Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine, Vol. 97 No.1, Spring 2021 by Georgia Tech Alumni Association

PROGRESS

AND

INSIDE TOP

SERVICE

BIAS

ETHICAL

FOR

ALL

ARTIFICIAL

ISSUES

TECH

HI,

ROBOT

INTELLIGENCE 46

ECOCOMMONS

SPRING 2021 VOL.97 NO.1

ETHICS +

TECH GOING FACE-TO-FACE WITH THE ETHICAL IMPLICATIONS OF OUR TECH ALUMNA NASHLIE SEPHUS OF AMAZON’S A.I. TEAM TALKS FAIRNESS, BIAS, AND TECH’S IMPACT ON US ALL.

TECHNOLOGY

“I made a decision to split my estate 50-50 between my daughter and Georgia Tech — the two things in my life that I am most proud of.” —Angela Gill Nelms, BME 2007 Angela G. Nelms describes herself as a “mother, engineer,

Her drive both to succeed and to give back has been with

entrepreneur, world traveler, blacksmith, wood turner, and

Nelms since her student days at Tech. “I was at Georgia

saltwater aquarium enthusiast.” She was the first Tech

Tech as a single mother with a special needs daughter,” she

biomedical engineering undergraduate hired by Medtronic,

explained. Money was tight, “and I couldn’t work extra jobs

where she served as a field clinical engineer for seven years.

because my daughter required speech, occupational, and

She spent two and a half years in clinical research at the

physical therapy.” Nelms financed much of her education via

Emory University School of Medicine, and is now the COO of

credit cards, including a summer in China learning Mandarin.

Florence, a clinical research technology firm.

The experience “opened a whole new world to me, and it

Outside of work, Nelms has completed six Ironman

paid off in the end, but financing it was stressful,” she said.

triathlons and five marathons; hiked in Chile, Argentina, and

Based both on her experiences and those of students

Brazil; and kayaked in Alaska, Canada, and the Amazon. She

she has mentored, Nelms established an estate provision to

volunteers locally and globally for organizations such as

support students pursuing study abroad opportunities and

Salud Y Paz, which builds clinics and schools in Guatemala;

seeking internships. Preference will be given to students with

for World Hope International, on its 100 wells project in

limited finances. “I hope to make meaningful experiences

Mozambique; and with Challenged Athletes Foundation.

accessible to all students who are willing to be brave and step outside their comfort zones,” she said.

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 • giftplanning@dev.gatech.edu • plannedgiving.gatech.edu

AT THE INTERSECTION OF ETHICS,TECHNOLOGY, AND BUSINESS At the Georgia Tech Scheller College of Business, our goal is to develop the highest ethical standards in our community. We do this through making ethics a foundational part of our undergraduate, MBA, and PhD curriculum and through offering opportunities to engage with Ideas to Serve, Net Impact, speakers, events, and more. “At Scheller, we seek to instill a desire to act with honor, character, and integrity, and we actively teach the skills necessary to make good, ethical decisions.” Professor Steve Salbu Cecil B. Day Chair in Business Ethics Former Dean (2006 – 2014) Georgia Tech Scheller College of Business

Learn more: scheller.gatech.edu/Ethics

PUBLISHER’S LETTER

GUIDED BY OUR MISSION, VISION, AND VALUES

A S Y E L L O W J A C K E T S , we’re not just inventing technology, we’re leading the conversation on the ethical use and impact that technolog y has on so ciety. President Ángel Cabrera has led Georgia Tech to embrace a new mission of developing leaders who advance technology and improve the human condition. In this issue of the Alumni Magazine, we introduce you to those leaders— alumni, faculty, and researchers in the field of ethics and technology—who are fulfilling Tech’s mission every day. These individuals are challenging assumptions about fairness in artificial intelligence (page 42). They are leading conversations around the use of moral algorithms in the self-driving vehicles of the future (page 38). They are helping us navigate the complicated ethical implications of privacy as social media becomes even more present in our lives (page 48). At Georgia Tech, we are constantly adapting. When I attended Tech in the late 1980s and early 1990s, I didn’t fully appreciate the many ways technology would impact my life after graduation. I never dreamed that one day students would be able to carry their own lightweight computers. And that was just the tip of the iceberg. Remember waiting in line to register for classes? It makes me proud to see Tech today at the forefront of innovation in technology—both in

GEORGIA TECH ALUMNI MAGAZINE VOL. 97 | NO. 1 PRESIDENT & PUBLISHER Dene Sheheane, Mgt 91

VP STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS Lindsay Vaughn

the creation of new technology and in the conversation around the complex impact that it has on our lives. We talk a lot here at the Alumni House about our use of technology to reach alumni. It recently led us to launch Georgia Tech Connect, a virtual engagement platform that is exclusively for alumni to stay connected to Georgia Tech and to one another. As we further contemplated our work here in the Alumni Association, especially given pandemic restrictions, we decided to declare 2021 the “Year of Connections.” Our newly adopted strategic plan, which is closely aligned with the Institute’s new strategic plan (page 16), will focus on building an enduring community with all alumni standing in proud support of Georgia Tech and each other. We know it will take connections to make progress. A key aspect of our plan is to build community. We know this must include the appropriate application of technology to expand our reach. Our hope is to enable connections to each other, connections to the Institute, and connections in the communities we serve. From Tech Square to all over the world, you’ll find Yellow Jackets who are advancing technology and helping us stay connected with each other. Go Jackets!

DENE SHEHEANE, MG T 91 PRESIDENT GEORGIA TEC H ALUMNI ASSOCIATION

EDITOR Jennifer Herseim

ART DIRECTOR Karen Matthes

COPY EDITOR Barbara McIntosh Webb

STUDENT ASSISTANT Manushi Sheth

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Chair Jocelyn Stargel, IE 82, MS IE 86 Past Chair/Finance Brent Zelnak, Mgt 94 Chair Elect, Chair of Gold & White, Vice Chair/Roll Call Shan Pesaru, CmpE 05 Vice Chair/Engagement Magd Riad, IE 01 Member at Large Rita Breen, Psy 90, MS IE 92 Member at Large Garrett Langley, EE 09 Member at Large Cathy Hill, EE 84 Member at Large James Stovall, CS 01

BOARD OF TRUSTEES Clint Bailey, TE 97; Archel Bernard, STC 11; Amrit Bhavinani, CM 09; Jeff Bogdan, Mgt 88, MS MoT 98; Jason Byars, ME 96; Alina Capanyola, IE 10; Duane Carver, CmpE 10; Aurelien Cottet, MS AE 03; Andre Dickens, ChE 98; Lizzie Donnelly, IA 08; Jamie Hamilton, Mgt 93; John Hanson, IE 11; Joy Jordan, ChE 92; Jeanne Kerney, CE 84; Mary Beth Lake, ID 04; Juan Michelena, TE 85; Jerald C. Mitchell, MBA 11; Anu Parvatiyar, BME 08; Antai Peng, PhD EE 96; Anna Pinder, ME 03; Debra Porter, ME 86; George Ray, Mgt 09, PP 09; Amy Rich, MBA 12; Jean Marie Richardson, Mgt 02; Jim Sanders, IE 88; Stacey Sapp, IM 80; Paul Shailendra, CE 01; David Sotto, BME 09, PhD BioE 15; Betty Tong, ME 93, MS ME 95; Kate Tyler, MS CE 09; Jef Wallace, Mgt 94; Kristin Watkins, Mgt 13; Sam Westbrook, IE 99; Stephenie Whitfield, Bio 93; Bruce Wilson, EE 78, MS EE 80; Sheetal Wrzesien, CS 94

ADVERTISING Justin Estes (404) 683-9599 justin.estes@alumni.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. © 2021 Georgia Tech Alumni Association

POSTMASTER Send address changes to: Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine, 190 North Ave. N.W., Atlanta, GA 30313 or editor@alumni.gatech.edu.

TELEPHONE

SPRING 2021 | GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE

Georgia Tech Alumni Association (404) 894-2391

VOLUME 97 ISSUE 1

FEATURES

ETHICS FIRST One of Georgia Tech’s foundational principles is to act ethically. The Office of Ethics and Compliance promotes ethical

COVER PHOTOGRAPH

KAYLINN GILSTRAP

decision–making across the Institute. Outside of Tech, faculty, students, and alumni are driving discussion around the ethical creation and use of technology.

INSIDE BIAS IN A.I.

1 MINUTE OR LESS

ECOCOMMONS OPENS

In the case of technology such as

Tech’s expert alumni, faculty,

A newly opened green space

artificial intelligence, researchers

and students break down 10

next to the Kendeda Building

and alumni find that the apple

issues at the intersection of

is designed to evoke curiosity

doesn’t fall far from the tree.

technology and ethics.

and conversation.

GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE | SPRING 2021

VOLUME 97

DEPARTMENTS

ISSUE 1

PHOTOGRAPH

CHRISTOPHER MOORE

CONTENTS

10 CAUSE FOR CELEBRATION

AROUND CAMPUS

Georgia Tech hosted an in–person fall commencement at Bobby Dodd Stadium in December. Graduates from

Progress and Service For All 16

the spring, summer, and fall of 2020 were all invited to participate.

Talk of Tech 12 Covid-19 Vaccines 20 Tech Research 23

ON THE FIELD Hang Time With Harvin 26 One Year Ago, the Game Changed 30

IN THE WORLD “You Can’t Hide the Sun” 34 Hi, Robot 38

ALUMNI HOUSE Strength in Numbers: Celebrating 10 Years of SAA 68 Staff Spotlight 72 APS Scholarships 74 Ramblin’ Roll 75 In Memoriam 82

TECH HISTORY Slide Rules At Tech 90 Back Page 98

GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE | SPRING 2021

FEEDBACK

DID YOU USE A SLIDE RULE AT TECH?

WHEN WE ASKED ALUMNI TO TELL US ABOUT THEIR MEMORIES OF USING A SLIDE RULE, THEY DID NOT DISAPPOINT. HERE IS A SAMPLE OF THOSE LETTERS.

“CALCULATORS WERE EXTREMELY TEMPTING BUT HUGELY EXPENSIVE. THAT FIRST SEMESTER I DID MY HOMEWORK USING THE SR FOR DIVISION, MULTIPLICATION, SQ ROOT, CUBE ROOT, AND TRIG FUNCTIONS. I WAS VERY GOOD AT IT, BUT I WAS GOING QUICKLY OUT OF TO CHANGE.” —THOMAS J. KOLBER, MS CE 74

—HAYDEN BRANCH, EE 78

“I WAS A CO-OP STUDENT. GRADUATED IN ’65 WITH A BIE CO-OP DEGREE. WENT TO WORK AT THE MONSANTO CO. IN MARKETING WITH EMPHASIS IN PETROCHEMICAL MARKETING. WAS A MEMBER OF PHI DELTA THETA FRATERNITY. BEING FROM TEXAS I HAD TO LEARN TO LIKE PORK RATHER THAN BEEF BBQ. AND FINALLY, LEARNED HOW TO YELL TO ____ WITH GEORGIA\BULLDOGS.” —RONALD WOLIVER, IE 65

THE FOLLOWING appears in the Winter 2021 edition of the Alumni Magazine:

“I used slide rules and other tools. Only a couple shown. If you took Drawing 101, do you know what they are?”—J.Q. WILLIAMS, IM 69

SPRING 2021 | GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE

“The Yellow Jackets returned a 93-yard

again to win 28 to 20. I attended and

fumble for a touchdown. It was the lon-

remember that very exciting game.

gest fumble return for a touchdown in

I wore a Keuffel & Esser Log Log

Tech’s history.” I believe that the claim

Duplex Decitrig slide rule on my hip,

may be mistaken. In 1946, Navy was

petted the dog Sideways, learned

leading Tech 20 to 14 with only 3 min-

math from Prof. D. M. Smith, ran the

utes in the 4th quarter. Navy had the

big red Corliss steam engine, beat

ball near the Tech goal. Navy fum-

the bass drum in the ROTC band, and

bled and Mathews ran the ball back

was drown-proofed by coach Freddy

95 yards for a touchdown. Tech scored

Lanoue. —VERN SMITH, ME 49

COURTESY OF BRAD EDWARDS, GEORGIATECHTICKETSTUBS.COM

THE LONGEST FUMBLE RETURN

PHOTOGRAPH

STYLE, AND I HAD

“I started at Georgia Tech in 1973 and used a Pickett slide rule for the first couple of years until a physics professor in a large lecture hall asked who was going to use a slide rule instead of a calculator on the next exam. I raised my hand, looked around, and saw that I was about the only one still using a slide rule. I bought an HP-25 calculator soon after that for $200, which was more than a week of my co-op salary. That calculator got me through Tech, but I replaced it in the ’80s with an HP-12C, which I still use today. The slide rule is in a box with other Tech memorabilia, like my RAT Cap.”

We’re proud to partner with Georgia Tech Alumni Association. To learn more about Liberty Mutual auto and home insurance, please call us at 1-888-618-2146, or visit libertymutual.com/gtalumni.

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VOLUME 97

AROUND CAMPUS

ISSUE 1

BRANCHING OUT Physics major Lee Hassenzahl weaves sweetgum branches for Chip Off the Ole Block, an art installation located in the EcoCommons. Hassenzahl and her mother volunteered with others to assist stickwork artist Patrick Dougherty.

PHOTOGRAPH

SPRING 2021 | GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE

DIANA DUARTE

TALK OF TECH

PROGRESS AND SERVICE FOR ALL

COVID-19 VACCINES

TECH RESEARCH

GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE | SPRING 2021

TALK OF TECH

TECH AWARDS FAUCI IVAN ALLEN JR. PRIZE FOR SOCIAL COURAGE D R . A N T H O N Y S . F A U C I , one of the nation’s leading infectious disease experts and a steadfast voice of science, facts, and medical best practice during one of the most significant public health challenges in U.S. history, is this year’s recipient of the Ivan Allen Jr. Prize for Social Courage. An annual award from Georgia Tech, the Ivan Allen Jr. prize honors individuals who have stood up for moral principles at the risk of their careers and livelihoods. “Dr. Fauci’s resolve in the face of extraordinary threats to our public health here at home and abroad make him the clear choice for Georgia Tech’s Ivan Allen Jr. Prize for Social Courage,” says President Ángel Cabrera, MS

Psy 93, PhD Psy 95. “As an institution of higher learning committed to bettering the human condition through our motto of Progress and Service, there could be no better person suited to receive this honor [from us] than a man who has unflinchingly relied on science and facts in the face of tremendous public and political pressure.” The prize is named for former Atlanta Mayor Ivan Allen Jr., a graduate of Georgia Tech, who at great personal and political risk was the only southern white elected official to testify before Congress in support of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. For most of 2020, Fauci was a member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force established to address the

GEORGIA TECH TEAMS UP WITH AMAZON, PHARRELL FOR NEW MUSIC REMIX COMPETITION T H E M U S I C I N D U S T R Y and high-

remix music through coding.

BY BLAIR MEEKS

Covid-19 pandemic in the U.S. Fauci is now serving as President Joe Biden’s chief medical advisor and is part of the administration’s Covid-19 team.

“This collaboration between YELLOW, Amazon, and Georgia Tech is a celebration of Black creators and change-makers,” said Williams in an

er education are no strangers to

The “Your Voice Is Power” collabo-

announcement. “YELLOW at its core

collaboration, but typically within

ration includes lesson plans meant to

believes that education is a pathway

their respective realms. This spring,

teach students about coding as well as

to success. Teaching kids future-ready

however, Georgia Tech teamed up

start conversations around racial jus-

skills like coding, especially those kids

with Amazon and musician Pharrell

tice. The collaboration also includes a

for whom opportunities like this have

Williams’ education equity nonprof-

competition where students can remix

not been equally distributed, is how

it YELLOW to encourage middle and

Pharrell’s song “Entrepreneur” using

we prepare the next generation of en-

high school students to share their

Georgia Tech’s musical coding plat-

trepreneurs.” The competition will run

voices on equity while learning to

form EarSketch.

through June 4.—JENNIFER HERSEIM

SPRING 2021 | GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE

FOUR GEORGIA TECH ENGINEERS ELECTED TO NAE FACULTY MEMBERS Andrés García and Glaucio Paulino, as well as alumni Christopher Jones, AE 86, and Roger Krone, AE 78, join 103 new members and 23 international members elected to the National Academy of Engineering based on their outstanding contributions to the field. García’s research focuses on in-

topology optimization to the medi-

training, and system readiness in sup-

tegrating innovative engineering,

cal field by designing patient–specific

port of national security.

materials science, and cell biology

large craniofacial segmental bone re-

Krone is chairman and CEO of Lei-

concepts and technologies to gener-

placements to help cancer patients

dos, a Fortune 500 company working

ate novel insights into the regulation

and those with massive facial injuries

to solve the world’s toughest chal-

of adhesive forces and using those

and bone loss.

lenges in the defense, intelligence,

insights to develop cell-instructive ad-

Jones is chief of operations for

homeland security, civil, and health

hesive materials for tissue repair in

The Leadership Compass. He served

markets. Krone has held senior pro-

regenerative medicine applications.

in the U.S. Air Force for nearly 30

gram management and finance

Paulino is world-renowned for his

years, as well as giving years of ser-

positions at The Boeing Company, Mc-

contributions to topology optimiza-

vice to Northrop Grumman. Jones

Donnell Douglas Corp., and General

tion and applied mechanics. He was

was elected to NAE for his leader-

Dynamics.—GEORGIA TECH COLLEGE

one of the early investigators to apply

ship of defense logistics, sustainment,

OF ENGINEERING

L E D L I G H T I N G I N N O VA T O R W I N S 2 0 21 QUEEN ELIZABETH PRIZE FOR ENGINEERING received the award for his role in the

Administrators of the

creation and commercialization of

prize said solid-state light-

LED lighting, which forms the basis of

ing technology changed

all solid-state lighting technology. He

how we illuminate our

shares the prize with four others.

world. It can be found ev-

“It is really something to share in

erywhere, from sports stadiums,

this award with my friends and col-

parking garages, and cell phones

RUSSELL DUPUIS, a pioneering engi-

leagues,” says Dupuis, a Georgia

to handheld laser pointers, automo-

neer in the field of solid-state lighting

Research Alliance Eminent Scholar

bile headlights, and traffic lights. “The

technology, has been awarded the

in ECE and a member of the Nation-

impact of this innovation is not to be

2021 Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engi-

al Academy of Engineering. “All five

understated,” says Sir Christopher

neering (QEPrize).

of us played an important role, and

Snowden, chair of the QEPrize judg-

this recognition means a lot to me

ing panel. “It is not only an extreme

personally.”

engineering achievement, but a socie-

Dupuis, the Steve W. Chaddick Endowed Chair in Electro-Optics in Georgia Tech’s School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE),

The QEPrize celebrates groundbreaking innovation in engineering.

tal impact that has a significant impact on the environment.”—JOHN TOON GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE | SPRING 2021

FACULT Y & STAFF NEWS B E YA H N A M E D D E A N O F COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING R A H E E M B E Y A H , MS EE 99, PhD

“We are fortunate to have the larg-

ECE 03, has been selected as Geor-

est and one of the best engineering

gia Tech’s new dean and Southern

programs in the nation, in large part

Company chair of the College of Engi-

due to the teaching, research, and

neering. Previously, Beyah was Tech’s

national leadership of our faculty.

vice president for Interdisciplinary

Raheem Beyah is collaborative, vi-

Research, executive director of the

sionary, innovative, and committed

Technical State University in 1998. A

Online Master of Science in Cyber-

to people. I look forward to working

native Atlantan, he is a graduate of

security program, and the Motorola

even more closely with him in his new

the Atlanta Public Schools system.

Foundation Professor in the School of

leadership role in the College of Engi-

Electrical and Computer Engineering

neering,” says McLaughlin.

Beyah also leads the Communications Assurance and Performance

(ECE) at Tech. He began his duties as

Beyah earned his master’s and

Group and is affiliated with the In-

dean on Jan. 15. Beyah replaces Ste-

PhD in electrical and computer engi-

stitute for Information Security and

ven McLaughlin, who assumed duties

neering from Tech in 1999 and 2003,

Privacy. He is co-founder and board

as Georgia Tech’s provost and ex-

respectively. He received his bach-

chair of Fortiphyd Logic Inc., an in-

ecutive vice president for Academic

elor’s in electrical engineering from

dustrial cybersecurity company.

Affairs on Oct. 1, 2020.

North Carolina Agricultural and

—PATTI FUTRELL

DURHAM NAMED CEO OF GEORGIA CENTER F O R O N C O L O GY R E S E A R C H A N D E D U C A T I O N LYNN DURHAM, former vice president for Institute Relations, has been named president and CEO of Georgia Center for Oncology Research and Educa-

Durham went on to serve under three Tech presidents. In 2019, she was named vice president for Institute Relations.

COLLEGE OF DESIGN DEAN TO S T E P D O W N J U LY 31 STEVEN FRENCH, dean of Georgia Tech’s College of Design, has announced that he will step down as

tion (Georgia CORE). She departs

President Cabrera has named a

dean on July 31, returning to teach-

Georgia Tech following 25 years

search committee, to be chaired by

ing and research in the School of

of service.

Dene Sheheane, president of the

City and Regional Planning.

After joining Tech in 1995 to lead the legislative advocacy program,

Georgia Tech Alumni Association. —PATTI FUTRELL

French has served as dean since 2013 and has held the John Portman Dean’s Chair since 2014. In 2016, he led the transition from the

P O T T S A C C E P T S P R O VO S T POSITION AT MISSOURI S&T

College of Architecture to the College of Design. French joined Tech in 1992 as the director of and a

C O L I N P O T T S , v i c e p rovo s t f o r

Undergraduate Education since 2012.

professor in the City and Regional

undergraduate education and pro-

In 2014, the Georgia Tech Under-

Planning Program. His expertise in

fessor of interactive computing at

graduate House of Representatives

sustainable urban development and

Georgia Tech, has accepted a po-

presented him with the Dean James E.

natural hazard mitigation has con-

sition as provost and executive vice

Dull Administrator of the Year Award.

tributed to Tech’s visibility in these

chancellor of Academic Affairs at

He also received the Modern Day

areas. The college will remain under

Missouri University of Science and

Aristotle Award from Tech’s Student

his leadership until a search com-

Technology. Potts has led the Office of

Ambassadors.—PATTI FUTRELL

mences.—PATTI FUTRELL

SPRING 2021 | GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE

STUDENT NEWS S T U DY I N G O C E A N S , DA N C I N G O N I C E GEORGIA TECH graduate student Tyler Vollmer laced up his skates this January to rub elbows with Olympians for the 2021 Toyota U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Las Vegas. Vollmer, who studies earth and atmospheric sciences at Tech, has been skating competitively since the age of 3. He competed in the Championship Ice Dance division with his partner,

PHD STUDENT PROGRAMS ROBOT FOR HBO MAX MOVIE SUPERINTELLIGENCE

Breelie Taylor, from Ringgold, Ga. Vollmer and his partner train with the Atlanta Figure Skating Club.

