A research team led by Yuhang Hu, associate professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, has created a new material designed to do exactly that. In a new study published in Advanced Materials, Hu and her collaborators describe a groundbreaking class of “living” polymers that can grow, shrink, heal, and even regenerate long after fabrication.

Their work combines advances in chemistry, mechanics, and materials design into a polymer platform that could reshape how engineered products are built, maintained, and recycled.

Read the full story on the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering website.

Published today in the journal Nature Communications, the paper “Trivalent Titanium in High-Titanium Lunar Ilmenite” confirms titanium in a reduced, trivalent state in a black, metal-rich lunar mineral called ilmenite. It’s a state only possible in low-oxygen environments, conditions researchers refer to as “reducing.”

“Models have suggested that these reducing conditions may have varied at different locations and times across the surface of the Moon,” says lead author Advik Vira, a graduate student in the School of Physics who recently earned his doctoral degree. “We hope our microscopy technique can be a valuable step in mapping and understanding the Moon’s 4.5-billion-year history.”

The team anticipates that their technique could be used on many of the lunar samples collected more than 50 years ago by the Apollo missions in addition to the Apollo Next Generation Samples — a group of lunar samples that have been stored under pristine conditions — and new samples from the planned Artemis missions, with Artemis II slated for launch this spring. The technique might also be applicable to samples collected from the far side of the Moon and returned in 2024 by the Chang’e-6 mission.

“The Moon holds clues not only to its own past, but also to the earliest eras of Earth’s evolution — history that has long since been erased from our planet,” Vira says. “This study is a step toward understanding the history of both and a reminder that there is still so much left to learn from the lunar rocks we’ve brought back to Earth.”

The School of Physics research team included corresponding authors Vira and Professor Phillip First; in addition to graduate student Roshan Trivedi; undergraduate students Gabriella Dotson, Keyes Eames, Dean Kim, and Emma Livernois; and Professor Zhigang Jiang, along with Institute for Matter and Systems Materials Characterization Facility Senior Research Scientist Mengkun Tian; School of Chemistry and Biochemistry Senior Research Scientist Brant Jones and Thom Orlando, Regents' Professor in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry with a joint appointment in the School of Physics. 

The Georgia Tech team was joined by Addis Energy Senior Geochemist Katherine Burgess; Macalester College Assistant Professor of Geology Emily First; along with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Research Scientist Harrison Lisabeth, Senior Scientist Nobumichi Tamura, and Postdoctoral Fellow Tyler Farr, who recently earned a Ph.D. from Georgia Tech’s George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering.

CLEVER research

The investigation began with a dark gray rock called a lunar basalt. Formed when ancient magma erupted on the Moon’s surface, minerals crystallized as it cooled — preserving key information in their structures. Billions of years later, the rock was brought to Earth by the 1972 Apollo 17 mission, where a small piece is now stored at Georgia Tech’s Center for Lunar Environment and Volatile Exploration Research (CLEVER), a NASA Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI) center led by Orlando.

As a NASA virtual institute, CLEVER supports researchers exploring lunar conditions and developing tools for the upcoming crewed Artemis missions, and provided the lunar samples for this research. The SSERVI also plays a critical role in training the next generation of planetary researchers: both Vira and Farr earned their Ph.D.s while on the CLEVER team.

“At CLEVER, we are very interested in understanding the impacts of space weathering,” Vira says. “We implemented modern sample preparation and advanced microscopy techniques to image samples at the atomic level, and were curious to apply it more broadly to the collection of Apollo rocks in the Orlando Lab. This sample caught our attention.”

“When we imaged an ilmenite crystal from the lunar basalt, what struck us first was how uniform and perfect the crystal structure was,” he recalls. “We found no defects from space weathering and instead saw an undamaged, pristine crystal — undisturbed for 3.8 billion years.”

To investigate further, the team analyzed small chips of the rock with Burgess, a member of the RISE2 SSERVI team and then a geologist at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory. Using state-of-the-art electron microscopy and spectroscopy techniques, Vira determined the oxidation state of the elements in the ilmenite present. 

In spectroscopy measurements, each element leaves a distinct ‘signature,’ Vira explains. “When we brought our results back to Georgia Tech’s Materials Characterization Facility, Mengkun (Tian) noticed something unusual: the signature showed titanium might be present in the trivalent state.”

The presence of trivalent titanium had long been suspected in this lunar mineral. The team was intrigued. 

A new window into old rocks

With funding from Georgia Tech’s Center for Space Technology and Research (CSTAR), Vira returned to the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory to analyze additional samples. The results confirmed that more titanium was present than the mineral’s formula (FeTiO₃) predicts — indicating a portion of the titanium present was trivalent.

“That led me to place our measurements in terms of the broader geological context,” Vira shares. Working with First, Vira explored how ilmenite with trivalent titanium could help reconstruct the nature of ancient magmas from the Moon, especially the chemical availability of oxygen.

“Because its location on the Moon was noted during the Apollo mission, we know exactly where this rock is from, and we can determine how old the rock is,” he explains. “When coupled with our trivalent titanium measurements, we can use that information to estimate the reducing conditions for this specific region at the specific time our rock formed.”

If the upcoming Artemis missions return samples suitable for the team’s technique, these rocks could provide a new window into ancient lunar geology. The research also highlights that many lunar samples already on Earth could be reexamined to look for trivalent titanium.

“There is still so much to learn from the lunar samples we have already brought to Earth,” Vira says. “It’s a testament to the long-term value of each sample return mission. As technology continues to advance, this type of work will continue to give us critical insights into our planet and our place in the universe for years to come.”

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-026-69770-w

Funding: This work was directly supported by the NASA SSERVI under CLEVER. Researchers were also supported by the NASA RISE2 SSERVI and the Heising-Simons Foundation. Funding for collaborations between the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory and Georgia Tech for the investigation of lunar minerals was provided by the Georgia Tech Center for Space Technology and Research. Sample preparation was performed at the Georgia Tech Institute for Matter and Systems, which is supported by the National Science Foundation. This work utilized the resources of the Advanced Light Source, a user facility supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, and was supported in part by previous breakthroughs obtained through the Laboratory Direct.

Set in the heart of Tech Square on the Georgia Tech campus, this year’s event explores how energy systems, materials, technologies, supply chains, and policy must evolve in response to AI’s accelerating impact. As digital infrastructure expands and computation intensifies, the need for reliable, resilient, and sustainable power has never been more urgent. 

“Energy Day reflects Georgia Tech’s strength in connecting world-class research in materials and components with the infrastructure and partnerships needed to translate discovery into scalable energy technologies that serve industry, society, and the future economy,” said Eric Vogel, executive director of the IMS and the Hightower Professor in Materials Science and Engineering. 

Energy Day 2026 also marks an important milestone with the introduction of its first group of corporate sponsors: GE Vernova, Southern Company, Georgia Power, ExxonMobil, Southwire Spark, Gems Setra, and Tektronix. Their support reflects a shared commitment to advancing energy solutions. 

“Tektronix is excited to be part of Energy Day because advancing the future of energy starts with precise measurement and trusted insights,” said Christopher Bohn, president of Tektronix. “From power electronics and high voltage systems to grid scale renewables and AI driven control technologies, the breakthroughs discussed here directly align with the innovations we support through our products and solutions. Collaborating with Georgia Tech allows us to engage early with emerging research and the next generation of engineers—critical collaborators in building a cleaner, smarter, and more resilient energy ecosystem.”

The keynote address will be delivered by Vanessa Z. Chan, a nationally recognized leader at the intersection of innovation, commercialization, and emerging technologies. Chan will provide insights on accelerating technological discovery, emphasizing how AI is transforming energy and materials design. She will discuss how commercialization strategies must rapidly evolve across multidisciplinary energy domains from grid modernization to advanced batteries and clean manufacturing.

Building on the themes introduced in the keynote, the program transitions into a fireside chat with Georgia Tech EVPR Tim Lieuwen featuring Amit Kulkarni and Jim Walsh. Kulkarni is vice president of Product Management and Strategy for the Gas Power business within GE Vernova, where he oversees the world’s largest portfolio of power generation equipment. Walsh, vice president of GE Vernova’s Consulting Services, leads teams providing innovative solutions across the full spectrum of power generation, delivery, and utilization.

Next comes a policy-focused panel that will explore the surge in power demand driven by AI, how the United States is addressing today’s most urgent energy challenges, and the long-term implications of today’s decisions for a sustainable energy future. Bringing together leading voices in U.S. environmental and energy policy, the panel features Joe Aldy of Harvard University and former special assistant to the president for Energy and Environment; Al McGartland of New York University’s Institute for Policy Integrity and former Environmental Protection Agency lead economist and director of the National Center for Environmental Economics; and Kevin Rennert, fellow and director of the Comprehensive Climate Strategies Program at Resources for the Future and former staff member on the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.

The second panel focuses on critical materials — the foundation of advanced energy systems and digital technologies. As AI, data centers, and advanced energy technologies drive demand for critical materials, securing them now requires integration and coordination across the entire value chain. Panelists include Rachel Galloway, British consul general in Atlanta; Vijay Murugesan, head of Materials Intelligence and Digital Innovation at Amazon; Colin Spellmeyer, executive strategic sourcing leader at GE Vernova;  Charles Sims, Tennessee Valley Authority Distinguished Professor of Energy and Environmental Policy at the University of Tennessee; and Nortey Yeboah, principal engineer at Southern Company. Together, they will offer perspectives on the policy and economic frameworks shaping the energy supply chain, from developing raw resources to manufacturing the technologies essential to future energy systems.

In the afternoon, participants can dive deeper into specialized topics through three focused technical tracks. 

• “Meeting the Demand for Power” will examine how emerging technologies, advanced nuclear systems, and renewable integration can work together to deliver reliable, resilient electricity.
• “Data Center Infrastructure and Resources” will explore innovations in thermal management technologies, energy-efficient computing, and the broader resource impacts of expanding digital infrastructure.
• “Grid Technologies and Markets” will highlight strategies for strengthening grid capacity, incorporating demand-side management, and optimizing carbon performance as energy systems evolve.

“Meeting the rapidly rising electricity demand driven by AI requires bold ideas, coordinated action, and research that moves at the speed of innovation,” said Yuanzhi Tang, executive director of the SEI. “Energy Day 2026 brings together the people and expertise needed to shape resilient, sustainable energy systems for the future. At Georgia Tech, we see this event as a catalyst for new partnerships, new solutions, and a shared commitment to strengthening the nation’s energy foundation.”

Energy Day 2026 is designed for researchers advancing emerging energy technologies, policymakers navigating shifting regulatory and geopolitical landscapes, industry professionals seeking insight into emerging tools and supply chains, and students preparing to enter one of the most consequential sectors of the decade. It also welcomes anyone interested in AI, sustainability, electrification, and critical materials. 

Join us to explore the future of energy. To learn more and register, visit: Energy Day 2026.

As a recipient of an Undergraduate Sustainability Education Innovation grant, Goodman received financial support to redesign MSE 2001 Principles and Applications of Engineering Materials using the UN Sustainable Development Goals. 

These goals provide a blueprint for “peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future.” They tackle challenges like improving health and wellbeing, building sustainable communities, and fostering social and ecological resilience.

The Project

For Goodman, the course redesign was more than a short-term goal; it was a way for her to have a long-term impact on the world around her. Together with Lily Turaski, the course coordinator for MSE 2001, Goodman created assignments that challenged students to think critically about how the choices they make impact the planet.

“We wanted to highlight sustainability in our course in a way that didn't silo it in one or two topics, but allowed us to touch on sustainability throughout the entire semester, ” said Goodman. “Every engineer is going to be working with materials and of course they're going to be thinking ‘Does this have the mechanical properties I want, and the electrical properties I want, and does the cost make sense?’ But we also want to put sustainability and ethics into the front of everyone's mind as something that needs to be considered when you're doing a material selection.”

Thanks to the grant, Goodman was able to hire three undergraduate students to assist with the course redesign over the summer: Syona Gupta, Swayam Trivedi, and Laura Mae Killingsworth. “We spent a lot of time brainstorming! The topic of sustainability is so broad and there are so many great examples. Having not only my ideas and Lily’s ideas but also the ideas of three additional people on our team [helped us] think about what students would find interesting.”

Goodman noted that MSE 2001 can be formula heavy. By incorporating sustainability into the course, Goodman was able to create a personal connection that helped students become more excited about the work.

Design challenges were one of the ways Goodman brought sustainability to life for her students. One example involved asking the class to think about producing a cutting board for students. Because the designated audience was students, the materials needed to be inexpensive; however, Goodman also asked her class to avoid microplastics. 

Using a tool called Granta Ansys Edupack, students were able to identify sustainability metrics – for example, how much water is used to produce a material, or what happens to the material at the end of its life – for all different materials, and incorporate that knowledge into their decision-making. 

Over the summer, Goodman and her three student assistants conceptualized a “Sustainable Shark Tank” project where students created a product proposal tied to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Goodman challenged her students to think about the human condition: the people working in plants making the materials. “Are they being treated well? Where are we sourcing the material from, and are we taking into account the social and environmental factors involved?”

These projects increased classroom engagement and discussion. “I think a lot of students care very deeply about sustainability,” said Goodman. “For a lot of people that’s the reason they picked their major.”

Developing Global Leaders Who Improve the Human Condition

Goodman’s work embodies Tech’s mission to develop leaders who improve the human condition. “Materials Science is a really intuitive place to incorporate sustainability because everything is made out of a material. Somebody made a decision to [choose that material], and that decision has ramifications for the user of the material, the people making the material, and the people who live in the place where the raw materials are sourced. Our decisions have a global impact.” 

“In MSE, we have intentionally integrated sustainability into our core courses,” said Associate Chair Mary Lynn Realff. “Professor Goodman has expanded our reach to students outside the Materials Science & Engineering major through MSE 2001. Georgia Tech students care about sustainability and Professor Goodman helps the students see how to integrate sustainability into their engineering solutions in thoughtful and meaningful ways.”

Get Involved: Sustainable Development Goals in Action

During UN SDG Action and Awareness Week, higher education institutions promote awareness of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and inspire faculty, staff, and students to further the goals on campus. 

Join Georgia Tech as we recognize SDG Week March 2nd-6th, 2026. The Center for Teaching and Learning offers two events related to sustainability education: a Climate Teach-In on March 3rd and a workshop on engaging students using real-world challenges on March 5th. 

McDowell is one 130 new members and 28 international members in the 2026 class. Election to the NAE is among the highest professional recognitions for engineers and an honor bestowed on just 2,900 professionals worldwide. New members are nominated and voted on by the Academy’s existing membership.

McDowell is Georgia Tech’s 50th NAE member. He is Regents’ Professor Emeritus in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and the School of Materials Science and Engineering.

Read the full story about McDowell on the College of Engineering website.

University research drives U.S. innovation, and Georgia Institute of Technology is leading the way.  

Students and faculty from the School of Computational Science and Engineering (CSE) are leading the Georgia Tech contingent at the SIAM Conference on Computational Science and Engineering (CSE25). The Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) organizes CSE25, occurring March 3-7 in Fort Worth, Texas.

At CSE25, the School of CSE researchers are presenting papers that apply computing approaches to varying fields, including:                   

• Experiment designs to accelerate the discovery of material properties
• Machine learning approaches to model and predict weather forecasting and coastal flooding
• Virtual models that replicate subsurface geological formations used to store captured carbon dioxide
• Optimizing systems for imaging and optical chemistry
• Plasma physics during nuclear fusion reactions

[Related: GT CSE at SIAM CSE25 Interactive Graphic] 

“In CSE, researchers from different disciplines work together to develop new computational methods that we could not have developed alone,” said School of CSE Professor Edmond Chow. 

“These methods enable new science and engineering to be performed using computation.” 

CSE is a discipline dedicated to advancing computational techniques to study and analyze scientific and engineering systems. CSE complements theory and experimentation as modes of scientific discovery. 

Held every other year, CSE25 is the primary conference for the SIAM Activity Group on Computational Science and Engineering (SIAG CSE). School of CSE faculty serve in key roles in leading the group and preparing for the conference.

In December, SIAG CSE members elected Chow to a two-year term as the group’s vice chair. This election comes after Chow completed a term as the SIAG CSE program director. 

School of CSE Associate Professor Elizabeth Cherry has co-chaired the CSE25 organizing committee since the last conference in 2023. Later that year, SIAM members reelected Cherry to a second, three-year term as a council member at large. 

At Georgia Tech, Chow serves as the associate chair of the School of CSE. Cherry, who recently became the associate dean for graduate education of the College of Computing, continues as the director of CSE programs. 

“With our strong emphasis on developing and applying computational tools and techniques to solve real-world problems, researchers in the School of CSE are well positioned to serve as leaders in computational science and engineering both within Georgia Tech and in the broader professional community,” Cherry said. 

Georgia Tech’s School of CSE was first organized as a division in 2005, becoming one of the world’s first academic departments devoted to the discipline. The division reorganized as a school in 2010 after establishing the flagship CSE Ph.D. and M.S. programs, hiring nine faculty members, and attaining substantial research funding.

Ten School of CSE faculty members are presenting research at CSE25, representing one-third of the School’s faculty body. Of the 23 accepted papers written by Georgia Tech researchers, 15 originate from School of CSE authors.

The list of School of CSE researchers, paper titles, and abstracts includes:
Bayesian Optimal Design Accelerates Discovery of Material Properties from Bubble Dynamics
Postdoctoral Fellow Tianyi Chu, Joseph Beckett, Bachir Abeid, and Jonathan Estrada (University of Michigan), Assistant Professor Spencer Bryngelson
[Abstract]

Latent-EnSF: A Latent Ensemble Score Filter for High-Dimensional Data Assimilation with Sparse Observation Data
Ph.D. student Phillip Si, Assistant Professor Peng Chen
[Abstract]

A Goal-Oriented Quadratic Latent Dynamic Network Surrogate Model for Parameterized Systems
Yuhang Li, Stefan Henneking, Omar Ghattas (University of Texas at Austin), Assistant Professor Peng Chen
[Abstract]

Posterior Covariance Structures in Gaussian Processes
Yuanzhe Xi (Emory University), Difeng Cai (Southern Methodist University), Professor Edmond Chow
[Abstract]

Robust Digital Twin for Geological Carbon Storage
Professor Felix Herrmann, Ph.D. student Abhinav Gahlot, alumnus Rafael Orozco (Ph.D. CSE-CSE 2024), alumnus Ziyi (Francis) Yin (Ph.D. CSE-CSE 2024), and Ph.D. candidate Grant Bruer
[Abstract]

Industry-Scale Uncertainty-Aware Full Waveform Inference with Generative Models
Rafael Orozco, Ph.D. student Tuna Erdinc, alumnus Mathias Louboutin (Ph.D. CS-CSE 2020), and Professor Felix Herrmann
[Abstract]

Optimizing Coupled Systems: Insights from Co-Design Imaging and Optical Chemistry
Assistant Professor Raphaël Pestourie, Wenchao Ma and Steven Johnson (MIT), Lu Lu (Yale University), Zin Lin (Virginia Tech)
[Abstract]

Multifidelity Linear Regression for Scientific Machine Learning from Scarce Data
Assistant Professor Elizabeth Qian, Ph.D. student Dayoung Kang, Vignesh Sella, Anirban Chaudhuri and Anirban Chaudhuri (University of Texas at Austin)
[Abstract]

LyapInf: Data-Driven Estimation of Stability Guarantees for Nonlinear Dynamical Systems
Ph.D. candidate Tomoki Koike and Assistant Professor Elizabeth Qian
[Abstract]

The Information Geometric Regularization of the Euler Equation
Alumnus Ruijia Cao (B.S. CS 2024), Assistant Professor Florian Schäfer
[Abstract]

Maximum Likelihood Discretization of the Transport Equation
Ph.D. student Brook Eyob, Assistant Professor Florian Schäfer
[Abstract]

Intelligent Attractors for Singularly Perturbed Dynamical Systems
Daniel A. Serino (Los Alamos National Laboratory), Allen Alvarez Loya (University of Colorado Boulder), Joshua W. Burby, Ioannis G. Kevrekidis (Johns Hopkins University), Assistant Professor Qi Tang (Session Co-Organizer)
[Abstract]

Accurate Discretizations and Efficient AMG Solvers for Extremely Anisotropic Diffusion Via Hyperbolic Operators
Golo Wimmer, Ben Southworth, Xianzhu Tang (LANL), Assistant Professor Qi Tang 
[Abstract]

Randomized Linear Algebra for Problems in Graph Analytics
Professor Rich Vuduc
[Abstract]

Improving Spgemm Performance Through Reordering and Cluster-Wise Computation
Assistant Professor Helen Xu
[Abstract]

Workshops hosted by the Robert C. Williams Museum of Papermaking and led by Georgia Tech Assistant Professor HyunJoo Oh will introduce about 60 students from Atlanta Public Schools to paper-based electronics through hands-on workshops.

The Williams Museum will open an exhibit titled “The Future of Paper” that displays designs created in the workshop alongside visionary examples of paper-based technologies from Georgia Tech researchers.

The exhibit, funded by the National Science Foundation, is slated to open to the public in 2027.

Oh is a researcher with joint appointments in the School of Interactive Computing and the School of Industrial Design.She leads the Computational Design and Craft (CoDe Craft) Group at Georgia Tech, where her team integrates everyday craft materials with computing to support creative exploration.

Oh believes paper could be widely used to support prototyping printed circuit boards (PCBs) as a sustainable alternative to silicon. While silicon is the most prominent material used by technology companies to build computer chips, it isn’t biodegradable. And it can be harmful to the environment and contribute to e-waste. 

Paper, however, provides an eco-friendly platform for printing conductive traces and mounting small electronic components. With the expansion of printed electronic tools and techniques, paper and similar materials have become more popular among technologists who develop sensing technologies and wearable devices.

“It’s widely available and accessible,” Oh said. “I can’t think of anything more affordable and approachable that young makers and the broader maker community can use for circuits than paper.

“Printed electronics traditionally required expensive equipment, but with recent innovation in materials science, conductive materials such as conductive pens and paint available in local arts and crafts stores can be used to build circuits on paper. We can also print circuits using a regular office inkjet printer with silver ink.”

Shared Vision

Shortly after arriving at Georgia Tech in 2019, Oh knew she had to develop a project that would let her partner with the Williams Museum. 

“I was captivated by the museum’s space and its celebration of paper,” she said. “I wanted a collaboration that would integrate technology in a way that complemented and respected the museum’s existing beauty.”

Museum director Virginia Howell said the project was a perfect match for the museum, which has documented the history of papermaking since it was founded in 1939 by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Georgia Tech became the new home of the museum in 2003.

With more than 100,000 objects in its collection — some dating back as far as 2,000 years ago — the museum is unique, Howell said. Most papermaking museums are typically located at an historic mill, but the Williams Museum covers the history of papermaking.

Howell said that before she met Oh, she had been looking for an exhibit that would display the possible future of papermaking.

“We do the past of paper fantastically well, and we do the present of paper well through our changing exhibitions,” Howell said. “The future of paper is something we haven’t spent a lot of time interpreting.”

Crafting the Future

Oh and Howell agree that young people will shape that future. Oh said paper is commonly linked to art in the education sphere. As the material’s use in technology increases, however, it can funnel the interests of students toward engineering and computing. 

Incorporating paper and craft materials can invite more students to explore engineering and computing concepts. After all, a circuit board created on paper isn’t so different from one built on a silicon PCB, Oh said.

“This approach can excite the kind of students who usually feel disconnected from electronics and computing,” she said. “It gives those who only see themselves as creative or artistic a way to enjoy technology and resonate with it.

