Evolutionary Biology in Health and Disease is not a regular course offering at Georgia Tech. However, first-year students in the College of Sciences’ Explore Living Learning Community (Explore LLC) got to dive deep into the subject anyway — which meant reading lots of scientific papers and medical case studies while engaging in research. 

Offered as a one-credit College of Sciences special topics course, Explore LLC undergraduates who are interested in research and pre-health studies get to learn about special science and mathematics topics that are not regularly offered in a typical curriculum. 

The instructors for the new course are postdoctoral scholars and research scientists in the College, including Peter Conlin, the first instructor to participate in the course. 

In addition to research and pre-health course opportunities, Explore LLC gives first-year students majoring in College of Sciences-related disciplines (biology, chemistry and biochemistry, earth and atmospheric sciences, mathematics, neuroscience, physics, and psychology) a unique opportunity to live among the highest concentration of science and math majors on campus in the same residence halls.

“Georgia Tech undergraduates often take general education/core classes in year one and two of their studies. However, undergraduates are also curious about research and advances in science and mathematics, especially in health-related areas and in improving the human condition,” said Cam Tyson, College of Sciences Assistant Dean. “A special topics course offered for Explore LLC participants was the perfect setting to bring together students with these interests, along with postdoctoral scholars and research scientists interested in sharing their knowledge and experience.”

Conlin’s inaugural course, COS 3801 HP: Special Topics: Evolutionary Biology in Health and Disease, hosted 16 Explore LLC students in the spring of 2023. Below are some of his comments:

Tell me how you approached developing this course in a way that would make the subject matter relevant to the Explore students? 

Peter Conlin:

The original call for proposals requested “courses that will be of interest to first-year and sophomore students with a specific interest in a healthcare career and/or performing undergraduate research.” So, my course, Evolutionary Biology in Health and Disease, was designed from the ground up with this purpose in mind.

I wanted to connect the basic biological research with its medical applications, and encourage students to pursue undergraduate research opportunities. To this end, our in-class discussions, the homework assignments, and the final presentations for the class were all centered on reading and interpreting results from scientific literature and medical case studies. I also featured ongoing research at Georgia Tech’s Center for Microbial Dynamics and Infection whenever possible. 

I made a point to advertise upcoming out-of-class seminars each week (especially those featuring speakers from Georgia Tech labs). Students could attend and summarize the talk they heard for extra credit points. 

Any lasting lessons? 

Initially, I think some of the students were a little shocked that their first assignment was to read a scientific paper for class. (Admittedly, the paper was not an easy one!) But by the end of the semester, after reading seven more papers for class and likely several others for their final presentation, I think they all felt much more confident about their ability to pick up an article, even on an unfamiliar topic, and work their way through it. 

 How did teaching the course help you as an instructor?  

At the beginning of the semester, I was consistently overestimating how much material I could get through in a single 50-minute class period. By the end of the semester, I felt that I had a better understanding of how long different activities would take, and we ended up finishing on time much more frequently. 

I was so thankful for the Tech to Teaching for Postdocs class taught by Tammy McCoy (Teaching Assistant Development and Future Faculty Specialist at the Center for Teaching and Learning) while I was developing my syllabus. McCoy and College of Sciences Assistant Dean Cam Tyson really helped me to make this course a reality, so I’m very grateful to both of them for giving me this opportunity. 

The feedback from the students?

The feedback from my students was critical to my success as an instructor. I explained to the students at the start of the course that I wanted to improve my teaching, that I would be actively seeking their feedback, and that I would do my best to make changes based on the feedback I received. Some of the changes included modifying the course content, as I did when I saw the level of enthusiasm and participation when we discussed cancer evolution. I revised my syllabus to continue discussions on this topic.

 I also changed up homework assignments and in-class activities based on student feedback. This gave students more experiences with reading and discussing research papers.

I tried to experiment with different in-class activities and teaching styles, ranging from primarily lecture-based classes with occasional discussion questions, to a “flipped” classroom where students spent the majority of the time discussing the papers they had read in small groups. It was such a great experience to watch the students take such an active role in their learning.

Sebastian Horbulewicz, a second-year biochemistry major, was a student in Conlin’s Special Topics course:

I enjoyed the fact that we delved into a wide variety of topics, giving us small pieces with which we could use to build a broader understanding of evolution. Dr. Conlin’s succinct lessons gave me a lot to think about, and introduced me to new aspects of cancer, antibiotic resistance, virulence, and more. I think the course really shined in its ability to draw from current literature and the subsequent discussions we had in class.

