<nodes> <node id="692828">  <title><![CDATA[GT Cybersecurity Expert Helping to Chart the Future of AI on the Energy Grid]]></title>  <uid>36253</uid>  <body><![CDATA[<p>Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming increasingly vital to the nation’s power grid. However, AI tools meant to help energy companies manage the grid, plan for future needs, and respond to problems also create new security and safety concerns.</p><p><strong>Saman</strong> <strong>Zonouz</strong>, an associate professor in Georgia Tech’s <a href="https://scp.cc.gatech.edu/">School of Cybersecurity and Privacy</a> and the <a href="https://ece.gatech.edu/">School of Electrical and Computer Engineering</a>, is helping address those concerns as a member of a planning committee for the <a href="https://www.nationalacademies.org">National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine</a>.</p><p>Since May 2026, Zonouz has served on the planning committee for an upcoming public workshop on integrating AI into the electricity system. The workshop is scheduled for Oct. 26 and will convene experts to discuss how to safely and reliably use AI across the power grid.</p><p>The workshop will explore how AI is used today, the challenges of integrating AI into existing power systems, and how people and AI can work together. The event will also examine relationships between AI and cybersecurity, data centers, workforce development, and future research.</p><p>For Zonouz, cybersecurity and resilience are key parts of the conversation.</p><p>“AI is both a shield and a target for the grid,” Zonouz said.</p><p>Zonouz leads Georgia Tech’s <a href="https://sites.gatech.edu/capcpsec/">Cyber-Physical Systems Security Research Laboratory</a>. The lab’s research, much of it funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, investigates how AI can protect power systems from cyberattacks.</p><p>One recent initiative combines AI with detailed knowledge about power system operations to detect attacks in near real time. Another project sought to identify security weaknesses in solar inverters and other devices that connect energy sources, such as solar panels, to the power grid.</p><p>Regardless of the challenge, Zonouz and his lab work to identify and fix these weaknesses before attackers can exploit them. Despite their best efforts, however, Zonouz said that some AI tools meant to secure a system can create new ways for attackers to target a power grid.</p><p>The lab has demonstrated in several studies that AI systems can be tricked by false or manipulated data. Attackers can also target the software and systems that AI depends on. As AI becomes more advanced, some systems may even be able to modify grid operations.</p><p>This raises an important question: What happens if an AI system fails or is attacked?</p><p>“That is why the right frame is resilience,” Zonouz said.</p><p>For Zonouz, the goal is not to create an AI system that can never fail or be attacked. It’s to build a trustworthy power grid that can continue operating safely even if an AI system fails or is compromised.</p><p>Zonouz will bring his perspective to the National Academies workshop. In addition to helping organize the event, he will lead a session on cybersecurity and resilience. He will also help summarize the workshop’s key takeaways during the closing session. The workshop will be held <a href="https://events.nationalacademies.org/47042">virtually</a> in late October. &nbsp;</p><p>“Lessons learned from the electricity grid can be applied to other critical infrastructure as AI monitoring and control tools continue to advance and become more common,” he said.</p>]]></body>  <author>John Popham</author>  <status>1</status>  <created>1790344208</created>  <gmt_created>2026-09-25 13:50:08</gmt_created>  <changed>1790344465</changed>  <gmt_changed>2026-09-25 13:54:25</gmt_changed>  <promote>0</promote>  <sticky>0</sticky>  <teaser><![CDATA[Georgia Tech researcher Saman Zonouz is helping shape resilient AI practices for the electricity grid. His work connects workshop planning with research on AI-enabled grid protection and emerging vulnerabilities.]]></teaser>  <type>news</type>  <sentence><![CDATA[Georgia Tech researcher Saman Zonouz is helping shape resilient AI practices for the electricity grid. His work connects workshop planning with research on AI-enabled grid protection and emerging vulnerabilities.]]></sentence>  <summary><![CDATA[<p>Georgia Tech researcher Saman Zonouz is helping shape resilient AI practices for the electricity grid. His work connects workshop planning with research on AI-enabled grid protection and emerging vulnerabilities. Zonouz’s laboratory develops near-real-time attack detection and investigates weaknesses in solar inverters and other grid-connected devices. • Research shows AI systems can be misled by manipulated data or compromised software, making resilience essential when systems fail or face attacks.</p>]]></summary>  <dateline>2026-09-25T00:00:00-04:00</dateline>  <iso_dateline>2026-09-25T00:00:00-04:00</iso_dateline>  <gmt_dateline>2026-09-25 00:00:00</gmt_dateline>  <subtitle>    <![CDATA[]]>  </subtitle>  <sidebar><![CDATA[]]></sidebar>  <email><![CDATA[jpopham3@gatech.edu]]></email>  <location></location>  <contact><![CDATA[<p>John Popham</p><p>Communications Officer at the School of Cybersecurity and Privacy</p>]]></contact>  <boilerplate></boilerplate>  <boilerplate_text><![CDATA[]]></boilerplate_text>  <media>          <item>673306</item>      </media>  <hg_media>          <item>          <nid>673306</nid>          <type>image</type>          <title><![CDATA[Saman Zonouz is a Georgia Tech associate professor and lead researcher for the DerGuard project. ]]></title>          <body><![CDATA[]]></body>                      <image_name><![CDATA[Saman-Zonouz.jpg]]></image_name>            <image_path><![CDATA[/sites/default/files/2024/03/05/Saman-Zonouz.jpg]]></image_path>            <image_full_path><![CDATA[http://hg.gatech.edu//sites/default/files/2024/03/05/Saman-Zonouz.jpg]]></image_full_path>            <image_740><![CDATA[http://hg.gatech.edu/sites/default/files/styles/740xx_scale/public/sites/default/files/2024/03/05/Saman-Zonouz.jpg?itok=PjXxteCJ]]></image_740>            <image_mime>image/jpeg</image_mime>            <image_alt><![CDATA[Saman Zonouz is a Georgia Tech associate professor and lead researcher for the DerGuard project. ]]></image_alt>                    <created>1709660104</created>          <gmt_created>2024-03-05 17:35:04</gmt_created>          <changed>1709660054</changed>          <gmt_changed>2024-03-05 17:34:14</gmt_changed>      </item>      </hg_media>  <related>      </related>  <files>      </files>  <groups>          <group id="47223"><![CDATA[College of Computing]]></group>          <group id="1188"><![CDATA[Research Horizons]]></group>          <group id="660406"><![CDATA[School of Cybersecurity &amp; Privacy]]></group>          <group id="660367"><![CDATA[School of Cybersecurity and Privacy]]></group>      </groups>  <categories>          <category tid="194606"><![CDATA[Artificial Intelligence]]></category>          <category tid="153"><![CDATA[Computer Science/Information Technology and Security]]></category>          <category tid="144"><![CDATA[Energy]]></category>          <category tid="145"><![CDATA[Engineering]]></category>      </categories>  <news_terms>          <term tid="194606"><![CDATA[Artificial Intelligence]]></term>          <term tid="153"><![CDATA[Computer Science/Information Technology and Security]]></term>          <term tid="144"><![CDATA[Energy]]></term>          <term tid="145"><![CDATA[Engineering]]></term>      </news_terms>  <keywords>      </keywords>  <core_research_areas>          <term tid="193655"><![CDATA[Artificial Intelligence at Georgia Tech]]></term>          <term tid="145171"><![CDATA[Cybersecurity]]></term>          <term tid="39531"><![CDATA[Energy and Sustainable Infrastructure]]></term>      </core_research_areas>  <news_room_topics>      </news_room_topics>  <files></files>  <related></related>  <userdata><![CDATA[]]></userdata></node><node id="692819">  <title><![CDATA[New Benchmark Measures Memory Capabilities of VLM-Powered Robots]]></title>  <uid>36530</uid>  <body><![CDATA[<p>In-home assistive robots might be able to clean and organize your home, but if they can’t tell you where they put your keys or wallet, they can become a major inconvenience.</p><p>To improve robot performance and advance memory capabilities needed for reliable home use, Georgia Tech researchers have developed a new benchmark to evaluate the memory capabilities of vision-language models (VLMs).</p><p>That includes Gemini 2.0-flash and GPT-4o.</p><p>In-home assistive robots could clean and organize a home while the owner is away, but without enhanced memory capabilities, they could cause more problems than they solve.</p><p>They could, for example, cause a major inconvenience if they move important objects like wallets and keys but are unable to tell the owner where they put them.</p><p>A new benchmark created by Georgia Tech researchers tests the memory capability of vision-language models (VLMs), including Gemini 2.0-flash and GPT-4o, to determine whether they could improve robot performance.</p><p><a href="https://faculty.cc.gatech.edu/~zk15/"><strong>Zsolt Kira</strong></a>, an associate professor in Tech’s School of Interactive Computing, said that most active VLMs can process only a few hundred images at a time before forgetting them.</p><p>“There wasn’t a benchmark that could test these specialized capabilities that we might want from a robot,” Kira said. “Our purpose in creating one is to spur research in this area so that others can develop methods to solve this problem.”</p><p>The team’s benchmark consists of memory evaluations based on 60 tasks that require continuous engagement and contextual and environmental awareness. Three task categories — spatial, temporal, and multi-goal — are highly difficult.</p><p>“You can chat with a language model like ChatGPT, and it remembers all the text from your previous conversations with it because the text data is small in terms of storage,” Kira said.