The Georgia Tech Library's Gaming Collection offers access to the latest titles for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation, and Xbox, providing a fun and engaging outlet in the Library.

Games will be available on multiple screens throughout the space, including the large, curved screen that spans the IMZ.

Zachary Johnson
Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Emory University School of Medicine

Virtual join link forthcoming

Aryn Gittis
Dr. Frederick A. Schwertz Distinguished Professor of Life Sciences
Carnegie Mellon University

Co-sponsored by the McCamish Parkinson’s Disease Innovation Program

Faculty Host: Garrett Stanley

Virtual join link forthcoming

Become a fossil hunter and help discover how ecosystems have changed over time. Experience what it is like to be a paleontologist, finding and identifying new specimens. 

Participants will sort through rock matrix collected from Natural Trap Cave in Wyoming to recover fossil specimens that are approximately 35,000 years old. These specimens support 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 once lived in North America. 

Drop in whenever it is convenient. No commitment is required. All are welcome, so bring your friends.

For more information, contact Katie Slenker at kslenker3@gatech.edu or visit mcguire.gatech.edu.

*Note: Data collected during Fossil Fridays may be included in research publications.

无论您是刚来到校园的新朋友，还是已经熟悉校园生活的老朋友，都欢迎一起来吃饭、认识彼此、度过一个轻松愉快的晚上！

当天我们预备了中式晚餐、诗歌敬拜、小游戏，以及 Georgia Tech 教授的分享。

期待在新学期与大家见面，也预祝大家开学顺利！😊

为了帮助我们预备充足的饭菜并安排接送，烦请大家透过以下链接报名：

https://forms.gle/inkHpQu3iXHNUrSu7

聚会安排

6:30 - 7:15PM 吃饭与交流（提供免费的中餐）

7:15 - 9PM 敬拜、游戏、分享


 

Hello everyone! Welcome to our 2026 Chinese Christian Fellowship welcoming event!

Whether you are new to campus or already familiar with campus life, everyone is welcome to join us for dinner, meet each other, and enjoy a relaxed and pleasant evening together.

We will have a Chinese dinner, worship, games, and a special talk by a Georgia Tech professor.

We look forward to seeing you in the new semester, and wish everyone a smooth start to the school year! 😊

To help us prepare enough food and arrange transportation, please sign up using the link below:

https://forms.gle/inkHpQu3iXHNUrSu7

Schedule

6:30 – 7:15 PM — Dinner and fellowship (Free Chinese dinner will be provided.)

7:15 – 9:00 PM — Worship, games, and sharing

Become a fossil hunter and help discover how ecosystems have changed over time. Experience what it is like to be a paleontologist, finding and identifying new specimens. 

Participants will sort through rock matrix collected from Natural Trap Cave in Wyoming to recover fossil specimens that are approximately 35,000 years old. These specimens support 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 once lived in North America. 

Drop in whenever it is convenient. No commitment is required. All are welcome, so bring your friends.

For more information, contact Katie Slenker at kslenker3@gatech.edu or visit mcguire.gatech.edu.

*Note: Data collected during Fossil Fridays may be included in research publications.

Become a fossil hunter and help discover how ecosystems have changed over time. Experience what it is like to be a paleontologist, finding and identifying new specimens. 

Participants will sort through rock matrix collected from Natural Trap Cave in Wyoming to recover fossil specimens that are approximately 35,000 years old. These specimens support 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 once lived in North America. 

Drop in whenever it is convenient. No commitment is required. All are welcome, so bring your friends.

For more information, contact Katie Slenker at kslenker3@gatech.edu or visit mcguire.gatech.edu.

*Note: Data collected during Fossil Fridays may be included in research publications.

Become a fossil hunter and help discover how ecosystems have changed over time. Experience what it is like to be a paleontologist, finding and identifying new specimens. 

Participants will sort through rock matrix collected from Natural Trap Cave in Wyoming to recover fossil specimens that are approximately 35,000 years old. These specimens support 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 once lived in North America. 

Drop in whenever it is convenient. No commitment is required. All are welcome, so bring your friends.

For more information, contact Katie Slenker at kslenker3@gatech.edu or visit mcguire.gatech.edu.

*Note: Data collected during Fossil Fridays may be included in research publications.

Location and Time: 6:00-7:30pm in Skiles 271

Join us for an inside look at the world of neurosurgical medical devices and the technology that supports modern surgery. NeuroTec’s sales leadership and representatives will bring the operating room experience directly to Georgia Tech, giving students the opportunity to learn and handle the tools used in real neurosurgical procedures.

Attendees will get hands-on exposure to implant samples, surgical instruments, retractors, and other neurosurgical equipment, while learning how these technologies are used in the operating room and how medical device companies work alongside surgeons and hospitals.

The event will feature Seth Ott, Vice President of Sales at NeuroTec, who has more than a decade of experience in medical device sales and leads a 13-person sales team across the Southeast. He will be joined by NeuroTec representatives Taylor Craig and Nick Casso, who collectively bring more than 25 years of medical device sales experience.

Whether you’re interested in medicine, neurosurgery, medical devices, healthcare innovation, entrepreneurship, or the business side of healthcare, this is an opportunity to step beyond the classroom and see what happens at the forefront of the intersection of medical innovation and entrepreneurship. 

Come see what really goes on behind the redline.

Abstract: This year, one of MINIWIZ's decentralized upcycling systems lands at Georgia Tech, live, running on waste generated right here. That's not a future vision or a distant case study, it's down the hall. For 21 years we've been finding ways to turn trash into products, work that today spans 18 countries. It taught us something we didn't expect starting out: the hard part was never turning waste into a product. It was turning waste into a product people actually want. Simple, well made, good looking, priced right, at the scale of real architectural or medical grade products. Nail the engineering and skip the design, and you get a demo nobody buys. Nail the design and skip the engineering, and you get a prototype that never reaches the people who need it. Solve both and something changes at a level bigger than any one product: waste stops being a liability and becomes a domestic resource, hiding in plain sight. Come see what that actually looks like, not the pitch version, the one running on this campus.

