Shaping the shared future of microbes and human health is the mission for Georgia Tech’s Center for Microbial Dynamics and Infection (CMDI).

Yes, there are similar academic-based centers studying infectious diseases and the microbes that cause them, but to understand what makes Georgia Tech’s center different, Sam Brown, CMDI co-director and a professor in the School of Biological Sciences, says to concentrate on that third letter in the Center's name.

“Focus on dynamics,” says Brown. “That’s basically how microbes are changing over time and space as well as how they’re changing systems in time. This notion of dynamics operates on different scales. It operates, as I see it, on a behavioral scale — individual bugs making decisions and changing their behavior in time.”

Ecological dynamics are “how populations are changing with time, and how they’re interacting with other communities — for example in biofilms,” Brown adds, referring to the name for communities of microorganisms that stick to surfaces and create their own “neighborhoods.”

There are also evolutionary dynamics, which are worrying to Brown and other researchers, as they can mean bacteria increase resistance to antibiotics. And then there are epidemiological dynamics.

“We’re all glued to our screens watching the epidemiological dynamics of Covid-19 play out in real time,” he explains.

All of this involves the study of some of the natural world’s tiniest troublemakers — and helpers. Humans are pathetically outnumbered by microbes. They live in, on, and around all of us. They are at both ends of the human food chain, helping farmers grow food, and then assisting us in digesting our meals.

“You have trillions of bacteria in your gut,” points out Marvin Whiteley, CMDI’s founding co-director who serves as a professor in the School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Tech Bennie H. and Nelson D. Abell Chair in Molecular and Cellular Biology, Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar and co-director for Emory-Children’s CF Center. So, in the spectrum of these tiny communities, there are helpful and harmful microbes alike — and the latter can often make us very sick. That’s where CMDI experts step in.

“CMDI is working to transform how we study microbes in an environmental context, and ultimately find new microbial strategies to improve human and environmental health,” Brown says.

CMDI’s science is conducted in an interdisciplinary manner, like many other research centers at Georgia Tech, with research that reaches into a number of other disciplines — microbial ecology, microbiome dynamics, biogeochemistry, microbial biophysics, socio-microbiology, infection dynamics, host-pathogen interactions, marine and aquatic microbiology, microbial evolution, viral ecology, spatial imaging, and math/computational modeling.

The Center is fairly new, beginning operations in 2018. Yet it’s already closing in on 100 researchers — faculty, graduate students, and postdoctoral students — and is aggressively recruiting early career scientists from around the world to research at CMDI.

“We are a unique interdisciplinary research center since our expertise spans such broad subjects from coral reef ecosystems, to antibiotic resistant bacteria, to new infectious diseases therapies,” explains Maria Avdonina, CMDI manager. 

Building CMDI’s foundation, and using it to attack P. aeruginosa

“How does a pathogen do what it does at the molecular level?” Marvin Whiteley asks.

It is a question that he began asking at The University of Texas at Austin, where he founded another center to study infectious disease before coming to Georgia Tech in 2017. Back then, Whiteley was looking for the kind of interdisciplinary mix of researchers that can be found widely across the Institute, so he moved to Atlanta and built that into the CMDI’s mission as its founding co-director.

“It’s the idea of not just working with pure microbiologists, but working with those interested in how things change, and their dynamic aspects, even daily changes in the microbiome,” he says, referring to the term used to describe all the microorganisms that live in a particular environment, whether it’s a human body or a body of land or water. “It requires modelers — people used to looking at big data sets — and people who think about evolutionary biology. It’s a unique kind of expertise that I don’t have in my lab, but the folks who work for me in the lab can take advantage of it within CMDI.”

Whiteley’s research interests include the study of cystic fibrosis (CF), a genetic disease that results in bacteria chronically attacking the lungs of its patients. To combat disease, Whiteley is focusing research on Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa), a particularly dangerous bacteria that’s often found in CF patients’ lungs. He notes that the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) lists it as one of the primary pathogens that is cause for clinical concern.

“It lives in nature, but we published a paper showing it’s not everywhere. It’s located near human activity, so wherever we are, it seems to grow and do really well. It’s in a lot of different diseases — and CF is one of them.”

P. aeruginosa is also “a really important cause of wound infections,” Whiteley adds, citing a CDC estimate that by 2050, about 20 percent of the entire U.S. healthcare budget could be spent treating chronic wound infections.

“The biggest problem in environments where it’s problematic is hospitals,” he says. “It’s very tolerant of antimicrobials, and it acquires resistance fairly quickly. That causes it to enrich in its environment.”

Taking on Covid-19

Joshua Weitz, who is a CMDI faculty member, professor and Tom and Marie Patton Chair in Biological Sciences, and founding director of the Interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Quantitative Biosciences program, is a key scientist behind Georgia Tech’s Covid-19 surveillance testing efforts, along with Covid-19 event risk and population immunity modeling research around nation and beyond.

Weitz has led a series of concurrent efforts to estimate epidemiological characteristics of SARS-CoV-2, develop novel approaches to use large-scale testing as an intervention, and leverage mathematical models and real-time datasets to inform the public of ongoing transmission risk.   

Weitz recently received a best paper award from the Georgia Tech Chapter of Sigma Xi for his work on the Covid-19 Event Risk Assessment Planning Tool, which calculates the odds of being exposed to an infected individual in groups of different sizes; it has received more than 8 million unique visitors who have generated more than 40 million risk estimates since the planning tool’s launch in July 2020.

Weitz also joined fellow faculty and staff in sharing an Institute Research Award and Institute Service Award in recognition of collective efforts to design, develop, implement, deploy an asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 saliva-based testing program to address the coronavirus pandemic across campus. “We’re very proud of what Joshua has done,” Sam Brown says, “both in the context of Covid-19 and also in exploring new therapeutic angles for bacterial infections, by harnessing the viral natural enemies of bacteria: phages.”

The search for new antibiotics — and how best to use them

While Covid-19 is a virus that has dominated headlines since early 2020, bacterial resistance to antibiotics has been a problem for decades. Penicillin was first available as an antibiotic in 1941. Staphylococcus aureus was found to be resistant to it as early as 1942.

CMDI faculty member Julia Kubanek, a professor of in the School of Biological Sciences and School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, former associate dean for Research in the College of Sciences and newly appointed vice president for Interdisciplinary Research (VPIR) for all of Georgia Tech, has spent the past 17 years diving into the waters near Fiji and the Solomon Islands, looking for natural marine products that could fill that widening gap in resistance-free drugs.

“It’s been a long time since entirely new classes of antibiotics were brought to market,” Kubanek explains. “Pharmaceutical companies have reduced their investments in antibiotic drug discovery, despite the continuing rise of antimicrobial resistance among existing drugs. More resistant strains of infectious bacteria and fungi are evolving constantly and present severe threats to public health.”

