Beginning July 6, Techwood Drive will be fully closed to vehicular traffic between Bobby Dodd Way and North Avenue to support utility work associated with the renovation of the Smith and Howell residence halls. The sidewalk next to Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field will be closed to pedestrians. The eastern sidewalk, in front of the residence halls, will be open on either side of the project entrance.  

Traditional approaches to brain monitoring are often invasive, costly, and limited to clinical settings. New research from Georgia Tech points to a more accessible approach. A recent study published in Science Advances shows that a soft, wireless wearable device could help enable home-based monitoring of physiological changes associated with sleep and brain health.

The research team, led by W. Hong Yeo, Peterson Endowed Professor in the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and director of the Wearable Intelligent Systems and Healthcare Center and the Korea KIAT-Georgia Tech Semiconductor Electronics Center, developed a wearable device that uses light-based sensing and wireless communication to support natural sleep monitoring at home. The device is designed to collect data outside of a clinical environment, allowing researchers to study sleep in a more comfortable and realistic setting.

“This paper introduces the first soft, wireless, and non-invasive wearable near-infrared spectroscopy system capable of continuously monitoring brain water and glymphatic clearance dynamics in a natural home sleep environment, overcoming the restrictive, costly, and invasive limitations of traditional methods like MRI and polysomnography,” Yeo said.

The device works by emitting LED light at specific wavelengths. That light interacts with tissue and fluid near the brain, and reflected signals are detected by a photodetector placed on the skin. The collected data is then transmitted wirelessly via Bluetooth to a nearby device for analysis.

The researchers note that the optical measurements can be influenced by factors beyond brain-related fluid changes. Breathing depth, slight shifts in forehead pressure, body position, motion, and temperature drift can all affect the signal. 

For that reason, the team focused on changes and trends over time rather than claiming precise measurements of brain water content. They also emphasize that some of the measured signal may reflect effects from the skin, scalp, device pressure, or movement, in addition to changes associated with the brain.

By making sleep monitoring more comfortable and accessible, this soft wearable technology could help advance future studies of sleep, glymphatic activity, and brain health in real-world settings. The Wearable Intelligent Systems and Healthcare Center is supported by the Institute for Matter and Systems at Georgia Tech. 

DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aed2056

It’s a role she knows well.

For more than 11 years, Stoinski has served as president, CEO, and chief scientific officer of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, leading efforts to help the world better understand and protect Rwanda’s mountain gorillas — a species with only about 1,000 left in the wild.

Although she now oversees a multimillion-dollar budget and 400 employees worldwide, she never planned to be a CEO.

“I’m a scientist at my core,” says Stoinski. “Day to day, I function more as a leader and executive, but I still think of myself as a scientist first.”

Her job covers a wide range of responsibilities, including fundraising, public speaking, budgeting, and strategy. One week, she might find herself observing gorilla behavior in Rwanda; the next, she’s back in the U.S., discussing conservation on the popular Armchair Expert podcast. 

“I love my job,” she says. “It doesn’t feel like work; it’s a passion.”

A Helluva Scientist

One of the reasons Stoinski chose Georgia Tech for her Ph.D. was its connection to Zoo Atlanta.

Her doctoral advisor, the late Terry Maple, emeritus professor in the School of Psychological and Brain Sciences, served as director of Zoo Atlanta, giving students rare access to conservation-focused research.

“The zoo was our lab. I studied elephants, lemurs, gorillas, and golden lion tamarins, both in the zoo and in the wild in Brazil and Africa,” says Stoinski.

She appreciates how Georgia Tech prepared her for the challenges of her career.

“The rigor of a Georgia Tech education is something you need as a scientist,” she says. “I also had the opportunity to do a lot of public speaking and teaching, which are huge parts of my job now.”

Leading Global Conservation Efforts

After earning her Ph.D., Stoinski spent 14 years with Zoo Atlanta while also working with the Atlanta-based Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund. She became CEO in 2014 and now oversees conservation and research programs in Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Under her leadership, the Fossey Fund has expanded its footprint, including opening its Ellen DeGeneres Campus in 2022, a 12-acre research and education center in Rwanda.

The site includes labs, classrooms, and a restored landscape, where roughly 250,000 plants from 110 species have been planted to reestablish native ecosystems.

“We host hundreds of students — including groups from Georgia Tech, and support dozens of graduate and postdoctoral researchers, from countries all over the world including many from Africa,” she explains. “Seeing their excitement and commitment gives me lots of hope for the future.”

Scientific Storytelling

A Gorilla Story follows the Pablo family of mountain gorillas living on the slopes of Volcanoes National Park in northwestern Rwanda.

“The Pablo group goes back to Dian Fossey’s time,” explains Stoinski. “It’s the largest group of gorillas ever recorded, at one point reaching 65 individuals. An average gorilla family is about 10.”

Due to Rwandan regulations, filming could take place for just one hour each day. Filmmakers and scientists would often have to hike for five to six hours to reach the gorillas.

Because Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund researchers have followed these gorilla families for decades, they were already familiar with the individual gorillas, including six generations of family history, which “makes the story incredibly rich,” says Stoinski.

“You see grief, relationships, alliances — all of it,” she says. “Ultimately, I hope that connection leads people to care and to take action.”

Collaborative Conservation

Stoinski’s career is all about taking action — and inspiring others to do the same.

“We need people on the ground doing this work, but we also need people outside of our field to support and be aware of what’s happening to gorillas and the planet’s biodiversity,” she says.

She encourages Tech students to stay informed:

 “Even if you’re not going into conservation, take a class, listen, learn,” she says. “Unfortunately, there are real challenges facing the next generation.”

She frequently points out that by helping gorillas, we’re saving ourselves, sharing that gorillas live in the Congo Basin, one of the most important ecosystems on Earth. By dispersing seeds and maintaining forest structure, they help sustain environments critical for climate stability and planetary health.

“Protecting gorillas means protecting those ecosystems, which ultimately support human survival.”

A Lasting Georgia Tech Connection

Stoinski maintains strong ties to Georgia Tech through research collaborations and student engagement. Projects over the years have included helping to establish the Center for Geographic Information Systems and Remote Sensing at the University of Rwanda, geospatial mapping, and architectural design and planning. 

She invites alumni and students to engage with the work firsthand.

“I encourage more Georgia Tech alumni and students to work with us or come see us. And if you want to meet with a Georgia Tech grad, I lead tours: we can put on our Tech gear and take a photo with the gorillas!”

For communities across the country, this growth hits close to home, and not without controversy. What do data centers actually deliver for the local economies that host them?
 

New research from Daniel Yue, assistant professor of Information Technology Management at Georgia Tech’s Scheller College of Business, and his co-author, Yiyang Zeng, examines how data center openings affect local jobs, wages, business activity, and electricity prices. Their findings suggest that geography plays a decisive role in whether communities see meaningful economic gains.
 

“Enormous amounts of capital are flowing into specific communities, much of it tied to new construction, while rigorous evidence on the local benefits of these facilities has been thin,” said Yue. “Community pushback has organized rapidly across the country. Our paper begins to fill that gap by providing new evidence using detailed, facility-level data paired with county-level economic indicators.”

A Historic Investment Wave

There are more than 2,500 data centers, either active or under construction, across the United States. Individual hyperscale facilities often cost more than $1 billion to construct and can consume as much electricity as a small city. Is it all worth it?

On average, Yue and Zeng found that when a data center opens, the host county sees a measurable lift: Employment rises by about 3.5%, wages by 5%, business establishments by nearly 5%, and household income by about 2%. Building permits also increase sharply, reflecting construction activity tied to new facilities.

These are real, economically meaningful gains. But Yue and Zeng discovered that these gains are much smaller than what might be expected from a large investment. And they’re not evenly distributed.

Why Metro Areas Benefit More

The researchers’ clearest finding is that metropolitan areas capture most of the economic benefits from data centers, while rural areas see far fewer spillover effects. While metro counties saw increases in employment and new business growth, non-metro counties saw no measurable gains.

The reason comes down to what economists call “agglomeration,” or economic density.

Data centers don’t operate in isolation. They rely on construction contractors, engineers, equipment suppliers, professional services, and a skilled workforce. Those connections are far easier to build in places that already have deep labor markets and established business networks.

Metropolitan areas are well-positioned to absorb the indirect spending that data centers generate. High-wage technical employees support restaurants, retail, and local services. Suppliers and contractors can scale up quickly. These spillover effects amplify the impact of the initial investment.

In rural areas, that amplification is much harder to achieve. Facilities tend to employ relatively few permanent workers — often fewer than 100 — and many specialized services are imported from outside the county. As a result, the broader economic ripple never materializes.

That doesn’t mean rural communities see no benefit at all. The research finds a small but real drop in unemployment rates in non-metro counties, and local governments may still gain tax revenue or infrastructure investments. But the sweeping job and wage growth often promised during local recruitment efforts will not likely arrive on its own.

“Location, not facility size, determines whether the local benefits show up,” Yue said.

The Hidden Cost: Electricity Prices

Yue and Zeng’s research also uncovers an important trade-off. Data centers use a lot of electricity. A single large facility can use as much power as roughly 80,000 homes. In areas where the researchers can cleanly measure price effects, electricity prices rise by about 5% after a data center enters.

“When the benefits to communities are small, even downsides like higher electricity prices that strain infrastructure will be felt by locals,” Yue shared.

