2022 Black History Month Lecture featuring Philonise Floyd Wednesday, February 9 | 3 p.m.
Join the Georgia Tech African American Student Union, Institute Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and Student Engagement and Well-Being as they welcome Philonise Floyd for the 2022 Black History Month Lecture on Wednesday, February 9, at 3 p.m.
Floyd will discuss what it means to be Black in America, and how everyone can contribute to the social and racial justice movements.
Black History Month is a time to reflect on African Americans’ achievements and struggles. It’s also a time to highlight individuals who, today, are doing the work to make society more just and more inclusive.
This work is happening across Tech’s campus, by students and researchers who focus on race-related or antiracist technology and research, and by those who, simply by existing and thriving in spaces where they are underrepresented, are helping to bring about change.
Doing the Work introduces you to a few of the people who are making a difference in the Tech community and beyond.
Joe Bozeman
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering • College of Engineering
Inspired by early life experiences growing up in the inner city of Dayton, Ohio, Joe Bozeman was acutely aware of how the inaccessibility to healthy food, lack of economic freedom, and lack of neighborhood safety were linked to race and class.
Bozeman, an assistant professor, firmly believes that addressing climate change adaptation and mitigation in a manner that centers equity in food-energy-water systems will help society avoid some of the worst economic, social, and political outcomes. Developing solutions requires cross-disciplinary collaboration among scientists and community stakeholders, led by people who fully understand the systemically marginalized.
Bozeman uses engineering approaches to develop equitable solutions for climate change adaptation and mitigation –– focusing his efforts on food-energy-water, urbanization and buildings, and circularity.
Through his research, Bozeman hopes to affect the broader public and scientific communities in meaningful ways. His goal is to see more environmental measures enacted into local, state, and even federal law to shift human behavior toward more environmentally friendly lifestyles.
The Design Bloc
College of Design
(from left to right): Cole Campbell, Margaret Lu, Tynan Purdy, Yuma Tanaka, Wayne Li, Shawn Harris, Ms. Char Johnson, Hannan Abdi, Hunter Schaufel, and Jordan Lym. Not Pictured: Michael Flanigan and Madison Lovelace.
The Design Bloc was founded in 2014, becoming a full-service design and consulting studio in 2017 with a mission to connect with the community beyond the boundaries of the firm. Using the “Think globally, act locally” approach, the Design Bloc connected on a project with the historically Black neighborhood of Hunter Hills in Atlanta.
Working with a local neighborhood provides challenges but also opportunities. To better understand and serve the community, the Design Bloc conducted 23 interviews, two walkarounds in the neighborhood, and multiple workshops.
“Truly getting to know who you’re designing for, their cultural values and beliefs, is both inspirational and challenging,” said Wayne Li, Design Bloc director and James L. Oliver Professor in the Colleges of Design and Engineering.
The final logo chosen for Hunter Hills, nicknamed “Heritage,” combines visual references to each core value of the neighborhood. The Design Bloc will continue working to strengthen the bonds between the community and Georgia Tech while also helping teach community members design thinking and how it can empower them.
Dorien Minor
School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences • College of Sciences
Dorien Minor is a fourth-year student currently enrolled in the B.S./M.S. program in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences with a concentration in meteorology, and has academic interests in tropical cyclogenesis, numerical weather prediction, climate dynamics, and science communication. Minor is an active member of the American Meteorological Society (AMS) and is in his second term as president of Georgia Tech’s AMS Student Chapter, StORM Club.
As part of the Georgia Tech WxChallenge team, he was the top first-year/sophomore forecaster overall in the 2019-20 season and placed among the top 10 junior/senior forecasters nationally during the 2020-21 season. Minor is also a member of the National Society of Black Engineers, the African American Student Union, and the Association for Environmental Engineers and Scientists.
For as long as he can remember, he has always wanted to be a meteorologist who used his resources, research, and reverence to develop an innovative approach to the study of the changing atmosphere. Minor wants to continue to make a difference not only in his community, but also in the world.
“In meteorological fields, where minority representation is not as widespread as in other sectors, it is important for youth and students from traditionally underrepresented groups to see individuals who look like them in their respective careers,” he says.
