{"690200":{"#nid":"690200","#data":{"type":"news","title":"AI, Analytics, and Health Tech Take Center Stage at Spring 2026 College of Computing Capstone Expo ","body":[{"value":"\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFrom AI-powered tools that support dementia care to platforms that translate natural language into data insights, computing students showcased a wide range of software solutions at the Spring 2026 College of Computing Capstone Expo.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHeld on April 27 in the Exhibition Hall, the event highlighted the technical skills and creativity of third- and fourth-year students in the School of Computing Instruction (SCI).\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe Expo marks the culmination of a semester-long course in which computer science and computational media majors design products that address real-world needs. In the program, students either collaborate with external clients to deliver real-world solutions or develop \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.cc.gatech.edu\/news\/design-build-launch-new-cs-capstone-turns-students-entrepreneurs\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Estartup-driven prototypes under the mentorship of industry professionals.\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EVolunteers from industry and the campus community judge teams on functionality, aesthetics, and presentation.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWinning Teams:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ETimeSlips AI Integrated Mobile App\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis project is a mobile app with questions and image prompts to support facilitators in meaningfully engaging people with dementia. AI integration transcribes sessions and lets facilitators review them, get feedback, and develop them into stories.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003ETeam members: \u003Cstrong\u003ESubhan Aamir, Joshua Dietzenbach, Viktoriya Petrova, Esteban Sanint, Joel Sari\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ul\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003EMentor: Georgia Tech Alumna \u003Cstrong\u003EChristine Ling\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ul\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EDataChat: Natural Language Analytics for Non-Technical Teams\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis project is a ChatGPT-like app where users can upload CSV files (usually sports-related). The app will analyze the CSV file and provide detailed results, including why the results turned out the way they did.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003ETeam members: \u003Cstrong\u003EHenry Arnold, Gil Hananel, Terrance Hollingsworth, Brayden Huguenard, Heeyoon Shin\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ul\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003EMentor: SCI faculty member \u003Cstrong\u003EJaideep Mulherkar\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ul\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EHealthy Actions\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis project focuses on preventing weight gain. The web app allows users to assess their health and behaviors at the beginning, midpoint, and end of a 12-week program to track progress and support healthier outcomes.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003ETeam members: \u003Cstrong\u003ETrung Dao, Zayd Patel, Caleb Peacock, Jack Seal, Ashish Thomas\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ul\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003EMentor: Georgia Tech Alumna \u003Cstrong\u003EChristine Ling\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ul\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech alumna Christine Ling (BS Industrial Engineering 2025) mentored two of the winning teams, TimeSlips and Healthy Actions.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThese teams have been a joy to work with from start to finish. They consistently approached their project with thoughtfulness, realism, and a clear sense of purpose,\u201d Ling said.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWhat stood out most was their motivation and collaborative spirit. They were proactive in seeking clarification, eager to refine their ideas, and genuinely invested in producing a polished, high\u2011quality final product. Their steady work ethic and willingness to iterate made them an absolute pleasure to support.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EEntrepreneurial Capstone Winning Teams:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EOptimis\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis project attributes cloud billing changes to specific runtime behaviors in a developer\u2019s Integrated Development Environment (IDE) and Continuous Integration (CI) pipeline, helping teams avoid unexpected billing surprises.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003ETeam members: \u003Cstrong\u003EAadil Khond, Arnav Singh, Benjamin Sinek, Carl Fakhir\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ul\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EPulseAPI\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis project converts real application programming interface (API) traffic into an OpenAPI contract and detects deviations from it, helping teams catch breaking changes before they affect production systems.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003ETeam members: \u003Cstrong\u003EDominik Peric, Maahir Jain, Sishnukeshav Balamurali, Swastik Samanta\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ul\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMore photos from the expo \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/gatech.canto.com\/b\/QSJ2T\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Eare available here.\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFrom AI-powered tools that support dementia care to platforms that translate natural language into data insights, computing students showcased a wide range of software solutions at the Spring 2026 College of Computing Capstone Expo.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"From AI-powered tools that support dementia care to platforms that translate natural language into data insights, computing students showcased a wide range of software solutions at the Spring 2026 College of Computing Capstone Expo. 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Drawn to both computing and film, she sought flexibility to explore technical problem-solving alongside creative storytelling.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThrough her work as a teaching assistant (TA), a software engineering internship, and independent film projects, Tran learned that her interests didn\u2019t have to fit neatly into a single role. Instead, she built a path that lets both sides grow, sometimes together, sometimes separately.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat drew you to computer science and Georgia Tech?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EI\u2019ve always been the type of person who wants to do a million things, so it was difficult for me to decide on one subject to study in college. I was drawn to CS because it is extremely versatile, and I enjoyed Advanced Placement Computer Science A (AP CSA) at Woodland High School in Stockbridge. I could go the practical route and work at a big tech company, or I could take a more creative route and pursue game development or animation. Since computers are ubiquitous in all industries, the possibilities seem endless.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHowever, another subject I really wanted to study in college is film, as it is my first love. I had to find a school that would give me a balance between an amazing CS education and a film education. I ended up choosing Georgia Tech because not only do we have a top-ranked CS program, but we\u2019re also in the heart of Atlanta, where there are countless film opportunities. This semester, I\u2019ll be graduating with a bachelor\u2019s in computer science with a minor in film and media studies.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EHow has your experience as a teaching assistant shaped you?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EI have been a TA for CS 1332: Data Structures and Algorithms for seven semesters. At first, I just wanted to have an on-campus job and retain fundamental information about CS. However, over the semesters, I ended up really loving the TA community.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBeing surrounded by a highly motivated group of people forces you to try to be the best version of yourself. I\u2019ve met people who achieve great things. Seeing them achieve their goals makes it seem like mine aren\u2019t out of reach and only makes me work harder to achieve them.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EHow have you approached your interests in tech and media?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhen I first entered college, I assumed that I needed to perfectly combine the two fields, which led me to restrict myself to the role of a tech artist. I worked as a tech artist for clubs like \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.cc.gatech.edu\/student-organizations\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EVGDev and Animation Club\u003C\/a\u003E, creating 3D models and rigs that can be animated. I also did a \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/news.gatech.edu\/news\/2023\/07\/14\/exploring-art-and-ai-georgia-techs-school-literature-media-and-communication-0\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EVIP in Art and AI,\u003C\/a\u003E where I created a stop-motion film using 3D models and generative AI.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHowever, I feel like I thrived when I allowed myself to explore these fields separately. On the technical side, I worked as a software engineering intern at AWS and enjoyed applying my technical design knowledge and problem-solving skills to complete my project. On the media side, I have directed two short films, with \u003Cem\u003EIn Universe 907\u003C\/em\u003E winning an award at Georgia Tech\u2019s Literature, Media, and Communications (LMC) Film Festival.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhile these two paths don\u2019t perfectly combine tech and media 50\/50, they require both technical and creative skills that satisfy my need to combine my passions.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat are your plans after graduation?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAfter graduation, I\u2019ll be working as a software engineer at Amazon Web Services and will be moving to Santa Clara, California.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWho has influenced your journey at Georgia Tech?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EI have to thank \u003Cstrong\u003EMary Hudachek-Buswell\u003C\/strong\u003E and \u003Cstrong\u003EFrederic Faulkner\u003C\/strong\u003E for allowing me to serve as their TA for the past three years and for giving me and the other TAs many opportunities to grow both academically and professionally.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat advice would you give to students interested in combining technical and creative fields?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETo any student interested in combining technical and creative fields, keep your options open and don\u2019t pigeonhole yourself into one role or industry. Innovations in both fields are constantly being created, and new roles can emerge in the blink of an eye.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAllow yourself to explore all forms of technical and creative fields, and your calling will come about naturally.