One study found that admissions data offers limited insight into long-term academic success. The other challenges assumptions about so-called "lurkers," students who rarely post in online discussions but may still be deeply engaged in their courses. Together, the studies suggest that what matters most for student success may not be the easiest thing to measure.

Presented at the Learning@Scale conference in Seoul, South Korea, the research draws on data from Georgia Tech's Online Master of Science in Computer Science (OMSCS) program, one of the world's largest online degree programs. The program's scale gives researchers access to data from thousands of learners and allows them to identify patterns that would be difficult to detect in smaller educational settings.

Predicting Success

The long-term success study analyzed years of admissions and student performance data to examine whether application materials can predict what happens after a student applies. The research focused on three practical issues that can influence student success: who gets admitted, whether the admitted students matriculate, and who ultimately completes the program. OMSCS has always had a unique admissions model that focuses more on holistically evaluating a student’s background rather than GPAs or GRE scores and does not require applicants to have a strong computer science background or undergraduate education. 

"OMSCS has always followed a different admissions model from basically everyone else in higher education, so we can't draw from prevailing wisdom about what students to admit," said David Joyner, interim vice provost for AI in Education and executive director of online education and OMSCS. "Enough time has passed since we moved to a new admissions system that we finally could step back and look at what factors predicted success."

The researchers found that application materials could reasonably predict admissions and matriculation decisions. But when it came to forecasting retention and long-term success, early-course performance — not application information — played an outsized role in predicting whether students would remain in the program.

"I've always thought that success is most predicted by invisible factors like intended time commitment and external incentive to success," Joyner said. "But I thought there would be some signal in the application data. It's encouraging that there's not."

Learning About Lurking

Another indicator of student success is participation. It's often assumed that students who primarily read discussion forums rather than actively posting in them — sometimes called "lurkers" — are less engaged in their courses. Marjorie Ivy, lead author of the second study on lurkers and a 2025 OMSCS graduate, became interested in the topic through her own online learning experience.

"I've been that student in an online course who reads every discussion thread, thinks deeply about the material, feels genuinely connected to what's happening in the class — and never posts," Ivy said. "That mismatch between what activity logs say about a student and what the student is actually experiencing is what drew me to this topic. I wanted to see if we could give data and language to the quieter forms of engagement that often go unnoticed."

To better understand those students, the researchers looked beyond behavioral data and examined how learners perceived their social experiences in a course. Students completed surveys about belonging, peer interaction, and whether they felt their contributions were acknowledged. Using similarity algorithms and network analysis that examines relationships between different people, the researchers grouped students into clusters of learners who shared similar attitudes about their course experiences. The results revealed that some students who rarely posted still reported feeling connected to their classmates and learning community. 

Looking Beyond the Numbers

Although the studies examine different stages of the student journey, they arrive at a similar conclusion: Visible metrics often miss important parts of the learning experience. Understanding student success may require looking beyond what is easiest to count.

"My biggest hope is this program will signal to other universities how broken our traditional admissions model is," Joyner said. "We should be giving more students the chance to succeed, because higher education is not currently accommodating plenty who can succeed."

To help address timing challenges associated with expense reimbursements tied to the Georgia Tech Research Corporation (GTRC) Travel Advance program, Georgia Tech Procurement and Business Services has implemented a Workday enhancement to improve identification and processing of applicable expense reports. 

Procurement and Business Services has updated a policy within the Georgia Tech Policy Library to clarify allowable reimbursements related to business travel telecommunications expenses.  

What started as concern about food waste has grown into a campuswide effort to help food-insecure Georgia Tech students while keeping thousands of meals out of the waste stream. Since launching in 2024, Green Forks has transformed surplus food from catered events into a valuable resource for students in need. 

The ACS is one of the world’s largest scientific societies, and its Fellows Program recognizes outstanding achievements in scientific research, education, leadership, and service to the chemical profession and honors a select group of members each year.

"Election as an ACS Fellow is a significant honor that recognizes not only scientific excellence but also leadership and service to the profession," said Julia Kubanek, Georgia Tech's vice president for Interdisciplinary Research. "Yuanzhi's pioneering research, her leadership within ACS and the Strategic Energy Institute, and her commitment to advancing interdisciplinary collaboration have strengthened Georgia Tech's impact in chemistry, energy, and environmental research. We are proud to celebrate this well-deserved recognition."

Tang was recognized for her contributions to environmental chemistry, biogeochemistry, and energy-related research, as well as for her leadership and service to the chemical sciences.

"Given her exceptionally energetic research program, which spans topics ranging from the basic understanding of chemical cycling on Earth to creative solutions to recover rare elements from wastes, this honor is richly deserved and completely unsurprising," said Jean Lynch-Stieglitz, chair of the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. "We are lucky to have Yuanzhi as part of EAS."

As SEI executive director, Tang leads Institute-wide efforts to strengthen Georgia Tech's energy research enterprise by connecting expertise across disciplines and fostering partnerships with industry, government, and national laboratories. She also maintains an internationally recognized research program focused on understanding the chemical and biological processes that shape natural and engineered environments.

Established in 2008, the ACS Fellows Program honors a distinguished group of scientists who have made exceptional contributions to chemistry and related fields while also demonstrating dedicated service to the society. With this election, Tang joins 17 Georgia Tech ACS Fellows.

"I’m deeply honored," Tang said. "This recognition reflects the contributions of many outstanding students, postdoctoral researchers, colleagues, collaborators, and mentors throughout my career. I am grateful for the opportunity to work alongside such talented people to advance scientific discovery and build interdisciplinary partnerships that address critical energy and environmental challenges."

Founded in 1876, the American Chemical Society represents more than 170,000 members worldwide and is a leading source of scientific information through its journals, conferences, and educational programs.

SAINT-AVOLD, France. On a June afternoon at the Lorraine American Cemetery in Saint-Avold, 250 Georgia Tech-Europe (GTE) students stand looking over a field of 14,246 white marble headstones, one for each U.S. service member buried beneath. Silence surrounds the group as Matthew Ramsey, a Georgia Tech undergraduate, leans a wreath against the tombstone of his great-grandfather, Staff Sergeant Russell Wilson, an Army infantryman killed in the Battle of the Bulge. Ramsey performs the familial ceremony, rubbing sand from Omaha Beach and planting a flag in front of the headstone. "I am the first person in my family to ever get the chance to do so," he shares. Other GTE students witness the moment, connecting to a history that has shaped the world as they know it.

Exploring personal and shared world histories is central to a Georgia Tech-Europe education. Situated in one of the most contested landscapes in modern Western history, GTE offers students direct access to the trenches, forts, and cemeteries of two world wars. Courses such as Professor Timothy Stoneman’s HTS 2037: 20th-Century Europe, and portions of Professor Jennifer Orth-Veillon’s LMC 3234: Travel Writing, incorporate these sites into their curriculum. This summer, GTE partnered with the University of North Georgia on an immersive military history program featuring Professor Jon Beall’s HTS 3803: War & Leadership, Middle Ages to Present. Across these courses, students move beyond dates and statistics to engage with the human stories of history and reflect on their connections to the past.

Like Matthew Ramsey, Cadet Kyle Gallentine, a UNG cybersecurity major, reported standing in the Lorraine Cemetery brought him closer to his great-grandfather, a WWII soldier. "When I left the cemetery, I felt a strong desire to learn my family's story," Gallentine said. "We still have his uniform, campaign map, photographs, and other keepsakes, but I never truly knew the story behind them."

After the Lorraine Cemetery visit, Orth-Veillon, Stoneman, and Beall led an overnight trip to the Meuse region. Nicolas Czubak, official historian of the Verdun Memorial Museum, guided the group through the Meuse-Argonne cemetery, the Butte de Vauquois, and the Montsec Memorial before reaching Verdun itself, France's most symbolic WWI battlefield. For Peter Kobes, a mechanical engineering major, the cemetery reframed how he thought about war’s cost. "By resting at the place they fell, these soldiers let strangers like me stop and reckon with their loss," he wrote in a photo essay assigned for the trip.

The students’ second trip to Belgium carried a different weight, as it was inspired by Orth-Veillon’s own family history. Her grandfather, Dr. William J. Hagood Jr., served as a battalion surgeon with the 335th Infantry Regiment, 84th Division, during the Battle of the Bulge. Orth-Veillon interviewed him before his death in 2009 and has since drawn on an archive of over 500 of his wartime letters. That research led her to Jacques Bourguignon, 104, a former Belgian resistance fighter who sheltered Hagood's medical unit in his family's cellar in Marche-en-Famenne over Christmas 1944. "On Christmas Eve, they sheltered there with about fifty others, including neighbors, other soldiers, and even German prisoners," Orth-Veillon shares. The two men remained friends by letter until the 1960s. 

The highlight of the trip came when thirteen students from Orth-Veillon's, Stoneman's, and Beall's classes spent the morning with Jacques Bourgignon at his retirement home. Bourguignon, an active member of the Lion’s Club and current president of Marche-en-Famenne’s motorcycle club, told them the story of his life, focusing on the resistance, which he joined at age 17. 

“Were you afraid during your missions?” asked the students. 

“We weren’t scared,” he replied, chuckling. “We were crazy. I joined the resistance because I wanted to do something to fight back. It felt like the only human way to respond.”

“What do you want to say to people today?”

“Try to do as much good as possible in life. I am grateful to the Americans for the liberation of Belgium. After years of occupation and suffering, seeing them arrive was unforgettable.”

They also visited Bastogne War Museum to commemorate the Ardennes Offensive, during which  89,000 American soldiers were killed or wounded between December 1944 and January 1945. For Tucker Messer, a rising second-year business administration major, the visit brought a family story to life: his great-grandfather, Oscar Messer, fought there with the 10th Armored Division's 61st Armored Infantry Battalion. "Walking around the scene of the heavy fighting, I realized how fragile human life is and how one small thing changes history," Messer said. "If a random German teenager fighting in the battle had aimed better and killed my great-grandfather, I would not be here."

"Few academic programs place students directly inside the geography of the history they study," said Beall, who guided the group through Stavelot, a resistance stronghold during the Ardennes Offensive. Learning deepens when students stand where history happened and connect their identities to the people and events that shaped it. As Orth-Veillon, Stoneman, and Beall suggest, they leave with more than a photograph or final assignment; they carry a lasting relationship with the past that shapes how they see the world and their place within it.

In this feature, follow Jeonghyun “Jonna” Lee’s path from English language educator in Seoul to leading a research team in Georgia Tech’s College of Lifetime Learning.

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The Office of Information Technology Cybersecurity department and distributed campus IT partners have launched Phase III of the Computer Security Standard (CSS). The CSS establishes mandatory cybersecurity requirements to protect research, data, and operational systems at Georgia Tech by consistently applying security controls across desktops, laptops, and servers used to store, process, or transmit Institute data. 

