Two Indian Land residents, Qian Chen and Rachana Kothapalli, were among the students who received degrees from the Georgia Institute of Technology this spring, the university announced.
Chen and Kothapalli were part of a class of 7,129 undergraduate and graduate students awarded degrees during Georgia Tech’s 270th commencement, held May 7 through May 9 at the Atlanta campus. Doctoral and bachelor’s ceremonies took place at McCamish Pavilion, while master’s degrees were conferred at Bobby Dodd Stadium.
Other students from the coverage area also graduated in the same class. They included Soneeka Soni of Tega Cay and Manickaselvam K. Mahalingam of Fort Mill.
Georgia Tech is one of the top public research universities in the country, offering degrees in business, computing, design, engineering, liberal arts, and the sciences. The Atlanta institution enrolls more than 56,000 undergraduate and graduate students representing 54 U.S. states and territories and more than 146 countries, and it conducts more than $1 billion in research each year.
Students study at the main campus in Atlanta, at instructional sites around the world, and through distance and online programs.
More information about the university is available at gatech.edu.
Source: Georgia Institute of Technology commencement announcement, dated June 30, 2026.
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Thomas Hyslip lives in Tega Cay with his wife and daughter. After 27 years in the U.S. Army and Federal Law Enforcement, he retired to pursue his passion for teaching. Tom is now an Assistant Professor of Instruction at the University of South Florida. In 2 short years he has won 10 awards from the South Carolina Press Association, including first place in column writing, education beat reporting and best podcast.