Bio: Arthur Huang is a structural engineer, architect, and circular economy innovator who serves as the CEO and Co-founder of MINIWIZ, a global leader in transforming post-consumer waste into retail interiors, architectural structures, and consumer goods. Educated at Harvard University (MArch II) and Cornell University (BArch), Huang has also shared his expertise through teaching positions in architecture at Cornell, NCTU, Tung Hai, and NCKU. For over a decade, he has focused on accelerating the shift to a closed-loop circular economy, earning his company prestigious accolades such as the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Technology Pioneer Award, the Financial Times' Earth Award, and the Wall Street Journal's Asian Innovation Award. A National Geographic Explorer since 2016, Huang was recognized as the runner-up for the 2019 WEF Circular Leadership Award, while MINIWIZ was concurrently named by the WEF as one of the top 11 companies leading the global transition to a circular economy.

---

IPaT: GVU Lunch Lecture Series

• Diversification of Life (Part 2) Poster Abstract Submission Deadline: Tuesday, Sept. 1 @ 11:59 p.m. ET
• Registration Deadline (both meetings) - Monday, Sept. 14

For agendas and full details - Visit Meeting Website

The Georgia Tech Chinese Student Association will host an indoor Volleyball Tournament in the CRC open to all students. Participants will have the opportunity to compete in friendly matches and meet new people by creating teams or joining ones to play against one another for an ultimate Volleyball winner! 

Join us for the CSA Dynasty Member Reveal and find out which dynasty you’ve been placed into for the semester! Meet your dynasty, connect with fellow members, and kick off a semester full of fun, competition, and community over food and drinks. You won’t want to miss this. See you there!

About the Show: A haunting and darkly whimsical exploration of grief, guilt, and survival, ART IS USELESS WHEN YOU’RE BEING MAULED BY A BEAR follows one woman’s fantastical descent through memory, madness, and the stories we tell ourselves to endure loss. Along the way, she encounters creatures both real and imagined—some seemingly torn from a Grimms’ fairy tale—as she is forced toward an inescapable truth. Strange, unsettling, and unexpectedly powerful, this surreal journey asks what remains when art, reason, and reality begin to slip away. And yes, there is a bear.

Auditions will take place at DramaTech Theatre on Monday and Tuesday from 6-9 pm. You only need to one day of auditions. To read the script (which we highly recommend), click here.

Please sign up for an audition time here.

Please fill out your audition form IN ADVANCE here

Sides:
AIUW – Side 1
AIUW – Side 2
AIUW – Side 3
AIUW – Side 4
anthropology – Side 1
Anthropology – Side 2

IMPORTANT DATES

Rehearsals: September 8 – October 23

Tech Saturday: October 24, 1 – 5 pm

Tech Sunday: October 25, 10 am-10 pm

Tech Rehearsals: October 26 – 28, 6 pm-11 pm

Preview: October 29, 7 pm-11 pm

Shows: October 30 – November 14, at 8 pm

Strike: November 15, 1 pm-5 pm

IN ADDITION, we are seeking one actress for our production of anthropology to play the role of Angie. This is being cast early because we will be creating the technology used in the show and will need to create a digital version of the actor’s voice and likeness earlier in the process. If you are interested in being cast in this role, please read the script and let the stage manager know at auditions. There will be a separate callback held for this role.

About the Show: A haunting and darkly whimsical exploration of grief, guilt, and survival, ART IS USELESS WHEN YOU’RE BEING MAULED BY A BEAR follows one woman’s fantastical descent through memory, madness, and the stories we tell ourselves to endure loss. Along the way, she encounters creatures both real and imagined—some seemingly torn from a Grimms’ fairy tale—as she is forced toward an inescapable truth. Strange, unsettling, and unexpectedly powerful, this surreal journey asks what remains when art, reason, and reality begin to slip away. And yes, there is a bear.

Auditions will take place at DramaTech Theatre on Monday and Tuesday from 6-9 pm. You only need to one day of auditions. To read the script (which we highly recommend), click here.

Please sign up for an audition time here.

Please fill out your audition form IN ADVANCE here

Sides:
AIUW – Side 1
AIUW – Side 2
AIUW – Side 3
AIUW – Side 4
anthropology – Side 1
Anthropology – Side 2

IMPORTANT DATES

Rehearsals: September 8 – October 23

Tech Saturday: October 24, 1 – 5 pm

Tech Sunday: October 25, 10 am-10 pm

Tech Rehearsals: October 26 – 28, 6 pm-11 pm

Preview: October 29, 7 pm-11 pm

Shows: October 30 – November 14, at 8 pm

Strike: November 15, 1 pm-5 pm

IN ADDITION, we are seeking one actress for our production of anthropology to play the role of Angie. This is being cast early because we will be creating the technology used in the show and will need to create a digital version of the actor’s voice and likeness earlier in the process. If you are interested in being cast in this role, please read the script and let the stage manager know at auditions. There will be a separate callback held for this role.

Thesis Title: "Thermodynamic, Biophysical, and Proteomic Approaches to Cellular Copper Homeostasis"

Tuesday, September 1st, 2026 at 1:00 PM

Location: MoSE 3201A, or Join via Zoom: https://gatech.zoom.us/j/98384099576?pwd=ZRmhCb1PEPfZurxSXccdPDnuL0UsGF.1

 passcode: 09012026

Committee Members:

Prof. Christoph J. Fahrni (Advisor) - School of Chemistry and Biochemistry 

Prof. Amit Reddi - School of Chemistry and Biochemistry 

Prof. Vinayak Agarwal - School of Chemistry and Biochemistry 

Prof. Amanda M. Stockton - School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

Prof. Victor Faundez - Emory University: School of Medicine

📅 August 26 🕡 6:30–8:00 PM 📍 Exhibition Hall, Home Park

Ready to meet the people who’ll be leading the most iconic squads of the semester?