“I was a young engineering student, getting ready to graduate when I learned that the Dean of Students had put me up for the Alvin Ferst Student Entrepreneur of the Year Award,” said Moore, Founder & CEO of Artisan Financial Strategies. “Sitting at that table with Mr. Ferst, my mother, and my grandmother, something shifted inside me. I didn’t just receive an award that night. I received an identity.”   

But the recognition itself was only part of the story. 

For Moore, sitting at the table with Alvin Ferst (IM 1943), an entrepreneur and philanthropist whose legacy continues to inspire innovation, she experienced a defining shift in perspective. 

“For the first time, I understood that I wasn’t just an engineer looking for a job. I was an entrepreneur. Someone who wanted to build, lead, create, and solve problems,” said Moore, who has enjoyed more than 20 years of successfully navigating wealth management. “The word entrepreneur resonated immediately because I always knew I would have made a terrible employee. I was confident enough to believe I could build a better mousetrap than most, and during my internships I struggled working for people when I felt like I had better ideas. The Alvin Ferst award gave me the language and the permission to own that about myself.”   

This realization would go on to influence an entire career trajectory, one rooted in leadership, innovation, problem-solving and maybe the most important lesson for Moore. 

“Fail forward. Keep beta testing, keep trying new things, and understand that failure is not just okay, it is part of the process. It is a numbers game. But the deeper lesson for me has really been about network,” said Moore, who also credits ISyE Professor Emerita Jane Ammons as an amazing role model in her studies, keeping her focused on her path at GT and beyond. “Having the right people around you, mentors and teammates who have done it before, people you can pick up the phone and call on a moment's notice, that is everything. Those relationships have shaped my business more than any single decision I have ever made.” 

ISyE has long played a role in cultivating these moments of discovery. Through programs, mentorship, and recognition, ISyE empowers students to explore entrepreneurship alongside their technical training. 

“Core processes are everything when you’re building a business, and systems thinking is deeply baked into the ISyE curriculum. That training shaped how I approach building projects and companies. I think in a very linear way, and having that methodical, process-oriented foundation has been a real asset,” said Moore, who in recent years led a TED Talk on how couples can use to have productive conversations about financial planning. “Where it has made me better as a leader is in understanding my own blind spots. I know what I am really good at, and I have learned that hiring people who think just like me is the wrong way to go. Building a team that complements your weaknesses and challenges your thinking is not just good practice, it is what makes the whole thing work. ISyE teaches you to optimize systems. Part of that is knowing which inputs you are missing.”  

Whether through competitions, experiential learning opportunities, or engagement with alumni and industry leaders, ISyE encourages students to see themselves not only as engineers, but also as innovators capable of shaping industries and communities.

“Entrepreneurship is not only about launching a company; it is about developing the confidence and discipline to identify meaningful problems, design better systems, and create value for others,” said Professor Kamran Paynabar, Associate Chair for Innovation, Leadership, and Entrepreneurship and Fouts Family Chair. “That mindset is deeply connected to what we teach in ISyE. Our students learn how to structure ambiguity, use data to make better decisions, and improve complex systems. Those same capabilities are essential for entrepreneurs.”

Paynabar says ISyE’s culture of support extends well beyond graduation with alumni continuing to engage with and inspire one another, creating a network where shared experiences and mentorship help reinforce entrepreneurial growth across generations.

“Entrepreneurship often begins with curiosity, persistence, and a willingness to test ideas in the real world,” Paynabar said. “Our alumni prove that there is no single path to entrepreneurship. Some started with a senior design project, some built companies through years of perseverance, and some applied ISyE thinking in entirely different industries. What connects them is the ability to see systems, understand people’s needs, and keep improving.”

In a full-circle moment years later, Moore, a “finance whisperer,” had the opportunity to connect with a member of the Ferst family, reflecting on the profound impact of that early recognition. The experience served as a reminder that the influence of mentorship and belief often reaches further than anyone can anticipate.

“This story still gives me chills. On the call, Leigh Ferst, Alvin’s daughter, and I started talking through our backgrounds. When I mentioned Georgia Tech and the award I had received from a man named Alvin Ferst, the whole conversation shifted. That is when she told me her father was Alvin Ferst. I burst into tears on the phone,” said Moore. “I was able to tell her that that award had changed my life. It gave me my identity. It gave me the permission to see myself as an entrepreneur at a moment when I had no idea who I was supposed to be. Personally, and professionally, it was one of those full-circle moments you could not write if you tried.” 

Veronica Rivera, an incoming assistant professor in Georgia Tech's School of Cybersecurity and Privacy (SCP), studies human-computer interaction, security, and privacy to create safer digital experiences. Her research earned her selection to the second cohort of the Computing Research Association (CRA) Trustworthy AI Research Fellowship for Early Career Scholars.

"I am excited and honored to be part of this year's CRA Trustworthy AI Research Fellowship cohort," said Rivera. 

"This program reflects the importance of cross-disciplinary research and collaboration in building AI systems that benefit and support society. I look forward to spending the next year building collaborations that support me and my students' research into protecting the digital safety of the diverse communities who use AI tools."

Rivera's research examines how technology shapes interpersonal relationships. Using empirical and design-based methods, she partners with communities affected by technology-facilitated abuse to understand digital safety risks and develop technologies that better protect users.

Through the fellowship, Rivera will study how AI is reshaping technology-facilitated abuse and develop data collection methods that enable researchers to assess these evolving risks over time.

"Trustworthy AI is a key research area in the School of Cybersecurity and Privacy and the College of Computing," said SCP Interim Chair Mustaque Ahamad. "The CRA Trustworthy AI Research Fellowship recognizes Veronica's innovative research and will help her build a research program that advances an area of strategic importance to our school and the broader AI community."

Supported by Microsoft, the CRA Trustworthy AI Research Fellowship recognizes early-career computing researchers who combine technical expertise with interdisciplinary approaches to address the ethical, societal, and human-centered challenges of artificial intelligence. The fellowship provides interdisciplinary training, mentorship, and collaboration opportunities that help researchers integrate ethical, societal, and human-centered perspectives into AI research and development.

Over the next year, Rivera and the other fellows will participate in a series of professional development activities, including a four-day Field School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The program also includes quarterly virtual meetings, mentoring opportunities, and collaboration with scholars participating in related AI and data ethics programs.

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Designed as both an academic and professional exploration experience, the camp gave students a structured look at how industrial engineering works in the real world, far beyond textbooks and classroom examples. Each day combined on-campus learning sessions, collaborative project work, and industry site visits highlighting different applications of industrial engineering and systems thinking. 

A Week of Learning by Doing 

The program opened on Monday, June 15th, where students participated in welcome activities, icebreakers, and an introduction to Georgia Tech admissions. The first day focused on building community while giving students an early sense of what studying engineering at Georgia Tech looks like. 

After a campus tour and lunch at the John Lewis Student Center, students visited the Allen-Davidson-Coleman XR Makerspace at Georgia Tech and other lab spaces, getting hands-on exposure to emerging technologies. In the afternoon, students were introduced to their group projects and began preparing to synthesize the week’s learning into final presentations. 

Industry in Action: Site Visits Across Atlanta 

Midweek, the program shifted to industry immersion through visits to organizations applying industrial engineering in different contexts. 

At McKenney’s, students saw how industrial engineers support construction and facilities systems and heard from Georgia Tech alumni working in the field. A facility tour connected industrial engineering concepts to real building operations. 

At the Coca-Cola Company headquarters visit, students explored the role of industrial engineering in global supply chains. ISyE alumni Johnny Yang (B.S. 2021), Supply Chain Manager for Innovation Planning & Sourcing Optimization, and Sana Fathima (B.S. 2017, M.S. 2018), Senior Manager of Supply Chain Infrastructure Planning, explained how data drives bottling, distribution, and retail placement decisions across a global network. 

At NCR Atleos, students explored the ins and outs of ATM machines while hearing from GT IE alumni employees and current Georgia Tech interns about how industrial engineering improves reliability, user experience, and system integration. 

The site visits concluded at the McKinsey Innovation & Learning Center, where students learned lean principles and waste reduction through a hands-on SMED (Single-Minute Exchange of Die) activity. They also observed advanced tools such as wearable scanners and automation technologies used to improve process efficiency. 

Building Ideas into Presentations 

Throughout the week, students worked in groups to connect what they learned from each site visit and campus experience. These project sessions challenged them to identify where industrial engineering was present in each organization and articulate its impact. 

On the final day, Thursday, June 18th, students finalized their projects and prepared for the family showcase held in the ISyE Main Atrium. Each group presented on either one of the four companies visited or ISyE’s XR Makerspace, explaining how industrial engineering principles appeared in real-world operations and reflecting on key insights from the week. 

The final presentations served as both a capstone and a celebration. Students demonstrated not only what they had learned about industrial engineering, but also how they could communicate technical ideas clearly and connect them to real-world scenarios.  

Families, mentors, and Georgia Tech staff attended the showcase, creating an environment that highlighted both student achievement and the broader mission of the program: making industrial engineering accessible for the next generation of engineers. 

Looking Ahead 

The iExperience Summer Camp showed students how industrial engineering shapes industries ranging from construction and manufacturing to technology and global supply chains. More importantly, it gave them a glimpse into what studying engineering at Georgia Tech can feel like. 

For many participants, the week was less about choosing a single future path and more about discovering the wide range of ways industrial engineers make systems work better, smarter, and more efficiently across the world. 

Georgia Tech’s Office of Sustainability, in partnership with the Office of Research Operations, is launching Georgia Tech’s first Sustainable Lab Certification program, which will provide a framework for campus laboratories to implement practical, high-impact sustainability measures. Labs earn recognition for their efforts through tiered certification levels — bronze, silver, or gold — based on the number and results of practices implemented.  

School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) Assistant Professor Amirali Aghazadeh and Ph.D. student Daniel Saeedi have developed AstroAgents, an AI system that analyzes mass spectrometry data — detailed chemical compositions from meteorites and Earth soil samples — to generate novel hypotheses about the origins of life on the planet. 

What sets AstroAgents apart is its use of agentic AI. Unlike traditional AI systems that perform fixed tasks, this agentic system is designed to pursue a scientific goal. It draws from astrobiology literature, interprets complex data, and proposes original ideas that researchers can investigate further. 

Their paper, recently featured in the journal Nature, is opening new possibilities for how scientists explore questions that have remained unanswered for decades. 

In a special Q&A, Aghazadeh and Saeedi explain how AstroAgents analyzes space chemistry, what it’s revealing about the possible origins of life on Earth, and what they hope to explore next.

READ THE Q&A

He also has cerebral palsy — and for the past four years, he has played a key role in improving one of the most exciting medical devices at Georgia Tech.

“My role here is as a participant in exoskeleton research studies,” Case explained. “When I come in, researchers hook me up to sensors that monitor my gait when I’m walking in the device, and then they get a whole lot of data based off that.”

