The College of Sciences has named eight alumni as recipients of the 2026 Distinguished Alumni Awards, recognizing those who have made a lasting impact in their professions, communities, and the world.
“This year’s honorees are incredible trailblazers who have built remarkable careers, demonstrated exceptional leadership, and continue to inspire those who follow in their footsteps,” says Susan Lozier, dean and Betsy Middleton and John Clark Sutherland Chair of the College of Sciences and professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. “It is a privilege to recognize these extraordinary individuals and celebrate the many ways they reflect the strength and spirit of the College of Sciences.”
Honorees will be recognized at the second annual Distinguished Alumni Awards Celebration on Thursday, Oct. 22, from 5:30 – 8:30 p.m. at the Renaissance Atlanta Midtown Hotel.
Recognition categories include the Distinguished Alumni Awards, honoring one graduate from each school; the Distinguished Young Scientist Award, recognizing early-career excellence; and the College of Sciences Impact Award, honoring transformative contributions to the College’s mission and future.
“The large response to our call for nominations was a powerful reminder of how deeply our alumni contribute to their fields and communities,” says Director of Alumni Relations Leslie Roberts. “We are excited to recognize this year’s amazing honorees and celebrate the lasting influence they have had both within and beyond Georgia Tech.”
2026 Distinguished Alumni Award Recipients
School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
Tia Williams
B.S. Earth and Atmospheric Sciences 1996
School of Biological Sciences
Fred Levin, M.D.
B.S. Applied Biology 1972
School of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Belma Erdogan-Haug, Ph.D.
Ph.D. Chemistry 2003
School of Mathematics
Clemmie Whatley, Ph.D.
M.S. Applied Mathematics 1973
School of Physics
Gilbert (Gil) Amelio, Ph.D.
B.S. Physics 1965, M.S. Physics 1967, Ph.D. Physics 1969
School of Psychological and Brain Sciences
Tara Stoinski, Ph.D.
Ph.D. Psychology 2000
Distinguished Young Scientist Award Recipient
Austin Hope
B.S. Psychology 2014
College of Sciences Impact Award Recipient
Jeffrey Leddy
B.S. Physics 1978
This fall, Emily Weigel (Biology 2010) returned to the G. Wayne Clough Tech Promise Scholars Program to serve as a faculty guide for the next generation of scholars. Weigel was one of the inaugural recipients of the scholarship when she was an undergraduate at the Institute.
The Tech Promise Scholarship, founded in 2007, makes it possible for Georgia students with family incomes below $55,500 to earn a debt-free degree from Georgia Tech. Weigel’s appointment as a faculty guide on the eve of the program’s 20th anniversary marks the first time a recipient of the scholarship has returned to the program in a mentorship capacity.
For Weigel, a senior academic professional in Georgia Tech’s School of Biological Sciences, the position is a full-circle moment:
Nobody gets to Tech by accident, but I know that for students who come from backgrounds similar to mine that it might not always feel that way. I’ve been keeping an eye out for this opportunity because I truly think it makes all the difference to have a broad support system and people who get where these students are coming.
Join us for an insider's guide to getting hired at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), one of the nation's leading applied research and development organizations.
Designed for College of Sciences undergraduate and graduate students, this Lunch & Learn will provide practical guidance on:
- Building a competitive application
- Standing out to GTRI recruiters
- Preparing for GTRI interviews
- Understanding and navigating GTRI’s hiring process
Bring your questions, enjoy lunch, and leave with a practical insight for navigating the GTRI hiring process.
Lunch & Learn: How to Get Hired at GTRI
Thursday, Sept. 3
11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Rafael Bras Meeting Room, John Lewis Student Center
Lunch will be provided.
Event Details
Join College of Sciences students for a fireside chat featuring Georgia Tech alumni who have built successful careers at The Coca-Cola Company.
Learn about their career journeys, how they prepared for internships and full-time opportunities, and their advice for standing out as a Georgia Tech sciences student.
