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Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine • September/October 2010
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Features
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36 Designing Tech of 2035
In introducing the 25-year strategic plan, President G. P. “Bud� Peterson says great universities do not respond to changes. They anticipate change and shape the future.
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40 125 Pieces of History
As Georgia Tech marks its 125th anniversary in October, we pay tribute to the Institute with photographs of campus landmarks, colorful characters and priceless artifacts.
60 Going Their Own Way
Georgia Tech long has been a producer of entrepreneurs. But the current economic climate makes it an even better time for young innovators to strike out on their own.
September/October 2010
Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine
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Departments
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12 Letters 15 Alumni House 20 Life Jackets 23 Jackets Required 25 Tech Topics 26 Tech Notes 29 Within Walking Distance 30 Office Space 32 Ten Questions 34 Student Life 68 Burdell & Friends 71 Ramblin’ Roll 74 In Memoriam 81 Yellow Jackets
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94 Calendar 96 In Retrospect
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68 September/October 2010
Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine
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Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine Volume 87, Number 1 Publisher: Joseph P. Irwin, IM 80 Editor: Kimberly Link-Wills Assistant Editor: Van Jensen Assistant Editor: Leslie Overman Design: Ryan Giusti Student Editorial Assistant: Torian Parker Student Photographer: Eric Mansfield Executive Committee Alfredo Trujillo, AE 81, Chair Joseph W. Evans, IM 71, Past Chair C. Dean Alford, EE 76, Chair-elect/Finance Walt Ehmer, IE 89, Vice Chair/Roll Call Laurie Bagley, IM 84, Member At Large Benton J. Mathis Jr., IM 81, Member At Large James E. Trimble Jr., Mgt 91, Member At Large Joseph P. Irwin, IM 80, President Board of Trustees Thomas G. Arlotto, ME 82
Ashley Gigandet Joseph, IntA 94
Jennifer M. Ball, Arch 94, M CP 01
Kelli H. Keb, IM 78
Coe A. Bloomberg, ME 66
Jesus Leon, Cls 74
Marc A. Corsini, IM 80
John A. Lewis Jr., IM 79
Tracey M. Countryman, IM 98
Robert A. Madayag III, ChE 02
Steven R. Cover, Arch 78, M Arch 81, M CP 81
Errika Mallett, ISyE 96
C. Richard Crutchfield, IM 69 Marian H. Epps, IM 83
John McKenney, IE 90 Wanda B. Murray, HS 82
J. Gregory Foster, ME 95
Eric L. Pinckney Sr., ME 86, M CP 93
Angela D. Fox, EE 91
Troy W. Rice, IE 01
Paul S. Goggin, Phys 91
Heather S. Rocker, ISyE 98
Richard A. Guthman Jr., IE 56
Victoria L. Selfridge, IE 96
S. Wesley Haun, Mgt 72
Rush S. Smith Jr., Phys 72
Jeffrey S. Hurley, MS Chem 90, PhD Chem 92
Robert N. Stargel Jr., EE 83
Joseph C. Irastorza, EE 60, MS EE 68, PhD ISyE 73
Karen C. Thurman, IM 82
Troy N. Ivey, CmpE 90 Cayman James CE 99, MS EnvE 01
Jeb M. Stewart, Cls 91 Philip L. Williams, Text 70 Janet C. Wilson, ICS 81 Ronald L. Yancey, EE 65
Advertising Holly Green (404) 894-0765; holly.green@alumni.gatech.edu
Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine (ISSN: 1061-9747) is published bimonthly for contributors to the annual Roll Call of the Georgia Tech Alumni Association, 190 North Ave. N.W., Atlanta, GA 30313. Periodical postage paid in Atlanta and additional mailing offices. © 2010 Georgia Tech Alumni Association
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Great Opportunities
ow! Where did the summer go? In fact, where did the year go? Summer commencement added nearly 900 new alumni to our community. Alfredo Trujillo, AE 81, chair of the Association, gave a stirring speech about what Georgia Tech means to him today after looking back almost 30 years. In Al’s words to our newest alumni, “Like me, your Georgia Tech education will provide great life opportunities, greater than you can imagine.” I think we all concur with that sentiment. On the heels of that commencement exercise, we began anew with the fall semester at Georgia Tech, welcoming a new batch of freshmen. There are more than 2,600 students in this class, and for the first time in Tech history, a full third of the students are female. The class is also full of top-notch, bright kids. The average GPA is 3.89 with an SAT average of 2025 (on the new 2400 scale). Of note as well, more than 20 percent of the students in our incoming class are legacy students. Applications for fall admission were up by a whopping 18 percent. Combining the past two years of growth in applications puts demand for admission over 30 percent, which is extraordinary in these times. That kind of demand reflects an institution on the rise. There are lots of reasons for this rising reputation, but I want to highlight a big reason. Those of you who follow Georgia Tech on the academic and research fronts know full well that despite the economic quagmire and the challenges of growing in an urban environment, Tech continues to forge ahead. Why? It’s a result of the environment here at Tech that allows for cross-disciplinary research, collaboration and entrepreneurialism. Our investments in economic development are historic and practical. As President Peterson says, “Many people understand that an idea is not an invention but fail to realize that an invention is not a product and a product is not a business.” Georgia Tech is very good at moving ideas from the lab to the marketplace, and that sets the stage for the future. The work done in the six colleges, the Enterprise Innovation Institute, the Advanced Technology Development Center and the granddaddy of all of our economic development engines, the Georgia Tech Research Institute, provides strong evidence of this. The huge economic opportunities ahead will occur at confluences of the traditional disciplines, and Georgia Tech is well positioned for the future. As alumni, we must continue to lead, to advocate and to support Tech to ensure that this positive momentum continues.
Postmaster: Send address changes to Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine, 190 North Ave. N.W., Atlanta, GA 30313. E-mail: editor@alumni.gatech.edu or ramblinroll@gtalumni.org Telephone: Georgia Tech Alumni Association (404) 894-2391 Change address or unsubscribe at bioupdate@alumni.gatech.edu
Joseph P. Irwin, President Georgia Tech Alumni Association
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Letters Thanks for creating the most-read school publication in our home. We oldies, the kids and grandkids always find something of interest. For example, the July/August issue included the 101 Books Tech Alums Should Read Before They Lay Dying. The article actually started a lively discussion on the subject of reading lists and got several folks working on their own additions to the list. What are the chances of having access to a soft copy of the article so we can cut and paste from it to our own developing lists? I’m using 101 Books as the starting point as I’m trying to keep several grandkids on board with the project. Dave Hendrix, IE 60 Whispering Pines, N.C. The article is available at gtalumnimag.com. Readers are welcome to post the titles of books they believe should be on required reading lists.
Book Discussion
If that is the best cover [July/August] you can come up with, don’t waste your time with future issues. Bernie Kilgore, ME 59 Macon, Ga.
Ouch
I just wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed browsing over the reading list in the [July/August] ALUMNI MAGAZINE. It was the most accessible magazine I’ve gotten since I graduated. Keep up the good work! Carl Thompson, ISyE 08 Columbia, Md.
Loved the Magazine
I could not believe the headline on the [July/August] cover: 101 Books Tech Alums Should Read Before They Lay Dying. Any elementary school student should know that proper usage is before they lie dying. I realize someone was alluding to Faulkner’s famous novel, but the sentence is ungrammatical and a glaring misuse of the verb. If you are urging Georgia Tech alumni
Use Proper Grammar
to read more, please do not do so with improper grammar. Betty Nunn Mori Atlanta The Burge buildings were the subject of my thesis. I also was a resident in 1948. It makes me sad to learn of the destruction [May/June ALUMNI MAGAZINE]. However, one of the buildings was out of date when built. In true engineering fashion, the heating system of one building was totally different from the other building. One building had a convection system and the other a radiant heating system. The convection system had a heater in each apartment with air ducts to each room and a thermostat for each apartment. The radiant system had pipes embedded in the 6-inch cement slab of the floor. Either heated
Burge Heating Lesson
water or chilled water flowed, chosen by the tenant. This radiant system was very efficient and relatively inexpensive and required no floor space for a heater with air ducts. The top floor, the seventh, had a ceiling with no pipes above, so in cold weather they kept it hot all the time. The floor below never had the floor heat on because the ceiling above kept it warm. But residents preferred the convection system by a wide margin, and it is standard in construction today. In 1948 I was a dorm resident working on my master’s in mechanical engineering. I responded to an ad on the bulletin board and was hired to take care of a threebedroom apartment occupied by the doctor who was the Georgia Tech psychiatrist and head of VA hospitals in five states. He traveled a lot and had me clean and keep the apartment in his absence. His wife had moved home to take care of her ill mother.
Kelvin Kuo
Send letters to: Editor, Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine, 190 North Ave. N.W., Atlanta, GA 30313, or editor@alumni.gatech.edu. Comment at gtalumnimag.com. Send address changes to: Biographical Records, Alumni Association, 190 North Ave. N.W., Atlanta, GA 30313, or e-mail bioupdate@alumni.gatech.edu. 12
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He was away most of the time, and I lived in a furnished apartment, which enhanced my study of the Burge buildings. I remember the wide cement ledges as shades for the windows below. I could walk on the ledges and clean the outside of the windows. He wanted me to prepare his breakfast when he was in town. I got there early the first morning to prepare a hot meal of eggs, bacon, grits, toast and coffee. He said he was disappointed in me because he wanted dry cereal and milk. He was a charming man with a great sense of humor. Carter Robinson, MS ME 49 Houston Here’s some evidence that alumni read the GEORGIA TECH ALUMNI MAGAZINE: Dear J. Paul, Congratulations on the 40th anniversary of your bicycle ride to Tallahassee. I, and many others, take advantage of “your” bicycle lanes every day. State Highway 776 goes right by the subdivision where I live in southwest Florida. There is no major road around here that doesn’t have bike lanes. That accident in ’71 was horrific. You’ve really done well to get where you are. Hang in there! I’m 86 and play tennis in the USTA and Senior Games. I have won a gold medal and numerous silver and bronze. Richard Collier, AE 48 [Since the article, Cycling and Politics in the Summer of 1970, appeared in the July/August issue of the magazine], I’ve had numerous e-mails and several calls, some from friends and fraternity brothers I haven’t heard from in years. J. Paul Oxer, CE 73 Smyrna, Ga.
Alumni Read Magazine
I enjoyed reading my issue of the July/August ALUMNI MAGAZINE. I was fascinated by the number of books I had read that were on the list, and I’m nowhere near dead! I also enjoyed the article about the School of Psychology. The article mentions Margaret Stephens Martin and her friend were Tech’s first two full-time female cheerleaders. I was the head cheerleader at that time (1959-60), and they came to my fraternity house and asked if I could help them become cheerleaders. In those days, cheerleaders did backflips after every cheer so I took them to the old gym and put them in a harness and taught them how to do backflips. One of them split her britches attempting a flip. She had to tie her jacket around her waist and go back to the women’s dorm and change. They were both accepted as cheerleaders but were told they could only cheer at basketball games. I graduated and went into the Navy so I never found out if they cheered at football games the following fall. They did cheer at all home basketball games that year with the rest of us. Donald D. Gehring, IM 60 St. Simons Island, Ga.
Teaching Cheerleaders the Ropes
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Alumni House
Trustee Testifies in Russian ‘Show Trial’ W
By Van Jensen
es Haun, Mgt 72, had a good excuse for missing the May meeting of the Alumni Association board of trustees. He was in Moscow, testifying as an expert witness for the defense in the trial of former Russian oil magnate Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Haun, an oil and gas consultant living in Houston, had testified in more than 50 cases. But those were all civil cases in the United States, he said, and none had quite as much international scrutiny. “It was a once-ina-lifetime deal,” Haun said. Khodorkovsky was CEO of Yukos, one of the world’s largest non-state oil companies, a role that made him one of the wealthiest men on Earth. He was arrested in 2004 and convicted of tax evasion, a charge that many have said was trumped up because Khodorkovsky had grown too wealthy and too interested in democratic reforms. “The Russian system is different because there’s no jury, just a judge,” Haun said. “And the judiciary isn’t independent. They can be told what to do by the politicians. [Khodorkovsky] was convicted of tax evasion based on a law that was written six years” after the crime allegedly took place. As Khodorkovsky served his prison sentence, he became a martyr for the opponents to Russian leadership. His sentence was to end in 2011, but in 2007 new charges of embezzlement were brought against him. A new trial on those charges has been ongoing for more than a year. One of
A courtroom artist in Moscow sketched trial witness Wes Haun and a Russian translator.
Khodorkovsky’s attorneys is from the United States and had worked with Haun previously, so Haun was invited to serve as a witness. Haun flew over in late May and described it as a threatening experience. His bag was held for two days after he arrived. Cleaning crews would be in his hotel room for hours at a time as he was locked outside. He and the attorneys were followed whenever they went out. The courtroom wasn’t any more welcoming. Guards with machine guns stood by the doors and glared at Haun, he said. The defendants were in cages. “I spent time in Vietnam, and our cell for prisoners wasn’t nearly as guarded,” Haun said. “And we were in a war zone, not in the middle of Moscow.” Khodorkovsky is accused of stealing billions of barrels of oil and selling it on the
side for his personal profit. The defense had Haun write an expert report, which he said explained how the charge wasn’t credible. “But the judge didn’t let that in because it wasn’t written in Russia by a Russian, which isn’t in the law,” Haun said. He was allowed to testify, but only after being grilled by the prosecution’s lawyers — and by the judge. The prosecution also tried to disqualify Haun’s interpreter, even though he’d worked for former Russian president and current prime minister Vladimir Putin, among other heads of state. “It was amazing to sit there and see the prosecution just tell lies,” Haun said. “They’d jump up and down and hoot and holler. And the judge was part of it too. He’d yell at people to shut up.” Although Haun is convinced of Khodorkovsky’s innocence, he’s far from convinced that his testimony will have any impact on the outcome of the case. “This is a show trial,” he said. “My report had no impact whatsoever other than to point out you can’t get a fair trial in Russia. As soon as the government decides you’ve made too much money or haven’t done what they wanted, they’ll take your company from you.” The main lesson Haun took away from the experience is how lucky he is to live in the United States, where defendants are innocent until proven guilty and the judiciary is kept separate from the executive branch. He was quick to say he’ll never return to Russia. In his time in Moscow, Haun talked a lot with his interpreter, a 48-year-old Russian who was born and raised in Moscow. “He said this was the first time he wanted to leave and never go back,” Haun said. “And he hated the Communists. He thought when they were thrown out the world would be a better place. And it is not.”
September/October 2010
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Commencement 1985 ALUMNI MAGAZINE file photo
Homecoming 2010 Register now at gtalumni.org to return to campus Oct. 7-9 for three days of Homecoming 2010 activities, including a Thursday night presentation from John Brock, ChE 70, MS ChE 71, chairman and CEO of Coca-Cola Enterprises, and a wine-tasting reception; Friday seminars,
tours, a campus update from Georgia Tech President G. P. “Bud” Peterson, affinity group gatherings and reunions for the classes of 1960, 1970 and 1985; and Saturday’s Ramblin’ Wreck parade and tailgate party on the Tech Tower lawn with food, drinks and entertainment before the game against the Virginia Cavaliers. For a complete rundown of events planned on campus, visit gtalumni.org/homecoming/schedule.
Georgia Tech Archives and Records Management
Commencement 1970
Blueprint
Class of 1960 officers Bill Abercrombie, A.J. Land and Dave McKenney September/October 2010
Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine
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Fort Valley
Albany
Petersons Travel Through Georgia on Speaking and Listening Tour P resident G. P. “Bud” Peterson and his wife, Val, covered 1,000 miles and made some 25 stops as they traveled the state of Georgia from north to south over the course of five days in mid-July. Alumni and friends welcomed the Petersons in such places as Big Canoe, Young Harris, Lake Burton, Athens, Watkinsville, Greensboro, Perry, Warner Robins, Fort Valley, Lyons, Arlington and Albany. This is the second year the Petersons have made the trip to speak to Alumni Clubs, local leaders and media outlets throughout Georgia.
The president provided campus updates and information on Tech’s strategic plan during his stops. “We travel around the state to talk about how Georgia Tech helps develop new companies and connects both individuals and businesses with the expertise available at Tech — and in so doing helps create jobs,” Peterson said. “We also listen to how we can better serve the state of Georgia and its constituents.” More photos from the five-day journey are available at the Web site gtgcr.smugmug.com/2010-Georgia-Tour.
Fort Valley
Greensboro
Warner Robins
Clayton September/October 2010
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Life Jackets
Altitude With Attitude Job candidates can walk tall in alumna’s fashions
A
By Leslie Overman
nita Lamb never had it easy finding fashionable clothing to fit her lean, 5-foot-10-inch frame. She laughed recalling how as a teenager she would unfurl the hem to add a couple of inches to a pair of pants or pull a pair of khakis down low on her hips to make them appear longer. Now she only has to open her closet door to find a perfectly cut pair of trousers. In 2008, four years after earning a master’s degree in management of technology from Georgia Tech, Lamb launched Altitude Fasique, a line of business attire created exclusively for women 5 feet 9 inches and taller who are “smart, stylish and moving up” the corporate ladder. Altitude Fasique’s collection of professional apparel includes wide-leg and boot-cut pants and single-breasted blazers in charcoal gray with subtle purple piping, which are available through tallcouture.com. Lamb was inspired to create Altitude Fasique more than 10 years ago. After graduating from Voorhees College in Denmark, S.C., with a bachelor’s degree in computer science, she took a job with Blue Cross Blue Shield in nearby Columbia. “I would always dress in a suit,” Lamb said. “And I wanted to dress professionally, but I couldn’t find the style.” Finding an off-the-rack suit with sleeves and pants that were long enough meant wearing a larger size and sacrificing a stylish, formfitting cut. And clothing stores for tall women did not offer fashionable looks that appealed to younger women. Ditching department stores, Lamb paid more to have her suits custom made by a tailor. Deciding that she wanted to start her own clothing line to help women like herself, Lamb began looking for a new job that would give her the financial backing she needed to start her own business. In 2001, the Augusta native moved to Atlanta to join Southern Company. After work, she acted as a sometimes stylist, helping tall women pick out suits on a case-by-case basis. She quit her job in 2007 to devote herself to creating a clothing line, enrolling in a 14-week course in small business development. Lamb designs all of Altitude Fasique’s apparel then outsources the work to a pattern maker and a manufacturer. She hopes to have boutiques in Atlanta, Chicago and Washington, D.C., carrying the clothing within the next few years. With the goal of making Altitude Fasique the No. 1 brand for women over 5 feet 9 inches, she recently expanded the collection to include dresses and plans to launch a line of blouses and fitness wear.
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Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine September/October 2010
But the company’s focus will continue to be on clothing for the modern businesswoman. Lamb spoke of Altitude Fasique creating “a new business look,” with more relaxed apparel appropriate for casual Fridays. She said she learned from her time in the corporate world that women have to work harder than men to earn respect in the workplace. And showing up at the office each day in a neat, put-together outfit helps get you noticed. “What would I tell a woman going into a corporate environment? I would say you have to balance style and the business atmosphere, and that’s a delicate sort of line you have to balance, to realize that you can still be stylish and still be business at the same time.” Lamb said women should not be afraid to find ways to express their personalities through their clothing and should not shy away from adding some glamour to a traditional suit with a vibrantly colored blouse. “We’re so comfortable with just black and brown and navy,” she said. “Those are all just neutral colors. You can really add any color you want to bring the suits out.” During a recent visit to the Georgia Tech Global Learning Center, Lamb outfitted towering Institute students Deja Foster and Alex Montgomery in Altitude Fasique suits, a major departure from the white-and-gold jerseys they are used to wearing as starters on the women’s basketball team. Lamb, herself a former high school basketball player, offered the women some tips on dressing their best for their postgraduation job interviews. Lamb suggested tall women pair a pinstriped blazer with solidcolored pants to keep from further elongating their legs. “Normally, what’s to a tall woman’s advantage is to have a pattern or pinstripes at the top and have a solid color at the bottom to be in balance.” Always wear a jacket that falls at the hips, she said. “Styles come and go, but with your body type, you need to make sure you’re in proportion and not having your legs appear even longer than they are. The jacket kind of balances your body.” But, ultimately, Lamb said, tall women should be proud of their height. “You don’t ever downplay your height because it’s an advantage, and it’s the presence you bring into a room,” she said. “The best thing you can do for an interview when you walk in is walk in with confidence. It’s really about that feeling that you have, knowing that you have things that are appropriately designed for you.” And that’s good advice for women — and men — under 5 feet 9 inches too.
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Anita Lamb, center, and Tech basketball players Deja Foster, left, and Alex Montgomery model suits from Lamb’s clothing line, Altitude Fasique, at the Global Learning Center. Eric Mansfield
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Jackets Required: Gatherings of Tech Grads and Friends 1. Rothenburg, Germany
2. Jonesboro, Ga.
Chris Gaddis
3. San Francisco Bay
4. Vidalia, Ga.
Robert Long
5. North Georgia
1. Marisa, Mgt 05, and Justin Jackson, ME 05, read the magazine in Germany. 2. The Coca-Cola Georgia Tech Club tournament golfers, who raised more than $11,000 in scholarship funds, included, second from left, the group’s president, Debra Porter, ME 86. 3. Jack Everett, EE 72, guided UGA grad Robert Long’s boat into San Francisco Bay while returning from the Spinnaker Cup sailboat race to Monterey, Calif. 4. Jimmy Morgan, Arch 34, got behind the wheel of the Wreck in Vidalia, Ga. 5. North Metro Georgia Tech Club members hiking in the north Georgia mountains included, left to right, Sergio Grullon, MS ISyE 98; Donna Sammander of the Alumni Association; Candis Curd, CmpE 00; and Janet AbdulKarim, CS 05. 6. Monkeying around during Georgia Tech Day at Zoo Atlanta were Jennifer Howard, IE 01, and Phil Williams, Text 70. Find an Alumni club to join or tour to be a part of at gtalumni.org.