F O R O N E D O C T O R A L S T U D E N T in com-

could. I had no idea what the movie

Vollmer doesn’t just excel on the

puter science and intelligent systems

was about, but I was just excited to be

ice, he’s an outstanding student as

at Georgia Tech, her main focus has

a part of it,” Bryant explains.

well. He earned a Presidential Fellow-

been exploring interactive communi-

Superintelligence, starring Melis-

ship from Georgia Tech and joined

cation within robotics—not working in

sa McCarthy, takes place when an

the ocean science and engineering

the movie industry. But De’Aira Bryant

all-powerful autonomous artificial in-

lives in Midtown Atlanta, a booming

telligence chooses to study the most

area of film production where unique

average person on earth, Carol

opportunities occasionally arise.

(played by McCarthy). The fate of the

In summer 2018, the production

world hangs in the balance.

team for the HBO Max mov-

For the scene, Bryant pro-

ie Superintelligence contacted

grammed Cookie to execute

Georgia Tech’s College of

specific non-verbal movements

Computing in search of a pro-

that matched the timing and

grammable robot for a scene.

script. Cookie can be seen ex-

Ayanna Howard, former chair of the

ecuting custom gestures that helped

School of Interactive Computing and

to portray the personality of the Su-

program. He works with Professor

Linda J. and Mark C. Smith Professor,

perintelligence while also exhibiting

Jean Lynch-Stieglitz in a research

recommended Bryant.

social and communicative behavior as

group that makes chemical and iso-

it spoke to the actors in the scene.

topic measurements of the tiny shells

For the film, Bryant was asked to program a Nao, a humanoid robot

On the day of filming, Bryant took

of micro-organisms that accumulate

she utilizes in the Human-Automation

the Nao robot to the Klaus Advanced

on the ocean floor in order to recon-

Systems (HumAnS) Lab, which the lab

Computing Building.

struct past states of the ocean and

affectionately named Cookie. The ro-

Sitting behind the camera, De’Ai-

bot is traditionally used in adaptive

ra was readying for her cue. When it

rehabilitative activities for children

was time, Cookie came through with

with motor impairments.

flying colors.

atmosphere. Vollmer also serves as a teaching assistant. Despite his prowess on skates, he’s looking to a future in science. His goal

“I had about a week to get it ready.

“I like to say that the robot was

is to become a professor to teach and

I had this idea of what they want-

the biggest superstar on the set.”

train a new generation of climate sci-

ed, and I tried to program it as best I

—EVAN ATKINSON

entists.—STEPHEN NORRIS GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE | SPRING 2021

AROUND CAMPUS

PROGRESS AND SERVICE FOR ALL

GEORGIA TECH’S NEW STRATEGIC PLAN PROVIDES AN INSPIRING VISION OF INCLUSIVE INNOVATION.

BY KRISTIN BAIRD RATTINI

SPRING 2021 | GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE

prescription for the well-being of the planet. The Amplify Impact focus area sets targets based on the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals. “These 17 goals provide a global consensus for how we can improve the human condition,” Cabrera says. “They are not ‘nice to have,’ but must-haves, existential issues that we need to solve.” Collaboration will be key to finding those solutions. It’s a vital theme throughout the strategic plan, from interdisciplinary projects on campus, to partnerships with Atlanta and Georgia businesses, to global outreach to leaders, academic institutions, and especially alumni around the world. The strategic plan declares Progress and Service for All. While students are Tech’s top priority, alumni can thrive as well in the ecosystem of collaboration and inclusive innovation envisioned in the plan. “I encourage all alumni to read the strategic plan,” says Brent Zelnak, Mgt 94, past chair of the Georgia Tech Alumni Association Board of Trustees and a member of the Strategic Planning Task Force. “There are so many ways alumni can connect and make a difference. At over 172,000 strong, Georgia Tech’s alumni network brings great talent, ideas, passion, and resources toward advancing our Institute and meeting the goals of the strategic plan.”

CHARLIE LAYTON

a blessing that we went through strategic planning during this period of crisis,” Cabrera says. “It forced us to double-check whether our ideas made sense now that we’re dealing with these profound issues. I think, as a consequence, it’s a much more robust plan.” On Nov. 19, Pres. Cabrera unveiled Georgia Tech Vision 2020-2030: Progress and Service for All. “It is grounded in our commitment to developing leaders who advance technology and improve the human condition,” Cabrera says, “and is driven by a set of ambitious goals and bold actions to grow the impact we have in the world.” Two words in the plan’s opening sentence beautifully capture the spirit of this living document: inclusive innovation. “Breakthrough ideas, innovative ideas happen when people from different perspectives come together,” Cabrera says. Indeed, Expand Access is one of the plan’s six areas of strategic focus. T h e p an d e m i c brou g ht i nto focus the need to cultivate wellbeing. The plan sets goals for an environment of holistic learning, where all members of the Tech community can grow and learn to lead healthy, purposeful, impactful lives. “Unless we take care of ourselves, nothing else matters,” Cabrera says. The plan also incorporates a

ILLUSTRATIONS

IN FALL 2019, Tech President Ángel Cabrera issued a challenge to the task force charged with creating the Institute’s new 10-year strategic plan: Bring together the entire Georgia Tech community and dream big. They did. More than 5,700 participants shared their grandest visions of the Georgia Tech of 2030. Students, faculty, staff, community and business partners, donors, advisors, parents, alumni, and others gathered together in more than 110 working sessions. Using an approach called appreciative inquiry, which focuses on strengths and successes, participants answered such questions as, “What makes you most proud to be associated with Georgia Tech?” “I was blown away by the response,” says Cabrera, MS Psy 93, PhD Psy 95. “I thought we might get a few hundred people to participate. It was inspiring to know how much people in our community care about the future of Georgia Tech.” As the challenges of 2020 came into focus, so did the strategic plan. The task force distilled the incredible wealth of responses, built on Tech’s successes, and took aim at the urgent health and inequity issues that were unfolding in real-time. “It was almost

FOC US

A RE A S

The 2020–2030 plan includes six strategic focus areas. A set of aspirations, action items, and indicators further outline and provide measurements for progress. Here’s a look at the SIX focus areas, with a selection of key actions tied to each area. SEE THE FULL PLAN AT STRATEGICPLAN.GATECH.EDU.

#1 A M P L I F Y I M PA C T

THE WORLD IS LOOKING to research universities for solutions. Georgia Tech

has earned a reputation for excellence in research, education, and economic development. Now, as we continue to define what it means to be a leading public technological university, we will amplify the impact our ideas and our graduates have in the world.

ACTION ITEM HIGHLIGHT S: Strategically expand research efforts in areas of high impact and growing national

global challenges as articulated by the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals.

importance (including life sciences and biomedical research, artificial intelligence,

Develop a regional network of collab-

rapid response design, and other emerging

orations to help define problems, mobilize

opportunities).

resources, and engage students, faculty, and staff to amplify our impact on the sustainable

Align multidisciplinary research efforts to help address the most critical local and

C H A M P I O N I N N O VA T I O N

THE TALENT, entrepreneurial spirit, and creative thinking

human and environmental development of our local communities.

T #3 CGOL ONBNAE CL LY

of Georgia Tech students, faculty, and staff are helping At-

T H E M O S T C O N S E Q U E N T I A L challeng-

lanta grow as a global hub of innovation, a source of new

es we face as a society require global

ideas and solutions, powering leading companies and

collaboration and solutions. Georgia Tech has become a

new startups. We will develop a global reputation for a

globally recognized, reliable partner in supporting interna-

new kind of inclusive innovation where entrepreneurs of all

tional collaboration, education, commerce, and research into

backgrounds can find opportunities to succeed and make

complex issues. As the world becomes more global, so will we.

a difference.

ACTION ITEM HIGHLIGHT S:

Develop and expand signature pro-

Expand international partner-

grams to develop student entrepreneur-

ships for student exchange, study

major global activities for U.N.

Become a central actor in the

ship and support student startups.

abroad, and virtual exchanges.

Sustainable Development Goals advancement and demonstrate

Create new academic programs at the

Expand high-impact, multidisci-

global U.N. Sustainable Develop-

intersection of arts and technology, and

plinary, technology-based collab-

ment Goals capabilities at home by

incorporate learning experiences into the

orations between Georgia Tech in

ensuring campuswide decisions and

curriculum to develop student creativity

Atlanta and Georgia Tech’s current

practices that advance elements of

across disciplines.

and future international hubs in the

the U.N. Sustainable Development

areas of academics, research, eco-

Goals.

Develop excellence in rapid response, frugal science, and technology solutions.

nomic development, and community engagement.

GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE | SPRING 2021

AROUND CAMPUS

#5 C U LT I VA T E W E L L - B E I N G

THROUGH A COLLABORATIVE, holistic approach to campus health

and well-being, we will create an inclusive environment where all our students and employees can flourish and be fulfilled. We will cultivate well-being by focusing on the total person—mental and physical health, growth, and opportunity.

#4 E X PA N D A C C E S S

THE MAGNITUDE of the challenges and opportunities we

face demands that we empower and include more people, backgrounds, and perspectives in the process of learning, discovery, and creation. We will remove barriers of access

ACTION ITEM HIGHLIGHT S: Create Institute-wide well-being

Create a culture and built en-

metrics to monitor progress, solicit

vironment that is safe, accessible,

and act on student feedback, and

and supportive for all members of

identify and address issues that

the Georgia Tech community.

for underrepresented students, champion lifelong learning,

are barriers to student success

and recruit and retain a diverse faculty and staff.

and well-being.

ACTION ITEM HIGHLIGHT S:

programs for physical,

Expand and scale

Partner with public schools in Atlanta and throughout

representation and disparities in outcomes.

mental, and emotional well-being open to all students, faculty, and staff.

Georgia to inspire underrepresented minority and low-income

Expand the portfolio of

students to pursue learning and

online degree and non-degree

career pathways in science and

programs for lifelong learners

technology.

and increase the number of students served.

Actively identify and address the underlying causes of under-

#6 L E A D BY E X A M P L E

GEORGIA TECH strives to be known for innovation, collaboration, and integrity. The human-

centered nature of science, technology, and related fields includes how we conduct our research and our teaching, the way we do our jobs, and how we equip the next generation to face some of the world’s greatest challenges.

ACTION ITEM HIGHLIGHT S: Create cross-functional councils across all administrative areas to monitor performance,

development, business development, and neighborhood development practices.

leverage faculty expertise, and propose continuous improvements to administrative systems and practices. Institutionalize anchor institution practices in areas such as procurement, workforce

SPRING 2021 | GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE

Rigorously evaluate and align investments with our strategic priorities.

GLC VIRTUAL EVENTS

Let us help you create an engaging online event experience. Guidance in translating event needs to the virtual environment. Interactive networking experiences. A Hybrid Option to include a presenter with attendees onsite and virtually. Custom built support packages tailored to your event.

MEETINGS. CONFERENCES. TRAINING.

Virtual or Safely On-Site. pe.gatech.edu/virtual-meetings 404-385-6203 meetings@pe.gatech.edu

AROUND CAMPUS C O V I D - 19

9 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT COVID-19 VACCINES

BY JOSHUA STEWART

TWO RESEARCHERS in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering work with the components that make up the mRNA Covid-19 vaccines and say they’re safe and effective. BOTH THE MODERNA AND PFIZERBIONTECH VACCINES ARE MADE WITH mRNA. WHAT IS AN mRNA VACCINE? These vaccines are made of two primary ingredients: a piece of mRNA and a lipid nanoparticle, which is made from different fats. The mRNA is essentially a set of instructions—the “m” stands for “messenger.” In this case, the instructions tell our own cells how to make a piece of protein from the SARS-CoV-2 virus called the spike protein. “If you ever see pictures of the coronavirus, this protein is the big spike that is sticking out of the virus particle,” says Philip Santangelo, professor in the Coulter Department. First, the mRNA has to enter your cells, which is where the lipid nanoparticle, or LNP, comes in: It’s like an envelope that delivers the instructions. 1.

the

BASELINE 20

Philip Santangelo

CAN I GET COVID-19 FROM THE VACCINE? No. The Covid-19 vaccines contain no virus. “The mRNA is only making the spike protein. It’s not the whole virus; it’s only a part of it,” Santangelo says. 2.

James Dahlman

WHAT ABOUT THE BAD REACTIONS SOME PEOPLE HAVE EXPERIENCED? Santangelo says some people have had reactions at the injection site, but that’s common with many vaccines and, while annoying, it usually means the vaccine is doing exactly what it’s intended to do: prompting your body to react. 3.

The LNP is a combination of four different fats to create a shell around the mRNA that allows it to penetrate into our cells. “If you just inject mRNA on its own, your body does not like that, and the mRNA will not enter your cells,” says James Dahlman, assistant professor in the department. “You can imagine the lipid nanoparticle as a Trojan horse for the mRNA: The mRNA has to enter a

200,000

SPRING 2021 | GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE

cell to work as a drug, but it cannot enter the cell on its own. So, you put the mRNA inside the LNP, which can enter the cell, and as a result the mRNA enters the cell.” Once the mRNA is inside, the cells start to produce the spike protein. Your body recognizes an invader and starts to mount an immune response.

ARE ANY HUMAN CELLS USED TO CREATE THE mRNA VACCINES? 4.

COVID-19 TESTS COLLECTED AND PROCESSED ON TECH CAMPUS FROM WHEN SURVEILLANCE TESTING BEGAN IN FALL 2020 UP TO FEBRUARY 2021.

Georgia Tech began distributing two mRNA Covid-19 vaccines in January. In late February, the FDA approved a third vaccine, manufactured by Johnson & Johnson.

No. The two parts of the vaccine are made in labs using readily available, purified ingredients—and no human or animal tissue, Santangelo says. HOW WERE THE VACCINES DEVELOPED SO QUICKLY? Two reasons, according to Dahlman and Santangelo. First: The pharmaceutical companies had a head start. “Both companies had lipid formulations they knew would be useful for delivering mRNA via an intramuscular injection,” Santangelo says. At that point, they just needed to know what kind of mRNA to use. “One of the reasons why this platform is so exciting is that it is somewhat plug-and-play,” he says. “As soon as they had information about the sequence for that spike protein, the companies were easily able to put that into their pipelines and generate an mRNA for that spike. Then all they had to do was make that mRNA and combine it with the same lipids that they had been using before.” The government and the pharmaceutical industry also had been planning for some kind of pandemic to happen eventually—most likely a flu—and so had been conducting research on mRNA vaccines, he says. The second reason the vaccine came together quickly was because phase 2 and phase 3 clinical trials were designed while the initial trials were still underway, Dahlman says. Usually 5.

300

that’s just prohibitively expensive. HOW DO WE KNOW THE VACCINES ARE SAFE? Dahlman and Santangelo pointed to the tens of thousands of people involved in those trials. “Just because the clinical trials were run more quickly than normal does not mean the data are unreliable,” Dahlman says. “The data have been peer-reviewed. The data are clear: The vaccine is safe.” He and Santangelo also point to the short amount of time the vaccine’s components remain in the human body. “mRNA does not last forever,” Santangelo says. “The mRNA may express for a few days, and it will degrade through normal processes inherent to every cell in your body. The lipids also are metabolized through normal metabolization pathways.” 6.

WHY DO WE GET TWO DOSES OF THESE VACCINES INSTEAD OF ONE? Santangelo says it’s not uncommon for vaccines to require multiple doses. Think of the booster shots kids receive for some vaccines. In the case of these Covid-19 vaccines, he says: “The data suggest that after one shot, there is an immune response, but it’s not as strong as they would like, and that’s why they give you the second one. The second one is 7.

PARTICIPANTS WHO CAME TOGETHER FOR THE GEORGIA TECH FOCUS PROGRAM, WHICH WAS HOSTED VIRTUALLY FOR THE FIRST TIME IN ITS 29-YEAR HISTORY.

a booster. And what you see in the data is your antibody responses increase significantly.” WHY DO THE VACCINES HAVE TO BE STORED AT SUCH COLD TEMPERATURES? The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has to be stored at –70 degrees Celsius. Moderna’s is frozen at –25 degrees Celsius. That’s all about preserving the stability and effectiveness of the vaccine, Santangelo says, and the difference between the two is attributable to the different kinds of lipids the two companies used. 8.

HOW LONG WILL PROTECTION LAST? We don’t have as much information about the durability of protection as we would like, Santangelo says. Even so, he says getting the vaccine will benefit everyone. “It’s going to help protect you from the virus,” he says. “Even if you get Covid—not from the vaccine, but post-vaccination—you’re not going to get as sick if you have the vaccine as if you didn’t have the vaccine.” 9.

$3.8B

AWARDED TO BATTELLE SAVANNAH RIVER ALLIANCE, WHICH INCLUDES TECH, TO MANAGE D.O.E.’S SAVANNAH RIVER NATIONAL LABORATORY OVER 10 YEARS.

GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE | SPRING 2021

AROUND CAMPUS C O V I D - 19

GEORGIA TECH DISTRIBUTES C O V I D - 19 VA C C I N E S GEORGIA TECH, in collaboration with the Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH), began distributing the Covid-19 vaccine in January. The rollout plan for the campus community consists of consecutive phases with corresponding groups. In its initial allocation, Georgia Tech received both the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine and the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine. The first phase of distribution, called Phase 1A+, included Stamps Health

Captain Marcus Walton with GTPD was among the first to get the Covid-19 vaccine at Georgia Tech. Anndrea Terrell, certified medical assistant with Stamps Health Services, gave Walton the vaccine.

critical or essential employ-

seling Center staff; Health Initiatives

ee, and when I took this job

victim advocates and nutritionists;

16 years ago I took an oath

Georgia Tech Police Department

that I would do this job to

(GTPD) staff; Covid-19 surveillance

the best of my ability. Tak-

testing personnel; Athletic Associa-

ing the vaccine, along with

tion medical staff and trainers; and

practicing other safety mea-

Georgia Tech employees ages 65

sures, allows me to continue

and older.

to go out and do my job daily, know-

Captain Marcus Walton with GTPD

ing that I am helping and not hurting.

was among the first to get vaccinated.

I want to be a part of the solution, not the problem.”

Janet Foley, a pharmacist with Stamps Health Services, is working at the Covid-19 vaccine distribution clinic in the Exhibition Hall.

vaccinated,” Foley said. “I have trust

the sense of knowing that we are one

Janet Foley, a pharmacist with

in the system that the vaccine is safe,

more step closer to getting back to

Stamps Health Services, is working at

so I wanted to get it right away to

some type of normalcy in the world,”

the vaccine distribution clinic in the Ex-

show my family, neighbors, and ev-

he said.

hibition Hall. As a healthcare worker,

erybody that it’s good to get this

she was glad to get it.

vaccination.” Foley said she likes the

“Personally, I have family members that I have not visited since the pan-

“I believe in vaccination, and I be-

large turnout for vaccines. “Demand

demic started, and I would love to

lieve in the benefit vaccines give to

seems to be pretty high on campus,

go visit and hug them,” Walton said.

building herd immunity. So I think

and that’s encouraging,” she said.

“Professionally, I am what you call a

it’s important for everybody to get

—VICTOR ROGERS

the

BASELINE 22

SPRING 2021 | GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE

MICROLITERS OF INJECTED HYDROGEL-PRECURSOR MATERIAL DEVELOPED BY A GEORGIA TECH TEAM, WHICH COULD BE A NEW TREATMENT FOR GLAUCOMA.

CHRISTOPHER MOORE & EVAN ATKINSON

“I was excited because to me it is

PHOTOGRAPHS

Services staff; CARE staff and Coun-

COLLEGES: COMPUTING, SCIENCES, AND IVAN ALLEN COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS CELEBRATE 30 YEARS.

ROBOTICS

SWARM TOGETHER: COLLECTIVE WORM AND ROBOT “BLOBS” PROTECT INDIVIDUALS I N D I V I D U A L L Y , California black-

behaviors whose principles have been

worms live an unremarkable life

applied to help blobs of simple robots

eating microorganisms in ponds and

evolve their own locomotion.

serving as tropical fish food for aquar-

The research, supported by the Na-

ium enthusiasts. But together, tens,

tional Science Foundation and the

hundreds, or thousands of the centi-

Army Research Office, was reported

meter-long creatures can collaborate

Feb. 5 in the journal Proceedings of

to form a “worm blob,” a shape-shift-

the National Academy of Sciences.

ing living liquid that collectively

Findings from the work could help de-

protects its members from drying out

velopers of swarm robots understand

organisms we know of at the macro

and helps them escape threats.

how emergent behavior of entangled

scale.”

Worm blobs create collective behaviors and divide responsibilities for the movements.

While other organisms form col-

active matter can produce unexpect-

Such collective behavior in living

lective flocks, schools, or swarms for

ed, complex, and potentially useful

systems is of interest to researchers ex-

such purposes as mating, predation,

mechanically driven behaviors.

ploring ways to apply the principles

and protection, the Lumbriculus var-

The spark for the research came

of living systems to human-designed

iegatus worms are unusual in their

several years ago in California,

systems such as swarm robots, in

ability to braid themselves together

where Saad Bhamla was intrigued by

which individuals must also work to-

to accomplish tasks that unconnect-

blobs of the worms he saw in a back-

gether to create complex behaviors.

ed individuals cannot. A new study

yard pond.

reported by researchers at Georgia

“We were curious about why these

EXPANDING WHAT ROBOT SWARMS CAN DO

Tech describes how the worms self-

worms would form these living blobs,”

The researchers hope to continue their

organize to act as entangled “active

says Bhamla, an assistant professor in

study and apply what they learn to

matter,” creating surprising collective

Georgia Tech’s School of Chemical

swarm robots. But those systems must

PHOTOGRAPHS

CHRISTOPHER MOORE

Professor Daniel Goldman shows a smart active particle, a simple robot used to study interactions similar to “worm blobs.”

