In one of their first stops of their U.S. tour leg, the ever-growing indie classic Japanese Breakfast filled Atlanta’s Tabernacle with ethereal glamour. The group, led by Michelle Zauner (“Crying in H-Mart”), is touring their fourth studio album “For Melancholy Brunettes (& Sad Women),” a lilting record that explores the titular feeling through Zauner’s moody lyrics backed by lush instrumentals. 

Ginger Root took the stage to open out the night. Self-described as “aggressive elevator soul,” lead singer Cameron Lew energized the crowd with his fast beats, tight jams on the synth and his use of a talk box attachment to add some funk to a few of his songs. Two screens illuminated either side of the stage and presented a live video feed of the artists as a cameraman darted from stage left to stage right. 

As the lights dimmed for the next act to arrive, the stage filled with fog, and the crowd fell silent. A dark figure carried a lantern across the stage. The crowd erupted when the spotlight revealed Zauner playing “Here Is Someone” from her new album, a pearl sitting in a comically large clam shell. As she continued with her hypnotic single “Orlando In Love,” it was easy to picture Zauner as the siren she sings about, literally “Venus from a shell.” 

Each Japanese Breakfast album vividly encapsulates Zauner’s life through a singular emotion. While she performed, those emotions were palpable. Most of the audience members were clearly die-hard fans, and as they sang along, it was obvious that they received the tone that Japanese Breakfast set with each song. First came the pining and frustration of their hit ballad “Boyish.” Then she brought the waterworks en masse with “The Woman That Loves You.” 

On this song from her first album “Psychopomp,” Zauner put down her guitar to sing about grieving the loss of her mother over breathy, upbeat tones. After reading her 2021 memoir “Crying in H-Mart” detailing Zauner’s complex relationship with her mother, the song hit even harder, and it became impossible not to shed a couple of tears.

The mood shifted when the band performed a few songs from their 2021 pop album “Jubilee.” The strong feelings of joy and desire Zauner expresses on this album really came through with the concert’s climax, “Posing In Bondage.” It started off slow and somber, her voice backed by an entrancing synth. When the lyrical portion of the song was over, Zauner started to riff and layer her own harmony. The reverb, along with the drums reached a crescendo as she invited everyone to dance. The band could not have chosen a better song to end out their main set, and they left the entire theater dancing in unison. 

Zauner returned for the encore to play two of her hits. The first was “Paprika,” one of her catchiest pop songs where she intermittently bangs on a huge gong while belting “Oh, it’s a rush.” She closed the night with “Posing for Cars,” a sad but beautiful song about how she perceives love. The last words she sang perfectly encompass Zauner’s identity and so many of the prevalent feelings across her albums — “just a single slow desire fermenting.” Then, she closed out the night shredding the song’s guitar solo. 

Japanese Breakfast’s live renditions of their songs convey even more emotion than their records — a feat that does not seem possible upon first listen. Catch them on the West Coast later this summer with tickets available at japanesebreakfast.rocks.

The post Japanese Breakfast stuns in Atlanta appeared first on Technique.

The Institute has confirmed that in early April, Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) records for 26 international students were terminated, revoking their F-1 student visas and possibly stripping them of their legal status. The Department of State’s grounds for terminating the Jacket’s SEVIS records is different from case to case, a trend among the over 1000 international students whose visas have been revoked across the U.S. Some Georgia students are already taking legal action against the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement to reinstate their records. 

“There is no single, unifying factor among the affected students,” said Institute VP of Communications Abbigail Tumpey.  “We do not know the reasons the SEVIS records were terminated. The brief text in the system is very general and not indicative of any individual’s actions, or lack of actions, that are the source of the terminations.  Each case is unique, and we are treating them accordingly. We know that this issue is causing much anxiety among our international students, and the Office of International Education (OIE) is working to provide direct support to our students. Each affected student has been personally contacted. We are providing individualized, confidential support, within the bounds of the law.”

According to the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees SEVIS, the termination of students’ records does not necessarily mean that their legal status or visa has been revoked. However, SEVIS houses all international students’ legal documents and shares their status with schools and employers. A student’s SEVIS records are the only way schools and employers can verify the legal status of a foreign student. Due to this, Tech is legally required to terminate any on-campus employment these students retained with the Institute. However, the Technique has confirmed that they are still permitted to continue taking classes while they contest the termination. 

One affected student who wishes to remain anonymous shared his story with the Technique. 

“On April 3, around 11 p.m., I received an e-mail that said, ‘We regret to inform you that your SEVIS record has been terminated.’  The reasons mentioned were ‘otherwise failing to maintain status,’ and ‘student identified in criminal records check.’”

A criminal conviction can be grounds for a foreign national’s removal. In this student’s case, however, their identification in a criminal records check referred to promptly dismissed criminal charges. After joining an online forum for over 700 others in a similar situation, they noticed some trends among students with terminated SEVIS records. 

“Students are not required to declare [their reason for termination] to Tech, but we noticed that SEVIS is being terminated for two reasons. If you participate in protests, they’re terminating your service and … flagging you for potential terrorist activity. The other option is if [your name appeared in arrest records], your SEVIS is being terminated. … All of us [international students] are afraid to speak out,” the student said. 

The student plans to pursue legal action to reinstate their SEVIS records, and some affected Jackets have already sought out this option. According to a press conference held after their initial hearing, Atlanta immigration firm Kuck Baxter filed a class action suit on behalf of several Georgia college students against U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristy Noem and acting director of ICE Todd Lyons. 

