Matt Drake received honorable mention in the 2003 NSF Graduate Fellowship competition. Drake was also selected to attend the Council of Logistics Management Doctoral Colloquium, and received the Council's Graduate fellowship for 2002-2003.

The following ISyE students were honored at the 2003 Student Awards Ceremony spring semester:

• Melissa Krenzel received the Institute of Industrial Engineers Award ($500)
• Javier Estrella received the Alpha Pi Mu Outstanding Senior Award ($500)
• Alejandro Toriello received the Paul T. Eaton Memorial Award in Material Handling ($150)
• Alana Long received the Kurt Salomon Associates Scholarship in ISyE ($500)
• Monique Gupta and Alanna Millman received the Henry Ford Scholar Award ($1000)
• Eric Orrington received the Aeso Systems Graduate Minority Engineering Award ($500)
• Tara Leigh Morris received the Helen E. Gregna Outstanding Woman Engineer Award ($500)
• Tiffany Massey received the Joe T. LaBoon Award for outstanding senior cooperative education student (plaque)
• William Palmer received the CETL/Dow Foundation Perseverance Award ($1000)

ISyE Junior Wins Prestigious Goldwater Scholarship

Monique Gupta

Junior Monique Gupta, 20, doesn't want much out of life, only to get a Ph.D., an M.D., and improve the efficiency of gene transfer techniques and the health care system. Scheduled to receive her bachelor's degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE) next year, she has a bit of work to do before she reaches those goals. But winning the prestigious Goldwater scholarship has put her one step closer.

"She's really the best I've seen in several years," said Paul Griffin, Associate Chair for Undergraduate Studies in ISyE.

Gupta came to Georgia Tech from Macon, Georgia, three years ago. At the time, she said, she didn't really know what she wanted to do, only that she wanted to study engineering. After being at Tech for a while, it all came together when she decided to major in ISyE. "ISyE gives me an engineering background, which helps with research analysis and technical writing," Gupta said.

Healthcare system efficiency is also one of the major areas of concentration in ISyE, said Griffin.

Gupta has been working on gene therapy techniques with Joseph LeDoux, professor in biomedical engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University.

Gene therapy is a novel approach to treating diseases, and most of it is still in the experimental phase, said Gupta. But the idea is that scientists would first identify a gene in a patient that is causing a certain disease. "A new gene would be created in a lab, and doctors would use it to replace the gene that is causing the problem. One way to deliver the new gene to the patient is by using a retrovirus to carry the gene into the affected area of the patient," explained Gupta.

"Diseases that can be helped by gene transfer include rheumatic arthritis and juvenile arthritis," she said.

Before winning the Goldwater, Gupta won Tech's four-year President's Scholarship, which is given to incoming freshmen who demonstrate leadership in their community and academic excellence. By paying up to $7,500 toward next year's tuition, fees and room and board, the scholarship should help her save money for graduate and medical school.

This year the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation awarded 300 scholarships out of a field of 1,093 applicants from the U.S. and Puerto Rico. The Foundation is a federally endowed agency established in 1986. The Scholarship Program, honoring former Arizona Senator Barry M. Goldwater, was designed to foster and encourage outstanding students to pursue careers in the fields of mathematics, the natural sciences, and engineering.



• Summer 2003 Engineering Enterprise Table of Contents
• Engineering Enterprise Home Page



Web Site © Copyright 2020 by Lionheart Publishing, Inc. and ISyE, Georgia Institute of Technology. All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced in any form without the written permission of the publisher.


Lionheart Publishing, Inc.
34 Hillside Ave
Phone: +44 23 8110 3411 |
E-mail:
Web: www.lionheartpub.com

ISyE / Georgia Institute of Technology
Atlanta, GA 30332-0205
|
Web: www.isye.gatech.edu