{"586988":{"#nid":"586988","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Married and in the Military: Two Army Majors Pick Tech for Ph.D. Programs","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EMarc and Kate Sanborn are no strangers to building things. They built a marriage together, built their Army careers to Majors together, and are now building upon their graduate degrees here at Georgia Tech.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Our personal lives had been put on hold for eight years, as\u0026nbsp;I was commissioned in June of 2001, and Kate was commissioned in June of 2002. We deployed during the height of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts,\u0026rdquo; Marc said. \u0026nbsp;\u0026ldquo;It was only when we got through graduate school that we could stop to catch our breath and find someone.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIn the summer of 2010, the two came to West Point to teach.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Since I\u0026rsquo;d earned my Bachelor\u0026rsquo;s in 2002 and was commissioned, I never\u0026nbsp;really slowed down,\u0026rdquo; Kate said. \u0026ldquo;It was a surprise that we found each other at West Point, but I wasn\u0026rsquo;t going to let the chance to date Marc pass by.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAnd the two married in November of 2012. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ETo become senior instructors at West Point, the Marc and Kate\u0026nbsp;needed to earn Ph.D.\u0026rsquo;s. Since Marc earned his master\u0026rsquo;s in civil engineering from Georgia Tech in 2010, the university seemed like a natural fit. (Kate earned her master\u0026rsquo;s in 2010 in civil engineering from the University of Vermont.) \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;We needed a school with a civil engineering program that was big enough for both of us to do two different things, and one with a strong graduate engineering program,\u0026rdquo; Kate said. \u0026ldquo;Since Marc was familiar with the campus, it made sense to come here.\u0026rdquo; \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ERead on to learn more about how the couple has acclimated to life at Tech since arriving\u0026nbsp;in fall of 2015.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat do you enjoy most about being at Tech?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EFor Kate, it is the experimental portions of her research. She\u0026rsquo;s been working on testing the support strength of cross-laminated timbers, which could be useful for rapid construction in military relief efforts.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;It\u0026rsquo;s amazing to study and research on a specific topic, and hopefully bring something to the field that no one else has before,\u0026rdquo; Kate said. \u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;m looking forward to teaching what I learn about the materials and research methods to cadets back at West Point.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAside from the research opportunities, Marc enjoys working with Dr. Lauren Stewart, his advisor and an assistant professor in\u0026nbsp;Civil Engineering. He\u0026rsquo;s hoping to draw upon her expertise and his own research to teach a course on blast-resistant materials when he returns to West Point. Marc also wants to create a research collaboration with the Department of Defense and Army researchers to create stronger defenses (such as bunkers and barracks) and housing.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat has been most the most challenging part of your time at Tech, and how have you dealt with it?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;The qualifying exam,\u0026rdquo; Marc said. \u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWhile earning his master\u0026rsquo;s, Marc completed most of the structural engineering classes needed for his Ph.D. However, not being a student for five years made studying for the complex exam difficult.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;d taught classes in civil engineering at West Point, but they\u0026rsquo;d been introductory courses,\u0026rdquo; he said. \u0026ldquo;My advanced skills had atrophied, and it was difficult to get up to speed to pass the exam. It took a lot of studying to relearn all the material I\u0026rsquo;d forgotten, and the new additions to the field.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;The course load has been tough,\u0026rdquo; Kate said. \u0026ldquo;The transition from everyday army life and the jobs we were doing required a significant shift in lifestyle.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EFor example, the stress levels are much lower, as Kate added that she has less work-related responsibility. For example, in her last assignment at Fort Bragg, she oversaw the facilities management of a Special Forces group \u0026mdash; and now her days are filled with research and coursework.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Tech is a challenging school, and the mindset change has been difficult,\u0026rdquo; Kate said. \u0026ldquo;Now, I just need to keep myself on track and manage my time; it\u0026rsquo;s a welcome change of pace.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat do you enjoy most about living in Atlanta?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe two agree that they love being able to run outside year-round, thanks to the nice weather.\u0026nbsp;In addition, living close to a major airport such as Hartsfield\u0026ndash;Jackson Atlanta International Airport has made it easier to travel.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Now that we have time, we were able to visit Ireland last fall,\u0026rdquo; Marc said. \u0026ldquo;And being near the airport made it easy to visit one of our friends for his promotion ceremony in Washington, D.C., much easier.\u0026rdquo;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat advice do you have for graduate students who are veterans at Tech?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ETake advantage of the resources offered for military couples or veterans, Marc said. For example, he thinks that the Student Veteran\u0026rsquo;s Association is very helpful.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;There are more resources out there than you\u0026rsquo;d think, and the association is a good starting point for connecting with them,\u0026rdquo; Marc added.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EKate noted that the shift from military life to civilian living allows for more free time, and urges others to take advantage of this.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;When you\u0026rsquo;re coming from the military, you learn to take advantage of breaks,\u0026rdquo; she said. \u0026ldquo;That\u0026rsquo;s just as important in college as it is on duty to avoid burnout.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EMarc and Kate Sanborn are no strangers to building things. They built a marriage together, built their Army careers to Majors together, and are now building upon their graduate degrees here at Georgia Tech.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Marc and Kate Sanborn are no strangers to building things. They built a marriage together, built their Army careers to Majors together, and are now building upon their graduate degrees here at Georgia Tech."}],"uid":"32894","created_gmt":"2017-02-06 20:11:14","changed_gmt":"2017-02-10 15:36:13","author":"Brian Gentry","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2017-02-06T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2017-02-06T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"587151":{"id":"587151","type":"image","title":"Marc and Kate Sanborn","body":null,"created":"1486574103","gmt_created":"2017-02-08 17:15:03","changed":"1487013130","gmt_changed":"2017-02-13 19:12:10","alt":"","file":{"fid":"223772","name":"Sanborns Landscape shot Shrunk.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Sanborns%20Landscape%20shot%20Shrunk.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Sanborns%20Landscape%20shot%20Shrunk.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":827963,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Sanborns%20Landscape%20shot%20Shrunk.jpg?itok=aCq2A9C2"}}},"media_ids":["587151"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.veterans.gatech.edu","title":"Veterans Resource Center"},{"url":"http:\/\/grad.gatech.edu","title":"Graduate Studies"}],"groups":[{"id":"221981","name":"Graduate Studies"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"}],"keywords":[{"id":"1808","name":"graduate students"},{"id":"525","name":"military"}],"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:Bgentry8@gatech.edu\u0022\u003EBrian Gentry\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nOffice of the Vice Provost for Graduate Education\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nand Faculty Development\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}