For more information on Explore LLC and College Sciences Special Topics Courses:

The Explore Living Learning Community (LLC) of the College of Sciences strives to connect undergraduate students with faculty, and staff across the institute in order to encourage learning of career options, develop technical and team-building skills, and promote early access to undergraduate research and/or health-care affiliated co-curricular activities.  The LLC fosters a culture of curiosity, collaboration, and self-discovery through a range of courses and activities offered to its participants. 

A request for 2024-2025 academic year CoS special topics course proposals is expected to be distributed to CoS postdoctoral fellows and research sciences in February 2024. 

The advent of whole genome sequencing technology has prompted an explosion in research into how genetics are associated with disease risk. But the vast majority of genetics research has been done on people of European ancestry, and genetics researchers have realized that in order to address health disparities, more needs to be done.

In a new study, Georgia Tech researchers investigated whether 25 rare gene variants known to be associated with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) play a role in risk for African Americans. While the rare variant associations were recently discovered in individuals of European ancestry, contributing to about 15% of cases, it was unknown if and how those same rare gene variants might affect risk for African Americans.

Led by Greg Gibson, Regents’ Professor and Tom and Marie Patton Chair in the School of Biological Sciences, the study highlights the importance of considering genetic diversity and the mixing of ancestry in genetics research. The findings were published in the journal Genome Medicine.

“Because of major advancements in the last decade, we now know that most diseases are far more complex than we originally thought, in terms of genetics,” said Gibson, who is also director of the Center for Integrative Genomics at Georgia Tech. “Understanding whether genetic differences contribute to health disparities is a major point of focus for current genetics research, and we had an opportunity to test one idea with this study.”

Today, African Americans have a similar prevalence of various types of IBD as European Americans. But progression is often much worse: African Americans are more likely to progress to severe disease requiring colectomies and other major interventions.

Courtney Astore, a Ph.D. student in Gibson’s lab and first author on the paper, wanted to assess whether those same rare variants would have a similar effect on IBD risk in African Americans. In a collaboration with Subra Kugathasan from Emory University and the NIH’s IBD Genetics Consortium, Gibson’s lab had analyzed the complete genome sequences of over 3,000 genomes of African Americans, half with IBD. Astore used that database to conduct her analysis.  

She started by plotting the difference in frequency of the rare variants, and quickly realized that there was a significant reduction in prevalence of the variants in African Americans. Through further computations, she estimated that European ancestry variants actually only made a very small contribution to IBD in African Americans (around 44 additional cases per 100,000 people), fourfold less than Americans of European ancestry.

“Prior to our analysis, we suspected that admixture may play a role in the presence of IBD-associated rare variants in African Americans,” Astore said. “When I saw the differences, that was when I realized that there was something important there that we needed to discover.”

Astore then used a method known as chromosome painting, which is a tool for visualizing where each segment of the genome comes from. She showed that the rare variants found in African Americans were almost always located on segments of European ancestry genomes.

In simple terms, the location of the variants indicated that the genes resulted from admixture — a scientific term for mixing of genetic backgrounds throughout ancestry — which enabled Astore to show that the mutations had arisen outside of Africa, and only began to appear in people of African ancestry over the last dozen generations.

To conclude the study, Gibson and Astore assessed the presence of other rare variants associated with a dozen other diseases, which similarly confirmed that the presence of the variants contributes to African Americans generally through admixture.

The findings are important for several reasons. First, they highlight the value of considering genetic diversity and admixture in all genetics research, and especially when investigating rare variants and their associations with complex disease. While they showed that the European variants were rare in African Americans, there are almost certainly rare variants that contribute to IBD in African Americans that have yet to be discovered and may point to biological mechanisms.

“Doing more genetic studies on diverse populations, and especially those that have admixture, is going to be pivotal for therapeutic discovery,” Astore said.

Precision medicine will eventually be tailored to a person’s genome, which means that in some cases knowing the identity of rare variants will help guide therapy. If that is the case, knowing the context of ancestry will be beneficial. It also means that if more research on diverse ancestry groups isn’t done, then new treatments might not be effective for all people. The team also emphasizes that genetics is not the only factor contributing to risk for complex diseases like IBD, and their study simply highlights that it cannot be assumed that genetic discoveries are risk factors for all people.  

“Our study emphasizes that in order to move in the direction of greater health equity, it is absolutely crucial to do large-scale genetic sequencing for African Americans and all ancestry groups,” Gibson said. “We hope our work will encourage more research on both social determinants of health and the genetics of IBD across ancestries.”

