One College of Sciences student is a rising fourth-year, but she spent some of her non-research hours helping incoming first year students navigate the newness of Georgia Tech. Another became the Georgia Tech hockey team’s first woman player in school history. (Yes, Georgia Tech has a hockey team.) Yet another is helping a professor build an organic meteor database.

The six College of Sciences students honored for end-of-school-year awards and scholarships offer a wide variety of accomplishments. Join us in congratulating these winners of the 2021 College of Sciences Student Awards: 

2021 A. Joyce Nickelson and John C. Sutherland Undergraduate Research Award

Presented to a student studying physics and mathematics.
Endowment gift of Jen Nickelson and John Sutherland. 

Luojia Zhang

 

2021 Roger M. Wartell and Stephen E. Brossette Award

Presented to a student who studies at the physics/math-biology interface. Endowment gift of Stephen Brossette.

Sophia Wiesenfeld

 

2021 Robert A. Pierotti Memorial Scholarship

Presented to a top graduating senior in the College. Endowment gift of the family and friends of former dean Robert Pierotti

Kalen Patton

 

2021 Mehta Phingbodhipakkiya Memorial Scholarship

Presented to a top junior in the College of Sciences. Endowment gift of Maranee Phing

Jennifer Kim

 

2021 Virginia C. and Herschel V. Clanton Jr. Scholarship

Presented to a top pre-medical student in the College of Sciences.
Endowment gift of Herschel V. Clanton.

Suraj Modi

  • Mountain View High School, Lawrenceville, graduate
  • Biology major
  • Research with Frank Rosenzweig, School of Biological Sciences 
  • Studying the integration of nutrient-sensing and pheromone-sensing pathways in Saccharomyces cerevisiae
  • Ambassador, Stamps Health Services; Biology Student Advisory Council

 

2021 Cynthia L. Bossart and James Efron Scholarship

Presented to a top out-of-state junior in the College of Sciences.
Endowment gift of Cynthia Bossart and James Efron.

Eva Erickson

Seven College of Sciences faculty members from five schools are winners of annual awards from Georgia Tech’s Center for Teaching and Learning.

The Center for Teaching and Learning, part of the Office of the Vice Provost for Graduate Education and Faculty Development, enhances the learning and teaching environment at Georgia Tech by encouraging a fully engaged, sharing community with communication networks, resources, and innovative programs for faculty, postdoctoral scholars, and graduate students. It recognizes tenured and non-tenured faculty with end-of-school-year awards honoring the work and innovation Georgia Tech educators bring to their classrooms.

This year's list includes a pair of School of Mathematics educators: Stephanie Reikes, a lecturer in the School of Mathematics, is the winner of Georgia Tech’s 2021 Undergraduate Educator Award. Professor Dan Margalit is one of two winners of the 2021 Eichholz Faculty Teaching Award.

2021 Undergraduate Educator Award 

Stephanie Reikes, School of Mathematics

Reikes’ award was offered for the first time in 2009, recognizing the outstanding contributions that non-tenure track faculty make to student education. It reflects Reikes’ unique role at Georgia Tech, with responsibilities in the School of Mathematics and the Tutoring & Academic Support unit at Georgia Tech. She is responsible for teaching all of the Institute’s pre-calculus mathematics courses, including Support for College Algebra, College Algebra, and Pre-Calculus. She specializes in working with student of all backgrounds, including at-risk students, students with disabilities, and student-athletes. 

In addition to leading improvements in this challenging area, she has strengthened the cooperation and collaboration between Tutoring & Academic Support and the School of Mathematics, and introduced an innovative Learning Assistants program. She also directs the Math Lab.

2021 Eichholz Award Faculty Teaching Award

Dan Margalit, School of Mathematics 

The Eichholz Award, which includes a $3,000 prize, was established in 2005 through a gift from School of Mechanical Engineering's Regents’ Professor Emeritus Geoffrey Eichholz. It was created to reward senior faculty members who made a long-term contribution to introductory undergraduate education and were outstanding teachers for students taking freshman and sophomore core courses. It was recently broadened to recognize faculty at any point in their careers who excel in teaching core and general education courses, and who help students establish a solid foundation for their education at Georgia Tech.