“Usually when I work with young students, especially girls, if I start with something technical, their interest wanes. But when I present those same ideas through art using familiar materials like paper, they become more engaged and confident. That’s when they start to flourish.”

Oh and Howell will hold three rounds of 10-week workshops for the students — spring 2026, fall 2026, and spring 2027. The best designs from those workshops will be displayed in the exhibit.

“They’ll feel more comfortable with computing and engineering as an introductory experience,” Howell said. “When they successfully build on it and realize they did this on a sheet of paper, it’s exciting to think what they’ll do when they get more sophisticated tools and access.”

To ease this environmental burden, industry has worked to adopt renewable biopolymers in place of traditional plastics. However, developers of sustainable packaging have faced hurdles in blocking out moisture and oxygen, a barrier critical for protecting food, pharmaceuticals, and sensitive electronics.

Now, researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a biologically based film made from natural ingredients found in plants, mushrooms, and food waste that can block moisture and oxygen as effectively as conventional plastics. Their findings were recently published in ACS Applied Polymer Materials.

“We’re using materials that are already abundant in and degrade in nature to produce packaging that won’t pollute the environment for hundreds or even thousands of years,” said Carson Meredith, a professor in Georgia Tech’s School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (ChBE@GT) and executive director of the Renewable Bioproducts Institute. “Our films, composed of biodegradable components, rival or exceed the performance of conventional plastics in keeping food fresh and safe.”

Meredith’s research team has worked for more than a decade to develop environmentally friendly oxygen and water barriers for packaging. While earlier research using biopolymers showed promise, high humidity continued to weaken the barrier properties.

However, Meredith and his collaborators found a fix using a blend of these natural ingredients: cellulose (which gives plants their structure), chitosan (derived from crustacean-based food waste or mushrooms), and citric acid (from citrus fruits).

“By crosslinking these materials and adding a heat treatment, we created a thin film that reduced both moisture and oxygen transmission, even in hot, humid conditions simulating the tropics,” said lead author Yang Lu, a former postdoctoral researcher in ChBE@GT.

The barrier technology developed by the researchers consists of three primary components: a carbohydrate polymer for structure, a plasticizer to maintain flexibility, and a water-repelling additive to resist moisture. When cast into thin films, these ingredients self-organize at the molecular level to form a dense, ordered structure that resists swelling or softening under high humidity.

Even at 80 percent relative humidity, the films showed extremely low oxygen permeability and water vapor transmission, matching or outperforming common plastics such as poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) and poly(ethylene vinyl alcohol) (EVOH).

“Our approach creates barriers that are not only renewable, but also mechanically robust, offering a promising alternative to conventional plastics in packaging applications,” said Natalie Stingelin, professor and chair of Georgia Tech’s School of Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) and a professor in ChBE@GT.

The research team has filed for patent protection for the technology (patent pending). The research was supported by Mars Inc., Georgia Tech’s Renewable Bioproducts Institute, and the U.S. Department of Defense through the National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship Program. Eric Klingenberg, a co-author of the study, is an employee of Mars, a manufacturer of packaged foods.

Citation: Yang Lu, Javaz T. Rolle, Tanner Hickman, Yue Ji, Eric Klingenberg, Natalie Stingelin, and Carson Meredith, “Transforming renewable carbohydrate-based polymers into oxygen and moisture-barriers at elevated humidity,” ACS Applied Polymer Materials, 2025.

“This fellowship with the Archive is a fantastic opportunity for me as a physicist. There is an incredible community of creatives that I get to be a part of and draw inspiration from,” he says. “It’s also very validating that an organization with as much prestige as the SJA finds value in the work we’re doing here in the lab. I’m so grateful that people believe in me and the work that we’re doing.”

Cachine is one of just eight individuals selected this year from a nationwide pool. The one-year fellowship supports work at the intersection of technology and the liberal arts, and will provide essential support for his creative trajectory, including a stipend, mentoring, and a robust community of peers.

At Georgia Tech, Cachine is the lab manager and lead experimentalist for the Matsumoto Group where he works alongside his advisor, School of Physics Associate Professor Elisabetta Matsumoto. 

“As a physicist who studies craft, I often see that this is an overlooked area of research, especially in women’s health,” Cachine says. “I hope that beyond building a pathway to improved patient outcomes, my work this year will show people that crafting traditions are incredible technological feats — they are entire knowledge systems waiting to be explored.  There is so much we can learn from craft.”

Georgia Institute of Technology has been ranked 7th in the world in the 2026 Times Higher Education Interdisciplinary Science Rankings, in association with Schmidt Science Fellows. This designation underscores Georgia Tech’s leadership in research that solves global challenges. 

Workshops hosted by the Robert C. Williams Museum of Papermaking and led by Georgia Tech Assistant Professor HyunJoo Oh will introduce about 60 students from Atlanta Public Schools to paper-based electronics through hands-on workshops.

The Williams Museum will open an exhibit titled “The Future of Paper” that displays designs created in the workshop alongside visionary examples of paper-based technologies from Georgia Tech researchers.

The exhibit, funded by the National Science Foundation, is slated to open to the public in 2027.

Oh is a researcher with joint appointments in the School of Interactive Computing and the School of Industrial Design.She leads the Computational Design and Craft (CoDe Craft) Group at Georgia Tech, where her team integrates everyday craft materials with computing to support creative exploration.

Oh believes paper could be widely used to support prototyping printed circuit boards (PCBs) as a sustainable alternative to silicon. While silicon is the most prominent material used by technology companies to build computer chips, it isn’t biodegradable. And it can be harmful to the environment and contribute to e-waste. 

Paper, however, provides an eco-friendly platform for printing conductive traces and mounting small electronic components. With the expansion of printed electronic tools and techniques, paper and similar materials have become more popular among technologists who develop sensing technologies and wearable devices.

“It’s widely available and accessible,” Oh said. “I can’t think of anything more affordable and approachable that young makers and the broader maker community can use for circuits than paper.

“Printed electronics traditionally required expensive equipment, but with recent innovation in materials science, conductive materials such as conductive pens and paint available in local arts and crafts stores can be used to build circuits on paper. We can also print circuits using a regular office inkjet printer with silver ink.”

Shared Vision

Shortly after arriving at Georgia Tech in 2019, Oh knew she had to develop a project that would let her partner with the Williams Museum. 

“I was captivated by the museum’s space and its celebration of paper,” she said. “I wanted a collaboration that would integrate technology in a way that complemented and respected the museum’s existing beauty.”

Museum director Virginia Howell said the project was a perfect match for the museum, which has documented the history of papermaking since it was founded in 1939 by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Georgia Tech became the new home of the museum in 2003.

With more than 100,000 objects in its collection — some dating back as far as 2,000 years ago — the museum is unique, Howell said. Most papermaking museums are typically located at an historic mill, but the Williams Museum covers the history of papermaking.

Howell said that before she met Oh, she had been looking for an exhibit that would display the possible future of papermaking.

“We do the past of paper fantastically well, and we do the present of paper well through our changing exhibitions,” Howell said. “The future of paper is something we haven’t spent a lot of time interpreting.”

Crafting the Future

Oh and Howell agree that young people will shape that future. Oh said paper is commonly linked to art in the education sphere. As the material’s use in technology increases, however, it can funnel the interests of students toward engineering and computing. 

Incorporating paper and craft materials can invite more students to explore engineering and computing concepts. After all, a circuit board created on paper isn’t so different from one built on a silicon PCB, Oh said.

“This approach can excite the kind of students who usually feel disconnected from electronics and computing,” she said. “It gives those who only see themselves as creative or artistic a way to enjoy technology and resonate with it.

“Usually when I work with young students, especially girls, if I start with something technical, their interest wanes. But when I present those same ideas through art using familiar materials like paper, they become more engaged and confident. That’s when they start to flourish.”

Oh and Howell will hold three rounds of 10-week workshops for the students — spring 2026, fall 2026, and spring 2027. The best designs from those workshops will be displayed in the exhibit.

“They’ll feel more comfortable with computing and engineering as an introductory experience,” Howell said. “When they successfully build on it and realize they did this on a sheet of paper, it’s exciting to think what they’ll do when they get more sophisticated tools and access.”

Matsumoto, who is also a principal investigator at the International Institute for Sustainability with Knotted Chiral Meta Matter (WPI-SKCM2) at Hiroshima University, is the corresponding author on a new study exploring the physics of ‘jamming’ — a phenomenon when soft or stretchy materials become rigid under low stress but soften under higher tension.

The study, "Pulling Apart the Mechanisms That Lead to Jammed Knitted Fabrics," was published this week in Physical Review E, and also includes Georgia Tech Matsumoto Group graduate students Sarah Gonzalez and Alexander Cachine in addition to former postdoctoral fellow Michael Dimitriyev, who is now an assistant professor at Texas A&M University.

The work builds on the group’s previous research demonstrating that knitted materials can be mathematically ‘programmed’ to behave in predictable ways. “These properties are intuitively understood by people who knit by hand,” Matsumoto says, “but in order to manipulate and use these behaviors in an industrial setting, we need to understand the physics behind them. This new research is another step in that direction.”

An Unexpected Twist

Gonzalez, who led the research, first became interested in jamming while conducting adjacent research. “I was using model simulations to characterize how different yarn properties affect the behavior of knitted fabrics and noticed a strange stiff region,” she recalls. “In our previous research, we had also seen this behavior in lab experiments, which suggested that what we were seeing in the simulations was a genuine phenomenon. I wanted to investigate it further.”

After digging into the topic, she realized that what she was seeing was called ‘jamming.’ In knits, Gonzalez explains, jamming occurs when stitches are packed tightly together, and the fabric resists stretching. Although it’s a well-known phenomenon, the physics has mostly been investigated in granular systems, like snow or sand, rather than fabrics.

“In fabrics, when you pull softly, the response is surprisingly stiff, but when you start pulling harder and harder, the stitches rearrange, and the material softens,” Matsumoto says. “In granular systems, this is a little like how avalanches work. At low forces, the snow pack is solid, but when the slope is steep, the force of gravity liquidizes that snow pack into an avalanche.”

“In fabrics, it is a little like having a tangle in a piece of jewelry,” she adds. “If you pull on it, it gets quite stiff, but if you loosen the knot, the chain can reconfigure, and it's not so stiff.”

Unraveling the Physics of Jamming

Using a combination of experiments with industrially knitted fabrics and computer models, the team analyzed what causes jamming in fabrics and how to control it. “We wanted to determine how different yarn properties impacted jamming,” Gonzalez explains. “Our goal was to understand the mechanics of jamming through how yarn interacts at various touchpoints in stitches.”

The team found that both machine tension and yarn thickness played a key role in making a fabric more or less jammed, and that jamming behaves differently depending on which direction the fabric is stretched.

“When you stretch a knit along the rows, the stiffness of the yarn causes fabric jamming. Jamming in the other direction is due to yarn contacts,” says Gonzalez. “We also showed that the impacts of changing machine tension and yarn thickness differ depending on fabric direction.” 

“Discovering that fabric jamming works differently in different directions was a key insight,” she adds. “To our knowledge, the physics of this has never been explored before.”

Modern Innovation — With a Centuries-Old Technique

The research dovetails with Matsumoto’s WPI-SKCM2 Center work, which involves investigating fundamental aspects of knots and chirality. The Center is interested in a class of materials called “knotted chiral meta matter” that could lead to more sustainable materials.

For example, knitting — which leverages chiral knots — could be used to create more elastic fabrics from natural materials. “In many cases, manufacturers use yarns that combine, for example, polyester, cotton, and elastane to create a desired elasticity,” Matsumoto says. “Our research suggests that manipulating the topology of the stitches could lead to a similar elasticity, reducing the need for petroleum-based fibers and creating a more sustainable textile.”

“Knitting has the potential to be extremely useful in manufacturing, but knowledge has typically been shared through intuition and word of mouth,” she adds. “By creating these mathematical models, we hope to formalize that knowledge in a way that’s accessible for large-scale manufacturing — so we can leverage this centuries-old intuition for modern innovation.”

Funding: This work was supported by the World Premier International Research Center Initiative (WPI), Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan; National Science Foundation (NSF); and Research Corporation for Science Advancement (RCSA).

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/g94g-c6tt 

"Our innovation for end-of-service wind turbine blades is both simple and elegant – at its core, our technology captures all the embodied energy in the composite materials in the blade," said Gentry, professor in the School of Architecture.

"The Re-Wind Network has pioneered structural recycling, the only of a number of competing technologies that upcycles the material of the blade and preserves the embodied energy from manufacturing," Gentry said.

"Little additional energy is used to remanufacture the blade and the life of the blade, typically 20 years, is extended at least 50 years. This is a win-win solution from an environmental and economic perspective."

Other methods for dealing with decommissioned wind blades involve mechanical grinding and landfilling of subsequent waste, an expensive and energy-intensive process, he said.

Team members include Gentry, Sakshi Kakkad, Cayleigh Nicholson, Mehmet Bermek, and Larry Bank, from the School of Architecture; Gabriel Ackall, Yulizza Henao, and Aeva Silverman, from the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering;  and Eric Johansen, a business consultant from Fiberglass Trusses Inc.

The team is part of the Re-Wind Network, a multinational research and development network which develops large-scale infrastructure projects from decommissioned wind turbine blades. 

Re-Wind's pedestrian bridges, known as BladeBridges, have already captured media attention. Two more BladeBridges are expected in Atlanta in 2024, Gentry said. Re-Wind has also developed, prototyped, and tested transmission poles made from blade segments. The team's other proposals include culverts, barriers, and floats.

The primary focus of the course is for student teams to use Life cycle inventory (LCI) assessment and patent literature on existing products in the market to develop a virtual manufacturing process for the product. The students then offer recommendations for optimizing the processes to be more sustainable. This past semester, student groups completed nine LCI assessment projects in all.  Professors Reichmanis’ and Sabahi’s paper gives details on the course objectives, approach, LCI methodology, results, conclusions, and lessons learned.  This work was supported, in part, by the Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems.  Reichmanis was named a Brook Byers Professor in 2014.

For more details, please see:

Elsa Reichmanis, Mahmood Sabahi, “Life Cycle Inventory Assessment as a Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering Education Tool,” ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, 2017, DOI: 10.1021/acssuschemeng.7b03144.

“When I arrived at Tech, I thought that innovations in batteries were long overdue,” recalled Yushin, professor in the School of Materials Science and Engineering. “It may be hard to believe now, with so much excitement in electric vehicles and the recent Nobel Prize given to the lithium-ion battery inventors, but at that time, lithium-ion batteries were considered to be a ‘mature’ technology.”

Yushin’s passion for battery research led him to co-found Sila Nanotechnologies, Inc. in 2011, where he now serves as chief technology officer. Sila Nano just received a Series F funding round that boosted its valuation to over $3.3 billion. The latest investment will enable the company to evolve the electric vehicle batteries it has come to be known for and also begin introducing its high-energy battery technology into consumer devices, like fitness trackers and wireless earbuds.

For Yushin and his company, this is a watershed moment, as it looks to add 100 new positions to its existing 200 employee base and open a battery materials buildout factory in the U.S. by 2024.

But this also marks a significant moment for Georgia Tech. Sila Nano’s success can serve as inspiration to faculty, research scientists, and students looking to commercialize their own research.

“The more successful entrepreneurs we have at Tech, the more they can teach others to do it right,” Yushin said. “Furthermore, successful startups generate recognition and publicity for their universities, helping to attract ambitious and talented students from around the world.”

Companies like Sila Nano – and others that have been spun out of incubators like ATDC and CREATE-X – are playing a large role in building the commercialization ecosystem at Georgia Tech.

“The success of Sila Nano — not just in its latest valuation, but also the impact it’s having on the U.S. economy and clean energy initiatives — is very exciting for Tech,” said Raghupathy Sivakumar, interim chief commercialization officer, co-founder of CREATE-X, and engineering professor at Georgia Tech. “Bringing together commercialization and technology transfer activities with a goal of moving more intellectual property out into the marketplace greatly expands Georgia Tech’s impact on the world. We couldn’t be prouder of Gleb and the company he has built with his co-founders.”   

From Research to Commercialization

At Tech, research doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Engineers and scientists like Yushin actively look for ways to translate technology advancements into practical applications. Case in point: Sila Nano alone has licensed 14 different patents from the Georgia Tech Research Corporation.

“Most large companies have trouble identifying and commercializing revolutionary technologies that now commonly originate at universities or national labs rather than in industrial laboratories,” Yushin said. “If we want to have a strong, innovation-driven economy, commercializing university research is a must.”

The lab-to-market pipeline at Tech continues to grow, with a growing list of successful companies —  Brain Rain Solutions, Carbice, Zyrobotics and Sanguina, to name a few recent examples. Yushin said forming a proper ecosystem is the key to establishing the culture of thriving innovation at Tech and in Atlanta.

“The more notably successful startups that originate from Tech, the higher the chance that venture capital firms and aspiring entrepreneurs will be looking to us for breakthrough technology and research,” Yushin said. “Also, many students come to Tech with a goal of starting their own company because they see what we are doing.” 

So, what’s next for Sila Nano? Yushin plans to continue to improve and dramatically expand production of revolutionary materials for next-generation batteries that will power electric cars, trucks and buses and eventually hybrid-electric ships, planes and autonomous flying taxis. They will also become part of the renewable energy grid, he said.

As Yushin keeps advancing the storage power of batteries so, too, will Tech continue tapping the power of research and innovation to develop market-ready ideas that improve the human condition. The example of Sila Nano demonstrates the powerful potential. 

“It is incredibly exciting to contribute to building a clean, energy-sustainable future rather than waiting for it to happen,” Yushin said. “At Sila, we have showcased the major impact of materials science engineering on the future of transportation and the clean energy economy. As a Tech scientist and engineer, that makes me very proud.”

1. What about space fascinates you? 
It all goes back to my dad being interested in space. In first grade, we went to a how-to-use-the-library class, and I came across a book about the Mercury and Apollo astronauts. I checked it out and renewed it over and over again. I eventually finished it in second grade. So, I’ve had a lifelong commitment since then to space.

2. What drew you to engineering? 
I grew up in Chapel Hill. In that same first grade class, we went to the University of North Carolina chemistry department. My mom is really into roses, and they froze a rose in liquid nitrogen then smashed it on the table. It broke into a million bits, and I was like, “What?!” The ability of science to solve the unknown grabbed me. And I had a series of very good science teachers — Mr. Parker in fifth grade, in particular. Then I took a soldering class in high school. We built a multimeter that I still have and still use, and various other things. And I suddenly discovered and started exploring engineering. Plus, I just like making things.

3. How did your career change from hoping to be an astronaut to being an accomplished materials engineer? 
When I started looking at colleges, that was my primary interest: What school would help me become an astronaut the quickest. I applied to Georgia Tech as an aerospace engineer, but was admitted as an undecided engineering candidate instead. It was the best thing that could have happened. Later, I got hired as an undergrad by a professor who was doing space-grown gallium arsenide on the Space Shuttle. Ultimately, they offered me a graduate position. I accepted, because I knew you needed an advanced degree to be an astronaut — and for a civilian, a Ph.D. in a relevant career such as materials science.

I applied so many times to be an astronaut — every time they opened a call from 1999 until just a few years ago. Never got in. But I was successful at writing proposals and teaching. So I started doing space vicariously through my students, writing research proposals on energy capture, such as solar cells; energy storage, such as super capacitors; and energy delivery like electron emission. They’re all enabled by engineered materials.

4. What makes Georgia Tech and GTRI a key contributor to the future of humans and science in space? 
Georgia Tech offers us so many unfair advantages over our competition. The equipment we’ve got. The students. You’ve got the curiosity-driven basic research coupled with the GTRI applied research model. We’ve had VentureLab and CREATE-X. Now we’ve got Quadrant-i to foster spinout companies from research.  

5. One of your solar cell technologies is headed to the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum. What is it? 
Early in my career, we developed a way to texture thin film photovoltaics to allow for light trapping. Inverted pyramids are etched into silicon wafer-type solar cells so a photon of light has a chance to hit different surfaces and get absorbed. But thin film solar cells typically don’t etch well. I thought we could use carbon nanotubes to form a scaffolding, a structure like rebar. It’s mechanically reinforcing, but also electrically conductive. We coat the thin film solar cell material over the carbon nanotube arrays. You’ve got these towers, and you get this photon pinballing effect. Most solar cells perform best when perpendicular to the sun, but with mine, off angles are preferred. That’s great for orbital uses, because the faces and solar panels of spacecraft are frequently off-angle to the sun. And then you don’t have the complexity of mechanical systems adjusting the solar arrays. So, we got funding to demonstrate these solar cells on the International Space Station three times, and those are some of the cells we provided to the Smithsonian. 

Read more on the CoE Webpage

Located on the second floor of Crosland Tower adjacent to the Second Floor Classroom, the Materials Library is a physical and digital database. Each sample has a QR code that connects to the online database where you can explore thousands of additional materials.  

 Engage with unique materials and find inspiration for your next creative project.  

Learn more here. 

Practiced in Japan since the early 1600s, origami involves combining simple folding techniques to create intricate designs. Now, Georgia Tech researchers are leveraging the technique as the foundation for next-generation materials that can both act as a solid and predictably deform, “folding” under the right forces. The research could lead to innovations in everything from heart stents to airplane wings and running shoes.

Recently published in Nature Communications, the study, “Coarse-grained fundamental forms for characterizing isometries of trapezoid-based origami metamaterials,” was led by first author James McInerney, who is now a NRC Research Associate at the Air Force Research Laboratory. McInerney, who completed the research while a postdoctoral student at the University of Michigan, was previously a doctoral student at Georgia Tech in the group of study co-author Zeb Rocklin. The team also includes Glaucio Paulino (Princeton University), Xiaoming Mao (University of Michigan), and Diego Misseroni (University of Trento).

“Origami has received a lot of attention over the past decade due to its ability to deploy or transform structures,” McInerney says. “Our team wondered how different types of folds could be used to control how a material deforms when different forces and pressures are applied to it” — like a creased piece of cardboard folding more predictably than one that might crumple without any creases.

The applications of that type of control are vast. “There are a variety of scenarios ranging from the design of buildings, aircraft, and naval vessels to the packaging and shipping of goods where there tends to be a trade-off between enhancing the load-bearing capabilities and increasing the total weight,” McInerney explains. “Our end goal is to enhance load-bearing designs by adding origami-inspired creases — without adding weight.”

The challenge, Rocklin adds, is using physics to find a way to predictably model what creases to use and when to achieve the best results.

Deformable solids

Rocklin, a theoretical physicist and associate professor in the School of Physics at Georgia Tech, emphasizes the complex nature of these types of materials. “If I tug on either end of a sheet of paper, it's solid — it doesn’t separate,” he explains. “But it's also flexible — it can crumple and wave depending on how I move it. That’s a very different behavior than what we might see in a conventional solid, and a very useful one.”

But while flexible solids are uniquely useful, they are also very hard to characterize, he says. “With these materials, it is often difficult to predict what is going to happen — how the material will deform under pressure because they can deform in many different ways. Conventional physics techniques can't solve this type of problem, which is why we're still coming up with new ways to characterize structures in the 21st century.”

When considering origami-inspired materials, physicists start with a flat sheet that's carefully creased to create a specific three-dimensional shape; these folds determine how the material behaves. But the method is limited: only parallelogram-based origami folding, which uses shapes like squares and rectangles, had previously been modeled, allowing for limited types of deformation.

“Our goal was to expand on this research to include trapezoid faces,” McInerney says. Parallelograms have two sets of parallel sides, but trapezoids only need to have one set of parallel sides. Introducing these more variable shapes makes this type of creasing more difficult to model, but potentially more versatile.

