{"64874":{"#nid":"64874","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Georgia Tech Program Celebrates Diversity of Engineering Students, Faculty","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAs Georgia Tech celebrates the 50th\u0026nbsp;anniversary of\nthe matriculation of African-American students, the Institute is proud of the\nachievements of the FACES program in bringing diversity to science and\nengineering education.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003ESince 1998, more than 300 minority students earned their\ndoctorate in science, technology, engineering and math, thanks in part to the\nFACES program.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech ranked no. 1 in the U.S. last year for awarding\nthe most engineering doctoral degrees to African-American students and all\nminority students, according to \u003Cem\u003EDiverse\nIssues in Higher Education\u003C\/em\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech oversees the FACES program, which stands for\nFacilitating Academic Careers in Engineering and Science, in partnership with\nEmory University, Morehouse College and Spelman College. The National Science\nFoundation funds the program.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cOver the last decade, the FACES program has contributed\nsignificantly to the formation of an environment at Georgia Tech in which the\ncompletion of a STEM doctorate and consideration of an academic career are\nvalued by talented minority students and supported by the campus,\u0022 said\nGary May, Georgia Tech\u2019s Steve W. Chaddick School Chair of the School of\nElectrical and Computer Engineering. \u0022We are very proud of what has been\ncreated here and look forward to the contributions of our students as they\npursue their careers.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EA shining example of the FACES program\u2019s success is Manu\nPlatt, assistant professor of biomedical engineering in the Wallace H. Coulter\nDepartment of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EPlatt not only received a FACES grant that allowed him to\npursue professional development while a postdoctoral fellow at M.I.T., but also\nreceived the FACES Career Initiation Grant when he joined the Georgia Tech\nfaculty in 2009 to kick-start his research.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EPlatt, who this fall received a $1.5 million NIH Director\u0027s\nNew Innovator Award to support his research on reducing stroke in children with\nsickle cell disease, said the prestige of being a FACES recipient has enriched his\ncareer.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cGeorgia Tech is a special place to be such a top-quality\nengineering school and to have a diverse faculty,\u201d Platt said. \u003Cstrong\u003E\u201c\u003C\/strong\u003EI probably wouldn\u2019t be as happy as a\nprofessor as I am today without the FACES program. Truly, I wouldn\u2019t have the\nopportunity to be mentored by the African-American professors who helped me\nbuild a community and have showed me how to avoid the brick walls that you\ninevitably run into.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EToday, Platt sits on the FACES steering committee that\noversees the program and helps mentor African-American undergraduate and\ngraduate students from Georgia Tech, Emory, Morehouse and Spelman, who will\nbecome the next generation of STEM professors.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI enjoy just talking to them and selling them on why being\na professor is so great,\u201d Platt said. \u201cYou get to see students develop, learn\nand grow, and eventually move forward with their career.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EThe FACES program includes three components:\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003EThe Summer Undergraduate Research\nEngineering\/Science (SURE) program seeks to motivate African-Americans to enter\ngraduate school. Students of at least junior level are recruited on a\nnationwide basis and paired with both a faculty and a graduate mentor to\nundertake research projects. SURE students are housed on campus and are\nprovided with a $5,000 stipend, $600 travel allowance and a meal plan.\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003EFor graduate students who are committed to\npursuing doctorates, the FACES Fellowship provides an add-on stipend of either\n$3,000 or $5,000 per year, depending on the status of the student\u0027s Ph.D.\ncandidacy. \u0026nbsp;In addition to receiving\nmonetary support, the FACES Fellows participate in workshops designed to help\nthem excel in graduate school and prepare them for careers in research and\nacademia.\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003EThe FACES program also supports future faculty\ndevelopment.\u0026nbsp; Each year, one promising\nscientist who accepts a postdoctoral position in engineering or science at any\nU.S. college or university is awarded a $35,000 grant, money that he or she can\ntake with them, as Platt did. FACES also awards two $30,000 Career Initiation\nGrants to doctoral students who accept a tenure track faculty position in an\nengineering or science-related field at a U.S. college or university.\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ul\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EAll of the pieces of FACES contribute to the program\u2019s\nsuccess, May said.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cAt Georgia Tech, we\u2019ve seen that a key factor for motivating\nstudents to pursue advanced degrees and research careers in science and\nengineering is fruitful research experiences,\u201d he said. \u201cQuality interactions\nwith engineering faculty can have a significant impact on a student\u2019s decision\nto pursue graduate education.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAs Georgia Tech celebrates the 50th\u0026nbsp;anniversary of\nthe matriculation of African-American students, the Institute is proud of the\nachievements of the FACES program in bringing diversity to science and\nengineering education.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Program helps 300 minority students earn science and engineering doctorates."}],"uid":"27462","created_gmt":"2011-03-10 12:41:36","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:08:22","author":"Liz Klipp","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2011-03-10T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2011-03-10T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"41345":{"id":"41345","type":"image","title":"Gary May","body":null,"created":"1449174301","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 20:25:01","changed":"1475894368","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:39:28"},"61386":{"id":"61386","type":"image","title":"Manu Platt biomedical engineer","body":null,"created":"1449176322","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 20:58:42","changed":"1475894536","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:42:16","alt":"Manu Platt biomedical engineer","file":{"fid":"191346","name":"tse51434.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/tse51434_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/tse51434_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1277779,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/tse51434_0.jpg?itok=iqIZGBUS"}}},"media_ids":["41345","61386"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.faces.gatech.edu\/2007\/","title":"FACES program at Georgia Tech"}],"groups":[{"id":"1183","name":"Home"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"}],"keywords":[{"id":"12098","name":"Facilitating Academic Careers in Engineering and Science"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EGeorgia Tech Media Relations\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ELaura Diamond\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:laura.diamond@comm.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Elaura.diamond@comm.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E404-894-6016\u003Cbr \/\u003EJason Maderer\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:maderer@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Emaderer@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E404-660-2926\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["klipp@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}