Raised by a single mother who is an elementary school teacher in Orlando, Florida, chemical engineering major Amanda Johnston is grateful for the various scholarship support she has received during her years at Georgia Tech.

“Going out of state was a big financial burden for me, so it was very helpful to have support from the Georgia Tech community to help me alleviate some of my concerns,” said Johnston, a student government leader who was one of two honorees crowned Ramblin’ Royalty at the 2023 Homecoming game. She will graduate in fall 2024. 

“I give back to my community every day as a student leader and can’t wait to continue my contributions once I am a Georgia Tech alum,” she said.

Scholarship Support

During 2023-24, Johnston was a recipient of the Ashlee Townsend Cribb Scholarship. Recently, Johnston and fellow chemical engineering major Lucinda Nugent (the 2022-23 Cribb scholarship recipient who’s served as a leader in the student affiliate of the American Chemical Society) were able to meet Cribb.

They expressed appreciation of the scholarship that Cribb endowed while discussing their career goals and receiving advice.

“It’s amazing to meet you,” Nugent (who is due to graduate in Spring 2025) told Cribb. “This scholarship has given me both financial support and inspirational encouragement. Especially coming from another female chemical engineer, the scholarship served as a symbol of the supportive alumni community this major has.”

Cribb, who is vice president of wood products for PotlatchDeltic Corporation, is a 1987 graduate of Georgia Tech’s School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (ChBE).

Giving Back

The ChBE scholarship is the second she has endowed at Georgia Tech. The first was in honor of her late husband Ric Cribb (EE 1987) whom she met on her first day on campus and married shortly after graduation.

“He was passionate about innovation, and I was able to promote that through a scholarship supporting a team in the entrepreneurial CREATE-X program,” she said.

Later she decided it was time to create a scholarship geared toward women undergraduates in ChBE, and the endowment has benefited four students to date. She’s also in the process of endowing a fellowship to support ChBE graduate students amidst the rising cost of living.

“It’s great to give back to a place that’s been an important part of helping me become who I am today,” Cribb said.

Paving the Way

Prior to joining PotlatchDeltic in 2021, Cribb was senior vice president/chief commercial officer at Roseburg Forest Products. She previously worked for Georgia-Pacific in several roles, including vice president of industrial packaging.

Cribb noted that there were not many women in the timber industry when she joined Georgia-Pacific in 2008. 

“I am one of the women who has paved the way in the timber industry to show you can be here and be successful,” she said. “In my current role, I frequently reach out to younger women in the organization to be available to spend time with them and answer questions.”

A native of Waycross, Georgia, who now lives in Spokane, Washington, with her husband, Walt, Cribb began her career as a process engineer for Monsanto, evolving into a variety of different roles during her 16 years there.

Georgia Tech Family

Cribb regularly returns to Atlanta, where her company has an office, for meetings of ChBE’s External Advisory Board, of which she is a member, and as a season ticket holder of Georgia Tech basketball games.

“We’re a Tech family,” said Cribb, who had the Ramblin’ Reck present at the wedding with her late husband, Ric. Their son, Matthew, earned his PhD in Bioengineering at Tech in 2022 after graduating with bachelor's and master's degrees in mechanical engineering here. “Georgia Tech is ingrained in our legacy.”

She credits Georgia Tech with giving her the confidence to pursue new avenues during her career. “Women sometimes struggle to raise their hand and step out of their comfort zone,” she said. “But Tech has given me that confidence my entire career. You never know what opportunities are going to present themselves and where your career is going to go.  Being flexible has been a key part of my success and therefore my ability to give back.”

Please note gifts and commitments in support of undergraduate scholarships are included in Transforming Tomorrow: The Campaign for Georgia Tech, a more than $2 billion comprehensive campaign designed to secure resources that will advance the Institute and its impact — on people’s lives, on the way we work together to create innovative solutions, and on our world — for decades to come.