&nbsp;</p><p>“Embodied agents and robots observe a lot of videos, and those tend to be a lot harder to recall. If you ask it where your diary is, it must efficiently store images of your diary and where it is.</p><p>“That’s just a few frames out of a million that it recorded since yesterday, and it must know where that is relative to the spatial layout of the house.”</p><p><strong>Karmesh Yadav</strong>, a Ph.D. student in Kira’s lab, said users don’t want to repeat information about their preferences after deployment. They also expect the robot to maintain long-term memory.</p><p>“In reality, you would want it to have a memory of the entire time it has been in your house, whether that’s days or years,” Yadav said.</p><p>The team’s benchmark evaluates memory performance over an average one-day period. It challenges the models with commands like “navigate to an object you did not interact with yesterday” or “navigate to a room you did not visit yesterday.”</p><p>The results show that current state-of-the-art models have a long way to go before they can be used in embodied agents. The best model achieved roughly a 50% success rate on high-level difficulty tasks.</p><p>Surprisingly, this model wasn’t Gemini or GPT VLMs. It was an open-source reasoning model from <a href="https://qwen.ai/qwenchat">Qwen</a>.&nbsp;</p><p>“If you use an open-source reasoning model, even one that’s small in size, it can match the performance of closed-source non-reasoning models,” Yadav said. “Reasoning models can look at the video and translate it into text. It describes what’s going on in the video in words and determines the right frame to choose in its final output.”</p><p>Kira said that converting images into descriptive text that language models easily understand could be one way to circumvent the memory storage dilemma. Another way could be to assign a hierarchy that teaches the model to identify irrelevant or redundant images and erase them from storage.</p><p>Whatever future progress researchers make in those areas, Kira and his students are confident that their benchmark will remain relevant.&nbsp;</p><p>“This benchmark is scalable,” said Ph.D. student <strong>Yusuf Ali</strong>. “If two years from now, videos are easy for a model to understand and store, you can use the same infrastructure we propose and scale up the problem’s difficulty.”</p><p>Yadav and Ali are co-first authors of a paper on the benchmark, presented in early September at the 2026 European Conference on Computer Vision in Sweden.</p><p>For more information about the project, click&nbsp;<a href="https://findingdory-benchmark.github.io/">here</a>.</p>]]></body>  <author>Nathan Deen</author>  <status>1</status>  <created>1790277573</created>  <gmt_created>2026-09-24 19:19:33</gmt_created>  <changed>1790277696</changed>  <gmt_changed>2026-09-24 19:21:36</gmt_changed>  <promote>0</promote>  <sticky>0</sticky>  <teaser><![CDATA[To improve robot performance and advance memory capabilities needed for reliable home use, Georgia Tech researchers have developed a new benchmark to evaluate the memory capabilities of vision-language models (VLMs).]]></teaser>  <type>news</type>  <sentence><![CDATA[To improve robot performance and advance memory capabilities needed for reliable home use, Georgia Tech researchers have developed a new benchmark to evaluate the memory capabilities of vision-language models (VLMs).]]></sentence>  <summary><![CDATA[<p>To improve robot performance and advance memory capabilities needed for reliable home use, Georgia Tech researchers have developed a new benchmark to evaluate the memory capabilities of vision-language models (VLMs).</p>]]></summary>  <dateline>2026-09-24T00:00:00-04:00</dateline>  <iso_dateline>2026-09-24T00:00:00-04:00</iso_dateline>  <gmt_dateline>2026-09-24 00:00:00</gmt_dateline>  <subtitle>    <![CDATA[]]>  </subtitle>  <sidebar><![CDATA[]]></sidebar>  <email><![CDATA[]]></email>  <location></location>  <contact><![CDATA[]]></contact>  <boilerplate></boilerplate>  <boilerplate_text><![CDATA[]]></boilerplate_text>  <media>          <item>681247</item>      </media>  <hg_media>          <item>          <nid>681247</nid>          <type>image</type>          <title><![CDATA[2X6A9069.jpg]]></title>          <body><![CDATA[]]></body>                      <image_name><![CDATA[2X6A9069.jpg]]></image_name>            <image_path><![CDATA[/sites/default/files/2026/09/24/2X6A9069.jpg]]></image_path>            <image_full_path><![CDATA[http://hg.gatech.edu//sites/default/files/2026/09/24/2X6A9069.jpg]]></image_full_path>            <image_740><![CDATA[http://hg.gatech.edu/sites/default/files/styles/740xx_scale/public/sites/default/files/2026/09/24/2X6A9069.jpg?itok=OYyp84yV]]></image_740>            <image_mime>image/jpeg</image_mime>            <image_alt><![CDATA[Zsolt Kira sitting in office chair surrounded by old computers]]></image_alt>                    <created>1790277587</created>          <gmt_created>2026-09-24 19:19:47</gmt_created>          <changed>1790277587</changed>          <gmt_changed>2026-09-24 19:19:47</gmt_changed>      </item>      </hg_media>  <related>      </related>  <files>      </files>  <groups>          <group id="47223"><![CDATA[College of Computing]]></group>          <group id="1188"><![CDATA[Research Horizons]]></group>          <group id="50876"><![CDATA[School of Interactive Computing]]></group>      </groups>  <categories>          <category tid="153"><![CDATA[Computer Science/Information Technology and Security]]></category>          <category tid="152"><![CDATA[Robotics]]></category>      </categories>  <news_terms>          <term tid="153"><![CDATA[Computer Science/Information Technology and Security]]></term>          <term tid="152"><![CDATA[Robotics]]></term>      </news_terms>  <keywords>      </keywords>  <core_research_areas>          <term tid="193655"><![CDATA[Artificial Intelligence at Georgia Tech]]></term>          <term tid="39501"><![CDATA[People and Technology]]></term>          <term tid="39521"><![CDATA[Robotics]]></term>      </core_research_areas>  <news_room_topics>      </news_room_topics>  <files></files>  <related></related>  <userdata><![CDATA[]]></userdata></node><node id="692805">  <title><![CDATA[Study Uncovers Security Weaknesses in Next-Generation Vehicle Technology]]></title>  <uid>36253</uid>  <body><![CDATA[<p>Georgia Tech researchers have identified seven previously unknown security flaws in next-generation communication standards that connect in-vehicle computers. These flaws create vulnerabilities that could allow attackers to take control of key driver-assistance functions in personal vehicles.</p><p>The team also found that the new standard's core rules for sending messages and handling errors retain every known security weakness of older versions.</p><p>The vulnerabilities could allow an attacker who has already gained access to a vehicle's internal computer network to change or intercept messages, take individual vehicle computers offline, send different information to different systems, or disrupt network communication.</p><p>CAN Extra Long (CAN XL), the latest version of the controller area network (CAN), is designed for future cars and other vehicles that need to move large amounts of data between onboard computers. The technology is not yet widely deployed in production vehicles, giving manufacturers an opportunity to address security concerns before it becomes more common.</p><p>“Because it isn't widely deployed yet, we have a narrow window to get its security right,” said Associate Professor <strong>Saman</strong> <strong>Zonouz</strong> of the <a href="https://scp.cc.gatech.edu/">School of Cybersecurity and Privacy</a> and the <a href="https://ece.gatech.edu/">School of Electrical and Computer Engineering</a>, one of the researchers on the project.&nbsp;</p><p>“Fixing a standard now is far easier than fixing it once it's built into the hardware of millions of cars that stay on the road for a decade or more.”</p><p>Zonouz said CAN XL is expected to become the primary version of CAN, the network that enables computers inside a vehicle to communicate. It is also expected to serve as the main network for driver-assistance systems in future vehicles.</p><p>The researchers confirmed the seven vulnerabilities in commercial CAN XL hardware and demonstrated attacks using a physical test setup that mimics a vehicle network.</p><p>Modern vehicles can have dozens of electronic control units that manage systems such as sensors, brakes, steering, and entertainment. These computers need to communicate quickly and reliably.</p><p>For decades, many vehicles have used CAN for this communication. However, the original version, known as classic CAN, was not designed to handle the volume of data generated by newer vehicle technologies.</p><p>CAN XL was developed to provide faster communication, larger messages, and new security features, but the researchers wanted to know whether the new standard’s basic rules were secure. Their testing revealed that they weren’t. They discovered that an attacker who controls one computer on the network could intercept and replace messages or take a targeted computer offline.</p><p>“These flaws are in the standard itself, so every device built to follow it inherits them,” Zonouz said. “With CAN XL, there's still time to fix these problems before they reach the road.”</p><p>The attacks would require an attacker to first gain control of a computer connected to the vehicle's internal network. The research does not show that CAN XL itself provides a means to break into a vehicle. Instead, it shows what an attacker could do after gaining access.</p><p>Several attacks were also faster and harder to detect than similar attacks against classic CAN, according to the authors.</p><p>The researchers proposed changes to the CAN XL rules to prevent several of the attacks. They also recommended additional security measures, including message authentication and systems that can detect unusual activity.</p><p>The team reported the vulnerabilities and informed the manufacturers of the commercial devices it tested about the bugs it found. One company has already released a fix. The researchers hope their findings will help manufacturers address security weaknesses before the technology becomes more widely used.