Minor plans on completing his bachelor’s and master’s degrees while focusing on expanding his network. After that, he is eager to begin his career as a broadcast and forecast meteorologist in hopes of obtaining a position with The Weather Channel or The Today Show. Eventually he aspires to start his own meteorology and STEM-related broadcast network and teach students about the many, vast possibilities in STEM. You can follow @easfinesse on Instagram.
Manu Platt
Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering • College of Engineering
While earning his Ph.D., Manu Platt was shocked to learn that children with sickle cell disease are at increased risk of stroke, with 11% having a stroke by age 16 and at the greatest risk between ages 2 and 5. Learning that this was happening with a disease that mostly affected Black people in the U.S. — one in 400 African Americans has sickle cell disease — inspired Platt to help find solutions.
Through research, he hopes to identify new targets that are elevated due to the inflammation and damage caused by sickle cell disease — tools that can be used to prevent damage to the cerebral vessels where strokes could occur. He and Professor Ed Botchwey are also studying these mechanisms in the bones, as people with sickle cell disease are often subject to hip replacement surgeries by their late teens.
Platt believes all people living with sickle cell disease need access to better healthcare and options to improve their quality and length of life.
In addition to his research, Platt runs Project ENGAGES, which brings in students from Atlanta public high schools and pays them to work in Georgia Tech labs while training them to do cutting-edge research.
He also runs GT-ESTEEMED, an NIH funded program for first- and second-year students to prepare them to pursue doctorates in STEM fields. Both programs seek to change the face of what scientists and engineers look like and to open these career paths to everyone.
With the help of Lakeita Servance, his partner with both programs, Platt’s goal is to inspire a whole new generation of young Black and brown scientists and engineers who do not yet know the power and potential they have.
“It’s important for everyone to remember that diversity work is not charity work,” he says. “There are incredible solutions hiding out in people who were just not given the opportunity to be at the table to answer those questions.”
Assata Quinichett
School of Computer Science • College of Computing
Computer science summer programs and high school courses inspired Assata Quinichett’s love of problem solving.
Now a third-year computer science major at Tech, Quinichett is the current co-president of Minorities @ the College of Computing (M@CC), an organization that strives to create a space where underrepresented people can feel comfortable and supported in their academic and professional pursuits in computer science. Traditionally, computer science is an overwhelmingly white male field, and M@CC provides targeted resources for academic and career development, as well as social support for students.
In her time studying computer science, Quinichett has routinely felt the isolation of being one of a small number of Black women in classes and at work. She decided to take a leadership role in M@CC so she could create spaces that alleviate the feeling of isolation. She credits M@CC for helping her professional, academic, and social development at Georgia Tech.
Quinichett’s long-term goal is to be a CEO for an influential technology company, aspiring to leverage the position and influence to increase the number of women and people of color in computer science.
Natasha Reed
Organizational Behavior • Scheller College of Business
With a deep interest in race, gender, and organizational justice, Ph.D. candidate Natasha Reed has devoted her academic efforts to studying diversity, inclusion, and inequities and their root causes.
She recognizes that while many organizations have initiatives in place to tackle inequality, imbalances still persist. Through her research, Reed hopes to illuminate issues of inequities within organizations and make an impact on eliminating them.
“If I can have any part in balancing the scales of equity in an individual’s life, then my research will be successful,” Reed says.
In her teaching, Reed aspires to motivate students from nontraditional backgrounds to achieve greater success –– believing that young people should know their circumstances in life do not have to define who they are as individuals.
Nashlie Sephus
School of Electrical and Computer Engineering • College of Engineering
Photographed by Lynsey Weatherspoon
Growing up in Jackson, Mississippi, with her mom, sister, and grandmother, Nashlie Sephus was always encouraged to explore and learn how things work. After attending engineering camp for girls during the summer after eighth grade, Sephus was hooked, especially on computer engineering.
She earned both a master’s and Ph.D. in electrical and computer engineering from Georgia Tech, and currently works as an AI tech evangelist at Amazon. Sephus credits Tech for preparing her with the academic rigor of a top program.
After graduating, she created The Bean Path, an organization that brings STEAM education and skills to people from underrepresented communities. By introducing students to tech tools, she seeks to foster new generations and communities of diverse innovators.
