Tech Topics - Fall 2007 - (Page 32)

Burdell&Friends Charles H. Easterling, EE 91, and his wife, Zoila, announce the birth of a son, Sebastian Puig Easterling, on May 12. The Easterlings live in Orlando, Fla. Mike Ellis, MS CerE 93, has been named director of operations for Black Dragon Resource Companies Inc. For the past 15 years, Ellis has served as CEO of Advanced Materials Engineering Inc., a mechanical and materials engineering consulting firm. He is a doctoral candidate in the School of Materials Science and Engineering at Georgia Tech. Steven P. Girardot, ChE 97, MS Chem 00, recently was named director of Georgia Tech’s Success Programs, which oversees FASET orientation, the GT1000 freshman seminar course and academic support programs. He also teaches a freshman-level general chemistry course. Girardot joined the Institute’s Center for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning in 2005 after receiving a PhD from Emory University. Jeanette Gretsch, Chem 90, and Dan Gretsch, IE 91, MS IE 95, of Cary, N.C., are the founders of SOLARHOT, a solar thermal manufacturing company, which received the highest rating for an OG-300 freeze-protected system on the market from the Solar Rating and Certification Corp. in June. SRCC rated SOLARHOT’s Solvelox Integrated system as the most efficient system for converting sunlight to usable energy. Jeanette is president of the company, for which Dan serves as vice president. Carlton Hart, Arch 91, and his wife, Chantal, announce the birth of a daughter, Gabrielle Lelia, on April 10. Gabrielle joins sister Annika, 3, at the family’s home in Bowie, Md. Hart is a community planner with the National Capital Planning Commission. Travis L. Hicks, Arch 95, has been named an associate of O’Brien/Atkins Associates in Research Triangle Park, N.C. A senior design architect and LEED-accredited professional, Hicks is responsible for the design of the new Durham County Justice Center and the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services 32 Atlanta Symphony Veteran Takes a Bow By Leslie Overman W “I left to go do my Navy service with a tape recorder and a huge collection of tapes I had put together to keep me sane while I was in there,” he said. “When I came back, it was specifically with the aim of finding a music career. I thought I was going to be a composer. It never happened somehow, but that was my aim at the time.” Following his Navy service, Jones studied music at Georgia State University and became a member of the Choral Guild of Atlanta, which accompanied the public health lab and office of the chief medical examiner. Meredith Youmans Holland, IE 96, and her husband, Rich, announce the birth of a son, Samuel Gray, on April 4. Sam joins brother Will, 2, at their home in Smyrna, Ga. Holland is a full-time mother. Kim Williams House, ME 95, and Eric House, ICS 92, MS CS 94, announce the birth of a son, Brian Tyler, on Jan. 2. Brian joins brother Matthew, 3, at the family’s home in Roswell, Ga. Kim is the medical director of the nursing care unit of the Atlanta Veterans Affairs Medical Center and Eric is the software engineering manager at H I Solutions in Kennesaw. Stephen Howard, AE 90, and his wife, Shannon, announce the birth of a son, Luke, on April 24. Luke joins TECHTOPICS brother Samuel, 4, at the family’s home in Wesley Chapel, Fla. Howard is a medical physicist. Timothy Hudson, IE 99, has been promoted to manager of component service solution and channel at Rockwell Automation. Hudson is responsible for managing $120 million over Pennsylvania, Delaware, Washington, D.C., Fairfax, Va., | FALL 2007 “ hen asked how his Georgia Tech degree in applied mathematics has served him, Nick Jones replied with a chuckle, “I balance my checkbook better than anybody I know.” Aside from a short stint as a high school math teacher, Jones hasn’t had much use for his studies in advanced mathematics. Nevertheless, his student days as a conductor and drum major in Tech’s marching band and captain of the Navy ROTC band have served him well in a career built around his true passion — music. In June, Jones retired from the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra after a 25-year career as program annotator. Long before getting a byline, he was singing in the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus, of which he has been a member for 37 years. Jones said he’s one of the few remaining founding members. He should know — he’s also the symphony’s archivist. “That title came in the last year, as it became apparent that I was the longestrunning person on the staff and was interested in the symphony’s history and had collected a lot of stuff,” Jones said. “I think I’m just a librarian at heart.” During his time with the symphony, Jones hasn’t just tracked its history, he’s become a part of it. He has worked under legendary conductor Robert Shaw, lent his voice to concert recordings that have won Grammy awards and performed at Carnegie Hall nine times and Lincoln Center twice. “Music has always been an important part of my life,” said Jones, who after graduating from Tech in 1966, joined the Navy and spent two years on a destroyer based in Pearl Harbor during the Vietnam War. I fell backward “ into this job. I didn’t know it was coming. I didn’t consciously prepare for it but I was ready when it came along. And, of course, I learned a lot on the job after it started. Atlanta Symphony Orchestra at performances. In 1970, the orchestra’s music director, Shaw, decided to create the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus. Jones auditioned and has been singing with the group ever since. Of working with Shaw, Jones said, “He had an ear that was unbelievable. He could stand in front of a chorus of 200 people singing together and close his eyes and point and say, ‘Right over there I hear a bit of a wobble.’ “He was all about doing things in unison,” Jones said. “You had to be singing exactly the same pitch with exactly the same tone color and the same vowel sound and you had to start at exactly the right point and end at exactly the right point, and if everybody did that, the sound was unified. And it’s a lot harder than it sounds to talk about. “We were proud, and still are proud, that we can do that. This chorus has gone on since Robert Shaw’s days to evergreater glories.” Under Shaw’s leadership from 1967 to 1988, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus hit several high notes. In collaboration with the fledgling Telarc Records, they released a recording of compositions by Igor Stravinsky and Alexander Borodin in 1979. The first American digital recording of orchestral music to be commercially released, the album won awards and was nominated for a Grammy. The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus now have won a total of 16 Grammy awards. Three of those were for a recording of Ralph Vaughn Williams’ work for chorus and orchestra, “A Sea Symphony,” which was performed by the group after Jones suggested it to music director Robert Spano. “The symphony marketing people were not too sure,” Jones said. “They’d and south New Jersey. He and his wife, Tami Darden Hudson, Mgt 97, live in Pennsylvania with their children, Whitney, Roman and Payton. Abdelbacet Bessadok Jemai, ME 90, MS TE 91, received a master’s degree and doctorate from the industrial process engineering department of the University of Technology of Compiegne in France. He heads the electro-

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Contents Mail Call Alumni House Historic Renovation 007 Buzz Bash Dazzling Daylilies Living History Cover Story: Key to the City The Hill Tapping Technology Robotics Rivalry No Easy Ride Giving Back Balancing Act Student Life Burdell & Friends Epic Story of Heroism Yellow Jackets Very Good Team Passport to Retirement Real World

Tech Topics - Fall 2007

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