Note: The IBD Genetics Consortium, of which Gibson is a part, organized the cohort of African Americans with IBD, and their samples were gathered at institutes across the country, including Emory University, Johns Hopkins University, Rutgers University, Cedars Sinai Los Angeles, and Mt. Sinai New York.

Funding: National Institutes of Health

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s13073-023-01244-w

The advent of whole genome sequencing technology has prompted an explosion in research into how genetics are associated with disease risk. But the vast majority of genetics research has been done on people of European ancestry, and genetics researchers have realized that in order to address health disparities, more needs to be done.

In a new study, Georgia Tech researchers investigated whether 25 rare gene variants known to be associated with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) play a role in risk for African Americans. While the rare variant associations were recently discovered in individuals of European ancestry, contributing to about 15% of cases, it was unknown if and how those same rare gene variants might affect risk for African Americans.

Led by Greg Gibson, Regents’ Professor and Tom and Marie Patton Chair in the School of Biological Sciences, the study highlights the importance of considering genetic diversity and the mixing of ancestry in genetics research. The findings were published in the journal Genome Medicine.

“Because of major advancements in the last decade, we now know that most diseases are far more complex than we originally thought, in terms of genetics,” said Gibson, who is also director of the Center for Integrative Genomics at Georgia Tech. “Understanding whether genetic differences contribute to health disparities is a major point of focus for current genetics research, and we had an opportunity to test one idea with this study.”

Today, African Americans have a similar prevalence of various types of IBD as European Americans. But progression is often much worse: African Americans are more likely to progress to severe disease requiring colectomies and other major interventions.

Courtney Astore, a Ph.D. student in Gibson’s lab and first author on the paper, wanted to assess whether those same rare variants would have a similar effect on IBD risk in African Americans. In a collaboration with Subra Kugathasan from Emory University and the NIH’s IBD Genetics Consortium, Gibson’s lab had analyzed the complete genome sequences of over 3,000 genomes of African Americans, half with IBD. Astore used that database to conduct her analysis.  

She started by plotting the difference in frequency of the rare variants, and quickly realized that there was a significant reduction in prevalence of the variants in African Americans. Through further computations, she estimated that European ancestry variants actually only made a very small contribution to IBD in African Americans (around 44 additional cases per 100,000 people), fourfold less than Americans of European ancestry.

“Prior to our analysis, we suspected that admixture may play a role in the presence of IBD-associated rare variants in African Americans,” Astore said. “When I saw the differences, that was when I realized that there was something important there that we needed to discover.”

Astore then used a method known as chromosome painting, which is a tool for visualizing where each segment of the genome comes from. She showed that the rare variants found in African Americans were almost always located on segments of European ancestry genomes.

In simple terms, the location of the variants indicated that the genes resulted from admixture — a scientific term for mixing of genetic backgrounds throughout ancestry — which enabled Astore to show that the mutations had arisen outside of Africa, and only began to appear in people of African ancestry over the last dozen generations.

To conclude the study, Gibson and Astore assessed the presence of other rare variants associated with a dozen other diseases, which similarly confirmed that the presence of the variants contributes to African Americans generally through admixture.

The findings are important for several reasons. First, they highlight the value of considering genetic diversity and admixture in all genetics research, and especially when investigating rare variants and their associations with complex disease. While they showed that the European variants were rare in African Americans, there are almost certainly rare variants that contribute to IBD in African Americans that have yet to be discovered and may point to biological mechanisms.

“Doing more genetic studies on diverse populations, and especially those that have admixture, is going to be pivotal for therapeutic discovery,” Astore said.

Precision medicine will eventually be tailored to a person’s genome, which means that in some cases knowing the identity of rare variants will help guide therapy. If that is the case, knowing the context of ancestry will be beneficial. It also means that if more research on diverse ancestry groups isn’t done, then new treatments might not be effective for all people. The team also emphasizes that genetics is not the only factor contributing to risk for complex diseases like IBD, and their study simply highlights that it cannot be assumed that genetic discoveries are risk factors for all people.  

“Our study emphasizes that in order to move in the direction of greater health equity, it is absolutely crucial to do large-scale genetic sequencing for African Americans and all ancestry groups,” Gibson said. “We hope our work will encourage more research on both social determinants of health and the genetics of IBD across ancestries.”

Note: The IBD Genetics Consortium, of which Gibson is a part, organized the cohort of African Americans with IBD, and their samples were gathered at institutes across the country, including Emory University, Johns Hopkins University, Rutgers University, Cedars Sinai Los Angeles, and Mt. Sinai New York.

