Registration is no longer available because the registration capacity has been exceeded.

We invite high school students (and their guests) who are interested in learning about undergraduate degree programs in the College of Sciences at Georgia Tech to attend the open house “It’s All About Science and Math.” Visitors will learn about opportunities in the degree programs listed below, receive information about admission requirements and financial aid, attend a class, and tour scientific facilities/labs and parts of campus. This program is free to visitors and guests.

Due to limited space, participants are encouraged to sign up early. To schedule a class or group visit, please contact Dr. Cameron Tyson.

Degree programs:  Biochemistry, Biology, Chemistry, Earth & Atmospheric Sciences, Mathematics, Neuroscience, Physics, and Psychology.

REGISTER TO VISIT (click on link and select "It's All About Science and Math")

General Itinerary

10:00 - Introduction to Opportunities in Science and Math at Georgia Tech 

11:15 - Attend a science or math class with a student host and meet a professor. Classes/groups will visit a research lab during this time, and learn some science!

12:05 – Visitors will be provided lunch and can chat with College of Sciences faculty, students and advisors.

Optional activities: After lunch, individual prospective students and guests are encouraged to attend a freshmen admission information session and campus tour if they are visiting the campus for the first time. Be sure to sign up for the 1:15pm general session and campus tour when you register for It's All About Science and Math. 

1:15 – Freshmen admission information session, Student Success Building, Clary Theater

2:15 - Campus tour, departs from Student Success Building

3:30 - Meet a financial aid advisor (walk-ins accepted), Student Success Building, 3rd Floor

School of Physics Colloquium, Prof. Robin Selinger, Kent State University

Soft materials with orientational order can undergo dramatic shape transformations driven by change of temperature or other stimuli. Nematic elastomers, a form of liquid crystal polymer, have been patterned with topological defects and deform from a flat film into twisted, bent, folded, and curved shapes on heating or cooling.  Lipid vesicles, during a phase transition from an untilted to a tilted phase, deform from smooth spheres to crumpled, disordered shapes. In both of these materials, topological defects play a key role: they drive shape change by inducing curvature.

Conversely, a liquid crystal enclosed in a confined geometry may have topological defects even in its lowest energy state, induced by imposed curvature. We categorize these various material systems into three classes: 1. Microstructure fixed and shape evolves; 2. Shape fixed and microstructure evolves; and 3. Both shape and microstructure evolve with competing kinetics. We explore mechanisms by which each of these processes can give rise to a deterministic shape transformation or else get trapped in long-lived metastable states.

To explore these pattern-formation processes, we use simulation techniques including coarse-grained particle-based models of lipid membranes, nonlinear finite element simulation of elastic solids, continuum models of liquid crystal textures, and statistical physics models of defects in curved geometries, comparing to relevant experiments.

Work supported by NSF-DMR-1409658, and NSF-CMMI 1436565, and NSF-CMMI 1663041. 

This two-day gathering is intended to allow members of the Center for the Science and Technology of Advanced Materials and Interfaces (STAMI) and their industry partners to engage in open discussions and exchange ideas. The goals are for STAMI to gather feedback on the the research it conducts, for STAMI students to make connections with industry, and for industry partners to familiarize themselves with STAMI's expertise in materials research. 

Harvard University Professor George M. Whitesides will present a keynote address to the meeting attendees on Oct. 19, titled “Electron Transfer across Self-Assembled Monolayers.”

This talk will describe the development and use of a junction (the “EGaIn” junction) based on insulating self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) sandwiched between two metal electrodes—one usually gold or silver, and the other a low-melting liquid eutectic alloy of gallium and indium—and the use of these systems to study mechanisms of electron transfer by tunneling across them. This talk characterizes this junction as a tool that is exceptionally useful in physical-organic studies of charge (hole) transport by tunneling through organic molecules, and describes the emerging picture of tunneling of charge through organic insulators that emerges from these studies.

Whitesides will give a Frontiers in Science public lecture for the Georgia Tech community on Oct. 20 in Clough Undergraduate Learning Commons at 3:30-4:30 PM.

