Georgia Tech’s College of Engineering will host a question-and-answer session with NASA astronaut and alumnus Shane Kimbrough on Friday, March 4. The free event, open to students, faculty, and staff, will be held in the Clough Undergraduate Learning Commons (room 152) from 12:30 – 1:30 p.m.

Kimbrough is returning to his alma mater for the first time since living on the International Space Station (ISS) for six months in 2021. In three trips to space, he has spent 388 days away from Earth, the fourth highest total among U.S. astronauts.

The event will be moderated by Naia Butler-Craig, a Ph.D. student in the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering. Butler-Craig is a NASA Space Technology Graduate Research Fellow and a NASA Pathways intern in the Science and Space Technology Systems branch at Glenn Research Center. The Q&A will be streamed live on the Georgia Tech YouTube channel, where viewers can submit questions. K-12 schools around Atlanta will also participate remotely.

The Q&A session is one of several Georgia Tech events for Kimbrough on Friday. He will spend the morning touring labs dedicated to spacecraft design and space-related research. That evening, he will throw out the first pitch at Georgia Tech’s baseball game against the University of Georgia. The action starts at 6pm at Russ Chandler Stadium.

Kimbrough grew up in Atlanta, attending Georgia Tech sporting events as a kid. He was an NCAA pitcher while earning his undergraduate degree at the United States Military Academy. After nearly a decade serving in the U.S. Army, Kimbrough graduated with a master’s degree in operations research from the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE).

Kimbrough was selected to be an astronaut in 2004. His first mission was aboard space shuttle Endeavour in 2008. He returned to orbit in 2016 aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket, serving as commander of the ISS for six months.

Last April, Kimbrough was commander of NASA/SpaceX Crew-2, launching from Cape Canaveral, Florida. By flying on Crew Dragon, Kimbrough became the fourth person to travel on three different spacecrafts.

During his three missions, Kimbrough has taken Georgia Tech jerseys and a flag from the Ramblin’ Wreck into orbit. He also threw out the first pitch in a taped ceremony from the ISS before a 2021 Georgia Tech baseball game and recorded a message that was played during last fall’s space-themed football game.

How to Pre-Health at Tech is a new series of stories and experiences with our faculty, current students, and alumni working in healthcare and medical fields. Check back throughout the spring for interviews with:

• Ritika Chanda, fourth-year neuroscience undergraduate with dual-minors in health and medical sciences and leadership studies
• Jeffrey Kramer, first-year biology undergraduate
• Jenna Nash (NEUR '21), physician assistant graduate student
• Charles Winter (BIO '12), anesthesiologist assistant

Meet Alonzo Whyte

As a faculty member, advisor for the Health and Medical Sciences (HMED) Minor, and director of academic advising for the Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience at Georgia Tech, Alonzo Whyte supports pre-health students throughout their time at Tech. He also teaches neuroscience and serves as a development leader in the School of Biological Sciences, working to incorporate feedback on the program and support future growth through curriculum development, course instruction, and academic advising. Whyte is also a member of the College of Sciences Task Force on Racial Equity and in spring 2021 received the Institute’s Class of 1934 Course Instructor Opinion Survey Award.

In his tenure at Tech, Whyte says he has seen a diversity of routes that students take on the path to a pre-health career. Today he shares some advice on success stories, mistakes to avoid, and resources to explore.

Here’s his take on “How to Pre-Health” at Georgia Tech:

Q: What is your role advising students on the Pre-Health Track?

A: As a neuroscience advisor and an advisor for the Health and Medical Sciences Minor, I see a lot of students on the Track for anything from medical school, to physician assistant school, to dental school, to physical therapy school, and everything in between. We try our best as advisors to have some knowledge in terms of what steps the students need to take in order to meet the pre-requisite requirements for different programs, because it’s not simple. 

There is no pre-medical major at Georgia Tech. Students need to do research to find out what specific programs they’re interested in and what classes they need to meet their goals. In that capacity, as an advisor for the major and the minor, I have developed some knowledge in terms of what classes students should be taking for the different paths. 

But really, my job is to ensure that their completed courses help students towards progress for their major or minor, and wrapped into that are the pre-health requirements. And even though I have some experience and knowledge about what things students are doing to prepare for their post-graduate experience, I strongly, strongly recommend that every student talk to the Pre-Health Advising Office. They have a set of advisors there that are dedicated to helping the writing medical school letters, interviewing, and anything else needed.

