For 15 years, Georgia Tech's Institute for People and Technology (IPaT) has connected researchers, students, and partners from across disciplines to explore a fundamental question: How can technology better serve people and communities?

On Oct. 28, the IPaT community came together to celebrate that legacy during the 15th anniversary celebration at George Tower | Scheller Tower. Colleagues, collaborators, partners, and friends gathered for an afternoon highlighting the people and ideas that have helped define IPaT.

The celebration featured a distinguished lecture, a panel discussion, the presentation of IPaT Impact Awards, and a reception.

"The 15th anniversary celebration has allowed us to pause and reflect on IPaT's many achievements," said Michael Best, IPaT’s executive director. "For me, the event was a perfect example of what we call ‘The IPaT Way,’ an approach full of substance, community, and just plain fun."

15 Years of Putting People First

Created in 2011, IPaT is an interdisciplinary research institute at Georgia Tech dedicated to a people-first approach to research and innovation. It connects academia with industry, government, civil society, and other partners to develop people-centered approaches to some of society's most complex challenges.

Over the past 15 years, IPaT researchers and collaborators have contributed to work spanning health, aging, usability, sustainability, smart cities, and other areas. A defining part of that mission has been translating research beyond the laboratory and into people's lives through products, applications, community education, and outreach.

Today, the interdisciplinary community includes more than 30 research faculty and more than 125 affiliated faculty, supported by programs, research infrastructure, engineering and research translation, events, and staff that connect expertise from across Georgia Tech.

"For 15 years, the Institute for People and Technology has demonstrated the power of interdisciplinary research to address society's most complex challenges," said Julia Kubanek, Georgia Tech's vice president for interdisciplinary research. "By bringing together diverse experts and partnering with communities, industry, and government, IPaT has created a model for people-centered innovation that delivers meaningful impact."

Looking Back, Looking Forward

The anniversary program featured a distinguished lecture by Elizabeth Mynatt, dean of the Khoury College of Computer Sciences at Northeastern University and the founding executive director of IPaT. Mynatt joined Northeastern in 2022 after a 23-year career at Georgia Tech, where she served as a Regents' and Distinguished Professor in the College of Computing in addition to leading IPaT.

The program also featured a panel discussion titled "Looking Back, Looking Forward." Moderated by Michael Best, the panel included Laurie Dean Baird, managing director of Ladarium Media Group; Maribeth Gandy Coleman, director of research for IPaT; Keith Edwards, professor in Georgia Tech's School of Interactive Computing and former director of the GVU Center; and Caroline Wood, executive director of Georgia Tech's Office of Corporate Engagement.

Together, they provided an opportunity to reflect on the relationships among people, technology, and society that have been at the heart of IPaT's work while also looking ahead to new opportunities for interdisciplinary research and collaboration.

15 Years, 15 Impact Awards

A centerpiece of the anniversary celebration was the presentation of the 2026 IPaT Impact Awards recognizing 15 individuals whose work and support have made a lasting contribution to IPaT.

The honorees were recognized for their vision, commitment, and generosity. Collectively, their contributions represent many of the characteristics that have defined IPaT over its first 15 years, from interdisciplinary research and organizational leadership to community building, technological innovation, and partnerships.

The 2026 IPaT Impact Award recipients are:

• Keith Edwards, Professor, School of Interactive Computing.
• Sherry Farrugia, Senior Vice President, Veranex.
• Brian Jones, Principal Research Engineer, IPaT.
• Debra Lam, Founding Executive Director, Partnership for Innovation.
• Leigh McCook, Deputy Director, IPaT, and Principal Research Associate, GTRI.
• Cynthia Moore, Assistant Director of Business Operations, IPaT.
• Jessica Pater, Senior Research Scientist, Parkview Research Center.
• Nicoleta Serban, Professor, H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering.
• Richard Starr, Senior Research Scientist, IPaT.
• Faith Sumpter, Program Manager, IPaT.
• Tim Trent, Research Technologist, IPaT.
• Bruce Walker, Professor, School of Psychology and School of Interactive Computing.
• Caroline Wood, Executive Director, Office of Corporate Engagement.
• Ellen Zegura, Fleming Chair and Professor, School of Computer Science.
• Craig Zimring, Founding Director, SimTigrate Design Center, and Professor Emeritus, School of Architecture.

The awards build on a tradition established by Georgia Tech's GVU Center (now merged with IPaT), whose Impact Awards recognized members of its community during major anniversary milestones in 2007, 2012, 2017, and 2022. Previous GVU Impact Awardees were not eligible for the IPaT 15th anniversary prize.

