As the end of the school year approaches, recognition of exceptional work across research, teaching, administration, and community building took center stage at Harrison Square on April 14 at the College of Sciences Spring Sciences Celebration.

“Our annual celebration is a welcomed tradition in the College,” shared Susan Lozier, dean and Betsy Middleton and John Clark Sutherland Chair. “As we greet new members of faculty, recognize excellence and service in research and teaching, and affirm our special community of staff and faculty, we thank the generous alumni and friends who help make these awards possible.”

In addition to annual awards honoring faculty development and mentoring, this year’s ceremony featured new accolades for staff members, made possible by funding from the Betsy Middleton and John Sutherland Dean’s Chair endowment — as well as a trio of awards recognizing exceptional contributions from postdoctoral fellows and research scientists, established through the advocacy of the College’s Research Faculty Advisory Council.

 

Faculty Development Awards

The Cullen-Peck Fellowship Awards, established by Frank Cullen (‘73 Math, MS ‘76 ISyE, PhD ‘84 ISyE) and Elizabeth (Libby) Peck (‘75 Math, MS ‘76 ISyE), to recognize mid-career faculty pursuing highly innovative research:

 

The Gretzinger Moving Forward Award, endowed by Ralph Gretzinger (‘70 Math) and named to honor his late wife Jewel, recognizing the leadership of school chairs and senior faculty members who have played a pivotal role in diversifying faculty composition, creating a family friendly work environment, and providing a supportive culture for junior faculty:

  • Greg Huey, chair and school professor, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences

 

The Eric R. Immel Memorial Award for Excellence in Teaching, endowed by Charles Crawford (‘71 Math) to recognize exemplary teaching in lower-division foundational courses by faculty in the early stages of their career — and to honor a late faculty member in the School of Mathematics, professor Eric R. Immel, who greatly influenced Crawford’s undergraduate experience at Tech:

  • Alonzo Whyte, academic professional in Biological Sciences, academic advisor for the Health and Medical Sciences (HMED) Minor, and director of academic advising for the Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience 

  • Peter Yunker, assistant professor, Physics

 

The Leddy Family Dean’s Faculty Excellence Award, 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:

  • William (Will) Ratcliff, associate professor in Biological Sciences and director of the Interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Quantitative Biosciences program

 

The Faculty Mentor Award, established jointly by the College of Sciences and the Georgia Tech ADVANCE Program and presented to exemplary senior faculty who help new faculty advance in their careers as they learn to balance their roles as researchers, teachers, and advisors to their own graduate students and postdoctoral researchers:

 

Research Faculty Awards

The Outstanding Junior Research Faculty Award and Outstanding Senior Research Faculty Award recognize postdoctoral and non-tenure track research faculty who have made exceptional research contributions with significant impact on their field of study:

Outstanding Junior Research Faculty Award

Outstanding Senior Research Faculty Award

  • Anton S. Petrov, research scientist II and co-investigator of the Center for the Origins of Life in Loren Williams’ research group, Chemistry and Biochemistry

 

The Research Faculty Community Trailblazer Award recognizes postdoctoral and non-tenure track research faculty who have demonstrated exceptional and sustained leadership that strengthens and improves the research faculty community:

 

Staff Leadership and Excellence Awards

The newly established Exceptional Staff Member Award and Staff Excellence Awards recognize staff who exemplify outstanding performance above and beyond the call of duty — positively impacting the strategic goals of their department and the College, consistently providing excellent service within their school or the overall College, and demonstrating exemplary teamwork:

Exceptional Staff Member Award

Staff Excellence Awards

  • Katrine Pate, grants administrator, Physics

  • Lea Marzo, assistant to the chair, Mathematics

  • Stacey Bass, grants administrator lead, Psychology and Earth and Atmospheric Sciences

  • Steven Daniele, IT support engineer senior, Academic & Research Computing Services (ARCS)

 

The inaugural Leadership in Action Staff Award and Excellence in Leadership Staff Awards recognize staff who have made exceptional contributions to the College through innovative and strategic leadership, change management, business process improvement, special project leadership, and similar accomplishments:

Leadership in Action Staff Award

Excellence in Leadership Staff Awards

  • Kathy Sims-McDaniels, development assistant in the Dean’s Office and chair of College of Sciences Staff Advisory Council 

  • John Wallom, associate director of IT Operations, ARCS

 

The College also recognized and welcomed a trio of new faculty members who arrived on campus this school year:

  • Onur Birol, academic professional, Biological Sciences

 

The 2022 Spring Sciences Celebration program can be found here, and high-resolution photos can be downloaded here.

