{"648136":{"#nid":"648136","#data":{"type":"news","title":"ISyE\u2019s Eileen Liu Is Part of the 2020 Cohort of Clark Scholars","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EFirst-year student \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/eileen-l-96812212a\/\u0022\u003EEileen Liu\u003C\/a\u003E from the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE) did not always know that she would end up studying engineering. In high school, she was incredibly music-oriented, passionate about playing violin and piano. She served as the concertmaster of her school\u0026rsquo;s orchestra, a member of the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra and the Emory Youth Symphony Orchestra, and led her own quartet.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBut Liu knew that she didn\u0026rsquo;t want to pursue music as a career, and when she applied to colleges, she mostly secured admissions to STEM schools. While trying to decide if she should attend Georgia Tech, she received an email about her acceptance to the College of Engineering\u0026rsquo;s \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/clarkscholars.coe.gatech.edu\/students\u0022\u003EClark Scholars Program\u003C\/a\u003E. Having never heard of it before, she didn\u0026rsquo;t realize it was a real opportunity until David Torello, the program\u0026rsquo;s faculty advisor and lecturer from the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, personally called her.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Clark Scholars definitely played a big role in me choosing to come to Georgia Tech,\u0026rdquo; said Liu. The scholarship, which is granted to 10 engineering students every year, covers full tuition, room and board, and program costs.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAfter committing to Georgia Tech, Liu started thinking about what major to choose. After doing some research and talking to friends, she grew interested in ISyE. \u0026ldquo;I liked ISyE because of its focus on optimization,\u0026rdquo; said Liu. She considers herself a perfectionist and was interested in the idea of improving efficiency.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe Clark Scholars Program is more than just a scholarship, however. Founded on the pillars of scholarship, service entrepreneurship, and leadership, the program strives to build well-rounded students in a multidisciplinary setting. Scholars take business classes or participate in \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/create-x.gatech.edu\u0022\u003ECREATE-X\u003C\/a\u003E, volunteer in community service activities, receive mentorship, and attend enrichment seminars.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThough the in-person activities were cancelled because of Covid-19, the Clark Scholars still attended virtual events twice a month, such as the StrengthFinders program, a resume building workshop, and Q\u0026amp;A sessions with the Institute\u0026rsquo;s current and past deans of engineering.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe StrengthFinders program involved the Clifton Strengths test, which Liu found to be insightful and helped her to identify traits she had never considered strengths before. \u0026ldquo;You can really see an individual\u0026rsquo;s different strengths through the test,\u0026rdquo; she said. \u0026ldquo;It was interesting to see how people\u0026rsquo;s strengths would mesh with other ones in different scenarios.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe Clark Scholars Program has different goals for each of the four years. A major component of the program is the community project that each cohort works together to complete. \u0026ldquo;They have a mission to help us be more altruistic and give back to the community,\u0026rdquo; said Liu. She\u0026rsquo;s looking forward to working on the project, which typically happens in the second year.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EStarting college during the Covid-19 pandemic was a challenge, however. Since she was taking online classes from home, it was difficult to feel connected to Georgia Tech. \u0026ldquo;It was definitely really tough for my mental health,\u0026rdquo; said Liu. \u0026ldquo;But on the bright side, I feel like I learned a little bit more about myself \u0026mdash; my study habits and what I can I accomplish on my own \u0026mdash; and that was also pretty beneficial.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EHaving the Clark Scholars meetings, despite being online, helped her to feel more like she was in college. Torello also held monthly one-on-one meetings to connect with each student. \u0026ldquo;It was a really good mental health check-in,\u0026rdquo; said Liu.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIn addition to attending Clark Scholars events, Liu joined a couple of clubs. In high school, she served as the president of the National Chinese Honors Association, so becoming a member of the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.csa.gtorg.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EChinese Student Association\u003C\/a\u003E was a natural decision. She also joined \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/commongoodgt.wixsite.com\/cggt\u0022\u003ECommon Good\u003C\/a\u003E, a service organization that provides tutoring and mentoring to Atlanta High School students.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAs Georgia Tech returns to in-person classes this fall, Liu hopes to have a more authentic college experience. She is looking forward to exploring the ISyE curriculum in more depth and continuing with the Clark Scholars program. Eventually, she would like to study abroad\u0026nbsp;through a program such as ISyE\u0026#39;s\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/atlas.gatech.edu\/index.cfm?FuseAction=Programs.ViewProgramAngular\u0026amp;id=10201\u0022\u003ESummer Program in Europe\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;or \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/atlas.gatech.edu\/index.cfm?FuseAction=Programs.ViewProgramAngular\u0026amp;id=10175\u0022\u003ESummer Program in Asia\u003C\/a\u003E, or\u0026nbsp;at \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/lorraine.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EGeorgia Tech-Lorraine\u003C\/a\u003E in Metz, France.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EMeet the entire Georgia Tech 2020 cohort of Clark Scholars \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/https:\/\/coe.gatech.edu\/news\/2021\/05\/introducing-2020-georgia-tech-clark-scholars\u0022\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EBeing accepted into the\u0026nbsp;College of Engineering\u0026rsquo;s Clark Scholars program played a big role in this first-year ISyE student\u0026#39;s decision to come to Georgia Tech.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Being accepted into the\u00a0College of Engineering\u2019s Clark Scholars program played a big role in this first-year ISyE student\u0027s decision to come to Georgia Tech."}],"uid":"35757","created_gmt":"2021-06-15 17:38:13","changed_gmt":"2021-06-17 16:58:00","author":"goberst3","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2021-06-15T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2021-06-15T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"648135":{"id":"648135","type":"image","title":"Eileen Liu","body":null,"created":"1623778446","gmt_created":"2021-06-15 17:34:06","changed":"1623778446","gmt_changed":"2021-06-15 17:34:06","alt":"Eileen Liu","file":{"fid":"246047","name":"eileen_liu.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/eileen_liu.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/eileen_liu.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":573924,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/eileen_liu.jpg?itok=ynAdeeoC"}}},"media_ids":["648135"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/coe.gatech.edu\/news\/2021\/05\/introducing-2020-georgia-tech-clark-scholars","title":"Introducing the 2020 Georgia Tech Clark Scholards"}],"groups":[{"id":"1242","name":"School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISYE)"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39541","name":"Systems"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:grace_oberst@gatech.edu\u0022\u003EGrace Oberst\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ECommunications Assistant\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nH. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}