Can you spot these locations on campus? The first person to correctly identify where these springtime photos were taken wins lunch with Dean Raheem Beyah.
A children’s book author and night-school English teacher too, Evans supports the College’s DEI and faculty affairs efforts.
By: Amy Kim
Cassandra Evans says she’s always had a connection to Georgia Tech. So when she returned to campus for a second stint as an employee, it probably was inevitable.
After a few years as a faculty support coordinator in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Evans went to Emory University as an equity and inclusion assistant in the School of Medicine. Yet she couldn’t ignore the pull of Tech and returned to the College of Engineering in September 2022, this time as a project support coordinator in the dean’s office working on faculty affairs and diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging efforts.
“I always felt like I would come back, because of the environment and the people I work with,” Evans said.
In the evening, Evans also works as an English teacher, teaching up to three classes a week at the Interactive College of Technology in Chamblee as part of the English as a Second Language (ESL) program. She teaches adults who are seeking jobs and promotions.
Evans said she asks each student two questions: “Why are you here? And what is your ultimate goal?”
For Evans, teaching is an innate skill, and what she calls a “yearning” she’s had since she was young. Growing up with an educator mother, Evans got her first taste of teaching as an instructor for the GT 1000 Freshman Seminar.
“My mom is a teacher and I said I would never be one, but I had an itching,” she said. “It’s a little bit in my genes.”
In addition to teaching, Evans is also a self-published author, having released a children’s book in 2019 called A Cache of Cashews.
The book follows a squirrel, Sika, who saves up nuts and helps her community when a big storm comes. “Sika” is a Ghanaian word for money, and Evans hopes to teach young readers about saving money.
“I couldn’t find a children’s book I could read to my daughter about financial planning,” she said. “In 2019, I said ‘I’m going to commit to writing one.’”
Now, Evans is planning her second book, this time inspired by her son. Writing is fulfilling, she said, but never easy.
“I was always good at math and science but writing and reading challenge me because they don’t come naturally,” Evans said. “Writing is something I desire because I know I’m going to have to work for it.”
Wherever she is — whether it’s teaching English or writing about financial literacy or working with her colleagues in the College — Evans said finds herself serving and being inspired by others: “My name, Cassandra, means ‘helper of mankind,’ so I’m always the supporter and helper. I always have a desire to help, and I try to excel in that area.”
Returning to Tech has helped Evans see she was meant to be here.
“There are some environments where it’s just work,” she said. “But at Tech, you get different venues to be yourself and be creative, whatever you’re doing. Your ideas aren’t just on paper, you get to do them in real life.”
As our nation celebrates Black History Month, we’re honoring the Black faculty members shaping our students’ lives and improving the human condition in the College.
Associate Chair for Global Engineering Leadership and Entrepreneurship School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Research Studies systems problems on the integrated built, natural, social and information environments to understand how we can make better decisions on built systems to promote resilient, smart and sustainable development. Her research currently focuses on the development and application of systems and sustainability engineering methods to promote sustainable development.
Dean and Southern Company Chair College of Engineering
Research Works at the intersection of the networking and security fields. His lab group develops algorithms that enable a more secure network infrastructure, with computer systems that are more accountable and less vulnerable to attacks. Through experimentation, simulation, and theoretical analysis, his group provides solutions to current network security problems and to long-range challenges as current networks and threats evolve.
Proudest Accomplishment “My proudest accomplishment is seeing students — undergraduate and graduate — and faculty members thrive that I’ve mentored.”
Professor Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering
Research Takes a multidisciplinary approach for improvement of tissue engineering therapies through study of microvascular remodeling, inflammation resolution, and host stem cells. His lab’s goal is development of effective new strategies to repair, replace, preserve, or enhance tissue or organ function.
Assistant Professor School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Research An industrial ecologist committed to fostering equitable climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies. His current work focuses on the sociodemographic impacts of the food-energy-water nexus, equity applications in energy and environmental systems, and urban carbon management strategies.
Professor George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering
Research Focuses on understanding and designing thermal transport and energy conversion in nanostructures and devices — particularly those based on carbon nanotubes or polymers. His group develops tools to characterize thermal transport across several orders of scale for this purpose. His research interests also include scalable fabrication of organic and organic-inorganic hybrid nanostructures for novel technological use.
