Sciences in the Spotlight: Georgia Tech Student Honors Celebration

As the academic year nears its end, a season of celebration begins. Students from across the Institute were recognized for excellence this year at the annual Student Honors Celebration on Wednesday, April 10. Several College of Sciences students were recognized.

See the full list of student awardees from across the Institute.
View photos from the Student Honors Celebration — and more spring events around the College of Sciences.

Institute Awards

Provost’s Academic Excellence Award

• Hope Hazelton
  Psychology Major

• Zikang Leng
  Physics and Computer Science Dual Major

Outstanding Tutor Award

• Harrison Banks
  Physics Major

Outstanding Learning Assistant Award

• Ellia Kelso
  Biology Major (Pre-Med)

College of Sciences Awards

A. Joyce Nickelson and John C. Sutherland Prize

Lance Lampert
Mathematics and Physics Dual Major

The Joyce Nickelson and John C. Sutherland Undergraduate Research Award is presented by the College of Sciences to a student who has engaged in scholarship at the interface of physics and mathematics. 

Lance Lampert entered Georgia Tech as a graduate of Syosset High School, in Syosset, New York. This May, he will graduate with dual degrees in Physics and in Mathematics. Lampert has research experience in the School of Physics with both Professor Dragomir Davidovic and Professor Colin Parker, and with the GTRI Quantum Systems Division.

In summer 2022, Lampert participated in the National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates program at the University of Michigan, and he spent last summer as a researcher at the CERN in Switzerland where he worked on advancing the measurement of the gravitational acceleration of antimatter. Lampert will embark on graduate study in physics this fall, and is currently deciding between multiple offers of positions.
 

Roger M. Wartell, Ph.D., and Stephen E. Brossette, M.D., Ph.D. Award for Multidisciplinary Studies in Biology, Physics, and Mathematics

Brittany Ahn
Neuroscience Major, Mathematics Minor

The Roger M. Wartell and Stephen E. Brossette Award is presented to a student who has engaged in scholarship at the interface of the life sciences with physics or mathematics. 

This May, Brittany Ahn will graduate with a degree in Neuroscience and a minor in Mathematics. At Georgia Tech, Ahn engaged in research in the Computational Industrial Design Lab, the GTRI Electrical-Optical Lab, and the Mathematical Neuroscience Lab with Professor Hannah Choi. 

Last summer, Ahn participated in the NSF-Simons Center for Quantitative Biology Research Experience for Undergraduates program at Northwestern University, during which she modeled the effect of temperature on neuronal action potential dynamics. 

Ahn has served as a teaching assistant in both industrial systems engineering and the neuroscience program, a math tutor, and as a volunteer with the Atlanta Science Festival and the Special Olympics. This fall, Ahn will enroll in the doctoral program in Computational Neuroscience at Boston University.
 

Robert A. Pierotti Memorial Scholarship

• Callie Goins
  Chemistry Major, Materials Science and Engineering Minor

• Emily Melvin
  Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences Major

• Michelle Seeler
  Biology Major, Spanish Minor

The College of Sciences presents the Robert A. Pierotti Memorial Scholarship to top graduating seniors. This year there are three recipients.

Callie Goins will graduate with a degree in Chemistry and a minor in Materials Science and Engineering. Prior to attending Georgia Tech, Goins attended River Ridge High School in Woodstock, Georgia, and dual enrolled at Kennesaw State University.

For the last three years, she has conducted research in the laboratory of Professor John Reynolds, leading to her undergraduate thesis titled “Investigating IR Switching of Dioxythiophene-Based Conjugated Polymers.”

Goins has also completed summer internships with Alcon and with Parker Lord, and served as a teaching assistant in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry. Goins appears as a co-author on peer reviewed articles in the journals Materials Advances and ACS Materials Letters and on a number of conference presentations. She is the recipient of the American Chemical Society Undergraduate Award in Organic Chemistry.

Professor Reynolds shares that “Callie has always demonstrated a tremendous enthusiasm for learning … She is a student who loves scientific discourse and takes advantage of every opportunity that she gets to share her research.” This fall, Goins will embark on graduate studies; she is currently choosing between a number of opportunities.

Emily Melvin will be among the first graduates of the new Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences B.S. degree (AOS). Melvin’s degree will include the AOS research option, also offered through the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences.

Melvin hails from Marstons Mills, Massachusetts. She has served as an intern with Brookhaven National Laboratory and at the Naval Research Laboratory where she worked on simulations of the proposed flight plans to explore the marine atmospheric boundary layer. Beyond academic work, Melvin has volunteered as treasurer and marketing manager of The Dance Company at Georgia Tech, a group of Tech students who love to dance and perform.

Melvin plans to attend graduate school in atmospheric sciences and is currently selecting a program of study.

Michelle Seeler grew up in Lawrenceville, Georgia. She is graduating with a degree in Biology, a minor in Spanish, and completion of the research option. For the last two years, Seeler has worked with Professor Julia Champion on the targeted delivery of therapeutics.

In summer 2022, Seeler conducted research at the Jackson Laboratory (JAX) biomedical research institution, and she spent the summer of 2023 at Harvard Medical School. She served as the founding president of the March of Dimes at Georgia Tech, and as president of the Support Health and Education for Women initiative at Georgia Tech.

Professor Champion notes that “Michelle is an intelligent, motivated, a dedicated researcher and effective communicator, and she has an innate desire to use her talents to help patients in the future — especially women who have been underserved by current research efforts and spending.” After graduation, Michelle plans to enroll in the Ph.D. program in Biomedical Sciences at University of California, San Francisco.