Four graduate students from the College of Sciences at the Georgia Institute of Technology have been selected for the new Community Engagement Graduate Fellowship, funded by a donation from Google. Each fellow will receive up to $5,000 to develop projects with local partners that aim to strengthen community ties.
Lewis A. Wheaton, professor in the School of Biological Sciences and director of the Center for Programs to Increase Engagement in the Sciences (C-PIES), said, “It has been a pleasure for the Center for Programs to Increase Engagement in the Sciences (C-PIES) to collaborate with Google and the College of Sciences Advisory Board to bring this fellowship, which will positively impact our community and highlight how science can align with public good.”
The fellows will work over one year with C-PIES and community partners both on campus and throughout metro Atlanta. Their projects focus on civic and policy engagement, community-engaged research, or K-12 research outreach.
The inaugural fellows are Aniruddh Bakshi, Katherine Slenker, Miriam Simma, and Nikolai Simonov. They were chosen based on their proposed projects’ promise and feasibility.
Aniruddh Bakshi is a Ph.D. student whose research involves drug delivery across organic chemistry, biochemistry, and immunology. He intends to partner with hospitals and nonprofits to create a social media series titled “A Day in the Life of a Ph.D. Student,” aimed at demystifying graduate school experiences while linking his research on mRNA vaccines to broader societal issues. Bakshi stated, “Science has the power to solve urgent problems, but only if people understand and trust it. Through this fellowship, I will use my research and outreach efforts to help strengthen that trust — showing how discoveries in drug delivery and vaccine design can make a real difference in people’s lives.”
Katherine Slenker studies conservation ecology as a Ph.D. student. Her project seeks to establish a biodiversity data network by comparing wildlife monitoring efforts at Davidson-Arabia Mountain Nature Preserve and Stone Mountain Park. She plans to expand collaboration among researchers across metro Atlanta in order to inform development of ecological corridors that reduce human-wildlife conflict. Slenker explained: “Conservation ecologists have long recommended that the movement of wildlife could be eased through the creation of ‘ecological corridors,’ which connect greenspaces and wildlife populations. Determining the movement patterns of wildlife, and where such corridors may be best situated, requires that we first understand what species reside in the metro Atlanta area as well as how they are expected to disperse.”
Miriam Simma aims to introduce protein crystallography—a field important for understanding atomic structures in proteins—to K-12 students through hands-on activities at local high schools and during public events like the Atlanta Science Festival at Georgia Tech. Simma said: “My vision is to make structural biology research accessible, so everyone can engage with cutting-edge scientific research — fostering curiosity and interest in STEM careers. Long term, I will synthesize these activities into a chemical education article that introduces K-12 students to protein structure and function.”
Nikolai Simonov has worked with Lilburn Middle School’s GoSTEM Club—an afterschool program run by Georgia Tech’s Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics and Computing—where he led activities for students from underserved backgrounds alongside other graduate volunteers. Simonov shared: “I assembled a team of 10 Tech graduate students who could explain complex scientific concepts in approachable ways for middle school students. Through this fellowship, we are excited to enrich the GoSTEM Club with an ongoing mentorship program and materials for more ambitious science fair projects.” He added: “By sharing their stories and connecting scientific ideas to real-world applications, our mentors aim to show students that STEM is not only accessible but a path toward a fulfilling life.”
Georgia Tech provides education focused on technology—including engineering and sciences—while also offering programs in business and liberal arts on its Midtown Atlanta campus (https://gatech.edu/). The university enrolls over 55,000 students annually; it manages more than $1.4 billion each year in sponsored research (https://gatech.edu/).
Since its founding in 1888 by act of the Georgia Legislature—to promote industrialization after the Civil War—Georgia Tech has grown into an institution recognized globally for innovation (https://gatech.edu/). It operates international campuses such as one located in Metz, France (https://gatech.edu/).
Ángel Cabrera serves as president of Georgia Tech (https://gatech.edu/).