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EFor \u003Cstrong\u003EKathy Tran\u003C\/strong\u003E, choosing to major in computer science (CS) at Georgia Tech was never about narrowing her interests. Drawn to both computing and film, she sought flexibility to explore technical problem-solving alongside creative storytelling.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"For Kathy Tran, choosing to major in computer science (CS) at Georgia Tech was never about narrowing her interests. Drawn to both computing and film, she sought flexibility to explore technical problem-solving alongside creative storytelling. "}],"uid":"36613","created_gmt":"2026-05-04 19:10:48","changed_gmt":"2026-05-08 11:49:47","author":"Emily Smith","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2026-05-05T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2026-05-05T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"680162":{"id":"680162","type":"image","title":"kathy1.jpg","body":null,"created":"1777921860","gmt_created":"2026-05-04 19:11:00","changed":"1777921860","gmt_changed":"2026-05-04 19:11:00","alt":"Kathy","file":{"fid":"264404","name":"kathy1.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/05\/04\/kathy1.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/05\/04\/kathy1.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":627670,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2026\/05\/04\/kathy1.jpg?itok=E8d12V1y"}},"680163":{"id":"680163","type":"image","title":"kathy2.jpg","body":null,"created":"1777921860","gmt_created":"2026-05-04 19:11:00","changed":"1777921860","gmt_changed":"2026-05-04 19:11:00","alt":"Kathy","file":{"fid":"264405","name":"kathy2.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/05\/04\/kathy2.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/05\/04\/kathy2.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":63403,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2026\/05\/04\/kathy2.jpg?itok=80IP3qg5"}},"680164":{"id":"680164","type":"image","title":"kathy3.jpg","body":null,"created":"1777921860","gmt_created":"2026-05-04 19:11:00","changed":"1777921860","gmt_changed":"2026-05-04 19:11:00","alt":"Kathy","file":{"fid":"264406","name":"kathy3.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/05\/04\/kathy3.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/05\/04\/kathy3.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":867717,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2026\/05\/04\/kathy3.jpg?itok=L4AUVYgP"}},"680165":{"id":"680165","type":"image","title":"kathy4.jpg","body":null,"created":"1777921860","gmt_created":"2026-05-04 19:11:00","changed":"1777921860","gmt_changed":"2026-05-04 19:11:00","alt":"Kathy","file":{"fid":"264407","name":"kathy4.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/05\/04\/kathy4.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/05\/04\/kathy4.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":442403,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2026\/05\/04\/kathy4.jpg?itok=fVKQhF7L"}},"680166":{"id":"680166","type":"image","title":"kathy5.jpg","body":null,"created":"1777921860","gmt_created":"2026-05-04 19:11:00","changed":"1777921860","gmt_changed":"2026-05-04 19:11:00","alt":"Kathy","file":{"fid":"264408","name":"kathy5.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/05\/04\/kathy5.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/05\/04\/kathy5.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":40938,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2026\/05\/04\/kathy5.jpg?itok=hF_sqyb5"}}},"media_ids":["680162","680163","680164","680165","680166"],"groups":[{"id":"47223","name":"College of Computing"}],"categories":[{"id":"42911","name":"Education"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"},{"id":"193157","name":"Student Honors and Achievements"}],"keywords":[{"id":"195105","name":"2026 Spring Commencement"},{"id":"629","name":"graduation"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":["emily.smith@cc.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"690167":{"#nid":"690167","#data":{"type":"news","title":"New Graduate Builds Fintech Startup using Leadership Mindset","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EInvestment is the best word that summarizes Agam Shah\u2019s journey as a graduate student at Georgia Tech.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThat is clearest on the surface, where Shah studied how public statements by businesses and financial institutions shape market behavior. At a deeper level, though, his success was buoyed by support from professors and his mentorship of younger students.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EShah\u2019s ability to connect and invest in others led him to partner with Georgia Tech colleagues and start a financial technology business. He returns to campus this week to officially graduate from Tech, giving us a chance to catch up about his grad school experience and life as an entrepreneur.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EGraduate:\u003C\/strong\u003E Agam Shah\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EResearch Interests:\u003C\/strong\u003E Quantitative and computational finance, artificial intelligence, natural language processing, large language models (LLMs)\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EEducation:\u003C\/strong\u003E Ph.D. in Machine Learning, home unit in the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cse.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Computational Science and Engineering\u003C\/a\u003E (CSE)\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EFaculty Advisors\u003C\/strong\u003E: Scheller College of Business Professor \u003Cstrong\u003ESudheer Chava\u003C\/strong\u003E and School of CSE Associate Professor \u003Cstrong\u003EChao Zhang\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat persuaded you to attend graduate school at Georgia Tech?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech\u2019s dedicated College of Computing strongly appealed to me. I was particularly drawn to the interdisciplinary nature of its machine learning Ph.D. program and the School of Computational Science and Engineering, both of which align well with my research interests.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat research project(s) from Georgia Tech are you most proud of and why?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EI am proud of all 20-plus research papers I have had the opportunity to contribute to at Georgia Tech. However, if I had to choose one, it would be my work on\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/arxiv.org\/abs\/2305.07972\u0022\u003EFederal Open Market Committee (FOMC) text analysis\u003C\/a\u003E, which was also\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.cc.gatech.edu\/news\/dataset-committees-public-comms-yields-new-insights-federal-reserves-influence\u0022\u003Ehighlighted in the news\u003C\/a\u003E.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis work is not only well-cited in academic literature, but the language model developed in the paper is also actively used by economists at many of the world\u2019s top central banks, including researchers at the FOMC and the Bank of England. It is also used by leading financial institutions such as BlackRock and Daiwa Securities. Since its release, the model has achieved over 100,000 downloads on Hugging Face.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat can you tell us more about your startup, ZettaQuant?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.zettaquant.ai\/\u0022\u003EZettaQuant\u003C\/a\u003E aims to solve one of the biggest challenges in using LLMs and agents: working effectively with massive underlying datasets. We serve as a layer between raw data and LLMs, helping distill billions of tokens into the relevant context that models can use.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAs a deep-tech startup, we are actively engaging with industry practitioners to better understand how to design and engineer our system to integrate seamlessly with their evolving AI workflows. Given the complexity of the problem we are tackling, particularly in advancing document intelligence systems, we are currently very focused on research and foundational development.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EHow did your Georgia Tech education prepare you for starting ZettaQuant?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ENot just my education, but my entire experience at Georgia Tech, extending beyond the classroom, prepared me for this journey. I met my co-founders at Georgia Tech, and many of the initial use cases we are exploring at ZettaQuant are built on open-source research I conducted there.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn addition to research, I mentored more than 300 students through the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/vip.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EVertically Integrated Project\u003C\/a\u003E \u201cNLP for Financial Markets.\u201d This experience taught me how to manage teams and think about building systems with a long-term vision.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat advice would you give someone interested in graduate school?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;Most people pursue graduate school after already completing more than 15 years of education. Also, people who are admitted to a top school like Georgia Tech are often already well-positioned to secure strong job opportunities. So, graduate school should provide value beyond what you could learn outside the classroom.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBefore deciding, think carefully about what you hope to gain from graduate school that you cannot otherwise. Once you enroll, take full advantage of the faculty, research labs, networks, and seminars. Many students underutilize these opportunities during their undergraduate and graduate years.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EI would also like to quote the epilogue of my Ph.D. thesis: \u2018Advice is abundant; conviction must be your own.\u2019 Build a strong conviction about what you want to achieve from graduate school before committing to it.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat did you do for fun and relaxation while attending Georgia Tech? Do you still keep up with these now?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;This may sound unconventional, but I spent a significant amount of time mentoring and teaching throughout my Ph.D. Many of my mentees went on to gain admission to top graduate programs. This included two students I mentored for all four years of their undergraduate studies who later joined the ML Ph.D. program at Georgia Tech. They are now teaching and mentoring students, completing a full-circle journey.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWorking with mentees and supporting their growth gives me a strong sense of fulfillment and serves as a form of relaxation. In addition, I enjoy listening to music, especially while coding, and I continue to do that today.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat is your favorite Georgia Tech memory?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;If I had to choose one favorite memory, beyond the many exciting late nights in the lab, it would be proposing to my wife on Tech Green at Georgia Tech. She is also a Yellow Jacket, having completed her undergraduate degree here and currently pursuing her Ph.D. Our home truly is a hive of Yellow Jackets.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EInvestment is the best word that summarizes Agam Shah\u2019s journey as a graduate student at Georgia Tech.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThat is clearest on the surface, where Shah studied how public statements by businesses and financial institutions shape market behavior. At a deeper level, though, his success was buoyed by support from professors and his mentorship of younger students.