Committee:

Dr. Vidya Muthukumar, ECE, Chair, Advisor

Dr. Justin Romberg, ECE, Co-Advisor

Dr. Mark Davenport, ECE

Dr. Vladimir Koltchinskii,Math

Dr. Aswin Pananjady, ISyE

Dr. Sara Fridovich-Keil, ECE

Come and learn about a distributed CubeSat constellation concept that Georgia Tech is developing to map space weather effects on the ionosphere and their impacts on space-enabled technologies using natural signals of opportunity from lightning. This workshop will feature speakers from multiple GTRI laboratories and GT schools discussing the technologies and capabilities that Georgia Tech has available to provide important ionospheric measurements for “space weather meteorologists” that will also enable future improvements in forecast models.

Lunch provided.

Agenda

12-12:30p – lunch + meet and greet
12:30p-2p – workshop

Committee:

Dr. Shimeng Yu, ECE, Chair, Advisor

Dr. Muhannad Bakir, ECE

Dr. Saibal Mukhopadhyay, ECE

Dr. Tushar Krishna, ECE

Dr. Yingyang (Celine) Lin, CoC

Committee:

Dr. Pamela Bhatti, ECE, Chair, Advisor

Dr. Srini Tridandapani, UAB, Co-Advisor

Dr. Brooks Lindsey, BME

Dr. Elliot Moore, ECE

Dr. Shamali Dharmadhikari, Emory

Dr. Xiangyang Tang, Emory

Committee:

Dr. Azad Naeemi, ECE, Chair, Advisor

Dr. Asif Khan, ECE, Co-Advisor

Dr. Shimeng Yu, ECE

Dr. Lauren Garten, MSE

Dr. Jeffrey Davis, ECE

Dr. Muhannad Bakir, ECE

Committee:

Dr. Xiaoli Ma, ECE, Chair, Advisor

Dr. John Barry, ECE

Dr. Ying Zhang, ECE

Dr. David Anderson, ECE

Dr. Fan Zhang, ME

Committee: 

Dr. Raychowdhury, Advisor     

Dr. Li, Chair

Dr. Sathe

Committee: 

Dr. Mitchell, Advisor     

Dr. Ying Zhang, Chair

Dr. Prakash

About the Show
An eclectic group of six mid-pubescents vie for the spelling championship of a lifetime. While candidly disclosing hilarious and touching stories from their home lives, the tweens spell their way through a series of (potentially made-up) words, hoping never to hear the soul-crushing, pout-inducing, life un-affirming “ding” of the bell that signals a spelling mistake. Six spellers enter; one speller leaves a champion! At least the losers get a juice box.

Tickets are extremely limited! RSVP in Suitable here. 

"Predicting and Shaping User-device Interactions in Neural Interfaces"

Amy Orsborn
Cherng Jia and Elizabeth Yun Hwang Endowed Professor
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
University of Washington

Tuesday, April 7 at 3:00 PM (EDT)

Register for Gradescope Essentials

Join President Cabrera with Rodney Adkins, former Senior Vice President at IBM, to discuss leadership in technology. 

Thursday, April 9 at 11:00 AM EST 

Register for Turnitin's Webinar

The Digital Learning Team is excited to offer virtual and monthly open office hours for drop-in assistance. Georgia Tech faculty, staff, and TAs are welcome to drop in to ask questions about Canvas features and functionalities, learn about available digital learning tools integrated with Canvas, and brainstorm creative ways to use Canvas in your class. Please grab your coffee, tea, or favorite beverage, and join us for Canvas Office Hours!  

Attend the office hours via Zoom at https://gatech.zoom.us/j/92237994579 

The Digital Learning Team is excited to offer virtual and monthly open office hours for drop-in assistance. Georgia Tech faculty, staff, and TAs are welcome to drop in to ask questions about Canvas features and functionalities, learn about available digital learning tools integrated with Canvas, and brainstorm creative ways to use Canvas in your class. Please grab your coffee, tea, or favorite beverage, and join us for Canvas Office Hours!  

Attend the office hours via Zoom at https://gatech.zoom.us/j/92237994579 

Register

Please RSVP on Suitable to secure your spot. 