Funding: National Institutes of Health

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s13073-023-01244-w

Please join the College of Sciences as we welcome new members to our Advisory Board. 

One alumnus is using his Earth and Atmospheric Sciences degree to perfect state-of-the-art weather forecasting for the business world. Another member’s Biological Sciences education allows her to assist veterans with their cancer treatment plans. Yet another is using her Applied Physiology degree to work on the next generation of wearable electronics. 

They're among nine Georgia Tech College of Sciences alumni who are committed to volunteering their expertise and time to help the College continue its growth and success.

The College of Sciences Advisory Board provides advice to the Dean and administrators regarding priorities and directions for sciences education and research. Board members are from the private sector and academia, and include both alumni and other individuals who are interested in the success of the College and Georgia Tech.

Five of the new members accepted invitations to join the Advisory Board during the 2022-23 school year:

• James Belanger
• Eva Heintz
• Stewart Long
• Jack McCallum
• Jessica McDermott 

For the 2023-24 school year, the new board members are:

• Nigamnarayan “Nigam” Acharya
• Angela Clark
• Tracy Giest
• Tia Williams

New Advisory Board members:

Nigamnarayan “Nigam” Acharya

Nigamnarayan “Nigam” Acharya (M.S. CHEM ‘11) received a Bachelors of Science degree in Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Political Science from the University of Wisconsin – Madison and a Juris Doctorate Degree from Emory School of Law. 

Acharya currently serves as a shareholder at Greenberg Traurig, LLP., where he provides long-term representation for companies from initial startup to maturity. He  helps life sciences and chemical companies protect and capitalize on intellectual property rights. His practice includes patent and trademark prosecution, corporate formation and life-cycle advice, negotiating and structuring complex business agreements (licenses, material transfer agreements, research agreements, and partnering agreements). 

Archarya has an in-depth knowledge of business and science that allows him to counsel pharma and chemical companies. He was a founder and board member of a tech company, which he eventually sold. 

James Belanger

James Belanger (B.S. EAS ‘07, Ph.D. EAS ‘12)  joined Engelhart Commodities Trading Partners in August 2021 and is currently the Head of Weather. He is responsible for leading a team of entrepreneurial scientists and software developers who are developing state-of-the-science weather and climate forecast systems to provide a quantitative edge for Engelhart's commodity trading business. 

Prior to joining Engelhart, Belanger was a senior scientist for five years at The Weather Company, a division of IBM, where he was responsible for providing scientific expertise in the design and implementation of IBM’s artificial intelligence algorithms for customer and business weather products.  During that time with the Global Forecasting Sciences and Technology team, Belanger’s science contributions helped IBM’s forecast accuracy edge grow against the competition. In 2021, IBM was named the world’s most accurate forecaster by ForecastWatch, the nation’s premier authority in meteorological accuracy validation. 

Belanger began his graduate work at the University at Albany before returning to Georgia Tech to complete his EAS Ph.D. Before transitioning to the private sector, Belanger was a research scientist and School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences faculty member for four years. His research focused on improving tropical cyclone forecasts and landfall impacts to establish more resilient electrical and emergency management infrastructure systems. 

Belanger and his wife Laura live in Peachtree City with their two children, Andrew and Katherine. 

Angela Clark

Angela Clark (B.S. BIOS ‘94) has spent her career as an environmental scientist evaluating the potential risks of contamination to human health and the environment at hazardous waste cleanup sites for military bases. 

Clark has supported the U.S. Department of Defense for nearly 30 years in its  environmental, facilities engineering, and planning programs, serving as a technical lead, project manager and client account manager. She is currently a senior vice president at HDR Engineering, Inc., the largest employee-owned architecture/engineering firm in the world, and is located in Milwaukee, WI. 

Tracy Giest

As the Lead of the Human Research Lab for Fitbit/Google, Tracy Giest (Ph.D. BIOS ‘15) heads a team of scientists, program managers, and research assistants focused on designing and executing experimental protocols to develop and validate the next generation sensors and algorithms for Fitbit and Pixel Watches.  

Giest’s fascination with human movement and physiology led her to study under School of Biological Sciences Professor Young-Hui Chang, who is also Associate Chair for Faculty Development in the College of Sciences. Her research focused on the intersection of neurological control and biomechanics as it relates to human walking, running, and cycling, and amputee locomotion.  