Lea Marzo has won the CoS Staff Excellence Award for her phenomenal work in SoM. Congratulations to Lea and thank you for everything that you do for SoM!

Exceptional Staff Member and Staff Excellence Awards:

There is one $1,500 cash award and two or more $500 cash awards each year for demonstrated excellence in each of the following areas:

  • Outstanding performance above and beyond the call of duty (Commitment)
  • Exemplary teamwork
  • Impact on the strategic goals of the College (Building Communities of Excellence, Catalyzing Discovery and Solutions and  Amplifying Impact)
  • Consistently excellent service to the School or College

 

An Interview with Lea Marzo

Can you tell us about your journey so far?

People beam at me with envy when I tell them I grew up in beautiful southern California which is mainly seen as a city for tourists. However, in my small neighborhood, there are approximately 15 different gangs within a 15-mile radius. Inequality is not just seen it is felt. As a first-generation student, I have always felt different. I was raised by a single mother of four in a Filipino and Native American family in a predominantly African American community in Southeast San Diego. The backdrop of my community and the public school I attended during the summers starkly contrasted with the predominantly white, affluent, cultural-capital rich Catholic school that I attended on a scholarship during the academic year. It was in my immersion in these completely different socioeconomic environments that not only taught me to critically navigate through various cultural environments, but also heightened my interest in how marginalized students find ways to be successful while dealing with institutionalized racism.

Being a biracial other in a black working-class community gave me the perfect ethnographic lens to analyze social stratification, poverty, race, and culture. In high school, I left two hours early to take the trolley and bus to the other side of town. On this ride, you can notice the shift as the graffiti lined walls and broken windows gradually change to manicured sidewalks and well-maintained businesses as you rode from one part to the other. In addition to my scholarship, my mother worked out some deal with the principal to get “two for the price of one,” so my brother and I could get a better education. She worked bingo every Friday night as well as a full-time teacher’s aide to pay for our tuition. During summers, I attended the local public school where my mother worked and learned early on that not everyone is afforded a “good” education. This realization has fueled my passion for helping underrepresented communities have access to higher education.

I became a single mother at the age of 20, determined to achieve my goals and make sure my daughter had a bright future, I decided to finish my Bachelor’s degree. While working as full-time as an Academic Advisor the Education Studies Department at the University of California, San Diego I completed my general education courses at San Diego Mesa Community College and transferred to UCSD working out a schedule with my job to be a full-time student as well. It was during this time that I became an institutional agent for my students as well politically active in my community. I organized a student group called “Teachers 4 Change.” This group worked to recruit STEM students to get their teaching credential and work in low-income K-12 schools. I mentored high school students at the UCSD Preuss school and scored senior projects. I volunteered at UPTE, a national union to work for better wages for administrative positions. I also created “Preps for Success” that mentored known gang members and ex-offenders in my community. This involved preparing resumes and helped people complete the necessary applications for GED programs and community colleges.

During my Master’s program at San Diego State I was the treasurer for the Sociology student group. I mentored incoming master’s students and was a Teacher’s assistant. I taught Sociology 101 to incoming Freshmen students using a critical caring pedagogy.  This combines a feminist, non-hierarchal teaching approach where the students and instructor sit in a circle and there is reflexive teaching and auto ethnographies.  The teacher learns about the students, their lives, and backgrounds as well as shares their background.  Being from a low-income community myself allows students from similar backgrounds relate to me and feel comfortable sharing.  Once students feel cared for, we can foster a learning environment of trust and encouragement. I hope to be able to utilize this style of teaching from entire career.
Currently, I work full-time as the Assistant to the Chair II at the Georgia Institute of Technology in the School of Math and teach classes online for Post University. I recently completed my Ph.D. in Sociology with a concentration in Race and Urban Studies at Georgia State University. I also got married last October! My current goal is to work in Higher Education Administration focusing on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

What is your work in the SoM?

I work at the Asst. to the Chair II for the School of Math. In this role I assist the chair in administrative duties as well as oversee the front desk staff and the Visiting Honors Program.

Can you tell us about your other efforts at Georgia Tech?

I routinely collaborate with campus leaders to spearhead and prioritize diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Specifically, I strategize with college leadership to develop and implement initiatives such as a college-wide Code of Conduct, conflict resolution training, DEI best practices, and student-focused events. I was recently invited by the Dean of the College of Sciences, to join the Budget Reform Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion working group. This group created 12 budget recommendations focused on diversity reform and hiring initiatives and presented to the President of Georgia Tech and DEI stakeholders.