Whether you're exploring career options or preparing for your next internship or full-time role, this event offers an opportunity to ask questions, make connections, and hear directly from alumni who have successfully navigated the path.
Following the discussion, enjoy dinner while networking with alumni and fellow students.
College of Sciences Students and Alumni Fireside Chat (The Coca-Cola Company)
Sept. 23, 2026
6 – 8 p.m.
Cypress Theater, John Lewis Student Success Center
Dinner will be served.
Event Details
Join College of Sciences students for a fireside chat featuring Georgia Tech alumni who have built successful careers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Google, and Home Depot.
Learn about their career journeys, how they prepared for internships and full-time opportunities, and their advice for standing out as a Georgia Tech sciences student.
Whether you're exploring career options or preparing for your next internship or full-time role, this event offers an opportunity to ask questions, make connections, and hear directly from alumni who have successfully navigated the path.
Following the discussion, enjoy dinner while networking with alumni and fellow students.
College of Sciences Students and Alumni Fireside Chat (CDC, Google, and Home Depot)
Sept. 9, 2026
6 - 8 p.m.
Cypress Theater, John Lewis Student Center
Dinner will be served.
Event Details
SCENE is the College of Sciences' signature employer networking event, connecting students with employers across industry, government, healthcare, research, and technology.
Meet recruiters and hiring managers; explore internships, co-ops, research experiences, and full-time opportunities; and build meaningful professional connections with organizations seeking Georgia Tech talent.
College of Sciences Students-Careers-Employers Networking Expo (SCENE)
Oct. 7, 2026
3 – 7:00 p.m.
Georgia Tech Exhibition Hall
Business casual attire is encouraged.
Event Details
Networking is more than exchanging contact information. It is about knowing how to enter a conversation, create a connection, and communicate the value you bring.
Led by James Stringfellow, Career Education Program Manager for the College of Sciences, this interactive workshop will demystify networking and give you practical strategies you can use immediately.
Participants will learn how to:
- Start professional conversations with confidence
- Ask questions that create meaningful conversations
- Keep conversations flowing naturally
- Communicate your transferable skills effectively
- Describe your experiences in ways that demonstrate value to employers
- Approach networking as relationship-building rather than simply asking for a job
Come ready to participate, practice, and rethink what networking can look like for you.
Career Conversations: The Psychology of Networking
Sept. 10, 2026
11 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.
JS Coon Building, Room 250
Event Details
A new study led by Francesca Storici, a professor in the School of Biological Sciences and faculty member of the Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience, has uncovered an unexpected feature of human DNA linked to gene activity and the physical organization of DNA. The findings, published in Cell, could change how scientists think about DNA organization, transcription, and genome function.
DNA and RNA are usually separate molecules inside cells, each with a different job. But small RNA building blocks, called ribonucleotides, sometimes become embedded in DNA during normal cellular activities. Scientists knew these RNA building blocks existed, but until now they did not know where they were located across the human genome or whether they served a purpose.
Storici's team, working with collaborators at multiple institutions, created their detailed map of these RNA building blocks throughout human DNA. The researchers found that they are not randomly scattered. Instead, they are distributed in distinct patterns across the genome. The researchers call this genome-wide landscape of DNA-embedded ribonucleotides the human nuclear “ribome.”
“Ribonucleotides embedded in DNA have traditionally been viewed mainly as mistakes that need to be removed,” Storici said. “Our findings suggest a different perspective: they can influence the physical properties of DNA and may have biological functions that we are only beginning to understand.”
The team discovered that these embedded RNA building blocks are especially common near the starting points of active genes, where cells begin reading genetic instructions to make RNA. Their abundance also increases with gene activity. These regions experience physical stress as DNA is repeatedly accessed and used. The researchers found evidence that the embedded RNA building blocks influence how tightly the DNA twists and coils in these areas. This DNA twisting, known as supercoiling, is closely associated with transcription.