Gieist’s postdoctoral work focused on investigating robotic exoskeletons for stroke rehabilitation at North Carolina State University with Greg Sawicki, who is now at Georgia Tech). 

As a former middle school teacher with Teach for America, and an industrial biomechanics consultant for one of the largest railroad companies in the U.S., Giest has a unique blend of professional experience that has led to her current leadership role at Google.

Eva Heintz

Eva Heintz (Ph.D. CHEM ‘04) started her career at Procter & Gamble before moving to Solvay, a chemicals/materials company, where she is currently a Global Strategic Key Account Manager and Large Deals Coach. 

Throughout her career at Solvay, Heintz has held various roles including R&D Manager, Global Marketing Manager, and Senior Global Marketing & Sales Excellence Manager. In addition to her day job, she is also the Chairwoman for Solvay North America, Inc. GGF, and Founder/Chairwoman of Solvay X-Factor (ERG).

Her passion for giving back to the community is demonstrated in her roles such as Chair  of the Board of Directors of BEATs, Inc., a local non-profit using hippotherapy for children and adults with physical and mental challenges, as well as previous roles in non-profit boards such as The Swinney Foundation.

Stewart W. Long

Stewart W. Long (B.S. PHYS ‘75) is Managing Director of Energy Consulting Group. A retired engineer and engineering program manager, Long has extensive experience in commercial power reactor engineering and operations, and in defense research & development. 

Long, a retired U.S. Army Lt. Colonel who also has a degree in nuclear engineering, is a published author of U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) reports and conference papers. 

Long’s experience includes serving as Managing Director and Co-Founder of Patriots for Reliable Electric Power, a Pennsylvania public benefit company providing expert advice on protecting the nation’s electric power grid. He retired from Westinghouse Electric Co. with multiple domestic and international assignments including: Fellow Engineer, Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) Commissioning & Operations; Manager, NPP Engineering & Construction Integration; Resident Site Manager at Arkansas Nuclear One NPP; Startup Technical Advisor at Yonggwang NPP (Korea) and Barakah NPP (United Arab Emirates). 

Long was appointed as Senior Fellow for the NRC’s Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and served as U.S. Army field officer in Korea and as Nuclear Research & Development officer at Lawrence Livermore National Lab.    

Jack McCallum

Jack McCallum (B.S. BIOS ‘66) has a Masters of Science in History from Texas Christian University, a Ph.D. in Medicine from Emory University, and a Ph.D. in History from Texas Christian University. 

McCallum has board certification in both adult and pediatric neurosurgery, and has held teaching appointments in medicine and history at several universities. He has also been founder and chief executive officer for four successful companies. 

A generous gift from the McCallum Family Foundation has provided scholarships to reward outstanding undergraduate students for their academic excellence and performance in Georgia Tech research labs. The McCallum scholarships enable undergraduates to engage in an exceptional undergraduate research program. 

In 2022, the McCallum Family Foundation donated a $1 million gift to create the Jack and Dana McCallum Neurorehabilitation Training Program. The new initiative will be used over the next four years to support research from graduate students, postdoctoral scholars, and faculty, as well as train new scientists in neurorehabilitation. 

McCallum has published two books and numerous articles dealing with both medicine and history, and he has taught history at the graduate and undergraduate levels for 17 years.  

 Jessica McDermott

Jessica McDermott (B.S. BIOS ‘04) is Assistant Professor of Medicine, Division of Medical Oncology, at Rocky Mountain Regional Medical Center. Her major committee and service responsibilities include interviewing fellowship applicants in Hematology/ Oncology. She is also a member of the committee that completes final ranking.

Since 2014, McDermott has served as a member of the Head/Neck Cancer Tumor Board at the University of Colorado Cancer Center. She participates in weekly multidisciplinary meetings, where she reviews all head/neck cancer patients at the university. 

McDermott is also a Veterans Administration Hematology/Oncology tumor board facilitator, participating in weekly meetings where she reviews veteran cancer patient treatment plans.  

Tia Williams

Tia Williams (B.S. EAS ‘96) credits her mother, a chemist, for opening her eyes to the world of science, and that fascination was validated when she worked in Georgia Tech’s Air Quality Lab.

Williams originally came to campus as a chemical engineering major, but switched to the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. By leveraging the programming languages she learned while visualizing her lab science data, Williams transitioned into software engineering, building a 25-year career in the software industry working for enterprise software giants Oracle and Salesforce. 

Williams is now a Group Vice President of Design and Product Experience for San Francisco-based New Relic, which provides cloud-based tools that monitor all software and technologies used in a platform, website, or mobile application.

