Alumni News Blog

“Just like someone walking through a buffet line who takes the last two pieces of cake, even though they know they’ll only eat one, they’re hogging the food.” Tech researchers, led by professor Ellery Ingall, study carbon dioxide absorption in Antarctic seas. [Newsroom]

Eagle-eyed Tech students report that that Russ Chandler Stadium was transformed into USC’s baseball stadium this week for the filming of Million Dollar Arm, a movie about sports agents recruiting cricket players into Major League Baseball. The movie stars Lake Bell, John Hamm and Bill Paxton. [Reddit]

“A Brilliant Project That Will Completely Transform Atlanta Almost Didn’t Happen.” National recognition for Atlanta’s Beltline development, which grew from the master’s thesis of Ryan Gravel, Arch 95, MS Arch 99. [Business Insider]

Ravi Bellamkonda, currently the Carol Ann and David D. Flanagan Chair in Biomedical Engineering and a Georgia Cancer Coalition Distinguished Scholar, has been named chair of Georgia Tech and Emory’s joint biomedical engineering department. [Newsroom]

“Are female engineers still getting the short stick?” wonders Paul Heney, ESM 93. [DesignWorld]

“The week’s activities include constructing an edible car, building rockets and designing lip balm.” Middle-school girls attend a STEM-focused summer camp on Tech campus. [AJC]

Above: The Swedish ship Oden, on which Tech professor Ellery Ingall studied diatoms and their role in cycling iron in Antarctica.

Georgia Tech’s School of Architecture and John Portman & Associates recently awarded the prestigious Portman Prize to Tech student Miguel Otero Fuentes.

Otero Fuentes, who is in his first year in the masters of architecture program, won the top honor for his design “Midtown Gardens School for the Arts.” This year’s charge was to design a charter high school for the arts located at the southern end of Midtown Atlanta. His winning design marries the unique cultural offerings and personalities of two iconic streets in Atlanta: Peachtree Street and Juniper Street. A conceptual drawing of the design is above.

“Peachtree and Juniper Streets highlight the spirit and culture of Atlanta. Peachtree is one of the most important streets in Atlanta and is full of activity while Juniper is more tranquil with great potential,” Otero Fuentes said. “In order to showcase the best of both worlds, this proposal creates an overlapping space that accommodates the school’s private program while allowing an art gallery to break the surface for public display.”

The award encourages students to develop a holistic design approach that ties the big idea to the small detail. With this year’s challenge, students were charged with promoting a higher quality learning environment while thoughtfully addressing day lighting, ventilation, acoustics and thermal comfort. Otero Fuentes received a cash prize and was offered a paid summer internship with Portamn. Second-place winner, Bunny Tucker, a second-year architecture graduate student, and third-place winner, Ekram Hassan, were also awarded cash prices for their outstanding design work.

Four Georgia Tech alumni are vying to become the first alumnus since Bobby Jones to claim a U.S. Open victory as play begins today.

Among those competing at the 113th U.S. Open Championship at Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, Pa., are Stewart Cink, Mgt 95; Matt Kuchar, Mgt 00; Nicholas Thompson, Mgt 05; and Matt Weibring, Mgt 02.

Cink is the 2009 British Open Champion, and Kuchar won multiple PGA tournaments during the 2013 season. Thompson and Weibring qualified through sectional tournaments.

The last Yellow Jacket to top the Open field was Jones, who claimed the 1930 title, his fourth. That year, the Open also took place at Merion Golf Club.

Weibring follows in his father’s footsteps on the course. D.A. Weibring tied for 43rd the last time the Open was held at Merion, in 1981.

“Carolin sawed each stalagmite in half, opening it like a hot dog bun.” Tech researchers study of Bornean stalagmites, offer new view of abrupt climate events over 100,000 years. [Newsroom]

The NCAA has recognized Yellow Jackets football and golf teams for academic excellence, for the first time landing the school among the top 10 percent nationally. [RamblinWreck.com]

Institute President G. P. “Bud” Peterson kicks off his summer tour of Georgia this weekend in Brunswick/St. Simons. Interested in attending one of his stops? Just RSVP. [Alumni Magazine]

Four Tech alumni—Nicholas Thompson, Matt Weibring, Stewart Cink and Matt Kuchar—have qualified to play in the 2013 U.S. Open, to be played June 13-16. [RamblinWreck.com]

Some movie called The Internship is opening this weekend. Really obscure flick, you probably haven’t heard of it. [NewsRoom]

Above: Tech researchers Stacy Carolin, Jessica Moerman, Eleanor Middlemas, Danja Mewes and two caving guides (Syria Lejau, Jenny Malang) climb out from Cobweb Cave in Borneo’s Gunung Mulu National Park after a day of rock and water sample collection during the Fall 2012 field trip. Photo by Kim Cobb.