Assistant Professor Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering
Research Focuses on two broad yet related areas: 1) broadening participation and improving the inclusion of students of color within engineering; and 2) improving collaboration and teamwork for students and faculty within projects designed to mimic professional engineering work. She studies student and faculty experiences using all three methodologies common in engineering education research (quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods) for the purpose of enhancing the experience of marginalized groups in engineering.
Fun Fact “I am a preacher’s kid (PK), and I think all good teachers preach. Also, learning about culture can enhance your life; I studied Japanese karate, and I study Egyptology or Kemetic philosophy.”
Assistant Professor George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering
Research Focuses on the design and control of adaptive robotic manipulation (ARM) systems. This class of devices exemplified by kinematic structures, actuation topologies, and sensing and control strategies that make them particularly well-suited to operating in unstructured, dynamic environments — specifically those involving cooperative interactions with humans.
Associate Professor George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering
Research Focuses on exploring the connectivity between the functionality of nano- to macro- level films, components, and systems based on their manufacture or design and their life expectancy, thereby elucidating mechanisms by which performance or durability can be predicted. She is interested in using both simulations and experimentation to better understand this connectivity.
Proudest Accomplishment “In 2018, the International Society of Coating Science and Technology honored me with the L. E. Scriven Young Investigator Award for the innovative work conducted in my group. Specifically, our contributions towards the advancement of slot die coating with the development of two novel slot die coater embodiments, where one is digital and the other allows for co-depositing two or more fluids across a plane with fine features. Being acknowledged for this trailblazing work within an international society has been a highlight for my group.”
Fun Fact “I was born and raised in a rural town in central Arkansas on a small farm. While we had all sorts of animals, including the classics (dogs and cats), my first pet was a cow.”
Assistant Professor Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering
Aims to identify how the intrinsic properties of chromatin, the DNA-protein structure that packages eukaryotic genes, can be used to control cell development in tissues. Her lab investigates and designs chromatin-based systems for controlling gene expression in cancer and other cells that are relevant to human health.
Proudest Accomplishment “I am most proud when my trainees do well, especially when they are from a group that is traditionally marginalized in STEM. My Ph.D. student Kierra Franklin, an African American female scientist, had her very first paper published in Trends in Biochemical Sciences (Cell Press) in 2022.”
Associate Professor Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering
Research Interests are in the areas of computational mechanics and multidisciplinary design optimization, with a particular focus on problems involving complex, nonlinear structures and mechanisms. Some of his major research projects include aerostructural optimization of electric aircraft wings, design synthesis of self-actuating morphable structures containing active materials, and generative adversarial neural networks for design automation.
Proudest Accomplishment “Winning the NSF CAREER award in 2018 for my research proposal on automated computational design of multi-body mechanisms.”
Fun Fact “I’m a big fan of chess and I actually won my high school’s chess tournament, but I haven’t played consistently since leaving high school.”
Professor, Julian T. Hightower Chair in Cybersecurity School of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Research Interests span the fields of networking and security and include such diverse topics as traffic classification, computer forensics, user authentication, and privacy.
Associate Professor, Associate Chair for Undergraduate Affairs School of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Research Uses digital speech processing theory and analysis in the classification of human vocal patterns for determining speaker demographics (i.e., dialect, language, etc.), speaker characteristics (i.e., gender, dimensions, etc.), and speaker state (i.e., emotion, stress, etc.).
Professor, Associate Chair for Graduate Studies Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering
Research Fuses engineering, cell biology, and physiology in a diverse, inclusive team to understand how cells sense, respond, and remodel their immediate mechanical and biochemical environments for repair and regeneration in health and disease. His lab focuses on tissue remodeling, HIV, cardiovascular disease, sickle cell disease, strokes, and predictive medicine.
Proudest Accomplishment “Being able to take my entire lab to a conference in Cape Town, South Africa, and it was their first time on the African continent.”
Fun Fact “I’m the second oldest of six brothers, and my name actually means ‘second born son.'”
Professor Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Professional Education Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering
Research Specializes in high temperature gas dynamics, compressible flow aerodynamics, and airframe propulsion integration. He is developing novel approaches which allow for Navier-Stokes simulations using a purely Cartesian grid solver. His aerothermodynamics research and technology (ART) laboratory applied these techniques to applications as diverse as hypersonic planetary entry vehicles and flow physics, rotorcraft airframe interaction flows, transonic and supersonic missiles, and unsteady store separation problems.
