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Julianne Latimer is a second-year undergraduate student pursuing a degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering at Georgia Tech in Atlanta, Georgia. Currently, she serves as a student assistant for the Effective Team Dynamics Initiative, where she conducts engineering education research and facilitates strengths-based team dynamics workshops for first-year and transfer student seminars. Julianne is deeply passionate about promoting educational equity and K-12 STEM outreach. She aspires to further her studies in educational research and evaluation or instructional design in graduate school to continue making a positive impact in these areas.

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Mary Lynn Realff is the Associate Chair for Undergraduate Programs in the School of Materials Science and Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia and also Cox Faculty Fellow, Co-Director of the Center for Women, Science, and Technology, and a Fellow of the Center for Deliberate Innovation. Dr. Realff (GT BS Textile Engineering 1987) has served on the faculty at Georgia Tech since 1992 and is currently leading the Effective Team Dynamics Initiative.

Dr. Realff is a transformational leader with a passion for diversity, equity, and inclusion. She led efforts at Georgia Tech and in the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) to change policies and practices to increase diversity. She has been integral in setting organizational strategies across Georgia Tech, the National Science Foundation and the Center for Puppetry Arts. She served as the Vice President of Leadership and Diversity in ASME where the resulting policies and training have influenced the diversity and inclusion strategies of a wide range of professional societies. She has the energy to initiate and the dedication to sustain innovative education programs at the graduate, undergraduate and K-12 levels.

Dr. Realff is the founding director of the Effective Team Dynamics Initiative (ETD) which delivers on the vision that Georgia Tech will be a community where everyone's unique contributions are recognized. ETD cultivates a supportive, productive, and harmonious learning community grounded in strengths-based collaboration. Her operational leadership and strategic oversight has resulted in the initiative impacting 6500 undergraduate and graduate students and 1600 post docs, faculty, and staff in just the past five years. The initiative partnered with the Center for Teaching and Learning to develop the curriculum and train faculty and staff as certified facilitators to deliver its content. Dr. Realff has disseminated this program to other institutions. She directs an NSF sponsored grant in innovation in graduate education which draws on best practices in team work to develop leaders in engineering practice. She has revamped the MSE UG lab experience and MSE curriculum with an emphasis on integrating assessment and including post-doc and graduate student development.

Dr. Realff is a dedicated educator who listens to and advocates for students and has been honored for her teaching and mentoring at Georgia Tech. Her leadership and teaching excellence have been recognized through the Undergraduate Research Mentor Award, Atlanta Partners for Education Business School Partnership Award, CETL/AMOCO Junior Faculty Teaching Award, Outstanding Faculty Award, ANAK Award, CETL Educational Partnership Award, and MSE Faculty Teaching Award. Her service has been recognized through the ASME Dedicated Service Award and the Georgia Tech Diversity Champion Award. In 2007, she was named Fellow of ASME. She earned her B.S. degree in Textile Engineering at Georgia Tech and her Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering and Polymer Science & Engineering at MIT.

She lives in Atlanta with her husband (a Professor at Georgia Tech). They have two children: a son who lives in Japan and a daughter that lives in Wisconsin.

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My name is Clara Templin, and I am from New Orleans, Louisiana. In terms of my educational interests, I am very curious about sustainability and ways to get rid of existing plastic pollution. In my senior year of high school, I conducted my own research project to see how plants grow when fertilized with normal mealworm poop compared to mealworm poop from a styrofoam diet. I am interested in exploring more topics like this. I am a third-year student in Materials Science and Engineering at Tech, and I am minoring in Industrial Design.

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Jill Fennell, the Frank K. Webb Chair in Communication Skills at the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech, focuses on advancing written, visual, and verbal communication skills. Her research centers on affect theory and its application to technical communication, specifically information design. Jill studies how to enhance the effectiveness of pedagogical documents by incorporating principles from affect theory. Through her work, she aims to empower students, fostering an environment where they actively shape their communication interactions, including teamwork and ethical discussions. By integrating these principles, she goes beyond traditional methods, ensuring that students not only learn but also take an active role in shaping their communication experiences.

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Dr. Christie Stewart is a Senior Academic Professional in the School of Biological Sciences and a certified Gallup strengths coach. She received a Bachelor of Science in Movement Science from the University of Pittsburgh, a Master of Education in Clinical Exercise Physiology from the University of Georgia, and her Doctorate in Educational Leadership from Mercer University. She is co-director of the wellness requirement at Georgia Tech and co-developed the course, Flourishing: Strategies for Well-being and Resilience. Christie has a passion for helping others develop skills in self-care and creating a culture of well-being at Georgia Tech. She centers her research and teaching on the development of communities to support well-being.

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