Join us for CSA’s Dynasty Leader Reveal, where we’ll be introducing the Dynasty Leaders who will guide their dynasties through a semester of fun, chaos, and friendly competition! This is your chance to see which leaders match your vibe, get hyped for the CSA Dynasty program, and mingle with other members. Everyone is welcome!

Here's what to expect!

• The official reveal of our Dynasty Leaders
• A sneak peek into each leader’s personality & their dynasty’s vibe
• Fun games & icebreakers to start meeting your fellow dynasty members

Hope to see you all there!

One of our greatest joys is welcoming new faces and helping everyone feel at home. Whether you are new to the group, new to the faith, or have been with us for a while, you are always welcome. Come as you are! We would love to get to know you, share a meal with you, encourage and pray for one another, and grow together in faith as a community in Christ. We hope you’ll come join us this Monday!

About the Show: A haunting and darkly whimsical exploration of grief, guilt, and survival, ART IS USELESS WHEN YOU’RE BEING MAULED BY A BEAR follows one woman’s fantastical descent through memory, madness, and the stories we tell ourselves to endure loss. Along the way, she encounters creatures both real and imagined—some seemingly torn from a Grimms’ fairy tale—as she is forced toward an inescapable truth. Strange, unsettling, and unexpectedly powerful, this surreal journey asks what remains when art, reason, and reality begin to slip away. And yes, there is a bear.

Auditions will take place at DramaTech Theatre on Monday and Tuesday from 6-9 pm. You only need to one day of auditions. To read the script (which we highly recommend), click here.

Please sign up for an audition time here.

Please fill out your audition form IN ADVANCE here

Sides:
AIUW – Side 1
AIUW – Side 2
AIUW – Side 3
AIUW – Side 4
anthropology – Side 1
Anthropology – Side 2

IMPORTANT DATES

Rehearsals: September 8 – October 23

Tech Saturday: October 24, 1 – 5 pm

Tech Sunday: October 25, 10 am-10 pm

Tech Rehearsals: October 26 – 28, 6 pm-11 pm

Preview: October 29, 7 pm-11 pm

Shows: October 30 – November 14, at 8 pm

Strike: November 15, 1 pm-5 pm

IN ADDITION, we are seeking one actress for our production of anthropology to play the role of Angie. This is being cast early because we will be creating the technology used in the show and will need to create a digital version of the actor’s voice and likeness earlier in the process. If you are interested in being cast in this role, please read the script and let the stage manager know at auditions. There will be a separate callback held for this role.

About the Show: A haunting and darkly whimsical exploration of grief, guilt, and survival, ART IS USELESS WHEN YOU’RE BEING MAULED BY A BEAR follows one woman’s fantastical descent through memory, madness, and the stories we tell ourselves to endure loss. Along the way, she encounters creatures both real and imagined—some seemingly torn from a Grimms’ fairy tale—as she is forced toward an inescapable truth. Strange, unsettling, and unexpectedly powerful, this surreal journey asks what remains when art, reason, and reality begin to slip away. And yes, there is a bear.

Auditions will take place at DramaTech Theatre on Monday and Tuesday from 6-9 pm. You only need to one day of auditions. To read the script (which we highly recommend), click here.

Please sign up for an audition time here.

Please fill out your audition form IN ADVANCE here

Sides:
AIUW – Side 1
AIUW – Side 2
AIUW – Side 3
AIUW – Side 4
anthropology – Side 1
Anthropology – Side 2

IMPORTANT DATES

Rehearsals: September 8 – October 23

Tech Saturday: October 24, 1 – 5 pm

Tech Sunday: October 25, 10 am-10 pm

Tech Rehearsals: October 26 – 28, 6 pm-11 pm

Preview: October 29, 7 pm-11 pm

Shows: October 30 – November 14, at 8 pm

Strike: November 15, 1 pm-5 pm

IN ADDITION, we are seeking one actress for our production of anthropology to play the role of Angie. This is being cast early because we will be creating the technology used in the show and will need to create a digital version of the actor’s voice and likeness earlier in the process. If you are interested in being cast in this role, please read the script and let the stage manager know at auditions. There will be a separate callback held for this role.

Join us for a free lunch and learn what we have planned for Fall 2026, including:

• A guided tour of the Kendeda Building for Innovative Sustainable Design, the Southeast's first Living Building
• The ASHRAE Region IV Student Summit, hosted right here at Georgia Tech in October
• Guest speakers from the ASHRAE Atlanta Chapter and our Advisory Board
• Discounted student access to Atlanta Chapter monthly meetings and national ASHRAE conferences, trainings, and events

We'll introduce our officers and faculty advisors, share how to get involved, and hear what you'd like to see this semester. Come for the food, stay for the community.

Free lunch provided, first come, first served. All Georgia Tech students are welcome!

This event is also a space to forge relationships between current students, GT alumni, and industry partners who value liberal arts talent. We hope to connect our amazing students with the many wonderful employer partners of the Georgia Tech and Atlanta communities.

The gastrointestinal (GI) tract houses diverse intestinal enzymes from the human host and gut microbiome that play critical roles in mucosal immunity, host-microbiome interactions, drug metabolism, and digestion. Dysregulated intestinal enzyme activities give rise to a broad range of GI pathologies and can therefore serve as functional biomarkers of disease. However, current strategies for enzyme activity measurements often rely on invasive endoscopy to biopsy intestinal tissue samples for activity measurements in the clinical lab. As an alternative to endscopy, we have developed a new Volatile-releasing Activity-based Probe (VAPR) platform that enables remote sensing of pathology-causing intestinal enzyme activities via breath testing. The platform comprises ingestible sugar-based probes that sense and produce breath signals for specific intestinal glycosidase activities. In this talk, Leslie Chan will discuss the design and application of the probes for inflammatory bowel disease and for detecting harmful drug-metabolizing enzyme activity from the gut microbiome.