September/October 2010
6. Atlanta
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Tech Topics
Commerce Secretary Visits Tech, Names Peterson to Panel
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Rob Felt
Commerce Secretary Gary Locke speaks at the innovation forum he hosted at Georgia Tech on July 15. Similar forums took place at the University of Massachusetts, University of Southern California and University of Michigan.
ommerce Secretary Gary Locke, who hosted an innovation forum at Georgia Tech in July, named President G. P. “Bud” Peterson to the National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship. The council is tasked with developing policies that foster entrepreneurship and identifying new ways to take great ideas from the lab to the marketplace to drive economic growth and create jobs. Locke’s stop at Tech was one of four forums across the country to discuss the role of universities in innovation, economic development, job creation and commercialization of federally funded research. “We must get better at connecting the great ideas to the great company builders,” Locke said. “Georgia Tech has long provided America with some of its top technological talent,” he said. “It is quickly turning Atlanta into a magnet for innovators and entrepreneurs.” As an example, Locke said Tech played a critical role in a decision announced in July by HydroPhi Technology, a hydrogen energy company, to establish its headquarters, research and development center and factory in the Atlanta area, creating 300 jobs. Locke talked about the important role that research universities have as drivers of economic activities. “The challenge is to make this high level of performance of commercialization and job creation the standard nationwide,” he said. A recently released report said the University System of Georgia, led by Georgia Tech and the University of Georgia, had a $12.7 billion economic impact on the state’s economy during fiscal year 2009, up 65 percent from 1999. In his opening remarks at the forum, Peterson said, “Universities have a special role in training the next generation of inventors and entrepreneurs. At Georgia Tech, we pay particular attention to equipping our students with the tools they need to make discoveries and the skills necessary to turn those discoveries into products — helping them to realize that an idea is not an invention, an invention is not a product and a product is not a business.” Locke said the United States “is not lacking for groundbreaking ideas. Nor are we short on entrepreneurs willing to take risks. What we need to do is get better at connecting the great ideas to the great company builders.” The commerce secretary said that “empowering entrepreneurs needs to be a central part of any job creation strategy.” September/October 2010
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Tech Notes Irvine Engineering Dean Named Provost
Rafael L. Bras, a distinguished professor and dean of the Henry Samueli School of Engineering of the University of California, Irvine, is Tech’s provost and executive vice president for Academic Affairs effective Sept. 1. A native of Puerto Rico, Bras is a civil engineer and hydrologist by training, earning each of his degrees from MIT. Prior to his appointment at UC Irvine, he was the Edward A. Abdun-Nur professor of civil and environmental engineering at MIT. At Georgia Tech, the provost reports directly to the president and is charged with the formulation, direction and oversight of all academic units including the colleges, the library and professional education. As chief academic officer, the provost oversees academic policy and priorities, establishes standards for the quality of the student body and maintains educational excellence. The provost has responsibility for recruitment and hiring of faculty and academic administrators, as well as administration of the Institute’s promotion and tenure process. Bras was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2001. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Geophysical Union and the American Meteorological Society.
Tech Leading Origins of Life Study
A team of institutions led by Georgia Tech has been awarded a $20 million grant from the National Science Foundation and NASA to pursue research that could lead to a better understanding of how life started on Earth. The researchers will focus on chemical processes that enable the spontaneous formation of functional polymers such as proteins and DNA from much smaller and simpler starting materials. “Our research team seeks to understand how certain molecules in a complex mixture can work together to form highly ordered assemblies that exhibit chemical properties similar to those associated with biological molecules,” said Nicholas V. Hud, a professor in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry. “Such a process was likely an essential and early stage of life, so we are also working to understand what chemicals were present on the prebiotic Earth and what processes helped these chemicals form the complex substances ultimately needed for life.” Hud will direct the Center for Chemical Evolution. The fiveyear grant will support research in more than 15 laboratories at institutions including Emory University, the Scripps Research Institute, the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Jackson State University, Spelman College, Furman University and the SETI Institute.
Former Chair Thomas Back at ISyE
Mike Thomas, former chair of the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering and former provost of Georgia Tech, was appointed interim school chair effective July 1. Thomas, who served as ISyE’s third school chair from 1978 to 26
Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine
September/October 2010
Rafael Bras, a civil engineer and hydrologist by training, takes the reins of provost from Gary Schuster, who returned to the College of Sciences faculty.
1989, will remain in the position vacated by Chelsea C. “Chip” White III until a permanent school chair is in place. In 1989, Thomas was named acting executive vice president, responsible for overseeing Tech’s academic restructuring, which resulted in the formation of three new colleges and numerous new degree programs. In addition, he helped oversee the implementation of degree programs; created promotion, tenure and reappointment standards; and managed the Institute’s budgeting process. In 1996, his title was changed to provost and vice president for Academic Affairs. Thomas retired in 2002 but soon returned to Tech to serve as the interim chair of the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering.
Two Engineering Schools Merge
The Schools of Materials Science and Engineering and Polymer, Textile and Fiber Engineering have merged to better meet research and academic changes. Effective July 1, the newly merged school continues under the name Materials Science and Engineering. “We were already seeing a lot of commonality in the disciplines of materials, polymers and fiber engineering,” said school chair Robert Snyder. “The merger of the two schools will enable us to venture into a broad variety of research topics including bioinspired/bio-enabled materials and soft polymers; nanomaterials and devices; materials for energy storage and harvesting; and advanced structural materials to name a few.” Students still will be able to study textile and fiber engineering under the new school. The School of Materials Science and Engineering will be the largest program of its kind in the country with more than 55 faculty members.
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Vaccine-delivery Patch Big News
A new vaccine-delivery patch based on hundreds of microscopic needles that dissolve into the skin could allow people without medical training to painlessly administer vaccines while providing improved immunization against diseases such as influenza. Details of the dissolving microneedle patches and immunization benefits observed in experimental mice were reported July 18 in Jeong-Woo Lee the advance online An array of 36 dissolving microneedles is shown publication of the on a fingertip for size comparison. journal Nature Medicine. The news was widely reported in international media outlets. Conducted by researchers from Tech and Emory, the study is believed to be the first to evaluate the immunization benefits of dissolving microneedles. The research was supported by the National Institutes of Health. Although the study only looked at the administration of a flu vaccine with the microneedles, the technique should be useful for other immunizations. If mass produced, the patches are expected to cost about the same as conventional needle-and-syringe techniques and may lower the overall cost of immunization programs by reducing personnel needs and waste-disposal requirements.
Steam Process Removes Carbon Dioxide
Because they can remove carbon dioxide from the flue gases of coal-burning facilities such as power plants, solid materials containing amines are being extensively studied as part of potential CO2 sequestration programs designed to reduce the impact of the greenhouse gas. But although these adsorbent materials do a good job of trapping the carbon dioxide, commonly used techniques for separating the CO2 from the amine materials — thereby regenerating them for reuse — seem unlikely to be suitable for high-volume industrial applications. Now researchers have demonstrated a relatively simple regeneration technique that could utilize waste steam generated by many facilities that burn fossil fuels. This steam-stripping technique could produce concentrated carbon dioxide ready for sequestration in the ocean or deep-earth locations — while readying the amine materials for further use. Although much remains to be done before solid amine materials can be used in large-scale applications, Christopher Jones, a professor in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, be-
lieves the study demonstrates that improved materials can be developed with properties tailored for the steam regeneration process. “We believe there is potential for development of materials that will be stable for long-term use during regeneration using this technique,” he said. “This study lays the groundwork for an array of future studies that will lead to an understanding of the structural changes induced by steam-stripping.”
President Issues Budget Update
Despite a 3.8 percent increase in Georgia’s net revenue collections for June, the final month of fiscal year 10, revenues dropped 9.1 percent from the previous year. As a result, Georgia’s Office of Planning and Budget advised all state agencies that beginning in August it would withhold 4 percent of the monthly agency allocation. “In addition, current economic conditions have necessitated that the state utilize the last of the federal stimulus funding to offset budget deficits, thus leaving none of this stimulus funding available for use in FY 11,” President G. P. “Bud” Peterson said in a statement released to the campus community. “As a result of this loss and the additional 4 percent cut, Georgia Tech began the fiscal year with a $12.2 million reduction in the FY 11 budget. This is in addition to the cuts sustained by Georgia Tech over the past two fiscal years, totaling $67 million, or 24 percent of the total state appropriation base.” He said Tech has been tracking state revenue numbers and developing a strategy to handle the reductions. “Foremost in our efforts will be to ensure that we preserve the core mission of the Institute while maintaining our investment in the future,” Peterson said.
Researchers Use Nanoblasts
Using chemical nanoblasts that punch tiny holes in the protective membranes of cells, researchers have demonstrated a new technique for getting therapeutic small molecules, proteins and DNA directly into living cells. Carbon nanoparticles activated by bursts of laser light trigger the tiny blasts, which open holes in cell membranes just long enough to admit therapeutic agents contained in the surrounding fluid. By adjusting laser exposure, the researchers administered a smallmolecule marker compound to 90 percent of targeted cells Human prostate cancer cells are shown after ex— while keeping posure to laser-activated carbon nanoparticles. more than 90 percent The cell membranes have been stained to assist in visualization. Each red circle is a single cell. of the cells alive. September/October 2010
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The research was sponsored by the National Institutes of Health and the Institute of Paper Science and Technology at Tech. News of the chemical nanoblasts was reported in the August issue of the journal Nature Nanotechnology. The work is believed to be the first to use activation of reactive carbon nanoparticles by lasers for medical applications. Additional research and clinical trials will be needed before the technique could be used in humans.
Salbu Takes Time to Study Cyber Law
College of Management Dean Steve Salbu was awarded a research semester, effective Aug. 15 through Dec. 31, to focus on developments in cyber law and business ethics. Sri Narasimhan, senior associate dean, is overseeing day-to-day college operations this semester. He will meet regularly with Salbu on the strategic direction and progress of the college.
ATDC Names General Manager
Veteran biosciences entrepreneur Nina Sawczuk has been named general manager of the Advanced Technology Development Center at Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute. Sawczuk will lead activities of the ATDC, Georgia Tech’s internationally known accelerator for startup companies. ATDC also manages services designed to commercialize technology emerging from Georgia Tech laboratories and help Georgia companies win Small Business Innovation Research grants. Sawczuk has served the ATDC as assistant director for biosciences since October 2009. Prior to that, she was CEO of Zygogen LLC, an Atlanta-based biotechnology company that advanced the use of zebrafish for drug screening.
Bellamkonda Appointed to Research Post
Ravi Bellamkonda, a professor in the joint Georgia Tech-Emory University Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, has been named an associate vice president within the Office of the Executive Vice President for Research. The three-year appointment, which began Aug. 1, enables Bellamkonda to divide his time evenly between his own research and the administrative responsibilities of this new position. A Georgia Cancer Coalition distinguished scholar, Bellamkonda directs the Neurological Biomaterials and Cancer Therapeutics Laboratory and a National Institutes of Health training program in the rational design of biomaterials. He also served as deputy director for research at the Georgia Tech and Emory Center for Regenerative Medicine.
Report Eyes Renewable Energy Potential
The South could generate 20 percent to 30 percent of its electricity from renewable energy sources within the next 20 years — up from less than 4 percent today — if strong federal policies are enacted, according to a report released in July by researchers at Georgia Tech and Duke University. The South lags behind all other regions in renewable electricity, obtaining 3.7 percent of its power from renewable sources, compared to 9.5 percent for the country as a whole. Opponents of renewable energy production claim that the South lacks the renewable energy resources to capitalize on the growing demand for clean energy. However, the report found that there are abundant renewable energy resources available that can be tapped if supportive policies are put in place.
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Within Walking Distance: Points and People of Interest Near Campus
Students Find Shopping Salvation at Family Store
T
By Van Jensen
he employees at the Salvation Army Family Store just off of the Georgia Tech campus have a big appreciation for the students who make up a large portion of their customers. “A lot of our customers come from Georgia Tech,” said Velia Zuniga, the store’s manager. “A ton,” agreed another employee. “We hate when they go on vacation,” Zuniga added. At 746 Marietta St. N.W., next to the Engineer’s Bookstore, the store has been open for more than 30 years, Zuniga said, and has long served as a discount shopping destination for Tech students. Zuniga said the store sees a handful of regulars who come several times a week, but most of the student shoppers pour in when they need to cobble together an outfit for a themed event. “Especially when there’s some special thing like parties, people come all day long,” she said. “It’s kind of fun, watching them come in and dress up. Halloween? Yeah, we’re busy that day!” The store has dozens of racks of secondhand clothes, which are of the most interest to students, Zuniga said. There also is a variety of furniture, odds and ends, toys, electronics, books and movies. Musically inclined students can choose from a healthy selection of used vinyl records. Buzz isn’t anywhere in sight, but the store does have a stuffed fox perched on a shelf. A sign notes that the display of taxidermy isn’t for sale. Zuniga believes students also bring in a substantial number of
donations. But because the donation center is on the building’s side, she never knows exactly who brings what. She said students come in for more than just clothing, recalling a garish sofa set from the late ’70s. “One of our employees said it wouldn’t ever sell. But a student bought it like that,” Zuniga said, snapping her fingers. September/October 2010
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Office Space
Carol Senf: Haunted by Vampires C
By Van Jensen
arol Senf sticks out like a sore thumb in her own office in the Skiles Classroom Building. Senf, a professor and associate chair in the School of Literature, Communication and Culture, is friendly and dresses in warm colors. Her office, meanwhile, is something of a shrine to the macabre. Ever since Senf began researching Bram Stoker’s Dracula as a PhD student, she’s accumulated an expansive array of vampire paraphernalia. With bloodsuckers once again all the rage in popular culture, Senf discussed the history of the genre.
Researching Dracula: I am by training a Victorianist. Dracula came in at the end of the Victorian period, so I’ve moved on from Victorian literature and science, which was an interest of mine long before I came to Georgia Tech. And the Dracula stuff stems from my dissertation, which was on vampires in literature. Fear of feminism: In the 19th century most of the vampires were women. That’s one of the reasons I first got interested in Stoker. His characters so violently do away with the four female vampires. They dispatch them in such a different way, using phallic stakes and beheading them. But the women vampires are so much more sexualized than Dracula, who is a traditional military man.
Vampires as metaphor: I want to make it clear that everything I’ve looked at has been in literary metaphor. I’m not especially interested in people who regard vampires as real. In fact, they kind of creep me out. I get squeamish when I think about blood drinking.
First vampire: The first one may have been something my husband picked up at a flea market, and then it just proliferated. This is the first one. It’s obviously Bela Lugosi.
Vampires as career: Once you write a paper or a book, people are out there asking you to do more. I use the metaphor that I’m haunted by vampires and Bram Stoker. You get to a certain point, and you can’t get away from them — or don’t have the good sense to turn down a project. 30
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Van Jensen
Stoker’s writing: I’ve got a book coming out in the fall, and it’s on Bram Stoker as a gothic writer. It gave me a chance to look at everything Stoker wrote. I don’t think he was a great writer. I’m not sure everyone needs to read his minor novels, but they put Dracula into perspective. He also wrote romances, Westerns, science fiction and travel literature. Vampires vs. zombies: Why I think the vampire is among the most interesting monsters is there’s an attraction. You have to want the vampire to come to you. The zombie’s just out for brains. What you want to do is get the hell out of Dodge.
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Historical Dracula: Stoker bases the character on the traditional Romanian national hero [Vlad Tepes III]. I’ve gone to two Dracula conferences in Romania. Romanians do not see Dracula in the same way that people in the West do. We see Dracula as a metaphor. They’re responding, “You’re attacking our national hero.” Imagine if someone were to write a novel turning George Washington into some kind of a monster. And that’s what we’ve done. Historically, he’s no worse than many of those Renaissance figures. They were all pretty brutal. Castle: I picked these up in Romania. The castle has nothing to do with Stoker. It has nothing to do with Vlad, except that maybe he slept there. In Romania, they’re perfectly willing to capitalize on tourism. They put the monstrous images next to historical ones.
Stephen King: I think he, like Stoker, has his finger on the pulse of the times and speaks to what we fear most. I find almost everything that King writes is readable. I got invited to write the Dictionary of National Biography entry on King. I thought, do I really want to reread everything he wrote? The really interesting thing is that he does warrant a rereading. And not every popular novelist does. Preying on fear: Sometimes King could benefit from some editing, and he doesn’t know how to end his books. But he’s particularly good with thinking about the angst we still have with regard to the Vietnam War. He often has characters haunted by the fragmentation that went on during that period.
Vampires as parents: When you go back to when people actually believed in vampires, it was a fear of a parent coming back. You feel guilty because maybe you’re happy that mom’s finally crossed over. There’s a great Boris Karloff film by Mario Bava called the The Wurdulak. It’s one of the scariest of the vampire films because dad comes back. He says, “Let me in. Let me in.” I saw that for the first time when I was in high school, a late-night creature feature. I thought, “Oh my God, this is really scary.”
Vampires as gifts: I get a fair number of gifts. I have a birthday that closely follows Halloween. My younger son especially used to pick up all kinds of stuff. It was an easy and relatively inexpensive way to get Mom a present. You can just pick up stuff at CVS in the post-Halloween days.
Sculptures: My older son is a sculptor, so lots of the big stuff he did mostly when he was in school. When I moved into this big office I said, “OK, Jeremy, I will provide gallery space.” He mostly works with metal. This is a class project in which he was asked to work in multimedia.
Cujo as metaphor: King’s also good at zeroing in on unfocused fears. The first time I read Cujo I thought it was kind of silly, this rabid dog. With subsequent readings I came to the conclusion that it was the manifestation of some amorphous evil. I think it works better in Cujo than it does in It, because the creature in It turns out to be some kind of alien spider. It’s so much scarier when you can’t see it. Vampire evolution: The genre has transformed according to the culture, but I’m not so sure there is a clear-cut evolution. I think it just means we’re afraid of different things at different cultural currents. Vampires today: There’s a trend right now to have cheerful, good vampires as in the Twilight series. It seems to be pitched at the tweens. It’s edgy enough to have an appeal to 12-year-old girls.
Vampires in class: They’re always more fun to talk about than something that’s purely rational. There’s nowhere to go from something that’s rational. Students here really want to go onto the next step. They’re interested in the process of discovery. There’s the hope that we’ll be able to figure out what that is. To tame it, conquer it and figure it out.
Homecoming poster: The vampire is such an icon, you can even turn Buzz into one. But you can turn Buzz into anything. September/October 2010
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Ten Questions
Debbie Reynolds: Unsinkable T
By Kimberly Link-Wills
he Oscar- and Emmy-nominated actress Debbie Reynolds opens the Ferst Center for the Arts season at Georgia Tech on Sept. 11 with her variety show, an evening of music and comedy that will include her impressions of Barbra Streisand and Katharine Hepburn and songs from Singin’ in the Rain and The Unsinkable Molly Brown. At 78, Reynolds says she has no plans to retire, that the 42 weeks a year she spends on the road help keep her out of trouble. 1. How do you stay so young looking? I don’t think I do stay young looking. I just enjoy what I do. If you have a happy face, I think maybe you come off looking OK.
2. Do you own up to any plastic surgery? Oh sure. Many years ago I had my neck fixed because it was just going another way. I didn’t want to go down that path so I had a little tuck done. ... I haven’t bothered [with a face-lift] because I want to play parts that are my age. And I don’t like the pulled-back look. 3. Is it true that you were discovered in a beauty pageant? Yes, in Burbank, California, when I was 16. I entered a local beauty contest because it gave away a free blouse and scarf. I didn’t expect to win because I was just 16 and was nobody’s beauty, but I was funny. I did a record impression of Betty Hutton. I didn’t have high heels so I came out barefoot. We were from a very poor family. I guess the judges found me amusing, and I won the contest. There was a talent scout there, and that started it. They took me to Warner Brothers, where they did a screen test of me and changed my name from Mary Frances to Debbie. And that changed my life to a different path.
4. I know you’re probably asked all the time about your favorite role, but I’m going to ask anyway. Which one? The Unsinkable Molly Brown. And then maybe Mother with Albert Brooks.
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5. And your favorite co-star? Oh gosh, well, Glenn Ford and Donald O’Connor and Dick Van Dyke. I loved working with Dick Van Dyke on Divorce American Style. And Fred Astaire. I loved Fred Astaire. He was really sweet. And I loved Jimmy Stewart. He was a wonderful man. I had some great co-stars. I was lucky to work with all of the greats — Gregory Peck, Frank Sinatra. I had a lot of fun working with Frank. I’ve been very blessed, and I’ve been lucky. I had a lot of great times, and I’m still having them. I just got a movie [July 16], so you see, life goes on. You’re always busy doing new things. If Betty White can do it, so can I. Maybe I’ll live that long, and I’ll be cool and make it and have a lot of fun. Betty has a lot of fun. She’s a really nice gal.
6. Who is in the new movie you’ll be filming? I always have to look at how to spell her name because it’s a hard name to do. I mean, it’s new to me. I’m not good about a lot of the new big stars, you know. I’m looking it up. It’s Katherine …
7. Heigl? Yes, Heigl. She’s doing a new movie, and I had to audition and read for it and make a test to play her grandmother. That’s the way show business is. It’s tough to the finish. After 63 years you still have to audition. It’s kind of silly, isn’t it? But that’s what they had me do. I was a little nervous about it because in the old days you didn’t have to do that, they just put you in the film. They knew you could do it, so you did it. Nowadays they say, “What does she look like now?” They want to look at you and what can you do and can you still cut it. ... She’s sort of a mafiosa, tough grandma, a funny grandma. They wanted to see if I could do it. So I did the test. I didn’t want to, but I did. They were very nice. I was nervous, but I got through it. Then they called me and said I got the part.
8. You’ve talked about some of your favorite co-stars. Will you dish a little bit and tell me some of your least favorites? Walter Matthau was really tough to work with because he was
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so crazy. We had some problems. You never knew what he was going to do. He threw me over his shoulder one day. All I had on was panty hose, so my rear end was to the camera. He couldn’t have cared less. He laughed like hell. He said, “It’s funny, it’s funny. You have a great rear, Debbie, shut up.”
9. You’ve been very open about financial problems caused by two of your former husbands. Do you now consider yourself a role model for women to take charge of their finances? Well, I’ve certainly talked about it enough. I hope that they listen. We’re still always gullible for the men. He walks in, says how gorgeous you are, and he’s really nice and sweet. Then behind that is a con artist. They steal all your money and in the end wipe you out. You should always be careful, keep your money separate, keep the house in your name, keep the car in your name or certainly both names. Otherwise you’ll be very sorry. You never know until it’s over, until they come and put big boards up on your house and … take away your cars. I think women are very gullible. We love love. We want to think we’re in love and that they love us. It happens every day. 10. Are you in a relationship now? No. Then I’ll say never after that. You finally have to realize that it’s just not written in the stars. You might be a star, but it’s not in the stars to find the right man. I’m at the age now where I really want to continue to be happy and not to be marred by any mistake, and I’ve made three. That’s enough. [Seventy-eight is] pretty up there, so I don’t want to screw around with the time, you know what I mean? You have to be smart. Why would I mess around?
