Meet the 2019 Petit Scholars

A new class of Petit Undergraduate Research Scholars, who will join the multidisciplinary bio-research community in the Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience at the Georgia Institute of Technology in January 2019, has been selected.

The 17 new scholars comprise the 20^th class in the program’s history, with seven females and 10 males, nine students from the College of Science and eight from the College of Engineering (including five from the Wallace Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering), 11 from Georgia Tech and six students from other Atlanta area universities, all of them supported by eight different sponsors.

“I am very excited about this year’s class of Petit Scholars, a diverse group of students that span many majors at Georgia Tech as well as other Atlanta area schools,” said Raquel Lieberman, the Petit Scholar faculty advisor, an associate professor in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry and a Petit Institute researcher. “They will have the unique opportunity to spend a whole year deep-diving into an exciting research project, contribute substantially to manuscripts that will be published, and present their work at conferences.”

Meet the 2019 class of Petit Scholars (listed here with their university, major, and their scholarship sponsor info):

• Jeffrey Butler, Morehouse College, Applied Physics and Mechanical Engineering, Petit Endowed Scholarship

• Kendreze Holland, Georgia State University, Chemistry & Biochemistry, CMaT Scholar

• Tsuraya Iswanto, Georgia State, Neuroscience, UCB Scholar

• Kaitlin Jacobson, Georgia Tech, Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, CCE Scholar

• Nuzhat Kabir, Georgia Tech, Biomedical Engineering, Dasher Scholar

• Mark Keenum, Georgia Tech, Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, Dasher Scholar

• Lilian King, Georgia Tech, Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, Beckman Coulter Scholar

• Patrycja Kotowska, Georgia Tech, Physics, Beckman Coulter Scholar

• Han Li, Emory University, Biology, UCB Scholar

• Chrisangela Martin, Georgia State, Chemistry & Biochemistry, CMaT Scholar

• Bailey McLain, Georgia Tech, Biomedical Engineering, Prewitt Scholar

• Matthew Ritch, Georgia Tech, Biomedical Engineering, REM Scholar

• Joseph Shaver, Georgia Tech, Chemistry & Biochemistry, Dasher Scholar

• Lee-Kai Sun, Georgia Tech, Biomedical Engineering

• Luke Tomasovic, Georgia Tech, Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, UCB Scholar

• Kent Yamamoto, Georgia Tech, Biomedical Engineering, UCB Scholar

• Jacqueline Zhu, Emory, Physics, UCB Scholar

The Petit Undergraduate Research Scholarship program, launched in 2000, has funded 300 students so far, with approximately 80 percent of them going on to pursue advanced degrees. The program exists to develop the next generation of leading bio-researchers by providing a comprehensive research experience for a full year.

Open to all Atlanta area university students, the program provides undergraduates with the opportunity to conduct independent research in state-of-the-art Petit Institute labs, and other bio-related labs at Georgia Tech.  

The 2019 scholars who aren’t already affiliated with a lab, are in the process now of matching up with mentors and labs.

Meanwhile, the 2018 class of scholars is nearing the end of its year, having received positive feedback from principal investigators and mentors – many in this class have presented their research at national and international conferences and plan to continue their work. The 2018 class recently celebrated its year of research at an end-of-the-year poster session and reception. Every scholar had an opportunity to share their work with the gathered bio-community. All of them are now in the process of applying and interviewing for graduate school.