Who pays for the increased cost of electricity isn’t straightforward. Yue and Zeng’s research suggests communities should ask specific questions about who pays for new infrastructure and how those costs will be distributed. Local utility companies divide costs differently among homeowners, businesses, and large industrial users, including data centers. Because cost-sharing systems vary by state, each data center development is unique.

What Communities Should Consider

As states and cities work to attract or push back against data center construction, Yue and Zeng hope their research will encourage more evidence-based decision-making.

For metro areas with strong labor markets and dense business ecosystems, data centers can deliver meaningful, though not transformative, economic gains. For rural communities, the positive impact is more complicated.

“In 10 years, communities will likely wish they had pressed harder on the quality of the decision itself, including whether the debate was evidence-based, whether their local economy was equipped to capture the gains, and whether the fine print aligned with residents' long-term interests,” Yue said. “It’s vital that communities look past flashy, headline incentive packages and focus on the details: tax abatement structures, electricity tariff arrangements, and who ultimately pays for infrastructure upgrades.”

As data centers continue to dot the American landscape, understanding where they create shared value — and where they don’t — will be critical for community leaders and policymakers alike.
 
Read More: The Local Economic Effects of Data Center Entry

Before fans fill the stadiums and World Cup moments are made on match days, grounds crews are hard at work inside the 16 stadiums hosting the global tournament, preparing the pitch that will serve as the canvas for the art that is the beautiful game.  

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) Hayabusa2 Extended Mission conducted a flyby of the asteroid Torifune. Toshi Hirabayashi, associate professor in the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering and a member of the Space Research Institute, helped select the target asteroid and developed the spacecraft’s final orientation and trajectory for the encounter. The mission marked the world’s first successful use of a laser altimeter during a high-speed flyby of a small celestial body. Hirabayashi was in Japan for the operation.

Traveling at nearly 5 kilometers per second, the spacecraft captured visible and infrared images of Torifune, documenting its unique shape and surface and revealing evidence of geological diversity. The asteroid resembles a dumbbell, with two chunks connected by a neck obscured in shadow. 

The spacecraft also detected data signals from the laser altimeter and the near-infrared spectrometer. The laser altimeter received two data points, and the near-infrared spectrometer detected multiple points during a narrow observation window. Researchers hope the observations will help them better determine the flyby conditions at high accuracy and understand how asteroids evolve and what they can reveal about the earliest days of the solar system.

Hirabayashi previously contributed to JAXA’s landmark mission that returned asteroid samples to Earth. But the Torifune flyby presented a different set of challenges.

“The spacecraft was not designed for flyby operations, so there are many constraints,” he said. “It was necessary to develop a new strategy to maximize science data acquisition.”

The knowledge gained from the mission could strengthen international planetary defense efforts. The data will help scientists better understand how asteroids move through space and how to observe them effectively. The researchers hope Torifune will offer insights not only into the origins of planets but also into how humanity can better prepare for future asteroid threats.

"Planetary defense is a critical aspect for the public," Hirabayashi said. "Georgia experienced an airburst [when a meteoroid bursts mid-air] event in 2025. While the event was small, a larger event may get people hurt. Hayabusa2's flyby experience will be critical for acquiring the knowledge and skills needed to better observe such a potential threat.”

This research is funded by the Space Research Institute. 

The latest rankings build on a record year for Georgia Tech commercialization. In 2025, the Institute reported advancing hundreds of technologies toward the marketplace, while achieving record levels of invention disclosures, issued patents, and licensed technologies. Those milestones underscore Georgia Tech’s expanding role in transforming research discoveries into products, companies, and partnerships that create economic and societal value.

“The strong performance reflects a commercialization strategy focused not only on protecting IP, but also on helping researchers translate discoveries into practical applications,” said Raghupathy “Siva” Sivakumar, chief commercialization officer at Georgia Tech. “Whether through licensing technologies, launching startups, or partnering with industry, we are building pathways that help researchers transform discoveries into real-world solutions.” 

From advanced health technologies to environmental monitoring tools and next-generation aerospace ventures, Georgia Tech innovations are reaching users and markets in increasingly diverse ways. One example is Kinemo, a startup developed through Georgia Tech research that is helping people with limited mobility regain independence through wearable assistive technology. Founded by researchers from the College of Engineering, Kinemo uses physiological sensing and small intentional movements to enable users to control digital devices. The company works closely with clinicians and patients at Shepherd Center to refine the technology and expand accessibility for individuals living with spinal cord injuries and mobility limitations.

Another example is Skopii, a startup launched from research in the lab of environmental engineering professor Ameet Pinto. The company is commercializing portable imaging and artificial intelligence technology that enables users to rapidly analyze microorganisms in water and environmental systems, eliminating the need for lengthy laboratory testing. The technology has the potential to improve decision-making for water utilities, food production systems, and environmental monitoring efforts.

As research institutions face increasing pressure to demonstrate impact beyond publications and laboratory discoveries, Georgia Tech continues to show how world-class research can translate into technologies, startups, jobs, and solutions that improve lives. The latest AUTM rankings provide another measure of that success, highlighting an innovation ecosystem that consistently moves ideas from the lab to the marketplace.

Startups such as Kinemo and Skopii illustrate the broader commercialization approach reflected in Georgia Tech's AUTM rankings. 

Raman’s company, 8Seven8, produces quantum chips for aircraft navigation and industrial automation. To explain it to investors, he drew on the sport he knows best. “The technology I'm working on needs precision, timing, and teamwork, so I compared that to volleyball,” he said. “You need precision to place the ball, timing to block, and teammates who support you.”

The metaphor helped investors grasp his company’s value, a skill Raman developed in Q-i’s first space-themed cohort, run with the Space Research Institute. The six faculty and student teams learned how to launch startups, from customer discovery to storytelling — soft skills essential to bringing research to market.

“Building a successful startup means recruiting a team, winning customers, and convincing investors, all of which require the ability to rally people behind a world-changing vision,” said Theo Williams III, general partner at Creations VC, a space venture capital firm that funded the cohort. “Soft skills turn brilliant researchers into the kind of leaders people want to follow.”

Sharing the Art of Storytelling

To help faculty connect with investors, Q-i brought in storytelling coaches from Creative Re/Frame, a Boston-based consultancy founded by academics Jen Guillemin and Wendy Swart Grossman. They led a workshop to refine pitches, then worked one-on-one with teams on everything from narrative to presentation.

The biggest hurdle: translating complex research for audiences who aren’t scientists. “We help faculty innovators translate deep knowledge and expertise into relatable human stories that solve real-world problems and create change,” they said.   

Faculty quickly saw the payoff.

“Giving customers or investors the story behind a startup shows how invested you are in its success,” said Panagiotis Tsiotras, who leads Penumbra Autonomy, a spacecraft maneuvering startup.

The workshop also reshaped how some participants framed their work. James Read, founder of ferroelectric memory startup CIMTech.ai, said it shifted his focus beyond novelty. “As researchers, you focus on novelty, but you have to ground it in something anyone can understand,” he said. “Quadrant-i pushes you to focus on customer value, not just what’s publishable.”

Discovering the Customer

That focus starts with customer discovery: listening, asking questions, and validating problems before building solutions.

“In research and development, there is a natural tendency to lead with the solution: build something sophisticated and then look for a market that needs it. But customer discovery flips that instinct on its head,” said Mike Yan, whose startup OpenWerks streamlines supply chain management for space industries. “If you haven't validated that a problem is real, urgent, and worth solving from the customer's perspective, you risk building something technically impressive that no one actually needs. The soft skills of listening, empathy, and intellectual humility are what make genuine customer discovery possible.”

For Q-i director Jonathan Goldman, that mindset shift is the point.

“Faculty are best positioned to drive real-world impact by partnering with experienced entrepreneurs,” he said. “They also have to be the first salesperson before hiring one.”

The approach is already paying off. OpenWerks has secured funding from the Georgia Research Alliance and the Defense Logistics Agency and is prototyping with aerospace and defense manufacturers, validating both its technology and its market.

Programs like Q-i show that research doesn’t have to be paradigm-shifting to matter. Sometimes, the key to impact is simple: meeting people where they are with a story they understand.

Georgia Tech has appointed the College of Computing’s David Joyner as interim vice provost for AI in Education, effective July 1. In this role, Joyner will lead implementation of the Institute’s academic artificial intelligence (AI) strategy. He will coordinate efforts across Colleges and administrative units and seek to expand access to resources, partnerships, and opportunities that support AI fluency, faculty innovation, and student success. 

The University System of Georgia’s (USG) Unified Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Program team continues to make steady progress through the Architect and Configure phase, which will continue through the calendar year.  

Modern pesticides have helped boost crop yields, but they can also harm the insects that make those yields possible. Sulfoxaflor, a next-generation pesticide introduced in 2013, kills sap-feeding pests like aphids in crops, including soybeans and corn. Sulfoxaflor is also known to be toxic to bees. Scientists are still working to understand how low-dose exposure affects bee reproduction at the molecular level.

Researchers at Georgia Tech have found that sulfoxaflor disrupts reproduction and gene expression. In a study funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the team exposed groups of worker bumblebees to low doses of the pesticide and analyzed changes in gene activity. They found that ovarian tissues showed the most significant shifts in gene expression. These changes could contribute to reduced reproductive output and, over time, affect bee populations.

In the study, the researchers flash-froze bee tissues and analyzed RNA to track how gene activity shifted after pesticide exposure. The Georgia Tech team used computational models to pinpoint which biological systems were most affected.

