Georgia Institute of Technology

The secret to finding a new job? Keep your spirits up, even when faced with rejection or little feedback. Psychology Professor Ruth Kanfer just wrapped up a study that focused on motivation and discusses the findings. 

The research shows that having a more positive, motivational outlook had a beneficial effect on job pursuit, especially at the outset of the search. However, the more important influence on maintaining one's job search activities and increasing the likelihood of landing employment was a person's ability to stay energized and keep negative emotions under control over time. 

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Like most cities in the U.S., Atlanta is plagued with horrendous traffic. Undoubtedly the congestion could be eased if more people used public transporation. But public transit is often slow and frustrating. Take riding the bus for example. It’s typical to wait a while, only to have several buses show up one after another. Fortunately, Georgia Tech's Industrial & Systems Engineering Professor John Bartholdi has an answer to the bus bunching dilemma. Abandon the fixed schedule, tell drivers to go with the flow of traffic and use a "self-equalizing" formula developed by Georgia Tech.

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James Wray, assistant professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, is an expert on Mars. He comments on NASA's latest image of the Red Planet, which shows a giant dust devil that stretches nearly 12 miles above the surface.

Geologically, much of the action on Mars ended a few billion years ago. The largest volcanic eruptions, meteoroid impacts and liquid water flows all fizzled out long ago. But the winds on Mars continue to blow and, even though the Martian atmosphere is over 100 times thinner than Earth's, these winds can still lift dust particles high into the air.

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M-dwarfs, or small stars about half the size of our sun, are the most popular stars in the Milky Way: our galaxy has nearly 150 billion of them. A team of European astronomers recently looked at 102 M-dwarfs and found two planets orbiting inside what is called the "Goldilocks" region – the region where temperatures are not too hot or cold for liquid water. In theory, that means there are tens of billions of Goldilocks planets in the Milky Way. If there's water, there could be life, says School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Associate Professor James Wray.

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Gary May, dean of Georgia Tech's College of Engineering, the largest in the nation, weighs in on why engineers are in such high demand.

U.S News and World Report recently reported that the unemployment rate in the field of engineering is at two percent. Industry watchers see demand for all types of engineers particularly in electrical, computer, mechanical and petroleum engineering, to name a few. But the percentage of U.S. undergraduates enrolled in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) programs is now down to its lowest level in recent memory. According to the National Science Foundation, only 4.5 percent of all undergraduates graduate from college with engineering degrees.

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Georgia Tech Associate Professor Andrew Newman has been monitoring more than 20 GPS stations on the famous Greek island of Santorini since 2006. He didn't see much action until January of last year. Since then, however, the beautiful island has been moving at unprecedented levels thanks to earthquakes created by the expansion of the volcano undeneath the well-known ciliff side villas and hotels. Some of Newman's stations have moved as much as nine centimeters.

That doesn't mean an erupt is imminent. In fact, other calderas like Santorini's have expanded at similar levels without erupting. But should it blow its top, Newman said it could prove to be dangerous for the tourist spot.

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The Tohoku tsunami was Japan’s deadliest in more than 100 years. Despite an extraordinary level of preparedness by the Japanese, the tsunami caused more than 90 percent of the almost 20,000 fatalities last March.

Hermann Fritz, Georgia Tech associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, and his research team are studying the impact of the tsunami on the Sanriku coast. Using eyewitness video and terrestrial laser scanners from atop the highest buildings that survived the tsunami, Fritz has mapped the tsunami’s height, velocity and flood zone to learn more about the flow of the devastating currents.

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Mars is too cold for liquid water these days, but scientists are constantly debating if oceans covered the Red Planet billions of years ago. A new study from France suggests that Mars was once a "watery world."

James Wray, an assistant professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, studies Mars as part of Georgia Tech's Planetary Surface Geology Group. He and his peers are searching for life in the universe or conditions that could support life.

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A new study, discussed in National Geographic, indicates that a volcano in Death Valley National Park is  younger – much younger – than previously thought. Until now, scientists thought the eruptions that caused California's Ubehebe Crater occured thousands of years ago. New research hints that they occurred 800 years ago. Death Valley is pretty much the same today as it was eight centuries ago, which means conditions might be ripe for another potential eruption.

Andrew Newman, associate professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, says it takes a very long time for a volcano to be deemed "extinct."

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