Two Tech grads recently released Reframe, an app to help people struggling with alcohol addictions, that started as a project in Tech’s CREATE-X program.

Ziyi Gao, IE ’17, and Vedant Pradeep, CHBE and CMPE ’19, started working together in Tech’s CREATE-X program trying to create an app to help with hypoglycemia detection.

The pair then changed focus to creating an app to help with obsessive compulsive disorder, a condition that Pradeep personally struggles with.

Gao and Pradeep wanted their app to help people with OCD distract themselves during episodes and founded the app on the science behind craving management.

They started to look for doctors to help them develop their app but were told instead that the format would better help people struggling with substance abuse, which was a much larger market.

In a recent interview with the Technique, Pradeep said they then narrowed their focus to people addicted to alcohol and “started out with an app for people in recovery centers.”

The pair then tried to reach out to recovery centers to bring them on board and briefly had success in doing so.

However, when the coronavirus pandemic hit, many centers backed out.

Gao and Pradeep then started to reach out to more doctors at Emory and Johns Hopkins to advise them on the app.

With a team of advising doctors and mentors from CREATE-X, the pair released the app five months ago.

The team is consistently updating the app with new ways to manage alcohol cravings and is bringing on more people to partner within the app.

Reframe came at a critical time for those struggling with alcohol abuse, as the ongoing pandemic has left many without the in-person support they previously received.

“You don’t have a good way to socialize, get help, etc.,” Pradeep said about what the pandemic has taken away from those struggling with sobriety.

“There [were] not remote ways to help,” he continued, referencing how groups like Alcoholics Anonymous ceased most of their functions since they can no longer be in person.

The pair noted how they were proud that their app was actually helping people as much as other methods of becoming sober.

“Recovery centers are really expensive, and other things are stigmatic,” Pradeep said about other recovery options that are available.

The pair said that they are “bringing a recovery center to your pocket at a thousandth of the cost.”

They also said that the CREATE-X program here at Tech helped them to get guidance and initial funding and overall helped “turn our idea into a company.”

Gao and Pradeep are still advised by mentors Mike Polak and Rahul Saxena of the CREATE-X program.

Reframe has grown from an app with two subscribers to over 2,500 in just a few months.

Currently on the App Store, the app has a rating of 4.8 out of 5 stars.

One review calls Reframe a “great tool for sobriety” while another states names it “the best app for anyone looking to change their drinking.”

With this initial success, the pair has no intentions of stopping anytime soon.

“This is applicable to other verticals, like binge eating or other substance abuse,” Pradeep said on looking in other directions in the future.

In the meantime the pair is still working on making Reframe the best app possible for its users.

“We don’t just want people to survive. We want them to thrive,” Pradeep commented on Reframe’s multiple features to manage current cravings and reinforce positive habits for the future.

Ultimately, it is the goal of Gao and Pradeep for their app to help their users attain sobriety and offer an “easy way to reframe behavior.”

As the second-largest student organization on campus, the Residence Hall Association (RHA) affects a large proportion of the student body, but what is it and how does it help individual residents?

Generally, RHA is a student-run organization that supports and advocates for all residents in on-campus housing. But to get a greater scope of this organization, the Technique sat down with three members of the RHA executive board about what they do on a daily basis to improve residence life.

“We oversee all 48 residence halls on campus … that are divided up into, this year, 13 communities that spans the over 8,000 beds and over 8,000 residents that live on campus,” said Bryan Gomez, third-year NEUR/BCHM and RHA Director of Programming.

Within RHA, individual hall councils handle policies and allocating budgets for their local community. On a wider campus level, RHA funds events, plans campus-wide programming and conducts general housing advocacy. Gomez stressed the importance of having legislation at a local level and more broadly at a campus level.

Andrew Norlin, second-year BME and RHA Director of Development, said that RHA’s unofficial tagline is that “RHA builds community in residence halls through programming, advocacy and leadership development.”

Whether a hall council puts on a small program or an upper-level board member negotiates with a campus services executive, RHA is determined to improve the lives of all on-campus residents.

“It’s not necessarily like you see RHA every day right in front of your face working and you’re like ‘Wow, RHA is so great,’ but I would say it’s a lot of things kind of behind the scenes making residence life more enjoyable and better on campus,” Norlin said.

Sara Bowles, fourth-year CHBE and Executive President of RHA, described her role overseeing the bureaucracy of RHA and communicating with housing officials.

“I run the legislative council, which is where we do resolutions to change our governing documents and where we give funding to other organizations for their own programs,” Bowles said.

“Besides that, I also have regularly standing meetings with Dr. Cotton, who is one of the head honchos of housing.”

