This page contains links to a number of video interviews conducted with various people connected to Georgia Tech. In each interview the subjects discuss their lives and how they made the decision to go into their fields of research.
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 Charles L. Isbell, Jr.
Assistant Professor
Intelligent Systems Group
College of Computing
Georgia Institute of Technology
http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~isbell/
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Dr. Charles Isbell is currently an assistant professor and researcher with
Georgia Tech's College of Computing, where he studies artificial
intelligence. We interviewed Dr. Isbell in December 2004 to learn about how a
young video game addict became a Georgia Tech researcher. Topics covered in
the interview ranged from hip-hop music to houses that think. We might
have even figured out the meaning of life.
An edited version of Dr. Isbell's comments are reproduced below each of the
videos, in case you encounter downloading or audio difficulties. The
download speeds of the videos are 512k/second (for high speed connections—cable and DSL connections),
and 38k/second (for low speed connections—particularly modems).
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 Kenneth Sandhage
B. Mifflin Hood Professor
Materials Science and Engineering
College of Computing
Intelligent Systems Group
Georgia Institute of Technology
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Dr. Ken Sandhage works in Georgia Tech's Materials Science and Engineering Department. He is investigating how diatoms (extremely tiny critters that build gorgeously intricate shells) can be employed to construct useful devices for humans. Diatoms are single-celled organisms that build incredibly intricate shells. These shell shapes may make them ideal as drug-delivery capsules, gas sensors, or even components in television screens.
Because we had to do some editing to save on time, it should be stated here that Dr. Sandhage has been working with a variety of partners on this project, including Mark Hildebrand and Brian Palenik at Scripps Oceanographic Institute, and Chris Summers (also of Georgia Tech MSE).
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 David FitzMaurice
SunTrust
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Fitz works at SunTrust Bank where he uses math to solve financial problems. He uses mostly algebra, some calculus, and some geometry, in tandem with computer programming. Algebra is applied in situations where he has to solve for an unknown variable. "Calculus," he says, "is used to find the contribution of an element into a larger pool. If you have an equation for how a pool of bonds perform as a group, the introduction of a new bond may change the performance. The easiest way to understand that is to use calculus to take the differential of the variable, and then solve for the variable.
"Also," he writes, "calculus is used in trying to predict future interest rates. Normally, interest rates naturally form a curve. To project future rates, one needs to be able to find points along a curve--which again is calculus. Some geometry is in here too, to understand the shape of the curve--and whether your solution makes sense. Since there are a lot of curves in finance: interest rate curves, prepayment curves, default curves, etc, one needs a check and geometry is used as a quick check for a lot of these things. That's what I use it all for--and there are lots of other applications in finance."
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 Facundo Fernandez
School of Chemistry & Biochemistry
Georgia Institute of Technology
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Dr. Facundo Fernandez was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. A few years and 5000 miles later he is conducting an array of interesting research at Georgia Tech's School of Chemistry & Biochemistry. We sat down to talk with him about one of his most interesting projects: the detection of counterfeit drugs using spectrometry and chromatography. Of course, as we always do in these features, we also talk about Dr. Fernandez's life—and Argentina's great soccer rivalry with Brazil.
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 Mulalo Doyoyo
School of Civil & Environmental Engineering
Georgia Institute of Technology
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Born in a South African village in 1970, Dr. Mulalo Doyoyo came of age under an apartheid (racially segregated) regime. As a grade school student he learned basic arithmetic and English as part of an education designed to prepare him for a life of servitude to white society. How did a man raised under such extraordinarily difficult circumstances become a successful civil engineer at Georgia Tech?
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 Julia Kubanek
Assistant Professor School of Biology
Assistant Professor School of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Georgia Institute of Technology
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Dr. Julia Kubanek, who is an assistant professor both in the School of Biology, and the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the Georgia Institute of Technology, has gotten a lot of attention lately for her work with marine organisms whose chemical properties may lend themselves to major medical breakthroughs. In addition to her research, we discussed her general philosophies about teaching biology in the 21st century--and science's impact on the whole of humanity.
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 Bernard Kippelen
School of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Georgia Institute of Technology
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Dr. Bernard Kippelen grew up in a small town in Alsace, France. Today he is a world-renown scientist whose name has found its way into a multitude of Extremely Prestigious Science Journals, including Nature and Science. He gained a lot of attention for his work developing organic solar cells. Here, Dr. Kippelen talks about his life, how science works, and John Wayne movies.
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 Valeria Milam
School of Materials Science and Engineering
Georgia Institute of Technology
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Dr. Milam researches colloids at Georgia Tech's School of Materials Science and Engineering. In addition to her regular research and teaching demands at Georgia Tech, she is partnering with two former GIFT teachers to bring materials science and engineering to the high school classroom. Not only that; she's also a new mom. How's that for multi-tasking?
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