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EShah\u2019s ability to connect and invest in others led him to partner with Georgia Tech colleagues and start a financial technology business. He returns to campus this week to officially graduate from Tech, giving us a chance to catch up about his grad school experience and life as an entrepreneur.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Agam Shah returns to campus this week to officially graduate from Tech, giving us a chance to catch up about his grad school experience and life as an entrepreneur."}],"uid":"36319","created_gmt":"2026-05-06 09:47:39","changed_gmt":"2026-05-08 11:48:29","author":"Bryant Wine","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2026-05-06T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2026-05-06T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"680189":{"id":"680189","type":"image","title":"Meet_CSE_Agam_Shah3.jpg","body":null,"created":"1778060870","gmt_created":"2026-05-06 09:47:50","changed":"1778060870","gmt_changed":"2026-05-06 09:47:50","alt":"Meet CSE Profile: Agam Shah","file":{"fid":"264431","name":"Meet_CSE_Agam_Shah3.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/05\/06\/Meet_CSE_Agam_Shah3.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/05\/06\/Meet_CSE_Agam_Shah3.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":714059,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2026\/05\/06\/Meet_CSE_Agam_Shah3.jpg?itok=WrdlWHya"}}},"media_ids":["680189"],"groups":[{"id":"47223","name":"College of Computing"},{"id":"50877","name":"School of Computational Science and Engineering"}],"categories":[{"id":"130","name":"Alumni"},{"id":"194606","name":"Artificial Intelligence"},{"id":"153","name":"Computer Science\/Information Technology and Security"},{"id":"131","name":"Economic Development and Policy"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"},{"id":"8862","name":"Student Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"195105","name":"2026 Spring Commencement"},{"id":"629","name":"graduation"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"193655","name":"Artificial Intelligence at Georgia Tech"},{"id":"39431","name":"Data Engineering and Science"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EBryant Wine, Communications Officer\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:bryant.wine@cc.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ebryant.wine@cc.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"690175":{"#nid":"690175","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Computational Media Grad Builds at the Intersection of Computing and Music ","body":[{"value":"\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EJack Hayley\u003C\/strong\u003E\u2019s path through Georgia Tech\u2019s computational media program centers on exploring how sound and software work together across film, games, and interactive media.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBefore arriving in Atlanta, Hayley attended Yew Chung International School in Chongqing, China, where he completed the Cambridge IGCSE (International General Certificate of Secondary Education) program, before returning to the United States to earn an International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma from the Utica Academy for International Studies.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWith longstanding interests in computer science (CS) and digital music, he sought a program that would allow him to develop both simultaneously.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI wanted a program that had a strong technical foundation but with creative applications in music,\u201d he said.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech\u2019s computational media program stood out for its connection between the College of Computing and the School of Music. By choosing \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.cc.gatech.edu\/threads-better-way-learn-computing\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Ethreads in Intelligence and music technology\u003C\/a\u003E, Hayley explored the intersection of the two disciplines.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECreating Through Code and Sound\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAt Tech, Hayley explored computing and creativity through programs such as the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/vip.gatech.edu\/teams-all-in-one\/entry\/1309\/\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ERobotic Musicianship VIP\u003C\/a\u003E. He credits Center for Music Technology Professor \u003Cstrong\u003EGil Weinberg\u003C\/strong\u003E and Ph.D. student \u003Cstrong\u003EAmit Rogel\u003C\/strong\u003E with pushing him to do his best work and for strengthening his confidence in blending technical and artistic approaches.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThat blend of mentorship and experimentation carried into his broader creative practice. As technical director of Baja Badlands Productions, a film and multimedia studio he co-founded, he composes music, designs sound, and manages technical production, including the studio\u2019s website.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOne of the studio\u2019s recent short films, \u003Cem\u003EMyopia\u003C\/em\u003E, was showcased at several film festivals and received recognition for its original score and cinematography.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHe has also collaborated with Georgia Tech\u2019s \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.cc.gatech.edu\/student-organizations\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Estudent organization VGDev\u003C\/a\u003E and indie developers to create audio for video games.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI find this to be a great avenue for my combined interests, as creative control of audio often requires software implementation to achieve immersive sound,\u201d he said.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAmong his favorite projects is \u003Cem\u003ESleighers\u003C\/em\u003E, a game he co-led. The project integrated networking systems, 3D modeling, level design, and immersive audio, and was later exhibited at DreamHack Atlanta, where the team gathered feedback from players and developers.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ELearning and Leadership\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBeyond creative production, Hayley developed technical and leadership skills as a teaching assistant for \u003Cem\u003ECS 1332: Data Structures \u0026amp; Algorithms\u003C\/em\u003E, eventually becoming a head TA.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe role challenged him to communicate complex ideas,\u0026nbsp;support students one-on-one,\u0026nbsp;and coordinate with large instructional teams, thereby deepening his understanding of core CS principles.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cBeing a TA reinforced my understanding of CS concepts as I designed assignments and explained material clearly,\u201d he said.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHe also contributed to course development by helping design assignments and synchronous assessments that emphasized application-based learning. His work was recognized by Georgia Tech\u2019s Center for Teaching and Learning with the Online TA of the Year award.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHe credits faculty mentors, including School of Computing Instruction (SCI) faculty member \u003Cstrong\u003EFrederic Faulkner\u003C\/strong\u003E and Interim Chair \u003Cstrong\u003EMary Hudachek-Buswell\u003C\/strong\u003E, for shaping his growth as an educator.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThey\u2019ve both been instrumental in my development as a leader, and I admire their determination to strengthen the quality of CS undergraduate education at Tech,\u201d he said.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ELooking Ahead\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDuring his time at Tech, Hayley interned as a software development engineer at Amazon Web Services (AWS) in Atlanta, where he worked on an infrastructure-based solution. The experience reinforced the importance of adaptability in the field.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWhat I\u2019ve found from this experience is that software development is not a skill that is solidified once; instead, it necessitates continual lifelong learning,\u201d he said.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAfter graduation, Hayley will return to AWS as a full-time software development engineer while continuing his creative work in film and game development.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHe encourages other students to take full advantage of interdisciplinary opportunities.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cTake advantage of the opportunities Tech has to offer with respect to technology and creativity,\u201d he said.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI found tailoring these components towards a blend of CS and music allowed me to get the most out of my time here.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EJack Hayley\u003C\/strong\u003E\u2019s path through Georgia Tech\u2019s computational media program centers on exploring how sound and software work together across film, games, and interactive media.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Jack Hayley\u2019s path through Georgia Tech\u2019s computational media program centers on exploring how sound and software work together across film, games, and interactive media. "}],"uid":"36613","created_gmt":"2026-05-06 16:37:59","changed_gmt":"2026-05-08 11:47:15","author":"Emily Smith","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2026-05-06T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2026-05-06T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"680194":{"id":"680194","type":"image","title":"jack1.jpg","body":null,"created":"1778086565","gmt_created":"2026-05-06 16:56:05","changed":"1778086565","gmt_changed":"2026-05-06 16:56:05","alt":"Jack","file":{"fid":"264436","name":"jack1.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/05\/06\/jack1.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/05\/06\/jack1.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1199987,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2026\/05\/06\/jack1.jpg?itok=jtkRQ5Ov"}},"680195":{"id":"680195","type":"image","title":"jack2.jpg","body":null,"created":"1778086565","gmt_created":"2026-05-06 16:56:05","changed":"1778086565","gmt_changed":"2026-05-06 16:56:05","alt":"Jack","file":{"fid":"264437","name":"jack2.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/05\/06\/jack2.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/05\/06\/jack2.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":82971,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2026\/05\/06\/jack2.jpg?itok=PybAr4Kb"}},"680196":{"id":"680196","type":"image","title":"jack3.jpg","body":null,"created":"1778086565","gmt_created":"2026-05-06 16:56:05","changed":"1778086565","gmt_changed":"2026-05-06 16:56:05","alt":"Jack","file":{"fid":"264438","name":"jack3.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/05\/06\/jack3.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/05\/06\/jack3.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":820212,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2026\/05\/06\/jack3.jpg?itok=e4Yo4Uyz"}}},"media_ids":["680194","680195","680196"],"groups":[{"id":"47223","name":"College of Computing"}],"categories":[{"id":"42911","name":"Education"},{"id":"148","name":"Music and Music Technology"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"},{"id":"42951","name":"Student Art"},{"id":"193157","name":"Student Honors and Achievements"}],"keywords":[{"id":"195105","name":"2026 Spring Commencement"},{"id":"629","name":"graduation"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":["emily.smith@cc.