Additionally, I currently serve as a member of the College of Sciences Staff Advisory Council where we promote staff engagement by arranging monthly speakers, host staff engagement events, and offer professional development opportunities.

How about your work in the DEI Committee?

Serving as the co-Chair for the DEI Committee is a rewarding experience. It allows me to bridge my academic background with my current position. I hope that I can continue this work throughout my career.

Can you tell us about your Ph.D. thesis work?

“American’s Finest City” is also home to approximately 91 gangs and over 4000 gang members (Burks 2014). That was my lived reality growing up in Southeast San Diego. In my neighborhood alone, there are approximately 15 different gangs within a 10-mile radius. Growing up, I knew several young men and women who died or became incarcerated as a result of gang-related violence.

When I moved away from San Diego to work on my doctorate, I was hoping to escape that life and embrace a new chapter. However, after reading Victor Rios’s Punished: Policing the Lives of Black and Latino Boys, I was inspired to do my dissertation on San Diego gangs. Something Rios wrote shook my core. As he reflects on his ethnography of gangs in Oakland, California, he writes, “One of my graduate-school professors warned me, ‘Go native, but make sure to come back.’ When I returned from the field, I told him, ‘I took your advice and went native in the academy, but I made sure to go back to the community where I come from.’” (Rios 2011:15). Being disconnected from my neighborhood allowed me to reflect. I no longer wanted to escape; instead, I yearned to be engaged in the community with the hope of affecting change. In this moment I realized that becoming a sociologist is not just a personal goal, but can also be a vehicle through which I enrich my community.
Although I write this work and submit it to the academy, I want it to be accessible for mass consumption. I write this work for my participants. My hope is to be the vehicle through which my participants tell their stories. Being back in my community has allowed me to reflect on the importance of empowering others and keeping the door open for those behind me. The purpose of this study is to challenge the governing narratives, to challenge those in power who label these young men and women, and to allow their stories to be told from their standpoint.

Set Trippin’: An Intersectional Examination of Gang Members

Abstract
Typically, when most people hear the word “gangs,” the usual connotation is that of boys and men. However, recent studies show that women and girls make up about 30% of the gang population and that most gangs are mixed gender (Curry 1998, Miller and Brunson 2000, Sutton 2017). The experiences of gang-affiliated women remain under-theorized and understudied. Moreover, studies in criminology often dehumanize gang members and advance archaic ideas of inherent criminality. By utilizing a critical race theory (CRT) framework, I analyze how gang membership results from the intersection of racist practices and U.S. laws (Bell 1995, Crenshaw 1995, Ladson-Billings and Tate 1995, Solórzano, Ceja and Yosso 2000). This exploratory study demonstrates the complexities of how minoritized neighborhoods create a climate ripe for gang membership. By centering gang narratives, I highlight the myriad ways that people living in Southeast San Diego navigate gang culture and identity, gender expectations, and criminalization. Through a feminist standpoint lens, I employ the “docent method,” a qualitative place-based approach, to accompany 30 men and women gang members and affiliates on a walking or driving interview (Chang 2017). This unique methodology facilitates participant-led, ethnographical analysis, and in-depth interviews. My work challenges the one-sided, male-dominated research seen in gang literature. Providing gang members the opportunity to share their stories helps them to reclaim their identities. Findings from this study indicate that Black gang members share “Black extraordinary adolescent trauma” within hyper-segregated gang communities, often resulting in a collective identity. Black women gang members use their gang-affiliated identities as a tool to navigate violence within their neighborhoods. Furthermore, family socialization is an underutilized approach to understanding gang membership. I argue that place-identity, shared gang identity, and "Black extraordinary adolescent trauma" bond young men and women into "gang kinship networks." In addition, I offer alternative narratives to the stereotype of violent gang members. While on the one hand, there are instances where men gang members adopt conventional patriarchal norms of masculinity, on the other hand, they can exhibit caring attitudes towards people within their gang kinship network. Finally, I argue that low-income minoritized youth are subject to “legal violence” routinely practiced by local law enforcement and probation officers (Menjívar and Abrego 2012). The legal jurisdictions of gang documentation, gang injunctions, and policing practices interlink with social conditions to cause social suffering (Menjívar and Abrego 2012).  These punitive laws create additional barriers and obstacles for documented gang members, trapping them in the cycle of re-offending, and blocking Black and Latinx youth from upward mobility. Therefore, I call for sociologists to include gang membership as a neighborhood effect and to fund more research utilizing a critical race theory lens.