Bio:

Leslie Chan’s lab focuses on the development of bioresponsive nanomaterials that are delivered in vivo to harness biochemical cues in diseased tissue as triggers for disease readouts or site-specific therapeutic activity. They are especially interested in developing these tools to study, detect, and treat microbe-driven disease states (e.g. infections, microbiome dysbiosis, inflammation). Their goal is to develop solutions that can be readily translated at the point of care, for at-home use, or deployed for infectious disease surveillance to promote public health. To achieve this, they integrate nanomaterial design, chemical biology, and medicine and leverage collaborations with clinicians, immunologists, microbiologists, and other engineers.

• Complete the five challenges below.
• Each challenge is worth 10 points.
• Complete all five on September 3rd for a 10-point bonus.
• 40 points = Ice Cream Ticket
• 50 points = ISyE Swag Giveaway Drawing Entry Ticket
• 60 points = Grand Prize Drawing Entry Ticket

Challenge 1:  Photo Quest (Worth: 10 Points)

Capture George Tower, study spaces/Collaborative Learning Space(s), student organizations, faculty member, at least three new ISyE students, CASE team member(s), Academic Office team member(s), XR Makerspace, and what you would consider the best view from the building.  Upload and tag gt_isye on Instagram to receive points for this challenge. See attached flyer for more information on how to upload. 

Challenge 2:  Club Crawl (Worth: 10 Points)

Visit Alpha Phi Mu, BISyE, IISE, Student Ambassadors, Supply Chain & Logistics Organization (SCLO), and WISyE.

Challenge 3:  Resource Rally (Worth: 10 Points)

Visit Academics (Advising, OR Master’s in IE, OR MSA, OR, PhD tables), CASE, ISyE XR Makerspace, and Faculty Undergraduate Research labs.

Challenge 4:  Did You Know? Discovery (Worth: 10 Points)

Collect fun facts from offices, labs, and organizations that you visit. You can continue to visit the Academic Office (houses Advising, Master’s and PhD in IE, MSA, and CASE) after the “kickoff” to find your “fun fact” throughout the week.

Challenge 5:  Leave Your Mark (Worth: 10 Points)

Complete the Achievement Board AND answer a prompt on the ISyE Wall.

BioE PhD Proposal Presentation

Tuesday, September 8th, 2026, at 2:00 pm

Location: EBB 5029

Advisor:

Dr. Mark Styczynski, School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

Committee Members:

Dr. John Blazeck, School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering

Dr. Julie Champion, School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering

Dr. Brian Hammer, School of Biological Sciences

Dr. Tara Deans, Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering

Engineering Cell-Free Biosensors for Membrane Protein Detection at the Point of Care

Membrane proteins regulate essential cellular processes and serve as valuable biomarkers for disease diagnosis, progression, and therapeutic response. However, quantitative measurement of membrane-associated biomarkers remains largely dependent on techniques such as flow cytometry, microscopy, and extraction-based protein analysis, limiting their use outside specialized laboratories. Point-of-care biosensors offer a promising alternative because they are programmable, inexpensive, and compatible with decentralized testing, yet existing platforms have primarily focused on soluble analytes and have not been adapted for membrane protein detection. The T7 RNA Polymerase-Linked ImmunoSensing Assay (TLISA) is a cell-free analyte sensing platform that converts target recognition into a transcriptionally amplified output, providing a promising foundation for addressing this unmet need. Thus, the work proposed for this thesis will focus on expanding TLISA into a quantitative platform for membrane protein detection to support point-of-care applications in low resource environments such as human space travel. To achieve this, I will first identify and address mechanistic limitations in the current assay design to improve signal fidelity, analytical sensitivity, and limit of detection. In parallel, I will develop a proof-of-concept system for membrane protein detection by displaying model proteins on the Escherichia coli cell surface and evaluating their detection and quantification using TLISA. The optimized platform will then be applied to the epidermal growth factor receptor, a disease-associated membrane biomarker, and evaluated in biologically complex matrices. Together, my work will establish the feasibility of TLISA-based membrane protein quantification and support the development of accessible point-of-care diagnostics for clinically relevant membrane proteins.

No ticket is required, but a BuzzCard swipe is needed to participate.

• Attend in-person at the Petit Biotechnology Building (IBB) - Lunch provided, while supplies last
• Register Here to participate virtually

Artificial intelligence is rapidly reshaping how we design, operate, and sustain critical infrastructure systems. In this BBISS Insights Series, Daniel Molzahn and Dr. Clint Loe (Trinnex) will draw from both academic research and industry practice to discuss AI-enabled approaches to enhance infrastructure resilience in response to evolving resource demands and climate impacts. This session will provide attendees with a timely perspective on the role of AI in building more adaptive, reliable, and sustainable infrastructure systems.

9 - 9:30 AM Breakfast Networking
9:30 - 10:30 AM Presentations
10:30 - 11 AM Panel Discussion

RSVP Here for BBISS Insights Series #1!