The findings suggest that these RNA building blocks are more than accidental leftovers from normal cellular processes. Instead, they can modulate DNA supercoiling, revealing a previously unrecognized connection between embedded ribonucleotides, DNA topology, and transcription.
“One of the most exciting findings is that processing ribonucleotides embedded in DNA can change DNA supercoiling,” Storici said. “This provides a new connection between the chemical composition of DNA, its physical organization, and transcription.”
The work also may help scientists better understand diseases linked to problems removing embedded RNA from DNA, including rare autoimmune disorders. More broadly, the discovery could open a new area of investigation into the roles of embedded ribonucleotides in human genome biology.
By providing the first comprehensive map of these RNA marks in human nuclear DNA, the study shows that what once appeared to be simple molecular mistakes may actually contribute to how the genome is organized and functions. The discovery opens new opportunities to explore how embedded ribonucleotides influence DNA topology, transcription, and genome maintenance.
Susan Lozier, dean of the College of Sciences and Betsy Middleton and John Clark Sutherland Chair, announced today that she will conclude her term as dean on Nov. 1. She will continue her research as a professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences.
Since becoming the first woman to serve as dean of the College in 2019, Lozier's strategic approach has led to historic growth in enrollment, research activity, philanthropy, and reputational excellence. During her tenure, the College has launched dozens of innovative programs and expanded support and mentoring for more than 3,300 students and 550 faculty across six internationally ranked schools.
In Fiscal Year 2026, the College reached a record $70 million in research expenditures. The College has increased undergraduate enrollment by more than 60%, teaches nearly 180,000 undergraduate credit hours each year, and enrolls more than three-quarters of its undergraduate students from the state of Georgia.
“It has been nothing short of an honor and pleasure to serve as dean,” said Lozier. “If my tenure will be remembered as one that fostered an environment where amazingly talented students, faculty, and staff felt supported and encouraged in their work, then I will have accomplished what I set out to do. From year one to year seven, the people in the College of Sciences community have been my top priority.”
The College has added new minors ranging from astrophysics and quantum science to the science of mental health and well-being. New offerings include bachelor’s degrees in math and computing and environmental science, as well as the interdisciplinary doctoral program in Neuroscience and Neurotechnology.
Under Lozier’s leadership, the College also achieved reputational highs, with all graduate degrees ranked in the top 10% of their respective U.S. News & World Report program rankings.
In 2025, Sciences was the first college to surpass its Transforming Tomorrow capital campaign goal, raising more than $90 million and counting. Philanthropic contributions to the College have created new undergraduate scholarships and set record fellowship and endowment support for graduate students, faculty, and postdoctoral scholars. The College also advanced new initiatives for student support and career education, faculty mentoring and teaching, and alumni engagement, and expanded programming to convene experts across space exploration, health and ecology, and artificial intelligence and brain science.
Lozier established four new strategic research centers to extend work on critical minerals, artificial intelligence, and spatial processing and navigation. She also led the creation of Georgia Tech for Georgia’s Tomorrow: a wide-ranging effort to address pressing health and climate challenges experienced across the state, from farms and forests to Georgia’s coastal communities and growing cities.
“Dean Lozier has set a remarkable example of what it means to lead with purpose, generosity, and deep commitment,” said Raheem Beyah, provost and executive vice president of Academic Affairs. “She has left an enduring mark on the College of Sciences and on the many people who have benefited from her guidance, advocacy, and mentorship. She has helped position the College for an exciting future while bringing distinction to Georgia Tech through her leadership and scholarship. We are grateful for all she has given to the Institute, and I look forward to seeing the continued impact of her tenure in the years ahead.”
Beyond the Institute, Lozier has served in leadership roles in several international scientific organizations, including a recent term as president of the American Geophysical Union, representing more than 62,000 members across 144 countries, and as president of The Oceanography Society. She currently serves on the Board of Trustees for the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and is a member of the Board of Directors for the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute.