Date: Tuesday, April 21st , 2026

Time: 2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. ET

Location (in-person + virtual): Coda C1303 Glenwood [Virtual Link]

Kartik Sharma

Ph.D. candidate

School of Computational Science and Engineering

College of Computing

Georgia Institute of Technology 

Committee:

Dr. Srijan Kumar (Advisor, Computational Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology)

Dr. Rakshit Trivedi (Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

Dr. Chao Zhang (Computational Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology)

Dr. Bo Dai (Computational Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology)

Dr. Polo Chao (Computational Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology)

Abstract:

As artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly deployed in high-stakes, open-world environments, the demand for systems that are both highly capable and strictly trustworthy has become paramount. Modern generative models require high test-time plasticity to remain responsive to complex and dynamic human intentions. However, this same architectural flexibility inadvertently leaves them vulnerable to manipulation by bad actors and unintended changes. To ensure AI remains an empowering tool rather than a fragile liability, this dissertation presents a comprehensive framework for adapting models safely to user intent. First, this work introduces interpretable test-time mechanisms that empower users to precisely steer model behavior. These interventions are designed to enforce hard constraints in graph diffusion models and guide large language and imitation learning models toward exemplary and directed behavior descriptions. However, because unconstrained plasticity inherently alters a model’s risk profile, the research then systematically diagnoses the vulnerabilities in the systems, exposing vulnerabilities in dynamic graph models and multimodal language models. To safely support user-driven controllability without succumbing to these adversarial risks, the final phase demonstrates how structural adaptivity of system prompts can protect a language model’s core without compromising its benign behavior. Ultimately, this research works towards resolving the modern stability-plasticity dilemma, transforming vulnerable networks into deeply steerable and secure extensions of human intent.

Thesis Title: "Encapsulation of Modulatable Contrast Agents"

Thursday, April 9th, 2026 at 12:30 PM

Location: MoSE 3201A

Committee Members:

Prof. Robert Dickson (Advisor) - School of Chemistry and Biochemistry

Prof. Amanda Stockton - School of Chemistry and Biochemistry

Prof. Marcus Cicerone - School of Chemistry and Biochemistry 

Prof. Younan Xia - School of Chemistry and Biochemistry 

Prof. Stanislav Emelianov - Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Join us for a guided tour of The Kendeda Building and explore how regenerative design is shaping the future of sustainable architecture. This tour is open to the public and offers an inside look at the building’s innovative systems, materials, and design strategies. The tour is part of Georgia Tech’s annual Earth Month celebration activities. This tour is limited to 30 participants. Please Register at:https://forms.office.com/r/5CxC1iLQTL

Following the performance, a post-show talkback will be led by Thomas Brazzle, Assistant Director of GT Arts, providing insight into the creative process, the production, and its exploration of AI in storytelling.

This free event is open to all, offering a unique blend of music, technology, and critical reflection on the digital age.

During the session, you will learn:

• The overarching vision for the Unified ERP Program
• Why USG is embarking on this transformation
• How the program will unfold across the system
• Why this matters to you – whether you use the system daily or primarily for employee or manager self-service (such as leave requests, timesheets, expense reports, etc.) you’ll learn how the new Unified ERP will make these tasks more consistent, streamlined, and user-friendly
• The long-term benefits of a more connected and future-ready administrative experience

Attend the event virtually. 

If you would like to join your fellow Georgia Tech colleagues to attend this virtual town hall, you may do so at the following locations:

• Daleny Conference Room
• Scheller College of Business, Classroom 312
• GTRI 14th Street  

School of Psychology – Ph.D. Dissertation Defense Meeting

Date: Friday, April 17th, 2026

Time: 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM

Location: Virtual, click here

Dissertation Committee Chair/Advisor:

James Roberts, Ph.D. (Georgia Tech)

Dissertation Committee Members:

Susan Embretson, Ph.D. (Georgia Tech)

Brian Habing, Ph.D. (University of South Carolina)

Audrey Leroux, Ph.D. (Georgia Tech)

Dingjing Shi, Ph.D. (Georgia Tech)

Title: Integrating the Multidimensional Generalized Graded Unfolding Model (MGGUM) and Multidimensional Scaling (MDS) to Improve Estimation Accuracy and Precision 

Abstract

This dissertation develops a Hybrid Model to enhance the Multidimensional Generalized

Graded Unfolding Model (MGGUM) by integrating Multidimensional Scaling (MDS) to refine

item location parameter estimates and reduce sample size requirements. The MGGUM,

an extension of the unidimensional generalized graded unfolding model (GGUM), has been

applied across various psychological domains. It often requires large samples, especially with

multidimensional data, which leads to a difficulty in the practical application of the model in

social science research where smaller samples prevail. To address this limitation, the present

study incorporates additional information about MGGUM item locations via MDS scale values

derived from similarity judgments between stimulus pairs. This integration is expected to improve

the precision of item parameter estimates in the MGGUM. Specifically, the proposed model

framework simultaneously estimates the item parameters of MGGUM and item scale values from

MDS by connecting them through a multivariate normal distribution. The variance-covariance

matrix of the multivariate normal distribution specifies the relationship between the perceptual

item locations (MDS scale values derived from dissimilarities data) and preferential item locations

(MGGUM item locations derived from preference or [graded] disagree-agree response data).

This specification allows the information from these two sources to simultaneously contribute to

parameter estimation across models during an MCMC procedure.