Please join the College of Sciences as we welcome new members to our Advisory Board. 

One alumnus is using his Earth and Atmospheric Sciences degree to perfect state-of-the-art weather forecasting for the business world. Another member’s Biological Sciences education allows her to assist veterans with their cancer treatment plans. Yet another is using her Applied Physiology degree to work on the next generation of wearable electronics. 

They're among nine Georgia Tech College of Sciences alumni who are committed to volunteering their expertise and time to help the College continue its growth and success.

The College of Sciences Advisory Board provides advice to the Dean and administrators regarding priorities and directions for sciences education and research. Board members are from the private sector and academia, and include both alumni and other individuals who are interested in the success of the College and Georgia Tech.

Five of the new members accepted invitations to join the Advisory Board during the 2022-23 school year:

• James Belanger
• Eva Heintz
• Stewart Long
• Jack McCallum
• Jessica McDermott 

For the 2023-24 school year, the new board members are:

• Nigamnarayan “Nigam” Acharya
• Angela Clark
• Tracy Giest
• Tia Williams

New Advisory Board members:

Nigamnarayan “Nigam” Acharya

Nigamnarayan “Nigam” Acharya (M.S. CHEM ‘11) received a Bachelors of Science degree in Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Political Science from the University of Wisconsin – Madison and a Juris Doctorate Degree from Emory School of Law. 

Acharya currently serves as a shareholder at Greenberg Traurig, LLP., where he provides long-term representation for companies from initial startup to maturity. He  helps life sciences and chemical companies protect and capitalize on intellectual property rights. His practice includes patent and trademark prosecution, corporate formation and life-cycle advice, negotiating and structuring complex business agreements (licenses, material transfer agreements, research agreements, and partnering agreements). 

Archarya has an in-depth knowledge of business and science that allows him to counsel pharma and chemical companies. He was a founder and board member of a tech company, which he eventually sold. 

James Belanger

James Belanger (B.S. EAS ‘07, Ph.D. EAS ‘12)  joined Engelhart Commodities Trading Partners in August 2021 and is currently the Head of Weather. He is responsible for leading a team of entrepreneurial scientists and software developers who are developing state-of-the-science weather and climate forecast systems to provide a quantitative edge for Engelhart's commodity trading business. 

Prior to joining Engelhart, Belanger was a senior scientist for five years at The Weather Company, a division of IBM, where he was responsible for providing scientific expertise in the design and implementation of IBM’s artificial intelligence algorithms for customer and business weather products.  During that time with the Global Forecasting Sciences and Technology team, Belanger’s science contributions helped IBM’s forecast accuracy edge grow against the competition. In 2021, IBM was named the world’s most accurate forecaster by ForecastWatch, the nation’s premier authority in meteorological accuracy validation. 

Belanger began his graduate work at the University at Albany before returning to Georgia Tech to complete his EAS Ph.D. Before transitioning to the private sector, Belanger was a research scientist and School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences faculty member for four years. His research focused on improving tropical cyclone forecasts and landfall impacts to establish more resilient electrical and emergency management infrastructure systems. 

Belanger and his wife Laura live in Peachtree City with their two children, Andrew and Katherine. 

Angela Clark

Angela Clark (B.S. BIOS ‘94) has spent her career as an environmental scientist evaluating the potential risks of contamination to human health and the environment at hazardous waste cleanup sites for military bases. 

Clark has supported the U.S. Department of Defense for nearly 30 years in its  environmental, facilities engineering, and planning programs, serving as a technical lead, project manager and client account manager. She is currently a senior vice president at HDR Engineering, Inc., the largest employee-owned architecture/engineering firm in the world, and is located in Milwaukee, WI. 

Tracy Giest

As the Lead of the Human Research Lab for Fitbit/Google, Tracy Giest (Ph.D. BIOS ‘15) heads a team of scientists, program managers, and research assistants focused on designing and executing experimental protocols to develop and validate the next generation sensors and algorithms for Fitbit and Pixel Watches.  

Giest’s fascination with human movement and physiology led her to study under School of Biological Sciences Professor Young-Hui Chang, who is also Associate Chair for Faculty Development in the College of Sciences. Her research focused on the intersection of neurological control and biomechanics as it relates to human walking, running, and cycling, and amputee locomotion.  

Gieist’s postdoctoral work focused on investigating robotic exoskeletons for stroke rehabilitation at North Carolina State University with Greg Sawicki, who is now at Georgia Tech). 