“What will happen after today, I don’t know. … We will ask the judge to permanently order the government to restore all of our clients, all 133 of them, to valid student status in the United States — to allow them to resume working, allow them to resume their lives, allow them to graduate,” attorney Charles Kuck said in the press conference. 

According to ACLU-Georgia, who also brought the lawsuit, Judge Victoria M. Calvert in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia’s Atlanta Division enacted the temporary restraining order after hearing the case. It ordered the Trump administration to reinstate all of the clients’ SEVIS records by 5 p.m. on Thursday, April 22.

Tech encourages students whose SEVIS records have been terminated to seek information and assistance through OIE. Their contact information can be found at isss.oie.gatech.edu.

The post SEVIS terminations raise concerns for international students’ legal status appeared first on Technique.

SweetWater Brewing Company hosts their 20th annual 420 Fest this weekend at Historic Pullman Yards, boasting a lineup of well-known bands like Marcus King and The Revivalists and new viral artists like Grace Bowers. At a milestone in its career, 420 Fest (named after SweetWater’s famous 420 Pale Ale) aims to provide a holistic experience for attendees and serve the community through sustainability efforts, continuing to cement SweetWater as one of Atlanta’s most iconic brands. 

Instrumental to the festival is Evan Woolard (BA ‘11), Senior Brand Manager for SweetWater Brewing Co. He traces his inspiration for taking on this role to the fun memories he made at 420 Fest when he was a Tech student. 

“I was a student for more years than I care to admit at Tech, and 420 Fest was always something that … was kind of like our last big hurrah before finals. My friends would go off and get jobs in different cities, but we all came back for 420 Fest. That was when I first fell in love with the brand and with the festival,” Woolard said. 

Woolard got his start in the marketing world as a media intern for Georgia Tech Athletics. Now, he manages SweetWater’s public image, along with one of the largest music festivals in Georgia. In one day, he could be managing local vendor accounts, discussing new brews with engineers who manage their complex pilot system and posting on social media about a new SweetWater collab. As someone who wears many hats, Woolard says that one valuable lesson he takes from Tech is never to be the smartest person in the room. 

“I learned this on day one in [the] Towers dormitory — I’m probably the dumbest person on this floor, but everybody around me is so unique and brings so much to the table that if you just listen, you will learn a ton,” Woolard said. 

With classic Georgia bands like Linqua Franqa and Drive-By Truckers, 420 Fest continues to uphold its reputation for uplifting Atlanta’s jam band scene. The festival also continues its annual tradition of hosting a battle of the bands for newer artists to get some exposure to the Atlanta music scene. This year, emerging alternative rock band Honeyknife came out victorious. 

As music festival attendance continues to decline nationally, festival organizers are finding new ways to engage their communities. For 420 Fest, Woolard says that SweetWater is focusing on sustainability and enriching the festival experience. For each ticket sold, SweetWater donates $10 to Waterkeeper Alliance, an organization of volunteers who maintain and protect over 5.9 million square miles of waterways. They also launched a new VIP stage this year, entirely powered by solar energy. 

Woolard says that 420 Fest will engage with more than just the music this weekend, and he and his team have organized multiple local partnerships to offer new and exciting experiences to festival goers. To ensure safe and reliable transportation to and from the festival, 420 Fest has a bike and e-bike valet station, and the team partnered with MARTA to maintain a protected path between the festival and the Edgewood-Candler Park station. Woolard says that after noticing a lot of families in attendance last year, the festival partnered with Atlanta United this year to create a Chill Family Zone with child-oriented amenities and a space to watch Saturday night’s game versus Philadelphia. 

“What makes [us] SweetWater is a passion for great music, great beer, the environment, and the 420 lifestyle. … So we want to enrich the experience not just with music, but beyond music,” Woolard said. 

Single-day tickets are still available at sweetwater420fest.com.

The post Meet the Tech alum behind SweetWater 420 Fest appeared first on Technique.

SweetWater Brewing Company hosts their 20th annual 420 Fest this weekend at Historic Pullman Yards, boasting a lineup of well-known bands like Marcus King and The Revivalists and new viral artists like Grace Bowers. At a milestone in its career, 420 Fest (named after SweetWater’s famous 420 Pale Ale) aims to provide a holistic experience for attendees and serve the community through sustainability efforts, continuing to cement SweetWater as one of Atlanta’s most iconic brands. 

Instrumental to the festival is Evan Woolard (BA ‘11), Senior Brand Manager for SweetWater Brewing Co. He traces his inspiration for taking on this role to the fun memories he made at 420 Fest when he was a Tech student. 

“I was a student for more years than I care to admit at Tech, and 420 Fest was always something that … was kind of like our last big hurrah before finals. My friends would go off and get jobs in different cities, but we all came back for 420 Fest. That was when I first fell in love with the brand and with the festival,” Woolard said. 

Woolard got his start in the marketing world as a media intern for Georgia Tech Athletics. Now, he manages SweetWater’s public image, along with one of the largest music festivals in Georgia. In one day, he could be managing local vendor accounts, discussing new brews with engineers who manage their complex pilot system and posting on social media about a new SweetWater collab. As someone who wears many hats, Woolard says that one valuable lesson he takes from Tech is never to be the smartest person in the room. 

“I learned this on day one in [the] Towers dormitory — I’m probably the dumbest person on this floor, but everybody around me is so unique and brings so much to the table that if you just listen, you will learn a ton,” Woolard said. 

