The North American hurricane season is, for many on the East Coast and Gulf Coast, six months of vigilance, and among the resources most likely to be consulted during this time are storm tracking maps. If you learn that your home might be in the path of a storm, you probably actively search for the most current version of one of these maps. Bruce Walker, a professor in the schools of Psychology and Interactive Computing at Georgia Tech, wants to ensure that storm-tracking maps and other emergency and environmental communication tools convey the most important information in the most understandable manner to the largest number of people possible. “Weather and climate affect every single person on Earth,” he said, “so no one can be left behind when it comes to these critical communications.”

Walker is director of the Center for Inclusive Climate Communication (CICC) at Georgia Tech. CICC is a new and growing consortium of researchers, organizations, agencies, and companies whose goal is to ensure that climate information of all types is widely accessible. The center is housed in the School of Psychology but has affiliated faculty from all around campus, and several universities around the U.S. CICC is expanding internationally as well, developing sub-networks in Europe, Africa, and Australia.

As part of its efforts, the CICC is working with the coastal city of Brunswick, Georgia. Situated about 65 miles northeast of Jacksonville, Florida, Brunswick is no stranger to hurricanes and tropical storms. The city is working to develop a comprehensive Community-Based Emergency Warning System, which will include maps and other emergency communications that ensure language, culture, level of education, or other differences in lived experience are not barriers to residents understanding critical safety information. This work is supported by the Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems (BBISS) and the Center for Sustainable Communities Research and Education (SCoRE) through the Sustainability Next Seed Grant Program.

Hurricane maps and related information can come from many sources. Government agencies, municipal emergency management agencies, media outlets, and meteorological organizations all may have their own versions, which vary in how they visually display data. The information used to generate the maps is collected and distributed to the public domain by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) every few hours. The maps that the public sees show the important information that one would expect, but they may not do so with an eye for how different people might interpret, or misinterpret, that info.

“Once we determine the best way to present hurricane data to the most people, we will work with content providers to standardize the way they generate these resources,” says Walker. “Reliable data and what we call inclusive communications lead to better decisions by the public.”

The CICC investigators’ process aspires to the philosophy of Universal Design, but since no design can be 100% universal, they refer to what they create as “inclusive designs.” Inclusive design means adapting to the diverse needs of the broadest possible audience. Since the language skills, education, lived experience, and physical ability of the person in the storm’s path can vary, these maps must present information in many alternative ways.

For those who can see the map, for example, improving the visual design (e.g., a better use of symbols and a clearer visual layout) can help. For those with vision impairment, adding audio layers (called “sonification”) to the map can help. For many people, simply comprehending a map can itself be a challenge. In that case, adding more explanations about how to interpret a map, what different terms mean, and what the storm is likely to do can make it more understandable.

All of these strategies provide multiple means of accessing, understanding, and acting on the data represented by the map. When studying how to design inclusive maps, soliciting input and suggestions from as many different potential users as possible helps the CICC team ensure that vital information is understandable and useful to the most people.

One of CICC’s primary goals is to take lessons from their research projects, such as the inclusive hurricane map, and derive general principles for the effective design of emergency communications tools of all types. While every disaster, from floods and wildfires to tsunamis, tornadoes, and ice storms, will require the distribution of unique pieces of data, the CICC researchers and their community partners are identifying design strategies that will make these communications understandable and actionable to everyone.

Walker and other CICC researchers engage students in this work. Isabella Martinic, a Ph.D. student in engineering psychology, shepherds many of the center’s research and design efforts, including AccessCORPS, a team that makes educational materials more inclusive and accessible. Jessica Herring and Ishan Vepa, students in the M.S. program in human-computer interaction, have led the hurricane map project, including overhauling existing maps from recent storms by applying CICC design guidelines to them. And undergraduate student Cal Price has been the lead researcher on the Brunswick collaboration, engaging with both community members and civic officials.

These efforts — adding more features, revamping existing maps, and consulting with weather experts and end users — demonstrate how seemingly simple changes can lead to significantly better interpretations of the data by the target audience. The research behind the inclusive hurricane maps will be presented at the 23rd International Web for All Conference, which takes place later this year.

CICC researchers are also engaging in partnerships with companies that see the potential benefits of this approach. Data visualization company Highcharts, for example, is a supporter and collaborator. Since their business models revolve around distributing such information, they have a keen interest in the lessons learned from CICC research. CICC does not regard its findings as intellectual property; they prefer that good design guidelines proliferate.

“Ultimately, our goal is for anyone to be able to look at a communication tool, quickly grasp critical pieces of information that may impact their lives and well-being, and take appropriate actions,” Walker said, “whether that be for the daily weather or for an impending natural disaster.”

As new data centers continue to be built and proposed in Georgia, counties and municipalities across the state are considering how to guide this growth. EPIcenter’s data center dashboard provides policymakers, planners, researchers, and community stakeholders with a centralized resource to better understand how data center regulations are being developed and applied across Georgia and the U.S.

“Our Data Center Hub provides Georgia communities with a one-stop shop to understand how their neighbors are managing land-use regulations for data centers,” said Laura Taylor, director of EPIcenter. “It brings together clear, accessible information to help jurisdictions plan when data center growth occurs in their area.”

The dashboard is organized around five thematic areas commonly addressed in data center land-use regulations: Site Planning and Building Design, Infrastructure and Utilities, Environmental and Community Protections, Public Safety and Security, and Lifecycle Governance. Within each theme, users can explore specific regulatory topics and access the relevant ordinances enacted by Georgia communities.

To build the dashboard, EPIcenter researchers conducted a comprehensive review of municipal codes across the state.

“We reviewed municipal codes for about 180 cities and counties across Georgia and identified ordinances that specifically address data center development,” said Yang You, EPIcenter’s research associate who developed the project. “In total, we found 19 data center-specific topics that ordinances tend to cover. We analyzed ordinances across jurisdictions and organized their ordinance provisions into topics such as building placement, setbacks, infrastructure, and environmental considerations to make it easier to compare how different jurisdictions regulate data centers.”

You added that the dashboard also incorporates examples from outside of Georgia. By gathering ordinances from other states and pairing them with Georgia-specific examples, EPIcenter aims to provide a clear framework to help communities efficiently address data center land-use regulation.

The Georgia Data Center Ordinance Hub is available through the Energy Policy and Innovation Center website.

The primary aim of the Atlanta Student Community-Engaged Research (CER) Network is to use a peer learning approach to train graduate students with the skills to co-lead community-engaged and locally focused research, while at the same time building relationships with local community organizations. This approach will help address local sustainability and societal challenges, lay the foundation for community-engaged research programs, and enable young researchers interested in this work to thrive in the Atlanta area. Initial funding for the pilot program was provided by the Atlanta Global Studies Center and the Georgia Tech Provost's Excellence in Graduate Studies fund.

The program received a total of 41 applications from graduate students from Georgia Tech, Georgia State University, and Emory University. Thirty-five master’s and Ph.D. students were accepted into the cohort, spanning a wide range of disciplines, from the humanities, sciences, design,  public health, engineering, and computing. The program has additionally engaged eight senior-level undergraduates from Spelman College to learn about graduate school tracks with community-engaged research opportunities.

This program provides a unique opportunity to learn engagement and leadership skills not typically taught in graduate programs. Students are attending one training a month over the course of the Spring 2026 semester. Here, they learn about the diversity of sustainability-focused, community-based organizations in the area, develop skills to engage meaningfully with community partners in research projects, and improve the ways they communicate to the public about research.

The Georgia Tech Provost's Excellence in Graduate Studies fund will provide a $2,500 stipend to five Georgia Tech students who will work on a research project with a community partner organization. These projects will take place over the spring and summer semesters this year, providing opportunities for graduate students to apply their newly acquired community-engagement skills to on-the-ground research, while also opening a new pathway for Georgia Tech’s engagement with community partners.

Fellows and projects include:

• Irene Jacob, M.S., city and regional planning, will work with the Food Well Alliance to update the implementation strategy for their 10-year community garden survey.
• Ethan Zhao, M.S., human-computer interaction, will work with Historic Westside Gardens to integrate new technologies into their community garden spaces and assess the benefits to the communities they serve.
• Virginia Cason, M.S., sustainable energy and environmental management, will work with Science for Georgia to translate data gathering and analysis into community-centered narratives.
• Sharon Rachel, Ph.D., history and sociology of technology and science, will work with the HBCU Green Fund to examine the environmental and community impacts of data center projects in Atlanta.
• Ella Neumann, Ph.D., interactive computing, will work with the South River Watershed Alliance to document and communicate the history and impact of the City of Atlanta's combined sewer consent decree, and assess if the intended results of the decree have been met.

Applicants expressed their passion for community-engaged research projects and working directly with local community members and organizations:

“Lived experience is just as valuable as academic expertise, and meaningful change only occurs when both work together. I think that this takes approaching problems with a lot of humility, care, and a genuine desire to listen to communities and their needs.” -Virginia Cason, M.S., sustainable energy and environmental management

“I want to do research that stems from a theoretical question, but is feasible in reality and benefits the community. One of the most efficient ways to achieve this goal is through doing research WITH the community.” -Keke Li, M.S., analytics

“Community-engaged research is not only a methodology, but a commitment to partnership, humility, and shared power.” -Grace Fraser, M.S., city and regional planning

“To me, community-engaged research means working with people, not just for them. CER is not only a method but also a mindset. True impact comes when research and community experience grow together.” -Bingjie Lu, Ph.D., civil engineering

The community partners involved in the program are equally enthusiastic about community-engaged research. As Fred Conrad of Food Well Alliance put it, “Food Well has been intentional about engaging our constituents since we began, and this is not only a continuation of that effort, but a significant refinement of how we accomplish that. I think all of us have deepened our understanding of the CER process since we began this journey.”

That idea anchored “Finding Joy and Building Resilience in Climate Action,” an interactive session on day two of the showcase, hosted Feb. 9 – 10 by the Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems (BBISS). Each spring, the event brings together Georgia Tech researchers, students, staff, and partners to share their work with the sustainability community. This session turned the spotlight inward, asking how people doing sustainability work can sustain themselves over the long haul. Facilitated by Rebecca Watts Hull, the session drew on an April 2022 TED Talk by marine biologist and policy expert Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, who lays out a practical way to “lean into your superpowers” for being effective in purpose-driven work.

Watts Hull, assistant director of Faculty Development for Sustainability Education Initiatives in Georgia Tech’s Center for Teaching and Learning, opened the discussion by explaining why she proposed the session. Many showcase events, she noted, focused on social, community, and ecological resilience. This one examined individual capacity — how people stay engaged in work that can feel frustrating, slow-moving, and emotionally draining.

Johnson’s TED Talk framed the problem, describing the climate challenge as “gargantuan,” spanning energy, transportation, agriculture, buildings, industry, ecosystems, and culture. Rather than dwelling on dire projections, she urges people to pivot to solutions and to contribute not just as generic volunteers, but by using their particular talents.

Her tool is a Venn diagram that asks three questions:

• What are you good at — your skills, expertise, resources, and networks?
• What work needs doing — high-impact sustainability solutions, especially at the systems level?
• What brings you joy or satisfaction — work that energizes rather than depletes you?

Johnson warns against choosing work that leads to burnout and against merely validating what one is already doing, pushing instead for a fresh look at where each person can have the greatest impact. She also emphasizes implementation and argues for a “leaderful” movement in which many people step into leadership in different ways.

Matthew Realff, professor and David I.J. Wang Faculty Fellow in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, connected Johnson’s framework to resilience and his 33 years at Georgia Tech. He traced the word “resilience” back to its Latin root, meaning “to bounce back,” and defined it as the ability to absorb shocks and return to an original or improved state.

For Realff, that ability depends heavily on relationships. “I think of personal resiliency as coming from the networks of people I interact with — the social bonds that stretch and are strained,” he said, and “help me bring myself back to my center when I'm finding that life is difficult with respect to things like sustainability.”

He then walked through his own Venn diagram across teaching, research, and service. In teaching, he uses senior design courses to give engineering students real-world sustainability problems, from hydrogen liquefaction to biofuels and biochemicals. “Watching students grapple with those challenges brings me joy,” he said.

In research, he focuses on carbon capture, including capturing CO₂ from flue gases and from the air. In service, he has stepped into roles he didn’t initially seek, such as board chair of GreenBlue, the nonprofit behind the “How2Recycle” label found on consumer packaging, and chair of standards committees that shape the environmental profile of electronics purchased by major institutions. Those roles, he acknowledged, pulled him out of his comfort zone but delivered tangible, systems-level impact.

Christie Stewart, senior academic professional in the School of Biological Sciences, added a perspective grounded in well-being and resilience education. She oversees Georgia Tech’s undergraduate wellness requirement and teaches a class called Flourishing: Strategies for Well-Being and Resilience. For years, her students designed wellness and sustainability projects, but rarely had time to carry them out within a semester.

That frustration pushed her toward community-based service learning, linking personal wellness to broader community resilience. Stewart highlighted three strengths she brings to her own Venn diagram: using well-being frameworks; taking a strengths-based approach that helps students identify what they do best; and creating psychologically safe environments where students can discuss values, disagreements, and the emotional strain of large-scale problems like climate change.

For her, the work that needs doing includes building capacity for community partners and helping students recognize that they must protect their own mental and physical health if they want to stay in the work. Her greatest satisfaction comes from seeing students discover a sense of purpose and begin to imagine themselves as future leaders who can “change culture and advocate” for sustainability.

Watts Hull described how Johnson’s Venn diagram helped her reconcile what she wasn’t doing with what she could do best. A sociologist by training who studies social movements and change, she supports the integration of sustainability across the curriculum and teaches one course each year. In her personal life, she attends climate demonstrations, but as an introvert who dislikes large crowds, she rarely stays long and feels guilty about not doing more public-facing activism.

Completing the diagram, she said, gave her permission to focus on teaching and movement-building — her core strengths and sources of joy. She recently led a four-week climate action course at her church and used Johnson’s Venn diagram as an exercise.

Watts Hull closed the session by asking participants to sketch their own diagrams, reflect quietly for several minutes, and then share with others at their tables — a step toward aligning Georgia Tech’s diverse sustainability community around the personal “superpowers” that can sustain climate action over a lifetime.

“This is an opportunity to get away from what I call self-immersion,” said audience member Jay Bassett, a 1985 Georgia Tech graduate and retired EPA Opportunity Zone and Smart Sector Advisor. “We have a tendency to get so isolated in what we do,” and “this offers an opportunity to think beyond that and get past those boundaries and see opportunities that we don’t see before because we’re so self-immersed. That’s an actual skill that we all ought to learn — to see the bigger picture because it may be the best part of the path forward.”

The Department of Energy Office of Science recently released two reports through its Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR) program. The reports were produced by workshops that brought together researchers from universities, national labs, government, and industry to set priorities for scientific computing.

Professor Felix Herrmann served on the organizing committee for the Workshop on Inverse Methods for Complex Systems under Uncertainty. Assistant Professor Peng Chen joined Herrmann as a workshop participant, contributing expertise in data science and machine learning.

Inverse methods work backward from outcomes to find their causes. Scientists use these tools to study complex systems, like designing new materials with targeted properties and using past wildfires to map vulnerable areas and behavior of future fires.

The ASCR report highlighted Herrmann’s work on seismic exploration and monitoring through digital twins. Founded on inverse methods, digital twins upgrade from static models to virtual systems that accurately mirror their physical counterparts. 

Digital twins integrate real-time data sources, including fluid flows, monitoring and control systems, risk assessments, and human decisions. These models also account for uncertainty and address data gaps or limitations. 

The DOE organized the workshop to support the growing role of inverse modeling. The group identified four priority research directions (PRDs) to guide future work. The PRDs are:

• PRD 1: Discovering, exploiting, and preserving structure
• PRD 2: Identifying and overcoming model limitations
• PRD 3: Integrating disparate multimodal and/or dynamic data
• PRD 4: Solving goal-oriented inverse problems for downstream tasks

“A digital twin is a system you can control, like to optimize operations or to minimize risk,” said Herrmann, who holds joint appointments in the Schools of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Computational Science and Engineering.

“Digital twins give you a principled way to consider uncertainties, which there are a lot in subsurface monitoring. If you inject carbon dioxide too fast, you will will increase the pressure and may fracture the rock. If you inject too slow, then the process may become too costly. Digital twins help us make balanced decisions under uncertainty.”

Supercomputers, algorithms, and artificial intelligence now power modern science. However, these tools consume enormous amounts of energy. This raises concerns about how to sustain computing and scientific research as we know them in the decades ahead.

Professors Rich Vuduc and Hyesoon Kim co-authored the report from the Workshop on Energy-Efficient Computing for Science. At the three-day ASCR workshop, participants identified five key research directions:

• PRD 1: Co-design energy-efficient hardware devices and architectures for important workloads
• PRD 2: Define the algorithmic foundations of energy-efficient scientific computing
• PRD 3: Reconceptualize software ecosystems for energy efficiency
• PRD 4: Enable energy-efficient data management for data centers, instruments, and users
• PRD 5: Develop integrated, scalable energy measurement and modeling capabilities for next-generation computing systems

“I’m cautiously optimistic about the future of energy-efficient computing. The ASCR report says, from a technological point of view, there are things we can do,” said Vuduc.

“The report lays out paths for how we might design better apps, hardware systems, and algorithms that will use less energy. This is recognition that we should think about how architectures and software work together to drive down energy usage for systems.”

As artificial intelligence (AI) drives explosive growth in data centers, communities across the U.S. are facing rising electricity costs, new industrial development, and mounting strain on an aging power grid.

At Georgia Tech, several faculty members are approaching these sustainability challenges from different but complementary angles: examining how data center policy affects local communities, modeling how AI-driven demand reshapes regional energy systems, and building tools that help the public understand the tradeoffs embedded in grid planning. Together, their work highlights how better data, thoughtful policy, and public engagement can guide more resilient and equitable decisions in an AI-powered future.

AI’s Hidden Footprint: How Data Centers Reshape Communities

Ahmed Saeed studies the infrastructure most people never see. An assistant professor in the School of Computer Science and a Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems (BBISS) Faculty Fellow, Saeed focuses on how data centers — the backbone of modern AI — are built, operated, and regulated, and what their growth means for host communities.

“Data centers are the infrastructure for our digital life, so more of them are necessary to keep doing what we’re doing,” he said.

Data center energy consumption could double or triple by 2028, accounting for up to 12% of U.S. electricity use, according to a report by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. U.S. spending on data center construction jumped nearly 70% between May 2023 and May 2024, according to the American Edge Project.

Georgia is an AI data center hub, ranked fourth globally, with $4.6 billion in AI-related venture capital invested across 368 deals, the American Edge Project reported. At a recent town hall in DeKalb County, Georgia, Saeed helped residents connect AI’s promise to its local consequences. Training large AI models can require tens of thousands of graphics processing units (GPUs) running for days or weeks, driving an unprecedented wave of data center construction. AI-focused chips, he noted, can consume 10 to 14 times more power than traditional processors.

That demand often shows up as pressure on local infrastructure. Communities are increasingly concerned about electricity and water use, grid upgrades, and who ultimately pays. In Virginia, Saeed pointed to a legal dispute in which consumer advocates warned that data centers could raise electricity bills by 5% in the short term and up to 50% over time, while utilities argued those investments were inevitable and could benefit customers in the long run.

Environmental concerns add another layer. Saeed cited controversies over water use and backup diesel generators in states, including Georgia and Tennessee, alongside a recent Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ruling that tightened generator regulations. While diesel generators are clearly harmful, he cautioned that long-term, rigorous evidence linking data centers to regional health impacts remains limited.

Saeed’s research aims to reduce those impacts directly. By optimizing how workloads are scheduled across large server fleets, his team has demonstrated power savings of 4 – 12%, a meaningful gain if U.S. data centers approach projected levels of up to 12% of national electricity use by 2028.

For Saeed, data centers are akin to highways: essential to modern life, disruptive to nearby communities, and shaped by policy choices. The question, he argues, is not whether AI infrastructure should exist, but how transparently and fairly it is built.

Economist Probes the Energy Costs of the AI Boom

While headlines often frame AI as an energy crisis, Georgia Tech environmental and energy economist and BBISS Faculty Fellow Tony Harding is focused on measuring its real — and uneven — impacts. Harding, an assistant professor in the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School of Public Policy, uses economic modeling to examine how AI adoption affects energy use, emissions, and local communities.

In recent work published in Environmental Research Letters, Harding and his co-author analyzed how productivity gains from AI could influence national energy demand. Their findings suggest that, at a macro level, AI-related activity may increase annual U.S. energy use by about 0.03% and CO₂ emissions by roughly 0.02%.

“Those numbers are small in the context of the overall economy,” Harding said. “But the impacts are highly uneven.”

That unevenness is evident in where data centers are built. While Northern Virginia remains the country’s top data center hub, with 343 operational data centers, states like Georgia, which currently has 94 operational data centers, are rapidly attracting facilities due to reliable power and favorable tax policies. 

Harding’s latest research focuses on local effects, asking why data centers cluster in urban areas, how they influence housing markets, what happens to electricity prices, and whether they exacerbate water stress. Early evidence suggests large facilities can increase local electricity rates, contributing to public backlash and regulatory response. In Georgia, the Public Service Commission has begun requiring new, high power draw customers (like data centers) to cover more of the costs associated with grid expansion.

Harding’s goal is to give policymakers better evidence to design incentives and guardrails. “To manage these technologies responsibly,” he said, “we need a clear picture of their intended and unintended consequences.”

Gamifying a Strained and Aging Power Grid

Daniel Molzahn is tackling another side of the problem: how to modernize an aging power grid under growing demand. Electricity demand is expected to rise about 25% by 2030, driven by data centers, electric vehicles, and broadscale electrification. At the same time, much of the U.S. electricity grid is nearing the end of its lifespan, with many transformers being decades old.

To make these challenges tangible, Molzahn, an associate professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, developed a browser-based game with a group of students through Georgia Tech’s Vertically Integrated Projects program called Current Crisis. Players take on the role of a utility decision-maker, balancing reliability, wildfire risk, renewable integration, and affordability.

The game grew out of Molzahn’s National Science Foundation CAREER award and reflects his belief that complex systems are best understood experientially. Its initial focus is wildfire resilience, modeling how grid infrastructure can both spark and suffer damage from fires.

But resilience comes at a cost. Burying power lines, for example, reduces wildfire risk but dramatically increases expenses. Players must confront the same tradeoffs utilities face: improve reliability or keep rates low.

