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Carolyn Dusenbury Wylder, CE 1975, MS CE 1978 and John O. Wylder, ECON 1973 Lake O s w e g o , Oregon • Ms. Wylder grew up on Jekyll Island, Georgia; daughter of Millard R. Dusenbury, ChE 1940; sister of Joseph P. "Jay" Dusenbury, EE 1965, MSICS 1974.

• Following graduation, Ms. Wylder worked with private consulting engineering firms and then for MARTA (Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority), where she held leadership positions in transit system development, operations and development, and business management.

• Ms. Wylder is currently vice president and office manager at David Evans & Associates in Portland, Oregon.

• A second-generation American whose grandparents immigrated to America, Mr. Wylder was born in Brooklyn, New York, and grew up in Lexington, Massachusetts.

• A week before completing his Tech degree, Mr. Wylder began working for Trust Company of Georgia, now SunTrust, where he stayed for 27 years before joining Hewlett-Packard, and then PricewaterhouseCoopers.

• Mr. Wylder is now a strategic security advisor on information security with Microsoft. He holds an MBA from Mercer University.

• The Wylders are certified crew officials and served as judging support for the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta.

• They serve respectively on the School of Economics and School of Civil and Environmental Engineering Advisory Boards at Georgia Tech.

They also served on each of their 25th Reunion Fund Committees.

Gifts to Georgia Tech • Through outright gifts, have established the Carolyn and John Wylder Endowment Fund for scholarships for students in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering or the School of Economics.

• Provisions in their wills to add to the Wylder Scholarships.

Thoughts on Giving to Tech

Georgia Tech For more information on supporting Georgia Tech through a bequest or life-income gift, please contact: Office of Development • Gift Planning • Atlanta GA 30332-0220 • 404.894.4678 • founderscouncil@dev.gatech.edu www.development.gatech.edu

"We've been successful and had good careers, and we owe a lot of that to Georgia Tech. W e met at Tech and have been married 35 years. Giving back to Tech is very appropriate because Tech has meant so much to us. We have the opportunity to make a difference and we wanted to leave something that will have a lasting impact."

Lyn and John Wylder are among Founders' Council's 987 members w h o have made bequests or lifeincome gifts in support of Georgia Tech's future.

earn rting the hoi is just part of our promise.

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PREVIEW 36 Paradise Lost

Seeing Red

John and Elizabeth Calvert had settled in a peaceful Hilton Head Island resort.

Then, in March, they suddenly vanished. Now, the resort is clouded by the investigation into their disappearance.

In his first game as Tech's head football coach, the fiery Paul Johnson hammered away at the uncertainties surrounding his team.

Five Flavors

Georgia Tech Goes Coastal

From Spanish paella to Southern barbecue, Cajun to Mexican, savory to sweet, Tech alumni are influencing what Americans are eating.

Meet five Tech graduates who have engineered careers as restaurateurs, gourmets and industry leaders.

The Institute's Savannah campus offers students the same exceptional engineering education without the hustle and bustle of the big city.

Cover Photo: Caroline Joe

Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine Volume 85, Number 2

DEPARTMENTS Viewpoint Actively involved

From the Alumni Chair Bill Todd Reflects on Roll Call

8 Homecoming 3>(D) Interview Marking a Century of Alumni Impact

1 4 lech Notes Basil Garden Bowl; Artificial Bone; Sunrise in Antarctica; Tech Among Top; Enrollment Record; ACC Honors; Get on the Bus; Science Medal

A Conversation With Interim President Gary Schuster

(64 Yellow Jackets Gridiron Gear; Volleyball Star

Almanac Highlights of the Institute's first century, including Tech's first Mrs. Homecoming, the arrival of computers and Tom Mix

Faculty Profile Craig Forest: Reaching for Answers to Genetic Questions

W Photo Finish Olympic Redemption

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VIEWPOINT Georgia Tech Alumni Association Joseph P. Irwin, IM 80, Publisher Kimberly Link-Wills, Managing Editor Van Jensen, Assistant Editor Leslie Overman, Assistant Editor Paul Wong, Student Editorial Assistant Eric Turner, Student Photographer

Alumni Association Executive Committee William J. Todd, IM 71 Chair C. Meade Sutterfield, EE 72 Past Chair Joseph W. Evans, IM 71 Chair-elect/Finance Al Trujillo, AE 81 Vice Chair for Roll Call Scott Jennings, ME 89 LeShelle May, MS OR 89 Edward L. Underwood, IE 71 Members At Large Joseph P. Irwin, IM 80 President

Advertising Holly Green (404) 894-0765 • E-mail: holly.green@alumni.gatech.edu Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine (ISSN: 1061-9747) is published quarterly (Summer, Fall, Winter and Spring) for contributors to the annual Roll Call of the Georgia Tech Alumni Association, 190 North Ave. NW, Atlanta, GA 30313.

Georgia Tech Alumni Association allocates $10 from a contribution toward a year's subscription to its magazine.

Periodical postage paid at Atlanta, GA and additional mailing offices. © 2008 Georgia Tech Alumni Association Main Number (404) 894-2391.

Postmaster: Send address changes to Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine, 190 North Ave. NW, Atlanta, GA 30313.

Editorial phone (404) 894-0750/0761.

Fax (404) 385-4637. E-mail: editor@alumni.gatech.edu; gtalumni.org.

Actively Involved Athletics are great components of university life. At Tech, we have a bevy of terrific varsity sports stocked with great student athletes. And there are intramural and club sports as well. In each case, being a fan and a participant is an easy thing for a student at Tech. The benefits are clear, and the memories last a lifetime.

For thousands of alumni and students, college football holds a special place in their hearts. And why not? This quintessentially American game continues to flavor fall in the United States with its competition and its pageantry. Here on The Flats, coach Paul Johnson has the faithful Yellow Jackets swarm excited about the future.

Let me share a little more about the "physical fitness" of Tech today.

The Georgia Tech Athletic Association has 17 sports — nine male, eight female. They are football, men's and women's basketball, men's baseball, women's softball, women's volleyball, men's and women's track and field, men's and women's cross country, men's and women's tennis, men's golf, and men's and women's swimming and diving. There are 384 varsity athletes supported by the Association.

For intramurals, we have 35 teams with hundreds of participants playing everything from ice hockey to rugby to stroking the oars for the crew squad. The Campus Recreation Center sees visits from about 3,200 students, faculty and staff on a daily basis. In other words, there are a lot of active people on campus today. With more than 9,000 of our students living here full time, the breadth of interests and talent is extraordinary.

Homecoming is around the corner. Come on back and see the alma mater. And while you're here, check out the CRC, one of the finest facilities of its kind in the country.

Joseph P. Irwin, President

FROM THE A L U M N I CHAIR

Reflections on Roll Call

By Bill Todd, IM 71 "It was important to me then, and it is now, that I was in the game, no matter how modest. I liked to get the little card acknowledging the gift, with the notice in the corner indicating the number of consecutive years. I appreciated the sense of belonging, even with scant knowledge and awareness of how the funds were used or what the true impact of the aggregated small gifts could be."

Like many new Tech graduates, I had pretty ambivalent feelings about my first solicitation from Roll Call within weeks of my graduation (finally) in the spring of 1971, I felt like I had been getting "the shaft" for five years with a litany of personal abuses ranging from closed-out registration in the Old Gym to drownproofing, from surly clerks in the Bursar's Office to the cold rain and perpetual west wind while walking up "the Hill," from sitting behind a post in the RAT section at

Grant Field to a professor who erased his calculus equations on the board with one hand as he wrote with the other.

I was not sure at all that I was interested in voluntarily turning over another red cent to Georgia Tech. Even though tuition was only $125 per quarter in the late '60s and gasoline was only 31 cents per gallon, my several part-time jobs only paid $2 per hour. I was finished with college and not inclined to give Tech any more of my money.

I actually had to drop out one quarter because I ran out of money to pay even that very low tuition. As the first person in my extended family to have the benefit of higher education and the oldest of nine children, I was responsible for my own expenses. My hardworking father was just too proud to sign the application for student financial aid.

Working as a line boy fueling airplanes at Fulton County Airport during that quarter out of school was a huge motivator to do whatever it took to achieve an education.

And the shift for that quarter, noon to 10 p.m., was surely a killer for my social life.

6

Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine • Fall 2008

So I appreciated the chance to get back to school and ultimately to graduate.

As I look back over the years, I realize that my earnings have increased 36-fold since I began my first job at Grady Memorial Hospital in 1971. My contributions to Roll Call at Georgia Tech have also increased during those ensuing 37 years — by an astounding 400-fold.

What happened? How did that change of heart occur?

And when did it change?

Certainly I did not know of the complexities of financing public higher education at that tender age. I could not have known the minority role that tuition plays in financing undergraduate education. I did not have an appreciation for the presence of the philanthropic community and the critical role it plays in creating and sustaining community at all levels, especially higher education.

It must have been my own deep sense of personal responsibility and a love for history that combined to create in me some awareness of obligation and duty to honor the past by investing in the future. I was aware that Georgians had created Georgia Tech in the late 19th century in order to improve the economy of the state. I knew that my father had wanted to attend Tech, but World War II and B-17s in the China-Burma-India theater had interfered with his plans. I knew that students would follow me and that many would need help from need-based scholarships in order to make it.

Contributing to Roll Call became a habit for me, even with several years of very mod-

FEEDBACK est gifts of $25, followed by bumps to $50, then $100 and so on. It was important to me then, and it is now, that I was in the game, no matter how modest. I liked to get the little card acknowledging the gift, with the notice in the corner indicating the number of consecutive years. I appreciated the sense of belonging, even with scant knowledge and awareness of how the funds were used or what the true impact of the aggregated small gifts could be.

Over the years, I found that the annual gift to Roll Call had become a habit. It was similar to the reaction of seeing the little box of weekly envelopes from the church sitting on my desk with my financial papers. The annual habit and the weekly habit.

If I plot the curve of my 38 years of support to Roll Call, there are some interesting points of inflection along the way. My brother Paul, the youngest of the nine children, followed me by 16 years and got out in '86, My own professional career intersected with the Institute twice. The first occurred in 1987 when I negotiated an agreement on behalf of my employer, Emory University, for a collaborative research center with Georgia Tech, the beginnings of the now wildly successful joint department of biomedical engineering. And then when I served as founding president of the Georgia Research Alliance beginning in 1990,1 really began to understand the role of private philanthropy on the Institute.

Then my own two sons

began to move through the continuum of playing touch football in their gold-andwhite jerseys at tailgate parties in the fall to considering where they should attend college themselves. I knew that I wanted Georgia Tech to be there for them and to be better in every way than it was when I attended. And I wanted to invest in Georgia Tech as part of my investment in them. It worked and now Hayes, Mgt 05, and David, Mgt 07, are out in the real world as productive citizens.

Roll Call is all about giving Georgia Tech the strategic advantage of having a pool of unrestricted gifts.

Bright students can matriculate due to need-based scholarships, including the highly innovative G. Wayne Clough Georgia Tech Promise Program. Entire research teams can be recruited from top institutions by the war chest provided to the president. A bold new initiative like Technology Square can be developed by having one of the most envied unrestrictedfund balances in American public higher education.

All of this is possible on the backs of seemingly insignificant $25 contributions right out of school that grow over time with greater knowledge and increasing engagement and become a habit.

We are all extraordinarily grateful for those generous alumni who have their names on buildings, chairs and endowed scholarships. But the sum of all of the small, annual gifts that grow in size over time is truly what sets Georgia Tech apart, GT

Still Lost Reading the story about David Perry's lost ring (GEORGIA TECH ALUMNI MAGAZINE, Summer

2008) reminded me of my class ring's efforts over many years to escape to the place where lost things go.

During the Korean War in 1951,1 wore a new pair of combat boots down to a river to walk around in the water to break them in. The cold, muddy water served as a lubricant, and as a result, the ring slipped off into 8 to 10 inches of opaque water.

Unsuccessful at finding it myself, when a little Korean boy appeared, I offered him $2 Gl to find the ring. As this was a large sum to him, he enthusiastically found it in about 10 minutes, In 1958 while crossing the Atlantic on the Isle de France, I was swimming laps in the large indoor swimming pool when my class ring and wedding ring slipped off. Using Fred Lanoue's hand bubble over one eye, I located and retrieved both rings from about a 6-foot depth.

Traveling in the Libyan desert in 1966,1 put my two rings in the button-down pocket of my cotton shirt while working on a Land Rover engine. As the cool night approached, I changed into a woolen shirt and threw the cotton shirt containing the rings into a tent. Despite an intensive search the next day, I could not find them, and we had to ease on down the road.

Several months later, my wife and I drove to the lost ring site. I found the exact location and raked the heavy, dense sand. The large area resem-

bled a well-manicured golf course sand trap before I gave up.

Three strikes are out, and my class ring finally disappeared with its companion forever.

Al McCarthy, IE 50 Humble, Texas

Best Ever Thanks for the best ever edition of the ALUMNI MAGAZINE

(Summer 2008). I have read every word of every article.

This is the first time I have ever done that for any publication. Every article was so interesting and so well written that I couldn't put it down.

Keep up the good work, and go Jackets!

Bob Eskew, IE 49, MS IE 55 Austell, Ga. In Appreciation Thank you for all of your hard work on the ALUMNI MAGAZINE.

You have little idea how rewarding it is for us grads far from Atlanta to be able to keep up with Tech happenings via the ALUMNI MAGAZINE, Tech

Topics and BUZZwords. You really do make a difference.

Cecil H. Jackson Jr., IM 71 Tampa, Fla.

Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine • Fall 2008

HOMECOMING A Century of Alumni Impact in iuuj J Sally Ride became the first woman to ride on a space shuttle.

J The final episode of "M*A*S*H" aired, with 125 million people watching.

J Cabbage Patch Kids caused a sensation — and brawls — in the aisles of toy stores.

J "Flashdance" spurred women to tear their sweatshirts and wear leg warmers.

J The Who broke up, and The Animals got back together.

J Ameritech launched the first commercial cellular phone service.

J Microsoft unveiled version 1.0 of its Windows operating system.

J Karen Carpenter, Muddy Waters and Tennessee Williams died.

J Amy Winehouse, Jose Reyes, Carrie Underwood and Adam "Pacman" Jones were born.

8

In honor of the Alumni Association's centennial, this year's Homecoming events will commemorate "A Century of Alumni Impact."

Homecoming, with the traditional Friday night Buzz Bash and reunion parties and Saturday tailgating festivities and football game, this year against Virginia, will take place Oct. 23-25.

Music has made an impact on the lives of Tech students throughout the years, and "Rock of Ages" is the theme for Buzz Bash, a rockin' party scheduled from 7:30 to 10:30 p.m. Oct. 24 in the festival area of Bobby Dodd Stadium.

A disc jockey will have guests doing the hustle, bump and electric slide with jive, disco and rock 'n' roll hits. Rock Band Wii will be available for those who want to display their instrumental prowess.

Members of the Class of 1958 will mark their milestone 50th reunion from 6:30 to 10 p.m. Oct. 24 in the grand ballroom of the Georgia Tech Hotel and Conference Center. The reunion will include an elegant dinner and induction of 1958 graduates into the Old Gold Society.

The class will support a professorship in communications at the Institute. The overall fundraising goal is $7.5 million. Co-chairs of the partyplanning committee are Tom Hall and Jean Mori.

Buck Stith chairs the reunion fund committee.

Among the class members on hand at the reunion will be Billups Johnson, IM 58, who will be attending with his wife, Linda. She was named Tech's first Mrs. Homecoming in 1958.

Linda Johnson enjoyed her reign. "I had a little baby, so I had a babysitter all weekend," she says. "I had a lot of fun, but I can't tell you who won the ballgame."

For the record, Tech lost its Homecoming game in 1958 to the Bear Bryant-coached Alabama, 17-8.

The Class of 1968 is funding study abroad

Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine • Fall 2008

scholarships and has set an overall fundraising goal of $10 million. Co-chairs of the party-planning committee are Jay McDonald and Clay Sparrow. W.J. Blane is chair of the reunion fund committee.

The 40th reunion will feature live music by the O'Kaysions, which will sing its 1968 hit "Girl Watcher" during the class party, from 7 to 11 p.m. Oct. 24 in the atrium of the Georgia Tech Research Institute.

The Class of 1983 will celebrate its 25th reunion from 7:30 to 11 p.m. Oct. 24 in the Gordy Room of the Wardlaw Center, which will be transformed into PJ's Nest. Billed as a "night of nostalgia," the reunion will include an appearance by Frank Beall, original owner of PJ's Nest, which was a music venue near campus.