For example, last week I was part of a mock medical school interview process. The Pre-Health Office creates those types of events. As major and minor advisors, we ensure the students' academic course work will earn their desired degree and that students’ courses are getting applied appropriately, while edging them along the pre-health path. 

Q: What other key resources are there for students on the pre-health path?

A: Again, the Pre-Health Office is fantastic. They’re very busy, so to get a meeting with their advisors such as Mr. Castelan or Ms. Liggins, it’s important to book in advance. 

Additionally, advisors are still not the only experts in what the students need. I find that the best solution is to utilize peer advisors as well as a student groups. The Pre-Health Office has many resources; they have their own set of peer advisors; they have a very active Piazza page, that allows you to connect with the pre-health community to get quick answers to your pre-health questions; and they have a list of pre-health student organizations.

I’m also a faculty advisor for a new club, the American Physician Scientist Association. They are students who are looking to be physicians, scientists, or something similar. They’ll have speakers come who are focused on that subject.

Additionally, I am faculty advisor for Minority Association of Pre-Medical Students. It’s not just limited to minority identity students, it’s a very diverse group of students and open to all. This semester they hosted a medical school showcase where they had representatives from different medical schools come and talk the attendees through the application process.

There’s also an American Medical Student Association, a Pre-Dental Society, and many more places where you can connect with senior students who are going through the application cycle, as well as participate in their events where they bring in guest or representatives of medical schools to provide great insight. The pre-health path is really a collaborative process. 

There’s not one single resource. You have to pick and choose what resources you need. If you have questions about classes, I’ll be a person to talk to. If you have questions about the application cycle, you can talk to me, but I’ll refer you to the Pre-Health Office as they have all these peer advisors, all these student associations. The community is great, and there are plenty of supportive resources.

Q: In your experience, what kind of activities do students on the Pre-Health Track do to ensure they take the right steps to pursue the rigorous process of applying to these difficult schools?

A: I think one of the biggest things is thinking beyond GPA and Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) score. While those are important factors for the application, currently the holistic view of the student is huge. There are some shifts and trends in the application experience. 

I would say many students are waiting a year or two after their undergraduate graduation as a way to build up their credentials. Maybe they need more clinical hours, or they’re taking positions as a medical assistant, Emergency Medical Technician (EMT), things like that, to get hands-on experience to show that they can thrive in a medical environment. Maybe they don’t have the strongest GPA, so they’ll do a one- or two-year master’s in something like genetics to show that they can achieve academically and handle the rigor of medical school. 

Three important things that students do are leadership positions, getting involved in clubs, and research. 

Showing commitment to clubs is important by staying active not just for one semester but two or three years if possible. Additionally, research is becoming popular. Working in biomedical, neuroscience, chemistry, or other research lab shows that students can commit to a project that’s high-level science. We have these opportunities at Georgia Tech where students can successfully write a thesis, get some publications or poster presentations.

That’s a lot of what I see for strong candidates – along with maintaining a good attitude throughout that all, because when recommendation letters are written, it won’t matter how much you’ve done if you’ve had a sour attitude the whole time! As advisors, we want to ensure that we’re putting students in the position to become a good clinician. When we’re thinking about who we’re sending to medical school, we think, who do we want to be treated by when we’re older? Do I want some student who is grumpy, even if they’re the smartest? That’s one of the reasons for graduate school interviews – personality does matter for who you choose as your doctor.

Q: For students who are on the Pre-Health Track, but have a major that is not explicitly science related, how does their path differentiate from students studying a healthcare related subject?

A: The College of Sciences majors, in particular neuroscience and biology, have a lot of pre-health courses already built into the major requirements … Whereas if you’re studying computer science or engineering, you don’t have the lab science requirements built into the degree the same way. You have other courses you must take, so you have to find a place in your schedule to fit the pre-health courses in. 

For students studying biomedical engineering, for example, because of the heavy credit requirements to complete that major, students are often really stretched to find every free elective that completes a pre-health requirement … So, there’s a bit more pressure.