Molzahn hopes the game will help students and the public grapple with the realities of planning future power systems. “These choices aren’t abstract,” he said. “They shape affordability, resilience, and our path toward a cleaner grid.”

The project now involves nearly 40 students from across campus, supported by Sustainability NEXT funding and a collaboration with Jessica Roberts, former BBISS Faculty Fellow and director of the Technology-Integrated Learning Environments (TILES) Lab in the School of Interactive Computing.

“As a learning scientist, I look at how to engage people with science and scientific data and get people having conversations they might not otherwise have,” says Roberts, who hopes the seed grant helps the team determine first that they are going in the right direction and, second, how to broaden the impact.

One student, Stella Quinto Lima, a graduate research assistant in Human-Centered Computing, has made the game the focus of her doctoral thesis. Through the game, she wants players to notice their misconceptions about the power grid, energy use, and AI, and to use critical thinking to identify, question, and possibly undo those misconceptions.

 “I hope that we can really engage adults and help them see it’s not black and white. The game is not only about power grids, but how AI affects the grid, how it affects our lives, and how it will impact our future.”

The team plans to expand the game’s features, use it in outreach programs, and analyze player decisions as a source of data to study energy-system decision-making.

“We want to change the conversation about power and power grid stability, reliability, and sustainability, Roberts said, “and find a way to get this message to a larger public.”

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

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

The Project

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Developing Global Leaders Who Improve the Human Condition

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

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

Get Involved: Sustainable Development Goals in Action

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

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

What does it mean to design systems that endure even after major disruptions? This question framed the 2026 Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems (BBISS) Sustainability Showcase, where conversations over two days spanned the Georgia coast, wildfire modeling, AI data centers, infrastructure, community engagement, and the joy of working for a more sustainable and resilient world. Across disciplines and scales, a unifying theme emerged: resilience is not a single solution. It is a systems-level challenge requiring integration across science and technology, policy, communities, and human experience.

From Coastlines to Communities

The showcase opened with a keynote from President Emeritus G. Wayne Clough on wildlife management and resiliency along Georgia’s coast. The conversation that followed between Clough and BBISS Executive Director Beril Toktay highlighted the interconnection between public policy, wilderness conservation, community leadership, and scientific research. The session highlighted not only the urgency of protecting fragile ecosystems, but also that resilience works best when it is community-focused and community-driven.

Subsequent panels continued this systemic perspective. Sessions on community engagement, biotechnology-derived, climate-resilient plants, the flood resilience of Georgia coastal communities, wildfire prediction and prevention, and infrastructure resilience analytics all emphasized that resilience depends on the synthesis of many disciplines.

Across sessions, researchers emphasized that infrastructure resilience must include governance frameworks informed by good science, community engagement based on trust, and sustained collaboration that seeks to constantly improve the science, policy, and stakeholder relationships. The researchers demonstrated that they understand their role to be greater than merely modeling risk, but as collaborators who translate research into practical solutions that communities can adopt, maintain, and trust.

AI Data Centers: A New Resilience Frontier

Day two shifted attention to data centers, which are emerging as a critical resilience frontier. As artificial intelligence systems scale rapidly, so does the infrastructure that powers them, as well as the growing realization that digital systems are physical systems. Conversations examined the feedback loops that play a significant role in determining environmental impacts, such as chip architecture, AI workloads, data center sustainability, appropriate AI usage, and who makes the decisions on data center infrastructure development. 

One of the most fascinating sessions came from Alexandria Smith, assistant professor in the School of Music at Georgia Tech. She presented an artistic yet algorithmic composition that sonified data from AI data centers. Through translating kilowatt-hour usage and interconnection data into immersive soundscapes, she reframed data centers not as static input-output machines, but as adaptive, living systems. Drawing inspiration from Physarum polycephalum, a slime mold without a brain or nervous system known for its innate problem-solving abilities, she invites the listener to imagine infrastructure that senses, adapts, and self-optimizes.

Campus as a Living Laboratory

In her session, Professor Jennifer Chirico, associate vice president of Sustainability, highlighted Georgia Tech’s 2024 Climate Action Plan, focusing on building energy efficiency, renewable integration, materials management, and mobility transitions. The plan frames the Georgia Tech campus as a test bed for resilience strategies — an ecosystem where research, operations, and policy intersect. Chirico highlighted several examples where the alignment between research and implementation was essential in moving projects from modeling to pilot projects to sustained institutional change.

Finding Joy in Climate Action

Rebecca Watts Hull, Matthew Realff, and Christie Stewart led an interactive discussion inspired by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson’s framework for accelerating long-term climate action. Participants were asked three simple questions: What are you good at? What work needs doing? What brings you joy? Sustainability and climate research are fields often defined by serious urgency, crisis narratives, and burnout. This session offered a personal framework for resilience where emotional sustainability, professional fulfillment, and joy matter just as much as the motivation to drive a mission ever forward.

Building a Shared Vision

The Sustainability Showcase concluded with a facilitated visioning session led by Kristin Janacek, associate director for Interdisciplinary Research Impact, and Beril Toktay. In small groups, leaders, researchers, and community members worked to define what resilience looks like for them.

After the conversations, several themes emerged:

• Resilience must move from research to practical and community-based solutions to sustained action.
• Networks create opportunity but require long-term stewardship to endure.
• Choosing the right metrics to measure resilience will galvanize efforts to strengthen it.
• Community capacity is at least as important as built infrastructure.

Over two days, it became clear that Georgia Tech is not approaching resilience as a narrow technical problem. It is approaching it as a systems challenge — one that spans coastlines, campuses, disciplines, data centers, the Appalachian Mountains, data models, the arts, and human relationships. Designing systems that endure requires more than innovation. It requires collaboration, stewardship, and a shared commitment to long-term impact. The conversations launched at this year’s BBISS Sustainability Showcase laid the foundation for continued coordination and ambitious action in the months ahead.

The Eshelby Mechanics Award was established in 2012 in memory of Professor John Douglas Eshelby to promote the field of mechanics, among young researchers. The award will be formally presented at the 2026 Applied Mechanics Division Awards Banquet during the ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition in November.

Athanasiou and his team advance the fundamental mechanics and physics of materials and translates these insights into systems-level design strategies that address global challenges in resource efficiency and sustainable development. His research integrates advanced experimental methods capable of capturing material behavior under realistic operational conditions, mechanics-based design principles, and tailored AI- and physics-informed modeling frameworks.

Together, these efforts enable the development of life-cycle-efficient, cost-effective materials and structures for applications ranging from sustainable packaging to aerospace systems and space construction. His recent work published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) introduced a bioinspired framework to improve plastic recycling while addressing a foundational mechanics question: how can we build reliable structures from inherently variable materials?

Athanasiou is also the recipient of the 2024 NSF CAREER Award and the ASME Orr Early Career Award, and is a Climate Tech Fellow at the New York Climate Exchange.

Microbial monitoring includes tracking bacteria and other microorganisms that affect water quality, food production, and environmental systems. It’s traditionally been slow, expensive, and often restricted to specialized laboratories. Water samples often need to be shipped off-site, where testing could take days or even weeks. During that time, contamination risks grow, and critical decisions about water safety, food production, or environmental health are delayed. 

Their project, “Designing Futures: Afrofuturist Co-Creation with AI for Community-Led Facade Design” will be realized during a 16-week design studio (ARCH 4016) class that will take place during fall 2026 and serve senior undergraduate architecture students. Participants from diverse majors will join through the Building for Equity and Sustainability Vertically Integrated Project (VIP) team, in partnership with the Center for Sustainable Communities Research and Education (SCoRE). Pre-planning tasks will occur spring semester in preparation for the fall studio class.

The studio class will collaborate with Moinak Choudhury and students in LMC 3403, who bring expertise in technical communication, responsible AI use, and community-based learning to co-create engagement materials and public-facing documentation that strengthen the project’s interdisciplinary links between design, sustainability, and communication. 

The final result of the project encompasses students who will design and install a modular, solar-powered façade panel system for the outdoor classroom on WAWA’s campus. This project extends work done by a previous Georgia Tech VIP team.

The panels will serve multiple functions: participatory community engagement, artistic expression, and climate regulation. This project will advance the classroom toward its intended vision as an Afrofuturist learning space with technological nods to the Keneda Building on Georgia Tech’s campus. With the help of this seed grant, interdisciplinary team members will delve into design, engineering, computing, communication, and community partnership.

Some were still alive, but most of the birds were dead. They were all too easy to find.

“I knew birds hit buildings, but I didn’t know much more about the issue at that time, and I was surprised how easily I just found birds,” Betuel said.

Birds flying into windows aren’t isolated events. Environmentalists estimate between 365 million and one billion birds die each year from colliding with structures in the U.S.  

“That statistic is hard for most people to comprehend,” Betuel said. “When you think about the millions of homes we have and these high-rise buildings, and if each one is killing a few a year, that number can get big pretty quick.”

Betuel is the executive director of Birds Georgia, a nonprofit affiliate of the Audubon network that leads bird conservation efforts in Georgia. For 10 years, volunteers from the organization have combed Atlanta’s streets, collecting bird specimens.

Birds Georgia launched Project Safe Flight in 2015 to reduce bird building-collision mortality through data collection. Through legislation, the group aims to make building construction bird-friendly and reduce light pollution.

Environmentalists who study the issue have ranked Atlanta, which sits squarely on a migration route, as the fourth-most dangerous city for birds during fall migration. It is the ninth-most dangerous city during spring migration.

The number of bird deaths from collisions in Atlanta and across the state remains unknown. However, new data tools developed by student researchers in the College of Computing at Georgia Tech are helping Birds Georgia get a clearer picture of the issue.

“We’ve been working with different folks at Georgia Tech for years now, but it’s really picked up lately,” Betuel said. “There’s a lot of momentum and interest on campus to try to make the city safer for birds.”

Pushing for Policy

Ashley Boone, a Ph.D. student in human-centered computing in Tech’s School of Interactive Computing, has led the student effort to help Birds Georgia organize its data. 

Boone said organizing data and knowing how to use it is critical to spark conversations about adopting legislation.

“We often see a gap between data collection and data advocacy,” she said. “Birds Georgia has done an amazing job of tracking collisions in Atlanta over the last 10 years. My goal is to understand the role technology can play in making data useful for policy change.”

User-interface tools designed by computer science undergraduate students James Kemerait and Ian Wood have ramped up that process. One tool converts data input into visualizations optimized for social media, while another consolidates the data collected by volunteers and external sources.

Boone said the desired legislation would mirror policies implemented by New York City. Those policies require the use of bird-safe materials — like window film with patterned designs that break up reflections — in new buildings and buildings undergoing significant renovations. 

What Can Residents Do?

Residents, whose homes account for about 40% of bird collision deaths in the U.S., can also make an impact.

“Households are an underexamined cause of bird collisions,” Boone said. “We focus on the big buildings because it’s easier to convince one manager of a large building to use bird-safe materials, and it’s easier for a policy to address a commercial building. But the sheer volume of residential buildings in the U.S. has a tremendous impact on the number of collisions.”

Steps that homeowners can take include:

• Buying bird-safe film or making do-it-yourself versions of it to put on windows.
• Placing attractive objects like birdhouses and birdfeeders very close or very far away from windows.
• Turning off lights after 9 p.m. on the busiest migration nights of the year.

Betuel said millions of birds can fly over Atlanta on a single night during migration, and they are attracted to the city lights.

“They’ll come into urban centers and collide with an illuminated building, or maybe they overnight somewhere that isn’t safe,” he said. “The next day, they’re surrounded by glass, and birds don’t understand reflection.”

Residents can visit the Birds Georgia website to sign up for the Lights Out Pledge. Those who sign up will receive a text on the 10 busiest migratory nights of the year, and they will be asked to turn their lights off early.

The tools provided by Georgia Tech gave Birds Georgia insight into the number of bird species affected by collisions — more than 140, according to Betuel.

Betuel said that when the organization reaches an estimate of bird collisions, he hopes the number will raise alarms and turn people’s attention to the ecological impact. 

“All these birds being lost results in fewer birds to eat pest insects, fewer birds to pollinate flowers, fewer birds to disperse seeds — all the ecological functions that we need, that they’re doing in the background that most people aren’t keen to,” he said. “If this decline in bird life continues to happen, at some point, there will be issues with our ecosystems functioning as they always have.”

Georgia Tech is included in The Princeton Review’s Guide to Green Colleges for 2026, furthering the momentum from its recognition in last year’s report.  

Georgia Tech’s research enterprise is expanding its reach beyond campus walls, thanks to the work of the Community-Engaged Research (CER) Council. Formed in 2024, the council focuses on making collaborations between Georgia Tech and community partners easier, more strategic, and more impactful.

“At Georgia Tech, there’s incredible expertise in community engagement,” said Ruthie Yow SCoRE’s associate director, who facilitates the council. “But until now, there was no centralized way to connect those efforts. The council fills that gap.”

Five Pillars for Impact
The council’s strategy centers on five pillars: Coordination, Partners, Faculty Training and Recognition, Communication, and Resource Development. These priorities emerged from a strategic planning process involving seven interdisciplinary research institutes (IRIs) and centers, including Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems (BBISS), Institute for People and Technology (IPaT), Strategic Energy Institute (SEI), Renewable Bioproducts Institute (RBI), the Enterprise Innovation Institute (EI²), Partnership for Inclusive Innovation (PIN) and SCoRE.

New Tool: Community Connect Website
Council members are developing new tools to support these priorities, including the brand-new Community Connect website, led by Nicole Kennard, assistant director for Community-Engaged Research in BBISS. The platform connects faculty and community partners by allowing them to create profiles, post engagement opportunities, and view an interactive map of partnerships.

“When I started this role, faculty told me they wanted to know who Georgia Tech was already working with and how to find new partners,” Kennard said. “They didn’t want to duplicate efforts or cold-call potential partners. This website addresses this challenge by showing existing connections and helping track engagement.”

The site will also serve as a data repository to measure impact of partnerships. “Having this data will help us advocate for infrastructure and support for community-engaged research,” Kennard added.

BBISS, IPaT, and more than 70 people from five of the Institute’s colleges and 18 units across GT supported the development of this new interactive site. The site is up and running while the team makes minor adjustments before a full launch in Spring 2026. Make a profile and share any website feedback with Nicole Kennard.

Building Capacity: Grant Readiness Training
In September, the council sponsored a grant readiness training for 18 community-based organizations. Led by SCoRE, the two-day workshop covered proposal basics, budgeting, logic models, and outcome measurement parameters. Over the course of two full days at the Outdoor Activity Center in West Atlanta, participants in the training helped these partners build the foundational systems, content, and strategies needed for effective grant seeking. Rather than focusing solely on writing techniques, this intensive workshop emphasized organizational readiness—equipping participants with materials such as boilerplate content, budget templates, outcome measurement frameworks, and funder research strategies. Tailored for organizations with limited staff who juggle multiple roles, the training provided practical, immediately applicable tools that support a proactive, long-term approach to securing grant funding. Read more about the training here.

Collaboration in Action: Clarkston Project
Through the leadership of council members Leigh Hopkins and Candice McKie, the council is launching a collaboration with the Center for Economic Development Research (CEDR), to support strategic visioning for the City of Clarkston after funding cuts threatened its planning process. Clarkston, Georgia, one of the most culturally diverse cities in the country, is moving into the second phase of their collaboration with CEDR. The two groups together are continuing to work on place-making, community-wide events, and creative incentives to attract and retain new businesses.

“It was a great example of pooling resources to lift up community vision and meet a community need,” Yow said.

Networking for Impact
On December 10, the council will host a networking event for faculty and staff engaged in CER. The goal is to share successes, attract new collaborators, and identify projects for 2026.

Join us at 2 p.m. in the Student Success Center, President’s Suite B , for light refreshments.

Engagement Across IRIs
Georgia Tech’s interdisciplinary research institutes are already leading impactful projects: IPaT’s CEAR Hub supports climate and cultural resilience in Georgia’s barrier islands; BBISS works on conservation and cultural sustainability with tribal Ojibwe partners; SEI’s Energy Faculty Fellows Program builds research networks with minority-serving institutions; RBI’s ReWood initiative advances renewable forest biotechnology for a climate-smart economy.

Faculty interested in learning more about CER can start by connecting with the council members. “We want to make it easy for researchers and communities to create mutually beneficial partnerships,” Yow said. “Reach out, share your work, and join us in building Georgia Tech’s impact.”

Council members include Terri Sapp (RBI), Clint Zeagler (IPaT), Nicole Kennard (BBISS), Leigh Hopkins and Candice McKie (CEDR), Yang You (SEI), Katie O'Connor (PIN), Ruthie Yow (SCoRE), and Rose Santa Gonzalez (Institute for Robotics & Intelligent Machines.)

Now in her 11th year at Georgia Tech, Tien considers Atlanta an ideal environment for her work. “Being in a large metropolitan area has been great for collaborating with municipalities and utility providers,” says Tien, who has worked with the Georgia Department of Transportation, the City of Atlanta’s Department of Watershed Management, and Atlanta’s Emergency Response Department.

Tien considers resilience — withstanding and recovering from adverse events affecting communities — a key part of sustainability. Her research focuses on how to design better systems to meet community needs, especially under increasingly hazardous conditions where there is more strain on infrastructure.

Tien serves as principal investigator for a Sustainability Next Seed Grant that is a collaborative effort between Georgia Tech and Oak Ridge National Laboratory to create a Climate Atlas for the southeastern U.S. The project integrates detailed climate data with critical infrastructure asset information, socioeconomic indicators, and stories of climate impacts on communities to support climate mitigation and adaptation. In addition, Tien has led projects to develop a framework to help communities identify the right kinds of flood-control infrastructure. Choosing the correct type of technology now is critical as sea levels and flood risk rise, especially in coastal areas.

Tien says new technologies are leading to a better understanding and design of infrastructure systems, but have also exposed new vulnerabilities. Increasingly, she and her colleagues are considering potential cyberattacks on critical infrastructure, which represent a growing threat that could affect both utility providers and the people who rely on these essential services.

“From a civil engineering standpoint, if you disrupt any one of these systems, it could have a very large impact,” says the Berkeley engineering graduate.

Tien’s expertise extends to Georgia’s coast, where she is part of a team that hopes to increase community resilience in relation to flooding. One project involves installing sea-level sensors throughout Chatham County, the easternmost county in Georgia. The sensors monitor water levels in real time. A Georgia Tech tool helps coastal areas find ideal spots for water-level sensors based on flood risk and population vulnerability.

“We’ve looked at green versus gray solutions,” Tien said, explaining that green solutions could be ponds or basins to slow down water flow during flood events, while gray solutions might include new stormwater pipe systems to quickly move the water away.

Being connected to BBISS through the Sustainability Next Seed Grant program has enhanced Tien’s ability to work cross-functionally. “I definitely collaborate with social scientists, especially on the human and community engagement side of my work,” she says.

A recent project involved developing a new flood-risk curriculum for middle school students in coastal communities. “The program helped build disaster resilience while empowering young people to be better advocates for their communities,” says Tien.

“There’s an opportunity to engage with youth early on and help them better understand their communities. Empowering them in this way means that they can serve as strong advocates for improving their communities into the future.”

In her free time, Tien likes spending time outdoors, hiking, and playing an occasional pickup basketball game. “Being in nature gives you time to think and refresh yourself,” she says.

-- written by Anne Wainscott-Sargent

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

Each fellow will serve a three-year term, with the possibility of renewal. Established in 2014, the BBISS Faculty Fellows program draws talent from all seven Georgia Tech Colleges and the Georgia Tech Research Institute. “The Fellows bring diverse expertise and unique perspectives that enrich our academic community,” says BBISS Executive Director Beril Toktay. “Their interdisciplinary backgrounds create valuable opportunities for collaboration that strengthens our sustainability initiatives and expands the Institute's impact.” These faculty members will join the current roster of BBISS Faculty Fellows.

• Emily Barrett, Assistant Professor, School of City and Regional Planning, College of Design.
• Suvrat Dhanorkar, Associate Professor of Operations Management, Scheller College of Business.
• Bobby Harris, Assistant Professor, School of Economics, Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.
• Sofía Pérez-Guzmán, Assistant Professor, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering.
• Ahmed Saeed, Assistant Professor, School of Computer Science, College of Computing.
• Ali Sarhadi, Assistant Professor, School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, College of Sciences.
• Patricia Stathatou, Assistant Professor, School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, College of Engineering.

Her path to Georgia Tech was shaped by years of hands-on experience in nonprofit environmental advocacy, driving partnerships among medical professionals, scientists, and educators to protect air quality and children’s health. “I kept asking myself why it is,” she says, “that in a city like Atlanta, with all these higher education institutions and one of the largest concentrations of nonprofit organizations in the country, there weren’t more partnerships between nonprofits and academia.” Watts Hull says she was confused since the two groups “often care about and are aiming to advance the same things.”

In 2013, while teaching a continuing education course on sustainability leadership at Emory University, Watts Hull realized that sustainability in higher education was taking off. She pivoted to pursue a Ph.D. at Georgia Tech in history and sociology, and later joined Georgia Tech’s Serve-Learn-Sustain (SLS) program, established to build bridges between the university and community partners.

When Georgia Tech’s strategic plan elevated sustainability as a core value, Watts Hull served on the “Amplify Impact” team to help shape the strategy and implementation of the plan. An immediate result was the creation of her role within the Center for Teaching and Learning, specifically around sustainability and the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). “Our aim is to equip students to become true change makers, who can advance the SDGs and fulfill Georgia Tech’s mission of improving not only technology, but also lives and communities,” she explains.

Central to her approach are partnerships with other units, including BBISS, which unites faculty and researchers across the Institute who are focused on sustainability. Watts Hull leads the Community of Practice on Transformative Teaching with the SDGs, an initiative in its third year. “It’s a space where faculty can learn from each other how to teach sustainability in different disciplines,” she says. In addition, participants engage in outreach, sharing cross-disciplinary strategies and creative classroom approaches at Georgia Tech events and conferences.

Watts Hull says incorporating sustainability into courses not only enhances students’ overall learning and motivation but also helps faculty find renewed meaning and enjoyment in their teaching. “Well-designed, real-world projects help students see the importance of what they’re learning, and they stay engaged,” she notes. “But it’s also true that faculty feel more inspired when they know their teaching matters for big, pressing challenges.” One way faculty can engage is by applying for Undergraduate Sustainability Education Innovation grants. To date, 60 awards have been granted to faculty across campus.

Supporting student and faculty success is a family affair. Her husband, Jonathan, serves as associate vice chancellor for Student and Faculty Success for the University System of Georgia. “Our work both relates to teaching and learning, so we enjoy sharing that in common,” says Watts Hull, whose early community work included serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in Uganda.