Margalit’s math research lies at the intersection of low-dimensional topology and geometric group theory. He focuses on mapping class groups of surfaces, also called the the symmetries of surfaces. The author/editor of three books, Margalit hosts several workshops and discussion groups centering not just on topology and the advanced geometry he teaches, but mentorship and support for undergraduate and graduate students.

CTL/BP Junior Faculty Teaching Excellence Award ($3,000 each award)

Young Jang – School of Biological Sciences

This award, offered through the joint support of the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) and BP America, provides Georgia Tech with the opportunity to highlight the excellent teaching and educational innovation that junior faculty bring to campus. 

Jang, an assistant professor, researches stem cell biology and its impact on the aging process. Jang’s lab uses multi-disciplinary approaches to study muscle stem cell biology and develops bioactive stem cell delivery vehicles for use in regenerative medicine.

Faculty Award for Academic Outreach ($3,000)

Chandra Raman – School of Physics

This award rewards faculty members for productive academic outreach in which they go beyond their normal duties to enrich the larger educational community with their subject matter knowledge. Initiatives may involve furthering the learning of K-12 students, teachers, or other educational stakeholders in Georgia.

Raman, a professor, lists Bose-Einstein condensation and quantum atomic sensors as his research interests. His lab is an experimental atomic physics group that prepares atomic vapors from room temperature down to the microKelvin temperature regime, and seeks to exploit their unique capabilities for applications in quantum photonics, sensing, and many-body physics.

Innovation in Co-Curricular Education ($3,000 shared--$1,000 each)

Paul Verhaeghen—School of Psychology

This award is open to full-time faculty of any rank who increase student learning outside the traditional curriculum and help Georgia Tech achieve its strategic goal of graduating global citizens who can contribute to all sectors of society. Initiatives may involve formal or informal out-of-class learning experiences that engage undergraduate and/or graduate students in opportunities to develop respect for other cultures, explore the leadership qualities and ethical behaviors necessary to contribute to society, and/or build on their innovative and entrepreneurial talents in order to have a positive impact on local, state, national and/or international arenas. 

Verhaeghen, a professor, researches cognitive aging and working memory in the School of Psychology. He has also conducted scientific research into mindfulness meditation, and has published a book on his findings, “Presence: How Mindfulness Shapes Your Brain, Mind, and Life.” In late 2020 he was awarded a two-year, $200,000 grant from the Mind and Life Institute.

Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Award ($3,000 shared--$1,500 each)

Michael Evans, Carrie Shepler, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry  

This award, offered in 2018-2019 for the first time, provides Georgia Tech with the opportunity to acknowledge the value of scholarship of teaching and learning articulated by Boyer’s Scholarship Reconsidered (1990), and exemplified by the Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. This award is intended to encourage and support the work of faculty whose scholarship focuses on the instructional mission of the institution.

Evans is a senior academic professional who serves as the Freshmen Chemistry Laboratory Coordinator. As he writes in the Chemical Education section of his biographical profile, “Our advanced labs have focused on how to keep students engaged and allow them to see the relevance of lab work to their career paths.”

As Director of Instructional Activities and Student Experience in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Shepler’s responsibilities include co-chairing the Freshman Chemistry Committee, providing administrative supervision and support, planning of assessment and feedback, pedagogical development, and coordination and training of teaching assistants in the freshman program in addition to teaching freshman program courses. Shepler also serves as an academic advisor. 

At the end of every semester at Georgia Tech — after weeks of faculty grading the work of students — the tables are flipped, and students get to evaluate their teachers and their class experiences using the Course Instructor Opinion Survey (CIOS). 

Faculty members with exceptional scores and response rates are presented with the Center for Teaching and Learning’s (CTL) Student Recognition of Excellence in Teaching: Class of 1934 CIOS Award. This year, 40 College of Sciences faculty and instructors are receiving awards and honors for their work from spring through fall 2020 semesters.

The challenges of teaching classes during Covid-19 necessitated a new recognition from the CTL: The Honor Roll, which includes 32 College of Sciences faculty on its inaugural list.

“Teaching during the pandemic has required everyone to pivot to new ways of teaching, and faculty appreciate hearing that students value their efforts,” says Joyce Weinsheimer, CTL director. The criteria for Honor Roll selection are the same as for the Class of 1934 Award.

