{"68645":{"#nid":"68645","#data":{"type":"news","title":"AAAS Profiles Gilda Barabino","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAuthor: Freelance Writer Jenisha Watts\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EGilda Barabino teaches chemical engineering at Georgia Tech in Atlanta. She decided to study chemistry in college after her high school teacher told her class \u0022chemistry was not for girls.\u0022 Walk into Dr. Gilda Barabino\u2019s office at Georgia\u0027s Institute of Technology in Atlanta and scan the room. Each wall is lined with shelves, filled with thick science journals, hardback copies of Langston Hughes poems, and soft vintage novels by James Baldwin. Tucked between the shelves, a poster with a picture of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the bold words, \u201cThe Right to be Free.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EIt is a commemorative of Brown vs. the Board of Education, the landmark 1954 case where the Supreme Court ruled that state laws establishing \u0022separate but equal\u0022 public schools for white and black students was unconstitutional.The ruling paved the way for integration and the civil rights movement. For Barabino, an African American woman, the words on the wall are more than an inspirational slogan. They serve as a \u201cdaily reminder\u201d on how far black people have advanced in America. Gazing up at the poster, Barabino, says, \u0022The best science is conducted when we have the most inclusive group of people involved. You can\u2019t possibly have the best minds at the table if you exclude certain groups.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EBarabino is Professor and Associate Chair for Graduate Studies at Georgia Tech and Emory University. She has degrees from Xavier University, B.S., and Rice University, Ph.D. In 1994, she received the Outstanding Engineering Faculty Award and in 2007, she was a fellow at the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering. She\u2019s penned articles for numerous publications sharing her research on adhesion mechanisms in sickle cell disease, cellular, and tissue engineering. Chemistry helps explain the substances we ingest through the air we breathe and food we eat, she said. As a chemical engineer, Barabino applies her knowledge to help solve problems in medicine.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWhile testing different experiments for her sickle cell research, she has learned, with medicine, \u201cmany times it is not the substance itself that is bad, but how it is being used,\u201d she said. \u201cWe have an agent that will prevent your cells from sickling, but will cause other problems because it is toxic,\u201d Barabino said. \u201cIf we use hydroxyurea, the body can tolerate that form, and we have an alternative antisickling agent.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EShe credits her high school only educated parents for her ambitious track record. \u201cThey instilled in me every day that education is important.\u201d A soft-spoken Barabino is quick to add, \u201cIn our family, it was just understood that you were going to college to obtain the highest degree.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EA naturally curious girl, she had multiple interests in school subjects.\u0022I loved everything,\u0022 she says. It was her high school teacher who unknowingly set her down on a career path in science. \u201cShe told the class that chemistry was not for girls,\u201d Barabino recalls. \u201cI thought how dare you pick a group and say a particular subject is not acceptable for them!\u201d The pupil with the wide attentiveness roped in her focus. \u201cAnd that\u2019s really how I got started in chemistry,\u201d a proud Barabino said.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThese days, she splits her time directing a laboratory and teaching chemical engineering courses and polymer science. She enjoys the research atmosphere, with lab benches as resting chairs, and bright colored molecules hanging up like wallpaper, just as much as she relishes sharpening future scholars minds in science.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI am so passionate about broadening the community of science. I don\u2019t want us to lose talent,\u201d Barabino said. \u201cI think it is important to give back because everyone does not have that same inner drive, some people need a little more nudging and support. I think it is even more important for people of color to give back. That\u2019s part of my mission.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"The American Association for the Advancement of Science recently profiled BME\u0027s Gilda Barabino as part of their Member Spotlight"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EThe\u0026nbsp;American Association for the Advancement of Science\u0026nbsp;recently profiled BME\u0027s Gilda Barabino as part of their Member Spotlight.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":"","uid":"27195","created_gmt":"2011-06-29 14:15:51","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:09:40","author":"Colly Mitchell","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2011-06-29T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2011-06-29T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"39912":{"id":"39912","type":"image","title":"BME Professor Gilda Barabino","body":null,"created":"1449174136","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 20:22:16","changed":"1475894244","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:37:24"}},"media_ids":["39912"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.ibb.gatech.edu\/","title":"Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience"},{"url":"http:\/\/groups.bme.gatech.edu\/groups\/barabino\/","title":"Barabino lab"}],"groups":[{"id":"1292","name":"Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB)"}],"categories":[{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"}],"keywords":[{"id":"1629","name":"AAAS"},{"id":"2046","name":"gilda barabino"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EJenisha Watts, AAAS\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}