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"690166":{"#nid":"690166","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Music and Magic Inspire New Ph.D. Graduate\u2019s Work in Brain Science","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWhen Chengrui Li walks across the stage this Thursday at Commencement, it will be his final, and perhaps easiest, performance at Georgia Tech.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBetween orchestra concerts, magic shows, and yo-yo exhibitions, Li thrives in the limelight. In fact, not much rattles his nerves considering the five years of pressure he endured studying computational neuroscience at Tech.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBefore he returns to New York City to continue building brain-interface technologies at Meta, we caught up with Li to learn how he keeps such a cool head at Georgia Tech and beyond. \u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EGraduate:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/jerrysoybean.github.io\/\u0022\u003EChengrui Li\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EResearch Interests:\u003C\/strong\u003E Computational neuroscience, eye-tracking experiments and data analysis, statistical machine learning\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EEducation:\u003C\/strong\u003E Ph.D. in\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cse.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EComputational Science and Engineering\u003C\/a\u003E (CSE)\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EFaculty Advisor\u003C\/strong\u003E: School of CSE Assistant Professor Anqi Wu\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat persuaded you to attend graduate school at Georgia Tech?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EMy undergraduate was at Sichuan University in China. We knew that the most cutting-edge technology and research were in the United States, so I participated in an undergraduate exchange program at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, during my third year.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EI wanted to pursue a Ph.D. in neuroscience while also becoming very proficient in math and computer science (CS). This led me to apply to the CSE Ph.D. program over others. Georgia Tech\u2019s CS ranking is very high, and the CSE program is very interdisciplinary, which matched my expectations super well. I did attain a solid education in math and CS at Georgia Tech. I also advanced my interest in neuroscience and its application by studying mathematical models and algorithms.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat research project from Georgia Tech are you most proud of?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMy \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/openreview.net\/forum?id=HD5Y7M8Xdk\u0022\u003Evariational importance sampling paper\u003C\/a\u003E is a favorite. That one was based heavily on statistical inference. I spent many hours working through complicated derivation calculations, often half-awake and half-asleep after several late nights.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis paper confirmed to me, though, that innovative research requires both hard work and inspiration, and that this endeavor can be rewarding. The paper was selected as a top 5% spotlight paper at ICLR 2024, a world-leading conference on artificial intelligence research.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECould you share more about your role as a research scientist at Meta?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EI have been working on\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.meta.com\/ai-glasses\/meta-ray-ban-display-glasses-and-neural-band\/?srsltid=AfmBOoopWx7e8KGmSJVD8ItoQBedev-lha3aSZpHPkknZxNC4voGwoqN\u0022\u003EMeta\u2019s electromyography (EMG) neural band\u003C\/a\u003E. This next-generation human-computer interaction device connects with and navigates Meta\u2019s AI glasses.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWith the neural band, you can use finger gestures to control the display content you see through the glasses, like swiping your thumb to scroll the screen, or writing on your lap as if you had a pen in your hand to send WhatsApp messages.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EHow did your Georgia Tech education prepare you for this role?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBy pursuing my Ph.D., I am more proficient in critical thinking, math, coding, and presentation. During my interview, I demonstrated these skills and provided my publication records. This helped me land an internship, enabled my success in that role, and led to a full-time position. Additionally, my background in computational neuroscience best matched the work on the EMG neural band team at a big tech company.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat advice would you give someone interested in graduate school?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFirst, be clear whether a bachelor\u2019s or master\u2019s degree meets your work needs, or if you are truly interested in a scientific research topic. This interest should be based on your own passion, not the current trends. Interest is an important factor in deciding to pursue a Ph.D. because you have to like the topic and like it for a long time. A Ph.D. will require you to dive deep into a subject you must be genuinely curious about.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESecond, we are in a new era with rapid advances in information technology. Time is an invaluable resource and is shaped by technology. You have to think more about your time, consider where and how you spend it, and embrace ways to use it more efficiently.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECan you tell us more about your hobbies and how you keep up with them?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EI started learning violin when I was five years old, and magic tricks when I was 11. The brain is a supercomputer suitable for functional computation. Our brain is an interface between the objective and subjective, where computation plays a core role in integrating these exact mechanics into interpretations of the world. This realization was one of the important factors that inspired me to pursue my Ph.D. research in computational neuroscience.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAnother comparison I\u2019ve learned after playing violin for 23 years is that the cochlea in our inner ear is a fast Fourier Transformer that simultaneously computes the aesthetic of music for us. Performing magic tricks for 17 years taught me that all the occurrences of seemingly low-probability magic phenomena are achieved by either letting it be a certain event or exhausting all possibilities.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EI also have other hobbies, like yo-yo balls. I enjoy performing all these skills in front of audiences. Performing brings me satisfaction when I see excitement and happiness from the people I entertain. I am very grateful to my parents for their cultivation and encouragement in doing things that bring me fulfillment. They taught me to be curious and explore my interests, to enjoy pastimes, and instilled the habit to not give up my passions. These were not secondary things that distracted me from coursework or Ph.D. research, but rather complementary parts of my life that bring out the best in me.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat is your favorite Georgia Tech memory?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EI have a lot. For my research, I debated frequently with\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/sites.google.com\/view\/brainml\/pi?authuser=0\u0022\u003EAnqi Wu\u003C\/a\u003E, my advisor. These often went late into the night to defend my stances. These challenged my beliefs and made me a stronger scholar, for which I am grateful to Anqi for her time and patience. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EI also enjoyed performing in the Georgia Tech symphony orchestra with our great conductor,\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/music.gatech.edu\/people\/chaowen-ting\u0022\u003EChaowen Ting\u003C\/a\u003E. I was involved with the Georgia Tech Chinese Students and Scholars Association, where I showcased magic and yo-yo performances at organization events.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWhen Chengrui Li walks across the stage this Thursday at Commencement, it will be his final, and perhaps easiest, performance at Georgia Tech.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBetween orchestra concerts, magic shows, and yo-yo exhibitions, Li thrives in the limelight. In fact, not much rattles his nerves considering the five years of pressure he endured studying computational neuroscience at Tech.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBefore he returns to New York City to continue building brain-interface technologies at Meta, we caught up with Li to learn how he keeps such a cool head at Georgia Tech and beyond. \u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Before he returns to New York City to continue building brain-interface technologies at Meta, we caught up with Chengrui Li to learn how he keeps such a cool head at Georgia Tech and beyond.   "}],"uid":"36319","created_gmt":"2026-05-06 09:39:58","changed_gmt":"2026-05-08 11:42:54","author":"Bryant Wine","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2026-05-06T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2026-05-06T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"680188":{"id":"680188","type":"image","title":"Meet_CSE_Chengrui_Li1.jpg","body":null,"created":"1778060414","gmt_created":"2026-05-06 09:40:14","changed":"1778060414","gmt_changed":"2026-05-06 09:40:14","alt":"Meet CSE Profile: Chengrui Li","file":{"fid":"264430","name":"Meet_CSE_Chengrui_Li1.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/05\/06\/Meet_CSE_Chengrui_Li1.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/05\/06\/Meet_CSE_Chengrui_Li1.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":113848,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2026\/05\/06\/Meet_CSE_Chengrui_Li1.jpg?itok=5fWD2dio"}}},"media_ids":["680188"],"groups":[{"id":"47223","name":"College of Computing"},{"id":"50877","name":"School of Computational Science and Engineering"}],"categories":[{"id":"130","name":"Alumni"},{"id":"194606","name":"Artificial Intelligence"},{"id":"194568","name":"Arts and Performance"},{"id":"153","name":"Computer Science\/Information Technology and Security"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"},{"id":"8862","name":"Student Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"195105","name":"2026 Spring Commencement"},{"id":"629","name":"graduation"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"193655","name":"Artificial Intelligence at Georgia Tech"},{"id":"39431","name":"Data Engineering and Science"},{"id":"193656","name":"Neuro Next Initiative"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EBryant Wine, Communications Officer\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:bryant.wine@cc.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ebryant.wine@cc.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"690180":{"#nid":"690180","#data":{"type":"news","title":"From Industry to Impact: A Ph.D. Journey in Cybersecurity","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAfter earning a master\u2019s degree in 2016, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/sites.cc.gatech.edu\/grads\/a\/abhaskar9\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAbhishek Bhaskar\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u2019s plan was straightforward: build a career in industry and stay close to research without committing to a doctoral program.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThat plan lasted about three years.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI initially thought I\u2019d just continue in research without a Ph.D.,\u201d Bhaskar said. \u201cMy advisor encouraged me to stay, but I wanted to experience industry first.