{"320001":{"#nid":"320001","#data":{"type":"news","title":"New Engagement","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EA new group of Project ENGAGES students has been absorbed into the day-to-day fascia of the Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience, while some familiar faces have disappeared from the landscape, leaving the Georgia Institute of Technology campus to pursue promising futures. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ESix students from the inaugural class of Project ENGAGES graduated high school in the spring, and after working full-time through the summer, they\u2019ve moved on with the next phase of their education. They are David Alexander (Valdosta State), Robert Hughley (Georgia College and State University), Solomon McBride (Brandeis University), Imani Moon (North Carolina A\u0026amp;T), Christopher Seaborn (Western Carolina University) and Jasmine Woodard (Howard University). \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u201cI kind of hate to leave already, this has been a great experience,\u201d says Hughley, now attending Georgia College and State University in Milledgeville. \u201cBut I plan to be here again. I\u2019d like to give something back, maybe help the next group of Project ENGAGES students, next summer.\u201d \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EMeanwhile, a bunch of new high school students are working in labs across campus, including nine on the biotech track, based at the Petit Institute (eight new students are on the engineering track, developed under the leadership of the Georgia Tech Research Institute). Through Project ENGAGES, they\u2019re provided an opportunity to do science, and get paid for their work, as opposed to just reading about it in a high school textbook \u2013 their time in the lab is a job, something a bit more interesting (and demanding) than flipping burgers or bagging groceries. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EStill, \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/projectengage.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EProject ENGAGES\u003C\/a\u003E seeks to do more than provide a part-time job (full-time in the summer) for some smart local high school kids. The program aims to raise the students\u2019 awareness of the world of engineering, science and technology, and inspire them to dream big and consider wider possibilities that might not have been accessible to them before. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EGolden opportunity or not, for some students it requires a larger-than-usual commitment, and a lot of drive with laser-like focus.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E \u201cTime management is the biggest challenge,\u201d says Qwantayvious Stiggers, who answers to Tay but is called Stiggers by his colleagues in the Cellular and Macromolecular Engineering Lab run by Krish Roy. \u201cYou can\u2019t waste time in this kind of program, and that\u2019s the hardest thing \u2013 balancing lab work, sports and school. But I\u2019m always busy. I don\u2019t like being non-active, I can\u2019t just do \u2026 nothing.\u201d \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EStiggers, who says he is never stuck in idle, is a senior at B.E.S.T. Academy, an all-boys school and one of three area high schools partnering with Georgia Tech in Project ENGAGES (the others are Coretta Scott King Women\u2019s Leadership Academy and KIPP Atlanta Collegiate High School). He is juggling responsibilities and is determined to get the most of out of the Project ENGAGES experience. He\u2019s the man of the house, the oldest of four boys who live with their mom. At school, he\u2019s played for the football, basketball and golf teams, been involved with student government and the Spanish club, and is a member of the National Honor Society. His love of science was sparked in the seventh grade. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u201cI had a teacher who allowed us to do a lot of experiments, and that hands-on experience jump-started my mind,\u201d says Stiggers, who took second place in the oral presentation competition at the Project ENGAGES Summer Celebration in August (see complete list of winners below this story). So, it\u2019s still early in the second year of the program, but Stiggers seems to be somewhat typical of the high school researchers working now in Tech\u2019s labs \u2013 over-achievers, most of them, ambitious and busy young people on the path to productive lives. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EAlexus Clark, for example, is a junior at the King Women\u2019s Leadership Academy (so she\u2019ll be back for a second year, 2015-2016) who has been involved with Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) and Health Occupations Students of America for the past several years, and also participates in Junior Achievement, the F.A.S.T. Track Program and the Learners to Leaders program. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u201cI want to pursue pharmacology and start my own pharmaceutical company,\u201d says Clark, who is getting her first taste of research, and she likes it. \u201cI\u2019ve had many shadowing opportunities but nothing compares to actually researching along with the best scientists in the world. I am no longer just learning about the subject, but applying it to real-world problems that have no solution for them.\u201d \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EYet. No solution yet. That\u2019s another reason why Project ENGAGES exists \u2013 to help develop future generations of engineers and scientists who will find those solutions. Naturally, it takes a group effort \u2013 professors to offer their labs, and especially mentors culled from the graduate student body to work side by side with the high school students. Each first-year ENGAGES student is paired with a mentor following summer boot camp \u2013 they do this through a \u2018speed-dating\u2019 process. