It’s not glamorous. It’s not trendy. In fact, it’s downright grubby. But the work that a Georgia Tech researcher and his students are doing is improving campus sustainability, one pound of food waste at a time. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Academy recognizes leaders across fields of study who have addressed humanity’s greatest challenges while also gathering knowledge to advance learning and the public good. This year’s class of 252 honorees was elected in academia, the arts, industry, journalism, philanthropy, policy, research, and science.  

García is one of nine honorees in the “Engineering and Technology” division. His research — both in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering where he serves as Regents’ Professor and in the Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience where he is the executive director — aligns with the Academy’s service-minded mission.  

“I am inspired to find engineering solutions to serious health conditions to help people,” he said. “As a kid, I developed a musculoskeletal condition that required biomaterial devices to treat. Although imperfect, this treatment allowed me to lead a normal life.” 

Moved by his personal experience, García’s research centers on cellular and tissue engineering, which integrate biological and engineering principles to restore organ function lost to injury or disease. By studying how cells interact with the materials around them, he and his team have engineered biomaterials for the controlled delivery of therapeutic proteins and cells that enhance tissue regeneration, which could speed the healing process for patients.  

His future work will integrate biomaterials with lab‑grown replicas of human organs, known as organoids, that can be used to identify new therapies for a variety of human diseases. These organoids, though smaller and simpler than true organs, can mimic key functions that may help García and his team to find better ways to repair damaged tissues. 

García has spent the past 27 years at Georgia Tech and carries on the legacy of another Academy member — the Petit Institute’s founding executive director Robert Nerem, who was inducted in 1998. García credits his success to the support of his loved ones and the Yellow Jacket community.  

“I am deeply honored and humbled,” he said. “This award is only possible by the unending love and support of family, friends and mentors, my phenomenal past and present trainees, fantastic collaborators, and awesome ecosystem at Georgia Tech.” 

The Academy was chartered in 1780 during the American Revolution by a group that included John Adams and John Hancock. It was established to recognize accomplished individuals and engage them in addressing the greatest challenges facing the young republic. 

Membership has broadened over the years to celebrate excellence in a variety of fields. Honorees have included poet Robert Frost, musician John Legend, and chef José Andrés, who was given this year’s Ivan Allen Jr. Prize for Social Courage.  

García and the rest of this year’s class, which includes actor Jodie Foster, will be inducted in October.  

Students, faculty, and researchers from Georgia Tech and Kennesaw State University gathered on April 8 for a joint workshop between Georgia Tech's NSF Sustainable Development of Smart Medical Devices (SUSMED) program and KSU's Mobility for Everyone (MOVE) Center. The full-day event explored how sustainable design, mobility science, and health technologies are converging to shape the next generation of medical devices.  

In December, The Conversation hosted a webinar on AI’s revolutionary role in drug discovery and development.

Science and technology editor Eric Smalley interviewed Jeffrey Skolnick, eminent scholar in computational systems biology at Georgia Institute of Technology, and Benjamin P. Brown, assistant professor of pharmacology at Vanderbilt University.

Skolnick has developed AI-based approaches to predict protein structure and function that may help with drug discovery and finding off-label uses of existing drugs. Brown’s lab works on creating new computer models that make drug discovery faster and more reliable. Below is a condensed and edited version of the interview.

Let’s start with the big picture. How is AI changing biomedical research and drug discovery, and what is the potential we are talking about?

Skolnick: The upside, potentially, is very large. One of the frustrating things about drug discovery is that, in spite of the fact that the people doing it are extraordinarily intelligent and have done an extraordinarily good job, the success rate is very low. About 1 in 5 drugs will have negative health effects that outweigh its benefits. Of the ones that pass, roughly half don’t work.

In drug development, there are several key issues: Can you predict which target is driving a particular disease? Once this target is identified, how can you guarantee the drug is going to work and isn’t simultaneously going to kill you?

These are outstanding problems in drug discovery in which AI can play an important, though not 100% guaranteed, role. Unlike us, AI can look at basically all available knowledge. On a good day it makes strong and true connections called “insights,” and on a bad day it does what is called “hallucinating” and sees things that are weak and probably false.

At the end of the day, many diseases do not have a cure. Most diseases are maintained, such as high cholesterol or autoimmune conditions. A treatment for cancer might buy you five years, and now you’re in Stage 4 and you’ve exhausted all the standard care drugs. AI can play a role to suggest alternatives where there are none.

Let’s give some basic definitions here. When we use the word drug, we’re talking about a wide range of therapies. Can you explain the range – we’ve got small molecule drugs, biologics, gene therapies, cell therapies.