We conducted a parameter recovery simulation study and a real data analysis to compare the

performance of the new (hybrid) model with that of the original MGGUM. Results demonstrated

that the Hybrid Model improved the precision of MGGUM item location estimates and indirectly

improved the estimation of other parameters. It also reduced data demand to some extent and

substantially reduced computation time. These improvements extend the practical application

universe and efficiency of the MGGUM framework.

Location: Price Gilbert 4222

Virtual: https://gatech.zoom.us/j/5899023644?omn=92112762089 

Abstract

Why and how did one of Latin America’s pioneering interactive science museums end up forgotten in an empty cage in the Lima Zoo? This dissertation reconstructs the history of TECNO-ITINTEC, a museum under the Institute of Industrial Technology Research and Technical Standards (ITINTEC). Although ITINTEC was a public research institution created by the industrial reforms of the military government of Velasco Alvarado, the museum itself was the personal project of a group of Peruvian scientists who sought to replicate new international models of science communication.  The dissertation traces the museum’s trajectory from its opening in 1979 until its closure in 1993, situating TECNO-ITINTEC within the broader political and economic transformations of late twentieth-century Peru. The museum navigated the developmental priorities of the Belaúnde government, adapted to the economic crisis of the García administration, and ultimately succumbed to what I call “bureaucratic dismantling” during the neoliberal reforms of the Fujimori era. This dismantling was not the product of a single decision but rather the outcome of institutional neglect, budgetary erosion, the withdrawal of state support, and unfulfilled promises of privatization for scientific research and education. Drawing on oral history interviews, extensive archival research, and the analysis of newspapers, laws, and ministerial records, the dissertation reveals how shifting political regimes, economic constraints, and institutional reforms shaped the creation, survival, and demise of TECNO-ITINTEC. It offers critical insights into the fragility of scientific institutions and the contested role of science museums as mediators between science, politics, and society.

The Committee Members are:

Dr. German Vergara (Advisor), School of History and Sociology, Georgia Institute of Technology

Dr. Carla Gerona, School of History and Sociology, Georgia Institute of Technology

Dr. Amit Prasad, School of History and Sociology, Georgia Institute of Technology

Dr. Jorge Lossio, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú

Dr. Jose Ragas, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile and Davis Center at Princeton University 

Current open positions include Secret Service Police with a $75,000 signing bonus!

Whether you're looking to relax, meet new people, or just take a break from studying, this is the perfect chance to hang out with fellow transfer students in a laid-back environment. Bring a friend or come make some new ones while enjoying friendly competition and great conversation.

We’ll also have Ray’s Pizza available, so grab a slice, play a game, and recharge before the final stretch of the semester. 🍕

Take a break before finals, unwind with friends, and join us for a night of fun!

Join us for an evening of Korean culture, food, music, and games as we celebrate the end of the year together. 

Explore our activity booths: sing your heart out at the 노래방 (karaoke), test your K-pop knowledge at the Finish the Lyric & Pop Quiz, strike a pose at the photo booth, and play some fun Korean games. Earn stamps along the way and redeem them at our very own 편의점 (convenience store) stocked with kimbab, cup ramen, banana milk, Korean candies, iced pouch drinks, and more.

Catch a live performance by Seoulstice before the night wraps up, then cheer on your friends at the Tongue Twister Challenge — open to all, judged by you. Think you've got what it takes? Sign up and let the audience decide.

Every attendee gets a free sticker souvenir just for showing up. Come hang, eat, sing, and send off the semester the right way.

HLC meetings for Spring 2026 are every other Tuesday from 8:30pm - 9:30pm in the LLC West Commons Classroom. 

Distributionally Robust Newsvendor on a Metric

Abstract:

We consider a fundamental generalization of the classical newsvendor problem where the seller needs to decide on the inventory of a product jointly for multiple locations on a metric as well as a fulfillment policy to satisfy the uncertain demand that arises sequentially over time after the inventory decisions have been made. To address the distributional-ambiguity, we consider a distributionally robust setting where the decision-maker only knows the mean and variance of the demand, and the goal is to make inventory and fulfillment decisions to minimize the worst-case expected inventory and fulfillment cost (where the expectation is taken over the worst case choice of distribution with given mean and variance). 