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Now returning for a second year, the Research Collaboration Forum (RCF) is a part of Georgia Tech’s broader Research Collaboration Initiative. By deepening ties with HBCUs and other minority-serving institutions (MSIs), the initiative works to build a research ecosystem capable of sharing expertise and resources essential to tackling global challenges.

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DeMillo was among 80 computer scientists worldwide selected for the Academy's founding class and was the only Georgia Tech faculty member recognized.

"I am honored to be included in the inaugural class of the ACM SIGSOFT Software Engineering Academy," said DeMillo. "This recognition reflects the work of outstanding students, collaborators, and colleagues over many years. Software engineering research has transformed the way society builds and depends upon software, and I hope our community will continue to advance the scientific foundations needed to make software more reliable, secure, and worthy of the trust people place in it."

Established by ACM SIGSOFT, the Software Engineering Academy is a standing body of honor that recognizes members of the software engineering community whose lasting technical contributions, leadership, and service have shaped the field. The Academy celebrates researchers whose cumulative work and influence have advanced software engineering as both a scientific discipline and professional practice.

"Rich's research in software testing is recognized among the most influential contributions to the field of software engineering," said SCP Interim Chair Mustaque Ahamad. "His inclusion in the inaugural ACM SIGSOFT Software Engineering Academy demonstrates the lasting impact of his research on building more reliable software systems."

The inaugural class was selected from leaders whose contributions have already been widely recognized across the software engineering community, including ACM Fellows and recipients of ACM SIGSOFT's Outstanding Research Award. Beginning next year, new Academy members will be elected annually through a community nomination process.

DeMillo served as the founding chair of Georgia Tech's School of Cybersecurity and Privacy, the first school of its kind at a top research university. He previously served as the John P. Imlay Dean of the College of Computing and directed the Georgia Tech Information Security Center.

Throughout his career, DeMillo has held leadership positions across academia, industry, and government. He served as Hewlett-Packard's first chief technology officer, led computing research at Bell Communications Research, directed the Computer Research Division at the National Science Foundation, and led the Software Test and Evaluation Project in the Office of the Secretary of Defense.

His research spans software engineering, cybersecurity, election security, and the societal impacts of digital technology. His 1979 paper, Social Processes and Proofs of Theorems and Programs, is widely regarded as a foundational work in software engineering and has been recognized as one of the 50 most influential papers in computer science.

In addition to his research, DeMillo has helped shape higher education through the creation of Georgia Tech's Center for 21st Century Universities. He is a fellow of both the Association for Computing Machinery and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

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While this statement might cause anxiety for some, for one Georgia Tech research team, working with humanlike robots couldn’t be more exciting.

Bipedal — or two-legged — autonomous robots can be quite agile. This makes them useful for performing tasks on uneven terrain, such as carrying equipment through outdoor environments or performing maintenance on an ocean-going ship. However, unstable or unpredictable conditions also increase the possibility of a robot wipeout. 

The researchers, led by Ye Zhao, director of the Georgia Tech Laboratory for Intelligent Decision and Autonomous Robots (LIDAR), and Zhaoyuan Gu, a robotics Ph.D. student, wanted to develop a real-time planning and control framework that guarantees a robot's safety and recovery when traversing difficult terrain. The autonomous nature of this framework means the robots can make their own decisions without direct assistance from a human. For example, if an unexpected obstacle appears in its path, a robot equipped with this new framework could catch itself instead of falling.

Until now, there’s been a significant lack of research into how a robot recovers when its direction shifts — for example, a robot losing balance when a truck makes a quick turn. The team aims to fix this research gap. 

Putting the Project Pieces Together

In an IEEE Transactions on Robotics paper, the researchers describe a first-of-its-kind strategy that gives robots a clear set of rules for reacting when something changes in its path. These rules help the robot make quicker decisions and take more confident steps. When the robot senses that its current plan might not keep it stable, it uses these rules to adjust its next few steps, so it can continue moving safely. In earlier experiments, which lacked this framework, two-legged robots struggled to identify a solution for stability and were prone to falling.

The researchers implemented the new framework with Cassie, a two-legged robot. Inside Tech’s 3,000-square-foot Human Augmentation Core Facility, the Cassie robot confidently walks on a Computer-Aided Rehabilitation Environment (CAREN) — a treadmill system that can be programmed to move in any direction at different times. When the team realized CAREN is limited in how much force it can inflict, they added a BumpEm system, which creates a stronger jerk to further stress-test Cassie’s gait.

The Results

Through these experiments, the researchers found that their new programming framework outperforms state-of-the-art methods with more certainty, faster decision-making, higher collision avoidance, and the ability to reliably walk on moving platforms and varying types of terrain.

Zhao said, “The results we got through this project are very impressive. They’re the most comprehensive and extensive hardware results we’ve published so far.”

Though significant, the real-world results weren’t perfect. The robot doesn’t perform as well when moving downhill, which requires it to take riskier steps and walk less efficiently. However, the only time Cassie completely failed to recover its gait was during a difficult scenario involving a very wide step and a cross-legged maneuver. Recovery simply wasn’t feasible given the spatial limits of the narrow treadmill.

Next Steps for Walking Robots

Overall, the researchers’ framework increases by 81% Cassie’s ability to recover from instability. The team noted that bipedal stability in robotics needs further research. If these walking robots are to be fully integrated into our society, they must be reliable.

“This paper may serve as a foundation for continued work on walking robots,” said Zhao. “Our work may inspire further research that can imitate or learn from the framework we’ve created.”

Other ways of walking recovery are yet to be tested. For example, humans often hop to counteract instability or uneven footing; mirroring this with two-legged robots could be the next step in the team’s research.

They would like to eventually enable the use of autonomous two-legged robots in marine environments, where ship maintenance and operations require risky, strenuous labor. Ideally, these robots could reliably, safely, and efficiently perform these kinds of tasks.

The project will be tested at sea through the Office of Naval Research in Arlington, Virginia.

“Humanoid robots are coming to your homes, coming to the factories, coming to logistics. They're going to show up on the street. It’s exciting,” said Gu.

Robotics engineers should consider not only a robot’s mechanical design, but also its algorithms, intelligence, and brain. Being able to safely and regularly interact with these robots requires this foundational work.

— By Chloe Morris

“Robust-Locomotion-By-Logic: Perturbation-Resilient Bipedal Locomotion via Signal Temporal Logic Guided Model Predictive Control.” https://doi.org/10.1109/TRO.2025.3582820

Funding for this research is provided by the Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Program and the National Science Foundation CAREER Program.

Researchers on this project include LIDAR Director Ye Zhao, Ph.D. student Zhaoyuan Gu, and master’s students Yuntian Zhao, Yipu Chen, and Rongming Guo. Other contributors from the Physiology of Wearable Robotics Lab include Gregory Sawicki, director, and Jennifer Leestma (Ph.D. ROBO, 2024). 

This research is also supported by the Agile Locomotion and Manipulation team, part of Georgia Tech’s Vertically Integrated Projects program.

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It’s not glamorous. It’s not trendy. In fact, it’s downright grubby. But the work that a Georgia Tech researcher and his students are doing is improving campus sustainability, one pound of food waste at a time. 

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Recycled materials promise a cleaner future, but recycled content alone does not necessarily make a product sustainable. At Georgia Tech’s Daedalus Lab, assistant professor, National Science Foundation CAREER Award recipient, and Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems Faculty Fellow Christos Athanasiou and postdoctoral researcher Danqi Sun are working to provide greater certainty to designers and engineers by rethinking how materials are tested for their fracture characteristics. Their article in Science Advances details a new testing protocol that reduces cost, increases speed, and simulates real-world conditions.

Materials shape nearly every part of modern life, from packaging and consumer products to bridges and medical devices. Choosing the right material involves balancing durability, cost, manufacturability, and environmental impact. Yet those decisions are not always guided by a clear understanding of how materials age and fail under real-world conditions, especially for recycled materials like plastics.

One way that materials frequently fail is by cracking. A small crack can begin almost invisibly. Over time, it can spread from regular wear and tear and exposure to common environmental factors like moisture, temperature fluctuations, or even dirt. Eventually, the crack expands, and the part fails. Engineers have studied fracture for more than a century, but connecting the science of cracking to practical decisions about sustainability remains a major challenge.

The characteristics of recycled plastics often vary from those of the same material in unrecycled, or virgin, form. Products made from recycled plastics may be sold with sustainability claims under the assumption that they will perform as if they were made with virgin material. However, premature failure requiring repair or replacement can quickly change the sustainability equation as well as the acceptance of recycled materials by manufacturers and consumers.

Beyond Conventional Fracture Testing

Materials rarely fail due to a single factor. They may be exposed to several factors simultaneously, such as mechanical loading, chemical environments, temperature changes, moisture, and time. Traditional fracture protocols test one specimen at a time under carefully controlled laboratory conditions, which bear little resemblance to the real world. To move beyond this limitation, Sun developed an in-situ, high-throughput platform capable of studying how materials degrade and fail under more realistic conditions.

The platform changes conventional fracture testing in three important ways. First, it can test multiple specimens simultaneously rather than one at a time. By monitoring samples in parallel, testing time can be reduced by more than 60%. Second, it allows materials to be tested in realistic environments. In this study, researchers examined virgin and recycled plastics in alkaline environments that resemble conditions encountered in applications like landfill liner membranes and geotextiles. Third, the platform incorporates an imaging technique known as photoelasticity, which reveals the formation of stress fields that form around the origin of a newly developing crack. This allows researchers to see cracks develop earlier than before, giving them a clearer picture of the forces that drive crack growth.

The researchers have made the technology available for licensing through Georgia Tech’s Office of Technology Licensing. “Our goal was to make fracture testing not only faster but also more informative,” Sun said. “By combining high-throughput testing, realistic environments, and full-field stress imaging, we can better understand how materials fail under conditions closer to real-world applications.”

An Honest View of Sustainability

Recycled plastics are often viewed as a greener choice. But according to the study, it’s not always so straightforward. If a recycled product fails prematurely and needs to be replaced frequently, its environmental and economic costs can increase despite its recycled content. As Athanasiou puts it, “Failing materials don’t just break products. They can break sustainability promises.”

For example, comparing virgin polyethylene terephthalate (PET) with recycled PET (rPET) in applications such as landfill geotextiles, the researchers discovered that rPET showed lower resistance to environmental stressors, particularly in alkaline conditions over a pH of 9. In this application, specifying rPET over virgin PET would likely eliminate all of the presumed economic and environmental advantages of using a recycled material.

“Recycling is essential, but recycled content alone does not tell the full story. If a material fails too soon, the environmental benefits can disappear,” Athanasiou said.

From Cracks to Circularity

For the researchers, the significance of the work extends beyond recycled plastics. The broader goal is to provide a fast, affordable, and realistic platform for evaluating the sustainability of any material choice. Because current testing protocols are costly, not widely available, and limited in the information they yield, engineers, manufacturers, and policymakers often have little choice but to continue to specify non-recycled materials because they will perform as expected. Having cheap and accurate data on recycled materials will help to accelerate their adoption because matching the engineering properties of recycled materials to their most appropriate applications will become more obvious.