More information about the honorees is available on the 2026 IPaT Impact Award winners page.

New Advisory Board Announced

At the anniversary celebration, Best also announced the members of IPaT’s newly formed advisory board. Inaugural members are:

• Jill Savitt – President and CEO, National Center for Civil and Human Rights.
• Barbara Smith – Vice President, Peace Programs, The Carter Center.
• Phil Breedlove – Distinguished Professor of the Practice and CETS Senior Fellow, U.S. Air Force (retired).
• Bruce McEvoy – Director of Regenerative Design, Perkins and Will.
• Donnie Beamer – Chief Technology Officer, City of Atlanta.
• Robert Kinyanjui – Research Partnerships Manager, John Deere.
• Alison Cernich – Director, Shriners Children’s Research Institute. 
• Laura Moody – CMO and Co-Founder, Purpose Possible.
• Kevin Perry – Head of Industry, International Growth Agency Team, Google.
• Mohammed K. Ali, M.D.  – Co-Director, Emory Global Diabetes Research Center, and the William H. Foege Distinguished Professor of Global Health at Emory University. Vice Chair for Research in the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine in the Emory School of Medicine.

The Next 15 Years

The milestone also offered an opportunity to consider what comes next.

"Since its inception, IPaT's focus on people-centered technology has only grown in relevance and reach," Best said. "Looking ahead to the next 15 years, ensuring that people and their passions sit at the very center of technical innovation will be more vital than ever."

That emphasis on people has remained a thread connecting IPaT's research, partnerships, and community throughout its first decade and a half. It is also central to its vision of an inclusive, equitable, and just future supported by people-centered technologies.

As Georgia Tech researchers confront emerging challenges and opportunities, IPaT's interdisciplinary model provides a way to bring technical expertise together with the experiences, needs, and aspirations of people and communities.

"As we celebrate this milestone, we also look ahead to the next generation of discoveries and collaborations that will improve lives, strengthen communities, and help shape a better tomorrow," Kubanek said.

The 15th anniversary offered a moment to recognize how far IPaT has come, celebrate the people who helped build its community, and look toward what it can accomplish in the years ahead. And as IPaT begins its next chapter, the principle that has helped guide its work remains unchanged: Meaningful technological innovation starts with people.

A picture album of IPaT’s 15th anniversary celebration. 

Iris Tien, Williams Family Professor in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, will be the strategic initiative lead for State Engagement. She will help BBISS strengthen collaborations between researchers and local government, with the goals of encouraging research outcomes at the municipal level and amplifying the impact and visibility of Georgia Tech research throughout the state.

Anjali Thomas, associate professor in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs, and Valerie Thomas, professor and Anderson-Interface Chair of Natural Systems in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering and the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School of Public Policy, are the strategic initiative co-leads for International Engagement. This initiative will address global sustainability and development challenges by convening Georgia Tech experts, identifying areas of scholarly leadership at the Institute, and building on them through international exchange and research partnerships.

Micah Ziegler, assistant professor in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and the Carter School of Public Policy, is the strategic initiative lead for Data Infrastructure. The purpose of this initiative is to build data and analysis infrastructure to support multidisciplinary sustainability research across Georgia Tech. Working with faculty, staff, and students, the team will identify the resources that support their research today, the resources that could strengthen it, and the challenges in obtaining, using, and maintaining them. In the long term, the initiative will develop infrastructure that makes sustainability datasets and models easier to share and use across the Institute.

“Iris, Anjali, Valerie, and Micah bring deep expertise and wide networks to these roles. But the real power of these initiatives will come from the colleagues who get involved, and I invite those whose work benefits from or contributes to stronger state engagement, international engagement, or data infrastructure to reach out to them,” says BBISS executive director Beril Toktay.

Alexandra Rodríguez Dalmau, a community-engaged sustainability project manager with SCoRE, focuses on ensuring that communities have a meaningful role in shaping emerging energy transition technologies (EETTs) from the earliest stages of research through design and deployment. Her work sits at the intersection of research and practice, connecting technical expertise with community priorities related to energy, climate, and sustainability.

"Our main objective is to create a platform and process based on trust, where communities and technical experts can learn from one another," Rodríguez Dalmau said. "The goal is not to convince communities to support a particular technology, but rather to help everyone better understand the opportunities, tradeoffs, impacts, and questions that come with these technologies."