The following are the College of Sciences faculty named to both the Class of 1934 and Honor Roll Awards (groups broken up into small and large classes): 

Class of 1934 Award

Small Classes

Mirjana Milosevec Brockett, senior academic professional, School of Biological Sciences

Lutz Warnke, assistant professor, School of Mathematics

Large Classes

Hector Daniel Cervantes Banos, postdoctoral researcher, School of Mathematics

Dan Margalit, professor, School of Mathematics

Dobromir Rahnev, assistant professor, School of Psychology

Amit Reddi, associate professor, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry

Carrie Shepler, professor, Director of Instructional Activities and Student Experience, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry

Alonzo Whyte, academic professional, School of Biological Sciences (Neuroscience)

Honor Roll

Small Classes 

School of Biological Sciences — Mirjana Brockett, senior academic professional; Colin Harrison, academic professional

School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences — Heather Chilton, lecturer;  Zachary Handlos, academic professional

School of Mathematics — Lutz Warnke, assistant professor

School of Psychology — Richard Catrambone, professor; Michael Hunter, assistant professor; James Roberts, associate professor

Large Classes 

School of Biological Sciences:

Annalise Paaby, assistant professor; William Ratcliff, associate professor; Raphael Rosenzweig, professor; Emily Weigel, academic professional

School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences:

Samantha Wilson, academic professional

School of Chemistry and Biochemistry:

Meghan Benda, graduate student; Amit Reddi, associate professor; Carrie Shepler, professor, Director of Instructional Activities and Student Experience

School of Mathematics:

Alex Blumenthal, assistant professor; Hector Daniel Cervantes Banos, postdoctoral researcher; Klara Grodzinsky, Director of Teaching Assistants; Miriam Kuzbary, assistant professor; Gary Lavigne, professor; Wenjing Liao, assistant professor; Marissa Loving, postdoctoral researcher; Dan Margalit, professor; Gregory Mayer, Director of Online Learning; Stephanie Reikes, lecturer, Tutoring and Academic Support; Victor Vilaca Da Rocha, assistant professor; Zhiyu Wang, postdoctoral researcher

Neuroscience:

Mary Holder, academic professional; Alonzo Whyte, academic professional

School of Psychology:

Dobromir Rahnev, assistant professor

Congratulations go to Professor Dan Margalit, who has been awarded the Geoffrey G. Eichholz Faculty Teaching Award.

This award was established in 2005 through a gift from School of Mechanical Engineering's Regents’ Professor Emeritus Geoffrey Eichholz. It was created to reward senior faculty members who made a long-term contribution to introductory undergraduate education and were outstanding teachers for students taking freshman and sophomore core courses. Recently, the award has broadened to recognize faculty at any point in their careers who excel in teaching core and general education courses, and who help students establish a solid foundation for their education at Georgia Tech.

In addition to his success as an effective and engaging instructor, Prof. Margalit is recognized for his leadership on MATH 1553 Intro. Linear Algebra over the years, including coauthoring the online interactive textbook Interactive Linear Algebra which is the course textbook for MATH 1553. Every semester, this course is taken by many GT students from several key majors, and thus plays an important role in their educational foundation.

School of Mathematics Lecturer Stephanie Reikes has been recognized for her acheivements in undergraduate education with the bestowment of the Georgia Tech’s 2021 Undergraduate Educator Award.

This award, which was offered for the first time in 2009, recognizes the outstanding contributions that non-tenure track faculty make to the education of students on campus.

Lecturer Reikes has a unique role at Georgia Tech, with responsibilities in the School of Mathematics and the Tutoring & Academic Support unit at Georgia Tech, being responsible for teaching all of Tech’s pre-calculus mathematics courses, including Math 0999 Support for College Algebra, Math 1111 College Algebra and Math 1113 Pre-calculus. In addition to leading improvements in this challenging area, she has strengthened the cooperation and collaboration between Tutoring & Academic Support and SoM, and introduced an innovative Learning Assistants program. 

Along with the students who receive her constant efforts, we are very grateful for Lecturer Reikes' continued work in undergraduate education and specifically her work in the School of Mathematics, and congratulate her on this distinguished honor. 