Recent honors include election as a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2020 and receipt of the Henry Stommel Research Medal in 2022, the highest honor given to an oceanographer by the American Meteorological Society. In 2025, Lozier was named Faculty of the Year by the Georgia Tech Graduate Student Government Association and, earlier this year, received the Lettie Pate Whitehead Evans Award.
An active researcher and one of the world’s foremost physical oceanographers, Lozier remains the international project lead for the $32 million National Science Foundation-funded Overturning in the Subpolar North Atlantic Program observing system, known as OSNAP.
In planning for new leadership, Beyah has named Mitchell Walker, dean of the College of Engineering, to serve as chair of the search committee. Details about interim leadership and timing of the search process will be announced soon.
School of Biological Sciences Assistant Professor Lauren Speare has received a Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (MIRA) from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). According to the MIRA website, the awards provide investigators with long-term, flexible funding to pursue ambitious research programs and explore promising new directions as discoveries emerge.
Speare plans to use the funding to build on her lab’s previous finding that naturally occurring predatory bacteria can reduce disease severity in threatened staghorn corals by defending them against harmful bacteria. Her new research will move beyond direct predator-prey interactions to better understand how bacterial predators influence the broader microbial communities living on corals.
“We know bacterial predators can alter disease outcomes in corals,” explains Speare. “What we don’t yet comprehend is what predation actually does to a complex microbiome inside a living animal. Does a predator simply remove particular bacteria, or can those interactions ripple through the entire microbiome and ultimately affect the host?”
Understanding those changes could reveal why some corals are better able to resist disease and recover from environmental stress than others.
Next Steps
Speare and researchers from the Speare Marine Microbial Ecology Lab will investigate microbial predation outside the laboratory in a whole-community context.
“Most of what we know about microbial interactions comes from studying one or two populations in a test tube,” says Speare. “But microbes can behave very differently in a living host. We want to understand those interactions where they are actually happening.”
Her research will use staghorn corals as a model for observing these interactions over time. Because corals are made up of colonies of genetically identical animal polyps, scientists can repeatedly sample the same colony and track how its microbial communities change. This approach offers a unique window into how microbiomes evolve within an animal host, something that is much more difficult to study in many other animals used in research
"One of the really powerful things about corals as a model is that we can repeatedly observe what is happening within the same host," says Speare. "Instead of taking a single snapshot of a microbiome, we can follow how interactions unfold through time and explore how those changes ultimately affect the animal."
Speare hopes the research will uncover how bacteria interact within coral microbiomes and whether those interactions can help corals stay healthy and resist disease.
“It’s unusual to have a model system where fundamental questions about microbial ecology can have such immediate relevance to conservation,” says Speare. “If we learn something that can improve coral health or restoration efforts, we can communicate those findings directly to the practitioners who are actively working to restore these populations.”
Seed Grant Support
Speare credits two prior grants for providing preliminary data for the MIRA award. A NOAA Ruth D. Gates Coral Restoration Innovation Grant helped her develop disease models and investigate the potential health applications of predatory bacteria in corals. A Georgia Tech Sustainability Next Seed Grant filled a critical knowledge gap in the research by testing how these bacterial predators interact with healthy corals.
“Before we could ask what microbial predation does within a complex microbiome, we needed to establish that these predators could persist within corals without negatively affecting the host,” says Speare. “That work gave us the foundation to start asking much bigger ecological questions.”
The Sustainability Next Seed Grant, administered by the Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems, also supported workshops and collaboration-building efforts that strengthened partnerships with the University of Miami’s Lirman Lab and Rescue a Reef which provide corals and expertise for ongoing restoration-focused research.
Looking Ahead
“The flexibility that comes with this funding is incredibly exciting,” says Speare. “We have five years to follow the biology wherever it leads us. If we discover an unexpected interaction or mechanism, we have the freedom to pursue it rather than being constrained by a single predefined project. That gives us the opportunity to build a much broader understanding of how microbial predation influences coral health.”
Support Acknowledgement
Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number 1R35GM165598.
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