Titled "Accessible Bioanalysis for the Developing World and the Point of Care," this talk will describe bioanalytical/medical methods designed for use in resource-limited environments, for public health, at the point of care, and in related applications in food and water safety, forensics, and others. These methods include paper diagnostics, density-based methods (magnetic levitation and two-phase polymer systems), electrochemistry, and cell-phone based methods. The program also asks what strategies in academic research will be most successful in translating results from university bench science into real solutions to problems in health in the hands of users, and who else must be involved in this translation.

Whitesides is one of the most influential chemists alive today. He is best known for his work in NMR spectroscopy, organometallic chemistry, molecular self-assembly, soft lithography, microfabrication, microfluidics, and nanotechnology. He is a prolific author and patent holder who has received many awards. An accomplished public speaker, he has delivered several TED Talk lectures. 

Faculty, staff, and students should register here.

Industry participants should contact Sharon Lawrence.

AGENDA HIGHLIGHTS

• Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017
  • Keynote Address: George M. Whitesides
  • Introduction to STAMI Centers
  • Brainstorming Lunch: Odyssey of the Mind
  • Faculty presentations, posters, refreshments
• Friday, Oct. 20, 2017
  • Industry presentations and/or roundtables
  • Meetings with faculty and students
  • George M. Whitesides Public Lecture in Clough Undergraduate Learning Commons, 3:30-4:30 PM

EDITOR'S NOTE: This event was first posted in the Georgia Tech Campus Calendar. Check the original posting for updates.

SPEAKERS

Evelyn J. Patterson is an Associate Professor of Sociology at Vanderbilt University. Her work has appeared in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior, Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, Demography, and Social Science Research.

Starla Hairston-Blanks is the Director of Community Voices: Healthcare for the Underserved of Morehouse School of Medicine, which is dedicated to addressing health disparities, research, policy, and practice.

Xochitl Bervera is a lawyer, organizer, and movement builder. She is the Director of the Atlanta-based Racial Justice Action Center, which is home to the Solutions Not Punishment Coalition and Women on the Rise.

This event is sponsored by the Working Group on Race and Racism in Contemporary Biomedicine with the generous support of GT-FIRE, College of Sciences, and Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.

More information: racebiomed.org

In 2001 James Kakalios created a Freshman Seminar class at the University of Minnesota entitled: "Everything I Know About Science I Learned from Reading Comic Books." This is a real physics class, that covers topics from Isaac Newton to the transistor, but there’s not an inclined plane or pulley in sight.  Rather, ALL the examples come from superhero comic books, and as much as possible, those cases where the superheroes get their physics right!

While physicists, engineers and materials scientists don’t typically consult comic books when selecting research topics; innovations first introduced in superhero adventures as fiction can sometimes find their way off the comic book page and into reality. As amazing as the Fantastic Four’s powers is the fact that their costumes are undamaged when the Human Torch flames on or Mr. Fantastic stretches his elastic body.  In shape memory materials, an external force or torque induces a structural change that is reversed upon warming, a feature appreciated by Mr. Fantastic. Spider-Man’s wall crawling ability has been ascribed to the same van der Waals attractive force that gecko lizards employ through the millions of microscopic hairs on their toes. Scientists have developed “gecko tape,” consisting of arrays of fibers that provide a strong enough attraction to support a modest weight. 

All this, and important topics such as: was it “the fall” or “the webbing” that killed Gwen Stacy, Spider-Man’s girlfriend in the classic Amazing Spider-Man # 121, how graphene saved Iron Man’s life and the chemical composition of Captain America’s shield, will be discussed.  Superhero comic books often get their science right more often than one would expect!

Biography:

James Kakalios is the Taylor Distinguished Professor in the University of Minnesota’s School of Physics and Astronomy.  He received his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Chicago in 1985; he worked as a post-doctoral research associate at the Xerox – Palo Alto Research Center; and then in 1988, having had enough of those California winters, joined the faculty of the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Minnesota. His research interests include nanocrystalline and amorphous semiconductors, pattern formation in sandpiles and fluctuation phenomena in neurological systems.