The researchers also hope to expand the platform to simulate even more complex environments and apply it to a wider range of materials. Because the system generates large amounts of detailed data, it may enable opportunities to use computational modeling or artificial intelligence to digitally simulate mechanical testing, driving down costs and expanding availability even more.

The larger vision is a future in which sustainability is judged not by labels or assumptions, but by evidence for how a material performs, how long it lasts, how it fails, and what it costs society and the environment over its full lifetime.

Please visit the Daedalus Lab YouTube channel to see an explainer video about this new testing protocol: https://youtube.com/watch?v=zmRhiRIiAkQ

Read the paper here: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aeh0456

This research was supported by the National Science Foundation CAREER Award No. 2338508.

Their work, led by Sourabh Saha, associate professor and Woodruff Faculty Fellow, and Harnjoo Kim, who conducted the research during his doctoral studies and later as a postdoctoral fellow in Saha's lab, was recently published in the journal Nature Communications.

Nanoscale 3D printing allows researchers to create structures thousands of times smaller than the width of a human hair. These structures have potential applications in fields ranging from advanced computing and optics to biomedical devices and clean energy technologies. However, increasing printing speed often comes at the expense of quality.

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

Read more »

At 7 p.m. in Ankara, Türkiye, 18 fourth-grade students and their family members from Maya Schools logged into Microsoft Teams to hear a presentation from Meryem Yilmaz Soylu, a research scientist in the Georgia Tech College of Lifetime Learning, who joined them from Atlanta. 

Georgia Tech will play a key role in the newly announced Genesis Mission, a national initiative harnessing artificial intelligence (AI) to propel scientific discovery and address challenges in health, energy, manufacturing, infrastructure, and national security. The White House announced the first Genesis Mission projects on July 22 as part of a more than $5 billion investment in AI-enabled science and technology. 

Brian Magerko has been appointed as the James and Mary Wesley Chair for New Media Studies in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication. Magerko is a Regents’ Professor of Digital Media and head of the Expressive Machinery Lab. He has served as director of graduate studies for the Digital Media Program for eight years and will step down from this leadership role on July 31.  

SCI Instructor Pedro Guillermo Feijóo-García was selected by Fulbright Colombia to moderate the closing panel of the Fulbright Reimagined Summit 2026: AI Horizons: Learning Pathways for Tomorrow.

Held last month at Universidad del Norte in Barranquilla, Colombia, the summit convened scholars, educators, policymakers, and industry leaders to examine how artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming education, work, governance, and society.

Fulbright Colombia invited Feijóo-García to moderate the closing discussion, From Adopters to Architects: Professions of Tomorrow, in recognition of his research on human-AI interaction and the hidden curriculum in engineering and computer science education.

"As a Fulbright alumnus, being invited to contribute to such an important event was an honor and a privilege," Feijóo-García said. "Beyond the personal recognition, I viewed this opportunity as a meaningful platform to facilitate conversations around the future of education, technology, and workforce development."

From Computing Education to AI Futures

At Georgia Tech, Feijóo-García directs the People-Agents Research for Computing Education (PARCE) Laboratory. His research examines the intersection of computing education, STEM learning, and AI, focusing on student preparedness, professional development, and the hidden curriculum- which he explains as the implicit skills and expectations that shape students' academic and career success. 

Feijóo-García says his perspective is shaped by years of work in computing education. During his master's studies in systems and computing engineering at Universidad de los Andes in Colombia, he explored ways to expand access to computing education through interactive programming environments. He went on to earn his Ph.D. in human-centered computing from the University of Florida, where he focused his research on computing education and human-centered AI.

"AI is transforming how we learn, work, communicate, make decisions, and interact with one another," Feijóo-García said. "As educators, we need to prepare students not only with technical competencies, but also with critical thinking, ethical reasoning, collaboration, and the ability to adapt."

Preparing Students for the Professions of Tomorrow

Rather than viewing AI as a challenge for higher education, Feijóo-García sees it as an opportunity for universities to rethink how they prepare students for an evolving workforce. He believes educators should help students develop the judgment to know when AI can enhance their work and when independent reasoning and human expertise are essential.

"The conversation should not revolve around whether AI belongs in education, but rather how we integrate it responsibly and intentionally," Feijóo-García said.

He also hopes students begin to think of AI not only as artificial intelligence, but as augmented intelligence. "The goal should not be to replace human thinking, but to enhance it," he said.

Feijóo-García emphasized that AI should augment human capabilities rather than replace human judgment. Preparing students for an AI-driven workforce requires helping them understand when AI can support their work and when human reasoning, creativity, and expertise are essential.

Strengthening U.S.–Colombia Collaboration

The summit reinforced the value of collaboration among scholars, educators, policymakers, and industry leaders in advancing research and education. Earlier this year, Feijóo-García participated in another Fulbright Colombia event focused on strengthening scientific collaboration between Colombia and the United States.

The Fulbright Program, which operates in more than 160 countries worldwide, is the United States government’s flagship international academic exchange program to support peaceful relations between the people of the U.S. and the people of other countries. Fulbright Colombia, the binational commission for educational exchange between the U.S. and Colombia, has supported academic and scientific collaboration between the two countries since 1957.

Feijóo-García’s academic journey reflects the impact of these collaborations. The Fulbright Program supported his doctoral studies in the United States, and he continues to build connections between Colombia and the U.S. through his work at Georgia Tech.

"Scientific diplomacy is built on people," Feijóo-García said. "Events like the Fulbright Reimagined Summit provide the environment where trust is established, ideas are exchanged, and collaborations begin."

Dunkin is an IISE Fellow, the highest classification of IISE membership that recognizes outstanding leaders of the profession who have made significant, nationally recognized contributions to industrial and systems engineering. She has served as chief information officer at the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, as well as chief strategy and innovation officer at Dell Technologies. She has also held numerous leadership positions at Hewlett Packard, largely in the areas of manufacturing, research and development and IT. She currently serves as a distinguished external fellow with Georgia Tech’s Strategic Energy Institute.  

Dunkin holds appointments as a distinguished professor of the practice in Georgia Tech’s School of Cybersecurity and Privacy and in the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School of Public Policy. She is also a distinguished external fellow at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI).

“The Emerging Technologies forum is a great opportunity for practicing ISEs to get exposure to a range of emerging technologies in a short period of time and identify those that they want to experiment with and implement in their organizations,” Dunkin said. 

The Aug. 26 event, which will be held virtually from 1-5 p.m. EDT, will explore technologies shaping the future of industrial and systems engineering, including artificial intelligence, digital twins, and robotics and autonomy. 

As event chair, Dunkin will be joined by experts from the healthcare, aerospace, logistics, manufacturing and technology industries, including representatives from Royal Caribbean, The Boeing Company, UPS and other organizations. 

The complimentary event is open to engineers and improvement professionals of all backgrounds. Registration is available through the IISE Emerging Technologies Forum website. 
 

But a forthcoming study in the Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis by Xindi He, assistant professor of finance at the Scheller College of Business, and his co-author Ning Zhu, professor at the Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, suggests that individual investors don’t always treat money as fungible when making decisions in their brokerage accounts. 

Their findings complicate that assumption.  

He and Zhu’s research shows that investors often treat money differently depending on where it comes from. A dollar transferred from a savings account does not feel the same as a dollar generated by selling a stock, even when both sit side by side as cash in the same brokerage account. 

The Idea of “Cash Temperature” 

To capture that difference, He introduced the idea of “cash temperature.” 

“I would describe cash temperature as a way to measure how money feels to an investor based on its recent history,” He said. “‘Cold’ cash is money that recently came from a stable source, such as a savings account. ‘Hot’ cash is money generated by selling stocks or other risky assets.” 

That distinction might sound subtle, but in practice, it shapes how people invest. As He and his co-author analyzed detailed brokerage data, a clear and surprising pattern emerged. 

“What struck us was how systematic the pattern was,” He said. “This was not just about one measure of risk.” 
Across nine dimensions, investors using colder cash behaved more cautiously. They chose less volatile stocks, stocks with weaker recent run-ups and lower attention measures, and stocks more likely to be part of major market indexes. They also held these positions longer, and the stocks had better subsequent performance. 

“The consistency across these dimensions made the pattern much more compelling,” He said. 

By contrast, when investors used hotter cash, money that had already been exposed to market risk, they were more willing to take chances. They pursued riskier stocks, often without better returns to show for it. 

“The evidence points to harm, especially when investors treat hot cash as easier to risk,” He said. “In our data, hotter cash leads investors to buy riskier stocks, and those purchases are followed by lower subsequent returns. Investors take more risk but do not appear to be rewarded for it.” 

Meaning Behind the Money 

At the heart of this behavior is something deeply intuitive. People assign meaning to their money. 

“A dollar from savings may feel like protected wealth, while a dollar from selling a stock may feel like money already set aside for investing,” He said. 

In a pre-registered experiment, that feeling showed up in how people experienced loss. Participants reported that a hypothetical loss felt more painful when the money was framed as coming from a savings account than when it was framed as coming from a brokerage account. 

“That suggests that the source of money changes how investors experience potential losses,” He said. 

The effect plays out in everyday decisions. Someone who transfers $5,000 from savings into an investment account may tread carefully, treating it as something to preserve. But that same person might take bigger risks with money that came from a recent stock sale, seeing it as already “in the market.” 

The study also finds that these mental labels are not fixed. 

“We were also surprised by how dynamic the effect was,” he said. “Cash labels were not fixed forever. They were refreshed as money moved through the brokerage account and faded over time when there was no salient account activity.” 

What Investors Can Learn 

For investors, the takeaway is simple but powerful. Before deciding, pause and strip away the story attached to the money. 

“The practical lesson is to pay attention to the mental labels attached to cash,” He said. “Ask yourself, ‘Would I still make this purchase if I ignored where the cash came from and evaluated the stock on its own merits?’” 

While money may be identical on paper, it does not always feel that way in practice. Its source can shape the stocks investors choose and the returns that follow. 

Read More: "Portfolio Choice with Non-Fungible Brokerage Cash"

Hosted at Georgia Tech, the Summer Academy connects students with faculty, mentors, and industry professionals while giving them opportunities to sketch ideas, build models, collaborate on projects, and explore careers they may not have previously considered.

The partnership reflects a shared commitment to expanding access to design education and increasing opportunities for students from historically underrepresented communities. Beyond technical skills, the program helps participants build confidence, develop leadership abilities, and envision future careers in creative and design-focused fields.

By exposing students to architecture, engineering, construction management, and related disciplines in a university setting, Spike Studio and Georgia Tech continue to create meaningful pathways that inspire the next generation of designers, innovators, and problem-solvers.

Read the full story from the Georgia Tech College of Design.

