AT HOME IN ATHENS After 25 years at Georgia Tech, Alex Orso takes over UGA College of Engineering DAVID CARAVIELLO
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The Gothic churches of northern Italy and the antebellum homes of northeast Georgia are separated by nearly 5,000 miles, but Alessandro Orso was well-positioned to bridge the gap. A childhood building with Lego bricks turned into repairing appliances like irons and clothes dryers. His father, a chemical engineer, always took pleasure in explaining how things worked. Degrees in electrical engineering and computer science followed from the oldest technical university in Milan. And, inscrutably, it all somehow led to the Peach State. After college, Orso traveled to Georgia Tech for a post-doctorate program that was supposed to last nine months—and he stayed for 25 years. And then on July 1, the computer science expert moved to the other side of that invisible line separating Yellow Jackets from Bulldogs when he officially started in his new position as dean of the College of Engineering at the University of Georgia. N
20 Engineering Georgia