Breathing and shearing

“From our models and physical tests, we found that trapezoid faces have an entirely different class of responses,” McInerney shares. In other words — using trapezoids leads to new behavior.

The designs had the ability to change their shape in two distinct ways: "breathing" by expanding and contracting evenly, and “shearing" by deforming in a twisting motion. “We learned that we can use trapezoid faces in origami to constrain the system from bending in certain directions, which provides different functionality than parallelogram faces,” McInerney adds. 

Surprisingly, the team also found that some of the behavior in parallelogram-based origami carried over to their trapezoidal origami, hinting at some features that might be universal across designs.

“While our research is theoretical, these insights could give us more opportunities for how we might deploy these structures and use them,” Rocklin shares.

Future folding

“We still have a lot of work to do,” McInerney says, sharing that there are two separate avenues of research to pursue. “The first is moving from trapezoids to more general quadrilateral faces, and trying to develop an effective model of the material behavior — similar to the way this study moved from parallelograms to trapezoids.” Those new models could help predict how creased materials might deform under different circumstances, and help researchers compare those results to sheets without any creases at all. “This will essentially let us assess the improvement our designs provide,” he explains.

“The second avenue is to start thinking deeply about how our designs might integrate into a real system,” McInerney continues. “That requires understanding where our models start to break down, whether it is due to the loading conditions or the fabrication process, as well as establishing effective manufacturing and testing protocols.”

“It’s a very challenging problem, but biology and nature are full of smart solids — including our own bodies — that deform in specific, useful ways when needed,” Rocklin says. “That’s what we’re trying to replicate with origami.”

This research was funded by the Office of Naval Research, European Union, Army Research Office, and National Science Foundation.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-57089-x 

You can see some of these sculptures as part of “How to Train your Algorithm,” a new exhibit from Christina Shivers, the 2023 Ventulett NEXT Fellow, on display in Crosland Tower’s second floor through May. 

“This exhibit explores AI and its relationship to the development of ecologically experimental material and craft practices in architecture,” she explained. “I produced it as part of my Ventulett NEXT Fellowship in the School of Architecture.”

The pieces display the disparate forces at work in Shivers’ research, which broadly focuses on the intersection of technology, the environmental and economic thought specifically within the design disciplines. 

As an academic, architect and musician, Shivers pulls from her bachelor’s in music with a concentration in music theory from Florida State, her master’s in architecture from Tech, and her PhD in Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Urban Planning from the Harvard Graduate School of Design.

“I sincerely hope everyone who sees the exhibit enjoys it,” she said. 

RCSA’s mission is to advance early stage, high-potential, basic scientific research. The association provides funding for research and sponsors conferences to support a diverse and inclusive community of early career faculty, innovative ideas for basic research, integration of research and science teaching, interdisciplinary research, and building the foundation for the academic leadership of the future.

The Scialog® program invests in interdisciplinary, innovative, basic research on problems of high complexity that are timely and of significant value to society.

Its goal is to foster new collaborations across multiple disciplines to spark innovative ideas, stimulate significant advances on chosen topics, and attract higher levels of funding.

SMART collaborations

Elisabetta Matsumoto, an associate professor in the School of Physics, was part of the Cottrell Scholars Collaborative program, in which participants are encouraged to form teams and develop collaborative projects with potential national impact in science education. 

Matsumoto’s collaborative project, Supporting Making to Align Research and Teaching (SMART), builds off an existing Cottrell project aiming to increase awareness of making, an emerging instructional practice where students learn a discipline (and enjoy enhanced creativity and self-expression) by creating shared physical and digital artifacts. 

The goal of this project is to support and document faculty training and adoption of making methods, as well as to generate examples of making activities in disciplines, such as chemistry and astronomy, that have not adopted this technique.

Mars samples

Frances Rivera-Hernández, an assistant professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, is participating in the second year of the Scialog® Signatures of Life in the Universe program (the Heising-Simons Foundation is a program co-sponsor). 

The team’s goal is to catalyze cutting-edge research with the potential to transform our understanding of the habitability of planets, of how the occurrence of life alters planets and leaves signatures, and of how to detect such signatures beyond Earth.

Rivera-Hernández’s project with Laurie Barge, a research scientist in the Planetary Sciences division of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, is titled Mars Sample Return: Connecting Martian Environmental Chemistry to Returned Samples. It is funded by NASA.

A rich history of RCSA support 

RCSA is a longtime supporter of College of Sciences research. Several faculty members from a variety of disciplines have been named Cottrell Scholars or joined the Scialog program over the past 29 years. 

Two School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences associate professors, Jennifer Glass and Chris Reinhard, were part of the first year of the Signatures of Life in the Universe program in 2021. Glass was chosen for her research proposal, Methane from Nontraditional Abiotic Sources and Potential for False Biosignature Positives, while Reinhard proposal was Stochastic Simulation of Evolving Planetary Biospheres.

Also in 2021, Vinayak Agarwal, an assistant professor in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry and the School of Biological Sciences, was named a Cottrell Scholar for his proposal, Unlocking Marine Eukaryotic Natural Product Biosynthetic Schemes in Research and Education.

Elisabetta Matsumoto’s first time as a Cottrell Scholar was in 2020 for her research on tying together the science and mathematics behind knitting, which was featured in  The New York Times. 

Also in 2020, Gongjie Li, professor in the School of Physics, and Amanda Stockton, professors in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, were named Scialog® Signatures of Life in the Universe Fellows. 

Chad Risko, a former Ph.D. student in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, was named a Cottrell Scholar in 2018 with the goal of developing a course-based undergraduate research experience focusing on the application of computing and data science in chemistry. Risko was a Ph.D. student of former Regents Professor Jean-Luc Brédas.

Brian Hammer, associate professor in the School of Biological Sciences, was part of a 2015 collaborative effort for the Scialog® Molecules Come to Life Team Award for the project, Rebooting the Gut Microbial Ecosystem Using Bacterial Dueling.

Previous Georgia Tech recipients of the Cottrell Scholar Award also include David Collard (1994), professor in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry and senior associate dean in the College of Sciences; Michael Schatz (1999) and Tamara Bogdanović (2016), both professors of the School of Physics.

Students and faculty from the School of Computational Science and Engineering (CSE) are leading the Georgia Tech contingent at the SIAM Conference on Computational Science and Engineering (CSE25). The Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) organizes CSE25, occurring March 3-7 in Fort Worth, Texas.

At CSE25, the School of CSE researchers are presenting papers that apply computing approaches to varying fields, including:                   

• Experiment designs to accelerate the discovery of material properties
• Machine learning approaches to model and predict weather forecasting and coastal flooding
• Virtual models that replicate subsurface geological formations used to store captured carbon dioxide
• Optimizing systems for imaging and optical chemistry
• Plasma physics during nuclear fusion reactions

[Related: GT CSE at SIAM CSE25 Interactive Graphic] 

“In CSE, researchers from different disciplines work together to develop new computational methods that we could not have developed alone,” said School of CSE Professor Edmond Chow. 

“These methods enable new science and engineering to be performed using computation.” 

CSE is a discipline dedicated to advancing computational techniques to study and analyze scientific and engineering systems. CSE complements theory and experimentation as modes of scientific discovery. 

Held every other year, CSE25 is the primary conference for the SIAM Activity Group on Computational Science and Engineering (SIAG CSE). School of CSE faculty serve in key roles in leading the group and preparing for the conference.

In December, SIAG CSE members elected Chow to a two-year term as the group’s vice chair. This election comes after Chow completed a term as the SIAG CSE program director. 

School of CSE Associate Professor Elizabeth Cherry has co-chaired the CSE25 organizing committee since the last conference in 2023. Later that year, SIAM members reelected Cherry to a second, three-year term as a council member at large. 

At Georgia Tech, Chow serves as the associate chair of the School of CSE. Cherry, who recently became the associate dean for graduate education of the College of Computing, continues as the director of CSE programs. 

“With our strong emphasis on developing and applying computational tools and techniques to solve real-world problems, researchers in the School of CSE are well positioned to serve as leaders in computational science and engineering both within Georgia Tech and in the broader professional community,” Cherry said. 

Georgia Tech’s School of CSE was first organized as a division in 2005, becoming one of the world’s first academic departments devoted to the discipline. The division reorganized as a school in 2010 after establishing the flagship CSE Ph.D. and M.S. programs, hiring nine faculty members, and attaining substantial research funding.

Ten School of CSE faculty members are presenting research at CSE25, representing one-third of the School’s faculty body. Of the 23 accepted papers written by Georgia Tech researchers, 15 originate from School of CSE authors.

The list of School of CSE researchers, paper titles, and abstracts includes:
Bayesian Optimal Design Accelerates Discovery of Material Properties from Bubble Dynamics
Postdoctoral Fellow Tianyi Chu, Joseph Beckett, Bachir Abeid, and Jonathan Estrada (University of Michigan), Assistant Professor Spencer Bryngelson
[Abstract]

Latent-EnSF: A Latent Ensemble Score Filter for High-Dimensional Data Assimilation with Sparse Observation Data
Ph.D. student Phillip Si, Assistant Professor Peng Chen
[Abstract]

A Goal-Oriented Quadratic Latent Dynamic Network Surrogate Model for Parameterized Systems
Yuhang Li, Stefan Henneking, Omar Ghattas (University of Texas at Austin), Assistant Professor Peng Chen
[Abstract]

Posterior Covariance Structures in Gaussian Processes
Yuanzhe Xi (Emory University), Difeng Cai (Southern Methodist University), Professor Edmond Chow
[Abstract]

Robust Digital Twin for Geological Carbon Storage
Professor Felix Herrmann, Ph.D. student Abhinav Gahlot, alumnus Rafael Orozco (Ph.D. CSE-CSE 2024), alumnus Ziyi (Francis) Yin (Ph.D. CSE-CSE 2024), and Ph.D. candidate Grant Bruer
[Abstract]

Industry-Scale Uncertainty-Aware Full Waveform Inference with Generative Models
Rafael Orozco, Ph.D. student Tuna Erdinc, alumnus Mathias Louboutin (Ph.D. CS-CSE 2020), and Professor Felix Herrmann
[Abstract]

Optimizing Coupled Systems: Insights from Co-Design Imaging and Optical Chemistry
Assistant Professor Raphaël Pestourie, Wenchao Ma and Steven Johnson (MIT), Lu Lu (Yale University), Zin Lin (Virginia Tech)
[Abstract]

Multifidelity Linear Regression for Scientific Machine Learning from Scarce Data
Assistant Professor Elizabeth Qian, Ph.D. student Dayoung Kang, Vignesh Sella, Anirban Chaudhuri and Anirban Chaudhuri (University of Texas at Austin)
[Abstract]

LyapInf: Data-Driven Estimation of Stability Guarantees for Nonlinear Dynamical Systems
Ph.D. candidate Tomoki Koike and Assistant Professor Elizabeth Qian
[Abstract]

The Information Geometric Regularization of the Euler Equation
Alumnus Ruijia Cao (B.S. CS 2024), Assistant Professor Florian Schäfer
[Abstract]

Maximum Likelihood Discretization of the Transport Equation
Ph.D. student Brook Eyob, Assistant Professor Florian Schäfer
[Abstract]

Intelligent Attractors for Singularly Perturbed Dynamical Systems
Daniel A. Serino (Los Alamos National Laboratory), Allen Alvarez Loya (University of Colorado Boulder), Joshua W. Burby, Ioannis G. Kevrekidis (Johns Hopkins University), Assistant Professor Qi Tang (Session Co-Organizer)
[Abstract]

Accurate Discretizations and Efficient AMG Solvers for Extremely Anisotropic Diffusion Via Hyperbolic Operators
Golo Wimmer, Ben Southworth, Xianzhu Tang (LANL), Assistant Professor Qi Tang 
[Abstract]

Randomized Linear Algebra for Problems in Graph Analytics
Professor Rich Vuduc
[Abstract]

Improving Spgemm Performance Through Reordering and Cluster-Wise Computation
Assistant Professor Helen Xu
[Abstract]

Making the switch could slash the impact of one of the biggest sources of greenhouse gas emissions: Buildings account for roughly 1/5 of emissions globally. By some estimates, using hemp-based products would reduce the environmental impact of insulation by 90% or more. 

The Georgia Tech researchers’ work, reported this month in the Journal of Cleaner Production, is one of the first studies to evaluate the potential for scaling up U.S. production and availability of hemp-based insulation products.

Read about their findings on the College of Engineering website.

The selective one-year fellowship is awarded to just three students around the world, with only one recipient typically coming from the Americas. The grant aims to promote, recognize, and support graduate master’s level study and research within the field of electron and ion-based devices.

Fernandes’s research focuses on the fabrication and characterization of novel and emerging semiconductor technologies for memory and logic applications, with an emphasis on ferroelectric materials for achieving high density and high performance.

With this fellowship, he aims to advance his research on the use of ferroelectric materials to enhance the performance and storage capabilities of 3D NAND-Flash, a key technology in modern non-volatile memory.

Fernandes, who is advised by ECE Associate Professor Asif Khan, is particularly passionate about exploring new materials and methods to optimize non-volatile memory technology, aiming to push the boundaries of performance, reliability, and scalability in this field.

His current projects seek to improve the endurance and data retention of memory devices by investigating new schemes and materials, with the goal of paving the way for the next generation of high-performance memory technology.

Associate Professor Josiah Hester was one of 400 people awarded the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), the Biden Administration announced in a press release on Tuesday.

The PECASE winners’ research projects are funded by government organizations, including the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and NASA. They will be invited to visit the White House later this year.

Hester joins Associate Professor Juan-Pablo Correa-Baena from the School of Materials Science and Engineering as the two Tech faculty who received the honor.

Hester said his nomination was based on the NSF Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) award he received in 2022 as an assistant professor at Northwestern University. He said the NSF submits its nominations to the White House for the PECASE awards, but researchers are not informed until the list of winners is announced.

“For me, I always thought this was an unachievable, unassailable type of thing because of the reputation of the folks in computing who’ve won previously,” Hester said. “It was always a far-reaching goal. I was shocked. It’s something you would never in a million years think you would win.”

Hester is known for pioneering research in a new subfield of sustainable computing dedicated to creating battery-free devices powered by solar energy, kinetic energy, and radio waves. He co-led a team that developed the first battery-free handheld gaming device.

Last year, Hester co-authored an article published in the Association of Computing Machinery’s in-house journal, the Communications of the ACM, in which he coined the term “Internet of Battery-less Things.”

The Internet of Things is the network of physical computing devices capable of connecting to the internet and exchanging data. However, these devices eventually die. Landfills are overflowing with billions of them and their toxic power cells, harming our ecosystem.

In his CAREER award, Hester outlined projects that would work toward replacing the most used computing devices with sustainable, battery-free alternatives.

“I want everything to be an Internet of Batteryless Things — computational devices that could last forever,” Hester said. “I outlined a bunch of different ways that you could do that from the computer engineering side and a little bit from the human-computer interaction side. They all had a unifying theme of making computing more sustainable and climate-friendly.”

Hester is also a Sloan Research Fellow, an honor he received in 2022. In 2021, Popular Sciene named him to its Brilliant 10 list. He also received the Most Promising Engineer or Scientist Award from the American Indian Science Engineering Society, which recognizes significant contributions from the indigenous peoples of North America and the Pacific Islands in STEM disciplines.

President Bill Clinton established PECASE in 1996. The White House press release recognizes exceptional scientists and engineers who demonstrate leadership early in their careers and present innovative and far-reaching developments in science and technology.

Associate Professor Matthew McDowell, Professor Min Zhou, and Woodruff Professor Ting Zhu will hold the position for a five-year term and receive discretionary funding to support their educational and research activities.

These appointments recognize each of the three recipients for their intellectual leadership and broader impact in the field of material processing, and the ability to help the Woodruff School grow in emerging areas of importance.

“Throughout their careers, Matt, Min, and Ting have been leaders in their fields and made significant contributions to research,” said Devesh Ranjan, Eugene C. Gwaltney, Jr. School Chair. “They are highly deserving of this endowed chair position, and I know David McDowell, who held the Paden Chair until his retirement earlier this year, is proud to pass it on to his son and former long-term collaborators and mentees.”

McDowell’s research focuses on developing materials for next-generation battery systems, as well as understanding dynamic materials transformations in electrochemical energy devices. He leads the newly established Georgia Tech Advanced Battery Center (GTABC) with co-director Gleb Yushin, a professor in the School of Materials Science and Engineering. The new center will build community at the Institute, work to enhance research and educational relationships with industry partners, and create a new battery manufacturing facility on Georgia Tech’s campus.

Zhou's research interests concern material behavior over a wide range of length scales. His research emphasizes finite element and molecular dynamics simulations as well as experimental characterization with digital diagnostics.

Zhu's research focuses on the mechanical behavior of advanced engineering materials at the nano to macro-scale. He conducts modeling and simulations using the atomistic, continuum, and multiscale methods.

The endowed chair was made possible by Georgia Tech alumnus Carter N. Paden, Jr., IM 1951, who had a lifelong career in metals processing.

“The workforce that will emerge from this program will tackle a global challenge through sustainable innovations in device design and manufacturing,” said Yeo, Woodruff Faculty Fellow and associate professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University.

The funding, from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Research Training (NRT) program, will address the environmental impacts resulting from the mass production of medical devices, including the increase in material waste and greenhouse gas emissions.

Under Yeo’s leadership, the Georgia Tech team comprises multidisciplinary faculty: Andrés García (bioengineering), HyunJoo Oh (industrial design and interactive computing), Lewis Wheaton (biology), and Josiah Hester (sustainable computing). Together, they’ll train 100 graduate students, including 25 NSF-funded trainees, who will develop reuseable, reliable medical devices for a range of uses. 

“We plan to educate students on how to develop medical devices using biocompatible and biodegradable materials and green manufacturing processes using low-cost printing technologies,” said Yeo. “These wearable and implantable devices will enhance disease diagnosis, therapeutics, rehabilitation, and health monitoring.”

Students in the program will be challenged by a comprehensive, multidisciplinary curriculum, with deep dives into bioengineering, public policy, physiology, industrial design, interactive computing, and medicine. And they’ll get real-world experience through collaborations with clinicians and medical product developers, working to create devices that meet the needs of patients and care providers.

The Georgia Tech NRT program aims to attract students from various backgrounds, fostering a diverse, inclusive environment in the classroom — and ultimately in the workforce.

The program will also introduce a new Ph.D. concentration in smart medical devices as part of Georgia Tech's bioengineering program, and a new M.S. program in the sustainable development of medical devices. Yeo also envisions an academic impact that extends beyond the Tech campus.

“Collectively, this NRT program's curriculum, combining methods from multiple domains, will help establish best practices in many higher education institutions for developing reliable and personalized medical devices for healthcare,” he said. “We’d like to broaden students' perspectives, move past the current technology-first mindset, and reflect the needs of patients and healthcare providers through sustainable technological solutions.” 

Call for Proposals: A Gateway to Innovation

Launched in early 2024, the Call for Proposals invited researchers from across Georgia Tech to submit their innovative ideas on GenAI. The scope was broad, encouraging proposals that spanned foundational research, system advancements, and novel applications in various disciplines, including arts, sciences, business, and engineering. A special emphasis was placed on projects that addressed responsible and ethical AI use.

The response from the Georgia Tech research community was overwhelming, with 76 proposals submitted by teams eager to explore this transformative technology. After a rigorous selection process, eight projects were selected for support. Each awarded team will also benefit from access to Microsoft’s Azure cloud resources..

Recognizing Microsoft’s Generous Contribution

This successful initiative was made possible through the generous support of Microsoft, whose contribution of research resources has empowered Georgia Tech researchers to explore new frontiers in GenAI. By providing access to Azure’s advanced tools and services, Microsoft has played a pivotal role in accelerating GenAI research at Georgia Tech, enabling researchers to tackle some of the most pressing challenges and opportunities in this rapidly evolving field.

Looking Ahead: Pioneering the Future of GenAI

The awarded projects, set to commence in Fall 2024, represent a diverse array of research directions, from improving the capabilities of large language models to innovative applications in data management and interdisciplinary collaborations. These projects are expected to make significant contributions to the body of knowledge in GenAI and are poised to have a lasting impact on the industry and beyond.

IDEaS and the Cloud Hub are committed to supporting these teams as they embark on their research journeys. The outcomes of these projects will be shared through publications and highlighted on the Cloud Hub web portal, ensuring visibility for the groundbreaking work enabled by this initiative.

Congratulations to the Fall 2024 Winners

• Annalisa Bracco | EAS "Modeling the Dispersal and Connectivity of Marine Larvae with GenAI Agents" [proposal co-funded with support from the Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems]
• Yunan Luo | CSE “Designing New and Diverse Proteins with Generative AI”
• Kartik Goyal | IC “Generative AI for Greco-Roman Architectural Reconstruction: From Partial Unstructured Archaeological Descriptions to Structured Architectural Plans”
• Victor Fung | CSE “Intelligent LLM Agents for Materials Design and Automated Experimentation”
• Noura Howell | LMC “Applying Generative AI for STEM Education: Supporting AI literacy and community engagement with marginalized youth”
• Neha Kumar | IC “Towards Responsible Integration of Generative AI in Creative Game Development”
• Maureen Linden | Design “Best Practices in Generative AI Used in the Creation of Accessible Alternative Formats for People with Disabilities”
• Surya Kalidindi | ME & MSE “Accelerating Materials Development Through Generative AI Based Dimensionality Expansion Techniques”
• Tuo Zhao | ISyE “Adaptive and Robust Alignment of LLMs with Complex Rewards”

“For a long time, people have been looking for a lower-cost, more sustainable alternative to existing cathode materials. I think we’ve got one,” said Chen, an associate professor with appointments in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and the School of Materials Science and Engineering.

The revolutionary material, iron chloride (FeCl3), costs a mere 1-2% of typical cathode materials and canstore the same amount of electricity. Cathode materials affect capacity, energy, and efficiency, playing a major role in a battery’s performance, lifespan, and affordability.

“Our cathode can be a game-changer,” said Chen, whose team describes its work in Nature Sustainability. “It would greatly improve the EV market — and the whole lithium-ion battery market.”

First commercialized by Sony in the early 1990s, LIBs sparked an explosion in personal electronics, like smartphones and tablets. The technology eventually advanced to fuel electric vehicles, providing a reliable, rechargeable, high-density energy source. But unlike personal electronics, large-scale energy users like EVs are especially sensitive to the cost of LIBs. 

Batteries are currently responsible for about 50% of an EV’s total cost, which makes these clean-energy cars more expensive than their internal combustion, greenhouse-gas-spewing cousins. The Chen team’s invention could change that.

Building a Better Battery

Compared to old-fashioned alkaline and lead-acid batteries, LIBs store more energy in a smaller package and power a device longer between charges. But LIBs contain expensive metals, including semiprecious elements like cobalt and nickel, and they have a high manufacturing cost. 

So far, only four types of cathodes have been successfully commercialized for LIBs. Chen’s would be the fifth, and it would represent a big step forward in battery technology: the development of an all-solid-state LIB.

Conventional LIBs use liquid electrolytes to transport lithium ions for storing and releasing energy. They have hard limits on how much energy can be stored, and they can leak and catch fire. But all-solid-state LIBs use solid electrolytes, dramatically boosting a battery’s efficiency and reliability and making it safer and capable of holding more energy. These batteries, still in the development and testing phase, would be a considerable improvement. 

As researchers and manufacturers across the planet race to make all-solid-state technology practical, Chen and his collaborators have developed an affordable and sustainable solution. With the FeCl3 cathode, a solid electrolyte, and a lithium metal anode, the cost of their whole battery system is 30-40% of current LIBs. 