Children are invited to be part of the celebration. Members of the Class of '83 and their families will receive backstage entrance to Buzz Bash and the best seats in town for the fireworks show that annually caps off the all-alumni party.

The class gift will support study abroad scholarships for Tech students. The overall fundraising goal for the Class of 1983 is $3.2 million. Chair of the party-planning committee is Mack Reese. Stephen Fleming is chair of the reunion fund committee.

• For more information, to register and to see who's attending the class reunions and Buzz Bash, visit www.gtalumni.org/homecoming.

Seminar Subjects From Music to Mortgages Seminars offered on Oct. 24 at the Global Learning Center address: • Successful Retirement Strategies in Difficult Times, practical plans presented by David

hx ius-j J Johnny Cash recorded "Live at Folsom Prison." .J "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In" debuted on NBC. J The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Sen. Robert Kennedy were assassinated.

J The musical "Hair" opened on Broadway.

J The soap opera "One Life to Live" premiered on ABC. J The first manned Apollo mission launched with Wally Schirra, Donn Eisele and Walter Cunningham aboard.

Jacqueline Kennedy married Aristotle Onassis.

Photo: Michael A, Schwarz

O'Brien and Jean O'Brien Frank of the O'Brien Investment Consulting Group.

• Trading in International Waters — Doing Business Overseas, led by Willie J. Belton, associate chair in the School of Economics; Ralph Malone, IE 88, president and owner of Triana Industries Inc.; and Dolan Falconer, NE 78, MS NE 79, president of ScanTech Holdings LLC • Subprime Mortgages, led by Gary T. Jones, IM 71, an adjunct instructor in the College of Management and a retired investment broker who will discuss the home loan crisis.

• Executive Recruiting, with David Andersen, Mgt 07, of Russell Reynolds Associates, who will outline the rules of engagement between recruiters and job candidates.

• Making Your Home More Energy Efficient,

tips to reduce power bills presented by Roshonda Coleman of Gas South.

• The Unofficial History of Architectural Education at Georgia Tech, led by Dean Alan Balfour; Jerry Cooper, BS 52, Arch 55, chairman of Cooper Carry Inc.; Larry Lord, Arch 65, principal with Lord, Aeck & Sargent Inc.; and Barbara Field, Arch 65, proprietor of her own architectural firm. » Here Comes the Band: 100 Years of Music, Music, Music, presented by Marilyn Somers, director of Living History, in honor of the Tech band's centennial.

• An Engineering Approach to Reducing Emergency Department Overcrowding, led by Sofia Khan, Biol 97, chief of emergency medicine at DeKalb Medical Center-Hillandale, who > »

J The BeaflU released what became known as the "White Album."

J Mary Lou Retton, Lisa Marie Presley, Celine Dion, Tony Hawk, Mike Piazza and LL Cool J were born.

J Helen Keller, Upton Sinclair and John Steinbeck died.

Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine • Fall 2008

HOMECOMING hi ii»3ij J The Hula Hoop was introduced.

U Elvis Presley was inducted into the Army.

J Alaska became a state.

J Sputnik 1 fell from orbit.

J The first International House of Pancakes opened in California.

J Elizabeth Taylor got her third divorce, this time from Mike Todd.

J "The Bridge on the River Kwai" won the Oscar for Best Picture.

J Jerry Lee Lewis' "Great Balls of Fire" hit No. 1 on the music charts.

2008

will explain how the application of industrial engineering principles improved the quality of patient care. The seminar will be hosted by the Georgia Tech Health Professionals.

• Surviving in Today's Economy, led by Willie J. Belton, associate chair in the School of Economics, in a presentation that will include discussions about rising fuel costs and belt-tightening measures.

• Music Technology Research at Georgia Tech, presented by assistant professor Gil Weinberg, who will lead an audience-participatory musical performance.

• The Tech Family Tree: Alumni Growing Tech for 100 Years, presented by Marilyn Somers, director of Living History, in honor of the Alumni Association's centennial.

• Advances in Alzheimer's Detection, presented by Michelle LaPlaca, an associate professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, explaining how a device recently developed by Tech and Emory University researchers tracks cognitive abilities.

• The Phoenix Mars Scout Mission, presented by aerospace engineering professor David A.

• The cost of a firstclass stamp increased to 4 cents.

J Ellen DeGeneres, Sharon Stone, Alec Baldwin, Prince and Madonna were born.

J Tyrone Power and Pope Pius XII died, and King Faisal II of Iraq was assassinated.

10

Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine • Fall 2008

Spencer, who was involved in the project and will talk about the May landing.

• Let's Talk Politics: The 2008 Presidential Campaign, presented by Kirk Bowman, an associate professor in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs, who will discuss the candidates' platforms.

From 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. at the Global Learning Center, Interim President Gary Schuster will deliver the State of the Institute address.

"The State of the Institute address will focus on the progress that we've made and the challenges that are in front of us and how we're going to begin to address those challenges," Schuster says.

Homecoming weekend begins with a winetasting reception from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Oct. 23 beneath the Chihuly glass exhibit in the College of Management building atrium in Technology Square. Perennial highlights include the Ramblin' Wreck Parade at 8 a.m. Oct. 25 and the Alumni Association tailgate party, beginning on the Tech Tower lawn two and a half hours prior to the kickoff of the Homecoming game against Virginia.

More Celebrations Alumni Association affinity groups planning Homecoming events include: • Georgia Tech Band Alumni Association, celebrating its own centennial with a weekend of activities, detailed at www.gtbaa.org.

• The Georgia Tech Bar Association will host a happy hour from 5 to 7 p.m. Oct. 24 at Steel Restaurant and Lounge; www.gtbar.org.

• The Georgia Tech Black Alumni Organization hosts head basketball coach Paul Hewitt as the keynote speaker at an Oct. 23 Dream Reception from 6 to 9 p.m.; weekend events are outlined at www.gtblackalumni.org.

• The Georgia Tech Crew Affinity Alumni Group will gather at Buzz Bash and will host a tailgate party beginning four hours before the

The Buzz Around Town

football kickoff; www.alumni. gtcrew.com.

• The Military Affinity Group will host an Oct. 23 reception at the Wardlaw Center and have a military reunion party at Buzz Bash; www.gtmag.org.

• The Co-op Alumni Affinity Group will enjoy a pizza party and meet at Buzz Bash and the pregame tailgate festivities; e-mail tina.payne@dopp.gatech.edu. GT

Take a stroll around campus during Homecoming and experience the Buzz Around Town.

The Alumni Association has extended its centennial celebration to include the Tech community through outdoor works of art.

Twenty-five fiberglass forms of Buzz are being displayed on and around the Tech campus.

Buzzes may be found on North Avenue, Tech wood Drive, Fifth Street, around the Tech Tower and outside the Campus Recreation Center. A map and photos of each Buzz may be found on the Alumni Association Web site at www.gtalumni.org/ buzzaroundtown.

Sponsors have been paired with artists to bring each Buzz to life with one-of-a-kind designs

that reflect their visions for what embodies Tech pride.

Each Buzz will be auctioned off at the end of the year. Proceeds will benefit the Georgia Tech organization of the sponsor's choice.

The Sponsors: Alpha Tau Omega; ANAK Society; AIESEC; Calvin Babcock, IE 79; the College of Engineering; Kimberly DavisBlackstone, IE 86; Susan Davis, Biol 91; Delta Sigma Phi; the Parents Program; Gamma Alpha of Sigma Nu Alumni Association; Georgia Tech Alumni Association; Georgia Tech Auxiliary Services; Georgia Tech Foundation; Georgia Tech Interfraternity Council; GT HEROs (Hearts Everywhere Reaching Out); Gary Jones, Mgt 71, and his wife, Libby; Kappa Sigma; Mary Beth Lake, ID 04; Peter Mocker, ISyE 03, and Jennifer Hinkel, IntA 03; Clint Padgett, EE 95; Pi Kappa Phi; Ramblin' Reck Club; Michael

Did You Know?

Here are a few facts about the University of Virginia, the Homecoming game opponent: • It was founded in 1819

by Thomas Jefferson.

• Fans are known as Wahoos for the "Wahhoo-wah!" sports cheer.

• Originally, the sports teams wore silver and red uniforms, which didn't show up well on dirty fields. Inspired by the University of Oxford, Virginia changed to orange and navy blue in 1888.

• Edgar Allan Poe attended Virginia but dropped out after going into debt.

Randall; Sigma Chi; and Meade Sutterfield, EE 72, and his wife, Susan.

The Artists: Philip Auslander, professor in the Georgia Tech School of Literature, Communication and Culture, and Deanna Sirlin; Mary Babcock; Julia Berman; David Boyd Jr. and Nicole Young; Kristie Chamlee; Quenton Colby; Brittany Copeland, ID 08; Rob DeLoach; Lisa Durfee; Tex Grubbs; Kristen Holden and Amy Johnson; the Industrial Design Society of America student chapter at Georgia Tech; Wendy Jackson; Helen Kwon; Joni Harrison Lay, ID 04; Tech student Samantha Mach; Brandon Swafford, ID 07, and Mark Parsons, ID 07; Tech student Nina Perala; Marcia Price; Marcie Radakovich; Jolie Rose...; Tech student Donna Sammander; Angela Schusler; H.C. Warner; and Tech student Carl Wilson.

Sit back. Relax Let us take care of your meeting details.

Plan Your Next Corporate Meeting With Us Book your next corporate meeting, conference, or training seminar at the Georgia Tech Global Learning Center.

Georgia Tech Global Learning Center A PROFESSIONAL MEETING AND LEARNING FACILITY

(404) 385-6203 • www.gatechcenter.com

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THEY CURRENTLY ENJOY. Inspired by their own family's struggle, local developers Andy and Kevin Isakson envisioned a residential living community that would both ht a lifestyle of freedom and provide quality, on-site healthcare. What they created was a brand-new design for residential living in Georgia one that would change the future not only for their family, but for generations to come.

Paul Albrccht, T h e G r o t t o spa and fitness center, a full-service bank, post office, convenience store, innovative concierge medical care and more.

And Peachtree Hills Place is growing before it is even built — already, more than 50% of the community is reserved!

T H E RESULT WAS PARK S P R I N G S ,

a community designed for its Members by its Members. Open since 2004, Park Springs is located on 54 acres just outside of Atlanta next to Stone Mountain Park, featuring a range of residence options from Golfview Homes to Parkview Villas, and Mountainview Cottages to Golfview Villas. Here, everything from the lush landscaping to the Bistro dining options to the resort-inspired environment is overseen by Member committees. This process is unique to the world of continuing care retirement communities, ensuring every individual has a say in how their community operates from day to day. for Members of Park Springs, its life as usual.

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What Our Members Know: Life Is About The Ride Jim Dull, former Vice President/ Dean ol Students at Georgia Tech, is wo stranger to living life in a beautiful setting lull til bustling activity. After more than 30 years on the campus <il Georgia lech, Jim and wife Gay now continue a lib- ol exploring

opportunities at Park Springs, along with many ol their university associates and alumni friends whom they now know as neighbors. Pictured here with their 1030 Ford Model A Cabriolet Sport Coupe (known as the Georgia l e c h Bambini' Wreck), the Dulls know better than anyone about living life 10 the fullest and they are enjoying the ride in style.

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TECHNOTES

Wood turner Matt Moulthrop created a unique bowl from the more than 75-year-old elm that had to be removed from the Alumni House garden.

Photo: Eric Turner

14

Basil Garden Bowl The Alumni Association now has a beautiful reminder of the giant elm that formerly graced the Basil Garden.

The elm, more than 75 years old, was damaged so badly during a summer 2007 thunderstorm that it had to be taken down.

Matt Moulthrop, MBA 04, was commissioned to create a one-of-a-kind wood-turned bowl from a limb of the huge tree.

The completed bowl, weighing more than 30 pounds, now has a temporary home in the office of Alumni Association president Joe Irwin.

"Red Slippery Elm Globe" stands 16.5 inches high and is 22.5 inches in diameter.

The dark red circle on the bowl is actually bark from the tree.

An inscription reads: "From the Basil Garden, commemorating the Georgia Tech Alumni Association 100-year anniversary, 2008."

Moulthrop is a third-generation wood turner.

Moulthrop bowls are in galleries and museums around the world.

Edward Moulthrop, the first generation of family wood turners, taught architecture and physics at the Institute in the 1940s.

Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine â&#x20AC;˘ Fall 2008

Engineers Create Artificial Bone Engineers at Georgia Tech have used skin cells to create artificial bones that mimic the ability of natural bone to blend into other tissues such as tendons or ligaments.

The artificial bones display a gradual change from bone to softer tissue rather than the sudden shift of previously developed artificial tissue, providing better integration with the body and allowing them to handle weight more successfully. The research appears in the August 26 edi-

tion of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Andres Garcia, a professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, and former graduate student Jennifer Phillips, PhD BME 07, along with research technician Kellie Burns and collaborators Joseph Le Doux and Robert Guldberg, were not only able to create artificial bone that melds into softer tissues, they also were able to implant the technology in vivo for several weeks.

If the technology is able to pass further test-

ing, one application could be anterior cruciate ligament surgery. Oftentimes, ACL surgery fails at the point where the ligament meets the bone.

But if an artificial bone/ligament constructed with these types of graded transitions were implanted, it might lead to more successful outcomes for patients.

Tech Among Top Public Universities Georgia Tech ranks seventh nationally among public universities for undergraduates in the > Âť

Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine â&#x20AC;˘ Fall 2008

15

TECHNOTES "I would say the [U.S. News & World Report] rankings reflect what most academics would view as a pretty informed assessment of the relative position of universities and departments across the country.... If you are in fact a leader and recognized as a leader, the rankings — Gary Schuster

latest U.S. News & World Report rankings. For the past decade, the Institute has been among the top 10 public universities for undergraduates.

"Georgia Tech undergraduate programs continue to excel, and I'm pleased that we've been able to maintain this measure of excellence for so long," says Interim President and Provost Gary Schuster. "Our engineering college continues to be a strength, while other programs around campus continue their national climb."

The College of Engineering, which is the nation's largest, moved up in the rankings from fifth to fourth. Six College of Engineering programs ranked in the top five. Industrial engineering ranked first; aerospace ranked second; biomedical ranked third; mechanical ranked fourth; civil ranked fifth; and electrical ranked fifth. Neither the mechanical engineering nor

electrical engineering programs ranked in the top five last year.

The College of Management ranked 35th nationally among best business programs. The internship and senior capstone programs were cited as "Programs to Look For." Georgia Tech also ranked 47th on the "Great Schools, Great Prices" list.

Schuster says the rankings are "very important because of the tone that they set and the influence that they have."

"I would say the [U.S. News & World Report] rankings reflect what most academics would view as a pretty informed assessment of the relative position of universities and departments across the country," he says.

"I also think you don't want to make strategic decisions because you believe it's going to

Georgia Tech's total undergraduate and graduate enrollment has topped 19,400 for the first time. There are about 13,000 undergraduates — some 2,600 of them freshmen — and more than 6,400 graduate students enrolled this fall.

Occupancy in campus housing also is at an all-time high, with 7,800 students in single housing and another 400 in family housing.

The Hefner residence hall reopened this fall after being renovated.

Harrison and Howell halls currently are closed for renovations.

16

Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine • Fall 2008

increase the rankings. I believe you should make strategic decisions because you believe it's the right thing to do to advance the missions and goals of Georgia Tech," Schuster says. "If you've done that properly, then the rankings will follow.

If you are in fact a leader and recognized as a leader, the rankings will follow that."

Athletes Score ACC Honors Georgia Tech athletes swarmed the Atlantic Coast Conference's latest Academic Honor Roll, with 121 Yellow Jackets earning the honor for posting GPAs above 3.0 for the entire 2007-08 academic year.

That list includes four Ail-Americans: tennis players Amanda McDowell and Kristi Miller, above, volleyball player Ulrike Stegemann and golfer Cameron Tringale.

Miller, HTS 08, was the ACC Player of the Year in women's tennis last season and graduated in May with a 4.0 GPA. McDowell, a junior majoring in international affairs, won the NCAA singles championship last spring. Stegemann, who received her management degree in May, was an honorable mention All-American team member last fall and made the All-ACC team three times in her career. Tringale, a senior management major, has earned All-America and AllACC honors three times each.

A total of 18 athletes on the list earned allconference honors last year in their respective sports.

David Herren, Tech's top cross country and distance runner, and Taylor Narewski, a sprinter,

each made the list for the fifth time. Both athletes earned master's degrees in May, Herren in health systems, Narewski in public policy.