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn addition to perspective, working outside academia offered Bhaskar clarity. Over time, he found himself drawn back to the kind of deeper, more impactful research he had glimpsed during his graduate studies. Watching colleagues with doctoral degrees tackle complex problems reinforced his decision.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI realized I missed research,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd seeing the kind of work Ph.D. graduates were doing motivated me to apply.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThat decision led him to Georgia Tech, where the strength of its cybersecurity and network security research stood out. The program\u2019s interdisciplinary approach was a major draw.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cSome schools are strong in one area,\u201d he said. \u201cHere, there\u2019s collaboration across domains. That was important to me.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhen Bhaskar arrived, the School of Cybersecurity and Privacy had not yet fully taken shape. Research groups, including the Institute for Information Security and Privacy, were already active, but the school\u0027s formal structure emerged during his second year.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWorking with his advisor, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/pearce.prof\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EPaul Pearce\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, Bhaskar shifted his research focus from binary and static analysis to network security, a transition that required both adjustment and curiosity.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI wanted to move into something with more direct real-world impact,\u201d he said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis led him to work on censorship measurement, internet security and privacy, areas where technical findings can have global implications. With guidance from Pearce and support from other faculty working in similar areas, he quickly found his footing.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHis favorite research project however, was in fact \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.usenix.org\/conference\/usenixsecurity22\/presentation\/bhaskar\u0022\u003Ehis first\u003C\/a\u003E.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn earlier research, unexplained anomalies had appeared in measurement data. At first, the assumption was that they stemmed from geolocation issues. However, after digging deeper, Bhaskar uncovered a different cause: routing changes.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThat discovery showed that routing can significantly affect measurement results,\u201d he said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhat began as a narrow investigation turned into a broader insight. One that reshaped how those measurements could be interpreted.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAlong the way, other milestones followed, including his first paper accepted to a top conference.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThat was a big moment,\u201d Bhaskar said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBut beyond publications and research breakthroughs, it\u2019s the day-to-day experience of doctoral life that made the strongest impression.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe camaraderie stands out the most,\u201d he said. \u201cEspecially during deadlines. Everyone is working hard, but you still take time to step away, talk, and support each other.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThat sense of community extended beyond his own lab. Interactions with neighboring groups and researchers in fields like cryptography broadened his perspective and shaped his approach to problems.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe way different groups think about problems is really valuable,\u201d he said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOutside the lab, Atlanta played its own role in the experience. From sporting events to concerts, the city offered a balance to the intensity of research.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThere\u2019s a lot to do,\u201d Bhaskar said. \u201cI tried to take advantage of that.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ENow, as he prepares to graduate, the next chapter is already in motion. Bhaskar will move to the West Coast for a post-doctorate security research role at Stanford University, following a summer internship that offers time to reset before the transition.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cAbhi\u0027s work is excellent,\u201d said Pearce. \u201cDuring the course of his Ph.D. he discovered important underlying phenomena that influence how we measure and understand internet censorship and end-to-end network behaviors broadly.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cHe\u0027s an outstanding researcher and community leader, and while his contribution as a student to my group and SCP will be missed, we\u0027re excited about what he accomplished and his next steps!\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAbhishek Bhaskar, who earned his master\u2019s in 2016, returned to academia after several years in industry to pursue a Ph.D. in cybersecurity at Georgia Tech. Drawn by the program\u2019s collaborative research environment, he shifted his focus to network security and conducted impactful work on internet measurement and routing. Along the way, he built strong research collaborations and published widely, while valuing the community and experiences both inside and outside the lab. After graduating, Bhaskar will transition to a security research role at Stanford University, marking the next step in a journey shaped by curiosity, impact and collaboration.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Abhishek Bhaskar\u0027s story from industry to Ph.D."}],"uid":"36253","created_gmt":"2026-05-06 18:13:56","changed_gmt":"2026-05-08 11:41:45","author":"John Popham","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2026-05-06T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2026-05-06T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"680201":{"id":"680201","type":"image","title":"Abhishek-Bhaskar-web-copy.jpg","body":null,"created":"1778091256","gmt_created":"2026-05-06 18:14:16","changed":"1778091256","gmt_changed":"2026-05-06 18:14:16","alt":"A man wearing glasses and a suit","file":{"fid":"264444","name":"Abhishek-Bhaskar-web-copy.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/05\/06\/Abhishek-Bhaskar-web-copy.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/05\/06\/Abhishek-Bhaskar-web-copy.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1765354,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2026\/05\/06\/Abhishek-Bhaskar-web-copy.jpg?itok=Xr9IZ72D"}}},"media_ids":["680201"],"groups":[{"id":"47223","name":"College of Computing"}],"categories":[{"id":"153","name":"Computer Science\/Information Technology and Security"}],"keywords":[{"id":"195105","name":"2026 Spring Commencement"},{"id":"629","name":"graduation"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"145171","name":"Cybersecurity"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EJohn Popham\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ECommunications Officer II for the School of Cybersecurity and Privacy\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jpopham3@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"690187":{"#nid":"690187","#data":{"type":"news","title":"52-Year-Old Entrepreneur Has New Outlook After Completing Ph.D.","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E52-Year-Old Entrepreneur Has New Outlook After Completing Ph.D.\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMizan Rahman knows there\u2019s much that academia and industry can learn from each other.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHe\u2019s living proof of it.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe 52-year-old entrepreneur will receive his Ph.D. in human-centered computing (HCC) as he walks across the stage on Thursday at Georgia Tech\u2019s Spring 2026 Ph.D. Commencement.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhen Rahman was accepted into the HCC Ph.D. program, he\u2019d already founded three successful tech startups and was an angel investor in numerous others. He also earned a master\u2019s in computational science and engineering from Georgia Tech in 2013.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ERahman took on the challenge of a Ph.D. because he\u2019s always been in pursuit of a holistic view of technology. One perspective he said he needed to understand was that of the end user.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI\u2019d already done computer science and computational science and engineering, so I wanted to look at the human dimension, the user\u2019s perspectives, and society,\u201d Rahman said. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to build technology that fits into our human dynamics.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ERahman\u2019s journey began as an undergraduate in chemical engineering at Miami Dade College and Florida Atlantic University. He switched to computer science after his roommate, also a CS major, showed him some programming he had been working on.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI couldn\u2019t sleep after that,\u201d Rahman said. \u201cI was writing software all night. I loved solving problems through technology.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EEarly Success\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ERahman invented BayBuilder, a strategic sourcing automation technology, in 1999. The software was adopted by major Fortune 500 companies. Rahman estimates it has saved these companies $1 billion in procurement spending.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBaybuilder was acquired by a NASDAQ-listed firm in 2001, and he was ready to start his next company.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI\u2019ve been an entrepreneur as far back as I can remember,\u201d Rahman said. \u201cI was born with it. If I saw something that didn\u2019t exist, I created it.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAfter relocating to Atlanta, Rahman founded a new company, M2SYS Technology. Governments around the world used the company\u2019s innovative identity technology to automate processes and deliver efficient services to citizens. M2SYS also worked with the CDC to treat HIV in Haiti and Zambia, as well as many U.S. hospitals, including Grady Memorial in Atlanta, to protect patients from fraud and receiving the wrong treatment.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ERahman\u2019s most recent startup, CloudApper AI, introduced a new system architecture that generates secure software requiring minimal ongoing maintenance. His non-biased algorithm, which he created during his Ph.D. for CloudApper, is now used by major companies to streamline automated resume analysis and candidate scoring.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ELiving in Two Worlds\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ERahman began his Ph.D. in 2021, but he kept his new venture to himself and his family. He didn\u2019t tell his employees he was pursuing a Ph.D., and he didn\u2019t disclose his industry background to his fellow doctoral students.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI kept the other side of me far away,\u201d he said. \u201cThe people who knew, they knew, but I purposefully didn\u2019t discuss my outside activities and experience. I wanted to fit in, and I think I was able to do that.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhen Rahman was at his company, he was a CEO and entrepreneur, and when he was at Georgia Tech, he was a researcher. But what he was learning as a researcher began to change how he perceived his business.