With classic Georgia bands like Linqua Franqa and Drive-By Truckers, 420 Fest continues to uphold its reputation for uplifting Atlanta’s jam band scene. The festival also continues its annual tradition of hosting a battle of the bands for newer artists to get some exposure to the Atlanta music scene. This year, emerging alternative rock band Honeyknife came out victorious. 

As music festival attendance continues to decline nationally, festival organizers are finding new ways to engage their communities. For 420 Fest, Woolard says that SweetWater is focusing on sustainability and enriching the festival experience. For each ticket sold, SweetWater donates $10 to Waterkeeper Alliance, an organization of volunteers who maintain and protect over 5.9 million square miles of waterways. They also launched a new VIP stage this year, entirely powered by solar energy. 

Woolard says that 420 Fest will engage with more than just the music this weekend, and he and his team have organized multiple local partnerships to offer new and exciting experiences to festival goers. To ensure safe and reliable transportation to and from the festival, 420 Fest has a bike and e-bike valet station, and the team partnered with MARTA to maintain a protected path between the festival and the Edgewood-Candler Park station. Woolard says that after noticing a lot of families in attendance last year, the festival partnered with Atlanta United this year to create a Chill Family Zone with child-oriented amenities and a space to watch Saturday night’s game versus Philadelphia. 

“What makes [us] SweetWater is a passion for great music, great beer, the environment, and the 420 lifestyle. … So we want to enrich the experience not just with music, but beyond music,” Woolard said. 

Single-day tickets are still available at sweetwater420fest.com.

The post Meet the Tech alum behind SweetWater 420 Fest appeared first on Technique.

Shortly after President Donald Trump’s inauguration in January, he signed a series of executive orders that have disrupted the world of academic research. Orders that denounced DEI initiatives and established the Department of Government Efficiency spurred a widespread reassessment of grant funding and sweeping personnel and budget cuts. 

At the Institute, these cuts manifested as several “stop work” orders from federal agencies and a projected loss of over $13 million in National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant funding. Although federal courts have paused actions that pose an immediate threat to Tech’s researchers, the security of future funding is still at risk. 

“Tech currently manages more than 3,000 active grants and contracts,” says Abbigail Tumpey, Vice President of Institute Communications. 

“To date, eight projects were put on hold, and four have now resumed. The projects originally put on hold were from the Department of State, the U.S. Agency for International Development [USAID], Department of Energy [DOE], U.S. Department of Agriculture [USDA], Federal Emergency Management Agency [FEMA], National Aeronautics and Space Administration [NASA], and a Department of Defense [DoD] subcontract. Of those, the four that were restarted were from the DoD, DOE, and USDA. Additionally, four DoD projects, one NIH award, and one USAID subcontract have been terminated.”

In an interview with the Technique, Liuwen said that recently, the Department of Defense cancelled two of the Institute’s projects under its Minerva Research Initiative (MRI). These are two of many terminated grants from the initiative that funds social science research related to national security. 

Tech receives over $100 million per month in federal funding for research activities, and in FY25, 14% of the Institute’s revenue comes from overhead, or indirect cost recoveries of grants and contracts, the majority of which involve federal agencies. Lower caps on indirect costs or grant cancellations could threaten this usually reliable stream of revenue for the Institute. 

A possible disruption sparked uncertainty within the research community, leading Tech’s Executive Vice President for Research Tim Lieuwen to host a research town hall on Feb. 27.

“There are 10,000 members of this research community, and I feel the weight that there are 10,000 people whose paychecks are reliant on federal funding,” said Lieuwen. “I am going to commit to this organization to minimize that disruption for that community of 10,000 people. … I make no apologies for that commitment.”

On Jan. 20, President Trump enacted the executive order titled “Protecting Civil Rights and Expanding Individual Opportunity” which sought to eliminate all diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) related work in the federal workforce. It specifically blocked DEI-related grants or contracts, which directly applied to applicable research at the Institute. 

The next day, Trump passed another order titled “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity,” which required all contract and grant rewards to certify that they complied with “Federal anti-discrimination laws.”

According to Lieuwen, these orders led the Institute to receive 12 “cease non-compliant activity orders,” which permitted research projects to continue, just without work on a facet of the grant proposal that included DEI-related language. The U.S. Court for the District of Maryland placed a partial injunction on the executive orders on Feb. 21 after multiple organizations brought up a lawsuit against them. 

Tech researchers were permitted to continue their work until March 14 when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit stayed the injunction, meaning that the Trump administration can now implement the orders while the lawsuit is pending.

On Feb.10, the NIH announced that a 15% cap on all indirect costs would be implemented for all current and future grants. Days later, attorneys general from 22 states sued the agency, and a preliminary injunction has prevented the cut for the foreseeable future. Currently, Tech is receiving funding without interruption from the NIH and is not at risk of any other direct funding cut to research from federal agencies. 

Indirect costs, which fund items not explicitly necessary for specific projects like laboratory equipment, building maintenance and other miscellaneous costs, have been a target of the Trump administration. Though the courts have stymied this initiative, it could threaten a vital source of funding for the Institute if other agencies follow suit. 

“We’re advising local units that know their own profile better, because some units are largely National Science Foundation, some have much larger industry funding and some have larger [Georgia Tech] Foundation funding. And so [we] try to make central decisions about [dealing with grant freezes or cuts] because the risk is very granular.”

As administrations change, federal research interests also change. Lieuwen says that now, Tech faculty will have to figure out how to adjust their grant proposals and their research to align with the Trump administration’s priorities. 