Get on the Bus The Alumni Association is partnering with Champion Sports Tours for two fall bus trips.

The first travels to Clemson University, where the Jackets will face the Tigers on Oct. 18.

The day includes snacks, beverages and a box lunch on the motor coach, a pregame tailgate party and reserved game tickets in the Georgia Tech section. The cost is $175.

Be in Athens when head football coach Paul Johnson takes on Georgia for the first time in his Tech career. Cost of the Nov. 29 motor-coach trip is $165. The trip also includes food and drinks, a pregame tailgate party and reserved tickets in the Georgia Tech cheering section.

To register for the trips, visit www.championsportstours.com / football / gtech / gtech-football.htm. More information may be obtained by telephoning 800-GT-ALUMS.

Professor El-Sayed was honored for his "seminal and creative contributions to our understanding of the electronic and optical properties of nanomaterials," as well as for his humanitarian activities and his role in the development of scientific leaders of the future.

Professor Wins Science Medal Mostafa El-Sayed, a Regents professor in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, was awarded the 2007 Medal of Science, the nation's highest honor in the field, during a White House ceremony in late September.

El-Sayed holds the Julius Brown chair and directs the Laser Dynamics Laboratory at Tech.

He also is working with his son, Ivan, of the University of California, San Francisco, to develop cylindrical gold nanorods that can bind to cancer cells. Once the cells are bound to the gold, they scatter light, which makes them easy to detect.

The Medal of Science citation credits El-Sayed "for his seminal and creative contributions to our understanding of the electronic and optical properties of nanomaterials and to their applications in nanocatalysis and nanomedicine, for his humanitarian efforts of exchange among countries and for his role in developing the scientific leadership of tomorrow." GT

Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine â&#x20AC;˘ Fall 2008

17

Your Gift Enhances the Value of Every Tech Degree GEORGIA I I I II AI.OMNI ASS<>< 1AIION • hln,\ ANNUAL HOl.l CAM,

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G e o r g i a T e c h Alumni Magazine • Fall 2008

19

Paradise Lost The disappearance of John and Elizabeth Calvert

Story and photographs by Van Jensen

John and Elizabeth Calvert had settled in a peaceful Hilton Head Island resort. Then, in March, they suddenly vanished. Now, the Harbour Town lighthouse, left, and the resort are clouded by the investigation into their disappearance.

deep red sun pierces through clouds on the western horizon, and the sharp dorsal fins of dolphins slice the placid water surrounding Harbour Town on the inland side of Hilton Head Island. Tourists in swimsuits, Bermuda shorts and boat shoes move lazily around the dock, enjoying the warm air and scenic coastal vista. Through a channel lies a circular marina, filled with a small armada of pristine yachts. And around the marina stretches out stucco-sided shops, restaurants, hotels and condominiums, which eventually fade into moss-draped trees.

It is deeply peaceful. Serene. The only hint of conflict comes from two guitarists competing for listeners among the dinner crowd.

It is no wonder that John and Elizabeth Calvert fell in love with Harbour Town after first vacationing here decades ago, before eventually buying a yacht, then taking over management of the resort in recent years.

John, a 1983 mechanical engineering graduate from Georgia Tech, and Elizabeth, a former legal counsel for UPS, created a perfect life for themselves in this idyllic setting.

And then, without warning, they disappeared.

As the months have dragged on and little information has emerged, everyone who knew the couple is left asking: What happened to the Calverts?

The Only Sign of Trouble ohn Calvert's pledge brothers in Beta Theta Pi call him "quiet and reserved." Still, he was one of the fraternity's most active members, organizing events and tailgating before football games.

Originally from North Carolina, Calvert always put on "beach music" at dances, says Rich Reynolds, IM 82, a fellow Beta Theta Pi brother.

After graduating from Tech, Calvert threw himself into a successful career at Duke Energy

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Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine â&#x20AC;˘ Fall 2008

21

John hadn't gone on his regular rounds and his car was missing.

They checked the yacht, but it was empty.

John Calvert graduated from Tech in 1983 and remained involved as an alum. He proposed to Elizabeth under the famous Harbour Town oak tree, right, 20 years ago. They passed by the tree every day after moving to the resort.

22

Corp. and then A&C Enercom, earning a new label as "quiet and hardworking." In the late 1980s he met Elizabeth White, a lawyer with a similarly reserved disposition.

Twenty years ago they went on a trip to Hilton Head Island and ended up at the quiet, charming Harbour Town. Under the resort's famous oak tree, John surprised Liz with a marriage proposal.

"Liz is John's perfect soul mate, no doubt about it," Reynolds says. "Not just husband and wife but super great friends."

In part because of their engagement in Harbour Town, John and Liz felt the place take hold in their hearts. After years of hard work, they first bought a vacation home there. Then, about five years ago, they traded that in for a yacht, which they named Yellow Jacket, and a skiff named Buzz.

John and Liz became mainstays in Harbour Town, with John earning the nickname "resort boy" because he never wanted to leave unless it was for a Tech football game.

A few years ago they decided to take the next step and buy the marina so they could live on their yacht full time. After making the commitment, the Calverts were extremely happy, friends say.

As Liz left UPS to work part time for a Savannah firm, John oversaw Harbour Town, including rental properties, boat tours and the marina.

Late last year the Calverts took over managing the resort's finances from the Club Group, a local real estate business. That was when the only sign of trouble surfaced. Liz noticed some discrepancies in the Harbour Town ledgers, and she and John arranged a meeting with Dennis Gerwing, the Club Group employee who had handled the Harbour Town finances.

At the Crazy Crab, the seafood staple in Harbour Town, general manager Marty Pellicci finishes a steak as closing time approaches.

He thinks back to the evening of March 3, when he saw the Calverts walking along the marina, headed for that meeting.

Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine â&#x20AC;˘ Fall 2008

Most nights, the Calverts came into the Crab for dinner, sitting at the same seats at the end of the bar. Just a few nights earlier, John had suggested they wager on the upcoming season of "Dancing with the Stars" in an NCAA-style pool.

Watching John and Liz walk past that evening, Pellicci never thought it could be the last time he'd see them.

"Good people," he says, casting an eye to the end of the bar, where their usual seats remain empty.

The Last Person to See Them ennis Gerwing spent 18 years signing paychecks for Harbour Town, managing its finances for the Club Group. Longtime resort employees said they completely trusted the gregarious Gerwing.

And, as the Calverts took over the operation, he became a friend and confidant to them as well.

So when Liz found some money missing from the Harbour Town books, she and John arranged a meeting with Gerwing for 5:30 p.m. March 3 at the Club Group's offices at Sea Pine Center, just a half mile from the marina.

They took John's Mercedes to the meeting at the center, which also houses shops and a restaurant that leaks soft jazz into the warm air. John and Liz walked past a bronze alligator sculpture and upstairs to the office. It was the last place they were ever seen.

The next morning, Harbour Town employees noticed John hadn't gone on his regular rounds and his car was missing. They checked the yacht, but it was empty other than the Calverts' beloved pets, a cat, T.C., and dog, Sadie.

When they couldn't be reached on the phone, employees contacted David White, Liz's brother and the only close family either spouse has. White hadn't seen them and called the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office to file a missing persons report.

Days later, John's Mercedes was found in the parking lot of a Marriott hotel on the island, though with no sign of the couple.

Investigators interviewed Gerwing, who

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said he didn't know where the Calverts were. Liz and John hadn't told employees about the missing money or the nature of the meeting, but Liz had discussed it with a co-worker at the HunterMaclean law firm. As that news came out, investigators called Gerwing for a second interview, but he refused.

On the afternoon of March 11, the sheriff's office sent out a press release stating that Gerwing was "a person of interest" in the Calverts' disappearance.

Unknown to anyone, Gerwing — the last person to see them — was already dead.

A Dead End ust after the release came out, authorities were called to a rental unit just down Lighthouse Road from Harbour Town.

Gerwing's lawyer said his client had locked himself in a bathroom and wouldn't respond.

Downstairs they found an empty wine bottle. In the bedroom, Gerwing had torn the blanket from the bed and scrawled an incoherent note in blue ink on the sheet.

Firefighters arrived first and forced their way into the bathroom. An empty medication container sat on the counter, along with another note written on paper. Blood spatters and stains covered the counter, walls and floor.

Gerwing lay on his back in the bathtub, naked. He had bled to death from gashes to his forearm, throat and thigh. A steak knife lay beside him.

The death — which the Beaufort County coroner later labeled a suicide — represented a dead end for the investigation into the Calverts' disappearance. Gerwing was the only known person with a motive to harm the Calverts and the last one to see them. Now he was gone, leaving behind notes that made no mention of the fate of John and Liz. Beaufort County's sheriff, RJ. Tanner, is a stern-voiced man with close-cropped gray hair.

He says he hasn't been shaken as the investigation has drawn national media attention to his

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you think they'll never come back or then by some bizarre way you think they will"

sleepy county and his office has been criticized for releasing almost no information.

"There's so much left in the investigation," he says. "There are challenges in this investigation. If this would have been a double homicide, there would be forensic evidence on the bodies. What we don't have is any body of evidence.

"The only thing we do have is Dennis Gerwing, but he's deceased. That's a huge hurdle.

If in fact he's the only one involved, that closed a lot of doors."

The search for the Calverts has been extensive, covering Hilton Head Island, the water surrounding it and several locations on the mainland and in Georgia.

Missing persons fliers have been posted in nearly 200 countries, as John and Liz were known to travel abroad. Their private jet, however, remained unmoved at the Hilton Head airport.

Tanner says his investigators work on the case daily, poring over financial records and interviewing associates of Gerwing and the Calverts.

The FBI assisted the sheriff's office in auditing the Harbour Town finances and tracking down the missing money, though Tanner wouldn't say if Gerwing alone had taken the missing funds.

The Club Group conducted its own audit and released a statement holding Gerwing solely responsible for financial discrepancies, though Club Group president Mark King later tried to redact the statement.

"You've got questions and I've got answers, but I can't give them to you," Tanner says. "In due time we'll release the information. But it's still being worked as a disappearance."

The Rumors very morning, John Calvert would step off the Yellow Jacket and walk around the marina, greeting any other boaters who'd risen early. Somewhere along the circle he'd find a cup of coffee, and then he'd come to the far edge, where the harbormaster's office sits in the shadow of a lighthouse.

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Leslie Whitener, the assistant harbormaster, sits at her usual post in the cluttered office watching over the marina. John would sit in the other chair as they talked about the business, current events and boating. As with most days now, John's chair remains empty.

"I miss them terribly," says Whitener, a loud and outgoing woman who's worked at Harbour Town for 25 years. "I wish they'd walk around the corner right now."

When the couple first became regulars at the resort, Whitener and the other locals immediately took to the Calverts, though they say the couple worked too hard.

"The joke in Hilton Head is we taught them how to play," she says. "When they first bought the boat, they knew how to use it and safety and all that. But we took them out to the beaches and sand bars to have fun."

The Calverts also kept up their tireless work ethic at Harbour Town, partnering with golf tournaments, hosting Georgia Conservancy meetings and putting on Humane Society events to help causes and bring in visitors.

Whitener points to an employee putting special environment-friendly garbage bags into trash cans and says, "Liz was the greenest person I know."

For employees who had worked for Harbour Town when it was owned by a management company in New York City, the Calverts' hands-on operation was refreshing.

"We were happy as larks," Whitener says.

"I've worked through three bankruptcies. The Calverts taking over was the greatest thing to happen to Harbour Town in 25 years."

Now that John and Liz are gone, the business continues, overseen by David White. But it's far from the same without them, and even staff members as jubilant as Whitener are prone to moments of melancholy.

They also can't avoid the rumors, which hint that the disappearance is even more complex and troubling than it seems.

Whitener worked with Gerwing for nearly 20

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At the Beaufort County sheriff's office, a missing persons poster lists the few details investigators made public about the Calvert case.

The couple's yacht, left, was named Yellow Jacket, but a black shroud now obscures the name.

Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine • Fall 2008

25

"The likelihood of them being found safe is almost passed.

But you hate to be the one to say that"

The Calverts worked hard to make Harbour Town a beautiful, popular destination.

They would return to Atlanta on fall Saturdays to take their seats in Bobby Dodd Stadium, right, and cheer for the Yellow Jackets.

years, and "he wasn't the type of person who would kill himself," she says. "He was a major factor in assisting the Calverts, and he was a good friend of theirs. It would be easier if they'd been swindled by a bad guy, but that wasn't the case."

Others say Gerwing wasn't capable of making two people disappear, dead or alive. One acquaintance said he couldn't lift much more than a sack of groceries, and another described him as "a fat guy who drank a lot of wine." He also had no criminal history in Beaufort County, not even a misdemeanor.

There's also the matter of the note. While covering a candlelight vigil for the Calverts in March, a reporter from Savannah TV station Fox 28 found a rain-soaked note on her windshield that read, "This goes deeper than Dennis. Stay on it. Their [sic] are more people involved."

And some say Liz and John ran off or were taken into a witness protection program.

Because of all the uncertainty, Whitener says she holds out hope the Calverts are alive. She looks across the marina to the couple's yacht, which has a black shroud covering its name to deter gawkers.

"I have just as much evidence that they're alive as that they're dead," she says. "Sometimes you think they'll never come back, or then by some bizarre way you think they will. It'll drive you nuts."

A Last Visit his spring, the father of a Beta Theta Pi alum passed away, and several of the alum's friends and their wives gathered for the funeral.

The fraternity brothers, including Rich Reynolds and John Calvert, had grown close at Georgia Tech and kept up through the years.

After John and Liz shifted their focus to Harbour Town, they often hosted fraternity brothers and their families. John and Liz once took Reynolds, his wife and three children out on the Yellow Jacket to see dolphins in the bay.

T 26

Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine • Fall2008

After the funeral, the friends decided to go out for drinks. They ended up talking for hours.

"It was good to catch up," Reynolds says, his voice wavering. "They were talking about how exciting things were, how the businesses were ramping up. We said, 'We'll be down there, we'll see you as soon as we can.'

"So we head off, and two days, three days later, I get up and I've got text messages saying John and Liz have disappeared."

This fall, John's class will be celebrating its 25th anniversary during Homecoming. Now, the class members have to decide how to handle John's absence — to create a memorial or hope for a miracle.

"I'm very doubtful we're going to come to a good end," Reynolds says. "Emotionally, you want to hold out long-shot odds. As time goes on, you have to be more understanding that that's probably not going to happen."

Another of John's pledge brothers, Mark Boozer, ME 83, has followed the disappearance closely and grown increasingly worried as news on the case slowed to a trickle, then stopped.

"The likelihood of them being found safe is almost passed," he says. "But you hate to be the one to say that."

Come Homecoming, those who knew John and Liz will return to campus, uncertain of what happened or how to proceed. They'll hold events — though likely more somber than usual — and head to Bobby Dodd Stadium to see the Yellow Jackets take on Virginia.

And they might walk through the east stands, where John and Liz had seats in Club 2, the 17th row. But, as with so many places, the Calverts won't be there.

Carrying On avid White talks quietly and sparingly about his sister and brother-in-law and about the strain he's had, not just dealing emotionally with their disappearance but also keeping Harbour Town running in their absence.

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The beauty of Harbour Town remains tinged with a painful aura.

There is an emptiness, a void in paradise.

Harbour Town is a more somber setting since the Culverts disappeared. A spyglass, right, looks out over the bay, one of many places investigators have searched for

the Culverts'remains.

28

"These businesses in certain ways defined them," he says. "They loved Hilton Head.

They were living their dream. To carry on the businesses, I think it's the right thing to do."

He's also been raising money for a reward fund, hoping to encourage anyone who might know the Calverts' fate to step forward. Most of Harbour Town has helped with the effort, making donations and putting on fundraising events, like a recent sunset cruise.

"As family and friends, it's given us something to do to help," White says.

'We Live in Anguish' avid and Liz grew up in Atlanta before she went to Converse College in South Carolina. He says she was a self-made success, having put herself through law school and worked her way up at UPS. "Everything she achieved was because she was smart and thoughtful and driven," he says.

He refers to John as "meticulous and also very smart."

Talking about the two, White switches between tenses, interchanging "is" and "was," "are" and "were."

He falls quiet and seconds pass. Then more.

Finally, his pain spills out in a rush.

"I don't know how to say what I want to say," he says. "We all miss John and Liz. We dearly want them back. We don't understand what's happened. We live in anguish and pain every day of the unknown. We want to figure out where they are and what has happened. If there's any scenario where they can come back to us safe and sound, that's what we would pray to have happen.