As a former middle school teacher with Teach for America, and an industrial biomechanics consultant for one of the largest railroad companies in the U.S., Giest has a unique blend of professional experience that has led to her current leadership role at Google.

Eva Heintz

Eva Heintz (Ph.D. CHEM ‘04) started her career at Procter & Gamble before moving to Solvay, a chemicals/materials company, where she is currently a Global Strategic Key Account Manager and Large Deals Coach. 

Throughout her career at Solvay, Heintz has held various roles including R&D Manager, Global Marketing Manager, and Senior Global Marketing & Sales Excellence Manager. In addition to her day job, she is also the Chairwoman for Solvay North America, Inc. GGF, and Founder/Chairwoman of Solvay X-Factor (ERG).

Her passion for giving back to the community is demonstrated in her roles such as Chair  of the Board of Directors of BEATs, Inc., a local non-profit using hippotherapy for children and adults with physical and mental challenges, as well as previous roles in non-profit boards such as The Swinney Foundation.

Stewart W. Long

Stewart W. Long (B.S. PHYS ‘75) is Managing Director of Energy Consulting Group. A retired engineer and engineering program manager, Long has extensive experience in commercial power reactor engineering and operations, and in defense research & development. 

Long, a retired U.S. Army Lt. Colonel who also has a degree in nuclear engineering, is a published author of U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) reports and conference papers. 

Long’s experience includes serving as Managing Director and Co-Founder of Patriots for Reliable Electric Power, a Pennsylvania public benefit company providing expert advice on protecting the nation’s electric power grid. He retired from Westinghouse Electric Co. with multiple domestic and international assignments including: Fellow Engineer, Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) Commissioning & Operations; Manager, NPP Engineering & Construction Integration; Resident Site Manager at Arkansas Nuclear One NPP; Startup Technical Advisor at Yonggwang NPP (Korea) and Barakah NPP (United Arab Emirates). 

Long was appointed as Senior Fellow for the NRC’s Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and served as U.S. Army field officer in Korea and as Nuclear Research & Development officer at Lawrence Livermore National Lab.    

Jack McCallum

Jack McCallum (B.S. BIOS ‘66) has a Masters of Science in History from Texas Christian University, a Ph.D. in Medicine from Emory University, and a Ph.D. in History from Texas Christian University. 

McCallum has board certification in both adult and pediatric neurosurgery, and has held teaching appointments in medicine and history at several universities. He has also been founder and chief executive officer for four successful companies. 

A generous gift from the McCallum Family Foundation has provided scholarships to reward outstanding undergraduate students for their academic excellence and performance in Georgia Tech research labs. The McCallum scholarships enable undergraduates to engage in an exceptional undergraduate research program. 

In 2022, the McCallum Family Foundation donated a $1 million gift to create the Jack and Dana McCallum Neurorehabilitation Training Program. The new initiative will be used over the next four years to support research from graduate students, postdoctoral scholars, and faculty, as well as train new scientists in neurorehabilitation. 

McCallum has published two books and numerous articles dealing with both medicine and history, and he has taught history at the graduate and undergraduate levels for 17 years.  

 Jessica McDermott

Jessica McDermott (B.S. BIOS ‘04) is Assistant Professor of Medicine, Division of Medical Oncology, at Rocky Mountain Regional Medical Center. Her major committee and service responsibilities include interviewing fellowship applicants in Hematology/ Oncology. She is also a member of the committee that completes final ranking.

Since 2014, McDermott has served as a member of the Head/Neck Cancer Tumor Board at the University of Colorado Cancer Center. She participates in weekly multidisciplinary meetings, where she reviews all head/neck cancer patients at the university. 

McDermott is also a Veterans Administration Hematology/Oncology tumor board facilitator, participating in weekly meetings where she reviews veteran cancer patient treatment plans.  

Tia Williams

Tia Williams (B.S. EAS ‘96) credits her mother, a chemist, for opening her eyes to the world of science, and that fascination was validated when she worked in Georgia Tech’s Air Quality Lab.

Williams originally came to campus as a chemical engineering major, but switched to the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. By leveraging the programming languages she learned while visualizing her lab science data, Williams transitioned into software engineering, building a 25-year career in the software industry working for enterprise software giants Oracle and Salesforce. 

Williams is now a Group Vice President of Design and Product Experience for San Francisco-based New Relic, which provides cloud-based tools that monitor all software and technologies used in a platform, website, or mobile application.

Hundreds of thousands of honeybees make their home atop The Kendeda Building for Innovative Sustainable Design, and it's up to Janelle Dunlap to make sure the hives thrive.  