“This could not only make EVs much cheaper than internal combustion cars, but it provides a new and promising form of large-scale energy storage, enhancing the resilience of the electrical grid,” Chen said. “In addition, our cathode would greatly improve the sustainability and supply chain stability of the EV market.”

Solid Start to New Discovery

Chen’s interest in FeCl3 as a cathode material originated with his lab’s research into solid electrolyte materials. Starting in 2019, his lab tried to make solid-state batteries using chloride-based solid electrolyteswith traditional commercial oxide-based cathodes. It didn’t go well — the cathode and electrolyte materials didn’t get along. 

The researchers thought a chloride-based cathode could provide a better pairing with the chloride electrolyte to offer better battery performance.

“We found a candidate (FeCl3) worth trying, as its crystal structure is potentially suitable for storing and transporting Li ions, and fortunately, it functioned as we expected,” said Chen.

Currently, the most popularly used cathodes in EVs are oxides and require a gigantic amount of costly nickel and cobalt, heavy elements that can be toxic and pose an environmental challenge. In contrast, the Chen team’s cathode contains only iron (Fe) and chlorine (Cl)—abundant, affordable, widely used elements found in steel and table salt.

In their initial tests, FeCl3 was found to perform as well as or better than the other, much more expensive cathodes. For example, it has a higher operational voltage than the popularly used cathode LiFePO4 (lithium iron phosphate, or LFP), which is the electrical force a battery provides when connected to a device, similar to water pressure from a garden hose. 

This technology may be less than five years from commercial viability in EVs. For now, the team will continue investigating FeCl3 and related materials, according to Chen. The work was led by Chen and postdoc Zhantao Liu (the lead author of the study). Collaborators included researchers from Georgia Tech’s Woodruff School (Ting Zhu) and the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences (Yuanzhi Tang), as well as the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (Jue Liu) and the University of Houston (Shuo Chen).

“We want to make the materials as perfect as possible in the lab and understand the underlying functioning mechanisms,” Chen said. “But we are open to opportunities to scale up the technology and push it toward commercial applications.”

CITATION: Zhantao Liu, Jue Liu, Simin Zhao, Sangni Xun, Paul Byaruhanga, Shuo Chen, Yuanzhi Tang, Ting Zhu, Hailong Chen. “Low-cost iron trichloride cathode for all-solid-state lithium-ion batteries.” Nature Sustainability.

FUNDING: National Science Foundation (Grant Nos. 1706723 and 2108688)

The awards will support the Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) and Research Experience for Teachers (RET) programs at Georgia Tech. The REU summer internship program provides undergraduate students from two- and four-year programs the chance to perform cutting-edge research at the forefront of nanoscale science and engineering. The RET program for high school teachers and technical college faculty offers a paid opportunity to experience the excitement of nanotechnology research and to share this experience in their classrooms. 

“This NSF funding allows us to be able to do more with the programs,” said Mikkel Thomas, associate director for education and outreach. “These are programs that have existed in the past, but we haven’t had external funding for the last three years. The NSF support allows us to do more —  bring more students into the program or increase the RET stipends.”

In addition to the REU and RET programs, IMS offers short courses and workshops focused on professional development, instructional labs for undergraduate and graduate students, a certificate for veterans in microelectronics and nano-manufacturing, and community engagement activities such as the Atlanta Science Festival. 

Finding the next groundbreaking polymer is always a challenge, but now Georgia Tech researchers are using artificial intelligence (AI) to shape and transform the future of the field. Rampi Ramprasad’s group develops and adapts AI algorithms to accelerate materials discovery. 

This summer, two papers published in the Nature family of journals highlight the significant advancements and success stories emerging from years of AI-driven polymer informatics research. The first, featured in Nature Reviews Materials, showcases recent breakthroughs in polymer design across critical and contemporary application domains: energy storage, filtration technologies, and recyclable plastics. The second, published in Nature Communications, focuses on the use of AI algorithms to discover a subclass of polymers for electrostatic energy storage, with the designed materials undergoing successful laboratory synthesis and testing. 

“In the early days of AI in materials science, propelled by the White House’s Materials Genome Initiative over a decade ago, research in this field was largely curiosity-driven,” said Ramprasad, a professor in the School of Materials Science and Engineering. “Only in recent years have we begun to see tangible, real-world success stories in AI-driven accelerated polymer discovery. These successes are now inspiring significant transformations in the industrial materials R&D landscape. That’s what makes this review so significant and timely.”

AI Opportunities

Ramprasad’s team has developed groundbreaking algorithms that can instantly predict polymer properties and formulations before they are physically created. The process begins by defining application-specific target property or performance criteria. Machine learning (ML) models train on existing material-property data to predict these desired outcomes. Additionally, the team can generate new polymers, whose properties are forecasted with ML models. The top candidates that meet the target property criteria are then selected for real-world validation through laboratory synthesis and testing. The results from these new experiments are integrated with the original data, further refining the predictive models in a continuous, iterative process. 

While AI can accelerate the discovery of new polymers, it also presents unique challenges. The accuracy of AI predictions depends on the availability of rich, diverse, extensive initial data sets, making quality data paramount. Additionally, designing algorithms capable of generating chemically realistic and synthesizable polymers is a complex task. 

The real challenge begins after the algorithms make their predictions: proving that the designed materials can be made in the lab and function as expected and then demonstrating their scalability beyond the lab for real-world use. Ramprasad’s group designs these materials, while their fabrication, processing, and testing are carried out by collaborators at various institutions, including Georgia Tech. Professor Ryan Lively from the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering frequently collaborates with Ramprasad’s group and is a co-author of the paper published in Nature Reviews Materials.

"In our day-to-day research, we extensively use the machine learning models Rampi’s team has developed,” Lively said. “These tools accelerate our work and allow us to rapidly explore new ideas. This embodies the promise of ML and AI because we can make model-guided decisions before we commit time and resources to explore the concepts in the laboratory."

Using AI, Ramprasad’s team and their collaborators have made significant advancements in diverse fields, including energy storage, filtration technologies, additive manufacturing, and recyclable materials.

Polymer Progress

One notable success, described in the Nature Communications paper, involves the design of new polymers for capacitors, which store electrostatic energy. These devices are vital components in electric and hybrid vehicles, among other applications. Ramprasad’s group worked with researchers from the University of Connecticut.

Current capacitor polymers offer either high energy density or thermal stability, but not both. By leveraging AI tools, the researchers determined that insulating materials made from polynorbornene and polyimide polymers can simultaneously achieve high energy density and high thermal stability. The polymers can be further enhanced to function in demanding environments, such as aerospace applications, while maintaining environmental sustainability. 

“The new class of polymers with high energy density and high thermal stability is one of the most concrete examples of how AI can guide materials discovery,” said Ramprasad. “It is also the result of years of multidisciplinary collaborative work with Greg Sotzing and Yang Cao at the University of Connecticut and sustained sponsorship by the Office of Naval Research.”

Industry Potential

The potential for real-world translation of AI-assisted materials development is underscored by industry participation in the Nature Reviews Materials article. Co-authors of this paper also include scientists from Toyota Research Institute and General Electric. To further accelerate the adoption of AI-driven materials development in industry, Ramprasad co-founded Matmerize Inc., a software startup company recently spun out of Georgia Tech. Their cloud-based polymer informatics software is already being used by companies across various sectors, including energy, electronics, consumer products, chemical processing, and sustainable materials. 

“Matmerize has transformed our research into a robust, versatile, and industry-ready solution, enabling users to design materials virtually with enhanced efficiency and reduced cost,” Ramprasad said. “What began as a curiosity has gained significant momentum, and we are entering an exciting new era of materials by design.”

Now, researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology, in collaboration with researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), have developed a new process based on 2D materials to create LED displays with smaller and thinner pixels. Enabled by two-dimensional, materials-based layer transfer technology, the innovation promises a future of clearer and more realistic LED displays.

The team published a paper in the journal Nature in February titled, “Vertical full-colour micro-LEDs via 2D materials-based layer transfer.” Co-authors also include researchers from Sejong University in Korea, and from additional institutions in the U.S. and South Korea.

Georgia Tech-Europe Professor Abdallah Ougazzaden and research scientist Suresh Sundaram (who both also hold appointments in Georgia Tech’s School of Electrical and Computer Engineering) collaborated with researchers from MIT to turn the conventional LED manufacturing process on its head — literally. Instead of using prevailing processes based on laying red, green, and blue (RGB) LEDs side by side, which limits pixel density, the team vertically stacked freestanding, ultrathin RGB LED membranes, achieving an array density of 5,100 pixels per inch — the smallest pixel size reported to date (4 microns) and the smallest-ever stack height — all while delivering a full commercial range of colors. This ultra-small vertical stack was achieved via the technology of van der Waals epitaxy on 2D boron nitride developed at the Georgia Tech-Europe lab and the technology of remote epitaxy on graphene developed at MIT.

The study showed that the world’s thinnest and smallest pixeled displays can be enabled by an active layer separation technology using 2D materials such as graphene and boron to enable high array density micro-LEDs resulting in full-color realization of micro-LED displays.

One unique facet of the two-dimensional, material-based layer transfer (2DLT) technique is that it allows the reuse of epitaxial wafers. Reusing this costly substrate could significantly lower the cost for manufacturing smaller, thinner, and more realistic displays.

“We have now demonstrated that this advanced 2D, materials-based growth and transfer technology can surpass conventional growth and transfer technology in specific domains, such as in virtual and augmented reality displays,” said Ougazzaden, the lead researcher for the Georgia Tech team.

These advanced techniques were developed in metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) reactors, the key tool for LED production at the wafer scale. The 2DLT technique can be replicated on an industrial scale with high throughput yield. The technology has the potential to bring the field of virtual and augmented reality to the next level, enabling the next generation of immersive, realistic micro-LED displays.

“This emerging technology has a tremendous potential for flexible electronics and the heterogenous integration in opto-electronics, which we believe will develop new functionalities and attract industry to develop commercial products from smartphone screens to medical devices,” Ougazzaden said.

Citation: Shin, J., Kim, H., Sundaram, S. et al. Vertical full-colour micro-LEDs via 2D materials-based layer transfer. Nature 614, 81–87 (2023).

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05612-1

The day began at the Institute for Electronics and Nanotechnology (IEN), where students learned about ferrofluids, thin films, magic sand, measuring their height in nanometers, and the size and scale of the universe. They also visited the Materials Characterization Facility for an introduction to characterization and demonstrations of some of its tools, including the digital optical microscope and atomic force microscope. The IEN portion of the day concluded with a window tour of the IEN cleanroom and an opportunity to gown up in “bunny suits,” the standard uniform worn by cleanroom users.

“We’re committed to developing the pipeline of the future microelectronics workforce,” said Mikkel Thomas, assistant director of workforce development at IEN. “This includes K-12 students who may not know what microelectronics are, or the career paths associated with them. We were glad to host part of Chip Camp and introduce these students to IEN.”

Following a lunch break, campers visited the Invention Studio makerspace, where they built their own rockets — and then launched them in Tech Green.

Micron Chip Camp is a global initiative offering opportunities to students in the U.S. and Asia both in person and online. Micron teamed up with STE(A)M Truck, Atlanta's leader in hands-on STEAM education, for the Georgia session.

In addition to hosting students for camps, IEN provides a variety of outreach programs for K-12 and adult learners, which include short courses and seminars, research experiences for undergraduates, and research experiences for teachers. To learn more about these opportunities, visit research.gatech.edu/nano/workforce-development.

Each instrument can measure elemental variability in both dissolved aqueous samples as well as solids/minerals via laser ablation microsampling from a Teledyne Iridia laser ablation system. Together the system can measure isotopes at precision in elemental systems from Li and U.

Planned applications include: (1) high-resolution measurements of Ca, Sr, Ba, Mg, and B elemental and isotopic variability in seawater and marine and terrestrial carbonates for paleoclimate reconstructions, (2) (U-Th)/Pb dating and Hf isotope measurements to study the origin of critical mineral deposits, with a potential engineering application and the development of novel methods for increasing precision/accuracy and minimizing sample consumption during routine analyses of water quality and environmental contamination.

The MCF welcomes users interested in these and other potential applications of this new facility to their scientific and engineering research to contact David Tavakoli (atavakoli6@gatech.edu).

To enable this research, IMat leadership launched an initiatives strategy in 2021 to support selected faculty, known as Initiative Leads, to further materials-related research and activities which meet IMat’s goals and objectives. Initiative Leads focus on Georgia Tech’s strengths and gaps in particular materials research domains and recognize overlaps between individual initiatives and group activities. This allows IMat to identify emerging research directions and prepare teams to compete for mid- and large-scale multi-investigator research centers with academic, national laboratory, and industry partners. For example, in FY21, IMat Initiatives submitted multiple large-scale proposals including for NSF Science and Technology Centers and an NSF Materials Research Science and Engineering Center. In addition, Initiative Leaders worked to increase the campus’ collaborative spirit by working with other Interdisciplinary Research Institutes, campus units, and GTRI to design and support research programs.

Initiative Leads serve for one academic year and may be considered for renewal based on their progress in achieving community building goals and their impact on IMat and the materials innovation ecosystem at Georgia Tech.

Meet the 2022-23 IMat Initiative Leads

Remote and Real-time Measurements | Faisal Alamgir
Faisal Alamgir is a professor in the School of Materials Science and Engineering at Georgia Tech. He holds a B.A. in physics and mathematics from Coe College and a Ph.D. in materials science and technology from Lehigh University. His research interests are in polymers, composites, ceramics, metals, and nanostructures.

Alamgir served as an inaugural IMat initiative lead in 2021 and will continue to lead a team effort to transform campus materials characterization facilities on two fronts: turning passive experiments into in-situ/operando ones by designing alternate sample environments that change samples in real time and increasing safety and efficiency in characterization spaces via remote operations where feasible to do so. In cases where remote operation compromises results, he will find solutions to alleviate the compromises.

Circularity in Civil Infrastructure Materials and Systems | Russell Gentry
Russell Gentry is a professor in the Schools of Architecture and Civil Engineering (by courtesy) and a licensed structural engineer. He teaches graduate courses in building materials and structures, computationally-driven fabrication, and building integration. He is affiliated with the design computation faculty in the School of Architecture and the structural engineering and mechanics of materials faculty in the School of Civil Engineering. Gentry directs the Master of Science programs in the School of Architecture and serves as the Associate Dean of Faculty in the College of Design.

The goal of this initiative is to expand IMat’s focus by including the rather mature material systems of civil infrastructure within IMat’s scope and to expand its scope from the material scale to the system scale. The focus will be on material life cycles with a specific emphasis on re-use and re-cycling of materials and ultimately on circularity in civil infrastructure material systems. This domain complements and builds on the existing initiative led by Kyriaki Kalaitzidou on the circularity of biopolymers and on work ongoing in the Renewable Bioproduct Institute.

Materials and Interfaces for Catalysis and Separations | Marta Hatzell
Marta Hatzell is an associate professor in the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. She earned a B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in mechanical engineering and an M.Eng in environmental engineering from Pennsylvania State University. Her research group focuses on exploring sustainable catalysis and separations with applications spanning from electrofuels and solar fuels to desalination.

To mitigate issues related to climate change, there is a societal push to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050. Thermal separations and catalysis are the primary sources of carbon emissions in industry today. Thus, there is a growing research focus on developing next-generation materials for net-zero catalysis and separation processes. As Initiative Lead, Hatzell will work to bring faculty together who are working on materials-related issues aimed at decarbonizing industrial separations and catalysis, identifying the bottlenecks for new materials, and assessing their long-term impacts. 

Quantum Responses of Topological and Magnetic Matter | Zhigang Jiang
Zhigang Jiang is a professor in the School of Physics. He holds a B.S. in physics from Beijing University and a Ph.D. in physics from Northwestern University. He was also a postdoctoral research associate at Columbia University jointly with Princeton University and NHMFL from 2005 - 2008. His research interests are in the quantum transport and infrared optical properties of topological and magnetic materials. His current projects include (1) infrared magneto-spectroscopy of topological semimetals, (2) band-engineering topological phases in metamorphic InAsSb ordered alloys, and (3) developing new materials for portable real-time radiation monitoring devices.

The goals of this initiative are two-fold. First, anchor, develop and promote the community of researchers working on the fundamental magnetic properties of quantum materials. Second, connect these researchers to application-centric initiatives led by other science or engineering colleagues across Georgia Tech. The focus of this initiative will be on fundamental research progress in topological and magnetic matter and to communicate their importance, relevance, and significance to Georgia Tech’s research audience. In addition, this initiative aims to leverage fundamental discoveries in quantum materials and explore how these can be translated in their own right into quantum systems with new functionalities for spintronics, qubits, and electronic devices.

Circularity of Biopolymers | Kyriaki Kalaitzidou
Kyriaki Kalaitzidou is the Rae S. and Frank H. Neely Professor in the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering. She also holds an adjunct appointment in the School of Materials Science and Engineering. She obtained her Ph.D. in manufacturing and characterization of polymer nanocomposites (PNCs) from Michigan State University. Kalaitzidou also serves as the strategic coordinator on circular materials in the Renewable Bioproducts Institute (RBI) which provides a natural conduit for increased collaboration between RBI and IMat.

Kalaitzidou served as an inaugural IMat Initiative Lead in 2021 and will continue her work in materials upcycling in 2022. She believes that the circularity of materials is an area where Georgia Tech faculty from across units can have a tremendous impact both in terms of fundamentals, such as the design of new polymers for recyclability, and applied research, such as scalable processes for sorting and re(up)cycling of end-of-life plastics, composites, and other materials. Additionally, this strategic theme allows great opportunities for technological innovations that provide positive societal, economic, and environmental impacts.

C.H.I.P.S. Initiative - Electronic and Ferroic Materials | Asif Khan
Asif Khan is an assistant professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. His group conceptualizes and fabricates solid state electronic devices that leverage interesting physics and novel phenomena in emerging materials (such as ferroelectrics, antiferroelectrics, and strongly correlated/quantum materials) to overcome the fundamental limits in computation and to address the most pressing challenges in the semiconductor industry and the computing paradigms. His work led to the first experimental proof-of-concept demonstration of the negative capacitance — a novel physical phenomenon that can lead to ultra-low power computing and memory platforms by overcoming the fundamental "Boltzmann Limit" of 60 mV/decade subthreshold swing in field-effect transistors.

Khan served as an inaugural IMat Initiative lead in 2021 and will continue in this role in 2022. As the Initiative Lead for Electronic and Ferroic Materials, Khan is working to leverage the unique strengths of Georgia Tech in the broad area of electronic materials to create strategic initiatives in terms of team building and connecting to other players and government agencies. These efforts will prepare Georgia Tech to take a leadership role in the large funding opportunities available in electronic materials as part of the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors for America and Foundries Act (or CHIPS for America Act) to strengthen the country’s semiconductor capacity.

Materials for Energy Storage | Matthew McDowell
Matthew McDowell is an associate professor with a joint appointment in the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and the School of Materials Science and Engineering. McDowell’s research group focuses on materials for next-generation energy storage devices. His group uses in situ experimental techniques to probe how materials inside batteries transform and degrade, and this knowledge is then used to guide the engineering of materials for breakthrough new devices.

McDowell served as an Initiative Lead in 2021 and will continue in this role in 2022. Investment in battery research and technology is rapidly growing, and Georgia Tech’s strong energy storage research community is well positioned to make an impact in the development of next-generation energy storage devices. McDowell foresees that IMat and the Strategic Energy Institute (SEI) could both play important roles in enabling the formation of an energy storage initiative that will bring the community together and provide improved external advertisement of Georgia Tech’s capabilities for energy storage research.

Materials in Extreme Environments | Richard W. Neu
Richard W. Neu is a professor in the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and the School of Materials Science and Engineering. His research involves the understanding and prediction of the fatigue behavior of materials and closely related topics, typically when the material must resist degradation and failure in harsh environments. He has investigated a broad range of structural materials including steels, titanium alloys, nickel-base superalloys, metal matrix composites, molybdenum alloys, high entropy alloys, medical device materials, and solder alloys used in electronic packaging. 

As an IMat Initiative Lead, Neu will engage and build an interdisciplinary research community to address the complex issues associated with new materials in extreme environments. These environments include high temperature, high pressure, corrosive, wear/erosion, cyclic loading, high-rate impacts, and radiation. The materials are continuously evolving and deforming in these harsh environments, which presents a roadblock in advancing engineering systems due to the uncertainty in the performance of new materials or new process methods such as additive manufacturing. Managing this risk by predicting the uncertainties, both internal to the material (its structure feature) and external environment, is an important consideration that materials engineering must address.

Materials for Quantum Science and Technology | Chandra Raman
Chandra Raman is a professor in the School of Physics. His research has two thrusts. The first utilizes sophisticated tools to cool atoms to temperatures less than one-millionth of a degree above absolute zero. Using these tools, the team explores topics ranging from superfluidity in Bose-Einstein condensates to quantum antiferromagnetism in a spinor condensate. In the second thrust he partners with engineers to build cutting-edge atomic quantum sensors on-chip with the potential for scale-up.

Raman served as an Initiative Lead in 2021 and will continue in this role in 2022. He envisions the development of “World-Ready” quantum systems, including room temperature quantum information processing and hybrid platforms combining quantum systems with MEMS and integrated photonics. Raman will seek to connect the vast photonics and MEMS expertise at Georgia Tech with other researchers in the materials domain, both at Georgia Tech and GTRI, to explore novel science and engineering approaches to address the challenges of growing quantum information systems to industrial scale.

Polymer Electronics and Photonics | Natalie Stingelin
Natalie Stingelin is the chair of the School of Materials Science and Engineering at Georgia Tech. Her research focuses on the broad field of functional plastics, including organic electronics; multifunctional inorganic/organic hybrids; smart, advanced optical systems based on organic matter; and bioelectronics.

Stingelin was an inaugural IMat Initiative Lead in 2021 and will continue in this role in 2022. She is working with MSE’s SoftBio Topical Working Group, Georgia Tech’s Polymer Network, the Center for Organic Photonics and Electronics, and the Renewable Bioproducts Institute to create a unique materials research environment that is capable to work across traditional material classes and raise the recognition of the materials innovations at Georgia Tech to the international stage. Organic electronics and photonics technology platforms can be expected to have a great societal impact because they promise to open new pathways and opportunities, which include reshaping product development and manufacturing, including flexible, rollable electronics targeted, e.g., for health-care applications, large-area energy harvesting, heat management structures for the building environment towards increased climate resilience.

Materials for Biomedical Systems | W. Hong Yeo

W. Hong Yeo is an Associate Professor and Woodruff Faculty Fellow in the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and the director of the IEN Center for Human-Centric Interfaces and Engineering (CHCIE) at Georgia Tech. He received a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering and genome sciences from the University of Washington and did a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. His research focuses on the areas of nano-microengineering, soft materials, molecular interactions, and biosystems, with an emphasis on nanomembrane bioelectronics and human-machine interfaces.

As an IMat Initiative Lead in Materials for Biomedical Systems (MBS), Yeo plans to foster collaborations between faculty, researchers, and clinicians to advance research in biomaterials and biomedical systems. He believes collaborative research environments between materials science/engineering and medicine will result in fundamental breakthroughs in bioinspired materials, human-centered designs, and integrated biomedical systems, which will significantly advance human healthcare. He also hopes to enhance human health via multidisciplinary materials research to tackle the National Academy of Engineering Grand Challenge to engineer better medicines in collaboration with both academic and industry partners.

The four winning teams, led by PIs from across Georgia Tech’s Colleges and Schools, will host their workshops during the Spring 2023 semester at the Georgia Institute of Technology’s Atlanta campus.