Read more questions and answers from the conversation with Reynolds at gtalumnimag.com. Buy tickets for Reynolds’ 8 p.m. Sept. 11 show at Georgia Tech at ferstcenter.gatech.edu. September/October 2010
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Student Life Photos Raise Relief Funds
each applicant. Assistance includes scholarships, grants and job opportunities that allow eligible in-state students to attend Georgia Tech without the burden of student loan debt. Marie Mons, director of Scholarships and Financial Aid, said the program plays an important role in keeping students at Tech. “If you study hard and get admitted to Georgia Tech and your family is in a situation where you need the Tech Promise program, then we want to make sure we put together a program that will help students not only get to Tech but to graduate,” Mons said. “The key to the Tech Promise program is not only recruitment but also retention.” Mons hopes that news of the program will inspire middle school and high school students who are interested in Georgia Tech to study hard and work on their academics.
Georgia Tech graduate student James K. Holder II has raised $10,000 in donations through his Your Face HERE: Haitian Earthquake Relief Effort project. Holder, Arch 08, who is pursuing a master’s degree in building construction, had a solid photography portfolio from work for the Technique and classes he took as an undergraduate from the College of Architecture’s artist-in-residence Ruth Dusseault. “At first I didn’t know if I would be able to get 200 people to donate $50, but as the project continued and as participants posted their photos on Facebook and Twitter, their friends would begin to sign up and so on and so forth,” he said. Holder created a Web site and launched publicity for the effort within 24 hours of James K. Holder raised $10,000 in aid for Haiti. news of the earthquake in January. To shoot the photos, he set up a makeshift studio in his Graduate Student Receives Fellowships dorm room. With the assistance of Dottie Hunt, a multimedia designDoctoral student Michael Casciato has been tapped as the recipier in the Library and Information Center, he was able to reserve ent of the National Science Foundation Graduate Research equipment to film interviews with several of the Your Face HERE Fellowship Program and the Georgia Tech Goizueta Fellowship. participants. He then uploaded the footage to YouTube and other As the oldest graduate fellowship of its kind, the GRFP has a Web sites to assist in the viral effort. He reached his $10,000 goal in long history of selecting recipients who achieve high levels of sucJuly. cess in their future academic and professional careers. Past fellows “People seemed to love the photos, so much so that they often include Nobel Prize winners, Google founder Sergey Brin and donated even more than the requested amount,” Holder said. Freakonomics co-author Steven Levitt. Casciato will receive a threeAn estimated 70 percent of the money was donated by Georgia year annual stipend of $30,000 along with a $10,500 cost-of-educaTech alumni, students, staff and student organizations. tion allowance for tuition and fees and a one-time $1,000 internaHolder now is planning a service trip to Port-au-Prince with a tional travel allowance. small group of Georgia Tech students and alumni. He is hoping to The Goizueta Foundation Fellowship is a supplemental award secure enough sponsorships and funding to offset the cost of travel that provides Casciato with a $4,000 stipend that is renewable for a and other expenses. Those who would like to help in this service effort through donasecond year based upon successful academic performance and partions, sponsorships or volunteering should contact Holder at ticipation in various service activities sponsored by the Office of JKH@gatech.edu. His portraits for Your Face HERE and other photoHispanic Initiatives at Tech. graphic work can be viewed at jkh2.com.
Promise Class Largest to Date
More than 360 students have benefited from the G. Wayne Clough Georgia Tech Promise Scholarship Program. This fall, 71 freshmen representing 36 Georgia counties are participating in the program. This is the largest incoming class in the program’s history. Launched in 2007, Tech Promise is designed to help academically qualified Georgia students whose families have an annual income of less than $33,300 (150 percent of the federal poverty level) earn their college degree debt-free. To date, 93 students have graduated from Georgia Tech with the support of the program. Picking up where Georgia’s HOPE scholarship and other financial aid options leave off, the program is individually tailored for 34
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Sand-swimming Robot Paper Wins Award
Ryan Maladen, a doctoral candidate in the bioengineering program at Georgia Tech, won the best paper award at the 2010 Robotics: Science and Systems conference in late June at the Universidad de Zaragoza in Spain. The prestigious and selective conference brings together researchers working on algorithmic or mathematical foundations of robotics, robotics applications and analysis of robotic systems. The paper, “Biologically Inspired Development of a Sand-swimming Robot,” focuses on the design and construction of a robot that can move through granular media with performance comparable to a biological organism, the sand-swimming sandfish lizard. Maladen received $1,500.
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Rob Felt
Alexander Memorial Coliseum was awash in RAT caps at last year’s convocation. This year more women are wearing the freshman caps than ever.
Maladen is a fourth-year doctoral candidate in Daniel Goldman’s Complex Rheology and Biomechanics Lab. Goldman, a co-author of the paper, said Maladen’s “collaboration with physicists in my group to develop predictive simulations of sand swimming could lead to improved understanding of movement in complex terrain as well as provide engineers with experimentally validated design tools.”
Student Center Revamps Menu
Returning upperclassmen tired of venturing off campus for fast, cheap food have a few new on-campus options this school year. The Pandini’s restaurant in the Student Center Commons closed in the spring to make way for three popular fast-food joints, Chick-fil-A, Subway and Taco Bell. “Students were looking for more value-driven brands, and after student research and brand research Subway and Taco Bell were selected,” said Dori Martin, district marketing coordinator and marketing manager for Georgia Tech Dining. The Student Center’s summer face-lift extended to the secondfloor food court, where a smaller Chick-fil-A and a Burger King were shuttered to make room for restaurants offering healthier, more exotic cuisine. Zaya, a Mediterranean restaurant, and Cafe Spice, an Indian restaurant, replaced the eateries. “With the increasing diversity and vegan and vegetarian dining preferences on Georgia Tech’s campus, Cafe Spice and Zaya were the perfect match,” Martin said, adding that people from several campus organizations tasted and evaluated dishes on their appearance, aroma, flavor, texture, authenticity and price. At press time, all of the new restaurants were scheduled to open by the end of August.
Freshman Class Most Diverse
This year’s freshman class is the most diverse in the Institute’s history. More than 35 percent of the freshman class members are women, the largest female population for a freshman class at Georgia Tech in the Institute’s 125-year history. “We’re excited to have such a talented and diverse class. Like many schools around the country, we have seen a dramatic increase in the number of applications for freshman admission, but we are pleased that we continue to attract a quality pool,” said Rick Clark, director of Undergraduate Admissions. “I believe our augmented diversity is the result of more streamlined, timely and targeted messages, enhanced marketing and social media presence and dedicated counselors for underrepresented groups,“ Clark said. “In this economy, students and families are looking for an education that will prepare them well for the future,” he said. “Georgia Tech’s position in the top 10 for public institutions for over a decade — and our recent induction into the Association of American Universities — is absolutely helping us to attract the best students both nationally and internationally.” In addition, this year’s freshman class has 55 percent more African-American students and 65 percent more Hispanic students than last year. More than 61 percent of the incoming class is from Georgia. More than 13,500 students applied to Georgia Tech, an 18 percent increase over last year. Applications came from 49 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and 89 countries. More than 21 percent of the class members are legacy students. The most popular majors for freshmen at Georgia Tech are undecided engineering, biomedical engineering, mechanical engineering, aerospace engineering and management. September/October 2010
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“It is imperative that we recognize that a great university must not merely respond to changes after the fact but must in reality anticipate change and shape the future.”
Designing the Institute of 2035
P
By Kimberly Link-Wills
resident G. P. “Bud” Peterson wants alumni to read the newly finalized 25-year strategic plan, study the 10 institutional initiatives and ask themselves what they can do to help make Georgia Tech even better than it is today. “Georgia Tech is a very fine institution, but we can’t sit still. We have to continue to move forward. There are tremendous opportunities that lie ahead of us, but we have to work hard and think carefully in order to try to take advantage of them,” Peterson said. Tech’s president said he got the big ideas he sought during “days of engagement” held on campus early this year and through the many town hall meetings and online submissions. “The engagement of the campus community has been better than I could ever have hoped. We had 700 people at the opening discussion last September, and the input and suggestions have not let up.” But the bold moves suggested do not appear in the final 25year strategic planning document, formally released during a presentation by Peterson to the campus community at the Ferst Center for the Arts on Aug. 31. The omission of specific actions and metrics was intentional. In a letter from Peterson that fronts about 20 pages outlining Tech’s strategic vision, he explains that the plan is to serve as a request for proposals — RFP. He said some strategic plans consist of massive lists of concrete goals, steps and metrics, but these tend to be tactical
rather than strategic. “What we wanted to do was to ask, ‘What do we want Georgia Tech to be? What is our vision?’ Then open it up to the community and say, ‘Help us achieve our vision.’” Peterson wants Tech to be “the very best institution it possibly can. I want us to push to the very limits of our capabilities — push our students, push our faculty, push our alumni so that they can continue to achieve great things.” Beginning this fall academic and administrative units will be submitting their ideas that describe the strategies that they propose to use to meet the goals outlined in the plan, as well as metrics that define success. In addition, work is under way on 10 Institute-wide initiatives, big steps that in many cases cross disciplines and are innovative approaches that emerged from the strategic planning process. Progress already has been made on several of the initiatives, Peterson said, including becoming known as an institute for innovation; exploration of the role that technology could or should play as it relates to law; preparation of students for global leadership; and the creation of an experimental — or X — college. Regarding the X-College, he said, “If we believe that most of the really important discoveries are going to occur at the interfaces between traditional disciplines, then why in the world would we continue to educate students in just the traditional disciplines? Why wouldn’t we say, ‘Let’s allow students some flexibility and freedom in establishing their undergraduate degree programs’?” That flexibility could mean fewer required classes. “For example, last year one of our engineering programs had 120
“Invoking Georgia Tech’s motto of ‘Progress and Service,’ we embrace the task of guiding the way the world changes for all of our constituents. As leaders, designers and innovators, our role is not only to solve problems but also to shape our world. To accomplish this, we must not only design the methods and approaches people will use to solve problems but also renew the ways in which we interact with and educate our students.”
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GOAL 1 Be among the world’s most highly respected technology-focused learning institutions. Strategies: I Enrich the student experience. I Innovate in instruction methods, course design and curricula. I Develop the campus and its neighborhood as a vibrant live-work-learn-play environment.
GOAL 2 Sustain and enhance excellence in scholarship and research. Strategies: I Strive to be the best in teaching, research and application. I Lead in targeted reputational areas. I Support faculty-led initiatives for transformative interdisciplinary research. I Demonstrate relevance and vitality by investing in faculty and infrastructure.
GOAL 3 Ensure that innovation, entrepreneurship and public service are fundamental characteristics of the Institute’s graduates. Strategies: I Establish world-class initiatives to serve Georgia Tech, the state and other strategic national and international partners. I Innovate in how we incentivize and support commercialization. I Serve in state, national and global leadership positions.
GOAL 4 Expand our global footprint and influence to ensure we are graduating good global citizens. Strategies: I Expand the world’s footprint at Georgia Tech. I Extend and leverage Tech’s impact around the globe. I Embrace and support globally engaged students.
GOAL 5 Relentlessly pursue institutional effectiveness. Strategies: I Continuously improve all support functions and processes. I Implement a performance-based management system. I Develop an entrepreneurial financial model reflecting best practices of both private and public institutions.
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“We can meet our twin goals of anticipating and shaping change by combining our technological perspectives, our strengths in critical thinking and problem solving and through our increasingly interdisciplinary approach to scholarship. Using these strengths, we will create new fields of study, solve new kinds of problems, create new opportunities and lead in a way that benefits not just our stakeholders but also all of humanity. To this end, we must ensure our students and alumni are prepared in a way that will best serve them in a world that is constantly changing and that is increasingly global.”
credits required. They had one free elective — three credits,” Peterson said. “Maybe we start with a group of honors students and say, ‘We want to give you the freedom to explore and design your own program.’ This would allow students to have a bioinformatics degree program before bioinformatics exists. Or a nano/bioengineering degree program before that curriculum exists.” Peterson hopes to have the first X-College students enrolled as early as the fall of 2011. The strategic plan sets forth five overarching goals designed to help take the Institute to its 150th anniversary in 2035. The goals are both short and long term. The strategic plan is designed as a living document that is flexible, changing through time to accommodate changing circumstances and anticipate and respond to needs in the future. 38
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“For example, the X-College would be one of the strategies falling under the goal to sustain and enhance excellence in scholarship and research. We could perhaps start with the honors program. If it doesn’t work, we’ll tweak it,” Peterson said. One goal is to expand Tech’s global footprint and influence to ensure it is graduating good global citizens. “How will we know when we get there?” Peterson asked. “Maybe we require an international experience for every student who graduates. Does that guarantee that you’ll have good global citizens? No. Could it help? Probably. If you compare two institutions, one that requires an international experience for every student before they graduate with an institution that doesn’t, which one do you think will be more likely to have good global citizens that understand the global nature of the world that we live in? Probably the one that requires it.
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One-third of our graduates already benefit from an international experience. We could build on the leadership position we already occupy.” He thinks the goal of relentlessly pursuing institutional effectiveness will be the most difficult to meet. “You can talk about it. You can wave your hands a lot. You can say, ‘We’re already doing this.’ But how, for a 10-year period or even a five-year period, do we continue to focus on improving the way we do business and what we do at Georgia Tech? “You get hung up in the day-to-day doing of things. It’s hard to step back. One of the things I encourage people to do is take time to think long range or creatively,” he said. “Every once in a while I like to have meetings where the ground rule is we can’t talk about anything we can solve in the next six months.” The strategic plan looks ahead 25 years, in part, so that money doesn’t cloud blue-sky thinking. “If you do a three- to five-year plan and you have great ideas, then somebody says, ‘How are we going to do that? We could never afford that,’” Peterson said. “We can do anything in 25 years. All of a sudden you’re thinking, ‘Wow, what could we really do?’” Peterson believes that launching Tech’s new strategic vision and plan during challenging economic times is both appropriate and opportunistic. “When times are difficult, you are in a unique position to advance. Tech has proved that time and again in the past, and it holds true in business and industry as well,” he said. “Designing a plan for focused, strategic leadership in targeted areas will allow for prudent use of resources now and in the future. It will also help us continue to provide outstanding education and research as we lead in improving the human condition in Georgia, the U.S. and around the globe.” Beginning this fall, academic and administrative units and other auxiliary enterprises like the Alumni Association will be asked to identify ways they can help achieve the goals outlined in the plan, Peterson said. “I think everyone is going to see a way they can help somehow, but it won’t be the same for everybody.” As an example, Peterson said perhaps graduates could help enrich the student experience through expansion of the Alumni Association’s mentoring program. “What I’d like is for the alumni to read this and for them to ask the question of themselves: ‘What can I do?’ And it’s not all about giving money. A lot of times I’ll talk to employers, and they’ll say, ‘What can I do?’ And my response is, ‘The most important thing you can do is hire our graduates, because if our students are getting great jobs, we’re going to get great students. And if we get great students, we’ll get great faculty,’” he said. “If Georgia Tech can achieve a portion of these five goals, this will be an even more special place than it already is,” Peterson said. Read the strategic plan at gatech.edu/vision/.
Institutional Initiatives 1. Prepare students for global leadership. By knitting together all of the entrepreneurial leadership programs on campus, the Institute will prepare alumni to rise to the top ranks of their professions and create a culture in which organizations routinely turn to Georgia Tech for their senior leaders. Goals already established within this initiative include the development of an interdisciplinary minor in leadership studies, the creation of a living-learning community focused on leadership development for freshmen and a leadership portfolio project for undergraduate and graduate students.
2. Be the Innovation Institute, including an institutional culture that values innovation and an innovation curriculum coupled with real world experience. Catalyze entrepreneurial faculty/student interaction with investors, alumni and the business community.
3. Create an experimental college, the X-College, to serve as a venue in which students could customize their degrees.
4. Pursue globally significant grand challenges using our campus and region as a test bed for research and application.
5. Explore the role that technology could or should play as it relates to law to produce graduates who are well versed in international intellectual property, commercialization, bioethics, international law and the aspects of law as it is influenced and shaped by technology.
6. Expand and enhance current programs dealing with technology and policy. The School of Public Policy will be tasked with assessing and recommending how the Institute could leverage its leadership in technology with its strengthening programs in policy-related disciplines.
7. Create a virtual Georgia Tech campus. Use the evolving environment as a test bed for research in agile education and in exploring cognitive models for enhancing learning.
8. Explore collaborative partnerships, initiating renewed and visionary planning with metro partners to create a live-learn-work-play community.
9. Provide an educational guarantee. The Institute will explore the possibility that any graduate could take a course in person or online on a space-available basis.
10. Establish best business and administrative practices, including a new institutional approach to intellectual property. This includes best-in-class financial systems and processes to ensure the most efficient and effective allocation and use of resources and exploration of a new institutional approach to intellectual property.
“Georgia Tech’s reach and impact in 2035 will extend beyond the physical dimensions of a presence in Atlanta and Georgia as our campus extends to a global network of partnerships. The most difficult challenges of the future — such as energy, water, sustainability, security, poverty/development and natural disasters — will require global solutions, and Georgia Tech will be engaged around the world in developing these solutions. Boundaries of time, distance and culture will shrink as Georgia Tech contributes to educational applications of the virtual world, using electronic technologies and future media to engage and support our students, faculty, staff and alumni throughout their lives.” September/October 2010
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125 Pieces of Tech History
On Oct. 13, 1885, the Georgia Legislature passed a bill appropriating $65,000 to found a technical school. That institution would become the Georgia School of Technology. To mark the occasion of the quasquicentennial of the establishment of the Institute, staff from the ALUMNI MAGAZINE, Living History and the library’s Archives and Records Management compiled a list of touchable ties to Georgia Tech. 1. Susan Davis, ABiol 91, was the first female Buzz. She donated her well-worn Chuck Taylors to the Tech archives. Buzz has been part of Tech culture since 1979. For Davis, Homecoming 1988 was her shining moment in furry gold and black. Most people inside Bobby Dodd Stadium didn’t know that Buzz was a girl — and they didn’t care. They were too busy cheering for the Yellow Jacket chauffeured onto Grant Field in a limousine as part of the “Buzz for President” theme for Homecoming. 2. President Theodore Roosevelt spoke at Tech on Oct. 20, 1905, on the importance of technological education. The flag was on the stage where Roosevelt spoke. “America can be the first nation only by the kind of training and effort which is developed and is symbolized in institutions of this kind,” he said. “Every triumph of engineering skill credited to an American is credited to America. … It is incumbent upon you to do well, not only for your individual sakes, but for the sake of that collective American citizenship which dominates the American nation.” 3. The image of William Vernon Skiles (1879-1947), a longtime mathematics professor, is outside the classroom building and adjoining walkway named for him. 4. The Georgia Tech Library added a leather-bound, second-edition copy of Isaac 1
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Newton’s Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica to its rarebook collection in 1999. A librarian told the ALUMNI MAGAZINE at the time that it was one of only 750 copies printed by Cambridge University Press in 1713. First and third editions of the work, in which Newton presented the law of universal gravitation and three laws of motion, also are owned by the library. 5. Sideways, a mutt with an off-kilter gait after being hit by a car, attended classes and slept in the dorms. She died Aug. 14, 1947. Little-known fact: Sideways’ remains aren’t buried beneath the marker, located in the shadow of Tech Tower. 6. One of beloved Dean of Students George Griffin’s hats hangs on display in the Alumni House. Griffin, CE 22, MS IM 57, was hailed as Mister Georgia Tech. In 1946, Griffin, “with his obvious love of people, unfailing sense of humor and talent for dealing with students and faculty, was the overwhelming choice for dean of students,” said a tribute written for the unveiling of a portrait of him in the Alumni House. After retiring in 1964, Griffin was named dean of students emeritus, and
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he opened a job placement service on campus for alumni over age 40. Nearly until his death in 1990 at age 92, Griffin reported daily to an office he maintained at that time in the Alumni House. 7. A plump, barefooted figure holds a T-square above the doorway to the Harris dormitory. On the other side, its twin carries a gear. 8. The earliest known Tech class ring was presented to President G. P. “Bud” Peterson in a ceremony at the Alumni House in July. Russell Holmes, great-grandson of the ring’s original owner, Tech graduate Trezevant Holmes, handed over the ring. Class rings at Tech were not widely popular until the 1920s. The next oldest ring the Institute has is from 1919. “The ring may have actually been made here on campus by Mr. Holmes as a shop project,” said Living History director Marilyn Somers. “The only mark it bears is his signature carefully engraved on the inside — a signature that matches the one he entered into the registrar’s book in 1890. All in all, the ring is a remarkable piece of Georgia Tech memorabilia.” The ring is on permanent display in the Alumni House. 9. With its gable roof, steeple and lighted sign, Tech Tower, erected in 1888, is one of the best-known campus landmarks. Originally, the tower was a feature of the old Main Building, and a twin spire was built on the adjacent Shop Building. The shop burned in 1892, however, leaving only the Main tower standing. The class of 1922 put up the first TECH sign as a symbol that would “light the spirit of Tech to the four points of the compass.” The wooden letters were painted white and gold and were illuminated by lights trained on them from the ground. During the 1930s, lightbulbs were mounted inside the letters for better illumination. By 1949, neon lights shaped inside the metal frames were added to the TECH sign. 10. In 1903, coach John Heisman led Clemson to a 73-0 pasting of Tech. After the season, Tech offered Heisman a contract worth $2,250 per year and 30 percent of home game ticket sales. Things worked out well for both sides, with Heisman leading the Jackets to 104 wins and a championship in 16 seasons as football coach. In the off-season, Heisman, who sometimes was photographed with his poodle, was the manager of a theater company. After a divorce, Heisman left Tech in 1919 to return to his alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania, where he had earned a law degree. He later became director of the Downtown Athletic Club in New York City. After his death on Oct. 3, 1936, the trophy the club presented each year to the player judged best in the nation was renamed the Heisman Memorial Trophy. 11. A limestone face of industrialist Andrew Carnegie adorns the keystone of the building that bears his name. The Carnegie Building housed Tech’s library before serving as the president’s office. 12. The building at 190 North Ave., now home to the Alumni Association, was constructed to house the YMCA. In 1910, John D. Rockefeller gave $50,000 to build the facility. That was the largest gift the Georgia School of Technology had received. Another $25,000 was raised for construction, and the YMCA opened on June 7, 1912. Functioning much like a student center, the building housed the Blueprint and Technique staffs, a post office, barbershop, lunchroom and auditorium. On the third floor were rooms rented to students. Early residents dubbed themselves Rockefeller Apartments Roomers. In 1979, the renovated YMCA building was dedicated as the
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L.W. “Chip” Robert Alumni/Faculty House. Robert, a 1908 graduate, was one of Tech’s earliest superstars. He earned 15 letters in football, baseball, cross country and track and field. He later served as secretary of the Treasury under President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Alumni/Faculty was part of the name because in the late 1970s and early ’80s there was a dining facility in the building for Tech employees. 13. The Marathon Stone was installed alongside the track in 1984 to replace the original rock, brought to campus in 1928 by President M.L. Brittain. The stone was carved from a quarry in Marathon, Greece, where in 490 B.C. the Greeks defeated the Persians. 14. The sign at the corner of Fifth and West Peachtree streets marks the eastern edge of Technology Square. Opened in 2003, Technology Square is home to, among other venues, the College of Management, Global Learning Center and Barnes & Noble. 15. The Spring 1985 issue of the ALUMNI MAGAZINE marked the Institute’s centennial. The photograph on the cover was of William Leckie Mattox, the mascot of the baseball team in 1907-08. A tank battalion commander in World War II, Mattox was killed on Okinawa in 1945. 16. In 1963, Freddy Lanoue compiled the lessons from his infamous class into a book called Drownproofing: a New Technique for Water Safety. An illustration from the book, kept in the archives, shows how a pair of pants can become a flotation device. Lanoue came to Tech in 1937. He developed the drownproofing program for the Navy during World War II and made it part of Tech’s physical education curriculum. The class wasn’t dropped from the curriculum until the fall of 1987. 17. Thousands of students have ventured to 748 Marietta St. to pick up textbooks and graph paper from Engineer’s Bookstore. Originally opened on North Avenue in 1954, it is the largest 44
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technical bookstore in the Southeast, according to its Web site. 18. The sculpture on the side of the College of Architecture building was created by Julian Harris, Arch 28, who taught part time at Tech from 1936 to 1972. The model for the sculpture was then-student Steve Bowes, ME 52. 19. Peer closely at the priceless Rose Bowl play chart in the archives to see what would become one of the most famous plays in football history documented in blue pencil: Riegels recovers, runs wrong way. When Tech fumbled during the Jan. 1, 1929, Rose Bowl, California’s Roy Riegels recovered the ball, spun around and headed for the goal 54 yards away. Unfortunately for Riegels, he was running toward Tech’s goal. He realized his mistake too late and was tackled on the 1-yard line. The wrong-way run ultimately cost California the game as Tech won 8-7. In the 1970s, when the 1928 team was inducted into the Georgia Tech Sports Hall of Fame, Riegels was made an honorary member of the Lettermen’s Club. 20. Jim Dull was presented many things during his tenure at Tech, including this football signed by players. Dull was at Tech for 34 years, arriving on campus in 1957 as assistant dean of students for housing. He became dean of students in 1964 and retired in 1991 as vice president and dean of students emeritus. He died March 22, 2009, at the age of 80. 21. The plaster-cast Georgia Tech seal was created by the talented and prolific Julian Harris. 22. The cheerleading jacket from 1948 was worn on the sidelines by John W. Lay, IE 50. 23. The Yellow Jackets went into the 1991 Citrus Bowl needing to defeat Nebraska to win a championship. After a 45-21 victory, Tech fans celebrated the title by tearing down the goalpost. A hunk of it is on display in Junior’s Grill.