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI wanted to be a researcher and think like a researcher and not just always think about sales and marketing,\u201d he said. \u201cI started bringing in more ideas about how the user should be thought of in our products. I\u2019m sure they were wondering why I was emphasizing that so much, but it was because I was applying what I was learning in my Ph.D.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cNow I\u2019ve been on both sides, I want to be connected to both in the future, applying research principles and practices in product development and innovation.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EBuilding Community Through Makerspaces\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhen it came time for Rahman to choose a subject for his dissertation, he returned to his roots and looked for ways technology can support young entrepreneurs and their startups. That\u2019s when he began conducting research in makerspaces.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI wanted to find out how we can bring innovation to a scale where anybody can participate,\u201d he said. \u201cI saw this happening in makerspaces where regular people learn, collaborate, and build products and companies from scratch. I saw that the community at large is facing a sustainability crisis.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ERahman argued in his dissertation that makerspaces can play a significant role in local innovation. When people struggle to survive, it disrupts communities in numerous ways.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ERahman details four studies conducted over three-and-a-half years that show how socio-technical factors drive organizational sustainability in makerspaces and how AI tools can foster an innovative culture within them.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe compelling thing about his research is that he shows that people come to makerspaces for the tools, but they stay for the people,\u201d said Rosa Arriaga, associate professor and Rahman\u2019s advisor.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cHe has plenty of work from his ethnographic research that shows that a makerspace can have all the tech and resources, but if there isn\u2019t cohesion among the people, there\u2019s a problem.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EIt Takes a Village\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ERahman is the first to admit that it\u2019s not possible for one man to run a company while pursuing a Ph.D. He needed a community. This starts with his family. His wife, Mohu Sultana, now serves as interim CEO of M2SYS and has supported Rahman throughout his Ph.D. research.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe Georgia Tech community has been part of Rahman\u2019s life in some way since he started his career.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESultana holds a bachelor\u2019s degree in computer science from Tech, and their daughter, Malisha Rahman, is graduating this week with a bachelor\u2019s in economics and international affairs. Malisha Rahman has also been accepted into the HCC program and will begin her Ph.D. in the fall.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ERahman said that any student who wants to create a tech startup will have an advantage from access to Georgia Tech\u2019s network.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe Georgia Tech startup community is fantastic,\u201d he said. \u201cThere is a tremendous amount of knowledge here, and the research community can help shape the next big thing. We have CREATE-X, a place where you can find mentorship from faculty who started in industry. You\u2019ll learn things I wish I knew before I started.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMizan Rahman, a 52-year-old entrepreneur with three successful tech startups, is completing his Ph.D. in human-centered computing. Driven by a desire to understand the human dimension of technology, his dissertation focused on makerspaces as hubs for community-driven innovation, arguing that social cohesion \u2014 not just tools and resources \u2014 is key to their sustainability. Rahman credits his academic journey with transforming how he approaches product development, and he now aims to bridge industry and research going forward.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Mizan Rahman, a tech entrepreneur who has founded three companies, is having his Ph.D. in human centered computing conferred this week."}],"uid":"36530","created_gmt":"2026-05-07 12:31:35","changed_gmt":"2026-05-08 11:40:21","author":"Nathan Deen","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2026-05-07T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2026-05-07T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"680208":{"id":"680208","type":"image","title":"Mizan-Rahman_P9A6201.jpg","body":null,"created":"1778157109","gmt_created":"2026-05-07 12:31:49","changed":"1778157109","gmt_changed":"2026-05-07 12:31:49","alt":"Mizan Rahman","file":{"fid":"264450","name":"Mizan-Rahman_P9A6201.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/05\/07\/Mizan-Rahman_P9A6201.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/05\/07\/Mizan-Rahman_P9A6201.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":145195,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2026\/05\/07\/Mizan-Rahman_P9A6201.jpg?itok=u5fwQmtM"}}},"media_ids":["680208"],"groups":[{"id":"47223","name":"College of Computing"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"},{"id":"50876","name":"School of Interactive Computing"}],"categories":[{"id":"130","name":"Alumni"},{"id":"153","name":"Computer Science\/Information Technology and Security"},{"id":"194609","name":"Industry"}],"keywords":[{"id":"629","name":"graduation"},{"id":"195105","name":"2026 Spring Commencement"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"690067":{"#nid":"690067","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Hard Work Energizes Year of Achievement","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe mood was electric on April 20, as the College of Computing hosted its 35th Annual Awards Celebration. While individual success was on full display, the banquet also honored the community and perseverance that truly power achievement.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cFrom my seat, I can feel the energy. I see the momentum. We\u0027re all about growth and change,\u201d said \u003Cstrong\u003EVivekSarkar\u003C\/strong\u003E, dean and John P. Imlay Jr. Chair of the College of Computing.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cBut those are just words. What\u0027s really behind the words is all the hard work put in by all of you.Today\u0027s celebration is for the entire College, all of you, and all your hard work.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EStudents, faculty, and staff from the School of Computational Science and Engineering (CSE) were among those recognized at the celebration. Their accomplishments reflected a year dedicated to excellence in research, teaching, and service. School of CSE award recipients included:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EGrace Kim\u003C\/strong\u003E, M.S. computer science (CS) student: Donald V. Jackson Fellowship\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ESri Ranganathan Palaniappan\u003C\/strong\u003E, M.S. CS student: Donald V. Jackson Fellowship\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EEthan Yang\u003C\/strong\u003E, M.S. CSE student: Marshall D. Williamson Fellowship\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003EAlumnus \u003Cstrong\u003EAustin Wright\u003C\/strong\u003E (Ph.D. ML-CSE 2025): Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EArlene Washington-Capers\u003C\/strong\u003E, school administrative officer: 25 Years of Service Acknowledgment\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ul\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETwo lecturers in the School of Computing Instruction with ties to the School of CSE received awards at the celebration.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMax Mahdi Roozbahani\u003C\/strong\u003E received a Dean\u2019s Award, which went to instructors who taught class sizes over 350 students this year. A Class of 2019 CSE alumnus, Roozbahani teaches \u003Cem\u003ECSE 6242: Data and Visual Analytics\u003C\/em\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ENimisha Roy\u003C\/strong\u003E received the Monica Sweat Outstanding Lecturer in External Engagement Award. She earned her Ph.D. in CSE in 2021.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EProfessor \u003Cstrong\u003EPolo Chau\u003C\/strong\u003E advises Kim, Palaniappan, and Wright, and recommended them for their awards.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EChau is an associate director of Georgia Tech\u2019s M.S. Analytics program, which won the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.informs.org\/News-Room\/INFORMS-Releases\/Awards-Releases\/Georgia-Tech-Awarded-the-2026-INFORMS-UPS-George-D.-Smith-Prize\u0022\u003EUPS George D. Smith Prize\u003C\/a\u003E at the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS). The award recognizes excellence in preparing students to become practitioners of operations research and analytics.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor Kim, the Jackson Fellowship was the latest achievement in a year decorated with accolades. She was one of two School of CSE students to receive the National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program award (GRFP). Kim was also selected for a Fulbright U.S. Student Program Research award.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EPh.D. student \u003Cstrong\u003EAbir Haque\u003C\/strong\u003E was CSE\u2019s second NSF GRFP awardee, receiving the grant to advance research in scientific computing. Advised by School of CSE Professor and Associate Chair \u003Cstrong\u003EEdmond Chow\u003C\/strong\u003E, Haque additionally received a Department of Energy (DOE) Computational Science Graduate Fellowship.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EChow was appointed to several leadership roles this year in the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM). The organization selected Chow as vice president for programs. SIAM also named him as co-chair of next year\u2019s Conference on Computational Science and Engineering.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ENSF presented the CAREER award to two CSE faculty. Assistant Professor \u003Cstrong\u003EYunan Luo\u003C\/strong\u003E \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.cc.gatech.edu\/news\/nsf-grant-funds-protein-research-drug-discovery-and-personalized-medicine\u0022\u003Ereceived a grant\u003C\/a\u003E to build artificial intelligence models to study understudied proteins in biology.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EElizabeth Qian\u003C\/strong\u003E is an assistant professor in the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering with a joint appointment in the School of CSE. \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/ae.gatech.edu\/news\/2025\/07\/elizabeth-qian-lands-nsfs-prestigious-early-career-award\u0022\u003EHer NSF CAREER award\u003C\/a\u003E will support research developing machine learning methods that learn from multi-fidelity data.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EResearchers from the School of CSE were \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.cc.gatech.edu\/news\/record-breaking-simulation-boosts-rocket-science-and-supercomputing-new-limits\u0022\u003Efinalists for the 2025 Gordon Bell Prize\u003C\/a\u003E. Assistant Professor \u003Cstrong\u003ESpencer Bryngelson\u003C\/strong\u003E led a team that included Ph.D. students \u003Cstrong\u003EBen Wilfong\u003C\/strong\u003E and \u003Cstrong\u003EAnand Radhakrishnan\u003C\/strong\u003E, Research Staff \u003Cstrong\u003Emember Dan Vickers\u003C\/strong\u003E, and alumnus \u003Cstrong\u003EHenry Le Berre\u003C\/strong\u003E (CS 2025).