The Covid-19 pandemic is a related example. It has revealed that science’s arsenal of antiviral drugs is inadequate, she notes.

Kubanek and CMDI faculty colleague Mark Hay, Regents Professor and Harry and Linda Teasley Chair in the School of Biological Sciences, are both part of Georgia Tech’s drug discovery program, which looks at small molecule natural products from marine organisms as sources for potential future medicines against infectious diseases.

A partnership with Emory University School of Medicine helps researchers screen Georgia Tech’s natural product library — what Kubanek and her research team found on those South Pacific trips — for potential drug candidates has resulted in encouraging news for viruses like SARS-CoV-2, the specific coronavirus that causes Covid-19.

“We’re currently following three promising classes of natural products from marine algae and sponges that show preliminary activity against this coronavirus,” Kubanek says. Those molecules are distinct from currently marketed antivirals and antibiotics, and that could mean more weapons in science’s arsenal for fighting infectious diseases.

CMDI researchers also approach the antibiotic resistance crisis through an epidemiological and evolutionary lens. For example, recent work from the Brown Lab has identified new strategies to slow or even reverse the increase in drug-resistant strains, by changing how doctors dose their drugs, and how they make use of diagnostic information.  

Microbes, climate, and environmental health 

Beyond human infections and pathogen control, CMDI also focuses on the significant impacts that microbes have on human and environmental health. CMDI faculty member Joel Kostka, professor and associate chair of Research in the School of Biological Sciences who also serves as a professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, is a leading researcher in environmental microbiology, bringing the power of “omics” technologies to discover the role of environmental microbes in shaping key aspects of our shared world, from bioremediation to climate change. 

Kostka’s work led to the discovery of key marine microbes that played an important role in cleaning up the oil spilled during the 2010 Deepwater Horizon Disaster — microbes that turned out to be abundant in oil-contaminated soils around the world. 

Kostka’s work in this space “revealed a natural capacity for rare microbes in the Gulf of Mexico to catalyze the bioremediation, or natural cleanup, of petroleum hydrocarbons,” he explains. “These microbes show promise as biological indicators to direct emergency response efforts, as well as to elucidate the impacts of oil exposure on ecosystem health during oil spills and other environmental disasters,” he adds. 

The Kostka Lab has also long characterized the role of the environment in shaping microbial communities that limit the release of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere.  

In a large scale climate change experiment that’s being conducted in northern Minnesota with funding by the U.S. Department of Energy, Kostka’s research recently showed that warming accelerates the production of greenhouse gases from soil microbial respiration — and that microbial activity “was fueled by the release of plant metabolites, suggesting that enhanced greenhouse gas production is likely to persist and result in amplified climate feedbacks.”  

“Joel is our key player in this space,” Brown says. “He’s done incredible research on how the environment can dictate microbial species abundance and their behavioral contributions to the functioning of Earth’s ecosystems. He’s shown that different ‘taxa’, or groups of organisms, become metabolically active or ‘switched on’ depending on environmental factors like temperature. His research contributes to building better climate models as well as to develop new geoengineering strategies to adapt to climate change. He’s doing beautiful work.”

CMDI’s global call to early career microbiologists

CMDI’s research is funded by grants from agencies like the National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health to individual labs run by faculty — and by money distributed directly to the Center from across Georgia Tech, including the College of Sciences and its Office of the Dean and Sutherland Dean's Chair.

These sources “are getting healthier by the minute, and that’s a testament to the scientists at the Center,” Brown points out — so much so that two new positions have recently been created: a senior research scientist who will assist postdoctoral and graduate students with grant and fellowship applications, and a CMDI Early Career Award Fellowship that seeks out “superstars, people who are going to go on to be faculty success stories.”

“We want to get them early,” Brown says. “We’re interviewing some great candidates just out of their Ph.D.s. We’ll give them maximum independence, their own space, their own office, their own pot of money. They’ll be sitting at the intersection of our research interests but can run their own lab and their own research program.”

This allows postdoctoral students to focus on research projects, Julia Kubanek says. “Because postdocs generally don’t enroll in formal courses, nor are they generally expected to teach in the classroom, they get to immerse themselves in research in collaboration with faculty, students, and other postdocs. The CMDI is rapidly growing as a collaborative environment, where postdocs can try out their best ideas and learn from others how to tackle the most pressing scientific questions in microbial dynamics, microbial communication, ecosystem health, and infectious disease.” Kubanek adds that a related fellowship program “will augment postdoctoral salaries to attract the very best candidates, enabling grant dollars to stretch further, leading to new discoveries.”

The Center is also ratcheting up outreach, including what it calls its "Research Envoys Program." The intitiative features graduate students giving seminars at local institutions throughout the Atlanta area, including at historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). Although it’s mostly on pause right now due to the pandemic, two Ph.D. students and a postdoctoral student working with CMDI faculty member Brian Hammer — a professor in the School of Biological Sciences who is also chair of the Institute Undergraduate Curriculum Committee, and co-director of the Aquatic Chemical Ecology Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program — recently gave remote seminars at Spelman College and Kennesaw State University.

“Our trainees get practice in speaking, and it opens doors to folks seeing Georgia Tech as an option,” Brown explains. The CMDI is also working with Georgia Tech’s Institute Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and the Southern Regional Education Board to continue to increase the number of underrepresented minorities at all levels of recruitment.

“We’re really interested in educating the next generation of scientists in biology,” Whiteley adds. “Everybody says that — but we’re actually developing programs to recruit the best talent in the world.”

 

CMDI research areas and faculty:

Sam Brown

Virulence, microbiomes, biofilms, cystic fibrosis

Steve Diggle

Biofilms, virulence

Neha Garg

Cystic fibrosis, coral reef microbial disease

Brian Hammer

Vibrio cholerae (cholera), microbial interactions

Mark Hay

Marine ecology/coral reefs

Joel Kostka

Environmental microbiology, biogeochemistry, microbiomes, wetlands, bioremediation

Julia Kubanek

Natural product drug discovery, marine chemical ecology

William Ratcliff

Multicellular evolution, biofilm dynamics

Frank Rosenzweig

Cellular genomics and evolution

Peter Yunker

Soft matter physics, biofilms, multicellular evolution

Joshua Weitz

Viruses/viral modeling, bacteriophages, microbial ecology/evolution

Marvin Whiteley

Microbial ecology/virulence, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, cystic fibrosis

Learn more about each faculty member’s area of research on the CMDI website.

 

Writer: Renay San Miguel

Editors and Contributors: Jess Hunt-Ralston, Joel Kostka, Joshua Weitz, Julia Kubanek, Maria Avdonina, Marvin Whiteley, Sam Brown

Vibrio cholerae, the pathogenic bacterium that causes cholera, has killed millions worldwide, and is still found in countries where infrastructure doesn’t support clean water. Cholera patients can suffer from severe vomiting and diarrhea, which can lead to fatal dehydration.