Upcoming BBISS Insights Series Events

Insight Series #2: AI for Climate Resilience
Wednesday, October 14th, 9 AM - 11 AM
Location TBD
RSVP Here to Stay Informed

Insight Series #3: Environmental Monitoring and Sensing
Date TBD
Location TBD
RSVP Here To Stay Informed

Thesis Title: "Seed-Mediated Synthesis of Platinum-Based Nanocrystals for Electrocatalysis"

Tuesday, September 1st, 2026 at 10:00 AM

Location: MoSE 1226, or Join via Teams: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/240534290662733?p=mYK43lBGCInxPMQtah

Committee Members:

Prof. Younan Xia (Advisor) - School of Chemistry and Biochemistry 

Prof. Angus P. Wilkinson - School of Chemistry and Biochemistry 

Prof. Joseph Sadighi - School of Chemistry and Biochemistry 

Prof. Nian Liu - School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

Dr. Yong Ding - School of Materials Science and Engineering

Date: Tuesday, September 1st, 2026

Time: 9:00 AM to 10:30 AM ET

In-person Location: CODA C0903 Midtown

Zoom: https://gatech.zoom.us/j/97270969399?pwd=XTTOoLyDVa6w8xOKXcTYLmq6I5YueA.1

Utkarsh Aashu Mishra

Ph.D. Student
Institute for Robotics & Intelligent Machines 
Georgia Institute of Technology

Committee:

Dr. Yongxin Chen (advisor) -- Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology

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

Dr. Harish Ravichandar -- School of Interactive Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology

Dr. Leslie Pack Kaelbling -- Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Dr. Yilun Du -- School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University

Abstract:

Long-horizon manipulation requires planning for many interdependent actions in sequence to satisfy a goal condition. Current robot-learning methods are limited along three axes: (a) Data: whole-task demonstrations are combinatorially expensive, so monolithic policies do not scale. (b) Inter-step dependencies: a locally optimal early action can make a later step infeasible, and errors compound. (c) Partial observability: an open-world scene is not fully known at planning time. The first part of this proposal develops a long-horizon planning framework that learns distributions of short-horizon behaviors using generative models and composes them at inference to generate long-horizon plans. The compositional generative modeling reasons about inter-step dependencies and goal reaching without any whole-task demonstrations. The second part extends this framework toward open-world planning along two directions: (i) it explores the compositional generalization of short-horizon models trained on a diverse set of real-world, manipulation-rich behaviors, and (ii) it adds a verification harness, an independent symbolic-geometric verifier that checks whether a proposed plan is geometrically executable before execution. Across both axes, the objective is to build a reliable framework that can replan and sufficiently generalize across behaviors and planning horizon: a composed plan should be a plausible real-world future prediction while satisfying the long-horizon goal under inter-step constraints.

*Refreshments: 12-12:30 PM, ES&T Atrium

Join researchers and clinicians from across the Georgia CTSA for a session on Space Research.

REGISTER HERE for virtual participation link.

Blue Sky Groups are unstructured meetings that provide a unique opportunity for attendees to drive the agenda and catalyze future collaborations and research opportunities.

The discussion will be opened by a panel discussion featuring five researchers from across the CTSA in this field: Thom Orlando, William Dynan, Binu Tharakan, Chunhui Xu, and Phillip Stancil.

Discussion topics may include, but are not limited to:

• What are the burning research questions in this area?
• What are the known funding opportunities?
• What are the cross-institutional collaborative research opportunities
  in this field?

Share your experience, learn from others, enjoy opportunities for interdisciplinary networking and find potential collaborators!

Tickets drop WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26TH at 12PM NOON. Don’t forget to set a reminder so you can get Early Bird Student tickets at $26. Once these sell out, general student admission is $32 ($35 day-of event). Staff/faculty/alumni/guest admission is $39 ($42 day-of). 

Questions or need to reserve accessibility assistance? Email atlantalife@scpc.gatech.edu

Design and Techno-Economic Analysis of PV Powered Irrigation System: Case Study in
Rwanda

Abstract: 

The agriculture sector is a major economic driver for Africa. However, climatic change is driving severe disruption across Africa, causing prolonged dry seasons and erratic rainfall. As a result, farmers are facing lower farming yield. To mitigate this serious challenge, farmers must adopt modern and green technologies, like solar irrigation. To show the potential of solar irrigation system to mitigate this critical problem, a research project has been developed with the collaboration of Georgia Tech, University of Rwanda and Adama Science and Technology University. The project aims at developing a PV irrigation system that integrates IoT and controllers for real-time monitoring of the performance of the PV-irrigation system and for optimizing water conservation. This project is envisioned to be a prototype model for further scaling up the deployment of PV-irrigation systems in Africa to enhance sustainable agricultural. 
As part of the whole project, this seminar focuses more on the design and economic assessment of the system for a particular village in Rwanda.

Bio: 

Getachew Biru Worku obtained his MSC and PhD in Electrical Engineering from Dresden University of 
Technology, Germany. He has more than 30 years of academic and research experience in academic institutions and industry. He has extensive experience in teaching a broad range of electrical engineering courses with excellent feedback and acknowledgements from faculties and students. He has been lecturing courses such as Power Quality and Reliability, Power System Operation and Control, High Voltage Engineering, Power System Analysis, Power Transmission and Distribution Engineering, Electrical Machines Design, Smart Grid and Traction Power System in various Ethiopian Universities and University of Rwanda. He is currently employed as an associate professor at the University of Rwanda giving lectures and advising postgraduate students. He is a dedicated researcher in renewable energy deployment focusing on reliability of off-grid and microgrids to bring sustainable electrical power to the underserved areas. His research areas are electrical power and renewable energy and has authored and co-authored more than 45 papers in peer-reviewed journals. 

Join us every Friday that classes are in session for the Plant Library. We open 3:30 - 4:30 pm to plant seeds, take cuttings, nurture plants, and distribute plants that are ready to take home. We are working on something different each week — come get your hands dirty!

We welcome everyone to join us in our second semester of the Plant Library! Drop in to help us care for the plants in our inventory and create new plants for distribution through planting seeds and taking propagations. 

We usually have a variety of houseplants for you to take home. Inventory varies!

We accept donations of seeds, whole plants, propagations, decorative pots, potting mix, and gardening tools. 

Through a partnership with the Atlanta Botanical Garden, we recycle their used nursery pots, so we are not accepting donations of nursery pots at this time.


https://sites.gatech.edu/plantlibrary/

Join us every Friday that classes are in session for the Plant Library. We open 3:30 - 4:30 pm to plant seeds, take cuttings, nurture plants, and distribute plants that are ready to take home. We are working on something different each week — come get your hands dirty!

We welcome everyone to join us in our second semester of the Plant Library! Drop in to help us care for the plants in our inventory and create new plants for distribution through planting seeds and taking propagations. 