Brown: We have fairly large molecules in our bodies called proteins. They are like machines that carry out specific functions and interact with one another. Oftentimes, when we’re trying to treat disease, we’re trying to alter functions of specific proteins. Many drugs, like aspirin and Tylenol, are small molecules that can fit into a protein and change its function. Fundamentally, drugs don’t have to just interact with proteins, but this is a major way in which our current repertoire of medications work.

There are also proteins that act like drugs, such as antibodies. When you receive a vaccine for a virus, your body is basically given instructions on how to develop antibodies. These antibodies will target some part of that virus. Your body is creating these big molecules, much bigger than aspirin, to go and interact with foreign proteins in a different way. Gene therapy is a larger step beyond that.

So these modalities – molecule, protein, antibody or gene – are very different types of molecules. They have different scales and rules, so the way you approach designing and discovering them various widely.

Can you briefly explain artificial neural networks, and what the “deep” in deep learning means?

Skolnick: AlphaFold, developed by DeepMind, involved understanding how neural networks worked. They built a network with a lot of inputs, which are stimuli, and outputs with different weights, similar to how your brain actually works. These simple connections, or neurons, have reinforcement learning.

They also created sophisticated neural networks, such as transformers, which do specific things like a special-purpose tool that can learn, and they added a mechanism called “attention,” which amplifies critical details. Super neural networks with transformers is what we call deep learning. These now have literally billions, if not trillions, of parameters.

Essentially, these machines can learn higher order correlations between events, meaning the patterns of conditional interactions that depend on the properties of multiple things simultaneously. In these higher order correlations, AI has the potential to see previously unknown things that are embedded in petabytes (a unit of data equivalent to half of the contents of all U.S. academic research libraries of biological data.

AlphaFold, which predicts three-dimensional, bioactive forms of a protein, has millions of sequences and a couple of hundred thousand structures. It can tell you, based on a particular pattern, what small molecule to design that sticks to a protein to induce some kind of structural shift.

How is this technology being used in biomedical research to understand molecular dynamics or, essentially, the biological processes involved in health and disease?

Brown: In 2013, there was a Nobel Prize for molecular dynamics simulations, computational tools that help you understand the motions of molecules as they move according to physics. There’s a huge body of scientific research built around those ideas.

AI and deep learning are large right now, but it’s worth mentioning that for the last decade and a half, people have been using much smaller machine learning algorithms to help design drugs. A lot of the ideas, such as [using machine learning for virtual screening], are not new and have been in practice for a while.

With AlphaFold’s technologies to help people design proteins and predict their structure, we’ve changed how we think about a lot of these problems. We have this new repertoire of approaches to build ideas around and to start thinking about drug discovery.

From 20 years ago to now, what has today’s AI technology done in terms of scale of change in this process?

Skolnick: A lot of diseases, like cancers, are caused by a collection of malfunctioning proteins. AI now allows us to start to think conceptually about how these diseases are organized and related to each other.

Diseases tend to co-occur. For example, if you have hyperthyroidism, you’re very likely to develop Alzheimer’s. Kind of weird, right? We can look at pieces, but AI can look at all the information, integrate the collective behavior and then identify common drivers. This allows you to construct disease interrelationships which offer the possibility of broad spectrum treatments that could treat whole collections of diseases rather than narrow-spectrum treatments.

Relatedly, AI also can help us understand disease trajectories. Diseases that tend to co-occur often present themselves consecutively. You have disease 1, it gives you disease 2, then gives you disease 3. This suggests that if you go back to the root with disease 1, you may be able to stop a whole bunch of stuff. You can’t analyze millions of trajectories and millions of data without a tool, so you couldn’t do this before.

This holds a lot of promise, but one also must be careful not to overpromise. It will help, it will accelerate, but it is not a substitute yet for real experiments, real clinical validation and trials.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

To help find answers, researchers at the Institute for Neuroscience, Neurotechnology, and Society (INNS) are using math, data, and AI to unlock the secrets of thought. Together they are helping turn the brain’s raw electrical “noise” into real insights about how people think, move, and perceive the world.

Fair warning: Prepare your neurons for the complexity of this brain research ahead.

Building AI Like a Brain

What if artificial neurons in AI programs were arranged as they are in the brain?

AI programs would then help us understand why the brain is organized the way it is. This neuro-AI synthesis would also work faster, use less energy, and be easier to interpret. Creating such systems is the goal of Apurva Ratan Murty, an assistant professor of Psychology who is creating topographic AI models like the one above of three domains — vision, audition, and language inspired by the brain. In the near future, he predicts doctors might be able to use these patterns to predict the effects of brain lesions and other disorders. “We’re not there yet,” he says. “But our work brings us significantly closer to that future than ever before.”