</p><p><a href="https://www.usenix.org/conference/usenixsecurity26/presentation/tang-zhaozhou"><em>A Formal Security Analysis of CAN XL</em></a> was published in the Proceedings of the <a href="https://www.usenix.org/conference/usenixsecurity26">35th USENIX Security Symposium</a>, held Aug. 12-14 in Baltimore, MD. The paper was also named a runner-up for a distinguished paper award.</p><p>The study was conducted by Georgia Tech Ph.D. student <strong>ZhaozhouTang</strong>, Professor <strong>Vijay</strong> <strong>Ganesh</strong>, Zonouz, and Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs <strong>Raheem</strong> <strong>Beyah</strong>, along with <strong>Khaled</strong> <strong>Serag</strong> of the Qatar Computing Research Institute and Z. Berkay Celik of Purdue University.</p><p>The paper and its findings result from projects sponsored by the Hyundai America Technical Center, the Georgia Department of Transportation, and the $7 million CHORUS Center through the National Science Foundation’s Cyber-Physical System Frontier Program.</p>]]></body>  <author>John Popham</author>  <status>1</status>  <created>1790260450</created>  <gmt_created>2026-09-24 14:34:10</gmt_created>  <changed>1790260589</changed>  <gmt_changed>2026-09-24 14:36:29</gmt_changed>  <promote>0</promote>  <sticky>0</sticky>  <teaser><![CDATA[Georgia Tech researchers found seven security flaws in CAN XL, a vehicle network standard intended for future driver-assistance systems.]]></teaser>  <type>news</type>  <sentence><![CDATA[Georgia Tech researchers found seven security flaws in CAN XL, a vehicle network standard intended for future driver-assistance systems.]]></sentence>  <summary><![CDATA[<p>Georgia Tech researchers found seven security flaws in CAN XL, a vehicle network standard intended for future driver-assistance systems. The findings show risks remain before the technology becomes widely deployed. • Attackers with access to a vehicle’s internal network could alter or intercept messages, disable computers, provide conflicting information, or disrupt communication; some attacks were faster and harder to detect than those targeting classic CAN. • Researchers confirmed the flaws on commercial hardware, proposed rule changes, and recommended message authentication and unusual-activity detection; one tested manufacturer has released a fix.</p>]]></summary>  <dateline>2026-09-24T00:00:00-04:00</dateline>  <iso_dateline>2026-09-24T00:00:00-04:00</iso_dateline>  <gmt_dateline>2026-09-24 00:00:00</gmt_dateline>  <subtitle>    <![CDATA[]]>  </subtitle>  <sidebar><![CDATA[]]></sidebar>  <email><![CDATA[jpopham3@gatech.edu]]></email>  <location></location>  <contact><![CDATA[<p>John Popham</p><p>Communications Officer for the School of Cybersecurity and Privacy</p>]]></contact>  <boilerplate></boilerplate>  <boilerplate_text><![CDATA[]]></boilerplate_text>  <media>          <item>681243</item>          <item>675758</item>      </media>  <hg_media>          <item>          <nid>681243</nid>          <type>image</type>          <title><![CDATA[Car-security.png]]></title>          <body><![CDATA[]]></body>                      <image_name><![CDATA[Car-security.png]]></image_name>            <image_path><![CDATA[/sites/default/files/2026/09/24/Car-security.png]]></image_path>            <image_full_path><![CDATA[http://hg.gatech.edu//sites/default/files/2026/09/24/Car-security.png]]></image_full_path>            <image_740><![CDATA[http://hg.gatech.edu/sites/default/files/styles/740xx_scale/public/sites/default/files/2026/09/24/Car-security.png?itok=RP7x_Szj]]></image_740>            <image_mime>image/png</image_mime>            <image_alt><![CDATA[A digital image of a car with a lock on it]]></image_alt>                    <created>1790260526</created>          <gmt_created>2026-09-24 14:35:26</gmt_created>          <changed>1790260526</changed>          <gmt_changed>2026-09-24 14:35:26</gmt_changed>      </item>          <item>          <nid>675758</nid>          <type>image</type>          <title><![CDATA[Saman Zonouz.jpg]]></title>          <body><![CDATA[]]></body>                      <image_name><![CDATA[Saman Zonouz.jpg]]></image_name>            <image_path><![CDATA[/sites/default/files/2024/12/02/Saman%20Zonouz.jpg]]></image_path>            <image_full_path><![CDATA[http://hg.gatech.edu//sites/default/files/2024/12/02/Saman%20Zonouz.jpg]]></image_full_path>            <image_740><![CDATA[http://hg.gatech.edu/sites/default/files/styles/740xx_scale/public/sites/default/files/2024/12/02/Saman%2520Zonouz.jpg?itok=lwGwIHa7]]></image_740>            <image_mime>image/jpeg</image_mime>            <image_alt><![CDATA[man in a pullover smiling]]></image_alt>                    <created>1733171394</created>          <gmt_created>2024-12-02 20:29:54</gmt_created>          <changed>1733171394</changed>          <gmt_changed>2024-12-02 20:29:54</gmt_changed>      </item>      </hg_media>  <related>      </related>  <files>      </files>  <groups>          <group id="47223"><![CDATA[College of Computing]]></group>          <group id="1188"><![CDATA[Research Horizons]]></group>          <group id="660406"><![CDATA[School of Cybersecurity &amp; Privacy]]></group>          <group id="660367"><![CDATA[School of Cybersecurity and Privacy]]></group>      </groups>  <categories>          <category tid="153"><![CDATA[Computer Science/Information Technology and Security]]></category>          <category tid="145"><![CDATA[Engineering]]></category>          <category tid="135"><![CDATA[Research]]></category>      </categories>  <news_terms>          <term tid="153"><![CDATA[Computer Science/Information Technology and Security]]></term>          <term tid="145"><![CDATA[Engineering]]></term>          <term tid="135"><![CDATA[Research]]></term>      </news_terms>  <keywords>      </keywords>  <core_research_areas>          <term tid="145171"><![CDATA[Cybersecurity]]></term>      </core_research_areas>  <news_room_topics>      </news_room_topics>  <files></files>  <related></related>  <userdata><![CDATA[]]></userdata></node><node id="692755">  <title><![CDATA[Georgia Tech Holds No. 5 Spot in National CS Undergraduate Rankings]]></title>  <uid>32045</uid>  <body><![CDATA[<p>The Georgia Tech College of Computing has retained its No. 5 national ranking for undergraduate computer science programs in the latest <em>U.S. News &amp; World Report</em> rankings.</p><p>Top-tier specialty rankings in artificial intelligence and cybersecurity continue to drive the program's standing, with AI retaining its No. 5 rank nationwide and Cybersecurity holding firm at No. 2.</p><p>“Maintaining a top-five national ranking reflects the extraordinary excellence and dedication of our faculty, students, and staff,” said <strong>Vivek</strong> <strong>Sarkar</strong>, John P. Imlay Jr. Dean of Computing.</p><p>“Our research strength in critical areas such as cybersecurity and AI, together with our distinctive <a href="https://www.cc.gatech.edu/threads-better-way-learn-computing">threads-based curriculum</a>, reflects our commitment to a comprehensive education that keeps pace with rapid technological change and prepares our graduates to thrive in a workforce undergoing major transformation.”</p><p>The <em>2027 U.S. News Best Colleges</em>&nbsp;rankings&nbsp;reflect performance across several specialized undergraduate tracks within the College:</p><ul><li data-list-item-id="e9c53f77dbd8629e965eb685fdc6dfc53"><strong>Cybersecurity:</strong> No. 2</li><li data-list-item-id="e980014ff6503e3f304a2aa826d4c4a9f"><strong>Software Engineering:</strong> No. 3</li><li data-list-item-id="e0fa636bfd37382401649cfa8084e302e"><strong>Artificial Intelligence:</strong> No. 5</li><li data-list-item-id="e16ebd3c0f695165d62cf7957441ae59f"><strong>Data Analytics:</strong> No. 5</li><li data-list-item-id="e15430f9b3ad5422909d1c81e7e1efe7e"><strong>Computer Systems:</strong> No. 6 (up 1 spot)</li><li data-list-item-id="e81e53da78a355a055f7814ac95bdc1d9"><strong>Theory:</strong> No. 10</li><li data-list-item-id="e6304fe7623db4574c58fa26a3252922e"><strong>Programming Languages:</strong> No. 13 (down 3 spots)</li></ul><p>Building on prior years' gains in national recognition, the latest results mark continued consistency across both foundational theory and specialized subfields.</p><p>Earlier this year, U.S. News and World Report <a href="https://www.cc.gatech.edu/news/georgia-tech-climbs-ai-maintains-national-leadership-graduate-computing">ranked Georgia Tech No. 7 overall among the best graduate CS programs</a>.</p>]]></body>  <author>Ben Snedeker</author>  <status>1</status>  <created>1790079790</created>  <gmt_created>2026-09-22 12:23:10</gmt_created>  <changed>1790080307</changed>  <gmt_changed>2026-09-22 12:31:47</gmt_changed>  <promote>0</promote>  <sticky>0</sticky>  <teaser><![CDATA[Georgia Tech ranks among top five for AI and cybersecurity undergraduate programs.]]></teaser>  <type>news</type>  <sentence><![CDATA[Georgia Tech ranks among top five for AI and cybersecurity undergraduate programs.]]></sentence>  <summary><![CDATA[<p>Georgia Tech ranks among the top five for AI and cybersecurity and No. 5 for overall undergraduate CS programs.