Contact

Edward Coyle
Director, Arbutus Center for the Integration of Research and Education
Director, VIP
John B. Peatman Distinguished Professor
Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar

 

Phone: 404.894.8136
Office: Klaus 3132

 

Edward J. Coyle is the John B. Peatman Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology and a Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar. He is the Founder and Director of the Vertically Integrated Projects (VIP) Program, which integrates research and education by embedding large-scale, long-term teams of undergraduates in the research efforts of faculty and their graduate students. He is also the Director of the VIP Consortium, a set of 35 (and growing) universities that have VIP Programs and work together to improve, evaluate, and disseminate it. Dr. Coyle was a co-recipient of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering’s 2005 Bernard M. Gordon Prize for Innovation in Engineering and Technology Education. In 1998, Dr. Coyle was elected a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) for his contributions to the theory of nonlinear signal processing. He has received a number of other awards, including the 1997 Chester F. Carlson Award from the American Society for Engineering Education and the 1986 Paper Award from IEEE Signal Processing Society. His current research interests include systemic reform of higher education, signal and information processing, and wireless and sensor networks.

 

Phone: 404.894.8142
Office: Klaus 3134
Email

 

Julie holds a Bachelor of Science in Engineering Physics and a Masters of Education in Education Organization and Leadership, both from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. She is now pursuing a PhD in Educational Policy Studies with an emphasis on Research, Measurement and Statistics at Georgia State University. Julie has coordinated academic programs, summer undergraduate research programs, departmental recruiting for graduates and undergraduates, as well as community outreach programs. She began her career at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign Department of Physics, moved to the the University of Colorado Boulder Department of Physics, and then joined the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2004.

 

 

Office: Klaus 3117
Email

 

Leah Misemer holds a PhD in English from University of Wisconsin-Madison with a specialization in visual rhetoric and popular culture. She comes to VIP from Georgia Tech’s Writing and Communication Program, where she taught first year writing and worked in the Communication Center while a Marion L. Brittain Postdoctoral Fellow. In VIP, she facilitates and develops relationships between the program’s current and potential stakeholders both at Georgia Tech and globally. Her specialties include marketing, communication, event planning, and interdisciplinary program building.

 

Christopher Malbrue
Academic Program Manager

 

Office: Klaus 3130
Email

 

Chris Malbrue manages key operations of the VIP program and serves as the primary point of contact for faculty. He has studied Computer Science at Morehouse College and also Marketing at Kennesaw State University. Chris joined Georgia Tech in 2008 and previously was the Admissions Coordinator for Electrical and Computer Engineering Graduate Program and has over 15 years of experience in higher education.

Mitsuko Ito
Academic Program Coordinator

 

Phone: 404.894.9362
Office: Klaus 3128
Email

 

Mitsuko supports student registrations and hiring for the VIP program, and serves as an additional point of contact for faculty and students. She has studied Biology and International Studies at International Christian University (Tokyo, Japan) and Peace & Justice at Eastern Mennonite University. Having multiple certifications in advanced healing modalities, Mitsuko has always enjoyed collaborating with various campus units offering workshops and supporting well-being initiatives since she first joined CREATE-X/ECE/Georgia Tech in 2017.

 

I am currently a fourth-year undergraduate student studyig Computer Science with focuses in People and Media. I am part of the "Embedded Systems Cybersecurity" VIP team where I serve as the team lead for the Fire Team. Our goal is to examine and assess the cybersecurity that exists on the fire alarm control panel using reverse engineering software/skills to work towards committing a side-channel attack on the fire alarm system. I originally joined this VIP to gain cybersecurity experience, but it has contributed so much more in terms of my professional development and technical skillset; I've truly never done anything like this in my classes and probably never would have if it weren't for this VIP project! When I'm not working on this project or in class, I enjoy making beaded jewelry, going on picnics, and watching British Netflix shows.

 

I'm currently a junior undergraduate CS major at Georgia Tech, and I've been part of two VIP projects so far: "Language and Politics in the New South," and "LIDAR Robotics research." These two experiences have shaped my experience at Georgia Tech in an incredible way by sparking my interest in artificial intelligence and human-computer interaction. Working in a VIP has provided me mentorship by working alongside senior undergraduate students, master's students, and even professors. I believe it is a great way to get involved in research in any field, and personally helped me transition to the college life when I was a first-year, both academically and socially. As a VIP ambassador, I seek to introduce the whole Georgia Tech community, especially incoming first-years, to the opportunity to engage in hands-on research while making personal connections, with a low barrier to entry and a high return on investment!

 

 

I am an M.S.E.C.E. student with a Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology and currently lead Smart Stadium's SensorNet team. I specialize in in wireless IoT systems development, and have been on the team for 5 years. After graduation, I will be returning to Texas Instruments as an Applications Engineer for the Mixed Signal Processors (MSP) team. In my free time, I enjoy music performance, guitar tech repairs, and programming digital signal processing applications for use with music production tools.

 

I am currently an undergraduate student studying Music Technology at Georgia Institute of Technology. Born in Tokyo, grew up in Shanghai and came to Atlanta for college. I translated a short story by Japanese writer Kenji Miyazawa into English, and wrote an interview based biograph of Japanese translator of the Lord of the Ring series as a member of East Asian VIP group, and am working on analyzing computer generated melody for VIP this fall.

 

I am currently a Third-Year Computer Engineering undergraduate with threads in Cybersecurity and Systems & Architecture from Kildeer, IL. I have been involved in Georgia Tech VIP since Fall 2022. I am a member of the Secure Hardware VIP Team, where I am specifically involved in the Dynamic Compiler Subgroup. The team aims to leverage the security benefits of hardware to reduce the attack surface for adversaries, where I have specialized in creating a software compiler on a hardware platform. On campus, I am also involved with the Georgia Tech Catholic Center and Greek Life.

 

I am a third-year electrical engineering student from South Carolina. It is currently my third semester on the EcoCAR VIP team, and I am on the propulsion and controls modeling sub-team. I originally joined the VIP program because I wanted to get involved in interdisciplinary undergraduate research, and this program has many different opportunities for that. Besides VIP, I am an electrical and computer engeineering ambassador, and I am a member of the boxing club. When I'm not in class, I enjoy playing the viola, weightlifting, and playing tennis.

 

 

 

 

Rithesh Rajasekar

VIP Application Form & VIP Peer Evaluation