There are plenty of non-science students who attend medical school after graduation successfully. In fact, some schools are looking for students with diverse skill sets. For example, some schools want engineering students who want to be doctors, because that’s how they design medical devices well. 

Q: What would you tell prospective students interested in pursuing a pre-health career through Georgia Tech?

A: The rigor of Georgia Tech has a national, if not international, reputation. You leave Georgia Tech prepared for the rigor of medical school. That’s what we hear from our students who have gone off to places like Emory for a medical degree – they say that Georgia Tech prepared them to excel and succeed in their medical school courses. You can go to many different institutions and earn high marks, but you’re going to get your world turned over when you go off to medical school. The struggle is helpful, because you build skills to succeed while struggling, and then when you step up to the challenge of medical school, you’re ready for it.

Q: What other advice do you have for students on the Pre-Health Track to ensure they have a successful time here?

A: Again, I think it’s important that students don’t focus solely on GPA. A “C” is not the end of your pre-health path. A “D” is not even the end of your pre-health path. Think about the whole picture. There are plenty of students who struggle their first year and that’s expected. So, you have to adjust, and have some grace there, understanding that there’s more to the process than GPA.

I also encourage students, regardless of if they’re straight “A” students or straight “B” students, to have an open mindset to other careers. You may have come to Georgia Tech thinking that you want to be pre-health, but I would suggest still exploring other paths. Consider, “What if I were to start my career with a bachelor’s degree and not go to medical school, what would I do? What would I enjoy?” And then tailor their minor towards that. For example, if they like programming, pursue a Computer Science Minor. If they like writing science communication, a Language, Media, and Communications Minor. There are many things they can do in addition to their major, along with the pre-health requirements. So, if they get to graduation and decide they don’t want to go to medical school, they have something that they’re also equally excited about.

Some of the best medical school applicants I've seen have had activities like projects where they worked in conjunction with local hospitals to design new algorithms for them to read how patients are treated upon arrival. That’s taking their interests and putting in into this pre-health context. And that you would be great for public health, if they decide they don’t want to pursue a medical doctorate. A multimodal, diverse skill set is really important to think outside the box of what it means to be a typical pre-med student, to move to being something more creative and unique.

Q: My last question is a little more personal to you. What do you like about advising for the Health and Medical Sciences minor? 

A: I love the energy that students bring. The HMED minor requirements are flexible, diverse and very interdisciplinary – similar to the Neuroscience major. We have students taking classes in science, bioethics, and any of the College of Sciences programs. I love seeing the diversity of classes that they pull together and the interesting things that they’re doing. And I think that the freedom to explore these interdisciplinary courses is important. They really choose their own adventure to complete the minor.

Just to show how varied the minor is, you could complete the HMED minor and not take a single class that is a pre-requisite for medical school. If you’re a neuroscience student also interested in physics and psychology, you could take those courses through the minor, none of which will serve as pre-health requirements. So, people can cater the minor to what their future path may be. 

The Georgia Institute of Technology has been selected as the in-depth cell characterization platform hub for the National Institute of Health’s (NIH) Regenerative Medicine Innovation Project (RMIP). Established under the 21^st Century Cures Act, the main goal of the $30 million RMIP is the development of transformative new therapies based on adult stem cells.

A key element of NIH's strategy in implementing the RMIP has been to identify the field's critical challenges and provide resources and tools to address them.  A widely acknowledged challenge in the regenerative medicine field is a limited understanding of how specific stem cell characteristics lead to successful clinical outcomes.  To address this challenge, the NIH in consultation with the scientific community and in collaboration with Food and Drug Administration and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, developed a proposed framework for in-depth cell characterization (IDCC). 

The University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB), which serves as the administrative hub for the RMIP in-depth cell characterization activities, issued a request for proposals for a characterization infrastructure hub, where this science would happen.  After a competitive solicitation and review, Georgia Tech was selected to provide IDCC of human adult source stem cells used in RMIP studies, as well as stem cell products that RMIP awardees have developed for clinical application.

“Our analysis will provide researchers a deeper understanding of the cell products in these various clinical and IND-supporting pre-clinical trials – the characteristics that contribute to their safety and efficacy, for example,” said Krishnendu Roy, principal investigator of the new IDCC Platform Hub. Through this kind of in-depth analysis of every cell therapy that is manufactured or used in an RMIP project, researchers will create what Roy and others call a “cell fingerprint.”