"If anyone can help us with that, please, please, please call the sheriff's office.

"John and Liz were good people. They created a nice community of folks. People loved them and they loved playing in that community. It's just a shame someone or something has taken them away from their life.

"It's just hard to understand what's happened."

D

Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine • Fall 2008

Empty Places s the sun lowers, sending shimmers of color across the bay toward Harbour Town, an elderly tourist smiles. "It's beautiful, isn't it?" he says to no one in particular.

Among the largely transitive community of Harbour Town, the disappearance of John and Elizabeth Calvert already is an old story, faded to background whispers of a late summer vacation.

But for those who knew the Calverts, worked with them and loved them, the beauty of Harbour Town remains tinged with a painful aura. There is an emptiness, a void in paradise.

They look around the resort — to the empty seats at the end of the Crazy Crab bar, to the Yacht Basin office, to the oak tree where John proposed, to the deck of the Yellow Jacket — and Liz and John are nowhere to be seen.

And they wonder, where have you gone? OT

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INTERVIEW A Conversation With

Gary Schuster

By Kimberly Link-Wills Photography: Gary Meek

During a wide-ranging one-on-one, Tech's interim president talks about the thrills of scientific discovery and downhill skiing, careers in chemistry and comedy and the rewards of being a grandparent and at the helm of the Institute.

Serving as an interim president could be viewed as a thankless job. Why did you want to take it on?

Georgia Tech is an institution that is on the move. That's not going to stop because we're between presidents. I think it's a growth opportunity for me. I'm learning a lot of new things about Georgia Tech, meeting a lot of new people and really enjoying that.

I think that there are challenges associated with it. I have to manage two transitions. The first transition is the departure of Wayne Clough and to make sure that all of the activities that are under way keep on going â&#x20AC;&#x201D; that we continue to accelerate along our trajectory.

Then there's a second transition that has to be met. A few months from now there's going to be a new president named. Very likely that person is going to come from outside Georgia Tech. There's a lot of information that has to be transferred. That person is going to have to get up to speed very quickly, and I think it's going to be an

interesting challenge to manage that second transition.

Were there any second thoughts about taking on the job? Did your wife say, "What are you thinking?"

The way I described it to my wife was, "I've got a job and a half and a half." My primary responsibility is to step into the role of the president and assume the responsibilities as the interim president, but in the way that the transition is being managed, I maintain some of the responsibilities of the provost's office as well.

We're very fortunate that [senior vice provosts] Mark Allen and Andy Smith are both experienced in their positions. Between the two of them they have 50 years of tenure at Georgia Tech. They've agreed to step in and shoulder most of the responsibilities of the provost's office, so I've been working very closely with them. The president's cabinet is strong. They are taking on additional responsibilities during this time. So the >>>

Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine â&#x20AC;˘ Fall 2008

31

INTERVIEW

job and a half component is absolutely manageable. The other half being a chemistry professor, I have some postdoctoral students and a graduate student in chemistry, and I have to commend my students for stepping up and taking on additional responsibilities during this time as well.

And it's important to maintain time with your family. We have two children, both of them married, and two grandchildren, and one of the things we really enjoy doing is spending time with our children and our grandchildren. We have a granddaughter who lives in Chicago. We've developed a new way of communicating, she and I. She is an avid reader, so I'm trying

to read the books that she is reading. It gives us something very natural to talk about.

How old is she?

Ten, but she reads at a reasonably sophisticated level I've discovered, reading the books that she's been reading.

What are you reading now?

I just finished a book called "Sister Light, Sister Dark," which is sort of a historical fantasy novel.

Tell me about your other grandchild.

We have a grandson who lives here in Atlanta. He wants to be an architect. He's 6, and the reason he wants to be an architect is because he likes moving dirt, which I think , is a great reason.

I have a 14-year-old who's trying to decide if he's going to be a chemist or a comedian.

He can be both.

Do you know any funny chemists?

1 know some unusual chemists.

So 1 suspect someone who's good at that and feels that he can give some joy to others will find it

unintended consequences, and 1

tremendously rewarding.

think it's our responsibility to treat our students as the adults that they

Should I encourage h i m to choose chemistry so it's easier to make a decent living?

stand the consequences of their actions. There is always the law of

How much time do you get to

are and help them make the proper

work with students now?

I've had to step back quite a bit in the last year, but as I've said,

choices and then deal with the issues if they make improper choices.

what you enjoy doing. 1 spent my entire life essentially being a

I've got a group of postdocs and research scientists who are pretty

So an age doesn't matter?

chemist. The act of discovery, of

skilled and reasonably independ-

learning something that no one

ent. 1 usually try to get with them in

else in the world knows, to finally

the evenings and on Saturdays.

The truth of the matter is that in

1 don't think it's a making-a-living sort of thing. 1 think it's doing

figure out how a very small portion

level. There may be some individuals at 18 who have the good sense and the good judgment to be able to make those decisions and handle that responsibility appropriately.

potential of some practical applica-

life and also be able to delegate.

tion of it, and to dream those dreams of how what you've uncovered about the workings of nature

I can guarantee you that there are folks at 21 or 25 or 35 who don't

What do you like to do in your

have the good sense or the good

spare time? Maybe people

judgment to handle that responsibility appropriately. It's an issue that

might affect people's lives in some meaningful way is tremendously

don't know you're a fabulous tango dancer or something.

No, I'm not a fabulous tango

deserves very close scrutiny and very good information before mak-

rewarding. 1 wouldn't trade it for anything.

dancer, but 1 do enjoy downhill ski-

ing a decision. I don't think the data

You're still passionate about

ing. That's my great passion, Anita and 1 enjoy going to movies. We

are there yet. ... We experimented with something called prohibition,

chemistry.

In a lot of ways 1 think scien-

both enjoy reading. We enjoy travel quite a bit, although this year we

and it became apparent that didn't work. When you take an activity

tists, particularly those who are

won't get much time to indulge that.

and make it illegal, it doesn't necessarily go away. Often it just goes

Some university presidents are pushing for a legal drinking

underground.

understand how things work, and are willing to pursue that and work

age of 18. The Institute stated

hard to discover that. There are a

It is a complex issue and there are a couple of ways to look at it. If

What are your priorities for Tech during this fiscal year?

This is going to be a challeng-

really dedicated to it, never grow up. They retain that curiosity from childhood, an insatiable desire to

lot of rewards there.

As far as a career as a comedian, 1 would suggest he talk to Jeff Foxworthy (CIs 80), not a pro-

it isn't a proponent of a change.

you ask me as a parent, you'll get a different answer than if you ask me as a university administrator.

fessor of chemistry. But 1 can see where there might be a lot of rewards there too. As a performer you bring happiness and joy to a lot of people. 1 remember reading

Why's that?

As a parent, you never want

ing year. I think everybody has been reading in the newspapers about the economic circumstances.

One priority is to maintain our focus on the core mission of teaching and research, We have a responsibility to students to make sure that

your children to grow up and get

they're not shortchanged in this

into trouble. Our two sons are now

time of economic uncertainty. And

somewhere quite recently that people who laugh more often tend to

grown men and out on their own.

live longer. 1 don't know if the data are very good supporting that, but given the options of laughing or

the answer is really awareness and education. We have to help our stu-

then we have a commitment to quality. I personally believe there's no market for mediocrity in higher

dents make good choices. We

education. Georgia Tech for a long time has been focused on the high-

being sad I'd much prefer to laugh.

need to make sure that they under-

est quality education and the most

But the issue is a complex one and

knows, to finally figure out how a very small portion of nature works is amazingly rewarding."

That's the arbitrariness of a

sonal life and in your professional

rewarding. In chemistry to have a discovery like that, to see the

one else in the world

drinking age. It's really a maturity

order to be effective you have to be able to prioritize things in your per-

of nature works is amazingly

"The act of discovery, of learning somethinq no

Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine â&#x20AC;˘ Fall 2008

33

INTERVIEW "We need to be recog-

cutting-edge research. 1 think we

what is unknowable at this point. If

you to make it through Georgia

nized as being that leader, the pacesetter in

need to keep our eyes on those two

we face a budget contraction of a few percent, then 1 think we can

Tech financially," that really is a commitment that our alumni have

more and more areas. It means investing in the right faculty, investing in the right leadership, bringing the right students to campus."

things: the focus on our core mission and the focus on quality.

We'll work our way through this. The economic cycle is the economic cycle. We'll manage our way through the next year or so. If we do that right, we'll come through it stronger than we went into it and we'll be in a position to benefit when the economy turns around, But we need to be extremely careful in what we do. Georgia Tech is one of the most respected universities in the country now. We cannot sacrifice those advances.

We need the support of our alumni.

made through us for our students.

percent or beyond that, then we're going to have to make some sacrifices.

Without that, Georgia Tech is not Georgia Tech.

How important are alumni to the success of the Institute?

You know, I've been asked that question a lot of times. What I've said, and what 1 truly believe, is that oftentimes the alumni and the philanthropy and the support that they give is viewed as the icing on the cake. What I've said

Tech Promise was important to President Clough.What causes are important to you?

1 would like to see Georgia Tech go to the next level.

We had a retreat just about a year ago where key administrators and academics got together on campus and asked a series of questions about what will take Georgia Tech to the next level. 1 forgot who said it but it was that

our students and faculty, and we're

is really they are the cake itself. If you think about what distinguishes Georgia Tech from a lot of other

going to need some help from the University System of Georgia to

universities, it is things that have been enabled by our alumni and

and appropriately characterized — as a fast follower.

maintain that quality and focus on

by philanthropists who have contributed to Georgia Tech.

We're going to need the support of

our core mission.

Georgia Tech is in good

If you look at what we've

Georgia Tech is characterized —

By that what's meant is that national trends become apparent in education and research and Georgia Tech is on them very

shape. We are moving ahead quite

done in the biotechnology com-

well. I've been quoting Will Rogers, who said that even if you're on the

plex, the buildings that we have

quickly, which is a good thing.

put up, much of that would not

We're very responsive and very

have been possible without the

right track you'll get run over if you're standing still. That's something that I've taken to heart. 1 think

contributions and support of our alumni. That's one of the things

quickly attuned to what's happening at the cutting edge of research and learning and education.

Georgia Tech is on the right track, and we're not going to stand still.

that makes Georgia Tech Georgia Tech.

Really to go to the next step Georgia Tech needs to be recog-

If you look at our leading pro-

nized not only as a fast follower

Can Tech ride through this economic cycle just by carefully monitoring spending or

fessors, those who have endowed chairs, many of the funds for those

but also as a leader, as a trendsetter, as defining the path for-

chairs have been provided by our

w i l l cutbacks be necessary?

alumni. You take those faculty out

ward. 1 think we already do that to some extent, but what we really

We're going to have to streamline some of our operations. That's what 1 mean about coming through

of the equation and Georgia Tech loses its character, loses its edge.

If you look among our students,

this stronger than we went into it.

the scholarships that the students

It's a time for us to step back and to

are awarded attract some of the best students in the nation to

look at what we're doing and say, "Is this the most effective way to do it? Is this the best way of allocating our resources? Is there a more efficient way that we can do what needs to be done?" It's a time for self-assessment and for looking for efficiencies.

Quite frankly, it depends on

34

find that. But if it gets to 4 or 5 or 6

Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine • Fall 2008

need to do is strengthen that. We need to be recognized as being that leader, the pacesetter in more and more areas. It means investing in the right faculty, investing in the right leadership, bringing the

Georgia Tech. You take those out

right students to campus. That's

of the equation and Georgia Tech isn't Georgia Tech.

something that I'm committed to.

You look at what the Tech Promise has been able to do for Georgia Tech, where we say to our students, "You maintain your grades and we'll find a way for

A second thing that came out of this retreat that 1 think is true as well is, because of Georgia

Tech's history and the institution that we are, we are very good and very well recognized for being technically right near the very top.

But intellectually â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and there's a difference between the technical side and the intellectual side â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the intellectual side hasn't caught up with the technical side of the campus.

Georgia Tech is a great place with a great reputation and widely respected nationally and internationally. That doesn't mean that we're as good as we can be. The next level is to deepen that leadership role that we have and to encourage our students to think more broadly, to think outside of their disciplines, to take that chemist and teach him also to be a comedian, to not be afraid to be up on the stage.

We have many leaders within our disciplines. We need to nurture and develop more of our faculty, students and staff to have influence beyond their disciplines.

How do you do that?

You develop a reputation for being able to ask the right questions, not only provide the right answers.

I'm fond of quoting Yogi Berra, who said that you should never predict anything and especially the future, but really that's the job that we're in, trying to guess what the future's going to look like.

We do that in the education of our students. They're going to live their lives in the 21st century and nobody knows what the 21st century is going to look like, but we have to prepare our students to live in

:*V

that environment, we have to guess what the future is going to be, If you guess accurately, or you do your best to do that, you steer yourself toward those goals and you're right more often or at least some of the time, the world is going to recognize you for being able to ask the right questions, not only to answer the ones that already exist.

What areas do you believe will drive Tech's growth in research awards and expenditures?

The answer is creativity.

Creativity is the rarest of human commodities. The way that I often characterize it is that a lot of people, really clever people, know what to do next. The really creative ones, the ones who really understand their field, know what to do.

There's often a difference between knowing what to do next and knowing what to do. What will drive Georgia Tech and its reputation and its ability to maintain its leading roles in research and sponsored funding is being able to bring to our campus those people who know what to do. G T

Seeing Red In his first game, fiery Paul Johnson shows he'll settle for nothing less than perfection

By Van Jensen J^ Photography: Michael A. Schwarz

I

T'S STILL A COUPLE OF HOURS BEFORE THE

game begins, before Paul Johnson leads his Yellow Jackets against an opponent for the first time, before the new era of Georgia Tech football begins. Thousands of fans, draped in gold and white, mill about the north side of Bobby Dodd Stadium when the steam whistle wails and a tenseness builds. Stepping briskly through the crowd, into the stadium, comes the team. Johnson, stoically expressionless, leads his players.

A few days earlier, Johnson had said he'd be nervous before the game, that his gut filled with butterflies before every game as he led Navy, Hawaii and Georgia Southern. It doesn't show.

He appears only as a man on a mission.

The fans break into chants and song, but their faces almost uniformly reflect expressions of uncertainty. The great tradition of Tech football — four championships, 115 seasons, the most lopsided victory in the sport's history — had fallen into a stasis. Not bad but not great — and seven straight losses to rival Georgia.

Here now is Johnson, the latest hope for gridiron dreams. But so many questions remain: Can he win at the highest level? Will his supposedly antiquated triple-option offense work against top-level competition? Can he beat the Bulldogs?

As the Tech fans follow the team into the stadium, they ask these questions. But the only answer seems to be: "We'll see."

T

HE GAME CLOCK IS TICKING DOWN SLOWLY TO

kickoff, and Johnson sits on a bench along the sideline, staring contemplatively out at the field.

Maybe the butterflies have finally found him, because his face shows the same uncertainty of the fans'. Will his game plan work? Will the players perform? Will the home crowd support them?

The opponent tonight is Jacksonville State, a small Division I-AA school from Alabama that features quarterback Ryan Perrilloux, a transfer from national champion Louisiana State.

Because of Perrilloux and because no one knows what to expect from Tech's young squad, the game's been labeled a potential upset. Even Johnson was hard at work downplaying expectations, saying he knew the Gamecocks would bring a good team to Atlanta for the Aug. 28 season opener.

Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine • Fall 2008

37

WP

,

%

O

FF THE FIELD, JOHNSON'S FACE MOSTLY CARRIES

an aw-shucks smile, and he comes off like a straight-talking, friendly neighbor.

As he steps onto the turf, leading players through warm-ups in the north end zone, that demeanor is long gone. Now he's furious over each minor mistake in a drill that's a step above stretching.

This is Johnson the coach, the always-at-boiling-point perfectionist. As the crowd trickles in, the fans watch closely, trying to figure him out.

They know he has a young team and few players recruited to run his system. Give him a year or two, they say.

What then? What if three years go by and there's still no big win over Georgia or a conference championship? "We'll see." ***

A

FTER FORCING A JACKSONVILLE STATE PUNT,

Georgia Tech takes the ball. There's a collective hush; everyone is waiting to see what this crazy, run-heavy offense of Johnson's looks like.

Sophomore quarterback Josh Nesbitt takes the snap and — surprise — steps back to throw, tossing the ball 30-some yards down the field and just past the fingertips of his intended receiver.