Most recently, the busy administrator has contributed a chapter to a 2025 book, Higher Education’s Leadership in Climate Action and Sustainability, where she highlights five strategies for scaling up faculty engagement in sustainability across the curriculum.

One of her favorite pastimes is hiking in North Georgia, especially on Blood Mountain, the state’s highest summit along the Appalachian Trail. “The view from the top is just spectacular,” she says. It’s a fitting parallel to the ongoing journey toward a more sustainable future at Georgia Tech, one step — and partnership — at a time.

—Anne Wainscott-Sargent

The island's natural beauty and vitality served as both inspiration and an urgent reminder of what communities across Georgia stand to lose without coordinated action. Faculty, administration, research fellows, students, collaborators, and Georgia Tech President Emeritus and keynote speaker G. Wayne Clough brought diverse perspectives to discussions ranging from coastal vulnerability to data-driven decision-making. Throughout the event, one theme remained constant: the essential role of interdisciplinary research in addressing real-world environmental challenges across the state.

In the reflections below, Georgia Tech attendees share their takeaways from this landmark gathering.

“The continued commitment by many stakeholders to manage our carbon pollution stood out, as did the importance and fragility of Georgia’s coastal wetlands. It was also rewarding to reconnect with Wayne Clough and hear his geological perspective on our state. I was particularly impressed by the use of AI and spatial data analytics featured in the tools cafe.”
— Marilyn Brown, Regents’ and Brook Byers Professor, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School of Public Policy

“Resiliency is now. It’s not a future goal — it’s a present imperative. As we face accelerating environmental challenges, we must adapt in real time to protect our resources and communities. I was deeply inspired by Wayne Clough’s keynote, which emphasized the importance of conservation and forward-thinking systems that can endure uncertainty. What struck me most was the number of Georgia Tech colleagues actively advancing both urban and rural resiliency across our state. Their dedication and innovation give me hope and reaffirm the importance of collaboration in this work.”
 — Jennifer Chirico, Associate Vice President of Sustainability

“It was great to reconnect and network with sponsors, Georgia researchers, local governments, and other stakeholders concerned with coastal resiliency. I was pleasantly surprised by Georgia Tech’s strong presence this year and proud to see my colleagues presenting and moderating sessions. It was long overdue, as planners routinely address issues like climate change and resiliency. The conference’s dedicated focus on connecting natural areas across the state deeply resonated. Having worked on greenspace issues for 25 years, I was inspired by the vision for a statewide trail system linking Macon to the coast through wildlife corridors. Big ideas like this will make a real difference in Georgia’s future.”
— Tony Giarrusso, Associate Director, Center for Urban Resilience and Analytics, College of Design

“The Georgia Resilience Conference provided a great forum for us to introduce our new Georgia Tech for Georgia’s Tomorrow (GT²) Center to a range of stakeholders and collaborators — from the Georgia DNR to local officials. From the coastal barrier islands to the Blue Ridge Mountains, we’re focusing on research that strengthens resilience and reduces risk from natural disasters, while connecting Georgia Tech’s science to communities across the state. We were inspired by the level of collaboration among agencies, researchers, and practitioners, and we were glad to jointly debut the center’s plans at this year’s event. Our thanks to Jennifer Kline and the Georgia DNR for organizing such a meaningful and energizing conference.”
— Joel Kostka, Tom and Marie Patton Distinguished Professor and Inaugural Director, Georgia Tech for Georgia’s Tomorrow (GT²); Associate Chair for Research, School of Biological Sciences

“I had a phenomenal experience at the Georgia Resilience Conference. It was heartening and eye-opening to see so many participants from all sectors invested in protecting the environment and supporting communities impacted by environmental change. I connected with professors from other universities to discuss future collaborations that could expand on my current project at Tech. Additionally, when I spoke with project managers and engineers within the private sector, I was further motivated by the realization that there is both interest and need for the research we are doing — not only to advance science but also to help those restoring our waterways apply the most promising and sustainable techniques available. This conference was well worth it and is already on my calendar for next time.”
— Maggie Straight, Ph.D. Candidate, Ocean Science and Engineering

“One of the best parts of the conference was spending time with current and former Ph.D. students like Maggie Straight and Sarah Roney (Ph.D. OSE 2025). Maggie’s research characterizes bacteria-algae interactions in micro-algae systems, while Sarah worked on oyster ecosystems during her time at Georgia Tech. What struck me about our conversation was that the principles of resilience show up at every scale. Both Maggie and Sarah are exploring how foundational species — from micro-algae to oysters — create the conditions for entire ecosystems to thrive. This is exactly the kind of systems thinking we need. I am proud to see the next generation of scientists translating their research into real-world impact and grateful for conversations that connect the dots across disciplines and scales.”
— Beril Toktay, Executive Director, Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems; Regents’ Professor; and Brady Family Chair in Management, Scheller College of Business

The Georgia Resilience Conference highlighted the power of collaboration — connecting scientists, policymakers, and community leaders who are shaping Georgia’s response to a changing climate. BBISS remains dedicated to amplifying these voices and translating research into action that strengthens resilience across the Southeast.

— Written by Seungho Lee

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

While the future frequency of hurricanes remains uncertain, scientists agree on key trends: A warmer atmosphere holds more moisture, fueling heavier rainfall. Rising sea levels are amplifying storm surge. Warmer ocean temperatures fuel rapid storm growth. When these factors combine, researchers call this phenomenon hurricane-induced compound flooding.

Sarhadi studies this phenomenon. “In a warming climate, this type of flooding is becoming more frequent and more severe,” he explains. “With U.S. hurricane damages exceeding $28 billion annually, most loss of life and destruction comes from water, not wind,” says Sarhadi, who joined Georgia Tech in 2024 after postdoctoral work in MIT’s Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences. 

Learning From Hurricane Sandy

Building on insights from his postdoctoral work, Sarhadi has developed advanced physics-based and machine learning frameworks to model hurricane hazards such as storm surge and compound flooding and assess their potential economic impacts on coastal infrastructure. His models predict both hazard magnitude and how risk may evolve.

He applied this framework to analyze Hurricane Sandy, which struck New York City in 2012, causing $70 billion in damage. “Our analysis shows that flooding events like Sandy may occur once every 150 years in the current climate,” Sarhadi explains. “But with warming oceans and shifting storm dynamics, that timeline could shrink to once every 60 years by midcentury and once every 30 years by century’s end.”

Leveraging Georgia Tech’s Multidisciplinary Strengths 

Sarhadi says that joining Georgia Tech has opened the door to new interdisciplinary collaborations aimed at advancing hurricane forecasting and strengthening the resilience of coastal regions. From seawalls to AI-enhanced power grids and smarter warning systems, he sees real potential to reduce the vulnerability of communities facing increasingly severe storm impacts. 

“I’m excited to be here. It’s a vibrant and supportive community,” Sarhadi says. “The students are incredibly bright and deeply passionate about science.”

His research draws on the intersection of engineering, physics-based modeling, and AI, reflecting Georgia Tech’s broad strengths in climate resilience and computational science.

In 2024, Sarhadi received a seed grant to advance his research from the Georgia Tech College of Sciences (COS) Climate Frontiers Symposium, co-funded by COS, the Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems, and the Strategic Energy Institute. “Georgia Tech is strong in every direction,” he adds. “It’s a highly collaborative environment where everyone is committed to advancing meaningful solutions.”

An Avid Soccer Player and Foodie

Outside the lab, Sarhadi enjoys traveling and hiking. A longtime soccer enthusiast who once played semi-professionally, he still joins local pickup games. He also enjoys exploring Atlanta’s diverse food scene. “I really like Persian and Mexican cuisine — there are so many great restaurants here,” he says.

— writen by Anne Wainscott-Sargent

“My primary goal is to help drive collaboration and sustainability research on campus as an interdisciplinary grant development professional, seeking out what grants are appropriate for Georgia Tech colleagues to submit proposals for, and helping facilitate interdisciplinary research teams,” says Janacek, who graduated from Tech in 2005 with a master’s degree in aerospace engineering and then spent six years as a research engagement manager for the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering’s Aerospace Systems Design Laboratory.

In this newly created BBISS role, Janacek is eager to amplify the Institute’s interdisciplinary research portfolio and foster stronger relationships between Georgia Tech and its partners. Her primary focus is on interdisciplinary grant development to support innovative research, and secondarily, she will serve as research engagement manager, coordinating collaborative research opportunities with industry partners.

Before joining BBISS, Janacek was the North American sustainability lead at Avanade, a joint venture between Accenture and Microsoft, where she helped clients use data for impact-driven sustainability initiatives. Her career also included significant stints at GE, where she led sponsorships for energy-focused student competitions and volunteered with campus initiatives like the Georgia Tech Energy Camp. Janacek also co-founded a consulting firm with former GE colleagues and has worked closely with a range of partners to foster industry engagement. Her track record in marketing, sales, and business development will position her to build teams that can secure funding and deliver measurable results.

“I'm really excited about establishing a way to quantify the outcomes of BBISS’s efforts,” she says. “By tracking how many grants we've identified, applied for, and secured — and by assessing how the resulting research is driving tangible improvements in our community — we can clearly demonstrate the value and effectiveness of our work.”

She also plans to help community and industry partners become more engaged with BBISS’ work, leveraging her broad industry network to secure additional resources — whether that’s through volunteering, technical support, or real-world impact for community-based organizations.

“Corporate and industry organizations are always looking for a way to better their world around them, and they have mechanisms to help employees volunteer their time and knowledge,” she says.

Calling All Innovative Collaborators

Janacek welcomes engagement from faculty, researchers, and students who are passionate about making an impact — particularly those open to interdisciplinary collaboration. “I look forward to having an open dialogue about how we can combine disciplines to have a broader impact,” she says, adding that her ideal Georgia Tech partners are collaborative, open-minded, and forward-thinking in how they seek to advance their research.

Inspired by BBISS’ recent grant-writing workshop, Janacek says,  “I have a lot of ideas about how we can reach out to small businesses, community nonprofits, and industry partners.”

“Kristin’s combination of strategic skills, teamwork, and holistic vision signals a new chapter of meaningful impact at BBISS — one poised to benefit not only Georgia Tech, but also the wider communities the Institute serves,” says Ameet Pinto, BBISS’ associate director of Interdisciplinary Research and Collaboration and Carlton S. Wilder Associate Professor in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Beyond the Office: Endurance, Wellness, Balance

Outside of work, Janacek is a seasoned triathlon competitor, certified triathlon coach, and avid tennis player. The mom of two sees physical and mental well-being as essential, just as achieving broader sustainability goals within communities and organizations depends on a balance between environmental, social, and economic factors.

— written by Anne Wainscott-Sargent

Flooding can be an existential threat, affecting everything from infrastructure to health. Georgia Tech researchers are developing solutions to monitor and forecast flooding, as well as restore ecosystems to prevent future flooding. These efforts support communities’ resilience in the face of climate change and keep the U.S. secure.

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The seed grant program, administered by the Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems (BBISS), reaches many faculty members from a diverse array of disciplines due to the generous support provided by broad-based partnerships in addition to the Sustainability Next funds. This year’s partners are the Georgia Tech Arts Initiative, BBISS, Walter H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, College of Design, School of City and Regional Planning, School of Computer Science, Ray C. Anderson Center for Sustainable Business, Energy Policy and Innovation Center, Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience, Institute for Matter and Systems, Institute for People and Technology, Institute for Robotics and Intelligent Machines, Strategic Energy Institute, and Center for Sustainable Communities Research and Education.

The goal of the program is to nurture promising research areas for future large-scale collaborative sustainability research, research translation, and/or high-impact outreach; to provide mid-career faculty with leadership and community-building opportunities; and to broaden and strengthen the Georgia Tech sustainability community as a whole. The call for proposals was modeled after the Office of the Executive Vice President for Research’s Moving Teams Forward and Forming Teams programs.

Looking ahead, BBISS will support and nurture these projects in collaboration with the relevant funding partners. Beginning in October, BBISS will host a series of focused workshops designed to foster collaboration and provide additional support to help advance these initiatives. Projects have been grouped into five thematic clusters, each of which will be the focus of an upcoming workshop:

• Circularity Programs
• Adaptation to the Changing Environment
• Community Engagement and Education
• Climate Science and Solutions
• Environmental and Health Impacts

BBISS faculty fellows, past seed grant recipients, and other interested Georgia Tech faculty are invited to participate. If you are interested in participating in the workshops, please email kristin.janacek@gatech.edu. The first session on Circularity Programs is Oct. 16 at 1 p.m. in the Peachtree Room (3rd floor) of the John Lewis Student Center.

The 2025 Sustainability Next Seed Grant awards are:

Forming Teams:

• Developing a Sustainable and Ethical Electric Vehicle Ecosystem Workforce for the Future Through Cross-Sector Partnerships. Principal Investigators (PI): Joe Bozeman. Co-Principal Investigator (Co-PI): Jennifer Hirsch.
• Unlocking Circularity at Scale: Platform-Based Solutions for Advancing Material Reuse and Supply Chain Resilience. Principal Investigator: Marco Ceccagnoli. Co-PIs: Matthew Realff, Patricia Stathatou, Christos Athanasiou.
• OpenGUARD: Geospatial Utility Aggregations with Robust Differential Privacy. PI: Patrick Kastner. Co-PI: Juba Ziani.
• Regenerative Framework: A Transdisciplinary Model for Urban Climate Resilience and Soil Health. PI: Jenny McGuire. Co-PI: Nicole Kennard.
• Guiding Transportation With Community Action Through Research, Education, and Service (GT-CARES). PI: Rounaq Basu. Co-PIs: Ruthie Yow,  Sofía Pérez-Guzmán, Rebecca Watts Hull.
• Co-optimizing Design and Coordination for Sustainable Multi-Robot Construction. PI: Edvard Bruun. Co-PI: Harish Ravichanda.
• Campus as Material Ecology: Building Transdisciplinary Circular Systems for Plastic Tracking, Transformation, and Community Engagement. PI: Hyojin Kwon. Co-PIs: Michael Best, Russ Clark, Tim Trent, Meisha Shofner.
• Sonifying Climate Infrastructures: Community Outreach and Education With Shade Synthesizer. PI: Heidi Biggs. Co-PIs: Clint Zeagler, Alexandria Smith.
• Building a Georgia Tech Research Partnership for Community-Based Food System Resilience. PI: Johannes Milz. Co-PIs: Xin Chen, Inge Rocker,  Sofía Pérez-Guzmán, Nicole Kennard.

Moving Teams Forward:

• Are Data Centers the New Landfills? Social, Economic, and Environmental Tradeoffs. PI: Allen Hyde. Co-PIs: Josiah Hester, Cindy Lin, Nicole Kennard, Joe Bozeman, Elora Raymond, Tony Harding, Jung-Ho Lewe.
• Game-Based Learning in Energy Systems: A Rigorous Evaluation of Current Crisis. PI: Jessica Roberts. Co-PI: Daniel Molzahn.
• Strategic Application of Antibiotic-Independent Therapy to Treat Coral Disease Outbreaks. PI: Lauren Speare.
• Advancing Water Reuse Through Research, Education, and Community Partnerships in Atlanta, Georgia. PI: Katherine Graham. Co-PIs: Amanda Nolen, Yeqing Kong.
• Assessing the Accuracy and Reliability of Low-Cost Particulate Matter (PM) Sensors Across Diverse Ambient Environments. PI: Nga Lee (Sally) Ng. Co-PI: Ted Russell.
• Developing a Georgia Community Center Into a Sustainability Hub. PI: Ashutosh Dhekne, Co-PIs: Umakishore Ramachandran, Danielle Willkens, Ruthie Yow.
• What, When, Where of Air Pollution: PM2.5 and How It Impacts Health. PI: Shuichi Takayama. Co-PI: Nga Lee (Sally) Ng.
• Enabling Communities to Baseline the Performance of Energy Systems. PI: Jung-Ho Lewe. Co-PIs: Scott Duncan, David Solano Sarmiento, Danielle Willkens, Anna Tinoco-Santiago.

This round of funding was highly competitive, with 45 proposals submitted. BBISS extends its gratitude to all the individuals and groups who applied, as well as to the faculty and staff who contributed their time and expertise to evaluate the proposals. Their thoughtful input was essential to achieving a fair and collaborative selection process, ensuring that the awarded proposals align strongly with the BBISS’ strategy and show promise for long-term impact and future research opportunities.

According to BBISS Executive Director Beril Toktay, and Brady Family Chair in Management, “The high level of participation demonstrates the enduring commitment to sustainability research and engagement by the Georgia Tech community. BBISS honors this commitment by looking for collaboration opportunities with all who are driving sustainability efforts at Georgia Tech.”

While EV charging locator apps can show drivers where the nearest charger is, they aren’t always accurate enough to show real-time status, such as whether a charger is working and available. How are drivers supposed to hit the road when they aren’t sure where their next charge is coming from? This uncertainty can be enough to deter drivers from purchasing an EV altogether.

New research from Georgia Tech, Harvard University, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology suggests that state governments should step in to help. The right policy could inspire data transparency by station hosts, ensuring that EV drivers have reliable networks — and thus encourage EV ownership. The researchers presented their findings in the paper, “Charger Data Transparency: Curing Range Anxiety, Powering EV Adoption,” in September’s Brookings. 

Data Deserts

The researchers conducted a field experiment to discover the extent of the problem. This analysis showed that just 34% of EV charging stations provide real-time status updates across six major interstates in 40 U.S. states. The researchers found 150 to 350-mile stretches without real-time charger availability, longer than the stated range of many EV models. This leaves thousands of miles of highways in a data desert. 

“We just don't have real-time data infrastructure necessary to build confidence in the reliability of charging, especially in communities along transit corridors,” said Omar Asensio, an associate professor in the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School of Public Policy. “It's not that the capability isn’t there. It's that there aren't clear incentives to encourage EV charging station operators to do the right thing and share the data.” 

Charging Transparency

Government regulation is necessary to improve charging reliability, according to the researchers. State governments could offer funding for charging stations only if the station host agrees to data transparency. A simpler policy proposal would be for all fast chargers on highways to post their real-time status to an application programming interface, where software developers could access it. This approach would provide reliable information on whether a public charger is operational, and it can make government spending more efficient by leveraging network effects. The research team is already collaborating with state governments from Massachusetts to Georgia to discuss how to make this government regulation a reality. 

State governments will also benefit, as EVs can help them close the gap on decreasing carbon emissions. 

“Electric vehicles are a key strategy for decarbonizing the transportation sector and delivering public health co-benefits, but consumers need to trust that public chargers will work when they need them,” Asensio said. “Until real-time data disclosure standards are addressed, reliable, widespread adoption will be hard. A data-centric approach can enhance the efficiency of existing transportation investments.”

Many states, including Georgia, have also supported EV manufacturing. EV brand Rivian recently broke ground on an assembly plant outside Atlanta. More widespread EV adoption is paramount to making these plants economic successes. Data transparency regulations could be a start toward finally making EVs the ideal road trip vehicle. 

I returned from Climate Week NYC energized by what I witnessed: Georgia Tech faculty, students, and startups showcasing the breadth and depth of our climate innovation work on one of the world's biggest stages.

Climate Week NYC brings together more than 900 events, but what stood out wasn’t the scale — it was the substance. Across five New York Climate Exchange partner events, the Georgia Tech community demonstrated something essential. Georgia Tech bridges research and real-world impact where it matters most — in people’s lives.

At the Super South event, we flipped the script on where climate innovation happens and demonstrated the Southeast as a climate tech powerhouse. Too often, conversations about climate tech center on coastal hubs. But Georgia Tech-affiliated entrepreneurs Tarek Rakha (Lamarr.AI), Mya Love Griesbaum (Mycorrhiza Fashion), Joe Metzler (Metzev), Laura Stoy (Ph.D. ECE 2021, Rivalia Chemical), Charlie Cichetti (MGT 2004, Skema), Joseph Mooney (research engineer, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, WattAir), Lewis Motion (MBA 2017, WEAV3D), and Ramtin Motahar (IE 2004, ECON 2004, M.S. AE 2017, Joulea) showed that the Southeast isn’t just participating in the clean energy transition — we’re leading it.

The Climate Tech Fellowship Showcase was personal. Seeing two Georgia Tech teams — Patricia Stathatou and Christos Athanasiou’s yeast-based water purification system, and Xiao Liu’s AI-powered wildfire management platform — selected for the inaugural cohort reminded me why partnerships like the New York Climate Exchange matter. These early-stage innovators need more than good ideas. They need networks, mentorship, and funding pathways. NYCE provides those connections.

From flooding to batteries, two symposia highlighted GT faculty doing research that matters. At Weathering the Future, Iris Tien joined experts from AECOM, NVIDIA, and the NYC Department of Environmental Protection to discuss integrating resilience into urban infrastructure. Her work on coastal adaptation and infrastructure resilience addresses real vulnerabilities that cities face today. The Global Battery Alliance Leadership Meeting and Urban Battery Forum brought Yuanzhi Tang into conversations about building sustainable, circular battery value chains. As EVs scale and stationary storage grows, how we manage battery lifecycles — from securing raw resources to manufacturing to second-life reuse/recycling — will determine how we balance electrification, sustainability, environmental considerations, and economics; more details can be found in the NYCE report on battery circularity co-authored by Wyatt Williams (M.S. CEE 2024, MBA 2024).

Nicole Kennard’s leadership in the Climate Storytelling Workshop reinforced something I believe deeply: Technical solutions alone won’t solve the climate crisis. We need approaches that center community voices, acknowledge environmental justice concerns, and build trust. This became particularly clear in Kennard’s lecture for NYU’s Center for Urban Science and Progress: "Food, Place, and Belonging: From Global Visions to Local Sustainability." Presented with Janelle Wright (M CP 2022) from the West Atlanta Watershed Alliance, this lecture demonstrated how sustainable food systems can draw on global frameworks but must center community values and honor the history of place.

A few insights emerged from the week:

1. Geography matters — and so does bridging it. Collaborative platforms like NYCE that create genuine partnerships across regions will be more effective in achieving Georgia Tech’s vision of doing climate work that is grounded in Georgia and global in impact.

2. Visibility accelerates impact. Several faculty and entrepreneurs told me that Climate Week NYC opened doors — to investors, to funders, to partners, and to media. Platforms like NYCE amplify work that might otherwise stay local.

3. Students are passionate about climate opportunities. Every conversation about internships, fellowships, and experiential learning generated immediate interest. We need to build more pathways for students like Rohan Datta and Amanda Ehrenhalt to engage in climate work across both New York and Atlanta ecosystems — creating opportunities for hands-on experience, knowledge diffusion across regions, and the professional networks that will define their careers.