Alongside the executive and legislative branches which handle proposals, spending and operations, RHA also includes a judicial branch that regulates internal elections and the Student Conduct Board.

Bowles described some of her favorite programs RHA has held for their residents. One favorite included ordering customized Coca-Cola bottles for students, and another allowed students to interact through a beagles and bagels event catered by Panera.

“Hopefully we’ll be able to do stuff like that next year when we can actually do stuff safely in person,” Bowles said, while admitting about the constraints the ongoing pandemic has put on the organization.

The board members stressed that despite the challenges of COVID-19, RHA has still been busy this year trying to fulfill their duties to residents.

“I’m working on trying to actually get the Menstrual Product Program in residence halls,” Bowles said when asked about efforts she would like to further this semester. The Menstrual Product Program is a joint effort between RHA and SGA to provide free feminine hygiene products around campus.

Norlin and Gomez also mentioned how RHA has been focused on internal efforts and advocacy this semester rather than trying to put on online programming. They hope this year will give them time to polish their inner workings to provide stronger programs when in-person events are possible again.

To get involved in RHA, Norlin said that attending hall council meetings is the easiest way to start. From there, interested could run for RHA executive board or other upper-level positions.

“With RHA we have all these possibilities that open the door for our residents to get involved and make their residential experience their own,” Norlin said.

The board members all agreed that RHA helps to enhance on-campus living for any resident, whether they aware of it it or not.

To find out when your hall council is meeting, visit rha.gtorg.gatech.edu

Next time you go to use an elevator on Tech’s campus you might want to take the stairs instead. An astounding number of elevators on campus have expired safety inspections and are, by law, unfit to operate.

Reports from students have indicated that many elevators on the Tech campus have expired elevator inspections, annual checks by the State of Georgia to make sure elevators are up to code and are operating safely. An expired inspection doesn’t mean an elevator is instantly dangerous to ride in, but it indicates that potential problems may have gone unnoticed for over a year.

A small survey of 19 elevators around campus yielded no valid inspections, corroborating the students’ statements. Of the 19, the 4 in residence halls all expired in June 2020, and the remaining 15 in shared buildings (academic buildings, dining halls, etc.) expired in Dec. 2020. Additionally, three elevators were out of order at the time of the survey.

What does an overdue inspection mean for the institution that owns the elevator? An expired inspection means the elevator’s operating certificate is incomplete, which in Georgia nets a $250 fine for a first offense and $500 more for a second offense, in line with state elevator code. A third repeated offense results in a $5,000 fine.

Tech’s Facilities Management department is responsible for the maintenance of on-campus elevators and was consulted on why many elevators are overdue for an inspection. Jessica Rose, associate director of analytics and communications for the department, shared that the previous associate director over utilities maintenance abruptly retired in November.

Tech’s Facilities Management department is responsible for the maintenance of on-campus elevators and was consulted on why many elevators are overdue for an inspection. Jessica Rose, associate director of analytics and communications for the department, shared that the previous associate director over utilities maintenance abruptly retired in November.

This may have caused a lapse in oversight of elevator maintenance recently, which could explain how elevators expiring in December slipped under the radar. Elevators expiring in June could have also had their maintenance schedules affected by the pandemic, but these elevators are still approaching nearly two years without an inspection. The interim associate director could not be reached by time of writing.

Some students commented on how they have noticed the expired inspections in the elevators they use, and how these eerily align with problems they experienced when using them.

“My elevator also hasn’t been inspected in 6 months, and it makes really loud noises every time I use it,” said one student about the elevator in the Center Street South apartments.

Another student mentioned how an elevator she was riding stopped in between floors for a minute before resuming going down. One anonymous student offered a new perspective on the issue as a part-time wheelchair user. She said, “so often [elevators on campus] are out of order or useless or in a completely ridiculous location,” and that the multiple expired inspections just add to the existing problems.

This aligns with the findings of surveying the elevators around campus: a few elevators were out of order, they were usually hard to find in the building, and some buildings did not even have an elevator. As a federally funded institution, Tech has to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act which requires architectural access to campus buildings, but some of these buildings qualify for exceptions based on when they were constructed.

Tech is not the only university to have these issues, a quick Google search yields plenty of results from other colleges with expired inspections. Just across Atlanta Georgia State had many expired inspections just a few years ago, as reported by the Georgia State Signal. Many colleges experiencing these issues cited a backlog of inspections at the state level which caused the expirations.

Inspecting elevators is the responsibility of the state of Georgia, and this service often runs behind.

Problems with elevators consistently arise, and Tech does handle these issues internally.