Greptile, founded by three current and former Georgia Tech students, has quickly emerged as one of Silicon Valley’s most promising young technology companies. The startup, led by Daksh Gupta, CS 2023; Soohoon Choi, CS 2023, MTH 2023; and computer science major Vaishant Kameswaran, builds artificial intelligence tools that help engineering teams review, analyze, and improve their code. 

Georgia Tech is one of America’s best colleges, according to Money magazine.  

Fueled by the generosity of thousands of alumni, donors, corporations, foundations, and friends, this defining moment builds on the strongest two-year fundraising performance in Georgia Tech’s history and reflects extraordinary engagement across the Institute. Recent milestones underscore the breadth of support behind Transforming Tomorrow, including the 79th Roll Call, which raised $8.8 million, and Georgia Tech Athletics’ Full Steam Ahead initiative, which led to more than $100 million in gifts and commitments.

The collective support of donors, including gifts from first-time donors, is already making a difference across campus — in the experiences of students, the work of faculty, and the spaces that shape learning and discovery.

Transforming Campus and Expanding Opportunity

Donor support has fueled major projects such as the Thomas A. Fanning Student-Athlete Performance Center, which opened in May, and George Tower | Scheller Tower, which will open in September. Scheller Tower will house MBA and executive education programs for the Ernest Scheller Jr. College of Business, while George Tower will become the new home of the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering. These facilities are designed to foster collaboration, innovation, and student success.

This momentum continues as Georgia Tech advances new capital projects, including the Aerospace Engineering Building, Medical Innovation Building, Creative Quarter, and Alumni Welcome Center — each critical to the Institute’s future growth.

At the same time, philanthropy is transforming access to education. Donors have contributed more than $513 million to expand scholarship and fellowship support, opening doors for talented students and ensuring that financial barriers do not limit opportunity.

Investing in Students, Faculty, and Research

Support for students extends from undergraduate access to graduate-level research and discovery. Graduate fellowships funded through the campaign are enabling students to pursue advanced study, contribute to research labs, and play a central role in Georgia Tech’s academic mission.

At the faculty level, donor investment continues to strengthen Georgia Tech’s ability to attract and retain world-class educators and researchers. A landmark example is the $100 million bequest from the estate of alumnus John W. Durstine, the largest gift in the Institute’s history, supporting faculty excellence in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering.

In health research, a significant commitment has established the Parker H. Petit Center for AI-Driven Health Innovation, a new research hub focused on using artificial intelligence to model diseases, identify treatment paths, and move discoveries closer to patient care.

Driving Innovation Through Collaboration and Industry Engagement

Philanthropy is also fueling new interdisciplinary initiatives that reflect Georgia Tech’s collaborative, forward-looking approach. The Tony Kepano Joint Center for Real Estate brings together the Ernest Scheller Jr. College of Business and the College of Design to create a multidisciplinary platform for education, research, and industry engagement.

Corporate and foundation partnerships are accelerating progress in key areas. The Delta Air Lines Foundation’s $5 million commitment is helping fund the new Aerospace Engineering Building. This facility will elevate one of the nation’s top-ranked aerospace programs, fuel the state’s economy, and accelerate innovation across the aviation industry.

Georgia Tech’s multidecade partnership with Hyundai Motor Company is advancing research and education in sustainable mobility, hydrogen technologies, and workforce development, while strengthening the Institute’s role in driving innovation and economic growth.

Looking Ahead: Sustaining Momentum

The campaign’s success reflects the collective efforts of alumni, donors, volunteers, faculty, staff, students, and partners who have advanced Georgia Tech's mission and strengthened its impact. The momentum created through their generosity will help shape the Institute’s future for years to come.

“Behind every gift is someone who believes in Georgia Tech’s mission and wants to help us amplify our impact,” said Georgia Tech President Ángel Cabrera. “Their generous support has expanded access to education, strengthened research and innovation, and strengthened our Institute to make sure it keeps creating value for generations to come. I am profoundly grateful to each of our donors for investing in Georgia Tech. 

I’m equally grateful to our deans, faculty, Campaign Steering Committee volunteers, and every member of our Development team for opening doors, carrying our message everywhere, and persuading others to participate in this campaign. Congratulations to all of them on reaching the most ambitious philanthropic goals in Institute history.”

Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta is leading the first human clinical trial of the company’s microneedle stamp, which is designed to deliver a precise amount of peanut allergen through the outer layers of the skin. Moonlight Therapeutics President and CEO Samir Patel completed doctoral research at Georgia Tech and co-founded the Atlanta-based biotechnology company to help translate this technology into a potential treatment.

Read the full story from Georgia Public Broadcasting.

The event concluded with the announcement of two rounds of seed funding, offering up to $500,000 annually for three years. The first round, announced in September 2024, provided planning grants to six teams to support their initiatives in the fall.  

Recipients of the second phase of seed funding have now been announced. This phase will provide research support in the spring, with an option for additional funding through the 2025-26 academic year. 

“This seed funding initiative by SEI and GTRI is a significant step toward advancing national security through innovative energy solutions. We believe this support will empower the funded teams to explore critical intersections between energy infrastructure and security, fostering groundbreaking advancements for a safer energy future,” said Christine Conwell, SEI’s interim executive director.  

Seven interdisciplinary projects by team members from Georgia Tech and GTRI have been selected for the second phase, also known as Category B (Table 1). 

“The seed grant initiative is supporting energy and national security collaboration among researchers from multiple units across the Georgia Tech campus,” said William H. Robinson, interim chief technology officer and deputy director for Research in GTRI’s Information and Cyber Sciences Directorate. “We are very pleased to see the teamwork of these faculty members as they address important issues facing our nation.”

A follow-up workshop will be held this summer to bring together the awardees of the seed grant program. Additionally, a lunch and learn seminar series is planned in the fall to showcase the research progress of the seed grant program. For updates, visit the Strategic Energy Institute event webpage.

The initiative included Phase 1 or Category A grants that allowed researchers up to $10,000 in seed funding to understand the viability of their research concepts. The multidisciplinary proposals that won the Category A grants include:

Project Title: Energy Infrastructure Security and Risk Assessment Through Interactive Wargaming
Primary Investigator(s)
Dimitri Mavris (School of Aerospace Engineering)
Scott Duncan (School of Aerospace Engineering)
Michael Balchanos (School of Aerospace Engineering)

Other Investigators
Adam Stulberg (School of International Affairs)
Jenna Jordan (School of International Affairs)
Margaret Kosal (School of International Affairs)

Project Title: International Workshop on Nuclear Cybersecurity: Strengthening Global Leadership and Collaboration

Primary Investigator(s)
Fan Zhang (Nuclear and Radiological Engineering)
Steve Biegalski (Nuclear and Radiological Engineering)
Valerie Thomas (School of Industrial and Systems Engineering)
Alexander Miranda (Electrial and Computer Engineering)

Other Investigators
Guenevere Chen (Electrial and Computer Engineering) (University of Texas San Antonio)

Project Title: Robust Energy Systems Planning by way of Novel Systems Engineering (RESPoNSE)

Primary Investigator(s): Comas Haynes (GTRI)

Other Investigators
Matt McDowell (School of Mechanical Engineering and School of Materials Science and Engineering)

Project Title: Shielding and Microreactor Arrangement Innovation (Samμrai)

Primary Investigator(s)
John Brittingham (GTRI)
Bojan Petrovic (School of Mechanical Engineering)

Other Investigators
Helen Works (GTRI)

Project Title: The Strategic Mineral Economy: Challenges and Opportunities for Critical Resources

Primary Investigator(s)
Bobby Harris (School of Economics)
Matthew Swarts (GTRI)

Other Investigators
Dylan Brewer (School of Economics)
Kevin Caravati (GTRI)
Laura Taylor (School of Economics)
Micah S. Ziegler (School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, School of Public Policy)

Project Title: Trustworthy AI for Critical Power Grid Infrastructure Resilience
Primary Investigator(s): 
Glen Chou (School of Cybersecurity and Privacy)
Yatis Dodia (GTRI)
Saman Zonouz (School of Cybersecurity and Privacy, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering)

Phase 2 or Category B of the initiative includes up to $500,000 in seed funding to fund team research proposals, with funds likely to grow to $1.2 million in the coming years. Please note that teams must largely consist of those who participated in or expressed interest via the July workshop. 

Georgia Tech researchers and faculty are encouraged to submit the Notice of Intent for Phase 2 (Category B) submissions. While this is not a requirement of the proposal, it will provide the initiative with insights that will help with internal logistics. If you have any questions regarding the Category B Notice of Intent and the grant, please contact the Strategic Energy Institute at connect@energy.gatech.edu.

GTSI brings talented students from across the state to campus for a weeklong taste of college life.

Along with learning about academic programs and scholarship opportunities, GTSI offers participating students – many from rural and under-resourced communities – hands-on STEM experiences.

Discovering a Different Side of Computing

In its second year of participating in GTSI, the College of Computing broadened its partnership with the Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics, and Computing (CEISMC) this summer, offering two full-day, interactive experiences that integrated creativity and computational thinking.

"The College of Computing first participated in 2025 and is excited to build on that partnership," said Aneesah Allen, senior education outreach manager, who coordinated the College's involvement with CEISMC.

"Our goal is to create a memorable experience that helps students see themselves in computing while learning new skills in a fun, engaging way."

Hands-On Learning, Real-World Connections

To achieve this goal, the GT Computing-led sessions gave GTSI students the opportunity to experiment with artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, explore physical computing, and discover how technology intersects with:

• Arts & entertainment
• Sports
• Interactive media
• And more

Sababu Barashango and Terry Foster, CS instructional specialists and research associates at the College’s Constellation Center for Education in Computing, along with Cedric Stallworth, GT Computing assistant dean for outreach, led the College’s participation in this year’s GTSI.

For Barashango, the interactive sessions – focused on computer science (CS) and computational media (CM) – were designed to broaden students' understanding of what computing can be.

"The College of Computing and its Constellations Center for Education in Computing are partnering with CEISMC to help high school students understand the many possibilities computer science and computational media offer," said Barashango. "The students were deeply engaged in the interactive sessions.

"The content ranged from an introductory icebreaker using Google Maps and pixel art to block coding and physical computing, and finally to AI and machine learning."

Along with presenting computing’s creative side and emphasizing hands-on participation, the GT Computing-led sessions were designed to challenge long-held assumptions about who belongs in computing and what skills the field requires.

"The experiences in our sessions directly challenge the myth that you can't be both creative and logical," Barashango said.

Expanding Students' View of Computing

Foster believes that introducing students to all aspects of computing before they make decisions about college can help them see opportunities well beyond what they might have considered.

"Learning about CS and CM pathways broadens their view of computing and allows them to apply computing in fields they care about," Foster said.

He pointed to computational media as an especially powerful gateway because it integrates technical and creative thinking.