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24. President Jimmy Carter won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 for “his decades of untiring efforts to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts.” Carter attended Tech in 194243 before transferring to the Naval Academy. The Nobel medal is on display in the Jimmy Carter Library and Museum at The Carter Center in Atlanta. 25. A large case inside the Athletic Association’s Edge Center holds evidence of the legendary history of Georgia Tech sports. National championship trophies from the 1928, 1952 and 1990 football seasons are on display. Tech also claimed a title in 1917, but the team doesn’t have a fancy trophy from back then, just the satisfaction of being on top. 26. The hat was worn to the 1943 Cotton Bowl and signed by Tech players, who lost to Texas 14-7. The hat now rests in the archives. 27. Thousands of students, faculty, staff and visitors make eye contact each day with the statue of George Griffin outside the Ferst Center for the Arts. 28. A Tech fan had a cushy seat for the 1953 Sugar Bowl, in which Tech capped off a perfect 1952 season with a 24-7 win over Mississippi. More than 80,000 fans watched as coach Bobby Dodd’s Yellow Jackets claimed Tech’s third championship. 29. John Heisman’s original signed contract, sent to him by Tech President Lyman Hall, is in the archives. Heisman was given 13 days to decide whether to accept Tech’s offer. 30. When Alexander Memorial Coliseum underwent renovations in the late 1980s, the hardwood floor was replaced. A chunk of the old court was saved in the archives for posterity. 31. A leather football helmet, now in the archives, was worn by James Middleton Fitzsimons, GS 37, a captain of the football team and member of the Georgia Tech Sports Hall of Fame. 32. The 1930 Ford Model A cabriolet sport coupe became the official Ramblin’ Wreck of Georgia Tech in 1961. Dean Jim Dull acquired the car from Ted Johnson, a retired pilot. 33. Archives has a signed copy of M.L. Brittain’s The Story of Georgia Tech, published in 1948. Brittain became president on July 14, 1922. In retirement, he was named president emeritus and continued to reside in the campus home
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built for him. After his death, the house was demolished to make way for the Burge parking deck. 34. The Clough Undergraduate Learning Commons model, housed under Plexiglas in the library, was done by the architectural firm Bohlin Cywinski Jackson. The learning commons, west of the library, is slated to open in the fall of 2011. 35. Grant Field is named not for its benefactor, Tech trustee and Atlanta businessman John W. Grant. It’s named for his son, Hugh Inman Grant, who lived only from 1895 to 1906. 36. Stone yellow jackets cling to archways outside Brittain Dining Hall. 37. The chandelier hanging in the Academy of Medicine was made in Bohemia in 1796, removed from a Philadelphia home and used on the set of Twelve Oaks in Gone With the Wind. Author Margaret Mitchell reportedly paid $800 for the chandelier in an auction of props from the movie set and gave it to the Academy of Medicine, 875 West Peachtree Street. Today its appraised value is $36,000. The Academy of Medicine was designed by Philip Shutze, Arch 12. It opened in 1941. In 2008, the Atlanta Medical Heritage gave the building, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, and grounds to Georgia Tech. Because of its close proximity to Technology Square, the 18,500-squarefoot building, currently closed for renovations, once again will be available for use by the campus community and for wedding receptions and social events. Also worth noting: As an Atlanta newspaper reporter, Mitchell sometimes came to campus to interview Tech students. And Shutze designed another Atlanta landmark, the Swan House, completed in 1928. 38. While occupying the stately president’s residence on 10th Street, Wayne and Anne Clough commissioned the painting of a mural in the home’s foyer. The mural, by the artist David Matthews, depicts the Georgia School of Technology campus in the early 20th century. Original occupants of the home were President Blake and Ella Van Leer. 39. The T cap worn by an early Georgia School of Technology student belongs to a private collector. 40. A private collector has a rare
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autographed playing card from Bobby Dodd’s college days. Dodd came to Tech in 1931 as an assistant under coach W.A. Alexander. He was the revered head coach of the Yellow Jackets from 1945 to 1966. After stepping down as coach, he remained in the role of director of Athletics until 1976. Dodd died of lung cancer at age 79 on June 21, 1988. 41. In storage in one of the library’s upper floors is a plaque commemorating President William Howard Taft’s visit to campus on May 11, 1911, with a quote from his speech. “I consider the honest engineer the most valuable asset of this government. These are the reasons: Dishonesty in any other branch of the service can be overcome in some way. ... But dishonesty on the part of the engineer is always so far reaching, in the loss of property, of money, of time, of human lives, that dishonesty on the part of the engineer is irreparable.” 42. Plaques outside the Wardlaw Center pay tribute to Tech’s Medal of Honor recipients: Gen. Ray Davis, who led a battalion under withering fire during the Korean War to rescue a rifle company and seize and hold a pass that provided an escape route for two other Marine regiments; Army Air Corps Maj. Thomas McGuire Jr., who during World War II became America’s secondleading fighter pilot of all time; Navy Capt. David McCampbell, the Navy ace of aces during World War II; and Maj. Gen. Leonard Wood, America’s soldier-statesman who helped capture the Apache chief Geronimo and later helped kick off Tech’s football tradition. 43. The statue standing in front of the Ferst Center for the Arts was carved in 1995 by Barbara Rheingrover as a tribute to the Olympic athletes competing in the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta. The top is made of Italian statuario marble, and the base is made of Italian bardiglio marble. Rheingrover visits campus on occasion to clean the statue. 44. Stewart Cink, Mgt 95, took a moment to sign a golf ball in the weeks following his 2009 win at the British Open. 45. The sign was erected near the Administration Building by
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the Georgia Historical Commission. It marks the site where in July and August 1864 Confederate troops manned a fort and rifle pits in an attempt to protect Atlanta from Union Gen. William Sherman and his forces. 46. A door and claw-foot tub were rescued from the East Lake family home of golfer Charlie Yates, GS 35, before its demolition. Charlie, IM 52, and Sylvia Harrison installed the door and tub in their restored antebellum home, Meadow Nook. One of Yates’ most noteworthy wins came in 1937 at the British Amateur, where he used a rusty putter he had bought for $1. He later said friend and fellow golfer Bobby Jones gave him his “lucky, red flannel, long-john underwear” to take to the tournament. 47. Tech’s first 84 students signed the registration book and took entrance exams on Oct. 3, 1888. The information noted included the names of students’ parents or guardians and their hometowns. 48. A ticket for the School of Technology’s 1936 Homecoming game let everyone know who the special guest was: FDR. 49. The bowl, Red Slippery Elm Globe, was created from the Alumni House Basil Garden elm felled by a storm in 2007. Matt Moulthrop, MBA 04, was commissioned to create a one-of-a-kind wood-turned bowl from a limb of the huge tree. The bowl stands 16.5 inches high and is 22.5 inches in diameter. Moulthrop is a third-generation wood turner. Moulthrop bowls are in galleries and museums around the world. One also is in President Peterson’s office in the Carnegie Building. Renowned wood turner Edward Moulthrop taught architecture and physics at the Institute in the 1940s. 50. Student J.T. Fitten created the miniature cannon in 1891 in the foundry. Archives has it now. 51. The Hall of Fame patch belonged to Peter Pund. Pund played center and was captain of the football team for the 1928 championship. He was inducted into the Georgia Tech and state sports halls of fame.
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52. The first edition of The Georgia Tech was published in February 1894. The editors introduced the publication by writing, “The college journal is principally a channel for the development of any dormant energies which the student may happily possess. ... Our purpose is to show the outside world the real life of the student — his trials, his work and his pleasures.” 53. Frank Roman’s original orchestration of Ramblin’ Wreck From Georgia Tech is kept under protective covering in the archives. The song is believed to have been based on Son of a Gambolier, with the chorus: “Like every jolly fellow, I takes my whiskey clear, for I’m a ramblin’ rake of poverty, and the son of a gambolier.” H.D. Cutter, an 1892 Tech graduate, told the Georgia Tech Alumnus in 1948 that his classmate, W.P. “Billy” Walthall, wrote Ramblin’ Wreck. Regardless, Roman, who ran a barbershop in the YMCA, is credited with the orchestration of the song we sing today. Roman directed the Georgia Tech band for 14 years. On Dec. 19, 1928, the 49-year-old “died suddenly before noon at his offices on the campus,” the Alumnus reported. 54. In 1890, H.L. Smith and G.C. Crawford were Tech’s first graduates. Smith won a coin toss to determine who would receive the first degree, now housed in the archives. “It was the greatest honor I ever received,” Smith later said. After graduation, he became a superintendent at Fulton Bag and Cotton Mills in Atlanta. 55. The fishy face adorns a fountain presented to Tech by the class of 1903 in 1911. The fountain provides a soothing sound of splashing water as students make their way up the hill. It stands between the Carnegie and Administration buildings. 56. The grandfather clock inside the Carnegie Building dates back to the late 19th century. 57. The Mickey Mouse clock was affixed to the side of the Skiles Classroom Building in the fall of 1978 as a prank pulled by student Lindsey K. Smith, CerE 77, MS CerE 78. Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine
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58. A WGST program log from Friday, Nov. 22, 1963, shows a handwritten replacement for a one-minute advertisement for Pugmire Lincoln that was scheduled to be broadcast at 1:47 p.m. Continuing until 4:30 p.m. was “ABC News — Kennedy Assination” (sic). 59. Fans and superstitious golfers have a longstanding tradition of visiting Atlanta’s Oakland Cemetery and leaving golf balls, clubs and trinkets at the grave of Bobby Jones, ME 22. Jones won golf’s loftiest title, the Grand Slam, in 1930. He served two terms as Alumni Association president, from 1931 to 1933. He was presented the Alumni Distinguished Service Award in 1937. 60. The class of 1995 presented a whistle to Wayne Clough to mark his inauguration as Tech’s 10th president. His first day on the job was Sept. 1, 1994. 61. A ticket to the 1929 Rose Bowl shows the price of admission for the game: $5. Being there to see Tech beat California? Priceless. 62. Like so many others, this steam whistle was “borrowed” from Tech. It disappeared in 1950 and was missing for 46 years before being donated to the Alumni Association. 63. In the 1930s and 1940s, Tech’s Greek population gathered for an annual Panhellenic dance. A program from the 1940s is on display in the Alumni House. 64. Michelangelo’s is just one of the faces of great artists and thinkers gazing upon students from Brittain Dining Hall. 65. Textile students commemorated one of FDR’s visits to campus with a woven image of the president. 66. A meter in the WREK radio station’s office displays the number of kilowatts at which the station is broadcasting. WREK is housed on the second floor of the Student Center Commons. 67. Among the Institute’s mementos from the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta is a prototype of the torch. Components
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of the torch were developed by a six-member team at Tech led by then-mechanical engineering professor Sam Shelton, ME 61, PhD 69. Equipped with a dual-burner system, the 3.5-pound lighted torch could withstand rain showers and wind up to about 50 mph and held enough fuel to burn for 45 minutes. It was powerful enough that the team was asked to engineer components for the torch that opened the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. 68. The Georgia Tech banner was carried on John Young’s space shuttle flight from Nov. 28 to Dec. 8, 1983. Young, AE 52, was Tech’s first astronaut. After his selection, the Georgia Tech Alumnus said, in its October 1962 issue, “The astronauts are the closest thing to supermen in America today.” 69. The first issue of the Georgia Tech Alumnus was published in March 1923. Editor Al Staton wrote, “We acknowledge the shortcomings of this magazine at the outset. No one man can edit a paper which will please everyone. The only way we can make the Georgia Tech Alumnus a real paper is for every alumnus to cooperate. This organization belongs to every man who attended Tech for as much as a year, and if he doesn’t like the way it is being run, it is up to him to get busy and see that it is run right. Some have said this was a one-man proposition. Confound it! It had to be. Wouldn’t anybody help at first. This is a one-man paper, but it won’t be long if we can get somebody else to do part of the work.” 70. Software completed at the Georgia Tech Research Institute in 2004 was used to create the AMBER Alert System, which posts information about missing or abducted children above roadways across the country. 71. Anyone walking into the north entrance of the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering gets an eyeful of a rocket engine. It’s a 1956 Rocketdyne H-1 model, the kind used by NASA to power the Saturn rockets. 72. The Army ROTC began operations on campus just a year after the 1916 establishment of the Reserve Officer Training Corps by the National Defense Act. Students enrolled in the ROTC basic Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine
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course in the early days of the program, initially a requirement for graduation, wore uniforms like the one in the archives. 73. The lowly toaster has a bit part in every DramaTech production. Look for it on a table, in a painting or in the arms of a cast member in Arsenic and Old Lace. DramaTech’s first productions were staged at the North Avenue YMCA. Today, DramaTech has its own space, the Dean Dull Theater. 74. A patch of bricks from the Shop Building marks the spot where the structure stood. First built in 1888, the shop was destroyed by a fire in 1892. It was rebuilt and stood until 1968, when the building was razed. 75. Behind a chain-link fence are remnants of parades past. The Ramblin’ Wreck graveyard is at the end of Sixth Street next to the Downtown Connector. 76. Brittain Dining Hall was designed by Tech professor Harold Bush-Brown. Famed artist Julian Harris designed the stained glass windows in a student competition. Harris also designed the 10 corbels on the outside of the building. 77. Spittoons were used for Ramblin’ Wreck parade trophies in the early days. Phi Gamma Delta fraternity won the first parade in 1932. 78. One of the most valuable — and unusual — pieces in the library’s archives is this mid-1950s vase created in Picasso’s studio and painted by the artist himself. The vase was donated to the library in the 1960s. 79. In 1980, the old Naval Armory was torn down to make way for the Edge Athletic Center. The NROTC unit offices now are located in the O’Keefe Building on Sixth Street. Outside is a 4-inch gun that was used for training in years past. The gun is believed to date to around 1910 and is thought to have been salvaged from the USS Georgia. 80. Located off campus on Spring Street, J.R. Crickets has been a popular choice among students for hot wings and cold beer since it opened in 1982.
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81. Students, faculty and staff have been riding around campus in Tech Trolleys since 2002. A seemingly unofficial Tech Trolley Facebook page introduces itself with the phrase “I get around.” 82. The Tyler Brown Pi Mile Trail was dedicated in 2005 to honor 1st Lt. Tyler Brown, Mgt 01, HTS 01, a former student body president who was killed in 2004 while serving in the Army’s 9th Infantry Regiment in Iraq. 83. The Ferst Center displays autographed posters of performers, including violin virtuoso Itzhak Perlman, who have taken its stage. 84. Rocky Mountain Pizza continues to be a popular hangout for Tech students, who are lured in by cheap beer and the baked strizzatta, buttery pinwheels of rolled up pizza dough filled with white sauce and bacon. 85. The height of fashion, at least when it comes to Yellow Jackets sporting events, is the explosion of gold we call the SWARM wig. 86. Waffle House opened on Fifth Street in Technology Square in June. Rows of photographs of famed Tech alumni, including athletes, grace the walls. Waffle House’s ties to the Institute include its management: chairman, president and CEO Joe Rogers Jr., IM 68; vice chairman Bert Thornton, IM 68; president and COO Walt Ehmer, IE 89; and vice president Will Mizell, Mgt 87. 87. Although the business never had a presence at any student career fairs, Mac’s Beer and Wine, just east of campus, reportedly has employed more Tech students than any other company. 88. Anyone working in the Marcus Nanotechnology Building is familiar with white suits. Researchers have to don them before entering the facility’s clean room. 89. Georgia Tech Communications & Marketing won a 2010 regional Emmy Award for the best television commercial produced in the Southeast. The public service announcement featured the annual Homecoming tricycle race known as the Mini 500.
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90. This early Georgia School of Technology pennant, proclaiming the motto of “Progress and Service,” is one of about a dozen in the archives. 91. Industrial textile students wove a Georgia Tech seal. It is kept in Tech’s archives. 92. The letter sweater from the 1920s was worn by C.W. “Shorty” Smith. According to a 1927 issue of the Technique, Smith broke his ankle in three places in a game against Vanderbilt while sliding into third base and missed the remainder of that season. The article did not say how short Smith was. 93. An old Varsity menu shows the drive-in hasn’t changed much. Too bad it doesn’t still cost a quarter for a naked dog. Former Tech student Frank Gordy opened the Varsity in 1928. It’s said that when the Jackets are playing at Bobby Dodd Stadium, 30,000 people will eat at the V on game days. How many gallons of frosted orange does it take to quench the thirsts of 30,000 Tech fans? 94. The RAT cap was worn by Elizabeth Herndon, one of the first two females admitted to Tech in 1952. 95. A band uniform from the mid-1960s was manufactured by De Moulin Bros. of Greenville, Ill. 96. Nothing is as central to being a Tech student or employee than the Buzz Card. It opens doors and pays for food. The card has been a mainstay of campus life and employment since 1996. 97. Once you’ve said Bud, you’ve said it all, right? The Budweiser song gets Tech fans bobbing up and down every time it’s played at games. 98. Though computers, calculators and the like may have rendered the slide rule virtually obsolete, it is still the item most closely associated with engineers. One used by a Tech student in the early 1900s is on display in the Alumni House. 99. Howard Cutter, CE 19, knew exactly how to show his Georgia Tech pride: a white-and-gold pipe. 100. These tools were used by some of Tech’s earliest students in shop class. They’re now on display in the Alumni House.
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101. A beautiful painting of a gridiron game graced the program cover for the 1929 Rose Bowl. 102. Students marked the Georgia School of Technology’s golden anniversary in 1938 with a textile touting 50 years of engineering progress. 103. The sign for Junior’s Grill dates back to its original North Avenue location, which was opened in 1948 by Wilbur Gold Jr. Brothers-in-law James Klemis and John Chaknis bought Junior’s in 1958. Klemis’ son, Tommy, Cls 74, has been a fixture since 1975. A mainstay behind the cash register is his aunt, Anne Pamfillis, who knows nearly everyone and everything at Tech. When the North Avenue building was demolished to make way for construction for the Olympics, Junior’s moved onto campus in 1994 and into the former location of the Robbery. 104. The painting of Joe Guthridge, on display in the archives reading room, was done by Bruce Hafley, a former student. Guthridge served as Tech’s vice president of Development from 1964 to 1978. Named an honorary alumnus in 1965, he also is remembered through the Guthridge room at the Alumni House. 105. Archives has three model airplanes that used to soar above the football field during halftime. See the story about the planes on page 96. 106. An artist’s rendering of the coliseum appeared in Alexander of Georgia Tech, a book published by the Institute in 1950 in memory of coach W.A. Alexander. 107. In 1898, the A. French Textile School was established and a year later the building was constructed. The school and building are named for the benefactor, a Pittsburgh millionaire that President Lyman Hall met while on vacation at a North Carolina resort. His relationship with French established a model for future fundraising from private, outside sources to fulfill Hall’s expansion and curricular diversification plans. The French portrait in the archives is unsigned and undated.
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108. President M.L. Brittain was immortalized in a bust, originally posted outside the dining hall. Legend has it that the bust was moved to the archives after students kept painting it. 109. Y. Frank Freeman, EE 1910, who headed Paramount Pictures for two decades in his career as a film producer, received two Oscars, which now are housed in the library’s archives. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awarded Freeman the first Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 1957 and an honorary award in 1966 for his distinguished service to the film industry. Freeman was the Alumni Association president from 1921 to 1923, and he received its Distinguished Service Award in 1939, when the Association said, “As executive vice president of Paramount Pictures in Hollywood, his salary is among the highest paid in the country, even if through tax laws it is largely taken over by the government.” 110. While most of the modern furnishings sprinkled throughout the Price Gilbert Library upon its opening in 1953 have been replaced during renovations over the years, these treedappled curtains, though slightly threadbare, still hang from the windows of the Neely Room. Most of the building’s original furniture and adornments were handpicked by then-librarian and licensed interior decorator Dorothy Murray Crosland, who had textiles and draperies custom made for the facility. 111. A pair of gloves and ring belonging to Ruth Fitts, a 1926 graduate of Georgia Tech’s School of Commerce, are stored in the library’s archives. 112. The centennial time capsule was sealed in a Student Center plaza wall on Nov. 30, 1985. The contents include a George P. Burdell diploma, bottles of Coke, a campus parking ticket, a microprocessor and a Varsity hat. The time capsule is set to be opened in 2035.
