for survival, it was also a lethal gamble. Many who attempted to jump fell into the sea, were crushed between the two ships, or landed on the deck of the Mounsey o n l y to b e s w e p t aw ay b y t h e enormous waves.

Sadly, nearly 500 people were still aboard the sinking HMS Otranto as it drifted straight for the rocky cliffs of Scotland’s Isle of Islay. A wave dropped the ship on top of a reef, where it broke into pieces, sending the men onboard into the waves. All but about 20 of the men died after they were hurled into the boulders at the base of the cliffs.

The people of the sparsely populated Isle of Islay took on the grim task of sorting through the wreckage at their shore to retrieve and bury the bodies of those who died in the crash.

Freedman says he was moved by the story of how the people of Islay responded to the disaster.

“They were persistent about pulling every body over the shore and as best they could documenting who they were and marking the graves,” Freedman says. “They went and scavenged red, white and blue materials and made an American flag to fly over the remains.”

Levy was among the last to jump from the Otranto, and he landed safely on the Mounsey. The Mounsey was badly damaged from the rescue effort, leaking and weighed down with so many extra men. Craven steered slowly and carefully to keep the ship from c a p s i z i n g a s t h e m e n c r ow d e d together below deck in ice cold water for the remainder of the five-hour journey to Ireland.

The Mounsey arrived safely in

Belfast, and Craven’s heroic effort saved 597 lives—including Levy’s.

Levy returned to Atlanta, where he went on to have a successful career as a realtor and the owner of Sam E. Levy Tire Company. He was active in civic affairs and the Jewish community. He remained “a rabid Georgia Tech supporter,” Freedman says, whose daughter attended the Georgia Tech School of Commerce, and whose son-

Scott, who passed away in 2012, shared his research materials with Freedman, giving him new details that helped him to better understand his grandfather’s story.

“A couple years ago I started thinking, we’re coming up on the centennial,” Freedman says. “Wouldn’t it be great to get together not only the families of the survivors, but the deceased? What better place to do that

“A couple years ago I started thinking, we’re coming up on the centennial,” Freedman says. “Wouldn’t it be great to get together not only the families of the survivors, but the deceased? ” in-law, grandson and great grandson w e n t o n to g ra d u a te f r o m t h e Institute.

Despite his full life, he never forgot his experience aboard the Otranto.

Levy organized several reunions for the survivors, including one marking the 35th anniversary in Atlanta, which included a Georgia Tech football game.

He organized the 50th reunion in Sylvania, Ga., where the majority of survivors lived.

As a Tech student, Freedman recalls his grandfather telling him the story of the HMS Otranto during several of his regular Friday night dinners at his grandparents’ house.

But he didn’t think too much about it until the 1980s, when a friend visiti n g Ty b e e I s l a n d s p o t t e d h i s grandfather’s name as part of a temporary exhibit dedicated to the Otranto at Ft. Screven. Later, his interest in the story was reignited when he was contacted by R. Neil Scott, a professor writing a book about the Otranto, who wanted to talk with him about his grandfather.

than down at Ft. Screven?”

Freedman began contacting local historians and the families of those who served on the Otranto. He got in touch with Charlie Calvert, a member of the American Legion, who was also working on a memorial marker for Ft. Screven and invited him to help plan the ceremony.

Through his research, Freedman has learned more about his grandparents, and he’s glad he’ll be able to leave this family history as a legacy for his own children. Freedman also believes that his grandfather would be glad to know that the families of the men who served aboard the ship would be together to mark the 100th anniversary of the Otranto’s sinking.

“With all the efforts that my grandfather went through to get the s u r v ivo rs to g e t h e r, I t h i n k i t ’s something that he would be glad I was doing,” Freedman says.

—Source: Many Were Held by the Sea: The Tragic Sinking of the HMS Otranto, by R. Neil Scott

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BACK PAGE

2018-19 FIRST-YEAR PROFILE

35,613 APPLICATIONS

37%

4% 9%

MULTI-RACIAL

GEORGIA ADMIT RATE

HISPANIC

2% 31%

19%

OTHER

ASIAN

7% 46%

NON-GEORGIA ADMIT RATE

BLACK

WHITE

ACADEMIC PROFILE GPA: A SAT: 1400-1520 ACT: 31-34

97%

FIRST-YEAR TO SECOND-YEAR RETENTION RATE

Welcoming a New RAT Class

BY KRISTEN BAILEY

ANOTHER NEW CLASS OF YELLOW JACKETS began their careers at Georgia Tech earlier this fall. They hail from 1,508 high schools around the country and world, and are part of the largest group to ever apply to Tech.

Not only are more students applying to Georgia Tech, but more are staying. For the second year in a row, Tech’s firstyear to second-year retention rate is 97 percent. On top of that, students are excelling academically, with an average first-year GPA of 3.42.

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This year’s first-years come from 45 states and 78 nations.

The admit rate for Georgia students was 37 percent, and the non-Georgia admit rate was 19 percent.

Undergraduate Admission is already recruiting the next class of prospective students. They’ve embarked on a Peach State Tour with Georgia State University and the University of Georgia to meet with high school students and counselors about college options.

Learn more at admission.gatech.edu.

Introducing the

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