In addition to her work at Amazon and The Bean Path, Sephus also co-founded KITT Labs –– a space for Black and brown engineers and scientists to feel “at home” and to collaborate and find their place in Atlanta’s tech ecosystem. As an engineer, Sephus constantly reflects on how to improve and raise the bar, crediting much of her success to her team and support systems.
Lawrence Williams
School of Computer Science • College of Computing
Growing up with a fascination about websites and applications from using his family’s desktop computer, Lawrence Williams knew that majoring in computer science was the best way to learn about a field that had always interested him.
He joined Minorities @ the College of Computing (M@CC) as a first-year student and currently serves as co-president. The group provides a space where underrepresented students can find resources and opportunities for career development and a peer support network.
Williams is still in the process of choosing his next career step, but hopes to settle in a place where he can express his creativity, advocate for accessible technology, and create growth opportunities for people of color in the tech world.
Joycelyn Wilson
School of Literature, Media, and Communication • Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts
Focusing on African American expressive traditions, hip hop culture, and social justice STEM education, Joycelyn Wilson’s research and teaching encourage people to engage with the music, the art, and the overall innovation that drives the human experience, and to elevate their consciousness in the process.
She believes that her work is essential in providing information and experiences to students that enhance their capacities to make, think, and problem solve in ways that promote inclusivity and equity.
Wilson, who began her career as a high school algebra teacher, now feels humbled to witness growth in students from different backgrounds, and she credits the inclusive nature of hip hop culture for creating these pedagogical experiences.
She hopes to continue producing research and scholarship that expands the minds of students through publishing, teaching, programmatic support, outreach, and service.
SURE is a 10-week summer research program designed to attract qualified under-represented minority and women students into graduate school in the fields of engineering and science. As one of the longest running summer research programs in the country, SURE has a proud legacy of helping students enter into graduate programs, especially at the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Did you know 1 in 6 Georgians are facing hunger today? Let’s do something about it!
Join Grand Challenges February 4th, 8:20AM-11:30AM at the Atlanta Community Food Bank’s brand new warehouse, the Hunger Action Center (3400 North Desert Dr Atlanta, GA 30344)! As a Hunger Action Center volunteer you may assist with tasks such as sorting and packing recently donated food, repackaging produce or grains for families, or boxing non-perishable items for seniors across Atlanta.
Any volunteers should please plan to wear a mask and closed toe shoes. Volunteers will be asked via email to provide a copy/evidence of their Covid-19 vaccination information at the start of the event. Transportation to and from the Hunger Action Center via Uber or Lyft will be reimbursed for Grand Challenges staff, students, and alumni volunteering.
All interested volunteers must sign up for the February 1st “Hunger Action Center (Morning)” shift at: https://acfb.volunteerhub.com/eventregistrationwizard/complete and RSVP on Engage below. If you have not volunteered with the Atlanta Community Food Bank before, you will be prompted to create a profile. Spots are limited–sign up today!
Please plan to leave campus at 7:50AM so that our group can sign in and be given instructions together.
For any further questions or interest in future service events, please contact Madison Reddic at mreddic3@gatech.edu .
Volunteer Reminders from the Atlanta Community Food Bank:
**Out of an abundance of caution, the Atlanta Community Food Bank will be requiring proof of vaccination upon arrival for your volunteer shift.**
Dress Code: Closed-toe shoes are always required, with sneakers or work boots recommended. Unfortunately, any volunteer wearing shoes that do not completely cover the foot will not be allowed to participate.
Age Requirement: The Hunger Action Center requires volunteers to be 18 or older.
Arrival Time: Please arrive 10 minutes prior to your shift to allow time to check in.
Food Rules: Donated food and product cannot be consumed or removed from the facility. Bottled water is provided during the shift; however, space will not be provided for volunteers to consume outside food or snacks.
Safety: As we continue to assess the safety for the Atlanta Community Food Bank and our community, we will be requiring temperature checks, face masks, and social distancing for the entirety of your volunteer shift.
Pride Alliance is hosting a meet and greet this Wednesday at 6pm in Mason 3132 to welcome our members back after elections. Board Games, Icebreakers and other fun will be featured! The new executive board is excited to get to meet everyone. See you there!