“I’ve been in [Washington,] D.C. I was there this week. I was there last week. We talked to … a lot of legislators. I think the general idea was, ‘Hey, we really appreciate the great work you’re doing. Research is important, but we’ve got to do something to deal with our deficit. We’ve got to deal, do something to deal with the government bloat,’ and so I don’t know where it’s going to land.”

While shifts like this are common, the scale of changes brought by the Trump administration is not. EAS professor Alexander Robel is the director of Rising Tide, a program that develops Tech’s promising scientists for the academic job market. He tells the Technique that administrative changes could damage the vital pipeline that brings academic scientists to industry. 

“Programs that are very important for the development of early career climate scientists have disappeared entirely. This includes several of the NSF [National Science Foundation] postdoctoral fellowship programs, which have been “archived” on the NSF website, meaning they no longer plan to solicit proposals for those programs, … and there aren’t so many of these types of programs out there,” Robel said.

The primary concern of Tech faculty is uncertainty. Based on the drastic changes the Trump administration has already enacted or attempted to enact within federal agencies, the outcome of future grant applications remains unclear. 

“Writing grants takes planning far in advance,” said Robel. “If we don’t know whether a program will exist in a few months or in a few years, it is hard to do long-term project planning if we don’t know whether there will be support for this sort of research in the future. Science is a long-term endeavor, and right now the future of climate science and science funding in general are in doubt, so this makes planning hard to do.”

The post Federal orders risk Tech’s research funding appeared first on Technique.

Energy Club @ Georgia Tech collaborated with the Institute to host their annual Southeastern Energy Conference on Feb. 28 and March 1. The theme of this year’s conference was “Going Global — Energy’s Place on the World Stage.” They hosted multiple panels where policy experts, investors and engineers discussed cutting-edge energy topics like grid cybersecurity, the future of hydrogen power, microgrids and global sustainable development. 

The conference also featured a student research symposium and two keynote speakers from the Institute: John Tien, a distinguished fellow at Tech and former deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and Tim Lieuwen, Tech’s recently confirmed Executive Vice President for Research.  

Samuel Woolsey, second-year ME, organized the conference. He told the Technique that chose speakers relevant to the theme of global development because engineering and technology, especially in the energy sector, relies on changing political and financial factors. 

“This is a topic that is very personally important to me because it [combines] the two areas I see myself going into with a career: international affairs and energy. Also, it is really important the way that they’re intertwined, and I feel that at Georgia Tech, often we’re only talking about the technology and not the ways in which the technology … affects the way that things go on in the world,” Woolsey said.

Woolsey chose keynote speakers that educated students on the nuances of emerging issues on the grid, equipping them with industry-relevant knowledge to succeed in energy jobs or research. Analytical models that project ways to achieve net-zero depend on a multitude of economic and political factors, and Lieuwen gave students advice on how to navigate them in their careers. 

“When you’re growing and learning about energy, develop a filter. You have to sort through models that are mostly myth,” Lieuwen said. 

Several conversations on hydrogen and nuclear power also discussed how these greener forms of generation factor into the energy transition. In a panel about global nuclear generation, Seth Grae, Chairman for the American Nuclear Society’s International Council, explained that a green energy portfolio with significant nuclear generation requires large scale, international collaborations on repeatable models. By adopting similar technologies, nuclear plants can work off precedent, which can enhance regulatory processes and develop a supply chain that can accommodate nuclear growth. 

The panels gave students a holistic account of each issue at hand, incorporating engineering, policy and investments experts. Woolsey said this was his intention when seeking out speakers for the conference. One panel featured the Bahamian Minister of Energy, Hon. JoBeth Coleby-Davis, who discussed her strategy to implement new grid technology in developing countries like the Bahamas. 

“I tried to focus on getting someone from academia, someone from industry, and maybe someone with a policy or government perspective  also someone with a technical perspective to draw on the engineers,” Woolsey said.

Woolsey expressed gratitude to the Institute for their support in facilitating the event and finding speakers. Ranking No. 3 in energy and fuels research, many Tech alumni have made significant contributions to the industry. Many of them are involved in Tech’s Strategic Energy Institute, which supports energy research and investments.

“Energy club’s aim has always been to advance discussion about these pressing energy challenges,” said Tejaswi Manoj, second-year ECE and Energy Club president. “That really aligns with what the Strategic Energy Institute aims to do, which is just foster research and education in this industry. They’ve always been extremely supportive of our events, and [this year] they helped us get connected with the speakers.”

Multiple faculty from the Institute also shared their expertise on grid cybersecurity. Juan Villareal, M.S. Cybersecurity ‘24, explained how as technology advanced, digital devices started to protect the grid instead of electromechanical relays, and it left critical infrastructures exposed to cyber attacks from foreign entities. He told students that supplementing their degree with cybersecurity would make them an invaluable asset in industry. 

“As an electrical engineer, you think more about physical cybersecurity, especially when they are producing [circuit] boards. Some companies can put foreign components that are used to track data. Bringing this to a broader scale and learning that there could be more danger than we previously thought was really interesting,” said Lily Alterman, first-year ECE. 

After lunch, Energy Club hosted a student research symposium where graduate students presented energy research to judges for a chance to win $300. Li Zhang (MS MSE) placed first in the symposium for his research about the vapor-phase infiltration of titanium oxide with dyes to create photocatalysts. Energy Club president says that events like these are an important part of the club’s mission to encourage academic research in energy.

Manoj says that this is just one of the ways Energy Club promotes student research. They also encourage students to work on interdisciplinary energy projects using the club’s resources and Tech’s labs and makerspaces on campus. Currently, students are developing a sidewalk that will generate electricity for Tech’s grid just by people walking on it. 