How did you manage to earn a Ph.D. while doing excellent work in the SoM?

It was not without difficulty :)

Honestly, I’m not really sure. There was a lot of long nights and long days. I worked on my dissertation whenever I had free time, weekends and late nights. I just figured it out. I learned early on how to be resilient and to juggle many hats.

Jinyoung Park, an incoming faculty member for Fall 2023, together with her coauthor Huy Tuan Pham have proven the Expectation Threshold Conjecture of Kahn and Kalai from 2006.

For the full article please click here, an excerpt is below.

The 2006 expectation threshold conjecture gives a justification for a naive way to estimate the threshold probability of a random graph property. Suppose that you are asked about the critical probability for a random graph in G(n,p) for having a perfect matching (or a Hamiltonian cycle). You compute the expected number of perfect matchings and realize that when p is C/n this expected number equals 1/2. (For Hamiltonian cycles it will be C’/n.) Of course, if the expectation is one half, the probability for a perfect matching can still be very low; indeed, in this case, an isolated vertex is quite likely but when there is no isolated vertices the expected number of perfect matchings is rather large. Our 2006 conjecture boldly asserts that the gap between the value given by such a naive computation and the true threshold value is at most logarithmic in the number of vertices. Jeff and I tried hard to find a counterexample but instead we managed to find more general and stronger forms of the conjecture that we could not disprove.

Jinyoung Park

Jinyoung Park is a Szegö Assistant Professor at Stanford University, working with her mentor Jacob Fox. Previously a postdoctoral member of Institute for Advanced Study (CSDM program, led by Avi Wigderson), Dr. Park will be joining SoM as an incoming faculty member in 2023.

Dr. Park's research interests include

  • extremal and probabilistic combinatorics,

  • asymptotic enumeration, and

  • graph theory.

Georgia Tech’s Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) is recognizing College of Sciences faculty members for their excellence in teaching during the 2021-2022 school year.

41 College of Sciences faculty have won Student Recognition of Excellence in Teaching: CIOS Awards based on student evaluations during the annual Course Instructor Opinion Survey (CIOS). Eight faculty are the recipients of CTL Faculty Teaching Awards.

The CIOS honors, given for the full calendar year, are based on student-provided CIOS responses about their instructor's “respect and concern for students, level of enthusiasm about teaching the course, and ability to stimulate interest in the subject matter.”

“It's impressive to see the many ways that faculty in the College of Sciences are contributing to student learning at Georgia Tech,” says Joyce Weinsheimer, CTL director. “The College’s award-winning teachers are excelling in the classroom, laboratory instruction, co-curricular education, online teaching, academic outreach, and the scholarship of teaching. They are providing exciting learning environments and experiences to students on our campus and beyond.”

College of Sciences recipients of the “2022 Faculty Teaching Awards” include:

CTL/BP Junior Faculty Teaching Excellence Award 

Neha Garg, assistant professor, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry

Faculty Award for Academic Outreach 

James R. Sowell, principal academic professional, School of Physics, and director of the Georgia Tech Observatory

Geoffrey G. Eichholz Faculty Teaching Award 

Michael Evans, First-year Chemistry Laboratory coordinator, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry

Christie N. Stewart, senior academic professional, School of Biological Sciences

Innovation and Excellence in Laboratory Instruction Award 

Christy O’Mahony, laboratory coordinator for Analytical and Physical Chemistry, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry

Innovation in Co-Curricular Education 

Jake D. Soper, associate professor and associate chair for Operations, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry 

Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Award 

Emily G. Weigel, senior academic professional, School of Biological Sciences

Teaching Excellence Award for Online Teaching 

Michael Evans, First-year Chemistry Laboratory coordinator, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry

College of Sciences faculty honored with “Student Recognition of Excellence in Teaching: CIOS Awards” include:

Small Classes:

Gary (Michael) Lavigne, visiting assistant professor, School of Mathematics; and assistant director of Communication, Education and Outreach for the Southeast Center for Mathematics and Biology

Dan Margalit, professor, School of Mathematics

Melinda (Mindy) Millard-Stafford, professor, School of Biological Sciences

Large Classes:

Meghan Babcock, academic professional and lecturer, School of Psychology

Dobromir (Doby) Rahnev, associate professor, School of Psychology

College of Sciences “Student Recognition of Excellence in Teaching: Honor Roll” Awardees:

Small Classes:

School of Biological Sciences — Joel Kostka, professor and associate chair of Research; Lin Jiang, professor; Melinda (Mindy) Millard-Stafford, professor; Emily Weigel, senior academic professional

School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences — Sven Simon, associate professor;  Samantha Wilson, academic professional; James Wray, associate professor

School of Mathematics — Neha Gupta, academic professional and director of Scheduling; Gary (Michael) Lavigne, visiting assistant professor, School of Mathematics; and assistant director of Communication, Education and Outreach for the Southeast Center for Mathematics and Biology; Dan Margalit, professor; John Olinde, Ph.D. student

Neuroscience — Timothy Cope, professor

School of Psychology — Lizanne DeStefano, professor and  Center for Education Integrating Science, Math, and Computing (CEISMC) executive director; Ruth Kanfer, professor; Dianne Leader, lecturer

Large Classes:

School of Biological Sciences — Adam Decker, senior academic professional and director of Anatomical Sciences; Colin Harrison, senior academic professional; Emily Weigel, senior academic professional

School of Chemistry and Biochemistry — Amit Reddi, associate professor; J. Cameron Tyson, principal academic professional and College of Sciences assistant dean for Academic Programs

School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences — Heather Chilton, remote laboratory support;  Zachary Handlos, academic professional

School of Mathematics — Neha Gupta, academic professional and director of Scheduling; Sung Ha Kang, professor; Siddhi Krishna, former NSF Research Training Groups (RTG) postdoctoral associate; Miriam Kuzbary, NSF postdoctoral fellow; Gary (Michael) Lavigne, visiting assistant professor, School of Mathematics; and assistant director of Communication, Education and Outreach for the Southeast Center for Mathematics and Biology; Michael Loss, professor; Gregory Mayer, academic professional and director of Online Learning

Neuroscience — Christina Ragan, lecturer and director of Outreach for the B.S. in Neuroscience program; Alonzo Whyte, academic professional, advisor for the Health and Medical Sciences (HMED) Minor, and director of Academic Advising for the B.S. in Neuroscience program

School of Psychology — Meghan Babcock, academic professional;  Dianne Leader, lecturer; Dobromir (Doby) Rahnev, associate professor; Christopher Stanzione, senior lecturer, associate chair for Undergraduate Studies in Psychology; Christopher Weise, assistant professor 

Learn more about the Center for Teaching and Learning at Georgia Tech.

Bhanu Kumar has been awarded a NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship for work in dynamical systems applied to celestial mechanics and applied astrodynamics for space mission design.

Bhanu is a Ph.D. candidate and a NASA Space Technology Research Fellow (NSTRF) in the School of Mathematics, working with his advisor Prof. Rafael de la Llave at the cutting edge of the field of dynamical systems. Bhanu also does research as M.S. student in the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering at Georgia Tech, and as a NSTRF visiting technologist at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, where he works with his mentor and research collaborator Dr. Rodney Anderson.

Research Interests

At a broad level, my interests lie in the application of tools and results from mathematical dynamical systems theory, both analytical and computational, to various problems in celestial mechanics and applied astrodynamics for space mission design. In particular, there are geometric structures, such as periodic orbits, invariant tori, and stable and unstable manifolds, which govern many of the important dynamical properties of multi-body celestial systems. I am interested in developing fast and accurate methods for computing these objects as well as for investigating the dynamics induced by them. I am also working on applications of these methods to current and relevant problems in astrodynamics, with a current focus on tour design in the Jovian system (although our tools are general and applicable to other systems as well).

-Bhanu Kumar

Previously, Bhanu had been supported by a prestigious NASA graduate fellowship and he has participated in several international conferences in Celestial Mechanics in USA, Italy, and Spain. His advisor, Prof. De La Llave, has also used advanced grants from NASA to help fund travel and to support Bhanu throughout his PhD. An accessible description of Bhanu's research (with some references to more advanced material) can be found in the ProofReader 2020. 

Note: This article was originally published 07/21/2021 featuring only Jen Hom and Konstantin Tikhomirov.

Like the Olympics, the International Congress of Mathematicians only meets once every four years. Like that global athletic competition, medals are presented to those who excel. In this case, they’re presented to those with breakthrough research on subjects like topology, random matrices, combinatorics. 