USG REGENTS TEACHING EXCELLENCE AWARDS BAGGED BY TECH’S WRITING AND COMMUNICATION PROGRAM AND SCHOOL OF PHYSICS PROFESSOR MICHAEL SCHATZ.

and Biomolecular Engi-

be able to work in the real world.

neering. “We have now

“Often people want to make ro-

shown through mathemat-

bot swarms do specific things, but

ical models and biological

they tend to be operating in pristine

experiments that forming

environments with simple situations,”

the blobs confers a kind

says Daniel Goldman, a Dunn Fami-

of collective decision-mak-

ly Professor in Georgia Tech’s School

ing that enables worms in

of Physics, who studies the physics

a larger blob to survive

of living systems. “With these blobs,

longer against desicca-

the whole point is that they work

tion. We also showed that

only because of physical interaction

they can move together, a

among the individuals. That’s an in-

collective behavior that’s

teresting factor to bring into robotics.”

not done by any other

—JOHN TOON

$1M

REVENUE SURPASSED BY THE 2018 INVENTURE PRIZE WINNER, ENTREPRENEUR, AND CEO OF ULTRAVIEW ARCHERY, KOLBY HANLEY, MSE 09.

GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE | SPRING 2021

VOLUME 97

ON THE FIELD

ISSUE 1

WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS! For the first time in 28 years, Georgia Tech men’s basketball claimed the Atlantic Coast Conference title. The Yellow Jackets beat Florida State 80-75 in the championship game played March 13 in Greensboro, N.C. Both men’s and women’s basketball advanced to the NCAA Tournament.

PHOTOGRAPH

ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE

HANG TIME WITH HARVIN: THE 2020 RAY GUY AWARD WINNER

ONE YEAR AGO, THE GAME CHANGED

GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE | SPRING 2021

ON THE FIELD

HANG TIME WITH HARVIN: THE 2020 RAY GUY AWARD WINNER

Harvin’s known for his booming punts that deliver impressive “hang time,” or the time that the football travels in the air.

PRESSLEY HARVIN III BECAME THE SECOND YELLOW JACKET NAMED BEST PUNTER IN COLLEGIATE FOOTBALL. BY BILL CHASTAIN, IM 79 P R E S S L E Y H A R V I N I I I averaged 48.0 yards per punt in 2020, breaking Rodney Williams’ single-season Georgia Tech record of 45.64 yards (1997). Not only was Harvin’s season record-breaking at Tech, but it solidified his reputation on a national scale. Harvin captured the 2020 Ray Guy Award, which recognizes the nation’s 26

SPRING 2021 | GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE

top punter in collegiate football. Before Harvin moves on to punt on Sundays as a pro, he’ll graduate with a degree in business administration with a concentration in general management. The Alumni Magazine recently had the opportunity to catch up with him. The following responses have been edited for length and clarity.

Q : HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT WINNING THE RAY GUY AWARD? It’s definitely an honor—particularly this year, because 2020 was all over the place with Covid, and other stuff that’s been going on. We didn’t even know if we were going to play the season. To win the award, and to become the first African American to win it, makes me

Harvin met Ray Guy at a football camp in high school. “Being able to see what he did inspired me to continue to strive to be the best that I could be,” Harvin says.

feel kind of like a trailblazer.

FORMER GEORGIA TECH PUNTER RODNEY WILLIAMS WAS A MENTOR TO YOU. HOW DID YOU MEET AND WHAT WISDOM DID HE PASS ALONG TO YOU? Lucius Sanford, IM 78 (the former Tech standout linebacker, and executive director of the GT Letterwinners Club), put us together. I haven’t had the opportunity to meet Rodney in person yet. We talked every now and then, and more this year than prior years. He motivated me to continue to be the player I could be on the field, and the person I could be off the field. Rodney’s a real good guy. He also helped pave the way for me. He was an African American punter, too.

PHOTOGRAPHS

GEORGIA TECH ATHLETICS

GIVEN YOUR SIZE(6–FOOT, 255 POUNDS) IT’S HARD TO IMAGINE COACHES N OT T R Y I N G T O P U T Y O U AT L I N E B A C K E R . HOW DID YOU END UP BECOMING A PUNTER? I started punting in the seventh grade. Nobody really wanted to punt. I really started taking punting seriously my freshman year of high school. At that time, I was also playing tight end. I had to make a hard decision about what I wanted to do. I think I made the right one. Punting has continued to bless me and my family with all the opportunities I’ve been afforded.

Q: YOU’RE KNOWN FOR BOOMING PUNTS

T H AT H A N G I N T H E A I R F O R E V ER. HOW DO YOU DELIVER SUCH IMPRESSIVE HANG TIMES? That came with a lot of practice and having my frame. I have powerful legs. By refining my technique, and continuing to work, the hang time eventually came. When I was younger, I tried to kill the ball. But I worked on my technique. That helped improve my hang time. If I know my team needs a bigger hang time ball, I can do it, and put it in the right place.

WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE MOMENT DURING YOUR TECH PLAYING CAREER? Has to be the touchdown I threw to Nate Cottrell on a fake punt against Miami (during the 2019 season). We practiced that play all week. Next thing you know, Coach Collins called it. I’m like, “Oh crap. I’m kind of far back.” I just did my best to put that ball on the money, and it was definitely there. At first, I thought Nate dropped it because I couldn’t see it. When I saw the ref put his hands up to signal touchdown, I went crazy. That play helped sway the game our way.

T EC H’S GOL DEN PUN TERS

P R E S S L E Y H A R V I N is the second Tech punter to win the Ray Guy Award. Durant Brooks, Mgt 08, was the first when he won in 2007. Brooks remembers that “just being in the conversation” to win the award “was awesome.” “And then you go and win it,” he says. “It just meant that much more knowing that nobody at Tech had won it before.” At the time, Brooks wasn’t thinking about winning the award, but about playing for his teammates. “I’m sure Pressley was not thinking about that as a goal he wanted to have as an individual. Football is such a team sport that you have to have other people helping you out to get there.” For Brooks, winning the Ray Guy Award means more to him now than it did when he was a student. “To bring home a piece of hardware and have it there in the [Tech] trophy cases is meaningful,” says Brooks, now father of two daughters. “The fact that it will always be a part of

HOW HAS YOUR TECH EXPERIENCE

Tech history, and that my kids can see

BEEN? I appreciate my classmates, being around their brilliance, as well as learning from my professors. Tech is diverse. It’s a real mixed community, and I like that. Finally, there’s the experience of being at Tech, in downtown Atlanta. Tech is one of only a handful of schools in the country located in a big city, where you can take advantage of the city.

the award [at Tech’s Edge Center], is really neat.” Brooks hasn’t met Harvin or been able to “kick with him,” he says, but Harvin’s performance has impressed him. “What he’s done is a testament to his ability to work on his craft when everything is shut down, and drill, drill, drill,” Brooks says. “I’ll tell you what, it paid off.”—BILL CHASTAIN

GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE | SPRING 2021

ON THE FIELD L O W E N A M E D 2 0 21 NCAA INSPIRATION AWARD RECIPIENT RECEIVING one of the NCAA’s most prestigious honors, alumna and fourtime Olympian Chaunté Lowe, Econ 08, has been named the 2021 recipient of the NCAA Inspiration Award.

overcome the event and most impor-

Championships, and was inducted

Lowe, who was diagnosed with

tantly, who now serves as a role model

into the Georgia Tech Sports Hall of

breast cancer in 2019, has continued to

to give hope and inspiration to others in

Fame in 2015. She turned professional

train for the Olympic Team while under-

similar situations.

after graduating and went on to

going chemotherapy and treatment.

Lowe is Georgia Tech’s first alum-

become a four-time Olympian,

The NCAA Inspiration Award is pre-

na to receive the NCAA Inspiration

2008 Olympic high-jump bronze

sented to a coach, administrator, or

Award. In 2020, she was named one

medalist, American record holder,

current or former varsity letterwinner

of Georgia Tech Alumni’s 40 Under 40.

three–time World Champion, eight–

who, when confronted with a life-

As a Yellow Jacket, Lowe earned

time national outdoor champion, and

altering situation, used perseverance,

13 all-ACC honors, six All-Ameri-

12–time U.S. National Champion.

dedication, and determination to

can accolades, and three NCAA

—GEORGIA TECH ATHLETICS

F O R T N E R N A M E D A C C C OA C H O F T H E Y E A R IN JUST HER SECOND SEASON on The Flats, women’s basketball coach Nell Fortner was tabbed the ACC Coach of the Year by the Blue Ribbon Panel. With a 12-6 league record, Fortner guided Tech to a third place finish in the ACC standings, marking the highest finish in program history, after being picked to finish ninth in the preseason poll by the Blue Ribbon Panel. She is the first Georgia Tech women’s basketball head coach to earn ACC Coach of the Year honors.—GEORGIA TECH ATHLETICS

“MEGATRON” JOHNSON ELECTED TO PRO FOOTBALL H A L L O F FA M E

Tech’s Pro Football Hall-of-Famers.

all-American (2005 and 2006) and

Johnson, a wide receiver who

winner of the 2006 Biletnikoff Award

starred at Tech from 2004 to 2006,

(college football’s top receiver), he

was selected by the Detroit Lions with

remains the Yellow Jackets’ all-time

the No. 2 overall pick in the 2007 NFL

leader for receiving yards in a season

I N H I S F I R S T Y E A R of eligibility,

draft. Known widely by his nickname

(1,202 in 2006) and career (2,927)

Georgia Tech football legend Calvin

“Megatron,” Johnson’s 11,619 receiv-

and touchdown receptions in a season

“Megatron” Johnson has been select-

ing yards rank fourth in NFL history by

(15 in 2006) and career (28).

ed for enshrinement in the Pro Football

a player in their first nine seasons, and

Johnson is no stranger to Hall of

Hall of Fame.

his 5,137 receiving yards from 2011 to

Fame inductions, as he went into the

Johnson will become the third Tech

2013 remain the most ever by an NFL

Georgia Tech Sports Hall of Fame

letterwinner in the Pro Football Hall of

player during a three-season stretch.

in 2016, the College Football Hall of

Fame—and the first to enter the Hall in

Prior to becoming one of the NFL’s

Fame in 2018, the Georgia Sports

22 years—when he is enshrined in July.

all-time great receivers, Johnson set

Hall of Fame in 2019, and the At-

He’ll join Joe Guyon (inducted in 1966)

several receiving records in his three

lanta Sports Hall of Fame in 2020.

and Billy Shaw (inducted in 1999) as

seasons at Tech. A two-time first-team

—GEORGIA TECH ATHLETICS

SPRING 2021 | GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE

FUNDRAISING PRIORITIES THROUGH JUNE 30, 2021 As we close the books on Athletics Initiative 2020, the Alexander-Tharpe Fund has turned its attention to our top priorities for the 2021 giving year, which include: Current Operations, the Track and Field Team Suite, AD’s Initiative, and Head Coach Endowments. We look forward to celebrating the successes of AI2020 in the coming months. For more information and to make a gift today, visit ATFund.org/donate.

SUPPORT THE SWARM

Following a tumultuous 10 months due to the revenue shortfalls associated with Covid-19 and limited capacity at athletics events, funding for current operations is the top priority for Georgia Tech athletics. During the second half of the 2021 giving year, funding for the Support the Swarm Fund and all current operating areas is critical to maintaining momentum and competitive success.

AD’S INITIATIVE FUND

As the 2021 year takes shape, it remains important that Georgia Tech Athletics has the ability to be nimble and react quickly to an ever-changing landscape. Gifts and commitments to the Athletic Director’s Initiative Fund can be used to address unexpected critical needs as they arise in an effort to stay focused on winning championships.

TRACK & FIELD TEAM SUITE

After more than 30 years of use, an investment is needed in order to transform the space into an area that will provide our student-athletes with the resources needed to compete at the highest levels of collegiate track and field, and will include new men’s and women’s locker rooms, new sports medicine, training and hydrotherapy rooms, as well as nutrition and common areas. Fundraising efforts have secured more than $1.6 million of the $2 million needed.

HEAD COACH ENDOWMENTS

Similar to named dean’s chairs and school chairs at the Institute, naming a coaching or leadership position creates a lasting family legacy and an endowment that provides annual income for program support, ensuring that Georgia Tech attracts and retains the very best talent.

TO LEARN MORE VISIT www.atfund.org/FY21 or call (404) 894-5414

ON THE FIELD

ONE YEAR AGO, THE GAME CHANGED

SINCE THE FIRST CASES OF COVID-19 WERE REPORTED IN THE U.S. MORE THAN A YEAR AGO, THERE ISN’T A SPORT THAT HASN’T BEEN IMPACTED IN SOME WAY BY THE PANDEMIC. GEORGIA TECH STUDENT-ATHLETES REFLECT ON HOW THEIR SEASONS HAVE CHANGED.

MARIANA BRAMBILLA VO L L E Y B A L L , O U T S I D E H I T T E R # 13

Q: WHAT HAS THIS SEASON

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YOUR TEAMMATES DO TO MAINTAIN YOUR TEAM BOND? During the quarantine back in July, we made regular Zoom calls and FaceTime calls. Now that we are back at practice, we see each other during practice and after school, so we try to make our time as productive as possible. However, during the weekends we try to do some walks around the city or watch and cheer for other Tech sports.

GEORGIA TECH ATHLETICS/DANNY KARNIK

Q: WHAT DID IT MEAN TO YOU TO PLAY THIS SEASON EVEN WITH THESE CHALLENGES? I recognize that it is a privilege to keep playing and practicing safely during

Q: WHAT DID YOU AND PHOTOGRAPH

BEEN LIKE FOR YOU? This new phase of training was very challenging at the beginning when we first got back. We had to adapt to mask training and testing daily. In addition, the team committed to comply with all protocols and take all possible care outside the home, just staying in our bubble. In volleyball, we usually do high fives after every point, and we reunite in small circles. We always had a lot of contact and closeness during the game, but now we have to be careful. However, it is still possible to look into each other’s eyes and convey confidence even with your mouth and nose covered.

this pandemic. In my family, my dad and my brother are part of the group at risk for Covid and have been at home for almost a year now, going out only for supermarkets and essential needs, just like thousands of other people. Being able to practice this sport that I love and have a chance to play in the NCAA Championship with this huge structure to allow us to play safe makes me very grateful.

RYA N J O H N S O N FOOTBALL, OFFENSIVE LINEMAN #70 workouts moved to the main stage. Over the season, we would work out in our indoor facility, where weight platforms have been moved so that we had adequate space to be socially distanced from those working out next to us. Masks, splash guards, and other precautions were taken to keep us safe.

Q: HOW DID YOUR TRAINING CHANGE LAST YEAR? One of the biggest differences was the loss of our spring and part of our summer training. As lockdown orders took effect, we were sent home in the middle of spring practice. For the next few months, training continued on our own with virtual meetings and virtual school. When we returned to campus, we were still far from normal as Covid tests, temperature checks, and modified, socially distant K E N YA J O N E S WOMEN’S TENNIS

PHOTOGRAPHS

GEORGIA TECH ATHLETICS/KARL L. MOORE & KYLE HESS

Q: WHAT HAS THIS SEASON BEEN LIKE FOR YOU, INCLUDING SOME OF THE DIFFERENCES AS A RESULT OF THE PANDEMIC? I feel like me and a lot of my teammates are just more grateful to be on the court because we had the opportunity taken away from us for six months. I think we are all just super excited and there is a more positive energy whenever we step out onto the court now.

Q: WHAT DID YOU AND YOUR TEAMMATES DO TO MAINTAIN YOUR TEAM BOND? Since we couldn’t go to restaurants and we couldn’t really go anywhere, we decided to have a lot of game nights at

Q: WHAT DID IT MEAN TO YOU TO PLAY EVEN WITH THESE CHALLENGES? Throughout the off-season, the ominous question of whether or not we would be playing a season weighed heavily on everyone. However, our team did an amazing job of putting our heads down and not focusing on whether we would play. We just focused on the next day and how to get better and prepare for the chance to play in the fall. To be able to play this season was an amazing feeling. After lockdowns, after the threat of not having a season, and after countless Covid

tests, we were allowed to play the game that many of us have trained our whole lives for. While the season didn’t look like any in the past, it was a testament to our ability to adapt and persevere. For me, this year was beyond special. God has given me the ability to play a game that I love at a level very few people have the chance to experience. I had the opportunity to play in front of millions of people and bring them together in a time of struggle and uncertainty in our country. To me, that’s what football is all about.

Q: WHAT DID YOU AND YOUR TEAMMATES DO TO MAINTAIN YOUR TEAM BOND? Daily Zoom meetings consisted of not just football and academics but everything in between. We would do everything from virtual yoga together to seeing who would be the first one to make his bed in the morning and making sure everyone else followed suit.

our apartment or in the dorms just so we could get to know the new freshmen a little better. Bonding as a team is always super important because you want to have a good culture.

Q: YOU DECIDED TO TAKE THE EXTRA YEAR OF COMPETITIVE ELIGIBILITY OFFERED TO STUDENT-ATHLETES BY THE NCAA DUE TO THE PANDEMIC. HOW DID YOU COME TO THAT DECISION? I always imagined my senior year to look a certain way and I was completely heartbroken when I didn’t have the opportunity to have a Senior Day and to know that it was going to be the last time I was going to play on these courts. To have that taken away from me, and then for them to say, “no, you can actually have that back,” was

important to me. I decided this would be the smartest decision since I want to play professionally, and during that time, there weren’t a lot of pro tournaments to play. And also, I felt like it was a good decision for the team with many young people being on the team. I know Vicky [teammate Victoria Flores] is happy to still have me here. GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE | SPRING 2021

VOLUME 97

IN THE WORLD

ISSUE 1

YELLOW JACKETS: MARS MISSION Billy Allen, ME 13, Mechatronics Engineer Kareem Badaruddin, EE 86, MS EE 87, Supervisor for System Testbeds, Spacecraft Operability Dave Blett, MS AEHYPERSONIC 16, PhD AE 20, Entry,SPEEDS Descent, and Landing Engineer Emily Bohannon, ME 19, Systemsprototype, Engineer developed This Mach 5 engine

couldEngineer make for Sample Ian Clark, AE by 03,Atlanta-based MS AE 06, PhDHermeus, AE 09, Systems super-fast air travel a reality within a Cleanliness, Office of the Chief Engineer decade, says Piplica, AE 10, MS AE 12, Jessica Clark, AE 10, MS A.J. AE 12, Fault Protection Systems Engineer the company’s co-founder and CEO. Elizabeth Córdoba, AE 05, Supervisor of Verification and Validation Alyssa Deardorff, AE 18, Systems Engineer Gregory Dubos, MS AE 07, PhD AE 11, Systems Engineer Soumyo Dutta, MS AE 10, PhD AE 13, Aerospace Engineer Alex Ferreira, ME 16, Actuator Cognizant Engineer Jason Ginn, AE 13, MS AE 14, Entry, Descent, and Landing Mechanical Engineer Brett Hannah, ME 06, Mechanical Engineering Lead for the PIXL Instrument

Kristina Alemany Kipp, MS AE 05, PhD AE 09, Systems Engineer for Sample Caching System Mallory Lefland, AE 12, Entry, Descent and Landing Systems Engineer Milad Mahzari, AE 08, MS AE 10, PhD AE 13, Aerothermal Engineer Jennifer Miller, MS ME 12, Thermal Systems Engineer Pranay Mishra, AE 14, MS AE 16, Systems Engineer Adam Nelessen, MS AE 15, Entry, Descent, and Landing Systems Engineer Richard Otero, MS AE 09, MS CS 10, PhD AE 12, Entry, Descent, and Landing Systems Engineer Mike Pauken, MS ME 90, PhD ME 94, Thermal Systems Engineer Shivaly Reddy, MS ECE 06, Software Engineer Katie Siegel, MSE 16, MS MSE 17, Mechanical Engineer Vishnu Sridhar, AE 15, Instrument Engineer for Perseverance’s SuperCam Kim Steadman, AE 95, MS AE 98, Systems Engineer Christopher Tanner, AE 05, MS AE 07, PhD AE 12, Parachute Lead Mechanical Engineer Philip Twu, MS ECE 09, PhD ECE 12, Robotics Systems Engineer Luke Walker, AE 09, MS AE 12, MBA 12, Systems Engineer David Way, MS AE 97, PhD AE 01, Aerospace Engineer

DARE MIGHTY THINGS Systems engineer and alumnus Ian Clark had the idea to embed a secret message into the pattern of Perseverance’s parachute. Decoded using binary code, the message reads: Dare Mighty Things. The outer band includes GPS coordinates for JPL. Do you know of other “Easter Eggs” that Yellow Jackets have embedded into major projects in history? Tell us about it! Email editor@alumni.gatech.edu.

IN THE WORLD …AND BEYOND NASA’s successful mission to land a rover on Mars could not have happened without the efforts of several Georgia Tech alumni. Perseverance, which touched down Feb. 18, will search for ancient signs of life on the Red Planet.

PHOTOGRAPH

NASA/JPL-CALTECH

“YOU CAN’T HIDE THE SUN”

HI, ROBOT

GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE | SPRING 2021

IN THE WORLD

“YOU CAN’T HIDE THE SUN” JUST 33, SUHA KAYUM HAS PATENTED HER OWN ALGORITHM AND IS RAPIDLY CLIMBING THE RANKS AT SAUDI ARAMCO, ALL WHILE CHAMPIONING WOMEN IN STEM.

BY C ARSON VAUGHAN

SHE WAS AN HOUR LATE, they said. This never happened. Even back then, in 2002, Suha Kayum was punctual, orderly, prepared. Khabbeh qirshak al-abyad la-yawmak al-aswad, her mother often told her. Save your white penny for your black day. And yet there she was, standing at the proctor’s desk at 9:00 a.m. sharp, all the other 10th-graders crunched over their desks, scribbling away. They couldn’t give her extra time, they said, but she could race to catch up. Instead of tearing open the exam and scribbling away, Kayum calmly took a seat, double-checked the clock, and formulated a schedule that would put her back on track. Only then did she begin, moving forward systematically, like the engineer she was bound to become. With minutes left, the proctor approached her desk. If she needed more time, they said, the British Consul, which administers the International General Certificate of Secondary Education, would allow it after all. “Oh, no,” she said, stacking the pages. “I’m fine.” She hadn’t always been a top student, but she aced the exam. “I realized that I work really well under pressure like that,” she says. “It might sound weird, but I actually enjoyed it.” And thus, Suha Kayum went looking for more.

G R O W I N G U P I N D H A H R A N , a city in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, Kayum used to dream of working for Saudi Aramco. When she says, “It’s not a dream, but a lifestyle,” she’s not peddling company propaganda: She means it literally. In the 1930s, Standard Oil established a camp in Dhahran for oil exploration, which would become a massive residential community for the world’s largest oil producer. It’s still very much in use today, housing nearly 11,000 employees. Her aunt and great-uncles worked there when she was a kid, and her aunt often brought her inside the community. “It’s kind of like a mini-America in Saudi,” Kayum says. “It’s just fascinating.” A civil engineer, Kayum’s father ran his own business, contracting with electric utilities all over Saudi Arabia on high-voltage transmission projects. To Kayum, he seemed almost

preternaturally unflappable. No matter the problem, personal or professional, he calmly worked through it, one step at a time. And he saw flashes of the same in his daughter. In Saudi culture, “the ultimate thing is to be a doctor,” she says, but

“I REALIZED THAT I WORK REALLY WELL UNDER PRESSURE LIKE THAT. IT MIGHT SOUND WEIRD, BUT I ACTUALLY ENJOYED IT,” SAYS KAYUM.