Computing Thought and Movement

How cats walk keeps Chethan Pandarinath on his toes. This biomedical engineer uses sensors to analyze how two sets of feline leg muscles — flexors and extensors — are controlled by the spinal cord. Understanding how that happens could help patients partially paralyzed from spinal cord injuries, strokes, or progressive neuro-degenerative diseases get back on their feet again. “My lab is using AI tools that allow us to turn complex spinal cord activity data into something we can interpret. It tells us there’s a simple underlying structure behind the complex activity patterns,” says the associate professor.

Revealing the Brain’s Spike Patterns

“The brain is like a symphony conductor,” says Simon Sponberg. “Individual instruments have some independent control, but most of the music comes from the brain’s precise coordination of notes among the different players in the body.” This physics professor studies the fantastically fast-beating wings of the hummingbird-sized hawk moth (Manduca sexta). Its agile flight movement comes as a result of spikes in electrical activity in 10 muscles. Sponberg found something that surprised him — the brain focuses less on creating the number of spikes than in orchestrating their precise patterns over time. To Sponberg, every millisecond matters. “We are just beginning to understand how the nervous system first acquires precisely timed spiking patterns during development,” he says.

Predicting Decisions Through Statistics

Put a mouse in a maze with food far away, and it will learn to find it. But life for mice — and people — isn’t so simple. Sometimes they want to explore, only want water, or just want to go home. What’s more, animals make decisions based on their history, not just on how they feel at the moment. To dig deeper into the decision-making process, Anqi Wu, an assistant professor in the School of Computational Science and Engineering, is giving mice more options. By using a new computational framework called SWIRL (Switching Inverse Reinforcement Learning), her findings have outperformed models that fail to take historical behavior into account. “We’re seeking to understand not only animal behavior but also human behavior to gain insight into the human decision-making process over a long period of time,” she says.

Modeling the Mind’s Wiring With Math

Connectivity shapes cognition in the cerebral cortex, a layered structure in the brain. The visual cortex, in particular, processes visual data from the retina relayed through the Lateral Geniculate Nucleus (LGN) in the thalamus, and directs it to the correct cognitive domain in the brain. How it does this is the mystery that computational neuroscientist Hannah Choi wants to solve. “The big question I’m interested in is how network connectivity patterns in the architecture of the LGN are related to computations,” says this assistant math professor. To find answers, she shows mice repeated image patterns such as flower-cat-dog-house and then disrupts the pattern. The goal? To grasp how the thalamus’s nonlinear dynamical system works. If scientists and doctors better understand how brain regions are wired together, such knowledge could lead to better disease treatment.

This story was originally published through the Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine. Read the original publication here.

The two‑day event took place Feb. 4 – 5, coinciding with the Critical Minerals Ministerial hosted by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 4, which brought together more than 50 nations to strengthen and diversify global critical mineral supply chains. During this ministerial, U.K. Minister Seema Malhotra and U.S. Under Secretary of State Jacob Helberg signed a Critical Minerals Memorandum of Understanding, strengthening bilateral cooperation between the United States and the United Kingdom on critical mineral supply chains. 

These broad efforts are supported by White House Executive Order 14363, which defines the Genesis Mission and aims to accelerate scientific discovery through AI. The order identifies critical minerals supply chain resilience as a national security imperative.

In Atlanta, these themes were brought to life in real time. The GEMs-4 workshop brought together researchers, policymakers, national labs, industry leaders, and workforce organizations from both the U.S. and the U.K. to address shared challenges in technology translation, permitting, investment, and talent development. 

The state of Georgia’s integrated ecosystem, linking research universities, legacy industries, technical colleges, national labs, and public‑private partnerships, served as a case study. Presenters highlighted how existing industrial assets in the Southeast are being incorporated into emerging clean energy and critical minerals supply chains, offering a model for other regions seeking to build capabilities around extraction, processing, and manufacturing.

A U.K. member of Parliament representing Cornwall, where the U.K. has lithium reserves and deep critical mineral expertise, joined the convening, as well as representatives from the U.K. Critical Mineral Association, Camborne School of Mines, and the University of Kent. Together, they explored opportunities and challenges, from a fundamental science to a commercialization perspective grounded in real-world experience. 

The alignment between the ministerial in Washington and the expertise present in Atlanta demonstrated the value of state-level engagement and how national agreements translate into practical collaboration on the ground. 