We present a significant generalization of the classical result of Scarf (1958) and give a policy with strong theoretical guarantees as well as good practical performance while maintaining the simplicity and interpretability of the solution in Scarf (1958). In particular, our policy first identifies a hierarchical clustering of the locations, and assigns a "virtual-underage cost" for each cluster. Our inventory solution ensures that for each cluster, the total inventory in the cluster is at least as large as the inventory level suggested by Scarf's solution for the virtual-underage cost if the cluster was a single point. We present a worst-case performance guarantee for our policy and also demonstrate that the policy performs well in practice. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first algorithm with provable performance guarantees.   (This is joint work with Ayoub Foussoul)

Bio:

Vineet Goyal is a Professor in the Industrial Engineering and Operations Research Department at Columbia University where he joined in 2010. He received his Bachelor's degree in Computer Science from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi in 2003 and his Ph.D. in Algorithms, Combinatorics and Optimization (ACO) from Carnegie Mellon University in 2008. Before coming to Columbia, he spent two years as a Postdoctoral Associate at the Operations Research Center at MIT. He is interested in the design of efficient and robust data-driven algorithms for large scale dynamic optimization problems with applications in  revenue management and healthcare problems. His research has been continually supported by grants from NSF and industry including NSF CAREER Award in 2014 and faculty research awards from Google, IBM, Adobe and Amazon.

Become a fossil hunter and help discover how vertebrate communities have changed through time. Experience firsthand what it is like to be a paleontologist, finding and identifying new specimens! 

You will be picking and sorting 3,000 to 30,000-year-old fossil specimens from rock matrix that has been brought back from Natural Trap Cave, WY. These specimens are part of many research projects examining how the community of species living around Natural Trap Cave has changed since the extinction of the cheetahs, lions, dire wolves, mammoths, camels, horses, and other megafauna that used to live in North America. 

You are welcome to participate anytime that is convenient, with no commitment necessary. In fact, you can drop in or leave anytime within the two-hour timeframe. All are welcome, so bring your friends! 

If you are accompanying a minor (under 18), please be sure that a guardian/chaperone is with them at all times and that there is no less than one adult for every two minors.

For more information join the mailing list and/or contact Katie Slenker (kslenker3@gatech.edu) or Jenny McGuire (jmcguire@gatech.edu).

​* No T. rex actually helped with the excavations of Natural Trap Cave as their arms would be much too small.

Committee: Dr. Carl DiSalvo (Chair), Dr. Richmond Wong, Dr. Noura Howell, Dr. Christopher Le Dantec & Dr. Sarah Fox

Summary: In the context of the environmentally devastating and socially exploitative global fashion industry, online secondhand economies in the United States and other Global North contexts are often celebrated as paths toward sustainable consumption, ethical recirculation, and entrepreneurial opportunity. This dissertation argues that online resale is better understood as a form of platform-mediated labor embedded within imperial surplus economies and colonial racial capitalism. It focuses on the imperial middle, between exploited labor at the point of production and the colonial geographies of discard, where resellers source, classify, aestheticize, and recirculate surplus goods through platforms such as Poshmark, eBay, and Depop.

Drawing on five years of mixed-methods ethnographic engagement, participatory arts-based research, and autohistoria-teoría, I examine how these conditions are lived and negotiated. I develop the concept of platformic torque to theorize how aesthetic, temporal, and regulatory pressures are organized through platform infrastructures and experienced differently across intersectional positions. I then analyze how resellers respond through automation, metric manipulation, rule negotiation, and fragile forms of collectivity.

Bridging critical HCI, feminist political economy, decolonial thought, and discard studies, this dissertation reframes online resale as a diagnostic site for understanding how platforms, surplus, and intersectionally differentiated labor are entangled within imperial formations of labor, consumption, and discard. Rather than romanticizing resistance, it shows how survival, complicity, and contestation coexist in secondhand markets, and how collective futures remain both imaginable and structurally fragile under colonial racial capitalism.
 

Doctor of Philosophy in Physics 

School of Physics Thesis Dissertation Defense

Zhixin (Jack) Song

Dr. Spencer Bryngelson, CSE, Georgia Institute of Technology (Advisor)

Solving Differential Equations on Quantum Computers

Date: Monday April 13, 2026

Time: 9:00 a.m.

Location: Howey Physics Building, Room N201/202

Zoom Link: https://gatech.zoom.us/j/91272230097?pwd=eU4AkZyuaKgRhQcUZ7kfRe38BCPmpq.1

Committee members:

Dr. Bryan Gard, CIPHER, Georgia Tech Research Institute

Dr. Fenton Flavio, School of Physics, Georgia Institute of Technology

Dr. Brian Kennedy, School of Physics, Georgia Institute of Technology

Dr. Xiangyu Li, Physical and Computational Sciences, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Abstract:

Quantum computing has emerged as a transformative computational paradigm, promising superpolynomial speedups for problems that remain intractable on classical hardware. One compelling application is the solution of differential equations, which underpin the modeling of many physical, chemical, and engineering systems but often incur prohibitive computational costs as problem dimensionality grows. This thesis investigates near-term and fault-tolerant quantum algorithms for solving partial differential equations, addressing important bottlenecks such as efficient state preparation through matrix-product-state approximation and readout through real-valued tomography. We develop and analyze end-to-end quantum workflows built upon quantum linear system algorithms (QLSAs) and the Linear Combination of Hamiltonian Simulation (LCHS) framework, which maps non-unitary dynamics onto a unitary dilation amenable to quantum simulation. We benchmark and validate the near-term quantum algorithms on real IBM quantum hardware. Although fault-tolerant quantum computers remain far from realization, we present resource estimates for fault-tolerant implementations targeting surface-code architectures, offering concrete guidance on the problem sizes and precision regimes in which quantum speedups over state-of-the-art classical solvers may become achievable.

