{"216521":{"#nid":"216521","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Freshmen Make Impact in the Face of Grand Challenges","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EEmily Takagi just finished her first year on campus, but she is already working with other Georgia Tech students to solve global issues including hunger and energy and water sustainability.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe computer science major from Columbus, Ga., was among 110 freshmen who participated in Tech\u2019s first Grand Challenges Living Learning Community, which started last fall and ran through the 2012-13 academic year.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGrand Challenges participants lived together in Howell Hall and worked in cross-disciplinary teams on 14 different projects that were all eventually awarded funding for execution by the Division of Student Affairs. Takagi\u2019s team took on the challenge of simplifying the process of charging electric car batteries.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI really learned the meaning of time management and commitment to a group,\u0022 she said. \u0022The second semester class involved a heavier workload, and trying to juggle group meetings, part-time jobs, and homework was difficult.\u0022 She also credited Grand Challenges with giving her a more enjoyable freshman experience.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EKari White, assistant director for Grand Challenges, handpicked each of the project teams of six to eight students. During the fall, students spent class time with Wes Wynens, director of the LEAD program of which Grand Challenges is a part, learning to collaborate with teammates and sharpening their people skills.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETeams selected topics based on the group\u2019s interests and then spent the spring semester diving into their research projects and coming up with a plan to solve their grand challenge\u0026nbsp;with Robert Butera, a\u0026nbsp;professor jointly appointed in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering. Along with Butera, students worked with faculty facilitators and were required to connect with experts in the field who would provide assistance and advice while they designed their solutions.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETakagi and her team attended a community roundtable event hosted by Southface Transportation to meet with experts. \u201cWe were able to talk to people in the transportation industry, professors from all over the area, and environmental issues advocates,\u201d she said. \u201cWe even got a couple of people who were experts on electric vehicles.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAt the end of the spring semester, the teams shared their proposals in formal presentations to Wynens\u0026nbsp;and\u0026nbsp;Butera. Projects were awarded funding based on budgets included in the students\u2019 final proposals.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ELooking ahead, White hopes to build more flexibility into the second iteration of the program so students can get started on projects earlier in the year and be able to switch teams if a different group is working on a project that is of more interest to them.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ENext year\u2019s Grand Challenges class is being built this summer and is currently 75 percent full, with 80 confirmed participants. These incoming students will work on a whole new set of projects, while approximately 75 members of this year\u2019s community will continue to work on their projects in a Grand Challenges class.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETakagi attributes her success during her freshman year to Grand Challenges.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI don\u0027t think I would have had such a great experience without Grand Challenges,\u201d Takagi said. \u201cLiving in a community made me less timid about getting to know people and really helped me be more outgoing. Aside from the great relationships I created with my peers, we could meet faculty and people in administration on a regular basis through the faculty luncheons and guest breakfasts. Because of this, I felt like I could accomplish more in college in this program.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhite said the biggest challenge students faced was \u201cgrappling with the uncertainty of the assignment and realizing that we weren\u2019t going to tell them how to do it.\u201d She noted the importance of participants being open to exploration and not always looking for an exact right answer the first time. \u201cWe tell new students to be diligent and recognize that failure will happen, but that doesn\u2019t mean they will not ultimately succeed.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech freshmen in the Grand Challenges Program are attempting to solve some of the world\u0027s biggest issues.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Georgia Tech freshmen in the Grand Challenges Program are attempting to solve some of the world\u0027s biggest issues."}],"uid":"27841","created_gmt":"2013-06-05 09:30:44","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:14:20","author":"Lauren Spikes","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2013-06-05T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2013-06-05T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"216511":{"id":"216511","type":"image","title":"Freshman Emily Takagi and her team at the Grand Challenges Banquet in May","body":null,"created":"1449180114","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 22:01:54","changed":"1475894882","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:48:02","alt":"Freshman Emily Takagi and her team at the Grand Challenges Banquet in May","file":{"fid":"197127","name":"img_3000.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/img_3000_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/img_3000_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":860773,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/img_3000_0.jpg?itok=J9UWnb-Y"}},"173161":{"id":"173161","type":"image","title":"Georgia Tech students participating in the new Grand Challenges program are led in exercises of rhythm and dance technique by Office of the Arts resident artist Sean Curran.","body":null,"created":"1449179012","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:43:32","changed":"1475894814","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:46:54","alt":"Georgia Tech students participating in the new Grand Challenges program are led in exercises of rhythm and dance technique by Office of the Arts resident artist Sean Curran.","file":{"fid":"195780","name":"13c8413-p1-021_0.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/13c8413-p1-021_0_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/13c8413-p1-021_0_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":3442016,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/13c8413-p1-021_0_0.jpg?itok=bUYZiX2v"}},"216531":{"id":"216531","type":"image","title":"Students in the Grand Challenges program meet with administrators and faculty for lunch in the North Avenue Dining Hall","body":null,"created":"1449180114","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 22:01:54","changed":"1475894882","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:48:02","alt":"Students in the Grand Challenges program meet with administrators and faculty for lunch in the North Avenue Dining Hall","file":{"fid":"197128","name":"13c8413-p3-013.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/13c8413-p3-013_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/13c8413-p3-013_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":3018497,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/13c8413-p3-013_0.jpg?itok=pwOu1QJr"}}},"media_ids":["216511","173161","216531"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/grandchallenges.gatech.edu\/","title":"Grand Challenges Living Learning Community"},{"url":"http:\/\/leadership.gatech.edu\/","title":"LEAD Program"},{"url":"http:\/\/studentaffairs.gatech.edu\/","title":"Division of Student Affairs"}],"groups":[{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"},{"id":"8862","name":"Student Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"27471","name":"grand challenges"},{"id":"167069","name":"student affairs"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:stucomm@gatech.edu\u0022\u003ELauren Spikes\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EInstitute Communications\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["kristen.bailey@comm.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}