“The Southeast has the research depth, industrial footprint, and collaborative spirit needed to lead in critical minerals innovation,” said Yuanzhi Tang, Georgia Power Professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, executive director of the Strategic Energy Institute, and founding director of the Center for Critical Mineral Solutions at Georgia Tech. “GEMs‑4 showed what’s possible when universities, industry, and government partners align around shared priorities.” 

Day one featured strategic dialogue on critical mineral resources, innovation pathways, and partnership models. A recurring theme was the co-production of critical minerals alongside major mineral commodities. “Many critical minerals are produced as byproducts of larger mining operations, making it essential to integrate recovery strategies into existing mineral industries rather than developing entirely new extraction systems,” noted Crawford Elliott, professor of geosciences at Georgia State University.

Day two transitioned to field‑based learning, led by Paul Schroeder, professor of geology at the University of Georgia. Participants visited active operations to better understand how regional industrial strengths can support national and international supply chain goals. Schroeder said, “Connecting people to the long-standing mineral extraction economy at the mining and plant sites, where the work gets done with an amazingly skilled workforce, underscores the unique role of Georgia’s place‑based capacity in advancing national and transatlantic supply chain goals.”

Organizers emphasized that resilient supply chains rely on regional capabilities built over time through university collaboration, industry partnerships, and community engagement. With three years of inter‑university coordination now underpinning the GEMS platform, the 2026 workshop demonstrated how the Southeast is contributing actionable models for U.S.-U.K. cooperation.

“Ecosystem-building at this scale requires participation from every part of the value chain, and we are encouraged by the model GEMs presents,” said Rachel Galloway, Consul General at British Consulate General Atlanta. “The collaboration across universities, industry, and government is exactly what enables long‑term impact on both sides of the Atlantic.”

Through focused dialogue and partnership-building, the symposium strengthened transatlantic collaboration, highlighted regional strengths, and accelerated innovation and translation across the critical minerals value chain, from resource characterization and processing to recycling, manufacturing, and deployment.

For more information about the GEMS initiative, visit: https://gems.research.gatech.edu/.

“The topic of the Suddath Symposium changes every year, which allows the Georgia Tech research community to annually learn about recent advances on a specific topic from across the immense fields of bioengineering and bioscience,” said Nicholas Hud, Regents’ Professor in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Associate Director of IBB.

The symposium also included presentation of the 2026 Suddath Award, which recognizes outstanding graduate research. This year’s award was presented to Myeongsoo Kim, a Ph.D. candidate in the Bioengineering Graduate Program, for his work at the intersection of cell engineering, cancer treatment, and biomedical imaging. The award is presented each year by members of the Suddath family, including Vincent Suddath, grandson of Bud and a current freshman at Georgia Tech majoring in mathematics.

The symposium and award honor the legacy of F. L. “Bud” Suddath and his lasting contributions to the Institute and the wider Georgia Tech research community.

“Bud was influential in promoting the growth of bioscience research at Georgia Tech, efforts that helped establish IBB in the 1990s,” Hud said. “Bud’s research interests were at the forefront of structural biology, a field that laid the foundation for much of what we know today about biology at the molecular level. It’s fitting that we honor Bud’s contributions by annually providing the Georgia Tech community with the opportunity to learn about research on a timely topic within the biological sciences.”

Symposium co-chairs Tara Deans and Mark Styczynski said that in addition to upholding the legacy of Bud Suddath, the event also provides a unique setting and opportunity for both established researchers and trainees to interact over the course of the two day event. The intimate format of the symposium, which is limited to approximately 100 attendees, and the annual selection of a different interdisciplinary topic sets it apart from other symposia.

“The Suddath Symposium is an amazing opportunity to bring multiple world-class researchers right to our trainees’ front door, to hear about their work and connect with them in a small setting that you can’t really find at most conferences,” said Styczynski, who is a professor in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. “We are really grateful to IBB and the Suddath family for supporting this unique event.”

Deans, who is an associate professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, highlighted how this year’s theme reflects a broader shift in the field.

“This year’s focus on biomedical applications of synthetic biology highlights a major inflection point in the field: the transition from proof-of-concept systems to human health-relevant technologies,” she said. “The theme also reflects increasing convergence across disciplines; synthetic biology is no longer operating in isolation, but it is deeply intertwined with immunology, machine learning, diagnostics, and clinical translation. Addressing real-world biomedical problems requires this kind of integration, and the symposium captured that shift very clearly.”

The Suddath Symposium annually serves as a cornerstone event for Georgia Tech’s bioengineering and bioscience community — connecting researchers, honoring scientific legacy, and spotlighting the next generation of scientific innovation.