“What makes this study exciting is that it connects molecular changes in gene expression to real-world consequences for individual bees and their colonies,” said Michael Goodisman, a professor in the School of Biological Sciences. “That type of connection is rare and gives us a much clearer picture of how pesticides affect bees.”

The implications of the study highlight a pressing challenge in agriculture. 

“We need pesticides to control crop pests, but they can also harm essential non-target insects like bumblebees,” said Sarah Orr, who led the research as a postdoctoral fellow at Georgia Tech and now works as an assistant professor at the University of Tampa. “As a scientist, my goal is to identify practical solutions that support pest management while also protecting beneficial insects and the food systems that depend on them.”

That balance between pest control and pollinator protection is critical. “We need many bees for successful pollination,” Orr said. “If they’re not producing enough offspring, pollination will decline.”

Pesticides are only one of several threats facing bumblebees. Stressors like heatwaves also play a growing role. By better understanding how chemicals like sulfoxaflor affect bee biology, researchers hope to help farmers protect both their crops and the pollinators that sustain them.

Michael A. Catto, Jixiang Xu, Kayla A. Murray, Emma Leigh M. Bossard, Michael A.D. Goodisman, Sarah E. Orr, Integrative assessment of sulfoxaflor effects on gene expression, reproduction, and behavior in the bumblebee Bombus impatiens, Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety, Volume 315, 15 April 2026, 120101, ISSN 0147-6513.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoenv.2026.120101

Malena Bisanti’s work and life mirror each other. She calls herself a “lifetime learner” by practice. She works with faculty to design the visual presentation of online graduate courses while spending her free time constructing layered works of art. Somewhere between the classroom and the studio, her philosophy, career, and creativity have come together into a real-life collage. 

1. It’s not about exposure anymore. Atlanta is already a global city, so the focus is on whether the World Cup delivers lasting value for residents.
2. Economic impact is uneven. Big headline numbers do not show who actually benefits, and much of the spending may not reach local communities.
3. Infrastructure will be tested. Transportation and downtown systems will face heavy strain, raising concerns about what improvements last beyond the event.
4. The hidden story is food and logistics. Behind the scenes, Georgia Tech researchers are working to reduce food waste and strengthen systems that could outlast the tournament.

A Global Stage and Familiar Promises

As Atlanta welcomes the world for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the promises are familiar: millions of visitors, global attention, economic growth, and a chance to showcase the city on one of the biggest stages in sports.

But Georgia Tech experts say the real question is not whether the tournament will generate activity — it is who benefits from it and what remains after the final match is played.

From Visibility to Value

Mega-events have long been sold as catalysts for transformation. The 1996 Olympics reshaped Atlanta’s physical landscape and helped position the city as a global destination. Thirty years later, the World Cup arrives at a very different moment.

“There are similarities,” said Emily Barrett, assistant professor in the School of City and Regional Planning. “Like the Olympics, the World Cup is an accelerator for infrastructure upgrades and public and private investment alike.”

Atlanta is seeing significant public investment in transportation improvements and billions of dollars in private development downtown. But today’s Atlanta is very different from Atlanta in the 1990s.

“Atlanta is no longer a city seeking recognition on the world stage,” Barrett said. “We are a thriving and growing city.”

That shifts the conversation from visibility to value.

“The open question is whether hosting mega-events makes the city work better for the people who live here,” Barrett added.

The Economics Behind the Headlines

Assessing that value becomes more complicated when economic forecasts enter the conversation.

Large projections often dominate headlines, but Declan Abernethy, lecturer in the School of History and Sociology, cautions that economic impact estimates rarely tell the whole story.

“It is far easier to put out an economic impact projection compared to the difficulty of measuring impact,” Abernethy said.

While visitors will spend money on hotels, restaurants, transportation, and entertainment, he notes that much of that spending may not reach the community.

“When we look closely at that spending, we can see that much of the profit will be taken in by large corporations or FIFA in the immediate vicinity of Mercedes-Benz Stadium and not as much by Atlanta residents or small businesses,” he said.

According to Barrett, economic studies often overlook a critical question: What could alternative investments have accomplished?

“Economic studies rarely account for displacement costs, or whether the same public dollars could have generated similar or better outcomes if invested elsewhere,” she said.

Pressure Points Across the City

The World Cup’s impact extends beyond economics; it will also test Atlanta’s infrastructure at a scale few events can match.

Michael Hunter, professor in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, says the biggest challenge may be the volume of people moving through the city.

“There will be a number of pressure points. However, one of the most significant will be just the number of people,” Hunter said. “This event will attract significant crowds.”

Atlanta’s transportation agencies have spent years preparing, drawing on lessons learned from events including the Super Bowl, World Series, and major concerts. Still, capacity limits are unavoidable.

“There is only so much traffic that MARTA or any transit agency can handle,” Hunter said. “People need to understand that there will be congestion and longer wait times. The key is to be patient.”

The concern is whether those investments result in lasting improvements or merely support a few weeks of activity.

Abernethy argues that the World Cup should be viewed as part of a broader vision for Atlanta rather than a standalone catalyst.

“We are seeing the World Cup as a part of a longer-running and more cohesive vision for sport and economic development downtown,” he said. “Atlanta may not be repeating the same cycle nor cracking downtown’s development problem with the World Cup itself.”

Behind the Scenes: Food and Logistics

Infrastructure challenges extend beyond transportation. Feeding hundreds of thousands of visitors while minimizing waste requires its own network of logistics, coordination, and planning.

Nicole Kennard, a research scientist at Georgia Tech’s Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems, views the tournament as an opportunity to strengthen how food moves throughout the city.

“These large events are a really big opportunity for us to coordinate and test our infrastructure,” Kennard said. “We have to think critically about how to improve the infrastructure and ensure its resilience and efficiency.”

Working with organizations such as Second Helpings Atlanta, the official food rescue partner for the World Cup, Georgia Tech researchers are building technologies and tools to improve coordination among food rescue groups. The effort aims to keep surplus food out of landfills by quickly moving it from stadiums and vendors to local food organizations.

“It’s really a logistics problem, a data problem, and a coordination problem,” Kennard said. “The faster you can move food from the point of surplus directly to a pantry, the more likely it is to reach people who need it.”

What Legacy Looks Like

Ultimately, Atlanta’s World Cup legacy may not be measured by attendance figures or visitor spending alone.

“How we evaluate success depends on what we choose to measure, and too often we focus on headline numbers instead of who actually benefits,” said Abernethy.

Kennard sees the tournament as a chance to build systems that outlast the event itself. “What we build for the World Cup could become critical infrastructure for future emergencies and disasters,” she said.

Atlanta already knows how to host a global event. Whether the investments, partnerships, and infrastructure created for the World Cup leave the city stronger after the crowds leave remains to be seen.

After leading Georgia Tech through one of the most successful periods in its history, President Ángel Cabrera has been selected to serve as the next president and CEO of the Aspen Institute, one of the world’s foremost nonprofit organizations dedicated to leadership, dialogue, and addressing society’s most pressing challenges. 

1. You’re paying more at the pump, and it’s not going away anytime soon.

Gas prices are the most visible sign of the crisis, and the increases are already significant. National average retail gasoline prices are more than $1.20 higher than they were in February, before the conflict escalated.

“Even though U.S. petroleum production often exceeds our consumption, we are not insulated from disruptions in global oil supply because oil is a globally traded commodity,” says director of the Energy Policy and Innovation Center, Laura Taylor. “If supply is restricted anywhere in the world, prices will rise everywhere, including in the U.S.”

Markets expect some relief by fall, with future prices pointing lower than today’s levels. But Tony Harding, assistant professor in the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School of Public Policy, cautions, “Prices are likely to remain above pre-conflict levels for the foreseeable future, and temporary relief measures, such as Georgia’s motor fuel tax suspension, will not last forever.”

Taylor puts it plainly: “Wages are not rising faster than prices, so people are feeling the pinch and will continue to do so.”

2. Your summer plans just got more expensive.

The impact does not stop at the gas station. For Americans planning summer travel, the timing of this conflict could not be worse. Matthew Oliver, associate professor in the School of Economics, points to commercial air travel as one of the most exposed sectors.

“Jet fuel prices have roughly doubled in the wake of the current oil price spike, putting immediate upward pressure on airfares,” says Oliver.

The ripple effects extend far beyond travel. 

“Oil is an input into the supply chain of nearly every good at some point,” says Bobby Harris, assistant professor in the School of Economics. “When input costs go up, prices go up.”

3. Expect to pay more at the grocery store.

The connection between Middle East tensions and the American dinner table is more direct than many realize, because petrochemicals are a key feedstock for fertilizer production.

“Higher oil prices lead to higher fertilizer prices, which lead to higher food prices,” says Oliver. 

Combined with existing tariff pressures and tight supply chains, the strain on household budgets is coming from multiple directions at once.

“If the crisis persists, there will be upward pressure on the prices of nearly every physical good,” Oliver adds.

4. The government’s options are limited, and the clock is ticking.

Washington has tools to respond, but none are silver bullets. The Strategic Petroleum Reserve currently holds around 400 million barrels and can release about 4 million barrels per day, roughly 20% of U.S. daily demand.

“I see the Strategic Petroleum Reserve as a tool to buy time during a crisis,” says public policy professor Dan Matisoff. “But if the conflict drags on, we will ultimately be in a more vulnerable position.”

Quick fixes like price caps or demand subsidies carry trade-offs. 

“Subsidies can mitigate the impact of price shocks, but they can also mask important market signals that help balance supply and demand,” says Harding, using Europe’s 2022 energy crisis as a cautionary example.