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113. Atop a bookcase in the archives’ reading room sits the bust of coach W.A. Alexander, presented to Tech by ANAK alumni during Homecoming in 1947. The photograph of the presentation appeared on the cover of the November-December 1947 issue of the Alumnus. Pictured are, left to right, Alexander; George Mathews, football star and student president of ANAK; Tech President Blake Van Leer; and George McCarty, a 1908 graduate and the first president of ANAK. The bronze bust was sculpted by Julian Harris. Coach Alex played football at Tech beginning in 1907 and graduated with an engineering degree in 1912. A World War I veteran, he became head coach in 1920. He led Tech football teams to 134 wins, 95 losses and 15 ties — and the 1928 national championship. In April 1950, while raising funds for the coliseum that would bear his name, Alexander suffered a fatal heart attack. 114. The 80-foot-tall Kessler campanile is one of the more distinctive landmarks on campus. It was erected in 1996 for the Olympics and funded by hotelier Richard Kessler, IE 69, MS IE 70. 115. The engineer’s cap was donated to the archives by Tommy Hanna, BC 78. The fad of wearing engineer caps to football games was started by Bud Carson, coach from 1967 to 1971. 116. A towering water oak east of the Student Center is estimated to be more than 100 years old — and the oldest tree on campus. 117. The softball team’s stadium, opened in 2009, was named to memorialize Shirley Mewborn, EE 56, one of the first two women to graduate from Georgia Tech and the first female president of the Alumni Association. 118. On Sept. 30, 1951, Eugene Espy, IM 50, reached Mount Katahdin in Maine and became the second person to hike the entire Appalachian Trail in a continuous thru-hike. Some of Espy’s gear is on display at the Amicalola State Park visitors center. In a piece he wrote for the Appalachian Trail News in January 1952, Espy said he carried “a lightweight down-filled sleeping bag, 35millimeter camera, a quart canteen for water, small Primus cookstove, a pint canteen of white gas for fuel, pocketknife, spoon, Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine
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small miner’s carbide light, Band-Aids, Boy Scout cook kit minus the frying pan, toilet kit, plastic rain poncho, extra shirt, two T-shirts, extra leather shoelaces, sewing kit, small clothesline and the New Testament.” 119. When John Portman’s first hotel, the Hyatt Regency Atlanta, opened in the 1960s, it brought the 1950 architecture graduate international acclaim for its 22-story skylit atrium and glass-encased elevator. 120. Since April 1992, performers have been entering the Ferst Center through its stage door. World-renowned pianist Andre Watts was the first performer to take the Ferst stage. 121. Archives holds the 1883 letter from the governor establishing a panel to explore founding a technological school. 122. No head of hair is more recognizable than Bobby Cremins’. He coached the Yellow Jackets men’s basketball team from 1981 to 2000. 123. The presidential gallery, with portraits of Tech leaders from Isaac S. Hopkins to Wayne Clough, is in the Wardlaw Center. 124. When they can spare the time, students have been rolling balls on the lanes inside the Student Center since it opened in 1970. 125. Socrates accompanied his master, professor Daniel Fielder, to class and around campus for 16 years. When he died in 1981, the dog was buried in front of the Van Leer Building. Fielder, MS EE 47, PhD EE 57, taught at Tech for 50 years. He died in 2002. The items were selected by Kimberly Link-Wills, Van Jensen and Leslie Overman of the ALUMNI MAGAZINE; Marilyn Somers, director of Living History; and Kirk Henderson, Mandi Johnson and Jody Thompson of Georgia Tech Archives and Records Management. The text was written by Link-Wills, Jensen and Overman. Sources included the Georgia Tech Alumnus, Georgia Tech Archives and Records Management, Images and Memories, Living History, Ramblin’ Wrecks From Georgia Tech and Tech Topics. Photographers included Melissa Bugg, Scott Dinerman, Rob Felt, Jensen, Kelvin Kuo, Link-Wills, Gary Meek, Overman and Eric Turner. Let us know what you would include on your list at gtalumnimag.com or editor@alumni.gatech.edu.
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Going Their Own Way A growing number of young alumni are chasing the entrepreneurial dream By Van Jensen
eorgia Tech has a long history of entrepreneurism, with graduates going on to start some very recognizable businesses. Arnold Willat, a 1907 electrical engineering graduate, invented cold permanent waving for hair. Reginald Fleet, ME 16, and his brother developed the famed lubricant WD-40. Gerard “Red” Murray, ChE 39, created an affordable cleaning pad under the name O-Cel-O, which became the most widely used sponge in the world. While Tech alumni have continued to start businesses, the past decades have seen the Institute become known for preparing students for jobs at top corporations. But the focus is shifting back toward entrepreneurism, says Craig Forest, ME 01, an assistant professor in the School of Mechanical Engineering. He’s been at the center of a push to encourage students to start their own projects. An entrepreneur himself, Forest helped create a capstone senior design course in the mechanical engineering program and the InVenture Prize, a contest for undergraduate student inventors. In the second competition this past spring, recent mechanical
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engineering graduate Patrick Whaley claimed the top prize — including $20,000 and a free patent filing — for his Omega Wear invention, a type of weighted sportswear. In 2009, the School of Mechanical Engineering built the 1,000square-foot Invention Studio, complete with $350,000 worth of design tools, for students to build their prototypes. “There is a groundswell of action in this area,” Forest said. “It’s a cultural change. We want students to know, if they have a quirky idea, they can turn to their roommate and say, ‘Let’s do this.’” Entrepreneurism will become an even more official part of Georgia Tech’s identity with the launch of the strategic plan. The draft of the plan states, “Our campus culture needs to be one which supports innovation, entrepreneurship and public service just as it does teaching and research.” In July, President G. P. “Bud” Peterson was selected as a national leader in entrepreneurship by Gary Locke, secretary of the Commerce Department, to serve on the National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Students and alumni interested in building businesses can find support through the Enterprise Innovation Institute. It includes the Advanced Technology Development Center, which has helped launch 120 companies in its 30 years of existence. September/October 2010
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They’ve quickly noticed the differences from the corporate environment. Ketmayura said he often couldn’t see the impacts of his efforts at Accenture, but each decision at Sarku Japan, which also serves sushi, yields quick results. Kim said the team atmosphere of the restaurant reminds him of working on group projects in his engineering classes. He and Ketmayura stress having a quality product and top-notch service. “Although we’ve had our growing pains and not every transaction has been perfect, it’s great to see regular customers come in and for us to get to know our customers on a one-on-one basis,” Kim said. “Another thing that surprises me is just how much chicken teriyaki I can eat. I eat it for lunch every day and still haven’t gotten to the point where I’m entirely sick of it.” The restaurant also offers unique challenges. As owners, the two have learned they’re responsible for every aspect of the operation. At the same time, they can’t be everywhere at once, Ketmayura said. Eric Mansfield The two have the support of a James Kim, ISyE 03, went from working in a corporate office to coPushed on a New Path company behind them, but openowning a Sarku Japan restaurant — and eating chicken teriyaki daily. ing the restaurant still required a It’s often said that losing one’s away and impact people’s lives,” Kim said. significant investment of time and money. job can be an opportunity to pursue one’s The two had known each other at Tech, Each of them spends 70 hours a week at the dreams. That’s the attitude taken by Dan and after graduation they would occasionrestaurant, and it took more than $400,000 Ketmayura, ISyE 04, and James Kim, ISyE ally toss around business ideas. After losing to get the location up and running. 03, who both were laid off by Accenture their jobs, they decided it was a sign that While restaurants are known for operafter the economy cratered in 2008. they needed a change of direction. ating on razor-thin margins, Ketmayura While Ketmayura and Kim had been They initially researched creating a and Kim have given themselves an even successful in their corporate positions and business, but eventually they decided to steeper challenge by dedicating 10 percent likely could have found new jobs, neither take on a franchise. That would offer them of their profits to charity projects such as of them had been very happy with life at a the support of an existing company and building wells in third-world countries and huge company. proven product, Kim said. financing orphanages. Of the restaurant’s “We came to the realization that we That product was teriyaki chicken. 12 employees, three are refugees from Iraq didn’t see our futures in the corporate In late May, the two opened a Sarku and one is from Burma. world where we didn’t have control over Japan restaurant at 5304 Windward Park“We also want to invest in sustainable what our efforts went toward,” Kim said. “I way, Alpharetta, Ga., in the city’s new projects locally that will affect our commudidn’t want to spend countless years worktechnology park. The two split the duties, nity here long term,” Ketmayura said. ing for corporations where the goal of my “James and I are both Christians, and the with Kim handling scheduling, labor and actions solely was to raise share prices. whole vision of starting this business was payroll while Ketmayura takes care of “We wanted all of our hard work to go to help people.” toward raising sustainable money to give inventory and ordering.
Among those companies are some started by Tech faculty, including Mark Allen, the senior vice provost for Research and Innovation who co-founded CardioMEMS, which creates micro heart sensors. Another ATDC graduate, Suniva, has become a world leader in solar cell manufacturing. It was founded by Regents’ professor Ajeet Rohatgi from the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. One of Tech’s most famous recent entrepreneurs is Christopher Klaus, Cls 96, who dropped out of the Institute to start up Internet Security Systems, which he later sold to IBM for $1.3 billion. During a July talk to the Computing Alumni Organization on campus in the building named after him, Klaus explained that now is an ideal time for people to blaze their own trails in the rapidly shifting business world. For the Tech alumni hoping their businesses become the next ISS, one thing is clear: Their reasons for taking the entrepreneurial path are as unique as the inventions and innovations they’ve created.
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Alumni Greg DeArment, Rick Lane and Nate Edwards have developed software to understand battlefields and the stock market trading floor. Donating a portion of the profits undoubtedly hurts the bottom line, Kim said, but being able to make that sort of impact is what pushed the two toward entrepreneurism. “As cash-strapped as we are, at the end of the day, we sleep in our beds, and when we’re hungry, we have chicken teriyaki to eat and water to drink,” Kim said. “There are people around the world who can’t do that, and if we can change that, we should. “On the topic of being cash-strapped, another thing Tech prepared us for today is learning how to turn $7 into a week’s worth of meals.”
Filling a Need
Rick Lane, who graduated from Tech in 2003, said his computer science curriculum at the Institute didn’t offer the “latest and greatest” programming language. Instead, the faculty taught students theory and practices, the framework of how to program. “I’ve long thought that this was one of the most valuable parts of my education at Tech,” Lane said. It’s served him well in his professional life, as he started out designing war game simulations at Booz Allen Hamilton before moving on to co-found TickIt, a user-based electronic trading software company in Chicago, along with fellow alums Nate
Edwards, IntA 02, MS IntA 04, and Greg DeArment, CS 07, who also came from the war-gaming industry. “With such a strong foundation in pure computer science, learning a new programming language — or, in my case, an entirely new field of financial programming — was merely a formality,” Lane said. “This ability to adapt and be quick on your feet extends beyond just writing code. As the business was growing, we had to react nimbly to changing market conditions, and I feel my years at Tech aptly prepared me for this.” TickIt Trading Systems, launched in October, allows individual traders to custom build their own automated algorithmic trading plans without having to write any code. In June, the company was acquired by Trading Technologies Inc. Lane started the TickIt project with his cousin, Mike Unetich, a futures trader. Because of Lane’s experience at Tech, there wasn’t much of a difference between working in the financial and security sectors, he said. “In both cases, we had a similar challenge: Make something that was highly complex and data-intensive approachable to someone who was not a technical or computer-savvy person,” Lane said. “Our goal with TickIt’s Algo Design Lab was to empower traders to design highly complex algorithms with a drag-and-drop interface
that was both approachable as well as flexible, allowing them to worry about their trading strategy and not about the technical details under the hood.” For those looking to start their own companies, Lane had a very clear piece of advice. “Manage your expectations,” he said. “Everything will take twice as long as you expect, cost twice as much as you planned and Murphy’s law will almost always hold true: Whatever can go wrong will go wrong. So rather than trying to avoid making mistakes, be prepared to handle them and to learn something from them so you don’t end up repeating them.”
Pursuing a Goal
During one graduate class at Tech, Grace Ou was talking to a classmate about animation when another student butted into the conversation. “I remember thinking, ‘Jeez, who does this guy think he is?’” said Ou, MS IDT 05. That student was Jeff Weese, MS IDT 05, who shared Ou’s interest in 3-D animation. They began working together outside of class to master that medium. They both took graduate assistant positions as 3-D modelers in the Imagine Lab. They later worked together on a joint master’s project — a real-time 3-D game designed to teach cell biology to middle school students.
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and better for ourselves. ... We wanted to pursue our own goals and make our own path.
no one was really using them in that way. We wanted to pursue our own goals and make our own path.”
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Grace Ou and Jeff Weese work in tandem to develop 3-D images and software for various clients.
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We knew that we could build something different
It was during their second year in the program that Ou suggested the two start a company together. “I wasn’t sure how seriously he took me at the time, but two weeks later he came to me with a rough business plan, an interested private investor, a small studio space lined up and a page full of crazy company names,” Ou said. “I remember thinking, ‘We could actually do this.’ I had always dreamed of starting a business but making that first leap was a little intimidating.” They agreed on the name Rival Industries and incorporated the company in 2006. The duo began producing high-quality 3-D graphics and animation for architectural visualization, educational games, interface design, medical procedures and digital information.
Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine
As with any entrepreneurial effort, times were tight at first. But Atlanta-based Rival was financially stable before the economic downturn. “Like many startups, we did feel the strain of it all, but we’ve managed to focus on those areas of business that have traditionally held up well during periods of recession,” Ou said. Both Ou and Weese came into the business having had experience working for large corporations. Ou said Rival has been able to adjust quickly when problems arise, and that kind of “strategic agility” wasn’t an option in the corporate world. “We knew that we could build something different and better for ourselves,” Ou said. “Real-time 3-D engines can offer so much in terms of design visualization, and
September/October 2010
The reason Rafael Corrales, IntA ML 06, decided to be an entrepreneur is simple: It’s in his blood. “I’m from a family of entrepreneurs, so it has always seemed normal to go start a company instead of going to work for someone else,” Corrales said. He started his first company “by accident” when he was a 19-year-old student at Tech. He and a friend stumbled onto the business model of delivering affordable personal tutoring. After moving on to Harvard Business School, Corrales felt it was time to start a new company at the intersection of technology and education. He met with educators and administrators from various schools to find out what big problems they were facing. What came up again and again was the need for quality, cost-effective grade books and administrative software for schools. That research led to the creation of LearnBoost, a free online grade book for teachers that includes lesson plan software, calendars, attendance tracking and tagging of state standards to assignments. The San Francisco company has received significant attention from educators and media, including being featured on National Public Radio’s Motley Fool program. Although this is Corrales’ second effort
Teachers are LearnBoost’s target audience.
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Eric Mansfield
Brothers Michael, left, and Joey Depa developed an organic fertilizer and started their own metro Atlanta lawn treatment company, Boost of Nature. at starting a business, the experience remains challenging. “I don’t know where I first heard this, but starting a company is your attempt at reinventing the world,” he said. “And with that ambition comes a huge emotional roller coaster when things don’t go as planned and challenges get in your way. But it’s not the kind of thing that you can really teach. You have to experience it by starting a company.” Despite the challenges, Corrales can’t imagine himself trading the experience in for a 9-to-5 job. “Right now, I wouldn’t want to do anything else.”
Picking Their Co-workers
When they were kids, Joey and Michael Depa were told they and their dogs had to
stay off the lawn of their home whenever it had been chemically treated. Later, the two ran a lawn business together before moving on to Georgia Tech. After graduating with a management degree in 2009, Michael Depa accepted a job with a landscaping maintenance company that was starting a residential chemical fertilizer division. But he became uncomfortable with the possible health hazards posed by chemicals, and so the brothers started discussing a way to strike out on their own. “I saw great potential to focus on developing an organic fertilizer company that focused on products that were safer for kids, pets and the environment and still developed a green, healthy lawn,” said Joey Depa, IE 05.
The result is Boost of Nature, which offers natural lawn care and organic fertilizer that uses corn gluten. Joey Depa began developing the natural fertilizer in 2008, and the brothers took the company live in early 2010. Since then, they have found a demand for safe, natural fertilizer. There’s only one downside. “The Georgia heat is pretty awful,” Michael Depa said. “It takes a lot out of you on some days.” One of the main positives of the experience for both has been the chance to run a business with a sibling. They said the benefits include knowing they can trust each other and a willingness to be completely honest. “That’s not to say there hasn’t been a family argument around the dinner table,” Joey Depa said.
September/October 2010
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Burdell & Friends
Model Behavior
Former swimmer Mireille Murad makes another splash
M
By Kimberly Link-Wills
ireille Murad may be the only owner and operator of a modeling agency that Georgia Tech has ever produced. “It’s like being a mommy to everybody and really impacting their lives. Some of the girls call me Coach,” says the 26-year-old Murad of her role at Atlanta-based Element Model Management. “Discovered at the mall,” Murad, Psy 07, did some modeling while attending Chattahoochee High School and was encouraged by her agent to walk the runways of Milan. “I knew right off the bat that my parents wouldn’t let me. And swimming was a big deal to me. I wanted to swim in college. If you model overseas, you’re there for one to three months, and I’d miss one to three months of my training. It was bittersweet, I guess,” says Murad over the French toast special at Junior’s Grill. She followed her dad, Joseph Murad, MS AMath 76, MS EE 78, to Georgia Tech, where she was on the swimming team her freshman year. “I almost made it an entire year as a distance freestyler,” Murad says. “I was bending over to pick up a pen I was using while studying for finals. Something just went out of
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September/October 2010
whack on my back. It got to the point I couldn’t even climb into my bunk bed in the dorm. I couldn’t carry my backpack. I literally looked like a grandma walking around campus. It was that bad.” She underwent testing and physical therapy. “‘Bottom line,’ doctors said, ‘you need to slow down on your training. It’s probably a combination of lactic acid buildup because of all the stress and overtraining.’” Murad retired from swimming and began rebuilding her modeling portfolio. “A photographer came from France, and my agent told me about it. I dropped 500 bucks on that shoot. You have to invest in this. You want to get the top-notch pictures. Once I started building my portfolio, I got signed again with an agency while I was in college,” she says. “Then random students around campus started asking me, ‘How do I get in the business?’ I would help these people out, but time is so valuable at Tech that I got to the point I started charging people. ‘You want my valuable knowledge? Let’s meet over coffee. I’ll give you a crash course.’” She created the student group GT Mod Squad with friends Anees Mawani, Psy 08, and Vishwas Iyengar, PhD AE 07, and another from Georgia State. They organized a fashion show for Culture Week on campus and staged auditions.
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“We had the boom box playing techno. We made them do cold walks. We had a rating card. On a scale of one to five, rate their face, rate their skin, rate how they dress, rate their personality. It was as fun as heck,” she says. After graduation, Murad worked for a time as an Atlanta clothing designer’s executive director before visiting France with her parents. “I came back after recentering myself and said, ‘You know what? It’s time to start Element Model Management [ElementModel Mgmt.com],’” Murad says. The agency’s name comes from the sci-fi movie The Fifth Element. “I guess it’s true,” she says. “Once you go to Georgia Tech, you get into science fiction movies. I just love the supermodel and the lead actress in The Fifth Element, Milla Jovovich, with the orange hair. That woman just exemplifies power.” She set up shop in February 2008. She now has about 50 models — men, women and children — on her roster and another 50 or so “in development.” Murad says she used her psychology training to develop motivational materials to transform the wannabe models into moneymakers. “‘Hey, let’s whip you into shape. Let’s get a timeline, set evaluations. Here’s a map of exactly what you need to fix with your body and the types of training you need.’ I tell them, ‘This is a win-win situation,’” Murad says. “Their homework might be, ‘Stop wearing lip liner. You’ve got killer lips. You don’t need to wear lip liner ’cause it looks like white trash,’” she says. “I think that’s what sets our agency apart from others. You get the coaching. I eat, breathe and sleep this business, and, quite frankly, you need that coaching to be successful. That’s something I didn’t get as a model.” Murad’s stable of models includes Georgia Tech students Jessica Hunt, Katee Lee and Kimberly Laughlin and alumna Stephanie Mma, MS AE 07. Murad returned to Tech last year to teach an Options class. The turnout for the modeling and acting course was not stellar. “I was bummed out. It was awkward teaching such a small class. I wasn’t doing it because I need to make money. I want to give back to Georgia Tech. I think self-improvement is huge,” she says. “How could you not like this?” 70
Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine
Element Model Management’s talent from Tech includes, clockwise from top left, student Katee Lee; Stephanie Mma, MS AE 07; founder Mireille Murad, Psy 07; and student Jessica Hunt.
September/October 2010
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Ramblin’ Roll 1950s
Randy Cabell, EE 53, MS EE 54, and his wife, Mary Kay, who was the first female professor at Georgia Tech, took a cruise last October from Copenhagen, Denmark, to Lisbon, Portugal, that included about a dozen stops along the west coast of Europe. A former member of the Fowler Street Five band, Cabell took along his pocket trumpet to entertain other visitors on the trip. He wrote that he surprised the Dixieland band on the dock in Bruges, Belgium, with his “antiphonal When the Saints Go Marching In.” The Cabells live in Boyce, Va. Duncan A. Mellichamp, ChE 59, received the 2010 CACHE Award of the American Society for Engineering Education chemical engineering division. The award recognizes significant contributions in the development of computer aids for chemical engineering education. He was elected to CACHE early in his career and later served as a trustee and president. Mellichamp, a fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, was inducted into the Georgia Tech College of Engineering Academy of Distinguished Engineering Alumni in 1995 and the Engineering Hall of Fame in 2004. Since 2003, he has served as professor emeritus of the University of California, Santa Barbara, at which he was a founding member of the department of chemical engineering.
Joe Tannehill, ME 55, of Panama City, Fla., spearheaded the development of Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport as chairman of the airport authority. Opened in May, it is the first international airport to be built in the United States in more than a decade.
1960s
James R. Lientz, IM 65, of Atlanta, has been appointed to the Georgia Ports Authority by Gov. Sonny Perdue. Lientz is a partner at Safe Harbor Consulting. He served as Georgia’s first chief operating officer and is past president of the mid-South division of Bank of America.
