Alumni News Blog

Think you’re skilled enough to text and drive at the same time? Holden Link, CM 11, created a video game to put your abilities to the test.

SMS Racing, a free game that’s playable online, puts players in the driver’s seat as they’re tasked with reading and responding to texts, all while zipping along the highway. Link, a producer at Magic Pixel Games, was caught by surprise when his game—which was created during a two-day game building event—drew widespread attention, including at MTV, Popular Mechanics and Buzzfeed.

Link is featured in the latest edition of the Alumni Magazine, which highlights Tech’s creative alumni. To read the issue, click here. Below, check out video of SMS Racing gameplay.

Phyllis Schneck, PhD CS 99, current Vice President and CTO of the Global Public Sector at anti-virus software company McAfee, has been named new by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security as Deputy Under Secretary for Cybersecurity for the National Protection and Programs Directorate. [Forbes]

Tech sophomore Nicholas Selby, whose triumphant convocation speech went viral this week, basks in the spotlight: “I’m enjoying my 15 minutes of fame—it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity.” [Fox News Insider]

“First week of classes are over at Georgia Tech. Just walked past my 5th water slide on campus in celebration!” A snapshot of campus as students wring the last drops out of summer. [Instagram]

NPR profiles Judith Curry, professor and chair of Tech’s School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences and “a bit of an outcast these days in the world of climate science.” [NPR]

Tech researchers infiltrate Apple App Store with “Jekyll” malware that can “successfully perform many malicious tasks, such as stealthily posting tweets, taking photos, stealing device identity information, sending email and SMS, attacking other apps and even exploiting kernel vulnerabilities.” [NBC News]

Above: Working hard, or hardly working? Roommates in an unidentified Tech dormitory, sometime in 1971, via the Georgia Tech History Digital Portal.

On Aug. 29, President G. P. “Bud” Peterson will hold his annual address, updating the Georgia Tech community on the state of the Institute. Students, faculty and staff are invited to attend the event, which will be held at Clough Commons. The address will touch on the rapid changes taking place in higher education and the continual need to adjust Tech’s 25-year Strategic Plan.

“While we had some very smart people working on Tech’s strategic plan, nobody predicted the amazing rapidity with which technology-assisted instruction would be adopted, things like massive open online courses and our new online master of science in computer science,” Peterson said. “Our challenge at this point is to continue to make progress and ensure that we view the plan as a living document, adjusting and modifying it to accommodate the changing circumstances and technologies.”

For more on the address, visit the Georgia Tech newsroom.

Sophomore mechanical engineering major Nick Selby drew the task of firing up incoming Ramblin’ Wrecks at convocation this week. And, well, mission accomplished.