4. Our community extends far beyond campus. Meeting alumnus Alan Warren (PHYS 1978) drove this message home. Alan brings a unique vantage point on coastal resilience challenges faced in New York — and he’s energized by what our partnership can achieve. His offer to serve as Georgia Tech’s “envoy” in NYC, connecting our climate work to networks and opportunities there, is exactly the kind of volunteer leadership that accelerates impact. Alan’s own inspirational story of resilience and regeneration makes his commitment to climate resilience work even more meaningful.

Looking ahead, I see Georgia Tech’s partnership with the NYCE creating a powerful platform: NYCE amplifies our work through capital and convening; Georgia Tech anchors deployment with Southeast roots and global reach. Working alongside a distinguished board led by incoming chair Andrea Goldsmith, president of Stony Brook University, gives me confidence in this direction.

President Ángel Cabrera met with Goldsmith this week and reaffirmed our shared vision for bridging research and impact. “Georgia Tech’s mission has always been about translating knowledge into progress that serves society,” said Cabrera. “The New York Climate Exchange partnership exemplifies this commitment to innovative solutions that can be scaled to create real human impact. By connecting our strengths in community-engaged climate research with networks that can amplify and accelerate solutions, we’re living our motto of Progress and Service as we address one of humanity’s most urgent challenges.”

The Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems (BBISS) convenes faculty, students, and partners to address sustainability challenges through research, education, and collaboration. Connect with BBISS on LinkedIn to be part of the ongoing discussion and/or reach out to Susan Ryan (susan.ryan@gatech.edu) to be added to BBISS’ climate science and solutions community of practice.

Read more on the Georgia Tech Materials Science and Engineering Newspage

The Drawdown Georgia Solutions Tracker is a digital dashboard that enables everyday Georgians to see how effective various technologies could be for each county. The tracker analyzes public data for 16 solutions — from planting trees to public transit — that can lower greenhouse gas emissions. The tracker is equally essential for policymakers and business leaders, enabling them to identify opportunities to propose legislation or adjust operations to reduce carbon emissions.

To use the tracker, viewers click on a solution to see its impact. Then, they specify a particular county, and the data is tailored to the most relevant metric. For example, if someone picks “plant-based diet” as a solution, they can see how many vegan restaurants are already in their county. The tracker also contrasts the climate solution with a relevant area that might benefit if the solution is implemented. For the plant-based example, the tracker compares it to urban density. 

This tracker is one of the many initiatives of Drawdown Georgia, one of the Ray C. Anderson Foundation’s key funding initiatives based on research conducted by Georgia Tech, Georgia State University, the University of Georgia, and Emory University. Drawdown Georgia's goal is to reduce Georgia’s carbon impact by 57% by 2030 and to accelerate Georgia’s progress toward net-zero greenhouse emissions. 

Drawdown Georgia also developed a carbon emissions tracker that shows carbon emission levels by county. The dashboard was a success, but the Drawdown Georgia team wanted to create a more proactive tool. The Solutions Tracker was designed so that anyone could make smalldaily changes to improve the climate — not just track it.

“We began the Drawdown Georgia project with the goal of cutting state pollution significantly,” said Marilyn Brown, Regents' Professor and the Brook Byers Professor of Sustainable Systems in the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School of Public Policy. "To get Georgians involved, we decided to focus on local and regional opportunities to reduce emissions.”

Drawdown Data

The data combines federal and state sources from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and the Department of Agriculture. Some solutions may seem obvious, like planting trees, but others are more niche. For example, decomposing trash often produces methane gas, which means that landfills contribute to greenhouse gas emissions — important information for policymakers to consider when developing carbon reduction strategies. 

The researchers hope everyone will use the tracker. Politicians and policymakers can find new ideas for legislation or the adoption of these solutions. Business leaders can find opportunities to hit their decarbonization goals. Georgians can use the tracker to figure out which solutions are most sustainable for their lives. Even scientists can learn which methods to home in on for their research. Since the tracker is available via Creative Commons, anyone can use the data to build their own tools or models. 

The tracker is already having a real-world impact. Brown and the Drawdown Georgia team have collaborated with the state of Georgia and the 29-county metro Atlanta area on their carbon action plans. They’ve also partnered with 75 businesses on carbon action plans and other solutions through the Drawdown Georgia Business Compact, managed by the Ray C. Anderson Center for Sustainable Business in the Scheller College of Business. As these stakeholders ask questions about different climate solution impacts, the team has expanded the tracker accordingly. They’ve also recently redesigned the user interface to make it even more accessible for everyday users.

From improved public health to business opportunities, the state requires reduced greenhouse gases, and Georgia Tech is not only tracking emissions but helping to fix the problem, too.

The  Sustainable Communities Summer Internship Program in the Center for Sustainable Communities Research and Education (SCoRE) taps students from across the Institute, who gain real-world experience in both sustainability and community engagement, while participating partners scale their operations and deepen their relationship with Georgia Tech.

“It is a nontraditional internship, but it is so effective,” says Kristina Chatfield, director of business administration for the Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems (BBISS), who manages the operational components of the program.

Impact on Atlanta’s Sustainability Community

Now in its eighth summer, the program has placed more than 200 students with over 60 Atlanta community organizations. Many return year after year, like WunderGrubs, an Atlanta-based insect farm that wants to bring a sustainable, nutritious form of protein to communities.

“I can’t overstate the value that Georgia Tech students bring to our company every summer through the SCoRE internship program,” says CEO and co-founder Akissi Stokes-Nelson, explaining that WunderGrubs’ mission is rooted in food equity and social impact. “We’re constantly innovating to support smallholder farmers, develop educational programs, and expand our reach both locally and globally. The SCoRE interns have been instrumental in helping us realize this vision.”

Stokes-Nelson says they add immediate capacity to WunderGrubs’ small team, bringing fresh perspectives and technical expertise — whether it’s developing new curricula for STEAM summer camps, introducing technology like Internet of Things (IoT) sensors and Arduino controllers, or helping the company build and scale its modular “grub shed” farming systems. She credits them with enabling her to reframe her business, pilot new programs, and even expand internationally, citing a recent partnership in Rwanda.

“What sets the Georgia Tech interns apart is their maturity, technical skill, and genuine passion for social impact. They’re not just here to learn — they’re here to contribute, innovate, and help us grow,” she says.

“The program is unique in its focus on both student development and organizational impact, particularly for underrepresented and first-generation students,” says Ruthie Yow, associate director of SCoRE, who leads partner engagement and student learning.

Georgia Tech covers all costs, including stipends for the full 12 weeks. Students take part in a seminar one evening a week to learn about grassroots sustainability innovation. They can also earn an internship course credit.

Connecting With Students in STEM

Intern Ridoine Idrissou, a computer science undergraduate at Tech, supported WunderGrubs’ “Tech Avengers” STEM summer camp. “We taught kids about cybersecurity, IoT, how to be safe online, and they learned about mealworms. They got rid of almost one ton of trash,” recalls Idrissou, who also developed IoT kits for the company’s farm sheds. “It’s not all about coding,” adds the Togo, West Africa, native. “It’s about connecting to the environment. It’s given me a whole different type of experience than I normally have as a computer science major.”

Idrissou, who has spent his last three summers interning, credits the program with giving him a chance when nobody else would. “My internship experience makes me appreciate the field I’m in, and it gives me a good idea of how to be mindful, when building software or other products, of the well-being of other people.” He plans to pursue a career in cybersecurity and system administration after he graduates next spring.

This positive internship experience isn’t the only one. Another organization benefiting from Georgia Tech’s talented students is the Lifecycle Building Center (LBC) in Atlanta.

Shannon Goodman, a Georgia Tech architecture program alumna, serves as executive director of the LBC. She considers her interns foundational to her nonprofit, which reduces waste in the built environment by salvaging materials like lumber, cabinets, flooring, and appliances, and making them available to the community, nonprofits, and for reuse in new projects. The organization runs a 70,000 square-foot warehouse and provides free materials and services to nonprofits across Atlanta.

“Our interns have been the connective tissue that helps all the different resource-constrained CEOs and community-based organizations build strong, trusted relationships with each other and lay the groundwork for our training program,” Goodman says.

Assessing the Lifecycle of Salvaged Building Materials

Morgan Hale interned at LBC while completing her graduate degree in sustainable energy and environmental management. “This internship program bridges sustainability with all the academic pathways at Georgia Tech. It does a great job of engaging students and educating them on ways to take what they're learning from school and map that into a career in sustainability,” says Hale, whose capstone project focused on the lifecycle assessment of salvaged building materials. “This internship perfectly aligned with my academic and career interests in sustainability and policy,” she adds. “And the extra workshops and networking opportunities are invaluable.”

For Goodman, education remains a key part of her team’s role. “Our job at the end of the day is helping people understand all the different types of opportunities that get lost when we just throw materials away. I don't know how we would do it without our interns. Through her capstone project, Morgan developed tools and procedures for calculating the embodied carbon and GHG emissions of the materials we salvage to create Environmental Product Declarations, or EPDs, for reclaimed materials, which don’t currently exist in the U.S. EPDs allow us to prove exactly how much better salvaged materials perform compared to new products, and will enable the material reuse industry to scale in the U.S. at a rate never seen before.”

LBC’s connection to Georgia Tech doesn’t stop with the internship program, however. “We have had countless professors from different departments of Georgia Tech bring their students here to learn about what we do, engage with us, and get materials from us,” says Goodman, noting that back in 2022, Georgia Tech was instrumental in helping her assemble community organizations like the West Atlanta Watershed Alliance and many others to form the ReBuildATL Coalition. Today, the coalition includes more than 40 nonprofits, academic institutions, industry partners, and local government agencies that empower Westside Atlanta neighborhoods.

Learn More

The Sustainable Communities Summer Internship Program is a partnership between SCoRE and the Office of Community-Based Learning. It is co-sponsored by the Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems, the Strategic Energy Institute, the Renewable Bioproducts Institute, the Office of Commercialization, and the Sustainability Next initiative.

To learn more about the program, including how to contribute financially to the program or to become a participating partner, visit https://scre.research.gatech.edu/sustainable-communities-summer-internship-program.

By Anne Wainscott-Sargent

The structures they created greatly reduced the variability of mechanical properties typically found in recycled plastic. Their product also maintained the performance of the original plastic materials.

The researchers said their bio-inspired design could help cut manufacturing costs of virgin packaging materials by nearly 50% and offer potential savings of hundreds of millions of dollars. And, because less than 10% of the 350 million tons of plastics produced each year is effectively recycled, the Georgia Tech approach could keep more plastic out of landfills.

Aerospace engineering assistant professor Christos Athanasiou led the study, which was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). 

Read the Q&A of the findings, and see a video of the testing, on the College of Engineering website. 

They have a lot in common—starting with the fact that they are brothers. Farhan Khan came to Georgia Tech from Bangladesh to begin his Ph.D. studies in 2021. Farshid Khan followed in 2024, beginning his first semester assisting a doctoral student in the very same lab as his older brother.

“Georgia Tech undoubtedly has one of the best programs in this field,” Farshid Khan said. “Also because of the fact that my brother is here, when I got the admission offer, it was the perfect place to come.”

Their journey to Georgia Tech is deeply rooted in their experience growing up in Bangladesh.

“One of the major problems in Bangladesh is textile effluent pollution,” Farshid Khan said. “It is one of the largest textile exporters in the world. But the problem with the textile industry is they do not treat the water well. All of their effluents come into our rivers and they are highly polluted.

“I always wanted to work on that, and it is still my plan after going back to Bangladesh to work on that.”

Read more about their story on the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering website.

Today, she’s back at Georgia Tech as assistant director for Community-Engaged Research in the Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems (BBISS). Kennard supports faculty in building meaningful and co-creative research partnerships with local communities to address pressing sustainability and societal challenges.

“I find food very interesting because it’s interdisciplinary by necessity. Food is the great connector,” says Kennard.

She calls her journey back to Georgia Tech “a full-circle moment,” particularly since, as an undergrad, she worked on a community-engaged sustainability project for the Center for Serve-Learn-Sustain, now the Center for Sustainable Communities Research and Education (SCoRE).

While a Tech student, Kennard served for three years as president of the student chapter of Engineers for a Sustainable World, which started her interest in urban agriculture. She recalled a day when a nonprofit contacted her with a strange donation offer: hydroponic equipment they had received from the set of The Hunger Games. Hydroponics is a method of growing plants without soil.

“I googled it and thought, why not?” recalls Kennard, who started a campus hydroponics project. “We were just a group of students across different disciplines who took over the greenhouse on top of the biology building that hadn’t been used for a long time,” she said. “We got good at experimenting — we were growing food for the Atlanta Community Food Bank.”

The students’ expertise led them to build systems for other nonprofits and classrooms in the Atlanta area. From there, Kennard met Atlantans working in food justice and sustainable agriculture. It sparked a thirst for furthering her education, and Kennard was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to pursue a master’s in sustainable agriculture and food security at Newcastle University in the U.K. She stayed through the Covid pandemic, earning her Ph.D. in chemistry and biosciences from the University of Sheffield in 2023.

Now, she’s excited to be home and connecting faculty with community partners. She hopes to build co-creative research partnerships that are “meaningful, sustainable, and long-lasting.”  Her vision is to make Tech’s research more locally beneficial by working directly with surrounding communities.

“Sustainability is so broad that I feel it can touch anyone. At Georgia Tech, we have so much expertise that is perfect for this field.”

Kennard is also passionate about training and connecting graduate students doing community-engaged research. She recently received a seed grant to build a cross-university network with Georgia State University, Emory University, and Spelman College.

Kennard’s research projects include mapping Atlanta's local food system and addressing challenges for local urban growers. She notes that accessing food can be an issue for many in Atlanta, complicated by financial and transportation barriers. At the same time, Atlanta is one of the leading U.S. cities in urban agriculture and has a rich agricultural history and food culture. The city has a wealth of urban farms, community gardens, and local nonprofits working together to increase access to fresh, healthy foods and build community through food.

An outdoor enthusiast, the Acworth, Georgia, native enjoys hiking, camping, traveling, foraging, and gardening in her free time.

— written by Anne Wainscott-Sargent

While companies like Microsoft and Google have pledged to reach net-zero emissions, experts say more transparency and smarter policy are needed to ensure that data center development aligns with community and environmental priorities. That means ensuring adequate energy infrastructure, investing in renewables, training local workers, and mitigating water and carbon impacts through innovation.

A New Kind of Energy Crunch

The rapid rise of AI is fueling explosive demand for computing power — and in turn, energy.

“The proliferation of AI workloads has significantly increased data center energy requirements,” says Divya Mahajan, assistant professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. “Large-scale AI training, especially for language models, leads to elevated and sustained power draw, often nearing the thermal and power envelopes of graphics processing units systems.”

This sustained demand is particularly challenging in hot, humid regions like Georgia, where cooling systems must work harder. “Training these models can cause thermal instability that directly affects cooling efficiency and power provisioning,” Mahajan explains. “This amplifies reliance on external cooling infrastructure, increasing water consumption and grid strain.”

Environmental and Economic Pressure

“Each new data center could lead to greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to a small town,” says Marilyn Brown, Regents’ and Brook Byers Professor of Sustainable Systems in the School of Public Policy. “In Georgia, the growth of data centers has already led to plans for new gas plants and the extension of aging coal plants.”

There’s an environmental cost to this growth: electricity and water. A single large data center can consume up to 5 million gallons of water per day.

Rising demand has a price. “It’s simple supply and demand,” says Ahmed Saeed, assistant professor at the School of Computer Science. “As overall power demand increases, if supply doesn’t keep up, costs will rise and the most affected will be lower-income consumers.”

Still, experts are optimistic that policy and technology can help mitigate these impacts.

Innovation May Hold the Key

Despite the challenges, experts see opportunities for innovation. “Technologies like direct-to-chip cooling and liquid cooling are promising,” says Mahajan. “But they’re not yet widespread.”

Saeed notes that some companies are experimenting with radical ideas, like Microsoft’s underwater Project Natick or locating data centers in Nordic countries where ambient air can be used for cooling. These approaches challenge conventional infrastructure norms by placing servers underwater or in remote, cold regions. “These are exciting, but we need scalable solutions that work in places like Georgia,” he emphasizes.

What Communities Should Ask For

As communities compete to attract data centers, experts say they should push for commitments that go beyond job creation.

“Communities should ensure that their power infrastructure can handle the added load without compromising resilience or increasing costs,” Saeed advises. “They should also require that data centers use renewable energy or invest in local clean energy projects.”

Training and hiring local workers is another key benefit communities can demand. “Deployment and maintenance of data centers require skilled workers,” Saeed adds. “Operators should invest in technical training and hire locally.”

Policy Can Make the Difference

Stronger policy frameworks can ensure growth doesn’t come at the expense of Georgia’s most vulnerable communities. “We need more transparency from companies about their energy and water use,” says Brown. “And we need policies that prevent the costs of supporting large consumers from being passed on to residential ratepayers.”

Some states are already taking action. Texas passed a bill to give regulators more control over large power consumers. In Georgia, a bill that would have paused tax breaks for data centers until their community impact was assessed was vetoed — but experts say the conversation is far from over.

“Data centers are here to stay,” says Saeed. “The question is whether we can make them sustainable — before their footprint becomes too large to manage.”

Launched in 2016, the project was supported by the Institute’s Sustainable Communities Summer Internship Program, run by the Center for Serve-Learn-Sustain (now the Center for Sustainable Communities Research and Education), in which students work full time with community partners across Atlanta and Georgia.

Beginning in 2017, trusted advisers contributed to the success of this work, including Vernon E. Jordan Jr., Christopher Lawton, Ann McCleary and G. Wayne Clough. Clough, who served as Georgia Tech’s president from 1994 to 2008, long advocated for public service, community-engaged research, and interdisciplinary teaching and learning.

In 2019, Georgia Tech students and participating interns Brice Minix and Nabil Patel combed through decades of local newspapers, digitized school board records, and conducted interviews with community members who lived in Coffee County during desegregation. In 2020, Kara Vaughan Adams and Bennett Bush transcribed countless interviews. Samina Patel’s contributions in 2020 and 2021 included graphic and web design.

All their work laid the foundation for two virtual museum exhibits: emergingVOICES of Coffee County and Overcoming Segregation: A Journey Through Coffee County’s Forgotten Stories. The latter received the 2023 Award of Excellence from the American Association of State and Local History. Further recognition came this year when the project earned the 2025 Georgia Association of Museums’ Special Project Award for the PLAYBACK & FASTFORWARD seminar series.

T. Cat Ford, Project Director said, “The Serve-Learn-Sustain interns we partnered with from Georgia Tech were all graduates of Coffee High School. Their efforts turbo-charged our work—not only because they worked tirelessly but also because, as they preserved their own history, they offered valuable insights into their lived experience of this legacy.

Click here to learn more about SCoRE’s Sustainable Communities Internship Program.

A charcoal-like material made from leaves and branches that collect on forest floors could be a cheap, sustainable way to keep pollution from washing off roadways and into Georgia’s lakes and rivers.

Engineers at Georgia Tech and Georgia Southern University have found that this biological charcoal, or biochar, can be mixed with soil and used along roadways to catch grimy rainwater and filter it naturally before it pollutes surface water.

Their tests found the biochar effectively cleans contaminants from the rainwater and works just as well in the sandy soils of the coastal plain as in the clays of north Georgia. Their biochar-soil mixture can be easily substituted for expensive material mined from the earth that’s typically used on roads. 

Though they focused on Georgia, the researchers said the findings could easily apply across the U.S., providing a simple, natural way to keep road pollutants out of water sources. They published their approach in the Journal of Environmental Management.

Learn about their system on the College of Engineering website.

At first glance, she wasn’t a typical sustainability hire at Georgia Tech.

She was a business management consultant for a law firm who had also helped a national survey data firm with their data crunching. Higher ed was “like a different planet,” she recalls.

Chatfield realized early on that she could apply her management and operations background to any field. “You can’t run any successful organization unless you have operational efficiency and program and project management.” Without them, she says, “Things don’t work properly.”

But equally important was her commitment to learning about academia and sustainability, areas that were not in her wheelhouse a decade ago. With support from Jennifer Hirsch, senior director of SCoRE (and formerly of SLS), Chatfield embraced both with gusto.

“I’ve learned to approach sustainability from a holistic standpoint,” Chatfield explains, noting that sustainability isn’t just about the environment or systems — it’s primarily about the people.

“If you have a passion for community engagement and sustainability, there’s a lot of commonality you can find with people from all different persuasions. As human beings, we mostly care about the same things.”

“Kris is a master at setting up and managing complex operational and financial systems, and she is passionate about sustainability, communities, and Georgia Tech. This combination, together with her decade of management experience in SLS and SCoRE, makes her perfect for her new leadership role,” says BBISS Executive Director Beril Toktay.

Chatfield says a key highlight of her work in sustainability has been connecting community organizations and nonprofit partners with the Institute through the SCoRE summer internship program. Georgia Tech students are partnered with community organizations throughout Atlanta. Now in its eighth year, the program allows students “to learn about the social aspects of sustainability, innovation, and the UN Sustainable Development Goals in the context of actual work that’s being done in the Atlanta area,” Chatfield says. “Partners benefit tremendously because the program expands their capacity by having these amazing Georgia Tech students working for them.”

Chatfield says the internship program often serves as the first interaction partners have with Georgia Tech. “It opens the door to a much broader and deeper relationship.”

In her free time, Kris enjoys her family life with five adult children, and soon she will welcome her third grandchild. “Being a grandparent is the best thing ever,” she says.

She also enjoys playing pickleball with her husband and traveling. With one of her sons about to be stationed in Germany with the Army, she hopes to combine her passions of travel and family time.

Written by Anne Wainscott-Sargent

The newly endowed faculty position supports research and teaching that meaningfully advances the understanding and responsible stewardship of species and community dynamics amid evolving ecological interactions driven by global environmental change. 

McGuire, an associate professor in the School of Biological Sciences and the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, was selected for her pioneering ecological research and exceptional teaching efforts.

“Jenny’s creative and fundamental research in spatial and community ecology is helping to position Georgia Tech as a leader in biodiversity and ecosystem conservation,” says Todd Streelman, professor and chair of the School of Biological Sciences. “Her appointment continues a trend in the School to award research endowments to our most promising early- and mid-career scientists and highlights the strong support and generosity of alumni such as the Teasley family.”