5. The smartest thing Americans can do right now is think about efficiency.

“People in general tend to undervalue energy efficiency,” says Matisoff. “Think of energy efficiency investments as a sort of hedge or insurance against volatile energy prices.”

That means considering fuel efficiency when buying a car, and looking at heat pumps, electric vehicles, and home energy upgrades when the time is right.

“Higher energy prices increase the value of investing in energy efficiency upgrades to your home and adopting technologies that are less dependent on fossil fuels,” says Harding.

For families navigating uncertainty, both economists and policy experts point to the same practical advice: Reduce your exposure to fossil fuel price swings before the next crisis hits.

Dust-sized meteoroids and solar wind gradually alter lunar soil, producing tiny metallic particles known as nanophase iron. For years, scientists have used sensing data influenced by those particles to estimate the weathering age of the moon’s surface, but they weren’t sure which weather source primarily drives these changes.

To investigate, physics Ph.D. candidate Roshan Trivedi and Advik Vira, a recent Ph.D. graduate, exposed ilmenite, a common mineral on both the Earth and moon, to a synthetic version of solar wind. The experiment produced nanophase iron under controlled conditions, suggesting that solar wind plays a major role in shaping the lunar surface observed today. 

The team presented its findings in “Creation of Lunar-Like Rims in Ilmenite Using Synthetic Solar Wind,” published in The Planetary Science Journal in June. Their work was conducted through the Georgia Tech Center for Lunar Environment and Volatile Exploration Research (CLEVER), a NASA Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI) led by Georgia Tech Regents’ Professor Thom Orlando, a co-author of the study. A central aim of CLEVER is to understand the science and effects of space weathering as they pertain to the goals of NASA’s Artemis missions.

By understanding how the moon’s surface morphs on a microscopic level, scientists will be able to better interpret remote sensing data. Soon, we won’t have to rely just on moon missions to learn detailed characteristics of the lunar surface.

The work could also shed light on another longstanding question: how water forms on the moon. 

“Water would be a fantastic resource for humans operating on the moon, but scientifically, we are driven simply by the question of how water gets there in the first place,” said Phillip First, a professor in the School of Physics. “Solar wind is potentially one way, because protons in solar wind provide the hydrogen of H2O molecules while oxygen is present in lunar minerals.”

Using a vacuum chamber in Orlando’s lab to simulate solar wind and high-resolution electron microscopy to analyze the samples, the researchers recreated the effects of thousands of years of solar wind exposure.

“Scientists have been doing laboratory radiation experiments for years, but they haven't been able to characterize the results at this level of detail,” said lead author Trivedi.

The team can now simulate a wide range of exposure ages, which may help explain how water forms. In addition to forming nanophase iron, the experiments created tiny voids within the mineral — potential sites where hydrogen from solar wind could bond with oxygen to form water. 

“Having the ability to recreate the solar wind and having results look so similar to actual lunar samples is excellent,” said co-lead author Vira. 

DOI: 10.3847/PSJ/ae6074

Funding: This work was directly supported by the NASA SSERVI under CLEVER. Sample preparation was performed at the Georgia Tech Institute for Matter and Systems, which is supported by the National Science Foundation. Collaborations between the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory and Georgia Tech for advanced electron microscopy were supported by the Georgia Tech Center for Space Technology and Research. 

The streets have been paved. The grass has been mowed. Projects across the city have rushed to completion in anticipation of Atlanta hosting eight World Cup matches in June and July. Georgia Tech’s campus will join in the excitement, and the campus community is ready. 

The first week of June marks National CPR and AED Awareness Week, but year-round, Georgia Tech students are helping equip the campus community with lifesaving skills. 

Godavarti, then a second-year chemical and biomolecular engineering (ChBE) student, joined a course on chemical equity focused on reducing chemical exposure in vulnerable communities. The class, part of Georgia Tech’s Vertically Integrated Projects (VIP) program, embeds students in long-term research teams that span disciplines and semesters.

She and her classmates developed a computational model that estimates how dangerous chemical vapors build up in enclosed spaces, such as tanker trucks. Their work culminated in a paper, “Modeling Time-Dependent Chemical Concentrations in Confined Spaces for General Safety Applications,” published recently in ACS Chemical Health & Safety.

For Godavarti, the experience helped clarify her future career endeavors. 

“I was always motivated to keep going on this project because chemical equity is something I genuinely care about,” she said. “I realized I really enjoyed working on open-ended projects after this class, and this confirmed my desire to pursue a Ph.D.”

She will begin her ChBE doctoral studies at Northwestern University this fall.

Bridging Disciplines

The VIP class grew out of a gap between research labs and reality. Pamela Pollet, a faculty member in Tech’s School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, is used to working in controlled lab settings with safety measures like vent hoods. But after she consulted on a project where commercial workers were accidentally exposed to harmful chemicals, she started to think about safety differently.

“There was a disconnect between what we do with chemicals in our controlled environments, which we understand very well, and how people interact with chemicals every day,” she said.

To bridge that gap, Pollet partnered with Jenny Houlroyd, the occupational group health manager of the Enterprise Innovation Institute’s (EI2) Safety, Health, and Environmental Services Program. Houlroyd works with Georgia businesses to reduce workplace hazards and protect employee health.

“We realized how siloed this work can be,” Houlroyd said. “Chemical safety researchers and chemists often operate separately, but their skills are complementary. That’s how we came up with the idea for the class.”

The VIP format made that collaboration possible. The 20-student team included majors from chemistry, biochemistry, biology, computer science, neuroscience, and ChBE. In addition to research, students heard from guest speakers — including journalists, lawyers, and policymakers — whose work intersects with chemical safety.

Modeling a Real-World Risk

The students focused on a practical problem in industrial hygiene: quickly estimating a person’s exposure to hazardous chemicals after a spill or open container in a confined space.

“If you hire an industrial hygienist like me, it’s going to take time to schedule, and it’s going to be expensive,” Houlroyd said. “But if there’s a chemical spill event happening, you need that safety data right away.”

To address this, the students built a computational model that simulates how chemicals evaporate and spread through air in enclosed environments. Using benzene, a common solvent, as a test case, the model predicts how benzene concentrations change over time, from minutes to hours after a spill or residual pool in an enclosed space. It can also estimate exposure at different heights, accounting for whether someone is standing upright or crouching in a chemical-heavy area.

“We’re addressing important gaps in modeling chemical exposures,” said John Pederson, a chemistry Ph.D. student who mentored the student team. “There’s been strong work in industrial settings, but less attention to environments found in transportation, agriculture, and sanitation, for example. It's an easily overlooked fact that working with paints, coatings, cleaning solutions, and other solvents presents a risk of acute or chronic exposure.”

From Classroom to Impact

The team ultimately hopes to make the model widely accessible and create a user-friendly app. While that work is ongoing, Pollet and Houlroyd say the project already demonstrates the power of interdisciplinary learning.

“This project was a very nice overlap of our fields,” Pollet said. “It helps students understand real-world scenarios in a way you can’t replicate in a traditional classroom.”

For Houlroyd, the collaboration also extended her impact beyond the field.

“I work for EI2, and we’re primarily external-facing and helping businesses out across the state of Georgia, but this has been a great opportunity to take what I'm learning in the field and then share it with the students,” she said. “I am so proud of the students. To see them take this big issue and make it into something the industry can use is so exciting.”

Modeling Time-Dependent Chemical Concentrations in Confined Spaces for General Safety Applications

Diya Godavarti, Waynell Simbafo, John Pederson, Jenny Houlroyd, and Pamela Pollet

ACS Chemical Health & Safety Article ASAP

DOI: 10.1021/acs.chas.6c00021

After days of testing at General Motors’ Milford Proving Ground in Milford, Michigan, Georgia Tech won first place in the final year of the current EcoCAR EV Challenge cycle. Tech students competed against 13 universities over four years, applying emerging technologies to create intelligent mobility solutions. 

Walker has been a member of the Guggenheim School faculty since 2005 and has held several leadership positions, including associate chair for graduate studies. Prior to his appointment as chair, he served in the dean’s office as the College’s associate dean for academic affairs.

“Mitchell’s leadership and achievements reflect the excellence and innovation that define Georgia Tech,” said Raheem Beyah, provost and executive vice president for Academic Affairs. “As a longtime member of our faculty, he brings a deep understanding of the Institute’s values and aspirations to this new role. I am confident he will build on the College of Engineering’s extraordinary legacy and elevate its global impact.”

Walker is known for his ability to bring together expertise and partners across schools and colleges to develop high-impact programming, including the interdisciplinary Minor in Applications of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.

He played a pivotal role in advancing the sustained advocacy that led to Georgia Tech securing $88 million in state funding for a new Aerospace Engineering Building. Under his leadership, the nation’s top-ranked public aerospace program built a compelling case through years of coordinated effort among faculty, staff, alumni, advisory board members, and past leaders. This momentum reflects Walker’s contributions to aligning academic excellence with strategic institutional advocacy to achieve a landmark investment for the Institute.

“Georgia Tech’s College of Engineering represents the very best in innovation, impact, and collaboration,” Walker said. “I am honored to lead such an accomplished community of faculty, staff, and students and look forward to building on its strong foundation. Together, we will continue to advance research, education, and partnerships that address the world’s most pressing challenges and improve lives.”

