The 2019 Atlanta ARCS Scholar Awards Luncheon will be held on Thursday, November 21, at The Ritz-Carlton in downtown Atlanta. 

The luncheon will begin at 11:15, but we encourage you to arrive early so you can mix and mingle with the ARCS Foundation Atlanta Scholars in the reception area.  This is a great opportunity to get to know these amazing students and support them through personal connections which can often be more valuable than any award amount.

This year we will recognize 57 scholars from Emory University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Morehouse College and University of Georgia.  In total, our scholars will receive $461,000 in awards, bringing our cumulative awards total to $5.7 million.

The luncheon program will focus on our core mission, the Atlanta ARCS Foundation Scholars.  We are excited to have Dr. Manu Platt again this year. Associate Professor in the Wallace H. Coulter School of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech, Dr. Platt will lead a group of Atlanta ARCS Scholars in a discussion about the important work they are doing and how ARCS has impacted their lives. 

Dr. Platt’s research centers on proteolytic mechanisms of tissue remodeling during disease progression using both experimental and computational approaches. His work has been funded by NIH Director’s New Innovator Award, International AIDS Society, Georgia Cancer Coalition, and the National Science Foundation. He is also the Diversity Director for the NSF Science and Technology Center for Emergent Behaviors of Integrated Cellular Systems (EBICS). Awards for mentoring and outreach have included the Georgia Tech Diversity Champion award, Junior Faculty Above and Beyond Award, and the Junior Faculty Outstanding Undergraduate Research Mentor Award from Georgia Tech. He was recently named an Emerging Scholar by Diverse: Issues in Higher Education magazine in 2015, Atlanta 40 under 40 by the Atlanta Business Chronicle in 2016, and the Biomedical Engineering Society Diversity Award in 2017.

This will be a fascinating and informative program for all. Please make your reservations and invite guests who would be interested in seeing the great work that Atlanta ARCS Foundation Scholars are doing.  Thanks to Erin Dasher and her committee for all of their hard work in planning the luncheon.