Incomplete. Second down. But it's much more than a missed catch. It's a statement from Johnson, a declaration that he's willing to do the unexpected, that the triple option has more wrinkles than most people think, that this Tech team is going to take chances.

He hammers the point home a few plays later, when the Yellow Jackets push the ball deep but stall at fourth and one — normally a punting situation. The crowd buzzes as Johnson sends the offense back out, and they bruise to a first down.

Slowly, the fans' faith is building. But then the possession dead-ends and Tech is forced to punt after all. ** *

I

T HAPPENS IN A FLASH. INTERCEPTION BY TECH.

B-Back Jonathan Dwyer springing loose outside the tackle, zipping 21 yards to the end zone. A couple of minutes later, it's Nesbitt for two yards and another touchdown, 14-0.

Among the faces in the stands, the look of uncertainty recedes, replaced with grins.

"Maybe."

As the second quarter starts, the Yellow Jackets are on the verge of putting the game away, driving to the Jacksonville State goal line. Twice, Tech backs slam the ball into the defense, and

both times are held out of the end zone. On the sideline, Johnson is red-faced mad, screaming instructions.

Next play, Nesbitt dives in, 21-0. The game may as well be over, with Tech's experienced defense turning back the Gamecocks on every possession. But as the offense jogs back to the sideline, Johnson looks ready to boil over. He pulls Nesbitt aside, gesturing and yelling.

After the game, Nesbitt will explain what happened after his touchdown. Johnson was mad at the offensive line for not blocking well enough, for not making it easier to get in the end zone.

Is that the angriest Nesbitt has seen Johnson? He laughs. "No." ** *

I

What if three years go by and there's still no big win over Georgia or a conference championship?

F THERE'S ANY SURPRISE TONIGHT, IT'S HOW LITTLE

Johnson uses his bread and butter, the triple option.

It's the signature play of his offense, a play designed on uncertainty, no one on either side of the ball knowing whether it will succeed or fail until the play has ended.

Just before the half, Nesbitt runs an option right and the defense reads it perfectly, seals him off. But he spins out of their grasp, runs Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine • Fall 2008

39

^^ii

1

-

'J** IP*

clear around to the other sideline and breaks loose for a huge gain. First down, Tech.

In any one option play, there are so many uncontrollable elements dictating the outcome.

But Johnson's offense thrives on that uncertainty, harnessing the chaos in its way.

Shortly before the half, Dwyer breaks loose again for 29 yards and a touchdown, 27-0. ***

Johnson's offense thrives on uncertainty, harnessing the chaos.

T

HE SECOND HALF BEGINS AS POORLY AS IT COULD.

Jacksonville State kicks off and the Tech returner fumbles it away. The Gamecocks take the ball and quickly score on a Perrilloux pass, 27-7.

Just like that, the crowd hushes, but this time not out of anticipation. Maybe that fast start was too good to be true?

Tech handles the kickoff this time and, through short runs and passes, moves the ball just past midfield. Johnson watches their movements intently and calls the next play in to Nesbitt.

At the snap, Nesbitt fakes the handoff to the A-Back and sprints right. There's one defender free, and he goes straight for the quarterback. But the second before the tackle, Nesbitt pitches off to B-Back Roddy Jones.

Forty-nine yards later, Jones is celebrating another touchdown. The triple option run perfectly, just like it's drawn up, 34-7.

For a moment, Johnson almost seems to smile. ***

E

ACH TEAM TACKS ON ONE MORE TOUCHDOWN,

and the game ends an easy 41-14 win for Johnson and Tech. The Jackets pile up 484 yards â&#x20AC;&#x201D; most of it on the ground.

Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine â&#x20AC;˘ Fall 2008

4 1

He's still fixated on Jacksonville State, figuring out what went wrong

The uncertainty has all but vanished from fans' faces as they file out into the muggy night.

In the north end zone, Tech's players gather and sing the fight song along with students standing in the bleachers. Everyone's smiling.

As Johnson sits down at the postgame press conference, he appears anything but happy. He isn't satisfied with his first win at Georgia Tech, and he isn't pondering what the future may hold.

He's still fixated on Jacksonville State, figuring out what went wrong.

He's already itching to put on the game film, dissect the little losses within the victory. There isn't a part of the team that escapes his criticism.

"We had some drops and missed blocking assignments," he says of the A-Backs. "We lost intensity in the second half," he says of the defense.

"Down on the goal line, I'm really disappointed," he says of the offensive line.

"The kicking game was horrendous. It was awful," he says of special teams.

It's not good enough. Never good enough.

Never satisfied. But, for a moment at least, Johnson acknowledges that his team did come out on top.

"Forty one is more than 14," he says. "I'm not really smart, but I do know that." ***

D

ARRYL RICHARD IS ONE OF THE MORE SAGE

members of the football team, a standout defensive tackle and All-ACC Academic Team member.

After the game, he walks with the slight limp of a man who just spent an evening in the trenches, slamming into fellow 300-plus-pound behemoths. More than most players, Richard looks at the game in a contemplative light.

"This is a journey of a thousand miles," he says, looking ahead to a season that will grow more and more difficult. "We have to start with one step."

For Johnson, the journey is one of returning Georgia Tech to the top of the college football world, proving it can be done, proving his system can work, proving Georgia can be defeated.

So many uncertainties remain, so many things yet to accomplish. But, at the very least, Johnson showed Yellow Jackets fans that his system does work.

More importantly, he showed that no one wants to see Georgia Tech football succeed more than he does. OT 42

Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine â&#x20AC;˘ Fall 2008

Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine â&#x20AC;˘ Fall 2008

43

From Spanish paella to Southern barbecue, Cajun to Mexican, savory to sweet, Georgia Tech alumni are influencing what Americans are eating. Meet five Tech graduates who have engineered careers as restaurateurs, gourmets and industry leaders. Riccardo Ullio made a name

-â&#x20AC;˘

restaurant. He's now spread beyond his roots to bring his take on Brazilian and Spanish cuisine to Midtown, Mat Hnthmnaii and a m~7iinrkpr hntrhpd a nlnu for a harhp-

cue restaurant after smoking 28 turkeys for Thanksgiving. Alumnus John Howton's Blackwater Grill sewes up fresh Cajun, low-country and Southern-coastal food on St. Simons Island. Dan Pittard is the president and CEO ofRubio's Fresh Mexican Grill, which introduced the fish taco to America, Pittard is working to bring Rubio's to cities across America. Dale Potts worked in the construction industry for more than 20 years before launching Sugar Marsh Cottage to sell her handmade cookies and confections. All five have used their Tech educations to build their food careers.

Photos: Caroline Joe

44

Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine â&#x20AC;˘Fall 2008

L

About Fine Food

By Van Jensen

T

HE BULL. INEVITABLY, IT IS THE FIRST THING

that comes up when talking about Riccardo Ullio's latest restaurant, Cuerno. And for good reason — it's the first thing you see when stepping inside the Midtown eatery.

Pedro, as Ullio calls him (named in honor of Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar), dominates the intimate setting, standing about 6 feet at the shoulders, constructed of a kaleidoscope of scrap metal. A couple of years ago, when Ullio, CE 90, MS EnvE 93, first began looking into opening a Spanish restaurant, he knew he needed a bull.

"It's by Thomas Prochnow, who's a local sculptor," Ullio says. "I wanted to have a bull, because it's a symbol of Spain, and the restaurant's authentic Spanish. I saw his work over at the Mason Murer Fine Art gallery, and as soon as I saw his work I said, 'This is the man to make my bull.'"

That mix of European tradition and modernism is typical of Ullio, who has become one of Atlanta's most successful restaurateurs through blending the old and new. He started with the Italian restaurant Sotto Sotto, which consistently has been one of the best-reviewed spots in the city, being called a "flavor haven" and the 2006 restaurant of the year by the Atlanta journalConstitution.

Ullio's second success was Fritti, a pizzeria next door to Sotto Sotto in the Inman Park neighborhood, and it also saw immediate success. > »

Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine • Fall 2008

45

Riccardo Ullio uses his Tech skills to build a restaurant empire.

46

"Sotto Sotto and Fritti are plugging along," Ullio says. "They can just keep chugging along like they are and we'll be happy with that."

When it was time to try something new, Ullio first opted for a healthy lounge concept, opening Beleza at 905 Juniper St. in Midtown a little more than a year ago. It's become known for its Brazilian drinks and menu, as well as its top DJs and live music.

Then, in January, Ullio opened Cuerno next door, giving him an outlet for his love of Spanish food and culture.

"Spanish food is really hot; it's one of the hottest food trends in the nation," he says. "I love Spain. Barcelona is one of my favorite cities in the world."

Before opening Cuerno, Ullio spent time in Spain picking up new recipes, just as he'd traveled through his native Italy before opening Sotto Sotto. However, he doesn't spend much time in the Cuerno kitchen.

"There's a lot of Spanish food I like, but I don't necessarily like to make any of it," he says.

"I like making Italian food, but I like to eat Spanish food."

As Ullio's business, U Restaurants, has grown, he's shifted his focus from the kitchen to managing, planning and even designing the restaurants.

"I built a lot of my own restaurants — I was a civil engineer — so I know about air flow," he says. "When the air conditioning isn't working, I can figure it out. Engineering teaches you to solve problems. They're always going to arise, and they're always going to have to be solved."

In the food industry, there are "a million problems," he says, because it combines production, sales and marketing, and it deals with a tricky product and a fickle consumer.

But, as Ullio likes to say, "if we can put a man on the moon, we can solve anything."

One can only wonder what's next for Ullio.

What type of food will he bring to his next restaurant?

"I don't know, I can't answer that question right now," he says with a laugh. "I'd like to go on a vacation."

Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine • Fall 2008

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Smokes' Moniker Matches Mission

By Kimberly Link-Wills

T

WO CO-WORKERS, EACH THE OWNERS OF A BlC

Green Egg, had a big idea. Why not put out the word to their friends and colleagues and sell a few smoked turkeys for Thanksgiving?

Mat Hathaway, EE 01, then a broadcast engineer with In Touch Ministries, and Kenny Garren had 28 takers — and those two Big Green Eggs.

The pair stayed up all night, smoking four turkeys at a time and transferring them to an oven to finish cooking. Thanks to an unexpected blessing of blustery weather that chilled the air to 26 degrees, they were able to cool the birds on an 8-foot-long table set up outside Hathaway's house.

"In the middle of the night, we were sitting in chairs back to back," Garren says of that cold night a few years back. "I'm leaning against him, and he's leaning against me. He says, 'Don't you ever get me into anything like this again.' Now we own a restaurant."

Even though they were bone tired while delivering the turkeys, the wheels were already turning. A friend, when told they had fulfilled orders for 28 turkeys, exclaimed, "Holy smokes!"

"We just looked at each other and said, 'That's going to be the name of the business if we ever have one,'" Hathaway says.

Holy Smokes Barbecue opened for business at 1944 Braselton Highway in Buford, Ga., in the fall of 2006. Garren left In Touch Ministries to run the place. Hathaway juggles restaurant co-ownership and his present job as a systems engineer with TI Broadcast Solutions Group, for which he works with such clients as Great American Country. A third partner and former co-worker, Brian Hume, is the media director for Hebron Baptist Church in Dacula, Ga., and Holy Smokes' chief financial officer.

After Hathaway and Garren recovered from the turkey-smoking episode, they bought a smoker with a 3-by-4-foot cooking surface.

"We started offering some catering. We had a couple of people from churches hire us to do events. That was kind of the beginning of everything," Hathaway says.

Hathaway, Garren and Hume carpooled to work and started straying from their usual route to check out restaurant sites. None of them had experience running a restaurant. They call their immersion into the business a crash course.

"It's not even the stuff that you think it's going to be. It's 90 percent running a business and 10 percent cooking. I bring the brains," Hathaway cracks after admitting that Garren is the creative force behind the food. "I do most of the technical stuff. I manage the Web site (www.holysmokes-bbq.com). I create the marketing materials."

With seating for less than three dozen barbecue eaters at a time, Holy Smokes is tucked at the end of a small strip of stores, a Chinese restaurant on the opposite end, along developing Highway 124 in northern Gwinnett County.

"This location is an investment for us," Hathaway says. "This intersection sees 25,000 cars a day, but it's not a destination. We saw the development that was going on here and decided that if we can invest here and get established, as this corner develops we'll develop with it and our business will grow. We've seen that happen slowly."

When the co-owners saw the space, they knew it was meant to be. The architect's > Âť

Mat Hathaway, EE 01, and Kenny Garren have turned 28 turkeys and an all-nighter into a barbecue business.

Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine â&#x20AC;˘ Fall 2008

47

"There is a ton of had barbecue out there.

Our focus is making a good product and always making it the same way. The ribs are going to be just as good tomorrow as they are today."

48

interior decorator had painted a couple of walls red, the others gold — a sure sign for the Tech alum and his partners, both Georgia fans. The walls, now adorned with paraphernalia from both institutions, help Holy Smokes stand out from other strip mall joints and are a conversation starter among patrons waiting for takeout.

The partners themselves are as different as red and gold, although it was important to all three not to be open for business on Sundays to allow them and their employees to attend church and spend time with their families. They've learned that they need to meet weekly to stay on the same page.

"I've never fought with anybody more than I've fought with these two guys," Garren says.

"But at the same time, we all love each other as friends. Statistically, we're supposed to fail as a business and as friends. We've just set out to be different."

Hathaway adds, "Communication is really the center of all that. There was a time that we didn't have meetings once a week. It made things way more difficult because there were things that needed to be said that weren't being said."

There is no disagreement about Holy Smokes' secret sauce. "The sauce is really important," Garren says. "I'd create one, then we all three would taste it. After the fourth time, 1 got it right and we all agreed."

As the restaurant was being equipped with its two commercial smokers that can handle 1,200 pounds of meat, there was a lot of tasting going on as all of the recipes were cooked up by Garren, with input from his partners. Still today, the meat and all the fixings are prepared on site.

"We've got a very basic barbecue menu," Hathaway says. "It's your standard barbecue fare — pulled pork, smoked chicken, ribs — and your standard sides — cole slaw, baked beans, green beans, fried okra, things like that.

"There is a ton of bad barbecue out there.

Our focus is making a good product and always making it the same way. The ribs are going to be just as good tomorrow as they are today," Hathaway says. "If we had to say what makes us strong, that's it: the consistency and the good food."

Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine ••Fall2008

ajun at the Core

By Leslie Overman

A

FRAMED PHOTO OF THE UNIVERSITY OF

Georgia's bulldog mascot hangs behind the bar at Blackwater Grill. It's a reminder of a bet that the restaurant's owner, John Howton, lost to a UGA fan.

Howton, GMgt 73, has done his best to disguise Uga's mug, draping white and gold Mardi Gras beads over the picture frame. But there the photo will hang until Tech defeats Georgia.

"We're like the Georgia Tech headquarters here," Howton says. "It's a sea of bulldogs with a little island of Georgia Tech."

Blackwater Grill is no sports bar, but come football season, Howton clears off a shelf behind the bar for a second TV. He also hosts the Golden Isles Georgia Tech Club's annual low-country boil at the restaurant to send off Tech's incoming freshmen from the area.

Tucked away in St. Simons Island's Redfern Village, a small cluster of antiques stores, bars and eateries, Blackwater Grill caters to Yellow Jackets and Bulldogs fans alike with its mix of Cajun, low-country and Southern-coastal flavors.

The restaurant's Brunswick stew twice has placed first in the Brunswick Stewbilee. Howton now is in talks with Sam's Club, which is interested in selling the stew in its Southeastern stores.

The Okefenokee Swamp's black water, known for its fresh, pure quality, inspired the

When he opened Blackwater Grill, John Howton, GMgt 73, decided "we were not going to start anybody's meal until they ordered it, and we were going to use the freshest ingredients we could possibly get."

restaurant's name and philosophy. "We decided we were not going to start anybody's meal until they ordered it, and we were going to use the freshest ingredients we could possibly get," Howton says.

Blackwater Grill's signature dish is the shrimp and grits. Chef Jamie Cadden puts a spin

on the Southern favorite, replacing the usual mound of grits with a grilled grit cake, which is topped with shrimp and andouille sausage in a cream sauce made fresh to order. The Cajun dryrubbed ribs are "fabulous, tender as my heart," Howton says.

Other popular dishes include andouille > Âť

Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine â&#x20AC;˘ Fall 2008

49

*ÂŁ**

* * > - â&#x20AC;˘ -

"If it's not a passion with you, you're just going to fail. ...So many guys think running a restaurant is going to be sitting at a bar and watching it happen, but that's just not the case. You've got to be out there doing everything you can possibly do."

