but that number could swell with hospital partnerships. Their goal, he says, is to keep the price down and boost accessibility for fix-ing cervical spine ailments. “Everyone we have talked to has been impressed, but we have a long way to go,” says Mohankumar. “We be-lieve wherever we end up, we will have contributed a lot to the industry.” CBS Journalist Continues an Atlanta Legacy BY TYRA DOUYON on current research pub-lished by leading institu-tions, from Kennesaw State University to MIT. A gap in the market be-came clear, Mohankumar says: No one was working to improve robotic surgi-cal applications related specifically to the cervical spine—the part where the neck meets the back. (In short, minimally invasive pedicle screw placement, as the group’s focus is called, is used to stabilize and support the spine when it’s weakened, injured, or unstable, while reducing tissue damage and accel-erating recovery.) This type of surgery requires submil-limeter accuracy. “We found the cervical spine [surgery] had high rates of error,” says Mo-hankumar. “The technology in this area is very under-developed. [That means] demand—high demand. And it would be helpful to automate the process.” “Surgeons are very over-worked,” adds Kim, “and we want to appeal to them. This would make their jobs way easier.” In late 2024, the young entrepreneurs landed on a company name: Firmly Surgery. They plan to soon begin the process of obtaining provisional pat-ents. (Why Firmly Surgery ? “It rhymes,” Kim laughs.) Online fundraisers have helped to cover the cost of detailed CAD model train-ing—partially powered by AI—and the physical hardware needed to put their 3D robot prototype together. An engineering teacher at school and a private physician have lent advice, but the product is thoroughly the brainchild of Firmly Surgery’s preco-cious engineers. The students, who meet after school, are currently less concerned with prof-itability than with refining the prototype into a great system and finished, phys-ical product. “Once we do that,” notes Mohankumar, “we’ll evaluate our options.” They are in talks with Geor-gia Tech to be featured at a large event as part of the Create-X entrepreneurial program. Between hardware and software, these whiz kids have identified about 23 patentable concepts with their prototype that could be applied to procedures across the body, says Mo-hankumar. Per their cal-culations, there’s a market for about 25 million such devices in the U.S. alone, Jobina Fortson-Evans in CBS Atlanta’s new virtual-reality studio For Jobina Fortson-Ev-ans, joining CBS Atlanta’s newsroom felt less like a ca-reer move and more like a homecoming to the city that first ignited her passion for storytelling. As a child, Fort-son-Evans loved interviewing people with her camcorder. Years later, she joined the Tucker High School news-paper, which sparked her in-terest in a journalism career. As a student at Howard University, Fortson-Evans completed internships at a local radio station and then a television station, where broadcasting caught her at-tention. “It was the combina-tion of the writing, plus pic-tures and sound all together, that I enjoyed,” she says. “And I haven’t really looked back.” Fortson-Evans later held on-camera jobs with TV stations in Maryland, Ken-tucky, and California. Before joining CBS Atlanta’s new team, she launched and hosted ATL Live , a daily life-style show on Atlanta News First. Along the way, she’s navigated the turbulence of the wider journalism indus-try, as traditional broadcast media looks for ways to incorporate social media into their model. Her new role embodies this pivot: This year, CBS At-lanta shifted from the news desk model to debut a digi-tally augmented virtual-re-ality studio, where anchors interact with immersive visu-als via a green screen. “With our set here, every single day is different, from the content to the way the show looks,” Fortson-Evans says. As a reporter, she says she aims to root storytelling in the community. She points to CBS’s new on-screen QR code and phone number, which al-lows viewers to submit story ideas during each broadcast. “We are not necessarily going to lead with the news that everybody else is,” she says. “While there are shootings and fires and events that are happening here, our goal is to highlight the stories that are going to impact and help people the most.” Representation is also a driving force for Fortson-Ev-ans. “There is a legacy [in Atlanta] of Black women an-choring the news,” she says. “Growing up here, I watched Monica Kaufman Pearson, Brenda Wood, and Jovita Moore.” Though that legacy stretches back to the legend-ary Xernona Clayton, the first Black woman in the South to host a regularly scheduled prime-time television talk show, representation remains limited in the industry: A 2018 study found that nationwide, Black women comprise 2.62 percent of all journalists. Fort-son-Evans sees her on-air visi-bility as a chance to influence the next generation of young reporters, especially women journalists of color. Now that she’s back in her hometown—with three Emmys to her name—Fort-son-Evans looks forward to amplifying the voices that make Atlanta what it is. “There are so many amazing people throughout this region that are doing great things and uplifting others,” she says. “That’s who we want to find to tell their stories.” February 2026 • Atlanta 19 C O U R T E S Y O F C B S N E W S AT L A N TA
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