One factor V. cholerae uses to cause disease is a toxin-loaded “nano-harpoon,” in the words of Brian Hammer, associate professor in the School of Biological Sciences. “Many pathogenic bacteria, including V. cholerae, are successful in the environment and human body because they compete for food and space by lancing their neighbors with that harpoon. The harpoon’s toxic ‘contact-antibiotics’ kill bacteria from the inside. Thwarting human pathogens will require an understanding of these arsenals.”

Now, Hammer is on a team of scientists from Georgia Tech who have found a previously unknown weapon in the arsenal of cholera bacteria: a toxin that impairs a cell’s membrane and looks like none described prior — hence the title of the team’s research study: “A New Contact Killing Toxin Permeabilizes Cells and Belongs to a Broadly Distributed Protein Family,” published July 21 in mSphere, part of the American Society of Microbiology Journals.

Team members include Hammer (the study’s corresponding author), his graduate student Christian Crisan (the study’s lead author), and undergraduate researcher Catherine Everly; along with assistant professor Peter Yunker and his postdoctoral student Gabi Steinbach of the School of Physics; and professor Raquel Lieberman and her postdoctoral student Shannon Hill in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry. Hammer and Yunker are members of Georgia Tech’s Center for Microbial Dynamics and Infection; and Hammer, Lieberman, and Yunker are also members of the Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience. 

The technical term for V. cholerae’s “nano-harpoon” is a Type 6 Secretion System, (T6SS). “While many microbiologists have focused their efforts on a few toxins made by V. cholerae obtained from patients, we sequenced the DNA of Vibrios from non-human environmental sources and developed computational tools to find new contact-antibiotic toxin genes,” Hammer says of his lab’s work. “In doing so, my student Cristian Crisan, who just defended his Ph.D., discovered a new T6 toxin that doesn't look like any other protein characterized prior. He showed this toxin” — which the team named TpeV (type VI permeabilizing effector Vibrio) — “kills competitors by altering their cell membranes.” Doing so results in cell damage or death.

Hunting through a database, Crisan also discovered that hundreds of other bacteria, including pathogens like Salmonella and Proteus, also carry this novel toxin. “Our current work is studying exactly how this contact-antibiotic works, and ways that bacteria can adapt to become resistant to it and other T6 toxins,” Hammer says. 

Cholera remains a well-studied disease since it touches many disciplines including microbiology, epidemiology, aquatic ecology, and water resource management, Hammer says. Outbreaks still occur in places such as Bangladesh, Yemen, and Haiti.

Learning more about V. cholerae’s toxins, and their antimicrobial abilities, could mean more effective ways to deal with antibiotic resistance, now an area of concern for microbiologists. 

“We demonstrate that TpeV has antimicrobial activity by permeabilizing cells, eliminating membrane potentials, and causing severe cytotoxicity,” the team writes in its study. “We propose that TpeV-like toxins contribute to the fitness of many bacteria. Finally, since antibiotic resistance is a critical global health threat, the discovery of new antimicrobial mechanisms could lead to the development of new treatments against resistant strains.”

The School of Biological Sciences, the National Science Foundation, the U.S.-Israel Binational Science Foundation, and the German National Academy of Natural Sciences Leopoldina contributed to this research study.

The University System of Georgia (USG) Board of Regents (BOR) appointed 12 Georgia Tech faculty members to Regents Professors and Regents Researchers.

Reappointments to the title of Regents Professor are:

• John Stasko, professor in the College of Computing
• Catherine Ross, Harry West Professor of City and Regional Planning in the College of Design and adjunct professor in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
• Timothy Lieuwen, David S. Lewis Jr. Chair in the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering and adjunct professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering
• Ajay Kohli, Gary T. and Elizabeth R. Jones Chair in Management in the Ernest J. Scheller Jr. College of Business

 

Appointments to the title of Regents Professor are:

• Amy Bruckman, professor in the College of Computing
• John Cressler, Schlumberger Chair in Electronics in the College of Engineering
• Gregory Gibson, Tom and Marie Patton Chair in the College of Sciences
• Charles David Sherrill, professor in the College of Computing and the College of Sciences

 

Appointments to the title of Regents Researcher are:

• David Gottfried, principal research scientist and senior assistant director of the Institute for Electronics and Nanotechnology
• Glenn Parker, principal research engineer and associate director of the Applied Systems Laboratory in the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI)
• Gregory Showman, principal research engineer and GTRI Fellow, Sensors and Electromagnetic Applications Laboratory

 

And one reappointment to the title of Regents Researcher:

• Michael Rodgers, principal research scientist in the College of Engineering

 

“It was a pleasure to nominate these outstanding faculty members for recognition by the Board of Regents,” said Steven W. McLaughlin, provost and executive vice president for Academic Affairs. “I'd like to congratulate and thank each of them for their exemplary leadership and service, commitment to excellence in research and scholarship, and dedication to the education, growth, and well-being of our students.”  

Each year, the college deans may nominate two academic faculty members for the Regents Professor title and one research faculty member for the Regents Researcher title. GTRI may nominate two research faculty members for Regents Researcher. The titles are awarded upon approval of the USG chancellor and its Committee on Academic Affairs only with unanimous recommendation of the Institute Regents Professor and Researcher Selection Committee, the Institute’s president, the executive vice president for Research, and the provost and executive vice president for Academic Affairs.

The BOR approved the nominations on Aug. 10.

Please note that these interviews were conducted, and photos were taken, during the summer semester prior to Institute Operations Updates published August 2, 2021 in preparation for fall semester, which include: “To lower the risk for you and others, you are encouraged to wear a mask in indoor public places, including campus buildings, as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).”

 

Faith Colbert, a rising senior at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, was born in Dallas, Texas. When her home state experienced a dangerous, deep cold spell in February of this year, the atmospheric sciences and meteorology major figured the best way she could help her family would be to study that catastrophic weather event. 

A National Science Foundation Research Experiences for Undergraduates (NSF REU) program at Georgia Tech that she had enrolled in for summer 2021 gave her that chance. More students will soon have a similar opportunity; starting in summer 2022, for the first time, all six College of Sciences schools will offer an REU. 

“My motivation was mainly driven by emotional pulls,” Colbert says. “My family being directly affected by the storm pushed me to find research-based answers for both them and me.”

The REU that enabled her to conduct that research was the Aquatic Chemical Ecology at Georgia Tech summer research program, an interdisciplinary REU with the Schools of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences (EAS), Biological Sciences, and Chemistry and Biochemistry. EAS also has its own REU: Georgia Tech Broadening Participation in Atmospheric Science, Oceanography, and Geosciences research program. 