Assistant Professor, Sutterfield Family Early Career Professor School of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Research Develops biosensors for remote sensing of vital signs and biotelemetry for gastrointestinal devices and neural implants. His lab also studies device-to-device wireless communications systems and radar systems for localization and tracking.
Fun Fact Seun is an avid tennis player. He is an art enthusiast, enjoys Thai food, and is “secretly” a semiotician.
John Young Chair, Aerospace Engineering Associate Dean for Academic Affairs College of Engineering
Research Interests lie in electric propulsion, plasma physics, and hypersonic aerodynamics/plasma interaction. His current research activities involve both theoretical and experimental work in advanced spacecraft propulsion systems, diagnostics (including THz time-domain spectroscopy and Thomson scattering), plasma physics, helicon plasma sources, magnetoplasmadynamic thrusters, and pulsed inductive thrusters.
Proudest Accomplishment “Many of the graduates from my research team lead significant technical efforts within their organizations. I am proud of my students.”
Professor School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Research Focuses on establishing an integrated experimental and computational framework to translate our understanding of the fundamental principles of biophysics and biochemistry (i.e., the physicochemical properties that confer function) into useful processes, devices, therapies, and diagnostics that will benefit society.
Black entrepreneurship has a long and rich history in the United States, and the story of Atlanta’s rise as a national hub of innovation begins with the business owners who grew during a time of racial animosity. Two of the city’s most notable entrepreneurs, Alonzo Herndon and Herman J. Russell, played a pivotal part in developing the city’s business culture.
Atlanta Life Insurance Company
Since 1905, the Atlanta Life Insurance Company has stood as a pinnacle of entrepreneurial spirit and African American financial achievement. Headquartered in the historic Sweet Auburn district among many other Black-owned businesses, Atlanta Life grew to become the leading African American-owned insurance company in the nation.
Founder Alonzo Herndon was born into slavery. He was a barber, architect, and entrepreneur, and grew to become the wealthiest African American in Atlanta by 1927.
Herndon was one of 29 original members of The Niagara Movement, a civil rights organization created by W.E.B Dubois in 1905 to combat racial segregation and disenfranchisement, and he continued to work towards economic and educational opportunities for minorities in the South throughout his life.
Herndon invested his earnings from three barbershops around the city in property, and by the early 1900s, he was city’s top Black landowner. Early in the century he also opened the Atlanta Life Insurance Company.
With an initial capital investment of $140 ($5,000 today), Herndon sold Atlanta Life’s sole contract — a low-cost occupational accident policy that paid upon death of the policyholder — door-to-door in his neighborhood.
By 1909, Atlanta Life was serving more 23,000 policyholders with the promise of prompt claim payments, which many insurance firms avoided at the time by exploiting numerous loopholes.
Atlanta Life branch office in 1925
With its growing success, Atlanta Life became a legal reserve company in 1922 and began expanding to eight additional states. making up 13 percent of over $140 million of insurance held by the leading Black insurance companies by 1925.
When Norris Herndon succeeded his father as Atlanta Life’s president in 1927, he created the Herndon Foundation, which supported civil rights and efforts to advance African American economic progress. Atlanta Life continued to support the growing protest movement in the 1950s, offering employment for fired teachers and providing bail for arrested students during sit-ins.
Today, Atlanta Life operates in seventeen states, and the Herndon Foundation continues the Herndon family’s legacy, with over $5 million given to supporting education, mentorship, and local non-profit organizations to-date.
The original Atlanta Life Insurance Co. building at 142-148 Auburn Ave. in Atlanta. Originally a residence, the main building on the right housed the company from 1920 to 1980. The annex on the left was constructed in 1936. The company moved to a modern building next door in 1980.
Herman J. Russell built one of Atlanta’s greatest legacies of African American entrepreneurship and left a lasting impression on the city’s skyline with his construction empire.
A native of Atlanta, Russell grew up in the segregated South during the early years of the civil rights movement. He began to explore property development and investment in high school and inherited his father’s plastering and repair services business after graduating from Tuskegee University. Russell continued to take on larger projects and expanded into general contracting, founding the H.J. Russell Construction Company.
In the 1960s and 1970s, Russell continued to grow his business reputation, partnering with white-owned construction companies and expanding into both public and private sectors.
Russell’s projects have included some of the city’s most iconic sites, like the Georgia Dome, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, and Turner Field.
By the 2000s, H.J. Russell & Company had become the largest Minority Business Enterprise real estate firm in the country and a national leader in the construction and development industry.