Abhishek Vasisht Bhaskar

PhD Candidate, Computer Science
School of Cybersecurity and Privacy
Georgia Institute of Technology

Committee:

Dr. Paul Pearce (advisor) - School of Cybersecurity and Privacy, Georgia Institute of Technology
Dr. Michael Bailey - School of Cybersecurity and Privacy, Georgia Institute of Technology
Dr. Frank Li - School of Cybersecurity and Privacy, Georgia Institute of Technology
Dr. Alberto Dainotti - School of Computer Science, Georgia Institute of Technology
Dr. Michael Specter - School of Cybersecurity and Privacy, Georgia Institute of Technology

Abstract:

Internet measurement enables researchers to study critical problems, such as botnets, vulnerabilities, and Internet censorship, at global scale. Prior work has largely focused on improving measurement scale and speed, with elements of reliability and correctness being largely neglected. In particular, censorship measurement has frequently observed non-determinism and inconsistency that has not been systematically explained. In this thesis, we develop empirical methods and systems to evaluate factors that influence censorship measurement results, showing that routing dynamics, packet parameters, measurement direction, and IP version all significantly influence censorship results.

We begin by showing that external DNS censorship measurement in China is directly impacted by Equal-Cost Multi-Path (ECMP) routing induced by packet header fields like source IP and port. We find that 37% of IPs across 56% of ASes exhibit changes in observed censorship, and magnitude of censorship differences can more than double based on part of the source IP, consistent with known router load balancing techniques. We then generalize this result globally, finding routing-induced variation across DNS, HTTP, and HTTPS in 17 of 21 countries studied. These differences arise from multiple sources, including intra-AS and inter-AS routing differences, path diversity to the same destination, and geographically non-uniform censorship deployment, demonstrating that the problem is not unique to China or a single protocol. Finally, we develop a unified measurement framework spanning inside-out and outside-in measurements over both IPv4 and IPv6, showing that remote measurements can observe disruption in 21 countries without requiring in-country resources, that IPv6 disruption is less prevalent than IPv4 though still present, and that routing- and parameter-induced variation persists across measurement direction and IP version.

All told, this thesis shows that Internet censorship measurement results are not only influenced by methodological choices, but also by seemingly benign network behaviors unrelated to censorship itself, such as routing dynamics and on-path behavior. Measurement direction, IP version, routing path, and packet construction can all influence observed results, leading to variation across measurements of the same destinations. We further show that censorship observed along a path toward a destination is not necessarily the same as censorship at the destination itself, as externally observed disruption can be introduced by on-path behavior. Taken together, these results establish the need for more rigorous, route-aware, and methodologically controlled approaches to censorship measurement, and provide concrete guidance for designing studies that are more reliable, consistent, and interpretable.

Advisor: Dr. John Christian

Milestone: MS Thesis Final Examination (Defense)

Degree Program: Aerospace Engineering

Title: Optimized Star Field Camera Calibration for Precision Optical Navigation

Abstract: Calibrated cameras are essential for the use of vision navigation algorithms. Calibration of spacecraft optical instruments typically occur preflight, however mission experience has shown that calibration parameters change on orbit. Consequently, in-flight geometric camera calibration is a fundamental capability where precision navigation is demanded. Practically every mission relying on optical navigation calibrates cameras with star field images, opportunistically captured as mission operations allow. This practice neglects the quality of images collected, which is experimentally confirmed to yield less precise and stable calibrations. The non-uniform distribution of known stars can be exploited to maximize information provided in calibration images. An optimal design of experiments for actively sequencing star field images is formulated while considering operational pointing constraints. This principled approach minimizes time and data volume resources associated with capturing larger image sets. Calibrating cameras becomes cumbersome at wider field-of-views (FOV). Wider FOV cameras enable powerful methods such as terrain relative navigation onboard landers, but they suffer from severe, complex distortions. A pinhole camera model can be simultaneously estimated with attitude in the well-studied lost-in-space problem. Unfortunately, the pinhole model is a linear model only sufficient in characterizing narrow FOV cameras (typically less than 30 degrees) and must be complemented with a nonlinear lens distortion model. Current methods of characterizing and calibrating lens distortion tend to be manual and error prone. An automated framework is proposed to perform robust global star identification using coherent point drift registration. Then, a data-driven distortion model parameterization is selected using cross validation. These contributions reduce mission operator burden and ultimately minimize biases performing spacecraft optical navigation.