Sara Cuevas-Quiñones, a second year student at Purdue University, attended both of those REUs this summer. She’s a physics major but had a chance to explore planetary sciences with her research project on potential volcanic activity near Mars’ Jezero Crater, where NASA’s Perseverance Rover is currently exploring.

“I’ve never had research experiences before,” Cuevas-Quiñones says. “It's been a great environment, great people. It's been wonderful working with all my peers, and just learning about them, seeing where they come from, what they're researching. Many people here are in totally different fields. That's also been interesting, to get exposed to these new things that I had no idea even existed, honestly.”

Georgia Tech’s REUs give Cuevas-Quiñones and other students — particularly those from underrepresented communities and those who are enrolled at universities without research opportunities found at Tech — a chance to get in the lab, or out in the field. The experiences also give students from smaller colleges and universities the opportunity to use state-of-the-art equipment, and to be mentored by top Georgia Tech researchers.

That was the situation for Meredith Clayton, who is set to graduate this December from Stephen F. Austin State University (enrollment: 13,000) in Nacogdoches, Texas. She attended this year’s Mathematics Research Experiences for Undergraduates REU at Georgia Tech. “It was great just to meet other math majors from different universities. Georgia Tech's a great environment and campus — all the faculty are awesome that I've met. It's just been a really good time.”

Last December, Lydia Jefferson, a rising senior at the University of Missouri, did a Google search for REUs that addressed “aquatic chemistry for environmental science, stream ecology, — anything I could find. Georgia Tech popped up near the top,” Jefferson says.

Jefferson was obviously water-focused when it came to REUs. “But it was interesting seeing people interested in the race side of things — of environmental justice problems in flooding issues. Just anything in the environment was free game. And I didn't realize, going in, that it would be that diverse. I assumed all of us would be water-focused.”

“This experience was just eye opening for how other people communicate their science, how other people present,” they add. “I'm learning the ins and outs of presentations.”

Jefferson hopes to get a Ph.D. in aquatic sciences and then apply at a US National Laboratory, or perhaps the United States Geological Survey.

“Wherever the water takes me.”

 

 

Georgia Tech College of Sciences: All about our REUs — and their leaders

 

REUs are sponsored and funded for science and math programs in higher education by the National Science Foundation (NSF). 

This year, 3M also sponsored a student in the EAS REU. Some of the College of Sciences REUs accept Georgia Tech students, while others are limited to out-of-state students. Check the links for acceptance requirements of each REU.

David Collard, senior associate dean in the College, who previously led the REU program in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry for more than a decade, shares that “NSF REU programs in the College of Sciences have a long record of engaging diverse cohorts of participants in cutting edge research.” 

“Since most of the undergraduate participants are recruited from institutions that do not have extensive research infrastructure, the immersive research experience available to them in these programs can be transformational,” he says. “A measure of success of the REU programs in the College of Sciences is that many of the undergraduate participants subsequently go on to complete their Ph.D., some at Georgia Tech, and others elsewhere.”

Collard highlights that “the new additions to the College's set of NSF REU programs — in neuroscience and in atmospheric science, oceanography, and geosciences — represent a strong commitment of the School of Psychology, the School of Biological Sciences, and the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences to broadening participation and fostering inclusivity in research careers.” 

“In each school, there is very much a team effort in running these programs,” he adds, “and the coordination of these efforts between the schools is a particularly important feature in allowing us to provide high quality programs.”

 

REU: Aquatic Chemical Ecology Summer Research Program (ACE)

 

Hosted by the Schools of Biological Sciences, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Civil & Environmental Engineering, Chemistry & Biochemistry, Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering

Brian Hammer, associate professor, School of Biological Sciences and ACE co-director:

Our Aquatic Chemical Ecology (ACE) REU program has been running since 2004. Our program hosts about 10 students each summer for a 10-week research experience in the lab of a Georgia Tech scientist. 

NSF's intent is to support research opportunities that recruit students from non-Ph.D. institutions where such opportunities are rare. This summer we hosted 9 ACE students. Joshua Weitz and his Weitz Group also hosted 3 students with support from the Simon's Foundation and they joined our ACE cohort this summer. This summer, two of our ACE REU students (were) on a research cruise in the Gulf of Mexico!

The goal of our ACE REU is to train students in an interdisciplinary setting, where they interact with a variety of other students and faculty to experience how scientific discoveries are made. They learn about career opportunities in scientific disciplines related to aquatic chemical ecology, they develop mentoring relationships that ignite their desire to pursue scientific careers, and they strengthen their ability to do so through enhanced communication skills, professional ethics training, and exposure to career-building information.  

 

REU: Broadening Participation in Atmospheric Science, Oceanography and Geosciences Research 

 

Hosted by the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences

Zachary Handlos, academic professional and REU professional development lead, School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences:

The goal of this REU program is to provide undergraduate students, especially underrepresented students  — as well as those with limited to no research opportunities at their college or university — the opportunity to participate in world-class research at a major research university with leading experts in the fields of atmospheric sciences, oceanography and the geosciences. 

Along with learning the skills and tools required to actively participate within a research project, participants attend a variety of professional development and social events that prepare them for research-based career and graduate school opportunities. They also foster collaborations with experts and colleagues within their field of study, and network and develop lifelong friendships with other participants within their program.

Professional development opportunities focus on best practices for conducting research, strategies for writing research papers/conducting research presentations, tips for applying to graduate school, and discussions on topics related to diversity, equity and inclusion. Social activities, while limited this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, range from field trips to local Atlanta tourist attractions, to companies/organizations relevant to students' career interests.

To my knowledge, the students are having a wonderful time, and the impression I get is that they are so happy to be working in-person at a college campus performing research with other undergraduate students and Georgia Tech faculty. Since last year was supposed to be our first year running this program, but was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic, this year was really our true first year.

The tone was set immediately on day one when I emailed the students arriving on campus to ask if everything was going okay. One student simply responded to my email question with a picture of the majority of the EAS REU students at the grocery store, buying supplies for the summer, and all were smiling.  

This is the most exciting research program I have ever been a part of. These students are amazing people who are highly talented at research. They’re creative, strongly motivated, and most importantly, they’re kind, respectful, and constantly striving to make the world a better place through their work. While they may have learned a lot from this program, I learned a lot from them! They are excellent role models, and it's an honor and a privilege to have worked with them.

 

REU: Broadening Participation Summer Undergraduate Research Program in Physics 

 

Hosted by the School of Physics

Jennifer Curtis, associate professor and REU director, School of Physics:

The GT Physics REU program offers a wide range of cutting-edge independent research projects to a diverse group of undergraduates from around the country. 

Students have explored a wide range of physical phenomena including Bose-Einstein condensation, quantum properties of magnetic materials, gravitational waves, computational astrophysics, physics of living systems, and soft condensed matter. 