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when she began to excel in technical subjects like geometry and physics, he encouraged her to follow his own trajectory. When he roped her into building the website for his engineering firm, her dreams began to take shape. “That’s where I felt like I could combine those two and actually be a computer engineer,” she says. “You have the computer science aspect, but you still have the electrical engineering aspect, as well.” But the path was hardly clear. Educational opportunities for women in Saudi Arabia, though gradually dawning, were severely limited when Kayum was approaching high school graduation in 2004. “The only option that was remotely close to any engineering was interior design in architecture school. That’s it,” she says. She was quickly accepted into the local interior design program, but she also applied for a dual-degree program at Agnes Scott College and Georgia Tech, one of the top computer engineering programs in the world. She soon had two opportunities on her plate—assuming her father would approve her travel to the states—and though one was clearly more aligned with her goals, it was hardly an easy decision. “I wanted to [go abroad], but at the same time, there’s this fear,” she says. “Being a female and being alone and all that— it was a tough choice.” What she didn’t know was that her father had already booked her a ticket to Atlanta. * * * KAYUM PASSED the next five years at Georgia Tech on a scholastic carousel, endlessly rotating between the library, the student center, Starbucks, Tech Square—a stack of books in her hand and her nose in one, too. She also worked part-time as a research assistant at the Georgia Tech Research Institute, where she focused on network security. And somehow, in the cracks, she found time to volunteer, even helping to establish the Atlanta chapter of the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund, a nonprofit that provides free medical care to sick or injured children in the Middle East. The experience was incredibly fulfilling, she says, but beyond that, she was “a super nerd.” After Tech, she was hired for a software engineering position at Endgame in Atlanta, where she quickly put her network security experience to use. “My main work there was dealing with really big data,”

Suha Kayum developed a patented algorithm to enhance Saudi Aramco’s parallel basin simulator. She is also trailblazing a path for girls and women pursuing careers in STEM in Saudi Arabia.

she says. “That’s where I actually started my love for highperformance computing, which is trying to solve not just problems, but really large problems that you can’t solve on a single machine. You need to have parallel machines cranking at the same time.” Kayum stuck with Endgame for a year before finally returning to Dhahran, where she soon began consulting with Saudi Aramco on GigaPOWERS, the company’s secondgeneration in-house reservoir simulator, to model how oil moves through the earth’s crust during extraction. “That was my foot in the door,” she says, and just two years later, her personal fairy tale came true. Aramco offered Kayum her dream job as a full-time systems analyst in the computational modeling division at its Upstream Advanced Research Center. “It felt too good to be true,” she says. “When I was in college, I remember seeing a lot of people who weren’t studying as hard as me—they were partying—and I remember thinking, I know this will pay off. I’m here to be the best and go back and pursue my dreams. And so, it felt like it finally paid off.” But the hire was mutually beneficial, and Aramco quickly reaped the rewards. Kayum first helped design the interface GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE | SPRING 2021

IN THE WORLD

Kayum speaks internationally about encouraging women and girls in STEM fields.

for the GigaPOWERS software, and later joined the basin simulator team, which focused not on oil recovery, but oil discovery. Whereas reservoir simulation mirrors a roughly 70-year period, basin simulation, which models the shifting of tectonic plates, traces a timeline spanning 500 million years. “Our group urgently needed a member on the Basin Simulator Development Team, which was an entirely different area of geoscience,” says Dr. Kesavalu Hemanthkumar, a former senior petroleum engineering consultant for Aramco. “Suha was asked to work on that team, which was very new to her, but she had no hesitation. She worked very hard to learn the fundamentals and slowly started contributing and eventually became a core member of the team.” So core, in fact, that in just nine months, she developed a complex algorithm—capable of running in parallel across

“SEEING PEOPLE WITHIN THE COMPANY USING THE SOFTWARE THAT I DEVELOP OR THE FEATURES THAT I MAKE IS THE MOST REWARDING THING EVER,” SAYS KAYUM.

thousands of computers—to simulate hydrocarbon migration. Her algorithm enabled the first billion-cell basin 36

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simulation run, and last year was granted a U.S. patent. “Seeing people within the company using the software that I develop or the features that I make is the most rewarding thing ever,” she says. She eventually pivoted back to the GigaPOWERS team, where she became the Advanced Research Center’s first female “Focus Area Champion.” Like the parallel algorithm she patented, Kayum herself runs simultaneously across multiple platforms. When she’s not focused on the engineering itself, she’s serving as an Aramco ambassador, introducing visitors to their latest technologies; she’s speaking at international conferences; and perhaps most importantly, she’s advocating for women in STEM. In 2017, she connected with the Society for Petroleum Engineers, who expressed the need for more female role models in the industry. Before long, she found herself visiting Saudi schools and speaking with young girls who hadn’t considered a future in the sciences. “I am actually meeting females at a pivotal point in their lives where I can steer them in a direction they never imagined,” she says. “This is something that’s super fulfilling both personally and professionally.” But never one to rest on her laurels, Suha Kayum is always searching for the next challenge. “There are going to be obstacles at work. There are going to be experiences that might not be that great. You might happen to not get much support at certain points in life. But that’s fine,” she says. “You just keep going. You can’t really hide the sun.”

Stockton De Laria BA 2021

I am grateful for Roll Call donors whose support has helped make my time at Georgia Tech possible through The Atlanta Public School (APS) Scholars Program. I’ve gained new perspectives through study abroad and internships, and I’m looking forward to launching my career with Bain & Company as an Associate Consultant after graduation. Life-changing experiences like these would not be possible without the continued investment of generous alumni and friends.

gtalumni.org/givetoday

IN THE WORLD

HI, ROBOT

ROBOTS WON’T TAKE OVER THE WORLD, SAYS LAURA MAJOR, IE 02, CO-AUTHOR OF WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU’RE EXPECTING ROBOTS, BUT THEY WILL NEED OUR HELP NAVIGATING IT.

BY GEORGE SPENCER

DRIVERLESS CARS are collaborative robots. They are trailblazing a new world of human-robot partnerships, and tech companies have a duty to safely introduce and manage these silicon help-mates. “Collaborative robots will be fundamentally new societal entities, and they lack the millennia of cultural development that made us who we are as humans with incredibly advanced social skills,” writes Laura Major, IE 02, co-author of the new book What to Expect When You’re Expecting Robots. Major is the chief technology officer at Motional, a $4 billion joint venture between Hyundai and Aptiv, an industry leader in vehicle connectivity, which is developing Level 4 autonomous vehicles that perform all driving tasks. The Boston–based company operates a self-driving fleet of Lyft robotaxis in Las Vegas that has conducted more than 100,000 rides with 98 percent passenger satisfaction. We asked Major what challenges humans will face living, working, and driving with robots.

HOW WILL AUTONOMOUS CARS MAKE ETHICAL DRIVING DECISIONS? There are many moments when drivers fluidly apply their judgment. Is it safer to cross the double yellow line into the next lane to swerve around a bicyclist, or is it better to hit the brakes? At Motional we use machine learning (designing ways for decision-making algorithms to learn human drivers’ judgment) paired with something we call “rule books,” a hierarchical representation of constraints so the car can make informed decisions. Obviously, human life is the most important thing. 38

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WILL ALL AUTONOMOUS CARS BEHAVE THE SAME WAY? There might be tunings for different driving styles. I live in Boston. If you stop to let people cross, they don’t understand that. That’s not a common behavior. But in Atlanta that’s very common. We want our system to have local etiquette to understand a city’s social norms to more effectively operate around other autonomous vehicles and human-driven cars.

P E D E S T R I A N S S T U D Y D R I V E R S ’ F A C E S T O S E E W H AT C A R S MIGHT DO. WHAT IF THERE ARE NO FACES TO STUDY? It’s the tech industry’s responsibility to figure out how these systems, whether in driverless cars or sidewalk delivery

Laura Major, IE 02, is the chief technology officer at Motional, which is developing fully autonomous driverless vehicles.

robots, communicate with people who aren’t roboticists. Motional has a project called “expressive robotics” that looks at cues people use to predict if a car is going to stop for them. Sometimes drivers flash their lights to say, “Hey, I see you. Go and cross,” or you hear brakes and know a stop is initiated. We want to build on the mental models people have. Instead of teaching people how to communicate with robots, we must first try mental models people have and build them into robots.

IN THE FUTURE WILL BUYERS BE ABLE TO SELECT DRIVING MODES THAT HAVE VARYING LEVELS OF ALTRUISM IN EMERGENCIES? How do you strike a balance between having a car do something altruistic versus saving yourself? That would require the “driver” to be very knowledgeable about what those modes mean and what state they’re putting their system in. I don’t think users are going to have the expertise to understand the subtleties that might go into trade-offs like that. I’d advocate having standards in place and industry

“IT’S THE TECH INDUSTRY’S

these systems. We give them names. It’s human nature. I don’t know that it’s good or bad. It just is. It’s important when we design these systems to factor that in. We advocate taking that seriously and build into systems ways for people to understand a robot’s key capabilities and limitations so the partnership can be effective and people know when they can and can’t rely on the robot.

SOON SIDEWALK ROBOTS, DELIVERY D R O N E S , E V E N C O M P A N I O N H O U S E H O L D R O B OT S WILL FILL OUR WORLD. YOUR BOOK CALLS THIS A “SOCIAL REVOLUTION.” HOW CONCERNED SHOULD PEOPLE BE? There’s a lot of fear out there around these things. Our view is not that robots will take over the world. We’d rather focus on how you make robots helpful and solve problems meaningful to society. Self-driving cars can save thousands of lives every year by reducing highway fatalities. That’s what we should focus on. There’s an opportunity for positive societal change with these systems. We can’t just focus on technical challenges. We also have to think about how our world must adapt and evolve to support robots. What can we do to make a robot more successful? When factory robots were introduced, factories put tape on floors for them to follow. They fenced in robots until they were confident their software had evolved enough so they could safely coexist with human workers. Steps like that are powerful.

RESPONSIBILITY TO FIGURE OUT

HOW THESE SYSTEMS, WHETHER IN DRIVERLESS CARS OR SIDEWALK

DELIVERY ROBOTS, COMMUNICATE WITH PEOPLE WHO AREN’T ROBOTICISTS,” SAYS MAJOR.

cooperation to ensure we design safe systems that are altruistic as well as act to save you.

CHILDREN WITH AUTISM AND DEMENTIA PATIENTS FALL IN LOVE WITH CAREGIVER ROBOTS. EVEN SOLDIERS DEVELOP FEELINGS FOR LAND-MINE-DISABLING ROBOTS. IS THIS HEALTHY? People naturally want to partner with robots. We personify

GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE | SPRING 2021

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the

APPLE

( or ANDROID )

DOESN’T

l l a f

FAR FROM THE

tree

ARE WE RAISING OUR TECHNOLOGY TO BE BIASED BIASED?

jennifer herseim i l l u s t r a t i o n s b y c h a r l i e l ay t o n

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE is increasingly part of our lives. Facial recognition unlocks our phones. Online advertisements learn our shopping behaviors. Recommendation algorithms even suggest the next romantic comedy we should binge-watch after Bridgerton. Despite its name, we don’t expect AI to be intelligent all the time. But we generally expect it to be equally correct or incorrect for all of us—regardless of gender or race. Georgia Tech alumni and researchers are finding that’s not always the case. “No one wakes up and says they’re going to write an algorithm that discriminates against a certain group of people. The problem is much deeper than that,” says Swati Gupta, a Fouts Family Early Career professor and assistant professor in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Georgia Tech. Gupta’s research includes algorithmic fairness and its impact on hiring practices. In short, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. As humans, we can inadvertently leave traces of ourselves in the technology that we develop. As the world finds more uses for datacentered technologies, the consequences of this bias can be significant and be disproportionately felt by certain groups. Those in the Georgia Tech community

Nashlie Sephus, Sephus MS ECE 10, PhD ECE 14, works at Amazon AWS AI on algorithmic fairness, mitigating bias, and understanding how technology impacts different groups and communities.

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are fighting this issue from all sides, illuminating bias in AI, driving the conversation around algorithmic fairness, and working toward a future where AI can help us rise above human flaws. “I’ve been hammered with this perception that technology is perpetuating our biases. I would counter that humans are biased,” Gupta says. “With algorithms, we have the opportunity to make them less biased. We can find these unfortunate trends in the data and correct them.” ILLUMINATING BIAS When Joy Buolamwini, CS 12, started school at MIT, she noticed something strange with the facial tracking software she was given: it wouldn’t detect her face until she put on a white mask. In a documentary released last year called Coded Bias, Buolamwini reflects on that moment. “I’m thinking all right, what’s going on here? Is it the lighting conditions? Is it the angle at which I’m looking at the camera? Or is there

something more?” she asks. “That’s when I started looking into issues of bias that can creep into technology.” Buolamwini would go on to co-author the study Gender Shades, which illuminated bias in facial classification systems. Her TED Talk on algorithmic bias has garnered more than 1 million views, and she was recently recognized for her work by National Geographic as an Emerging Explorer in 2020. Buolamwini founded the Algorithmic Justice League to use art and research to bring awareness to issues of bias in AI. Gender Shades looked at the accuracy of three facial classification systems that detect a person’s gender. When results

“

lighter-skinned faces. The impact of bias in facial recognition has already begun to lead to real-world consequences. In August of 2020, a Black man was arrested by the Detroit Police Department after a facial identification system incorrectly matched the man’s face from surveillance footage. In addition, there are other examples of law enforcement using systems where algorithmic bias can lead to problems, Gupta adds. The Los Angeles Police Department previously used a predictive policing tool that used arrest data to predict where crimes would happen in the future. “The problem was the data looked at where arrests occurred, not where the

We’re at a place where technology has moved so fast, government and policies have not been able to keep up,” // S E P H U S S A Y S .

were disaggregated by gender and skin tone, the study revealed that the systems performed better on male rather than female faces, and that error rates were much higher for darker-skinned females (ranging from 20.8% to 34.7%) compared to lighter-skinned males (ranging from 0.0% to 0.8%). Buolamwini and her co-author found that data used to train these algorithms was largely made up of male and <<< PHOTOGRAPH // KAYLINN GILSTRAP

crimes actually occurred,” Gupta says. Research has shown how that could lead to false assumptions about where crime is happening and raise questions about overpolicing certain neighborhoods, she says. WHERE BIAS CREEPS IN To understand how bias can creep into AI, consider how GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE | SPRING 2021

these systems are developed. “All AI is, is a system that’s finding patterns in data and is able to infer things in the future, or ‘the wild’, based on patterns that it previously has seen,” explains Nashlie Sephus, MS ECE 10, PhD ECE 14. Sephus is a Tech Evangelist at Amazon AWS AI, where she focuses on fairness, mitigating bias, and understanding how technology impacts communities. She joined Amazon in 2017 after the company acquired Partpic, where Sephus was chief technology officer. Partpic helped customers identify screws, bolts, and other hardware parts using computer vision. “Whether it’s screws, nuts, washers—or faces or speech—you have to train these models to be able to infer new data that comes at them,” Sephus says. When the training data sets are not representative, the system won’t be able to properly identify new data. Simplified: “Garbage in, garbage out,” Sephus says. Although training a system to identify hardware is fundamentally the same as training it to recognize faces, the risks of a wrong answer are, obviously, much greater depending on the application. When a system doesn’t recognize your face to unlock your phone, that’s an inconvenience, but when it’s used by law enforcement to make an arrest, a wrong match could have significant consequences. Last June, Amazon announced a one-year moratorium on police use of their facial recognition technology.

“We’re at a place where technology has moved so fast, government and policies have not been able to keep up,” Sephus says. “We need to take a step back to gather stakeholders to decide what needs to happen before we can use these technologies in our everyday lives.” Bias is more than just a data problem, Sephus adds. “You have to consider the end-use, and then adapt, modify, and be sensitive about the risks that can occur.” Annotation bias and confounding variables can also lead to problems. Consider the example of facial gender classification systems. A system could incorrectly identify women, for instance, because it was created with a narrow set of variables that did not account for women who have short hair. Beyond improving the accuracy of such a system, this application raises other questions, Sephus says, such as “Should we even be doing gender detection if we can only do it visually in terms of binary gender? Does that discriminate against transgender and nonbinary groups?” Whether to use AI in certain applications is a valid question that programmers should be asking, Gupta says. Even if a program has 99% accuracy, is the application ethical? Do we want a society based on this program? As an example, Gupta came across a study of a technology that uses a person’s photo to predict whether they would commit a felony. “Even if you showed a high accuracy,

facial recognition 101 a.

a. image captured b. biometrics applied c. compared with database d. match identified

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How To “Win The Future” As Explained By Sci-Fi WONDERING how to navigate ethical issues in artificial intelligence? Wish there was a model for

maybe it’s off on certain demographics and it completely changes people’s lives. I think there’s a difference between when we should deploy a technology and when we should not.”

what could happen? Let your friendly science fiction futurists like Octavia Butler or Robert Heinlein show you the way. “Science fiction in many ways is the ideal vehicle to do this,” says Lisa Yaszek, regents professor of Science Fiction Studies in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication. Yaszek explains that science fiction authors start with the “novum”—Latin for the “new thing”—or the technological or scientific advancement that makes a science fiction world different from our own. Then they ask: What if…? What if we made these choices, what kinds of futures might we build? “When you do that, in a good story, it always leads to social, ethical, or moral debate—or all three—and then social, ethical, and moral change,” Yaszek says. Looking to science fiction can help technologists see what could go right or wrong with a technological innovation 50, 100, or 1,000 years into the future. As Yaszek teaches at Georgia Tech, both the inspirational and cautionary sides of science fiction can be traced back to the beginning of the genre with Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein in 1818. “Even today, artificial intelligence researchers are going back to Shelley’s Frankenstein for inspiration because the way she dramatized contemporary ideas about education and the mind strike them as useful for how they might think about developing AI,” she says. Of course, the story also explores what could go terribly wrong, she adds. Those in the sciences and technology can also take a page from the speculative thinking techniques that sci-fi writers use to create their stories, Yaszek says. In fact, groups like SIGMA, a science fiction think tank, bring writers together with scientists to teach speculative thinking. Science fiction can also be a model for negotiating change, Yaszek says. “It celebrates the ability to think flexibly and creatively under pressure, and to admit when you’re wrong, to sometimes turn the lead over to others, and to cooperate, not compete,” she says. “This is the way that people win the future

BUILDING A BETTER AI Programmers can help policymakers and others understand where bias exists to limit its harm. Gupta believes transparency is key. “If you know that the program has higher error rates for certain groups, make that information transparent so that users can put in place additional safeguards,” she says. Programmers can also act as portfolio managers by showing how different decisions result in different outcomes, Gupta says. With more thought, Gupta believes that algorithms can lead to less biased decision-making because, unlike humans, algorithms can be audited. “My hope is that with algorithms we can achieve a greater consistency in decisions, create more fairness, and mitigate some of these biases,” she says. Change can also come from having more representation in development and decision-making so problems can be spotted before a technology is deployed. Sephus, who has worked in South Korea and France, at startups and large corporations, says she’s usually the only person in the room who looks like her—a Black woman from the South with a PhD in computer and electrical engineering. “I used to think of it as a disadvantage, but now I look at it as an opportunity to expose somebody to something different,” Sephus says. She recognizes the opportunity she has to create change from inside a corporation like Amazon. “I’m encouraged to go to work every day because I know that I’m at this huge corporation that has so much impact and I can be an influence from the inside,” she says. Sephus is also working outside Amazon to expand opportunities for others in technology. She founded The Bean Path, a nonprofit in her hometown of Jackson, Miss., to bring technologists to libraries to offer free technical advice and guidance. The project has since snowballed, and Sephus recently purchased space in downtown Jackson that The Bean Path and partners plan to turn into a 14-acre multi-use tech hub. And in Atlanta, Sephus has joined seven other Black technologists, many of whom are Tech alumni, to establish a co-development studio called KITTLabs, located a few blocks from Tech’s main campus. “It’s about strengthening the community,” she says. “Especially in terms of fairness and biases in technology, we want the most diverse future of technology that we can get.”

in science fiction.” GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE | SPRING 2021

With the power to create technology comes the responsibility to do it right.

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1 Minute or Less

quick explanation

TOP 10

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New technology has the potential to create a better future. B u t a s n e w, s m a r t e r i n n o v at i o n s are being introduced into our world, the potential for misuse has never been greater. Those who develop new tech are increasingly responsible for understanding what happens when their product heads out into the world. Here we take a look at 10 issues at the intersection of technology and ethics, as told through the expertise of Georgia Tech s t u d e n t s , fa c u lt y, a n d a l u m n i .

WAN T M O R E ? Watch

GT’s

experts break down these issues in the online version at www.gtalumni.org/magazine

SPRING 2021 | GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE

Social Media THE PEOPLE LIVING in Myanmar may have limited internet access, but they do have Facebook. In 2017, hateful anti-Muslim content was posted on the social media platform before and after state-led violence displaced 700,000 Rohingya Muslims. Facebook was later taken to task for being slow to mitigate the situation. According to Kathy Pham, CS 07, MS CS 09, a fellow and faculty member at Harvard and the lead of Mozilla’s Responsible Computer Science Challenge, this scenario is a perfect example of a technology platform not fully understanding the community where they launched their product. “They didn’t know that, for many people in Myanmar, Facebook is their main news source,” Pham says. “When we build technology, we have to make sure we understand the social human part and not just the tech part. We have to ask questions: How do people share information and communicate? How might our products negatively affect communities?” For a long time, technology has ignored these questions, and developers don’t often think of building platforms as an interdisciplinary field. But Pham says it’s naive to disregard topics like social sciences, politics, policy, and even history when building technology. Because these platforms are now so ubiquitous, developers have the responsibility to bring

EXPERT: k a t h y p h a m people in the room who can help answer those questions. But what about removing or blocking content? Does that cross a line? “Multi-billion-dollar companies with some of the smartest people around the world still haven’t solved this question. Only this year are we seeing companies take a stand about what they see as inappropriate content.” Pham says there’s no perfect guidebook, but individual platforms must create their own set of values. “Social media platforms can be a place where racism spreads but can also

C S 0 7, M S C S 0 9 f e l lo w & fa c u lt y at H a r va r d a n d t h e l e a d o f M o z i l l a’ s R e s p o n s i b l e C o m p u t e r Science Challenge

be a place which highlights police brutality that people have never seen before—it can be both at the same time. A company has to figure out where it stands, and when something becomes too much. The moment the team is in crisis mode and debating, that’s a really hard environment to be in.”

