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Georgia Southern Triumphs at VIP Consortium 2024 with Outstanding New Site Development Award

Georgia Southern University brought home the award for “Outstanding New Site Development” at the 2024 Vertically Integrated Projects (VIP) Consortium hosted by Georgia Tech.

This international award recognizes Georgia Southern’s efforts to create VIP teams and projects. Started in 2022, the University’s VIP teams went from 4 teams and 17 students to 12 teams and 44 students. These teams represented Georgia Southern, with an additional 30 students who participated in First-Year Experience courses focused on an introduction to research (FYE-VIP) course.

Georgia Southern is the only institution among worldwide participants who took home an award in this category.

“The VIP team mentors and students have worked so hard and brought their best ideas to the table towards their projects,” said Shainaz Landge, Ph.D., associate professor of organic chemistry and VIP program director. “I am so proud of them.

The main purpose of the Vertically Integrated Projects (VIP) program at Georgia Southern is to create pathways for undergraduate research scholars and help them realize how early involvement in research can help build their future career,” she added.

VIP teams consist of undergraduate student teams that engage in collaborative ventures with faculty mentors, focusing on long-term interdisciplinary projects of shared interest. The teams range from nine disciplines with 18 dedicated mentors.

The titles and disciplines of the VIP teams at Georgia Southern for Spring 2024 are:

  • Botanical Garden Project – Biology 
  • Educational For All – Education 
  • Sustainable Aquatics – Biology 
  • Mentoring Adults as Teach – Math 
  • Protein Biochemistry and Just about everything – Chemistry 
  • Natural Composite Remediation – Chemistry 
  • Alcohol and Cancer – Public Health and Chemistry 
  • Microfluidic Devices – Physics 
  • Business Innovation Group (BIG) Ideas – Business 
  • Connect Academics with Service – Service Learning 
  • Bridge to Engineering – Engineering 
  • Fungi in the Environment – Biology 
Shainaz Landge, Ph.D. (L) receives the “Outstanding New Site Development” award at the 2024 VIP Consortium.

The VIP Consortium is a non-profit coalition dedicated to empowering and advancing the achievements of VIPs within global institutions of higher education. Originating from the collaborative efforts of Georgia Tech and Purdue University, this initiative has undergone over 25 years of meticulous refinement. With a footprint spanning over 40 universities worldwide, VIP programs cater to more than 4,500 students per term.

The overarching goal of the VIP Consortium is to foster the establishment and longevity of thriving VIP initiatives, thereby expediting the pace of innovation, enhancing graduation rates, mitigating disparities in undergraduate experiential learning, and equipping students with the skills to excel as future collaborators and leaders in a dynamic, cross-disciplinary workforce.  — Mary Kate Allen