Date and time: 2026-04-10, 3:00-5:00pm

Location: Coda C1215

Committee:
Dr. John Christian (advisor), School of Aerospace Engineering
Dr. E. Glenn Lightsey, School of Aerospace Engineering
Dr. Koki Ho, School of Aerospace Engineering
Courtney Mario, Draper
, 

 

Sung-Ting Chen

(Advisor: Prof. C. P. Wong]

will defend a master’s thesis entitled,

Structure–Property Relationships in Graphene Foam/Epoxy Composites Enabled by Three-Dimensional Framework and Compression-Induced Densification

On

Tuesday, April 14 at 10:00 am – 12:00 pm

virtually via Zoom:

Zoom Link

Abstract 

Graphene-based polymer composites are promising for thermal management, but conventional approaches using randomly dispersed fillers often suffer from poor network formation and limited control over material properties. In this work, a three-dimensional graphene foam is fabricated via mechanical foaming and freeze-drying to establish a continuous conductive framework. A compression-induced densification strategy is further introduced to systematically control filler loading while preserving structural integrity. The resulting graphene foam/epoxy composites exhibit enhanced stiffness, reduced thermal expansion, and improved thermal conductivity compared to neat epoxy. Notably, despite similar porosity across different regions, variations in thermomechanical properties reveal the critical role of local microstructure. At higher filler loading, slight anisotropy in thermal transport emerges due to compression-induced structural alignment. This study demonstrates that combining a 3D framework with controlled densification provides an effective approach to tailoring structure–property relationships in polymer composites. 

Committee 

• • Prof. C. P. Wong – School of Materials Science and Engineering (advisor)
• • Prof. Meilin Liu – School of Materials Science and Engineering
• • Prof. Donggang Yao – School of Materials Science and Engineering 

Ph.D. Thesis Defense Announcement

BIO-INSPIRED SOIL EXCAVATION AND PENETRATION: IMAGE-GUIDED NUMERICAL MODELING AND EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATIONS

By Meron Berhanu Belachew

Advisors:

Dr. J. David Frost (GT – CEE) & Dr. Chloé Arson (Cornell University – EAS)

Committee Members: Dr. Sheng Dai (GT – CEE), Dr. Catherine O'Sullivan (Imperial College London – CEE), Dr. Gioacchino Viggiani (Université Grenoble Alpes – Laboratoire 3SR)

Date and Time: April 20, 2026. 7:00AM EST

Location: SEB122 or https://gatech.zoom.us/j/94160328747

Subsurface excavation and penetration are central to geotechnical engineering
applications including trenchless technologies, tunneling, site characterization,
anchoring, and underground infrastructure installation. Conventional engineering
approaches often rely on tunnels of simple geometries and linear paths, as well as
brute-force pure soil removal or pure soil displacement. These methods often
require high energy input and induce significant ground disturbance. In contrast,
many biological systems achieve efficient underground construction and
locomotion through controlled geometry, staged excavation, and adaptive
subsurface advancement combining excavation and penetration. This thesis
investigates how such natural strategies can inform the analysis and design of bioinspired
geotechnical systems.
The research focuses on three complementary studies. First, the architecture of
Harvester ant nests is obtained using three-dimensional scanning of in-situ castings
to identify geometric characteristics relevant to underground stability. Shaft Georgia Institute of Technology
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Atlanta, Georgia 30332-0355 U.S.A.
Phone: 404.894.9044
A Unit of the University System of Georgia • An Equal Education and Employment Opportunity Institution
geometries, chamber shapes, sizes, and spatial arrangement are examined, and
their influence on stress redistribution in the surrounding soil is evaluated through
numerical modeling and analytical solutions. The analyses show that ant nest
structures can be reasonably represented using mathematical models that mimic
the natural systems, and that their geometry and spatial distribution enhance the
mechanical stability of the surrounding soil.
Second, the thesis investigates staged excavation strategies inspired by ant nest
construction and compares them with conventional single-pass excavation. Finite
element analysis is used to study the effects of excavation sequencing on stress
plastic strain development, and energy demand. The results demonstrate that
staged excavation can reduce the mechanical work required relative to single-pass
excavation under comparable conditions, although with slightly higher and more
localized plastic shear strain.
Third, a bio-inspired soil penetration concept motivated by root growth, centipedelike
motion, and vortex geometries is developed and studied. This compound
concept integrates functions observed in biological systems into a solution that lies
between pure excavation and pure penetration, with the goal of reducing energy
demand, penetration resistance, and subsurface disturbance. Experimental devices
are designed and tested in granular soils, including systems compatible with X-ray
computed tomography imaging. Time-lapse photography, digital image correlation,
X-ray CT, continuum-based and particle-scale digital volume correlation are used to
characterize soil deformation at the micro-scale and interpret it alongside macroscale
measurements of external response measurements and work input. The
results show that the friction-reversal component of the device can generate selfpenetration,
while combined linear and rotational motion with vortical tip geometries
can reduce disturbance, energy demand, and tip penetration resistance, while also
expanding the information that may be retrieved from in-situ penetration tests.
Overall, this thesis demonstrates that biologically inspired excavation and
penetration strategies provide a useful framework for rethinking geotechnical
systems. By combining numerical modeling, experimental mechanics, and imagebased
characterization, the work establishes links between natural subsurface
construction and engineering implementation. The findings contribute to both the
fundamental understanding of soil-structure interaction and the development of
more efficient, lower-disturbance geotechnical technologies.