The observation of Black History Month dates back to 1915, when Carter G. Woodson, now known as the “Father of Black History,” created an organization called the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History.
In 1926, Woodson initiated the first “Negro History Week” on Feb. 7 to celebrate and raise awareness of Black history.
Dr. Albert Broussard, TAMU
And in 1976, said Texas A&M University Afro-American history professor Albert Broussard, this turned into a month-long celebration and was renamed Black History Month. – Texas A&M Today
The theme for 2022 focuses on the importance of Black Health and Wellness. This theme acknowledges the legacy of not only Black scholars and medical practitioners in Western medicine, but also other ways of knowing (e.g., birthworkers, doulas, midwives, naturopaths, herbalists, etc.) throughout the African Diaspora. The 2022 theme considers activities, rituals and initiatives that Black communities have done to be well.
In order to foster good health and wellness Black people have embarked on self-determination, mutual aid and social support initiatives to build hospitals, medical and nursing schools (i.e. Meharry Medical College, Howard University College of Medicine, Provident Hospital and Training School, Morehouse School of Medicine, etc.) and community clinics. Clinics were established by individuals, grassroots organizations and mutual aid societies, such as the African Union Society, National Association of Colored Women and Black Panther Party, to provide spaces for Black people to counter the economic and health disparities and discrimination that are found at mainstream institutions. These disparities and anti-Blackness led to communities developing phrases such as “When white folks catch a cold, Black folks get pneumonia.” Initiatives to help decrease disparities have centered several outcomes, including having more diverse practitioners and representation in all segments of the medical and health programs including such as the Ronald E. McNair Scholars. Even the impact of popular culture texts like Doc McStuffins cannot be dismissed.
The rise of fields, such as Public and Community Health and Health Informatics have led to a rise in preventive care and a focus on body positivity, physical exercise, nutrition, exploring other dietary options such as veganism and vegetarianism, and gardening. Black Health and Wellness not only includes one’s physical body, but also emotional and mental health. At this point in the 21st century, our understanding of Black health and wellness is broader and more nuanced than ever. Social media and podcasts, such as The Read, hosted by Crissle and Kid Fury have normalized talking about mental health and going to therapy as well as initiatives such as Therapy for Black Girls. More of us understand the need to hold down, lift up, center, and fight fiercely for our beloved trans siblings and family. Black girls are doing breathwork, and there are whole yoga studios dedicated to people of color.
Mindful of Sister Audre Lorde’s words, we are doing more to move forward holistically for the betterment of ourselves, our bodies, our relationships, our communities, and our planet.
We are determined to create a platform that shines a light on the multiple facets of Black health and wellness through education and activism. There is much to uncover, amplify, question, and correct.
In the still overhanging shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic, Black people should and do use data and other information-sharing modalities to document, decry, and agitate against the interconnected, intersecting inequalities intentionally baked into systems and structures in the U.S. for no other reason than to curtail, circumscribe, and destroy Black well-being in all forms and Black lives. Moreover, Black communities must look to the past to provide the light for our future, by embracing the rituals, traditions and healing modalities of our ancestors. These ways of knowing require a decolonization of thought and practice.
Celebrate Year of the Tiger 2022 with papercutting gold colored tiger on the plum blossom background, the circle Chinese stamp means tiger and the vertical Chinese stamp means year of the tiger according to lunar calendar system
Celebrated by nearly 2 billion people worldwide, the Lunar New Year is rung in Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2022, with festivities that can go on for more than two weeks.
Also known as the Chinese New Year — and as the Spring Festival in China — the date marks the end of the Year of the Ox and the start of the Year of the Tiger.
Traditionally it’s a time to honor ancestors and deities, with family reunions and street parades, and fireworks to drive off evil spirits. While based on the Chinese lunar calendar, Lunar New Year is also celebrated in Korea, Singapore, Mongolia, Tibet, Vietnam and in Asian communities worldwide.
Following the example of Lettie Pate Whitehead Evans, a trailblazing business woman, the first American woman to sit on the board of a major company, and the Institute’s largest donor, the winner of this annual award will have worked purposefully and diligently to advance gender equity at Georgia Tech. The $5,000 award was established by the Office of the President and in support of the Institute’s core value of promoting diversity and inclusion.