This story first appeared in the Georgia Tech College of Engineering newsroom.

Contact tracing apps have become a crucial way for people to keep themselves and others safe during the Covid-19 pandemic. However, contact tracing is often a reactive rather than proactive way of monitoring the spread of disease. An alternative digital tool is an early warning system that anonymously alerts users as a Covid-infected individual approaches their social interaction circles – simply put, a Covid radar system. 

In an event co-hosted by the College of Engineering and the College of Sciences, Georgia Tech faculty members Matt Baker and Shannon Yee invited Po-Shen Loh, a professor of mathematics at Carnegie Mellon University, to speak about the innovative radar approach, as well as NOVID, an app pioneered by Loh and his team

In March 2020, Loh began the theoretical plans for the NOVID app. He wanted to find a way to apply his scholarly work in times of national emergency, which led him to examine mainstream contact tracing apps that emerged at the beginning of the pandemic. Using his expertise in network theory – the study of the way elements in a network interact – Loh and his team wanted to create an app that would empower people with information, including when to take extra precautions to mitigate exposure, such as wearing a more protective mask or avoiding optional social gatherings. To do so, they created what he describes as a Covid radar app that provides users with a self-defense mechanism to avoid infection, showing multiple degrees of separation from infected individuals.

Combining Game and Network Theory

Here is where Loh’s application of game theory comes into play – the team had to find a way to align the user’s natural incentives with downloading the NOVID app and did so by offering opportunities for the user to be proactive and protect themselves. Loh started with a question – how a new methodology focused on game theory and networks could affect contact tracing apps – and ended up with an app that has seen more than 100,000 users.

Some contact tracing apps use smartphones’ ability to connect to inform users if they have been physically near an infected individual, measuring distance in terms of feet or miles, but Loh felt their approach needed a methodological shift. They went one level of abstraction up, measuring distance in terms of sustained physical relationships – mapping those smartphone interactions onto a network and measuring degrees of separation from infected individuals by network distance. His idea is extrapolated from network theory, where each node in the system is a person, and when two people spend a significant amount of time physically near each other, it forms a connection between those two nodes. The app can then measure the distance between a user and infection by measuring how many steps away on the network the user is from an infected individual.

A Shift in Approach

While most contact tracing apps notify a user to quarantine after physical exposures, Loh’s app gives users visual representation of how far away in terms of degrees of separation they are from an infected individual, and allows the user to become aware of their interactions and environment to make more proactive decisions.

During the event, Loh outlined three main problems he found in mainstream contact tracing apps that create a significant barrier to their success. One such problem is the threshold that most contact tracing apps are calibrated to: a six-foot distance from an infected person for a period of 15 minutes, measured via Bluetooth connections with other smartphones. The likelihood that the user has actually contracted the disease in the above situation is about 6%, according to findings in a UK study about contact tracing, and many users will not voluntarily self-quarantine for such a low chance of infection, or even decide to participate in contact tracing at all. To solve the problem of mistrust in these apps’ recommendation to quarantine, NOVID does not tell users to do so, but instead educates the user on how far away they are in the network from infection and recommends simple, temporary lifestyle changes, such as spending time with friends outside, not going out to eat, and other safety methods.

“Traditional contact tracing relies to a large extent on altruism, but the NOVID app flips the incentives around and relies on users’ desire to protect themselves,” said Baker. “It’s a marvelous idea and the potential applications are not limited to Covid-19, or even to epidemiology.”

The NOVID team continues to work with researchers and epidemiologists to analyze and improve the app, and they plan to release a new update that allows users to input vaccination status in a few weeks.

“I’m really intrigued by the whole project and interested to see where this app will go,” said Yee. “I chose to teach in-person this semester, and NOVID provides me peace of mind when I go home at night regarding the prolonged interactions I may have on campus. It’s great to have this app in the Georgia Tech toolkit to help stop the spread of Covid-19 in our community.”

Photo: (Left to right) Shannon Yee, professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech; Matt Baker, professor in the School of Mathematics and Associate Dean for Faculty Development in the College of Sciences at Georgia Tech; Po-Shen Loh, professor of mathematics at Carnegie Mellon University and NOVID app founder.

Congratulations go to Professor Dan Margalit, who has been awarded the Geoffrey G. Eichholz Faculty Teaching Award.