Doors to the theater will open at 11:30 a.m. RSVP requested. This is an incredible opportunity, and we hope you will be able to join us!      

Parking

For information on parking for the event, please visit the Student and Campus Event Centers website. Parking on the Georgia Tech campus is limited, and with the size of this event, it will be difficult to navigate. Due to the limited parking, rideshare services (Uber, Lyft, etc.) are highly recommended. For these services, please use the address listed above.

From the Book

How to measure a life? After a career of service, retired four-star general Stanley McChrystal had much to contemplate. He pondered his successes and failures, his beliefs and aspirations, and asked himself, Who am I, really? And more importantly, who have I become? When I die, how will I be measured? In the end, McChrystal came to a conclusion as simple as it was profound: the reality of who we are cannot be recorded in dates or accomplishments. It is found in our character—the most accurate, and last full measure, of who we choose to be.    

On Character offers McChrystal’s blueprint for living with purpose and integrity, challenging us to examine not just our deeds but who we become through them. Drawing from a lifetime of experience, he distills profound insights on setting and meeting standards, aligning actions with beliefs, and offers practical advice on overcoming obstacles and pursuing self-improvement.    

According to McChrystal, character is not a trait inherited at birth, nor does it automatically come from education, position, or experience. Character, instead, comes down to a succession of choices, most mundane, several momentous, that reveal the deep truth of our capacity for virtue.    

In an era where understanding and upholding our ideals is more crucial than ever, On Character offers an inspiring roadmap for personal growth and integrity—a call to become our best selves, both as individuals and as Americans.

• The U.A. Whitaker Building is building 165 on our campus map.
• If you would like to park near our office, please find directions here.
   

• The U.A. Whitaker Building is building 165 on our campus map.
• If you would like to park near our office, please find directions here.
   

• The U.A. Whitaker Building is building 165 on our campus map.
• If you would like to park near our office, please find directions here.
   

• The U.A. Whitaker Building is building 165 on our campus map.
• If you would like to park near our office, please find directions here.

• The U.A. Whitaker Building is building 165 on our campus map.
• If you would like to park near our office, please find directions here.

This convening will bring together experts to engage in a substantive discussion on the role of autonmous vehicle technology in regional and city planning. We’ll discuss where we are, likely futures, and the pros/cons of this evolving space. The session will feature short lightning talks by invited experts, followed by a moderated panel discussion designed to surface policy insights. Insights from the seminar will help inform both the City of Atlanta’s forthcoming Comprehensive Transportation Plan and ARC’s Metropolitan Transportation Plan efforts. 

We look forward to a candid, expert-driven conversation that bridges research, practice, and policy to shape the future of autonomous vehicle technology in the region. 

Registration requested.

Speakers include:

• Justin Hatch, GDOT
• Clayton Tino, Beep
• Emily Heintz, Curiosity Labs
• Cary Bearn, NACTO
• Ellen Dunham-Jones, Georgia Tech School of Architecture
• Rounaq Basu, Georgia Tech School of City and Regional Planning

• The U.A. Whitaker Building is building 165 on our campus map.
• If you would like to park near our office, please find directions here.
   

Date: Wednesday, April 8

Time: 5:30 - 8:00 p.m.

Location: Smithgall (Flag) Bldg. atrium

Engage link: https://gatech.campuslabs.com/engage/event/12308067

• The U.A. Whitaker Building is building 165 on our campus map.
• If you would like to park near our office, please find directions here.
   