Congratulations to the Workshop Grant Winners!

Integrative Genomics for Health Equity

This one-day workshop will address the computational and analytical limitations to the use of integrative genomics and multi-omic profiling to understand and promote health equity. As genomic analysis begins to transform healthcare delivery, by promoting personalized assessment of therapeutic intervention, it is becoming increasingly apparent that both social and genetic determinants of health need to be measured.  Equitable implementation of genomic medicine must evaluate the influences of ancestry as well as socioeconomic status alongside genetics, with effects mediated in part through gene expression and epigenetics.  This workshop will bring together up to 9 speakers who will be asked to present their views on how genomic and non-genomic data can be integrated to guide precision medicine of diverse human populations.

• Greg Gibson (Regents Professor, School of Biological Sciences
• King Jordan (Professor, Director Bioinformatics Program
• Joseph Lachance (Associate Professor, School of Biological Sciences

Single Cell Spatial Omics

The field of single cell spatial omics is growing fast, thanks to global consortia such as the Human Cell Atlas (HCA) and the Human Biomolecular Atlas Program (HuBMAP), and also due to reduced next-generation sequencing (NGS) costs. Arguably, the biggest challenge in realizing the full potential of “spatial omics” techniques is the need for analytical tools that maximize our ability to extract testable hypotheses from the rich but noisy data sets. Thus, the AWSOM ’23 workshop will seek to bring together Atlanta-area strengths in computational science and machine learning at the same forum as technology developers and biologists, to strategically determine the thrust areas for future research.

• Saurabh Sinha | Professor & Wallace H. Coulter Distinguished Chair in Biomedical Engineering
• Manoj Bhasin | Associate Professor, Dept.of Biomedical Engineering
• Maneesha R Aluru | Senior Research Scientist, School of Biological SciencesGreg Gibson | Regents Professor, Tom and Marie Patton Chair, School of Biological Sciences

Computational and Mathematical Approaches to Theoretical Neuroscience

Understanding how the human brain works is one of the major challenges of our times. There has been a lot of progress on modeling phenomena at micro scale, such as the model of a neuron, of the chemical channels in a Synapse, learning models for updating weights in neurons etc. Such models have also inspired the models behind modern deep learning architectures. Rapid developments in neuro imaging at both micro and macro levels has enabled us to look at brain phenomena at unprecedented scale. However, an overarching model that explains the macro behavior of the brain is still not found. There have been several exciting steps towards this direction in the last decade from researchers at the intersection of several fields including computational neuroscience, theoretical CS, and probability. The focus of this seminar series is to invite researchers in this space to Georgia Tech, so that students and faculty at GT can pick up and contribute to this young and emerging field.

• Maguluri, Siva Theja Assistant Professor; Industrial & Systems Eng
• Choi, Hannah | Assistant Professor, Mathematics
• Mukherjee, Debankur | Assistant Professor, Industrial & Systems Engr
• Vempala, Santosh S | Professor, School of Computer Science

Sunny Workshop: A Julia Package for The Modeling of Spin Dynamics in Quantum Materials

In recent years, working with scientists at the University of Tennessee and Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), we have developed a simulation package called Su(n)ny, that uses Monte- Carlo techniques to calculate the spin dynamics of systems of interests. The Su(n)ny package is written in Julia and currently hosted on Github: https://github.com/SunnySuite/Sunny.jl. Development took place in the last year and a half. Last month, we presented our work for the first time during a workshop at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, as well as tutorials on how to use this package: https://github.com/SunnySuite/SunnyTutorials/tree/main/tutorials, see also the introductory video here: https://mourigal.gatech.edu/public/Sunny-Install-Video-Mourigal.mp4 The package was very well received by our community, and it is now time to accelerate its deployment in realistic community use cases, by coupling it to the modeling of real data, porting it on GPU/Leadership class computers, advertising it more broadly, and including AI/ML methodologies to extract models from data. Learn About the Package Here https://docs.juliahub.com/Sunny/atBCQ/0.3.0/

• Martin Mourigal | Associate Professor; School of Physics

IDEaS leverages expertise and resources from throughout Georgia Tech's colleges, research labs, and external partners, to define and pursue grand challenges in data science foundations and in data-driven discovery in various fields. For updates on these workshops and other IDEaS events, please visit our website

- Christa M. Ernst

Now the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is getting on board with Yushin’s Georgia Tech startup as part of federal efforts to reinvigorate tech manufacturing in the United States.

DOE awarded Sila Nanotechnologies $100 million this fall to support the company’s new factory in Moses Lake, Washington, and help Sila hire and train up to 300 workers for the facility. It was one of 21 projects funded in domestic battery materials processing and manufacturing.

“It’s our mission to help move America away from being energy dependent and become a leader in the energy transformation,” said Yushin, the company’s chief technology officer and a faculty member in the Georgia Tech School of Materials Science and Engineering. “With this funding, Sila will deliver proven, clean energy technology and world-scale manufacturing to revitalize the industry and gain independence.”

Birthed from Yushin’s research on lithium-ion batteries, Sila manufactures next-generation materials and a silicon anode technology that boosts battery energy density by 20%. The silicon anodes are a drop-in replacement for graphite anodes in lithium-ion batteries. The new facility is projected to produce enough capacity to power 200,000 electric vehicles by 2026. Sila has inked a deal with Mercedes-Benz to use the company’s technology, starting with G-Class vehicles.

Read the full story on the College of Engineering website.

Yeo is an Associate Professor and Woodruff Faculty Fellow in the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and holds a courtesy appointment in the Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering. He is also the director of the Center for Human-Centric Interfaces and Engineering at Georgia Tech. His research focuses on the areas of nano and microengineering, advanced soft materials, molecular interactions, and bio-electromechanical systems, with an emphasis on stretchable hybrid electronics.

In this brief Q&A, Yeo discusses his interest in materials for biomedical systems, some of the current challenges in human healthcare, and how he hopes to bridge the gap between materials research and bioengineering systems at Georgia Tech.

What is your field of expertise and at what point in your life did you first become interested in this area?

My expertise is in biomaterial-enabled medical sensors and electronics. During my graduate study, I found biomedical systems research impressive since it can contribute to human healthcare. Currently, I am working on the study of soft materials, flexible mechanics, nanomanufacturing, machine learning, electronics, and system packaging to develop nanomembrane biosensors and bioelectronics. These biomedical systems are used to advance portable human health monitoring, quantitative disease diagnosis, enhanced therapeutics, and persistent human-machine interfaces. 

What questions or challenges sparked your current materials research?

I have found out that the existing medical devices urgently need new materials that can enhance their sensitivity, reliability, and usability. That triggers my research using new biomaterials and nanomaterials to develop human-centered medical systems. 

Why is your initiative important to the development of Georgia Tech’s Materials research strategy?

This initiative, materials for biomedical systems (MBS), can bring new perspectives on tissue-compatible and bio-friendly materials to develop next-generation healthcare monitors, diagnostics, and therapeutic tools. The MBS initiative will study interdisciplinary fundamental science in materials and integrated materials engineering to develop innovative biomedical systems for bridging gaps in materials research and bioengineering systems at Georgia Tech. This initiative will build an inclusive culture and interdisciplinary research ecosystem across and beyond Georgia Tech while targeting large-scale extramural center funding and developing industry consortia. 

What are the broader global and social benefits of the research you and your team conduct?

One of the Grand Challenges in Engineering is to engineer better medicines, which still has many unresolved and ongoing challenges in materials and biomedical systems. It should be addressed by combined efforts and expertise in materials, nanoengineering, physiology, electronics, informatics, and human-centric designs. The MBS initiative will enhance human health via multidisciplinary materials research, which will bring a unique opportunity to Georgia Tech to tackle the healthcare grand challenge. 

What are your plans for engaging a wider Georgia Tech faculty pool with IMat research?

I plan to organize Georgia Tech, regional, and national workshops and/or technical conferences to bring together the biomaterials, biomedical, human-centered engineering, and nanoengineering communities. Eventually, I will organize a Georgia Tech-Industry Consortium to gain external awareness and sustainable research support. 

The Paris Agreement actually aims for 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels to avoid potential catastrophic changes to our climate. But it’s become increasingly clear to climate scientists and policymakers that just reducing emissions is not enough.

“We now know that we probably should have stopped putting massive amounts of CO2 in the air 10, 20, 30 years ago to prevent the climate from getting above 2 degrees C,” said Chris Jones, a chemical engineer at Georgia Tech. “Now we've waited so long to reduce our emissions that we need to develop technologies that are referred to as negative emissions technologies that remove CO2 from the atmosphere.”

Jones was one of a handful of scientists who co-authored a landmark National Academies report in 2018 that outlined a variety of approaches to negative emissions. Agricultural practices and forest management are options — essentially using nature’s ability to grab carbon dioxide out of the air and lock it away in plants and soil. But Jones said we’ll need quicker and more direct approaches.

“We could plant billions of trees to do this, but there's not enough available land. And the trees don't grow fast enough for us to do this quickly enough to slow global warming at the rate required,” said Jones, John F. Brock III School Chair in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (ChBE). “That's where direct air capture comes in: It's a chemical engineering way of designing a process that takes CO2 out of the air.”

Read the full story on the College of Engineering website.

In this brief Q&A, Hatzell discusses her research focus, how it relates to materials research, and the global impact of this initiative.

What is your field of expertise and at what point in your life did you first become interested in this area?

My field of research focuses on electrochemical materials for separations and catalysis. As an undergraduate I became very interested in the energy transition. At that point in time, it was clear that there was a need to move to a more electrified power and transportation sector, but it was unclear how to address decarbonization in the industrial sector. That is when I became interested in electrochemistry, electrochemical materials, and electrochemical engineering, as these skill sets seemed crucial to the energy transition. I've been working in this area ever since! At Georgia Tech, my group is interested in decarbonizing hard-to-abate industries like chemical manufacturing, electrofuels, desalination, and industrial separations. 

What questions or challenges sparked your current materials research?

With all the new technologies and processes being designed around electrochemistry, there are so many open questions about what materials can be used for separations and catalysis. Materials for modern-day industrial separations and catalysis have been largely optimized. However, as we move toward new electrified technologies, we can rethink how we design materials and systems. 

Why is your initiative important to the development of Georgia Tech’s Materials research strategy?

Decarbonizing chemical manufacturing is incredibly important for the globe to meet Net Zero carbon emissions and mitigate issues related to climate change. And, at the heart of this transition is the discovery and design of new materials. We need materials that have high activity and selectivity, are durable, and are cost-effective in order to implement these new processes in the industrial sector.

What are the broader global and social benefits of the research you and your team conduct?

We work on a number of catalytic and separations-based processes. One in particular that has global and societal benefits is the synthesis of ammonia for synthetic fertilizers. Today, half of the world's population depends on synthetic fertilizers, and nearly 100% of these fertilizers are made using one catalytic process. Unfortunately, this current process emits a significant amount of CO2, and therefore we are looking at electrified catalytic processes which can decrease or eliminate this carbon footprint. 

What are your plans for engaging a wider GT faculty pool with IMat research?

With so many talented researchers on campus, we are always looking for new ways to bring faculty together to engage in larger efforts. Thus, our primary plans focus on efforts that bring faculty together. We are currently in the process of planning workshops and seminars to bring together faculty who have interests in catalysis and reaction engineering. 

Grover is a professor and the associate chair for graduate studies at Georgia Tech’s School of Chemical and Bimolecular Engineering. Her research interests include feedback control of colloidal crystallization for photonic materials; chemical evolution in the origins of life; modeling and control of pharmaceutical and nuclear waste crystallization; and process-structure-property relationships in polymer organic electronics. 

SRNL intends to collaborate with Grover to utilize her expertise and experience to:

• Facilitate research and development activities pertaining to in-situ analysis of process streams for DOE tank waste treatment programs, including application of instruments and calibration techniques.
• Analyze SRNL data generated during testing of in-situ instruments in non-radioactive simulants of high-level waste.
• Expand and develop relationships within Georgia Tech to facilitate further collaboration 
• Develop the next generation of outstanding engineering talent with interest to pursue research career opportunities in the national laboratory system

“Dr. Grover’s efforts contribute directly to SRNL’s strategic goal of providing applied science and engineering for the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Environmental Management’s active cleanup sites and Office of Legacy Management’s post-closure management sites,” said SRNL Deputy Lab Director, Science and Technology, Sue Clark, PhD. “Dr. Grover will strengthen SRNL’s core competency of accelerating remediation, minimizing waste, and reducing risk by supporting process stream characterization associated with treatment of DOE tank waste.” 

In addition to her primary research, Grover focuses on creating an even more inclusive community, exploring issues relevant to women, underrepresented minorities, and international students. She co-leads the GT-Equal (Graduate Training for Equality in Underrepresented Academic Leadership) Program and, in 2020, was named a National Science Foundation Organizational Change for Gender Equity in STEM Academic Professions (ADVANCE) Professor.  Georgia Tech’s ADVANCE Program builds and sustains an inter-college network of professors who are world-class researchers and role models to support the community and advancement of women and minorities in academia.  Georgia Tech’s School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering also was one of two institutions selected nationwide to be inaugural sites for the American Chemical Society’s Bridge Program, which aims to increase the number of underrepresented minority students who receive doctoral degrees in chemical sciences.

The Joint Appointment Program at SRNL provides university faculty opportunities to engage in the laboratory’s research and development that address the nation’s challenges in energy, science, national security, and environmental stewardship. Together, SRNL staff and joint appointees help ensure America’s security and prosperity through transformative science and technology solutions. Joint appointees serve as a bridge between their university, SRNL researchers and students.

Savannah River National Laboratory is a United States Department of Energy multi-program research and development center that’s managed and operated by Battelle Savannah River Alliance, LLC (BSRA). SRNL puts science to work to protect the nation by providing practical, cost-effective solutions to the nation’s environmental, nuclear security, nuclear materials management, and energy manufacturing challenges (https://srnl.doe.gov/).

In this brief Q&A, Neu discusses his research focus, how it relates to materials research, and the impact of this initiative.

What is your field of expertise and at what point in your life did you first become interested in this area?

My field of expertise is the mechanical behavior of materials, mainly structural alloys. As an undergraduate at the University of Illinois, I chose to study engineering mechanics, which is the discipline explaining the way materials behave under loads and displacements. This led me to conduct undergraduate research on the thermomechanical mechanical fatigue of railway wheels, which occurs from the brake shoe application on the tread resulting in frictional heating of the wheel's surface. On a long downward grade, the wheel treads can get red hot, since the brakes are continuously applied. The strength and elastic properties of the wheel steel are reduced, and permanent changes such as the formation of residual stresses and changes in the microstructure degrade the mechanical behavior after repeated braking. Understanding and predicting this response enables more durable wheel steels and designs.

In my early career, I investigated several problems that involved structural materials needing to survive extreme environments. These included the understanding of the mechanisms leading to hot bearings in railway freight cars, the thermomechanical response of the skin material for hypersonic aircraft, and the thermomechanical fatigue and creep of hot turbine sections in gas turbines for both propulsion and energy generation. These problems are changing because high strength, high creep resistance, and good fracture toughness are needed, while the material itself continues to evolve at these high temperatures. In addition, chemical reactions can occur, significantly affecting the microstructure and mechanical behavior of the material near the surface. The problem of understanding these materials operating in these extreme environments entails a multidisciplinary approach involving mechanics, metallurgy, manufacturing processes, tribology, and machine design.

What questions or challenges sparked your current materials research?

My current research does not deviate much from my early days of research. The most challenging problems in the mechanical behavior of materials involve pushing materials to their extremes. There is a continuing need to discover and design structural alloys and composites with improved high-temperature properties, with reduced degradation in the environment they must withstand, whether corrosive, cryogenic, high temperature, or more often, a combination of these. Today, these challenges include developing more efficient gas turbine systems that can burn alternative fuels such as hydrogen, rolling bearing and gear steels that have higher reliability, and establishing quality assurance for materials manufactured using additive manufacturing and other novel processes to ensure that they will survive these extreme environments.

Why is your initiative important to the development of Georgia Tech’s Materials research strategy?

Leading the initiative for Materials in Extreme Environments, I desired to bring together faculty and researchers working in this area and those working on applications that involve materials operating in extreme environments. This year we identified one important application area where Georgia Tech is taking the lead. Hydrogen is likely to be a major player in the future green energy economy. One challenge to realizing a hydrogen energy economy is the efficient and low-cost generation, storage, and transport of hydrogen. In alloys, the degradation due to hydrogen embrittlement is one of the concerns that must be addressed. Both the materials understanding in this environment and the design of newer materials and surface modifications are needed. Furthermore, this needs to be accomplished at a large scale and low cost.

What are the broader global and social benefits of the research you and your team conduct?

The work we do enables safer and lower life cycle costs of mechanical systems, critically important for all the highly loaded structural components of aircraft and other transportation systems, hypersonic aircraft and rocket systems, gas turbine systems, nuclear power generation systems, and immense wind turbine components, as well as materials used in medical devices that are implanted in humans. Our research provides the knowledge and engineering tools to achieve a safer world and superior mechanical systems that improve the quality of life.

What are your plans for engaging a wider GT faculty pool with IMat research?

We are engaging with external experts to understand the needs in materials for the hydrogen value chain. While much research today is focused on producing green hydrogen through lower cost electrolysis and using hydrogen for energy generation with fuel cells, a big challenge of storing and transporting the hydrogen from its production to where it will be used requires novel solutions and materials. This involves, for example, storing hydrogen under extreme pressures in an environment where hydrogen itself can react and degrade the mechanical properties of the materials. The time is right for a diverse group of faculty to work on the storage and transportation challenges to facilitate energy having a substantial reduction in the carbon footprint while also reducing the life cycle costs of the infrastructure.

To further this mission, IMat and the School of Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) co-hosted the 2023 Brumley D. Pritchett Lecture and IMat Symposium on Materials Innovations on March 31, 2023. The Symposium included talks from invited speakers and Georgia Tech faculty, a poster contest, and networking opportunities.

“The 2023 IMat Symposium on Materials Innovations was a great success,” said Eric Vogel, IMat’s executive director. “The talks were interesting, and the audience was engaged.”

The prestigious Brumley D. Pritchett lecture featured Giulia Galli, the Liew Family Professor of Electronic Structure and Simulations at the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering and the Department of Chemistry at the University of Chicago. Galli’s talk was on Complex Materials from First Principles: From Sustainable Energy Sources to Quantum Information Science.

The Symposium content focused on new advances in materials science and their applications in various industries. Guest speakers included Christophe Levy from Holcim Innovation Center and Carmel Majidi, a professor of mechanical engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. Levy started off the day with his talk on industrial innovations in the cement and concrete domain and Majidi discussed integrated soft materials for human-compatible machines and electronics.

Georgia Tech speakers included Associate Chair for Research and Woodruff Professor in the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering Anna Erickson, IMat Science Advisor and Professor Martin Mourigal, Assistant Professor Vida Jamali, Associate Professor and Vasser-Woolley Georgia Research Alliance Distinguished Investigator in Sensors and Instrumentation Jason Azoulay, and Assistant Professor Victor Fung.

More than 20 students participated in the poster contest with presenters from the Schools of Materials Science and Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Chemistry and Biochemistry, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Physics, Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Aerospace Engineering.

The winning poster and recipient of a $500 prize was submitted by Rahul Venkatesh. His poster was on “Data-Enabled Experimental Development of Polymer-Based Organic Electronics.” In addition to the winner, three finalists were also selected. Presenters of the finalist posters included Daniel Aziz, Carolina Colon, and Harsh Verma. Each received a prize of $250.

This was the second year IMat and MSE hosted the Symposium, and it provided attendees with valuable insights into the latest advances in the field of materials science. It also provided an opportunity for researchers and students to network and collaborate, paving the way for future breakthroughs in materials science.

“The existing healthcare challenges are so complicated and demanding, so the collaboration between academia, industry, and national labs is imperative, and synergistic multidisciplinary research is required,” explained Yeo, who is also an associate professor and Woodruff Faculty Fellow in the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and holds a courtesy appointment in the Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering.

To further this initiative, Yeo and Emory University’s Young Jang organized the Materials for Biomedical Systems (MBS) Day at Georgia Tech. The workshop was held on March 30 at the Georgia Tech Global Learning Center and attracted researchers and industry representatives from a variety of disciplines.

The focus of the morning session was on soft materials and biomaterials for medical systems. It began with a talk on Organogels x EGaIn for Soft & Self-Healing Bioelectronics from Carmel Majidi, a professor of mechanical engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. Additional speakers in the morning session included ProgenaCare Global’s Allison Ramey-Ward, Seoul National University’s Young Bin Choy, and Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology’s Jae-Woong Jeong. The morning concluded with a panel discussion, regarding the translation of biomaterials technologies to system developments and commercialization, moderated by the University of Pittsburgh’s Youngjae Chun.

The afternoon session of the day was focused on stem cells and regenerative medicine. It began with a talk on Bioengineered Hydrogels for Regenerative Medicine from Andrés García, executive director of the Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB) and Regents’ Professor at Georgia Tech. Additional speakers in this session included Sung-Jin Park from Emory/Georgia Tech, William Hynes from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Ki Dong Park from Ajou University, Ho-Wook Jun from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and Johnna Temenoff from Emory University/Georgia Tech. The session concluded with a panel discussion moderated by Johnny Lam from the Food and Drug Administration.

“I am so thankful for all of the participants, sponsors, and organizers who made such an amazing workshop that generated innovative ideas and new collaboration opportunities from across the field,” said Yeo. “We also discussed immediate commercialization paths and regulatory importance in developing biomaterials and medical systems. We will continue offering networking and research-sharing opportunities to facilitate knowledge exchange through this MBS initiative.”

After the workshop, multiple students participated in a poster contest to showcase their research in biomaterials and medical systems and network with attendees. MBS Day was co-sponsored by IMat and IBB.

The pipeline extracts material property records from published papers and populates the data into a new application called Polymer Scholar. The platform works like a browser to search polymers and materials properties by keyword, rather than reading through countless articles.

The application makes materials research more efficient, which could lead to discovery of new polymers.

“Essentially, we have created an index on materials science literature that is much more granular than ones in a typical index that a search engine would create,” said Georgia Tech Ph.D. student Pranav Shetty, the lead designer of the pipeline.

“Our hope is that materials science researchers can make use of this capability in their day to day lives and workflows, and therefore, allow their work to have much more usability toward studying polymers and developing new materials.”

The group’s paper says the number of materials science papers published annually grows at a rate of 6% compounded annually. This amount of content makes for long, difficult work for scientists and in need of a computing solution.

The group’s answer is MaterialsBERT, a model they built and trained that powers the pipeline.

MaterialsBERT categorizes words in text by association with a material property record. After the model associates text with records, the data is fed to Polymer Scholar. Scientists can use Polymer Scholar to study data, searching either polymer name or a property, like boiling point or tensile strength.

The group used 2.4 million materials science abstracts to train MaterialsBERT. In tests, the model outperformed five other models on three of five entity-recognition datasets.

According to the study, the pipeline needed only 60 hours to obtain 300,000 material property records from over 130,000 abstracts.

As a comparison, materials scientists currently use a database called PoLyInfo. This system has over 492,000 material property records, manually curated by hand over the span of many years. Georgia Tech’s pipeline can accomplish in hours what took humans years to do in PoLyInfo.

“Polymer Scholar and MaterialsBERT are powered by a large corpus of 2.4 million materials science articles, which took some time and effort to develop the infrastructure to support such a large collection,” said Chao Zhang, an assistant professor in the School of Computational Science and Engineering (CSE). “This body of papers made all the difference training MaterialsBERT because it improved the language model’s ability to identify and extract data.”