 “When we have created a large enough database, scientists will be able to correlate the cell fingerprint with the outcomes of a particular disease in a particular patient and gain insights into the critical quality attributes of the cells that make them most effective for a specific patient.”

The IDCC Platform Hub will benefit from the existing resources at Georgia Tech, which include the Marcus Center for Therapeutic Cell Characterization and Manufacturing (MC3M), and the NSF Engineering Research Center (ERC) for Cell Manufacturing Technologies (CMaT). These research centers, along with the core facilities of the Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience, made Georgia Tech highly competitive in the award process, according to Roy.

“We’ve been working on in-depth cell characterization for clinical trials and pre-clinical projects through the Marcus Center and CMaT for several years now, so we’re very well positioned,” said Roy, director of both CMaT and the Marcus Center, and the Robert A. Milton Endowed Chair in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University.

“Over the past four years, we’ve developed the broad and deep analytics and characterization infrastructure along with the logistics and data-management know-how necessary to conduct these studies,” Roy added. “So, we can take a cell and learn as much as we can from its gene expression profiles, protein profiles, lipid profiles, metabolite profiles, and its functional properties.”

Roy and Carolyn Yeago, associate director of the Marcus Center, will manage activities for the IDCC Platform Hub at Georgia Tech. The rest of the leadership team includes co-principal investigators Andrés García, executive director of the Petit Institute and Regents Professor in the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering; Greg Gibson, director of the Center for Integrative Genomics and Regents Professor in the School of Biological Sciences; Facundo Fernandez, Professor and Associate Chair for Research in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry; and Craig Forest, professor in the Woodruff School.

The IDCC Platform Hub is supported by $1.7 million for the first year – 50 percent from the NIH and 50 percent from non-federal dollars (as required by the Cures Act).  Most of the non-federal contributions are being made by the Marcus Foundation and Georgia Tech.

Covid-19 is often asymptomatic and can lead infected individuals to spread the disease without knowing it. Yet, regular surveillance testing of a community can catch these cases and prevent outbreaks.

In early 2020, Georgia Tech researchers designed a saliva-based polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test and encouraged community members to test weekly to track the health of the campus. Their strategy confirmed 62% of the campus’ positive cases in the Fall 2020 semester. The method of surveillance testing — focusing on case clusters and then having patients isolate — reduced positivity rates from 4.1% in the beginning of the semester to below 0.5% mid-semester. Their findings were published in the journal Epidemiology.

“One of the ways you can mitigate spread is not to think about testing as just an indicator for how bad things are, but actually use enough testing that you can begin to pull infected people out of circulation to reduce the spread,” said Joshua Weitz, Georgia Tech professor in the School of Biological Sciences who developed the infectious disease models used to monitor campus.

Surveillance testing not only kept the community safe, but also enabled an open campus during a period of the pandemic when vaccines were not available. The strategy showed that combining multiple mitigation efforts — from testing to social distancing — can keep a university operational.

Designing the Test

The program relied on saliva PCR tests compared to the more common nasal swab PCR tests.

“I saw data very early on that the saliva tests were actually probably a little bit more sensitive than the nasal ones,” said Greg Gibson, professor in the School of Biological Sciences. “I just knew that students would be more likely to do something that takes 30 seconds to give us spit. It’s easy and safe, so it was just a no-brainer.”

Saliva-based tests were a practical solution for a campus. The test could be self-administered, requiring fewer medical personnel and creating ease of access for students. The tests were also safer than nasal swabs because the collection tube contained a viral deactivation buffer that killed active virus but preserved the RNA at room temperature for analysis.

The Georgia Tech campus biomedical research labs were also ideal for this type of test. Andrés García, executive director of the Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering & Bioscience, realized robotics labs could build and run tests and make the program scalable.

“Testing requires precisely distributing different amounts of fluid to volumes, and this is a task really well suited for a robot,” García said. “With the large number of tests that we were expecting to need to administer, there was really no choice because having the robot really cut down on the human error.”

Another novel strategy was double pooling. Each saliva sample was pooled twice into a group of five samples and processed. This had multiple advantages, according to Gibson. One was it prevented false results because each sample had to test positive twice to be considered positive. And, by pooling, the testing system could clear dozens of individuals at once, while also focusing on a positive individual and then referring them for further diagnostic testing.