Broken elevators on campus usually are fixed by Facilities Management quickly, and these problems are higher priority for Tech than pushing for an official inspection.

For all students not wanting to take the stairs, the expired inspections across campus can be worrying. For some, this represents another complication in their only means of traveling between buildings’ floors. Whatever the reason may be for the overdue inspections, one can only hope this issue can be resolved soon and without any accidents resulting from the diminished maintenance.

Early last week, Tech received its first allotment of COVID-19 vaccines and began vaccinating campus community members, signifying the start of Tech’s local eradication of the virus.

As coronavirus cases continue to rise nationwide, a glimmer of hope has emerged in the form of both the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines. These vaccines have been distributed all over the country in the past month to halt the spread of coronavirus, and just over 1,000 doses were recently sent to Tech.

Tech received 975 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and 200 doses of the Moderna vaccine on Jan. 12, and the Institute immediately began vaccinating those in the Phase 1A+ group of the Georgia Vaccine Plan on campus. This includes GTPD staff, COVID-19 surveillance testing personnel, medical staff on campus, and campus members aged 65 and older.

William Smith, Director of Tech’s Office of Emergency Management, spoke about how Tech will handle vaccinating members of the community while following Georgia’s schedule for phases.

“The phases aren’t perfect,” he explained. “Our commander’s intent is to maximize the number of people we can vaccinate in each phase.”

He offered an example of how Stamps Health Services, Counseling Center, and Health Initiatives staff are able to be vaccinated during Phase 1A+ as healthcare workers although their jobs and exposures may vary.

Smith also offered a tentative agenda for vaccine rollout for other groups, although he acknowledged it would largely depend on the state and national vaccination progressions as well.

“Probably middle of the next month is likely” for the transition to Phase 1B, which would include all faculty and staff on campus as essential workers. Smith said that Tech is intending to cover student employees in this phase too.

Phase 1C would include students with medical conditions that put them at increased risk for severe complications from COVID-19, and Smith said his department was still working out the details for how qualified students could request the vaccine. Smith anticipates that Phase 1B will be relatively long followed by a shorter Phase 1C, but he is unsure of when these transitions may occur.

“Phase 2 will be huge for us … and will cover all of our students,” said Smith. “We expect to be done with our campus community by Phase 2,” which he expects to be before the end of the semester. He hopes most members of the campus community will take advantage of the vaccine when made available to them, although the vaccine is not currently required for being on campus.

Smith said that mandatory COVID-19 vaccination would be decided by the University System of Georgia and not Tech. He is optimistic that the community will quickly embrace the vaccine and life on campus will return to a sense of normality with a few lingering precautions next year.

Although campus-wide vaccinations may seem far away, Smith advised that the vaccination efforts will likely be a “trickle followed by a deluge.”

Tech’s Office of Emergency Management held a townhall on Jan. 21 about vaccine rollout on campus. Additional information can be found in the coronavirus pages at health.gatech.edu.

Our Take: 3/5 Stars

Like many musical artists over these past few months, Ariana Grande has been busy (in more ways than one). The result of her months in quarantine was her sixth studio album, “Positions.” Released on Oct. 30, the much anticipated album failed to live up to massive expectations or to satisfy avid fans.

Grande’s fourth and fifth albums, released only five months apart, cemented her status as a pop princess. The latter, “thank u, next,” was an especially powerful entry in Grande’s discography, encompassing the passing of her ex-boyfriend Mac Miller and the dissolution of her engagement to Pete Davidson while providing music that flexed both her writing and vocal abilities. While it would be hard to top a near masterpiece, “Positions” did not even try to come close to the standards “thank u, next” set.

The central theme of Grande’s new album was defined by the titular single released a week before the album, with Grande insisting on “switchin’ them positions for you.” With other songs such as “nasty” and “34+35” joining the single, Grande’s quarantine activities are made clear to all listeners. Put simply, Ariana Grande is horny and “Positions” is just her taking us along for the ride.

Grande has put out similar content in the past, but what differentiates “Positions” is that most of the album lacks almost any sense of artistry. Grande is a pop artist, so say what you will, but half of the songs sound exactly the same, just different variations of Grande singing over a drum machine. The pure quantity of these unremarkable tracks is what is so disappointing, but the album does have some high points.

The aforementioned “34+35” is the best of the crowd of analogous tracks; its beat and vocal mixture work surprisingly well compared to others. “shut up” and “love language” offer some instrumentation that separate them from the monotony of the rest of the album, and “off the table” featuring the Weeknd is a slow ballad that wins best feature on the album.