50

sausage corn dogs and Cajun pasta. A standout among the restaurant's desserts is Aunt Louise's pecan pie, which Howton and his wife, Rhonda, make personally from a family recipe. Top it off with a dollop of fresh whipped cream or a scoop of the day's homemade ice cream.

Calorie counters vacationing at St. Simons can pick from a selection of lighter entrees like "skinny fettuccine" or a dinner salad topped with "no more blimp shrimp."

The son of a Naval officer, Howton moved around a lot growing up, but he never lived in New Orleans. The Cajun-influenced menu came about simply because that's what St. Simons was lacking.

"When we first came down here, our goal was to open a restaurant," Howton says. "We had a financial plan, but we did not have an exact theme. When you've been in the restaurant business, you realize that the type of food matters less than the quality and quantity of the food."

Howton got his start in the restaurant business as a student at Tech. "I was in the process of cramming my four years into five when my parents said, 'If you're going to take that long, you've got to get a job,'" he recalls. So Howton, who says he was the only poor Alpha Tau Omega member in history, began waiting tables.

Following graduation, he joined Gilbert Robinson Inc., which owned Houlihan's restaurants, and held management positions in Atlanta, St. Louis, Indianapolis and Dallas.

Howton left the restaurant industry in the '80s and spent 17 years managing a small pawnshop in downtown Atlanta. He also managed a baseball team owned by Mike Duggan, Phys 73, an old friend from Georgia Tech. It was Duggan who asked him if he would be interested in returning to the restaurant business, this time on St. Simons Island.

"Initially, I said, 'No, no way,'" Howton recalls. "And then I heard the St. Simons part of it. My college roommate, Bill Dart (GMgt 72), was from Brunswick, so I'd been going to St. Simons since I was a freshman in college."

The business partners purchased a former all-you-can-eat crab shack and decided to give it a rustic, fish camp atmosphere to match the

Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine â&#x20AC;˘ Fall 2008

menu, renovating the space themselves and enlisting their wives for help with the finishing touches. "Mike and I were the only labor we could afford, so we got in here and started hammering," Howton says. "After all of those years in the pawnshop business, I had every tool known to man. It was a lot of fun."

Just a few months into the business venture, Duggan had to return to Atlanta to tend to business, and Howton took over as sole owner of the restaurant. He and Rhonda were working seven nights a week.

Keeping a restaurant in business is tough work. Keeping a restaurant in business in a seasonal spot like St. Simons is even tougher. Blackwater Grill opened in December 2000, in the midst of the island's off-season.

Howton is quick to point out the harsh reality of the restaurant industry, saying, "One out of every nine restaurants lasts until the third year, which is a very huge failure rate. So it wasn't until the third year that we were able to stop scrambling and have a staff that would stay with us for a good while."

Howton says the key to developing a dedicated staff is treating your employees well, something he says he learned from a management course at Georgia Tech taught by professor Phil Adler.

"Most of the time if you do a poll of what's the most important product that an employee takes away from a business, it won't be a paycheck. It will be the respect and the camaraderie with their managers, with their owners, with their fellow employees," Howton says.

And it was an industrial management class in which he worked on a large construction project that taught him a lesson in time management.

"Those two things stuck with me, not only through management with Houlihan's, but when your name is the only one up there, you either do it right or get out and find another job," he says.

"If it's not a passion with you, you're just going to fail. It's as simple as that. So many guys think running a restaurant is going to be sitting at a bar and watching it happen, but that's just not the case. You've got to be out there doing everything you can possibly do."

ubio's Fresh Approach

By Kimberly Link-Wills

D

AN PITTARD NEVER ATE A TACO AS A TECH

student. Today he's the president and CEO of Rubio's Fresh Mexican Grill.

Pittard, IM 71, was hired by the Californiabased chain in 2006 for his fresh ideas.

"My predecessor was from Taco Bell, and she chose to compete on price. As a small chain, we don't have the economy of scale of a big chain like Taco Bell or McDonald's or Burger King," Pittard says. "We really have to offer delicious, unique-tasting food. That's what got Rubio's started. 1 wanted to take it back to its roots."

The roots took hold in 1983, when Ralph Rubio opened a taco stand in Mission Beach, Calif.

"Ralph Rubio introduced the fish taco to America," Pittard says, pointing out that the recipe, which includes crispy, beer-battered seafood, shredded cabbage, salsa and a tangy white sauce, made food industry waves when it appeared in Gourmet magazine.

â&#x20AC;˘*w

CEO Dan Pittard is taking Rubio's back to its Baja roots.

*r* "There are people who still want speed, but they want interesting food. Then you have people who are squeezed with the economy who arc trading down from casual dining and fine dining. Those trends have allowed the fast-casual segment to grow rapidly in the restaurant industry."

52

Rubio's Fresh Mexican Grill now serves Bajastyle tacos, burritos, enchiladas, quesadillas and salads at more than 180 locations in California, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado and Utah.

"The chain has primarily been in California and Arizona, but we are looking to expand. We will make it to the East Coast. The research that we've done shows there's a growing demand for Mexican food in the fast-casual segment. Fast casual is the fastest-growing segment of the restaurant industry â&#x20AC;&#x201D; $15 [billion], $16 billion a year right now and growing," Pittard says.

Rubio's competitors include Moe's Southwest Grill, Chipotle, Qdoba, Baja Fresh and La Salsa.

"Our distinction is about half of our sales are seafood. We sell lobster burritos and tacos. We do a lot with shrimp, mahi mahi and salmon," Pittard says. "While we have steak and chicken and vegetarian items, we have a much broader selection of seafood."

Rubio's isn't on its way to the East Coast just yet. Pittard is monitoring the economy and keeping expansion plans in check.

"It's probably in the two- to four-year time frame," he says. "The biggest impact for us has been the subprime mortgage problem. California, Arizona and Nevada are three of the hardest-hit states.

"We're confident that we'll ride it out. Tt won't be a boom time during this period, but we think we'll be well positioned when the economy turns. We will open a total of 17 restaurants this year," Pittard says. "For the first time in years, sales in groceries grew more than sales in restaurants last year. That's just people eating at home more rather than eating out."

Still, in the second quarter of 2008, Rubio's revenues increased 4.9 percent over the same quarter the previous year to $45.1 million.

"There are people who still want speed, but they want interesting food. Then you have people who are squeezed with the economy who are trading down from casual dining and fine dining.

Those trends have allowed the fast-casual segment to grow rapidly in the restaurant industry," he says.

Pittard talks with Rubio himself several

Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine â&#x20AC;˘ Fall 2008

times a week. "He likes creating new dishes so he works with our food and beverage team coming up with new food items for us. We've introduced probably a dozen new items over the last two years. We probably came up with a couple of hundred ideas."

The latest addition is the grilled gourmet taco, available with shrimp, steak, chicken or portobello mushroom on a corn tortilla, topped with toasted cheeses, habanero citrus salsa, Cotija cheese and chipotle picante sauce.

"For each one, we have unique sauces we've developed. We finish off with slices of avocado," Pittard says. "The response has been very strong.

We spent a year developing them."

Pittard has experience with product introduction. While the senior vice president and general manager for new ventures for Frito-Lay, he was responsible for introducing the Taco Bell brand in grocery stores.

His resume also includes tenure as senior vice president of operations for PepsiCo Foods International. (PepsiCo owns Frito-Lay.) He was a group vice president with Amoco Corp. and a partner at McKinsey & Co. Pittard never worked at a taco stand.

"I don't remember us eating Mexican at all" at Tech, says Pittard, who went on to earn a Harvard MBA. "When I was living in Boston, a friend of mine who was Hispanic took me to a

Mexican restaurant in Boston. The food was just great. That's the first noteworthy Mexican restaurant that I remember. It was very small, family operated, but the food was just terrific."

Pittard's days at Tech did help prepare him for success in the business world.

"My degree in industrial management was a very strong foundation in all the functions of management, from strategy to marketing to accounting," he says. "I always tell people when I think of my Tech education the opportunities I had in various student leadership positions were some of the most valuable things I had while I was at Tech and were really great experience.

That was very helpful in building leadership skills."

Pittard was a dorm resident adviser and active in his fraternity, Sigma Chi. He was inducted into the honorary societies Omicron Delta Kappa, Koseme and ANAK. As student body president, Pittard pushed for — and achieved — an improved registration process and funding for a student athletic complex.

He has tried to remain involved with Tech matters. He served as an Alumni Association trustee from 1986 to 1989 and as chair of the Georgia Tech Advisory Board in 1997-98. As a student and then as an alum, Pittard has worked directly with three Institute presidents: Joseph Pettit, Pat Crecine and Wayne Clough.

Pittard didn't enroll at Tech to become a politician or a restaurant CEO. "My initial ambition was to become an astronaut," he says. "At the time, aerospace engineering was the big, hot major. In my sophomore year, they called everyone in and said, 'We landed on the moon. The funding for space exploration is going to be cut and there won't be many jobs for aerospace engineers. You've got to really think about what you want to major in.'

"A lot of people switched out of aerospace engineering at that time. No one mentioned the shuttle program when I made that decision. I don't think that had been conceived. Everyone said, 'The next goal will be Mars and that's decades off.'"

Pittard is banking on Rubio's reaching the East Coast before man reaches Mars.

CTP

J

I iving M the Sweet Life

By Kimberly Link-Wills

D

"It was kind of a bonding thing between father and daughter. It was fabulous. My mother was a gourmet cook.

I learned from Mother as well but really learned baking from my dad."

ALH SMITH POTTS' CUSTOMERS MUST BE

grateful her job in the construction industry was sidetracked. It inspired her to share her gourmet shortbread and confections with a new recipe for success.

Potts, BS 79, BC 80, founder and owner of Sugar Marsh Cottage Specialty Confections Inc., learned to bake from her father, Frank Smith Jr., CE 46. "Dad loved to bake pies. He had the canvas mat with the pie crust diameters on it. It was kind of a bonding thing between father and daughter. It was fabulous," Potts says. "My mother was a gourmet cook. I learned from Mother as well but really learned baking from my dad."

Her father also inspired Potts to attend Georgia Tech, where she continued to bake between studies and projects. "There were several buddies of mine in the College of Architecture study abroad program. I would send them packages containing my baked goods. One of those people is my husband," she says of architect Charlie Potts, Arch 78, M Arch 80.

"The majority of my career was with Hardin Construction," Potts says. "I really enjoyed what I was doing, but I was ready for a change. I was managing interior construction for Hardin and my division and position were phased out. That was the catalyst.

"I had had the idea in the back of my mind for quite some time. You know when you > »

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Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine • Fall 2008

53

"A lot of shortbread companies use machines to produce their cookies. Our shortbread is hand placed in specialty molds. It's labor intensive, but we think the product speaks for itself."

54

want to try something but you need something to happen? That happened, and I thought, 'Why not? It's the perfect opportunity to give this a try.' I told my husband that I didn't want to say later, T really wish I'd tried that.'"

For years, Potts had been giving as gifts what would become her signature product, seashell-shaped shortbread cookies in homage to the Georgia coast.

"In 1993 my husband and 1 bought a cottage in Darien, Georgia," she says. "Our first products were the Shortbread Coquilles and the toffee, which we had shared with our neighbors there.

"A lot of shortbread companies use machines to produce their cookies. Our shortbread is hand placed in specialty molds. It's labor intensive, but we think the product speaks for itself," Potts says.

Potts designed the logo and packaging and, through a friend, arranged to lease the commercial kitchen at the Bona Allen Mansion in Buford, Ga. She unveiled her products to wholesale buyers at the Atlanta Gourmet Market at the AmericasMart in 2006.

"We won best in show for our booth for outstanding visual display. We were awarded several Best of Atlanta designations with our Chocolate Dipped Coquilles and Sweet Almond Toffee. Our executive gift box won first place for packaging. I was stunned," Potts says. "We wrote a lot of orders that first show as a result of those awards."

Now in its fourth year, Sugar Marsh Cottage will turn a profit in 2008. "Seventy-five percent of our business is wholesale," she says. "We now have over 250 customers, and over 150 stores carry our products. Most of the shops are in and around the Southeast, but we do ship to New York and to California."

She describes the first time she saw her cookies in a store as "exhilarating. Then the architect in me came out. I had to critique each package. If a ribbon wasn't just right, I'd straighten the ribbon and tag."

Sugar Marsh Cottage now sells three shortbread cookies, five confections and three gift boxes. The Island Box contains six Shortbread

Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine â&#x20AC;˘ Fail 2008

Coquilles, six Chocolate Dipped Coquilles, half a pound of Sweet Almond Toffee, 12 Cattails (chocolate-dipped pretzels), six white chocolate mint Angel Wings and a three-and-a-half-inch Praline Coconut Tartlette for $75.

Each piece is individually packaged and tucked under layers of polka-dotted cellophane in a sturdy white box tied up with a thick chartreuse grosgrain ribbon.

Now with five part-time employees, Potts hasn't relied on half-baked ideas to expand her business. "I studied other companies that I thought were similar to ours. I did utilize the Small Business Association. They conducted a focus study for me. I know the quantity of product I can produce in a certain amount of time, and I know the amount of ingredients it takes to do that," she says. "Early on I did a rudimentary flowchart for my production.

"We are seeking more key corporate wholesale accounts like Williams-Sonoma and other large gourmet specialty food people," Potts says.

"We're not the type of product that's sold in grocery stores. We're a gourmet gift."

Sugar Marsh Cottage products also are sold through its own Web site and are being added to the online Gourmet Food Mall, Potts says. "We are going to have a virtual storefront with five products on their Web site."

Potts remains the Sugar Marsh Cottage CEO, research and development department and head baker â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and she answers the phone when brides-to-be call to place custom orders.

"We produce wedding favors containing two Angel Wings in a petite package with a custom ribbon in the bride's colors. Then we will prepare a little custom tag with the bride and groom's names and the wedding date. They're really pretty. We had a little blurb in Elegant Bride magazine last winter," she says. "I have fun with special projects like that. I like to have the personal contact because we do specialize in the custom tags and custom gifts.

"I don't want our company to be in a position where we accept an order we can't produce. We've grown slowly, and we want to continue to expand. We know what our limitations are." GT

Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine â&#x20AC;˘ Fall 2008

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Georgia Tech The Institute's Savannah campus offers students the same top-notch engineering education without the big-city bustle

By Leslie Overman

Early one Thursday morning in mid-August, David Frost finished up some work in his thirdfloor office and headed downstairs. Georgia Tech Savannah's newest set of students was to arrive on campus that morning for orientation, and faculty and staff were invited to drop by the lobby to greet them over coffee and doughnuts.

As he stepped off the elevator, Frost saw a line of about 40 students waiting to get their Buzz Cards.

"My first reaction was, 'Wow, this is the first time I've seen a legitimate line on our campus, and it's awesome/" says Frost, director of Georgia Tech Savannah. "You just feel a completely different energy."

Frost joined the Tech faculty as a civil engineering professor in 1992 and now is a vice provost.

Just five years old, Georgia Tech Savannah has a student body of about 250 undergraduate and graduate students â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a far cry from the more than 19,400 on the Atlanta campus. But with the recent addition of new academic programs, including a joint-degree track with a nearby university, enrollment numbers have been climbing.

Georgia Tech Savannah welcomed its largest group of students to campus in August.

Goes Coastal Its campus may not have dormitories or a football stadium, or the students to fill them, but Georgia Tech Savannah offers students the same world-class engineering education found on the Atlanta campus in a more intimate, coastal setting.

Since 1998, the Georgia Tech Regional Engineering Program has allowed students like Wimberly to obtain Georgia Tech degrees in civil, computer, electrical, environmental or mechanical engineering without ever setting foot on the North Avenue campus.

Students in the program begin their undergraduate careers by taking their core courses at one of three partner institutions: Armstrong Atlantic State University, Georgia Southern University or Savannah State University. They then transfer to Georgia Tech at the start of their junior years to complete their engineering degrees.

The program, Frost says, grew out of a desire between the chancellor's office and the Board of Regents to initiate additional engineering-education activities in the southern part of the state. An ancillary goal to spur economic growth in the region through graduate programs and research activities led to the creation of a new Georgia Tech campus.

After a series of discussions involving the Board of Regents, chancellor's office, Georgia Tech and the GTREP partner institutions, and a donation of land to the University System of Georgia by the Savannah Economic Development Authority, Georgia Tech Savannah opened its doors in 2003.