“A purely surveillance test where you don't give anybody results can be done without much regulation, but it’s minimally useful,” said Gibson, who is a Regents’ Professor, Tom and Marie Patton Chair in Biological Sciences, and serves as director of the Center for Integrative Genomics at Georgia Tech. “The double pooling strategy was a way for us to be able to identify exactly who was responsible for positive tests, and then go back to their original test and do a diagnostic one in a CLIA-certified lab.” CLIA (Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments) certification indicates a lab has met federal quality standards for diagnostic testing on human samples.

The Testing Strategy

Creating an effective testing infrastructure was also key to the success of the program. A university is a high-density environment where a community lives, learns, and works. When the program was first implemented in the Fall 2020 semester, Georgia Tech had 7,370 people in residence and 5,000 students, faculty, and staff who visited daily.

With the ability to run 1,500 tests at the beginning of the semester and up to 2,850 by the end, the program enabled most people on campus to test weekly. Testing weekly helped catch cases early with Covid-19’s seven-day incubation period, and positive individuals isolated for 10 days.

Part of why this approach was so successful was because of what Gibson calls “synergistic effectiveness.” By combining testing with mitigation strategies like masking and social distancing, Georgia Tech was able to reduce positivity rates.

“We've shown that testing doesn't have to be comprehensive with everybody testing every other day to be effective,” Gibson said.

This strategy enabled the researchers to focus on campus hotspots and control spread. In the beginning of the Fall 2020 semester, campus positivity was at 0.5% until a cluster was identified in Greek housing in August. This enabled a targeted campaign where 90% of on-campus residents were tested. The asymptomatic positivity rate peaked at 4.1%, but steadily declined back to 0.5% by mid-September thanks to rapid identification and isolation of positive individuals.

“We are a technical university — that doesn't have a medical school or a school of public health — that developed its own effective testing program and was able to deploy it to test a large segment of the population and keep the campus in operation,” said García, who additionally holds the Petit Director’s Chair in Bioengineering and Bioscience and is a Regents’ Professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering.

Due to the success of surveillance testing, cases were kept at a manageable number. Most importantly, campus was able to stay open throughout the pandemic. The Georgia state legislature also adopted Georgia Tech’s surveillance testing system in January 2021 and is using the program to track and manage cases during this year’s legislative session. The strategy continues to keep Georgia Tech an active campus with in-person learning as the pandemic evolves. Ideally, the program established at Georgia Tech will remain in place, prepared to deal quickly with future infectious disease epidemics should the need arise, according to Gibson.

“We developed a program that in practice – and psychologically – provided a benefit to community members,” said Weitz, who also serves as the Tom and Marie Patton Chair in Biological Sciences and co-director of the Interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Quantitative Biosciences. “Many people could go get tested and know that they weren't infectious so that they had a less likely chance of infecting others. Or, if they did end up testing positive, they were able to isolate themselves so they didn't infect others. That is of significant benefit.”

CITATION: G. Gibson, J.S. Weitz, M.P. Shannon et. al, “Surveillance-to-Diagnostic Testing Program for Asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 Infections on a Large, Urban Campus in Fall 2020.” (Epidemiology, Dec. 2021)

DOI: 10.1097/EDE.0000000000001448

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The Georgia Institute of Technology, or Georgia Tech, is a top 10 public research university developing leaders who advance technology and improve the human condition. The Institute offers business, computing, design, engineering, liberal arts, and sciences degrees. Its nearly 44,000 students, representing 50 states and 149 countries, study at the main campus in Atlanta, at campuses in France and China, and through distance and online learning. As a leading technological university, Georgia Tech is an engine of economic development for Georgia, the Southeast, and the nation, conducting more than $1 billion in research annually for government, industry, and society.

Writer: Tess Malone

Media Contacts:
Georgia Parmelee | Georgia.Parmelee@gatech.edu
Steven Norris | Stephen.Norris@gatech.edu

Since it was founded in 2002, the Applied Physiology Ph.D. program at Georgia Tech has had close ties to rehabilitation science. Now, thanks to the generosity of a Georgia Tech and Emory University alum’s family foundation, Applied Physiology will work with the Emory University School of Medicine and Shepherd Center’s Crawford Research Institute to create a new training program for Applied Physiology doctoral students focused on neurorehabilitation. 