"When speaking specifically about CM, which is an excellent entry point into computing, students can be both creative and technical, not just one or the other," Foster said.

The GT Computing-led sessions also encouraged students to think beyond traditional technology careers.

"One of the key messages we shared with students was that earning a computer science degree does not mean they have to become software engineers," Foster said.

"We emphasized the wide range of computing careers available, including fields such as sports technology, film production, and interactive media, in which CS and CM skills are highly valued."

Building Tomorrow's Computing Workforce

Despite the success of the College’s GTSI session, Barashango recognizes that the goal of helping students see themselves in computing extends beyond a single summer program.

“Introducing students to computational thinking early can help prepare them for whatever path they choose,” he said. "Regardless of their career choices, their lives will continue to be affected by and integrated with computer science.”

"If they do not develop computational thinking and skills, they will be left behind in the technology and wealth gap."

School of City and Regional Planning Assistant Professor Rounaq Basu knows it, too. So he and his students (supported by the Center for Urban Resilience and Analytics) created the Cool Routes app to help people in Atlanta find the most shaded — and most importantly, the coolest — paths if they have to walk or bike outside.

Describing Atlanta’s latest heatwave, “This is great for research, but not so great for residents,” Basu said. “I like to walk and bike everywhere, and it’s too hot. I need to know where the shaded paths are!”

The Cool Routes app currently covers 10 cities in the U.S., including Atlanta. Users choose a city from a dropdown menu, provide a trip start and destination, tell the app whether they’re walking or biking, and select route preferences. The app then generates up to three routes to the user’s destination, allowing them to compare how much cooler one route is from another. Further refinement of routes is offered after that.

Learn more >>

“Dr. Salomone was one of the best professors and best people I met in my time at Georgia Tech, from his ability to capture a room with battle descriptions to making everyone laugh with stories about his own life,” said Bryn Thornburgh, INTA 2018.

What many might not know, however, is he was also a consummate food and wine connoisseur. He loved to hold court at the now-defunct Veni Vidi Vici restaurant in Atlanta following university events, said his former Nunn School of International Affairs colleague, Professor Emeritus Brian Woodall. 

“Whenever I dined with Mike, it was my standard practice to try to be seated next to him. I never had a regrettable meal when heeding Mike's menu recommendations,” Woodall said.

Salomone, who retired in 2025 after more than 36 years of service to Georgia Tech, the Nunn School, and its students, passed away recently. 

A Cornerstone of the Nunn School

He was the last remaining member of the School’s original 1991 roster, having joined Georgia Tech in 1989 at the behest of his former Carnegie Mellon University colleague, —then Georgia Tech President John Patrick Crecine — to help form a new international affairs school at Georgia Tech.

Salomone’s foundational work at the intersection of technology and international affairs served as a model for the new Nunn School, according to Adam N. Stulberg, Sam Nunn School Chair in International Affairs.

“Dr. Salomone’s deft skill at managing organizational change enabled the School to make the smooth transition to embracing the STEM moorings at GT while preserving excellence at advancing social science teaching and research on international affairs,” Stulberg  wrote President Ángel Cabrera in a letter recommending Salomone for emeritus status. 

“The latter helped to pave the way for a future interdisciplinary programming profile that simultaneously speaks to the strengths of GT and distinguishes the Nunn School from peer professional schools of international affairs.”

‘Glad and Grateful to Have Learned From Him’

Alumni say Salamone’s lectures were legend.

“They were theatrical, dynamic, and unforgettable,” said Tarun Chaudhary, M.S. International Affairs 2009, Ph.D. IAST 2019, a part-time lecturer in the Nunn School who first encountered Salomone as an undergraduate student 25 years ago. 

Chaudhary recalled Salomone lying across classroom tables to reenact the likely apocryphal dying words of German Field Marshal Alfred von Schlieffen, who supposedly foreshadowed Germany's failed invasion of France by obsessing over the army's flank: “Remember, keep the right wing very strong.”

“The energy and curiosity he brought into the classroom translated into students reading deeply, asking questions, and participating fully,” Chaudhary said.

Henri Korhonen, IAML 2009, said he took as many classes with Salomone as possible, his favorite of which was a semester-long wargaming exercise.

“I made lifelong friends in that course and it is my favorite academic memory of my time at Tech, both for how hard we had to work at it and how much fun we had doing it,” 
Korhonen said. “He was brilliant and engaging and I am glad and grateful to have learned from him.”

Salomone’s passion for teaching landed him a spot in Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine’s  2018 feature on “Transcendent Teachers,” in which he spoke of his love for academia, advice for students, and his affection for teaching, even at the age of 73.

“Yes, I'm really old,” Salomone told the magazine. “But I never tire of this job; I love it.”

A Half Century of Scholarship

Salomone’s remarkable career began in 1967 with bachelor's and master’s degrees in international affairs from Lehigh University. He went on to earn his master’s degrees and Ph.D. in political science from the University of Pittsburgh, with a brief interruption between them by a stint in the U.S. Army after being drafted.

Following jobs at Pitt and the federal government, he joined Carnegie Mellon University in 1979, where he remained in a variety of roles until joining Georgia Tech.

Once here, Salomone served as executive assistant and senior counsel to Crecine, as assistant chair of the Nunn School, and as a professor, where he taught more than two dozen different courses over the years.

He developed many of them, including his signature courses on scenario writing and path gaming and modeling, simulation, and military gaming.

“Mike was very much ahead of his time in embracing experiential learning and his courses were extraordinarily popular with engineering and computing students captured by his ability to bring the links between technology, organization, and strategy across centuries of warfare to life in a classroom,” Stulberg said.

His work was also influential beyond the classroom, with his research and insights informing the work of practitioners in the defense industry, in Congress, and elsewhere, according to Stulberg.

Salomone was also an important mentor to other faculty members. Nunn School Associate Professor Jenna Jordan said Salomone’s work on scenario writing and path gaming has become a central pillar of her own teaching and research.

“Few people have had as profound an impact on the direction of my career, my academic interests, and the way I think about the world as Mike,” said Jordan, who is also the School’s Associate Chair. “He gave me opportunities that stretched me professionally and instilled in me a confidence that I did not always have in myself. His faith changed the trajectory of my career and, in many ways, changed my life.”

Chaudhary said he still hears Salomone’s advice in his head each time he steps to the front of a classroom: “Explain it like you’re talking to your mom across the table at Thanksgiving, but throw in a little P. T. Barnum to keep it interesting.”

• AI is accelerating cyberattacks.
• The same technology can strengthen defenses.
• The biggest risk is falling behind.

Artificial intelligence is changing cybersecurity on both sides of the battlefield. The technology helping organizations improve efficiency also enables cybercriminals to identify vulnerabilities, develop exploits, and launch attacks at unprecedented speed.

Researchers in the School of Cybersecurity and Privacy (SCP) say the greatest concern is not that AI is creating entirely new forms of cyberattacks. Instead, it is accelerating activities that attackers already perform, making existing threats quicker, cheaper, and harder to stop.

"AI is dramatically speeding up cyberattacks," said Brendan Saltaformaggio, associate professor in the SCP and the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE). "AI can identify vulnerabilities far faster than humans and often in places humans wouldn't think to look."

Hackers Are Moving Faster

Most cyberattacks include several stages: finding vulnerabilities, developing ways to exploit them, gaining access to systems, and pursuing a goal such as stealing information or disrupting operations. According to Frank Li, associate professor in the SCP and ECE, AI is having its biggest impact on the early phases of that process.

"AI can help attackers explore potential decisions and implement attacks faster than in the past, whether it's identifying software bugs or constructing social engineering hooks," Li said.

The pace of attacks has already changed dramatically. Peter Swire, J.Z. Liang Chair in the SCP and professor of law and ethics in the Scheller College of Business, says attackers are moving from vulnerability discovery to exploitation much faster than in the past.

"The average time until an exploit is detected even a couple of years ago was measured in months," Swire said. "Now it is measured in hours."

That compressed timeline is forcing organizations to rethink how quickly they identify, prioritize, and patch vulnerabilities.

The Risk Reaches Everyone

Healthcare systems, critical infrastructure providers, government agencies, and small businesses remain attractive targets because they often manage sensitive information or essential services while relying on legacy technology. But experts emphasize that no organization is immune.

"Unfortunately, everyone is at risk," Saltaformaggio said. "AI is not creating new victims; AI is making attackers faster and more effective at targeting the same organizations they have always pursued."

Organizations with outdated systems or limited cybersecurity resources face particular challenges because AI allows attackers to identify weaknesses in less time and at lower cost than ever before.

Fighting AI With AI

Cybersecurity defenders also have access to the same technology.

Experts say AI can strengthen defenses before, during, and after a cyberattack. Defenders can use AI to identify and patch vulnerabilities more quickly, reducing opportunities for attackers to gain access. AI can also detect subtle signs of intrusion by correlating activity across networks and recognizing patterns that would be difficult for humans to spot in real time.

Once an attack occurs, AI can support rapid investigation and response by analyzing how the compromise happened, identifying root causes, and helping deploy targeted protections.

"AI can help defenders in every step of stopping a cyberattack," Saltaformaggio said.

Researchers at Georgia Tech are already demonstrating AI's defensive potential. Saltaformaggio pointed to Georgia Tech's recent success in the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) Artificial Intelligence Cyber Challenge, which highlighted how AI systems can autonomously discover and reason about software vulnerabilities at large scale. Swire also noted that a Georgia Tech team led by Professor Taesoo Kim won a $4 million DARPA prize for developing advanced AI-based cybersecurity defenses.

Speed Is the New Defense

Despite the promise of AI-powered security, significant challenges remain. Security teams need AI tools they can trust, ones that explain how they reached conclusions and provide evidence that analysts can verify. Attackers may also attempt to manipulate AI systems, creating new risks for organizations that rely heavily on automated tools.

Li says organizations cannot rely on traditional, human-paced security processes to keep up.

"AI's primary impact on cyberattacks is enhancing speed and scale," Li said. "Organizations need to adapt to more agile defenses and processes that account for this, in many cases relying on AI as well to help speed up defensive actions."

Organizations also need to rethink how they respond to vulnerabilities. Swire argues that traditional patch management is no longer fast enough in a world where exploits can emerge within hours.

"The entire process for patching systems will have to be re-engineered," he said.

The cybersecurity landscape has always been an arms race between attackers and defenders. AI hasn't changed that reality. It has simply accelerated it. The organizations that will be best positioned are those that adopt AI as quickly as the adversaries they are trying to stop.

Whether it's paper used in packaging or metals designed for structural applications, manufacturers rely on testing to understand how materials will perform before they reach the real world. 

“We would talk, not just about public policy, but about life,” said Cheryl Leggon, a retired associate professor in the Carter School.

According to those who knew her well, those small exchanges outside D.M. Smith reflected the way Persons, a professor in the Carter School, moved through the world. She built friendships and drew whole organizations together, one conversation at a time. Over more than 30 years, those connections became the bedrock of her remarkable career and legacy. 

