Black History Month is a time to honor the triumphs and contributions of African Americans throughout U.S. history. Atlanta history is ripe with achievements from the Black community, and history continues to be made here today.
Great work is being done both on campus and across Atlanta by Georgia Tech students, faculty, staff, and alumni. They are working across different industries to help bring about change to improve the human condition, whether it's on campus, in the city, or beyond.
Atlanta Change-Makers introduces you to a few of the people whose aspirations and actions are making a difference — for today, and for a brighter future.
Tap here to get to know Psychology undergrad Lauren Hester and Biology undergrad Kemuel Russell — plus several Georgia Tech faculty and staff, and change-making alumni including Valerie Montgomery Rice (CHEM 1983), President and CEO of Morehouse School of Medicine.
As part of the very identity of our organization, AASU celebrates the legacy and achievements of black people year round. But during Black History Month we expand our celebration and acknowledgment of blackness in solidarity with those participating in the month all over the world. The Black History Month lecture is the marquee event of AASU’s programming during February. With the support of various campus partners, we bring a famous, influential, successful, and insightful black figure to campus to help us increase our understanding of the black condition and how we can work together to improve it. In the past, we have had luminaries such as Melissa Harris-Perry, Benjamin Crump, and Opal Tometi.
This year, the speaker we will be inviting is Zion Clark. Zion Clark was born September 29th 1997 in Columbus, Ohio with a rare birth defect called Caudal Regression Syndrome which caused him to be born without legs. Zion didn’t let this stop him from learning new skills, he picked up wrestling and music at a young age which became his outlet from an abusive living situation. Through resiliency and resistance and consistently Zion continued to figure out his way of approaching some of these passions and earned his position as an All-American wrestler, and lead drummer of his church. He continues to defy all odds with his optimistic approach and no excuses mentality he embodies. This event is open to the entire Georgia Tech community as well as the greater Atlanta community. We hope that through this initiative we can bring together all the different communities at Georgia Tech and give them a new perspective on what it means to be Black at Georgia Tech, to be Black in Georgia, and to be Black in America.
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On Saturday, March 11, Georgia Tech will open its doors to the community for Science and Engineering Day at Georgia Tech.
This annual event aims to inspire the next generation of engineers and scientists and share the breadth of Georgia Tech’s research activities with the local community. Last year more than 500 attendees, ranging from toddlers to retirees, explored the campus and participated in hands-on STEAM activities, tours, and demonstrations designed to engage and educate participants. While attendees were able to get a glimpse into one of the nation’s most research-intensive universities, the community-wide event also allowed Georgia Tech students, researchers, and staff members the opportunity to share their work with the public.
Seeking Demo Groups
To continue the success of Science and Engineering Day, we need members of the Georgia Tech community — including student groups, labs, staff, and faculty — to participate in this year’s event. Last year, 26 units and student organizations across campus provided activities in biology, space, art, nanotechnology, paper, computer science, wearables, bioengineering, and chemical engineering just to name a few.
Taking part in Science and Engineering Day gives Georgia Tech students and researchers a unique opportunity to share their work with the community and inspire attendees. Demo space is limited, so reserve your spot today. Opportunities include hands-on STEAM activities, exhibits, demonstrations, and opportunities to meet student researchers. If you have questions about how you can participate, reach out to Leslie O’Neil. All demo groups must register by February 20, 2023.
The Atlanta Science Festival is engineered by Science ATL and community partners, with major support from founders Emory University, Georgia Tech, and the Metro Atlanta Chamber, and from sponsors UPS, International Paper, Georgia Power, Cox Enterprises, Lockheed Martin, Lenz Marketing, and Mercer University.
Learn more and register to demonstrate at research.gatech.edu/ATLscifestGTday23
On Saturday, March 11, Georgia Tech will open its doors to the community for Science and Engineering Day at Georgia Tech.
This annual event aims to inspire the next generation of engineers and scientists and share the breadth of Georgia Tech’s research activities with the local community. Last year more than 500 attendees, ranging from toddlers to retirees, explored the campus and participated in hands-on STEAM activities, tours, and demonstrations designed to engage and educate participants. While attendees were able to get a glimpse into one of the nation’s most research-intensive universities, the community-wide event also allowed Georgia Tech students, researchers, and staff members the opportunity to share their work with the public.