We usually have a variety of houseplants for you to take home. Inventory varies!

We accept donations of seeds, whole plants, propagations, decorative pots, potting mix, and gardening tools. 

Through a partnership with the Atlanta Botanical Garden, we recycle their used nursery pots, so we are not accepting donations of nursery pots at this time.


https://sites.gatech.edu/plantlibrary/

Join us every Friday that classes are in session for the Plant Library. We open 3:30 - 4:30 pm to plant seeds, take cuttings, nurture plants, and distribute plants that are ready to take home. We are working on something different each week — come get your hands dirty!

We welcome everyone to join us in our second semester of the Plant Library! Drop in to help us care for the plants in our inventory and create new plants for distribution through planting seeds and taking propagations. 

We usually have a variety of houseplants for you to take home. Inventory varies!

We accept donations of seeds, whole plants, propagations, decorative pots, potting mix, and gardening tools. 

Through a partnership with the Atlanta Botanical Garden, we recycle their used nursery pots, so we are not accepting donations of nursery pots at this time.


https://sites.gatech.edu/plantlibrary/

Join us every Friday that classes are in session for the Plant Library. We open 3:30 - 4:30 pm to plant seeds, take cuttings, nurture plants, and distribute plants that are ready to take home. We are working on something different each week — come get your hands dirty!

We welcome everyone to join us in our second semester of the Plant Library! Drop in to help us care for the plants in our inventory and create new plants for distribution through planting seeds and taking propagations. 

We usually have a variety of houseplants for you to take home. Inventory varies!

We accept donations of seeds, whole plants, propagations, decorative pots, potting mix, and gardening tools. 

Through a partnership with the Atlanta Botanical Garden, we recycle their used nursery pots, so we are not accepting donations of nursery pots at this time.


https://sites.gatech.edu/plantlibrary/

We'll be located in the LLC West Commons Classroom, in the Curran Street parking deck (across the street from the Eighth Street Apartments, enter under the blue GT awning). Come with plenty of questions!

RSVP via Suitable here.

Date: Tuesday, September 1, 2026

Time: 2:00 – 4:00 PM EST

Location: Caddell Building, Conference Room 212 & Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Meeting Link: 

https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/275012286837302?p=tYjHzReQ3Ao5blaC1O

Meeting ID: 275 012 286 837 302

Passcode: fg7aW3gx

Committee:

• Dr. Ebenezer Fanijo – School of Building Construction, Georgia Tech. (Advisor)
• Dr. Baabak Ashuri – School of Building Construction and School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Tech.
• Dr. Georg Reichard – School of Building Construction, Georgia Tech.
• Dr. Valerie Thomas – School of Industrial and Systems Engineering and School of Public Policy, Georgia Tech.
• Dr. Moe Sharbaf – EP Power Minerals.

Title: Performance Evaluation of Geopolymer Mixes with Alternative Precursors: Mechanical, Microstructural, Durability, and Sustainability Insights

Abstract

Geopolymers, synthesized through the alkali activation of aluminosilicate precursors, have emerged as promising alternatives to ordinary Portland cement (OPC) because of their potential for lower carbon emissions, competitive mechanical and durability performance, and enhanced resistance to elevated temperatures. Geopolymer are a family of alumino-silicate binders, which is the result of an inorganic polycondensation reaction; a so-called geopolymerisation. Such reaction yields an amorphous to semicrystalline three-dimensional aluminosilicate frameworks with the general empirical formula of Mn{−(SiO2)z–AlO2−}n. wH20 - where M is a charge-balancing cation (e.g., Na⁺, K⁺, or Ca²⁺), n is the degree of polycondensation, and z is the Si/Al molar ratio governing geopolymer concrete properties – similar to conventional cement. Although established geopolymer cement commonly rely on aluminosilicate precursors such as fly ash (FA), ground-granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBFS), and metakaolin (MK), each precursor presents distinct limitations related to reactivity, material availability, compositional variability, cost, as well as environmental sustainability and optimization. For instance, FA shows source-dependent compositional variability - reporting up to 25% variation in strength across FA sources, and slow ambient-cured strength development, while GGBFS, despite high reactivity, can exhibit drying shrinkage 2–3 times that of OPC. MK provides more consistent reactivity but has high liquid demand and requires energy-intensive calcination (600–900 °C). Supply is also increasingly constrained: U.S. FA production declined by ~68% from 2002 to 2024, while the shift toward electric-arc-furnace steelmaking reduces availability of GGBFS. These limitations motivate hybrid geopolymer systems combining abundant natural and industrial precursors to exploit complementary physicochemical properties while mitigating individual precursor deficiencies. Analogous to the multi-component strategy of limestone calcined clay cement (LC3), optimized precursor combinations could achieve competitive engineering performance with reduced environmental and economic burdens. Therefore, this study establishes a pathway for translating alternative geopolymer precursors into construction-ready concrete, beginning with precursor reactivity and reaction mechanisms, followed by systematic mixture design, performance and durability validation, and environmental and economic evaluation. Ultimately, these efforts aim to identify a technically robust, low-impact, and cost-competitive binder with demonstrated potential for field implementation.

Toward this goal, a state-of-the-art review was first conducted to synthesize recent advances in the selection and application of commonly used geopolymer precursors, including FA, GGBFS, and MK, with particular emphasis on their chemical composition and reactivity, geopolymerization mechanisms, microstructural evolution, engineering performance, and system-level sustainability, as well as the key physicochemical factors governing their early-age behavior and long-term durability. The findings showed that performance is particularly governed by the combined effects of precursor chemistry, activator composition, and curing conditions, with FA- and GGBFS-based systems exhibiting distinct reaction pathways dominated by N–A–S–H and C–A–S–H generations, respectively. While both systems demonstrated mechanical and durability performance comparable to or better than OPC, GGBFS-based geopolymer generally exhibited lower energy demand and emissions. Importantly, the review highlighted the role of calcium-rich chemistry in GGBFS-based geopolymer promote C–A–S–H formation and strength development. Together with the need to reduce dependence on conventional precursors, this finding motivated the exploration of alternative calcium-rich industrial materials such as calcium carbide residue (CCR).