The campus occupies a 46-acre tract of land in an industrial park about 10 miles northwest of downtown Savannah. A cafe, library, student

This Isn't Georgia Tech Lite

A

FTER HE'S AWARDED A BACHELOR'S DEGREE FROM

Georgia Tech, Taylor Wimberly hopes to get a job with the federal government and travel the world. But the Hinesville, Ga., native, who professes to being a bit of a country boy, wasn't interested in traveling as far as Atlanta for college.

Wimberly, a fourth-year civil engineering major, now is in his second year at Georgia Tech Savannah. He spent his freshman and sophomore years at Armstrong Atlantic State University.

The appeal to Georgia Tech Savannah? "It's not Atlanta for one," Wimberly says with a smile.

"I didn't have to deal with the big city and that kind of stuff. It was more economically feasible to stay at home."

1 ^ 1

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Photo: Raul DeJesus

fill III â&#x20AC;˘

n

I

I

"The standards we place on everything we do here arc the same as Atlanta. Our faculty, our expectations for promotion and tenure, they're the same as Atlanta,"says David Frost, above, the director of Georgia Tech Savannah.

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lounge, faculty and staff offices, distance-capable classrooms and more than 30 instructional and research laboratories are housed in the campus' three buildings.

Although many students at Georgia Tech Savannah are from the region, there are a number of out-of-state and international students. Starting two years ago, Georgia Tech Savannah began admitting transfer students from any university.

Of this year's 44 graduate students, 25 come from outside the United States.

Starting this fall, a new dual-degree program with Armstrong Atlantic State allows students to begin taking Georgia Tech courses as freshmen.

From day one, Frost says, the students are enrolled both at Armstrong and at Tech. They will attend classes on the Armstrong campus for their first two years, working toward an associate's degree in engineering studies from Armstrong, and will spend their final two years at Georgia

Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine â&#x20AC;˘ Fall 2008

Tech Savannah to obtain a bachelor's degree from Tech.

Thirty students have enrolled in the program and now are taking GT1000, a course previously unavailable to Georgia Tech Savannah students.

Frost says the new program will allow Georgia Tech Savannah to "engage much earlier with the students."

Frost says that Georgia Tech Savannah students are matching Atlanta students in performance. Savannah students have been honored alongside Atlanta students for having some of the highest Institute-wide GPAs and have received National Science Foundation fellowships.

"The standards we place on everything we do here are the same as Atlanta," he says. "Our faculty, our expectations for promotion and tenure, they're the same as Atlanta, and, in fact, they're an integral part of the same process.

Similarly, the admissions criteria for students are

the same, and our expectations of the students are the same.

"This is not and never was intended to be a Georgia Tech lite. ... I have no desire to see anything but one quality metric assigned to the name of Georgia Tech."

Engineering on the Coast

I

F YOU CROSS THE TECH TOWER LAWN, YOU'RE LIKELY

to see a squirrel or two dart across your path.

At Georgia Tech Savannah, you may spot a fox, deer or coyote. Word has it that an alligator even made its way onto campus last year.

Bordered by wetlands and dotted with palm trees, Georgia Tech Savannah not only has an atmosphere that is distinctly coastal in flavor, it also has a coastal thrust to its academic and research initiatives.

"Georgia Tech in Atlanta, all of its programs are both extensive and high quality, so the worst

thing we could try to do is implement identical programs, because guess who our biggest competitor would be? Ourselves," Frost says.

"As we have developed the program and continue to develop it, we look for ways to take advantage of some of these geographic or local attributes — i.e. the coast — as a way to build programs that do complement those in Atlanta."

Researchers at Georgia Tech Savannah have been investigating things like wave- and currentgenerated energy, hurricanes and tsunamis. Civil and environmental engineers at Savannah are performing research that could help save loggerhead turtles, an endangered species, from being killed or injured by boats off the coast of Georgia.

An assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, Fumin Zhang's research in control and sensing will help oceanographers gather and analyze data using autonomous underwater vehicles. Zhang has established a lab on the campus for the study of autonomous mobile observational networks and a robotics teaching and outreach lab.

Chris Barnes, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, who previously worked with the Georgia Tech Research Institute in Atlanta, has received a grant from the National Geospatial-intelligence Agency to explore the use of image-driven data mining. He's also helping design the software that will run the next-generation radars on the Navy's next class of cruiser.

Georgia Tech Savannah's proximity to the coast also opens up more opportunities for collaborations between the Atlanta and Savannah campuses on water-related research.

Francesco Fedele, a civil engineering professor at Georgia Tech Savannah, has teamed up with graduate student Guillermo Gallego and professor Anthony Yezzi, both in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering in Atlanta, to work on wave-statistics research that could determine the impact water motion has on nearshore buildings and off-shore towers as close as Georgia and as far away as Italy.

Working with two researchers in Italy, Alvise Benetazzo of Protecno and Alessio Boscolo of Phoenix Ricerca e Tecnologie Ottiche, Fedele's group designed new wave-analysis instrumentation that uses stereo imagery to reconstruct water surface over both space and time. Unlike the traditional methods used to analyze waves, the

"We look for ways to take advantage of some of these geographic or local attributes — i.e. the coast — as a way to build programs that do complement those in Atlanta,"Frost says.

Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine • Fall 2008

59

wave-acquisition stereo system measures waves over an area rather than at one point. WASS has been installed near the Grand Canal in Venice to monitor the water motion caused by boats passing through the canal and determine its effects on the canal's borders and on the historic buildings along them.

WASS also is being used as part of Italy's public works project MOSE to protect the ecosysWith a faculty of 24, tems of Venice and its lagoon and also will be Georgia Tech Savannah installed at an oceanographic tower off the coast has about 10 students of Venice to study the occurrence of extreme or to every professor. One rogue waves and wind-wave interactions. Fedele student likens the says that WASS could be installed off the Georgia campus to "a little coast to investigate ways to improve the design of community." coastal and off-shore structures.

Georgia Tech Savannah has partnered with the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography to offer a new graduate-level program in coastal science and engineering in which students will have the opportunity to investigate such issues as water contamination, sediment transport and invasive species. Of the nine students now taking the first course, two are from the Georgia Tech campus in Atlanta.

Connecting a Person to a Person

G

EORGIA TECH SAVANNAH STUDENTS SAY NO ONE

on the campus is a stranger, and there are plenty of opportunities for one-on-one time with faculty.

"It's like a little community," says Ashley Randel, a fourth-year civil engineering major who transferred to Georgia Tech Savannah from Valdosta State University. "Everyone knows everybody. If you have any problems, you can talk to a professor. It's not hard to get in to see somebody."

With a faculty of 24, Georgia Tech Savannah has about 10 students to every professor.

Still, undergraduate students receive about 30 percent of their classroom instruction from professors at the Atlanta campus via distance learning.

Graduate students may rely on distance learning even more to pick up specialized courses.

Unlike distance-learning education at most universities in which a lecture is recorded and then posted online for students, all of Georgia Tech Savannah's distance-learning courses are synchronous. Savannah students enrolled in Atlanta-based classes show up for class at the

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Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine â&#x20AC;˘ Fall 2008

same time as Atlanta students and may pose questions to the professor during the real-time lectures.

And it works the same way for Atlanta students taking Savannah-based courses.

Researchers at Georgia Tech Savannah are now working to further enhance the classroom experience for students taking courses through distance learning. When Georgia Tech Savannah was established, Frost says, most of the technology then available for distance-enabled classrooms was capable only of connecting a classroom to a classroom. But Georgia Tech Savannah is interested in connecting a person to a person.

"Some of our research activities are focused on the next-generation technologies, introducing things like high-definition television into our classroom-technology solutions, introducing things like stereo audio," Frost says.

Whether you're talking about iPods or distance-learning classrooms, Frost says, today's student is not content with yesterday's technology.

"All of these systems have to come closer and closer to reality," he says. "Reproducing reality is important."

Today, most distance-learning classroom lectures are being captured by a single camera that can zoom in and out and usually follows the instructor around the classroom. Students screening the lecture in a remote classroom or on a computer monitor see only the instructor.

Working with Hewlett-Packard, several Georgia Tech Savannah faculty members, including electrical and computer engineering assistant professor Ghassan Alregib, now are looking into fan camera technology.

In a classroom equipped with fan cameras, a lecture is shot by an array of cameras. Each captures a small part of the scene. The small images then are stitched together with software to recreate the bigger picture. Using joysticks or similar devices at their desks, students may zoom in to a particular piece of information on screen.

"Teaching is about connecting a professor with a student," Frost says. "And so that has been sort of the core of all of our developments as we have moved forward. And yes, it takes time. And yes, it takes money. And no, I don't have everything I want in place, but we have remained very focused on the fact that teaching and learning is a person-to-person activity."

Oceanliterate

By Leslie Overman

In late September, several Georgia Tech graduate students boarded a boat and set out for a two-day cruise off the coast of Georgia, But this was no fall break excursion — it was a class assignment.

Accompanied by their professors and the ship's five-man crew, the students familiarized themselves with the 92-foot R/V Savannah and its instrumentation and collected water samples and oceanographic data. It was the first of two cruises the students will be taking this semester.

The students are enrolled in the first course of a new graduate program in coastal science and engineering being offered by Georgia Tech Savannah and the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography, a multidisciplinary research institution within the University System of Georgia and located on Skidaway Island in Savannah.

Combining research-based marine science with engineering concepts, the joint program will prepare students to tackle some of the problems that have arisen along the coastline as a result of climate

change and a rapidly increasing coastal population.

"There's a region where engineering and oceanography overlap," says Paul Work, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering and an associate director of Georgia Tech Savannah. "There are a lot of problems that require expertise from both of these disciplines."

Students in the program may investigate a number of issues, including beach erosion, pollutant transport, transformation driven by water or sediment movement and invasive species and sensors to monitor those issues. They may also explore ocean-energy extraction.

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Whether graduates of the program pursue careers as researchers or professors or join consulting firms to work in specialized fields, Work says there is a need for this multidisciplinary expertise.

"A lot of our coastal areas were developed very early in the history of our country, and we have had a bad habit of treating the ocean as a dumping ground, polluting water bodies and sediments, and there's a lot of cleanup still left to be done," Work says.

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Nine students, including two at Tech's Atlanta campus, now are enrolled in the first course. Students are working in teams to collect and interpret data for research projects.

"There's a variety of questions they can tackle. It'll be up to them," Brandes says.

Jay Brandes, a chemical oceanographer with the Skidaway Institute, who, along with Work, now is teaching the first course in the program, says, the two institutes are joining forces "to educate a new generation of what you can think of as ocean-literate engineers. We're not trying to educate oceanographers in engineering. We're trying to educate engineers in oceanography."

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Science Foundation, the program leads to master's or doctoral degrees from Tech's School of Civil and Environmental Engineering but is open to students working toward other degrees. The program is the first of its kind to be offered in the Southeast and one of only a few in the country.

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Providing Opportunities

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UST LIKE ITS MOTHER CAMPUS, GEORGIA T E C I I

Savannah is not dedicated solely to the academic and research interests in its classrooms and laboratories. It also is interested in stimulating economic growth in Savannah through outreach Georgia Tech Savannah programs, from helping entrepreneurs get their also is creating opportufooting and professionals stay competitive to getnities to inspire the ting children interested in engineering-related engineers of tomorrow.

It offers hands-on work- disciplines. shops that give fourthThe Savannah campus has branches of to llth-graders a crash Georgia Tech's Advanced Technology Developcourse in computer ment Center, a science and technology incubator programming through that assists entrepreneurs in launching compacomputer animation projects and LEGO nies, as well as the Enterprise Innovation Instirobotics activities. tute, which through science, technology and innovation helps enterprises become more competitive. Savannah's ATDC now has five member companies.

Frost says an area in which Georgia Tech Savannah must focus more closely is creating professional-education opportunities in the region.

Roger Purcell, an assistant professor of engineering at Middle Georgia College, was attending a meeting on Georgia Tech Savannah's campus when he picked up a brochure about the Institute's advanced-degree programs in civil engineering. A former civil engineer and land surveyor and current president of the Surveying and Mapping Society of Georgia, Purcell, CE 74, MS CE 77, was interested in learning more about geographical information systems and global positioning systems.

"I had researched other PhD programs in GIS or geomatics with other schools in the Southeast, but the residence requirements and fees seemed formidable," says Purcell, who, after speaking with some Georgia Tech Savannah professors, decided to pursue a PhD there.

Although some coursework required him to take a year's academic leave from Middle Georgia College to study at his alma mater in Atlanta, Purcell has been able to take some courses on the Savannah campus, commuting from his home in Brunswick. He now is looking into video teleconferencing, which would allow him to take the remainder of his courses from his office at Middle Georgia College.

Georgia Tech Savannah also is creating opportunities to inspire the engineers of tomorrow. Its office of Math, Science & Technology 62

Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine â&#x20AC;˘ Fall 2008

Initiatives strives to get youngsters and teenagers excited about math and science. MaST offers hands-on workshops that give fourth- to 12thgraders a crash course in computer programming through computer animation projects, LEGO robotics activities and GPS treasure hunts.

"Part of what we're doing in terms of outreach goes all the way back to really thinking about creating the pipeline," Frost says. "Those third- and fourth-graders, there will be another 12 years before they show up looking to go to engineering school, but part of our responsibility is to help build that pipeline."

Growing Quickly With Quality

T

i n: YELLOW JACKETS' RETURN TO THE FOOTBALL

field in the fall may not bring the same excitement and energy to Georgia Tech Savannah that it does to Georgia Tech, but members of the Savannah campus have organized their own sporting events. A tug-of-war last year pitted faculty against students, and the campus is still buzzing from a softball game last spring in which members of the American Society of Civil Engineers crushed members of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.

Students on the Savannah campus are participating in several organizations and have started their own chapters of ASCE, the Chinese Students and Scholars Association and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

There's no Olympic-size pool at Georgia Tech Savannah, but for now students can relax over a game of foosball or ping-pong in the student lounge. And the campus is evolving. Some new recreational facilities will open later this year. And if the student body continues to grow, Georgia Tech Savannah could have some dorms in place within the next few years.

Frost's responsibilities call for frequent visits to the Atlanta campus, giving him what he calls a "biweekly ingestion of big-city energy."

"One of the things I just about make sure I do every time I'm in Atlanta is find an excuse to walk around campus a little bit. Just being in an environment where there's a lot of students, that's incredibly exciting," Frost says.

"It keeps reminding me of why we need to grow our enrollment and why we need to grow it with quality but quickly. I feel we're getting there." GT

Savannah Sojourn Old meets new at Kessler's Mansion on Forsyth Park

By Leslie Overman

Step inside a guest room at the Mansion on Forsyth Park in historic Savannah, Ga., and you may be greeted by the strains of a Gershwin tune. "Summertime, and the livin' is easy ..."

The mood music features modern send-ups and remixes of old standards â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a perfect fit for a hotel that blends classic charm with modern elegance.

Located at 700 Drayton St. and facing Forsyth Park, the beautifully restored and renovated 19th-century mansion features a restaurant and lounge, a wine cellar and a cooking school.

Richard Kessler, pictured in the portrait above, has created a collection of boutique hotels. Among them is the Mansion on Forsyth Park, right, in Savannah. "I live for projects that I think truly make a difference,"he says.

The Mansion is part of the Kessler Collection of boutique hotels owned by Richard C. Kessler, IE 69, MS IE 70. The hotel has been named to the Conde Nast Traveler Gold List each year since its 2005 opening.

Earlier this year, it was named to ForbesTraveler.com's list of the "Sexiest Hotels in America."

The original 18,000-square-foot brick and terra cotta Victorian Georgian manor was purchased by Kessler in 2001. Built in 1888, the property was known as the KaytonGranger-Huger House and in 1953 became the Fox & Weeks Funeral Home. The renovated building now houses the 700 Drayton Restaurant, Carriage Wine Cellar and 700 Kitchen Cooking School. The hotel occupies the adjacent four-story building along with an art gallery, spa and meeting space.

Kessler, who has spent more than 37 years in hotel development and operations, made his fortune at the helm of Days Inn, of which he became president and chairman in 1975 at the age of 29. In 1984, he formed Kessler Enterprise Inc. and began developing one-of-a-kind hotels. Kessler Collection hotels now are in Florida, Georgia, Colorado and New Mexico.

Born in Savannah, Kessler spoke of his vision for the Mansion on Forsyth Park in a 2001 interview

with the ALUMNI MAGAZINE: "I want to

do a very high-end boutique hotel in the Southeast, a real community place, with a banquet facility, a fourand-a-half-star hotel with a large food operation in Savannah's historic district."