This award was established in 2005 through a gift from School of Mechanical Engineering's Regents’ Professor Emeritus Geoffrey Eichholz. It was created to reward senior faculty members who made a long-term contribution to introductory undergraduate education and were outstanding teachers for students taking freshman and sophomore core courses. Recently, the award has broadened to recognize faculty at any point in their careers who excel in teaching core and general education courses, and who help students establish a solid foundation for their education at Georgia Tech.

In addition to his success as an effective and engaging instructor, Prof. Margalit is recognized for his leadership on MATH 1553 Intro. Linear Algebra over the years, including coauthoring the online interactive textbook Interactive Linear Algebra which is the course textbook for MATH 1553. Every semester, this course is taken by many GT students from several key majors, and thus plays an important role in their educational foundation.

An assistant professor in the School of Mathematics is receiving a 2021 National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development Program (NSF CAREER) Award for research into promising aspects of statistical analysis, and for her outreach and mentorship plans for students and high schoolers from underrepresented communities.

Mayya Zhilova’s NSF project, “New Challenges in High-Dimensional and Nonparametric Statistics,” will “address challenging open questions in high-dimensional and nonparametric statistics motivated by practical applications in finance, engineering, and life sciences,” as Zhilova writes in her abstract.

Contemporary problems concerned with analysis of complex and high-dimensional data sets require to address numerous questions about fundamental concepts in statistics, data science, and related fields. This is particularly relevant for high-dimensional and nonparametric statistics. In high-dimensional statistics, one studies problems involving data sets with a large complexity or dimensionality that can be much larger than an amount of available information. Methods that are used in nonparametric statistics typically impose much weaker assumptions on a statistical model than the parametric statistics does. In general, this leads to a smaller modeling error and to a broader range of applications, or real-life problems, where these methods can be used. 

Zhilova adds in her abstract: “The project is focused on development of new methods of statistical inference for complex data sets providing high accuracy and explicit theoretical guarantees. This includes (i) development of a novel framework for statistical inference that will considerably extend the range of applicability of some of the major statistical methods; (ii) studies of performance of resampling methods in a high-dimensional framework; and (iii) studies of intrinsic properties of high-dimensional models that ensure good performance of the statistical methods.”

The educational aspect of Zhilova’s NSF CAREER project includes mentorship of graduate and undergraduate students, summer camps in statistics and data science for STEM-oriented high school students, and a workshop/graduate school offering on high-dimensional statistics and learning theory for junior researchers. Zhilova notes that special attention will be given to supporting students and researchers from underrepresented minorities.

The NSF CAREER Program is one of the Foundation’s most prestigious awards in support of early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education, and to lead advances in the mission of their department or organization. The NSF notes that activities pursued by early-career faculty recipients should build a firm foundation for a lifetime of leadership in integrating education and research.

Zhilova began work at the School of Mathematics at Georgia Tech in 2016, and is an affiliate faculty member of the Center for Machine Learning at Georgia Tech and the Transdisciplinary Research Institute for Advancing Data Science (TRIAD). Before coming to Atlanta, Zhilova was a researcher at the Weierstrass Institute for Applied Analysis and Stochastics, and at the School of Business and Economics at the Humboldt University of Berlin. She received her M.S. from the Lomonosov Moscow State University, and her Ph.D. from the Humboldt University of Berlin.

An assistant professor in the School of Mathematics is receiving a 2021 National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development Program (NSF CAREER) Award for research into promising aspects of statistical analysis, and for her outreach and mentorship plans for students and high schoolers from underrepresented communities.

Mayya Zhilova’s NSF project, “New Challenges in High-Dimensional and Nonparametric Statistics,” will “address challenging open questions in high-dimensional and nonparametric statistics motivated by practical applications in finance, engineering, and life sciences,” as Zhilova writes in her abstract.

Contemporary problems concerned with analysis of complex and high-dimensional data sets require to address numerous questions about fundamental concepts in statistics, data science, and related fields. This is particularly relevant for high-dimensional and nonparametric statistics. In high-dimensional statistics, one studies problems involving data sets with a large complexity or dimensionality that can be much larger than an amount of available information. Methods that are used in nonparametric statistics typically impose much weaker assumptions on a statistical model than the parametric statistics does. In general, this leads to a smaller modeling error and to a broader range of applications, or real-life problems, where these methods can be used. 