“We are currently working on building a piezoelectric sidewalk project on campus which is going to be built right next to the [Price Gilbert Memorial] Library. We are planning to get at least 50 piezoelectric tiles, ones that are also solar panels. This is an example of just one project that we’re working on with GTRI and SEI,” Manoj said. 

At their conference, Energy Club demonstrated their continued commitment to fostering grid technology development and preparing students for the energy industry. To learn more about them or join the club, visit energyclub.gatech.edu.

The post Energy Club hosts global leaders at the Southeastern Energy Conference appeared first on Technique.

The Technique hosted its annual Undergraduate Student Government Association (SGA) debate this Tuesday, Feb. 25 where three tickets for President and Executive Vice President defended their platforms: Hunter Richardson and Noah Pastula, fourth-year CS/BA and third-year ME, Dhruv Kulkarni and Kyra Stillwagon, fourth-year LMC and fourth-year PUBP, and Sultan Ziyad and Xiomara Salinas, third-year CE and second-year ChemE. 

Sanika Tank, third-year LMC and News Editor of the Technique, moderated the debate. She gave each ticket two minutes to give opening and closing remarks and to respond to each moderator question. Then, each ticket had one minute to answer an audience question. The topics covered the candidates’ plans of action regarding the Institute’s recent Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) language changes, enrollment growth, housing and infrastructure. 

Opening Statements

Richardson and Pastula opened by highlighting their extensive SGA experience, a combined seven years. As the current Vice President of Academic Affairs, Richardson highlighted his experience advocating for greater access to student resources and civic engagement. Pastula outlined the ticket’s goal of increasing representation for students in Tech departments that serve them. 

Kulkarni said, “Last week, we didn’t even think we were going to run, but then we realized that we had a lot of things on campus that we cared a whole lot about.” The two emphasized that despite their lack of experience within SGA, their tenure as Registered Student Organization (RSO) leaders has equipped them to lead, and they emphasized their commitment to serving the student body with transparency.

Ziyad began by outlining DRIVE, the center of the ticket’s platform. It stands for “develop SGA to champion change, respond to students swiftly, improve service to student organizations, voice student views to faculty and establish SGA’s standard of excellence.” He encouraged students to judge leaders by their “measurable impact on students” and by their “character and commitment to serving others.”

Biggest problem facing students today

Richardson, along with the other tickets, wanted to start by “addressing the reason why a lot of people are in this room.” Immediately before the debate, Dr. Luoluo Hong, Tech’s Vice President of Student Engagement and Wellbeing, held a town hall with student leaders where she discussed restructuring of resources for minority students due to changing federal and state policy around DEI. 

Richardson affirmed his and Pastula’s commitment to surrounding themselves with a diverse cabinet and to uplifting student voices on the matter. He also acknowledged Tech’s rapid increases in enrollment as a big issue. He says he will work with the administration to enact changes in “incremental steps” that will serve students. Pastula says that to achieve this, they will incorporate more students and RSOs into the SGA framework. 

Stillwagon cited a lack of SGA support for student initiatives and organizations as a larger problem that students face. She wants to make sure that RSOs are “not just part of the conversation, but the main point of the conversation” and that SGA supports students without allowing them to “lose ownership of their organization.”

Ziyad noted that the uncertainty of future administrative changes related to DEI produces uncertainty for students about the future of the Institute’s culture. He says that since SGA receives information from administrators before most students, they can communicate changes more often, in a “digestible but thorough” format. Salinas also emphasized that student needs require more representation, starting with physical needs like better infrastructure, academic needs and a need for belonging and wellbeing. 

Maintaining transparency while navigating DEI policy changes

In circling back to this topic, Richardson promised to meet minority students where they are to get direct feedback from affected communities, and he also wants to bring back SGA town halls during this period of change. 

“Hunter and I have been in some of the most public-facing conversations with students and the most private-facing conversations with administration. We have the connections that we need to advocate for you,” Pastula said.

Kulkarni wants to use the ticket’s platform to highlight and reinforce RSOs that have provided a community for the same student groups who use the resource centers that may see changes. He said that if SGA and the administration supported and communicated with these organizations more, they could better represent them. Stillwagon encouraged students to use their voices to go to the Capitol and share their opinions on the state legislature concerning DEI.

Ziyad brought up his personal experiences with OMED and Black Culture, Innovation and Technology (BCIT). He promised to do everything in his power to preserve these programs. He and Salinas also say they want to continue the open forums for Under-Represented Groups in Education (U.R.G.E) that started last year. 

Helping students navigate on and off-campus housing challenges

Richardson was honest with the crowd, telling students that SGA has already explored subsidizing off-campus student housing, but it is not legally feasible. Pastula says they want to “promise [students] things they can do,” which involves expanding Tech’s housing resources to include residents on and off campus. One specific goal the ticket mentioned was to transform the Resident Assistant (RA) curriculum to help students through the process of finding a place to live on or near campus. 

Kulkarni also acknowledged that “SGA cannot magically solve the housing crisis,” but they can effectively voice issues that residents face with their housing. Stillwagon empathized with students, saying that “what we have right now is insufficient.” She discussed her experience with untreated cockroach infestations and mold in her campus apartment and difficulties securing off-campus housing. 

Xiomara highlighted that new housing and infrastructure developments are in the works, like the Curran St. Residence coming in 2026. Like the other tickets, they highlighted the need to help students transition to off-campus housing and voice their concerns regarding on-campus housing issues to the administration. 