\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe team achieved the largest computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation to date, exceeding the current record by a factor of 20. The group simulated interacting plumes of 33 rocket thrusters inspired by the SpaceX Super Heavy booster.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBryngelson advises \u003Cstrong\u003EMelody Lee\u003C\/strong\u003E, an undergraduate student who was one of three Georgia Tech students to receive a \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/undergraduate.gatech.edu\/georgia-tech-celebrates-three-goldwater-scholars-for-2026\/\u0022\u003EBarry Goldwater Scholarship\u003C\/a\u003E this year. She received the award to continue research at the intersection of quantum computing and CFD.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAssistant Professor \u003Cstrong\u003EQi Tang\u003C\/strong\u003E received the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.cc.gatech.edu\/news\/department-energy-award-power-nuclear-research-machine-learning\u0022\u003EDOE Early Career Research Award\u003C\/a\u003E. He is the first-ever faculty member from CSE and the College of Computing to receive the award.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe $875,000 award will support Tang for five years as he researches particle data processing and compression, with applications in fusion, accelerator, and nuclear physics.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETang was also selected as a Summer Early Career Scholar of Digital Futures at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBryngelson and Tang were selected as collaborators for three DOE Predictive Science Academic Alliance Program (\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.energy.gov\/nnsa\/articles\/nnsa-announces-selection-next-round-predictive-science-academic-alliance-program\u0022\u003EPSAAP IV\u003C\/a\u003E) Centers. The program leverages the academic community to advance science-based modeling and simulation.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOne of Tang\u2019s students, \u003Cstrong\u003EAlex de Magalhaes\u003C\/strong\u003E, received a SPARK Award scholarship from the Georgia Tech Strategic Energy Institute. The award recognizes outstanding student engagement in energy research.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarded prestigious R01 grants to three CSE faculty, each valued at $1.2 million.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAssistant Professor \u003Cstrong\u003EAnqi Wu\u003C\/strong\u003E is using the grant to study multi-animal social behavior using advanced representation learning and reinforcement learning.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ENIH awarded a grant to Assistant Professor \u003Cstrong\u003EKai Wang\u003C\/strong\u003E and Professor \u003Cstrong\u003EB. Aditya Prakash\u003C\/strong\u003E to build an AI framework to efficiently treat patients diagnosed with diabetes and other chronic diseases.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EPrakash advises M.S. student \u003Cstrong\u003ESudarshan Anand\u003C\/strong\u003E, who claimed two awards at the 2025 International Conference on Biomedical and Health Informatics. First, Anand was the champion of the conference\u2019s data challenge competition. Then, the conference selected him as a Young Professional NextGen Scholar.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAssistant Professor \u003Cstrong\u003EVictor Fung\u003C\/strong\u003E won a \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/research.google\/programs-and-events\/research-scholar-program\/recipients\/\u0022\u003E2025 Google Scholar Program\u003C\/a\u003E award. He received the award in the Applied Science category for multi-modal scientific agents for in silico materials discovery and inverse design. The Research Scholar Program provided up to $60,000 to early-career professors to support advancement of their research.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis year, the College of Computing selected School of CSE Professor \u003Cstrong\u003ERich Vuduc\u003C\/strong\u003E as \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.cc.gatech.edu\/news\/new-software-center-director-lead-next-wave-scientific-discovery\u0022\u003Edirector of Georgia Tech\u2019s Center for Scientific Software Engineering (CSSE)\u003C\/a\u003E. The center was formed in 2022 from an $11 million investment from Schmidt Sciences. Georgia Tech was one of four universities that Schmidt Sciences selected to host a center.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ECSSE develops custom software tools and best practices to meet scientists\u0027 needs. Overall, this approach accelerates the pace and quality of scientific discovery.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EVuduc advised alumnus\u0026nbsp;\u003Cstrong\u003EElizabeth Hong\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;(CS 2025), who received a Fulbright U.S.-Korea Presidential STEM Initiative Award. Designed to promote academic and cultural exchange, the award provided graduating college seniors and graduate students funding to pursue independent research projects in Korea on STEM topics of their choice.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EVuduc advises Ph.D. student \u003Cstrong\u003EMax Hawkins\u003C\/strong\u003E, who was selected for the OMSCS Pre-Doctoral Fellowship program.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe program provided Hawkins support to design and teach a one-credit, pass\/fail\/audit seminar course. Hawkins taught \u003Cem\u003EComputing at Scale: The Design, Operation, and Societal Impacts of Data Centers\u003C\/em\u003E in Fall 2025 and a research course in Spring 2026.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHawkins also received a $3,000 scholarship through the 7X24 Exchange Atlanta Scholarship Program. He was one of three scholarship recipients awarded to students in the greater Atlanta area with research interests in the data center industry.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EVuduc advises Team Phoenix, Georgia Tech\u2019s student cluster competition team. Team Phoenix placed first among USA participants and sixth internationally at \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.cc.gatech.edu\/news\/undergrads-team-phoenix-wins-top-us-honor-international-supercomputing-competition-0\u0022\u003ESC25\u2019s IndySCC competition\u003C\/a\u003E (30 total teams, 12 USA and 18 international). The team was graded on optimizing techniques and running industry standard benchmarks on supercomputers.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe team included computer science undergraduate students \u003Cstrong\u003EAlexander Ichtovkin\u003C\/strong\u003E, \u003Cstrong\u003EAlex Kim\u003C\/strong\u003E, \u003Cstrong\u003EAiden Lambert\u003C\/strong\u003E, \u003Cstrong\u003ESahil Samar\u003C\/strong\u003E, \u003Cstrong\u003ESeth Yiming Shi\u003C\/strong\u003E, and \u003Cstrong\u003EVenkata Sai Aditya Reddy Devarapalli\u003C\/strong\u003E. Graduate students \u003Cstrong\u003ECharles Lindsey\u003C\/strong\u003E and \u003Cstrong\u003EJay Saraha\u003C\/strong\u003E mentored the team coached by Research Scientists \u003Cstrong\u003EJeff Valdez\u003C\/strong\u003E, \u003Cstrong\u003EAaron Jezghani\u003C\/strong\u003E, and \u003Cstrong\u003EWill Powell\u003C\/strong\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAlumni \u003Cstrong\u003EZiyi (Francis) Yin\u003C\/strong\u003E (Ph.D. CSE-CSE 2024), \u003Cstrong\u003ERafael Orozco\u003C\/strong\u003E (Ph.D. CSE-CSE 2024), \u003Cstrong\u003EMathias Louboutin\u003C\/strong\u003E (Ph.D. CS-CSE 2020), and Professor \u003Cstrong\u003EFelix Herrmann\u003C\/strong\u003E received an honorable mention for the Best Paper of 2024 from the journal \u003Cem\u003EGeophysics\u003C\/em\u003E. The award, presented in 2025, recognized the group\u2019s work on \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/pubs.geoscienceworld.org\/seg\/geophysics\/article-abstract\/89\/4\/A23\/644597\/WISE-Full-waveform-variational-inference-via?redirectedFrom=fulltext\u0022\u003EWISE\u003C\/a\u003E: a full-waveform variational inference via subsurface extensions.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech approved both of CSE\u2019s promotion cases \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.cc.gatech.edu\/news\/institute-announcement-recognizes-faculty-achievement-and-excellence\u0022\u003Ethis year\u003C\/a\u003E. \u003Cstrong\u003EElizabeth Cherry\u003C\/strong\u003E will be promoted to full professor. \u003Cstrong\u003ESrijan Kumar\u003C\/strong\u003E will be promoted to associate professor with tenure.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe mood was electric on April 20, as the College of Computing hosted its 35th Annual Awards Celebration. While individual success was on full display, the banquet also honored the community and perseverance that truly power achievement.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cFrom my seat, I can feel the energy. I see the momentum. We\u0027re all about growth and change,\u201d said \u003Cstrong\u003EVivek Sarkar\u003C\/strong\u003E, dean and John P. Imlay Jr. Chair of the College of Computing.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cBut those are just words. What\u0027s really behind the words is all the hard work put in by all of you.Today\u0027s celebration is for the entire College, all of you, and all your hard work.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EStudents, faculty, and staff from the School of Computational Science and Engineering (CSE) were among those recognized at the celebration. Their accomplishments reflected a year dedicated to excellence in research, teaching, and service.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Students, faculty, and staff from the School of Computational Science and Engineering (CSE) were among those recognized at the College of Computing\u0027s 35th Annual Awards Celebration.."}],"uid":"36319","created_gmt":"2026-04-30 11:38:22","changed_gmt":"2026-05-01 16:35:55","author":"Bryant Wine","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2026-04-30T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2026-04-30T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"680120":{"id":"680120","type":"image","title":"Grace-Kim-College-Awards.jpg","body":null,"created":"1777549195","gmt_created":"2026-04-30 11:39:55","changed":"1777549195","gmt_changed":"2026-04-30 11:39:55","alt":"College of Computing 35th Annual Awards Celebration","file":{"fid":"264360","name":"Grace-Kim-College-Awards.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/04\/30\/Grace-Kim-College-Awards.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/04\/30\/Grace-Kim-College-Awards.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":114660,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2026\/04\/30\/Grace-Kim-College-Awards.jpg?itok=lrTMnfa-"}}},"media_ids":["680120"],"groups":[{"id":"47223","name":"College of Computing"},{"id":"50877","name":"School of Computational Science and Engineering"}],"categories":[{"id":"130","name":"Alumni"},{"id":"153","name":"Computer Science\/Information Technology and Security"},{"id":"193157","name":"Student Honors and Achievements"}],"keywords":[{"id":"654","name":"College of Computing"},{"id":"166983","name":"School of Computational Science and Engineering"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EBryant Wine, Communications Officer\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:bryant.wine@cc.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ebryant.wine@cc.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"690075":{"#nid":"690075","#data":{"type":"news","title":"GT Computing\u0027s Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Fuels Rise of Two Influential Software Leaders","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EA global media outlet is spotlighting the success of two software companies founded by faculty and alumni of Georgia Tech\u0027s College of Computing (GT Computing).