Polymer research is vital because of their role in manufacturing, healthcare, electronics, and other industries. Polymers have desirable properties that make them useful toward future applications.

When polymer research slows, it inhibits development of new technologies. These technologies are needed to overcome today’s challenges like climate change, faltering infrastructure, and sustainable energy.

In their paper, the group analyzed data using polymer solar cells, fuel cells, and supercapacitors as keywords in Polymer Scholar. This showed that scholars can use the pipeline to infer trends and phenomena in materials science literature. It also used practical examples to demonstrate applicability.

The journal npj computational materials published the group’s paper because of its findings.

The group’s work embodies Georgia Tech’s commitment to interdisciplinary scholarship. Researchers from the School of CSE and the School of Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) collaborated on the pipeline.

School of CSE authors include Shetty, Zhang, and Ph.D. student Sonakshi Gupta. MSE authors include postdoctoral researchers Arunkumar Chitteth Rajan, Christopher Kuenneth, undergraduate students Lakshmi Prerana Panchumarti, Lauren Holm, and Professor Rampi Ramprasad.

The pipeline is the latest work for the group who are committed to applying computational methods to lead innovations in materials science.

“Our long-term vision is to use the extracted data to train models that can predict material properties,” Ramprasad said. “Creating a pipeline to extract this data that can seamlessly feed into predictive models will ultimately lead to an extraordinary pace of materials discovery.”

But battery researchers have begun to approach the limits of lithium-ion. As next-generation long-range vehicles and electric aircraft start to arrive on the market, the search for safer, cheaper, and more powerful battery systems that can outperform lithium-ion is ramping up.

A team of researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology, led by Matthew McDowell, associate professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and the School of Materials Science and Engineering, is using aluminum foil to create batteries with higher energy density and greater stability. The team’s new battery system, detailed in Nature Communications, could enable electric vehicles to run longer on a single charge and would be cheaper to manufacture — all while having a positive impact on the environment.

“We are always looking for batteries with higher energy density, which would enable electric vehicles to drive for longer distances on a charge,” McDowell said. “It’s interesting that we can use aluminum as a battery material, because it’s cost-effective, highly recyclable, and easy to work with.”

The idea of making batteries with aluminum isn’t new. Researchers investigated its potential in the 1970s, but it didn’t work well.

When used in a conventional lithium-ion battery, aluminum fractures and fails within a few charge-discharge cycles, due to expansion and contraction as lithium travels in and out of the material. Developers concluded that aluminum wasn’t a viable battery material, and the idea was largely abandoned.

Now, solid-state batteries have entered the picture. While lithium-ion batteries contain a flammable liquid that can lead to fires, solid-state batteries contain a solid material that's not flammable and, therefore, likely safer. Solid-state batteries also enable the integration of new high-performance active materials, as shown in this research.

The project began as a collaboration between the Georgia Tech team and Novelis, a leading manufacturer of aluminum and the world’s largest aluminum recycler, as part of the Novelis Innovation Hub at Georgia Tech. The research team knew that aluminum would have energy, cost, and manufacturing benefits when used as a material in the battery’s anode — the negatively charged side of the battery that stores lithium to create energy — but pure aluminum foils were failing rapidly when tested in batteries.

The team decided to take a different approach. Instead of using pure aluminum in the foils, they added small amounts of other materials to the aluminum to create foils with particular “microstructures,” or arrangements of different materials. They tested over 100 different materials to understand how they would behave in batteries.

“We needed to incorporate a material that would address aluminum’s fundamental issues as a battery anode,” said Yuhgene Liu, a Ph.D. student in McDowell’s lab and first author on the paper. “Our new aluminum foil anode demonstrated markedly improved performance and stability when implemented in solid-state batteries, as opposed to conventional lithium-ion batteries.” 

The team observed that the aluminum anode could store more lithium than conventional anode materials, and therefore more energy. In the end, they had created high energy density batteries that could potentially outperform lithium-ion batteries.

“One of the benefits of our aluminum anode that we're excited about is that it enables performance improvements, but it also can be very cost-effective,” McDowell said. “On top of that, when using a foil directly as a battery component, we actually remove a lot of the manufacturing steps that would normally be required to produce a battery material.”

Short-range electric aircraft are in development by several companies, but the limiting factor is batteries. Today’s batteries do not hold enough energy to power aircraft to fly distances greater than 150 miles or so. New battery chemistries are needed, and the McDowell team’s aluminum anode batteries could open the door to more powerful battery technologies.

“The initial success of these aluminum foil anodes presents a new direction for discovering other potential battery materials,” Liu said. "This hopefully opens pathways for reimagining a more energy-optimized and cost-effective battery cell architecture.”

The team is currently working to scale up the size of the batteries to understand how size influences the aluminum’s behavior. The group is also actively exploring other materials and microstructures with the goal of creating very cheap foils for battery systems.

“This is a story about a material that was known about for a long time, but was largely abandoned early on in battery development,” McDowell said. “But with new knowledge, combined with a new technology — the solid-state battery — we've figured out how we can rejuvenate the idea and achieve really promising performance.”

Funding: Support is acknowledged from Novelis, Inc. M.T.M. acknowledges support from a Sloan Research Fellowship in Chemistry from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. This work was performed in part at the Georgia Tech Institute for Electronics and Nanotechnology, a member of the National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure (NNCI), which is supported by the National Science Foundation (ECCS-2025462).

Citation: Liu, Y., Wang, C., Yoon, S.G. et al. Aluminum foil negative electrodes with multiphase microstructure for all-solid-state Li-ion batteries. Nat Commun 14, 3975 (2023).

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-39685-x

Writer: Catherine Barzler

Photography: Rob Felt

The team has identified two possible candidates using new machine learning models they developed and deployed with the capabilities of the San Diego Supercomputer Center at the University of California, San Diego. They published their progress recently in the journal Physical Review Materials.

Superconductors allow electricity to pass with no resistance, but conventional materials require temperatures near absolute zero (nearly -460 degrees Fahrenheit). For more than a century, scientists have been searching for materials able to accomplish the feat at room temperature and ambient pressure.

“The main challenge of the [artificial intelligence/machine learning] method is that we need, but never have, the desired database of superconductors,” said Huan Tran, senior research scientist in the Georgia Tech School of Materials Science and Engineering. “All previous works relied on databases that are sometimes large enough, but completely lacking in atomic-level information — which is absolutely crucial for accurate predictions.”

Tran and Tuoc Vu from Hanoi University have been building a database with that atomic-level information, filling in a critical gap in available data so they can train machine learning models to accurately predict promising superconductive materials.

More details about their work from the San Diego Supercomputer Center.

To enable this research, IMat leadership has supported strategic interdisciplinary initiatives since 2021. Each initiative has a dedicated faculty lead to guide the initiative and prepare teams to compete for mid- and large-scale, multi-investigator research centers with academic, national laboratory, and industry partners. Initiative leads also work to increase the campus’ collaborative spirit by working with other Interdisciplinary Research Institutes, campus units, and the Georgia Tech Research Institute to design and support research programs. Initiative leads serve for one academic year and may be considered for renewal based on their progress in achieving community-building goals and their impact on IMat and the materials innovation ecosystem at Georgia Tech.

“The goal of our initiative lead program is to provide support for these strategic interdisciplinary research areas,” said IMat Executive Director Eric Vogel. “Now that we are in the third year of the program, we have seen significant growth in many of the initiatives we have supported, including batteries and energy storage and materials laboratories for the future.”

Materials for Energy Storage Initiative to Become Georgia Tech Advanced Battery Center

Matthew McDowell has served as an IMat initiative lead in Materials for Energy Storage, a joint initiative with the Strategic Energy Institute (SEI), since the program began in 2021. With the nation’s increased focus on electric vehicles, battery storage technologies have gained significant attention since McDowell launched his initiative. In addition, the state of Georgia is becoming the epicenter of the battery belt of the Southeast, with more than $25 billion invested or announced in EV-related research in the past three years. The Materials for Energy Storage Initiative has worked to highlight Georgia Tech’s strong energy storage research community and how it can help shape the development of next-generation energy storage devices. In 2023, McDowell and his team hosted Georgia Tech Battery Day, a sold-out event that brought together more than 230 energy researchers and industry representatives to advance energy storage technologies.

This year, the Materials for Energy Storage Initiative will become the Georgia Tech Advanced Battery Center, with McDowell and Gleb Yushin as co-directors. The new center will build community at Georgia Tech, work to enhance relationships with industrial partners, and create a new battery manufacturing facility on Georgia Tech’s campus. The Advanced Battery Center is the latest initiative to gain external funding and become a center, in addition to the Center for Organic Photonics and Electronics and the Georgia AI Manufacturing coalition led by former IMat Initiative Lead Aaron Stebner.

Meet the 2023-24 IMat Initiative Leads

Materials for Solar Energy Harvesting and Conversion

Juan-Pablo Correa-Baena is an assistant professor and the Goizueta Early Career Faculty Chair in the School of Materials Science and Engineering. He holds a B.S. in management and engineering and an M.S. and Ph.D. in environmental engineering, all from the University of Connecticut. Correa-Baena runs the Energy Materials Lab at Georgia Tech, which focuses on understanding and control of crystallographic structure and effects on electronic dynamics at the nanoscale of low-cost semiconductors for optoelectronic applications.

As an initiative lead, Correa-Baena will work to create a community around solar energy harvesting and conversion at Georgia Tech. He aims to integrate photovoltaic, photodetectors, and related devices into IMaT-related research; energize research in these areas at Georgia Tech at large; and consolidate the expertise of the many research groups working on or around photovoltaics/photodetectors that will allow us to target interdisciplinary research funding opportunities. He also wants to provide an official link at Georgia Tech for industry partners to interact with faculty on photovoltaics, with a special aim at First Solar and QCells, the largest solar panel factory in the western hemisphere.

Autonomous Research for Materials

Mark Losego is an associate professor, MSE Faculty Fellow, and Dean’s Education Innovation Professor in the School of Materials Science and Engineering. He holds a B.S. from Penn State University and an M.S. and Ph.D. from North Carolina State University, all in materials science and engineering. The Losego research lab focuses on materials processing to develop novel organic-inorganic hybrid materials and interfaces for microelectronics, sustainable energy devices, national security technologies, and advanced textiles.

As an IMat initiative lead, Losego will help build a community at Georgia Tech that works toward developing autonomous and intelligent systems (robots) that execute physical experiments — processing, characterizing, and measuring the properties of materials — and then uses this knowledge to iteratively and intelligently execute subsequent experiments that produce new knowledge about process-structure-property relations, which inform materials discovery and design. He also hopes to learn what technical questions, training opportunities, or other incentives would compel Georgia Tech roboticists to collaborate with materials scientists to develop autonomous materials discovery systems and what the Georgia Tech materials community can do with emerging, inexpensive, and simple-to-use robotics systems to drive autonomous materials discovery.

Macromolecular Materials at Biotic and Abiotic Interfaces

Valeria Tohver Milam is an associate professor and MSE Faculty Fellow in MSE. She holds a B.S. from the University of Florida, and an M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, all in materials science and engineering. Her research interests are in DNA-based ligands for molecular, macromolecular, and mesoscale targets and bio-inspired colloidal assembly for multifunctional drug delivery vehicles and colloidal-based sensing. She also leads the Milam Group.

As an IMat initiative lead, Milam will work to build an inclusive and active community across and beyond Georgia Tech to identify emerging research directions in macromolecular materials. Macromolecules, whether natural, bio-inspired, or completely synthetic, hold promise for enabling the next generation of materials to successfully perform at biotic as well as abiotic interfaces. Motivated by broad applications ranging from health to the environment, this initiative will bring together experimental and computational engineers and scientists focused on fundamental studies of macromolecular systems. The goal is to identify pathways to novel compositions, structures, synthesis, and characterization approaches to designing and implementing macromolecular materials.

Mechanical Metamaterials

D. Zeb Rocklin is an assistant professor in the School of Physics. He holds a B.Sc. in physics and economics from the California Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. His research interests include soft condensed matter physics and adjacent fields like statistical physics, physics of living systems, and hard condensed matter with a particular focus on the relationship between the geometric structure of a system and its mechanical response. He leads the Rocklin Group at Georgia Tech, which focuses on the structure and motion of soft materials.

As an IMat initiative lead, Rocklin aims to bring faculty together within the Colleges of Sciences, Engineering, and Design to develop, characterize, and apply novel metamaterials — those with programmed structures above the atomic scale, blurring the line between material and machine. They can reveal fundamentally new physics while also incorporating new functionality for flexibility, strength, and intelligent processing of mechanical force and energy.

Materials and Interfaces for Catalysis and Separations | Marta Hatzell
Marta Hatzell is an associate professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. She earned a B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in mechanical engineering and an M.Eng in environmental engineering from Pennsylvania State University. Her research group focuses on exploring sustainable catalysis and separations with applications from electrofuels and solar fuels to desalination.

To mitigate issues related to climate change, there is a societal push to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050. Thermal separations and catalysis are the primary sources of carbon emissions in industry today. Thus, there is a growing research focus on developing next-generation materials for net zero catalysis and separation processes. In year one, Hatzell aided in bringing together faculty for two center-level proposals through the NSF and DOE. She also helped run a workshop to disseminate information regarding the DOE Earthshot call. In her second year as an initiative lead, Hatzell will continue to bring faculty together who are working on materials-related issues aimed at decarbonizing industrial separations and catalysis, identify the bottlenecks for new materials, and assess their long-term impacts.

Quantum Responses of Topological and Magnetic Matter | Zhigang Jiang
Zhigang Jiang is a professor in the School of Physics. He holds a B.S. in physics from Beijing University and a Ph.D. in physics from Northwestern University. He was also a postdoctoral research associate at Columbia University jointly with Princeton University and NHMFL from 2005 to 2008. His research interests are in the quantum transport and infrared optical properties of topological and magnetic materials. His current projects include infrared magneto-spectroscopy of topological semimetals, band-engineering topological phases in metamorphic InAsSb ordered alloys, and developing new materials for portable, real-time radiation monitoring devices.

The goals of this initiative are twofold: first, to anchor, develop, and promote the community of researchers working on the fundamental magnetic properties of quantum materials. And second, to connect these researchers to application-centric initiatives led by other science or engineering colleagues across Georgia Tech. The focus will be on fundamental research progress in topological and magnetic matter and to communicate their importance, relevance, and significance to Georgia Tech’s research audience. In addition, this initiative aims to leverage fundamental discoveries in quantum materials and explore how they can be translated in their own right into quantum systems with new functionalities for spintronics, qubits, and electronic devices.

Materials in Extreme Environments | Richard W. Neu
Richard W. Neu is a professor in the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and the School of Materials Science and Engineering. His research involves the understanding and prediction of the fatigue behavior of materials and closely related topics, typically when the material must resist degradation and failure in harsh environments. He has investigated a broad range of structural materials, including steels, titanium alloys, nickel-base superalloys, metal matrix composites, molybdenum alloys, high entropy alloys, medical device materials, and solder alloys used in electronic packaging. 

Neu served as an initiative lead in 2022 and will continue in this role in 2023. He will continue to engage and build an interdisciplinary research community to address the complex issues associated with new materials in extreme environments. These environments include high temperature, high pressure, corrosive, wear/erosion, cyclic loading, high-rate impacts, and radiation. In harsh environments, materials are continuously evolving and deforming, presenting a roadblock in advancing engineering systems due to the uncertainty in the performance of new materials or new process methods such as additive manufacturing. Managing this risk by predicting the uncertainties, both internal to the material (its structure feature) and external environment, is an important consideration that materials engineering must address.

Organic Photonics and Electronics | Jason Azoulay

Jason Azoulay is an associate professor and Georgia Research Alliance Vasser-Woolley Chair in Optoelectronics in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, with a joint appointment in the School of Materials Science and Engineering. He received his Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of California at Santa Barbara and performed postdoctoral studies at Sandia National Laboratories. His research group unites strong synthetic foundations with physics, materials science, and engineering to synthesize and apply next-generation functional materials. Research within his group includes homogeneous catalysis applied to polymer synthesis; electronic, photonic, magnetic, and quantum materials; device fabrication and engineering; chemical sensing in complex aqueous environments for environmental monitoring; and the synthesis, application, and engineering of high-performance polymers across multiple technology platforms.

Emerging semiconductor materials open new pathways and opportunities to address critical national needs with global societal impacts in climate change, manufacturing, energy, healthcare, information science, consumer applications, defense-wide applications, and many others. Azoulay will work across multiple Georgia Tech centers, topical working groups, and institutes to create a unique materials research environment that spans traditionally siloed disciplines and materials classes. These efforts will advance the chemistry, materials science, and application of emerging photonic, optoelectronic, semiconductor, spin-based, and quantum technologies and raise the recognition of the materials innovations at Georgia Tech to the international stage.

Materials for Biomedical Systems | W. Hong Yeo

W. Hong Yeo is an associate professor and Woodruff Faculty Fellow in the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and the director of the IEN Center for Human-Centric Interfaces and Engineering at Georgia Tech. He received a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering and genome sciences from the University of Washington and did a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. His research focuses on the areas of nano-microengineering, soft materials, molecular interactions, and biosystems, with an emphasis on nanomembrane bioelectronics and human-machine interfaces.

Yeo led the Materials for Biomedical Systems initiative in 2022 and will continue in this role in 2023, where he will continue to foster collaborations between faculty, researchers, and clinicians to advance research in biomaterials and biomedical systems. In 2022, this initiative successfully hosted the MBS Day by inviting more than 80 people from academia, industry, and national labs to share knowledge, research ideas, and commercialization opportunities. Yeo believes collaborative research environments between materials science and engineering and medicine will result in fundamental breakthroughs in bioinspired materials, human-centered designs, and integrated biomedical systems, which will significantly advance human healthcare. He also hopes to enhance human health via multidisciplinary materials research to tackle the National Academy of Engineering Grand Challenge to engineer better medicines in collaboration with both academic and industry partners.

"Our investment will help train the next generation of talent necessary to fill key openings in the semiconductor industry and grow our economy from the middle out and bottom up," said NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan. "By supporting novel, transdisciplinary research, we will enable breakthroughs in semiconductors and microelectronics and address the national need for a reliable, secure supply of innovative semiconductor technologies, systems and professionals."

View the announcement

According to LLNL materials scientist Kyle Sullivan, who sponsored Brettmann’s mini-sabbatical, she helped his team take a fresh look at their methodology, enabling them to identify ways to streamline a highly complex process.

“Many of our material development activities start with multi-faceted problems,” Sullivan said. “We were eager to draw from Blair’s experience in pharmaceutical manufacturing to help us identify an efficient methodology to apply to our research.”

Brettmann’s research focuses on material processing, including how a material’s properties influence the optimal processing approach, as well as how novel processing techniques can be used to develop materials with the features needed for specific applications. Her goal is to better understand options for real-time monitoring of material processing, including effective data collection tools, as well as knowing which experimental data would be beneficial to analyze. As she heads back to Georgia Tech to start another academic year, Brettmann is hoping that the insight she gained during her mini-sabbatical will help her research team as they test new analytical techniques for their material formulation experiments.

Dobbs spent her summer at LLNL investigating material formulation techniques. She helped design and conduct experiments that explored ways to optimize material mixing and she developed a new process for analyzing experimental data. During her internship, Dobbs met with LLNL experts in materials processing and advanced manufacturing, who helped her frame her experiments.

“It was great to expand my understanding of the entire manufacturing process and learn about key challenges in the field," Dobbs said. “The opportunity to spend time with energetics experts was one of the highlights of my internship experience.”

Read the full article

Point-of-care technologies are medical diagnostic tests performed outside the laboratory in close proximity to where a patient is receiving care. This allows health care providers to make clinical decisions more rapidly, conveniently and efficiently.

AMCE POCT, which is one of six sites in the U.S. selected by NIH as part of the NIH Point-of-Care Technologies Research Network, was originally established in 2018 to foster the development and commercialization of microsystems (microchip-enabled, biosensor-based, microfluidic) diagnostic tests that can be used in places such as the home, community or doctor’s office. The center played a pivotal role during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic as the national test verification center to rapidly evaluate COVID-19 tests and help make them widely available.

Read the full announcement

The goals of the funded proposals include identifying prominent emerging research directions on the topic of AI, shaping IDEaS future strategy in the initiative area, building an inclusive and active community of Georgia Tech researchers in the field that potentially include external collaborators, and identifying and preparing groundwork for competing in large-scale grant opportunities in AI and its use in other research fields.

Below are the 2023 recipients and the co-sponsoring IRIs:

Proposal Title: "AI for Chemical and Materials Discovery" + “AI in Microscopy Thrust”
PI: Victor Fung, CSE | Vida Jamali, ChBE| Pan Li, ECE | Amirali Aghazadeh Mohandesi, ECE
Award: $20k (co-sponsored by IMat)

Overview: The goal of this initiative is to bring together expertise in machine learning/AI, high-throughput computing, computational chemistry, and experimental materials synthesis and characterization to accelerate material discovery. Computational chemistry and materials simulations are critical for developing new materials and understanding their behavior and performance, as well as aiding in experimental synthesis and characterization. Machine learning and AI play a pivotal role in accelerating material discovery through data-driven surrogate models, as well as high-throughput and automated synthesis and characterization.

Proposal Title: " AI + Quantum Materials”
PI: Zhigang JIang, Physics | Martin Mourigal, Physics
Award: $20k (Co-Sponsored by IMat)

Overview: Zhigang Jiang is currently leading an initiative within IMAT entitled “Quantum responses of topological and magnetic matter” to nurture multi-PI projects. By crosscutting the IMAT initiative with this IDEAS call, we propose to support and feature the applications of AI on predictive and inverse problems in quantum materials. Understanding the limit and capabilities of AI methodologies is a huge barrier of entry for Physics students, because researchers in that field already need heavy training in quantum mechanics, low-temperature physics and chemical synthesis. Our most pressing need is for our AI inclined quantum materials students to find a broader community to engage with and learn. This is the primary problem we aim to solve with this initiative.

PI: Jeffrey Skolnick, Bio Sci | Chao Zhang, CSE
Proposal Title: Harnessing Large Language Models for Targeted and Effective Small Molecule 4 Library Design in Challenging Disease Treatment
Award: $15k (co-sponsored by IBB)

Overview: Our objective is to use large language models (LLMs) in conjunction with AI algorithms to identify effective driver proteins, develop screening algorithms that target appropriate binding sites while avoiding deleterious ones, and consider bioavailability and drug resistance factors. LLMs can rapidly analyze vast amounts of information from literature and bioinformatics tools, generating hypotheses and suggesting molecular modifications. By bridging multiple disciplines such as biology, chemistry, and pharmacology, LLMs can provide valuable insights from diverse sources, assisting researchers in making informed decisions. Our aim is to establish a first-in-class, LLM driven research initiative at Georgia Tech that focuses on designing highly effective small molecule libraries to treat challenging diseases. This initiative will go beyond existing AI approaches to molecule generation, which often only consider simple properties like hydrogen bonding or rely on a limited set of proteins to train the LLM and therefore lack generalizability. As a result, this initiative is expected to consistently produce safe and effective disease-specific molecules.