Meet Jenny McGuire

McGuire joined the Georgia Tech faculty in 2017 as an assistant professor. She earned a Ph.D. in Integrative Biology from the University of California, Berkeley, and completed postdoctoral research at the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center and the University of Washington.

Her research explores how plants and animals respond to environmental changes across space and time — from the ancient past to modern urban environments to the future. She leads the Spatial Ecology and Paleontology Lab, which integrates paleontological data, ecological modeling, and fieldwork to understand how biodiversity shifts in response to climate change and human development.

“Our goal isn’t just to preserve biodiversity, but also to help it thrive in a changing landscape,” says McGuire.

She plans to use the Teasley endowment to advance wildlife redistribution research in the Southeastern U.S.

“Georgia is a climate change highway,” explains McGuire. “Species are moving northeast toward the Appalachian Mountains, but roads, development, and fragmented habitats often block their paths.”

McGuire believes Georgia Tech is uniquely positioned to lead in this field, thanks to its technological strengths. She and her team will collaborate across campus and the Southeast, implementing cutting-edge biodiversity monitoring to better understand how species experience and respond to environmental changes.

“Conducting this research in urban areas like Atlanta — where green infrastructure can serve as vital wildlife corridors — is especially important,” adds McGuire.

The Teasley Professorship will also support student involvement at all levels. McGuire hopes to build a more connected and proactive research community that brings together students, ecologists, biologists, engineers, computer scientists, and community partners to address biodiversity challenges across the Southeast.

McGuire is a 2024 Cullen-Peck Fellow, a Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems Faculty Fellow since 2023, and an NSF CAREER Award winner. Her long-running outreach program, Fossil Fridays, invites students, families, and community members into the lab to sort and study real fossil specimens.

Looking ahead, she’s eager to explore the possibilities provided by the Teasley Professorship.

“It’s an incredible opportunity to elevate Georgia Tech’s role in shaping how we understand and protect life on a changing planet.”

A legacy of excellence

Harry E. Teasley, Jr. graduated from Georgia Tech in 1959 with a degree in industrial engineering and worked for over 33 years for The Coca-Cola Company. In addition to the many leadership roles he held at Coca-Cola, Mr. Teasley is remembered for pioneering the first Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to be used in an industrial context. LCA was a pioneering analytical framework assessing environmental impacts of a product's life from "cradle to grave," and it is used across most major industries today. 

The Harry and Anna Teasley Professorship in Ecology is the second Teasley Professorship supporting environmental research at Georgia Tech. School of Biological Sciences Regents’ Professor Mark Hay has held the Harry and Anna Teasley Chair in Environmental Biology since 1999.

Mrs. Teasley provided an official statement regarding the Harry and Anna Teasley Professorships at Georgia Tech:

“It was the intent of my late husband Harry E. Teasley Jr. that the funds he gave to Professor Mark Hay at Georgia Tech would be to support excellence in the field of environmental biology and to provide him with the freedom to study any concept, hypothesis, or organism that his experience-honed intuition guided him to.  

With time, Professor Hay has proven to have been a very worthy choice and has made my late husband and I very proud through the breadth and depth of his studies, discoveries, and highest possible awards he has received. Once this was established, and along with the profound esteem both men had developed for each other, there was the wish to leave a legacy beyond the research: the human values and scientific approach to research that Professor Hay has demonstrated from the start.  

Having been the unanimous choice of the evaluating committee, Associate Professor Jenny McGuire seems to be an excellent first recipient, and I am very proud to welcome her as I know my late husband would have been as well. 

I wish her many successes in pursuing and teaching her very promising research, and I look forward to learning about the impact she will have in her field as we have through the years admired Professor Mark Hay’s achievements.

###

To learn more about Transforming Tomorrow: The Campaign for Georgia Tech, visit transformingtomorrow.gatech.edu. 

“In the ocean, what we see based on satellite measurements is that the tropics and the subtropics are generally losing chlorophyll, whereas the polar regions — the high-latitude regions — are greening,” says first author Haipeng Zhao, a postdoctoral researcher at Georgia Tech working with Susan Lozier, dean of the College of Sciences and Betsy Middleton and John Sutherland Chair at Georgia Tech and Nicolas Cassar, the Lee Hill Snowdon Bass Chair at Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment.

Since the 1990s, many studies have documented enhanced greening on land, where global average leaf cover is increasing due to rising temperatures and other factors. But documenting photosynthesis across the ocean has been more difficult, according to the team. Although satellite images can provide data on chlorophyll production at the ocean’s surface, the picture is incomplete. 

The study analyzed satellite data collected from 2003 to 2022 by a NASA instrument that combs the entire Earth every two days, measuring light wavelength. The researchers were looking for changes in chlorophyll concentration, a proxy for phytoplankton biomass. For consistency, they focused on the open ocean and excluded data from coastal waters. 

“There are more suspended sediments in coastal waters, so optical properties are different than in the open ocean,” Zhao explains.  

The satellite data revealed broad trends in color, indicating that chlorophyll is decreasing in subtropical and tropical regions and increasing toward the poles. Building on that finding, the team examined how chlorophyll concentration is changing at specific latitudes. To work around background noise and gaps in data, they had to get creative. 

“We borrowed concepts from economics called the Lorenz curve and the Gini index, which together show how wealth is distributed in a society. So, we thought, let’s apply these to see whether the proportion of the ocean that holds the most chlorophyll has changed over time,” Cassar says.

They found similar but opposing trends in chlorophyll concentration over the two-decade period. Green areas became greener, particularly in the northern hemisphere, while blue regions got even bluer. 

“It’s like rich people getting richer and the poor getting poorer,” Zhao says.

Next, the team examined how the patterns they observed were affected by several variables, including sea surface temperature, wind speed, light availability and mixed layer depth — a measure that reflects mixing in the ocean’s top layer by wind, waves and surface currents. Warming seas correlated with changes in chlorophyll concentration, but the other variables showed no significant associations.

The authors cautioned that their findings cannot be attributed to climate change. 

“The study period was too short to rule out the influence of recurring climate phenomena such as El Niño,” Lozier says. “Having measurements for the next several decades will be important for determining influences beyond climate oscillations.” 

If poleward shifts in phytoplankton continue, however, they could affect the global carbon cycle. During photosynthesis, phytoplankton act like sponges, soaking up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. When these organisms die and sink to the ocean bottom, carbon goes down with them. The location and depth of that stored carbon can influence climate warming.

“If carbon sinks deeper or in places where water doesn’t resurface for a long time, it stays stored much longer. In contrast, shallow carbon can return to the atmosphere more quickly, reducing the effect of phytoplankton on carbon storage,” Cassar says. 

Additionally, a persistent decline in phytoplankton in equatorial regions could alter fisheries that many low- and middle-income nations, such as those in the Pacific Islands, rely on for food and economic development — especially if that decline carries over to coastal regions, according to the authors.

“Phytoplankton are at the base of the marine food chain. If they are reduced, then the upper levels of the food chain could also be impacted, which could mean a potential redistribution of fisheries,” Cassar says. 

Funding: National Science Foundation and NASA.

Citation: “Greener green and bluer blue: Ocean poleward greening over the past two decades,” Zhao H., Manizza M., Lozier S.M. and Cassar N. Science, June 19, 2025, DOI: 10.1126/science.adr9715 

This story by Julie Leibach is shared with the Duke University Nicholas School of the Environment newsroom.

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Georgia Tech researchers say the new policy marks a major step forward in climate adaptation, especially for heat-vulnerable communities, and could help position Atlanta as a national leader in urban resilience.

How Cool Roofs Can Help Hotlanta 

”On any given summer afternoon, temperatures in Atlanta’s intown neighborhoods can be as much as 15 degrees Fahrenheit higher than in the city’s most forested areas,” said Brian Stone, professor in the School of City and Regional Planning and associate director of Georgia Tech’s Center for Urban Resilience and Analytics.

That spike is partly due to the urban heat island effect — a phenomenon driven by heat-trapping materials like concrete, asphalt, and dark rooftops, combined with the loss of trees and natural landscapes. The impacts are not just uncomfortable — they’re dangerous. Extreme heat is now one of the deadliest forms of weather in the U.S., with disproportionate effects on low-income communities, elderly residents, and those without access to air conditioning.

According to Patrick Kastner, assistant professor in the School of Architecture, rooftops are key contributors. “A major driver [of heat buildup] is dark, heat-absorbing material that stores solar energy during the day and then re-radiates it at night. If you look at a satellite image, for most of the day rooftops have more exposure to the sun than building facades — so the material choice there matters a lot.”

The Power of Reflective Roofs — and Trees

Stone and his students conducted modeling that found that widespread adoption of cool roofs across Atlanta could lower summer afternoon temperatures by more than 2 degrees Fahrenheit in many neighborhoods. That’s comparable to findings in other global cities like London, where cool roofs have reduced average temperatures by up to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 F).

But cool roofs are only one part of a broader urban cooling strategy. In the same study, Stone’s team showed that planting trees in just half of Atlanta’s available planting zones could yield an even more dramatic effect, reducing temperatures by 4 F or more in some areas.

“Cool roofs are highly effective, but pairing them with increased urban tree cover would multiply the benefits, especially for neighborhoods currently lacking shade,” Stone said.

Equity and Energy Impacts

Atlanta’s ordinance requires cool roofing materials on new commercial construction and when existing commercial roofs are replaced. While that may sound like a technical design tweak, Stone emphasized its equity implications.

“Residents in South and West Atlanta, where tree canopy is sparse, and energy costs take up a larger share of household income, stand to gain the most,” Stone said. “When a cool roof is installed as part of a required roof replacement, those households will see meaningful reductions in cooling costs month after month.”

Kastner added that cool roofs could ease pressure on the electrical grid, lowering peak energy demand required for cooling during extreme heat and possibly reduce the risk of outages.

Durability, Maintenance, and Design Trade-offs

Stone noted that cool roofs tend to extend the life of roofing materials by limiting thermal degradation. However, he and Kastner also flagged some trade-offs.

For example, highly reflective coatings can create glare, especially on sloped roofs near neighboring buildings. The ordinance accounts for this by setting different standards for flat and pitched roofs. Maintenance is another consideration: over time, reflective coatings may degrade or become dirty, requiring periodic cleaning to maintain performance.

“Aesthetics and material compatibility may also challenge adoption when it comes to historic buildings or for roofs already outfitted with solar panels,” Kastner said. “But advancements in roofing technology, including high-performance materials that aren’t plain white, offer more flexible options than ever before.”

A Cool Roof Policy With National Impact

While cities like New York and Chicago have implemented cool roof programs for over a decade, Atlanta’s proposed ordinance is one of the most comprehensive in the country — applying to all roof types, not just flat industrial ones.

“Atlanta is steadily emerging as one of the most climate-resilient cities in the U.S.,” said Stone, pointing to the city’s urban forest and growing network of floodable parks as complementary resilience strategies. “Adding a best-in-class cool roofing ordinance to that portfolio is a bold step forward.”

And it could spark innovation across the region.

“Georgia Tech is uniquely positioned to help advance climate-resilient design,” Kastner said. “From research on advanced coatings to urban planning tools that target the most heat-vulnerable areas, we’re bringing science and policy together to shape cooler, healthier cities.”

Solid-state batteries are less flammable and can hold more energy, but they often require intense pressure to function. This requirement has made them difficult to use in applications, but new research from Georgia Tech could change that. 

The research group of Matthew McDowell, professor and Carter N. Paden Jr. Distinguished Chair in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and the School of Materials Science and Engineering, has designed a new metal for solid-state batteries that enables operation at lower pressures. While lithium metal is often used in these batteries, McDowell’s group discovered that combining lithium with softer sodium metal results in improved performance and novel behavior.

McDowell and his collaborators presented their findings in the paper, “Interface Morphogenesis with a Deformable Secondary Phase in Solid-State Lithium Batteries,” published in Science on June 5.

Stackable Solution

Lithium-ion batteries have been the industry standard because they combine compact size, reliability, and longevity. However, they contain a liquid “electrolyte,” which helps lithium ions move in the battery but is also flammable. In solid-state batteries, this electrolyte is a solid material that is less flammable. The challenge is that when the battery is used, the lithium metal in the battery changes its shape, potentially losing contact with the solid electrolyte, which degrades performance. A common way to ensure the metal doesn’t lose contact is to apply high pressure to these batteries.

“A solid-state battery usually requires metal plates to apply this high pressure, and those plates can be bigger than the battery itself,” McDowell said. “This makes the battery too heavy and bulky to be effective.”

The researchers, led by Georgia Tech research scientist Sun Geun Yoon, sought a solution. The solid-state batteries would still require some pressure to function, but they found that by also using a softer metal, less pressure is required. The researchers decided to pair the commonly used lithium metal with a surprising element: sodium. 

“Adding sodium metal is the breakthrough,” McDowell noted. “It seems counterintuitive because sodium is not active in the battery system, but it’s very soft, which helps improve the performance of the lithium.”

How soft can sodium be? In a controlled environment, a person could stick their gloved finger into sodium metal and leave an imprint. 

From Biology to Battery

To understand the enhanced performance of their battery, the researchers borrowed a concept from biology called morphogenesis. This concept explains how tissues or other biological structures evolve based on local stimuli. Morphogenesis is rarely seen in materials science, but the researchers found that the combination of lithium and sodium behaves according to this concept. 

McDowell’s research group has been working on applying morphogenesis to battery materials as part of a project funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency in collaboration with several other universities. Their battery is among the first viable demonstrations of this concept — effectively, the sodium deforms readily at the low pressures needed for solid-state batteries to function. 

Battery Boon

The possibilities of a viable, smaller solid-state battery are vast. Imagine a phone battery that could last much longer or an electric vehicle that could drive 500 miles between charges. With this in mind, McDowell and his team have filed for a patent for this battery system.

While solid-state batteries still have some way to go before commercial use, results like these could mean that solid-state batteries can compete with lithium-ion. McDowell’s lab continues to experiment with other materials to further improve performance. 

Funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

The Multiphase Forming System, the only one of its kind in North America, dramatically reduces the amount of water needed in the paper production process. By using up to 70% less water, the system also significantly cuts down on the energy required for drying — traditionally one of the most energy-intensive steps in papermaking. This innovation, developed by principal investigator Cyrus Aidun, not only enhances efficiency but also supports broader sustainability goals by lowering greenhouse gas emissions.

The grand opening event featured remarks from Georgia Tech President Ángel Cabrera, Executive Vice President for Research Tim Lieuwen, and Carson Meredith, executive director of RBI, among others. Attendees included industry leaders, researchers, and students, all eager to witness the unveiling of a technology that has been five years in the making.

The Multiphase Forming project has garnered widespread interest from the paper and packaging industries. A recent extension of the research, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (DOE-EERE), integrates this forming system with cutting-edge refining and drying technologies. Led by Meredith, this initiative aims to further reduce energy consumption and environmental impact in paper manufacturing. John Xu has been appointed to run the facility.

Meredith said, “Today is milestone in RBI’s history, as we continue to partner and innovate with the paper and pulp industry.  We’d like to share our gratitude with our researchers, students and industry sponsors International Paper, Kimberly Clark and Solenis.”

My Green Lab is an international community of scientists dedicated to making laboratories more sustainable and resource-efficient. To achieve My Green Lab certification, each lab conducted an initial assessment to evaluate their current sustainability practices and identified areas of improvement, including waste, water, and electricity. Labs were encouraged to adopt measures such as defrosting and cleaning refrigerator coils, using timers for test equipment, and promoting best practices. Alicia Wood-Jones, Lab and Safety Officer for EH&S, was a key leader in the working group. Known for her work on the Chemical Reclamation Committee, Wood-Jones’ vision and drive are instrumental in finding innovative solutions to long-standing challenges in lab decommissioning. 

She thanks her colleagues, including the EH&S Lab and Chemical Safety Team, “for their help and vision. We believe that even small steps forward can make a big difference here at Georgia Tech. I am so appreciative to all involved. I look forward to future collaborations with lab members on campus.”  

Katherine Nguyen and her team in the Takayama Lab construct multicellular models and dissect cell signaling pathways to understand disease physiology. While pursuing this research, the lab team activated measures to responsibly manage their lab resources, such as recycling in the lab, keeping centrifuges at room temperature when not needed, and consolidating orders. 

“I’m incredibly happy and proud to have been a part of this program and appreciate everyone’s hard work to try to make Georgia Tech a more sustainable campus,” she said. “Our lab was the first academic lab at Georgia Tech to get certified. Sometimes, graduate students want to be greener, but don’t know how to or feel like we have the power to. My Green Lab helped identify feasible options for labs to reduce their waste. Even if labs couldn’t make every single change, any improvement is a positive change.”  

Sustainability efforts at the Molecular Evolution Core Laboratory are led by Anton Bryksin, Shweta Biliya, and Adam Fallah. The lab is pioneering Tip-Cycle, a program that sterilizes and recycles pipettes for reuse. This lab also monitors campus blackwater for diseases such as Covid-19, using thousands of pipettes in their work. Faced with resource constraints during the pandemic, these researchers developed innovative solutions to maximize resource efficiency. “We’ve always wanted to make our lab practices more sustainable, but weren’t sure where to start. My Green Lab gave us the tools and guidance to turn that intention into action. This certification represents the dedication of our entire team to create a more sustainable environment,” said Biliya, a Georgia Tech research scientist.  

The My Green Lab initiative offers an approach for transforming campus labs into more efficient spaces while producing less hazardous waste. By prioritizing sustainability in our labs, Georgia Tech can have both a global reputation for research and responsible resource management.  

Visit the Office of Sustainability for more information on My Green Lab. 

Georgia’s coastal ecology is being degraded by several threats. Erosion caused by a combination of traffic from water vessels, sea-level rise, increased storm intensity and frequency, and property development, are negatively impacting both coastal living systems and the state’s economy. Tourism, agriculture, recreation, fisheries, property development, and trade (through the Port of Savannah) all rely on healthy coastlines.

Roney’s interest in coastal ecology and oysters drew her to focus her doctoral thesis on this problem. She divided her project into two parts. The first involved understanding how much oyster reefs reduce the erosion caused by wave energy (ship wake) from water traffic. The second part demonstrated a method for making young oysters resistant to predation — increasing their survival rates and that of the reef colonies they call home. Roney focused her research on two major waterways in the Savannah area. The Intracoastal Waterway and the South Channel of the Savannah River, which leads to the Port of Savannah, are both subject to heavy ship and boat traffic. According to Roney’s collaborators at Georgia Tech, 65% of the wave energy lashing the South Channel’s shores is generated by cargo vessels navigating to and from the Port of Savannah. Because traffic along the Intracoastal Waterway is subject to very few speed restrictions, there is plenty of erosive wave energy there also, even though the vessels are almost exclusively small.

Roney chose one site in each waterway to place her reef structures. Mesh bags of oyster shells were seeded with young oysters by personnel working at a University of Georgia Shellfish Research Lab. Roney created her reef structures by placing these bags in a row 15 to 20 meters long and a meter wide. Once established, Roney found that constructed reefs dissipate 40% of the wave energy before it reaches the marsh edge. “This is an experimental pilot study, so the reefs are on the smaller side,” Roney explained. “Reefs as large as 100 meters long may be necessary to protect certain areas — which sounds like a big investment. But because these are living shorelines, they are self-sustaining, and will keep growing and building on themselves.”

Establishing oyster reefs can be challenging, however, because predators feast on young oysters. Blue crabs are among the most voracious. The second part of Roney’s research was to develop a method that improves adolescent oysters’ chances of surviving to adulthood — when they infrequently succumb to predation. Roney and her collaborators at Georgia Tech identified two compounds found in blue crab urine, called trigonelline and homarine, that induce young oysters to devote more energy toward growing their shells, which become 25-60% stronger than normal. Roney found that after four to eight weeks of exposure to these compounds in hatchery conditions, their overall survival rate improved by 30% once placed in a reef. Her method not only helps constructed reefs to become established, but can also help existing oyster reefs become more resilient by slowing, or reversing, their decline.

While coastal restoration projects are not new in Georgia, the techniques Roney developed are relatively novel. Conventional shoreline restoration projects involve excavation, placing gravel beds, and extensive plantings, mostly with sea grasses. Roney has shown that using living shoreline strategies are less intensive and less expensive to establish and are also effective in reducing wave energy in waterways vulnerable to erosion. Perhaps most significantly, these techniques also restore the foundational functions of the ecosystems in which they are placed. The reefs become nurseries, incubating fish, bird, plant, and crustacean species.

Roney engaged several partners over the four years of her project, many in the communities along Georgia’s coast. Over 35 coastal residents, business owners, citizen scientists, and students volunteered their time and resources to help Roney’s project succeed. Roney said, “I think the most rewarding part of the project has been seeing how many people are truly invested in our coastal resources and want oyster reefs to thrive.”

This project isn’t likely to end once Roney earns her PhD. For living shoreline restoration practices to catch on, several other problems require investigation. Roney wants to devise a way to slowly release predator cue compounds into the water near oyster reefs, so baby oysters won’t need to spend as much time in a hatchery before being placed in the wild. Perfecting such a time-release mechanism could also help rejuvenate naturally occurring oyster reefs under threat from erosion and predation.

Roney also wants to try combining constructed oyster reefs with oyster farms, integrating one of the most sustainable ways that protein can be raised with living shoreline restoration. “As the mariculture industry in Georgia grows, there will be lots of opportunities to investigate the possible intersections between the ecological benefits, engineering benefits, and cultural benefits of oyster farming,” Roney said. “Food might be a continuous byproduct of shoreline restoration projects.”

Roney’s research shows that economic development and preserving, or even regenerating, diverse and productive coastal habitats for future generations don’t have to be mutually exclusive propositions.

Roney’s thesis advisor is Marc Weissburg, Brook Byers Professor in the School of Biological Sciences. Kevin Haas, professor in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, helped Roney map and measure the hydrodynamic forces in her study zones. The Coastal Resources Division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, the National Parks Service, and the University of Georgia Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant program provided access, permitting, funding, and resources.

To be more precise, it’s a liquid cooling system developed at Georgia Tech for electronics aimed at solving a long-standing problem: overheating.

Developed by Daniel Lorenzini, a 2019 Tech graduate who earned his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering, the cooling system uses microfluidic channels — tiny, intricate pathways for liquids — that are embedded within the chip packaging.

He worked with VentureLab, a Tech program in the Office of Commercialization, to spin his research into a startup company, EMCOOL, headquartered in Norcross.

“Our solution directly addresses the heat at the source of the silicon chip and therefore makes it faster,” Lorenzini said. “Our design has our system sitting directly on the silicon chips that generate the most heat. Using the fluids in the micro-pin fins, it carries the heat that’s produced away from the chip.”

