Editor's Note: This story by Jerry Grillo was originally published on Nov. 14, 2019, by the Parker H. Petit Institute of Bioscience and Bioengineering. The original story was slightly modified for the College of Sciences. 

The 21st  class of Petit Undergraduate Research Scholars has been selected. These 14 scholars will immerse themselves into the multidisciplinary pool of research at the Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience at the Georgia Institute of Technology in January 2020. Among them are five from Georgia Tech who are majoring in the sciences or mathematics.

"This is a diverse cohort of students whose expertise spans a wide range of majors, and not only at Georgia Tech, but other Atlanta universities also,” notes Raquel Lieberman, Petit Scholar faculty advisor, a professor in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and a Petit Institute researcher.

With eight women and six men in the new class, next year’s group of Scholars reflect a growing trend of more women entering STEM fields. Of the 14 students, 10 are from Georgia Tech, two are from Emory University, with one each from Agnes Scott College and Georgia State University. Five of the students are based in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory.

“I'm excited for all of them, because this is a unique opportunity, an entire year diving deep into an actual research project,” Lieberman says. “They'll also contribute substantially to papers that will be published and have a chance to present their work at conferences and other gatherings.”

“I'm excited for all of them, because this is a unique opportunity, an entire year diving deep into an actual research project. They'll also contribute substantially to papers that will be published and have a chance to present their work at conferences and other gatherings.”   
                                                                                    Raquel Lieberman

Meet the 2020 class of Petit Scholars (listed here with their university, major, and the principal investigator’s lab they’ll be a part of):

• Cindy Aguilera-Navarro, Agnes Scott College, Neuroscience, Tim Cope;

• Berna Aliya, Georgia Tech, Neuroscience, Young Jang;

• Kasey Cervantes, Emory, Biology, Arijit Raychowdhury;

• Ana Cristian, Georgia Tech, Biomedical Engineering, James Dahlman;

• Carolann Espy, Georgia Tech, Chemistry and Biochemistry, Ingeborg Schmidt-Krey;

• Rachel Fitzgerald, Georgia Tech, Chemistry and Biochemistry, M.G. Finn;

• Marina Holguin-Lopez, Georgia State, Neuroscience, Todd Sulchek;

• Brandon Kassouf, Georgia Tech, Biomedical Engineering, Mike Davis;

• Amy Liu, Georgia Tech, Biomedical Engineering, Shuichi Takayama;

• Ananthu Pucha, Emory, Neuroscience, Nick Willett

• Milan Riddick, Georgia Tech, Biomedical Engineering, Andrés García;

• Kevin Tao, Georgia Tech, Biomedical Engineering, Gabe Kwong;

• Paxton Threatt, Georgia Tech, Chemistry and Biochemistry, Neha Garg;

• Kevin Yin, Georgia Tech, Mathematics, Shuyi Nie.

The Petit Undergraduate Research Scholarship program began in 2000 with the goal of developing a new generation of leading bio-researchers by providing them with an opportunity to conduct independent research in Petit Institute labs, and other bio-related labs at Georgia Tech, for a full year. Since 2000, the program has funded more than 300 students, with about 80 percent of them moving on to pursue graduate degrees.

News Contact Info: 

Jerry Grillo
Communications Officer II
Parker H. Petit Institute for
Bioengineering and Bioscience