PI: Yiyi He, School of City & Regional Plan | Jun Rentschler, World Bank
Proposal Title: “AI for Climate Resilient Energy Systems”
Award: $15k (co-sponsored by SEI)

Overview: We are committed to building a team of interdisciplinary & transdisciplinary researchers and practitioners with a shared goal: developing a new framework which model future climatic variations and the interconnected and interdependent energy infrastructure network as complex systems. To achieve this, we will harness the power of cutting-edge climate model outputs, sourced from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP), and integrate approaches from Machine Learning and Deep Learning models. This strategic amalgamation of data and techniques will enable us to gain profound insights into the intricate web of future climate-change-induced extreme weather conditions and their immediate and long-term ramifications on energy infrastructure networks. The seed grant from IDEaS stands as the crucial catalyst for kick-starting this ambitious endeavor. It will empower us to form a collaborative and inclusive community of GT researchers hailing from various domains, including City and Regional Planning, Earth and Atmospheric Science, Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering etc. By drawing upon the wealth of expertise and perspectives from these diverse fields, we aim to foster an environment where innovative ideas and solutions can flourish. In addition to our internal team, we also have plans to collaborate with external partners, including the World Bank, the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability, and the Berkeley AI Research Initiative, who share our vision of addressing the complex challenges at the intersection of climate and energy infrastructure.

PI: Jian Luo, Civil & Environmental Eng | Yi Deng, EAS
Proposal Title: “Physics-informed Deep Learning for Real-time Forecasting of Urban Flooding”
Award: $15k (co-sponsored by BBISS)

Overview: Our research team envisions a significant trend in the exploration of AI applications for urban flooding hazard forecasting. Georgia Tech possesses a wealth of interdisciplinary expertise, positioning us to make a pioneering contribution to this burgeoning field. We aim to harness the combined strengths of Georgia Tech's experts in civil and environmental engineering, atmospheric and climate science, and data science to chart new territory in this emerging trend. Furthermore, we envision the potential extension of our research efforts towards the development of a real-time hazard forecasting application. This application would incorporate adaptation and mitigation strategies in collaboration with local government agencies, emergency management departments, and researchers in computer engineering and social science studies. Such a holistic approach would address the multifaceted challenges posed by urban flooding. To the best of our knowledge, Georgia Tech currently lacks a dedicated team focused on the fusion of AI and climate/flood research, making this initiative even more pioneering and impactful.

Proposal Title: “AI for Recycling and Circular Economy”
PI: Valerie Thomas, ISyE and PubPoly | Steven Balakirsky, GTRI
Award: $15k (co-sponsored by BBISS)

Overview: Most asset management and recycling use technology that has not changed for decades. The use of bar codes and RFID has provided some benefits, such as for retail returns management. Automated sorting of recyclables using magnets, eddy currents, and laser plastics identification has improved municipal recycling. Yet the overall field has been challenged by not-quite-easy-enough identification of products in use or at end of life. AI approaches, including computer vision, data fusion, and machine learning provide the additional capability to make asset management and product recycling easy enough to be nearly autonomous. Georgia Tech is well suited to lead in the development of this application. With its strength in machine learning, robotics, sustainable business, supply chains and logistics, and technology commercialization, Georgia Tech has the multi-disciplinary capability to make this concept a reality, in research and in commercial application.

Proposal Title: “Data-Driven Platform for Transforming Subjective Assessment into Objective Processes for Artistic Human Performance and Wellness”
PI: Milka Trajkova, Research Scientist/School of Literature, Media, Communication | Brian Magerko, School of Literature, Media, Communication
Award: $15k (co-sponsored by IPaT)

Overview: Artistic human movement at large, stands at the precipice of a data-driven renaissance. By leveraging novel tools, we can usher in a transparent, data-driven, and accessible training environment. The potential ramifications extend beyond dance. As sports analytics have reshaped our understanding of athletic prowess, a similar approach to dance could redefine our comprehension of human movement, with implications spanning healthcare, construction, rehabilitation, and active aging. Georgia Tech, with its prowess in AI, HCI, and biomechanics is primed to lead this exploration. To actualize this vision, we propose the following research questions with ballet as a prime example of one of the most complex types of artistic movements: 1) What kinds of data - real-time kinematic, kinetic, biomechanical, etc. captured through accessible off-the-shelf technologies, are essential for effective AI assessment in ballet education for young adults?; 2) How can we design and develop an end-to-end ML architecture that assesses artistic and technical performance?; 3) What feedback elements (combination of timing, communication mode, feedback nature, polarity, visualization) are most effective for AI- based dance assessment?; and 4) How does AI-assisted feedback enhance physical wellness, artistic performance, and the learning process in young athletes compared to traditional methods?

-         Christa M. Ernst

Over the summer of 2023, the two students served as research interns for Ye Zhao, Assistant Professor; School of Mechanical Engineering and a member of the Institute for Robotics and Intelligent Machines, and Ting Zhu, Woodruff Professor; School of Mechanical Engineering and a member of the Institute for Materials, both learning from the experience and proposing new research paths to their hosting lab team.

Mentored by graduate students Kelin Yu and Chaitanya Mehta, Christian and Matthew were introduced to the basics of robotic grippers with embedded tactile sensors and training via convolutional neural networks, a powerful artificial intelligence approach that imitates the way humans learn things. After this introductory period, the pair proposed their own approach to testing the robotic gripper on various objects with different textures and shapes. The two discovered that by changing several parameters of the neural network they were able to increase the precision of the robotic arm so that it can more accurately identify the grasped object, adjust its force accordingly to hold the objects firmly but without breakage.

“Following an extensive period of learning and exploration, Matthew and Christian identified and proposed a novel research topic, followed by the development of a comprehensive research plan. Their proposed topic effectively integrates deep learning and tactile sensing to enhance the accuracy of object identification by robotic hands, “said graduate student and mentor Kelin Yu. “They introduced a novel approach to object classification by utilizing deformations of grasped fruit objects and deep learning models. Moreover, Matthew and Christian played important roles in various phases of the research, including the intricate tasks of model training, meticulous data acquisition, and the execution of experiments on robotic hardware. Their active participation was pivotal in driving the project to successful completion.”

In addition to gaining new skills, such as using SOLIDWORKS for design and modeling and 3D printing for prototyping, the two gained valuable insights into the importance of collaboration across specialized teams for productive research outcomes.

Prior to having this opportunity, I never would have imagined that so many specialized groups had to work together and communicate with each other. I would see the Cassie foot team members come in some days and they would discuss topics with the Robotic gripper team members Chaitanya or Colin. – Christian Hable

Georgia Tech has a cutting-edge research environment, such as at Professor Zhao’s lab, where research on robotics and artificial intelligence intersects. I am very impressed by how dedicated and hardworking my mentors, Colin and Chaitanya, were. Our wonderful research experience would not have been possible without the dedication of my mentors. – Matthew Zhu

Kelin, Chaitanya, Zhao and Ting are currently in the process of preparing a journal manuscript on the research, with Matthew and Christian as co-authors. The tentative title of the manuscript is “A robotic hand for object identification through tactile sensing and neural networks”.

- Christa M. Ernst

In this brief Q&A, Rocklin discusses his research focus, how it relates to materials research, and the impact of this initiative.

What is your field of expertise and at what point in your life did you first become interested in this area?

I'm a soft matter physicist who studies flexible structures and metamaterials. Flexible structures can support mechanical loads while undergoing complex deformations. Metamaterials are structures engineered with repeating patterns such as holes or creases that imbue them with fundamentally new properties. I have been interested in using math and logic to solve puzzles and figure things out from a very young age. This has grown over the last several years into designing structures with new geometries to convey force in new and useful ways.

What questions or challenges sparked your current materials research?

Flexible structures lend themselves to complex behavior and fascinating puzzles. Why do origami sheets seem to bend in exactly the opposite direction as conventional thin plates? How can you design a structure that can robustly toggle between flexible and stiff? How many different stable shapes can be programmed into a single mechanical metamaterial?

Why is your initiative important to the development of Georgia Tech’s materials research strategy?

This research offers a new way of conceptualizing materials research, connecting with a vibrant and growing international materials community. Materials research often involves manipulating the smallest (atomic) scale, whereas metamaterials aim to take advantage of structure at all scales, up to the human scale of the overall system. This complements existing materials research while connecting it with other disciplines such as robotics and mechanical engineering.

What are the broader global and social benefits of the research you and your team conduct?

As a scientist, I have faith that deeper knowledge leads to broad social benefits. In the case of metamaterials, this benefit is already being realized. Soft robots, sheets of paper, textiles, plants, and the human body itself are all flexible structures. Metamaterial principles are being used widely, from space missions to surgical stents, to create stronger, tougher, cheaper, softer, and lighter-weight structures.

What are your plans for engaging a wider Georgia Tech faculty pool with IMat research?

Georgia Tech has a remarkable set of researchers who work on metamaterials, as well as many others who work in adjacent and complementary areas. Our immediate goal is to strengthen communication and build a sense of community to share ideas and craft teams of collaborators capable of developing new research programs.

Altogether, the agency is investing $3 million in the three projects led by faculty members in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering (ME) and the School of Materials Science and Engineering (MSE). Georgia Tech is a contributing partner on a fourth project led by Notre Dame researchers to explore materials that can be switched from an insulator to a metal with an external trigger.

The new awards are part of NSF’s Designing Materials to Revolutionize and Engineer our Future (DMREF) program, which is intended to discover and create advanced materials twice as fast and at a fraction of the cost of traditional research methods.

Read more about the researchers' plans on the College of Engineering website.

The new IRI, which has yet to be named, will explore the vast scientific, technological, societal, and economic impacts of innovative materials and devices, as well as foster their incorporation into systems that improve the human condition in areas such as information and communication technologies, the built environment, and human well-being and performance.

“The new IRI will not only combine the strengths of IEN and IMat, but will also allow us to further expand faculty representation from across the Institute,” said Julia Kubanek, vice president of Interdisciplinary Research at Georgia Tech. “As we look at the future of research in these areas, expanding inclusivity of researchers from the liberal arts, design, business, and basic sciences will allow us to better meet the education, workforce development, and innovation needs of Georgia, the U.S., and the world.”

The new IRI will strengthen Georgia Tech’s role in national focus areas such as the National Nanotechnology Initiative, the Materials Genome Initiative, and the CHIPS and Science Act, as well as identify and shape future priorities.

Core competencies of the new IRI will include:

• Fundamental science to comprehend and control matter from the nanoscale to the mesoscale.
• The synthesis, processing, and characterization of materials to achieve desired properties.
• The design and fabrication of novel devices and components with enhanced capabilities.
• The integration of materials, devices, and components into larger systems.
• Computing, modeling, simulation, and big data to advance progress at all length scales.
• Integration into all stages of research, from conceptualization to impact assessment, of economic, business, and social factors to ensure sustainable and equitable benefits.

“IEN and IMat have worked closely together for years, and there is overlap in the research areas we cover,” said Eric Vogel, IMat’s executive director. “This is an opportunity for us to build on IEN and IMat’s individual successes and our strong record of collaboration to create something even more exceptional.”

The new IRI will strengthen the state-of-the-art core cleanroom and characterization facilities, providing researchers with the tools and resources necessary for cutting-edge interdisciplinary research. These facilities will continue to serve both Georgia Tech and, through its leadership within the NSF National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure, the nation. Recognizing the importance of nurturing talent, it will champion education and outreach programs to inspire the next generation and equip the workforce with the skills necessary to collaborate and communicate across multiple disciplines.

“This is an exciting time to look to the future,” said Michael Filler, interim executive director of IEN. “We highly value the dedication and hard work of our staff and research faculty, who have been crucial to the success of IEN and IMat and will be the backbone of this new organization. We look forward to creating something exceptional in the coming months.”

“Pressure injuries directly impact the veteran’s quality of life, because the medical provider will order the veteran to bed rest for weeks and potentially months,” said Kim House, a physician and medical director of the Spinal Cord Injury Clinic at the Atlanta Veterans Administration Healthcare System. “At every clinic visit, I provide education for pressure injury prevention.”

House could one day have a new tool to offer her patients, thanks to researchers in the Georgia Tech College of Engineering, and wheelchair-bound veterans are just the beginning.

Materials engineers are developing new fabric sensors and a customized wheelchair system that assesses and automatically eases pressure at contact points to prevent injuries from developing in the first place.

“We have three key issues happening: First, continuous pressure. Second, moisture, because when you're sitting in the same spot, you tend to sweat and generate moisture. And third is shear. When you try to move somebody, the skin shears. That perfect combination is what causes pressure injuries,” said Sundaresan Jayaraman, professor in the School of Materials Science and Engineering (MSE). “We believe we have a solution to the perfect storm of pressure, moisture and shear, which means the user’s quality of life is going to get better.”

Get the full story on the College of Engineering website.

The Wearable Intelligent Systems and Healthcare (WISH) Center will work to push innovation in wearable sensors and electronics technologies. Focus areas of the center will include electronics, artificial intelligence, biological science, material sciences, manufacturing, system design, and medical engineering.

“We are excited by the promise of bioelectronics improving human health and all the exciting science engineering that is required to make it a reality,” said Michael Filler, interim executive director of IEN.

WISH is directed by W. Hong Yeo, associate professor in Georgia Tech’s George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory, and Yuhang Hu, associate professor in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Georgia Tech.

“I founded WISH to bring together Georgia Tech’s expertise in various disciplines and to create opportunities for developing wearable bioelectronics and human-machine technologies leading to better lives and communities,” said Yeo.

Yeo’s research focuses on developing soft sensors, electronics and robotics for health monitoring and disease diagnosis at the intersection of human and machine interaction. Other researchers in the center represent disciplines from across Georgia Tech’s Colleges of Engineering, Computing, Sciences, Design, and Liberal Arts; Emory University; and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.

WISH will be one of IEN’s 10 strategic research centers, along with the 3D Systems Packaging Research Center, a graduated NSF Engineering Research Center focusing on advanced packaging using 2.5D and 3D heterogeneous integration technologies, and the Georgia Electronic Design Center, one of the world’s largest university-based semiconductor research centers. WISH is an evolution of the Center for Human-Centric Interfaces and Engineering, which received seed funding from IEN to focus on collaborative research for human-centered design, biofeedback control, and integrated nanosystems to advance human-machine interaction in the scope of healthcare.

IEN supports early-stage research in underfunded research areas that span all disciplines in science and engineering through its seed grant programs, which focus on research in biomedicine, electronics, optoelectronics and photonics, and energy applications.

The Humboldt recipients are academics whose fundamental discoveries, theories, or insights have had a significant impact on their own disciplines and who are expected to continue producing cutting-edge achievements in the future.

Li’s research focuses on theory and computation of disordered materials — such as glass and liquid — with an emphasis on understanding the underlying atomic structures and their relations to properties. These materials are known for the lack of long-range order, making it extremely difficult, if not possible, to determine the exact atomic structures experimentally. The missing connection between the structure and property has challenged scientists for decades.

Using computational and theoretical approaches, Li’s research is directed towards the fundamental understanding of the mechanisms, process, and structures of the materials. He has made many contributions in the topics of glass transitions, deformation localization in glassy materials, thermodynamic and statistical physics models for metastable systems and their phase transitions, and algorithm development for computations.

“Besides the honor and recognition, for which I am very grateful, the Humboldt Research Award brings a tremendous opportunity for international collaboration of basic research through the financial support and also the Humboldt network.” Li said. "The fundamental understanding enables us to carry out new experiment and computation that could lead to development of new materials that have not been possible for disordered or amorphous materials.”

In addition to the honor, the Foundation also provides financial support for Li to foster and carry out creative collaborative research in Germany. Li will work closely with colleagues in two world-class institutions in Germany: Prof. Robert Maaß at Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM) in Berlin and Prof. Jörg Weissmüller at Hamburg University of Technology in Hamburg.

They will work on how new design of microstructures in disordered materials could bring revolutionary changes to the physical and mechanical properties and how length scale and geometric and topological shapes influence the surface and interface properties of this class of materials.

In this brief Q&A, Correa-Baena discusses his research focus, how it relates to materials research, and the impact of this initiative.

What is your field of expertise and at what point in your life did you first become interested in this area?

I am an expert in materials for energy harvesting and conversion. I first became interested in this topic when I was an undergraduate student and started thinking about the future of energy production. 

What questions or challenges sparked your current materials research?

I was born and raised in a country where fossil fuels dominate the energy production landscape, yet where renewables are readily available. Colombia is a large producer of oil but also boasts a huge potential for solar energy production. This juxtaposition always puzzled me growing up. As a researcher in this field, I want to ensure that all countries around the world have access to solar energy, by helping lower deployment cost. 

Why is your initiative important to the development of Georgia Tech’s Materials research strategy?

There is a growing need to expand our research footprint at Georgia Tech with regard to photovoltaics. This is especially important with the impact of the photovoltaic industry presence in Georgia. My initiative is focusing on galvanizing activities around photovoltaic research at Georgia Tech that can benefit our footprint globally as well as locally with industry partners.

What are the broader global and social benefits of the research you and your team conduct?

The main benefit of the research we do is to the photovoltaic industry, which we hope to engage through cutting-edge research at Georgia Tech.

What are your plans for engaging a wider Georgia Tech faculty pool with IMat research?

I am planning to organize an internal workshop, as well as a session on photovoltaics in the Next Generation of Energy Materials Symposium to be held in March 2024 at Georgia Tech. In addition, as part of my efforts to engage the Georgia Tech community at large, I am working to create a website that will connect the Georgia Tech community working towards advancing photovoltaic capabilities for future manufacturing advancements. 

In this brief Q&A, Milam discusses her research focus, how it relates to materials research, and the impact of this initiative.

What is your field of expertise and at what point in your life did you first become interested in this area?

My field of expertise lies in bio-inspired materials science and engineering. Natural macromolecular components of biological systems such as cell receptors or antibodies rely on recognition-based binding events to, for example, allow a cell to take up particular nutrients or to neutralize a specific pathogen threat. Inspired by nature’s capabilities, my group’s research strives to identify and study synthetic macromolecular materials with bio-inspired compositions and self-folded structures. I first became interested in using DNA for its recognition capabilities during my postdoc at the University of Pennsylvania. For the first several years as an assistant professor at Georgia Tech, my group used DNA duplexes as a temporary glue between particle surfaces. Our more recent efforts focus on finding oligonucleotides to function as ligands or capture agents for a specific biological or nonbiological target.

What questions or challenges sparked your current materials research?

Polymers or macromolecules hold a lot of promise as a class of materials for various applications. Synthetic macromolecules, however, pose a lot of synthesis and post-use challenges that can hinder the discovery and practical use of novel macromolecular chemistries. Natural polymers such as oligonucleotides and proteins, on the other hand, have their own elegant synthesis and degradation pathways. To promote discovery of novel macromolecular materials, my group uses nature’s reagents and building blocks to synthesize numerous artificial biopolymer candidates. Since we do not start with any sequence design rules, we rely on maximizing the composition diversity of these artificial biopolymers. We then test all candidates collectively to efficiently choose ones with the desired functionality.

Why is your initiative important to the development of Georgia Tech’s Materials research strategy?

One of the challenges to discovering macromolecular systems that are both novel and practical is the lack of design rules. For example, how does one choose the right number and composition of repeat units for a macromolecule that binds to a particular material surface or to a particular biological target. If you can take advantage of nature’s building blocks and enzymes, then you can explore a wide chemical combinatorial space without having to follow any prerequisite design rules. Better yet, you can then use your initial findings to come up with design rules to explore additional, possibly better macromolecular candidates. This approach to macromolecule discovery is inherently interdisciplinary since one must combine or adapt techniques and approaches developed by biologists, polymer scientists, and materials engineers. Thus, Georgia Tech is a great place to foster this interdisciplinary strategy to research.

What are the broader global and social benefits of the research you and your team conduct?

In addition to training members of our future workforce with interdisciplinary skill sets, we want to carve out a pathway to designing, synthesizing and using environmentally friendly, multiuse macromolecules with commercial promise.

What are your plans for engaging a wider GT faculty pool with IMat research?

Currently, we are primarily in the brainstorming stage. To this end, I am engaging with science and engineering faculty at GT as well as Emory. As cross-disciplinary ideas start to brew, we will work towards multi-PI funding opportunities that engage the broader GT faculty and community.

Energy materials are the things — natural, manufactured, or both — that aid the use of energy. They also play a key role in developing cleaner, more efficient energy solutions.

Energy Materials Day was co-hosted by Georgia Tech’s Strategic Energy Institute (SEI), the Institute for Materials (IMat), and the Georgia Tech Advanced Battery Center. The event evolved out of last year’s Georgia Tech Battery Day.

“As an engine of innovation in science and technology, Georgia Tech has incredible opportunities and the responsibility to conduct research to benefit society,” said Chaouki Abdallah, executive vice president for Research at Georgia Tech. “We call this ‘research that matters.’”

Events like Energy Materials Day are part of an ongoing, long-range effort to position Georgia Tech, and Georgia, as a go-to location for modern energy companies. Tech was recently ranked by U.S. News & World Report as the top public university for energy research. Abdallah also outlined why Georgia Tech, with more than 1,000 researchers across campus working in the energy space, is a natural fit for events that foster collaboration between the public and private sectors.

“Right here, right now, we have the opportunity to harness our collective powers, our collective knowledge, our collective resources to become a global engine of innovation,” he said.

Plenary speaker Danielle Merfeld, global chief technology officer at QCells, highlighted opportunities for the current and future clean energy infrastructure in the United States.

"At the heart of our discussions today [are these questions]: What is new technology, and how do you make it ... and make it at scale, in an affordable, accessible, and reliable way?” she said.

"... [The] good news is this country has taken a very deliberate step toward creating the most robust industrial policy we've had in decades. ... This is driving opportunity and creating the foundation for manufacturing. So, [we can] use that industrial base of making and consuming power [and] decarbonize the electric grid by 2035...."

“Events like this are so important to forwarding progress in research and industry,” said Eric Vogel, IMat’s executive director. “It’s important to bring together professionals throughout the industry to keep these lines of communication open.”

The day was divided into three tracks: battery materials and technologies, photovoltaics and the grid, and materials for carbon-neutral fuel production. Attendees were encouraged to listen to talks from all three areas. Each track included academic speakers who shared their research and private-sector speakers who described how technological advancements are affecting the industry.

“With its rich history in energy research, Georgia Tech remains a leader in addressing global energy challenges,” said Tim Lieuwen, executive director of SEI. “The success of Energy Materials Day is encouraging, and I eagerly anticipate continuing these discussions in 2025.”

Holding a dual appointment as Deputy Director of Innovation Initiatives for Georgia Tech’s Institute for Materials, one of Tech’s 10 Interdisciplinary Research Institutes (IRI) focused on advancing materials research and innovation, and with over two decades of experience as an adjunct professor in Tech’s School of Materials Science & Engineering, Ready has established himself as a leader in materials science and engineering.

Read the full story

The merit-based fellowship is given to exceptional graduate students in honor of College of Engineering graduate Herbert P. Haley (ME 1933).

VO2 is a phase change material that has the capability to change from behaving like an insulator to behaving like a conductor by applying temperature, electric field, or stress.

Disharoon’s research aims to harness the power of this material to improve modern high-speed communication systems that must deal with the large losses when transmitting at extremely high frequency such as millimeter wave (mmWave).

He also plans to demonstrate its protection capabilities as an energy selective surface. By selectively placing VO2, the surface allows low-power waves to transmit through unaffected while also being able to quickly transition to a conductive state and reject high-power waves.

This can help protect critical communication infrastructure from unintentional interference sources and malicious systems.

“I am happy to be selected for the fellowship as it continues to enable me to purse interesting research that has the potential to revolutionize communication systems and protect our critical infrastructure,” Disharoon said.

Disharoon was first introduced to Georgia Tech while he was getting his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Kennesaw State University through a co-op he completed at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI).

Upon completing his undergraduate degree, he came to Georgia Tech where he is pursuing his ECE Ph.D., while working at the mmWave Antennas and Arrays Laboratory under the guidance of ECE Assistant Professor Nima Ghalichechian and GTRI chief scientist Joshua Kovitz.

