{"615583":{"#nid":"615583","#data":{"type":"news","title":"A Dream Come True Degree ","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EJessica Britt was surrounded by math and science from a very young age, and when she figured out she could use it to solve problems, she fell in love.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EHer grandfather attended Georgia Tech before starting up an electrical contracting company. It\u0026rsquo;s the same family business where her father worked.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;By the time I was in fifth grade I was spelling sentences saying, \u0026lsquo;I want to go to Georgia Tech to become an electrical engineer,\u0026rsquo;\u0026rdquo; Britt says.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EHer family pushed her to follow her dream and attend Georgia Tech. Now, she\u0026rsquo;s the first person in her family to have earned a college degree.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;It\u0026rsquo;s truly a dream come true,\u0026rdquo; says Britt.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBut the journey to her master\u0026rsquo;s degree in electrical engineering didn\u0026rsquo;t come without trials.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EDuring finals week of her first year, Britt\u0026rsquo;s father was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EHe passed away in Britt\u0026rsquo;s junior year.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;I struggled in my classes. I\u0026rsquo;ve never had to cram for finals like I did that semester,\u0026rdquo; she says.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ELuckily, during her time at Georgia Tech, Britt found something she could pour her energy into beside her schoolwork. On a whim, she joined EcoCAR, a team of nearly 50 engineers who worked together to take a Chevrolet Camaro and transform it into an environmentally friendly, fully electric sportscar.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBritt admits she knew little about cars before joining the team. Most of her knowledge came from watching the Barrett-Jackson Auto Action on television with her father.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;I was really good at guessing how much a car would cost but had no idea how they worked,\u0026rdquo; Britt explained. \u0026ldquo;Now I know how to completely design a car from a controls perspective, and I found my passion.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIn her time at Georgia Tech, she has excelled in the EcoCAR 3 Competition, winning the national SMS and Controls Presentation First Place Award, the Excellence in Leadership Award, and the Women in Engineering Award.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ENow that she\u0026rsquo;s graduated, Britt will join Argonne National Labs, the headline sponsor responsible for managing the national EcoCAR competition.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Georgia Tech doesn\u0026rsquo;t just teach you formulas and how to do homework but teaches you how to think,\u0026rdquo; Britt said. \u0026ldquo;The problems you are given are real-world problems, and you have a chance to make a real difference in the work you are doing.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;By the time I was in fifth grade I was spelling sentences saying, \u0026lsquo;I want to go to Georgia Tech to become an electrical engineer,\u0026rsquo;\u0026rdquo; Britt says.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Jessica Britt knew from an early age that she wanted to come to Georgia Tech. "}],"uid":"28058","created_gmt":"2018-12-18 19:10:49","changed_gmt":"2018-12-19 15:00:04","author":"Steven Norris","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2018-12-18T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2018-12-18T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"615586":{"id":"615586","type":"image","title":"Jessica Britt","body":null,"created":"1545160393","gmt_created":"2018-12-18 19:13:13","changed":"1545160393","gmt_changed":"2018-12-18 19:13:13","alt":"Jessica Britt ","file":{"fid":"234378","name":"jessica8.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/jessica8.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/jessica8.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":106609,"path_740":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/jessica8.jpeg?itok=XjZzL5bx"}}},"media_ids":["615586"],"groups":[{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"},{"id":"1255","name":"School of Electrical and Computer Engineering"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"1235","name":"women in engineering"},{"id":"13886","name":"College of Engineering; EcoCAR challenge"},{"id":"180011","name":"jessica britt"},{"id":"180012","name":"auburn georgia"}],"core_research_areas":[],"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\u003ESteven Norris\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech Social Media\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["snorris@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}