&nbsp;</p>]]></summary>  <dateline>2026-09-22T00:00:00-04:00</dateline>  <iso_dateline>2026-09-22T00:00:00-04:00</iso_dateline>  <gmt_dateline>2026-09-22 00:00:00</gmt_dateline>  <subtitle>    <![CDATA[]]>  </subtitle>  <sidebar><![CDATA[]]></sidebar>  <email><![CDATA[]]></email>  <location></location>  <contact><![CDATA[]]></contact>  <boilerplate></boilerplate>  <boilerplate_text><![CDATA[]]></boilerplate_text>  <media>          <item>681219</item>      </media>  <hg_media>          <item>          <nid>681219</nid>          <type>image</type>          <title><![CDATA[The Klaus Advanded Computing Building is the heart of Computing at Georgia Tech]]></title>          <body><![CDATA[]]></body>                      <image_name><![CDATA[Klaus-Advanded-Computing-Building_MG_9440.jpg]]></image_name>            <image_path><![CDATA[/sites/default/files/2026/09/22/Klaus-Advanded-Computing-Building_MG_9440.jpg]]></image_path>            <image_full_path><![CDATA[http://hg.gatech.edu//sites/default/files/2026/09/22/Klaus-Advanded-Computing-Building_MG_9440.jpg]]></image_full_path>            <image_740><![CDATA[http://hg.gatech.edu/sites/default/files/styles/740xx_scale/public/sites/default/files/2026/09/22/Klaus-Advanded-Computing-Building_MG_9440.jpg?itok=OGuC_fBY]]></image_740>            <image_mime>image/jpeg</image_mime>            <image_alt><![CDATA[The Klaus Advanded Computing Building is the heart of Computing at Georgia Tech]]></image_alt>                    <created>1790079799</created>          <gmt_created>2026-09-22 12:23:19</gmt_created>          <changed>1790079799</changed>          <gmt_changed>2026-09-22 12:23:19</gmt_changed>      </item>      </hg_media>  <related>      </related>  <files>      </files>  <groups>          <group id="47223"><![CDATA[College of Computing]]></group>      </groups>  <categories>          <category tid="145"><![CDATA[Engineering]]></category>      </categories>  <news_terms>          <term tid="145"><![CDATA[Engineering]]></term>      </news_terms>  <keywords>          <keyword tid="143931"><![CDATA[US News &amp; World Report; Computer Science; Georgia Tech]]></keyword>      </keywords>  <core_research_areas>      </core_research_areas>  <news_room_topics>      </news_room_topics>  <files></files>  <related></related>  <userdata><![CDATA[]]></userdata></node><node id="692643">  <title><![CDATA[Internship Highlights Industry’s Role in Advancing Safe, Trustworthy AI]]></title>  <uid>36319</uid>  <body><![CDATA[<p>Academic researchers often focus on advancing fundamental knowledge, while industry puts that knowledge into practice. This summer, Ph.D. student&nbsp;<a href="https://mphute.github.io/">Mansi Phute</a> experienced both sides of the process during an internship focused on making artificial intelligence (AI) safe, trustworthy, and reliable.</p><p>Upon returning to Georgia Tech, Phute reflected on her summer internship and what it taught her about the evolving relationship between research and industry.</p><p><strong>Student:</strong> Mansi Phute</p><p><strong>Research Interests:</strong> Machine learning (ML) robustness and artificial intelligence (AI) safety</p><p><strong>Degree Program:</strong> Ph.D. in Computer Science</p><p><strong>Faculty Advisor</strong>: School of CSE Professor and Associate Chair&nbsp;<a href="https://poloclub.github.io/polochau/">Polo Chau</a></p><p><strong>2026 Internship</strong>: International Business Machines (<a href="https://www.ibm.com/us-en">IBM</a>), San Jose, California</p><p><strong>What about IBM interested you in applying for and accepting an internship there?</strong><br><br>IBM is often at the forefront of AI safety, my field of interest, and has a culture that encourages exploratory and fundamental research. I felt this would give me a closer look at cutting-edge industry approaches without compromising on my research interests or my progress toward my thesis.</p><p><strong>How well did your coursework and experience at Georgia Tech prepare you for your IBM internship?</strong><br><br>My experience at Georgia Tech was very helpful in preparing me for IBM. My coursework and other academic experiences certainly transferred over, but I believe that the wide range of people I met during those courses and what I learned from them helped me connect and relate strongly with people at IBM. Being conversant in different fields of research really helped me interact better with IBM coworkers and feel comfortable in a new environment.</p><p><strong>What did you work on while interning at IBM?</strong><br><br>I worked on IBM’s AI Foundations team, focusing on the security of multimodal agent communication during my internship. This is an important problem as we see an increase in agents applied in many use cases. It was also closely aligned with my research interests of AI safety.</p><p><strong>Do you have a favorite memory or remarkable achievement from your internship?</strong><br><br>One of my favorite moments was presenting my work to a broad, cross-team audience of technical and non-technical members. Afterward, my manager told me I was good at explaining my research to people with varying levels of familiarity with the domain. This feedback meant a lot to me because communicating clearly across different audiences is a skill I've deliberately worked to improve. So, hearing that the effort was paying off was very rewarding.</p><p><strong>Overall, how helpful was this internship toward your studies at Georgia Tech and your career as an aspiring researcher?</strong><br><br>This internship was very valuable for my development as an aspiring researcher. I worked alongside accomplished people in the AI safety field on projects that aligned closely with my research interests. I also saw how those same projects connect to a company's broader business priorities, a perspective that isn’t easily available in academic settings. I shared many fruitful discussions with people working in safety, policy, and alignment, which gave me a much clearer sense of how industry approaches these issues compared to the more academic-oriented framing I am used to.</p><p><strong>Based on what you learned during your internship, how important is private industry in progressing research and scientific discovery?</strong><br><br>Working in private industry was a fascinating experience. I come away believing that industry plays an important role in advancing research, especially in AI, where companies have access to computing resources that are less prohibitive than in academic environments. I also think that because private industry has a strong hand in implementing and deploying research,&nbsp;understanding industry priorities can help us frame and design our research in ways that complement industry applications. This ensures research has a bigger impact, particularly in the domain of ML safety and reliability.</p>]]></body>  <author>Bryant Wine</author>  <status>1</status>  <created>1789660124</created>  <gmt_created>2026-09-17 15:48:44</gmt_created>  <changed>1790002184</changed>  <gmt_changed>2026-09-21 14:49:44</gmt_changed>  <promote>0</promote>  <sticky>0</sticky>  <teaser><![CDATA[Ph.D. student Mansi Phute spent this summer at an internship focused on making artificial intelligence (AI) safe, trustworthy, and reliable.]]></teaser>  <type>news</type>  <sentence><![CDATA[Ph.D. student Mansi Phute spent this summer at an internship focused on making artificial intelligence (AI) safe, trustworthy, and reliable.]]></sentence>  <summary><![CDATA[<p>Academic researchers often focus on advancing fundamental knowledge, while industry puts that knowledge into practice. This summer, Ph.D. student&nbsp;<a href="https://mphute.github.io/">Mansi Phute</a> experienced both sides of the process during an internship focused on making artificial intelligence (AI) safe, trustworthy, and reliable.</p><p>Upon returning to Georgia Tech, Phute reflected on her summer internship and what it taught her about the evolving relationship between research and industry.</p>]]></summary>  <dateline>2026-09-17T00:00:00-04:00</dateline>  <iso_dateline>2026-09-17T00:00:00-04:00</iso_dateline>  <gmt_dateline>2026-09-17 00:00:00</gmt_dateline>  <subtitle>    <![CDATA[]]>  </subtitle>  <sidebar><![CDATA[]]></sidebar>  <email><![CDATA[]]></email>  <location></location>  <contact><![CDATA[<p>Bryant Wine, Communications Officer<br><a href="mailto:bryant.wine@cc.gatech.edu">bryant.wine@cc.gatech.edu</a></p>]]></contact>  <boilerplate></boilerplate>  <boilerplate_text><![CDATA[]]></boilerplate_text>  <media>          <item>681184</item>          <item>681185</item>      </media>  <hg_media>          <item>          <nid>681184</nid>          <type>image</type>          <title><![CDATA[MP-Head-Image.jpg]]></title>          <body><![CDATA[]]></body>                      <image_name><![CDATA[MP-Head-Image.jpg]]></image_name>            <image_path><![CDATA[/sites/default/files/2026/09/17/MP-Head-Image.jpg]]></image_path>            <image_full_path><![CDATA[http://hg.gatech.edu//sites/default/files/2026/09/17/MP-Head-Image.jpg]]></image_full_path>            <image_740><![CDATA[http://hg.gatech.edu/sites/default/files/styles/740xx_scale/public/sites/default/files/2026/09/17/MP-Head-Image.jpg?itok=yXTmm11u]]></image_740>            <image_mime>image/jpeg</image_mime>            <image_alt><![CDATA[CSE Mansi Phute]]></image_alt>                    <created>1789660134</created>          <gmt_created>2026-09-17 15:48:54</gmt_created>          <changed>1789660134</changed>          <gmt_changed>2026-09-17 15:48:54</gmt_changed>      </item>          <item>          <nid>681185</nid>          <type>image</type>          <title><![CDATA[MP-IBM-Internship.jpg]]></title>          <body><![CDATA[]]></body>                      <image_name><![CDATA[MP-IBM-Internship.jpg]]></image_name>            <image_path><![CDATA[/sites/default/files/2026/09/17/MP-IBM-Internship.jpg]]></image_path>            <image_full_path><![CDATA[http://hg.gatech.edu//sites/default/files/2026/09/17/MP-IBM-Internship.jpg]]></image_full_path>            <image_740><![CDATA[http://hg.gatech.edu/sites/default/files/styles/740xx_scale/public/sites/default/files/2026/09/17/MP-IBM-Internship.jpg?itok=2WX0ddYO]]></image_740>            <image_mime>image/jpeg</image_mime>            <image_alt><![CDATA[CSE Mansi Phute]]></image_alt>                    <created>1789660171</created>          <gmt_created>2026-09-17 15:49:31</gmt_created>          <changed>1789660171</changed>          <gmt_changed>2026-09-17 15:49:31</gmt_changed>      </item>      </hg_media>  <related>      </related>  <files>      </files>  <groups>          <group id="47223"><![CDATA[College of Computing]]></group>          <group id="1188"><![CDATA[Research Horizons]]></group>          <group id="50877"><![CDATA[School of Computational Science and Engineering]]></group>      </groups>  <categories>          <category tid="194606"><![CDATA[Artificial Intelligence]]></category>          <category tid="153"><![CDATA[Computer Science/Information Technology and Security]]></category>          <category tid="194609"><![CDATA[Industry]]></category>          <category tid="135"><![CDATA[Research]]></category>          <category tid="8862"><![CDATA[Student