The program stands out for its commitment to broadening participation in physics by a diverse cohort of students. To facilitate its goal to broaden participation in physics, the GT REU program is dedicated to building connections with the Atlanta University Consortium (Morehouse College, Spelman College, Clark Atlanta University), with approximately 20 percent of the students originating from those institutions. Since 2018, AUC students have been offered additional funding to continue their research collaboration with GT research groups. 

Shaun Ashley, faculty support coordinator and REU coordinator, School of Physics:

I had the pleasure and opportunity to create a more engaging and holistic experience for students by serving as a mentor and the “go to person” for any concerns the students experienced during the program. 

This has allowed me to foster long lasting relationships that span from 2016 to present. For example, students continue to reach out to me to guide them with graduate applications, other summer research programs and even to be a sounding board about whether they should continue to graduate school or take a wellness break. 

My responses are always positive and encouraging: Education first, or education and work!

 

REU: Chemistry Function, Application, Structure and Theory (FAST) 

 

Hosted by the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry

Michael Evans, senior academic professional and freshman chemistry laboratory coordinator, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry:

REUs have been a long-standing priority for our school for many years, for undergraduate chemistry and biochemistry majors outside and inside Georgia Tech. REU programs are a win-win for students and faculty, as students receive valuable training, and faculty can further their research efforts. These programs also increase the visibility and prestige of Georgia Tech research programs nationally.

I think much of our success with REU programs flows from a commitment to building up research by undergraduates at Georgia Tech. Because of that history and the quality of Georgia Tech students, our faculty are very comfortable working with undergraduates. Our expanding list of programs builds on that solid foundation.

 

REU: Human Neuroscience Research and Techniques 

 

First offering: Summer 2022; hosted by Georgia Tech School of Psychology and Georgia State University

Lewis Wheaton, associate professor, School of Biological Sciences, REU co-director (Eric Schumacher, professor in the School of Psychology, is the principal investigator for the Neuroscience REU; Wheaton is co-PI):

There is tremendous interest in neuroscience, and we have seen an incredible expansion of technology in our ability to record from the human nervous system. At the same time, many students do not have access to these technologies at their academic institutions because of expense. 

We feel that it is vital to ensure that students who do not have access to these technologies at their universities get exposure to the tools and approaches to understand the human brain. I am excited to further focus on providing opportunities for women and underrepresented minorities to engage in this research. 

A unique feature of this program allows some students to come back for a two-year experience, which can really provide a great opportunity to enhance their research, and put these students in a stronger position to advance their careers.

 

REU: Mathematics Research Experiences for Undergraduates 

 

Hosted by the School of Mathematics

Dan Margalit, professor and REU co-director, School of Mathematics:

On the face of it, the REU is a chance for undergraduate students to pursue a research project in mathematics with a more senior mentor. As mentors, we do our best to airlift the students into the center of a research problem, where there are calculations to be done, examples to be discovered, or specific arguments to be made. Personally, I am always impressed with the students' fearlessness and their abilities to make meaningful contributions. 

Besides the obvious benefit of being able to contribute to cutting edge research in mathematics, the REU has many other goals and benefits. For many students, the REU is a chance to get a taste of what graduate school might be like, and to decide if they want to apply. We run a professional development program on various topics such as applying to graduate school, creating a poster, and designing a presentation. 

This year, we started a graduate research experience boot camp with several other Atlanta schools. On top of this, the students gain valuable experience learning to work together in groups, to think about the big picture of science and mathematics, and to communicate mathematics effectively.

From my perspective, I get to see the students experience the highs and lows of research — from the excitement of thinking they have a solution, to the despair of thinking that everything they did is wrong, and back again. In the end, our students take many more steps forward than backwards, and I am very proud of what they all accomplished this summer.

 

A key member of Georgia Tech’s Covid-19 response team will continue his research on viruses in the fall of 2021, but will be conducting those studies from Paris, France, thanks to receiving a prestigious award designed to foster more collaboration among international scientists.

Joshua Weitz, professor and Tom and Marie Patton Chair in the School of Biological Sciences, and co-director of the Interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Quantitative Biosciences, is one of four 2021 recipients of the Blaise Pascal International Chair of Excellence. Weitz will be based at the Institute of Biology at the École Normale Supérieure (IBENS) in Paris. Previous winners of the Pascal Chair of Excellence include several Nobel Prize recipients. 

Weitz’s work in Paris, which will last one year, will involve research and educational components that will bring attention to Georgia Tech in the global science community. 

“Altogether, this integrative research and educational program will help connect initiatives developed in the College of Sciences with a broad, international community,” Weitz says. 

“The central aim of my project is to deepen understanding of the entangled fates of viruses and their hosts. In doing so, my research program spans viral ecology, evolution, and epidemiology. It will also be shaped by necessity, as a significant amount of my time — and that of my group — remains directed towards developing mathematical models, real-time dashboards, and public health-centered intervention tools to understand and mitigate the spread of SARS-CoV-2.“

Background on rapid testing, Covid-19 Event Risk Assessment Planning Tool

Weitz came up with the concept for the Covid-19 Event Risk Assessment Planning Tool, which measures the risk that one or more individuals infected with COVID-19 are present in an event of various sizes. Weitz, along with Clio Andris, assistant professor in the College of Design, and researchers from the Applied Bioinformatics Laboratory, Duke University, and Stanford University developed the Tool’s website and dashboard. Weitz says the tool has helped more than 8 million visitors make tens of millions of risk estimates since its July 2020 launch.

Weitz is also part of the team that developed a rapid saliva-based asymptomatic surveillace testing program for the Georgia Tech community — a program credited with keeping infection levels low on campus.

“I am proud of having served, along with Greg Gibson, and many faculty and staff colleagues, as part of an interdisciplinary team to implement an asymptomatic testing program in the 2020-21 academic year in support of the Institute’s response efforts to protect the safety of our community – and support ongoing efforts to ensure that science and public health evidence shapes response policy at Georgia Tech and throughout the University System of Georgia,” Weitz says. Gibson is also a Georgia Tech School of Biological Sciences professor and Tom and Marie Patton Chair, and was recently named a Regents’ Professor for his service in research and teaching.

“Moving ahead, the ongoing spread of the Delta variant, and potential spread of variants to come, necessitates a sustained response, bridging fundamental models with public-facing interventions,” Weitz adds. “To this end, I look forward to continuing to work with a network of colleagues to advance a rigorous, data-driven, and open approach to pandemic response, mitigation, and prevention. This will be a long-term effort and I have already begun the process to engage with international colleagues to share approaches and lessons learned.”