The Applied Physiology Ph.D. program, part of the Georgia Tech School of Biological Sciences, focuses primarily on the physical and neural function of the human motor system. “Because of that,” explains T. Richard Nichols, Biological Sciences professor and head of Applied Physiology, “rehabilitation has always been a very strong theme in our program.”

That deeper focus on rehabilitation sciences is now formalized by the creation of the Jack and Dana McCallum Neurorehabilitation Training Program. The new initiative is the result of a $1 million gift from Dana and Jack McCallum (BIO ’66) that will be used over the next four years to support graduate student and faculty research, as well as train new scientists in neurorehabilitation. 

Emory University School of Medicine, where Jack McCallum received his M.D., will be a close partner in developing the program. A course designed to train graduate students in clinical neurorehabilitation will be taught at the school in addition to collaborating closely in research funded by the investment.

“This gift is really going to strengthen the tie between specifically Biological Sciences and the Emory University School of Medicine, which was the intention of the gift,” explains Biological Sciences professor and associate chair of faculty development Young-Hui Chang. “I think it’s going to provide one more, but very strong, avenue for collaboration between the two institutions.”

Refocusing on rehabilitation

With a clinical focus, research funded through the program will target aspects of rehabilitation for people who have neurological diseases like Parkinson disease — or trauma, such as a spinal cord or brain injury.

The investment will also drive new major research focused on understanding the neurophysiological basis for injury and recovery related to central and peripheral nervous system trauma, and on the preclinical development of potential therapies.

“As people survive and live longer with acquired conditions such as stroke and Parkinson disease, and with traumatic injuries such as brain and spinal cord injury, there is a tremendous demand for rehabilitation researchers to meet needs of the large and growing population of persons with neurologic conditions,” explains Edelle Field-Fote, a professor with joint appointments in the Emory University School of Medicine and Applied Physiology at Georgia Tech, who also serves as director of spinal cord injury research at the Shepherd Center. “The goal of the McCallum Neurorehabilitation Training Program is to help address this need. The program will develop rehabilitation scientists with the training to advance knowledge underlying clinical care and the skills to develop interventions that can reduce disability, thereby improving functioning and quality of life for persons with neurologic conditions.”

Research and practice in motion

The Applied Physiology graduate program is no stranger to clinical research and development, having served as home of a clinical master’s degree in prosthetics and orthotics, which migrated to Kennesaw State University in 2020, and also hosting a training grant from the National Institute of Health (NIH), funding students whose research focused on rehabilitation for persons with limb loss. In 2018, Applied Physiology launched a dual Doctor of Philosophy and Doctor of Physical Therapy degree program in collaboration with the Division of Physical Therapy at Emory University, with Field-Fote as its director. 

"Emory University’s Division of Physical Therapy greatly values our collaborations with Georgia Tech and its Applied Physiology program,” shares Tami Phillips, associate professor and interim program director of the Division of Physical Therapy. “The opportunity for Ph.D. students to work in research labs across institutions and D.P.T/Ph.D. students to bridge the gap between clinical neurorehabilitation practice and research will lead to innovations that will benefit individuals with neurologic conditions.”

As Nichols points out, these ties between research and the clinic build a solid foundation for the new training program. “Our faculty in Applied Physiology are used to dealing with clinical collaborators and clinical problems, but we're working more at a fundamental level in terms of the science. It really provides a nice environment for this training program and will help move us into a new area of neurorehabilitation.”

New funding for current graduate students in Applied Physiology, as well as those enrolling in the dual Doctor of Philosophy and Doctor of Physical Therapy program, is set to begin this year. Targeted toward advanced students, the efforts are expected to allow the Applied Physiology program to admit more new students and to award competitive McCallum Research Fellowships to help fund thesis research after they reach Ph.D. candidacy.

“I am so grateful to Dana and Jack McCallum for their foresight and generosity,” shares Field-Fote. “I am most excited by the great potential that this program has for advancing the clinical care and foundational sciences related to neurorehabilitation.”