Research]]></category>          <category tid="194612"><![CDATA[Workforce Development]]></category>      </categories>  <news_terms>          <term tid="194606"><![CDATA[Artificial Intelligence]]></term>          <term tid="153"><![CDATA[Computer Science/Information Technology and Security]]></term>          <term tid="194609"><![CDATA[Industry]]></term>          <term tid="135"><![CDATA[Research]]></term>          <term tid="8862"><![CDATA[Student Research]]></term>          <term tid="194612"><![CDATA[Workforce Development]]></term>      </news_terms>  <keywords>          <keyword tid="654"><![CDATA[College of Computing]]></keyword>          <keyword tid="166983"><![CDATA[School of Computational Science and Engineering]]></keyword>          <keyword tid="9153"><![CDATA[Research Horizons]]></keyword>          <keyword tid="187915"><![CDATA[go-researchnews]]></keyword>          <keyword tid="170447"><![CDATA[Institute for Data Engineering and Science]]></keyword>          <keyword tid="192863"><![CDATA[go-ai]]></keyword>          <keyword tid="194384"><![CDATA[Tech AI]]></keyword>          <keyword tid="187812"><![CDATA[artificial intelligence (AI)]]></keyword>      </keywords>  <core_research_areas>          <term tid="193655"><![CDATA[Artificial Intelligence at Georgia Tech]]></term>          <term tid="39431"><![CDATA[Data Engineering and Science]]></term>          <term tid="39501"><![CDATA[People and Technology]]></term>      </core_research_areas>  <news_room_topics>      </news_room_topics>  <files></files>  <related></related>  <userdata><![CDATA[]]></userdata></node><node id="692727">  <title><![CDATA[Internship Explores Government’s Investment for the Future]]></title>  <uid>36319</uid>  <body><![CDATA[<p>Many scientific breakthroughs begin with long-term research investments. Government agencies often play a central role in this process, supporting work that addresses national priorities while laying the foundation for future innovations.</p><p>This summer, M.S. student <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/joey-cuthbert/">Joey Cuthbert</a> contributed to this mission through an internship at the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL). Upon returning to campus, Cuthbert reflected on his internship and what he learned working alongside researchers in government and the defense community. &nbsp;</p><p><strong>Student:</strong> Joey Cuthbert</p><p><strong>Research Interests:</strong> Machine learning (ML), model-based systems engineering</p><p><strong>Degree Program:</strong> M.S. in Computational Science and Engineering, home unit in <a href="https://www.isye.gatech.edu/">H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering</a></p><p><strong>2026 Internship</strong>: Sensors Directorate Internship Program with Air Force Research Laboratory (<a href="https://www.afrl.af.mil/">AFRL</a>) and the National Air and Space Intelligence Center (<a href="https://www.nasic.af.mil/">NASIC</a>), Beavercreek, Ohio</p><p><strong>What about AFRL interested you in applying for and accepting an internship there?</strong><br><br>The Sensors Directorate Internship Program (SDIP) provided a unique opportunity to work alongside mentors from AFRL and NASIC on a defense-related research project over a 14-week internship. This aligned with my desire to work on applied ML research in the defense sector and allowed me to better understand the ins and outs of government and government-contracting work. The program provided competitive pay and housing throughout the program, which was a huge plus for me.</p><p><strong>How well did your coursework and experience at Georgia Tech prepare you for your AFRL internship?</strong><br><br>My experience and coursework at Georgia Tech helped me a great deal this summer. I believe my understanding of ML has greatly improved over the past two semesters, which helped me complete my internship project. All of my experiments ran on high-performance computing (HPC) systems, and I felt I had a head start since I completed an HPC class last spring.&nbsp;</p><p><strong>What did you work on while interning at AFRL?</strong><br><br>I worked on an image-classification robustness project for convolutional neural networks (CNNs) using synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data. I built a robustness benchmark by testing a model against nine types of noise, and used it to show how we can effectively increase robustness by inducing shape-bias in the model during training.&nbsp;</p><p><strong>Do you have a favorite memory or remarkable achievement from your internship?</strong></p><p>During the summer, we went on a tour of nearby <a href="https://www.wpafb.af.mil/">Wright-Patterson Air Force Base</a>, where we visited the sensors directorate buildings and checked out some of their labs. I also received the best poster presentation award among approximately 40 interns.&nbsp;</p><p><strong>Overall, how helpful was this internship toward your studies at Georgia Tech and career as an aspiring researcher?</strong><br><br>This program provided great strides toward my research career goals. My coursework has provided a great foundation in ML, and I was able to apply this knowledge to a project. The internship offered me lots of autonomy, as well as time to explore different paths to find results.&nbsp;</p><p><strong>From what you learned on your internship, how important are government agencies in progressing research and scientific discovery?</strong><br><br>I believe government agencies are massively valuable in advancing research and scientific discovery, especially within the defense sector. All work at AFRL has the goal of giving warfighters the greatest advantage possible. This often entails looking 10 to 20 years into the future of science and technology and trying to get there as fast as possible.&nbsp;</p>]]></body>  <author>Bryant Wine</author>  <status>1</status>  <created>1790001735</created>  <gmt_created>2026-09-21 14:42:15</gmt_created>  <changed>1790002136</changed>  <gmt_changed>2026-09-21 14:48:56</gmt_changed>  <promote>0</promote>  <sticky>0</sticky>  <teaser><![CDATA[This summer, M.S. student Joey Cuthbert completed an internship at the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), supporting work that addresses national priorities while laying the foundation for future innovations.]]></teaser>  <type>news</type>  <sentence><![CDATA[This summer, M.S. student Joey Cuthbert completed an internship at the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), supporting work that addresses national priorities while laying the foundation for future innovations.]]></sentence>  <summary><![CDATA[<p>Many scientific breakthroughs begin with long-term research investments. Government agencies often play a central role in this process, supporting work that addresses national priorities while laying the foundation for future innovations.</p><p>This summer, M.S. student Joey Cuthbert contributed to this mission through an internship at the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL). Upon returning to campus, Cuthbert reflected on his internship and what he learned working alongside researchers in government and the defense community. &nbsp;</p>]]></summary>  <dateline>2026-09-21T00:00:00-04:00</dateline>  <iso_dateline>2026-09-21T00:00:00-04:00</iso_dateline>  <gmt_dateline>2026-09-21 00:00:00</gmt_dateline>  <subtitle>    <![CDATA[]]>  </subtitle>  <sidebar><![CDATA[]]></sidebar>  <email><![CDATA[]]></email>  <location></location>  <contact><![CDATA[<p>Bryant Wine, Communications Officer<br><a href="mailto:bryant.wine@cc.gatech.edu">bryant.wine@cc.gatech.edu</a></p>]]></contact>  <boilerplate></boilerplate>  <boilerplate_text><![CDATA[]]></boilerplate_text>  <media>          <item>681208</item>          <item>681209</item>      </media>  <hg_media>          <item>          <nid>681208</nid>          <type>image</type>          <title><![CDATA[JC-Head-Image.jpg]]></title>          <body><![CDATA[]]></body>                      <image_name><![CDATA[JC-Head-Image.jpg]]></image_name>            <image_path><![CDATA[/sites/default/files/2026/09/21/JC-Head-Image.jpg]]></image_path>            <image_full_path><![CDATA[http://hg.gatech.edu//sites/default/files/2026/09/21/JC-Head-Image.jpg]]></image_full_path>            <image_740><![CDATA[http://hg.gatech.edu/sites/default/files/styles/740xx_scale/public/sites/default/files/2026/09/21/JC-Head-Image.jpg?itok=RtNc1Qwn]]></image_740>            <image_mime>image/jpeg</image_mime>            <image_alt><![CDATA[CSE Joey Cuthbert]]></image_alt>                    <created>1790001748</created>          <gmt_created>2026-09-21 14:42:28</gmt_created>          <changed>1790001748</changed>          <gmt_changed>2026-09-21 14:42:28</gmt_changed>      </item>          <item>          <nid>681209</nid>          <type>image</type>          <title><![CDATA[SARdust-Poster.jpg]]></title>          <body><![CDATA[]]></body>                      <image_name><![CDATA[SARdust-Poster.jpg]]></image_name>            <image_path><![CDATA[/sites/default/files/2026/09/21/SARdust-Poster.jpg]]></image_path>            <image_full_path><![CDATA[http://hg.gatech.edu//sites/default/files/2026/09/21/SARdust-Poster.jpg]]></image_full_path>            <image_740><![CDATA[http://hg.gatech.edu/sites/default/files/styles/740xx_scale/public/sites/default/files/2026/09/21/SARdust-Poster.jpg?itok=TC-kyWQz]]></image_740>            <image_mime>image/jpeg</image_mime>            <image_alt><![CDATA[CSE Joey Cuthbert Poster]]></image_alt>                    <created>1790001781</created>          <gmt_created>2026-09-21 14:43:01</gmt_created>          <changed>1790001781</changed>          <gmt_changed>2026-09-21 14:43:01</gmt_changed>      </item>      </hg_media>  <related>      </related>  <files>      </files>  <groups>          <group id="47223"><![CDATA[College of Computing]]></group>          <group id="1188"><![CDATA[Research Horizons]]></group>          <group id="50877"><![CDATA[School of Computational Science and Engineering]]></group>      </groups>  <categories>          <category tid="136"><![CDATA[Aerospace]]></category>          <category tid="194606"><![CDATA[Artificial