Walker is a respected leader in advanced propulsion research, focusing on experimental and theoretical studies of plasma propulsion concepts for spacecraft, including Hall thrusters, gridded ion engines, and vacuum facility effects. He directs Georgia Tech’s High-Power-Electric Propulsion Laboratory and is principal investigator and director of the $15 million Joint Advanced Propulsion Institute (JANUS), a multi-university NASA Space Technology Research Institute. JANUS develops strategies to overcome limitations in ground testing of high-power electric propulsion systems, enabling and expanding their use in flight.

Walker is a fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and serves as a member of the organization’s Electric Propulsion Technical Committee. He is also an associate editor of the Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets and serves on the editorial boards of Frontiers in Physics and Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences – Plasma Physics. In addition, he has delivered expert witness testimony to the Space Subcommittee of the House of Representatives to help guide national investments in space propulsion technology.

His contributions have been recognized with numerous honors, including the Air Force Office of Scientific Research Young Investigator Program Award, the AIAA Lawrence Sperry Award, the AIAA Sustained Service Award, and the Georgia Power Professor of Excellence Award.

As dean, Walker will lead the College’s academic and research enterprise, which includes more than 21,000 students, 50 degree tracks, and nearly 500 faculty members. Its undergraduate program is ranked No. 3 in the nation by U.S. News & World Report, and the graduate program is No. 4. All 11 of its programs are consistently ranked in the top 10.

Walker succeeds Beyah, who began his term as provost last November.

“I would like to thank Doug Williams for his steady leadership and service as interim dean during this important transition,” Beyah said. “Since November, he has provided critical stability for the College, and we are deeply grateful for his support of our faculty, staff, and students. I would also like to thank the search committee and their chair, Dean Vivek Sarkar. Vivek and the committee brought world-class candidates forward during this process, and their work has resulted in an exceptional new dean.”

Writer: Brittany Aiello, Faculty Communications Program Manager, Executive Communications, Institute Communications

Sherman Lofton Jr. has been a Yellow Jacket for more than 40 years, as a student, alumnus, and employee, currently serving as the senior director of cybersecurity operations. He arrived on campus in 1984 and earned a bachelor’s degree in management in 1990, and he never imagined that decades later he’d be graduating with a master’s degree from Tech on the same day as his daughter.  

Sherman Lofton Jr. has been a Yellow Jacket for more than 40 years, as a student, alumnus, and employee, currently serving as the senior director of cybersecurity operations. He arrived on campus in 1984 and earned a bachelor’s degree in management in 1990, and he never imagined that decades later he’d be graduating with a master’s degree from Tech on the same day as his daughter.  

Whether you are in Atlanta for an internship, taking summer classes, or simply hanging around, there are lots of events taking place around town during Memorial Day weekend. 

Brew at the Zoo 

For decades, bird flu was uncommon in the U.S., but that has changed. In the past several years, epidemics have threatened poultry and dairy cattle operations across the country. Higher egg prices, driven largely by bird flu-related supply disruptions, have cost American consumers billions of dollars in losses.

“The H5N1 strain of the bird flu, which has driven recent and current outbreaks, is a highly lethal virus that kills domestic chickens and other bird species in droves,” said David Pattie, GTRI research scientist and branch chief. “It can easily jump from birds to other animal species — and sometimes to humans.”

The research team will leverage artificial intelligence (AI) to design and test a probiotic avian flu vaccine that, if successful, could be served to chickens in their feed. Currently, vaccinating a flock means individually injecting every bird. 

“We’re focusing on live bacterial vaccines, which means the vaccine comes from living bacteria you swallow, instead of an injection,” said Mike Farrell, GTRI principal research scientist and the project’s lead investigator. 

“These probiotic vaccines would help protect birds and livestock from flu-like infections and lower the risk of those viruses spreading to humans,” he added.

In addition to Farrell and Pattie, the team includes researchers from an array of disciplines across the Institute: Faramarz Fekri, professor and John Pippin Chair in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering; JC Gumbart, Dunn Family Professor in the School of Physics; Brian Hammer, associate professor in the School of  Biological Sciences; and Anton Bryksin, director of the Molecular Evolution Core at the Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience. 

Building on Human Influenza Research 

The project builds on Farrell’s ongoing research into developing probiotic vaccine adjuvants for human influenza. The goal is to use probiotic bacteria — the “good bacteria” found in foods like yogurt — to help create immunity for the flu vaccine.

If the researchers can get probiotic bacteria to display pieces of the flu virus (called antigens) on their surface, then they could be swallowed like a normal probiotic pill.

“The gut is a great place for building immunity. When these bacteria reach the gut, your body would recognize the virus pieces on the bacteria and start building flu antibodies,” Farrell explained. “That way, when the chickens get exposed to flu, their immune system would already be prepared to fight it.”

Putting AI to the Test

“The idea behind this oral bird flu vaccine is to leverage artificial intelligence and the vast historical database for H5N1 available to us, because it's a very well-studied virus,” Farrell said. “There is a ton of structural data out there.” 

Gumbart is an expert in protein modeling and simulation. Part of his role is figuring out the best design for a viral protein piece (antigen) — one that looks and behaves like the real virus protein, so it triggers the right immune response. To do this, he will combine Fekri’s AI-generated predictions with computer modeling. 

“That’s where my team adds real value,” Gumbart said. “We use simulations to test how stable and realistic these protein designs are, which allows us to choose the best ones for lab experiments.”

AI has already identified new medicines and antibiotics by studying chemical databases. If the team can use AI to help design virus proteins for vaccines, it could transform how vaccines are made. 

Pattie says that any viral infectious disease with a high mortality rate has the potential to become a national security threat. “At that point, developing countermeasures becomes exceedingly important from a national security perspective,” he said.  

This is the first time several of the team members are working on poultry research. For Gumbart, the project is a full-circle moment.

“I grew up in rural Illinois, and as a kid, one of my daily chores was to take care of chickens, and I kind of hated it,” he said. “It is some sort of universal irony that I am back to taking care of chickens again.”

McCamish Pavilion will host Atlanta Public Schools (APS) graduation ceremonies throughout the week, bringing additional traffic to the Georgia Tech campus.   

The peak of the severe weather season is nearing its end, but in Georgia, it's been a quieter period than residents have become accustomed to in years past, devoid of the flurry of tornado warnings, heavy rain bands, and thunderstorms. Zachary Handlos, director of the B.S. in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences degree program, explains that the region lacked a major component of the severe weather formula.  

Omar Garcia Urdiales, CREATE‑X’s associate director of Learn, brings a global entrepreneurial experience to Georgia Tech: founder and CEO of a startup operating in the AWS Accelerator Loft, longtime startup coach in Europe’s major innovation hubs, lecturer across multiple universities, and an external doctoral researcher in entrepreneurship and digitalization. He brings this background to his teaching of Startup Lab’s latest iteration – a significant redesign developed by VentureLab’s Director Keith McGreggor. McGreggor created the course and has evolved it over many years, building on its initial success.  

“This new iteration of Startup Lab allows us to meet students exactly where they are,” said McGreggor. “By doing this, we give them the strongest foundation possible, providing them with the tools to grapple with uncertainty and build their confidence.” 

Startup Lab has long anchored the Institute’s entrepreneurial pathway with clearer structure, a unified language, and a deeper focus on reflective growth, so more Georgia Tech students can discover (and trust) their own entrepreneurial judgment.

Startup Lab is expanding responsibly, with six sections in Atlanta and additional global sections in France and Asia-Pacific taught by faculty trained in the curriculum. Students here benefit from a program that’s learning across borders and bringing that learning back to campus.

“Startup Lab is not about becoming an entrepreneur, but about engaging in the unknown and adopting entrepreneurial behavior, which can be applied to all career paths,” Urdiales said. “Students become better equipped to identify problem spaces and solve them through evidence-based building.” 

Start Where You Are

Urdiales emphasized that Startup Lab is built for students who are still exploring, uncertain, or are simply curious.

“Many students tell us they’re curious about entrepreneurship but feel not ready,” he said. “They worry they’re too introverted for customer interviews or assume Startup Lab is only for people with fully formed ideas. In fact, those are the most common misconceptions.”

The course’s first few weeks focus on training students to see struggles and patterns in the world. Then, they apply those skills on a team, exploring, designing, and testing a concept with real people. The nonnegotiable outcome isn’t the best idea; it’s a more confident, evidence-driven version of you. 

“Startup Lab is strengthening that self-awareness. All of us who are entrepreneurs, we don’t grow linearly. We have various iterations of how we see things,” Urdiales said. “This ability to see patterns or to see problems with customer discovery, it’s a learning process and a growth process.” 

Building Muscle Memory

Urdiales said that students won’t have a passive experience in the lab.

“To become an entrepreneur, you need to do it. You need to engage with customers. You need to get out of the building,” he said. “It gives you the ability to incorporate theoretical frameworks into practical solutions and then understand these more practical outcomes.”

Aligning with CREATE-X’s culture of continuous iteration, Startup Lab is tightening the hands-on core of the course around four simple, repeatable tools so that entrepreneurial thinking becomes muscle memory, not a one-off assignment. The new iteration of the curriculum, developed by McGreggor, helps students learn to: 

• Elicit grounded problem stories from real people (and separate observations from interpretations).
• Make explicit strategic decisions — who you serve, what you offer, how you deliver, how you get paid — and back them with discovery evidence.
• Externalize your logic with clear Business Model Canvas snapshots (hypotheses ≠ decisions ≠ open questions).
• Design minimum viable experiments (MVEs) that can falsify assumptions, not just confirm them. 