For more information on the Applied Physiology program or the Jack and Dana McCallum Neurorehabilitation Training Program, contact Young-Hui Chang at yh.chang@ap.gatech.edu.

For more information on how to support the School of Biological Sciences or the Applied Physiology Program, contact Leslie Roberts at leslie.roberts@cos.gatech.edu and visit: cos.gatech.edu/giving

Little Einsteins Organization (LEO) is a chartered Georgia Tech campus organization that conducts science, technology, engineering, and math focused activities with children in Atlanta.

Each week, LEO works with more than 150 kids at various elementary schools in Atlanta. The organization has more than 100 Georgia Tech student members and nearly 2,000 followers on Instagram. Membership is open to all undergraduate and graduate Georgia Tech students.

The past two years have presented many challenges for those involved in education, but that hasn’t stopped Georgia Tech’s Little Einsteins Organization from helping provide students in K-5 schools with instruction and activities focused on STEM. 

They’ve accomplished that by changing how they bring science and engineering to the kids — meeting at Hands on Atlanta for science demonstrations, and sending kits to local libraries for children and their families to take home — so that children can perform experiments found in do-it-yourself kits assembled by Georgia Tech volunteers.

“I think they have done wonderful outreach activities, and have been so creative and committed to reach out, despite the very different pandemic landscape,” says Pamela Pollet, LEO academic advisor and senior academic professional in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry. “This project is unique because it gives Georgia Tech students the opportunity to support the education of young children in Atlanta during a time of isolation and online schooling.”

Pollet says the pandemic hasn’t kept LEO student and instructor volunteers from keeping their commitment to Atlanta’s students, especially those in underserved communities. 

And before Covid, Pollet saw firsthand LEO’s impact when volunteers helped the younger students conduct experiments in their schools. “Their friend’s volcano erupted much more than theirs. Why? What was different? ‘How come my catapult is not working?’ It is okay if it does not work — let’s take a look and think how we can make it work," she shares. "LEO members created a welcoming and vibrant atmosphere in which students were so engaged and curious.”

There was also the opportunity for Atlanta children to see future versions of themselves in the Georgia Tech students. “They recognized themselves or connected with LEO members as if they were in an age group of older sisters or brothers. It demystified the image given to a scientist or engineer.”

Olivia Gravina, a fourth-year undergraduate in the School of Mathematics, serves as LEO president for the 2021-22 school year. Gravina says one of the group’s latest efforts to get creative during Covid challenges involved putting together at-home STEM kits for kids involved in Hands On Atlanta’s "Disco" program, formerly known as the Discovery program. Disco is a Saturday morning enrichment program which currently offers STEM, social emotional learning, fitness, and health-related activities to K-5 youth across nine Atlanta-area schools.

“We made 150 homemade ice pack kits, and 150 soap Silly Putty kits,” Gravina says. Teams of LEO members made instructional videos for each of the activities which included explanations of the science behind them. Then, Tech's LEO members joined Zoom calls with students from schools involved in the Disco program. 

“The young students had the opportunity to ask questions, and Georgia Tech students were able to encourage the younger students and see the impact of the kits they had provided,” Gravina shares.

Another recent activity, a collaboration with Fulton County Libraries, saw LEO members assembling kits for building small catapults, which also included instructional videos. “We delivered 620 catapult-making kits, which translates to 20 kits in each of the 31 branches of the Fulton County Library System,” Gravina explains.

“It was absolutely brilliant to use the libraries, kits and videos to maintain the excitement of hands-on experimenting,” Pollet adds.

“It was needed even more, especially for younger kids. Being virtual all day leaves many of them disconnected from the material and what science is about: Experiments, observations, questions, analysis," Pollet shares. "And again, they can connect the experiments with Georgia Tech students they can easily relate to.”

Gravina says LEO is still working through plans for the season ahead, but hopes to continue coordinating activities in Atlanta libraries. She encourages other Georgia Tech students to join those activities.

Pollet says the ability to show younger students that they could eventually pursue science careers is critical, pandemic or no pandemic.

“Young, dynamic Tech students who are doing science, and taking the time to do it with them,” Pollet says. “That is really inspiring.”

More information on Little Einsteins Organization is available on their website, and on their Instagram page. Learn more about Hands On Atlanta’s Disco program here.