Intelligence]]></category>          <category tid="153"><![CDATA[Computer Science/Information Technology and Security]]></category>          <category tid="147"><![CDATA[Military Technology]]></category>          <category tid="194610"><![CDATA[National Interests/National Security]]></category>          <category tid="135"><![CDATA[Research]]></category>          <category tid="193157"><![CDATA[Student Honors and Achievements]]></category>          <category tid="8862"><![CDATA[Student Research]]></category>      </categories>  <news_terms>          <term tid="136"><![CDATA[Aerospace]]></term>          <term tid="194606"><![CDATA[Artificial Intelligence]]></term>          <term tid="153"><![CDATA[Computer Science/Information Technology and Security]]></term>          <term tid="147"><![CDATA[Military Technology]]></term>          <term tid="194610"><![CDATA[National Interests/National Security]]></term>          <term tid="135"><![CDATA[Research]]></term>          <term tid="193157"><![CDATA[Student Honors and Achievements]]></term>          <term tid="8862"><![CDATA[Student Research]]></term>      </news_terms>  <keywords>          <keyword tid="654"><![CDATA[College of Computing]]></keyword>          <keyword tid="166983"><![CDATA[School of Computational Science and Engineering]]></keyword>          <keyword tid="594"><![CDATA[college of engineering]]></keyword>          <keyword tid="180027"><![CDATA[. ISyE]]></keyword>          <keyword tid="2633"><![CDATA[Air Force]]></keyword>          <keyword tid="191204"><![CDATA[Air Force Research Laboratory]]></keyword>          <keyword tid="1325"><![CDATA[aerospace]]></keyword>          <keyword tid="9167"><![CDATA[machine learning]]></keyword>          <keyword tid="187812"><![CDATA[artificial intelligence (AI)]]></keyword>          <keyword tid="9153"><![CDATA[Research Horizons]]></keyword>          <keyword tid="187915"><![CDATA[go-researchnews]]></keyword>          <keyword tid="192863"><![CDATA[go-ai]]></keyword>          <keyword tid="10199"><![CDATA[Daily Digest]]></keyword>      </keywords>  <core_research_areas>          <term tid="193655"><![CDATA[Artificial Intelligence at Georgia Tech]]></term>          <term tid="39431"><![CDATA[Data Engineering and Science]]></term>          <term tid="39481"><![CDATA[National Security]]></term>      </core_research_areas>  <news_room_topics>      </news_room_topics>  <files></files>  <related></related>  <userdata><![CDATA[]]></userdata></node><node id="692596">  <title><![CDATA[Internship Connects Supercomputing with National Priorities]]></title>  <uid>36319</uid>  <body><![CDATA[<p>National laboratories play a critical role in advancing science, developing energy technologies, and ensuring national security. This summer, Ph.D. student <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/tage-burnett-537549221/">Tage Burnett</a> contributed to that mission firsthand during an internship at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Tennessee.</p><p>The internship provided Burnett with valuable insight into national laboratory research and reinforced skills he developed through his studies at Georgia Tech. When he returned to campus, we asked Burnett to share more about his internship and what he learned.</p><p><strong>Student:</strong> Tage Burnett</p><p><strong>Research Interests:</strong> Fusion energy, computational plasma physics, high-performance computing, and structure-preserving machine learning</p><p><strong>Degree Program:</strong> Ph.D. in Computational Science and Engineering</p><p><strong>Faculty Advisor</strong>: School of CSE Assistant Professor <a href="https://tangqi.github.io/">Qi Tang</a></p><p><strong>2026 Internship</strong>: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee</p><p><strong>Many people are unfamiliar with national laboratories, like ORNL. Could you explain the purpose of these institutions and why they are important?</strong></p><p>The Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratories are responsible for moving forward science and technology in the United States and solving high-consequence challenges in science, energy, and national security. They work on both applied and theoretical research with both short-term and long-term returns. ORNL has eight core research areas: biology and environment, energy science, fusion and fission, isotopes, physical sciences, national security, neutron science, and supercomputing. I was an intern in the supercomputing division.</p><p><strong>How well did coursework and experience at Georgia Tech prepare you for your ORNL internship?</strong></p><p>My coursework at Georgia Tech was vital in my preparation for this internship. I wrote highly parallel code where I leaned heavily on what I learned in <em>CSE 6220: High-Performance Computing</em>. I also worked on numerical methods which required an understanding of partial differential equations and numerical linear algebra which I also learned at Georgia Tech from classes like <em>CSE 6643: Numerical Linear Algebra</em> and a space plasma physics course.</p><p><strong>What did you work on while interning at ORNL?</strong></p><p>At ORNL, I was a developer on the Adaptive Sparse Grid Discretization (<a href="https://joss.theoj.org/papers/10.21105/joss.06766">ASGarD</a>) codebase. The code uses adaptive sparse grids and the Discontinuous Galerkin method to beat the curse of dimensionality and solve high-dimensional partial differential equations (PDEs). <a href="https://github.com/openjournals/joss-reviews/issues/6766">The code</a> is designed to simulate fully kinetic plasmas in up to 6-dimensional phase space. My project was to implement an iterative method to solve the efficiently solve the Poisson equation within the codebase. This project gave me hands on experience with linear algebra, numerical PDEs, parallel computing and software engineering which was invaluable to my development as a CSE researcher.</p><p><strong>Do you have a favorite memory or remarkable achievement from your internship?</strong></p><p>My favorite memory from my internship was spending time with the other ORNL interns outside of work. There was an amazing group of interns at ORNL, and it was great getting to know them. One particularly good memory was when we went out to a restaurant with live music and played laser tag during our last week of the internship to celebrate our time at ORNL. The achievement I am most proud of was getting a working, highly efficient version of the Poisson solver into ASGarD. The ASGarD codebase is open source, so I hope other plasma physics researchers will use the code and find it helpful for their research.</p><p><strong>While interning, you were selected for a GEM Fellowship, which Georgia Tech and ORNL nominated you for. What does this fellowship mean to you and is there anything you would like to say to your supporters?</strong></p><p>To me, receiving the <a href="https://www.gemfellowship.org/gem-fellowship-program/#a">GEM Fellowship</a> indicates that other people recognize the hard work I am doing, and they believe in my ability to meaningfully contribute to the field. Having this support from GEM, ORNL, and Georgia Tech gives me greater confidence in myself and my potential and inspires me to put my all into my work. I would like all my supporters to know that I am so grateful for the opportunity you have given me to be a part of the excellent community of researchers within GEM, ORNL, and Georgia Tech. I will do my very best to make your support worthwhile!</p><p><strong>Overall, how helpful was this internship toward your studies at Georgia Tech and career as an aspiring researcher?</strong></p><p>The internship was extremely important to both my studies at Georgia Tech and my career as a researcher. The hands-on experience I gained is irreplaceable and it helped me to apply all the skills I have developed throughout my education. I am also optimistic that the internship will open doors for me when I am seeking a job post-graduation.</p>]]></body>  <author>Bryant Wine</author>  <status>1</status>  <created>1789488176</created>  <gmt_created>2026-09-15 16:02:56</gmt_created>  <changed>1790002117</changed>  <gmt_changed>2026-09-21 14:48:37</gmt_changed>  <promote>0</promote>  <sticky>0</sticky>  <teaser><![CDATA[National laboratories play a critical role in advancing science, developing energy technologies, and ensuring national security. This summer, Ph.D. student Tage Burnett contributed to that mission firsthand during an internship at ORNL.]]></teaser>  <type>news</type>  <sentence><![CDATA[National laboratories play a critical role in advancing science, developing energy technologies, and ensuring national security. This summer, Ph.D. student Tage Burnett contributed to that mission firsthand during an internship at ORNL.]]></sentence>  <summary><![CDATA[<p>National laboratories play a critical role in advancing science, developing energy technologies, and ensuring national security. This summer, Ph.D. student <strong>Tage Burnett</strong> contributed to that mission firsthand during an internship at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Tennessee.</p><p>The internship provided Burnett valuable insight into national laboratory research and reinforced skills he developed through his studies at Georgia Tech. When he returned to campus, we asked Burnett to share more about his internship and what he learned.