Dunlap was hired earlier this year as the Urban Honey Bee Project's (UHBP) first-ever beekeeper in residence. Throughout her residency, she'll conduct research into the pollinator's place in our ecosystem and how beekeeping may offer relief to veterans dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), while connecting with the bees through art.  

Dunlap had been gardening for over a decade, but in 2016, when she got the urge to find new ways to engage with nature, she recalled a powerful piece of imagery that shaped her childhood — Wu-Tang Clan's music video for “Triumph” and its depiction of the group's members as a powerful swarm of Africanized killer bees.  

"The political messaging and tying Africanized killer bees in with the stereotypes and the tropes of African Americans in the media, and the way that that was so poetically tied in, visually stuck with me,” she said. “It was the first time I recognized a political message being articulated through art. For that reason, it stuck with me that bees were a form of strong symbolism tied to resilience." 

Living in Charlotte, North Carolina, Dunlap became a certified beekeeper under the Mecklenburg County Beekeepers Association in 2017. She continued practicing as she moved around the country, with stops in Chicago and Denver, eventually landing in Atlanta in 2021. Looking for a way to connect to the local beekeeping community, she attended an April presentation by UHBP Director Jennifer Leavey, who offered Dunlap a chance to get involved at Georgia Tech.  

She now handles the inspection of the hives on The Kendeda Building roof, where she monitors for pests and ensures the bees have proper nutrition to sustain their population through the seasons. The UHBP began in 2012 with the goal of educating the Tech community on the importance of these pollinators within the Atlanta ecosystem and beyond — a charge that Dunlap carries on.  

Over the next year, she will continue working on her sound art project that examines the frequency at which bees “buzz” and how it, along with the responsibilities of beekeeping, is being used by VA hospitals and programs to ease the effects of PTSD. While the science behind the connection is still being explored, beekeeping was recommended more than a century ago — to soldiers returning home from World War I — according to a CNBC profile of Bees4Vets, a nonprofit based in Nevada.  

From the Hive to the Canvas 

Whether it was baking sourdough bread or learning a new language, many people, including Dunlap, took the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic to pick up a new hobby. She began a master's program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago with the goal of using beeswax in encaustic painting, which uses hot wax mixed with pigments. The use of natural materials collected through her beekeeping practice connects Dunlap to her work.  

“It's a way of tapping into another level of consciousness. It's a way of articulating the noncommunicable relationship between me and the bees. When there's a language gap between people, we try to fill it in with translation, but without a direct way to translate the language or the sensation that I feel from the bees, this allows me to document my practice in an abstract form,” she said.  

By layering the wax and applying heat throughout the process, Dunlap watches the pieces take shape, often with the unpredictability of an active hive, as she says the art “can create itself.” She collects the wax in small amounts, knowing that she can only produce her art if the bees are healthy.  

"It's an eco-conscious practice, making sure I don't use more than I need," she explained. “I love the landscape it creates, and it's all about me creating a direct relationship with my medium and knowing that I earned it by developing a relationship with the bees." 

As Dunlap continues her year-long residency with the UHBP, she intends to help educate the community, both on campus and around the Atlanta area, in the hopes that more prospective beekeepers will explore their curiosity to unlock the full potential of the practice. 

"It's been a practice that keeps unveiling itself to me," she said. "As you get more engaged, you learn there is so much more to it than just the day-to-day hive inspections. There is a lot of beauty to it as well." 

Students at Tech have several ways to get involved with research and beekeeping, including the Living Building Science VIP team, the Beekeeping Club, and various classes and workshops hosted by the UHBP. 

David Hu, professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and School of Biological Sciences at Georgia Tech, has been elected a 2023 American Physical Society (APS) Fellow for his innovative experiments in biological fluid mechanics and his willingness to share them with young scientists. Hu’s nomination came from the APS Division of Fluid Dynamics (DFD). 

The APS Fellowship Program recognizes members who have made exceptional contributions in physics research, important applications of physics, leadership in or service to physics, or significant contributions to physics education. Each year, less than 10 members from the APS DFD community receive this elevation and this year only eight Fellows were selected.

“I am humbled to be elected among my teachers and mentors who have taught me everything I know,” said Hu. “I see that I have a responsibility, like the previous generation of fellows, to represent the subject matter well, make the difficult decisions, and help foster the next generation of fluid mechanics, whatever it may look like.”

Read more about David Hu's journey in fluid mechanics on the Mechanical Engineering website.