Robert D. “Bob” Martin, IE 69, has been inducted into the Georgia Tech Academy of Distinguished Engineering Alumni. Martin is a partner with the Interlochen consulting group.
Joseph W. Rogers Jr., IM 68, of Atlanta, received the Award for Distinguished Service to State Government at the annual meeting of the National Governors Association in July. That same month, Rogers was appointed to the Georgia Ports Authority by Gov. Sonny Perdue. Rogers is the chairman, president and CEO of Waffle House. He serves on the boards of directors of the Georgia Tech Foundation and Grady Memorial Hospital and is co-chair of the Commission for a New Georgia.
1970s
John F. Brock III, ChE 70, MS ChE 71, has become a member of the Buckhead Coalition. Brock is chairman and CEO of Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. He will deliver a speech, “Open Happiness With a Georgia Tech Degree,” to alumni and friends during a Homecoming celebration at 6 p.m. Oct. 7 at the Global Learning Center in Technology Square.
J. Madison “J.M.” Drake, MS AE 77, was named to the National Society of Professional Engineers’ 2010 class of fellow members. Drake is the society’s representative to the nominating committee for the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority. He is a certified federal project director and a participant in the project manager’s career development program at the U.S. Department of Energy, for which he works. A veteran officer of the Army, Drake lives in New Orleans with his wife, Marlane. Thomas A. Fanning, IM 79, MS IM 80, became the president of Atlanta-based Southern Company on Aug. 1. Fanning will become the company’s chairman and CEO Dec. 1. Before being appointed president, he was the company’s COO. Fanning joined the company in 1980 as a financial analyst and has held officerlevel positions in finance, strategy, international business development and technology.
A. Mathewson “Matt” Gignilliat III, EES 78, of Smyrna, Ga., has been appointed to the board of trustees of the Herty Foundation by Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue. Gignilliat is the distribution manager for Georgia Power Co. in the metro-west region. He is a trustee on the boards of the Armstrong Atlantic State University and Savannah Technical College foundations.
Yvonne Pendleton, AE 79, has been named director of the NASA Lunar Science Institute headquartered at the Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. She has served as the NASA Ames deputy associate center director, chief of the space science and astrobiology division and as a research astrophysicist for 31 years.
David A. Perdue Jr., IE 72, MS OR 76, of Sea Island, Ga., has been appointed to the Georgia Ports Authority by Gov. Sonny Perdue. David Perdue is a director with Alliant Energy, Jo-Ann Stores, Liquidity Services and Gro-Eco, a private green venture company. He is a member of the board of trustees of the Georgia Tech Foundation and of the Georgia Tech Advisory Board. He is past president and CEO of Reebok and past chairman and CEO of Pillowtex and Dollar General.
Edward “Ed” Putnam, IM 74, has written a novel. The Final Season: State of Grace was inspired by his son’s 2001 senior baseball season at Sprayberry High School in Marietta, Ga. It is dedicated to a player’s mother, who died suddenly the following year while preparing to travel to her son’s baseball series at Columbus State. The book, published by Tate Publishing and Enterprises, was released nationally in January. Putnam is a program administrator with Intertek in Duluth.
1980s
John Bland, MgtSci 83, is the director of Amigos for Christ, which has partnered with the Gwinnett Coalition for Health and Human Services to hold Gwinnett Great Days of Service in conjunction with the Celebrate Service Music Festival in Suwanee, Ga. Great Days of Service, which will be held Oct. 1-2, allows individuals to participate in volunteer service projects around Gwinnett County. Amigos for Christ has held the Celebrate Service Music Festival for seven years as a way to raise awareness about community service.
Kent Brown, Arch 85, M Arch 88, has joined CO Architects, a Los Angeles-based designer of medical schools and research laboratories, as director of science and technology. Brown previously held principal positions at Kent Brown & Associates and Lord, Aeck & Sargent Inc.
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Ramblin’ Roll
Craig R. Buckley, Arch 83, has been appointed to the state board of architects and interior designers by Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue. Buckley is president of James W. Buckley and Associates and is a member of the Savannah chapter of the American Institute of Architects.
Sandee Coats-Haan, ChE 87, has been selected by President Obama and the National Science Foundation to receive the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching. As part of the award, CoatsHaan will receive $10,000 and will travel to Washington, D.C., to meet the president. She is a physics teacher at Lakota East High School in Cincinnati.
Deborah A. Woida Cooper, ICS 80, has retired from General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems in Chantilly, Va., after nearly 30 years working in aerospace and national intelligence. She lives with her husband, retired Air Force Col. William Cooper, in Fairfax Station, Va., where she will continue her efforts with the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, assisting in the museum’s photo archives, as well as working as a family history researcher, rosarian and draft horse trainer.
Mike Dudgeon, EE 89, MS EE 90, was elected to the Georgia Legislature District 24 in July. He will take office Jan. 1.
Ali Erdemir, MS Met 82, PhD ChE 86, of Naperville, Ill., has been named a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Erdemir, also a distinguished fellow at the Argonne National Laboratory, developed new materials and coatings in surface engineering and tribology that provide ultra low-friction and wear coefficients. He holds nine patents.
Jeffery T. Farmer, AE 84, MS ME 87, a technical assistant and aerospace engineer at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, was named a winner of the 2010 Forest R. McFarland Award by the Society of Automotive Engineers International. Farmer is the technical assistant to the division chief for NASA’s mechanical design analysis and fabrication division and the lead thermal engineer for the robotic lunar lander development project.
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Thomas G. “Gerry” Picard, EE 80, MS EE 81, was issued patent No. 7,747,084, “methods and apparatus for target discrimination using observation vector weighting.” He lives in central Florida with his wife, Denise, and two children, Jessica and Scott.
Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine
Frederick Reece, Mgt 83, has been named director of the academic writing program at Koc University. Reece lives in Istanbul, Turkey, with his wife and two daughters. Lenny Richoux, AE 89, took command of the 6th Air Mobility Wing at a ceremony at MacDill Air Force Base, Fla., in July. He arrived at MacDill after a tour as vice commander of the 18th Wing, Kadena Air Base, Japan. Col. Richoux, who entered the Air Force in 1989, is a command pilot with more than 3,100 hours. He and his wife, Michele, have three children. S. Lester Tate III, IM 82, a partner with the law firm Akin & Tate PC in Cartersville, Ga., was installed as president of the 41,000-member State Bar of Georgia in June. Tate has been a member of the bar’s board of governors since 1996 and its executive committee since 2005, serving as treasurer from 2007 to 2009 and president-elect last year. He also is a fellow of the Lawyers Foundation of Georgia and a member of both the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association and the American Association for Justice.
1990s
Jason Barnes, Econ 94, has joined the corporate and securities unit of Strasburger & Price LLP. Barnes, who previously was a partner with Haynes and Boone LLP, counsels financial institutions, public and private investment funds and high net-worth individuals and family businesses on various debt and equity transactions in the United States and abroad. Buzz Brockway, MgtSci 90, was elected to the Georgia Legislature District 101 in July. He will take office Jan. 1.
Robert Copeland, CmpE 98, and his wife, Angeline Chong, announce the birth of a son, Alexander Yit-Keung Copeland, on June 26. Copeland is a software consultant for Altron Inc. and a computer science master’s student at Johns Hopkins University. The family lives in Rockville, Md.
Teresa Crisp, CE 95, MS CE 96, has been named an associate in the Atlanta office of Dewberry, a privately held professional services firm. Crisp will be responsible for expanding the firm’s water and wastewater services in the Georgia area. A licensed professional engineer in Georgia, she is an active member of the Georgia Association of Water Professionals and a contributing writer for its publications.
September/October 2010
Brian H. Frank, IM 90, was promoted to managing director at the Premier Wealth Management Group of Morgan Stanley Smith Barney in Atlanta and named one of America’s Top 1,000 Wealth Advisors by Barron’s magazine. He was ranked No. 5 in Georgia for the second consecutive year. He is president of the Planned Giving Association for the Marist School and is a member of the investment advisory committee of Zoo Atlanta and the national council for the Garth Brooks Teammates for Kids Foundation.
Matthew King, IE 95, and his wife, Christi, announce the birth of a son, Barrett Robert, on April 27. Barrett joins his brother, Landry, 3, at the family’s home in Duluth, Ga. King is a project manager for SITA.
Michelle Lane, Chem 98, is the owner of California-based Teeny Cake, which recently was recognized in the top five best cupcakes category of the 2010 Best of the BayList contest.
Anne Bracken McGraw, Mgt 99, and Ryan McGraw, Mgt 98, announce the birth of daughter Greta Ryan on May 4. Greta joins sister Cora, 2, at home in Nashville, Tenn.
S. Narayanan, MS IE 91, PhD ISyE 94, has become dean of Wright State University’s College of Engineering and Computer Science. He chaired the university’s department of biomedical, industrial and human factors engineering for the past nine years.
Rodney Parker, Mgt 92, was installed as the 2010-11 president-elect of the Atlanta chapter of the Chartered Property Casualty Underwriters Society in May. He is a senior business analyst at Catlin in Atlanta.
Phillip B. Russell, Mgt 91, MS Econ 92, was included in the 2010 Florida Super Lawyers publication. He is a partner in the Tampa office of Constangy, Brooks & Smith LLP, a national labor and employment law firm.
Charles Scales, Chem 93, was selected as one of 27 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation clinical scholars to begin a two-year fellowship in July 2011 to examine the delivery, impact and organization of health care. Scales, a graduate of Duke Medical School specializing in urology, will receive his training at UCLA.
Joselyn Hoffman Schutz, EE 97, and Jim Schutz, EE 96, MS EE 97, announce the birth of a daughter, Anna Lucia Marie, on Dec. 12. Anna joins three brothers and a sister at the
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family’s home in Johns Creek, Ga. Joselyn is a full-time, home-educating mother, and Jim is a patent attorney with Troutman Sanders.
Keisha Wilson Tanner, ChE 95, was promoted to serve as engineering team lead at BP in April. That same month, Tanner was featured in the corporate brass section of Who’s Who in Black Houston. Alec Tilley, MS IE 93, has been named vice president on the corporate management team of ProFun Management Group Inc., a leading management and operations company of leisure properties.
Roy Wade, ABiol 97, PhD ABiol 02, has been selected as one of 27 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation clinical scholars to begin a two-year fellowship in July 2011. Scholars will examine the delivery, impact and organization of health care. Wade, a graduate of Dartmouth Medical School specializing in pediatrics, will receive his training at the University of Pennsylvania.
Todd Whittemore, ChE 91, completed his assignment as startup manager for the Ethylene Cracker Complex project for Shell Eastern Petroleum Ltd. in Singapore and relocated to Katy, Texas, to lead the process evaluations group of Shell Global Solutions. He and his wife, Megan Lane Whittemore, ChE 91, have three children.
pleted an MBA at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business. The family has moved to Charlotte, N.C., where he now is an assistant vice president for Bank of America in its technology MBA program.
Albert A. George II, MS HTS 09, managing partner for Building Block Group & Associates LP, also is the CEO and co-founder of the Amazon Reforestation Project Inc. A member of the Georgia Tech Advanced Technology Development Center, the project is designed to combat deforestation and climate change by putting local people to work planting trees in the Amazon rainforest.
Joshua Hernstrom, ChE 01, and his wife, Stacia, announce the birth of a son, Andrew Conner, on May 9, Mother’s Day. Andy joins sister Sophia and brother Samuel at the family’s home in Austin, Texas. Hernstrom is a senior software engineer at National Instruments.
Jonathan LaCour, CS 03, is vice president of product development for ShootQ, which is a subsidiary of Pictage. Pictage and ShootQ provide a comprehensive set of business and postproduction tools to professional photographers.
Dave Lo, CS 00, a creature technical director with Industrial Light & Magic, rigs models for animation and hair and cloth simulations for shots. Rango, an animated film on which he has been working for more than a year and a half, is scheduled for release March 4. Lo, who also is a football card collector, submitted an article to Beckett Sports Card Monthly that was published this summer.
Robert MacMeccan, MS ME 04, PhD ME 07, was promoted to senior research engineer and team lead of the electromechanical systems team at Milliken Research Corp.
Ami Lott Mayo, Mgt 00, and Jeff Mayo, Mgt 02, announce the birth of a son, James Robinson Mayo, on June 23. Ami is an executive assistant for MFG.com, for which Jeff is a sales manager. The family lives in Atlanta.
Michael Van Epp, CE 03, was the winner of the Arizona Georgia Tech Club’s Young Alumnus Award. David Ziskind, ECE 05, now is a professional engineer. Ziskind, a member of the Georgia Tech Young Alumni Council, is a controls engineer with Polytron Inc. in Duluth, Ga.
2000s
Kaysi S. Benefield, Biol 05, graduated from the Georgia campus of the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine in May and began an internship in St. Petersburg, Fla. Julie Chu Carter, IE 00, is an engineer with UPS, and her husband, Ryan Christopher Carter, Mgt 00, is a tax manager with Ernst & Young. The couple live in Roswell, Ga., with 1-year-old daughter Abigail Claire.
Trey Childress, IntA 00, IE 00, MS PubPol 02, of Atlanta, has been named an ex-officio member of the Georgia Ports Authority by Gov. Sonny Perdue. Childress serves as chief operating officer for the state of Georgia. He previously served as the director of the governor’s office of planning and budget.
James D. Freedman-Aponte, CmpE 02, and his wife, Stephanie, announce the birth of son Eric David Freedman on May 13. Eric joins brother Ari, 2. Freedman-Aponte recently com-
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In Memoriam 1920s
George Norman Bisanar, GS 27, of Concord, N.C., on June 28, at the age of 102. Mr. Bisanar moved to Concord in 1940 to oversee the Coca-Cola Bottling Company’s local operation and held the position until his retirement in 1977. He served in the Navy during World War II, working in Washington, D.C., and soon after the war joined a small group of citizens to form the Concord Chamber of Commerce, for which he served as vice president and later president. Mr. Bisanar also served on the boards of directors for the Concord National Bank and Concord Light and Water.
1930s
Frank J. Dale Sr., CE 39, of Decatur, Ga., on June 13. He retired as a civil engineer for the federal government in 1983. A veteran of World War II, he received the Bronze Star. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Army upon graduation from Tech and was called to active duty in 1942 to lead a group of commandos on the Philippine island of Luzon in 1944 in a secret mission for reconnaissance and to supply and train guerilla fighters in explosives and automatic weapons. He achieved the rank of major. An avid golfer, Mr. Dale played into his early 90s.
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William Clyde Shepherd Jr., Cls 35, of Atlanta, on June 18. Mr. Shepherd helped build roads with his father’s business, Shepherd Construction Co., and during World War II worked with his father on blimp bases in Brunswick, Ga., and Brazil and on an airstrip in Guatemala. He continued to work overseas after the war, building air bases in Libya and Greenland, and worked on a project in Saudi Arabia in the mid1970s. He also was a real estate and shopping center developer and manager, building the Toco Hill Shopping Center in Decatur, Ga., in 1956. He was a founding director of Fidelity National Bank; served on the board of trustees for Grady Memorial Hospital for 22 years and on the DeKalb Development Authority for many years; and was president of the National Asphalt Paving Association and Georgians for Better Transportation. Mr. Shepherd was named Mr. DeKalb County by the American Heart Association in 2002.
Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine
1940s
Edwin Lamont Anderson Jr., IE 48, of Atlanta, on June 24. Mr. Anderson, who earned an MBA from Harvard Business School, was associated with several business firms during his career. He served in the Navy in World War II.
Theron Zolly “T.Z.” Chastain, CE 43, of Clayton, Ga., on June 18. A Navy veteran, Mr. Chastain was founder and principal of three firms, including Chastain and Tindel Inc. and Chastain Forensic Corp. As a structural engineer, he was responsible for a wide range of projects in the Southeast, including buildings at Tech. He worked as a forensic engineer, investigating and providing court testimonies of building system failures and served as an arbitrator with the American Arbitration Association. A member of Lambda Chi Alpha at Tech, he received an order of merit from the fraternity in 1982. He was a fellow and life member of the American Society of Civil Engineers and the American Consulting Engineers Council; a fellow of the National Academy of Forensic Engineers; and an honorary member and past international president of the American Concrete Institute.
Robert Thomas “Bob” Davis Jr., EE 47, of Gastonia, N.C., on June 12. Mr. Davis served as president, vice president, CEO and director of various mills in the Southeast during his career in textiles. Captain of the football and basketball teams at Georgia Tech, he was named an All-SEC and All-American tackle and later played pro football with the Boston Yanks. He was a member of the National Football Foundation’s College Football Hall of Fame and the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame. He served in the Army and was a former mayor of Columbus, Ga., where he served eight years on the city commission. James E. Dodgen, ChE 43, a resident of Colorado Springs, Colo., on March 24. Mr. Dodgen was the former president and owner of Dodgen Engineering Co.
John Quincy Edwards III, IM 42, of Norfolk, Va., on July 13. A member of the Navy ROTC program at Georgia Tech, he was commissioned as an ensign upon graduation and reported to the USS St. Louis, a light cruiser in the Pacific fleet on which he served for the duration of World War II. Capt. Edwards remained in the Navy as a career officer, retiring in 1973
September/October 2010
as director of the Naval Investigative Service, now known as NCIS. His service in naval intelligence included positions as naval attache in Istanbul, Turkey, and with the National Security Agency during the Cuban missile crisis.
John Carl Funderburk Jr., EE 47, of Valdosta, Ga., on June 21. He retired from Georgia Power as division operating manager in 1989 following a 42-year career with the company during which he held positions in Macon, Atlanta and Valdosta. Mr. Funderburk, whose studies at Georgia Tech were interrupted by three years of service in the Pacific theater with the Army Signal Corps during World War II, later served as president of the Middle Georgia Georgia Tech Club. He was a member of the board of directors of the Valdosta/Lowndes County Chamber of Commerce and an assistant Scoutmaster with the Boy Scouts, from which he received the Silver Beaver award. Also a member of the board of directors, president and vice president of the Valdosta Kiwanis Club, he was named a distinguished lieutenant governor by Georgia Kiwanis and a Hickson fellow by Kiwanis International.
Mendel T. Gordon, ChE 48, MS ChE 54, of Wilmington, Del., on May 2. He began his long career with DuPont in the Chambers Works plant technical section in 1955 and retired as a senior engineering associate in 1989. At his retirement celebration, Mr. Gordon’s co-workers quoted Joseph Addison to describe how they felt about him: “Cheerfulness keeps a kind of daylight in the mind, filling it with a steady and perpetual serenity.” A veteran of World War II, Mr. Gordon enlisted in the Army Air Forces and served as a radio operator in the Pacific. James Oliver “Ollie” Grigsby Sr., IE 49, of Chattanooga, Tenn., on July 11. Mr. Grigsby worked for a number of companies throughout east Tennessee. He served in the Air Guard during World War II and played baseball for the Air Corps. Mr. Grigsby assisted his wife as director of the family history center at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; played chess and the harmonia; and sang tenor.
John Wesley Hardison, ME 42, of Braselton, Ga., on June 14. Following military service, he joined John Rogers Co., a startup engine rebuilding company in Atlanta that merged with the Genuine Parts Co. in the 1960s. Mr. Hardison was vice president and general manager of
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Arthur Hansen Led Tech as Seventh President Arthur Hansen, who led Georgia Tech from 1969 to 1971 as the Institute’s seventh president, died July 5 in Fort Myers, Fla. He was 85 years old. Dr. Hansen arrived at Tech in 1966 as the dean of engineering. He assumed the president’s office, vacated by Edwin Harrison, on Aug. 1, 1969. The choice of Dr. Hansen to fill the post “was popular with students, who found the 44-year-old pipe-smoking engineer and mathematician willing … to discuss issues and problems with them,” according to the Tech history book Images and Memories. When he resigned, effective July 1, 1971, to take the helm of his alma mater, Purdue University, he was feted by students with “Good Ol’ Art’s Day,” Images and Memories said, and presented a bronzed RAT cap. Dr. Hansen was as fond of the students as they were of him. “To be perfectly honest, working with students” was the best part of the stint as president, he told the Living History program. According to Ramblin’ Wrecks From Georgia Tech, “Although his tenure was short-lived — Hansen served almost two years — he oversaw several improvements to campus, including completion of the Student Center, an addition to the library and new homes for chemistry, physics and civil engineering.” While serving in the Marines as a young man, the Sturgeon Bay, Wis., native was sent to Purdue, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering. After World War II, he returned to Purdue for a master’s in mathematics. Dr. Hansen then joined NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory as a research scientist. During his 11 years there, he also earned a doctorate in mathematics from Case Western Reserve University. He then headed the Nucleonics Research Division of the Cornell Aeronautics Laboratory. He served as Purdue’s president for 11 years, from 1971 to 1982, before taking the post of chancellor of the Texas A&M University System.
Dr. Hansen served as director of the Ball Corp., American Electric Power, International Paper, Interlake Corp. and Navistar International. He was a member of the advisory boards of the Department of Energy, Naval Academy, Army War College and Wright-Patterson Air Force Technical Institute. He also chaired the boards of the Corporation for Educational Technology, Atlanta Civic Design Commission and
Georgia Tech Archives and Records Management
Georgia Science and Technology Commission. Dr. Hansen served as chairman of the Committee on Minorities in Engineering for the National Research Council and as the board chairman of the Indianapolis Symphony Society. Memorials in Dr. Hansen’s name may be made to The Carter Center or the Purdue Cancer Center-Hansen Life Sciences Research Building.
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In Memoriam Genuine Parts’ engine division until his retirement in 1971. He was a member of the Pacific Engine Rebuilders, serving on its board of directors; Automotive Parts Rebuilders Association; Society of Automotive Engineers; and American Society of Metals. Upon graduation from Tech, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Ordnance Division of the Army Air Forces and during World War II served on various air bases in the states before being assigned to India and later China. At the end of the war, he was the ordnance officer of the 14th Air Force, having achieved the rank of major. He was a member of Civitan, the 14th Air Force Association and the Atlanta Men’s Garden Club.
Edward Lynn Huie Jr., IM 40, of Morrow, Ga., on May 12. He helped pioneer the water distribution and reclamation system while serving as manager-engineer of the Clayton County Water Authority. He also was resident engineer at the Atlanta International Raceway. He served in World War II and Korea and retired as a captain in the Navy Reserve.