Joining international scientists in researching viruses — and how to beat them

The Blaise Pascal Research Chair award will aid in that effort. According to its website, the program “is intended to bring international researchers to French institutions in the Ile de France region (Paris and nearby) for year-long research stays, to facilitate research collaboration with French-based teams, and to support the training of the next generation of France-based junior researchers.” 

Weitz was selected as part of the 2019 cohort, which includes scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Connecticut, and the University of Glasgow. The 2020 cohort was postponed due to the pandemic.

Weitz will work with his colleagues at the Institute of Biology at the École Normale Supérieure to advance foundational understanding of viral infections of single cell microbes, including the study of infections that don’t necessarily lead to the death of the infected cell. “Latent (or chronic) infections of single-celled microbes can paradoxically provide benefits to both viruses and infected cells, yet the relationship can be tenuous,” Weitz says. “Understanding virus-microbe interactions on a continuum from antagonistic to mutualistic has implications for improving human health and the health of the environment.”

On the human health side, Weitz will be collaborating with Laurent Debarbieux of the Institut Pasteur in Paris to advance the use of bacteriophage for therapeutic treatment of antibiotic resistant bacterial infections. Bacteriophages (also called phages) are viruses that exclusively infect and eliminate bacteria, and they are increasingly being used in therapeutic contexts given the potential for elimination of targeted pathogens. “I am currently the principal investigator, along with Professor Debarbieux, of a National Institutes of Health R01 grant on phage treatment of acute respiratory infections caused by bacterial pathogens. In the coming year, I intend to explore the potential to utilize phage to target pathogens that persist in chronic infections as part of complex microbiomes.”

Environment and education round out Weitz’s work in France

The environmental aspect of Weitz’s work in France will see him build on his group’s existing relationship with a global network of researchers to advance understanding of viral impacts on surface ocean ecosystems. This work, supported by the National Science Foundation and the Simons Foundation, aims to understand how viral infections of key bacteria in surface ocean ecosystems modulates the fate of microbes and ecosystem functioning, including global carbon and biogeochemical cycles.  

“Collaborations with researchers in Israel and in France will help expand study sites for our ongoing work to integrate mathematical models of viral dynamics, along with time-series observations collected in ocean-going research expeditions,” he says. 

The educational component revolves around two major initiatives, one of which could end up on Georgia Tech’s campus. In the fall, Weitz will be co-teaching a short course on quantitative viral dynamics “as part of an effort to characterize how viral infections at cellular scales transform the fate of cells, organisms, and populations. I hope to bring this course back to Georgia Tech as part of an effort to introduce short-form summer courses affiliated with the Quantitative Biosciences Ph.D. Program, and the Center for Microbial Dynamics and Infection.”

Weitz is also in the process of developing a larger winter school and workshop for spring 2022, part of a joint project with the Q-Life Institute of Paris Sciences et Lettres University (PSL). “In many ways, the Q-Life Institute shares some of the same guiding principles of the Quantitative Biology Ph.D. program at Georgia Tech, and I look forward to learning more of their approach to integrate mechanisms, models, and data analytics into the principled study of living systems across scale.” The planned theme for the winter school/workshop will be viral dynamics, with more information to come later this fall.

This story is an update to the July 2021 announcement of this program: InQuBATE Training Program Integrates Modeling and Data Science for Bioscience Ph.D. Students

Three Ph.D. students — two from the College of Sciences — have been announced as the inaugural cohort for a new Georgia Tech training program designed to give biomedical researchers a deeper dive into quantitative, data-intensive studies. 

The trainees for the 2021 class of the Integrative and Quantitative Biosciences Accelerated Training Environment (InQuBATE) program, areas of study, and their advisors are:

• Kathryn (Katie) Wendorf MacGillivray, Quantitative Biosciences Interdisciplinary Graduate Program (advised by Will Ratcliff)
• Gabriella Chebli, Biological Sciences (advised by Julia Kubanek)
• Maxfield (Max) Comstock, Computational Science and Engineering (advised by Elizabeth Cherry)

As noted in the summer announcement of the program, the three students are part of a new five-year, $1.27 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that creates the InQuBATE program to help transform the study of quantitative- and data-intensive biosciences at Georgia Tech. InQuBATE is designed to train a new generation of biomedical researchers and thought leaders to harness the data revolution.

“We want to improve and enhance the training of students to focus on biological questions while leveraging modern tools, and in some cases developing new tools, to address foundational challenges at scales from molecules to systems,” noted Joshua Weitz, professor and Tom and Marie Patton Chair in the School of Biological Sciences, in that announcement. Weitz is co-leading the program with Peng Qiu, associate professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University.

Biology is undergoing a transformation, added Weitz and Qiu, requiring a new educational paradigm that integrates quantitative approaches like computational modeling and data analytics into the experimental study of living systems.

“Our intention is to develop a training environment that instills a quantitative, data-driven mindset, integrating quantitative and data science methods into all aspects of the life science training pipeline,” added Weitz, founding director of Tech’s Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Quantitative Biosciences (QBioS).

Meet the inaugural InQuBATE cohort

Kathryn (Katie) Wendorf MacGillivray
Quantitative Biosciences Interdisciplinary Graduate Program (advised by Will Ratcliff)

Katie Wendorf MacGillivray received a Master’s in Biology from New York University where she worked on phenotypic heterogeneity of antibiotic susceptibility in the lab of Edo Kussell. She is now a Ph.D. student in the Quantitative Biosciences program at Georgia Tech. In the Ratcliff Lab, she is interested in engineering yeast that can switch between life cycles – unicellular, clonal, and aggregative. Outside of the lab, she likes to knit, garden, and take road trips with her husband Ian. "I have a biology and chemistry background, and believe strongly that all biosciences research could benefit from the addition of computational modeling and/or data science approaches. That's why I chose QBioS for my PhD program in the first place," she says.

Gabriella Chebli
Biological Sciences (advised by Julia Kubanek)

Gabriella Chebli graduated from Agnes Scott College with a Bachelor of Science in Biology and Chemistry. While an undergraduate, she conducted research under the direction of Chemistry professor Thomas Morgan to revise the structure of a class of natural products called “hyloins” that are found in the frog species Boana punctata. Chebli also worked in the lab of Biology professor, Iris Levin, studying telomere length in adult barn swallows. Chebli first joined the Kubanek Lab as an REU participant, working on a metabolomics-based project on harmful algal blooms. After graduating from Agnes Scott, she took a gap year, where she volunteered with ecotourism kayak tours with Seaside Adventure in Kachemak Bay, Alaska and interned at the Lammi Biological Station in Lammi, Finland. In the Kubanek Lab, Chebli is researching chemical ecology and assisting with an algal biofuel ponds project and maintenance of phytoplankton cultures.