Following her passing in July, her colleagues and friends reflected on the lasting impact of those relationships.

Building Communities

“Georgia was committed to bringing together scholars in her field,” said Willie Pearson Jr., a retired Regents’ Professor in the School of History and Sociology. 

She specialized in connecting policy and political science scholars to make a positive difference in the lives of others. Persons played an active role in founding the National Conference of Black Political Scientists and edited the National Political Science Review, the Conference’s refereed scholarly journal, for ten years — an unusual distinction in scholarship and service.

Persons’ talent for bringing people together also extended beyond colleagues in her discipline. She served all of Georgia Tech’s faculty as an ADVANCE Professor and was active in the Atlanta University Center Consortium, which promotes collaboration and public service among its historically Black colleges and universities member institutions.

“As one of the Carter School’s founding faculty members, Georgia encouraged others to engage with contemporary social policy issues and with the larger community,” said Aaron Levine, interim chair of the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School of Public Policy. “The School wouldn’t be where it is today without her.”

Widening the Doors

Persons’ talent for building communities and supporting others began during her undergraduate years at Southern University in Louisiana, where she studied under eminent scholar Jewel Limar Prestage, the first Black woman in the United States to earn a Ph.D. in political science. Throughout her career, Persons followed her mentor’s example, encouraging those who were pursuing academic paths in political science and other fields.

After receiving a bachelor’s degree in political science at Southern, Persons earned a Ph.D. in Political Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, specializing in American government and politics, urban politics and policy, and political development.

“She earned her Ph.D. at MIT at a time when there were far too few African Americans — and even fewer African American women — pursuing graduate work in such spaces. That achievement alone speaks to her determination, discipline, and exceptional capacity,” said Kaye Husbands Fealing, a professor in the Carter School and former dean of the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.

“But Georgia did not simply enter those rooms; she helped widen the doors for others,” she added.

As a teacher and mentor, Persons changed lives. 

“Your laid-back yet academically enriching teaching style is unique among the faculty, motivating me to take any course in which your name is associated,” Husbands Fealing quoted one of her students as saying. “It is under [your] insights that I am inspired to pursue a career in Public Policy.”

Persons was also known for weaving personal experience into her teaching and research in ways that students found meaningful and inspiring. 

“Georgia did more than teach courses. She opened intellectual pathways. She helped students see history more clearly, policy more critically, and their own futures more expansively,” said Husbands Fealing.

Scholarship with Human Consequence

At Georgia Tech, Persons published widely on African American politics, American national government, national institutional processes, health policy, and health disparities. She was awarded the highly competitive Ford Foundation Fellowship and was named an American Political Science Association Fellow. 

“Georgia had a gift for looking honestly at history — not as a fixed account of the past, but as a living record of struggle, resilience, exclusion, and possibility,” said Husbands Fealing.

Recently, Persons conducted research on health policy and healthcare safety nets. She was also consulting for the Fulton-Dekalb Hospital Authority. Her work focused not only on the problems with the healthcare system, but also on its potential and possible futures. 

“Georgia’s scholarship mattered because it was never detached from human consequence,” said Husbands Fealing. “She studied institutions not as abstractions, but as forces that shape opportunity, dignity, health, leadership, and democratic belonging.”

An Enduring Legacy

Across her decades at Georgia Tech, the qualities colleagues remember the most about Georgia Persons are the same ones reflected in those conversations outside D.M. Smith: her warmth, generosity, and remarkable ability to bring people together.

Associate Professor Hans Klein recalled that in his first semester at Georgia Tech, Persons saw him in the hallway and joked that she thought he was one of the undergraduates. They laughed, and that good-humored warmth remained a hallmark of their relationship. (As recalled to Kaye Husbands Fealing.)

“I had the privilege of knowing and working with her for many years and have many memories of our long association. Georgia was a unique colleague, and will be greatly missed,” said Professor Philip Shapira.

“Generations of students and faculty benefited from her wisdom and experience,” said Dean’s Distinguished Professor Mary Frank Fox. “I will miss Georgia — ever, always.”

The SCC is home to seven student engineering competition teams and provides workspace, tools, and resources to help students apply classroom learning to real-world engineering challenges.

In his new role, Simmons will provide strategic leadership and operational oversight for student competition teams, facilities, staff, budgets, sponsorships, and safety programs. He also will teach and mentor students through engineering design and experiential learning courses, helping connect classroom instruction with project-based experiences.

“Richard brings a unique combination of industry experience, research leadership, and deep commitment to student success,” said Carolyn Seepersad, Eugene C. Gwaltney, Jr. School Chair. “As an accomplished engineer and a Georgia Tech alumnus, he understands the value of experiential learning and is well-positioned to lead the Student Competition Center.”

Simmons, ME 1993, joined Georgia Tech in 2016 after spending the first 20 years of his career leading research, technology, and business development initiatives in the automotive industry, energy sector, and federal government. After graduating from Tech, he earned his master’s and doctoral degrees from Purdue University and later became a licensed professional engineer.

Over the past decade, Simmons has held several leadership and research positions within Georgia Tech’s Strategic Energy Institute, including founding director of the Energy Policy and Innovation Center and, most recently, director of Research and Studies. He has also taught a variety of courses at the Woodruff School, including ME 2110, Capstone Design, Energy Systems, and Renewable Energy.

Read Full Story on the ME News Page

Blending engineering challenges, field experiences, and team-based design projects, the weeklong program in June gave students a dynamic introduction to energy, sustainability, and engineering innovation and a rare opportunity to engage directly with the technologies, infrastructure, people, and ideas that help power the world.

“Our goal is to get outside of the classroom, have fun, and demonstrate how a STEM education can literally help turn on lightbulbs,” said SEI’s director of Research and Studies, Rich Simmons, who also directs Energy Unplugged. “Through hands-on learning, field trips, and real-world experiences, these creative students are learning that everyone can play a role in our energy future. Along the way, they are gaining a deeper understanding of the tradeoffs and challenges engineers face and learning from experts about pathways to an energy career.”

Mousetrap-Powered Cars
Putting those ideas into practice from day one, the camp began with an engineering challenge in which students designed and constructed mousetrap-powered cars. Using the stored potential energy of a mousetrap spring to propel their vehicles, participants explored how energy is converted from one form to another and identified sources of friction and inefficiency that affect the distance traveled. The activity encouraged students to think like engineers, iteratively testing and refining their designs to improve results.

Engineering Optimization and Tradeoffs
Similar problem-solving skills were put to the test during an RC car optimization challenge. Equipped with a battery-powered vehicle and energy-monitoring systems, students were tasked with completing a driving course while maximizing their score by balancing speed, energy consumption, safety, and cargo capacity. Participants had the option to add weights and tennis balls to increase potential points, but doing so increased the risk of penalties from dropped cargo, missed obstacles, or vehicle rollovers. The exercise highlighted the tradeoffs engineers routinely face when optimizing systems under competing constraints.

“The overall interest in green energy among youth is increasing, so having demonstrations and experiments as well as some high-level lectures on the actual science was a great way to engage the students,” said student assistant William Nudd, a senior in mechanical engineering who assisted with the camp. “When I was in their shoes, I had never attended a physics class, so the camp was definitely getting them a step ahead and did a great job introducing and showcasing key concepts related to energy: How does my home get electricity? Where does energy come from? How do power plants operate?”

Trivia, Demos, and Scavenger Hunts
Additional activities throughout the week included energy-themed trivia competitions, a steam engine demonstration, a solar microgrid exercise, and a campus scavenger hunt. Together, they reinforced classroom concepts through interactive learning and encouraged students to connect technical principles with practical applications.

Field Trips to Power Plants
While these activities taught foundational concepts, a highlight of the camp was a series of field trips that allowed students to observe large-scale energy infrastructure in operation. Participants toured the Georgia Power McDonough-Atkinson Plant, where they learned how combined-cycle power plants generate electricity using both gas and steam turbines to improve efficiency. Students also visited the Morgan Falls hydroelectric facility, getting an up-close view of the massive generators and equipment used to convert the energy of flowing water into electricity.

Campus Tours
In addition to exploring regional energy infrastructure, students were introduced to Georgia Tech’s innovation ecosystem through visits to campus makerspaces and research facilities, including the Flowers Invention Studio and The Kendeda Building for Innovative Sustainable Design. Students explored one of the nation’s most advanced examples of sustainable building design during a guided tour of The Kendeda Building, which generates 200% of the energy it consumes. Here they learned how energy efficiency, renewable generation, and resource conservation can be integrated into the built environment.

Final Projects 
To bring together the concepts explored throughout the week, students worked in teams on a final design challenge centered around a solar-powered disaster relief trailer on loan from the Footprint Project. Equipped with photovoltaic panels and battery storage, the trailer was originally designed to provide off-grid power during emergencies. Students were challenged to identify additional uses for the system during periods when disaster response was not required. Many teams proposed sustainable food truck businesses powered by the trailer’s solar energy system.

Teams also evaluated cooking technologies such as pressure cookers and slow cookers, comparing energy consumption, power requirements, efficiency, and operating costs. Students examined how energy demand aligned with available solar generation and battery storage while conducting economic analyses to determine business viability and profitability. The project integrated engineering, economics, and sustainability principles while encouraging creative thinking and collaborative problem-solving. 

“Energy Unplugged is an inspiring demonstration of how hands-on engineering experiences can spark curiosity and passion in the next generation of STEM leaders,” said student assistant Alvaro Hucker, a senior mechanical engineering student. “Working with this group and seeing the fun they were having brought back fond memories of my own childhood. It was an amazing experience.”

Student Contributors: Alvaro Hucker, Senior, Mechanical Engineering and William Nudd, Senior, Mechanical Engineering.

Students who are interested in going global throughout their career at Tech should consider enrolling in the OIE-specific section of GT1000. The class prepares students for their time at Tech and an OIE discipline-specific section of GT1000 augments this education with an international focus.

• GT1000 OIE Section, Thursday – 11:00am-11:50am, CRN #90722
  This OIE Section of GT1000 is for students in any major who are interested in international education opportunities (study abroad, global research/internships) and learning more about international academic credentials like the International Plan and the Global Engagement Certificate.

Have questions? Heidi Fiedler and Milira Richardson are teaching the OIE section for fall 2026.

Through the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering's (ISyE) Summer Undergraduate Research Scholars (SURS) program, these students are working toward answers to complex challenges like these. Over the course of 10 weeks, they work alongside faculty mentors, gaining hands-on research experience while developing new technical skills and contributing to research across a wide range of disciplines.  

While their research spans AI for public health, urban design, sustainable transportation, semiconductor design, financial systems, optimization, time-series forecasting, and fairness in recommender systems, every project in the 2026 cohort begins with the same goal: using engineering and data-driven approaches to solve meaningful problems. Meet this year's scholars to learn what inspired their research, the questions they hope to answer, and the discoveries they aim to make throughout their summer projects. 