But who should have access to the data, and what should they be allowed to do with it? These are questions our society is currently grappling with, and Swire explores them in Privacy, Technology, Policy and Law, a course he co-teaches with Annie Antón, ICS 90, MS ICS 92, PhD CS 97, a professor in the School of Interactive Computing. Antón’s research focuses on privacy from a software development perspective: How do we design systems that contribute to society, are trustworthy, respect privacy, and comply with the law? It’s not an easy feat, but experience has taught Antón that systems “ w e s e e m t o can be all those things when software engineers and lawyers work be at a THE THIRD AMENDMENT to the U.S. Constitution protogether. “In our class, it takes hibits the quartering of soldiers in private homes, both Prof. Swire and me to answer and it’s the favorite amendment of Peter Swire, a professor of these questions,” Antón says. “And t u r n i n g p o i n t , “ law and ethics in the Scheller College of Business. this whole field requires both kinds “Having a sergeant in your living room is a big invasion of people in the room to build some- s w i r e s a y s . of privacy, and it was something King George did before the thing that works.” American Revolution,” he says. “It just illustrates that in each Whether it’s soldiers in living rooms, cell phones, or facial new generation, there are new ethical privacy issues.” recognition, each new privacy issue has required our society Today, our privacy concerns have more to do with the vast to learn to adapt. Tech’s newly created School of Cybersecuamounts of our personal data that are circulating, thanks to rity and Privacy aims to address these larger issues in privacy. new technologies, from cell phones that track your location In terms of laws, individual states are stepping up to social media platforms that track your social graph. with their own. “We seem to be at a turning point, and the American political process is in EXPERTS: p e t e r s w i r e & A n n i e A n t ó n the middle of big changes when it p r o f e s s o r o f l aw a n d I C S 9 0, M S I C S 9 2 , P h D C S 9 7 ethics in the Scheller professor in the School of comes to privacy College of Business Interactive Computing rules,” Swire says.

Data Privacy

GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE | SPRING 2021

3D Printing W I T H M O R E T H A N 2 0 M A K E R S P A C E S across Georgia Tech’s campus, the faculty, staff, and students have the opportunity to explore their creativity, using everything from sewing machines and woodworking equipment to 3D printers. The technology of 3D printing has been around since the 1980s, but gained notoriety in the 2000s and 2010s, decades that featured the first 3D-printed kidney, prosthetic limb, and car. Today, companies around the world are using the technology to build things like affordable housing and personal protective equipment for healthcare workers, thanks to the development of faster and more efficient machines. These machines are also getting cheaper. “Technology is democratizing innovation,” says Amit Jariwala, director of design and innovation for the Institute’s

weapon but are encouraged to create items to develop their creative confidence and solve a problem to benefit society. While not all community makerspaces have nurtured such a positive culture, and while the average person can pick up a cheap 3D printer for $200, Jariwala says constructing objects like guns isn’t that easy. “A 3D printer is not as simple as ‘What you see is what you get.’ There is still an element of assembly and fabrication. You also need more-advanced printers to make more durable components.” Jariwala thinks

“A 3 D p r i n t e r i s n o t a s s i m p l e as ‘What you see is what you g e t. ’ T h e r e i s s t i l l a n e l e m e n t of assembly and fabrication. You also need more-advanced printers to make more durable components,” says jariwala .

innovation often outpaces regulation

George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering. “If you have access to a 3D printer, you can create things that were not possible several years ago.” So does that mean the Average Joe can use a 3D printer to create an item like a gun? At Georgia Tech’s makerspaces, students are not permitted to build anything that looks like a 50

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a bigger issue is ownership, as files can easily be copied and shared, leading to copyright issues similar to those created when people began using the internet to share music and movies. And questions regarding ownership lead to questions about responsibility. If a consumer modifies a manufactured product with a 3D printer and that product fails, who is held responsible? “This technology opens a lot of questions that regulation needs to catch up with.”

EXPERT: a m i t j a r i w a l a d i r e c t o r o f d e s i g n a n d i n n o vat i o n f o r t h e I n s t i t u t e ’ s G e o r g e W. W o o d r u f f S c h o o l o f Mechanical Engineering

GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE | SPRING 2021

Deepfake Videos

ZACHARY TIDLER credits Ellen DeGeneres for his first exposure to deepfakes, or videos that use artificial intelligence to replace the likeness of one person with another. About five years ago, the talk show host posted a video of Pope Francis pulling the cloth off an altar, leaving everything on top still standing. And Tidler bought it. While the Pope Francis deepfake was lighthearted, there are plenty of examples of the darker side of the technology. The faces of celebrities have been imposed on porn stars’ bodies, and politicians have been featured in videos saying words they never actually said in real life. To make a deepfake video, a creator first trains a neural network on many hours of real footage of the person, then combines the trained network with computer-graphics techniques to superimpose a copy of the person onto a different actor. (This is how the late actor Paul Walker appeared in Fast & Furious 7.) Deepfake technology was originally only available to a high-level computer science community, but Tidler says that now it has been packaged in such a way that anyone with a moderately powerful computer can make a video, which means a lot of people have the ability to manipulate

others and spread false information. And many will believe that misinformation. Tidler conducted research for his master’s thesis on who is most susceptible to believing deepfakes. He found a strong correlation between affect detection ability—a person’s ability to read cues in another person’s eyes, face, or body language to determine how that person is feeling—and deepfake detection ability. “If you’re bad at spotting emotions in people’s faces, you’re more likely to be bad at spotting a deepfake video,” says Tidler. The computer science community is trying to combat the problem. Last year, social media platforms including Facebook and Twitter banned deepfakes from their networks. Tidler says that Microsoft has a tool that gives a video a deepfake score, but that hasn’t completely solved the problem. “It becomes something of an arms race because the deepfake networks and algorithms get a little better, and then the algorithms and neural networks trying to identify deepfakes get a little better, and so on,” Tidler explains.

Smart Cities

WHEN PEOPLE DISCUSS the benefits of smart cities— which use distributed web sensors to collect data for use in the management of resources in real-time—there is a classic scenario they bring up. If an ambulance is trying to bring a patient to the hospital, the city’s central command and control center can turn the lights green along the route so the patient can get there faster. “In theory, that’s nice because we will be saving lives,” says Nassim Parvin, associate professor of Digital Media. “But there is so much beyond these simple engineering scenarios to consider.” For example, what happens when the patient reaches the hospital? They might wait in a long line because this is the only hospital nearby. MayEXPERT: z a c h a r y t i d l e r be they won’t be able to pay their bill because G r a d u at e s t u d e n t i n t h e s c h o o l o f p s y c h o lo g y they don’t have health insurance. In this case, the in the College of sciences speed of the ambulance is not the problem. “So why are we spending so much time and

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EXPERT: n a s s i m p a r v i n our time and money in order to mitigate some of our problems,” Parvin says. She believes the solution might lie in bringing humanities, social sciences, and ethics to conversations surrounding technology. “In the absence of substantive, ethical education, students see ethics as restrictive, or feel it’s not up to them to think about these long-term ethical questions. But engineering asks, ‘What technologies can make our life better?’ That’s essentially an ethical question. This kind of education will make our students better designers and engineers and lead to more meaningful and effective technical policy intervention.”

a s s o c i at e p r o f e s s o r o f D i g i ta l M e d i a i n G e o r g i a T e c h ’ s S c h o o l o f L i t e r at u r e , M e d i a , a n d C o m m u n i c at i o n ; d i r e c to r o f t h e D e s i g n a n d S o c i a l J u st i c e St u d i o

money to get our emergency vehicles more efficient, when what we really need is to address the inefficiencies of our healthcare system?” Parvin asks. There are other things to think about when considering the investment of a smart city, such as hacking and the cost of materials. “We lack a systemic way of thinking about where we actually need to invest

Moral Algorithms + Self-Driving Cars

I N T H E E A R LY 2 0 T H C E N T U R Y , when children were injured by cars, the ensuing court cases ruled overwhelmingly in favor of car owners and drivers, blaming the incidents on their mothers’ negligence. “Well, of course it’s the mother’s fault!” says Nassim Parvin sarcastically. Parvin is an associate professor of Digital Media in Georgia Tech’s School of Literature, Media, and Communication, where she also directs the Design and Social Justice Studio. “But you can draw a straight line from those decisions and the fact that it’s too dangerous for children to play in the streets now.” Cars and car companies have been given

a lot of power over our streets and public spaces, something we continue to do today with the advent of autonomous vehicles. Self-driving cars may soon have the right to make life-and-death decisions, such as braking to avoid a pedestrian, but thereby putting the people in the car at risk. The car makes these decisions through moral algorithms that are programmed into their software. And according to Parvin, that gives the car too much power in too critical a scenario. “Ethical situations are, by nature, ambiguous, but moral algorithms depend on certainty and clear rules to make decisions. They shouldn’t handle these ambiguous cases, such as the literal life-or-death situations of self-driving cars, or things like who should get health insurance or who is eligible for a loan, which also affects people’s lives.” But are there bigger questions here? What if we invest in more public transportation options? What if we exchange parking lots and driving lanes with sidewalks, bike lanes, and green spaces that have been shown to improve the physical and civic health of our communities? Can we imagine a future when kids actually play in the streets? “It’s a failure of ethical imagination if we say the question about self-driving cars is just a matter of life and death at the intersection,” Parvin says. “You have to think about what it’s like to live in a city where at any moment, you can be the target of a killing algorithm. Is that a city we want to live in? That’s the ethical question.” GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE | SPRING 2021

“A l l m e d i c i n e i s trying to better the

Genetic Testing WITH COMPANIES like 23andMe and Ancestry.com, it has become somewhat common for people to have their genome sequenced. But what happens when results reveal you have a gene that could potentially make you sick? Michael Goodisman, an associate professor in Georgia Tech’s School of Biological Sciences, says genetic testing is very different than getting tested for something like anemia. “I not only learn something about myself, I learn something about all my relatives. If I find out I’ve inherited the BRCA1 mutation, which can lead to breast cancer, I know there’s a 50 percent chance my sister has it, and a 50 percent chance my children have it. Should I tell them? Does the doctor who diagnosed me have an obligation to tell them?” But Goodisman says some of the most interesting ethical issues surrounding genetic testing concerns testing IVF embryos for genetic traits (or preimplantation genetic diagnosis). This is usually done when parents are carriers for 54

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human condition,” a serious disease, Goodisman says. and if results reveal the embryo has that disease as well, it won’t be implanted. This can present an ethical challenge, depending on how you view the embryo at that stage. It can also raise eyebrows if you’re not testing for disease, but for something like the embryo’s sex or other traits. But others see it differently. “All medicine is trying to better the human condition,” Goodisman says. “Don’t we have an obligation to eliminate certain mutations that cause cancer? There’s an analogy about how we’re always building better airplanes. If you knew what would make an airplane better, wouldn’t you have to do it?” What is the line between fixing problems and enhancing genetics? That question leads us to…our next topic.

EXPERT: m i c h a e l g o o d i s m a n a s s o c i at e p r o f e s s o r i n G e o r g i a T e c h ’ s S c h o o l o f Biological Sciences

Genetic Enhancement (and a little bit of bioethics) GOODISMAN SAYS the simplest argument against genetic enhancement is that we can’t do it well right now. Another argument is that these technologies would only be available to people who could afford them. But the biggest argument against genetic enhancement is that you would be changing not only your health, but the health of future generations—your future generations. But there is a counter argument. “If we have the ability to, let’s say, change a gene to make your heart stronger, shouldn’t we do that?” Goodisman asks. It’s not clear what the right answer is, and that’s something Goodisman teaches in his bioethics class. The course, which he describes as part science and part humanities, examines the process of science and the ethical implications of biological research. “Many times, students learn how to do something, but they don’t have the opportunity to step back and think whether they should do it,” says Goodisman. “What makes an action ethical? What are the implications of an action? Are they good? We ask those questions.” Goodisman says he hammers home three moral principles as the core of the class. The first is autonomy. An action is considered ethical if it allows individuals to do what they want, and it’s considered unethical to impose your own will on someone else. The second moral principle he teaches is beneficence, meaning an action is ethical if you are being kind to others. And the last principle is justice. This says

we should treat equal things equally and unequal things unequally. Here’s how those principles break down genetic enhancement: If someone wants to make their heart stronger, it would be ethical to give them the autonomy to do that. It would be kind because it would be enhancing their wellbeing. However, the action is not necessarily just, because not everyone can undergo genetic enhancement. “There are very few actions that check all three boxes, and often there is no right answer,” Goodisman says. “It’s important to note two people can be ethical and arrive at very different conclusions.”

Cloning WHOEVER THOUGHT a sheep could become famous? But that’s what happened in 1996 when Dolly, a female domestic sheep, became the first successful case of the reproductive cloning of a mammal. Dolly was created using somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), a technique that combines an egg cell, genetic material removed, with the nucleus from another donor’s somatic (or body) cells, such as skin or fat cells. Once combined, the egg cell will begin to divide and is capable of producing an adult organism containing genetic information identical to the original. In 2018, researchers in China would go on to produce

identical clones of a primate species—two macaque monkeys. While cloning techniques have gotten better, they are not perfect and they are not used on humans. But it is unclear where this will lead. As Goodisman teaches in his bioethics course, there’s not always a clear answer. “The arguments get complicated,” he says. “This technology means every cell we have is potential life,” Goodisman says. “You can take my skin cell, pull out the genetic material from it, put it into an egg cell, and off you go. Does that mean I’m made up of a trillion potential people? That’s strange to think about.” GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE | SPRING 2021

Artificial Intelligence ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE can be used to help humans make fairer decisions and reduce the impact of human biases—but what comes out is only as good as what goes in. So what happens when the algorithms that are used in AI systems are biased? In 2016, a study found that a criminal justice algorithm used in Florida mislabeled Black defendants as “high–risk” at almost twice the rate it mislabeled white defendants. Studies today reveal that algorithms used for facial recognition software successfully identify white faces more so than faces of people of color. According to Jason Borenstein, who serves as the director of Graduate Research Ethics Programs and associate director of the Center for Ethics and Technology at Georgia Tech, AI systems learn to make decisions based on training data,

country,” he says. “A more diverse community would be better able to spot bias.” But ridding AI of biases doesn’t negate the need for humans to step in sometimes. “We assume that technology can make better decisions than people,” Borenstein says. “But we can still be good at some decisions, which is why it’s important for humans to be involved in interpreting data.” Besides bias, there are other ethical conversations surrounding AI: The more

“A I n e e d s t o b e i n c l u d e d i n the broader diversity efforts that are happening across t h e c o u n t r y. A m o r e d i v e r s e community would be better able to spot bias,” says borenstein.

Algorithmic bias can exist in artificial intelligence

and it’s possible that the data sample could be flawed, where certain groups are over- or underrepresented. But biases can also come from people who design or train the systems and create algorithms that reflect unintended prejudices. That’s why Borenstein believes that diversifying the field of AI could make a difference. “AI needs to be included in the broader diversity efforts that are happening across the 56

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sophisticated the technology, the more AI systems “learn,” and the more unpredictable they become. Borenstein also brings up what’s known as the Black Box problem: We know a piece of technology works, but we don’t necessarily know how it works. Should we be using things when we can’t understand them? And finally, as AI is integrated more and more into our society, how will that impact our interactions? Will people want to interact with technology more than with one another?

EXPERT: j a s o n b o r e n s t e i n d i r e c t o r o f G r a d u at e R e s e a r c h E t h i c s P r o g r a m s at G e o r g i a T e c h

YOUR GEORGIA TECH CONCIERGE CAR BUYING PROGRAM

ECO commons Cathy Brim

photographs by kaylinn gilstrap

THE ECOCOMMONS TREASURES ARE MANY: OPEN SPACE TO COMMUNE WITH NATURE AND CULTIVATE WELL-BEING, INCREASED CAMPUS BIODIVERSITY, INTERACTIVE OUTDOOR ART, SUSTAINABLE ECOLOGY, IMMENSE OPPORTUNITY FOR DATA COLLECTION AND RESEARCH, HISTORY HONORED AND EXPLAINED, AND MOST IMPORTANT—AN ACKNOWLEDGMENT THAT WHAT HAS GONE BEFORE CAN ALWAYS BE RESHAPED INTO SOMETHING BETTER.

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w ..... While students were

away on semester break and campus was empty last December, construction fencing at the corner of Ferst Street and Hemphill Avenue quietly came down. A fresh, new eight-acre greenspace appeared, currently called the EcoCommons, and lay like a treasure waiting to be discovered. Originally the location of the Beringhause Building and two adjacent surface parking lots, this landscape renewal

project features over 600 new and transplanted trees, tens of thousands of perennials and shrubs, and an abundance of ferns and grasses. Leave it to Georgia Tech to tear down a parking lot and put up what many may see as a paradise. This richly designed performance landscape underscores Tech’s commitment to fostering sustainability initiatives while cultivating the well-being of its campus community. Within this refreshed environment are three areas of programmed space—an area to engage, an area to learn, and an area to reflect.

Performance landscape The newly opened eight-acre greenspace is part of an 80-acre landscape that meanders through campus and follows what were naturally occurring stream paths before urbanization of the area. The 2004 Georgia Tech Landscape Master Plan (updated in 2011) created this space, where man-made and natural systems work together to reduce stormwater runoff while sustainably enhancing the living, working, and learning environment of the Institute. GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE | SPRING 2021

Engage Adjacent to The Kendeda Building for Innovative Sustainable Design, a large granite outcropping encourages visitors to climb and sit upon the huge boulders. Nestled among the boulders will be three yellow play slides. At the crest of the outcropping is a level grassy area for studying or a picnic with excellent views of the entire acreage. Here you can also find the whimsical art installation by stickwork artist Patrick Dougherty. Volunteers helped weave saplings into what the artist has named A Chip off the Ole Block.

According to Dougherty, inspiration for the fortress-like sculpture came from the views of the midtown Atlanta skyline visible from this location. The installation will remain in place with minimal maintenance for approximately two years and beckons visitors to explore and wander among its light-dappled rooms. Also located within this granite outcrop is a “snag,” or dead tree, purposely left in place to encourage wildlife nesting. Work is ongoing to certify the entire area as an Audubon bird sanctuary.

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... Learn Below the outcropping and near the Dalney Building is a large bioswale, capable of holding 500,000 gallons of water before releasing any water back into the city’s water system. This large channel is designed to convey stormwater runoff while removing debris and pollution. A covered platform will overlook this seepage wetland and provide unique vantage points for observing this smart and effective water stewardship.

Located throughout the entire eight acres will be numerous sensors connected to the LORA-WAN Internet-of-Things network. This Long-Range Wide Area Network protocol allows low-powered devices to communicate with internet-connected applications wirelessly. These sensors will measure air temperature and humidity, wind speed and direction, barometric pressure, carbon dioxide levels, soil moisture, and water depth and pressure.

Sensors placed at Tech Green will allow for a comparison of data between its grassy expanse and this re-created piedmont woodland. The trove of data from this living laboratory will be accessible to the Tech community.

GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE | SPRING 2021

reflect The area adjacent to Hemphill Avenue features tupelo trees hung with hammocks surrounding a circular raised meadow of prairie-like grasses. This northwest corner hosts the “contemplative grove,” next to the location of a notable moment in Georgia’s civil rights history.

In 1948, Lester Maddox, who would become Georgia’s 75th governor 20 years later, opened his Pickrick Restaurant along Hemphill Avenue. As a staunch segregationist, Maddox famously prevented three African American theology students—Rev. George Willis, Jr., Rev. Albert Dunn, and Rev. Woodrow T. Lewis—from entering his restaurant by threatening them in the parking lot. After a lengthy federal court battle, Maddox chose to close the restaurant rather than comply with the court order to desegregate. Shortly thereafter, Georgia Tech purchased the building to serve as a job placement center. Known as the Fred W. Ajax Building, it stood on campus more than 40 years and in its final years served as a storage facility for the campus police department. The building was leveled in 2008.

ECOCOMMONS, BOUNDARY OF THE FORMER RESTAURANT LOCATION THE PICKRICK RESTAURANT, CA. 1950s

SPRING 2021 | GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE

As you approach the grove from Hemphill Avenue, the pathway follows a seat wall to the left with the raised meadow to your right. As the path narrows, three openings in the wall appear and just beyond each opening a piece of the wall has been pushed back. Representing both obstacle and door, these pieces of the wall are directly in line with three longleaf pines, which symbolize the three courageous men who confronted the walls of racial inequality. Nearby are three large wooden benches to encourage moments of quiet reflection or initiate conversation about the history of the space and how we may move forward equally and together. The footprint of the Pickrick Restaurant is outlined in the ground by a raised steel edge and surrounds the subtle groundcover underneath the three pine trees.

“

”The commemoration was originally suggested to be represented through a small plaque. However, as a student representative I had the opportunity to be a voice for the voiceless by insisting that this history not only be included, but emphasized by inviting visitors to a place of contemplation. Although historical events such as this may feel more comfortable if 'erased,’ the truth is incidents like what happened at the restaurant not only paved the way for people like me, but they also create an opportunity to learn from our past, change our present, and come together to create a more inclusive future for our Institute.“

—Joel Jassu, M Arch 19, MS UD 20

Joel Jassu served as a student representative on the Planning & Design Commission and played a significant role in the EcoCommons project. As a former student from Uganda and the only person of African descent on the committee, he says the most important aspect of the design to him was being able to honor the three African American men who were denied entry into the Pickrick.

GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE | SPRING 2021

Experience The Space Experience the sights and sounds of the newly opened EcoCommons greenspace virtually through an online tour at gtalumni.org/eco.

SPRING 2021 | GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE

GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE | SPRING 2021

VOLUME 97

ALUMNI HOUSE

ISSUE 1

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAA! SAA student leaders, SAA members, and Alumni Association President Dene Sheheane, Mgt 91, enjoy beautiful spring weather during SAA’s birthday bash on Tech Green. In February, the Student Alumni Association celebrated its 10-year anniversary with a series of in-person and virtual events.

PHOTOGRAPH

GARRETT SHOEMAKER, THE TECHNIQUE

STRENGTH IN NUMBERS: 10 YEARS OF SAA

STAFF SPOTLIGHT

RAMBLIN’ ROLL

TECH HISTORY

GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE | SPRING 2021

ALUMNI HOUSE

STRENGT STREN GTHH IN NUMBERS:

CELEBRATING 10 YEARS OF THE STUDENT ALUMNI ASSOCIATION

FOR 10 YEARS, the Georgia Tech Student Alumni Association has been connecting generations of Yellow Jackets to celebrate the White & Gold. However, it was not always the organizational powerhouse that it is today. Stemming from research that the Alumni Association conducted on alumni engagement, they found that students who were involved in organizations and activities outside of academics were more likely to have a strong connection to Georgia Tech, and stay involved long after graduation. That brought forth “a big idea,” as SAA founder Laura (Kitashima) Giglio, EE 10, MS ECE 11, called it: to create an organization that would be extremely easy for any student to join—from first-year student to PhD.