That cooling solution is directly integrated into the electronic components, making it significantly more efficient than conventional cooling methods, because it enhances the heat dissipation process.

The result is a much lower risk of overheating and reduced power consumption, he said.

Lorenzini, who researched and refined the technology in the lab of Yogendra Joshi at the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, was awarded a patent for the technology in September 2024.

Now, EMCOOL, which has five empoloyees, is actively pursuing venture capital funding to scale its technology and address the escalating thermal management challenges posed by AI processors in modern data centers.

The system uses a cooling block with tiny, pin-like fins on one side and a special thermal interface material on the other. There's also a junction attached to the block, with ports for the fluid to flow in and out. The cooling fluid moves through the micro-pin fins and helps to carry away the heat.

Since the ports are designed to match the shape of the fins, it ensures that the fluid flows efficiently and the heat is dissipated as effectively as possible at chip-scale. 

As electronic devices — from high-performance personal computers to data centers used for artificial intelligence processing — become more powerful, they generate more heat. This excess heat can damage components or cause the device to underperform.

Traditional cooling methods, which include fans or heat sinks, often struggle to keep pace with the increasing demands of the newer model electronics. Lorenzini’s microfluidic system addresses the challenge of overheating with his patented, more effective, compact, and integrated cooling solution.

With the guidance of Jonathan Goldman, director of Quadrant-i in Tech’s Office of Commercialization, Lorenzini secured grant funding through the National Science Foundation and the Georgia Research Alliance to further the research and build design prototypes.

“We immediately had the sense there was commercial potential here,” Goldman said. “Thermal management, or getting rid of heat, is a ubiquitous problem in the computer industry, so when we saw what Daniel was doing, we immediately began to engage with him to understand what the commercial potential was.”

Indeed, the initial focus for the technology was the $159 billion global electronic gaming market. Gamers need a lot of computing power, which generates a lot of heat, causing lag.

But beyond gaming systems, the company, which manufactures custom cooling blocks and kits at its Norcross facility, is eyeing more sectors, which also suffer from overheating, Goldman said.

The technology addresses similar overheating electronics challenges in high-performance computing, telecommunications, and energy systems.

“This work propels us forward in pushing the boundaries of what traditional cooling technologies can achieve because by harnessing the power of microfluidics, EMCOOL's systems offer a compact and energy-efficient way to manage heat,” Goldman said. “This has the potential to revolutionize industries reliant on high-performance computing, where heat management is a constant challenge.”

“Joel is perfectly suited to lead this new initiative, especially since his research for a number of years has focused on Georgia and the vulnerability of both humans and ecosystems to climate change,” says Susan Lozier, dean of the College of Sciences, Betsy Middleton and John Clark Sutherland Chair, and professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. “I look forward to seeing how Science for Georgia’s Tomorrow takes shape and evolves under his thoughtful leadership.”

“I believe that my experience in research administration and in leading multidisciplinary research programs, along with the focus of my research on the vulnerability of Georgia’s communities to climate change, have prepared me well for this role,” says Kostka, who is the Tom and Marie Patton Distinguished Professor and associate chair for Research in the School of Biological Sciences with a joint appointment in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. “I am excited about the opportunity to lead the center as its inaugural director.” 

Kostka’s appointment will begin on May 1, 2025. 

Championing science in Georgia

Georgia's Tomorrow was created to foster research related to the health and resilience of Georgia’s people, ecosystems, and communities. Specifically, it will serve to boost research collaboration across the Institute, pave the way for public-private partnerships, and expand opportunities for Georgia students and communities to engage with Institute research. 

Among Kostka’s first tasks as faculty director will be the development of the center’s strategic plan and the completion of two dedicated cluster hires from within the College of Sciences’ six schools. 

Meet Joel Kostka

Kostka is known for bridging biogeochemistry and microbiology to elucidate the role of microorganisms in ecosystem function. He has emerged as an international leader in ecosystem biogeoscience, providing a quantitative predictive understanding of how ecosystems function as well as determining the mechanisms by which climate change alters ecosystem resilience. He partners with a variety of stakeholders to conduct research on the restoration and adaptive management of coastal ecosystems in Georgia.

Kostka has also served as the PI of a range of multidisciplinary research projects focused on environmental change as well as scientific advisory boards including Georgia Tech’s Strategic Energy Institute, the NSF-funded Plum Island Estuary Long-term Ecological Research program, and the Johnston Center for Coastal Sustainability on Bald Head Island.

Kostka received a B.S. in Biology from Western Illinois University and a Ph.D. in Marine Science from the University of Delaware. Prior to joining Georgia Tech in 2011, he was a professor at the Department of Oceanography and Associate Director of the Institute of Energy Systems, Economics, and Sustainability at Florida State University.

Initial support for Georgia Tech for Georgia’s Tomorrow is generously provided by the College of Sciences Betsy Middleton and John Clark Sutherland Dean's Chair fund. Cluster hire funding has been awarded by Provost Steven W. McLaughlin. The initiative will also seek funding from state, national and international organizations, private foundations, and government agencies to expand impact. Philanthropic support will also be sought in the form of professorships, programmatic support for the center, and seed funding.

Georgia Tech for Georgia's Tomorrow initially launched under the working name Science for Georgia's Tomorrow (Sci4GT). 

April is Earth Month at Georgia Tech. Coordinated by the Office of Sustainability and organized by partners across campus, it extends the Institute’s observance of Earth Day (April 22) by showcasing campus sustainability efforts and providing opportunities for students, faculty, and staff to learn and engage.  

“As interim executive director, Beril has built the BBISS community, broadened its scope, and developed new programming to grow cross-disciplinary collaboration, community-engaged research, and entrepreneurship,” Kubanek said. “Faculty and students from the liberal arts, social sciences, design, business, computing, and fundamental science are engaging with BBISS in greater numbers, complementing our engineering community’s involvement. These are areas of strength at Georgia Tech that will help amplify the impact of BBISS.”

Toktay is professor of operations management, the Brady Family Chair, and Regents' Professor at the Scheller College of Business. She is an internationally recognized sustainable operations management scholar whose work has been recognized with multiple best paper awards. She is a Distinguished Fellow of the INFORMS Manufacturing & Service Operations Management (MSOM)Society. Through initiatives such as the Drawdown Georgia Business Compact, she has helped translate research insights into actionable business initiatives while fostering regional economic development.

Her academic leadership includes serving as department co-editor for “Health, Environment, and Society” for MSOM, area editor for “Environment, Energy, and Sustainability” at Operations Research, and special issue co-editor on “Business and Climate Change” for Management Science, as well as “Environment” for MSOM. She serves on the board of the Alliance for Research on Corporate Sustainability and the board of directors of the New York Climate Exchange.

Toktay has been instrumental in advancing sustainability at Georgia Tech, serving as founding faculty director of the Ray C. Anderson Center for Sustainable Business, co-architect of the Serve-Learn-Sustain initiative, and co-chair of the Sustainability Next Institute Strategic Plan Implementation Task Force. Her commitment to Ph.D. student success earned her the 2018 Georgia Tech Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Advisor Award. She also co-developed the Carbon Reduction Challenge, an award-winning interdisciplinary, co-curricular program that engages undergraduate students in climate intrapreneurship.

Toktay holds a Ph.D. in operations research from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, an M.S. in industrial engineering from Purdue University, and a B.S. in industrial engineering and mathematics from Boğaziçi University. She joined Georgia Tech in 2005 after serving as faculty at INSEAD business school in Fontainebleau, France.

Since assuming the interim role, Toktay has significantly strengthened BBISS by expanding the faculty leadership team, securing additional funding, establishing seed grant programs that have benefited over 100 researchers across all Colleges, and transforming the Center for Serve-Learn-Sustain into the Center for Sustainable Communities Research and Education.

"Energy and sustainability continue to be top Georgia Tech research priorities, for which we will need new funding strategies," said Tim Lieuwen, executive vice president for Research. "Philanthropy and business partnerships will grow in importance in the coming years. Beril has considerable experience and vision for maximizing these partnerships, which will serve BBISS and the Institute well into the future."

The Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems is one of Georgia Tech’s interdisciplinary research institutes. The vision of BBISS is to grow and mobilize Georgia Tech’s knowledge assets — people and research — to create a sustainable future for all. BBISS is a key partner in the implementation of Georgia Tech’s Sustainability Next 2023-2030 Strategic Plan, a consensus road map to advance Georgia Tech’s vision to address the biggest local, national, and global challenges of our time. BBISS relentlessly serves the public good, catalyzes high-impact research, develops exceptional leaders, and cultivates partnerships that translate knowledge into practice.

"I'm honored to lead BBISS and build on the momentum we've created to date,” Toktay said. “Our vision is to maximize the collective impact of Georgia Tech's remarkable sustainability research community across all colleges and disciplines. By catalyzing collaborative research and connecting our faculty with key external partners and communities, we are positioning Georgia Tech to be a global thought leader in sustainability and to drive meaningful solutions to some of our most pressing environmental and social challenges."

The campus community is invited to a reception celebrating Toktay's appointment on Thursday, May 1, 2025, at 4:30 p.m. at the Collective Food Hall in the Coda building. Contact Susan Ryan for details.

The first day's morning session framed the discussion with three panels. The first focused on Georgia Tech’s resilience plan, discussing institutional strategies to ensure campus operations and support for the Georgia Tech community in the face of external disruptions. The second panel broadened the discussion to explore resilience strategies for the city of Atlanta. The third panel further expanded the scope to consider the resilience of the southeastern United States.

One of the highlights of the showcase was the alumni keynote address by Laura Solomon, ISyE 2000, co-founder of Tybee Oyster Company. Solomon told her inspiring story about the recent origins of the ocean aquaculture industry in Georgia and the connection between oyster aquaculture, local community engagement, education, and bolstering a thriving and resilient coastal ecosystem. She emphasized the importance of her company’s sustainable practices and shared her experiences in pioneering Georgia's first floating oyster farm. Solomon also underscored the importance of oysters in helping Georgia’s coasts become more resilient against storms, sea level rise, erosion, and poor water quality.

A mainstay of the Sustainability Showcase are the lightning talks, where students, campus organizations, and researchers can bring attention to their sustainability initiatives and research.  Lightning talk sessions were interspersed throughout both days of the event and helped to bring a broader contingent of the sustainability community together to learn about each other’s work and make valuable connections.

The last panel discussion of the day, on ecosystem resilience, was moderated by Jenny McGuire, associate professor in the School of Biological Sciences. “A better understanding of ecosystem resilience not only helps us to preserve species for future generations,” she said, “but gives us perspective on how we can better inhabit the ecosystems we rely on for our own well-being.” The day concluded with a networking reception.

The second day began with a panel on infrastructure resilience, which explored the links between infrastructure elements in the built environment, how they interact with each other, and how our communities can recover from disruptions to infrastructure functions.

The event wrapped up with a visioning “unconference” session, where members of the Georgia Tech sustainability community gathered to share their thoughts on how the concept of resilience blends with sustainability, and how Georgia Tech can advance research and education to prepare our communities for the upcoming challenges facing us. It is anticipated that the participants in the unconference will collaborate on a white paper to document what was learned and shared at this final session. 

"The Sustainability Showcase exemplified Georgia Tech's commitment to resilience at every level,” said BBISS Interim Director Beril Toktay. “By bringing together diverse perspectives from our campus, city, and region, we created a space for both innovative thinking and practical collaboration. As we navigate increasingly complex sustainability challenges, this collective approach will be essential in building the resilient communities and systems our future requires."

ElectrifyGT is at the forefront of Georgia Tech’s push for a cleaner future.  

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

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

Read about their findings on the College of Engineering website.

Researchers, faculty, students, staff, and partners will explore how we can boost our resilience in the face of a rapidly changing world. With a full agenda featuring lightning talks, panel discussions, and a visioning “Unconference,” attendees will have ample opportunity to engage with cutting-edge research and innovative initiatives.

Event Highlights:

• Networking Breakfast: Start your day by connecting with colleagues over a warm beverage and breakfast refreshments.
• Panel Discussions: Learn from experts about how they view resilience in context with their work and the broader efforts to enhance resilience.
• Alumni Keynote: Laura Solomon will talk about the connection between the oyster aquaculture industry, engaging local communities, and a thriving and resilient coastal ecosystem.
• Lightning Talks: Hear quick, impactful presentations from faculty, students, and staff showcasing their research.
• Resilience Visioning Unconference: Participate in a dynamic, participant-driven meeting to exchange ideas and propose discussions on resilience topics.

Don't miss this opportunity to be part of this annual event and connect with the sustainability community. Whether you're a faculty member or a curious student, whether you can attend a whole day or just one session, the Sustainability Showcase offers something for everyone. Join us and be inspired by the breadth and depth of sustainability work happening at Georgia Tech.

For more information, visit the Sustainability Showcase website.

The BBISS Faculty Fellows program has been in place since 2014. Fellows are drawn from across all seven Georgia Tech Colleges and the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI). BBISS Interim Executive Director Beril Toktay says, "The Fellows' wide-ranging expertise and varied academic paths create exciting opportunities for new partnerships and deeper connections across our sustainability network." The new BBISS Faculty Fellows are:

• Ebenezer Fanijo – Assistant Professor, School of Building Construction
• Katherine Graham – Assistant Professor, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
• Anthony Harding – Assistant Professor, School of Public Policy
• Yiyi He – Assistant Professor, School of City and Regional Planning
• Pengfei Liu – Assistant Professor, School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
• Johannes Milz – Assistant Professor, H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering
• Micah Ziegler – Assistant Professor, School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

These faculty members will join the current roster of BBISS Faculty Fellows.

Someday, your drinking water could be completely free of toxic “forever chemicals.” 

Read more »

Christos Athanasiou is determined to make life in space as sustainable as possible. After all, getting new materials into space is difficult, energy-intensive, and expensive, so it makes sense to reuse and repurpose as much as possible. Applying the principles of a circular economy in space makes a great deal of sense. But Athanasiou doesn’t want to stop there. If you accept the premise that life in space can be sustainable, why wouldn’t you aim for the same goal on Earth?

Athanasiou, an assistant professor in Georgia Tech’s Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering as well as a faculty fellow at the Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems (BBISS), is calling for the development of a circular, sustainable economy that can be implemented both in space and on Earth in alignment with the United Nations sustainable development goals, particularly goal 12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns.

Athanasiou and his students are developing a framework to revolutionize the testing and evaluation of the mechanical behaviors of sustainable materials. By replacing complex finite element simulations with user-friendly analytical formulas, their approach enables faster, cheaper, and more accessible fracture and fatigue testing. This innovation, just published in the Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids, is particularly crucial for sustainable materials, which often have unique and unconventional properties. By extracting reliable insights from minimal data, the framework allows researchers to directly extract physical laws from datasets, opening the door for the broader adoption of greener composites in construction and manufacturing. His efforts in this area have earned him a National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development Award.

Building on this work, Athanasiou and his team are advocating for the democratization of mechanical testing and engineering standards with the help of AI. As he and his colleagues point out in a recent article in the Journal of Applied Mechanics, making low-cost testing available to a wider range of manufacturers and material suppliers is a key step in decentralizing the supply chain for recycled and repurposed plastics and other materials used as feedstock in a circular economy. By addressing the regional nature of supply chains for recycled materials, decentralized standardized testing can accelerate the adoption of these sustainable feedstocks, ultimately reducing the carbon footprint of the entire manufacturing process. Part of these efforts are supported by a Federal Aviation Administration grant that Athanasiou and colleagues were awarded together with the City of Atlanta’s Department of Aviation.

As an educator and engineer, Athanasiou wants to see more of his colleagues step up and make sustainability part of their curriculum and research.

“As engineers, how can we use our expertise to meet sustainability goals, and how can we use our positions to incorporate sustainability-centered thinking into all that we do in our research and our classrooms?” he asks. “It is important for us to find a way to do this, as sustainability will be one of the biggest challenges for young engineers of the future.”

Athanasiou sees a lot of promise in this area, especially at Georgia Tech.

“I think that BBISS will have a very critical role in this area, working across disciplines to instill a sustainability focus in all of our engineering curricula. We need to design processes, systems, and materials to be resilient and design for the long term in a society that does not think that way.”

Athanasiou sees many barriers to adoption standing in the way of establishing a sustainable circular economy — a lack of engineering understanding by policymakers, a culturally ingrained resistance to change, and a general societal skepticism of sustainability efforts.

“We need to properly educate the public on what is possible and how it can help them as individuals.”

Financial motivations are also a major barrier. With so many products designed to become obsolete and replaced, convincing corporations to give up future sales in the interest of making a better world is a challenge.

“There have to be financial incentives for this to happen,” says Athanasiou. “New markets will develop, but they have to make economic sense or change will not happen.” He would like to see companies shift to products with easily swappable parts, low-cost testing, and green construction approaches in everything from electronics to building construction.

“Sustainability and enabling circular economies are not the responsibility of a single actor. It's a coordinated effort between scientists, engineers, policymakers, businesses, and community members of all backgrounds working together.”

One of the challenges, as Athanasiou sees it, is making sure the policies and science are ready at the same time so policymakers don’t overpromise on what is scientifically possible and researchers don’t waste time and resources on solutions that policymakers don’t have the mandate to implement.

“All of these communities need to be talking to each other all of the time. That is the only way for us to move forward to a circular economy.”

Destination tourism has now matched or surpassed pre-Covid levels in many parts of the world. It’s leading to challenges as operators and local governments try to walk the line between inviting visitors and preserving the places tourists want to visit so they can be enjoyed and studied for years to come. The more people who visit a site, the greater the risk of damage from foot traffic and contact with walls and artifacts. Even human breath in enclosed spaces can inflict as much damage as pollution from vehicles.

Enter Associate Professor Danielle Willkens from Georgia Tech’s School of Architecture in the College of Design. Willkens, who is the Sustainable Tourism co-lead for the Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems (BBISS), is using technology to assess historic sites and develop strategies to mitigate damage caused by visitors and the development that frequently occurs when a site becomes popular.

“At a foundational level, a lot of what we do is related to survey work,” explains Willkens. “We are using LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), or lasers, to get very high-resolution, three-dimensional images. We end up with a digital record that serves as a snapshot of a building or space at one moment in time, and it becomes invaluable for preservation and rehabilitation planning.”

The advantage of using LiDAR is that it is what Willkens calls a “non-contact invasive” method. It doesn’t damage the structure but can reveal existing weaknesses and flaws that need attention. In a matter of a few days, their process can reveal what could take weeks or months of visual inspection to uncover.

In addition to traveling abroad to examine sites in the Dominican Republic and the famous site of Petra in Jordan, Willkens uses her tools to help protect and preserve places that have played an important role in American civil rights history: W.E.B. Du Bois’ office in Fountain Hall at Morris Brown College, the Penn Center on Saint Helena Island in South Carolina, and the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama. She is also working with the National Park Service to evaluate the MLK corridor in Atlanta and has projects in historic neighborhoods like Mechanicsville and Pittsburgh.

Where does Willkens’ passion for protecting these places come from?

“I'm the daughter of an educator and two generations of educators beyond that,” she says. “I come from a line of people who are invested in teaching and advocacy — people who love travel and museums and appreciate the power of place.”

One successful project that Willkens is particularly proud of is a scan of the USS Drum, a World War II submarine on display at the USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park in Mobile, Alabama. By recreating the interior of the submarine digitally, access has been granted to people who cannot visit the ship in person due to mobility limitations, claustrophobia, or distance. The project was launched on Veterans Day of 2024. Since then, 97-year-old Bill Lister, who is the last surviving member of the Drum’s crew, has visited the ship many times from the comfort of his home in Indiana.

A similar project is part of a partnership with Auburn University in which Willkens and her colleagues are developing a digital conflict map of the March 7, 1965, “Bloody Sunday” march in Selma, Alabama.

She sees tremendous value in people being able to visit these historic locations remotely.

“Significant anniversaries are coming up, like the 60th anniversary of the Selma march, and unfortunately, we still have regular reminders that voting access is an ongoing concern. Being able to visit these sites remotely can be very powerful.”

Through grants and her seminar class, Race, Space, and Architecture in the United States, Willkens is training the next generation of architects and preservationists to get involved with their local communities and protect valuable places through technology.

“We’ve been able to take three groups of students down to the Penn Center in South Carolina. We stay in the historic buildings, we do survey and research work on site, and we work with community members. St. Helena Island is at this somewhat precarious intersection of climate change and surrounding development in the Gullah Geechee corridor, and it’s a microcosm of what a lot of historical sites are facing. The community has been very welcoming to us, and we’re excited about the work we’re doing there.”

That work has been funded by a Sustainability Next Seed Grant. She strongly encourages other faculty and students to get involved with the BBISS and the Sustainability Next strategic plan initiative.

“BBISS is a great place to get to know people from across disciplines, and I'm grateful for that,” she explains. “In any discipline, it's easy within a university to stay in your silo. Being part of BBISS has been a great opportunity to meet people from different programs and different parts of Georgia Tech. I love the emphasis on community-engaged work that moves sustainability from an abstract systems level to something tangible that is making a difference locally.”

Georgia Tech’s Students Organizing for Sustainability (SOS) recently traveled across the world to Singapore for the 8th Global Botanic Garden Congress. They presented their research on the evaluation of various plants in student living accommodations. The independent research project was initially funded through the Micro Research Grants for Regenerative Built Environments sponsored by The Kendeda Building Advisory Board and the Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems. This feat is uncommon among Georgia Tech student organizations but can serve as a case study for future SOS trips as well as other clubs.

The team found out about the conference by researching various conferences related to urban agriculture initiatives around the world. They specifically sought out conferences that could give them an international experience in a city deemed cutting-edge for urban green spaces, and that would allow them to talk about their research project. After being accepted into the Global Botanic Garden Congress, they needed to find funding to support their travel.

SOS members applied for numerous grants that are available to students around campus, including the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering's International Travel Funding through the Global Engineering Leadership Minor, the President’s Undergraduate Research Travel Award, and the Student Government Association (SGA) Conference Fund. In total, they were able to obtain multiple research and travel grants for over $16,000 to cover the travel expenses of seven members. The students are confident that, had more people been available, they could have received more funding to cover the additional travel expenses.

“There are a lot of opportunities on campus to get funding for a project, travel, or attend conferences, but students just need to know where to look,” says Elaina Render, fourth-year civil and environmental engineering major and SOS project lead for the UrbanAg group.