Audience Questions

When asked how they will balance progress with complacency given their extensive SGA experience, Richardson said that no matter what, “[Our cabinet] collectively presents a united front of the student body.” He also said that they will make notes of room for improvement based on past administrations. 

In contrast, students asked Kulkarni’s ticket about obstacles they might face due to their lack of SGA experience, what RSOs they were involved in, and why they currently feel unrepresented by SGA. They have both been a part of DramaTech, and Stillwagon mentioned that she held leadership positions in Clarkston Futures and Students Organized for Sustainability.

“What we can do is trust the people under us to make smart decisions that follow our vision … about sustainability, accessibility and community,” Kulkarni said. 

The last question probed Ziyad and Salinas on their specific plan to fund international students’ healthcare with SGA money. They want to reorganize the SGA funding endowment’s legislative reserves to create a funding pool to subsidize international students’ $1400 healthcare fee.

Closing Statements

All candidates thanked the audience for attending and encouraged them to vote, citing that last year’s election turnout represented only 11% of the student body. Pastula reiterated that his and Hunter’s actions within SGA have reflected their commitment to representing students and have fueled the 100 goals they outlined for their term. Richardson concluded by thanking the audience, saying that “you being here has enabled your peers to better serve you next year.” 

Stillwagon emphasized the need for change, saying “business as usual is not enough,” and she encouraged students to be sure that whoever they vote for is willing to fight for them and their RSO. She and Kulkarni spoke to the power of the student voice and called on the audience to use it by participating in more than just SGA elections. 

Ziyad and Salinas called students to action with a series of questions: “Do you want more of the same, or do you want to ‘DRIVE’ into the future? … Who has been out front serving a variety of communities, … and who has been meeting students where they are?” 

The polls opened on Monday, March 3, and the election results will be announced in Harrison Square on Friday, March 7. Students can vote now on Tech’s Engage homepage at gatech.campuslabs.com/engage. For more information on voting, the candidates and how to report an election violation, see sga.gatech.edu/elections.

The post A Recap of the 2025 SGA Debate appeared first on Technique.

Twin brothers and Tech alumni Travis (M.S. ME ‘09) and Troy Nunnally (M.S. ECE ‘09, Ph.D. ECE ‘14) develop cutting-edge technologies for businesses, all while continuing to serve Atlanta’s Black tech ecosystem that helped them succeed. Travis spoke with the Technique about how their company, Brain Rain Solutions, grew from a startup idea at the Institute into a consulting firm that has impacted over 8,000 businesses. Since graduating, he and Troy have established deep ties between the College of Engineering (COE) and the local community, developing the talents of engineers of minority backgrounds. 

The idea for Brain Rain Solutions arose from a project the pair worked on at Tech when they noticed that the symposium at which the projects were presented lacked the software to organize and present the projects. They saw a hole in the market — they could streamline companies’ operations by integrating them with the newest available technologies. 

“We started the company as a software development agency, so we essentially partner up with small, medium and large-sized enterprise companies to help launch and release products. In 2009, Apple just launched the App Store, and the big strategic objective during those years [was] focusing on iPhone apps. We did that for years, and then in 2014, we started to focus more on augmented reality and virtual reality applications. Then, in 2017, we started to focus more on artificial intelligence (AI) applications,” Nunnally said. 

Travis and Troy are known in the local community as the “Tech Twins” for a reason — with Travis’s engineering expertise and Troy’s expertise in AI and cybersecurity, they have constantly adapted to remain at the forefront of emerging technology. According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, only 6% of U.S. businesses employed AI in some form, but Brain Rain Solutions was already developing ways to implement it in the private sector. Now, Troy says they plan to capitalize on the newest application of AI that is just beginning to grow more prevalent — fully-equipped AI agents.

“The way businesses have been [applying AI] over the past couple of years has been [of a] very narrow scope. For example, it may be a chatbot just for customer support. … We think there is going to be a move to link these narrow applications to achieve a more holistic, complex deliverable or even process. … We think the focus that a lot of companies are moving towards is AI as a process instead of AI as just a narrow deliverable. AI agents are really the big push right now for companies who are ahead of the game, and they have these AI agent swarms (a team of agents) working on complex processes. That’s essentially what we’re currently working on. At our business, we try to stay two to five years ahead of what the current industry is. That way … as customers start to think about it, we’ve already been working in that industry and have the expertise and experience to execute,” Nunnally said. 

As a master’s student in Mechanical Engineering, Nunnally developed a broad technical foundation that equipped him to navigate this emerging field, and the problem-solving skills that he learned helped him navigate the obstacles of entrepreneurship that he may not have explicitly faced in class. 

“As Mechanical Engineers, the courses we take cover the entire spectrum of engineering,” Nunnally said. “When you start a business, and you’re an engineer, you quickly realize that you can be the best talent in the world, have the best problem solving and build the best product, but if nobody knows about that product, it will die. I just had to learn that if you want to survive in a field of entrepreneurship, [marketing is] a prerequisite. At this core essence, it’s asking how to get somebody to purchase a product, and that’s the problem. As engineers, now we reverse engineer how to solve that problem. It’s really an engineering problem at its core — you’re experimenting.”

According to Nunnally, the twins also graduated from the Institute with profound relationships with their peers and the Black tech community in Atlanta, and he attributes his decision to matriculate here to programs that help develop talented engineers from underrepresented minority backgrounds. A couple of alumni he maintains a close relationship with are Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens (ChemE ‘98), a Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity brother, and Nashlie Sephus (M.S. ECE. ’10, Ph.D. ECE ’14), an AI Scientist and Evangelist at Amazon Web Services with whom they founded their nonprofit KITTLabs. 