BY KARI LLOYD

Flashback to the fall of 2008, when Giglio was a member of the Student Board of Trustees (SBoT) and Alumni Association Vice President Kara Petracek attended one of their meetings with the following challenge: to recruit members of the SBoT

“THE MAIN IDEA AROUND SAA WAS TO MAKE IT EASIER FOR STUDENTS TO INTERACT WITH GT’S ALUMNI,” HANSON SAYS.

to serve as leaders and help represent the student perspective within the organization. “John Hanson, IE 11, Brandon Monroe, CE 10, and I raised our hands

Swag bags entice new members, but students stay in SAA for the innovative programming and direct connection to GT alumni.

SPRING 2021 | GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE

to help with this initiative,” says Giglio. “We thought our role would be to attend a handful of meetings at the Alumni Association and provide our opinions.” As the group produced more ideas that they felt the students would

enjoy, the project grew to the point where they decided to launch a new organization. “The main idea around SAA was to make it easier for students to interact with GT’s alumni,” Hanson says. “This should be through engaging programming that interests both parties.” The group began creating the building blocks of what was to become SAA, researching what other universities were doing for student organizations and attending conferences. “That’s how some of the ‘big ideas’ that became—and are still part

SAA leaders discovered early on that fun T-shirts made the organization stand out on campus.

SAA’s mission is to provide opportunities that broaden the college experience, strengthen traditions, and foster lifelong participation with Georgia Tech.

Members learn the value of philanthropy on campus by funding student initiatives.

Students learn about Georgia Tech’s rich history of traditions and pride for the Institute.

GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE | SPRING 2021

ALUMNI HOUSE of—the pillars of the SAA came to be,” observes Giglio. Despite the enthusiasm, creating SAA was not without its challenges, including gaining buy-in from existing organizations on campus. “We did this by giving presentations to other organizations to show them what we wanted to work with them on, especially if they had similar mentor programs or alumni programs. A lot of thought was put into making sure we had the most impactful programming possible before we went live.” In the fall of 2010, the Georgia Tech Student Alumni Association was finally born. Though initially the team thought that getting student buy-in and participation would be an issue, the organization became the biggest group on campus overnight. “We were hoping to register 500 members in the first semester, but we ended up registering over 600 the first day,” Giglio recalls. “I remember Kara [Petracek] being excited, but also being a little concerned because we had a members-only event that first evening after kick-off, and she had not planned to feed 600 students!” However, according to Giglio, SAA had the support of the alumni community from the start. “I remember Al Trujillo, AE 81 [President, Georgia Tech Foundation], telling us, ‘If you need more money to feed all these new members, just let me know—I’m happy to donate!’ That was so awesome, knowing how much work we’d put into all the pre-planning, to have such a successful and notable alumnus

SAA designs show the changing taglines throughout the years. From top left, clockwise: 2016; 2017; 2018; 2019.

SPRING 2021 | GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE

SAA

5,000–6,000

AVERAGE ANNUAL NUMBER OF MEMBERS MORE THAN HALF A MILLION DOLLARS IN FUNDS SINCE ITS CREATION

$10 MEMBERSHIP FEE $5 GOES TO GTSF ENDOWMENTS AND $5 GOES TO ROLL CALL, GEORGIA TECH’S FUND FOR EXCELLENCE

be so willing to support us and be so generous.” Though Hanson suspects the swag bags did help, the success of the initial sign-up was also a sign that they had gotten the program right. “It showed that we had done a good job with our diligence and marketed the benefits

the SAA could provide students.” From its infancy to its 10-year anniversary, the aim of SAA has always been connecting students with alumni from the first day they set foot on campus and showing them what engagement looks like as Yellow Jackets—even after graduation.

Find your career path with

Connect. Chat with fellow Yellow Jackets in your field and beyond.

Engage. Search hundreds of job listings and take advantage of development workshops.

Network. Meet new mentors and reconnect with classmates.

STAFF SPOTLIGHT

HOLDING UP THE HOUSE

CHRIS RETTKOWSKI, DIRECTOR OF FACILITY SERVICES FOR THE ALUMNI ASSOCIATION, KEEPS THE 110-YEAR-OLD ALUMNI HOUSE (AND THE ASSOCIATION’S WRECK) IN TOP SHAPE. BY KARI LLOYD WHEN IT COMES TO TEAM PLAYERS, Georgia Tech Alumni Association’s Chris Rettkowski is one of the best. As director of facility services, he was recently recognized by his fellow Alumni Association staff with the Golden Teammate Award for embodying the organizational value of Excellence. Having gotten his start at Georgia Tech running the McCamish Pavilion, he joined the Alumni Association six years ago this July. When he’s not focused on helping the organization’s workspaces and facilities run smoothly, Rettkowski can be found driving the Association’s own Wreck to events and around campus.

Q : THE SIX VALUES OF THE ALUMNI ASSOCIATION ARE COLLABORATION, COMMUNITY, INNOVATION, INTEGRITY, RESPECT, AND EXCELLENCE. YOU WERE NOMINATED AND WON THE G O L D E N T E A M M AT E AW A R D F O R E M B O D Y ING EXCELLENCE. WHAT WAS IT LIKE TO BE RECOGNIZED? I don’t even know what to say about it. Of course, it’s nice. I’m thankful, and I’m humbled by it. Georgia Tech and the Alumni Association have been great places to me. In a way, it makes me feel good. I like to think I do a good job. I have my bad days like anybody. The thing that has kept me here is that I love the people here. We all work together to support one another and invest in one another 72

SPRING 2021 | GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE

and all work toward the same goal. Even across campus there’s just this spirit of unity.

Q: WHAT WAS IT LIKE WHEN YOU FIRST STARTED AT THE ASSOCIATION? I talked to a few people about it, as I didn’t necessarily know anyone here at the Alumni Association, but I heard it was a great place. I also heard that the one caveat of the job was that the building was in disrepair. Being a building that’s 110 years old this year, it had been really neglected and needed a lot of help. I liked the idea of a challenge. I had some folks that said, “Hey—if you take the job, we’ll partner with you to make sure you have what you need to get it back into shape.” Q: WHAT’S IT LIKE TO BE IN CHARGE OF THE ASSOCIATION’S WRECK? The way I like to put it is that out of the 100% of my job, somewhere around

60% is the facility management, there’s about 35% that’s event management, and then about 5% is fleet management. We have a pickup, a golf cart, a van, and then this 1931 Ford Model A. It’s a strange part of the job. Really, any of our employees can drive it. In fact, every once in a while, I do the open invitation to teach people how to drive it. President Cabrera has even learned to drive our Wreck. Because of tradition, only the Reck Club driver can drive the official Ramblin’ Wreck. However, someone had mentioned to the president that he should ask the Alumni Association about driving our Wreck. So, he talked to us and we said, “Absolutely! If you want to learn to drive our Wreck, we’d love to teach you.” We’ve actually got video of us driving around and me teaching him how to drive it. Subsequently, he drove it and took

“WE ALL WORK TOGETHER. EVEN ACROSS CAMPUS THERE’S JUST THIS SPIRIT OF UNITY,” SAYS RETTKOWSKI.

people around campus before football games.

Q: WHAT MAKES THE ALUMNI ASSOCIATION’S WRECK SO HARD TO DRIVE? It’s closer to driving a tractor than a car. You have to be familiar with the concept of double-clutching. It’s pretty challenging. There are other things— for example, to start it, the starter is on the floor and you press it with your foot. I was over at McCamish Pavilion for the start of the Homecoming Wreck Parade, and a guy and his teenage son were taking a look at it and asked if he could take it for a spin. I handed him the keys and said, “If you can figure out how to start it, you can drive it.”

PHOTOGRAPH

SCOTT DINERMAN, STC 03

Rettkowski joined the Alumni Association almost six years ago. Previously, he was at the Georgia Tech Athletic Association.

2020 ALUMNI SURVEY FINDINGS Every ﬁve years, the Georgia Tech Alumni Association invites all alumni to provide valuable insights, opinions, and ideas that will shape future programming, content, and investments. This past year’s August survey marks the fourth installment.

THE GEORGIA TECH EXPERIENCE

FINDINGS FOR THE FUTURE

96%

Knowing whatʼs important to you allows us to continue to offer and invest in programming that is most meaningful to you.

OF RESPONDENTS RATED THEIR DECISION TO ATTEND AS A GOOD OR GREAT DECISION. TOP THREE QUALITIES THAT MOST DESCRIBE GT ALUMNI*

PROBLEM SOLVER (53%)

HARDWORKING (43%)

ANALYTICAL (30%)

70%

PROMOTE GEORGIA TECH REGULARLY OR ALL OF THE TIME.

RESEARCH STORIES, NEWS, AND ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE INSTITUTION

NEWS ABOUT YOUR COLLEGE

ALUMNI STORIES, NEWS, AND ACHIEVEMENTS

*Respondents could choose more than one answer.

GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE | SPRING 2021

ALUMNI HOUSE

APS SCHOLARSHIPS:

CREATING LIFE-CHANGING EXPERIENCES

BY KARI LLOYD

have called at that time a “fallback.” To have something financially sound.

Q: YOU WERE LOOKING AT OTHER SCHOOLS. DO YOU THINK YOUR DECISION TO ATTEND TECH WAS THE BEST ONE? I can look back and say I wouldn’t have had it any other way. Even if I were going to a top Ivy League school, I don’t think I would have gotten the same experience, and I would have graduated with a lot of debt.

THE APS SCHOLARSHIP? 74

SPRING 2021 | GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE

Q: SO, IT SOUNDS LIKE YOU’RE A TECH FAMILY! Yes. She was two years older than me, so I already knew about the program. That was definitely part of the motivation to keep spot one or two [in my class] because I wanted what I would

After he graduates this year, De Laria will join Bain & Company as an Associate Consultant.

SCOTT DINERMAN, STC 03

Q: WHAT MADE YOU DECIDE TO GO FOR

In high school, I always tried to push myself. My parents were the type that were like, “Do your best, and that’s enough.” If I could take harder classes, I would take harder classes. Don’t settle. That was my mantra going in. My sister also went to Tech on the same s cholarship. She was valedictorian.

PHOTOGRAPH

S T O C K T O N D E L A R I A is a fourth-year Yellow Jacket studying business who is also a part of the Steven A. Denning Technology & Management program. As a student at the top of his class in high school, he was eligible for The Atlanta Public Schools Scholars Program. The scholarship, made possible through alumni gifts, recognizes and rewards top-performing seniors in the Atlanta area with fully funded scholarships, making the dream of attending the Institute a reality.

Q: WHAT WOULD YOU TELL HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS TO GET THEM TO MAKE TECH THEIR TOP CHOICE? For me, GT is fun. I found a good social scene. I enjoyed my time here. It’s hard, but you can get through it. I’d say for them to visit the campus. Everyone has preconceived notions of what Georgia Tech is. I was guilty of that, too. I visited and it was so much nicer than I thought it was. The biggest thing is the financial piece. Know your situation and know that Georgia Tech is probably going to be the best education for any financial situation and within reach for a lot of people.

RAMBLIN’ ROLL

CL ASS NOTES & ALUMNI UPDATES

N O R D J O I N S 11 A L I V E W E A T H E R T E A M AT FIVE YEARS OLD, Melissa Nord, EAS

During her time at Tech,

13, was terrified of thunderstorms. Now,

she says that being involved

she is an Emmy-winning certified broad-

with the Tech Cable Net-

cast meteorologist, having covered

work, where she started a

everything from winter storms to torna-

weekly weather forecast,

do outbreaks.

gaining experience from

This year, Nord joined 11Alive News

her internships, and being

in Atlanta as their weekend morning me-

pushed out of her comfort

teorologist. “It’s been a dream of mine

zone in her synoptic mete-

to come back home to Atlanta to fore-

orology class were some of

cast,” Nord says.

the things that helped her in

Growing up, Nord was intrigued by

her future career.

The Weather Channel coverage, to the

It was once she started

point where even as a child she would

working in her internships

sometimes stay at home and watch it in-

that Nord realized all that went into do-

explain the science behind the weath-

stead of going outside and playing. “I

ing forecasts for TV.

er to young students. “A lot of kids don’t

saw these meteorologists, these scien-

“Every single microclimate that you

tists talking about the different aspects

forecast in all the different areas of the

of each storm and they were standing

country, [they] all have different chal-

For example, Nord likes to show stu-

outside in the elements, not scared, but

lenges,” Nord says. “So you have to

dents an experiment involving a clear

[rather] informing people of what to ex-

re-learn how to forecast in those places.”

glass, shaving cream, and food coloring

pect,” Nord says. “My fear grew into

At 11Alive, Nord hopes to bring more

to explain precipitation. Students add

fascination…that’s why I got interested

“geekiness” to the forecast. “I’m a geek

shaving cream, which acts as a “cloud,”

in weather.”

and a teacher at heart,” she says. “If I

to the top of the glass. Then they add

Nord grew up in the Atlanta area and

can explain something and make that

food coloring until the drops break

attended Tech for her undergraduate

light bulb go off—whether that’s explain-

through the “cloud” similar to how rain

degree in earth and atmospheric scienc-

ing why snowflakes are six-sided or why

droplets fall to the ground. (Do you have

es.“I think what’s great about the EAS

we get hole-punch clouds—that’s what I

a young Yellow Jacket who is interest-

program at Georgia Tech is you have

want to add to what you see on week-

ed in the weather? Check out the video

so many options,” Nord says. “You real-

end mornings on 11Alive.”

Nord created at gtalumni.org/rain ex-

learn from a PowerPoint, they learn by doing things themselves,” she says.

ly [get] to find your niche and what you

Nord also hopes to collaborate with

[are] interested in and [are] not interest-

organizations in the community to pro-

Reflecting on her career so far, Nord

ed in, and I landed upon broadcasting.”

vide hands-on STEM activities to help

is thankful that she has been able to real-

plaining how this experiment works.)

ly come into her own. “I think that I’ve developed my own

WANT TO SHARE YOUR NEWS?

craft and style of doing things in the last

You can submit your personal news, birth, wedding announcements (with

few years and let my personality come

photos!), and out-and-about snapshots online at gtalumni.org/ramblinroll.

out,” Nord says.—MADHURA GANGAL, THE TECHNIQUE

GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE | SPRING 2021

RAMBLIN� ROLL

N A S A A W A R D S M c L E A N P R E S T I G I O U S S E R V I C E M E DA L individuals in which services

technical expertise in quality, safety,

were per formed for sus-

and mission assurance engineering to

tained performance that

support numerous projects across the

embodies multiple contri-

agency and the KSC institution, Interna-

butions to NASA projects,

tional Space Station, Commercial Crew

programs, and initiatives.

Program, Launch Services Program, Ex-

McLean ser ves as program manager for the APT

ploration Ground Systems, and Agency Management and Operations.

S af e t y and M i ssi o n As-

“Ms. McLean consistently identifies

surance Support Services

new opportunities to support her cus-

(SMASS) III contract at Ken-

tomer, devises strategies to contribute to

nedy Space Center. Under

NASA’s mission, and effectively imple-

her leadership, APT provides

ments those strategies to the benefit of

support to the KSC Safe-

the Agency.”

ty and Mission Assurance Directorate.

McLean earned a bachelor’s in industrial engineering from Georgia Tech

“Ms. McLean’s contribu-

in 1981 and a master’s in textile engi-

JAMIE POSEY McLEAN, IE 81, MS TE 84, received a NASA Exceptional Pub-

tions to NASA and dedication to her

neering in 1984. McLean was on the

position are undeniable,” NASA an-

first Women’s Basketball Team at Tech,

lic Service Medal in October 2020.

nounced in a press release. McLean is

paving the way for future generations

The Exceptional Public Service Med-

responsible for recruiting and cultivating

of women to participate in varsity sports

al is the agency’s most prestigious

highly skilled and experienced engi-

at Tech. In 1992, she was inducted into

honor awarded to non-government

neers and professionals with exceptional

Georgia Tech Athletics’ Hall of Fame.

BROWN INDUCTED I N T O S PA C E W O R K E R H A L L O F FA M E

the Artemis Program, the Space Shuttle Program, and Ares I-X. Brown also serves on

ELLEN BROWN, IE 85, program support

the Brevard Achieve-

manager at the Kennedy Space Cen-

ment Center Board of

ter for Aerodyne Industries working on

Directors.

the Jacobs Test & Operations Support

Brown began her

Contract, has been inducted into the Na-

career in aerospace

tional Space Club “Space Worker Hall

as a quality engineer

of Fame” on Nov. 20, 2020.

at McDonnell Doug-

The Space Worker Hall of Fame hon-

las Tomahawk Cruise

ors those who have made significant

Missile facility in Titus-

contributions to the space program in all

ville, Fla.

areas of launch and mission operations.

She has worked for Lockheed Martin

in 1985, Brown earned her MBA in

Brown has more than 30 years of

as a software integration and project en-

aviation from Embr y-Riddle Aero-

gineer and the United Space Alliance.

nautical University Missile facility in

leadership experience supporting multiple NASA programs at KSC, including

SPRING 2021 | GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE

After graduating from Georgia Tech

Titusville, Fla.

GLC VIRTUAL EVENTS

Let us provide the planning & technical event support you need. Turnkey event planning and support from start to finish. Advanced technical knowledge and expertise. A variety of technology and hosting platforms to fit your needs. Custom built support packages tailored to your event.

MEETINGS. CONFERENCES. TRAINING.

Virtual or Safely On-Site. pe.gatech.edu/virtual-meetings 404-385-6203 meetings@pe.gatech.edu

RAMBLIN� ROLL

CLASS NOTES ALUMNI NAMED TO FORBES’ 30 UNDER 30: RENJI BIJOY, MS CS 16, was listed in the Consumer Technology category. He’s the founder of Immersed, which partnered with Facebook to build virtual reality offices.

ANHONG GUO, MS HCI 14, was recognized in Forbes’ Science category for his research combining human and artificial intelligence to make visual information more accessible, for example, through touch-screen overlays for people with visual impairments.

JARVIS JOHNSON, CS 14, was recognized in Forbes’ Social Media category. Johnson worked as a software engineer at Yelp and Patreon before becoming a professional YouTuber. His vlogs have garnered more than 1.4 million subscribers.

EMILY PARRISH, IE 16, was recognized in the Manufacturing & Industry category for her work as a senior robotics hardware development engineer at Amazon. Parrish developed a sortation machine that results in $4 million in savings a year.

LEONARD ROBINSON, MS ECE 16, was listed in the Forbes 30 Under 30 for 2021 under the Manufacturing & Industry category. Robinson is lead manufacturing engineer at Cytiva (formerly GE Life Sciences). His focus is strategic IT and automation that support the security of supply for customers that manufacture biologics.

M A X J O R D A N N G U E M E N I T I A K O , M S B I O E 1 5 , is focused on health equity, marginalized populations, and racism in healthcare. He was recognized in Forbes’ Healthcare category.

SPRING 2021 | GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE

OneTrust, founded and led by CEO KABIR BARDAY, CS 09, announced it has raised $300 million in a Series C funding round. Barday is among Georgia Tech Alumni’s 40 Under 40 class of 2020. MATTHIEU BLOC H, MS ECE 03, PHD ECE 08, has been appointed associate chair for Graduate Affairs in the Georgia Tech School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE). He succeeds Benjamin Klein, who served in this position since 2018 and who will become the next chair of the Department of ECE at Kennesaw State University. PAUL BROWN , MGT 89, CEO and co-founder of Inspire Brands, joined the board of Georgia-based Engage, a first-of-its-kind collaborative innovation and corporate venture platform. Inspire Brands joined Engage in February. SUPARNA DATTA , MS EE 96, PHD ECE 00, joined the Maynard Intellectual Property (IP) practice group as Of Counsel in the Firm’s Birmingham office. AAMIR KAZI, CS 02, has been selected for the Atlanta Business Chronicle’s “40 Under 40” list. Kazi is a principal at Fish & Richardson. He was one of only three attorneys singled out for this award. JAMES LEONARD, MBA 11, joined the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University as chief information officer. Most recently, he served for five years as the director of customer services for Emory’s Libraries and Information Technology Services division.

CLASS NOTES MANU O. PL ATT, BA 18, MS BCFM 19, was awarded the 2021 American Association for the Advancement of Science Mentor Award for his commitment to supporting the diverse members of his laboratory, providing opportunities for their growth, and encouraging his students out of their comfort zones to reach their fullest potential.

OUT & ABOUT

iFolio, a digital platform for sales and marketing founded by JEAN MARIE RIC HARDSON , MGT 02, was awarded the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council certification in February. LIZ STANTON , IE 05, joined the board of CURE Childhood Cancer, an Atlanta-based nonprofit that advances pediatric cancer research and provides patient and family support. ALEX STONE, CE 95, was named vice president of TranSystems’ Atlanta office. GERALD JAMES WATSON JR., IM 68, MS IM 69, recently authored Critical Thinking– Learning from Mistakes and How to Prevent Them. SAM WILLIAMS, EE 68, “flunked retirement” as 17–year president of the Metro Atlanta Chamber and is now a professor and assistant director of the Urban Studies Institute at Georgia State University, specializing in public policy. Williams is a member of the Emory Healthcare and Grady Hospital Boards. ZHANGXIAN YUAN , MS AE 15, PHD AE 17, joined the Worcester Polytechnic Institute as an assistant professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering.

B L A C K H I S T O RY M O N T H E X H I B I T HONORS FOOTBALL PIONEERS THE MABRA FIRM, founded by Ronnie

back. Mabra Sr. became one of the

E. Mabra Jr., Mgt 00 (above), and Kia

first Howard graduates to play football

co-sponsored a special exhibit exploring

professionally, which included with the

the contributions made by star players

Atlanta Falcons.

and coaches at Historically Black Col-

“My father was a remarkable man.

leges and Universities for Black History

Throughout his life he applied the same

Month at the Chick-Fil-A College Foot-

values that made him successful on the

ball Hall of Fame Museum in Atlanta.

field–teamwork, fairness, and integrity–

The exhibit was especially meaningful for Mabra Jr., a former defensive back

to his life as a businessman, husband, father, and neighbor,” says Mabra Jr.

for the Yellow Jackets, whose late father,

The exhibit included Mabra Jr.’s Yel-

Ronald E. Mabra Sr., was a second-

low Jacket helmet and jersey alongside

generation graduate of Howard Uni-

memorabilia from his father’s collegiate

versity, where he played defensive

and professional football careers.

GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE | SPRING 2021

RAMBLIN� ROLL

BIRTHS 1.

ERIN (WEST) CARLSON, ARCH 11, M ARCH 13, and Cody Carlson welcomed son, Weston James, on June 24, 2020. The family resides in Marietta, Ga.

EDUARDO CORPEÑO, MS CS 17, and his wife, Marissa, had a second son, Agustín Corpeño, on Sept. 7, 2020. The family lives in Guatemala City.

SHELLY DURSUN, AM 12, and JOE DURSUN, AM 11, welcomed baby girl Esme Dursun on April 27, 2020. The family lives in Smyrna, Ga.

NATHANAEL HITT, MGT 09, and KRISTIN HITT, IA 09, welcomed their third child, Audrey Lee Hitt, on Oct. 7, 2020. The family lives in Sterling, Va.

DHEERAJ JANGA, MS IE 10, and Ramya Sontireddy welcomed their first child, Niha Reddy Janga, on Aug. 22, 2020. The family lives in Bakersfield, Calif.

CAROLINE JOHNSON, IE 09, and RYAN JOHNSON, IE 05, welcomed their first son, Dean Patrick Johnson, on Feb. 23, 2019. He joined big sisters Wynne and Tess. The family lives in Marietta, Ga.

CAROL MINN VACCA, IA 97, and Albert Alfred Vacca of Marietta, Ga., welcomed their son, Bennett Donghyun Minn Vacca, on Oct. 14, 2019. He joined older brother Albert and sister Luciana.

MOLLY LANG WÄRENDH, MGT 07, and CHARLIE WÄRENDH, IE 07, welcomed their daughter, Penelope “Penny” Grace Wärendh, on Oct. 17, 2020, in San Francisco. Proud grandpa Hubert Ward Lang III, Arch 74, and uncle Anton Wärendh, EIA 13, are also GT alumni!

JILL VUKMANIC ROBINSON, ME 06, and husband, Mike, welcomed son Bodie Thomas Robinson on July 20, 2020. He joins big brother Tate. The family lives in Humble, Texas.

SPRING 2021 | GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE

WEDDINGS 1.

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IN MEMORIAM

WE REMEMBER & HONOR THE FOLLOWING

19 3 0S

GEORGE R. “ROY” BETHUNE JR., TEXT 37, of Cartersville, Ga.,

on Nov. 8, 2020.

DONALD H. “DON” WADDINGTON JR., CLS 46, of

Dallas, Texas, on Dec. 4, 2020. HENRY L. “HANK” WHITEHEAD JR., IE 49, ME 49, of Hoover, Ala.,

19 4 0S

FRED A . BAKER JR., IE 49, of

Dunwoody, Ga., on Oct. 29, 2020.

on Jan. 18.

19 5 0S

Georgetown, Texas, on Dec. 26, 2020.

Clinton, Tenn., on Oct. 30, 2020. JOHN I. BELL JR., CE 51, of AtlanTHOMAS G. CARPENTER, CLS 47, of Winston–Salem, N.C., on Jan. 6. TALMAGE L. DRYMAN JR., IM 45, of Atlanta, on Jan. 15. JUSTIN FULLER JR., IM 48, of

55, of Fort Worth, Texas, on Nov. 7,

2020. C. SAM DAVIS, IE 58, of Atlanta,

on Oct. 30, 2020. ROBERT F. EDWARDS, TEXT 58,

of Freeport, Fla., on Dec. 21, 2020.

JOHN S. BARBER SR., CE 50, of OTTO W. BRISCOE, CLS 43, of

RIC HARD B. DAVIDSON , AE

ta, on Jan. 9. ROBERT F. “BOB” BOWERS, ME 54, of Lakeland, Fla., on Dec. 26, 2020. BRIAN S. “B.B.” BROWN JR., IM 50, of Atlanta, on Dec. 27, 2020.

JOSEPH M. FERGUSON JR., IE 50, of Atlanta, on Oct. 25, 2020. JAMES R. “DIC K” FISHER, EE 57, of Madison, Ala., on Jan. 9. C HARLES A . “ TONY” FREC K, ME 58, of Lewis Center, Ohio, on Nov.

5, 2020. WENDELL W. GAMEL, EE 52, of

Montgomery, Texas, on Jan. 18.

Birmingham, Ala., on Nov. 23, 2020. WILLIAM G. BRUNER JR., IE 50, JAMES R. IVEY JR., CE 49, of

of Marietta, Ga., on Dec. 7, 2020.

JAMES D. GARRETT, EE 52, of

Lynchburg, Va., on Nov. 3, 2020.

Atlanta, on Nov. 21, 2020. GORDON H. LEWIS, ME 48, MS IE 49, of Wilmington, Del., on

JOHN D. CAPPELMANN JR., IM

C HARLES C. GAVER JR., IE 59,

52, of Mount Pleasant, S.C., on Nov.

of Medford, N.J., on Nov. 14, 2020.

23, 2020. WESLEY W. GIBBS, ME 58, of

Dec. 13, 2020. VIRGIL C. “COLLINS” C HEW, WILLIAM F. MURRAY, ME 47,

Melbourne, Fla., on Dec. 6, 2020.

C HE 54, of Johnson City, Tenn., on

of Hoover, Ala., on Nov. 21, 2020.

Dec. 19, 2020.

ARTHUR E. NELSON JR., ME

SAM R. CL ARE, IM 57, of

JAMES J. “JAMIE” GOODE, CLS 57, of Atlanta, on Jan. 20.

49, of Charlotte, N.C., on Nov. 12,

Midlothian, Va., on Nov. 11, 2020.

ROBERT G. HARDEN , IM 51, of

Alpharetta, Ga., on Oct. 26, 2020.

2020. RIC HARD J. CONNELL, EE 57, of LEON D. ROCAMORA , ME 41,

Orlando, Fla., on Jan. 12.

JOHN R. HARRIS JR., IE 50, of

Scottsdale, Ariz., on Nov. 26, 2020.

of Asheville, N.C., on Jan. 10. L AWRENCE L. “L ARRY” CROSJAY E. RUBEL, IE 49, of Atlanta,

BY JR., IM 52, of Snellville, Ga., on

JAMES C. HAYS, ME 50, of Ma-

on Dec. 13, 2020.

Nov. 9, 2020.

MARVIN H. RUBIN , EE 49, of

JAMES E. “JIM” CURLEE, IM

GEORGE T. HEERY, ARC H 51, of

Owings Mills, Md., on Nov. 20, 2020.

59, of Kennesaw, Ga., on Dec. 1, 2020.

Atlanta, on Jan. 21.

con, Ga., on Oct. 31, 2020.

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 these full obituaries, please visit alumni updates at gtalumni.org/magazine.

GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE | SPRING 2021

IN MEMORIAM ROBERT M. PRICE JR.: COMPUTING PIONEER ROBERT M. “BOB” PRICE JR., MS AM 58, OF MINNEAPOLIS, MINN., ON DEC. 31, 2020. Price was born in New Bern, N.C., on Sept. 26, 1930, to Mary Anne Yow Price and Robert McCollum Price, a U.S. Army Chaplain. He and his sister, Anne, lived at more than 15 different posts with their parents, including postwar Germany, where they witnessed the Berlin airlift. Along the way Price became an Eagle Scout and Sea Scout, began his endeavors to master every sport on the planet, and pursued (briefly and unsuccessfully) a thespian career. He attended Duke University and graduated Magna

Industries, Datalink, Affinity Technology

He served on the Board of Visitors for

Cum Laude in 1952. At Duke, he met the

Group, Rohr Incorporated, and PNM

the Duke University Fuqua School of

love of his life, Mary Hope Walker. They

Resources.

Business and the Georgia Institute of

were married in 1952.

Throughout his career, he nurtured in-

Technology College of Sciences Adviso-

While pursuing an advanced degree

novation, leadership, and camaraderie

ry Board. In 1985 he led a consortium

in mathematics at U.C. Berkeley, he was

with hundreds of friends and colleagues

of corporations and individuals in the

recruited to work at Lawrence Radia-

around the world and became a men-

founding of the National Center for

tion Labs in Livermore, Calif., where he

tor and role model for many. His advice

Social Entrepreneurs to encourage en-

worked as a mathematician for Proj-

was sought after by everyone from

trepreneurship throughout the nonprofit

ect Whitney on some of the world’s

investors launching new overseas com-

sector, and to help individual nonprofits

first and fastest computers, followed by

panies, to three different U.S. Presidents,

create or expand social purpose busi-

tenures at General Dynamics, Geor-

to young people just starting out in their

ness ventures.

gia Tech (where he also completed

careers. After retiring from CDC, he

He went on adventures from Alaska to

his master’s degree in mathematics),

served as chairman and CEO of Inter-

the Aegean, from Asia to the Amazon,

and Standard Oil. He began his ca-

national Multifoods Corporation and

and when he wasn’t showing his family

reer as a staff mathematician/computer

founded and served as CEO of PSV,

the world, he was reading about it—and

programmer at Control Data Corpora-

Inc. He also taught at Duke University’s

making lists to capture ideas for the next

tion in 1961 at the urging of his great

Fuqua School of Business in their week-

adventure.

friend and colleague, Dick Zemlin. He

end MBA program and served as an

Price is survived by his wife of 68

rose through the ranks over the next

Adjunct Professor in the Pratt School of

years, Mary, his three daughters: Eliza-

25 years, helping Control Data grow

Engineering, inspiring and encouraging

beth Delice Price Meland (Greg), Mary

from a Minneapolis start-up into a multi-

a new generation of entrepreneurs and

Leeper Hubbard, and Carrie McCollum

billion-dollar global company. He be-

continuing his love for his alma mater.

Walkiewicz; two granddaughters; and

came president and chief operating

He received the Duke University Distin-

four great-grandchildren. He is also sur-

officer in 1980, and served as chairman,

guished Alumni Award in 1998–’99

vived by devoted nieces and nephews

president, and CEO from 1986 to 1990.

and was awarded a U.S. Medal of Hon-

who he held close to his heart.

He also served on more than 20 boards

or in 2006.

of Fortune 500 companies and startups,

He was a life-long supporter of the

including Premark/Tupperware, Cooper

arts and a generous philanthropist.

SPRING 2021 | GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE

He was predeceased by his sister, Anne, and his cherished brothers- and sisters-in-law.

DONALD J. “DON” NAPOLI, WILLIAM B. HITE, IE 59, of Au-

CE 51, of Venice, Fla., on Jan. 15.

gusta, Ga., on Dec. 8, 2020. ELLIOTT L. PORTER III, IE 57, of ERNEST O. “ERNIE” HOUSEMAN JR., MS EE 56, of Orlando,

Fla., on Dec. 4, 2020. HALL C. “SONNY” HOWARD JR., CE 59, of Social Circle, Ga., on

Nov. 10, 2020. ALEXANDER T. HUNT JR., IM 52, of Ruston, La., on Nov. 17, 2020. VERNON F. HUTC HENS JR., EE 55, of Huntsville, Ala., on Jan. 17. FRED J. KITC HENS JR., CE 55, MS CE 67, of Savannah, Ga., on

Nov. 18, 2020. WAYL AND W. L AMAR, IM 54,

of Aiken, S.C., on Jan. 24. LEROY LEWIS, IM 51, of Louisville,

Ga., on Jan. 11.

Fairlawn, Ohio, on Nov. 11, 2020. SAMUEL L. READY JR., EE 56,

of Chico, Calif., on Oct. 28, 2020. FRANKLIN B. “FRANK” REDFIELD, C HE 52, of Peachtree City,

Ga., on Nov. 9, 2020. ROBERT S. RILEY, CE 56, of Au-

gusta, Ga., on Jan. 24.

IE 50, MS IE 51, of Clearwater

Beach, Fla., on Nov. 8, 2020.

BPP, Pendleton-Parker was an icon to the Georgia Tech and Atlanta communities.

JR., IM 56, of Atlanta, on Jan. 2.

Pendleton-Parker was born in Shelby,

WILLIAM L. “BILL” ROBERTSON , IE 53, of Newport News, Va.,

on Jan. 22. DANIEL P. SANTACROCE, ARC H 54, of Atlanta, on Dec. 29, 2020. WILLIAM C. SMITH JR., C HE

Dec. 22, 2020.

2020.

Leesburg, Fla., on Jan. 5. C HARLES M. THORNTON , ME KENNETH H. “KEN” MERRY

55, of Waynesboro, Pa., on Jan. 17.

JR., ME 58, of Augusta, Ga., on

Jan. 8.

KENNETH P. WEATHERWAX, CLS 59, of Dallas, Texas, on Dec. 17,

EUGENE A . “GENE” MILLER,

2020.

Nancy Pendleton, and had three older sisters, Beth, Nancy, and Beatrice. After attending Western Carolina University and the University of Tennessee, she worked at Georgia Tech for 30 years, where she was more involved in student life than most students. She was a champion of all social causes and was recognized by two U.S. gave in small moments every day to everyone she encountered, stood up for those who couldn’t stand up for themselves, and taught others to seek a life that would lead to “significance” rather than just “success.” The Georgia Tech Alumni Association honored Pendleton-Parker’s service to Tech, naming her an honorary alumna for the 2021 Gold & White Honors.

MS CE 57, of Corte Madera, Calif.,

on Dec. 18, 2020.

N.C., on Jan. 12, 1952, to William and

Presidents for her volunteerism. She C HARLES L. “DIC K” THOMAS, IM 54, of Charlotte, N.C., on Dec. 29,

INMAN E. McELVY, EE 50, of

BILLIEE PENDLETON-PARKER, OF AT L A N TA , O N J A N . 1 4 . Fondly known as

THOMAS A . “ TOMMY” RIPLEY

59, MS IM 61, of Montrose, Ala., on MARSHALL A . LOC HRIDGE JR.,

BILLIEE PENDLETONPA R K E R : B E L O V E D TECH ICON

LEWIS W. “BUSTER” WILLIAMS JR., ME 51, of Birmingham, Ala., on

JEAN A . MORI, ME 58, of Atlan-

Jan. 16.

ta, on Dec. 1, 2020. HOMER F. “ WOODY” WOODJOHN M. “MALCOLM” MORRISON , IM 58, of Alpharetta, Ga., on

ALL JR., CLS 57, of Atlanta, on Nov.

4, 2020.

19 6 0S

WILLIAM H. “SONNY” ASHLEY JR., IM 67, of Hendersonville, N.C.,

on Oct. 25, 2020.

Dec. 7, 2020. JOHN R. “BOB” WOOLF SR., WILLIAM G. MOSES, AE 54, of

Fayetteville, Ga., on Dec. 29, 2020.

IM 57, of Miramar Beach, Fla., on

Dec. 28, 2020.

THOMAS H. BANKS SR., TEXT 61, of Cashiers, N.C., on Jan. 13.

GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE | SPRING 2021

IN MEMORIAM Star. In 1972, Bowyer co-founded Bowyer-Singleton & Associates, Inc.,

IRVIN O. “OTIS” BERKHAN

a consulting engineering firm servic-

JR., EE 61, of Sarasota, Fla., on Nov.

ing land developers and transportation

3, 2020. FREDERIC K W. “SPIKE” BURNS III, IE 67, of Marietta, Ga., on Dec.

21, 2020. JOHN F. COOKE SR., PHYS 61, MS PHYS 63, PHD PHYS 66, of

Farragut, Tenn., on Jan. 5. DEWEY N. CORBETT, CE 6 4, MS CE 66, of Louisville, Ga., on Nov. 27,

2020.

JAMES W. “JIM” BOWYER: DISTINGUISHED ENGINEER

agencies throughout Florida. Civic affiliations for Bowyer included serving on the board of directors of the Greater Orlando Chamber of Commerce, serving as president of the board of trustees for the Orlando Science Center, and serv-

JAMES W. “JIM” BOWYER, CE 64, MS SANE 66, OF ORLANDO, FLA., ON NOV. 30, 2 0 2 0 . Bowyer was born on Aug. 22,

ing on the board of directors for Loch

1942, in Jackson, Tenn. He attended

family heritage there. He was a trustee

Georgia Tech, where he joined the Al-

for both the Alumni Association board

Haven Park. Bowyer was very involved with his alma mater and was proud of his

pha Sigma chapter of Kappa Alpha

and the Georgia Tech Foundation. In

THOMAS F. FAIRES SR., IM 69,

Order. While a senior, Bowyer married

2006, he was inducted into the Geor-

of Hattiesburg, Miss., on May 23, 2020.

Jane Harvard, an Emory student from

gia Tech College of Engineering Hall of

Brooksville, Fla. The two were married

Fame. Most important to Bowyer was his

for nearly 57 years. From 1965 to 1968,

family. Bowyer is survived by his wife,

Bowyer served in the U.S. Army Corps

Jane, and their three children, Eliza-

of Engineers, which included tours of

beth Bowyer Stephens (Bob), Katheryn

duty in the Dominican Republic and the

Audrey Bowyer, and Samuel Carnes

Republic of Vietnam. He earned the rank

Bowyer (Julie); and five grandchildren.

of 1st Lieutenant and received a Bronze

He is also survived by his brother Fred.

FERDINAND W. “BILL” HAC KMEYER JR., IE 6 4, of Santa Rosa

Beach, Fla., on Jan. 3. BOBBY R. HARRIS, MS EE 67,

of Grand Prairie, Texas, on Dec. 25, 2020. JOHN A . HENDERSON , IE 62,

of Cape Carteret, N.C., on Jan. 7. EDWARD E. HILLIARD, AE 62,

of Macon, Ga., on Nov. 19, 2020. GEORGE D. HOUSER, IM 67, of

Atlanta, on Dec. 10, 2020.

F R A N K H . M A I E R J R . : J E W E L RY I N D U S T RY LEADER & ALUMNI ASSOCIATION PRESIDENT FRANK H. MAIER JR., IM 60, OF ATLANTA, ON OCT. 31, 2020. An Atlanta native, Maier was in the Navy ROTC at Georgia Tech. A proud

RIC HARD G. “DIC K” HUNTER

Dodd’s Boy, he served as one of the stu-

II, IM 60, of Savannah, Ga., on Nov.

dent football managers under Bobby

16, 2020.

Dodd. He was a U.S. Naval officer from

NOL AN L. JOHNSON JR., CE 69, MS SANE 70, of Marietta, Ga.,

1960 to 1962, earning the ranks Ensign and Lieutenant.

American Gem Society. In 1991, he was

Known as “Wits” at Tech, a trait that

inducted into the Jeweler Hall of Fame.

carried him in good stead all his life,

A lifelong Yellow Jacket, Maier served

Maier became the chairman and CEO

as president of the Georgia Tech Alumni

Birmingham, Ala., on Nov. 17, 2020.

of Maier & Berkele Jewelers. He led

Association from 1994 to 1995.

a successful career, serving in leader-

Maier is survived by his wife, Blanch-

BRANNON B. LESESNE JR., IM

ship roles on numerous associations

ette, and numerous friends, cousins, and

60, of Atlanta, on Dec. 31, 2020.

including Jewelers of America and the

family.

on Dec. 26, 2020. JIMMY N. JOINER, ME 67, of

SPRING 2021 | GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE

GERALD W. McCLURE, ME 65,

of Burnsville, Minn., on Dec. 13, 2020. THOMAS J. “ TOM” MOONEY, C HE 67, MS C HE 69, of Houston,

Texas, on Oct. 31, 2020.

EUGENE C. “GENE” D U N W O DY S R . : DEDICATED CIVIC LEADER

JAMES W. MOORE, IE 63, of

EUGENE C. “GENE” DUNWODY SR., ARCH 56, OF MACON, GA., ON JAN. 9.

Lawrenceville, Ga., on Dec. 2, 2020.

Dunwody was born in 1933. At Georgia Tech, he joined the Kappa Al-

father, W. Elliott Dunwody, Jr., Architect.

pha Order and was later invited to be

His interest in public affairs began

a member of the Ramblin’ Reck Club,

with his appointment to the Macon-Bibb

Koseme Society, Phi Eta Sigma, Tau

County Planning and Zoning Commis-

Beta Pi, and ANAK. Elected to the Stu-

sion, where he served as chairman.

dent Council as a freshman, he served

In late 1975 he was elected president

DAVID L. RIC HARDSON , ARC H

as president of the Council/Student

of the first integrated City Council and

60, ARC H 62, of Greensboro, Ga.,

Body his senior year. He was also a

served for 12 years. He became a mem-

on Dec. 22, 2020.

member of the Georgia Tech Athletic

ber of the National League of Cities,

Association.

where he served as chairman of the

THOMAS P. MORRIS, PHYS 62,

of Charlotte, N.C., on Dec. 5, 2020. RIC HARD L. REEVES, IE 68, of

Fairhope, Ala., on Dec. 8, 2020.

ROBERT L. RUSSELL, MS EE 60,

of Huntsville, Ala., on Dec. 28, 2020. JERRY M. SAUNDERS, AE 61, of

Huntsville, Ala., on Dec. 26, 2020. GEORGE W. SAWYER, TEXT 6 4,

of Macon, Ga., on Nov. 8, 2020.

Dunwody was selected to attend

Community and Economic Develop-

the Naval Officer Candidate School

ment Committee, supporting changes in

in Newport, R.I., where he earned the

national laws and policies to be more eq-

rank of Ensign in the Navy’s Civil Engi-

uitable. Among many honors, Dunwody

neering Corps.

received the Dean Griffin Community

In December of 1958 he was transferred to Patrick Air Force Base, where

Service Award. He served as a Georgia Tech Alumni Association trustee.

the CEC oversaw the down range missile

Dunwody is survived by his wife, Su-

ANITA R. SIMPSON , CE 62, of

tracking stations for Cape Canaveral.

san, children Susan and Rob Andes,

McDonough, Ga., on Dec. 23, 2020.

He was fortunate to have been able to

Gene and BJ Dunwody, George Dun-

write his name on the rocket that boost-

wody, Mary Bennet and Matt Rose;

ed the first missile to hit the moon. At the

grandchildren, nephew and niece, and

end of his elective service, he moved

many great nieces, great nephews, and

back to Macon and joined the firm of his

cousins.

WILLIAM H. “HENRY” SIMPSON JR., CE 62, of McDonough,

Ga., on Nov. 25, 2020. GEORGE M. TAYLOR, PHYS 6 4,

of Peachtree Corners, Ga., on March 17, 2020. BAXTER L. THORMAN , MS ME 66, of Tulsa, Fla., on Dec. 18, 2020. MIC HAEL S. TUC KMAN , EE 65,

of Johns Creek, Ga., on Dec. 21, 2020. MAURICE “MAURY” WISHNOFF JR., EE 6 4, of Matthews,

N.C., on Nov. 30, 2020.