One of these projects is a regional community engagement program connected to the Southeast Direct Air Capture Hub (SEDAC), a U.S. Department of Energy-funded initiative led by the Southern States Energy Board. As conversations unfolded around direct air capture, a technology that removes carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere, it became clear that many of the same questions and concerns can apply to the broader set of EETTs. Scaling low-carbon energy sources and systems that manage carbon after energy is produced — like hydrogen production, renewable energy systems, battery technologies, and energy infrastructure upgrades — may be considered an unqualified good thing. The SEDAC program brought to light that communities where such projects are built have a different perspective.

In the Fall of 2025, that SEDAC platform grew into the Southeast Community Energy Futures Academy (SCEFA), a training program and community of practice that brings together communities, technology researchers, and project developers to explore both the promises and challenges of EETTs.

"Communities are often asked to host facilities or infrastructure projects that serve broader resilience or climate goals," Rodríguez Dalmau said. "The benefits can feel distant while the risks and disruptions are immediate and local. Engaging communities early in the process is critical to ensuring that EETTs align with local priorities and support communities' own visions for a sustainable future."

Rather than positioning researchers as the sole experts, the program facilitates collaborative learning and centers the knowledge of community partners as experts who possess deep understanding of local history, priorities, and concerns. Participants engage in presentations, working sessions, mapping exercises, and laboratory tours. But one of the most significant elements of the program takes place outside of these sessions.

Community site visits bring participants directly into industrial and research facilities as well as neighborhoods affected by existing industrial development. Participants see schools, residential areas, power plants, natural amenities, research facilities, and community gathering spaces and hear from site managers and community leaders.

"Engaging with communities through experiential learning activities like site visits begins the process of rooting abstract technology into a place with all its history and memories of previous encounters with industrial plants. This enables conversations instead of silence or skepticism,” says Matthew Realff, professor and David I.J. Wang Faculty Fellow in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, and faculty director for Interdisciplinary Sustainability Education at the Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems.

The SCEFA effort is a culmination of SCoRE’s relationship and project-building work over the past 11 years. Community partners who participated in the SEDAC Hub and SCEFA discussions have become key contributors to a broader regional effort that now encompasses teams from Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. The initiative brings together leaders of nonprofits and community-based organizations, researchers, student interns, and project developers to learn from each other and develop education and outreach materials related to EETTs.

Over the course of one year, participants engaged in multiple online workshops, two in-person workshops — in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, hosted by Louisiana State University, and in Mobile, Alabama, hosted by the University of South Alabama — and developed education and outreach materials to be used by community-based organizations.

The program also encourages the formation of what SCoRE describes as "unlikely coalitions" among community organizations, universities, and industry professionals. The Georgia team, spearheaded by a researcher at Georgia College and State University, is exploring how nature-based sequestration and biomass energy may be used to enhance the land and other natural amenities that residents in their rural communities see as their legacy. The Alabama team focused on carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS), which is the key EETT focus in their geography. The lead organization for that team, Iyai+ (Introducing Youth to American Infrastructure), developed a role-playing game that helps participants explore the opportunities and challenges associated with CCUS, identify key stakeholders, and practice asking critical questions about proposed projects.

Jennifer Hirsch, senior director of SCoRE, who is a cultural anthropologist and serves as project lead, explained, “SCEFA prioritizes building relationships over time, with a core focus on experiencing and learning together, rather than trying to get one side to see the other’s point of view. It is only when community perspectives are taken into account that truly innovative solutions will emerge that benefit both people and climate.”

The emphasis is on process rather than predetermined outcomes. Participants spend time learning how to ask better questions, evaluate evidence, and recognize uncertainties. By investing in a shared process, participants are often better able to navigate disagreement without becoming defensive.

The approach is already producing results. Technologists involved in the program have expressed greater interest in engaging with communities earlier in their research and development process. Researchers are exploring new ways to communicate findings more clearly and transparently. Community partners are gaining knowledge, tools, and resources that allow them to engage on their own terms when new projects are proposed.

“Lasting solutions emerge when researchers and communities work together from the beginning, asking the right questions and considering both the opportunities and tradeoffs,” said Tim Lieuwen, executive vice president for Research. “SCEFA offers a powerful model for developing energy solutions with communities, not simply for them. This collaborative approach reflects how Georgia Tech can help address complex challenges that no institution or community can solve alone.”

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With the nod, Chang becomes one of just 180 poets named finalist for the prestigious prize since its reinstatement by the National Book Foundation in 1991.

“It's such an honor to have Tree of Knowledge selected as a finalist for the National Book Awards,” Chang said. “My book OBIT was longlisted in 2020 during the pandemic, so it will be nice to celebrate in person in New York with all the other finalists.”