</p>]]></summary>  <dateline>2026-09-15T00:00:00-04:00</dateline>  <iso_dateline>2026-09-15T00:00:00-04:00</iso_dateline>  <gmt_dateline>2026-09-15 00:00:00</gmt_dateline>  <subtitle>    <![CDATA[]]>  </subtitle>  <sidebar><![CDATA[]]></sidebar>  <email><![CDATA[]]></email>  <location></location>  <contact><![CDATA[<p>Bryant Wine, Communications Officer<br><a href="mailto:bryant.wine@cc.gatech.edu">bryant.wine@cc.gatech.edu</a></p>]]></contact>  <boilerplate></boilerplate>  <boilerplate_text><![CDATA[]]></boilerplate_text>  <media>          <item>681151</item>          <item>681153</item>      </media>  <hg_media>          <item>          <nid>681151</nid>          <type>image</type>          <title><![CDATA[Tage-Burnett-Head-Image.jpg]]></title>          <body><![CDATA[]]></body>                      <image_name><![CDATA[Tage-Burnett-Head-Image.jpg]]></image_name>            <image_path><![CDATA[/sites/default/files/2026/09/15/Tage-Burnett-Head-Image.jpg]]></image_path>            <image_full_path><![CDATA[http://hg.gatech.edu//sites/default/files/2026/09/15/Tage-Burnett-Head-Image.jpg]]></image_full_path>            <image_740><![CDATA[http://hg.gatech.edu/sites/default/files/styles/740xx_scale/public/sites/default/files/2026/09/15/Tage-Burnett-Head-Image.jpg?itok=LozRXT2H]]></image_740>            <image_mime>image/jpeg</image_mime>            <image_alt><![CDATA[CSE Tage Burnett]]></image_alt>                    <created>1789488262</created>          <gmt_created>2026-09-15 16:04:22</gmt_created>          <changed>1789488262</changed>          <gmt_changed>2026-09-15 16:04:22</gmt_changed>      </item>          <item>          <nid>681153</nid>          <type>image</type>          <title><![CDATA[TB-ORNL-Mentor.jpeg]]></title>          <body><![CDATA[]]></body>                      <image_name><![CDATA[TB-ORNL-Mentor.jpeg]]></image_name>            <image_path><![CDATA[/sites/default/files/2026/09/15/TB-ORNL-Mentor.jpeg]]></image_path>            <image_full_path><![CDATA[http://hg.gatech.edu//sites/default/files/2026/09/15/TB-ORNL-Mentor.jpeg]]></image_full_path>            <image_740><![CDATA[http://hg.gatech.edu/sites/default/files/styles/740xx_scale/public/sites/default/files/2026/09/15/TB-ORNL-Mentor.jpeg?itok=BV2ykn6O]]></image_740>            <image_mime>image/jpeg</image_mime>            <image_alt><![CDATA[CSE Tage Burnett]]></image_alt>                    <created>1789488297</created>          <gmt_created>2026-09-15 16:04:57</gmt_created>          <changed>1789488297</changed>          <gmt_changed>2026-09-15 16:04:57</gmt_changed>      </item>      </hg_media>  <related>      </related>  <files>      </files>  <groups>          <group id="47223"><![CDATA[College of Computing]]></group>          <group id="1188"><![CDATA[Research Horizons]]></group>          <group id="50877"><![CDATA[School of Computational Science and Engineering]]></group>      </groups>  <categories>          <category tid="153"><![CDATA[Computer Science/Information Technology and Security]]></category>          <category tid="144"><![CDATA[Energy]]></category>          <category tid="135"><![CDATA[Research]]></category>          <category tid="193157"><![CDATA[Student Honors and Achievements]]></category>          <category tid="8862"><![CDATA[Student Research]]></category>          <category tid="194612"><![CDATA[Workforce Development]]></category>      </categories>  <news_terms>          <term tid="153"><![CDATA[Computer Science/Information Technology and Security]]></term>          <term tid="144"><![CDATA[Energy]]></term>          <term tid="135"><![CDATA[Research]]></term>          <term tid="193157"><![CDATA[Student Honors and Achievements]]></term>          <term tid="8862"><![CDATA[Student Research]]></term>          <term tid="194612"><![CDATA[Workforce Development]]></term>      </news_terms>  <keywords>          <keyword tid="654"><![CDATA[College of Computing]]></keyword>          <keyword tid="166983"><![CDATA[School of Computational Science and Engineering]]></keyword>          <keyword tid="187915"><![CDATA[go-researchnews]]></keyword>          <keyword tid="9153"><![CDATA[Research Horizons]]></keyword>          <keyword tid="170447"><![CDATA[Institute for Data Engineering and Science]]></keyword>          <keyword tid="108061"><![CDATA[Oak Ridge National Laboratory]]></keyword>          <keyword tid="663"><![CDATA[Department of Energy]]></keyword>          <keyword tid="167322"><![CDATA[supercomputing]]></keyword>      </keywords>  <core_research_areas>          <term tid="39431"><![CDATA[Data Engineering and Science]]></term>          <term tid="39531"><![CDATA[Energy and Sustainable Infrastructure]]></term>      </core_research_areas>  <news_room_topics>      </news_room_topics>  <files></files>  <related></related>  <userdata><![CDATA[]]></userdata></node><node id="692635">  <title><![CDATA[Alumnus Credits Taido Class as Crucial Part of Ph.D. Journey]]></title>  <uid>36530</uid>  <body><![CDATA[<p>Since he was a child, Varun Agrawal wanted to learn martial arts but never had the opportunity.</p><p>“It was something I had wanted since I was a kid,” he said. “Growing up in India, it wasn't known for martial arts.”</p><p>Agrawal knew he needed something to help him balance his physical health with the challenges of graduate school. He checked the list of classes offered by Georgia Tech’s Campus Recreation. One stood out: Georgia Tech Taido.</p><p>Taido is a niche martial art that applies a modern, scientific approach to traditional Okinawan karate. There is only one school in the U.S. that teaches it — Taido Karate in Peachtree Corners, Ga., which is currently the world’s largest taido school.</p><p>Taido means “the way of the body and the mind.” It was invented in the 1960s by Seiken Shukumine.&nbsp;</p><p>One of Shukumine’s students, Mitsunobu Uchida, brought the new martial art to the U.S. when he immigrated in 1975. Uchida decided that Atlanta would be an ideal place to open a new school.&nbsp;</p><p>Since then, generations of students have trained at Taido Karate, including Georgia Tech alumnus Bryan Sparks (EE 2000), and Andy Fossett, who started as a student at Tech in 1996 before transferring to Georgia State.</p><p>Sparks and Fossett learned taido together as kids. Both became black belts before graduating high school.&nbsp;</p><p>Shortly after becoming students at Tech, they started an official taido club on campus. They taught their first class in 1996, which only had one student. By the next semester, they had almost a dozen.&nbsp;</p><p>“The class was held in an open area, and a lot of people would walk by and see us training,” Sparks said. “That was the best advertisement we could ever have. We’d invite them to work out, and it grew from there. We did some demonstrations around campus in the early days.”</p><p>The taido club is still going strong and celebrating its 30th anniversary this year.&nbsp;</p><p>Agrawal discovered it in 2018 as a first-year Ph.D. student. He earned his doctorate in robotics from Georgia Tech’s School of Interactive Computing in 2025.</p><p>While keeping his Ph.D. studies first, Agrawal trained for five years to earn a black belt. He said the process was the most physically and mentally challenging he’s ever experienced.</p><p>“The tenets of taido teach you how to compose yourself and how to have a good mindset, which becomes helpful in dealing with daily life stress,” Agrawal said. “It helps you focus on what’s important in the moment.”</p><p>“There were times when I felt like nothing was going right, and I kept asking ‘What am I even doing?’ But I knew if I could do some of the harder things in taido, there’s no reason I couldn’t do the same thing in my Ph.D.”</p><p>Agrawal’s commitment paid off in 2022 when he became one of five students from Tech Taido to pass the black belt test that year.</p><p>“The test is grueling,” he said. “It’s four hours long. It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done physically, and I’ve run several marathons. They test you on everything you’ve learned from white belt level to brown belt level. I was training five days a week for five months.</p><p>“It was one of the best days of my life. It felt like no matter what happened, I could move forward with my life and be proud of that accomplishment.”</p><p>Agrawal landed a remote job with a robotics startup after graduating. His new position allowed him to stay in Atlanta and continue with Georgia Tech Taido as an instructor.</p><p>He said the unique aspect of taido is its emphasis on community and culture, which can be attributed to Uchida’s influence.&nbsp;</p><p>“A lot of times, American senseis open dojos after learning martial arts overseas. They bring the techniques and the discipline over, but they don’t bring the culture that comes with it. I love how taido is a part of our lives. It’s not a separate workout; it’s a communal thing.”</p><p>Agrawal teaches classes with Lacy Hardcastle, who took over as lead instructor when Sparks moved out of the area in 2019. Hardcastle took her first Taido class at Tech in 2007.</p><p>Hardcastle said students trying taido for the first time will get a challenging workout.</p><p>“I didn’t know how weak my legs were until I took taido,” she said. “It kicked my butt the first semester. We do whole body conditioning with lots of push-ups, lunges, squats and other exercises. It’s a very athletic martial art and requires whole-body fitness and control.”</p><p>Hardcastle describes the environment as welcoming and supportive, with regular get-togethers outside of class and a biennial trip to Japan with the Taido Karate school.</p><p>“We have a great social community where we support each other,” she said. “We occasionally go out to social events together. Sometimes we’ll get together to watch MMA fights, things like that. But we also work out hard.”&nbsp;</p><p>Georgia Tech Taido classes are held every Monday and Wednesday from 8:30 p.m. to 9:45 p.m. in Studio A of the Georgia Tech Campus Recreation Center. The registration cost for the fall semester is $75. To register, visit <a href="https://crc.gatech.edu/martial-arts-4/">https://crc.gatech.edu/martial-arts-4/</a>.</p>]]></body>  <author>Nathan Deen</author>  <status>1</status>  <created>1789652478</created>  <gmt_created>2026-09-17 13:41:18</gmt_created>  <changed>1789735502</changed>  <gmt_changed>2026-09-18 12:45:02</gmt_changed>  <promote>0</promote>  <sticky>0</sticky>  <teaser><![CDATA[Georgia Tech Taido allowed Varun Agrawal to pursue a Ph.D. and a black belt as a graduate student at Georgia Tech]]></teaser>  <type>news</type>  <sentence><![CDATA[Georgia Tech Taido allowed Varun Agrawal to pursue a Ph.D. and a black belt as a graduate student at Georgia Tech]]></sentence>  <summary><![CDATA[<p>Georgia Tech Taido allowed Varun Agrawal to pursue a Ph.D. and a black belt as a graduate student at Georgia Tech.