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EKeeping in mind that the Project ENGAGES students are high school kids, and not trained scientists, there is a learning curve, which means mentors spend plenty of time drilling the fundamentals of research processes. Kirsten Parratt is Stiggers\u2019 mentor (in Krish Roy\u2019s Laboratory for Cellular and Macromolecular Engineering), and she spent the summer training him on the basics of cell culture, methacrylation chemistry, hydrogel production, and histology, with the hope, \u201cthat he\u2019ll be able to perform these same techniques mostly unsupervised,\u201d says Parratt, who considers her experience time well spent. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u201cI\u2019ve found the mentoring experience very rewarding,\u201d says Parratt, who already was a graduate research assistant in Roy\u2019s lab. \u201cI believe that all of the ENGAGES kids are getting a wonderful experience which will benefit them in college. The program has been well organized so that the mentors can work the kids into a graduate student schedule. It\u2019s been helpful for my own studies as I\u2019m forced to explain every aspect of a concept and realize quickly where the gaps in my knowledge are.\u201d \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EAnd Stiggers is stretching his brain like he never has before, mental calisthenics for the long, productive road ahead. This is his senior of high school, and he\u2019s considering his college choices, preferring Auburn, Clark Atlanta, the University of Tennessee, or Texas A\u0026amp;M, planning to focus on biomedical engineering, but minor in African-American studies. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u201cI don\u2019t want to be seen as having just a science head,\u201d he says. \u201cBut the reason I\u2019m interested in science is because we will never know everything. It\u2019s a continuing journey of search and discovery. The opportunities are wide open.\u201d \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EProject ENGAGES Presentation Awards\u003C\/strong\u003E \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EOral Presentation\u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr \/\u003E1 \u2013 Katrina Burch (biotechnology) \u003Cbr \/\u003E2 (tie) \u2013 Qwyantavious Stiggers (biotechnology) \u003Cbr \/\u003E2 - MARC team \u2013 Christelle Ingram, Jessie Smith, Quentin Spear (engineering) Honorable Mention: Alexus Clark (biotechnology), Angelo Matos (engineering) \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EPoster Presentation \u003Cbr \/\u003E1 \u2013 Aundre Abner (engineering) \u003Cbr \/\u003E2 \u2013 Taren Carter (biotechnology) Honorable Mention: Jasmine Cutter (biotechnology), Kendreze Holland (biotechnology), Justin Hutchins (engineering), Jovanay Carter (biotechnology)\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Project ENGAGES introduces new students to wider possibilities"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EProject ENGAGES introduces new students to wider possibilities\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Project ENGAGES introduces new students to wider possibilities"}],"uid":"27195","created_gmt":"2014-08-29 09:28:24","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:16:59","author":"Colly Mitchell","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2014-09-02T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2014-09-02T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"319981":{"id":"319981","type":"image","title":"Qwantayvious Stiggers, a senior from B.E.S.T. Academy, with Manu Platt, PhD, Co-Chair of Project ENGAGES","body":null,"created":"1449244997","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 16:03:17","changed":"1475895029","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:50:29","alt":"Qwantayvious Stiggers, a senior from B.E.S.T. Academy, with Manu Platt, PhD, Co-Chair of Project ENGAGES","file":{"fid":"200078","name":"stiggers_and_platt.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/stiggers_and_platt_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/stiggers_and_platt_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1284266,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/stiggers_and_platt_0.jpg?itok=Xj8WRbTc"}},"320011":{"id":"320011","type":"image","title":"Alexus Clark, a junior at the Coretta Scott King Women\u0027s Leadership Academy, is in her first year of Project ENGAGES","body":null,"created":"1449244997","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 16:03:17","changed":"1475895029","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:50:29","alt":"Alexus Clark, a junior at the Coretta Scott King Women\u0027s Leadership Academy, is in her first year of Project ENGAGES","file":{"fid":"200079","name":"alexus.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/alexus_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/alexus_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1091288,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/alexus_0.jpg?itok=00hDoDfL"}}},"media_ids":["319981","320011"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/projectengage.gatech.edu\/","title":"Project ENGAGES website"}],"groups":[{"id":"1292","name":"Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB)"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"126581","name":"go-ProjectEngages"}],"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:%20jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJerry Grillo\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ECommunications Officer II\u003Cbr \/\u003EParker H. Petit Institute for \u003Cbr \/\u003EBioengineering \u0026amp; Bioscicne\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}