Tree of Knowledge emerged from Chang’s contemplation of the felling of a tree across from her house in Los Angeles, where she was living at the time. It became, as Mother Jones said, “a meditation on abstract art, mortality, language, home, and history.”

“It spiraled out to me writing about trees in paintings that I was thinking about, and then to the expulsion of Chinese people from Eureka, California, in the 1800s,” Chang said. “I also included art that I made from historical photographs of Chinese people in Eureka, so the book threads the personal, the political, the historical, and the environmental.”

The book features not only Chang’s writing, but also her visual art. The collection incorporates original embroidered photo collages created by Chang using 19th-century archival images.

Chang holds a bachelor’s degree in East Asian Studies from the University of Michigan, a master’s degree in East Asian Studies from Harvard, an MBA from Stanford University and an MFA from Warren Wilson College.

Her previous collection of poetry, With My Back to the World, earned the prestigious Forward Prize for Best Collection, while her 2020 book OBIT received the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award. OBIT was also named a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Griffin International Poetry Prize.

She also is a Guggenheim Fellow and recipient of the Chowdhury International Prize in Literature.

In addition to her endowed chair, Chang teaches in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication and serves as the director of Poetry@Tech, leading one of the nation’s premier poetry centers and reading series. Through the work of Poetry@Tech, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, Georgia Tech students across engineering, science, and the humanities learn the value of poetry as craft, literature, and personal expression.

Chang is the second Bourne Chair at Georgia Tech to be named a finalist for the prize. Her predecessor, Ilya Kaminsky, was named a finalist in 2019.

The winners will be announced Nov. 18 in New York.

Artificial intelligence may operate in the digital world, but it leaves a massive and very real physical and societal footprint. What does AI’s rapid growth mean for the future of humanity? How can it be steered towards a more prosperous future for all? 

Researchers at Georgia Tech's Center for Advanced Communications Policy will use the funding to help older adults access assistive technologies that support independent living.

Principal research scientist Nathan Moon and a team of colleagues at the Center for Advanced Communications Policy (CACP) in Georgia Tech’s Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts were awarded a three-year, $1.5 million grant from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research. The project is in collaboration with the Center for Inclusive Design and Innovation (CIDI) in the College of Design.

The funding will support the ACCESS for Aging Well with Assistive Technology (AT) 2.0 project, which builds on the researchers’ previous work to help older adults live independently.

“As Americans continue to age and we're growing older as a society, we want to ensure that people can continue to live independently and participate in the communities of their choice,” Moon said. “The tools that we have developed here are intended to do that.”
 

Spatial scholarship is a research approach focusing on social and humanistic questions, which foreground place, space, spatial data, and human experience.

Held at the Georgia Tech Library, the Spatial Scholarship Field School brought together researchers from eight top academic institutions, including Carnegie Mellon University, UCLA, NYU, and Georgia Tech, to examine how technology, data, and physical environments shape one another.

Participants shared research, joined in panel discussions with Georgia Tech faculty, and learned interdisciplinary methods such as a variation of body-mapping that uses  wearable environmental sensors to explore how data shaped their felt experience in place.

Watch a video about the Spatial Scholarship Field School on YouTube

"We're really proud to host this Spatial Scholarship Field School — to spend a couple of days together thinking about what it means to take space and place more seriously as part of the scholarship we do," said Yanni Loukissas, an associate professor in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication (LMC) and director of IMA.

Co-led by LMC Assistant Professor Richmond Wong, the event challenged scholars to evaluate how local neighborhoods respond to emerging technologies like self-driving cars and data centers.

“We invited participants to walk around with wearable sensors tracking sound, temperature, light, CO2, and air quality, interpreting readings through colored LEDs,” said Alexandra Teixeira Riggs, who helped facilitate the event. Riggs is a 2026 Ph.D. Digital Media graduate who now works as an assistant professor at The University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

“This activity asked participants to focus on critical and interpretive approaches to bio and environmental data, situating themselves within campus environments,” Riggs said.

Stephen Yang, a doctoral candidate at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, said the event advanced his thinking on how people experience built environments.

“I’m grateful for the thought-provoking conversations that pushed me to think hard about the taken-for-granted ways built environments are organized,” Yang said. “I left the Field School with many new ideas that I’ll continue to ruminate on.”

IMA is a collaboration between the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts and the Library. 

Opening the event, Ameet Pinto, BBISS faculty director for Interdisciplinary Research and Collaboration, noted that many critical infrastructure systems are facing unprecedented challenges. Aging assets, climate-related impacts, severe weather events, and growing demands on energy and water systems are testing the resilience of infrastructure that communities depend on. At the same time, infrastructure systems increasingly generate vast amounts of operational data through sensors, meters, and monitoring technologies. The opportunities for AI technologies to transform this data into actionable information and inform policy are just beginning to be explored.