</p>]]></summary>  <dateline>2026-09-17T00:00:00-04:00</dateline>  <iso_dateline>2026-09-17T00:00:00-04:00</iso_dateline>  <gmt_dateline>2026-09-17 00:00:00</gmt_dateline>  <subtitle>    <![CDATA[]]>  </subtitle>  <sidebar><![CDATA[]]></sidebar>  <email><![CDATA[]]></email>  <location></location>  <contact><![CDATA[]]></contact>  <boilerplate></boilerplate>  <boilerplate_text><![CDATA[]]></boilerplate_text>  <media>          <item>681181</item>      </media>  <hg_media>          <item>          <nid>681181</nid>          <type>image</type>          <title><![CDATA[GT-Taido-Class_86A0245.jpg]]></title>          <body><![CDATA[]]></body>                      <image_name><![CDATA[GT-Taido-Class_86A0245.jpg]]></image_name>            <image_path><![CDATA[/sites/default/files/2026/09/17/GT-Taido-Class_86A0245.jpg]]></image_path>            <image_full_path><![CDATA[http://hg.gatech.edu//sites/default/files/2026/09/17/GT-Taido-Class_86A0245.jpg]]></image_full_path>            <image_740><![CDATA[http://hg.gatech.edu/sites/default/files/styles/740xx_scale/public/sites/default/files/2026/09/17/GT-Taido-Class_86A0245.jpg?itok=TaVtn3fx]]></image_740>            <image_mime>image/jpeg</image_mime>            <image_alt><![CDATA[Varun Agrawal]]></image_alt>                    <created>1789652591</created>          <gmt_created>2026-09-17 13:43:11</gmt_created>          <changed>1789652591</changed>          <gmt_changed>2026-09-17 13:43:11</gmt_changed>      </item>      </hg_media>  <related>      </related>  <files>      </files>  <groups>          <group id="47223"><![CDATA[College of Computing]]></group>          <group id="50876"><![CDATA[School of Interactive Computing]]></group>      </groups>  <categories>          <category tid="130"><![CDATA[Alumni]]></category>          <category tid="153"><![CDATA[Computer Science/Information Technology and Security]]></category>          <category tid="129"><![CDATA[Institute and Campus]]></category>          <category tid="152"><![CDATA[Robotics]]></category>          <category tid="134"><![CDATA[Student and Faculty]]></category>      </categories>  <news_terms>          <term tid="130"><![CDATA[Alumni]]></term>          <term tid="153"><![CDATA[Computer Science/Information Technology and Security]]></term>          <term tid="129"><![CDATA[Institute and Campus]]></term>          <term tid="152"><![CDATA[Robotics]]></term>          <term tid="134"><![CDATA[Student and Faculty]]></term>      </news_terms>  <keywords>      </keywords>  <core_research_areas>      </core_research_areas>  <news_room_topics>      </news_room_topics>  <files></files>  <related></related>  <userdata><![CDATA[]]></userdata></node><node id="692622">  <title><![CDATA[Nancy Baker: the One Stop Shop for Cybersecurity Student Success]]></title>  <uid>36253</uid>  <body><![CDATA[<p>The start of the semester is <strong>Nancy Baker</strong>'s Super Bowl.</p><p>From planning and executing orientation to answering students' questions about their schedules, Baker does it all. As the sole academic program manager for the <a href="https://scp.cc.gatech.edu/">School of Cybersecurity and Privacy</a> (SCP), she is the go-to person for 140 MS and PhD students.</p><p>“The beginning of the semester can be a bit crazy,” said Baker. “Every inquiry about registration comes through me.”</p><p>Beyond registration and scheduling questions, Baker organizes orientation and welcome events each semester for new students. During those events, she connects students with valuable campus resources that can support them throughout their time at Georgia Tech, including mental health services, campus food bank <a href="https://star.studentlife.gatech.edu/klemis-kitchen">Klemis Kitchen</a>, and other programs.</p><p>Baker joined SCP in February 2022 and is now in her fourth year with the school. When she arrived, SCP was still new and did not yet have someone dedicated to supporting students. For her first six months, she shared those responsibilities with a colleague from another school. By the summer, she had found her rhythm and was preparing for her first fall semester at SCP.</p><p>“I could sense the urgency when I started to get in here and help the department in any way I could,” she said. “It’s nice to know I was able to come in and help the department get to a better place.”</p><p>Her first orientation was a success, but Baker says her connection with students has grown stronger over time. Today, she takes pride in being one of their first points of contact when they arrive at SCP.</p><p>At Fall 2026 orientation, Baker personally greeted each new student and spoke about who she is, how she can help, and what students can expect from academic support during their time at Georgia Tech.</p><p>“Nancy Baker exemplifies the Georgia Tech value of ‘students are our top priority,’” said School Administrative Officer <strong>Jan Morian</strong>. “She listens to students, cares deeply about their well-being, and is a vital link to provide students with resources. She proactively invites campus resource leaders to meet with our students, which helps foster student belonging and academic success.”</p><p>Morian said Baker's impact extends beyond her work with students.</p><p>“Nancy is also an outstanding colleague and collaborator, not just within our department, but across the College of Computing and the greater Institute,” she said.</p><p>While supporting students is at the center of her work, Baker has also made professional development and community involvement a priority. She is a graduate of the Georgia Tech's <a href="https://learn.hr.gatech.edu/aspire/">ASPIRE</a> leadership program and has participated in <a href="https://learn.hr.gatech.edu/mentortech/">MentorTech</a>, experiences she says helped her become a stronger communicator.</p><p>She also serves as an elected member of the <a href="https://staffcouncil.gatech.edu/">Georgia Tech Staff Council</a>. Now in her third year, Baker previously served as chair of the Employee Engagement Committee. One of her proudest accomplishments was helping the council serve third-shift employees for the first time in its history with a Staff Appreciation Day celebration.</p><p>“SCP has been super awesome about professional development and leadership opportunities,” she said.</p><p>Still, the most rewarding part of Baker's job is supporting students throughout their time at Georgia Tech. She gets to see the impact of her work firsthand, from helping students navigate their academic programs to hearing directly from them about the difference she has made.</p><p>“People can say whatever they want about me,” said Baker. “But hearing directly from the students on how much I helped them through their time here, is the greatest reward.”</p>]]></body>  <author>John Popham</author>  <status>1</status>  <created>1789579304</created>  <gmt_created>2026-09-16 17:21:44</gmt_created>  <changed>1789579828</changed>  <gmt_changed>2026-09-16 17:30:28</gmt_changed>  <promote>0</promote>  <sticky>0</sticky>  <teaser><![CDATA[Nancy Baker supports 140 MS and PhD students as the School of Cybersecurity and Privacy’s sole academic program manager. ]]></teaser>  <type>news</type>  <sentence><![CDATA[Nancy Baker supports 140 MS and PhD students as the School of Cybersecurity and Privacy’s sole academic program manager. ]]></sentence>  <summary><![CDATA[<p>Nancy Baker supports 140 MS and PhD students as the School of Cybersecurity and Privacy’s sole academic program manager. Her work combines student guidance, campus connections, and professional leadership. • Baker manages registration and scheduling inquiries, organizes orientations, and connects students with resources including mental health services and Klemis Kitchen. • Since joining SCP in February 2022, she has strengthened student support while serving on Staff Council and advancing professional development initiatives.</p>]]></summary>  <dateline>2026-09-16T00:00:00-04:00</dateline>  <iso_dateline>2026-09-16T00:00:00-04:00</iso_dateline>  <gmt_dateline>2026-09-16 00:00:00</gmt_dateline>  <subtitle>    <![CDATA[]]>  </subtitle>  <sidebar><![CDATA[]]></sidebar>  <email><![CDATA[jpopham3@gatech.edu]]></email>  <location></location>  <contact><![CDATA[<p>John Popham</p><p>Communications Officer for The School of Cybersecurity and Privacy</p>]]></contact>  <boilerplate></boilerplate>  <boilerplate_text><![CDATA[]]></boilerplate_text>  <media>          <item>681174</item>      </media>  <hg_media>          <item>          <nid>681174</nid>          <type>image</type>          <title><![CDATA[Nancy-2-web-copy.jpg]]></title>          <body><![CDATA[]]></body>                      <image_name><![CDATA[Nancy-2-web-copy.jpg]]></image_name>            <image_path><![CDATA[/sites/default/files/2026/09/16/Nancy-2-web-copy.jpg]]></image_path>            <image_full_path><![CDATA[http://hg.gatech.edu//sites/default/files/2026/09/16/Nancy-2-web-copy.jpg]]></image_full_path>            <image_740><![CDATA[http://hg.gatech.edu/sites/default/files/styles/740xx_scale/public/sites/default/files/2026/09/16/Nancy-2-web-copy.jpg?itok=tNYnpoYQ]]></image_740>            <image_mime>image/jpeg</image_mime>            <image_alt><![CDATA[A smiling woman with long hair wearing a blue blouse]]></image_alt>                    <created>1789579682</created>          <gmt_created>2026-09-16 17:28:02</gmt_created>          <changed>1789579682</changed>          <gmt_changed>2026-09-16 17:28:02</gmt_changed>      </item>      </hg_media>  <related>      </related>  <files>      </files>  <groups>          <group id="47223"><![CDATA[College of Computing]]></group>          <group id="660406"><![CDATA[School of Cybersecurity &amp; Privacy]]></group>          <group id="660367"><![CDATA[School of Cybersecurity and Privacy]]></group>      </groups>  <categories>          <category tid="42901"><![CDATA[Community]]></category>      </categories>  <news_terms>          <term tid="42901"><![CDATA[Community]]></term>      </news_terms>  <keywords>          <keyword tid="167018"><![CDATA[staff]]></keyword>          <keyword tid="171330"><![CDATA[staff profile]]></keyword>          <keyword tid="1404"><![CDATA[Cybersecurity]]></keyword>      </keywords>  <core_research_areas>      </core_research_areas>  <news_room_topics>      </news_room_topics>  <files></files>  <related></related>  <userdata><![CDATA[]]></userdata></node></nodes>