The Georgia Tech Alumni Association Unveils Inaugural 40 Under 40
New program launches to recognize the achievements of Georgia Institute of Technology alumni who are improving the human condition while under the age of 40.
ATLANTA, JULY 15, 2020 — The
Georgia Tech Alumni Association has announced 40 distinguished honorees who have innovated industries and positively impacted communities across the globe. More than 250 individuals were nominated by colleagues, peers, and Georgia Tech faculty this April.
In its inaugural year, the 2020 class includes Olympian and breast cancer survivor Chaunté Lowe; founder of the Algorithmic Justice League, Joy Buolamwini, whose research on algorithmic bias in artificial intelligence (AI) has led to
policy and industry changes in addressing AI harms; and Maithili Appalwar, who founded Avana to address the alarming rate of suicides among farmers in Yavatmal, a district in Maharashtra, India by working with more than 10,000 farmers to conserve more than 50 billion liters of water.
Representing Georgia Tech’s entrepreneurial spirit, honorees include Kabir Barday, founder of one of the largest privacy and security companies; Ryan Graciano, co-founder of Credit Karma; Christopher Hermann, who founded Clean Hands Safe Hands; and Braxton Davis, founder of the Patent Institute of Training. Inventors and researchers who are solving the world’s most pressing challenges are among the ranks, such as Gregory Kolovich, creator of the world’s first handheld X-ray device; Jasmine Burton, founder of Wish for WASH, a social impact organization that seeks to bring innovation to sanitation; and Arush Lal, staff member at the World Health Organization’s Americas office supporting the Covid-19 response to procure test kits.
“I am amazed and humbled by the accomplishments of these innovators and trendsetters. They epitomize the focus that our Georgia Tech alumni have to make the world a better place,” shares Dene Sheheane, president of the Georgia Tech Alumni Association.
Those nominated must have completed at least one semester at Georgia Tech, be under the age of 40 as of June 30, 2020, and have made an impact in their profession or community, spanning all industries and sectors. A committee of 26 faculty, staff, and volunteer leaders, who collectively represented all Georgia Tech colleges, scored each nominee using a 25-point rubric. Selection Committee member Bert Reeves, MGT 2000, State Representative in the Georgia House of Representatives, expressed that, “I was blown away at the nearly impossible task of scoring the applicants. These are folks who are not just impacting their community and state, but in some cases, their country and the entire world. It is truly inspiring to see the innovation and passion that our alumni are contributing to many of the greatest issues our world faces today.”
A list of all 40 honorees is available
here.
•
Maithili Appalwar, IE 18, CEO, Avana
•
Banafsheh Azizi, IA 04, MS IA 08, Chief Operating Officer, Bayt Abdullah Children’s Hospice (BACCH) and Kuwait Association for the Care of Children in Hospital (KACCH)
•
Kabir Barday, CS 09, CEO, OneTrust
•
Dhaval Bhandari, PhD ChE 10, Planning Advisor, ExxonMobil
•
Sheereen Brown, IE 13, MS HS 14, Senior Business Analyst, The Task Force for Global Health
•
Joy Buolamwini, CS 12, Founder, Algorithmic Justice League
•
Jasmine Burton, ID 14, CEO, Executive Director & Founder, Wish for WASH
•
Marcus Cappelli, AE 03, MS AE 04, PhD AE 07, Chief Engineer for Black Hawk Modernization, Lockheed Martin
•
Arnab Chakraborty, BME 13, Chief Technology Officer & Co-founder, Flow MedTech
•
Allen Chang, BME 08, Project Engineer, NuVasive
•
Braxton Davis, EE 06, Patent Attorney, Amin, Turocy & Watson, LLP
•
Ryan Graciano, CS 04, Co-founder & CTO, Credit Karma
•
Robert “Bobby” Henebry, ME 03, MBA 06, Partner, DM Capital Management, LLC
•
Christopher Hermann, BME 06, MS ME 11, PhD BioE 12, Founder & CEO, Clean Hands - Safe Hands
•
Shawna Khouri, BME 12, MBID 14, Director of Biolocity, Emory University & Georgia Institute of Technology
•
Gregory Kolovich, EE 04, Co-founder & Chief Medical Officer, Oxos Medical
•
Arush Lal, BA 17, International Consultant, PAHO/World Health Organization
•
Kathryn Lanier, PhD Chem 17, Director of STEM Education Outreach, Southern Research
•
Chris Lee, PhD BME 12, Chairman & CEO, Huxley Medical, Inc.
•
Xiaohang Li, PhD ECE 15, Assistant Professor, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST)
•
Chaunté Lowe, ECON 08, Four-Time Olympian & American Record Holder, U.S. Olympic Team
•
Kamil Makhnejia, MBID 15, Co-founder & COO, Jackson Medical
•
Idicula Mathew, BME 17, CEO & Founder, Hera Health Solutions
•
Matthew McDowell, MSE 08, Assistant Professor in the School of Materials Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology
•
Jennifer McKeehan, IE 05, Founder, Smith and James LLC; Former Vice President Supply Chain, The Home Depot
•
Candace Mitchell Harris, CS 11, Co-founder & CEO, MYAVANA
•
Ignacio Montoya, MBID 18, Executive Director, HINRI Labs
•
Evren Ozkaya, PhD IE 08, Founder & CEO, Supply Chain Wizard, LLC
•
Samirkumar Patel, PhD ChE 11, President & CEO, Moonlight Therapeutics
•
Kathy Pham, CS 07, MS CS 09, Fellow and Faculty at Harvard, Co-founder & Mentor, Mozilla Builders Fix the Internet Incubator
•
Jordan Rackie, Mgt 08, CEO, Keyfactor
•
Nashlie Sephus, MS ECE 10, PhD ECE 14, Applied Science Manager, Amazon AI
•
Maria Soto-Giron, PhD BI 18, Translational Bioinformatics Lead, Solarea Bio
•
David Sotto, BME 09, PhD BioE 15, Senior Strategy Officer, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
•
Graham Thorsteinson, ChBE 06, MS ChE 07, Chief Technology Officer, Energy One Consulting
•
Lauren Troxler, BME 12, Staff R&D Clinical Engineer, Abbott
•
Nseabasi Ufot, Psy 02, CEO, New Georgia Project
•
Emily Woods, ME 10, COO & Co-founder, Sanivation
•
Jacob Tzegaegbe, CE 11, MS CE 2013, Senior Transportation Policy Advisor, City of Atlanta
•
George P. Burdell, Alumnus, Georgia Institute of Technology
About the Georgia Tech Alumni Association
The Georgia Tech Alumni Association, chartered in 1908, is an exclusive network of more than 172,000 worldwide tied together by their experience at Georgia Tech. Through the Association, Tech alumni gain immediate access to its extensive, global alumni network, as well as numerous alumni programs and services designed to enrich both careers and lives. The Georgia Tech Alumni Association is a participation-driven non-profit corporation governed by a board of alumni volunteers. Since 1947, the Association’s Roll Call program has raised money to financially support Tech’s academic mission, a tradition that has transformed the Institute into the place it is today. Learn more at
www.gtalumni.org.
Media inquiries may be directed to Lindsay Vaughn, Vice President of Strategic Communications at Lindsay.Vaughn@alumni.gatech.edu.