During his time at Georgia Tech Disharoon has received support for his research from the Institute and beyond, including the ECE Freshmen Fellowship in 2021, a fellowship from Qualcomm in 2022, and the GTRI Graduate Student Fellowship in 2023.

He’s also served as a reviewer for the “IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation” and the “Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters” since 2022 and has coauthored two peer-reviewed journal articles and seven conference publications.

Every millisecond will matter when the world's best athletes gather in Paris for the Summer Olympics, and track and field athletes will compete on a surface designed to produce record-breaking performances.  

Novelis and the Georgia Institute of Technology recently co-hosted the 19th International Conference on Aluminum Alloys (ICAA19). Held on Georgia Tech's campus, this event brought together the brightest minds in aluminum technology for four days of intensive learning and networking.

Since its inception in 1986, ICAA has been the premier global forum for aluminum manufacturing innovations. This year, the conference attracted over 300 participants from 19 countries, including representatives from academia, research organizations, and industry leaders.

“The diverse mix of attendees created a rich tapestry of knowledge and experience, fostering a robust exchange of ideas,” said Naresh Thadhani, conference co-chair and professor in the School of Materials Science and Engineering

ICAA19 featured 12 symposia topics and over 250 technical presentations, delving into critical themes such as sustainability, future mobility, and next-generation manufacturing. Keynote addresses from leaders at the Aluminum Association, Airbus, and Coca-Cola set the stage for insightful discussions. Novelis Chief Technology Officer Philippe Meyer and Georgia Tech Executive Vice President for Research Chaouki Abdallah headlined the event, underscoring the importance of Novelis’ partnership with Georgia Tech.

Marking the fifth anniversary of the Novelis Innovation Hub at Georgia Tech, Hub Executive Director Shreyes Melkote says that “ICAA19 represents a prime example of the close collaboration between Novelis and the Institute, enabled by the Novelis Innovation Hub.” Melkote, a professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, also serves as the associate director of the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute.

“This unique center for research, development, and technology has been instrumental in advancing aluminum innovations, exemplifying the power of partnerships in driving industry progress,” says Meyer. “As we reflect on the success of ICAA19, we remain committed to strengthening our existing partnerships and forging new alliances to accelerate innovation. The collaborative spirit showcased at the conference is a testament to our dedication to leading the aluminum industry into a more sustainable future.”

Jayaraman, a renowned expert in fibers, polymers, and textiles, recognizes linen as the best fabric for hot and humid conditions. He explains that linen's effectiveness lies in its superior moisture management properties. The fiber structure of linen allows it to absorb moisture quickly and then transport it away from the body. This is due to linen's high moisture regain capacity, which means it can absorb a significant amount of moisture without feeling damp.

“The moisture vapor transport rate for linen is much greater than that for cotton or polyester,” he explained. Additionally, linen's bending rigidity prevents it from clinging to the body, allowing for better air circulation.

Cotton is another popular fabric for summer, known for its softness and breathability. However, Jayaraman points out that while cotton effectively absorbs moisture, it tends to retain it longer than linen, making it feel clammy in extreme heat. Cotton's moisture vapor transmission rate is lower than linen’s, meaning it doesn't dry as quickly.

The structure of cotton fibers, which are ribbon-like and can trap more water, also affects cotton’s performance. While it’s more prone to sticking to the body due to its lower bending rigidity, cotton is generally comfortable for less humid conditions or for shorter durations in the heat.

While polyester may not be the first fabric that comes to mind for summer, its performance can be significantly enhanced with chemical treatments. Dri-FIT technology, for instance, improves polyester’s moisture-wicking properties, making it a popular choice for athletic wear.

“Regular polyester is terrible when it comes to moisture absorption,” admitted Jayaraman. “But Dri-FIT polyester doesn’t feel clammy and is very comfortable for being physically active in the summer months.”

While functionality is crucial, aesthetics also play a role in fabric choice for the summer. Linen, despite its excellent cooling properties, is prone to wrinkling and may not drape as elegantly as cotton or treated polyester. Jayaraman notes that linen's natural stiffness, which contributes to its cooling benefits, also leads to its tendency to wrinkle. He says, “For a crisp appearance, linen garments often require ironing before wear.” For those prioritizing appearance, cotton offers a softer drape and a smoother look, albeit with slightly less cooling efficiency.

On Wednesday, April 13th 2022, the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) hosted the 16th annual Spring Undergraduate Research Symposium. UROP’s annual symposium is Georgia Tech’s largest undergraduate research colloquium and allows students to present their research and gain valuable skills and presentation experience. Each year the symposium also presents awards to the top poster and oral presentation from each college and honors the Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher (OUR) from each college. And with over 40 oral presentations and nearly 90 poster presentations, this year’s symposium proved to be another success for UROP and Georgia Tech.  

This year the symposium was held in Exhibition Hall and opened with an introduction and keynote address to students, faculty, and other non-presenters. Shortly after, the event moved into the poster presentations segment where undergraduate students displayed their research to judges, faculty, and other attendees. The oral presentations followed soon after and gave student researchers the opportunity to go more in-depth with their research and findings and answer any questions the judges and attendees had. To end the event, sponsoring colleges and departments recognized Outstanding Undergraduate Researchers from their respective colleges. Additionally, the symposium judges were tasked with selecting the top student researchers having exceptional poster and oral presentations. 

Any Georgia Tech undergraduate student interested in presenting their research is encouraged to apply for future symposiums and to build on research presentation skills, connect with other undergraduate researchers and faculty, and the chance to be recognized with awards by members of the Georgia Tech research community. UROP also hosts other research-related events and workshops throughout the school year to assist undergraduate students interested in research and build on their passions! 

To view the list of awardees and pictures from the event visit: https://symposium.urop.gatech.edu/awards/ 

To learn more about undergraduate research at Georgia Tech visit: https://urop.gatech.edu/

Georgia Tech is playing a significant role in creating the next generation of chips, as the Institute is especially well positioned to innovate in the semiconductor field. All areas of the semiconductor stack — the components that build a chip, from hardware to artificial intelligence — are studied at Tech, and collaboration among faculty is a hallmark of its research enterprise. Such cooperation is necessary to build better chips, since they need to be reinvented in every layer of the stack.

Read the full story on GT Research News.

The KIAT-Georgia Tech Semiconductor Electronics Center will receive $1.8 million to establish a sustainable semiconductor electronics research partnership between Korean companies, researchers, and Georgia Tech. 

“I am thrilled to announce that we have secured funding to launch a groundbreaking collaboration between Georgia Tech’s world-class researchers and Korean companies,” said Hong Yeo, associate professor and Woodruff Faculty Fellow in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering. “This initiative will drive the development of cutting-edge technologies to advance semiconductor, sensors, and electronics research.”

Yeo will lead the center, and Michael Filler, interim executive director for the Institute of Electronics and Nanotechnology, and Muhannad Bakir, director of the 3D Advanced Packaging Research Center, will serve as co-PIs.

The center will focus on advancing semiconductor research, a critical area of technology that forms the backbone of modern electronics.

The Cooperation Center is a global technology collaboration platform designed to facilitate international joint research and development planning, partner matching, and local support for domestic researchers. The selection of Georgia Tech underscores the Institute’s leadership and expertise in the field of semiconductors.

TCPMT is the flagship journal of the IEEE Electronics Packaging Society (EPS).

He was recognized for the paper he co-authored prior to his graduation, “Benchmarking and Demonstration of Low-Loss Fused-Silica Stitch-Chips with Compressible Microinterconnects for RF/mm-Wave Chiplet-Based Modules.”

It proposes and benchmarks ‘fused-silica stitch-chips’  as an interconnect technology between neighboring RF/mm-wave chiplets. Compared to conventional advanced packaging technologies, the stitch-chips enable low-loss and broadband interconnection, provide built-in mechanical deformation capability to compensate for differing chiplets heights, and provide a path towards package size scaling for large-scale multichiplet integration.

He was advised by ECE Professor and 3D Systems Packaging Research Center Director Muhannad Bakir.

Zheng is the second student from Bakir’s Integrated 3D Systems Lab to have their research recognized. Shengtao Yu won the Intel Outstanding Student Paper Award for this paper on co-packaged optics and fiber-chiplet-connectors at the 2023 IEEE Electronic Components and Technology Conference (ECTC), which is the flagship conference of IEEE EPS.

It is a rare honor for the same research group to win paper awards in the same year from both ECTC and TCPMT.

At the end of May, Zheng, Yu and Bakir will all attend ECTC 2024 in Denver, CO to receive the ECTC and TCPMT paper awards. 
 

Monitoring these tiny changes results in a wide range of applications — from improving navigation and natural disaster forecasting, to smarter medical imaging and detection of biomarkers of disease, gravitational wave detection, and even better quantum communication for secure data sharing.

Georgia Tech physicists are pioneering new quantum sensing platforms to aid in these efforts. The research team’s latest study, “Sensing Spin Wave Excitations by Spin Defects in Few-Layer Thick Hexagonal Boron Nitride” was published in Science Advances this week. 

The research team includes School of Physics Assistant Professors Chunhui (Rita) Du and Hailong Wang (corresponding authors) alongside fellow Georgia Tech researchers Jingcheng Zhou, Mengqi Huang, Faris Al-matouq, Jiu Chang, Dziga Djugba, and Professor Zhigang Jiang and their collaborators. 

An ultra-sensitive platform

The new research investigates quantum sensing by leveraging color centers — small defects within crystals (Du’s team uses diamonds and other 2D layered materials) that allow light to be absorbed and emitted, which also give the crystal unique electronic properties. 

By embedding these color centers into a material called hexagonal boron nitride (hBN), the team hoped to create an extremely sensitive quantum sensor — a new resource for developing next-generation, transformative sensing devices. 

For its part, hBN is particularly attractive for quantum sensing and computing because it could contain defects that can be manipulated with light — also known as "optically active spin qubits."

The quantum spin defects in hBN are also very magnetically sensitive, and allow scientists to “see” or “sense” in more detail than other conventional techniques. In addition, the sheet-like structure of hBN is compatible with ultra-sensitive tools like nanodevices, making it a particularly intriguing resource for investigation.

The team’s research has resulted in a critical breakthrough in sensing spin waves, Du says, explaining that “in this study, we were able to detect spin excitations that were simply unattainable in previous studies.” 

Detecting spin waves is a fundamental component of quantum sensing, because these phenomena can travel for long distances, making them an ideal candidate for energy-efficient information control, communication, and processing.

The future of quantum

“For the first time, we experimentally demonstrated two-dimensional van der Waals quantum sensing — using few-layer thick hBN in a real-world environment,” Du explains, underscoring the potential the material holds for precise quantum sensing. “Further research could make it possible to sense electromagnetic features at the atomic scale using color centers in thin layers of hBN.”

Du also emphasizes the collaborative nature of the research, highlighting the diverse skill sets and resources of researchers within Georgia Tech. 

“Within the School of Physics, Professor Zhigang Jiang's research group provided the team with high-quality hBN crystals. Jingcheng Zhou, who is a member of both Professor Hailong Wang’s and my research teams, performed the cutting-edge quantum sensing measurements,” she says. “Many incredible students also helped with this project.”

Du is a leading scientist in the field of quantum sensing — this year, she received a new grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, along with a Sloan Research Fellowship for her pioneering work on developing state-of-the-art quantum sensing techniques for quantum information technology applications. The prestigious Sloan award recognizes researchers whose “creativity, innovation, and research accomplishments make them stand out as the next-generation of leaders in the fields.” 

DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adk8495

This work is supported by the U. S. National Science Foundation (NSF) under award No. DMR-2342569, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research under award No. FA9550-20-1-0319 and its Young Investigator Program under award No. FA9550-21-1-0125, the Office of Naval Research (ONR) under grant No. N00014-23-1-2146, NASA-REVEALS SSERVI (CAN No. NNA17BF68A), and NASA-CLEVER SSERVI (CAN No. 80NSSC23M0229).

These energy materials — some natural, some manufactured, some a combination — facilitate the conversion or transmission of energy. They also play an essential role in how we store energy, how we reduce power consumption, and how we develop cleaner, efficient energy solutions.

“Advanced materials and clean energy technologies are tightly connected, and at Georgia Tech we’ve been making major investments in people and facilities in batteries, solar energy, and hydrogen, for several decades,” said Tim Lieuwen, the David S. Lewis Jr. Chair and professor of aerospace engineering, and executive director of Georgia Tech’s Strategic Energy Institute (SEI).

That research synergy is the underpinning of Georgia Tech Energy Materials Day (March 27), a gathering of people from academia, government, and industry, co-hosted by SEI, the Institute for Materials (IMat), and the Georgia Tech Advanced Battery Center. This event aims to build on the momentum created by Georgia Tech Battery Day, held in March 2023, which drew more than 230 energy researchers and industry representatives.

“We thought it would be a good idea to expand on the Battery Day idea and showcase a wide range of research and expertise in other areas, such as solar energy and clean fuels, in addition to what we’re doing in batteries and energy storage,” said Matt McDowell, associate professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and the School of Materials Science and Engineering (MSE), and co-director, with Gleb Yushin, of the Advanced Battery Center.

Energy Materials Day will bring together experts from academia, government, and industry to discuss and accelerate research in three key areas: battery materials and technologies, photovoltaics and the grid, and materials for carbon-neutral fuel production, “all of which are crucial for driving the clean energy transition,” noted Eric Vogel, executive director of IMat and the Hightower Professor of Materials Science and Engineering.

“Georgia Tech is leading the charge in research in these three areas,” he said. “And we’re excited to unite so many experts to spark the important discussions that will help us advance our nation’s path to net-zero emissions.”

Building an Energy Hub

Energy Materials Day is part of an ongoing, long-range effort to position Georgia Tech, and Georgia, as a go-to location for modern energy companies. So far, the message seems to be landing. Georgia has had more than $28 billion invested or announced in electric vehicle-related projects since 2020. And Georgia Tech was recently ranked by U.S. News & World Report as the top public university for energy research.

Georgia has become a major player in solar energy, also, with the announcement last year of a $2.5 billion plant being developed by Korean solar company Hanwha Qcells, taking advantage of President Biden’s climate policies. Qcells’ global chief technology officer, Danielle Merfeld, a member of SEI’s External Advisory Board, will be the keynote speaker for Energy Materials Day.

“Growing these industry relationships, building trust through collaborations with industry — these have been strong motivations in our efforts to create a hub here in Atlanta,” said Yushin, professor in MSE and co-founder of Sila Nanotechnologies, a battery materials startup valued at more than $3 billion.

McDowell and Yushin are leading the battery initiative for Energy Materials Day and they’ll be among 12 experts making presentations on battery materials and technologies, including six from Georgia Tech and four from industry. In addition to the formal sessions and presentations, there will also be an opportunity for networking.

“I think Georgia Tech has a responsibility to help grow a manufacturing ecosystem,” McDowell said. “We have the research and educational experience and expertise that companies need, and we’re working to coordinate our efforts with industry.”

Marta Hatzell, associate professor of mechanical engineering and chemical and biomolecular engineering, is leading the carbon-neutral fuel production portion of the event, while Juan-Pablo Correa-Baena, assistant professor in MSE, is leading the photovoltaics initiative.

They’ll be joined by a host of experts from Georgia Tech and institutes across the country, “some of the top thought leaders in their fields,” said Correa-Baena, whose lab has spent years optimizing a semiconductor material for solar energy conversion.

“Over the past decade, we have been working to achieve high efficiencies in solar panels based on a new, low-cost material called halide perovskites,” he said. His lab recently discovered how to prevent the chemical interactions that can degrade it. “It’s kind of a miracle material, and we want to increase its lifespan, make it more robust and commercially relevant.”

While Correa-Baena is working to revolutionize solar energy, Hatzell’s lab is designing materials to clean up the manufacturing of clean fuels.

“We’re interested in decarbonizing the industrial sector, through the production of carbon-neutral fuels,” said Hatzell, whose lab is designing new materials to make clean ammonia and hydrogen, both of which have the potential to play a major role in a carbon-free fuel system, without using fossil fuels as the feedstock. “We’re also working on a collaborative project focusing on assessing the economics of clean ammonia on a larger, global scale.”

The hope for Energy Materials Day is that other collaborations will be fostered as industry’s needs and the research enterprise collide in one place — Georgia Tech’s Exhibition Hall — over one day. The event is part of what Yushin called “the snowball effect.”

“You attract a new company to the region, and then another,” he said. “If we want to boost domestic production and supply chains, we must roll like a snowball gathering momentum. Education is a significant part of that effect. To build this new technology and new facilities for a new industry, you need trained, talented engineers. And we’ve got plenty of those. Georgia Tech can become the single point of contact, helping companies solve the technical challenges in a new age of clean energy.”

As an evolution of the Institute for Materials (IMat) and the Institute for Electronics and Nanotechnology (IEN), IMS aims to enable convergent research at Georgia Tech related to the science, technology, and societal underpinnings of innovative materials and devices. Additionally, IMS seeks to integrate these innovations into systems that enhance human well-being and performance across information and communication, the built environment, and human-centric technologies that improve human health, wellness, and performance.

“Executive Vice President for Research Chaouki Abdallah and I are very excited about the launch of IMS, which positions Georgia Tech for integration of science and technology from atoms to devices, while explicitly drawing in researchers in the social sciences, design, business, and computing,” said Vice President of Interdisciplinary Research Julia Kubanek.

“IMS will ensure relevance across Georgia Tech through its newly configured Internal Advisor and Ambassador Board with representation across all six Colleges and GTRI,” she said. “Additional advisory committees representing IMS employees and facility users will ensure that we don’t sacrifice any of the research excellence for which IEN and IMat are known. With IMS I expect we will be even better positioned to tackle research problems that will have the greatest positive societal impact.”

Vogel will continue in his current position as the executive director of IMat until the launch of IMS. In addition to leading and growing IMat, Vogel is the Hightower Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at Georgia Tech’s School of Materials Science and Engineering, and he served as the IEN deputy director prior to leading IMat.

“It is an honor to be appointed executive director of the Institute for Matter and Systems, and I look forward to collaborating with the talented faculty and staff associated with it,” said Vogel. “This opportunity allows us to leverage the core competencies of IEN and IMat while extending our capabilities beyond nanotechnology and materials science. Together, we will be a hub for interdisciplinary research ranging from advanced materials to complex systems that solve global challenges.”

Georgia Tech’s IRIs facilitate collaboration between researchers and students from its six Colleges, the Georgia Tech Research Institute, national laboratories, and corporate entities to tackle critical topics of strategic significance for the Institute as well as for local, state, national, and international communities. IMS will also house and maintain the state-of-the-art Materials Characterization Facility and one of the largest academic cleanrooms in the nation, which offers a broad range of fabrication capabilities from basic discovery to prototype realization.

Before joining Georgia Tech in 2011, Vogel was an associate professor of materials science and engineering and electrical engineering at the University of Texas at Dallas. During this time, he also served as the associate director of the Texas Analog Center of Excellence and led UT Dallas’s involvement in the Southwest Academy for Nanoelectronics.

Prior to UT Dallas, he led the CMOS and Novel Devices Group and established the Nanofabrication Facility at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Vogel holds a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from North Carolina State University and a B.S. in electrical engineering from the Pennsylvania State University. His research focuses on the development and fundamental understanding of electronic and nanomaterials and devices.

She was recently notified of the award for her presentation, “Describing the Analog Resistance Change of HfOx Neuromorphic Synapses,” given at the Materials Research Society’s (MRS) Fall 2023 Meeting in Boston.

The research was recognized for its contributions to future materials and technologies toward sustainable heterogeneous computing and energy-efficient machine learning.

MRS brings together materials researchers from around the world to promote the sharing and communication of interdisciplinary research and technology to improve the quality of life.

Athena, an IBM Ph.D. Fellow, conducted the research with her advisor, Eric M. Vogel, a Hightower Professor in the School of Materials Science and Engineering (MSE), with an adjunct appointment in School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE).

She presented a compact model, Compact Series Trap-Assisted Tunneling and Ohmic conduction (C-STAO), which enables the rapid simulation of artificial HfOx synaptic devices. The model provides deep insights into the analog temporal responses and temperature dependency of artificial synaptic devices, which are used to develop brain-inspired circuits.

These brain-inspired circuits are important for the development of AI systems and can help them to meet increasing computational demands while achieving more human-like cognitive capabilities with improved efficiency.

It also furthers Athena’s Ph.D. research, dedicated to the development of adaptive oxide devices for neuromorphic computing, aimed at replicating the human brain's functionality for more intelligent and energy-efficient computing.

Funding Acknowledgement

This project was supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research MURI entitled, “Cross-disciplinary Electronic-ionic Research Enabling Biologically Realistic Autonomous Learning (CEREBRAL)” under Award No. FA9550-18-1-0024.

This work was performed in part at the Georgia Tech Institute for Electronics and Nanotechnology, a member of the National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure (NNCI), which is supported by the National Science Foundation (No. ECCS-1542174). The work was also supported by the Cadence Diversity in Technology Scholarship and the IBM Ph.D. Fellowship Award No. 2022-2024.

Du, an assistant professor in the School of Physics, studies quantum materials at very small scales. This project will leverage state-of-the-art quantum sensing and imaging techniques developed in her lab to study the properties of topological magnets at the nanoscale — and create a quantum microscopy platform, which she hopes will provide a more comprehensive understanding of the fundamental properties of these materials, as dictated by quantum mechanics.

“Topological magnets serve as a novel, cutting-edge material system, which is promising for developing next-generation, transformative quantum information technologies,” says Du. 

“Currently, magnetic and charge properties of topological materials are mainly characterized by bulk measurements,” she explains. But, by using color-centers in diamonds, she plans to leverage cutting-edge quantum sensing techniques, creating ultra-sensitive quantum spin sensors.

These diamond color-centers have been shown to vastly outperform traditional methods, and Du hopes that by demonstrating their operation under previously unexplored experimental conditions, their use can be applied to other material systems, expediting progress toward future quantum sciences and technologies.

“The project has the potential to make important contributions to the burgeoning field of quantum materials,” says Du, “and to significantly promote the role of topological magnets in developing next-generation, transformative information technologies.”

Du is also the recipient of Sloan Fellowship, Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Program Award, U.S. Department of Energy Early Career Award, National Science Foundation CAREER Award, U.S. Air Force Young Investigator Award, and the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics Early Career Scientist Prize.

“Solar energy does not only have a great impact in mitigating climate change, but it also offers a transformative solution for communities currently lacking power grid access,” said Castro-Méndez. “By harnessing the sun’s energy through photovoltaic panels, these communities can generate their own electricity locally, enabling essential services, even in remote or underserved areas. This topic is particularly relevant in Colombia, my country of origin, where large communities do not have access to electricity yet.” 

Castro-Méndez’s research and published work in mitigating climate change earned a Chih Foundation Graduate Student Research Publication award. 

In his publication titled, “Vapor Phase Infiltration Improves Thermal Stability of Organic Layers in Perovskite Solar Cells,” Castro-Méndez demonstrates an innovative approach that contributes to the overall stability and longevity of perovskite solar cells. This invention is currently in the process of becoming a patent. His research has contributed to paving the way for more reliable, efficient, and commercially viable perovskite solar cells. 

“Climate change has always been a very relevant topic,” he said. “My interest to actively do something about it was triggered by my undergrad project advisor, Prof. Pablo Ortiz-Herrera. He had a research group on solar cells, and I joined his group in my 3rd year to start investigating this topic. There, I realized that alternative energies have a big potential and that they are real, not just something I would see in a sci-fi movie.”

The Chih Foundation awards graduate students whose research publication(s) reflect invention and innovation for the betterment of society. Each awardee receives $2,500 to pursue their research.