His booming commercial success allowed Russell to support Atlanta’s Black community and become a respected civic and community leader.
In the 1960s, Russell became the first Black member of the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, and three years later, took over as president. Russell exerted his economic and social influence during the civil rights movement, joining the likes of Andrew Young and Martin Luther King Jr. and fueling Maynard Jackson’s win as Atlanta’s first Black mayor in 1973.
In addition to supporting local charities and churches, Russell has pledged $4 million toward entrepreneurship programs at Clark Atlanta University, Georgia State University, and Morehouse College.
After Russell’s death in 2014, sons H. Jerome and Michael became executives in the company. As they continue to build up Atlanta’s skyline, the family business continues to support the local community through Russell CARES, a company initiative to fund and support education, youth, entrepreneurship, and affordable housing in Atlanta.
Mark your calendars for these events on campus and in the Atlanta area to commemorate Black History Month 2023.
On Campus
Out of Bounds But at the Center of It All: Althea Gibson in Sports and American History – Feb. 13
February 13 4 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. Stephen C. Hall Building, Room 102 & Online
The School of History and Sociology welcomes Ashley Brown, assistant professor of history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, on Monday, Feb. 13, 2023, in observance of Black History Month. Brown will speak on the topic “Out of Bounds but at the Center of it all: Althea Gibson in Sports and American History” followed by a Q&A session. Anyone in the Georgia Tech community having an interest in the topics of African American history, women’s history, and the history of sport is encouraged to attend.
February 20 5 p.m. – 7 p.m. Midtown Room, Exhibition Hall
This event is a collaboration between AASU & SCPC to honor and celebrate historical figures in Black history, including Louis Armstrong, Marsha P. Johnson, Maya Angelou, Langston Hughes, Misty Copeland, and Toni Morrison.
2023 Black History Month Lecture: Zion Clark – Feb. 22
February 22 5 p.m. – 7 p.m. Bill Moore Student Success Center, Clary Theatre
As part of the very identity of our organization, AASU celebrates the legacy and achievements of Black people year round. But during Black History Month we expand our celebration and acknowledgment of Blackness in solidarity with those participating in the month all over the world. The Black History Month lecture is the marquee event of AASU’s programming during February.
This year, the speaker we will be inviting is Zion Clark. Zion Clark was born September 29th 1997 in Columbus, Ohio with a rare birth defect called Caudal Regression Syndrome which caused him to be born without legs. Zion didn’t let this stop him from learning new skills, he picked up wrestling and music at a young age which became his outlet from an abusive living situation. Through resiliency and resistance and consistently Zion continued to figure out his way of approaching some of these passions and earned his position as an All-American wrestler, and lead drummer of his church. He continues to defy all odds with his optimistic approach and no excuses mentality he embodies. This event is open to the entire Georgia Tech community as well as the greater Atlanta community. We hope that through this initiative we can bring together all the different communities at Georgia Tech and give them a new perspective on what it means to be Black at Georgia Tech, to be Black in Georgia, and to be Black in America
Rolls Down Like Water: U.S. Civil Rights Movement Archives – all month
All month National Center for Civil and Human Rights
The U.S. Civil Rights Movement gallery presents the brave fight for equality in the U.S. Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. Visitors will be immersed in a visceral experience of sights, sounds, and interactive displays depicting the courageous struggles of individuals working to transform the United States from Jim Crow laws to equal rights for all. The exhibit concludes with a tribute to Dr. King and all martyrs who lost their lives to make the United States a stronger nation. Rolls Down Like Water is curated by Tony Award–winning theatrical playwright and film director George C. Wolfe.
New Black Wall Street Market BHM Celebration – all month
All month New Black Wall Street Market, Stonecrest
The New Black Wall Street Market is a family-friendly shopping, dining and tour destination. It is inspired by the achievements of the pioneering spirit of O.W. Gurley and the several business partners that contributed to the success of the original ‘Black Wall Street’ in Tulsa Oklahoma. The Black History Month Celebration includes live music, food, shopping, Black art, workshops, and more.
Roswell Roots is a community-wide, month-long festival that honors our diverse community and celebrates Black History Month. Roswell Roots aims to educate, impact, and promote cultural awareness. Programs and events focus on welcoming all community members and offers an opportunity for all ages to engage and participate.