Informed by this review, the first research work investigates CCR, a high-calcium by-product of acetylene production, as a supplementary precursor to partially replace GGBFS and MK in binary and ternary geopolymer binder systems. The goal is to develop a blended geopolymer using an abundant Ca-rich precursor to reduce GGBFS demand while enhancing precursor reactivity and engineering performance while minimizing reliance on FA and MK. Findings showed that selected CCR replacement levels, particularly at lower dosage, achieved strengths comparable to the GGBFS control, while ternary CCR–MK blends retained 96–99% of the control 28-day strength. Microstructural analysis revealed that CCR promoted the formation of hybrid reaction products, while its combination with MK facilitated matrix densification and the development of a more refined geopolymer microstructure. At 20% CCR replacement, embodied carbon decreased from 574.6 to 560.6 kg CO₂-e/m³, while material cost decreased by approximately 6%.  These findings demonstrated that CCR can be valorized as a Ca-rich supplementary material to reduce GGBFS consumption, embodied carbon, and material cost while maintaining performance. However, CCR availability is inherently linked to calcium-carbide-based acetylene production, resulting in regional supply constraints and potentially higher transportation costs and motivating the investigation of more widely available natural precursors. More fundamentally, the changes in reaction products and microstructural development observed with alternative precursor substitution demonstrate that replacing conventional precursors can significantly alter geopolymerization pathways. This highlights a critical knowledge gap in how precursor chemistry controls dissolution kinetics and, consequently, gel formation and long-term network development.

Furthermore, a second mechanistic study, guided by computational modeling, was conducted to establish the relationship between precursor dissolution rate and kinetics and the subsequent evolution and reorganization of the geopolymer network. Real-time measurements using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) showed rapid early dissolution of Al and Si, with initial rates of approximately 0.605 and 4.697 μmol L⁻¹ s⁻¹, respectively, followed by a transition toward polycondensation. Multiscale characterization further revealed progressive gel growth and surface densification, with surface roughness decreasing by approximately 39% by 7 days and the Si/Al ratio stabilizing at about 1.7 – 1.8 as a dense and chemically stable N–A–S–H network developed. These findings showed that early dissolution behavior directly influences subsequent gel chemistry and structural development, providing reaction-level insight for selecting and combining precursors in the hybrid system.

This understanding motivated a hybrid precursor system combining highly reactive MK with lower-energy pumice and limestone powder (LP) as the third research objective. MK provides readily available Si and Al, while pumice supplies additional aluminosilicates for continued polycondensation and LP contributes Ca alongside filler and nucleation effects. Their complementary chemistry promotes interactions between N–A–S–H and Ca-containing gels, providing a basis for optimizing reaction kinetics, microstructural development, engineering performance, and overall binder sustainability. To systematically evaluate precursor interactions across the ternary composition space, a full-range augmented simplex lattice design was deployed to establish composition–property relationships for flowability, compressive strength, sorptivity, and drying shrinkage. Multi-response optimization identified a balanced mixture containing approximately 7.4% MK, 75.6% pumice, and 17.0% LP. Experimental validation yielded 106.25% flowability, 3.62 ksi 28-day compressive strength, 0.0447 mm/√s sorptivity, and 0.056% drying shrinkage. Life-cycle assessment showed a GWP of ~374 kg CO₂-e/m³, compared with 543 and 689 kg CO₂-e/m³ for MK-based GPC and OPC, respectively, demonstrating the environmental benefit of increased pumice and LP substitution. However, transport and dimensional-stability responses were highly composition-dependent, with sorptivity varying by >13-fold (0.0062–0.0823 mm/√s) and drying shrinkage by >3-fold (0.042–0.134%), contributing to larger prediction errors during model validation.

To reduce variability and prediction errors in the initial optimization, the composition space around the initial optimized mixture composition was refined to 5–20% MK, 70–85% pumice, and 10–25% LP, leading to the fourth research goal focused on refining and validating the optimized ternary system. This constrained optimization targets <10% deviation between predicted and experimental responses while identifying a mixture with improved overall performance, including the flowability, compressive strength, sorptivity, and drying shrinkage. The optimized system subsequently undergo integrated life-cycle and techno-economic assessments (LCA- TEA), benchmarked against conventional geopolymer systems to evaluate its environmental impact, production cost, and circular economy. The optimized mixture (9.8% MK, 77.1% pumice, 13.1% LP) achieved 105.48% flowability, 3.83 ksi 28-day strength, 0.042 mm/√s sorptivity, and 0.057% drying shrinkage, with prediction errors of 0.30–5.80%. XRD, FTIR, and SEM-EDS attributed this balanced performance to a dense, silica-rich hybrid C-(N)-A-S-H matrix with moderate Ca incorporation. Compared with conventional geopolymer systems, the mixture demonstrated competitive engineering performance while reducing cost to $286.30/m³ (58.8% below MK-based GPC) and GWP to 378.3 kg CO₂-eq/m³ (30.4% and 10.9% below MK- and slag-based systems, respectively). Strength-normalized analysis further demonstrated improved cost and carbon efficiency relative to MK- and FA-based systems.

Finally, future work will advance the final optimized binder toward field and application-scale validation as a repair or overlay /concrete pavement. Bond performance with existing concrete will be evaluated through pull-off testing in accordance with ASTM C1583 and slant-shear testing based on ASTM C882, together with other durability testing, to determine its suitability for practical repair and overlay applications. Overall, this research progresses from understanding conventional and alternative precursor behavior to mechanism-informed, sustainability-guided mixture development, optimization, and application-scale validation, with the goal of advancing technically viable, lower-carbon geopolymer binders for practical construction applications.