19 7 0S

RUDY B. GRIFFIN , BM 72, of

Cumming, Ga., on Jan. 11. C HARLES S. “C HUC K” HARPER JR., IM 77, of Peachtree Corners,

Ga., on Jan. 5. JAMES M. “MORGAN” JELLETT, MS CE 71, of Huntsville,

Ala., on Dec. 22, 2020. C HARLES G. KL AUS II, IE 70,

of Hanahan, S.C., on Nov. 30, 2020.

ROBERT L. “BOB” SIMPSON JR., MS INFOSCI 71, PHD CS 85, of Buford, Ga., on Dec. 26, 2020. JOHN C. WESTENDORF, ME 74,

of Hendersonville, Tenn., on Jan. 10. WALL ACE D. “ WOODY” WOODALL, CE 71, of Prattville,

Ala., on Nov. 9, 2020.

19 8 0S

MATTHEW C. “MATT” ADAMS,

WILLIAM D. ESCUE, IE 77, of

L AMAR C. McCL AIN , IM 79,

IE 86, of Dunwoody, Ga., on Nov.

Sewall’s Point, Fla., on Dec. 30, 2020.

of Washington, D.C., on Dec. 6, 2020.

27, 2020.

GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE | SPRING 2021

IN MEMORIAM

C HARLOTTE B. ARROC HA , CLS 87, of Keller, Texas, on Sept. 23, 2020. JAMES B. “JAY” BL AC KBURN JR., MS CP 82, of Savannah, Ga.,

on Nov. 1, 2020. MAXWELL F. “MAX” CREIGHTON , MS ARC H 81, of Atlanta, on

Nov. 7, 2020. JAMES M. “MARSHALL” McCORMIC K II, EE 85, of Al-

GEOFFREY C. GILL: LIFELONG GEORGIA TECH SUPPORTER GEOFFREY C. GILL, IM 64, OF ATL ANTA, ON DEC. 20, 2020. Gill was born in Atlanta to Hugh and Agnes Gill on April 13, 1942. He was a proud 1960 graduate of Sylvan Hills High School. He then attended Georgia Tech and was a member of Kappa Sigma Fraternity, serving as the pres-

pharetta, Ga., on Dec. 2, 2020.

ident of the Alpha Tau chapter twice.

of Management from 1994 to 1997.

He also served in the Navy ROTC as a

He served for 22 years as an elected

THOMAS K. YELLE, CE 85, of At-

member of Alpha Kappa Psi, on the In-

member of the Georgia Tech Founda-

lanta, on Dec. 23, 2020.

terfraternity Council, and the Ramblin’

tion Board of Trustees, from 1987 until

Reck Club. This began a lifetime of giv-

becoming a member emeritus in 2009,

ing back to his beloved Georgia Tech

a position he held until his death. Gill

and Kappa Sig.

received the J.M. Pettit Alumni Distin-

19 9 0S

BRYAN M. KEAVENY, MGT 91,

of Newnan, Ga., on Dec. 1, 2020. JOSEPH E. RAMSEY, CS 95, of

After graduation, Gill was inducted

guished Service Award in 2005, the

as a Lieutenant into the U.S. Navy and

highest award conferred by the Alumni

moved to Athens, Ga., in 1964 to attend

Association.

Navy Supply School. Upon graduation,

Gill was president of the Kappa Sig-

he moved to San Diego, Calif., serving

ma House Corporation for most of the

as a Supply Officer on the USS Vancou-

1980s and ’90s. He led fundraising and

ver during the Vietnam conflict. After his

construction efforts to add the second

tour of duty, he moved back to Atlanta

story to the chapter house in 1993 and

LaGrange, Ga., on Jan. 16.

and attended Emory University, receiv-

for the use of the house for the Olympics

ing his MBA in 1967.

in 1996. He is heralded as the founding

2 010 S

Gill began his career with IBM and

father of the modern alumni leadership

then transitioned to a 50-year career as

of the chapter house at Georgia Tech,

MARTHA E. L AWRENCE, CLS

a financial advisor beginning with The

and the Geoffrey C. Gill Award is given

15, of Anderson, S.C., on Jan. 27.

Robinson-Humphrey Company, and

by the chapter to the outstanding senior

finally as vice president of Wealth Man-

each year.

Oceanside, Calif., on June 14, 2020.

2000S

ALLEN F. LEGEL, MBA 08, of

FRIENDS

agement at UBS Financial Services.

Gill was preceded in death by his

Gill was married in 1992 to Elizabeth

daughter, Rachel Leslie Thorn of At-

BARBARA B. AC KERMAN , of

(Jackson) Gill, and they enjoyed trav-

lanta. He is survived by his wife of 28

Harrisonburg, Va., on Jan. 24.

eling around the world and spending

years, Elizabeth (Jackson) Gill; daugh-

time with family and friends at their lake

ters and sons-in-law Nancy (Gill) and

house, “The Ramblin’ Wreck 2.1,” on

Adam Berger of Dunwoody, Ga., and

Lake Burton, Ga.

Erica (Thorn) and Michael Niesse of

BILLIE L. ADAMS, of Douglasville,

Ga., on Jan. 22.

Gill served on the Alumni Trustee

Roswell, Ga.; son and daughter-in-law

Dec. 30, 2020.

Board from 1979 to 1986 and served

Curtis and Wendy Gill of Atlanta; and

as president of the Alumni Associa-

his brother and sister-in-law, Andrew

MARTHA P. ARNETT, of Brookhav-

tion from 1985 to 1986. He was on

and Ann Gill of Cumming, Ga., and six

en, Ga., on Jan. 25.

the Dean’s Advisory Board, College

grandchildren.

SUE M. ADAMS, of Camilla, Ga., on

SPRING 2021 | GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE

BRIDGETTE A . BARRY, of Atlanta,

MARY D. GELLERSTEDT, of Atlan-

OLIVE D. LOOKABAUGH, of

on Jan. 20.

ta, on Dec. 27, 2020.

Kerrville, Texas, on Dec. 7, 2020.

MARTHA L. BOWEN , of Atlanta,

MARGARET N. “PEGGY” GRIF -

ELIZABETH N. “BETT Y” MORI,

on Jan. 24.

FIN , of Atlanta, on Jan. 5.

of Atlanta, on Dec. 4, 2020.

DRURY S. CAINE III, of Tuscaloo-

DELON HAMPTON , of Potomac,

C HARLES C. MOTE JR., of Powder

sa, Ala., on Oct. 29, 2020.

Md., on Jan. 14.

Springs, Ga., on Dec. 18, 2020.

C HRISTOPHER A . CARPEN-

JAMES L. “JIM” HARBERSON ,

DOROTHY “DOT” OSC HER, of

TER SR., of Florence, S.C., on Dec. 21,

of Petaluma, Calif., on Jan. 22.

Cartersville, Ga., on Jan. 6.

JOHN HEETDERKS, of Atlanta, on

PATSY A . POOVEY, of Roswell,

2020. JACQUELINE M. “JAC KIE”

Jan. 15.

Ga., on Nov. 7, 2020.

KATHRYN D. JOHNSON , of

DALE C. RAY, of Atlanta, on Dec. 23,

COLLINS, of Milton, Ga., on Dec. 13,

2020.

Perry, Utah, on Jan. 16.

2020.

SYLVIA (CARMIC HAEL) JOHN-

ARDEN ZINN , of Atlanta, on Nov.

FRANCO EINAUDI, of Columbia,

Md., on Dec. 10, 2020.

SON , of Marietta, Ga., on Nov. 3,

23, 2020.

2020.

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TECH CAREERS AT

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TECH HISTORY

SLIDE RULES AT TECH

BY JENNIFER HERSEIM

SPRING 2021 | GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE

SCOTT DINERMAN, STC 03

tenacity and hard work can achieve,” he says. As a senior in high school, Williamson visited a friend at Tech to get the lay of the land. “I came away with two goals for the summer before I entered school there,” he says. The first was to purchase a slide rule and become proficient with its use, and the second was to learn to play bridge. “Both skills stood me in good stead during the 13 quarters it took me to ‘get out’ of Tech,” Williamson says. Many students found themselves in similar circumstances in their first quarter, buying a slide rule and learning how the contraption worked. In September of 1959, Maurice Sheppard, ChE 64, started Tech never having heard of a slide rule. “That changed quickly,” he remembers. Sheppard carried his slide rule faithfully with him for the five years it took to complete his co-op program and earn his bachelor’s degree. “I still have my slide rule, and I showed it to my grandson, who is a graduate engineer. He never heard of one. Times change.”

PHOTOGRAPH

WONDER WOMAN has her lasso of truth. Luke Skywalker has his lightsaber. Scotty has his replicator. For generations of Yellow Jackets, they had their trusty slide rules. This wooden gadget, usually no more than a foot long, was never too far when a problem needed solving—as long as that problem involved the four basic arithmetic functions, trigonometry, logarithms, or exponentials. For anyone who took drownproofing, attended quarters, or went to Saturday classes, they would be hard-pressed to see a slide rule now and not think back to a certain era at Georgia Tech. James D. Williamson III, ME 62, keeps his slide rule in a display case that he purchased from Tech 30 or so years ago. “It’s hanging on the wall in my study as a reminder of what

WHAT’S A SLIDE RULE?

BEST SLIDE RULES AVAILABLE At the College Inn, which later became the bookstore, freshmen could buy a slide rule for about $25 in the 1950s. You could always tell a good one by how smoothly the two bars slid out from its central wooden frame and whether the window with its cursor was durable. Some slide rules were made of humidity-resistant bamboo. Others were circular to be easily stowed in a pocket or even shrunk to fit on the face of a watch for on-the-go computations. (A unique slide rule on display at the Georgia Tech Alumni House is hydraulic and another is 8-foot-long.) Freshmen would carefully study each instrument before handing over their cash to the “robbery.” “An engineer must obtain a good slide rule sooner or later,” proclaimed a 1952 advertisement in The Technique. Indeed, engineers, mathematicians, and just about every student at Tech required one. “The College Inn sells the best slide rules available. They are

A slide rule is based on the concept of logarithms. The numbers are spaced out logarithmically. A slide rule typically includes two sliding scales and a metal window with a cursor to line up numbers.

not to be used merely one quarter and discarded; the rules are the type that engineers need and use throughout their entire lifetime. An engineer must obtain a good slide rule sooner or later.”—The Technique, 1952. For students on the G.I. Bill, their slide rule could be paid for by the Veterans Administration. But for some students, a slide rule was passed down like a rite of passage from parents and even grandparents who attended Tech themselves. Such was the case for Dan Godbee, ME 76, MS ME 87, MS IE 89, who arrived at Tech in the summer quarter of 1973 with three slide rules in his possession: a Keuffel and Esser Co., 20-inch, Log Log Duplex Vector; a 10-inch Log Log Duplex Decitrig; and a Eugene Dietzgen Co., 10-inch, Maniphase multiplex, Decimal Trig Type Log Log Rule. All three came from his late father, Herschel W. Godbee, who was a multiple graduate of Tech. “I still have all three of them, and the two 10-inch rules are in perfect working order,” the younger Godbee says. GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE | SPRING 2021

TECH HISTORY After graduating high school in 1959, Margaret (Stephens) Martin, Psy 67, MS Psy 69, attended Tech and received her first slide rule from her father, who enrolled at Tech in the 1930s. Martin was one of the first women to attend after the Board of Regents voted to admit women in 1952. She studied architecture and used a slide rule in her first math classes. Learning to use one was “pretty easy,” Martin remembers. “I just thought it was kind of a neat thing to be able to use this with large numbers,” she says. “If you did anything mathematical back then, you did it by hand.” Learning to use her architectural drawing tools was another story. “I can remember sitting at my drawing desk wondering, How am I going to design a bicycle shed? I don’t know the first thing about these

“I JUST THOUGHT IT WAS KIND OF A NEAT THING TO BE ABLE TO USE THIS WITH LARGE NUMBERS. IF YOU DID ANYTHING MATHEMATICAL BACK THEN, YOU DID IT BY HAND,” MARTIN SAYS.

pencils and triangles!” After getting married and taking a two-year break from school, Martin returned to Tech and decided to switch to psychology. At the time, however, women were only allowed to study engineering and architecture, so she petitioned the School of Psychology to allow to her enroll. Her petition was granted, and she became the first woman to graduate with a degree in psychology from Tech. She followed that two years later as the first woman to earn a master’s in psychology from Tech. Several years ago, Martin donated her slide rule and drawing tools to the Georgia Tech Library Archives. “Most students today wouldn’t know what a slide rule is, let alone how to use one,” she says. “When new things come along, they replace the old.” They become part of history.

SLIDES RULED FOR MORE THAN 350 YEARS The slide rule was invented around 1620 by an English mathematician named William Oughtred, following the invention of logarithms. For more than 350 years, slide rules were involved in almost anything involving a computation, says Lew Lefton, a professor in the School of Mathematics and associate vice president of Research Computing. The slide rule was used for everything from determining the distance of a ballistic missile target in war to measuring orbital fields during the

“1963 and every freshman had to have a slide rule, a.k.a. ‘slip stick.’ If you were really good with it, five-decimal accuracy. If you weren’t, the exam was over before you found the scale you needed. (I still have my Post slide rule and can still go for five decimals.)”—Deloye Burrell, Cls 65

SPRING 2021 | GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE

This hydraulic slide rule (top), architectural drawing tools, and a slide rule from 1908 (bottom) are part of the Alumni House collection.

Apollo 11 moon landing. Lefton still owns the Post-brand slide rule that helped him through high school physics. He came of age just as the slide rule was beginning to be eclipsed by the first calculators. “I knew basic functions, but not much else,” Lefton says. “The men and women involved in the moon landing, the ones you see in the movie Hidden Figures, those were the people who could really make this thing sing.”

ACCESSORIES Most students kept their slide rules sheathed in a leather carrying case. On the inside of the cases, they would carefully print their names and the year in ink. At the Alumni House, a well-used canvas and wood box bears a faded inscription for J.H. Woodall, Tech ’08. Inside is a slide rule that is more than 112 years old. But slide rule cases weren’t only protective. For the serious and somewhat “nerdier” Yellow Jackets, a leather carrying case could be conveniently latched onto a belt loop, where it

would hang by your side always at the ready. One problem, Williamson remembers, is that it would flop around when you walked. Not to worry—he engineered a solution. “I acquired a rawhide strip, punched a hole in the bottom of the case, and looped it through the hole,” he says. “I could then tie the strip to my leg and wear it to class ready for action. ...It was one of those needed distractions to keep me sane during the most stressful and intellectually demanding period of my college and work career.” More often, RAT-capped freshmen would either wear their slide rules on their belts or stow them in a bag. In addition to a rectangular slide rule, Nigel Glover, ChE 77, remembers using a circular one. “It was a space saver and I carried it awhile in my notebook rather than having the slide rule case dangling at my side for GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE | SPRING 2021

TECH HISTORY

the long walks from Smith Dorm to the ‘new’ Boggs chemistry building,” Glover remembers.

“WE’VE GOT BIG PROBLEMS TO SOLVE” The “biggest” slide rule story may be the one of a more than 8-footlong slide rule that hangs on the Margaret Martin, one of Tech’s first female students, donated this slide rule to the Georgia Tech Library. mezzanine level of the Georgia Tech Alumni House. This oversized slide rule was used as early as the 1940s as a teaching needed to take it because…we’ve got big problems to solve.” tool. This particular one was missing from Tech for more The slide rule hung in their apartment for the rest of their than 30 years. Murray Schine, Text 68, shares how he became time at Tech. After that, Schine was entrusted with its care its caretaker during that time. and took that responsibility to heart, bringing it with him When Schine went to Tech in the ’60s, he remembers Satthrough at least seven moves and many more life experiencurday classes and wearing a tie at football games. He, his es. “The moving companies were always in disbelief. They’d three fraternity brothers, and a puppy that he found on camsay, ‘What is that?!’” Schine remembers. pus and rescued, all lived in an apartment off campus. When Marilyn Somers, the former director of Georgia The story goes that one day, Schine’s fraternity brothers Tech’s Living History Program, got wind of the giant slide went to study for finals at Skiles—Schine won’t say who exrule, she persuaded Schine to return it to Tech, and he hapactly participated in the “claiming” of the slide rule nor the pily agreed. The slide rule was hung in the Alumni House, name of his fraternity. “We used to ride around campus in a where it remains to this day. fire truck, that’s a clue,” he hints. “I love it,” Schine says of the final resting place. “That’s His roommate spotted the 8-foot-long slide rule in the where it belongs. It’s part of Tech’s history.” hallway outside a classroom. He later told Schine, “We

THE TURNING POINT

“WHEN I WAS A STUDENT, BACK IN THE 1960s, THE COMPUTING TOOL OF THE DAY WAS THE SLIDE RULE, AND WE WERE CONVINCED OF ITS SUPERIORITY,” G. WAYNE CLOUGH SAID.

SPRING 2021 | GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE

In the early 1970s, a revolutionary new tool that dwarfed the slide rule’s computational power entered the scene—the calculator. The transition was swift, remembers Nigel Glover, ChE 77, who started Tech in the fall of 1972. “Freshman math and advanced chemistry made us do long math or use a slide rule,” he says. “However, something big happened that Christmas: Everyone got a $99 calculator that would add, subtract, multiply, and divide.” Some of those early calculators were even marketed as “slide rule calculators” such as the SR-50 that Lefton purchased in 1974. “It didn’t have a battery pack, so you’d have to plug it in, and it wasn’t portable, but it could do everything that a slide rule could do,” he says. At Tech, some professors left the choice between slide rules and calculators to students. In his first quarter, Godbee remembers taking Chemistry 104 with Dr. Fisher. Realizing that the few students with calculators had a considerable

The first calculators began to appear in the early 1970s, including this “slide rule calculator,” which Lew Lefton purchased in 1974.

advantage over those using slide rules, the professor let the class vote on whether to allow calculators during a chemistry quiz. “Fortunately, the vote was overwhelming that those of us who had calculators could use them,” Godbee says. From then on, he rarely used his slide rule. In 2004, at the ground-breaking for the Klaus Advanced Computing Building, then Georgia Tech President G. Wayne Clough, CE 64, MS CE 65, HON PhD 15, remarked on the rapid evolution of computing. “When I was a student, back in the 1960s, the computing tool of the day was the slide rule, and we were convinced of its superiority,” he said during the ground-breaking. Clough referenced the famous scientist Isaac Asimov, who wrote in an introduction to the slide rule: “We might wish that we ourselves owned… a computer to do the work for us. Such a situation would have its disadvantages, however. Electronic computers are bulky, expensive, complicated, and can be handled only by people with special training… [A slide rule] is small enough to put in your pocket, it need not cost more than a couple of dollars, it can’t go out of order, and best of all, it can solve almost any numerical problem that you meet up with under ordinary circumstances.” But what Clough recognized then was that innovations in computing would far surpass “even the expectations of those who were most in the know,” he said. Indeed, in the last 50 years, the rapid acceleration of

A slide rule from Donald Stuber, AE 71, MS AE 84, HP calculator, and his father’s rule from the 1930s (top). Slide rule from Charles Stone Jr., IE 78 (right).

computational power has never been greater than at any point in history.

MEMENTO OF TECH So, what place will the slide rule have in Tech’s history? One physical space will be at retroTECH, an area inside the Georgia Tech Library that houses retro computing devices. “The concept of the space is to invite students, faculty, and alumni to engage in a hands-on way with the history of technology,” says Wendy Hagenmaier, of the Georgia Tech Library Digital Archives, who helped create the space. At retroTECH, located on the third floor of Crosland Tower, visitors can explore calculators, early computers, old video games, typewriters—and slide rules. “We prioritize things that connect to Georgia Tech and its people and stories,” Hagenmaier says. When retroTECH visitors recognize a piece of technology from their pasts, it inevitably triggers a memory. “This visceral memory tied to these tools is interesting to me and makes the case for why we should examine the human culture underlying everything related to technology,” she says. The connection that alumni have with slide rules is very personal, she adds. “You could wear one on your belt loop and it became almost an appendage of sorts.” As Tech memorabilia goes, the slide rule remains an apt memento of a period of Tech’s history—one to be shared with future Yellow Jackets, as Thomas J. Kolber, MS CE 74, says. “I still have my Pickett SR. It is just waiting for my grandchildren to discover.” GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE | SPRING 2021

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BACK PAGE

HIVE—MINDED

BY JENNIFER HERSEIM

The Larkins family, pictured here outside Skiles, includes eight Yellow Jackets with 10 Georgia Tech degrees between them.

I T ’ S A T I M E L E S S TA L E . One Yellow Jacket meets another Yellow Jacket. They get married, start a family, and then comes the indoctrination—or at least, a gentle push toward the White & Gold. Rosanne and Alan Larkins know how this story goes. As out-of-state students studying engineering at Tech in the ’70s, the two met at a Stinger bus stop on their way back from a disco class at the old Naval Armory. Alan was a co-op student from Virginia studying mechanical engineering and Rosanne was an industrial engineering student from south Florida. “We did a lot of dancing together after that,” Rosanne remembers. They married in December of 1979 and moved into married student housing in the fortress-like Callaway Apartments,

SPRING 2021 | GTALUMNI.ORG/MAGAZINE

which were later demolished. With the graduation of their son, Christopher, IE 20, this spring, the Larkins family has grown to eight Georgia Tech graduates with 10 Tech degrees among them. Their swarm includes their oldest daughter, Theresa Larkins Woodall, IE 05, who married Joey Woodall, PFE 04 (the Ramblin’ Wreck took the bride and groom from the church to their reception); their second daughter, Denise Larkins Simons, PSYC 07, MS PO 09, who married Charlie Simons, ME 07, MS ME 10 (with a special wedding appearance by Buzz); their third daughter, Natalie Larkins, ID 17; and

now their son, Christopher. “Christopher was the last of our four children to graduate and we now look to see what the future brings for our growing family of grandchildren: Matthew, Olivia, Elaina and Amelia Woodall, and Angelo Simons and his future sibling expected in 2021,” Rosanne says. Af ter t heir ow n g radu at ion, Rosanne and Alan stayed in Atlanta for work and to raise their next generation of Yellow Jackets. “We always told them they didn’t have to go to Tech. They just couldn’t go to Georgia,” Rosanne jokes. This year, the Larkins family ma d e c om me mor at ive j e rs e y s with the number of each family member’s graduation year and the potential graduation year for their grandchildren. “We look forward to many more family Ga Tech experiences and graduations that will potentially take us decades further into Tech future history,” Rosanne says. Go Jackets!

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