Deana Lawson Exhibition at the High Museum – thru Feb. 19
Through February 19 High Museum
Featuring work made over the past two decades, this exhibition is the first museum survey dedicated to Deana Lawson. Working primarily in photography, Lawson investigates and challenges conventional representations of Black identities and bodies. Her work evokes a range of photographic histories and styles, including family albums, studio portraiture, and staged tableaux; she also employs documentary pictures and appropriated images.
“Making Black America: Through the Grapevine” Screening & Discussion – Feb. 9
February 9 Fulton County Central Library
Enjoy screenings and discussions of clips from MAKING BLACK AMERICA: THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE, the four-part PBS series from executive producer, host, and writer Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., that chronicles the vast social networks and organizations created by and for Black people—beyond the reach of the “White gaze.”
This 75-minute guided tour explores the lives and accomplishments of outstanding and ordinary African Americans in Atlanta. “We Shall Overcome” became the anthem of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, but the origin of the song dates back to antebellum days and a spiritual sung by enslaved people, “No More Auction Block for Me.” This tour explores the lives and accomplishments of outstanding and ordinary African Americans who fought to overcome the effects of slavery and discrimination to help shape the history of Atlanta.
The Atlanta Black Expo features a wide range of Black-owned companies, all under one roof. Come find the services and products that fit into your daily life.
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater brings their unparalleled talent to the Fox Theatre in Atlanta to connect you to the heart of dance. Celebrate the latest season with new works, audience favorites, and beloved classics, including Alvin Ailey’s timeless masterpiece Revelations.
Looking for something new to read? Explore these ideas from our colleagues across the College for fiction and nonfiction titles that have resonated, challenged, and inspired.
Fiction
“I discovered author Jasmine Guillory in 2020 during lockdown. What I love about her books is that she captures romance, friendship, and life that welcomes everyone. I love this one because the central characters are mature and equally deserving of romance.”
– Lauren Morton, Academic Program Manager, Clark and Dean’s Scholars
“Kindred is a unique look at the atrocities of slave-era America with a time-traveling twist. Part historical fiction, and part sci-fi, it is a well-told, emotionally difficult but necessary read.”
– Lori Federico, Assistant to the Chair, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
“I’m a big fiction fan, and Children of Blood and Bone was the first fiction novel I’ve read that centered Black characters and magic. It also takes place in Africa. It made my interests feel seen in in a genre that centers Whiteness.”
– Mitchell Everett, Academic Program Manager, Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering
“And everything by Maya Angelou for that matter! The book impacted me because of how it challenges the reader to overcome obstacles to attain their life’s purpose. I also had the awesome opportunity to meet her during the National Black Arts Festival. She was the most gracious and endearing celebrity I ever met.”
– Athena Jones, Assistant Director of Business Operations, Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering
“A young girl mourns her mom’s suicide, takes up with the local pastor’s son, and becomes pregnant. The book revolves around how a single youthful decision can snowball and affect your whole life. It was a very thought-provoking read.”
– Alyssa Barnes, Communications Officer II, Materials Science and Engineering
Nonfiction
“Who defines beauty? Are all voices represented at the table and who is missing from the table? Edward Enninful’s beautiful memoir tells his story from emigrating to the UK from Ghana, and his rise to ranks as the first Black male editor-in-chief of British Vogue.”
– Lauren Morton, Academic Program Manager, Clark and Dean’s Scholars, Dean’s Office
In this autobiographical novel, the author brings the reader on a journey from childhood to adulthood. While often heartbreaking and shocking, the author’s journey ultimately highlights his incredible resilience and courage, joining the story to themes of redemption, forgiveness, and the longing for a sense of connection to others that is universal to the human experience.”
– Dawn Franklin, Director of Human Resources, Dean’s Office
“Tiffany Haddish is her usual hilarious self in this well-written memoir. She gets real by describing her difficult childhood — her stepdad tampered with the brakes in her mother’s car and tried to kill them all! — to where she is today.”
– Alyssa Barnes, Communications Officer, Materials Science and Engineering
“I’m a big fan of Ms. Lewis. Her autobiography was both enlightening and hilarious. She’s lived a crazy, epic life and gives great advice.”
– Mitchell Everett, Academic Program Manager, Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering
“A memoir based in Atlanta, this was a difficult but touching read. It deals with domestic violence — emotional and physical — the shortcomings of the legal system, and the eventual death of her mother by her stepfather. It’s a heartbreaking account of the prevalence of domestic abuse and how difficult it can be to get out of an abusive relationship.”
– Alyssa Barnes, Communications Officer II, Materials Science and Engineering