The group’s itinerary consisted of attending all four days of the conference, the last of which coincided with Singapore’s National Day. At the conference, students presented their research findings to an international audience and made personal connections. They talked with people from across the globe, including botanic garden representatives from Naples, Chicago, and San Diego. Making these connections has introduced them to opportunities for more interactive trips, such as visiting the Naples Botanical Garden to learn about beach plant management. They also hope to attend the 9th Global Botanical Garden Congress in Chicago next year.

“The conference is a great resource for students as they approach graduation because you can network for next career steps, find possible research advisors for graduate school, and be exposed to a range of career possibilities,” says Nicole Allen, fourth-year biomedical engineering major and SOS’s vice president of Finance.

In addition to the conference, they were able to explore the city of Singapore. On their first day, they toured Gardens by the Bay, where they saw famous attractions like the Golden Bay and the Flower Dome. The following day, they visited Singapore University of Technology and Design and met Greenprint, a student group similar to SOS, and talked with students and faculty about their campus sustainability initiatives. On the third day, they traveled to the Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, a beautiful mangrove forest. Allen notes that on a hike along the coastal trail, they decided to take a bus across the bridge to Malaysia and have brunch. On the last day of the conference, they visited Singapore’s Botanic Garden, which also houses the National Orchid Garden.

The SOS students report many successes from this experience, both personal and related to their SOS activities. Younger members of SOS, Rachel Bohl and Nikita Takalkar, both second-years, were able to attend the conference. This has inspired younger members to get more involved with on-campus sustainability initiatives. In particular, Takalkar is starting a new SOS project to decrease medical waste at Stamps Health Services. They have also seen an increase in attendance at their meetings and many questions about their trip. They hope the conference will serve as a model for future trips where students can promote their research, network, learn about what new research is happening in the world, and bring this knowledge back to Georgia Tech to inspire their own projects on campus.

“We hope that our project and trip to Singapore can serve as an inspiration to other students and campus organizations. It's possible to start an independent research project and get funding to present at international conferences,” says Render.

Allen adds, “We are implementing some of the ideas our trip inspired as new, student-led sustainability initiatives here at Georgia Tech.”

Bleaching happens when ocean waters heat up, causing corals to expel the colorful algae that live in their tissues. It can lead to disease and death for coral, wiping out critical and complex marine ecosystems.

Four Georgia Tech Ocean Science and Engineering (OSE) Ph.D. students have spent the last few months working on creative ways to prevent bleaching by cooling the water around coral reefs. They presented their ideas in late October to marine biologists and conservations in the Florida Keys as part of the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation’s Coral Reef Thermal Stress Design Thinking Challenge & Workshop.

Read about the team's coral-cooling solution on the College of Engineering website.

Three themes emerged from these sessions:

• Many research teams need access to data sets that are difficult to acquire for logistical or financial reasons.
• Some available data sets are not very extensive, or do not accurately represent the diversity of people and perspectives present within the group or geographical area studied.
• Many research teams engaged with community groups as part of their project, or were looking for community partners to complete or enhance their project.

The networking sessions facilitated numerous connections. Eunhwa Yang’s team studies how environmental factors and building construction methods can impact the sleep quality of people with mild cognitive impairment who live in under-resourced communities. Yang expressed a need for more reliable data collection and transmission systems, given that internet access in the homes of study participants can be unreliable. She connected with Jung-Ho Lewe, whose work often revolves around IoT (internet of things) devices that use free or low-cost low-bandwidth cellular data networks. Yang also connected with the Center for Sustainable Communities Research and Education to look for additional opportunities for community engagement.

The participants also discussed the promise and the hurdles of engaging directly with community partners. Ameet Pinto, BBISS associate co-director for interdisciplinary research and associate professor in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, said, “If available datasets are not representative of the communities being served, then community-engaged research can fill those gaps. Such research requires that trust-based relationships be cultivated, and this takes time and resources to foster trust and find common ground.”

Attendees seemed to appreciate the opportunity to talk with their colleagues, not only about their projects, but also about engaging directly with communities. The events were well attended with several people coming to both sessions. Pinto adds, “The Sustainability Next seed grants are not just about helping brilliant ideas get off the ground; they are also about bringing together a community that can coalesce around thematic challenges and make a transformative and lasting societal impact. By hosting these lightning-talk sessions, BBISS helps to bolster such a community.”

Nature doesn’t waste energy, and nature finds ways to adapt to a changing world. Understanding those two principles led David Frost to his interest in bio-inspired design. Frost, the Elizabeth and Bill Higginbotham Professor in Georgia Tech’s School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, has spent the last dozen years searching for ways to use nature’s efficiency and ingenuity to improve the civil engineering field. His efforts are paying off. In the last year alone, research from his lab has resulted in multiple patent filings, licensing agreements, and product launches — all of which take their inspiration from the biological world.

Many of those research projects have been the subjects of doctoral research by Frost’s students, with support and advisement from Michael Helms, co-director of Georgia Tech’s Center for Biologically Inspired Design (CBID) and the Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems lead for biologically inspired design. The CBID mandate is to encourage researchers to find inspiration in the biological world, where design solutions have been in development for three-and-a-half billion years as life has on Earth has evolved. Building on the concept that nature isn’t wasteful, one of the goals of bio-inspired design is to develop products that are both energy and materially efficient, and therefore more sustainable.

As the subsurface exploration and excavation thrust leader for the National Science Foundation (NSF) Center for Bio-mediated and Bio-inspired Geotechnics (CBBG), Frost focuses on what’s going on below the planet’s surface. His inspiration comes from things like tree roots, earthworms, spider webs, and ant colonies. In fact, ants are what first got him interested in bio-inspired design.

“There are many organism systems that have not been thought of as necessarily the most intelligent systems. But in fact, they are following a set of rules, approaches, or guidelines and are producing things that, in the end, are both energy- and resource-efficient and adaptive,” said Frost. “One of these is ant colonies. We see the hills above ground, but what’s going on below the ground, with the tunnels and chambers, is fascinating.”

Early in his time with CBBG, Frost came across a Florida artist who made metal castings of ant colony structures. Frost acquired some, made more castings of his own, and then built digital models of ant colonies to understand how the structures maintain their strength. He also studied exactly how ants build such complex structures so efficiently.

“They take advantage of capillarity, arching effects, and the strength of spirals,” explained Frost.

Ants dig by carefully and quickly probing each grain of sand or dirt, in the same way a human might test a Jenga piece, before deciding whether it can be safely removed without damaging the tunnel. As a result, ants are extremely energy efficient as they dig, continually removing the least encumbered pieces of material. Based on this information, Frost and his team are exploring ways to improve the effectiveness and energy usage of tunnel-boring machines.

Other bio-inspired projects from Frost’s research that are further along in the development process include building anchors inspired by tree roots, a ground heat-exchange system based on spirals and plant xylem, a geogrid (or stabilization mesh) design based on spiderwebs, a worm-inspired soil probe, and another probe design influenced by a vortex and centipedes that would displace a minimum amount of soil.

“I'm convinced that just about any system in nature we look at will help us think about analogs for things that, as human engineers, we’d like to do — and do better,” said Frost. “The opportunities for inspiration and improvement are endless.”

Take the Root-Inspired Ground Anchor (RIGA), for example. Anchors are an essential element in construction, stabilizing retaining walls and other foundation structures. Traditionally, anchors are straight poles inserted into the ground. Looking at tree roots, Frost wondered if there was a better way. That thought led him to inventing an anchor that can be driven into the ground and then expanded under the surface, similar to the structure of tree roots. The expandable anchor improves load capacity by up to 75% and is about two-thirds as long as a conventional anchor. After years of refinement, the device has been patented, licensed, and is the basis of a startup founded by Ph.D. student John Huntoon.

Frost takes the most pride in the real-world impact of his bio-inspired designs. Since 2023, Georgia Tech has filed, or is in the process of filing, utility patents for five of them. Like the RIGA system, those patents will be available for licensing for commercial use. Companies have already contacted Frost about his heat-exchange and geogrid concepts.

“Civil engineering doesn’t traditionally have a culture of patent-producing research,” noted Frost. “It’s exciting to see these filings and how they can generate energy and enthusiasm for studying natural systems and using what we learn to improve the world. Practical application has always been very important to me.”

Frost is finding that practical application also appeals to the next generation of civil engineers — specifically K-12 students interested in the profession who tour the CBID affiliated labs on campus. The students study nature’s designs and figure out how to apply them, rather than learn traditional construction methods.

“Ants, spiders, and worms are immediately relatable for middle- and high-school students,” Frost said. “They think engineering is all math and science, and that doesn’t sound fun to them. Instead, we show them they can be inspired by anything and then use that to make it about conservation and adaptation and energy minimization. Those are things they are interested in.”

Frost is hopeful that the students of today and tomorrow will continue to take inspiration from nature, enabling humans to adapt to a changing world as effectively as nature has.

Terracell is roughly the size of a paperback book and uses microbes found in soil to generate energy for low-power applications. 

Previous designs for soil microbial fuel cells required water submergence or saturated soil. Terracell can function in soil with a volumetric water content of 42%

Terracell placed in Fast Company’s list of the best sustainability-focused designs of 2024.

Researchers at Northwestern University lead the multi-institution research team that designed Terracell.

Josiah Hester, an associate professor in Georgia Tech's School of Interactive Computing who previously worked at Northwestern, directs the Ka Moamoa Lab, where the project was conceived. 

The team includes researchers from Northwestern, Georgia Tech, Stanford, the University of California-San Diego, and the University of California-Santa Cruz.

Their research was published in January in the Proceedings of the Association for Computing Machinery on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable, and Ubiquitous Technologies. The researchers will also present this work at the ACM international joint conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing (Ubicomp), Oct. 5-9.

According to the Fast Company website, the Innovation by Design Awards recognize “designers and businesses solving the most crucial problems of today and anticipating the pressing issues of tomorrow.” Winners are published in Fast Company Magazine and are honored at the Fast Company Innovation Festival in the fall.

“Terracell could reduce e-waste and extend the useful lifetime of electronics deployed for agriculture, environmental monitoring, and smart cities,” Hester said. “We were honored to be recognized for the design innovation award. It is a testament to the promise of sustainable computing and our hope for a more sustainable world.”

For more information about Terracell, see the story featured on Northwestern Now, or visit the project’s website.

The call for proposals was modeled after the Office of the Executive Vice President for Research’s (EVPR) “Moving Teams Forward” and “Forming Teams” programs. All told, the work of 49 researchers — from 19 Schools in five Colleges, the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), and external partners and research professionals from several of Georgia Tech’s Interdisciplinary Research Institutes (IRIs) — will benefit from these grants.

Moving Teams Forward

• Toward a Center on Effective Climate Communication; Bruce Walker (Psych), Susan Lozier (EAS), Claire Arthur (Music), Jessica Roberts (IC), Carrie Bruce      (IC), Amy Bower (Woods Hole Oceanographic Inst).    
• Moving Teams Forward to Building a Path Toward Community-Owned Resilience Hubs for Ethical Climate Adaptation and Mitigation: An Interdisciplinary and Community-Engaged Approach; Sofia Perez-Guzman (CEE), Allen Hyde (Hist&Soc), Danielle Willkens (Arch), Alexander Robel (EAS), Jennifer Hirsch (SCoRE), Valerie Thomas (ISYE), Joe Bozeman (CEE), Nicole Kennard (BBISS), Jung-Ho Lewe (AE).
• A Digital Twin for Atlanta: Toward a Building Energy Demand/Mobility Nexus; Patrick Kastner (Arch).
• Sustainable Development in Africa: Cropland Expansion, Fire, Climate Change, and Economic Solutions; Yuhang Wang (EAS), Olga Shemyakina (Econ), Kexin Rong (CS).
• Interdisciplinary Program in Transportation; Adjo Amekudzi-Kennedy (CEE), Alexander Robel (EAS), Christopher Wiese (Psych), Kurt Wiesenfeld (Physics), Nimisha Roy (Comp Inst).
• Enabling Disadvantaged Communities to Baseline the Performance of Residential Energy Systems; Jung-Ho Lewe (AE), Scott Duncan (AE), David Solano (AE).

Forming Teams

• Identifying and Amplifying Georgia Tech’s Research Strengths in Conserving Georgia’s Biodiversity in the Face of Rapid Global Change; Jenny McGuire (Biol/EAS), James Stroud (Biol), Emily Weigel (Biol), Lauren Speare (Biol), Saad Bhamla (ChBE), Matthew Swarts (GTRI), Allen Hyde (Hist&Soc),            Jennifer Hirsch  (SCoRE).
• UrbAdapt CA4: Urban Climate Adaptation for Indigenous Households in Guatemala;       Alberto Fuentes (INTA), Gregory Randolph (City Planning), Joshua Ayers (City Planning),Erick Calderón  (World Vision Intl), Sara Sywulka (World Vision Intl).
• Mitigating the Risk of Life-Threatening Power Outages During Extreme Weather; Constance Crozier         (ISYE), (Brian) Yeokwang An (Pub Policy), Hiba Baroud (Vanderbilt).
• A Sustainability Data Dashboard for the GT Library Media Bridge, Yanni Loukissas (LMC), Emily Weigel (Biol), Alison Valk (Library), Jason Wright (Library), Charles Bennett (Library), Atlas Coltrain (LMC) (Co-funded by IPaT & BBISS).

Joint Initiative

• Modeling the Dispersal and Connectivity of Marine Larvae With GenAI Agents; Annalisa Bracco              (EAS), Jacob Abernethy (CS), Xing Zhou (EAS),  Renzhi Wu (CS), Guanghui Wang (CS) (Co-funded by IDeAS & BBISS).

The Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) invites applications and nominations for the Executive Director (ED) position in the Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems (BBISS). BBISS, one of Georgia Tech’s Interdisciplinary Research Institutes (IRIs), brings together researchers from across Georgia Tech, including academic and research units, to support world-class sustainability-focused research, student engagement, and industry, government, and nonprofit collaboration toward achieving systemic change.

The BBISS ED will be a dynamic, collaborative, and entrepreneurial leader who will unite a broad range of stakeholders around a vision to elevate and grow sustainability at Georgia Tech. As a systems thinker and inclusive relationship builder, the ED will expand and enhance BBISS collaborations and partnerships within and beyond Georgia Tech to broaden its sustainability footprint in local, regional, national, and international arenas.

The ED will catalyze the formation of interdisciplinary teams to support high-impact programming and grants in areas such as climate science, solutions, and policy; ecosystem and environmental health; sustainable cities and infrastructure; sustainable resource and material use; just and equitable sustainable development; and the economics and business of sustainability.

View the job description

Applications, Inquiries, and Nominations

To apply for the Executive Director position in the Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems, candidates are requested to submit the following:

• A curriculum vitae
• A letter of interest (not to exceed four pages) that summarizes your qualifications and includes a brief statement of your vision for BBISS
• Contact information for five references (to be contacted with candidate’s permission at a later date)

Candidates are requested to send their application materials (in Word or PDF) to the AGB Search Portal at this link by November 19, 2024, for best consideration.

Nominations and expressions of interest for this opportunity are encouraged. Please direct them to BBISSGATech@agbsearch.com or to the AGB search consultants listed below.

Monica Burton, Principal
monica.burton@agbsearch.com
C: 917.825.2961

Nancy Targett, Ph.D., Executive Search Consultant
nancy.targett@agbsearch.com
C: 302.233.5202

In this episode, Beril Toktay, Regents' Professor and faculty director of the Ray C. Anderson Center for Sustainable Business, defines net zero and discusses some ways to alleviate climate change by reducing carbon emissions to the point of net zero emissions.

Globally, most major polluters, such as China, the U.S., India, and the EU, are among over 140 nations with net-zero goals, which encompasses roughly 88 percent of global emissions. Meeting the Paris Agreement's 1.5°C climate threshold requires 45 percent emissions cut by 2030 and net-zero emissions by 2050 (United Nations Climate Action).

Toktay describes ways this can be accomplished in different business sectors. For example, in the energy sectors, this means moving from fossil fuels to renewable technologies, and in the transportation sector, moving to electrification and innovative battery technologies as well as developing the infrastructure to support these initiatives. These efforts help move businesses towards achieving net zero as well as providing cleaner air and water, and better health outcomes to the global population.

Listen as Toktay discusses what net zero means, the importance of getting to net zero, and how businesses can help reduce carbon emissions. 

Read more »

As Georgia Tech establishes itself as a national leader in AI research and education, some researchers on campus are putting AI to work to help meet sustainability goals in a range of areas including climate change adaptation and mitigation, urban farming, food distribution, and life cycle assessments while also focusing on ways to make sure AI is used ethically.

Josiah Hester, interim associate director for Community-Engaged Research in the Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems (BBISS) and associate professor in the School of Interactive Computing, sees these projects as wins from both a research standpoint and for the local, national, and global communities they could affect.

“These faculty exemplify Georgia Tech's commitment to serving and partnering with communities in our research,” he says. “Sustainability is one of the most pressing issues of our time. AI gives us new tools to build more resilient communities, but the complexities and nuances in applying this emerging suite of technologies can only be solved by community members and researchers working closely together to bridge the gap. This approach to AI for sustainability strengthens the bonds between our university and our communities and makes lasting impacts due to community buy-in.”

Flood Monitoring and Carbon Storage

Peng Chen, assistant professor in the School of Computational Science and Engineering in the College of Computing, focuses on computational mathematics, data science, scientific machine learning, and parallel computing. Chen is combining these areas of expertise to develop algorithms to assist in practical applications such as flood monitoring and carbon dioxide capture and storage.

He is currently working on a National Science Foundation (NSF) project with colleagues in Georgia Tech’s School of City and Regional Planning and from the University of South Florida to develop flood models in the St. Petersburg, Florida area. As a low-lying state with more than 8,400 miles of coastline, Florida is one of the states most at risk from sea level rise and flooding caused by extreme weather events sparked by climate change.

Chen’s novel approach to flood monitoring takes existing high-resolution hydrological and hydrographical mapping and uses machine learning to incorporate real-time updates from social media users and existing traffic cameras to run rapid, low-cost simulations using deep neural networks. Current flood monitoring software is resource and time-intensive. Chen’s goal is to produce live modeling that can be used to warn residents and allocate emergency response resources as conditions change. That information would be available to the general public through a portal his team is working on.

“This project focuses on one particular community in Florida,” Chen says, “but we hope this methodology will be transferable to other locations and situations affected by climate change.”

In addition to the flood-monitoring project in Florida, Chen and his colleagues are developing new methods to improve the reliability and cost-effectiveness of storing carbon dioxide in underground rock formations. The process is plagued with uncertainty about the porosity of the bedrock, the optimal distribution of monitoring wells, and the rate at which carbon dioxide can be injected without over-pressurizing the bedrock, leading to collapse. The new simulations are fast, inexpensive, and minimize the risk of failure, which also decreases the cost of construction.

“Traditional high-fidelity simulation using supercomputers takes hours and lots of resources,” says Chen. “Now we can run these simulations in under one minute using AI models without sacrificing accuracy. Even when you factor in AI training costs, this is a huge savings in time and financial resources.”

Flood monitoring and carbon capture are passion projects for Chen, who sees an opportunity to use artificial intelligence to increase the pace and decrease the cost of problem-solving.

“I’m very excited about the possibility of solving grand challenges in the sustainability area with AI and machine learning models,” he says. “Engineering problems are full of uncertainty, but by using this technology, we can characterize the uncertainty in new ways and propagate it throughout our predictions to optimize designs and maximize performance.”

Urban Farming and Optimization

Yongsheng Chen works at the intersection of food, energy, and water. As the Bonnie W. and Charles W. Moorman Professor in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering and director of the Nutrients, Energy, and Water Center for Agriculture Technology, Chen is focused on making urban agriculture technologically feasible, financially viable, and, most importantly, sustainable. To do that he’s leveraging AI to speed up the design process and optimize farming and harvesting operations.

Chen’s closed-loop hydroponic system uses anaerobically treated wastewater for fertilization and irrigation by extracting and repurposing nutrients as fertilizer before filtering the water through polymeric membranes with nano-scale pores. Advancing filtration and purification processes depends on finding the right membrane materials to selectively separate contaminants, including antibiotics and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Chen and his team are using AI and machine learning to guide membrane material selection and fabrication to make contaminant separation as efficient as possible. Similarly, AI and machine learning are assisting in developing carbon capture materials such as ionic liquids that can retain carbon dioxide generated during wastewater treatment and redirect it to hydroponics systems, boosting food productivity.

“A fundamental angle of our research is that we do not see municipal wastewater as waste,” explains Chen. “It is a resource we can treat and recover components from to supply irrigation, fertilizer, and biogas, all while reducing the amount of energy used in conventional wastewater treatment methods.”

In addition to aiding in materials development, which reduces design time and production costs, Chen is using machine learning to optimize the growing cycle of produce, maximizing nutritional value. His USDA-funded vertical farm uses autonomous robots to measure critical cultivation parameters and take pictures without destroying plants. This data helps determine optimum environmental conditions, fertilizer supply, and harvest timing, resulting in a faster-growing, optimally nutritious plant with less fertilizer waste and lower emissions.

Chen’s work has received considerable federal funding. As the Urban Resilience and Sustainability Thrust Leader within the NSF-funded AI Institute for Advances in Optimization (AI4OPT), he has received additional funding to foster international collaboration in digital agriculture with colleagues across the United States and in Japan, Australia, and India.

Optimizing Food Distribution

At the other end of the agricultural spectrum is postdoc Rosemarie Santa González in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, who is conducting her research under the supervision of Professor Chelsea White and Professor Pascal Van Hentenryck, the director of Georgia Tech’s AI Hub as well as the director of AI4OPT.

Santa González is working with the Wisconsin Food Hub Cooperative to help traditional farmers get their products into the hands of consumers as efficiently as possible to reduce hunger and food waste. Preventing food waste is a priority for both the EPA and USDA. Current estimates are that 30 to 40% of the food produced in the United States ends up in landfills, which is a waste of resources on both the production end in the form of land, water, and chemical use, as well as a waste of resources when it comes to disposing of it, not to mention the impact of the greenhouses gases when wasted food decays.

To tackle this problem, Santa González and the Wisconsin Food Hub are helping small-scale farmers access refrigeration facilities and distribution chains. As part of her research, she is helping to develop AI tools that can optimize the logistics of the small-scale farmer supply chain while also making local consumers in underserved areas aware of what’s available so food doesn’t end up in landfills.

“This solution has to be accessible,” she says. “Not just in the sense that the food is accessible, but that the tools we are providing to them are accessible. The end users have to understand the tools and be able to use them. It has to be sustainable as a resource.”