“Positions” the song is also a strong contender, with its plucky guitar and classic vocal runs from Grande. Its music video was also one of the best parts of the album so far, which featured Grande running the country from the White House. With an array of First Lady-inspired outfits and good editing, the video eased Americans’ minds as they could imagine that an undeniably competent leader was at the head of the United States.

The best song on the album is “pov,” a soulful melody of Grande wishing to understand how her new boyfriend sees her at her best and worst. Many rankings of the album’s songs have it at the top of their lists, and rightly so. The song is different from the rest of the album, and this is what gives it a timeless quality that puts it among the ranks of Grande’s previous work.

“Positions” may not be Grande’s strongest performance, but it is a decent pop album.

An underwhelming album to Grande’s to fans, maybe, but it still can please casual listeners unfamiliar with her past work.

“Positions” is worth a listen, just do not expect to find a new favorite Ariana Grande song among its tracks.

As the temperatures once again start to drop this fall, Tech offers flu shot clinics on campus, and this year may be more important than ever to get a flu shot.

The spread of the seasonal flu is expected during the winter months, and Tech has prepared accordingly for the virus by hosting multiple flu clinics during the months of September and October. At these clinics students and faculty can receive a flu shot in fewer than 15 minutes.

Students can receive their flu shot on campus by making an appointment with Stamps Health Services or by going to one of their many walk-in flu clinics throughout the semester.

The clinics require no prior appointments and are open to all members of the Tech community. They take place about every two weeks. The first clinics took place on Sept. 21-22. The next set of clinics will take place on Oct. 28 and 29 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at McCamish Pavilion. Any Tech student who has paid their health fee can receive a flu shot for free.

Dr. Benjamin Holton, senior director at Stamps Health Services stated in an interview published by Tech, “While it is always important to get a flu shot, this year is particularly important.”

Many experts, like Dr. Holton, have stated that the ongoing pandemic will make it more critical for everyone to be vaccinated for the flu. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) reports that people will be faced with both risks of catching the flu and COVID-19 this winter, and the flu could complicate efforts to control the spread of coronavirus.

The CDC states that COVID-19 and influenza cause similar symptoms, such as fever, cough, body aches and more. As a result, individuals who become infected with the flu may also need to be tested for COVID-19 and be required to quarantine until they get the test results.

This could keep people out of work and school more than is needed and could also lead to coronavirus testing shortages across the country.

“While COVID-19 and flu viruses are thought to spread in similar ways, COVID-19 is more contagious among certain populations and age groups than flu,” the CDC website reads.

“Also, COVID-19 has been observed to have more superspreading events than flu. This means the virus that causes COVID-19 can quickly and easily spread to a lot of people and result in continuous spreading among people as time progresses.”

Additionally, this flu season could also further stress hospitals as severe flu cases could take away beds and other resources from COVID-19 patients. Hospitals across the nation have faced shortages of ventilators and ICU beds for months, and serious cases of the flu could exacerbate the problems healthcare systems are facing during this pandemic.

The CDC also reports that it is possible to have the flu and COVID-19 simultaneously, which they are still studying to understand how the effects of the two diseases manifesting concurrently.

These two respiratory illnesses will make this flu season especially interesting, but Tech’s flu clinics and COVID-19 testing sites offer students ways to stay healthy this upcoming winter.

The flu clinics this year have been adapted to comply with COVID-19 safety guidelines.

In accordance to University System of Georgia guidelines, all students and faculty are required to wear masks while inside the clinic location, and their temperature will be taken as they enter. Social distancing will also be prevalent at each clinic site.

Asymptomatic COVID-19 testing continues to remain available at many indoor locations both on east and campus as students are encouraged to test weekly.

This flu season will be different (and perhaps more dangerous) than any before, but Tech provides many opportunities for students to protect themselves against the virus before it starts circulating this winter.

Members of the Tech community can visit health.gatech.edu/additional/flu to stay informed on the symptoms and treatments of the flu as well as the upcoming dates and locations for the next flu clinics on campus.

Tech announced that it plans to hold an in-person commencement ceremony this December at Bobby Dodd Stadium, inviting back spring, summer and fall graduates to participate.

Last spring Tech decided to cancel the normal in-person ceremony at McCamish Pavilion and hold a virtual commencement instead because of COVID-19. Many near-graduates were disheartened by losing the ceremony they had looked forward to, but Tech decided it was the right move to protect students’ health.

Now, still during a pandemic, Tech is attempting to give these students another chance to graduate in-person.

Tech has made some changes from the normal ceremony to try and reduce the risk associated with bringing many people together.

The first is that commencement will take place in Bobby Dodd Stadium since it is a large, open-air venue. Physical distancing and mask wearing will also be enforced in the stadium.

