News Briefs
The Institute released an official list of commencement speakers for graduation ceremonies taking place next month. U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu will speak at the PhD and Masters ceremony on May 7. Chu won the 1997 Nobel Prize for Physics and was the former director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley Hills, CA. Tech alum Brook Byers of venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB) will make a speech to undergraduates on May 8. KPCB is a silicon-valley venture capital firm credited with more than 50 technology startups. Finally, the College of Engineering will hold a separate ceremony with speaker Bill Nuti, the chairman and CEO of NCR Corp., a global technology firm headquartered in Duluth, Ga. that makes ATM machines, checkout scanners, and self-serve kiosks.
A total of 38 Tech students were awarded Graduate Research Fellowships (GRF) by the National Science Foundation (NSF), surpassing all other colleges and universities in the state. The purpose of the GRF initiative is to foster experts who contribute significantly to innovations in science and engineering. The fellowships include approximately $30,000 per year for graduate study and $10,500 per year for tuition for three years, totaling over $100,000. The list of recipients includes 28 graduate students and 10 undergraduate seniors. In addition, 37 students received an honorable mention from the NSF.