“To be transparent and honest, [Troy and I] would not have gone to Tech if we didn’t have some of these resources. I was born and raised in Southwest Atlanta. … When I was making my decisions of where to go to graduate school, it was based off of a fellowship called the GEM Fellowship Program, which was focused on getting minority students into graduate schools at top-tier universities. My choices were MIT, Stanford and [the Institute]. Because I’m Atlanta-born and raised, I decided to come home to Georgia Tech. … I’m a first-generation grad student, so I probably would not have had the resources to [get my degree] without turning a lot of debt,” said Nunnally. 

Now, the pair, along with Sephus and other alumni, give back to the local community through KITTLabs. There, they work to develop the talents of people of color in science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM) by providing a community with resources that can be difficult to find in a white male-dominated field. 

“We’ve been instrumental in linking Georgia Tech with the Black Tech ecosystem, as well as building startups and engineers and tech talent in that ecosystem as well. With KITTLabs, we’ve partnered with quite a bit of organizations in Atlanta, like Microsoft, Amazon and Meta, to help build talent in Atlanta. [KITTLabs] is near and dear to our hearts, but it’s very instrumental to keep our ties, especially in this day and age, to the Black tech ecosystem so we can at least keep it thriving and alive,” Nunnally said. 

Nunnally’s work at Brain Rain Solutions and KITTLabs embodies what it means to be a Jacket in engineering — he is innovative, adaptive and committed to serving his community.

The post Travis Nunnally talks Black Tech excellence appeared first on Technique.

When “Den of Thieves” hit theaters in 2018, it was met with moderate success in the box office and mixed reviews from critics. In the following seven years, the movie has become a cult classic among heist movie fans, leaving the sequel with big shoes to fill. 

“Den of Thieves 2: Pantera” follows “Big Nick” O’Brien (Gerard Butler) as he chases heist mastermind and escapee Donnie Wilson (O’Shea Jackson Jr.) across the Atlantic. An unlikely team-up between the two leads to an epic European diamond heist involving mafia bosses, international car chases and some unexpected twists and turns. Although the plot was bogged down with some unlikely coincidences and convolutions, the two costars deliver compelling performances, which makes the film worth the watch. 

When Donnie and Big Nick are on screen together, their dialogue is always engaging. Their chemistry is palpable, and it was obvious how close the pair had become in an interview with the Technique where Butler and Jackson Jr. discussed their experiences reprising their lead roles in the film and returning to work with director Christian Gudegast (Watch the full interview here).

“I was a little apprehensive about getting back into that role because, for Big Nick,” said Butler, “you have to go somewhere to get into that role. … But the second we started together, our chemistry was so good, and it was so much fun together. I went from ‘How do I get through this scene’ to ‘We’re killing it. What next?’”

A “Den of Thieves” sequel had been in the works since the first movie’s release, but various unfortunate circumstances like the COVID-19 pandemic, cast injuries and the war in Ukraine caused filming plans to be changed and delayed. Jackson Jr. said that despite this, it felt like they had never left, largely due to the work environment that Gudegast fostered. 

“Gudegast really makes you feel involved, like the project is ours — a one band, one sound mentality. It was good to see everyone again. It was a real feeling, like coming back to summer camp and seeing the same people there,” said Jackson Jr.

Another one of Gudegast’s directorial strengths evident in the film were the action scenes, especially car chases. They were suspenseful, well-choreographed and perfectly framed on the twists, turns and cliffs of the Canary Islands. Viewers should not get too engrossed in the chase, or they will miss a small milestone in Hollywood history — the first all-electric car used as the hero car in a chase sequence. According to Porsche, Gudegast and producer Tucker Tooley employed a fleet of five meticulously custom-engineered Taycan Turbos to execute the chase scenes. 

Butler shared that filming these chase scenes was one of the more challenging aspects of the job. 

“There were a lot of hard scenes, between being thrown in the ocean, or these crazy action scenes where [Jackson Jr.] is driving like a mad man, and I’m hanging out with the car swinging towards walls. … That was also what was fun about it, doing something challenging that … gets all the color out of the story.”

Despite this, the plot left much to be desired. After an almost two-and-a-half hour film, Big Nick and Donnie seemed to be the only dynamic characters, leaving the others underdeveloped. Despite playing an integral role in the heist and spending a lot of time on screen, Donnie’s accomplice, Jovanna (Evin Ahmad), was left with untapped potential. 

Overall, the most memorable aspect of “Den of Thieves 2: Pantera” was the joint performance of its two headliners, Jackson Jr. and Butler. Although it does not quite live up to expectations, it is still a fun watch, and watching the film in a theater is sure to accentuate its cinematic action scenes. Fans of the first feature or heist movies in general are sure to enjoy this movie, which is out in theaters now.

The post Thrilling heists return with “Den of Thieves 2: Pantera” appeared first on Technique.

Last Thursday, Nov. 7, indie icon Clairo brought good vibes to the Fox Theatre, touring her recently Grammy-nominated album “Charm.” Although getting off to a bit of a slow start, Clairo and opener Alice Phoebe Lou more than charmed the audience, bringing earnest vocals and a sense of intimacy to one of the larger concert venues in the city.

Alice Matthews, known professionally as Alice Phoebe Lou, and her band stayed in a small portion of the stage in front of a curtain, but her presence reverberated through the theater the moment she began singing “Angel,” off her 2023 album “Shelter.” She brought a pleasant mix of synth pop and indie rock; the strums of her acoustic guitar were beautifully accompanied by the keyboard and percussion of her band. 