Maxfield (Max) Comstock
Computational Science and Engineering (advised by Elizabeth Cherry)

Comstock, originally from Seattle, Washington, received his undergraduate degrees in Math and Computer Science from Harvey Mudd College. “I'm honored to be part of the inaugural InQuBATE cohort, and am looking forward to working with all the amazing people involved with the program," he says. "I hope to gain experience collaborating with researchers from different backgrounds who may approach problems from a different perspective, and to learn new ways to apply computational techniques to important biomedical problems. I intend to continue tackling medical problems using these skills throughout the rest of my career.”

 

Georgia Tech continues to take a multipronged approach to preventing and mitigating the risk of coronavirus as more students, faculty, and staff return to campus this fall. Without question, the vaccine offers the best defense against the pandemic, and, if you have not done so, we urge you to consult with a medical professional and consider getting vaccinated now. Doing so at Tech is easy and free.

Additionally, all students, faculty, and staff are encouraged to participate each week in our free asymptomatic surveillance testing program, even if you have been fully vaccinated. We especially urge those who have not yet been vaccinated to get tested weekly. Find campus testing sites and locations.

Beginning today, Georgia Tech is introducing new rewards to encourage individuals to get vaccinated and test weekly:

• All students, faculty, and staff who get vaccinated at Stamps Health Services or participate in our campus surveillance testing program between now and end of day September 30, 2021, will be entered into a drawing to receive a $50 Barnes & Noble at Georgia Tech gift card. 350 individuals will be randomly selected the following week to each receive a gift card.
• Additionally, all students, faculty, and staff vaccinated on campus between now and end of day September 10, 2021, will also receive a $20 Barnes & Noble at Georgia Tech gift card.
• Through September 10, more than 1,000 $5 coupons for local restaurants, 350 limited edition Georgia Tech Athletics t-shirts, and several helmets and footballs signed by Coach Geoff Collins will also be distributed at random to campus test sites and vaccine clinics.
• Cookie drops continue at test sites, along with stickers at test sites and vaccine clinics.

If you are unvaccinated, you are at risk of contracting Covid-19 and infecting others, with potentially severe consequences for you or someone else. Please seek medical advice from your healthcare provider or a member of our Stamps Health Services team, led by Dr. Ben Holton, if you have doubts or concerns about getting vaccinated.

Like you, we want this academic year to be as safe as possible. The best way to achieve that outcome is for every member of the campus community to get vaccinated and continue to test weekly.

New research led by Georgia Tech’s College of Engineering finds that honey bees have developed a way to transform pollen particles into a viscoelastic pellet, allowing them to transport pollen efficiently, quickly, and reliably to their hive. The study also suggests the insects remove pollen from their bodies at speeds 2-10 times slower than their typical grooming speeds.

To collect and transport pollen, honey bees mix pollen particles with regurgitated nectar and form it into a pellet, which clings to each of their hind legs. The honey bees then deposit the pellets into a cell within the hive by carefully scraping them off using their other legs. 

The study, from the lab of George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering Professor David Hu, sought to better understand the mechanics of this process which could inspire new ways to manufacture and manipulate soft materials. Hu holds a joint appointment in the School of Biological Sciences.

The paper, “Biomechanics of Pollen Removal By the Honey Bee,” is published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface. 

“We measured the viscoelastic material properties of a pollen pellet,” said Marguerite Matherne, a recent Georgia Tech mechanical engineering Ph.D. graduate who now teaches at Northeastern University. “We found that the pellets have a really long relaxation time, which means they remain mostly in a solid form during the transport process. This is good because it keeps the pellet from melting or falling apart from vibration during flight.”

Matherne and the Georgia Tech research team also tried to replicate how honey bees remove the pellets from their hind legs in the lab. They built a device that scraped adhered pollen pellets from bee legs. The invention produced two discoveries. The first was that the honey bees were much more efficient in removing the pellet than the scraping device they built (the device left much more pollen residue on the leg). They also found that slower removal speeds reduce the force and work required to remove pellets under shear stress. 

“If you remove it slowly, you can avoid applying the excessive force required to remove it quickly,” said Hu, Matherne’s former Georgia Tech advisor. “Removing a pollen pellet is like the opposite of ripping off a Band-Aid.”

Matherne said that there are two key components to the efficiency of the honey bees transporting these pellets. First, the pellets are gooey, allowing them to stick to the hind legs. But, she said, the bees also have a special structure on their legs called the corbicula. It’s fringed with long, curved hairs and becomes embedded into the pellet, allowing for adhesion.

In addition, honey bees can collect pollen particles in various shapes and sizes, while also developing a way to transport them. This is different from other species of bees, which only collect and carry specific types of pollen that are similar in size. They also use different transport techniques.

“Honey bees collect from flowers miles and miles away,” said Hu. “The pollen can change in size by a factor of 10. They must collect all these individual particles and bring it back to one place. And they must do a dozen foraging trips each day, all while keeping their bodies clean. They solve it all by this special method they created to exploit the pellet’s soft material properties.”

The research team believes further studies could lead to new developments in medical patches or fastener applications for soft materials.

“It’s kind of like smart gooey Velcro for soft materials,” said Hu. “It could be a fastener and it knows when you’re trying to remove it so that you don’t have to use an excessive amount of force.”

Matherne suggests that it’s also important to understand the pollinating process since 35% of the world’s crop production depends on pollinators.

“Honey bees are really important pollinators,” said Matherne. “If we want to create a world where we can keep up our pollinators, I think it’s important to understand exactly what they’re doing.”

CITATION: Matherne, M., et.al., "Biomechanics of pollen pellet removal by the honey bee." (Journal of the Royal Society Interface) https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2021.0549

With large swaths of the country engulfed in flames, battered by winds, steeped in floodwaters, or parched by drought – tragic and costly conditions that a recent United Nations report links to global warming – Georgia Tech is looking forward to hosting the third annual Global Climate Action Symposium, Sept. 27 – 29.  

Bringing together a wide range of local and global experts to showcase climate change solutions, the event will be held in a fully virtual, online format for the second year due to the pandemic.

The online format has truly put the “global” in Global Climate Action Symposium, says Selena Langner, communications director for Georgia Tech’s Global Change Program, which spearheads the event in partnership with Tech’s Serve-Learn-Sustain, the Atlanta Global Studies Center, and six European consulates in Atlanta (France, Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, the U.K., and Belgium).

“One thing we learned during Covid,” Langner says, “was the benefit of having something virtual, beyond the sustainability aspect. The first year, we featured a mix of global and local experts, but our audience was inherently limited to the Tech community. When we went virtual last year, we reached attendees from 20 different countries.”

Free and open to all, each day of the symposium will run from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and focus on a specific aspect of the climate challenges ahead (see inset). Each session features a keynote speaker, a panel discussion, “Lightning Talks” by students and organizations, and a Masterclass. Experts include engineers, scientists, business and policy leaders, students, and artists.  