Making AI accessible to people in the community is a core goal of the NSF’s AI Institute for Intelligent Cyberinfrastructure with Computational Learning in the Environment (ICICLE), one of the partners involved with the project.

“A large segment of the population we are working with, which includes historically marginalized communities, has a negative reaction to AI. They think of machines taking over, or data being stolen. Our goal is to democratize AI in these decision-support tools as we work toward the UN Sustainable Development Goal of Zero Hunger. There is so much power in these tools to solve complex problems that have very real results. More people will be fed and less food will spoil before it gets to people’s homes.”

Santa González hopes the tools they are building can be packaged and customized for food co-ops everywhere.

AI and Ethics

Like Santa González, Joe Bozeman III is also focused on the ethical and sustainable deployment of AI and machine learning, especially among marginalized communities. The assistant professor in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering is an industrial ecologist committed to fostering ethical climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies. His SEEEL Lab works to make sure researchers understand the consequences of decisions before they move from academic concepts to policy decisions, particularly those that rely on data sets involving people and communities.

“With the administration of big data, there is a human tendency to assume that more data means everything is being captured, but that's not necessarily true,” he cautions. “More data could mean we're just capturing more of the data that already exists, while new research shows that we’re not including information from marginalized communities that have historically not been brought into the decision-making process. That includes underrepresented minorities, rural populations, people with disabilities, and neurodivergent people who may not interface with data collection tools.”

Bozeman is concerned that overlooking marginalized communities in data sets will result in decisions that at best ignore them and at worst cause them direct harm.

“Our lab doesn't wait for the negative harms to occur before we start talking about them,” explains Bozeman, who holds a courtesy appointment in the School of Public Policy. “Our lab forecasts what those harms will be so decision-makers and engineers can develop technologies that consider these things.”

He focuses on urbanization, the food-energy-water nexus, and the circular economy. He has found that much of the research in those areas is conducted in a vacuum without consideration for human engagement and the impact it could have when implemented.

Bozeman is lobbying for built-in tools and safeguards to mitigate the potential for harm from researchers using AI without appropriate consideration. He already sees a disconnect between the academic world and the public. Bridging that trust gap will require ethical uses of AI.

“We have to start rigorously including their voices in our decision-making to begin gaining trust with the public again. And with that trust, we can all start moving toward sustainable development. If we don't do that, I don't care how good our engineering solutions are, we're going to miss the boat entirely on bringing along the majority of the population.”

BBISS Support

Moving forward, Hester is excited about the impact the Brooks Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems can have on AI and sustainability research through a variety of support mechanisms.

“BBISS continues to invest in faculty development and training in community-driven research strategies, including the Community Engagement Faculty Fellows Program (with the Center for Sustainable Communities Research and Education), while empowering multidisciplinary teams to work together to solve grand engineering challenges with AI by supporting the AI+Climate Faculty Interest Group, as well as partnering with and providing administrative support for community-driven research projects.”

Marilyn Brown, Regents’ and Brook Byers Professor of Sustainable Systems in Georgia Tech’s School of Public Policy; Shan Zhou, an assistant professor at Purdue University and Georgia Tech Ph.D. alumna; and Barry Solomon, a professor emeritus of environmental policy at Michigan Technological University, investigated how clean electricity policies affect not only the states that adopt them, but neighboring states as well. Using data-driven comparisons, the researchers found that the impact of these subnational clean energy policies is far greater — and more nuanced — than previously known. 

Their research was recently published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 

“Analysts are asking if the U.S. should have a federal renewable mandate to put the whole country on the same page, or if individual state policies are sufficient,” Brown said. “To answer that question, it is useful to know if states with renewable energy policies are influencing those without them.”

Brown, Solomon, and Zhou examined a common clean energy policy tool: the Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS). Adopted by more than half of U.S. states, RPSs are regulations requiring a state’s utility providers to generate a certain percentage of their electricity from renewable resources, such as wind or solar. Many of these standards are mandatory, with utility companies facing fines if they fail to reach targets within a given time.

To investigate the influence of these policies across state lines, the researchers first created a dataset that included 31 years (1991-2021) of annual renewable electricity generation data for 48 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. They then used the dataset to generate pairs of states linking each state to its geographic neighbors or electricity trading partners, allowing them to examine the influence of the RPS policy adopted by one of the pair on the renewable energy generation of the other — a total of 1,519 paired comparisons. 

“By only looking at the pairs, we can see if an RPS in one state directly affects renewable electricity generation in another state, and, if that’s the case, whether it is because they are geographic neighbors or if it’s because they are participating in the same wholesale electricity market,” Zhou said. 

Looking into the electricity market is important, because states often purchase electricity from other states through wholesale markets rather than exclusively producing their own power, and the purchased power can be generated from renewables. Utilities in some states may be allowed to meet their own RPS requirements by purchasing renewable energy credits based on the renewable electricity generated in other states. 

In their analyses, the team also considered the concept of “policy stringency.” A stringency measure evaluates a state’s renewable electricity targets relative to the amount currently produced in the state. For example, if a state requires electric utilities to generate 30% of their electricity from renewable sources by 2030 and the state already has 25%, it isn’t a very stringent policy. On the other hand, if a state has a 30% target and only uses 10% renewables currently, it has a more ambitious and stringent RPS.

Though policy experts have used the metric in related work for over a decade, the research team improved the design. 

“Our stringency variable includes interim targets as well as the existing share of renewable energy generation,” Solomon said.

The team found that the amount of renewable electricity generation in a state is not only influenced by whether that state has its own RPS, but also by the RPS policies of neighboring states. 

“We also learned that the stronger a neighboring state’s RPS policy is, the more likely a given state is to generate more renewable electricity,” Brown said. “It’s all a very interactive web with many co-benefits.”

The authors were surprised to find that a given state’s electricity trading partners did not hold the most influence over renewable generation, but rather the geographical proximity to RPS states. They suggest that past RPS policy research focusing on within-state impacts likely underestimated an RPS’s full impact. While the researchers have not yet identified all factors that can cause spillover effects, they plan to investigate this further. 

“The spillover effect is very significant and should not be overlooked by future research, especially for states without RPSs,” Zhou said. “For states without policies, their renewable electricity generation is very heavily influenced by their neighbors.”

Citation: Shan Zhou, Barry D. Solomon, and Marilyn A. Brown, “The spillover effect of mandatory renewable portfolio standards.” PNAS (June 2024). 
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2313193121
 

Yuanzhi Tang knows firsthand how much of an impact BBISS can make through its programs. The associate professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences answered a BBISS call for faculty fellowships, and later seed funding for a project related to sustainable resources. That project grew into a collaboration with Georgia Tech’s Strategic Energy Institute; the Center for Critical Mineral Solutions (CCMS), supported by the College of Sciences and co-sponsored by BBISS; SEI; the Institute for Electronics and Nanotechnology (IEN); and the Institute for Materials (IMat and IEN are now combined into the Institute for Matter and Systems). The goal of the center is to develop sustainable solutions for the grand challenges associated with critical metals and materials essential for the clean energy transition.

During her time as a faculty fellow within BBISS, Yuanzhi became familiar with the people in the organization and had the opportunity to evaluate student and faculty fellow applications. When the opportunity arose to take on the role of associate co-director of interdisciplinary research for BBISS, she was happy to accept so she could help others access resources that had shaped her growth as a researcher at Georgia Tech.

“Being part of a community of people who value interdisciplinary research on sustainability-related topics, I benefited from the interactions and engagement with BBISS and I hope to carry that forward, particularly for young faculty. They are often eager to connect but might not know where to begin. BBISS can be a starting point for them.”

With a background in geochemistry and degrees from Peking University, Stony Brook University, and a postdoc at Harvard, Yuanzhi has gained a breadth of experience that has earned her a variety of awards and recognition. As she joins BBISS in a formal role, she has some advice for early-career colleagues.

“Go to seminars, events, and organized activities, as the best ideas often come through communicating and networking with others, and that’s how you discover that your expertise is needed in other fields. Be confident in who you are as a scholar, but also go out and find ways to collaborate. Georgia Tech places value on interdisciplinary research, and this is a unique strength that you should leverage.”

Away from the office, classroom, and lab, Yuanzhi is a wife and mother of two young children. She enjoys cuddle time with the kids and navigating parenthood in an academically driven household. Her husband is also a Georgia Tech professor and together they juggle the challenges of their careers with spending quality time with the children. “We try to keep work minimal on weekends and get out of the house and enjoy what Atlanta has to offer. We love nature and appreciate that we can be close to campus, close to the city, and still have so many green places to be outside.”

As she embarks on her new role with BBISS, Yuanzhi sees parallels between being a parent, professor, and now an administrator.

“The world is changing rapidly with the explosion of information and technology. It’s a struggle to know what to teach my kids and my students. How do we prepare them for five, 10, or even 20 years from now? This feeling of responsibility connects my work and personal life. It’s challenging, but also very exciting to see how we can help them embrace changes.”

Georgia Tech researchers in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering (ME) are developing more efficient heating systems that don’t rely on fossil fuels. They demonstrated that combining two commonly found salts could help store clean energy as heat; this can be used for heating buildings or integrated with a heat pump for cooling buildings.

The researchers presented their research in “Thermochemical Energy Storage Using Salt Mixtures With Improved Hydration Kinetics and Cycling Stability,” in the Journal of Energy Storage.

Reaction Redux 

The fundamental mechanics of heat storage are simple and can be achieved through many methods. A basic reversible chemical reaction is the foundation for their approach: A forward reaction absorbs heat and then stores it, while a reverse reaction releases the heat, enabling a building to use it.

ME Assistant Professor Akanksha Menon has been interested in thermal energy storage since she began working on her Ph.D.  When she arrived at Georgia Tech and started the Water-Energy Research Lab (WERL), she became involved in not only developing storage technology and materials but also figuring out how to integrate them within a building. She thought understanding the fundamental material challenges could translate into creating better storage.

“I realized there are so many things that we don't understand, at a scientific level, about how these thermo-chemical materials work between the forward and reverse reactions,” she said.

The Superior Salt

The reactions Menon works with use salt. Each salt molecule can hold a certain number of water molecules within its structure. To instigate the chemical reaction, the researchers dehydrate the salt with heat, so it expels water vapor as a gas. To reverse the reaction, they hydrate the salt with water, forcing the salt structure’s expansion to accommodate those water molecules. 

It sounds like a simple process, but as this expansion/contraction process happens, the salt gets more stressed and will eventually mechanically fail, the same way lithium-ion batteries only have so many charge-discharge cycles. 

“You can start with something that's a nice spherical particle, but after it goes through a few of these dehydration-hydration cycles, it just breaks apart into tiny particles and completely pulverizes or it overhydrates and agglomerates into a block,” Menon explained. 

These changes aren’t necessarily catastrophic, but they do make the salt ineffective for long-term heat storage as the storage capacity decreases over time. 

Menon and her student, Erik Barbosa, a Ph.D. student in ME, began combining salts that react with water in different ways. After testing six salts over two years, they found two that complemented each other well. Magnesium chloride often fails because it absorbs too much water, whereas strontium chloride is very slow to hydrate. Together, their respective limitations can mutually benefit each other and lead to improved heat storage.

“We didn't plan to mix salts; it was just one of the experiments we tried,” Menon said. “Then we saw this interactive behavior and spent a whole year trying to understand why this was happening and if it was something we could generalize to use for thermal energy storage.”

The Energy Storage of the Future

Menon is just beginning with this research, which was supported by a National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award. Her next step is developing the structures capable of containing these salts for heat storage, which is the focus of an Energy Earthshots project funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Basic Energy Sciences.

A system-level demonstration is also planned, where one solution is filling a drum with salts in a packed bed reactor. Then hot air would flow across the salts, dehydrating them and effectively charging the drum like a battery. To release that stored energy, humid air would be blown over the salts to rehydrate the crystals. The subsequently released heat can be used in a building instead of fossil fuels. While initiating the reaction needs electricity, this could come from off-peak (excess renewable electricity) and the stored thermal energy could be deployed at peak times. This is the focus of another ongoing project in the lab that is funded by the DOE’s  Building Technologies Office.

Ultimately, this technology could lead to climate-friendly energy solutions. Plus, unlike many alternatives like lithium batteries, salt is a widely available and cost-effective material, meaning its implementation could be swift. Salt-based thermal energy storage can help reduce carbon emissions, a vital strategy in the fight against climate change.

“Our research spans the range from fundamental science to applied engineering thanks to funding from the NSF and DOE,” Menon said. “This positions Georgia Tech to make a significant impact toward decarbonizing heat and enabling a renewable future.”

Ameet Pinto, who is the Carlton S. Wilder Associate Professor in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, was drawn to Georgia Tech because of the depth and breadth of the research expertise on campus, as well as the collaborative atmosphere.

“I know that if I want to write a research proposal next week for a new idea and I lack expertise in one area, I can find a collaborator on campus with the necessary skillset,” they say. “We have a critical mass of highly skilled researchers across disciplines, and that’s truly amazing.” Helping others tap into that critical mass will be their primary role as one of two associate co-directors for interdisciplinary research in the Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems. Ameet will work with associate professor Yuanzhi Tang from the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences to help bring like-minded researchers within the sustainability field together and shepherd them through the grant-writing process.

“My role, as I see it, is to help faculty from across the campus find synergies in their research and then amplify the impact of those synergies by assisting them in going after large thematic proposals with bid support,” says Ameet. “I’m super excited to help make those connections, and where those connections already exist, provide the support to help them take off.”

With degrees in chemical engineering, environmental engineering, and civil engineering and a personal research area that falls under environmental engineering, Ameet is used to working across interdisciplinary lines. Ameet uses their background in chemical engineering to develop sustainable methods to produce drinking water and treat wastewater.

“A major goal for my research group is to look at the microorganisms within the engineered water cycle. We can leverage them, beneficially, to make water treatment, wastewater treatment, and water delivery, both safe and sustainable,” he explains. “If we can use biological processes to remove contaminants, or to produce safe water, then we are not using chemicals.”

After stints teaching at Northeastern University and University of Glasgow, Ameet joined the Georgia Tech faculty in 2021 when the campus community was largely remote during Covid restrictions. Ameet is excited to use this new leadership role within BBISS to connect with others and help build a vibrant community of sustainability researchers.

“My personal vision is closely aligned with BBISS so I was excited to join the leadership team. I know there are other researchers like me looking to make connections with sustainability fields and I know I can help in that area. This is an amazing opportunity to get to know the campus community and connect with like-minded researchers while realizing a shared vision and mission.”

Outside of work Ameet loves to cook. They also have three cats, nine chickens, and their wife is an avid gardener who keeps them fully stocked in fresh produce. Originally from India, Ameet earned a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the Institute of Chemical Technology (University of Mumbai), master’s from the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and Ph.D. from Virginia Tech.

This title is awarded to institutions with demonstrated experience in organizing sustainability education professional development opportunities for faculty and reflects the Institute’s efforts to increase the accessibility and diversity of education for sustainability, including community-engaged sustainability learning and teaching with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). As a designated Center, Georgia Tech will host annual professional development events open to faculty from other institutions.

Read the full story on the Center for Teaching and Learning blog.

Why it matters: These fellowships, funded by a transformative gift from Brook Byers and family, aim to develop future leaders in energy policy. The recipients will gain invaluable experience through year-long internships in Washington while expanding the School’s network and reach in the nation’s capital. The program also gives crucial support for students to live in Washington for a year.

“One of my key missions is to highlight the critical role of data in shaping effective policy,” said Jazmin Lucio, who will be working on decarbonization policy in U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy’s office. “I believe that educated policymakers are essential for creating robust, evidence-based legislation. Through this fellowship, I aim to see legislation passed that is informed by my work, learn more about energy policy from the source, make bipartisan connections, and gain insights from productive activism."

Joining Lucio in Washington:

• Taylor Clarke: Focusing on environmental policy in the office of Sen. Jon Ossoff.
• Vincent Gu: Ph.D. student serving on the Senate Budget Committee, representing Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island.

“Working with the Senate Budget Committee offers unique opportunities to interact with various government agencies and understand the collaborative efforts on climate issues,” Gu said. “Through this fellowship, I hope to gain a deeper understanding of the technical requirements for implementing climate solutions like hydrogen and electric vehicles and the work needed to make them feasible."

The big picture: Energy policy expertise is critical as the nation and world navigates the climate crisis, and programs like this show Georgia Tech’s School of Public Policy is delivering transformative learning experiences to prepare students for success.

“I am looking forward to what the next year holds and seeing what my peers will accomplish,” said Clarke. “Having adequate support for opportunities on the Hill is rare, so I am happy to see a program begin that can remove the cost barrier for passionate students.”

What they’re saying: “Georgia Tech students are problem solvers,” said Cassidy R. Sugimoto, Tom and Marie Patton Chair. “We're putting students in positions where they can work with national leaders in solving one of the most pressing problems of our time. We believe in education that makes a difference. This fellowship exemplifies our dedication to this value."

The U.N.’s International Maritime Organization (IMO) has set targets to reduce shipping greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40% by 2030 and 70% by 2040, aiming for net-zero by 2050. Shipping currently accounts for about 3% of global annual greenhouse gas emissions, and the pressure is on shipping companies to meet these ambitious goals.

Across Georgia Tech, researchers are working toward a sustainable future for ocean shipping. This includes Valerie Thomas, the Anderson-Interface Chair of Natural Systems Professor in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, and in the School of Public Policy. She is scholar of energy systems, sustainability, assessment, and low-carbon transportation fuels, and her work touches many aspects of the maritime industry. 

Finding Sustainable Solutions

“Today, we ship a lot of goods by ocean freight, and there is certainly an environmental impact with shipping,” Thomas said.  “But the emissions from shipping a product from East Asia to the U.S. on a bulk carrier vessel are significantly lower than trucking a product across the U.S. When ships are filled to the brim with cargo and are moving slowly across oceans, this is energy efficient, fuel efficient, and even cost efficient per ton of ‘stuff’ transported.” 

While ocean shipping is significantly more energy efficient than air or land transport and contributes far fewer emissions, Thomas says cutting down on ocean freight emissions will require a great deal more effort. One way is to find more eco-friendly fuels. 

“I look at big systems, and one of those areas is investigating alternative fuels,” Thomas said. “I’m often trying to figure out how much greenhouse gas various fuels emit, what other types of emissions or matter are coming out, and how to compare different fuel options.”

Thomas is a leading expert in life-cycle assessment. It is a method used to evaluate a fuel or technology's environmental impact throughout its entire cycle — from raw materials extraction, processing, manufacturing, distribution, and ultimately, use. Right now, basically all ships use petroleum fuels, which emit carbon dioxide and particulate matter into the air. 

Finding fuel alternatives is not a simple task: Just because a fuel might initially seem like a promising low-carbon option, that is not always the case in the end. Thomas’s expertise in life-cycle assessments helps her figure out whether these possible fuels are truly environmentally friendly.

“One such example is hydrogen: It doesn’t emit carbon dioxide when burned,” Thomas said. “But the manufacturing of hydrogen can emit carbon dioxide, and therefore, hydrogen is not always a low-carbon fuel on a lifecycle basis.”

Helping the Shipping Industry Cut Carbon 

Patricia Stathatou, a researcher at Georgia Tech’s Renewable Bioproducts Institute, specializes in sustainability assessment of chemical engineering processes and products, which includes lifecycle assessments and techno-economic assessments, evaluating both the environmental impacts and the economic viability of products and processes. Stathatou, who will join the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering as an assistant professor in January 2025, also conducts experiments to support these assessments and guide the development of new technologies. 

“My contribution to the lifecycle assessment field is that I support assessments with in-field emission monitoring, taking samples, and performing chemical analyses,” Stathatou said. “This helps identify specific pollutants that might be emitted into the air or be present in water, wastewater, or solid waste streams.”

But as maritime shipping companies rise to the challenge of cutting emissions, they often do not know where to start. This is where Stathatou’s experience comes in. 

During her postdoctoral research at MIT, a major shipping company reached out to Stathatou and her colleagues asking for help in cutting emissions. They wanted to increase the energy efficiency of their fleet and investigate different strategies and technologies to eventually reach the IMO’s emissions goals.

Because of Stathatou’s expertise in alternative fuels, biofuels, and sustainable energy sources, she investigated potential solutions for the company, which included a six-day research trip monitoring emissions aboard one of the company’s bulk carrier vessels in East Asia. Her work involves designing experiments, measuring emissions, and evaluating the environmental impact of different fuels onboard bulk carrier vessels. 

“Ten years ago, there weren't rigorous goals or guidelines for reducing emissions in the shipping industry — and not much scientific collaboration in the process,” Stathatou said. “If we are to make a difference in the industry in regard to climate, we need partnerships with shipping companies to help guide their efforts.”

Stathatou plans to continue her collaborations with shipping companies and expects to carry out more on-ship evaluations soon. 

The Big Picture 

According to Thomas, a holistic approach is needed to make shipping more sustainable. "It's not just about the fuels we use; it's about optimizing supply chains, reducing empty freight, and leveraging multimodal transportation options," Thomas said. "By embracing net-zero freight initiatives and maximizing efficiency in logistics, we can achieve meaningful reductions in emissions while meeting the demands of global trade."

Encouraging shifts to ocean freight is another means of reducing emissions. For example, if a company wants to transport goods from Miami to Baltimore, they don’t need to go by road or rail. “You can ship your freight on the ocean along the coast, and that could be more environmentally efficient,” Thomas said. 

The work Thomas and Stathatou do is part of a broad portfolio of shipping sustainability research at Georgia Tech, which also includes the Georgia Tech Supply Chain and Logistics Institute, the Panama Logistics and Innovation Research Center, and the Net Zero Freight Systems Program, which Thomas co-leads. These partnerships aim to enhance the efficiency and sustainability of global supply chains, leveraging innovative research and practical applications.

“The work of evaluating different fuels, technologies, and strategies is not trivial, and figuring out these new methods does not happen quickly,” Thomas said. “These are difficult technologies, and it takes a long time to put them in place. That is why we need to do this work now.” 

Stathatou envisions that, with more shipping companies now looking to curb their emissions, there will be significant adoption of new fuels and technologies within the next decade.

“Ocean shipping is a transportation sector that we cannot go without, and so decarbonizing it is very important,” Stathatou said. “I believe the ability to perform these assessments and guide the development of future solutions will have a tremendous impact on humanity.”

Yongsheng Chen, Bonnie W. and Charles W. Moorman IV Professor in Georgia Tech's School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, has been awarded a $300,000 National Science Foundation (NSF) grant to spearhead efforts to enhance sustainable agriculture practices using innovative AI solutions.