Zhilova adds in her abstract: “The project is focused on development of new methods of statistical inference for complex data sets providing high accuracy and explicit theoretical guarantees. This includes (i) development of a novel framework for statistical inference that will considerably extend the range of applicability of some of the major statistical methods; (ii) studies of performance of resampling methods in a high-dimensional framework; and (iii) studies of intrinsic properties of high-dimensional models that ensure good performance of the statistical methods.”

The educational aspect of Zhilova’s NSF CAREER project includes mentorship of graduate and undergraduate students, summer camps in statistics and data science for STEM-oriented high school students, and a workshop/graduate school offering on high-dimensional statistics and learning theory for junior researchers. Zhilova notes that special attention will be given to supporting students and researchers from underrepresented minorities.

The NSF CAREER Program is one of the Foundation’s most prestigious awards in support of early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education, and to lead advances in the mission of their department or organization. The NSF notes that activities pursued by early-career faculty recipients should build a firm foundation for a lifetime of leadership in integrating education and research.

Zhilova began work at the School of Mathematics at Georgia Tech in 2016, and is an affiliate faculty member of the Center for Machine Learning at Georgia Tech and the Transdisciplinary Research Institute for Advancing Data Science (TRIAD). Before coming to Atlanta, Zhilova was a researcher at the Weierstrass Institute for Applied Analysis and Stochastics, and at the School of Business and Economics at the Humboldt University of Berlin. She received her M.S. from the Lomonosov Moscow State University, and her Ph.D. from the Humboldt University of Berlin.

On and off Georgia Tech’s campus, there are countless opportunities for undergraduate students to gain practical skills, connections with industry leaders, and hands-on experience through research and internship opportunities.  

Below is a non-comprehensive list of available opportunities, along with advice for how to find out about other opportunities. 

 

Serve-Learn-Sustain Internships 

SLS seeks to provide its partners with support and resources, while providing its students with practical experience in supporting solutions for sustainable communities. The SLS internship program is offered every summer and is an opportunity for students looking to gain real-world experience related to sustainability and community engagement. Summer interns will earn internship course audit credit, and can choose between a part-time (15-20 hours per week) or full-time (30-40 hours per week) internship.  The SLS Summer Internship Program is a 12-week program (mid-May to mid-August). Students interested in a part-time internship for the fall or spring semesters can contact SLS and SLS will work with them to identify partners who may be interested in hosting an intern during the school year. 

This semester, internships include partnerships with the City of Savannah working on the Sea Level Sensor Project, Make Homeless Meals More Nutritious with Food4Lives, and Tracking and Reporting Georgia Tech's Scope 3 Emissions with the Georgia Tech Office of Campus Sustainability. Read about all the internship opportunities here, and apply for an internship here.  

 

Global Change Program 

The Global Change Program provides an avenue for Georgia Tech faculty, staff, and students to design and implement solutions to climate and global change challenges. Georgia Tech has extensive research expertise in climate science, energy policy, energy technology, and sustainable business, which support a host of activities in the classroom, across the state, and beyond. We aim to build new partnerships across Georgia Tech and with outside partners, both private and public, through innovation and the translation of research into practice. 

Research partnerships include Smart Sea Level Sensors, Drawdown Georgia and GT Air Travel Emissions. Learn more about research opportunities here. 

To stay connected with the Global Change Program and learn about upcoming opportunities, join their mailing list. 

 

Vertically Integrated Projects 

In VIP, teams of undergraduate students – from various years, disciplines and backgrounds – work with faculty and graduate students in their areas of scholarship and exploration. Undergraduate students earn academic credit for their work and have direct experience with the innovation process, while faculty and graduate students benefit from the extended efforts of their teams. 

Teams are open to students of all undergraduate majors, with the opportunity to work on projects related to the mechanical and physical properties of soils, rocks and ceramics; studying and developing solutions for care regimens for diabetics; and addressing health outcomes, nutrition, and general living conditions in developing nations.  

View a list of all teams here. 

To learn more, contact vip@gatech.edu or visit vip.gatech.edu. 