Seeking Demo Groups
To continue the success of Science and Engineering Day, we need members of the Georgia Tech community — including student groups, labs, staff, and faculty — to participate in this year’s event. Last year, 26 units and student organizations across campus provided activities in biology, space, art, nanotechnology, paper, computer science, wearables, bioengineering, and chemical engineering just to name a few.
Taking part in Science and Engineering Day gives Georgia Tech students and researchers a unique opportunity to share their work with the community and inspire attendees. Demo space is limited, so reserve your spot today. Opportunities include hands-on STEAM activities, exhibits, demonstrations, and opportunities to meet student researchers. If you have questions about how you can participate, reach out to Leslie O’Neil. All demo groups must register by February 20, 2023.
The Atlanta Science Festival is engineered by Science ATL and community partners, with major support from founders Emory University, Georgia Tech, and the Metro Atlanta Chamber, and from sponsors UPS, International Paper, Georgia Power, Cox Enterprises, Lockheed Martin, Lenz Marketing, and Mercer University.
Learn more and register to demonstrate at research.gatech.edu/ATLscifestGTday23
Viral dynamics of SARS-CoV2 and role of antiviral treatments
In this presentation I will discuss how mathematical modeling of viral dynamics have been used during the Covid-19 pandemics. I will first show how the first data obtained in hospitalized patients have been used to better understand some key aspect of the viral dynamics during an infection, and to assess the impact of viral load on disease progression and risk of death. I will then show that these models can be used to estimate the antiviral efficacy of drugs, taking the example of remdesivir and monoclonal antibodies. Lastly, I will discuss the use of models to tease out the impact of viral load on the risk of transmission
Host: Dr. Joshua Weitz
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Dr. Richards will present an interactive seminar on how his teaching philosophy connects biostatistics to a general biology curriculum and to training undergraduate biologists holistically.
Hosted by: Dr. Chrissy Spencer
Event Details
The Law, Science, and Technology (LST) Program in the School of Public Policy has created a new information portal for Georgia Tech students interested in legal careers.
The portal is open to anyone with an active Georgia Tech login. It offers information for students on every step of the journey, including finding undergraduate legal internships, preparing for the LSAT, getting letters of recommendation, and writing personal statements for law school applications. According to Chad Slieper, LST director, scholarship opportunities will be added soon.
“This resource is a great way to start learning what you need to do to prepare for law school,” Slieper said. “We’re excited to give more options to students and provide a 24/7 supplement to the in-person counseling and advice we’ve always offered.”
LST also offers the Minor in Law, Science, and Technology, which recently celebrated its 20th anniversary, as well as pre-law advising, a pre-law newsletter, and events of interest to members of the Georgia Tech community with an interest in the intersection of law and technology.
The School of Public Policy is a unit of the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.
The Law, Science, and Technology (LST) Program in the School of Public Policy has created a new information portal for Georgia Tech students interested in legal careers.
The portal is open to anyone with an active Georgia Tech login. It offers information for students on every step of the journey, including finding undergraduate legal internships, preparing for the LSAT, getting letters of recommendation, and writing personal statements for law school applications. According to Chad Slieper, LST director, scholarship opportunities will be added soon.
“This resource is a great way to start learning what you need to do to prepare for law school,” Slieper said. “We’re excited to give more options to students and provide a 24/7 supplement to the in-person counseling and advice we’ve always offered.”
LST also offers the Minor in Law, Science, and Technology, which recently celebrated its 20th anniversary, as well as pre-law advising, a pre-law newsletter, and events of interest to members of the Georgia Tech community with an interest in the intersection of law and technology.
The School of Public Policy is a unit of the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.
The College of Sciences is pleased to announce the appointment of Steve Diggle as the director of the Center for Microbial Dynamics and Infection (CMDI).
Diggle is a professor in the School of Biological Sciences and the principal investigator for the Diggle Lab. He takes over the CMDI leadership position from Biological Sciences Professor Sam Brown, who has served as CMDI’s director since January 2020.
Founded in 2018, CMDI seeks to understand the chemical, physical, and biological connections that together underpin microbial dynamics. The Center’s science research includes a wide variety of 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.
“It’s an honor to be chosen for this,” Diggle said. “I think that what’s really exciting is that when I joined Georgia Tech in 2017, we were only just developing microbiology here. What’s happened since is that microbiology has taken on a much bigger profile at Georgia Tech. We’re now at the point where we are attracting really strong graduate students specifically to do microbiology, which is great. CMDI is more visible now, and I think that’s one reason graduate students are applying.”