Tech ‘Trailblazers’ to Receive Ivan Allen Jr. Prize
Ford Greene, Ralph Long Jr., and Lawrence Williams, Georgia Tech’s first Black students, and Ronald Yancey, Tech’s first Black graduate, will receive the 2022 Ivan Allen Jr. Prize for Social Courage.
The likenesses of the four men are permanently enshrined in campus sculptures, but now, decades after breaking the color barrier at Georgia Tech, they will join the ranks of past awardees that include Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter, John Lewis, Andrew Young, and other pathbreaking leaders.
“The Ivan Allen Jr. Prize recognizes exemplary, courageous leaders — those who, like Mayor Allen, take on personal risks in an effort to improve the lives of others,” said Georgia Tech President Ángel Cabrera. “With great determination, Ford Greene, Ralph Long Jr., Lawrence Williams, and Ronald Yancey withstood hazards and adversity of every kind to prove to the world that Black students had the right to study at Georgia Tech, paving the way for the thousands of Black Yellow Jackets who have earned their degrees here since.”
Greene, Long, and Williams, dubbed the “three pioneers” in the Harrison Square sculpture that depicts them on their first day at Tech, began classes in the fall of 1961. And, although their arrival didn’t elicit violence as it had at other southern universities, it was not easy. They often felt isolated and unwelcome, and they were acutely aware that many around them assumed they wouldn’t be able to succeed here. As Ronald Yancey, who entered Tech a year later, recalled, “It was a lonely and difficult time. ‘Glares and stares’ is the best way I can put it.”
But they persevered. Greene studied chemical engineering at Georgia Tech. He completed his bachelor’s degree in mathematics and computer science at Morgan State University and worked in telecommunications and information technology systems. He died in 2020 at the age of 76. After attending Tech, Long completed his bachelor’s degree at Clark College (now Clark Atlanta University) in mathematics and physics, and was the first Black systems engineer for the Large Systems Group in the southeastern U.S. at IBM Atlanta. Williams served honorably in the Air Force during the Vietnam War, earning several distinctions and honors. A week after graduating, Yancey began a successful career with the U.S. Department of Defense.
“We rarely award the Ivan Allen Jr. Prize to our own students and alumni, but we were long overdue in bestowing it to these four pioneers,” Cabrera said. “We are honored to celebrate the legacies of four brave young men who helped make Georgia Tech — and, by extension, our society — fairer and better for all. Their personal sacrifice, their determination, and their belief that a better reality was possible made a lasting and transformative impact on the Institute that’s still visible more than 60 years after they first set foot on campus.”
The Ivan Allen Jr. Prize for Social Courage was established in 2010 to honor Tech alumnus and former Atlanta Mayor Ivan Allen Jr. Funded in perpetuity by a grant from the Wilbur and Hilda Glenn Family Foundation, the prize includes a $100,000 stipend for recipients. The inaugural prize was awarded in March 2011.
Additional details about the timing of this year’s award presentation will be announced soon. To learn more about the prize, visit ivanallenprize.gatech.edu. View highlights from the 2019 Trailblazers unveiling event here.
The commemoration of the life and work of Martin Luther King Jr. at the Georgia Institute of Technology encompassed an ambitious slate of events organized by faculty, staff, and students. As part of Georgia Tech’s 2022 Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration, the 11th Annual MLK Lecture was held on January 12, featuring Freeman Hrabowski, President of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
Inspired by early life experiences growing up in the inner city of Dayton, Ohio, 
While earning his Ph.D., 
Computer science summer programs and high school courses inspired Assata Quinichett’s love of problem solving.
With a deep interest in race, gender, and organizational justice, Ph.D. candidate 
Growing up with a fascination about websites and applications from using his family’s desktop computer, Lawrence Williams knew that majoring in computer science was the best way to learn about a field that had always interested him.
Focusing on African American expressive traditions, hip hop culture, and social justice STEM education, 
The theme for 2022 focuses on the importance of Black Health and Wellness. This theme acknowledges the legacy of not only Black scholars and medical practitioners in Western medicine, but also other ways of knowing (e.g., birthworkers, doulas, midwives, naturopaths, herbalists, etc.) throughout the African Diaspora. The 2022 theme considers activities, rituals and initiatives that Black communities have done to be well.