Contact with other students and faculty will be limited. There will be no student processional, and students will not shake hands with Institutional leadership or be hooded by their advisor. Students will still be individually recognized at the ceremony though.

The event will take place over two days, Dec. 11 and 12, in three sessions. Students will be assigned a session based on their degree level and graduating semester.

The first ceremony at 2 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 11 will celebrate masters and undergraduate students who finished their course work in spring or summer of 2020. Fall masters students as well as spring, summer and fall Ph.D. recipients will matriculate on Dec. 12 at 9 a.m. The final ceremony for fall bachelor’s students will commence on Saturday, Dec. 12, at 2 p.m.

Commencement will happen rain or shine, and Tech will be livestreaming the event for those unable to attend. The Institute also advised those at a high risk of illness due to COVID-19 to not attend the in-person event and watch the live stream option instead.

An anonymous graduate student said, “it’s a difficult decision for me to walk or not, because it still feels like a ‘fake’ graduation if we aren’t able to keep with a lot of the traditions.” The student said the Institute’s communication with graduates has been poor, and they would not be surprised if RSVP numbers were low for the event.

Elizabeth Gilbert, ME ’20 and current master’s student, said she was upset that the ceremony last spring was cancelled but was not surprised given the growing circumstances at the time.

Gilbert “appreciated the virtual celebration that the school put on” last spring, but was “holding out some hope that a ceremony like the one happening this fall in Bobby Dodd might have been an option.”

Gilbert thinks this upcoming commencement “will be different, especially without the handshake and potentially the balloon drop.” She said that graduates were given the options of participating in December or next May, and she chose the latter because of a high-risk family member she would not feel safe inviting them this winter.

Commencement is an important part of any Tech student’s journey, and while different, the ceremony this fall gives graduates a second chance to put a proper end to their time at Tech.

Students are required to RSVP to the event to attend and receive their five guest tickets. The RSVP window opens Oct. 19, and no same day reservation is allowed.

According to Tech, all 2020 graduates can apply to walk in the Spring 2021 ceremony if they are unable to attend the December ceremonies.

Information regarding the spring semester ceremonies will be published in January.

On Sept. 18 Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (RBG) passed away from complications of pancreatic cancer, starting a political battle over her empty seat.

A justice seat is filled by the president nominating someone and the Senate confirming them as the new justice, and with a Republican controlled presidency and Senate, this could mean a conservative judge could fill Ginsburg’s seat.

SCOTUS was roughly split between liberal and conservative justices, so the new judge could tip the court to a conservative majority. All information on the events that have transpired since Ginsburg’s passing was compiled from cnn.com from their daily updates on the SCOTUS seat battle.

On the night of Ginsburg’s death, many people started to mourn the influential political figure, but before the night was over Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced that President Donald Trump’s
nominee will be voted on before the election.

Many Democrats urged the GOP senators to not vote on a justice replacement like they did for Barack Obama’s nominee in 2016, but Republican members of government quickly organized to try and push through the nominee before the election.

On Sept. 26 Trump announced his nominee: Amy Coney Barrett, a conservative federal appellate judge and former law professor at Notre Dame University. Barrett was welcomed by the Republican party, but Democrats see her as a threat to abortion rights and the Affordable Care Act. Senate Judiciary Chair Lindsey Graham announced the next day that confirmation hearings for Barrett were scheduled to start in mid-October. She could be voted on by the Senate just before the election.

On Sept. 29 Barrett started meeting with GOP senators and seemed to make good impressions, but now her quick confirmation may be jeopardized. On Oct. 2 Trump announced he tested positive for COVID-19, and three GOP senators tested positive in the next few days. It is thought that they may have all been exposed at Barrett’s nomination ceremony. Dr. Jason Rich, INTA lecturer at Tech, weighed in on the importance of the SCOTUS seat and how it could affect the upcoming election.

“You’re more apt to get conservative turnout around this idea of paying back a president or senator that has confirmed yet another Supreme Court Justice,” explained Rich on how the seat could drive conservative voters to the polls. He also explained how “[the justice] has real long lasting impacts” since the relatively young Barrett can sit on the bench for life.

He also commented on how Democrats have few ways to delay Barrett getting confirmed, but if too many GOP senators become infected with COVID-19, it may be enough to halt the confirmation. This could push her confirmation vote after the election or even the new year.

Rather than mourning a legal titan’s passing, the country has been embittered by the political urgency necessitated by the upcoming election. Only time will tell what the outcome of this political scramble is, and in what ways it will affect America in the next few weeks, months or years.