Simply being asked to present research at an ICM is, as Davide Castelvecchi wrote in a 2015 Nature story, “the equivalent, in this community, of an induction to a hall of fame.” So imagine the pride at the School of Mathematics when it learned that it will have not one, but three lecturers at the 2022 ICM, scheduled for July 6-14 virtually. Associate Professor Jennifer Hom, Professor Michael Loss, and Assistant Professor Konstantin Tikhomirov have accepted invitations from ICM committees to speak at the conference. 

“The ICM speaker invitations are a major news item in the mathematics community every four years. The invitations carry very high prestige, selected with extreme diligence to highlight leading breakthroughs across all of mathematics,” explains Rachel Kuske, Professor and Chair of the School of Mathematics. “An invitation signals innovative research that is driving future discovery. A single invitation in any cycle is a source of great pride for the home department of the speaker, and more than one is particularly noteworthy, reflecting the impressive talent joining the School in recent years. Of course, we are well aware that our pioneering colleagues Jennifer and Konstantin are leading the world in their fields, but we are very pleased by the community's agreement, via this exceptional international recognition.”

“It was a very pleasant surprise to get the email,” says Hom. “It wasn’t something that was on my radar. Most mathematicians do math because they find it interesting and challenging and fun, and things like this are the icing on the cake.”

The invitation also came as a surprise to Tikhomirov. “I was extremely happy, of course, and I didn’t expect it,” he says. “People usually get invited earlier. I was not really expecting this because it’s a hard thing, it’s a very rare event, once every four years.”

Hom echoes Kuske when she says having three Georgia Tech researchers speaking at ICM “speaks highly of the quality of math being done at the School of Mathematics.”

Hom hasn’t decided the specific topic of her lecture, but her mathematical research focuses on low-dimensional topology. Topology is the study of shapes and spaces that can be stretched, twisted, and otherwise deformed, but never broken or torn. These spaces are called manifolds; for example, the surface of a donut is a two-dimensional manifold. Low-dimensional topology is the sub-discipline interested in topological spaces of four or fewer dimensions. The study of manifolds can help bring simplicity to the understanding of more complex structures in math and physics. 

“I’m lucky enough to sit and think about totally abstract things just for the sake of finding patterns,” she says. “There’s so much more to math than what people see in high school, or what average college students see in the math class. A lot of high school math is focused on getting you to calculus, and that’s a small part of the really cool math that’s out there.”

Tikhomirov’s research is in discrete probability, which tries to bring structure and predictability to chance in the form of modeling. Take a coin flip, for example. “If I could measure the parameters of the coins, and figure out how much muscle you use to flip the coin, and figure for the activity of neurons, I would be able to predict the outcome — heads or tails,” he explains. “But that’s too complicated” to compute outcomes in that way. “Probability, in that respect, is designed to model things. So you have a complicated system, and then you can construct a model that inherits some properties of real physical systems, but at least you can make some predictions.”

Michael Loss is a mathematician and mathematical physicist. With Elliott H. Lieb he is the author of the textbook Analysis (Graduate Studies in Mathematics 14. American Mathematical Society, 1997; 2nd ed., 2001). In 2012, he became one of the inaugural fellows of the American Mathematical Society, and was elected as a Foreign Corresponding Member of the Chilean Academy of Sciences. He is also one of the 2015 winners of the Humboldt Prize. Recently, Prof. Loss was asked to serve on the Executive Committee of the International Association of Mathematical Physics (IAMP).

Editor's Note: The Inaugural Hubbard Chair, Prof. Svetlana Jitomirskaya who is arriving in Fall 2022, will also be speaking at ICM this year as a plenary speaker. For more information about Prof. Jitomirskaya and this exceptional honor to give a plenary talk at ICM, see this story on our website.

It is our pleasure to announce that Prof. Sung Ha Kang is being recognized for her important contributions to mentoring junior faculty in the School of Mathematics with the CoS Faculty Mentor Award.

Prof. Kang has provided information that played a vital role in speeding up my research development and collaborations. Prof. Kang is a role model of professorship too, which means so much more than being just a  great researcher.

-Molei Tao

CoS Faculty Mentor Award

The College of Sciences and Georgia Tech’s ADVANCE program jointly established the College of Sciences Faculty Mentor Award to recognize exceptional efforts and achievements by College faculty members engaged in the mentoring of other faculty.

I feel Sung Ha is very encouraging and empathetic, and I can feel a strong support and caring from her!