Alice’s yearning and honest voice is a standout. She sings so smoothly and compellingly that it leaves the listener with a pulling feeling in their chest. Her performance of “Lover / / Over the Moon” with its minimal guitar and keys really highlighted her smooth, melodic style. Midway through the set, she remarked that she was feeling emotional reaching the end of her tour with Clairo and how grateful she was to be performing under the crystalline sky of stars in the Fox Theatre. Her positivity and wholesomeness shone through during her set and was undoubtedly infectious.

The excitement was bubbling by the end of her set, and Alice leveraged it by ramping up the tempo with two high-energy songs. She concluded with hit song “Witches” and a new single titled “Better,” which she released later that night. By the end, everyone was on their feet. Alice Phoebe Lou’s live performance felt like an entire night in an opening set and was definitely worth attending.

During the break, hundreds of Clairo fans queued up to buy merchandise that perfectly represented Clairo’s thrifted, artsy vibe. A line of teens and young adults decked out in vintage dresses and ribbon bows complimented by leather jackets and boots wrapped through the lobby and extended down to the stage.

From the second the curtain dropped, every aspect of Clairo’s show complimented her and the image she has developed from “Charm.” The band was set up around a ‘70s era conversation pit with Clairo’s microphone front-and-center, adjacent to an antique mossy-green velvet chair. The background shimmered with cedar-colored hanging beads reminiscent of vintage wood-paneled walls. Clairo’s entrance was met with a deafening applause, but the audience shortly quieted down in anticipation when instead of singing, she and her band made use of the conversation pit to share a pre-show drink of what looked like whiskey. The tone was promptly set for the night — relaxed, intimate, communal — everyone was together to have a good time. 

Clairo opened with “Nomad,” one of the singles off of “Charm” where she delicately sings through melodic bends and swirls of keeping her emotions reserved after a split. Her stage presence reflected these themes: a moonlike spotlight descended upon her mid-song, reflecting on her white silk dress and surrounding her with an angelic aura. She remained reserved, though, and she often turned her back on the audience.

Though her vocals were impeccable, it seemed that Clairo was not expressing the joy that she usually feels when performing. She stepped offstage a few times during the first few songs, and she started crying while singing “Softly.” Clairo, born Claire Cottrill here in Atlanta, is human just like us, and like many, the outcome of the presidential election just two days prior left her with mixed emotions.

She paused the set to address the crowd, visibly upset. “I’m full of so much sadness and rage today,” she said. “It’s just not up for debate. … You’re a f***ing weirdo if you want to make a decision about my body. … It’s really heavy on my heart today, but we have a show to do.”

This statement was immediately received with enthusiastic cheers of support and a standing ovation from the audience that lasted over a minute. Avid concertgoers in the city know what Atlanta concert crowds are like — extremely rowdy but respectful and supportive. The Clairo show was the epitome of that. The love emanating from the audience was palpable, and it definitely was an inflection point in the show. 

Nobody sat down afterward, and the show did indeed go on with growing audience enthusiasm that reflected back upon Clairo. She started to relax, sometimes dancing and taking sips from her drink. The audience belted every word to her jazzy rendition of 2017 indie classic “Flaming Hot Cheetos.” Claps and “woos” came when she hit the high notes in the bridge of “Terrapin.” 

Through most of the concert, Clairo maintained the lush, jazzy and reserved vibe that she established at the start. She did not move much from her microphone stand in the middle of the stage, and when she did, it was to address her band members in the conversation pit. It left the audience captivated less by her singular performance and more by that of the entire band. Hailey Niswanger (on “everything else” according to Clairo) was a definite standout. She was constantly moving around the pit, shifting effortlessly from playful backup vocals to shredding on the keys and even a killer saxophone solo.

The mood definitely picked up when Clairo played the teenage staples that held a lot of emotional weight for the audience. She picked up the guitar to play the opening chords to “North,” in a performance reminiscent of the studio version from her first album “Immunity,” and the energy in the room started to grow. It rose exponentially when Clairo started to perform her last and most popular songs of the night, with the drums starting to beat the rhythm of “4EVER.”

The tempo hastened even more when the band began the arrangement for “Amoeba,” and Clairo told everyone to dance and sing along to the song, lamenting that she could not be out there dancing with us. Next came “Bags” and “Sexy to Someone,” and the Fox began to reverberate with a crescendo of cheers and belts to the lyrics of these old and new classics. Clairo felt the energy, dancing with the crowd and throwing up heart signs, smiling and shouting “love you Atlanta!” on multiple occasions. 

Just when the energy reached the conceivable limit for an indie-rock concert, the newly iconic synth and keys of “Juna” started playing, and cheers almost grew deafening. It will be hard to beat the feeling of euphoria that came from belting the lyrics of that song along with every single attendee at Clairo’s packed out show. Again, in classic Atlanta fashion, a moshpit erupted in the orchestra pit, which might be a first for the Fox. There was no encore, but it did not seem to matter to fans because they had just experienced a special moment that only comes once in a lifetime.

At only 26, Clairo already has three studio albums and a Grammy nomination under her belt for a reason. For over ten years now, her beautifully tender and honest songs on love, loss and everything in between have cemented her as an indie icon, and her live show was truly an emotional experience in which her personality shone through. The “Charm” tour is a testament to her growth as an artist, and although it presented some obstacles, Atlanta’s Nov. 7 show was evidence that she will deliver an incredible performance regardless of the size of her audience.

The post Clairo and Alice Phoebe Lou rock Fox Theatre appeared first on Technique.