Date: April 13th, 2026

Time: 1:00pm - 3:00pm

Location: Krone Engineered Biosystems Building (EBB), room 1005, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Seminar room (First floor CHOA Room)

Zoom: https://gatech.zoom.us/j/91470654803?pwd=YyPkJ2xSurahERwLQR5tpoeEa7DP4p.1&from=addon

Zhou Fang

Machine Learning PhD Student

Department of Biomedical Engineering
Georgia Institute of Technology

Committee

1 Dr. Ahmet F. Coskun (Advisor), Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology

2 Dr. Peng Qiu, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology

3 Dr. Cassie Mitchell, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology

4 Dr. Sara McCoy, Department of Rheumatology, University of Wisconsin, Madison

5 Dr. Xiuwei Zhang, School of Computational Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology

Abstract

Advances in spatial transcriptomics technologies have generated rich molecular data at high spatial resolution, revealing complex spatial organizations of biological samples. Current methods fail to balance capturing data complexity and result interpretability. This thesis presents three graph-based methods aimed at bridging the gap. First, Spatially Resolved Gene Neighborhood Network (SpaGNN) quantifies pairwise subcellular colocalization relationships among genes, producing spatially resolved features that outperform single-cell ribonucleic acid (RNA) expression in distinguishing similar cells. Second, 3-Dimensional Spatially Resolved Gene Neighborhood Network with Embedding (3D-SpaGNN-E) extends the SpaGNN pipeline to 3D spatial transcriptomics data and introduces a graph autoencoder to model relationships among subcellular regions, enabling the identification of cell-cell communication sites. The last part applies a graph attention network to characterize cellular neighborhoods in subtypes of Sjögren’s disease, learning a disease-relevant latent representation. Analysis of the latent space identified distinct cellular neighborhoods and gene expression associated with disease states. Together, these approaches represent a suite of graph-based frameworks for analyzing the spatial organization of biological samples while maintaining interpretability.

• The U.A. Whitaker Building is building 165 on our campus map.
• If you would like to park near our office, please find directions here.
   

Date: Monday, April 13, 2026

Time: 1:00 - 3:00 PM ET

Location: Remote (https://gatech.zoom.us/j/99520988331)

Maks Sorokin

Robotics Ph.D. Candidate

School of Interactive Computing

Georgia Institute of Technology

https://itsmaks.com/

Committee

Dr. Sehoon Ha (Advisor) - School of Interactive Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology

Dr. Danfei Xu - School of Interactive Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology

Dr. Sonia Chernova - School of Interactive Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology

Dr. C. Karen Liu - Department of Computer Science, Stanford University

Dr. Jie Tan - Director, Google DeepMind

Dr. Simon Le Cleac'H - Research Scientist, RAI Institute

Abstract

Robot learning systems typically train with privileged information that is unavailable when the robot deploys with onboard cameras: bird's-eye-view maps, ground-truth object positions, full environment state. This thesis develops four systems spanning navigation, robot design, and whole-body manipulation, and identifies in each case the design choice in representation, evaluation, or distillation that enabled deployment with onboard vision.

A quadruped navigated 3.2 km of urban sidewalks using penultimate features from a pre-trained segmentation network as its visual input, achieving 83% real-world success where raw images achieved 25% and semantic labels 7%. A mobile manipulator's morphology was optimized by evaluating candidates with onboard cameras rather than privileged state, producing designs that achieved 80% success and required 25x less training data than a human-expert baseline. A navigation policy trained in abstract colored-tile worlds transferred zero-shot to photorealistic simulation and real hardware using sparse boundary points as its only perception input (87-100% vs. 0-48% for dense representations). A Spot quadruped robot with an arm learned to push, roll, and upright a 15 kg car tire using hierarchical RL, and cascaded distillation transferred the resulting policies from privileged state to onboard perception.

• The U.A. Whitaker Building is building 165 on our campus map.
• If you would like to park near our office, please find directions here.
   

Committee:

Dr. May Wang, BME, Chair, Advisor

Dr. Larry Heck, ECE

Dr. David Anderson, ECE

Dr. Yunan Luo, CoC

Dr. Chad Purnell, U of Illinois

• The U.A. Whitaker Building is building 165 on our campus map.
• If you would like to park near our office, please find directions here.

The Georgia Tech community is welcome to attend. Audience members will vote for the coveted People's Choice award! Also streaming live: https://gatech.zoom.us/j/99276332940

Schedule

11 a.m. – 12 p.m. Lecturer & Academic Professional Promotion Workshop 
Presenters:

• Lionel Gall, Senior Lecturer, School of Modern Languages
• Fariah Majmundar, Faculty HR Manager, Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts
• John Thornton, Principal Academic Professional and Director of LMC Films, School of Literature, Media, and Communication
• Alasdair Young, Interim Associate Dean for Faculty Development, Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts and Professor and Neal Family Chair, Sam Nunn School of International Affairs

12 – 1 p.m. Lecturer & Academic Professional Listening Session
Facilitators:

• Amanda Murdie, Dean, Regents' Professor, and Ivan Allen Jr. Chair of Liberal Arts and Technology, Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts
• Alasdair Young, Interim Associate Dean for Faculty Development, Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts and Professor and Neal Family Chair, Sam Nunn School of International Affairs

Lunch will be provided during the listening session. Please RSVP by April 8. If you have any questions, please contact Fariah Majmundar.