“What we have is a frontier model in entrepreneurial education,” said McGreggor. “The result is a course that teaches sound decision making and builds entrepreneurial confidence that rewards authentic discovery and iteration over performative polish. It creates a more solid foundation for entrepreneurial thinking and sets students up to engage more deeply with everything that follows in their CREATE-X pathway.” 

Reflection as a Feature

As a part of Startup Lab, instructors integrate reflection throughout the semester, which helps students notice patterns of work, make small experiments, and adjust based on what’s learned. Students often worry they’re not the founder type or that their introversion will hold them back; Startup Lab reframes those worries as raw material for growth, including communication skill building and one-on-one interactions you won’t always get in higher-level courses. 

Startup Lab integrates HaradaLite — McGreggor's adaptation of the Japanese Harada Method — as a weekly reflection practice in which students keep a reflection log, helping them notice patterns of work, run small experiments, and adjust based on what's learned. With this approach, educators are able to measure the growth of entrepreneurial confidence by self-report, leading to a more quantitative approach to teaching.

A Common Language Across CREATE‑X

There’s no mandated order for CREATE-X courses. Startup Lab simply makes the next steps clearer by providing a shared language and milestone structure across sections and instructors, so whatever comes next (I2P, Capstone, Launch, or an internship), you can carry forward a coherent, evidence- aware story of your work. 

“All CREATE‑X Learn sections will work with the same milestone objectives,” Urdiales said. “Students trained in Startup Lab are already trained in the muscles of entrepreneurship. They’re more equipped to go into Make and Launch or be a leader within their industry.”

Built To Be Inclusive Across Disciplines and Needs

Startup Lab is about becoming the kind of person who can see opportunities, reason from evidence, and make better decisions when the path isn’t obvious. 

• You do not need an idea or a pre‑built team — curiosity is enough.
• You do not need special permits to enroll. Startup Lab is open to anyone ready to explore.
• You can benefit from the course before or after I2P or Capstone, since there’s no fixed order to the CREATE‑X pathway.
• Introverts are welcome. The course intentionally builds communication skills through structured, low-pressure interviews and guided interaction. 

“Startup Lab helps students see the world’s problems and fill the gaps with fresh ideas, teaching them to see and understand the important difference between evidence and inference,” said McGreggor. “This lays the foundation that leads to good founders, and builds the entrepreneurial confidence needed to succeed.”

What You’ll Actually Do 

Students in Startup Lab can expect a workshop-heavy, conversation-rich semester with weekly artifacts, scenario-based decision prompts, startup reports, and quizzes that keep you honest about what you’re learning. You’ll assemble a Continuity Pack near the end: a compact bundle of your best discovery evidence, decisions, MVEs, economics, and final story slides so your future self (or your I2P/Launch application) can pick up right where you left off. 

The course also sets norms for modern tool use. AI is welcomed as a coach and organizer, after your own baseline thinking and research, and as an enhancement of the real conversations you have. That matters because Startup Lab’s promise is that you build solid judgment under the test of uncertainty, critical to the world of today and the future that is being built. 

Jump Into Startup Lab

You don’t have to have it all figured out. If you’re a first-year student still exploring, a junior craving real-world projects, or a senior looking to stand out in interviews, Startup Lab is for you. 

Seats fill quickly across all sections — and for good reason.
This course gives you the clearest, most supportive on‑ramp into CREATE‑X, with a global methodology, a unified curriculum, and instructors who believe deeply in your potential to grow. Learn how to think entrepreneurially. See the world differently. Build the confidence that will follow you long after the semester ends.

Register for Startup Lab for Fall 2026.

 

Christopher Zuo never thought of himself as someone mosquitoes singled out. They bit him from time to time, he said, but no more than anyone else who spent a lot of time outdoors. 

Gemini is a versatile generative AI assistant that supports a range of activities such as brainstorming, drafting communications, summarizing complex materials, and generating code. NotebookLM functions as a research-focused assistant, which allows users to upload documents and receive responses grounded in their own provided data, complete with citations and contextual insights.

Faculty and staff can access Gemini and NotebookLM through Georgia Tech-managed environments using their standard credentials, ensuring that they are operating within the Institute’s data protection guidelines. Employees who work with sensitive data, specifically GTRI employees and other campus researchers, are encouraged to review OIT’s new Institutional AI Register for guidance on permissible data usage with these services before using them.

• Faculty and staff access to Gemini is available at: https://gemini.g.gatech.edu.
• Faculty and staff access to NotebookLM is available at: https://notebooklm.g.gatech.edu.
• Students, affiliates, and temporary employees must request access to a Google for Education license through the MyAccess Packages portal, as these licenses are limited.

“Our goal is to provide the campus community with the tools they need to move faster and think bigger,” said Leo Howell, vice president for Information Technology and chief information officer. “Equally important is building the infrastructure, governance, and guidance that ensures we are doing so responsibly.”

This rollout is part of a larger, ongoing effort to build a comprehensive and transparent AI ecosystem at Georgia Tech. OIT recently enhanced its AI website with new resources designed to improve visibility and streamline access to tools, including:

• A dynamic institutional register of AI tools, which provides a real-time inventory of the tools that are approved for use and what types of data they support, as well as where other tools are in the institutional review process.
• A centralized intake form for AI tools, enabling faculty and staff to request evaluation of new technologies not currently included in the Institute’s portfolio.
• An invitation to participate in OIT’s AI Smart Pass program, which provides temporary access to Copilot for Microsoft 365 and OpenAI ChatGPT Edu licenses for faculty and staff.

All AI tools undergo a comprehensive review process before approval. This includes third-party security assessments, data privacy and risk analysis, contractual and compliance review, and alignment with Institute and University System of Georgia (USG) policies. These steps ensure that tools can be safely used with Georgia Tech systems and data, particularly when protected or regulated information is involved.

In the coming weeks, Georgia Tech will introduce its first formal AI policy, aligning with USG requirements and establishing a foundation of governance, expectations, and leading practices for AI use across the Institute.

To explore available tools or review guidance, visit https://oit.gatech.edu/ai.

Sherman Lofton Jr. has been a Yellow Jacket for more than 40 years, as a student, alumnus, and employee, currently serving as the senior director of cybersecurity operations. He arrived on campus in 1984 and earned a bachelor’s degree in management in 1990, and he never imagined that decades later he’d be graduating with a master’s degree from Tech on the same day as his daughter.  

Eligible full-time faculty and staff are encouraged to apply for education assistance through the Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) and the Staff Tuition Reimbursement Assistance Program (STRAP). These programs are designed to support your professional development and help you achieve your educational goals by providing tuition and mandatory fee waivers or reimbursements.  

At the five Spring Commencement ceremonies, student speakers will share what they have learned during their time at Tech, as well as inspiring words of advice to their fellow graduates. 

Just saying hello to someone can make all the difference in the college experience. That’s the message Lucas McCarty wants to pass on to the next generation of Yellow Jackets as he graduates with a master’s degree in mechanical engineering.   

Building upon a multifaceted relationship, the two are bringing hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and fueling infrastructure to campus — turning Georgia Tech into one of the nation’s most prominent campus-based examples for hydrogen mobility.

“Hyundai Motor Group is proud to strengthen our collaboration with Georgia Tech as we work together to accelerate the future of clean mobility. Georgia Tech’s leadership in innovation and its commitment to developing the next generation of problem-solvers make it a natural partner in advancing technologies,” said Ken Ramírez, executive vice president and head of Global Energy and Hydrogen Business at Hyundai Motor Group. “By combining the university’s excellent research with Hyundai’s global experience, we are creating the foundation for real-world solutions that will help drive the energy transition and inspire future mobility leaders.” 

Ramírez is also a 1991 Georgia Tech graduate and a member of the Georgia Tech Advisory Board. 

“It’s very fulfilling to donate a handful of our NEXO fuel cell SUVs as part of our expanding relationship with Georgia Tech. Hydrogen-powered NEXO fuel cell vehicles will immediately serve to expand the clean mobility footprint on campus while providing real-world experiences with the cutting edge of zero-emissions transportation technology,” said Randy Parker, president and CEO, Hyundai Motor North America.

“Georgia Tech has a long history of working with industry to move breakthrough technologies from the lab into the real world. By expanding our work with Hyundai, we’re advancing hydrogen research, reducing emissions on our campus, and strengthening Georgia’s role in the future of clean mobility," Georgia Tech President Ángel Cabrera said.

How the Partnership Drives Hydrogen Innovation and Research

The partnership includes the donation of four Hyundai NEXO fuel cell electric SUVs by Hyundai Motor North America and a hydrogen electrolyzer project, which will be installed at Georgia Tech’s North Avenue Research Area, positioning Tech as one of the most visible real-world test beds for hydrogen mobility in the U.S.

The vehicles and infrastructure will support campus operations and interdisciplinary research. Key areas of focus include:

• Engineering: Exploring hydrogen-based systems and mobility solutions.
• Sustainability: Assessing the environmental benefits of hydrogen technologies.
• Energy systems: Understanding the integration of hydrogen fuel cells into current infrastructure.
• Public policy: Evaluating the regulatory and social implications of hydrogen adoption.

This initiative connects Georgia Tech’s research enterprise with campus operations, using the Institute as a living laboratory for clean transportation technologies. Faculty and students will study:

• Real-world performance of hydrogen technology.
• Infrastructure requirements for large-scale deployment.
• Environmental impacts of hydrogen energy systems.