Ze Yu Jiang (Georgia State University) – Advisor: Patrick Kastner 
Project: Inverse Urban Design for Wind Comfort using Surrogate Models 

Ze Yu is developing AI-powered tools that help urban planners quickly evaluate building designs and create more comfortable outdoor spaces for pedestrians. After spending more than two years researching urban design, he sees this project as the next step toward making the design process faster and more effective: 

"Seeing as how we now have models that can quickly get accurate outputs, the next step would be to help designers quickly find designs that would produce outputs they are aiming for; then, we'd have an even more productive design process! That's where my motivation came for this research!” 

Gary Mei (Georgia Institute of Technology) – Advisor: Souvik Dhara 
Project: A Two-Channel Cascade Model of Bank Failure 

Gary is studying how financial crises spread through banking networks to better understand what can lead to widespread economic instability. His longtime interest in finance sparked the idea behind his research: 

"When my professor introduced me to random graphs, my first thought was to model financial events with random graphs. I eventually landed on modeling bank failures, and I realized that the current configuration didn't account for bank runs/fear, and that's what inspired my research." 

Haili-Marie Cox (Georgia Institute of Technology) – Advisor: Xiaochen Xian 
Project: Making Public Health Information More Accessible with Large Language Models 

Haili-Marie is building AI-powered tools that make trusted public health information easier for people to find, understand, and engage with. For her, the project combines her interest in artificial intelligence with a desire to create tools that make a meaningful difference: 

“I was drawn to this topic of research because I’m looking to build my skills in building tools that solve real-world problems. I’m excited to see how AI can help bridge the gap between public health information and the people who need it most, while also learning more about how users interact with AI-powered resources." 

Kaitao Liao (Emory University) – Advisor: Enlu Zhou 
Project: Generative Boltzmann Optimization via Conditional Diffusion Models for Black-Box Optimization 

Kaitao is exploring how AI can improve optimization methods by generating better solutions to complex problems. He is excited by the opportunity to tackle challenging optimization problems while advancing emerging AI techniques: 

“I chose this project because I'm interested in solving challenging high-dimensional and complex optimization problems. I'm excited to explore how the GBO-CD algorithm can be improved to make it more robust and effective on these difficult optimization tasks." 

Jevon Twitty (Georgia Institute of Technology) – Advisor: Shihao Yang 
Project: Capturing Shifting Temporal Dependencies with Tri-Region Fast Weights 

Jevon is developing more efficient AI models that can better recognize patterns in time-series data across a variety of real-world applications. His interest in practical machine learning applications led him to explore new approaches to time-series forecasting: 

"I personally enjoy working in time series because I think it's a very practical field with tangible applications across many domains ... My current project is focused on Tri-Region Fast-Weight Hypernetworks, and I'm excited to see if their inherent expressivity can prove effective in modeling complex inter-series dependencies in large-scale datasets with many channels." 

Arsen Kozhabek (Georgia Institute of Technology) – Advisor: Johannes Milz 
Project: Pyrova: Thermal-Aware Macro Placement Under Workload Uncertainty 

Arsen is researching ways to optimize computer chip layouts, so they remain cool and efficient under changing workloads. This project gives him an opportunity to combine his interests in electrical engineering, chip design, and optimization: 

"As an [electrical engineering] (EE) major, I was looking for a project at the intersection of EE and [ISyE]. I'm interested in chip design, and Dr. Milz has strong expertise in optimization, so we thought it'd be interesting to apply optimization to some part of the chip design flow — physical design felt like the most natural fit. I'm hoping to grow as a researcher and come out with a stronger foundation in both hardware and applied math.” 

Zaid Baloch (Georgia State University) – Advisor: Srinivas Peeta 

Project: Advancing Sustainable Travel in Smart Communities 

Zaid is helping develop data-driven transportation solutions that improve mobility, accessibility, sustainability, and quality of life in smart communities. He sees the experience as a chance to apply technology to challenges that affect everyday life: 

"I chose this project because I am interested in applying data and technology to solve real-world transportation challenges that can improve people's daily lives. Through this experience, I hope to strengthen my technical and research skills while gaining a deeper understanding of how data-driven solutions are designed, implemented, and evaluated in smart communities.” 

Lauren Patterson (Emory University) – Advisor: Juba Ziani 

Project: Feedback Loops and Fairness in Recommender Systems 

Lauren is studying how recommendation systems can unintentionally create unfair outcomes and exploring ways to make online platforms more equitable for all users. Her curiosity about algorithms, privacy, and the ways digital platforms shape consumer behavior inspired her to pursue this research: 

“This might be kind of nerdy, but I’ve had a bit of a hyperfixation on recommender systems, pricing algorithms, privacy, and how platforms influence people’s behavior ... [There are] concerns around platforms using behavioral data, like how often someone looks at an item, to personalize recommendations, ads, or even pricing ... A person might feel like they are making a normal shopping decision, but the platform may have already shaped the options, timing, framing, and price in front of them. [This is what inspired my research.]” 

Interested in getting involved with undergraduate research at ISyE? To learn more about upcoming opportunities, faculty mentors, and student projects, visit the ISyE Undergraduate Research Portal.

Read the full story. >>

Please note the following during the paving work:

• No parking will be permitted in the parallel parking spaces along 9th Street during the closure period.
• Access to the back-of-house area between Eighth Street East and Eighth Street West Apartments will remain available.
• Sidewalks along both 9th Street and Curran Street will be closed for the duration of the paving operation.
• Motorists and pedestrians are encouraged to follow posted detour signage and use alternate routes as needed.

We appreciate your patience and cooperation as this work is completed.

If you have any questions, please contact the project team.

Georgia’s $41 billion forest products industry needs a transformation, and a Georgia Tech research team is reimagining how pulp mills use energy and what they can make from their byproduct streams. 

The competition to win one of four $150,000 startup investments began in February and ended in April when 17 teams pitched their startup concepts to judges at a live Demo Day event held on April 22.

“The Klaus Startup Challenge was a huge success, and we were thrilled with the level of participation and energy in the room,” said Tamar Wilkins, event organizer and GT Computing academic program manager.

She added that the event showcases the innovation and entrepreneurial spirit within the College of Computing community, and provides students with access to workshops, mentors, and networking opportunities with alumni, founders, and industry leaders.

“The startup challenge is designed to help students move beyond the classroom to begin building real-world solutions through customer discovery, mentorship, pitch development, and startup storytelling.”

From the arts to healthcare, this year’s startup challenge highlighted a range of innovative ideas and technologies from student founders. The winning teams were:

• Ensemble – Co-founders Jahnavi Bhansali and Juhi Bhatia created Ensemble to provide organizations with awareness of potential outcomes before decisions are made.
• MyObra – Developed by Fernando Reyes, MyObra is home-service management software that combines job scheduling, invoicing, estimates, digital signatures, and customer management into a single platform for contractors.
• Kairos Health – Co-founders TanushChintala, Sanjana Kavula, and Adhira Tippur developed Kairos Health as an AI-powered patient intake and front-desk automation platform built for dental offices and clinics.
• Sway Formations – Created by founder Arnav Chokshi and teammates Yash Shelar and Heet Shah, Sway Formations is an AI-powered formation builder that enables dance teams, choreographers, production managers, and others to create, share, and teach complex group formations and movements.

Each winning team received $150,000 in funding support from Fusen World, a platform founded in 2022 by Christopher Klaus, Fusen World CEO, GT alumnus, technology entrepreneur, and philanthropist. Fusen was launched to empower student founders worldwide to successfully launch and grow their startups.

Along with Klaus, the judges for this year’s startup challenge were:

• Joe Uhl – partner at Dogwood Ventures, GT Computing advisory board member
• Margaret Weniger – CREATE-X director of entrepreneurial programs
• Katrina Montinola – fractional and interim CTO, CAIO with True Sage LLC and EV2X.AI, GT alumna (ICS 1988), GT Computing advisory board member

To be eligible for the Klaus Startup Challenge, at least one co-founder for each team must be a current GT Computing student.

When a bartender checks an ID, they quickly verify a customer’s date of birth and identity before serving them. 

Researchers at Georgia Tech say they have developed a system to help answer that question.

Known as FIRA, the tool analyzes drone crashes to determine whether they were caused by tampered machine-learning (ML) models. The team will present its findings at the 35th USENIX Security Symposium in August. 

The research addresses a growing safety challenge as drones are increasingly used for deliveries, infrastructure inspections, and agriculture.

As drones rely more on machine learning to navigate and make decisions, they also become vulnerable to model poisoning attacks. In these attacks, adversaries manipulate an AI system during its learning phase, embedding hidden triggers that can cause failures under specific conditions.

“Machine learning drones are making more decisions in flight, which makes ML a safety-critical component of these systems,” said Yizhi Huang, Ph.D. student and lead researcher on the project. 

“When something goes wrong, investigators need a way to ask whether the model was responsible, but the model is the part of the system that no one can examine after a crash. FIRA gives investigators a way to investigate these cases by reconstructing what the model was doing during the crash. As more drones run with ML, this kind of forensic capability can help drones be used more effectively and safely.”

When a drone crashes, investigators must determine whether the cause was malicious interference, weather, or mechanical failure. Without reliable forensic tools, accountability is difficult to establish, and safety standards are harder to enforce.

FIRA identifies how drone components interact with machine learning models and monitors those interactions in real time, even with limited bandwidth.

The system functions like a flight recorder, capturing key system activity and reconstructing a timeline after a crash. It then analyzes the model’s behavior to determine whether a malicious trigger was introduced via poisoned ML training data.

In tests across multiple drone platforms and crash scenarios, FIRA identified failure causes and distinguished cyberattacks from environmental or mechanical issues.

The system does not require access to a drone’s source code, making it practical for real-world investigations.

“As commercial drone use expands, tools like FIRA could help improve accountability and trust in AI-powered systems operating in public airspace,” said Huang. 

FIRA: Enabling Automatic Forensic Investigation of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles was led by Georgia Tech’s Cyber Forensics Innovation Lab in cooperation with the Cyber-Physical Security Lab. These labs reside in the School of Cybersecurity and Privacy and the School of Electrical and Computing Engineering. 

As fans around the world search for tickets to FIFA World Cup 2026 matches, a team of Georgia Tech students is working to make buying tickets to major events less stressful and more transparent. 

Presented annually, the ISCA Influential Paper Award recognizes a standout paper from the ISCA Conference 18-22 years prior. Winning papers are those which have demonstrated “the most impact on the field (in terms of research, development, products or ideas) during the intervening years.”

The awarded paper, Adaptive Insertion Policies for High-Performance Caching, has been highly influential in cache replacement research. As a Ph.D. student at the University of Texas at Austin, Qureshi co-authored the paper with his advisor Yale Patt and collaborators from Intel, including Aamer Jaleel, Simon Steely, and Joel Emer.