Turning Infrastructure Data into Action

Molzahn's presentation focused on the electric grid and the ways AI-enhanced optimization can support smarter infrastructure management. He described the ongoing transition from large, centralized power plants to more distributed systems that incorporate renewable energy, battery storage, electric vehicles, and other distributed energy resources. While these technologies create opportunities for cleaner and more resilient energy systems, they also introduce new layers of complexity for planners and operators.

Among the examples Molzahn shared was research examining how electric vehicle charging could affect emergency evacuations during disasters such as wildfires. Traditional evacuation planning focuses on optimizing transportation networks for rapidly moving vehicles away from danger. However, with more EVs on the roads, consideration must be given to ensure that EVs will have sufficient charge to travel a safe distance when an evacuation order is given without overloading the electrical grid. By linking transportation and power-system models, researchers are demonstrating how planning strategies can significantly reduce stress on infrastructure while supporting faster evacuations.

Wildfire mitigation was another major focus. In recent years, several devastating wildfires have been linked to electricity infrastructure, prompting utilities to increasingly rely on Public Safety Power Shutoffs during high-risk conditions. Molzahn discussed how machine learning and optimization tools can help utilities make these difficult decisions more quickly by balancing ignition risk and minimizing customer outages.

He also highlighted emerging cybersecurity concerns associated with the trend towards more distributed energy resources. Decentralized and digitally connected energy infrastructure, such as internet-connected solar and battery systems, can be more vulnerable than legacy centralized energy sources. AI is playing an important role in identifying potential vulnerabilities.

Practical Applications in the Water Sector

Loe offered examples of how AI is already being deployed by water utilities and municipalities. One pressing challenge involves identifying lead service lines. New federal regulations require utilities to locate and replace lead service lines, but many organizations lack complete records identifying pipe materials. Loe described how utilities can combine statistical sampling and machine learning models to estimate which service lines are most likely to contain lead. Rather than excavating thousands of suspect locations, utilities can use AI to narrow the search, reducing costs while still meeting regulatory requirements and maintaining confidence in the results.

Loe also explained the overarching challenges of maintaining aging water infrastructure. Utilities across the country have significant backlogs of aging pipes that need replacement but lack the resources to replace every asset at once. Machine learning models can predict which pipes are most likely to fail, while optimization tools can prioritize and package disparate replacement jobs into efficient and practical construction projects for which funding can more easily be obtained. This approach allows organizations to move beyond simple age-based replacement strategies and incorporate factors such as risk, community priorities, paving schedules, traffic impacts, and equity considerations.

The Human Element

Although the discussion centered on AI, both speakers repeatedly emphasized that people remain critical to successful implementation. Panelists and audience members also discussed the importance of keeping "humans in the loop" since utility systems directly affect public safety. AI may generate recommendations, identify risks, or highlight priorities, but engineers, operators, and planners should remain responsible for evaluating those recommendations and making final decisions.

Workforce development emerged as another important theme. Both the water and energy sectors face challenges replacing experienced workers as many long-time professionals approach retirement. AI offers opportunities to preserve and transfer institutional knowledge that could enable smaller workforces, but both speakers stressed that future professionals will need expertise that spans engineering, data science, computing, and domain knowledge.

Looking Ahead

The discussion demonstrated that infrastructure resilience is increasingly both a physical and digital challenge. From wildfire management and grid reliability to lead service line replacements and predictive maintenance, AI and digital twins are enabling new opportunities to improve how critical systems are planned, operated, and maintained. However, better algorithms alone will not be enough to counter our aging infrastructure, climate impacts, cybersecurity risks, and rising resource demands. The thoughtful integration of advanced tools and human expertise and judgment built on a foundation of public trust offers the most effective solutions for keeping essential systems running.

Next in the Insights Series 

On October 14, BBISS will hold the next Insights Series at the John Lewis Student Center in the Rafael Bras Meeting Room. The topic will be “AI for Climate Resilience.” This session will explore how artificial intelligence is being leveraged to address pressing sustainability challenges and strengthen communities, infrastructure, and environmental systems in a changing climate. The program will open with an update from Jennifer Chirico on the Georgia Tech Climate Action Plan. Presentations from leading researchers will follow, including Suhas Jain, Ali Sarhadi, Abigale Stangl, and Iris Tien, followed by an interactive panel discussion. Breakfast will be served. Registration is required.