Insights gathered from this initiative aim to inform and accelerate the widespread use of hydrogen technology in campuses, fleets, cities, and freight corridors. The initiative also supports Georgia Tech’s strategic plan, which includes the goal of expanding the use of zero-emissions vehicles powered by sustainable energy sources.

Why Is the Partnership with Georgia Tech Key to Hyundai Motor Group’s Vision? 

The collaboration between Hyundai and Georgia Tech is a testament to the power of aligning academic expertise with corporate innovation. Beyond hydrogen energy, the partnership seeks to advance innovation in the areas of:

• Autonomous driving
• Electric vehicle (EV) batteries
• Charging infrastructure
• Materials science
• Cybersecurity

In addition, Hyundai’s presence in Georgia underscores its commitment to the region. Georgia is home to the Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America and also serves as a hub for zero-emissions transportation through HTWO Logistics, a clean logistics partnership that operates Hyundai XCIENT fuel cell heavy-duty trucks in logistics operations near Savannah. The collaboration with Georgia Tech builds on this regional foundation, reinforcing the link between education, research, and Hyundai's long-term goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2045.

What’s Next for the Partnership?

The partnership between Hyundai and Georgia Tech represents more than an investment in research. It’s a shared effort to lead the next generation of mobility advancements. Additional announcements about the partnership’s research projects, educational programs, and vehicle deployment are expected in the coming months.

You hear a lot of chatter in the Campus Recreation Center (CRC) — “All the weight machines are full!” “Where is the swimming pool?” “I exceeded my one-rep max today!” — but one sentence you don’t expect to hear is, “Do you want to go play video games?” 

The questions surrounding AI may be an unprecedented new challenge, but at Georgia Tech, students are already trying to answer them. The AI Safety Initiative (AISI) is a student group aiming to steer AI research and policy for society’s benefit.

“AI introduces new kinds of challenges into our legal and societal frameworks,” said Rocio Perales Valdes, AISI co-director and second-year computer science student. “Its capabilities emerge fast and on a jagged, hard-to-predict edge, which leaves AI governance like chasing a moving target. The work ahead is building the governance and technical tools we need to evaluate these systems, set direction, and enforce them without hindering innovation.”

AISI focuses on developing and deploying AI responsibly, rather than avoiding it. The group offers guest talks from AI researchers, fellowships that immerse students in the latest safety research through reading and discussion groups, and independent projects that contribute directly to the field. Past projects from AISI include demonstrating large language model security risks on Capitol Hill, responding to U.S. Federal Requests for Information, and running a war game for GTRI faculty. Part lab and part learning community, AISI prepares students to become the next generation of AI safety researchers and practitioners. They have placed alumni at leading organizations such as Anthropic, RAND, Model Evaluations and Threat Research, the UK AI Security Institute, and the Horizon Institute for Public Service.

“AI safety is an urgent problem because there is a rapidly growing gap between what AI systems can do and what we understand about them; yet mitigating AI risks is systematically neglected by current market incentives,” said Yixiong Hao, third‑year computer science student and co‑director of AISI. “I think the set of things I can do to directly move the needle is quite limited in the next three to five years, and that’s why I run this group. I have higher leverage in convincing smart people to work on neglected problems in AI safety.”

Founded in 2022 by Gaurav Sett, who is now a Ph.D. student at the RAND School of Public Policy and a fellow at the Institute for Progress, AISI has grown quickly. Its 10‑member executive board supports a broad base of student involvement, with more than 70 students participating in the fellowship program each semester. Over the past two years, members have also published 13 papers at top conferences such as the International Conference on Learning Representations, with projects spanning AI security and algorithmic transparency. 

From Discussion to Discovery

As a first‑year computer science student, Ishan Khire joined AISI looking for a deeper way to engage with AI safety and quickly found a pathway into research. After attending one general meeting, Khire enrolled in the group’s six‑week fellowship program, where students meet weekly to discuss current technical and policy challenges shaping the field.

“Finding a community that cares about AI safety was a big part of joining the fellowship,” Khire said. “Because AI safety is a broad subject, it was helpful to have an accountability group to discuss current issues.”

Thanks to the connections he made at AISI, Khire began conducting AI research with computing faculty member Giri Krishnan to predict the 3D structure of proteins. 

“AI is going to be really transformative in the next five to 10 years, and we want to make that transformation go well,” Khire said. “AISI tries to upskill people and connect them to technical and policy research that helps them find impactful work.”

Student Advantage

AISI is entirely student‑run, with a small group of faculty advisors. That structure lends itself to uncertain research that can be difficult to fund through traditional academic labs, and faculty support has followed.

“Any cursory look at the news today will show there is significant angst about AI and whether it is being developed responsibly and with sufficient guardrails in place,” said Tom Conte, the College of Computing associate dean for Research. “AISI has Georgia Tech at the forefront of that conversation.”

AISI member and computer science Ph.D. student Glenn Matlin has recruited many undergraduate researchers from the group for his own projects.

“I consider AISI like a third lab,” he said. “I use it as a great place for recruiting students. I’m constantly sharing my own research, and it helps me stay up to date with what other researchers are talking about.”

Matlin also credits AISI with advancing his own work in AI safety. Through the fellowship, he synthesized research that helped him apply for opportunities such as the prestigious AI safety mentorship at the MATS Program, which has connected him to additional research funding.

In a future increasingly shaped by algorithms, AISI’s students are betting that the most important safeguards won’t come from code alone, but from the people guiding how that code is built, deployed, and governed.

“AI safety matters to everyone,” Matlin said. “AI is going to disrupt not just technology, but also politics and business — and its risks are creating urgent opportunities to make it safer.”

Working with collaborators at University College London (UCL), Georgia Tech researchers used computer models to reveal how, during early development, forces generated by cells physically pull the neural tube closed — like a drawstring. This discovery offers new insight into a critical process that, when disrupted, can result in severe birth defects such as spina bifida.

“Understanding a complex developmental process like neural tube closure requires a highly interdisciplinary approach,” said Shiladitya Banerjee, an associate professor in the School of Physics. “By combining advanced biological imaging with theoretical physics, we were able to uncover the mechanical rules that drive cells to close the tube. My lab builds computational models to uncover the physical rules of living systems. The neural tube is an ideal focus because its formation requires incredible mechanical coordination.”

The researchers presented their findings in Current Biology. 

Closing the Gap

The UCL team studied mouse embryos, which develop similarly to humans, and Georgia Tech researchers used that data to construct their models. From the data, they identified the fundamental physics mechanism that enables neural tube closure in part of the brain. This mechanism, called a “purse string,” is made of actin, a pivotal protein that forms a cell’s skeletal structure. As the purse strings tighten, the tube closes.

“These actin molecules are very important because they give rigidity and shape to cells,” Banerjee said.

“During neural tube closure, actin filaments form a ring around the opening and engage molecular motors — proteins that generate forces inside cells,” he said. “As these motors pull on the actin, they generate tension that tightens the ring and draws the tube closed.”

Stretching to Fit

As the actin ring tightens, cells stretch and elongate, causing them to align and move together in a synchronized pattern, like a school of fish. This coordination allows the cells to move faster and more efficiently, increasing tension and driving a feedback loop that helps seal the neural tube.

The team built a computer model to show how this feedback loop leads to successful neural tube formation. Further research using the model could help explain why the neural tube fails to close.

“Physics-based modeling of cell and tissue mechanics allows us to connect the dots between developmental stages in a way that is both robust and quantitative, simulating experiments that are impossible in biological tissues,” said Gabriel Galea, the study co-author and UCL group leader. “In this case, it allowed us to explain how a cell’s mechanical experience impacts its current and future shapes during a critical step of brain development.”

Beyond neural tube development, the findings highlight the power of physics-based modeling to explain complex biological processes that can’t be observed directly. The researchers say this approach could be applied to other stages of human development where forces, motion, and timing are just as critical.

The computational research at Banerjee Lab is funded by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences

Fernanda Pérez-Verdugo, Eirini Maniou, Gabriel L. Galea, Shiladitya Banerjee, “Mechanosensitive feedback organizes cell shape and motion during hindbrain neuropore morphogenesis,” Current Biology, 2026.

DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2026.02.068 

Interior design in higher education goes far beyond aesthetics. At Georgia Tech, it plays a critical role in shaping how students learn, collaborate, live, and feel on campus. From classrooms and labs to student centers, offices, and shared spaces, thoughtfully designed interiors quietly support the Institute’s mission every day. 

The Truman Scholarship is awarded annually to a select group of students nationwide who demonstrate outstanding leadership potential, academic excellence, and an enduring commitment to making a difference. Named after President Harry S. Truman, the scholarship supports students in their graduate education and careers addressing society’s most pressing challenges.

“Taylor exemplifies the kind of leader we strive to develop,” said Georgia Tech President Ángel Cabrera. “Her commitment to strengthening public institutions reflects our motto of Progress and Service. Her selection as a Truman Scholar, one of the nation’s most prestigious fellowships for public service, is an exceptional achievement, and we are incredibly proud of her.”

A Commitment to Rebuilding Trust in Public Institutions

Witte, who hails from Highlands Ranch, Colorado, is pursuing dual bachelor’s degrees while maintaining a 4.0 GPA. She balances an ambitious academic load with dedicated involvement in campus leadership, undergraduate research, and national public service experiences.

Motivated by the erosion of trust in American public institutions, Witte aims to strengthen government decision-making through rigorous economic analysis, transparent data practices, and effective regulation. Instead of viewing public trust as just another policy area, Witte sees it as the very foundation upon which all governance rests.

