{"226691":{"#nid":"226691","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Bioengineering Program Loses Champion","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EChristopher James Ruffin, academic advisor for Georgia Tech\u2019s Interdisciplinary BioEngineering Graduate Program, passed away on July 20, 2013.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EChris was known as the easygoing and super friendly champion of the program. His spirit, like the program, was interdisciplinary and through the years he reached out across school, department, college and even university lines to make the program a success.\u0026nbsp; There is no faculty or staff member that the graduate students would more closely associate with the program than Ruffin, as he was the student\u2019s and faculty\u2019s initial point of contact for anything regarding the program.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u201cChris was the go-to person throughout the last 4 years that I have known him,\u201d said Timothy Kassis, a current graduate student from mechanical engineering who is in the program.\u0026nbsp; \u201cMy interactions with him from day one of the program gave me a quick sense of belonging and an inner satisfaction of calling the BioE community family.\u201d\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ERuffin began at Georgia Tech in 1994 and started working in the bio-community in April 2001 in the Biomedical Engineering department. Since that time he worked tirelessly to make sure that the BioEngineering Graduate students and faculty were taken care of.\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u201cI don\u0027t think I\u0027ve worked with another person who had the combination and depth of kindness and energy that Chris did,\u201d said Rob Butera, professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering and former program director.\u0026nbsp; \u201cNo task was too big or too small - he got them all done, professionally and with a smile.\u201d \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u201cChris was a wonderful person and an outstanding advocate for students and faculty in our program,\u201d Andr\u00e9s Garc\u00eda, current director of the program stated. \u201cHe brought exceptional professionalism and work ethic while at the same time bringing a personal and caring perspective.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Remembering program advisor, Christopher Ruffin"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ERemembering program advisor, Christopher Ruffin\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Remembering program advisor, Christopher Ruffin"}],"uid":"27195","created_gmt":"2013-08-05 14:56:35","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:14:38","author":"Colly Mitchell","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2013-08-05T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2013-08-05T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"226401":{"id":"226401","type":"image","title":"Christopher Ruffin","body":null,"created":"1449243566","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 15:39:26","changed":"1475894899","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:48:19","alt":"Christopher Ruffin","file":{"fid":"197431","name":"ruffin.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/ruffin_1.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/ruffin_1.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1155050,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/ruffin_1.jpg?itok=W5lkIEUq"}}},"media_ids":["226401"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.bioengineering.gatech.edu\/","title":"BioEngineering website"}],"groups":[{"id":"1292","name":"Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB)"}],"categories":[{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"}],"keywords":[{"id":"248","name":"IBB"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:mcdevitt@ibb.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EMegan McDevitt\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["mcdevitt@ibb.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}