His popular science book THE PHYSICS OF SUPERHEROES was published in 2005 in the U.S. and the U.K., and has been translated into six languages.   The SPECTACULAR SECOND EDITION was published in November 2009, followed by THE AMAZING STORY OF QUANTUM MECHANICS in 2010. His new book THE PHYSICS OF EVERYDAY THINGS: The Extraordinary Science Behind an Ordinary Day was published by Crown Books in May 2017.

Calling on all Yellow Jackets with BIG ideas.  

TEDxGeorgiaTech is turning its platform over to you!

The upcoming Student Speaker Salon will feature students (just like you) sharing their ideas, stories, or perspectives on any topic or issue they are passionate about. Don’t limit yourself

TEDxGeorgiaTech is turning its platform over to you! The upcoming Student Speaker Salon will feature students (just like you) sharing their ideas, stories, or perspectives on any topic or issue they are passionate about.

Don’t limit yourself. TEDxGeorgiaTech wants to hear your authentic ideas, whether you’re a scientist, an innovator, musician, techie, or spoken word artist!

Think big, think small, and then think big again! Public-speaking experience is not required, just an #ideaworthspreading and a desire to make an impact.

Spread the word, and start applying! This is the platform you’ve been waiting for.

The Student Speaker Salon application can be found at: http://bit.ly/tedstudentspeaker and closes October 8th at 11:59pm.

The event will be held November 7th, so even if you’re not interested in applying, keep an eye out for ticket information!

It's Customer Appreciation Day at the Glass Shop of the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, which provides custom glassblowing services for all of Georgia Tech. 

All are welcome. Learn how You can use the Glass Shop. If it needs to be made of glass, ask the Glass Shop first. The Glass Shop can produce borosilicate, quartz, glass-to-metal, and other silicate products.   

• Watch glassblowing in action
• Take home your very own Georgia Tech glassware
• Join raffles and win door prizes 

A Frontiers in Science lecture co-sponsored by the School of Physics and the School of Public Policy

Abstract

The Ig Nobel Prizes honor achievements that make people LAUGH, then THINK. Ten new prizes have been awarded every year since 1991, in gala ceremonies at Harvard and MIT, with winners traveling from around the world, and Nobel laureates physically handing out the Ig Nobel Prizes. The whole history of science, technology and medicine is a parade of things that at first made people LAUGH, then THINK. The Igs focuses public curiosity on the early, thought-provoking, "Is it good, bad, or too-early-to-tell?" stage of things.  

About the Speaker

Marc Abrahams is the editor and co-founder of Annals of Improbable Research (AIR) and the originator and emcee of the annual Ig Nobel Prize celebration. He was editor of the Journal of Irreproducible Results (JIR) from 1990 to 1994.

After JIR's publisher decided to abandon the magazine in 1994, the founders and entire editorial staff (1955-1994) of JIR abandoned the publisher and immediately created AIR. AIR's editorial board of more than 50 distinguished scientists includes many Nobel laureates, several Ig Nobel Prize winners, IQ record holder Marilyn Vos Savant, and a convicted felon. Marc described how it all began, in an essay for The Guardian.

Abrahams has a degree in applied mathematics from Harvard College, spent several years developing optical character recognition computer systems (including a reading machine for the blind) at Kurzweil Computer Products, and later founded Wisdom Simulators, which used computers to give people experience in making excruciating decisions.

He is the subject of a Harvard Business School case study called "Marc Abrahams: Annals of an Improbable Entrepreneur." He is married to psychologist Robin Abrahams, who writes the "Miss Conduct" advice column for the Boston Globe Magazine.

About Frontiers in Science Lectures

Lectures in this series are intended to inform, engage, and inspire students, faculty, staff, and the public on developments, breakthroughs, and topics of general interest in the sciences and mathematics. Lecturers tailor their talks for nonexpert audiences.

The National Science Foundation is gathering scientists from the LIGO and Virgo collaborations to discuss the current status of gravitational-wave astronomy in revealing extreme events in the cosmos. School of Physics Professor Laura Cadonati is among 15 scientists who will discuss recent findings in two panels.

The press conference will take place on October 16, 2017, at 10 a.m. at the National Press Club, in Washington, D.C. The public can watch the conference in real time at YouTube.com/user/VideosatNSF.