“While several social issues, from the climate crisis to criminal justice, demand our attention,” she explains, “our ability to tackle these challenges is only as strong as our collective faith in the institutions meant to do so. Responsible data stewardship is the first step to ensuring that communities see themselves represented in the policies that shape their lives.”

That philosophy was shaped in part by her work at the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, where she served as a statistics and data management intern in 2025. The experience reinforced her belief that sound regulation, grounded in high-quality evidence and community realities, is essential to restoring confidence in government.

It’s a perspective that also guides her long-term goals. As a Truman Scholar, Witte plans to pursue a joint J.D. and Ph.D. in economics. She hopes to work in the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, specifically the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, where economic analysis and regulatory oversight intersect.

Leadership at Georgia Tech and Beyond

Witte’s leadership record at Georgia Tech is extensive. She has served as an advisor for the Seek Discomfort First-Year Leadership Organization and is currently a justice on the Undergraduate Judiciary Committee within Georgia Tech’s Student Government Association.

She has also played a key role in institutional service and advocacy. As an ambassador for the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts, Witte helps lead Shadow Day, the College’s largest outreach event for prospective students. Previously, she sat on the Ivan Allen College Advisory Board and is now the sole undergraduate member of the School of Economics Chair Search Committee.

In addition, Witte has helped oversee the Georgia Tech Stamps Summit as conference chair, building intellectual community among fellow scholars committed to leadership and service.

Chaffee Viets, executive director of the Office of Scholar Programs, notes that Witte’s leadership is defined as much by reflection as ambition.

“Taylor is a thinker,” Viets said. "Someone who asks the same questions of herself that she might ask of society: How is this path I am on going to lead to real impact? In her answers, I see deliberative leadership and extraordinary potential.”

Bridging Liberal Arts and Technical Education

As a liberal arts student at a leading technical institute, Witte has made it a personal mission to demonstrate the essential role of economics, public policy, and the humanities in shaping technological innovation and governance. She currently serves as a teaching assistant in the School of Mathematics, one of only a handful of liberal arts majors among a large cohort, where she works to make complex mathematical concepts accessible and applicable for all her students.

“In everything I do on campus, I want to show that liberal arts majors can learn alongside STEM-focused students, and also lead among them and contribute meaningfully to the Institute’s mission of advancing technology and improving the human condition,” she said. “My experiences at Tech have left me better prepared to navigate a public-sector career in an increasingly technical world.”

Looking ahead, Witte remains focused on the long-term work of strengthening democratic institutions.

“To say we are navigating difficult and uncertain times would be an understatement,” she says. “But the most powerful force in this moment is one within our control: our collective decision to believe in the institutions we build, and to demand that they rise to meet us. It’s our choice to make.”

Students interested in applying for the Truman Scholarship can visit the Prestigious Fellowships website or contact the team at fellowshipsadvising@gatech.edu.

The U.S. Department of Justice recently extended the compliance deadline for Title II of the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) digital accessibility requirements by one year. The new deadline to meet the WCAG 2.1 Level AA requirements is April 26, 2027.  

Daniel Meng, BA 2025, was 8 years old when he started cooking. His fried rice recipe was simple — rice and eggs — but it was enough to fill him up while his parents were at work, and it lit a fire in him that would eventually lead him to the MasterChef kitchen to compete among the best home cooks in the country.  

Event load-in will take place throughout the week. Intermittent delays and closures are expected along Bobby Dodd Way (between Techwood Drive and Fowler Street) and Fowler Street (between Bobby Dodd Way and Fourth Street). 

Beginning at 6 p.m. Friday, April 24, more significant closures will be in effect through the weekend. Techwood Drive will be closed from Bobby Dodd Way to North Avenue through Sunday following the concert. 

Additionally, North Avenue will be closed between Techwood Drive and Luckie Street from 2 p.m. to 1 a.m. on Saturday, April 25, and Sunday, April 26. Fowler Street between Fourth and Fifth streets will be limited to parking pass holders accessing Peters Parking Deck. 

Be sure to allow extra travel time, use alternate routes, and remain alert to changing traffic patterns in the area. 

Transportation Changes 

Friday, April 24 

• Red Route Stinger will detour beginning at 5:30 p.m. (see map).  

Saturday, April 25, and Sunday, April 26 

• Weekend Atlantic and Midtown Stinger routes will operate from 8 a.m. to noon. Buses will be labeled “charter” in the TransLoc app.
• Weekend Gold, Red, and Blue Stinger routes will not operate.
• Stingerette Nighttime Safety Service will not operate during the concerts and will resume once roads reopen.  

Parking Changes 

Parking permit holders will be notified via email if they need to move their vehicle. See a map of all affected parking areas. 

The following parking areas will be closed to permit holders to accommodate concert parking: 

Thursday, April 23, at 5 p.m., through Monday, April 27, at 8 a.m. 

• E44: Lyman Hall Lot  
• ER51: Fowler Street from Fourth Street to Bobby Dodd Way  

Saturday, April 25, at 8 a.m., through Monday, April 27, at 8 a.m. 

• ER51: Fowler Street from Fifth Street to Fourth Street
• ER51: Techwood Drive from Fourth Street to Bobby Dodd Way
• E45: Tech Tower
• E46: Burge Deck
• E48: Wardlaw Center
• E49: Alumni Lot
• E52: Peters Deck
• E63: O’Keefe Lot
• E65: McCamish Pavilion
• ER55: Sixth Street to Fifth Street
• W01: Tech Parkway

Alternative parking will be available to permit holders beginning at 5 p.m. Friday, April 24, at the following locations: 

• E70: GTRI Deck
• ER66: Family Housing Deck
• W06: Tech Parkway
• W21: Physics/Boggs/Mason
• W31: IPST
• WR29: West Campus Residential

For many Georgia Tech students, a ride in the Ramblin’ Wreck is a bucket-list item before graduation.  

For Georgia Tech, the campus arboretum is more than a designated area of trees. It is the entire campus. Walkways, quads, greens, and streetscapes are all part of a curated landscape carefully selected to thrive in an urban environment. It is also a place where memories are made, from everyday gatherings under the canopy to photos that capture an important milestone.  

Georgia Tech researchers think they have a better way with small metal tags that can signal when a door or drawer is opened, count reps in the gym, or even track bathroom use for elderly relatives. Their tags are battery-free, quiet, inherently private, and cost only a few cents each. They’re smaller than a penny.

Like other kinds of smart home sensors, the tags are designed to be mounted on a cabinet or doorframe, for example, using a 3D-printed base. A small tab is attached to the corresponding door or drawer. When it’s opened, the tab strikes the metal disk, triggering a brief ultrasonic pulse imperceptible to human ears but detectable by a wearable device that logs the activity.

Read the full story on the College of Engineering website.

Wind turbines and solar panels have what economists call zero marginal cost, meaning producing additional units of electricity requires no fuel once installed. At the same time, this renewable energy varies greatly with the weather and can create operational challenges for grid operators.

A new review study from Georgia Tech examines how these characteristics are reshaping electricity markets and grid operations — and why addressing the challenge requires cross-disciplinary collaboration.

The study, published in Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, synthesizes more than a decade of research. It analyzes over 200 studies on the engineering, economic, and policy implications of managing renewable energy sources that are both intermittent and effectively zero-cost to operate.

“Wind and solar are now among the lowest-cost sources of electricity in many parts of the world, but integrating them into the grid isn’t simple,” said Matthew Oliver, associate professor in the School of Economics and lead author of the study. “The wind doesn’t always blow, and the sun isn’t always shining, so output can fluctuate significantly, which complicates grid management.”

He added, “Historically, variation in electricity systems generally came from the demand side, and operators could simply ramp generation up or down. Now, we have variability on both supply and demand sides.”

Analyzing the Data

Looking at the problem, Oliver knew he would need to be familiar with engineering concepts to get at the heart of the issue. He created a research team with Daniel Matisoff, professor in the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School of Public Policy; Santiago Grijalva, professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering; and graduate student co-authors Maghfira Ramadhani (economics), Oliver Chapman (public policy), and Amanda West (electrical and computer engineering).

Analyzing over 200 studies published since 2010, the team mapped the complex interactions between electricity market design, grid operations, and renewable technologies.

They also explored the economic implications of large amounts of zero-marginal-cost electricity entering wholesale electricity markets. Because wind and solar have very low operating costs, they can lower prices in wholesale electricity markets. That benefits consumers, but it can also make it harder for flexible conventional plants to earn enough revenue to stay available when renewable output falls.

Collaborating Across Disciplines

The team argues that successfully scaling renewable energy will depend on collaboration across traditionally separate fields.

“Engineering constraints affect how electricity markets work, markets influence investment decisions, and policy shapes how those investments happen,” Oliver said. “When it comes to complex topics like this, you can’t really treat engineering, economics, and policy as separate problems. They’re all part of the same system.”

The researchers found that electricity systems with high shares of renewable energy will require coordinated solutions that combine improved engineering practices, market reforms that value flexibility and reliability, and policies that align private investment with long-term decarbonization goals.

“Our hope is that this paper helps researchers across disciplines communicate more effectively,” Oliver said. “If we want electricity systems with high levels of renewable energy to work reliably, then engineers, economists, and policymakers all have to understand how their decisions affect the others.”

Citation: Oliver, Matthew E., et al. “Managing Zero-marginal-cost, intermittent renewable energy: A survey of the engineering, economic, and Policy Challenges.” Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, vol. 226, Jan. 2026. 

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2025.116334