The AAA four-diamond Mansion on Forsyth Park has 126 guest rooms, including 16 suites. In a thirdfloor room at the front of the building, sage-colored silk drapes cloak the windows much like the Spanish moss clings to the live oaks throughout Savannah, bringing a bit of Forsyth Park indoors.

The bed has a pillow-top mattress and is dressed in crisp white linens and a down comforter. An armchair of mossy green velvet sits in the corner of the room and a chandelier hangs overhead. Each of the Mansion's rooms features oversized soaking, vintage or whirlpool tubs, high-speed wireless Internet and flat-screen TVs. Though the Mansion is within walking distance of restaurants, boutiques, art galleries and many of the city's public parks, the hotel is a destination itself.

The 700 Kitchen Cooking School offers hands-on classes.

There's also the 700 Drayton Restaurant, which serves nouvelle American cuisine with a Savannah flair.

After dinner, head upstairs to Casimir's Lounge for cocktails and live jazz. On the way to your room, you

can drop in the Bosendorfer Lounge, located in the lobby with a magnificent Bosendorfer concert grand piano.

An avid art collector, Kessler distributes thousands of pieces throughout his hotels. More than 400 works of American and European art are housed in the Mansion. The Grand Bohemian Art Gallery, located in the first-floor lobby, specializes in original 20thand 21st-century American and European art, jewelry, art glass pieces and gift items.

Lining the hallway outside the Viennese Ballroom are glass cases displaying more than 100 hats dating from 1860 to 1960. Paintings line the hallways to the guest rooms, and an original piece of artwork hangs in each room.

Next spring, the Kessler Collection will open the Bohemian Hotel at Savannah Riverfront, which will have 75 guest rooms and a rooftop bar and terrace overlooking historic River Street. Kessler's Grand Bohemian Hotel Atlanta is set to open in 2010. The 275-room property will feature two restaurants, a fullservice spa, two ballrooms, meeting rooms and an outdoor wedding pavilion.

"I live for projects that I think truly make a difference," Kessler says, "that still should have value 50 years from today, that hopefully won't be torn down."

Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine â&#x20AC;˘ Fall 2008

63

YELLOW TACKETS

64

Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine â&#x20AC;˘ Fall 2008

Gridiron Gear Through the Years Since Georgia Tech first fielded a football team in 1892, the squad has claimed four national championships and won more than 650 games. In that time, the team has gone from leather helmets and ragged jerseys to bright gold uniforms and helmets with polycarbonate shells. Here's a look at the evolution of Tech's uniforms from 1917 to this year's new design. > Âť

Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine â&#x20AC;˘ Fall 2008

65

YELLOW

JACKETS

Ready for Her Close-up Attention shines on volleyball star Talisa Kellogg

By Van Jensen Photography: Stanley Leary

The spotlight is focused on Talisa Kellogg during her senior season as the star outside hitter for the Georgia Tech volleyball team.

Shymansky calls Kellogg a "star" with "a magnetic personality."

But spotlights are nothing new for Kellogg. She grew up around the bright lights of TV crews, watching her dad, Clark Kellogg, work as a basketball analyst for ESPN and CBS Sports.

Kellogg is poised to claim school records in kills and block assists, but her focus is entirely on the team.

Tech has an experienced group this year, with Kellogg and four other seniors leading the way.

While Clark Kellogg is known for basketball, having been a star at Ohio State and for the Indiana Pacers of the NBA and now broadcasting the NCAA men's tournament, Talisa says she opted instead for volleyball. "I didn't play basketball ever in my life," she says. "Never."

On the volleyball court, her height and athleticism made her an all-state player at St. Francis DeSales High School in Columbus, Ohio, and her strong focus on academics — she finished with a 3.89 GPA — pushed her toward Georgia Tech.

"I always loved Atlanta and loved the South," she says. "I loved the city, loved the school, loved the value of the degree. It was easy for me to pick."

And once Kellogg was a Yellow Jacket, she had immediate success, being named an ACC All-Freshman team member after finishing the 2005 season with 457 kills. By her junior season she made the AII-ACC team.

Volleyball coach Bond

66

"She will be the pulse of our team," he says.

"We have five seniors on the floor, five seniors who can play," she says. "We've all been together since we were freshmen, seasoned together.

We know how each other plays. It's our year. We have to lead the team."

With that experience, the team has high expectations.

"One thing we've got to do is win the ACC," Kellogg says. "Flat out, first place.

That gives us an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, and that's something we haven't done yet. I think this is the year we're going to do great things."

After her volleyball career at Tech ends, Kellogg isn't sure she wants to give up the spotlight. She started out at the Institute as a management major but has since switched to science, technology and culture.

While she might not have followed her dad into basketball, she's considering trying out his other career. "I don't know; it's a possibility. I'd love to be on TV," she says. GT

Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine • Fall 2008

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Buzz W Us Celebration featuring The Dirty Sock Fulltime Band Saturday, December 6, 2008 Georgia Tech Ferst Center 10:00 - 11:00 a.m. Buzz Party 11:00 - 12:00 p.m. Dirty Sock Funtime Band Performance Register today! Go to: gtalumni.org/pages/buzzruscelebration or call: 404-894-0779 Performance prices: Adults: $15 - $18 Children under 12: $12

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October 2008

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Publication No. 1061-9747 Frequency: Quarterly No. of issues published annually: Four Annual subscription price: $10 Publisher--Joseph P. Irwin, 190 North Ave., Atlanta, GA 30313 Managing Editor—Kimberly Link-Wills, 190 North Ave., Atlanta, GA 30313 Owner—Georgia Tech Alumni Association, 190 North Ave. NW, Atlanta, GA 30313 Known bondholders, mortgagees and other security holders owning or holding 1 percent or more of total amount of bonds, mortgages or other securities: None Tax Status, The purpose, function and nonprofit status of this organization and the exempt status for federal income tax purposes: Has not changed during the preceding 12 months.

Extent and nature of circulation Average No Summer 2008 Copies Each No. Copies of Issue During Issue Nearest Preceding 12 Mos to Filing Date a. Total No. Copies 34,375 35,500 (Net Press Run) b. Paid Circulation (By Mail and Outside the Mail) (1) Mailed Outside-County 28,357 .

Paid Subscriptions Stated on PS Form 3541 (Include paid distribution above nominal rate, advertiser's proof copies and exchange copies) (2) Mailed In-County None Paid Subscriptions Stated on PS Form 3541 (Include paid distribution above nominal rate, advertiser's proof copies and exchange copies) (3) Paid Distribution None Outside the Mails Including Sales Through Dealers and Carriers, Street Vendors, Counter Sales, and Other Paid Distribution Outside USPS. (4) Paid Distribution None

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I certify that the statements made by me above are correct and complete.

mts

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Connect with alumni in your area.

To find your local GT Club, log onto www.gtalumni.org/clubs or contact Jane Stoner at 404-385-2216.

Attention New Parents... and grandparents, aunts, uncles, sisters, brothers and friends!

The Georgia Tech Alumni Association invites you to enroll your child in the

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All club members will receive Canvas Bag • Buzz Hooded Towel • Buzz Rattle • Buzz Bib • Sipper Cup Enroll by returning the order form and your check for $39.95 +8% tax ($3.20) (in Georgia onlyjand $6.00 for shipping and handling made payable to

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G e o r g i a T e c h Alumni Magazine • Fall 2008

7 1

Hop on the bus this fall and cheer your Jackets onto victory!

Clemson Bus Trip October 18, 2008 $175 pp includes g a m e ticket

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Use the form above or order on the Internet: http://gtalumni.org/site/page/shop 72

Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine • Fall 2008

ALMANAC

Bucky Johnson, below, was hired as Tech's first full-time director of bands in 1983.

The first Georgia Tech band was formed in 1908. The marching band will mark the centennial in part by performing in this year's Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City. Johnson now is the mayor of Norcross, Ga.

In 1968, editor Bob Wallace, writing in the NovemberDecember Georgia Tech Alumnus, lamented the use of a computer to produce the alumni directory. Some names were reversed and others omitted entirely. "But the classic goof of them all occurred in the process of extracting the names of cities for the geographical section from the ZIP codes, which is the way magazine mailing lists are kept in this age. Somehow the city of Clearwater, Fla., came out Anna Maria, and the city of Sarasota appeared as Aripeka, a fact that we have received few complaints about simply because the alumni in those two places never thought to look under the A's for their names. We are not sure that some other cities didn't suffer a similar fate because we are afraid to check."

A Mrs. Homecoming was crowned for the first time in 1958. Linda Johnson, above, was awarded the title, "set up to give Tech's 1,200 married students a queen of their own," according to the Alumnus. She stood with Homecoming queen Betty Lindstrom, a Brenau College student and daughter of Tech alumnus Frank Lindstrom, CE 35. "Mrs. Johnson, the wife of Tech senior Billups Johnson (IM 58), was selected from a group of 22 wives of Tech students in a contest sponsored by the Dames Club, the official and very active campus organization of Tech wives," the Alumnus said. "The two girls ... had a busy and exhausting day on Nov. 15."

From the Nov. 3,1933, edition of The Technique: "Tom Mix, the all-time greatest film star in creation, is ridin' your way, in person, high in the saddle, heading a monstrous stage roundup of thundering hoofs, cracking whips, spinning ropes and flaming guns. The sensational Westerner arrives Saturday, Nov. 4, for a three-day engagement at the Georgia Theater in Atlanta and he's bringing Tony, the wonder horse; a picked congress of his riders, ropers and shooters; a herd of the famed Tom Mix thoroughbred horses; and last, but not least, Mrs. Mix, the premier aerialist of the show world, whom he wed after a romantic courtship under the big top of the Sells-Floto circus."

The Georgia Tech Night School was established in 1908 with an appropriation of $2,500 from the Atlanta City Council. M.L. Brittain wrote in "The Story of Georgia Tech" that 103 students enrolled for the first term to take classes in English, mathematics, chemistry, applied electricity, foundry, forge shop, machine shop, textiles and wood shop, GT

Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine â&#x20AC;˘ Fall 2008

73

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Telephone: 706-291-8853 Atlanta Line: 404-521-0908 Telefax: 706-234-3574

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For more information, please contact Holly Green at holly.green@alumni.gatech.edu or 404-894-0765.

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For more information, please contact Holly Green at holly.green@alumni.gatech.edu or 404-894-0765.

Don't miss the exciting Affinity Group events during Homecoming 2008!

Go to g t a l u m n i . o r g / h c g r o u p s for m o r e i n f o r m a t i o n .

Hope to see you there!

IRY OF IMPACT

Georgia Tech Alumni, A S S O C I A T I O N

'A CENTURY OF IMPACT

Georgia Tech Alumni A S S O C I A T I O N

Georgia Tech Alumni Association Awards Call for Nominations Each year the Georgia Tech Alumni Association recognizes alumni for exemplary service to Tech, the community and the world, Nominations are being accepted through October 24 for the Outstanding Young Alumnus and Dean Griffin Community Sendee awards.

Dean Griffin Community Service Award ^ 2 Recognizes a Georgia Tech alumnus who has iM Perfomed exemplary community service work. j \ The four primary considerations are: T J • Service in a long-term volunteer capacity * • Impact on the quality of life of others } • Demonstrated leadership and creative ability M to deal with societal problems proactively 3 • Setting an example for others to follow

Outstanding Young Alumnus Award Honors a Georgia Tech young alumnus ivho has not yet reached the age offorty and whose graduation year is within 20 years of February 19,2009. Tftis award recognizes one who has demonstrated outstanding achievement in his/her profession and significant service to Georgia Tech and the Alumni Association. Tlie three primary considerations are: • Service to Georgia Tech and the Alumni Association • Service to the general welfare of his/her community • Service to his/her profession

Nomination forms available online at WWW.gtalumni.org/awards

Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine • Fall 2008

77

FACULTY

PROFILE

New Tech assistant professor and onetime TV star Craig Forest is

Readring for Answers to Genetics Questions "We are working to contribute to personalized medicine — medical treatments based on an individual's DNA — by developing rapid, lowcost genetic diagnostic tools for the clinic."

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A

lthough he's only begun his first semester as an assistant professor at Georgia Tech, Craig Forest may look familiar to students, colleagues and alumni.

Forest earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering at Tech in 2001 before heading to MIT for his doctoral degree and to Harvard as a research fellow in genetics.

He also may be recognized by the millions of television viewers who saw him last year on "American Inventor." He and David Moeller, ME 02, made it to the semifinals in the ABC competition with the Claw, a bicycle storage device that was snatched up by Gladiator GarageWorks, a subsidiary of Whirlpool Corp., for an undisclosed sum.

Along the way to fame and fortune, Forest interned at Sandia National Laboratories and was a co-op student at the Johnson Space Center for more than three years.

He has returned to Georgia Tech excited about the possibilities his research offers in the treatment of diseases.

"In the Precision Biosystems Laboratory, we design and build instruments capable of making thousands to millions of genetic measurements simultaneously. Such ultrahigh throughput is absolutely essential to discover the genetic causes of common diseases, such as cancers, diabetes and heart disease, by allowing the comparison of many people with a disease to many without it," Forest says.

"More broadly, we are working to contribute to personalized medicine — medical treatments based on an individual's DNA — by developing rapid, low-cost genetic diagnostic tools for the clinic as well as applying

Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine • Fall 2008

them to these comparative population studies."

Forest is teaching a senior design class (ME 4182) in which teams of five students are tackling four biomedical research projects through collaborations with Emory's human genetics department and Georgia Tech's biomedical engineering department.

"Projects range from mice embryo biochemistry instrumentation to balloon angioplasty devices," he says. "Students are designing, building and testing inventions.

"One of my goals is to encourage entrepreneurship on campus, so I'm including a series of lectures on all aspects of starting a consumer product business, such as intellectual property, corporate structure, market research and design for mass production," Forest says. "We're working to raise corporate sponsorship for the course, start a venture advisers council with the Alumni Association to mentor the students outside the classroom and host an undergraduate inventor competition to promote the entrepreneurial culture on campus."

Forest is eager to partner with individuals, companies or nonprofit agencies to "accelerate our mission and pursue scientific discoveries."

"We are actively seeking sponsorship to purchase three-dimensional microfabrication tools such as a 25-micrometer wire electrical discharge machine. We are pursuing collaborations with medical professionals and scientists," he says. "Those who are interested in teaming up, chatting about research ideas or learning what the lab's been up to may contact me at cforest@gatech.edu." GT

Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine â&#x20AC;˘ Fall 2008

79

PHOTO FINISH

I Olympic Redemption Angelo Taylor, above, leaps over a hurdle on the way to a gold medal in the finals of the 400-meter hurdles at the Summer Olympics in Beijing. Taylor, Cls 00, set a personal record of 47.25 seconds, then the following day won another gold in the 4 x 400 team relay. He won gold medals in the same events in Sydney in 2000. In the eight years between Sydney and Beijing, Taylor experienced setbacks on and off the track.

He failed to qualify for meets, suffered injuries and at times slept in his car. Now, he's back on top of the track world and his sights are set on the 2012 Olympics in London.

In helping the U.S. men's basketball "Redeem Team" to its first gold medal since 2000, former Georgia Tech star Chris Bosh, right, earned significant minutes with his rebounding and defense. Bosh, who played for the Yellow Jackets in 2002-03, is the starting power forward for the NBA's Toronto Raptors. The U.S. team had been criticized for egocentric play while failing to win the 2004 Olympics and the 2006 World Championships. The Beijing games were an opportunity for redemption for Bosh and other returning players such as LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony. GT

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Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine â&#x20AC;˘ Fall 2008

our engineering plans

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Honeywell Initiative for Returning Engineers (HIRE), an accelerated development program supported by the Society of Women Engineers, is designed to help on-ramping professional women make a seamless transition back to work.

At Honeywell, people are the ultimate differentiator. We hire the best; give them every possible opportunity to learn, grow and develop; and reward them for their contributions. Our size, industries and portfolio breadth enable people to have long and dynamic careers, progress into leadership positions and explore opportunities across businesses, functions and regions.

HIRE employees will be selected to take part in an accelerated development program during which Honeywell will provide developmental tools that enable participants to jump back into the workforce and make an immediate impact. www.HoneywelllnitiativeforReturningEngineers.com If you have any questions about Honeywell, HIRE or the application process, please visit our website or call: 212-445-8019

Honeywell Aerospace • Automation and Controls • Transportation • Specialty Materials

Honeywell is committed to a diverse work force. To explore career opportunities with Honeywell, please logon to: www.honeywell/com/careers. Honeywell is an equal opportunity employer. © 2008 Honeywell International, Inc. All rights reserved.

www.honeywell.com.

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