Albert Raiford Johnson, IE 48, of Mount Olive, N.C., formerly of Chattanooga, Tenn., on July 9. Mr. Johnson was a business analyst in textile fibers for DuPont, first working at the Chattanooga plant and later at its headquarters in Wilmington, Del. His studies at Tech were interrupted by service in the Army Air Corps. He was trained as a co-pilot and was a second lieutenant in the 395th Bomb Group of the 8th Air Force. He spent eight months as a prisoner of war in Stalag Luft 1 in northern Germany after his B-17 was shot down in April 1944. After being freed by Russian soldiers, he returned to Georgia Tech to finish his degree. Mr. Johnson was past commander of the Chattanooga chapter of American Ex-Prisoners of War.
George Moseley Lane, IE 49, of Baton Rouge, La., on July 15. He worked at Ethyl Corp. for 33 years, retiring in 1985 to golf and travel. A captain in the Marine Corps, he received a Distinguished Flying Cross for service in Rabaul, New Britain, during World War II. While at Georgia Tech, he helped found the industrial engineering honor society and earned admission to Tau Beta Pi.
Richard Watkins “Dick” Malone, IM 49, of Jensen Beach, Fla., on June 5. He was plant manager for Beacon Manufacturing Co. in Asheville, N.C., for nearly 20 years and later was a management consultant to textile companies. A World War II veteran, he was a member of 76
Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine
Sigma Chi fraternity at Tech; the Asheville Rotary Club; and the National Rifle Association.
Paul F. Page, IM 43, a resident of West Hartford, Conn., on July 6. Mr. Page retired from the Arrow Hart Corp. in 1984 after a lengthy engineering career during which he developed 11 patents. He played football at Georgia Tech, participating in the 1943 Cotton Bowl, and was an Army veteran of World War II.
William Jackson Rogers Sr., EE 45, of Marietta, Ga., on June 14. He retired from a 40-year career with Georgia Power in 1984. He was a lieutenant in the Navy from 1943 to 1946 and served on the USS James O’Hara during World War II. Mr. Rogers was active in the North Georgia Ambassadors, for which he served two years as president. Mr. Rogers was the director of the adult Sunday school department and a member of the Rejoice senior choir at his church. John Marvel Schreeder, PHE 40, of Loganville, Ga., on July 17. Dr. Schreeder, who earned a medical degree from Emory, practiced medicine in Chamblee, Ga., delivering many children in north DeKalb County and making house calls. He also served on the staffs at Crawford W. Long, Georgia Baptist, DeKalb General and Northside hospitals, specializing in family practice and cardiology. He was a member of Phi Beta Kappa at Tech and an Army veteran of World War II. He was awarded the Bronze Star and French War Cross and reverted to Reserve status as a lieutenant colonel in 1946. Dr. Schreeder was the team doctor for the Chamblee High School football team until his retirement. He and his wife also took care of more than 30 foster children. Raymond Wesley Sparks Jr., IM 47, of Greenville, S.C., on July 25. Mr. Sparks retired from Steel Heddle Manufacturing in 1986. He served on Guam with the 315th Bomb Wing, 20th Air Force, during World War II; was an instructor at Randolph Air Force Base in Texas during the Korean War; and retired from the Air Force Reserve as a lieutenant colonel. A member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity while at Tech, he was a volunteer with Meals on Wheels for 14 years and with St. Francis Hospital, which named him Volunteer of the Year in 1994. He also was a member of the Greenville chapter of the Military Officers Association of America.
Robert Warren Steudel, IM 42, of Schererville, Ind., on July 19. He retired from U.S. Steel after more than 28 years with the company. A retired commander in the Coast Guard Reserve,
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he served on the USS Muskogee as an assistant engineering officer during World War II, attaining the rank of lieutenant. Following retirement, Mr. Steudel was active in the northwest Indiana chapter of the Service Corps of Retired Executives.
Henry David Willis, EE 47, of Montgomery, Ala., on June 25. Mr. Willis worked as an electrical engineer at Alabama Power Co. for more than 30 years and was a charter member of Dalraida United Methodist Church. During World War II, he served in the Army Air Corps in the China-Burma-India theater.
Murray Blair Wright Jr., Arch 47, a resident of Miami, on July 28. An architect, he designed numerous churches and schools, retiring in 2006 as a senior architect for the Department of Education in Tallahassee. He was a Seabee in the Navy and retired as a lieutenant commander after 20 years of active and Reserve service. He was a member of Knights of Columbus, a Boy Scouts leader, a baseball coach and a mentor in the Leon County Public Schools.
1950s
William Walter Addison, CE 51, of Baton Rouge, La., on June 10. A professional engineer and land surveyor, Mr. Addison retired as the director of public works for the city of Baton Rouge in 1986. He was appointed by Gov. Bobby Jindal to the Pontchartrain levee board in 2008 and served until his death. He was a member of the Louisiana Engineering Society; a Navy veteran of World War II; an Eagle Scout and former Scoutmaster; and a fourth-degree member of the Knights of Columbus, Mother of Mercy Council 4030.
Joseph Thomas Barker, EE 59, of Pittsfield, Mass., on June 12. Mr. Barker worked for General Electric Ordnance/Defense Systems for 34 years and retired from Lockheed Martin Defense Systems in 1996. He was a pioneer in the field of guidance engineering software. He served in the ROTC and the Army. He was a member of the GE Elfun Society and a volunteer with St. Charles Parish bingo; the money management program of Elder Services; the Academic Decathlon competition; and a weekend meal ministry.
Ronald D. Brown, Cls 55, of Senoia, Ga., on Jan. 9. Mr. Brown was a self-employed engineer. John Willard DeLind III, IM 59, of David-
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son, N.C., on June 16. Mr. DeLind worked at Southeastern Factors of Charlotte and Wachovia and was a Scoutmaster for Troop 116 in Mecklenburg County. He was a member of Kappa Sigma fraternity while at Georgia Tech.
George Norman Doliana, EE 57, of Fort Pierce, Fla., on June 19. He served in the Navy during the Korean War and worked for the National Security Agency and several defense companies before retiring. He was a member of the Blue Gavel Association and a past commodore of the Fort Pierce Yacht Club.
Thomas C. Ervin, CE 51, of Daytona Beach, Fla., on July 11. Following graduation from Tech, he served as a first lieutenant in the Korean War. John Harold Foster Sr., IE 50, a resident of Greenville, S.C., on June 15. He was a cadet in the Civil Air Patrol and a Boeing B-29 flight engineer-instructor in Texas in the Army Air Corps during World War II. After retiring from a 29year career with Honeywell Corp., he toured with the Commemorative Air Force as a flight crew member on the Boeing B-29 FIFI. Eddie B. Goodrich, EE 50, of Sun City Center, Fla., on April 20. He spent most of his career in the Panama Canal Zone and retired in 1980 as chief of the special projects branch. He was a World War II veteran of the Pacific theater, taking part in the battles of Iwo Jima and Peleliu. He attended Georgia Tech on the GI Bill.
Chester O. Gordon Jr., IM 52, of Louisville, Ky., on Oct. 17, 2009. Mr. Gordon retired from Alcoa after 42 years. He was honored as one of the Top 10 Industrial Salespeople in the United States by the editors of Purchasing magazine. Mr. Gordon was an Army veteran and member of the American Legion. William B. Hinton Jr., EE 56, a resident of Lawrenceville, Ga., on June 24. Upon graduation from Tech, he earned the title of ROTC lieutenant in the Air Force. He spent a year in Japan while serving as a radar technician in the Air Force. In 1974, he began a second career as an accountant, financial/estate planner and life insurance salesman.
Billie Michael Holman, IM 54, of Waynesboro, Ga., on July 10. Following a lengthy career as a mechanical contractor in Atlanta, he retired as a startup engineer in the nuclear industry. He joined the Navy in 1943 and served in the Italian campaign and at Normandy as an underwater demolition frogman.
Carl Dudley Hulsey, Cls 52, of Decatur, Ga., on July 20. Mr. Hulsey worked for Lockheed from 1951 until 1985. He was a veteran of World War II and the Korean War. Donald Keith “Don” Judd, ChE 59, of Midland, Texas, on June 12. Mr. Judd was a freelance process engineer in the petroleum and natural gas industry. Mr. Judd was a lifelong member of the National Rifle Association, West Texas Astronomers, the Republican party and the Civilian Marksmanship Program.
Clyde H. Lovelady Jr., Cls 50, of Oceanside, Calif., on June 8. Lt. Col. Lovelady attended John Tarleton Military Academy in Stephensville, Texas, before entering the Marine Corps in 1942. He served during World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War and retired from the Marine Corps in 1972. He then worked as assistant superintendent of business services for the Laguna Beach Unified School District before retiring in 1992. He was a volunteer with Interfaith Community Services. Edmond T. Miller, CE 55, MS CE 57, a resident of Gainesville, Fla., on May 7. Dr. Miller was a former chair of the civil engineering department at the University of Louisville.
Ray Edwin Murray, EE 59, of Branford, Fla., on July 14. Mr. Murray’s career as an electrical engineer included positions with the Philco Corp., RCAand Honeywell Corp., for which he worked on computer navigation systems for aircraft. He also started a company called Computer Control Systems Inc. His software was marketed internationally and included in software packages sold by such companies as Oracle Software and RCA Victor. Ralph Edwin Neunlist Jr., MS IE 50, of Jackson, Miss., on June 29. He spent most of his career as an engineer in Huntsville, Ala., working at the Army Ballistic Missile Agency and Army Ordnance Missile Command at Redstone Arsenal and later with the Lockheed Missile and Space Co. Mr. Neunlist received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Mississippi and served in the Navy during World War II. He was active with Boy Scout Troop 15 at his church. Virgil E. “Gene” New, EE 50, of Columbia, S.C., on July 20. Mr. New, who completed graduate work at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, spent 30 years working with South Central Bell and, later, BellSouth before beginning a 20-year career in the financial services industry, working for such companies as E.F. Hut-
ton and Prudential Securities. He was a member of the Assistance League of Birmingham.
Howard Ellis Newton Jr., IM 56, a resident of Greenville, S.C., on Feb. 18. An Army veteran, he retired from Ryder Systems and later was associated with the U.S. Census Bureau. Joseph Nocella, Arch 56, a resident of Bethpage, N.Y., on June 19. Mr. Nocella designed and built homes and commercial buildings throughout Long Island and was a former commissioner of buildings for the town of Hempstead.
John Jefferson Porter, ChE 56, PhD Chem 60, of Clemson, S.C., on June 17. Dr. Porter was a professor of textile chemistry at Clemson University for 35 years. Allan E. Rainey, IE 50, of Augusta, Ga., on July 26. Mr. Rainey worked in the heating and air business in Atlanta until a month before his death. He attended Georgia Tech on the GI Bill. Richard Ray Jr., Cls 51, of Atlanta, on April 30. A graduate of the University of Georgia and a Navy veteran, he retired from AXA Equitable after more than 40 years of service.
Robert Raymond Roberts, CE 56, MS CE 62, of North Myrtle Beach, S.C., on July 14. Dr. Roberts, who earned a PhD from West Virginia University, served as a professor at the University of South Carolina College of Engineering for nearly 30 years, retiring in 1994 as professor emeritus. Dr. Roberts was a consultant to many national agencies as an expert in traffic accident reconstruction. He was a member of the Institute of Transportation Engineers, Society of Automotive Engineers, National Society of Professional Engineers, National Academy of Forensic Engineers, Sigma Xi and Chi Epsilon. Robert McKinlock Sharp, ChE 54, MS ChE 56, of Asheville, N.C., on June 17, his birthday. He began his 28-year career with Exxon in engineering, developing some key oil refining patents, and later worked in marketing and supply coordination management positions with Exxon International. He retired as marine sales manager to U.S.-based shipping companies and pursued several entrepreneurial ventures. While living in New Canaan, Conn., he assisted with photography of dance productions and was a Stamford camera club member. In 2002, he moved to Asheville, where he was a member of the symphony guild and racquet club and a First Church Christ Scientist board member. Robert H. Slaughter, ChE 52, of Conroe,
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In Memoriam Texas, on June 20. Mr. Slaughter was a chemical engineer with Shell Oil Co. for 39 years. A member of Alpha Tau Omega fraternity and Phi Kappa Phi at Tech, he served in the Army during the Korean War and continued to serve in the Reserve until 1960. He served as a member of the board of directors of the River Plantation Municipal Utility District for 23 years and as an emergency coordinator for American Radio Relay League Inc. He was a ham radio operator and builder of model ships and airplanes.
Edsel Philip Webb, Text 54, MS IM 55, of Bradenton, Fla., on July 27. He worked for Callaway Mills and later for Firestone Tire and Rubber Co., for which he held several managerial positions in Ohio and Arkansas. He served in the Air Force before attending Georgia Tech, where he was a member of Sigma Nu fraternity. Active with the Boy Scouts of America for more than 50 years, Mr. Webb was a recipient of the Silver Beaver and James E. West Fellowship awards. He was a Mason and a deacon and elder at his church.
Houston Longino Welch Jr., EE 57, MS IM 58, of Hoover, Ala., on July 5. He spent more than 31 years working with the four companies of the Southern Company system, retiring in 1992 as the director of community affairs and assistant secretary for the Birmingham and Atlanta offices. Commissioned an ensign in the Navy Reserve, he served on active duty as engineering officer of a destroyer and later retired as a commander after 30 years. An elder at his church for more than 20 years, he also taught Sunday school, led Bible studies and served on the board of trustees for Briarwood Christian School. He often served as a commissioner at meetings of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America and the Evangel Presbytery, for which he served a year as moderator. He was a 31-year member of the Kiwanis Club of Birmingham; a past member of the board of directors of the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce; and chairman of the board of both the Alabama affiliate and South coastal region of the American Diabetes Association.
1960s
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David Julian Bueker Sr., ChE 64, MS ChE 65, of Victoria, Texas, on June 25. In 2002, he retired from DuPont, for which he worked as a chemical engineer for 37 years. Survivors include his brothers Paul Bueker, AE 67, MS IM 70; Cris Bueker, IE 70; and Dan Bueker, IE 70. Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine
Marshall Seawright Cooper, CE 60, of Decatur, Ga., on July 4. Mr. Cooper, a consulting engineer, retired from Keck and Wood Inc. in Duluth and later began a second career in furniture refinishing and antiques dealing with his wife. He was a Scoutmaster for many years and a past president of the Appalachian Trail Club.
James W. “Jake” Ivey Jr., CE 69, a resident of Evans, Ga., on July 26. Alifetime director of the Builders Association of Metro Augusta, he built homes for 26 years. He was a deacon at his church. Survivors include his son Mark Ivey, CE 89.
Robert Lowrey “Bob” Keown, IM 68, of Gadsden, Ala., on July 12. In 1979, he moved to Jackson, Miss., where he worked for All South Subcontractors and Dunn Construction Co. He was a founding member of a Jackson Georgia Tech club, serving two terms as its president. He served in several positions with the Birmingham Alumni club after relocating there in 1998. Mr. Keown was an avid golfer and dog lover. Memorials in his name may be made to the Georgia Tech Alumni Association.
James L. “Jim” Martin Jr., IM 66, of Stockbridge, Ga., on June 16. He retired from Georgia Power in 2000 after a 31-year career with the company in which he rose to the position of vice president of economic development. He served at Fort McPherson, Ga., in the office of the deputy chief of staff of the 3rd U.S. Army headquarters during the Vietnam War, receiving a commendation medal for meritorious service. He was a former president and honorary life member of the Georgia Economic Developers Association, from which he was awarded the Rip Wiley Award for Professional Excellence. He served as chair of the economic development committee of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce and served on the board of directors for the Business Council of Georgia; the board of Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education; and the steering committees for the 1991 Governor’s Conference on Education and the 1992 Governor’s Conference on Economic Development. Georgia Trend magazine named him one of the state’s 100 Most Influential businesspeople in 1991. Upon his retirement in February 2000, he was honored with a resolution passed by the Georgia Power board of directors, which was adopted by the Georgia General Assembly. Charles D. “Dave” Parker, IE 62, a resident of Bluffton, S.C., on June 25, of a heart attack. After retiring from a 22-year Navy career in 1984
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as a commander, he became vice president of a telecommunications company in Washington, D.C. In 1990, he moved to Hilton Head, where he worked as the assistant harbormaster at the Windmill Harbour marina and was a past commander of the Sail and Power Squadron. Cmdr. Parker, who had a master’s degree in computer systems management and an MBA, flew numerous aircraft as a Navy pilot. He served in Vietnam and was awarded a Navy Commendation Medal and a Vietnam Service Medal with Bronze Star. He also was a past master of Hardeeville Masonic Lodge No. 348 and a member of Alee Shrine in Savannah and the Retired Officers Association. Lawrence Rehfield, AE 61, on July 1. Dr. Rehfield, who earned a master’s degree from MIT and a PhD from Stanford University, was a researcher and professor at Georgia Tech for 20 years and at UC Davis for 23 years. He mentored 39 graduate students.
Charles L. Sellers, M CP 63, of Knoxville, Tenn., on June 13. Mr. Sellers was instrumental in community development in North Carolina, New York and Tennessee and retired from Housing and Urban Development in 1995. A member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he served 25 years in the family history library. He collected books, postcards and commemorative plates. Michael S. Tuck, EE 68, MS EE 83, a resident of Sharpsburg, Ga., on July 16. He was an electrical engineer with the Southern Company.
1970s
Marcus H. “Marc” Ansley, CE 78, MS CE 81, of Tallahassee, Fla., on June 16, following a heart attack. An employee of the Florida Department of Transportation for more than 22 years, Mr. Ansley was chief structures research engineer and manager of the Structures Research Center in Tallahassee. He served on the American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials’ Subcommittee on Bridges and Structures; authored or co-authored numerous research papers; and was an adjunct professor at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering. Mr. Ansley was a member of Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity while at Tech and served as an elder at his church. Gregory Cox, EE 73, of Bakersfield, Calif., on June 10. Mr. Cox spent most of his career as a manager in the oil and gas industry. He also
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served as a part-time instructor of management and computer information systems classes for the University of Phoenix and California State University, Bakersfield, from which he earned an MBA in 2001. Mr. Cox was a member of Beta Theta Pi fraternity while at Tech.
Rebecca J. Davis, Text 70, of Villa Rica, Ga., on July 20, of lymphoma. Ms. Davis was a retired attorney.
James P. Dodrill Jr., Arch 79, M Arch 80, of Plymouth Meeting, Pa., on June 9. Mr. Dodrill was a partner of LMA Architects, which he joined in 1980. A member of the American Institute of Architects, he served as vice president of the Plymouth Meeting Historical Society and as chairman of the Plymouth and Whitemarsh townships architectural review boards. Mr. Dodrill also was an associate professor at Montgomery County Community College.
John Hellander, CerE 79, of Lakeland, Fla., on June 25, from complications of Crohn’s disease. Mr. Hellander was the founder of C&M Technologies, through which he developed and distributed specialized thermal ceramic coatings, a subject on which he published many scientific articles.
Nancy Baggett Kornfield, IM 76, of Marietta, Ga., on July 15. Mrs. Kornfield’s survivors include her husband, Marc J. Kornfield, EE 76, and their three children.
1980s
Gregory Peter Holden, IM 89, of Woodstock, Ga., on June 15. A certified public accountant, he worked as a financial analyst for MACTEC Inc. Mr. Holden received a master’s degree in finance from Georgia State University in 1995. He was active in the Cub Scouts, serving four years as Cubmaster of Pack 994 and leading one of the largest packs in the area. Survivors include his wife, Kristen Holden, Mgt 92.
Patricia McGuire White, PhD ABiol 87, of Dalton, Ga., on June 24. Dr. White, who also received degrees from Agnes Scott College and the University of Georgia, was a professor of biology at Kennesaw State University and assistant dean and director of academic advising at Agnes Scott before joining Dalton State College. She was awarded tenure there in 2002 and at the time of her death was a full professor of biology and the associate vice president for academic affairs. She was a member of Phi Beta
Kappa, a Sunday school teacher at her church and a co-leader of her son’s Cub Scout den.
1990s
Chris Luvaas Campbell, EE 91, of Oakton, Va., on July 4, after a seven-year struggle with various health issues that ended with brain cancer. Mr. Campbell earned an MBAfrom the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia in 1995 and spent his entire career in the consulting industry, working for Booz Allen, Arthur Andersen and BearingPoint before launching his own company, Washington Consulting, in 2003. After the firm was sold in 2006, Mr. Campbell co-founded Integrity Consulting in 2007. He served with Young Life ministries in high school and at Georgia Tech, where he also was a member of Kappa Sigma fraternity and the men’s volleyball club team. He worked with the youth group at Vienna Presbyterian Church and coached the soccer teams of his children.
John Michel Grantham, IntA 99, a resident of Gainesville, Ga., on June 19. He played football for Georgia Tech and started on the 1998 ACC championship team. He was named to the dean’s list six times and to the 1998 ACC AllAcademic Team. He was a certified strength and conditioning specialist under the U.S. Weightlifting Association; an instructor for criminal justice at Lanier Tech; and a martial arts instructor at Full Throttle Fitness in Gainesville. He was the Southeast heavyweight champion in 2001 and won the U.S. amateur kickboxing heavyweight championship in 2002. He also held a black belt in Japanese jujitsu and a purple belt in Brazilian jujitsu and had more than 15 years of experience teaching, training and competing in Thai boxing. Jennifer Schroer Holloway, IE 96, a resident of Evans, Ga., on June 27. She was a former director of quality at E-Z-GO Textron.
Kevin Ziolkowski, AE 90, MS AE 91, of Hebron, Ky., on July 2. He worked for Procter & Gamble and was a member of Delta Sigma Phi fraternity while at Georgia Tech.
2000s
Amy Jo Campbell, PhD Chem 05, of Silver Spring, Md., on June 11. She had worked with the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research as a chemist in Silver Spring and most recently was
a Battelle scientific contractor with the Army Medical Research Institute of Chemical Defense in Aberdeen. She was published six times for her discoveries in organic chemistry; was named on two patent submissions; and won the Siple Award at the 26th Army Science Conference.
Friends
Fredda Blanchard-Fields, 61, on Aug. 3, of cancer. She was a professor and chair of Tech’s School of Psychology and director of the Adult Development Laboratory, leading research efforts addressing social-cognitive processes in everyday life. A PhD graduate of Wayne State University, she joined Georgia Tech in 1993. The College of Sciences and the School of Psychology will honor her memory with a symposium on cognitive aging in the spring.
John Robert Bussey, 59, of Thomson, Ga., on June 19, in a car accident. Dr. Bussey retired after practicing medicine at Tech’s Student Health Center. A graduate of Emory Medical School, he served 14 years on the emergency room staff at Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta; assisted in establishing Piedmont Minor Emergency Clinics; worked at his father’s former hospital, The Bussey Clinic, in Austell, Ga.; and founded the Overseas Medical Clinic in Atlanta.