“Steve Diggle is a perfect fit to lead CMDI forward,” Brown said. “Steve's research showcases impactful interdisciplinary research, combining molecular biology with ecology and evolution to understand what makes microbes tick, and how we can better control them. Steve has also shown a lasting commitment to mentorship and scientific service, and so I'm sure CMDI is in very good hands.”
Growth of the Center
Brown said the Center continues to add key personnel. In the past year, CMDI announced its inaugural Early Career Award Fellow in Ellinor Alseth, and its first grant writing specialist, Senior Research Scientist Carina Baskett. “Dr. Alseth is leading through her science, pulling multiple labs together to form new collaborations. Thanks to Dr. Baskett, we have substantially increased our rate of applications for both postdoctoral and postgraduate fellowships, and she has also led the pursuit of multi-principal investigator grants,” Brown added.
The CMDI has also boosted inclusive resources that supported trainee and staff recruiting visits to underrepresented minority-serving conferences and local institutions, and provided additional stipends to help underrepresented minority recruits with relocation costs to Atlanta. The Center has also re-launched its showcase public event, MicrobeATL, a speaker series designed to integrate the microbiology research community across Atlanta that was paused during the pandemic.
CMDI targets models of human disease, but also complex microbial communities in a range of aquatic and terrestrial environments. This research is united by the beliefs that studying across systems is essential for identifying organizing principles, and fully understanding microbial ecology and evolution requires knowledge of social interactions over space and time.
Diggle added that the CMDI’s research priorities include climate change’s impact on the microbial world, and searching for new drugs that can tame antibiotic-resistant pathogens. “Antibiotic resistance is one of the great problems we're facing in the future,” he explained. That problem is why CMDI scientists like Julia Kubanek, professor in the School of Biological Sciences and Georgia Tech’s Vice President for Interdisciplinary Research, are scouring oceans for natural antibacterial alternatives.
Diggle also hopes to continue attracting the world’s top microbiology researchers to join the CMDI faculty while seeking out more external funding. “The ultimate goal is to make Georgia Tech one of the best places to come and do microbiology research in the U.S. Given what we’ve accomplished so far, I think that's a reasonable goal.”
Meet Steve Diggle
Diggle’s research interests focus on cooperation and communication in microbes, and how these are related to virulence, biofilms, and antimicrobial resistance. He has a longstanding interest in understanding how the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa causes disease, and is especially interested in how this organism evolves during chronic infections such as those found in cystic fibrosis patients and chronic wounds.
Diggle received his B.S. in Biological Sciences from the University of Salford in the United Kingdom, and earned a Ph.D. in Molecular Microbiology from the University of Nottingham in 2001. He was a postdoctoral fellow at Nottingham before obtaining a Royal Society University Fellowship (2006-2014). He joined the School of Biological Sciences at Georgia Tech in 2017 and was named a full professor in 2022.
Diggle currently serves as a senior editor on the editorial board of the journal Microbiology. He has previously served on the editorial boards of FEMS Microbiology Letters, BMC Microbiology, Microbiology Open and Royal Society Open Science. He served as an elected member of the Microbiology Society Council from 2012-2016, and was also on their conference and policy committees. In 2020, Diggle received the Cullen-Peck Scholar Award, which recognizes research accomplishments led by College of Sciences faculty at the associate professor or advanced assistant professor level. Diggle was selected as an American Society for Microbiology Distinguished Lecturer in 2021.
Learn more about Diggle’s research:
CMDI: Mighty Microbial Dynamics for a Healthier People and Planet
A Problematic Pathogen Develops Antibiotic Tolerance — Without Previous Exposure
About Georgia Tech
The Georgia Institute of Technology, or Georgia Tech, is a top 10 public research university developing leaders who advance technology and improve the human condition. The Institute offers business, computing, design, engineering, liberal arts, and sciences degrees. Its nearly 44,000 students representing 50 states and 149 countries, study at the main campus in Atlanta, at campuses in France and China, and through distance and online learning. As a leading technological university, Georgia Tech is an engine of economic development for Georgia, the Southeast, and the nation, conducting more than $1 billion in research annually for government, industry, and society.
Dr. Draper will present an interactive seminar on how his teaching philosophy connects biostatistics to a general biology curriculum and to training undergraduate biologists holistically.
Host: Dr. Chrissy Spencer
Event Details
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