-Beibei Liu

 

Prof. Sung Ha Kang

Sung Ha is a Professor in the School of Mathematics whose research interests include numerical methods and scientific computing: New modeling of functionals, mathematical analysis and numerical simulations for applied problems; Mathematical approaches to image processing; Variational functional and PDE based methods for various problems arising in image restorations and segmentation: denoising, deblurring, inpainting, color image, video, shape analysis, texture, multiphase image segmentation and various extensions. Sung Ha is also the Computational Sciences and Engineering (CSE) Coordinator for the School of Mathematics and an organizer for GT Mathematics and Applications Portal (GT MAP).

Prof. Kang has been providing great mentoring and support as a senior colleague working in close areas. She is inspirational and always ready to offer help and advice. 

- Wenjing Liao

 

Previous recipients of the CoS Faculty Mentor Award include:

  • 2021 John Etnyre
  • 2021 Ronghua Pan
  • 2019 and 2014 Christine Heitsch
  • 2018 Prasad Tetali
  • 2018 Haomin Zhou
  • 2016 Luca Dieci
  • 2014 Brett Wick

The College of Sciences at Georgia Tech continues to make progress in the graduate school rankings published by U.S. News and World Report.

Released on March 29, the 2023 U.S. News Best Graduate School Rankings highlights all six College of Sciences schools as best overall science programs for graduate studies:

  • Biology – No. 37    

  • Chemistry – No. 21

  • Earth Sciences – No. 28

  • Mathematics – No. 21

  • Physics – No. 28

  • Psychology – No. 39

Biological Sciences rose 17 places (from No. 54) in a nine-way tie with Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Brown University, Carnegie Mellon University, Dartmouth College, Indiana University-Bloomington, Ohio State University, University of Utah, and UT Health MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Chemistry and Biochemistry shifted from No. 20 in a four-way tie with Johns Hopkins University, University of California (UC)-San Diego, and Texas A&M University-College Station.

Earth and Atmospheric Sciences rose by 10 (from No. 38) in a tie with Ohio State University, University of Southern California, and Washington University in St. Louis.

Mathematics advanced by five, up from No. 26 in a tie with Carnegie Mellon, Johns Hopkins, UC-San Diego, and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Physics maintains its No. 28 ranking in a tie with Brown University, Duke University, and Rice University.

Psychology rose six spots to No. 39 in a tie with Arizona State University, Michigan State University, Stony Brook University, University of Florida, University of Iowa, and University of Pittsburgh.

U.S. News previously ranked graduate science programs in their 2019 Best Graduate Schools Edition (published in March 2018) with the exception of Psychology, which is categorized under U.S. News “Social Sciences and Humanities” programs and was last ranked in the 2017 Edition.

Among specialty graduate programs, Analytical Chemistry and Condensed Matter (Physics) both rank in the top 20, while previously unranked Applied Math climbed into the top 16 to No. 11.

Mathematical Analysis and Topology tied for No. 18 and No. 15, respectively, and Tech remains top five in the nation for Discrete Math and Combinatorics. Uniquely organized across the Colleges of Sciences, Computing, and Engineering, the Institute’s Algorithms, Combinatorics, and Optimization program previously held a rank of No. 2.

  • Analytical Chemistry – No. 17

  • Applied Math – No. 11

  • Condensed Matter – No. 18

  • Discrete Math and Combinatorics – No. 5

  • Mathematical Analysis – No. 18

  • Topology – No. 15

“I was very happy to see that several of our schools in the College of Sciences moved up in the rankings, in some cases quite significantly,” shares Matthew Baker, professor in the School of Mathematics and associate dean for Faculty Development in the College.

Fellow colleges on campus are also on the rise in the latest U.S. News “Best Graduate Schools” set, with Engineering remaining in the top ten in its overall disciplines, and Business, Computing, and Public Affairs also ranking among top programs in the nation. The full roster of current Georgia Institute of Technology rankings can be found here, along with U.S. News’ methodology for graduate rankings here.

Congratulations go to Molei Tao for being recognized with the CoS Cullen-Peck Award. This award is given in recognition of Molei's research encompassing many topics in applied and computational mathematics, especially his recent work in machine learning.


Cullen-Peck Scholar Award

The Cullen-Peck Scholar Award recognizes research accomplishments led by College of Sciences faculty at the associate professor or advanced assistant professor level. The award recognizes innovative research that is in a direction that is relatively new to the faculty member. The Cullen-Peck award is made possible by a generous gift to the College of Sciences from alumni Frank H. Cullen (B.S. in Mathematics with Honors 1973, M.S. in Operations Research 1975, Ph.D. Industrial Engineering 1984) and Libby Peck (B.S. in Applied Mathematics 1975, M.S. in Industrial Engineering 1976).