Ann Bartlett Cannon, 65, of Chamblee, Ga., on July 8. Mrs. Cannon, who had a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Georgia, worked in advertising at Coca-Cola before joining Georgia Tech, for which she was a spokesperson and radio show host. She wrote youth-themed Sunday school lessons and publications for the Southern Baptist Convention, which presented her an excellence in writing award in the late 1980s, and later wrote articles and books about teenagers and Christianity. Griggsby Thomas “Tommy” Cowart, 90, of Atlanta, on July 13. Dr. Cowart, a retired urologist and Atlanta native, was a lifelong fan of Georgia Tech football. His family told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he attended his first Tech game as a boy after a professor living next door gave him tickets and that from that time until his 80s he did not miss a home game, aside from a two-year stint as a captain in the Army Medical Corps. Memorials in his name may be made to the Georgia Tech Athletic Association for the Dr. G. Thomas Cowart Memorial and sent to the Alexander-Tharpe Fund, 150 Bobby Dodd Way, Atlanta, GA 30332-0455.
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Yellow Jackets
Lacrosse Club Doesn’t Show Age
Photos by Dave Adams
D
By Van Jensen
uring Homecoming, current members of the Georgia Tech lacrosse club and alumni will gather as they do every year to celebrate their sport and play a friendly game. This year has the added bonus of being the 40th anniversary of the team’s founding — sort of. As club organizers and alumni are quick to point out, though the modern incarnation of the lacrosse club dates to 1971, the sport’s roots at Tech trace back much further, all the way to the 19th century establishment of lacrosse at the collegiate level. For those unfamiliar with the sport, lacrosse is played on a 110yard field with 10 players on each team. Players have short sticks with nets at the end of them, and they pass around a small ball, trying to score by throwing it into the opponent’s goal. Lacrosse was played first by Native Americans along the East
Coast. Ball Ground, Ga., is named after a Cherokee lacrosse field. One of the earliest universities to adopt lacrosse was Johns Hopkins, which first fielded a team in 1888. A PhD student at the time, John Crenshaw played on the 1893 Johns Hopkins team. Originally from the South, Crenshaw later moved to Atlanta to head the modern languages department at Georgia Tech. He also established a lacrosse team at the school in 1924. By 1927, it had grown to be a substantial varsity sport. For the next season, Crenshaw scheduled games against several top Northeastern teams. But when the Depression struck in the early 1930s, lacrosse was dropped as a varsity sport, presumably for financial reasons. Crenshaw worked for decades at Tech, and the 1941 Blueprint was dedicated to him. He died a year later. That lore was unknown when the lacrosse club was reinstituted, as it turns out, in 1971 by a group of Tech students, according to a history of lacrosse at the Institute on the club’s Web site. The new September/October 2010
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club was formed largely by students from high schools in the Northeast, where lacrosse long has been popular. The Tech club started out with only a three-game schedule and played on the football practice field in jerseys handed down from the football team. The next season featured six games. By the club’s third season, it had 10 games and 30 athletes, and its games were in Bobby Dodd Stadium. Over the decades, the club has continued growing. By the 1980s, it was up to 45 team members. The club dominated its level, winning by as many as 25 goals in a game, according to its records. The Tech lacrosse team members and alumni helped establish a national organization for college lacrosse clubs in the 1990s, leading to the eventual creation of a national championship. Over the past 15 years, the club’s leadership has come from Ken Lovic, who served as lacrosse head coach until retiring over the summer. Lovic has been the coordinator of sports clubs at Tech since 2007 and will continue in that role. “Well, I still have a day job,” Lovic said. “I retired mostly for my wife. I owe it to her. The practices are late at night.” Lovic grew up around Baltimore, a lacrosse hotbed, and played through high school. He first came to Tech for graduate school and happened upon a club practice. He asked if he could help and, quickly enough, was asked to coach. During his time with the club, Lovic focused on improving both the play of the team and the quality of the club experience. Tech holds lacrosse camps every summer to raise funds. Now club members can travel in buses instead of vans, and they no longer sleep five to a room in budget hotels on the road. Gone are the hand-me-down football jerseys. The club has equipment deals and sponsors. Lovic calls it a “virtual varsity program,” but he stresses that despite the club’s growth, there’s no interest in moving to the NCAA level. “Our goal is to provide what we can with what we have,” he said. “I love club sports. It’s sort of a different world.” The club atmosphere allows players to focus more on school, Lovic said, occasionally to the detriment of the team when top players leave to study abroad or work at a co-op job. One of Lovic’s favorite parts of coaching was seeing the friendships that grew
Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine
Coach Ken Lovic, below, led the Tech team to a successful run over his 15 years at the helm. Lovic retired after last season, but he continues in his role as coordinator of Georgia Tech club sports.
among teammates. Even after players graduate, they stay in touch and will be in each other’s weddings, he said. Those alumni usually continue to be involved with lacrosse as well. There are more than 200 active alumni in the Georgia Tech lacrosse alumni affinity group. One of them is Ed Bernier, IE 99, who said he actually considered leaving the team his freshman year. Bernier had played the sport since fifth grade and learned of Tech’s club at FASET. He became friends that first year with classmate Randy Rhoads, and the two kept each other motivated as the team struggled through a losing season. “Randy died at the end of our freshman year in a tragic drowning accident,” Bernier
September/October 2010
said. “Losing a good friend like that was something that I’ll never forget, and it ultimately made me refocus on lacrosse.” By 1997, the team had improved considerably and won its conference. Bernier recalled it as one of his favorite experiences from college. Now, more than a decade after he concluded his time on the team, Bernier remains an active alumnus. “I like how the program keeps raising the bar,” he said. “We never had close to the amount of resources that the team does now, but the current players love the game as much as I do, and that is our common bond.” One of the club’s recent star players is Mike Algozer, EE 07, an All-American during his Tech career. Algozer grew up playing the sport in his hometown of Northport, N.Y., on Long Island, and played in two state championships in high school. “It was a big jump from high school in terms of the academic challenges, so it forced me to reassess my time management skills,” Algozer said. “After the first year I had found a great balance between club time and school time. The program is built on the fact that you are at Tech to succeed as a student first.” Algozer said he and his teammates bonded in part over that shared challenge of succeeding in class and on the field. He remembered fondly how, while a senior, he
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Mike Algozer, at right, was an All-American at Tech and has continued to be involved with the team after graduating. He said many of his closest friendships were made with teammates on the lacrosse club. Some of those friends will return to Tech for Homecoming as the team celebrates its 40th anniversary.
led the team into a playoff game against Florida State, a top 10 team. “We came out and played one of the best team games I’d been a part of in years, and we took a good-size lead into the fourth quarter,” he said. “Then they came back and closed the gap. But we picked each other up and finished the game, knocking them out of the playoffs and putting us into the next round.” Algozer still keeps in close touch with those teammates, and they’ll meet for alumni weekends in Atlanta and go on trips across the country together. He also remains closely involved with the team. He stayed on to coach Tech’s defense for two
years after graduating until moving to Southeast Asia. Former club members are regulars at Tech’s games both at home and on the road, and they’ve contributed funding for scholarships and equipment, Lovic said. Beyond that, they’ve helped build lacrosse as a sport in the South. Through their involvement with the youth and high school camps, the Tech club’s current and former members have helped develop young players. The summer camp has room for 350 campers and has sold out each of the past six years. When lacrosse returned to Tech 40 years ago, there was no youth lacrosse in the
region, Lovic said. In the past 14 years, high school lacrosse has grown from four varsity boys teams in Georgia to nearly 60 boys and girls programs. Several Tech alumni work as high school coaches and referees. While so much of the focus of current and former club members is on the future of lacrosse both at Tech and in the South, they’re taking the time this fall to commemorate the anniversary of the second time lacrosse was founded at Tech. In addition to the annual game between alumni and current members, the club will be inducting its first hall of fame class during Homecoming weekend. Information is available at laxteams.net/gt/.
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Groh-ing a Better Defense
Georgia Tech Athletic Association
Tech’s defense allowed 6.1 yards per play last season. Al Groh’s Virginia team, featuring his aggressive 3-4 scheme, gave up only 5 yards per play.
New coach’s 3-4 scheme is key to gridiron success A
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fter two successful seasons, football coach Paul Johnson isn’t dealing with many doubters over whether his tripleoption offense can put points on the scoreboard. Georgia Tech scored nearly 34 points a game last season, good for 15th in the NCAA. But the team ranked only 56th on defense, allowing nearly 25 points per contest. With the loss of two top defenders, defensive end Derrick Morgan and safety Morgan Burnett, coming into the 2010 season, it’s the defensive side of the ball that poses the most uncertainty for the Yellow Jackets. That’s where Al Groh comes in. A longtime NCAA and NFL coach known for his tough leadership and 3-4 defensive scheme, Groh is aiming to help Tech hold down opposing offenses as the
Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine
team’s new defensive coordinator. Groh picked up the scheme while working under NFL coaches Bill Parcells and Bill Belichick, both of whom have utilized the defense to win Super Bowls. Groh was on the New York Giants staff under Parcells during the team’s 1990 Super Bowl victory. “I have a lot of ambition to do more things and a lot to prove,” said Groh, who was fired after going 59-53 in nine seasons as head coach at his alma mater, Virginia. In deciding which coaching job to pursue, Groh said he looked for a location with a complete commitment to winning, a legacy of success, quality players in place and a high level of integrity. Tech, he said, offered all of those. Groh didn’t go into specifics of how the system would be used and said the talent of the players and their willingness to buy into
September/October 2010
his defensive scheme would be critical to having success. Last season, Virginia’s defense allowed only 5 yards per play while the Yellow Jackets’ gave up 6.1. “There are a lot of ways to do things,” Groh said of the 3-4. “[But] it’s worked at a number of places on different levels.” During the ACC football kickoff media event, Johnson said he wasn’t drawn to Groh as a candidate because of the 3-4 particularly, but rather because of Groh’s record in coaching. “Any time you can get a coach like that, with that much experience and success, it’s great for our program,” Johnson said. “Al is a great football coach. He has a lot of energy, and I think he’s going to be good for our program. We’re excited about having a guy like that on our staff.” — Van Jensen
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Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine
gtalumnimag.com is online. Visit the Web site at
• Visit our blog to find out what’s happening. • Submit a letter or a story idea to the editor. • Comment on stories from the latest print edition. • Submit photos of your recent nuptials or new bundle of joy. • Search the archives. • Send in buzz-worthy news for the Ramblin’ Roll. • See photos that didn’t make it into print.
Visit gtalumnimag.com to stay connected to Tech and fellow alumni.
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Soccer Club Reunites After Tech
The Perrin Cup champion club soccer team included several Tech alumni and students. Back row, left to right, are Chris Shirah, ISyE 08; Kurt Peters; engineering student Jeff Carpenter; Chris Collins, ME 07; Mike Ely, ME 07; Michael Polacek; physics student Ivan Gadjeva; Brian Jones, CE 06; Ciro Pelliccia; and Jason Daley, ISyE 06. Front row, left to right, are Kevin Koushel, Arch 08; Joel Blake, ISyE 08; Karl Waasdorp; Morgan Mullis, ISyE 06; Rob Nacke; Chris Eiland; Ryan Harwell, STC 06; and Don Pottinger, CmpE 08. Team members Chip Stansfield, EE 05, and engineering student Brandon Mattix are not pictured.
I
By Van Jensen
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n 2004, the Georgia Tech men’s soccer club had one of its finest seasons. In the national championship tournament, the team lost to eventual champion Texas A&M on penalty kicks. Tech finished with a top 10 ranking. “We had guys who were freshmen, graduate students, PhD candidates and foreign exchange students that all contributed to our success,” said Morgan Mullis, ISyE 06, reflecting on his favorite soccer club moments. “Our road trips to other colleges for tournaments are the centerpiece to some of the craziest times I had in college.” With those fond memories still fresh in mind after graduating, Mullis reached out to former teammate Chip Stansfield, EE 05. They decided to reunite the club as a team in the Atlanta District Amateur Soccer League, which was founded in 1967. A core team of about 10 former players started competing during the 2007 season. Though it’s an amateur league, the team wanted more than just some weekend fun, Mullis said. They held tryouts and regular practices. Despite that work, it was a fun experience. “Most of these guys were one to three years out of Tech and very excited for the chance to play again,” Mullis said. “A lot of us thought
Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine
September/October 2010
our soccer careers might be over once we were out of Tech.” Just as at Tech, the team, which goes by G Tech FC, enjoyed success on the field as well as good times off of it. By this past season, the club had moved up to the league’s second division. During the Perrin Cup Tournament held in the spring to determine the league’s champion out of 40 teams, the Tech players once again found themselves in a tied game at the end of regulation. But this game had a happier outcome, as the club knocked in five goals in overtime and claimed the title. “Our team’s common bond of having played together for years at Georgia Tech is probably one of the biggest contributors to our success,” Mullis said. “The team chemistry we share motivates all of us.” After having the summer off, the team will begin competing again in October. Mullis noted that the squad is looking for sponsors, and those interested may contact him at morganmullis@gmail.com. Mullis and the rest of the team also were excited to carry over a well-worn rivalry into their postcollege days. “Yes, there is a UGA team called Creswell FC that is in fact our biggest rival,” he said. “We finally got a chance to play Creswell FC this past season in the Perrin Cup semifinals and defeated them 5-4 in a very hard-fought match. For some reason, the victory feels much sweeter when you beat a UGA team.”
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Sports Briefs After winning the ACC championship last season, the Tech football team was predicted to finish fourth in the conference by media attending the ACC preseason media event. Virginia Tech was picked to win the ACC, followed by Florida State and Miami. Tech was predicted to finish third in the Coastal Division. The Hokies also were picked to win last season. Florida State quarterback Christian Ponder was selected as ACC preseason player of the year, with senior Tech quarterback Joshua Nesbitt coming in sixth. Tech senior center Sean Bedford was selected to the preseason All-ACC football team. He was the only player from Georgia Tech named to the team.
Football Team Picked Fourth in ACC
The only Yellow Jacket to be a three-time first-team AllAmerican, former defensive back Randy Rhino has been named among the 2010 class of ACC Football Championship Game Legends. Rhino, Mgt 76, made 14 career interceptions and was a standout punt returner. He holds the record for longest punt return in Tech history, rambling 96 yards against South Carolina in 1972. Several of his returning records later were broken by his son, Kelley, Mgt 04. Randy Rhino later played professionally and now is a chiropractor for Tech’s sports teams.
Rhino Named an ACC Football Legend
Play-by-play broadcaster Phil Bush interviews a Brazilian player after an International Volleyball Federation world league game.
For the third straight year, longtime Georgia Tech volleyball broadcaster Phil Bush was asked to be the play-by-play announcer for the International Volleyball Federation world league competition. The event, featuring the world’s top 16 men’s volleyball teams, takes place over six weeks. This year’s “match of the week” contests were held in different countries leading up to the finals in Argentina, with a $1 million prize going to the victorious Brazilian team. The assignment took Bush around the globe to volleyball hotbeds. “Anyone having a chance to see these matches saw Olympiccaliber volleyball,” Bush said. “When I’m doing world league, it’s not unusual to have crowds of 10,000 to 18,000 in the building. The atmosphere is absolutely electric.” From June 5 through July 8, Bush called games on consecutive weekends in Brazil, Finland, Cuba, Poland, South Korea and Serbia.
Six Countries in Six Weeks for Broadcaster
After being named national player of the year and winning the pro circuit Norman Wilkerson Memorial Tournament, Tech rising junior Irina Falconi announced she would leave school to pursue a career in professional tennis. Falconi leaves Tech with a 70-15 career singles record. She was a two-time AllAmerica and All-ACC player. In 2008, she and teammate Amanda McDowell captured the AllAmerican doubles title. “This decision obviously took a lot of time before it was made,” Falconi said. “I made it a responsibility to talk to coach [Bryan] Shelton before anything was settled. Pursuing a professional career is something that I wanted for a very long time.”
Tennis Player Falconi Leaves Tech to Turn Pro
September/October 2010
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Tech 100 Business Club: Alumni Making the Tech Connection Georgia Tech Headquarters for luggage, briefcases, leather goods, travel acessories, pens and distinctive gifts. Atlanta, Augusta, Birmingham, Huntsville Orlando, Naples, Jacksonville, Tampa Nashville, Knoxville, Chattanooga Charleston, Greenville, Spartanburg www.moriluggage.com
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Bruce Cook President/CEO
Choosing the Best Publishing, LLC
2625 Cumberland Parkway • Suite 200 • Atlanta, Georgia 770.803.3100 • FAX 770.803.3110 • 1.800.774.BEST
www.choosingthebest.org bcook@ctpublishing.com
Ziegler Tools, Inc. 6215 Fulton Industrial Blvd. Atlanta, GA 30336 404-346-5666 www.zieglertools.com
For your industrial tools and supplies, please call us.
Financial Services
JERRY COX, CLU, ChFC Atlanta Planning Group
3715 Northside Parkway, #200-490 Atlanta, GA 30327 Investments, Estate, and Life Insurance Planning for Personal and Business Needs (404) 816-1153 Ext. 304 Fax: (404) 814-1703 Securities offered through Investors Capital Corporation, Member FINRA/SIPC
Frank Beacham
Attorney at Law Georgia Tech Alumnus, BME 1985
Brinson, Askew, Berry Seigler, Richardson, & Davis, LLP www.brinson-askew.com
P.O. Box 5513 615 West First Street Rome, GA 30162-5513
Telephone: 706-291-8853 Atlanta Line: 404-521-0908 Telefax: 706-234-3574
fbeacham@brinson-askew.com
To be part of the Tech 100 Business Club, contact Holly Green at holly.green@alumni.gatech.edu or (404) 894-0765.
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Tech 100 Business Club: Alumni Making the Tech Connection Atlanta’s preferred Technology staffing agency. IT Staff Augmentation & Permanent Placement Founded by Georgia Tech Alumni. Please contact Clint Bailey – clint@htrjobs.com
www.htrjobs.com
Jeni Bogdan The Saxon Group, Inc., Industrial Contractors 790 Brogdon Road, Suwanee, GA 30024 770-271-2174 FAX 770-271-2176
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To be part of the Tech 100 Business Club, contact Holly Green at holly.green@alumni.gatech.edu or (404) 894-0765.
September
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Calendar
Family Weekend 2010
registration is open online at familyweekend.gatech.edu with a cost savings through Sept. 8 for the Sept. 24-25 event.
Rob Felt
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 Green Awareness 5K Run/Walk,
sponsored by the School of Building Construction and the Greater Atlanta Homebuilders Association to raise money for HomeAid Atlanta, will take place Sept. 11 on campus, with check-in starting at 7 a.m. and the race stepping off at 8 a.m. Register at atlantahomebuilders.com.
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Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine
September/October 2010
Break of Reality,
a cello rock group, will perform free concerts at noon and 5 p.m. Sept. 17 at the amphitheater outside the Ferst Center for the Arts on campus. ferstcenter.gatech.edu
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October Treasures of South Africa,
a journey beginning Oct. 31 and continuing until Nov. 14, will take Alumni Travel participants from Cape Town to Boulders Beach to Johannesburg to the Thornybush Game Reserve. Sign up at gtalumni.org/tours.
Register at FutureMediaGlobal.com to hear from industry visionaries, investors and interactive marketing experts on content creation, distribution and consumption.
Kristi Odom
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 Homecoming weekend is the
Alumni Association’s chance to welcome Tech grads and friends back to campus for a gamut of gatherings, including a wine tasting, seminars, tailgating and football. Will this member of the class of 1985 show up for the 25th reunion? Also marking milestones will be the classes of 1970 and 1960. gtalumni.org/ pages/homecoming
Billy Collins, the 2001-03 U.S. poet
laureate, opens the Poetry@Tech 2010-11 season at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 5 in the LeCraw auditorium at the College of Management. The evening will include a tribute to the late Henry Bourne, who endowed Tech’s chair in poetry. poetry.gatech.edu
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In Retrospect
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Fly, Yellow Jacket, Fly
D
ecades before students began donning a plush costume, black tights and Chuck Taylors to bring the Yellow Jacket to life, a Tech mascot of a different sort made a buzz on Grant Field, this one crafted from paper, plywood and steel. A photo in the 1948 Blueprint shows two students kneeling on the field during a 1947 football game as they tinker with a model airplane painted with black and yellow stripes. The control-line planes were flown during halftime at home and away games throughout the late 1940s and the 1950s. The plans for the Yellow Jacket plane shown here were published in the 1959-61 edition of Frank Zaic’s Model Aeronautic Year Book after being submitted by Stuart Richmond, IM 51, who designed a version of the model airplane in 1948. In a description accompanying the plans, Richmond wrote that the Yellow Jacket “powered with a .29 to .35 engine has had an exciting life. It has been sprayed with DDT by rival cheerleaders. It has flown at bowl games. It was the victim of an attempted kidnapping. It has been peppered in flight with oranges by pretty University of Florida co-eds.” Richmond recently told the ALUMNI MAGAZINE that students would have just 20 seconds to launch the planes as Tech’s marching band exited the field following its halftime performance. “We never failed to get one in flight during that 20 seconds,” Richmond said, adding that during his time on campus he was assisted by a great team of students, which included Aubrey Nabers, AE 51, and Bill Cooksey, IM 56. “We had a timer on them that shut off the fuel after about 15 seconds, so when they flew, they only flew for like
12 or 15 seconds, just enough to create the illusion. They were on lines that were 70 feet long, so they did a 140foot circle,” Richmond said. Three Yellow Jacket model airplanes now sit on a shelf in the Georgia Tech Library’s archives. The oldest, pictured on page 57, was donated to the Institute in the 1980s by Richmond and Cooksey, who died in 2004. Something you won’t find at the library? An ill-fated model airplane that met its end during halftime in a game against Georgia in an incident that almost had Richmond thrown out of school. Richmond recalled that after he sent the Yellow Jacket plane on its way, another student launched “a rather worn, junky black and red airplane with black and red streamers on it. The two of them went around for about five or 10 seconds together on these wires, and the Yellow Jacket made a pass at this red and black airplane. I wasn’t flying it, but I was responsible for it. It crashed in the center of Grant Field into about a hundred pieces.” The collision created quite a stir in the stands and resulted in Richmond being called into band director Ben Logan Sisk’s office the following Monday. “He said, ‘The dean wants to see you, you’re in trouble up to your ears … and you’re probably going to get thrown out of school for this.’ I thought it was a great prank, we thought it went over really well. This is the lack of wisdom in youth,” Richmond recalled. “I think it took three permanent demerits to get thrown out of school. On Tuesday, I was awarded two permanent demerits for the incident. I was a good boy the rest of my time at Georgia Tech.” — Leslie Overman
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