{"324661":{"#nid":"324661","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Petit Scholar Balancing Act","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ETwo things you rarely see in the same sentence are \u201ccheerleader\u201d and \u201cresearch scientist.\u201d But right now, Mar\u00eda D\u00edaz Ortiz is equally comfortable being both of those things, balancing these two demanding roles at the Georgia Institute of Technology with the grace of a gymnast, which would only make sense, considering she\u2019s worn that mantle, too.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EA former member of the Puerto Rican national gymnastics team, it was an easy transition to \u201ccheerleader\u201d at Georgia Tech for D\u00edaz Ortiz, who works football and basketball home games and engages in cheerleading team competition, which involves a lot of tumbling, flipping and throwing people in the air.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI like to stay grounded, so fortunately, I\u2019m not one of the people who gets thrown into the air,\u201d says Diaz Ortiz, a 2014 Petit Scholar, who has found that her athletic endeavors help fuel the rest of her busy life at Tech. \u201cOh, it definitely keeps me in shape, keeps me healthy, which is pretty important with my high-pace schedule. But I like keeping a busy schedule. It helps make me more structured. And I love cheerleading because there is a real sense of community and bonding. I\u2019ve got great teammates.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ED\u00edaz Ortiz, a senior in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, sees a clear correlation between cheerleading and her work with mentor Chris Johnson in Andr\u00e9s Garc\u00eda\u2019s lab at the Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience. Her independent research project is entitled, \u0022A Critical Bone Defect Infection Model Utilizing an Engineered Bioluminescent Clinical Strain of Pseudomonas Aeruginosa.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI definitely do see a parallel between cheerleading and my courses in biomedical engineering and work in the lab at the Petit Institute. You get to collaborate with people with diverse backgrounds and ideas,\u201d she says. \u201cJust within the lab, for example, are people who have biotech backgrounds working with mechanical engineers. You\u2019ve got people with different strengths, working together on the same project. Same thing in cheerleading. You\u2019ve got people who are stronger at tumbling, people who are stronger at putting other people up in the air. It\u2019s interesting to see how people from so many different backgrounds can work so well together.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhen D\u00edaz Ortiz arrived at Tech, she brought an interest in science, and liked the idea of doing research, but didn\u2019t know if she wanted to be a research scientist or not. Then she interviewed with Garc\u00eda for an opening in his lab for an undergraduate research assistant, and really dug it, and became interested in applying to the Petit Scholarship program \u2013 and the program wanted her. She was first invited to become a Petit Scholar for 2013, but at the same time, she was offered an internship with Abbott Laboratories and decided to defer her acceptance into the Petit Scholars program for a year.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI really wanted to get a feeling for what industry was like,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019d gotten the research experience, but didn\u2019t have a feel for industry. It turned out to be a good learning experience for me, because it wasn\u2019t quite what I expected, and honestly, it helped me cross out that idea.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EPlanning to graduate in the spring, D\u00edaz Ortiz is in the process of applying to M.D.-Ph.D. programs \u2013 ultimately, she wants to do clinical research.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI haven\u2019t decided where I want to go yet, but I\u2019d prefer to stay near a city that is a hub of biomedical research,\u201d she says. Her top three choices would be somewhere in Boston, California, or right here at the Tech\/Emory joint biomedical engineering program. \u201cWhere ever I wind up, I feel like the Petit Scholarship experience has been good preparation for grad school. It\u2019s definitely given me a feeling for what independent research is like.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Mar\u00eda D\u00edaz Ortiz stays busy on the sidelines and in the laboratory"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EPetit Scholar Balancing Act - Mar\u00eda D\u00edaz Ortiz stays busy on the sidelines and in the laboratory.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Mar\u00eda D\u00edaz Ortiz stays busy on the sidelines and in the laboratory."}],"uid":"27195","created_gmt":"2014-09-14 22:19:44","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:17:04","author":"Colly Mitchell","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2014-09-15T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2014-09-15T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"324671":{"id":"324671","type":"image","title":"Mar\u00eda D\u00edaz Ortiz - 2014 Petit Scholar","body":null,"created":"1449245025","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 16:03:45","changed":"1475895034","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:50:34","alt":"Mar\u00eda D\u00edaz Ortiz - 2014 Petit Scholar","file":{"fid":"200189","name":"diazortizmaria-cropped_square.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/diazortizmaria-cropped_square_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/diazortizmaria-cropped_square_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":418896,"path_740":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/diazortizmaria-cropped_square_0.jpg?itok=6x9a--mc"}},"330971":{"id":"330971","type":"image","title":"Mar\u00eda D\u00edaz Ortiz","body":null,"created":"1449245114","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 16:05:14","changed":"1475895041","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:50:41","alt":"Mar\u00eda D\u00edaz Ortiz","file":{"fid":"200359","name":"basketball_action_shot.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/basketball_action_shot_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/basketball_action_shot_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":256963,"path_740":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/basketball_action_shot_0.jpg?itok=a8_V7kA0"}},"330961":{"id":"330961","type":"image","title":"Mar\u00eda D\u00edaz Ortiz","body":null,"created":"1449245114","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 16:05:14","changed":"1475895041","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:50:41","alt":"Mar\u00eda D\u00edaz Ortiz","file":{"fid":"200358","name":"wreck_picture.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/wreck_picture_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/wreck_picture_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":177582,"path_740":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/wreck_picture_0.jpg?itok=8056FRZh"}},"330941":{"id":"330941","type":"image","title":"Mar\u00eda D\u00edaz Ortiz","body":null,"created":"1449245114","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 16:05:14","changed":"1475895041","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:50:41","alt":"Mar\u00eda D\u00edaz Ortiz","file":{"fid":"200357","name":"yellow_jacket_alley.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/yellow_jacket_alley_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/yellow_jacket_alley_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":152574,"path_740":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/yellow_jacket_alley_0.jpg?itok=PAYPUP89"}}},"media_ids":["324671","330971","330961","330941"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.petitinstitute.gatech.edu\/petit-scholars","title":"Petit Scholars website"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.garcialab.gatech.edu\/","title":"Garcia lab website"}],"groups":[{"id":"1254","name":"Wallace H. Coulter Dept. of Biomedical Engineering"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"},{"id":"8862","name":"Student Research"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"1625","name":"athletics"},{"id":"249","name":"Biomedical Engineering"},{"id":"8707","name":"Petit Scholar"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71871","name":"Campus and Community"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJerry Grillo\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ECommunications Officer II\u003Cbr \/\u003EParker H. Petit Institute for\u003Cbr \/\u003EBioengineering \u0026amp; Bioscience\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}