 

Molei Tao

Associate Professor Molei Tao's research is primarily concerned with control systems characterized by multiple scales, geometric structures, and randomness. Prof. Tao's group addresses both scientific curiosity and engineering practicality, from studying extrasolar and Solar planetary dynamics, the engineering problems of energy transfer and harvest, rare events quantification, the resonant control of microscopic systems, to the interplay between dynamics and machine learning.

 

Previous recipients of the Cullen-Peck Scholar Award include:

  • 2014 Sung Ha Kang
  • 2017 Anton Leykin
  • 2018 Jen Hom
  • 2019 Greg Blekherman

Stelson Lecture Abstract

April 9th at 7pm
Instructional Center 103

Combining the mathematics of digital image processing with the history, craftsmanship, and science of art conservation, my research team at Duke University, Bass Connections Image Processing Algorithms for Art Conservation, spent a year working with the NC Museum of Art to study, restore, and exhibit a 14th-century altarpiece that hadn’t been displayed in its entirety for over a century.

About The Speaker

Ingrid Daubechies is a James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of Mathematics and Electrical and Computer Engineering at Duke University, and is known for her work with wavelets in image compression and the mathematical methods that enhance image-compression technology, and for developing sophisticated image processing techniques used to help establish the authenticity and age of some of the world's most famous works of art, including paintings by Vincent van Gogh and Rembrandt. Daubechies is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the National Academy of Sciences, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. 

Daubechies also serves on the board of directors of Enhancing Diversity in Graduate Education (EDGE), a program that helps women entering graduate studies in the mathematical sciences.

About the Stelson Lecture Series

Thomas Stelson was a distinguished Civil Engineer who served as the Dean of Georgia Tech's College of Engineering from 1971 to 1974, as Vice President for Research from 1974 to 1988, and as Executive Vice President from 1988 to 1990.

During the 70's and 80's, he oversaw a vast expansion in Tech's research expenditures during an era when Tech went from being primarily teaching-oriented university to a major research institution.

Stelson helped the School of Mathematics create the Center for Dynamical Systems and Nonlinear Studies, and he endowed the School's Stelson lectures in 1988 in honor of his father, Hugh Stelson, who was a mathematician. Hugh Stelson earned his doctorate from the University of Iowa in 1930 and went on to teach at Kent State University and Michigan State University. He worked on problems related to interest rates, annuities, and numerical analysis.

Recent Stelson Lectures

  • Cryptography: From Ancient Times to a Post-Quantum Age  

    Pipher, Jill C. (Georgia Institute of Technology, 2018-03-01)

    How is it possible to send encrypted information across an insecure channel (like the internet) so that only the intended recipient can decode it, without sharing the secret key in advance? In 1976, well before this ...

  • The Complexity of Random Functions of Many Variables  

    Arous, Gérard Ben (Georgia Institute of Technology, 2016-08-31)

    A function of many variables, when chosen at random, is typically very complex. It has an exponentially large number of local minima or maxima, or critical points. It defines a very complex landscape, the topology of its ...

  • How Quantum Theory and Statistical Mechanics Gave a Polynomial of Knots  

    Jones, Vaughan (Georgia Institute of Technology, 2014-09-25)

    We will see how a result in von Neumann algebras (a theory developed by von Neumann to give the mathematical framework for quantum physics) gave rise, rather serendipitously, to an elementary but very useful invariant in ...

  • Riemann, Boltzmann and Kantorovich Go to a Party  

    Villani, Cedric (Georgia Institute of Technology, 2013-04-19)

    This talk is the story of an encounter of three distinct fields: non-Euclidean geometry, gas dynamics and economics. Some of the most fundamental mathematical tools behind these theories appear to have a close connection, ...

  • Role of Mathematics Across Science and Beyond  

    Glimm, James (Georgia Institute of Technology, 2010-11-22)

    The changing status of knowledge from descriptive to analytic, from empirical to theoretical and from intuitive to mathematical has to be one of the most striking adventures of the human spirit. The changes often occur ...

  • Multiscale Modeling and Simulation: The Interplay Beween Mathematics and Engineering Applications  

    Hou, Thomas Y. (Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009-10-26)

    Many problems of fundamental and practical importance contain multiple scale solutions. Composite and nano materials, flow and transport in heterogeneous porous media, and turbulent flow are examples of this type. Direct ...

 

Gathering 4 Gardner

This Stelson Lecture is co-sponsored by the School of Mathematics, the College of Sciences, and the Gathering 4 Gardner foundation.

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