 

Undergraduate Research Ambassadors

Last month, the Undergraduate Research Ambassadors hosted an open house to answer any research-related questions. URA can help with anything from finding a position in a lab to printing a poster to communicating with your research mentor. 

To get connected with the Undergraduate Research Ambassadors and learn more about 2021 opportunities, visit their website here. 

 

Georgia Tech Research Institute Research Internships 

Through the 10-week Summer GTRI Research Internship Program (GRIP), students put effective, practical solutions into action. You'll have the opportunity to work with mentors and other students on tough problems facing government and industry across our nation and around the globe. Projects for College of Sciences students include “Secure key distribution in free space optics,” “Celestial PNT from Wide Field Imaging,” and “Fabrication and test of graphene batteries." 

The deadline to apply for summer 2021 GRIP internships was February 1, but you can learn more about the projects and the application process for future rounds here. 

 

International Research Experience for Students (IRES) in Lyon, France

Chemistry and biochemistry majors are invited to apply for an 8.5-week summer research experience hosted by Georgia Tech and Ecole Superieure de Chimie Physique Electronique (CPE) in Lyon, France. Tentative dates for the program are Monday, May 17-Thursday, July 15, 2021.

Project areas include design and synthesis of functional molecular architectures for optimized molecular regulation, metal free selective oxidation of sulfides, and preparation of double emulsions.

Read about the project areas and apply here.

 

Women, Science, and Technology 

The Center for the Study of Women, Science and Technology (WST) continues its program to support and to fund partnerships of undergraduates with faculty in research on women, science, and technology. 

Contact Dr. Mary Frank Fox for more information or visit the Women, Science, and Technology website. 

 

CSURP – Chemistry Summer Undergraduate Research Program

CSURP is a program for undergraduate students who are majoring in chemistry or chemical engineering and are interested in conducting supervised summer research. The program is supported by the NSF Center for Selective C-H Functionalization (CCHF). 

 

Undergraduate Student Opportunities at ORNL | Science Education Programs at ORNL 

Are you ready for a science, technology, engineering or math (STEM) research experience with Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s prestigious scientists and engineers? Are you looking for an internship opportunity with a research or technical focus? If you are an undergraduate student at a college or university, with an interest in STEM, ORNL may be the place for you! 

 

Summer Undergraduate Research in Engineering/Sciences

Founded in 1992 by Gary May, a former Dean of the Georgia Tech College of Engineering, the Summer Undergraduate Research in Engineering/Sciences (S.U.R.E.) program is committed to increasing the number of qualified students who are traditionally under-represented in STEM fields. These include but are not limited to students from racial/ethnic minority groups, women, or first generation college students. 

 

SURE Program in Robotics

SURE Robotics is a ten-week summer research program designed to attract qualified, underrepresented, and minority students into graduate school in the fields of engineering, computer science, or physics. 

 

NNCI Research Experience for Undergraduates

Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) programs are an excellent way for undergraduates to become acquainted with scientific research and graduate student life. REU programs typically consist of an intensive 10-week summer research experience at a university different than your own. Most research centers sponsor REU-like programs as part of their education and outreach efforts. 

 

Clean Energy Bridge to Research Experience for Undergraduates

Clean Energy Bridge to Research (CEBR) is a summer program run by the University of Washington (UW) Clean Energy Institute (CEI) and Undergraduate Research Program, and funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF 1559787). The CEBR Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program supports a select group of undergraduates, community college students, and tribal college students to participate in authentic research in solar, energy storage, and grid technologies under the mentorship of UW’s world-class faculty and grad students. Participants embark on a nine-week immersive research project in a single UW clean energy research lab, and produce an abstract and poster summarizing their work. All students that are accepted into the program are supported financially with competitive stipends. Housing, food allowance, and up to $500 in travel allowances are provided.

 

NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REUs) 

The NSF REU (Research Experience for Undergraduates) program is designed to provide meaningful research experiences to undergraduates who may not otherwise have the opportunity, with an ultimate goal of increasing matriculation in STEM careers and graduate school.  

Most NSF REU programs are designed to pair students attending smaller and undergraduate-only schools with faculty and lab groups at larger host institutions for mentorship and a meaningful research experience. 