Title: Generative Artificial Intelligence for Uncertainty Quantification

Abstract: Generative artificial intelligence models—including variational autoencoders, normalizing flows, generative adversarial networks, and diffusion models—have dramatically advanced the realism and quality of generated images, text, and audio. Beyond these tasks, generative models hold great promise as powerful tools for probability density estimation and high-dimensional sampling, which are central to uncertainty quantification (UQ) tasks such as amortized Bayesian inference and data assimilation. However, while research on image synthesis emphasizes producing high-quality individual samples, UQ applications require accurate approximation of statistical quantities of interest rather than visually realistic samples. As a result, direct application of existing generative models to UQ problems can lead to biased approximations or unstable training. In this talk, we will introduce several new generative approaches tailored to UQ. These include training-free diffusion models for density estimation, a score-based nonlinear filter for data assimilation, and training-free conditional diffusion models for amortized Bayesian inference. We will demonstrate their effectiveness across a range of tasks, including density estimation for unimodal and multimodal distributions, learning stochastic dynamical systems, parameter estimation via amortized inference, and scalable data assimilation for atmospheric models.

Bio: Dr. Guannan Zhang is a Distinguished Staff Scientist in Computer Science and Mathematics Division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). He earned my Ph.D. in applied mathematics at Florida State University in 2012. He joined ORNL in 2012 as the Householder fellow. He received the DOE Early Career Award in 2022. Guannan's research interests include high-dimensional approximation, uncertainty quantification, machine learning and artificial intelligence, stochastic methods for scientific inverse problems. 

Meetings are open to Members, Guests, Sponsors, Partners, and presenting Entrepreneurs from any of our Keiretsu Forum Global chapters and regions.

Due to SEC 506(c) regulations guests MUST pre-register to attend our meetings.

Please join us in helping clean up the garden by weeding. Gloves will be supplied, but please wear close-toed shoes and bring reusable water bottle!

Ngoc Phuong Dung Ho
School of Chemistry and Biochemistry

Advisor: Advisor: James C. Gumbart (School of Physics)

Open to the Community

Across Scales of Regulation: Decoding How Small Molecules Reshape Protein Dynamics, Assembly, and Phase Separation
Tuesday, September 1, 2026, at 2:00 pm 

Howey Physics Building, Room W401

Committee Members:

Jeffrey Skolnick (School of Biological Sciences)

Andrew McShan (School of Chemistry and Biochemistry)

Nael A. McCarty (Emory University)

Abstract:

Small molecules modulate essential biological processes across diverse spatial and temporal scales, from regulating intramolecular channel gating to remodeling dynamic oligomeric interfaces and dictating the mesoscale material properties of biomolecular condensates. Although structural biology has resolved numerous therapeutic binding pockets, static structures alone cannot explain how ligand binding alters the dynamic conformational ensembles that govern functional outcomes. This thesis establishes an integrated computational and biophysical framework which combines all-atom molecular dynamics, machine-learning-assisted conformational sampling, coarse-grained modeling, and experimental validation to decode small-molecule regulation across distinct biological hierarchies. By elucidating potentiator-driven gating in cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) channels, targeting transient dimer interfaces in tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), and resolving drug-induced single-chain collapse in fused in sarcoma (FUS) condensates, this work connects atomistic conformational shifts to emergent mesoscale organization, providing rational principles to accelerate targeted therapeutic discovery.

Committee:

Dr. Alexandros Daglis, CS, Chair, Advisor

Dr. Moinuddin Qureshi, ECE

Dr. Ada Gavrilovska, CoC

Dr. Richard Vuduc, CSE

Dr. Jovan Stojkovic, UT Austin

Committee:

Dr. Ali Adibi, ECE, Chair, Advisor

Dr. Stephen Ralph, ECE

Dr. Benjamin Klein, ECE

Dr. John Cressler, ECE

Dr. Phillip First, Physics

Committee:

Dr. Matthieu Bloch, ECE, Chair, Advisor

Dr. John Barry, ECE

Dr. Viveck Cadambe, ECE

Dr. Yanbao Zhang, ORNL

Dr. Robert Clark, Physics

Strang and Patel will discuss how manufacturers can leverage the Internet of Things (IoT) and what connected technologies mean for the future of manufacturing.

Friday, August 28, 2026
12:00 p.m.
GTMI, Room 114

Students interested in manufacturing, engineering, computing, technology, and the future of connected products are encouraged to attend.

Register here!

Host: Dr. Matthew Liska

Title: Multimessenger Modeling of Supermassive Binary Black Holes with Next-Generation GRMHD Simulations

 Abstract:                                                                                                                                       Supermassive binary black holes (SMBBHs) are expected to be excellent mHz gravitational wave (GW) sources that also emit across the electromagnetic (EM) spectrum. However, electromagnetically identifying SMBBHs to prepare for and complement future GW observations remains a fundamental challenge facing our field. In this talk, I will discuss our efforts to self-consistently model multimessenger emission from SMBBHs during their late inspiral through merger with state-of-the-art numerical simulations in full general relativity. I will describe smoking-gun synchrotron emission from eccentric SMBBHs, the importance of magnetic reconnection and eruptions in shaping the accretion flow near the binary, the potential for a magnetically arrested cavity, and the longest general-relativistic simulation of SMBBH accretion to date. Finally, I will outline our efforts to develop a next-generation, GPU-accelerated code to model SMBBH accretion with radiation transport at unprecedented resolutions and durations.

Event details:

• Date: September 17, 2026
• Time: 3 PM - 7 PM
• Location: Renewable Bioproducts Institute (RBI)
• Hosted by: TAPPI student chapter

 Event will be fully catered. Bring your resume/CV. 

Student can RSVP here: https://forms.gle/zAGbEDMwWjCJ2K169

Feel free to share this information with your peers and colleagues who may benefit from attending. We look forward to seeing you there.