Articles:
Oxford Bound
Making An Impact
Oxford Bound
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Jeremy Farris, only the third Tech-produced Rhodes Scholar, said he found the Institute an "amazing fertile ground" on which to receive an education.
Farris graduated from Tech with a bachelor's degree in international affairs in December. Just days before receiving his diploma, he spoke to the Georgia Tech Alumni Association board of trustees.
Farris said three professors — Kirk Bowman, Ken Knoespel and Jon Johnston — had a "profound impact" on his career at Tech.
Bowman, an associate professor of international affairs and director of Tech's study abroad programs in Latin America, said, "The thing about Jeremy that is really amazing is his desire to understand how the world works. He studies international affairs, but he feels the need to know science and philosophy so he can understand how the pieces fit together."
Farris plans to spend the summer as Bowman's teaching assistant in the Argentina study abroad program and begin a two-year master's of philosophy program in political theory at Oxford University in England in October.
Farris is one of 32 Rhodes Scholars for 2005 and only the third Georgia Tech graduate to earn the distinction. The first was S. Alton Newton in 1951. The second was Will Roper in 2002.
The Rhodes Scholarships pay for two or three years of study at Oxford University.
"Jeremy's level of expertise is just stunning," Bowman said. "As a professor I spent a lot of time with him in a lot of different countries. I have learned more from Jeremy than he has ever learned from me."
Farris told the board of trustees that no matter where life takes him, he will be a dedicated alumnus. "I expect myself to remain engaged at Georgia Tech," he said.
Making An Impact
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Ambika Bumb knows firsthand the importance of technology in medicine. As an intern at GE Healthcare last summer, she helped her team diagnose and repair a problem that caused new blood pressure monitors at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia to take more than 10 minutes to get a reading — time that could mean the difference between life and death in an emergency room.
The experience reinforced Bumb's commitment to develop life-saving medical technologies. She will continue chasing her dream next fall at Oxford University, where she will pursue a PhD in medical engineering as a recipient of a 2005 Marshall Scholarship.
"This may sound idealistic but I want to help come up with a new technology or treatment for a disease," Bumb said. "I want to be the person who follows it through to make sure it reaches the people I'm developing it for."
A senior in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University, Bumb plans to get her degree in May, just three years after she enrolled on a Reginald S. Fleet President's Scholarship.
Bumb worked with associate professor Gang Bao on developing nanomolecular beacon tracking devices to map the territory of cells. She is extending the research by designing a new tracking tool, a quantum dot, for vitamin D in the lab of professor Barbara Boyan. The quantum dot could be used to help treat bone and cartilage diseases such as osteoporosis and rickets.
Bumb is the sixth Georgia Tech student to win the Marshall, the scholarship established by the British government for American students in 1953 in appreciation for the assistance received after World War II under the Marshall Plan.
©2005 Georgia Tech Alumni Association