The first detection of gravitational waves, made on September 14, 2015, and announced on February 11, 2016, was a milestone in physics and astronomy; it confirmed a major prediction of Albert Einstein’s 1915 general theory of relativity and marked the beginning of the new field of gravitational-wave astronomy. Since then, there have been three more confirmed detections, one of which (and the most recently announced) was the first confirmed detection seen jointly by both the LIGO and Virgo detectors.

The published articles announcing LIGO’s first, second, and third confirmed detections have been cited more than 1,700 times (total), according to the Web of Science citation counts. A fourth paper on the three-detector observation was published on October 6; a manuscript was made publicly available on September 27.

The following researchers will offer brief opening remarks over the course of two panels, with time for questions at the end of each panel:

10:00 a.m.

Moderator: France Córdova, Director of the National Science Foundation

• David Reitze, Executive Director, LIGO Laboratory/Caltech
• David Shoemaker, Spokesperson, LIGO Scientific Collaboration/MIT
• Jo van den Brand, Spokesperson, Virgo Collaboration/Nikhef, VU University Amsterdam
• Julie McEnery, Fermi Project Scientist, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
• Marica Branchesi, Virgo Collaboration/Gran Sasso Science Institute, Italy
• Vicky Kalogera, Astrophysicist, LIGO Scientific Collaboration/Northwestern University

11:15 a.m.

Moderator: Jim Ulvestad, NSF Assistant Director (Acting) for Mathematical and Physical Sciences

• Laura Cadonati, Deputy Spokesperson, LIGO Scientific Collaboration/Georgia Tech
• Andy Howell, Staff Scientist at Las Cumbres Observatory/UC-Santa Barbara
• Ryan Foley, Assistant Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California-Santa Cruz
• Marcelle Soares-Santos, Assistant Professor of Physics, Brandeis University
• David Sand, Assistant Professor in Astronomy, University of Arizona
• Nial Tanvir, Professor of Astrophysics, University of Leicester, UK
• Edo Berger, Professor of Astronomy, Harvard University
• Eleonora Troja, Research Scientist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center/University of Maryland
• Alessandra Corsi, Assistant Professor, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Texas Tech University

A Frontiers in Science lecture made possible by the College of Sciences' Living Learning Communities SMaRT and SHaRP

Brain science is the least explored of all our sciences. As a result, fear, trepidation, and stigma are associated with the invisible world of brain illnesses (referred to as “mental illnesses”). People are afraid to advocate for themselves and their loved ones to get help in times of need.

But the brain is just another organ, and as such, can be healthy or unhealthy. In this presentation, Jeremy Richman will discuss what is known about risk factors for engaging in violent behavior and protective factors for building connection and compassion.

Richman seeks to better understand the neurobiological and environmental factors associated with violence and compassion. Once a deeper understanding has been established, these insights can be used to educate citizens about how to identify the signs and symptoms of someone troubled or in crisis; how to responsibly advocate for those at risk of violence to themselves or others; and most importantly, how to foster kind, healthy, and compassionate individuals and communities.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Jeremy G. Richman is a cofounder and the CEO of the Avielle Foundation. The nonprofit organization is dedicated to preventing violence and building compassion through neuroscience research, community engagement, and education. Richman is also a lecturer in psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine.

Richman has extensive research experience, from neuroscience and neuropsychopharmacology, to cardiovascular biology, diabetes, obesity, metabolic syndrome, immunology, inflammation, and drug discovery. He is passionate about helping people live happier and healthier lives.

Richman is dedicated to reaching out and educating youth, and he believes that our future relies on their imaginations. This is manifest in his teaching of martial arts, biology, neuroscience, and rock climbing to children and teens for the past 25 years.

Most importantly, Richman believes it is critical to empower youth to advocate for themselves and their peers when it comes to brain health and brain illnesses.

ABOUT FRONTIERS IN SCIENCE LECTURES

Lectures in this series are intended to inform, engage, and inspire students, faculty, staff, and the public on developments, breakthroughs, and topics of general interest in the sciences and mathematics. Lecturers tailor their talk for nonexpert audiences.

PARKING

The closest parking would be the Visitor Parking Lot at 355 Ferst Drive NW, Atlanta, GA 30313.