“We have an amazing lineup of speakers, including five student speakers,” Langner says. “We’ve also just added a Lightning Talk from 9-year-old activist Faatiha Aayat, from Bangladesh, who has spoken about climate on the international stage.” Other highlights include a smoothie tutorial from Concrete Jungle and the student art contest, which this year features submissions from Nigeria, the U.S., Switzerland, and South Africa.

“There’s never been a more important time to talk about climate solutions, and our faculty, students, and staff want to be a part of the conversation,” says Kim Cobb, Georgia Power Chair and ADVANCE Professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences and director of the Global Change Program. “We’re thrilled to showcase some of the many partners that make Georgia Tech the research and education hub that it is.”  

Symposium content will be made available to the general public on YouTube after the fact for those who aren’t able to watch the proceedings in real time as they unfold, Langner says, but she strongly encourages preregistration at bit.ly/GCAS2021.

“Registering in advance makes it really easy for anyone who’s interested,” she notes. “We have additional resources our panelists will be sharing early, we can send all the links by email, and we can share all of the Q&A and chat transcripts – we’ll even be sending out smoothie recipes.”

 

Held outdoors at Harrison Square this week, the inaugural September Sciences Celebration highlighted excellence in research and teaching across the College of Sciences, while also giving guests a chance to welcome new faculty and meet the donors and alumni who support the awards program.

The honors for seven faculty members and a student in the School of Mathematics were originally to be presented in fall 2020, but the recognition event was postponed due to the pandemic. The annual awards for faculty development and a scholarship are funded through the generosity of College of Sciences alumni and friends.

Here are the 2020-2021 College of Sciences awards and recipients, as shared by the College of Sciences Office of Development:

Cullen-Peck Fellowship Awards

This gift from alumni couple Frank Cullen (’73 Math, MS ’76, ISyE, PhD ’84 ISyE) and Elizabeth Peck (Math ’75, MS ’76 ISyE) is meant to encourage the development of promising mid-career faculty.

• Jennifer Curtis, associate professor, School of Physics. Curtis, who has a joint appointment in the Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences, is the primary investigator for the Curtis Lab, which researches the physics of cell-cell and cell-extracellular matrix interactions, in particular within the context of glycobiology and immunobiology.
• Steve Diggle, associate professor, School of Biological Sciences. Diggle, also a member of Georgia Tech’s Center for Microbial Dynamics and Infection, was recently selected to be a 2021 American Society of Microbiologists Distinguished Lecturer. Diggle researches cooperation and communication in microbes and how these are related to virulence, biofilms and antimicrobial resistance. 
• Chris Reinhard, associate professor, School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. Reinhard’s research explores the ways in which Earth's biosphere and planetary boundary conditions act to reshape ocean/atmosphere chemistry and climate, how these interactions have evolved over time, and how they might be engineered moving forward. Reinhard has also been active in the Georgia Tech Astrobiology community. 

Gretzinger Moving Forward Award

This award, named for Ralph Gretzinger (’70 Math) and his late wife Jewel, recognizes the leadership of a school chair or senior faculty member who has played a pivotal role in diversifying the composition of tenure-track faculty, creating a family-friendly work environment, and providing a supportive environment for early career faculty.

• Raquel Lieberman, professor, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry. Lieberman, principal investigator in the Lieberman Lab, researches protein folding and misfolding, particularly when it comes to proteins that are linked to early-onset, inherited forms of glaucoma. A second major project involves the study of membrane-spanning proteolytic enzymes that are related to those involved in producing amyloid-beta associated with Alzheimer disease.

Frances O. Hite Memorial Scholarship

This scholarship is established in memory of Frances Orr “Fran” Hite (1950-2019), B.S. Mathematics, Vanderbilt University, by Bruce Hite (’72 Building Construction.) The endowment fund provides scholarships to women studying mathematics at Georgia Tech.

• Esther Gallmeier, 4^th year student, School of Mathematics. Gallmeier is the first recipient of the Hite Memorial Scholarship. Gallmeier attended Oak Ridge High School in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and decided to attend Georgia Tech based on the experiences of a friend who attended the School of Mathematics. "He loved it here," she says. "Also, Georgia Tech is incredible at providing opportunities for undergraduates in research and internships. We are definitely well-connected with companies from all over."

Eric R. Immel Memorial Award for Excellence in Teaching 

The Immel Memorial Award, supported by an endowment fund given by Charles Crawford (’71 Math), recognizes exemplary instruction of lower division foundational courses.

• Chris Jankowski, Director of Graduate Advising and Assessment and Assistant Director of Teaching Effectiveness, School of Mathematics. 

Jankowski mentors postdoctoral faculty in teaching during their first year, and participates in organizing and running professional development events for them. He also provides a broad range of administrative duties for the graduate program, including serving on the Graduate Committee, writing annual student evaluations, and handling comprehensive exams.

Leddy Family Dean’s Faculty Excellence Award

This award was established by Jeff Leddy (’78 Physics) and Pam Leddy to support a faculty member at the associate professor level with proven accomplishments in research and teaching.

• Stefan France, associate professor, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry.

France is the principal investigator for the France Laboratory, which researches synthetic organic chemistry, medicinal chemistry, natural products chemistry, and methodology development. That research is primarily motivated by the interest in developing new synthetic methodologies that can be applied toward the construction of complex natural products and pharmaceutically-interesting compounds. France also led efforts for Georgia Tech to join the American Chemical Society’s Bridge Program, which works to bring more underrepresented minorities into higher education chemistry and biochemistry graduate courses. 

Faculty Mentor Award

The annual College of Sciences Award for Faculty Mentorship, supported by Georgia Tech’s ADVANCE Program, is presented to exemplary senior faculty who provide crucial services by helping new faculty advance in their careers, as they learn to balance their roles as researchers, teachers, and advisors to their own graduate students and post-docs.

• David Sherrill, Regents’ Professor, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry

Sherrill, who was chosen as a 2014 Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, researches computational chemistry and is the new Director of Georgia Tech’s Center for High Performance Computing. Sherrill has developed new models in quantum chemistry, with a particular focus on biophysics, drug docking, and molecular crystals. 

New College of Sciences Faculty
(Joined in 2020 and 2021)

School of Mathematics:
Cheng Mao
Rebecca George
Anton Bernshteyn
Benjamin Jaye
Hannah Choi

School of Chemistry and Biochemistry:
Anh Le
William Howitz

School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences:
Wing (Winnie) Chu
Pengfei Liu
Samer Naif
Karl Lang
Frances Rivera-Hernández
Shelby Ellis

School of Physics:
Itamar Kimchi
Emily Alicea-Muñoz

School of Psychology:
Hsiao-Wen Liao

School of Biological Sciences; Neuroscience:
Christina Ragan