\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis week, Time Magazine named CrowdStrike and Pindrop Security among the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/time.com\/article\/2026\/04\/27\/time100-companies-software\/\u0022\u003E10 Most Influential Software Companies of 2026\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ECrowdStrike and Pindrop appear on TIME\u2019s new list alongside some of the world\u2019s best-known computing companies, including Adobe, Microsoft, and Palantir. Released on April 27 as part of the outlet\u2019s TIME100 Companies: Industry Leaders series, this recognition underscores their rising influence.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIt\u2019s exciting to see that two out of the ten companies on this list were founded by alumni and faculty from the College of Computing. We are bursting with pride,\u201d said\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/vsarkar\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EVivek\u003C\/strong\u003E \u003Cstrong\u003ESarkar\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, John P. Imlay Jr. Dean of Computing. \u201cThis recognition reflects the strength of our academic and research programs, as well as the impact of our commitment to fostering a vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022It also highlights how we are empowering our students and faculty to translate bold, innovative ideas into successful ventures. Looking ahead, we will further integrate entrepreneurial thinking with the computational and AI foundations embedded throughout our curriculum.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETheir inclusion on TIME\u2019s list this year is especially notable because both CrowdStrike and Pindrop address the growing cybersecurity threat landscape, including deepfakes.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.cc.gatech.edu\/news\/ai-and-cybersecurity-propelling-cs-forward-latest-nationwide-undergraduate-rankings\u0022\u003E[RELATED: USNWR Ranks GT Computing No. 2 for Undergraduate Cybersecurity]\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGT Computing alumnus\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.linkedin.com%2Fin%2Fvijayab%2F\u0026amp;data=05%7C02%7Calbert.snedeker%40cc.gatech.edu%7C87c6662c175d43c2670c08dea6d36049%7C482198bbae7b4b258b7a6d7f32faa083%7C1%7C0%7C639131623947530805%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C\u0026amp;sdata=4CKK7jeg8uPmd8FnTP%2FKg64JTZkB1DiAV9joayw6UJo%3D\u0026amp;reserved=0\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 title=\u0022Original URL:\u0026#13;https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/vijayab\/\u0026#13;\u0026#13;Click to follow link.\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EVijay\u202fBalasubramaniyan\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;(PhD CS 2011) co-founded Pindrop in 2011 with his doctoral advisor, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/mustaque-ahamad-ab18811\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMustaque\u0026nbsp;Ahamad\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, and Georgia Tech alumnus \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/drpauljudge\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EPaul\u0026nbsp;Judge\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E(PhD CS 2002). It commercialized his doctoral research to help call centers determine whether callers are legitimate.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe company has also developed a deepfake protection product and\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cc.gatech.edu%2Fnews%2Fwhen-video-isnt-real-georgia-tech-alum-innovates-deepfake-detection-new-era-fraud\u0026amp;data=05%7C02%7Calbert.snedeker%40cc.gatech.edu%7C87c6662c175d43c2670c08dea6d36049%7C482198bbae7b4b258b7a6d7f32faa083%7C1%7C0%7C639131623947561253%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C\u0026amp;sdata=f9bL6fiyWxTqlyyvaLA%2BOn4zhwYb0f5RN4bpcM5oEwI%3D\u0026amp;reserved=0\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 title=\u0022https:\/\/nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cc.gatech.edu%2Fnews%2Fwhen-video-isnt-real-georgia-tech-alum-innovates-deepfake-detection-new-era-fraud\u0026amp;data=05%7C02%7Calbert.snedeker%40cc.gatech.edu%7C87c6662c175d43c2670c08dea6d3604\u0022\u003Erecently raised $100 million in capital funding\u003C\/a\u003E to expand its deepfake video detection business. During this expansion, the company developed Pindrop Pulse, which \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftime.com%2Fcollections%2Fbest-inventions-2025%2F7318241%2Fpindrop-pulse-for-meetings%2F\u0026amp;data=05%7C02%7Calbert.snedeker%40cc.gatech.edu%7C87c6662c175d43c2670c08dea6d36049%7C482198bbae7b4b258b7a6d7f32faa083%7C1%7C0%7C639131623947583874%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C\u0026amp;sdata=kCCRLlhSNOGxA9HoUbViZFoOYjmbyAQbZ5jG37NEYw4%3D\u0026amp;reserved=0\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 title=\u0022Original URL:\u0026#13;https:\/\/time.com\/collections\/best-inventions-2025\/7318241\/pindrop-pulse-for-meetings\/\u0026#13;\u0026#13;Click to follow link.\u0022\u003ETIME named one of the Best Inventions of 2025\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIdentity, consent, and accountability are society\u2019s contracts. Deepfakes erode all three,\u201d Balasubramaniyan told TIME.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EPindrop technology can confirm participants\u0027 identities in audio\/video conference calls within a few seconds.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cVijay\u2019s Ph.D. research was of the highest quality, and the Pindrop paper was published in one of the top-tier security conferences,\u201d said Ahamad, Regents\u0027 Entrepreneur and interim chair of the School of Cybersecurity and Privacy.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cHowever, because of his work experience before coming to Georgia Tech, he also focused on the real-world relevance of his research, which led to the launch of Pindrop Security. He is a great example of impactful research that students conduct in our laboratories.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ELike Pindrop, CrowdStrike was founded to counter emerging digital threats and has evolved to combat growing AI-powered security challenges.\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/dmitrialperovitch\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EDmitri\u003C\/strong\u003E \u003Cstrong\u003EAlperovitch\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E (CS 2001, MS InfoSec 2003) co-founded the company and served as chief technology officer at its 2012 launch.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAlperovitch, recently inducted into the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.cc.gatech.edu\/hall-fame\u0022\u003ECollege of Computing Hall of Fame\u003C\/a\u003E, played a pivotal role in securing more than $150 million in capital investments for the company, helping pave the way for CrowdStrike to become one of the world\u2019s leading cybersecurity companies. In fact, its client list includes nearly 60% of Fortune 500 companies.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWhat appealed to me in cybersecurity is that you are never really done,\u201d Alperovitch said during a\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.cc.gatech.edu\/news\/cybersecurity-pioneer-engages-georgia-tech-graduate-students-fireside-chat\u0022\u003Erecent campus fireside chat with students\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cAs long as there are human beings out there that want to do you harm, there are always security problems to solve.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAsked about the founding of CrowdStrike, Alperovitch described investigating a 2010 breach at Google by a nation-state actor as a pivotal moment for him.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe industry refused to acknowledge this was a widespread problem, and that realization led me to start CrowdStrike,\u201d he said. \u201cYou no longer just have to be better than your competitors. You must stay proactive and vigilant.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAlperovitch is the co-founder and chairman of\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/silverado.org\/\u0022\u003ESilverado Policy Accelerator\u003C\/a\u003E and the bestselling author of\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/worldonthebrink.com\/\u0022\u003EWorld on the Brink: How America Can Beat China in the Race for the 21st Century.\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EA global media outlet is spotlighting the success of two software companies founded by Georgia Tech College of Computing faculty and alumni. This week, Time Magazine named CrowdStrike and Pindrop Security among the\u0026nbsp;10 Most Influential Software Companies of 2026.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Two companies founded by Georgia Tech alumni are featured on TIME\u0027s 10 Most Influential Software Companies of 2026."}],"uid":"32045","created_gmt":"2026-04-30 16:41:16","changed_gmt":"2026-04-30 21:41:37","author":"Ben Snedeker","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2026-05-01T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2026-05-01T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"680133":{"id":"680133","type":"image","title":"Vijay-Balasubramaniyan-Pindrop-cofounder.jpeg","body":"\u003Cp\u003EPhoto portrait of Vijay Balasubramaniyan (PhD CS 2011), CEO and co-founder of Pindrop Security.\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1777567287","gmt_created":"2026-04-30 16:41:27","changed":"1777567287","gmt_changed":"2026-04-30 16:41:27","alt":"Photo portrait of Vijay Balasubramaniyan (PhD CS 2011), CEO and co-founder of Pindrop Security.","file":{"fid":"264373","name":"Vijay-Balasubramaniyan-Pindrop-cofounder.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/04\/30\/Vijay-Balasubramaniyan-Pindrop-cofounder.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/04\/30\/Vijay-Balasubramaniyan-Pindrop-cofounder.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":48849,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2026\/04\/30\/Vijay-Balasubramaniyan-Pindrop-cofounder.jpeg?itok=C8xtTVHY"}},"680134":{"id":"680134","type":"image","title":"Dmitri-Visit-2025-34.jpg","body":"\u003Cp\u003ECandid photo of Dmitri Alperovitch (CS 2001, MS InfoSec 2003) speaking to students during a campus visit in 2025.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1777567482","gmt_created":"2026-04-30 16:44:42","changed":"1777567482","gmt_changed":"2026-04-30 16:44:42","alt":"Candid photo of Dmitri Alperovitch (CS 2001, MS InfoSec 2003) speaking to students during a campus visit in 2025. ","file":{"fid":"264374","name":"Dmitri-Visit-2025-34.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/04\/30\/Dmitri-Visit-2025-34.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/04\/30\/Dmitri-Visit-2025-34.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":57602,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2026\/04\/30\/Dmitri-Visit-2025-34.jpg?itok=nw4s3mYb"}}},"media_ids":["680133","680134"],"groups":[{"id":"47223","name":"College of Computing"}],"categories":[{"id":"130","name":"Alumni"}],"keywords":[{"id":"10199","name":"Daily Digest"},{"id":"181991","name":"Georgia Tech News Center"},{"id":"506","name":"alumni"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"193655","name":"Artificial Intelligence at Georgia Tech"},{"id":"193658","name":"Commercialization"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EBen Snedeker\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESr. Communications Manager\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech College of Computing\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003Ealbert.snedeker@cc.gatech.edu\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}