Posted November 28, 2012 Atlanta, GA
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The Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) invests in students, and the return on that investment pays dividends every day.
With more than 300 students currently filling roles at GTRI, senior leadership created a new way to recognize, honor, and recruit talented students. In October, GTRI awarded $40,000 in scholarships to four students at Georgia Tech: Carlos Alas, a mechanical engineering major from Naples, Fla.; Victoria Falk, a chemical engineering major from Lilburn, Ga.; Joseph Luck, an electrical engineering major from Summerville, S.C.; and Bianca Palacio, an industrial engineering major from Ridgewood, N.J.
“We have about 300 students who are embedded in our research initiatives,” GTRI Director Bob McGrath said in a luncheon with the recipients Oct. 16. “You and these 300 other students are an investment in our future. We’re very excited about the future of our technical workforce.”
Already, Mr. Luck, an EE junior and an Army veteran with a background in electronic warfare, has been hired in the Electronic Systems (ELSYS) Laboratory at GTRI as a student assistant.
“Joe Luck comes to ELSYS with skills that can immediately help our programs, while giving him experience to broaden and strengthen his career.” said Joe Brooks, director of ELSYS. “We’re glad he’s come on board. We are confident he can make contributions to our research in a way I think senior leadership envisioned when the scholarship was created.”
The committee that selected the recipients was led by Human Resources Consultant Shatanese Reese, and included GTRI Deputy Director of Support Lisa Sills and GTRI Chief of Staff Tom Horton. Scholarship eligibility criteria were provided to the Georgia Tech Financial Aid Office, which reviewed their database of students and provided GTRI with potential scholarship candidates.
“These are incredibly gifted students, and I’m glad GTRI could be a part of their educational opportunity,” McGrath said.
About the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering
The School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) is one of eight schools and departments in the College of Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. All ECE undergraduate and graduate programs are in the top 10 of the most recent college rankings by U.S. News & World Report. Over 2,500 students are enrolled in the School’s graduate and undergraduate programs, and in the last academic year, 723 degrees were awarded.
Over 110 ECE faculty members are involved in 11 areas of research, education, and commercialization – bioengineering, computer systems and software, digital signal processing, electric power, electromagnetics, electronic design and applications, microsystems, optics and photonics, systems and controls, telecommunications, and VLSI systems and digital design.
About the Georgia Institute of Technology
The Georgia Institute of Technology is one of the world's premier research universities. Ranked seventh among U.S. News & World Report's top public universities and the eighth best engineering and information technology university in the world by Shanghai Jiao Tong University's Academic Ranking of World Universities, Georgia Tech’s more than 20,000 students are enrolled in its Colleges of Architecture, Computing, Engineering, Liberal Arts, Business, and Sciences. Tech is among the nation's top producers of women and minority engineers. The Institute offers research opportunities to both undergraduate and graduate students and is home to more than 100 interdisciplinary units plus the Georgia Tech Research Institute.
