I love how our colleagues blend science and art/fiction to create student success: Cosmic Missteps , a new art-and-science series hosted by a cross-disciplinary group of Georgia Tech scholars, including science fiction Lisa Yaszek and funded by Georgia Tech’s new Space Research Program. The goal of Cosmic Missteps  is to normalize failure for students and to highlight the very real beauty of failure as a regular—and generative—part of scientific inquiry and technological development. Each...

About 20 years ago, I started thinking about writing for and communicating with broader audiences, to be a public humanist, specifically a public medievalist. Being part of the Inaugural Georgia Humanities Speaker Circuit with a topic on ‘Medieval Atlanta’ is a dream come true. The Circuit is a new statewide speakers bureau celebrating the diverse stories, histories, cultures, and civic traditions of Georgia. Created in honor of  America250 , the Circuit brings exceptional humanities...

I have delivered keynotes and plenaries at many professional conferences, but yesterday's keynote at our ROTC Army Commissioning ceremony was special, and a first. Honored to be invited to speak, and tried to keep it concise and clear (against the deformation that comes from being a 'wordy' English professor). Thanks to LCL Brad Morgan, Master of Ceremony CPT Kiana Myers, and the entire Georgia Tech Stinger Battalion for their warm welcome and organizational skill. And the commissioned...