Importantly, as NSF notes, the inclusion of historically under-represented groups in STEM (minorities, low socio-economic status, first generation students, veterans and women) will serve to broaden the STEM talent pool.  

As such, most REU programs in the College of Sciences at Georgia Tech host a diverse cohort of approximately ten non-Georgia Tech undergraduates, who have limited research opportunities at their current institution. Each unique program's focus and requirements vary, so check individual program links for application guidelines and deadlines. 

REU: Aquatic Chemical Ecology at Georgia Tech

Open to non-Georgia Tech undergraduate students only.

Aquatic Chemical Ecology (ACE) at Georgia Tech is a summer research program supported by the National Science Foundation REU (Research Experience for Undergraduates) program. ACE at Georgia Tech gives you the opportunity to perform exciting research with our faculty in the schools of Biological Sciences, Earth & Atmospheric Sciences, Chemistry & Biochemistry, Civil & Environmental Engineering, and Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering. You'll participate in research with one or more of our faculty, learn about careers in science and engineering, and see how scientists blend knowledge and skills from physics, chemistry and biology to investigate some of the most challenging problems in environmental sciences. 

Research Experiences for Undergraduates at Georgia Tech: Chemistry

Open to non-Georgia Tech undergraduate students only.

Chemistry and Biochemistry undergraduate majors who are US citizens or Permanent Residents (from Colleges and Universities outside of Georgia Tech) are invited to apply for a ten-week (Sunday, May 17- Friday, July 24, 2020) research program. Program participants will receive a stipend of $5,000, a travel allowance, and housing. Participants supported must be US citizens or permanent residents of the US. Funding is pending support provided by the National Science Found and 3M Corporation.

REU students carry out a research project under the direction of a faculty member in School of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Georgia Tech. Projects are available in analytical, biological, inorganic, organic, physical, and polymer chemistry with a number of projects involving interdisciplinary research perspectives. Contributions by undergraduate participants often result in publication of papers in the peer-reviewed literature with the student listed as an author.  In addition to full time research, students participate in a number of professional development seminars, site visits to scientific companies/government labs, and social activities with fellow students and other REU groups on the Georgia Tech campus.  

Interested in Summer Undergraduate Research in EAS? | EAS Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU)

Strong priority for non-Georgia Tech undergraduate students.

Undergraduates are invited to apply for a ten-week research program hosted by Georgia Tech School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences (EAS) during Summer 2021. 

Working under the supervision of an EAS faculty member, participants will focus on a single research project but also gain a broad perspective on research in earth and atmospheric sciences by participating in the dynamic research environment. This interdisciplinary REU program has projects ranging from planetary science to meteorology to oceanography. In addition to full time research, undergraduate researchers will participate in a number of professional development seminars, research horizon lunches, and social activities with other summer REU students.

Research Experiences for Undergraduates at Georgia Tech: Mathematics 

Open to all undergraduate students. 

The School of Mathematics at Georgia Tech has a rich tradition for undergraduate research. The projects have been mentored by many different faculty, on topics ranging from fad formation, to random walks, tropical geometry, one bit sensing, extremal graph theory, and convex polyhedra. Our students have published many papers, have won a number of awards, and have been very successful in their graduate school applications. 

Find more details on the FAQ page, and apply here.

The Atlanta University Center/Georgia Tech Broadening Participation REU Program in Physics

See program webpage for eligibility requirements.

Physics majors are invited to apply for a ten-week (Sunday, May 16 - Friday, July 23, 2021) research program hosted by Georgia Tech School of Physics. 

Working under the supervision of a physics faculty member, participants will focus on a single research project but also gain a broad perspective on research in physics by participating in the dynamic research environment. Available projects span the field of physics ranging from condensed matter and atomic physics to astrophysics and biophysics.  In addition to full time research, undergraduate researchers will participate in a number of professional development seminars, research horizon lunches, and social activities with other summer REU students. 

(Non-GT CoS REU) Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) | Center for Bio-mediated and Bio-inspired Geotechnics

The REU program at CBBG allows students from across the nation to visit, learn, and experience world-class bio-geotechnical engineering. Each student is given the opportunity to work closely with the Center faculty and other Center researchers. Students are granted stipends and assistance with housing and travel. 

 

Interested in finding other research opportunities? 

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