A new group of talented undergraduate students will soon get busy in labs affiliated with the Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience with the introduction of the 2018 class of Petit Undergraduate Research Scholars.

Since it was launched in 2000, the Petit Scholars program has provided a comprehensive research experience for hundreds of students who have gone on to careers in research, medicine, and industry. Originally established as a summer research experience for undergrads at the Georgia Institute of Technology, the program now provides a full-year opportunity for undergrads from colleges and universities across metro Atlanta area.

And the number of students continues to grow, from seven scholars that first year, to 23 in the class of 2018, which includes 20 students from Georgia Tech and one student each from Agnes Scott College, Emory University, and Morehouse College.

Now in its 19th year, the program has funded more than 260 scholars so far. The new class of students come from seven different schools or departments. Nine of the students are majoring in biomedical engineering (including eight from the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University).

These students are on pace to become the next generation of leaders in bioengineering and bioscience. Meet the 2018 class of Petit Scholars:

Alina Ulezko Antonova, Emory, Biology

Anthony Aportela, Georgia Tech, Physics

Ji Bok, Georgia Tech, Computer Science

Alexander Choi, Georgia Tech, Chemistry & Biochemistry

Kamaria Dansby, Georgia Tech, Biological Sciences

Will Flanagan, Georgia Tech, Mechanical Engineering

James Forsmo, Georgia Tech, Biomedical Engineering

Bryan Jenkin, Georgia Tech, Chemistry & Biochemistry

Justin Kahla, Georgia Tech, Biomedical Engineering

Harish Kamath, Georgia Tech, Computer Science

Zahra Mousavi Karimi, Georgia Tech, Biomedical Engineering

Richard Kim, Georgia Tech, Biomedical Engineering

Eun Chan Kwak, Georgia Tech, Mechanical Engineering

Yueyi Li, Georgia Tech, Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering

Wesley Matingou, Morehouse, Biomedical Engineering

Renee Julia Manalo, Georgia Tech, Chemistry & Biochemistry

Jonathan Mitchel, Georgia Tech, Biomedical Engineering

Stephanie Sanchez, Agnes Scott College, Undecided

Andrea Santiago, Georgia Tech, Biomedical Engineering

Fiona Splaine, Georgia Tech, Biomedical Engineering

Samantha Torres, Georgia Tech, Chemistry & Biochemistry

Amitej Venapally, Georgia Tech, Chemistry & Biochemistry

Caroline Wu, Georgia Tech, Biomedical Engineering

Funding for the Petit Scholars is supported by a number of individual donors and families, as well as corporations and foundations, including the Beckman Coulter Foundation, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Cook Regentec, Medtronic, and UCB Pharma.

The 2017 class of Petit Scholars are completing their independent research projects now. The 2018 Petit Scholars will begin developing their projects in January in state-of-the-art labs in the Petit Institute and other bio-focused Georgia Tech labs.

CONTACT:

Jerry Grillo

Communications Officer II

Parker H. Petit Institute for

Bioengineering and Bioscience