A team of researchers led by Ankur Singh, the Carl Ring Family Professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University, has been awarded up to $6 million from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) of the U.S. Department of Defense to accelerate the development of medical countermeasures (MCMs) against deadly biological threats that endanger public health, national security, and warfighters.

DTRA’s mission is to provide solutions that enable the Department of Defense, the U.S. government, and international partners to deter strategic threats. A key priority is advancing new or improved MCMs that can be deployed before or after exposure to biological or chemical agents.

Singh’s multi-year project, Systematic Human Immune Engineering for Lethal Disease (SHIELD) Countermeasures, aims to create a threat-agnostic platform that transforms how respiratory pathogens and toxins are studied. The platform is designed to speed up the discovery, development, and production of immune-based countermeasures.

Singh leads a collaborative team that includes Cornell University’s Matthew DeLisa and Stanford University’s Michael Jewett. Together, they will integrate immune-engineering technologies with advanced cell-free protein synthesis platforms to discover and manufacture protein-based MCMs. Cell-free protein synthesis is a laboratory technique that efficiently produces proteins without relying on living cells, which can be unpredictable and technically demanding when it comes to expressing complex or toxic proteins and scaling production quickly. The team expects the SHIELD Countermeasures platform to reduce the time and cost of MCM development by more than tenfold.

“The foundational science and cutting-edge tools we develop will ignite future discoveries, ensuring a robust pipeline of advanced protein-based MCMs for chemical and biological defense,” said Singh, who also directs the Center for Immunoengineering at Georgia Tech. “This will significantly enhance national security and equip our warfighters with next-generation biodefense capabilities."

Traditional animal models often fail to accurately replicate human immune responses, and standard tissue cultures lack the complexity required to study how immune cells interact with pathogens. In contrast, human immune organoids and immune-competent devices — built from human cells — are emerging as groundbreaking research tools. These systems recreate key immune features, such as lymph nodes and mucosal environments, within three-dimensional or microengineered platforms.

“Many organoid and engineering devices, often called organ-on-chip platforms, lack immune integration,” Singh said. “Because immunity sits at the center of human health, these limitations have broad consequences. Immune-competent organ-on-chip platforms extend this concept by combining human cells with microfluidic engineering that simulates blood flow, tissue barriers, and chemical gradients.”

Singh has previously published studies on a synthetic human immune chip and an immunocompetent lung on a chip, and has also teamed up with DeLisa previously to use synthetic immune organoids for immuno-profiling antibacterial MCMs.

“It’s about being able to test far larger numbers of candidate protein-based MCMs in a single experiment—and to do it much faster,” DeLisa said. “Cell-free systems allow us to produce MCMs at unprecedented speed and scale, but traditional evaluation methods can’t keep up with those numbers. By combining cell-free MCM production with immune organoid technology, we can assess the potency of dozens or even hundreds of candidates at a time and characterize the resulting immune responses within just a few days.”

By integrating immune cells with tissues such as lung, gut, skin, or vascular systems, these devices allow scientists to observe immune responses in real time, including cell migration, inflammation, and interactions with pathogens or therapeutics. As biological threats evolve, the development and deployment of immune-competent platforms will be critical for rapid, effective countermeasures.

DTRA’s investment in Singh’s work highlights the urgent national priority of strengthening U.S. biodefense capabilities. The SHIELD Countermeasures platform and its cutting-edge technologies promise to transform the nation’s response to biological threats and help safeguard communities from biological and chemical attacks.

A philanthropic gift from the family of J.P. Singh is helping researchers at Georgia Tech push the boundaries of biomedical innovation.  

Some of Savannah’s many old buildings are expensive to heat and cool, especially in Georgia’s humid summers. They develop leaks. They need routine maintenance. But how does a building owner know where to begin with renovations or repairs? Enter Lamarr.AI, one of the first companies supported by the Partnership for Innovation’s (PIN) new Community Investment program.

“The Community Investment program is matching up faculty-led, faculty-spinoff startup companies that have technology that could be relevant to a community, a government, or to the civic space,” said Katie O’Connor, PIN’s community investment manager. “The company’s product is something that can help a community in a smart cities kind of way.”

Lamarr.AI fits the bill to a T. Its technology and the company grew out of research at Georgia Tech. Lamarr.AI’s technology uses drones, imaging, and artificial intelligence (AI) to assess a building’s envelope and determine the best ways to make these structures more energy efficient.

“The technology is like giving a building an MRI using drones, infrared and regular images, and our own AI,” said Tarek Rakha, Lamarr.AI’s co-founder and CEO. The drones, he explained, detect missing insulation, water intrusion, air escaping, and physical damage. AI and machine learning translate that information into 3-D models that map the defects.

Read more on EI2 Webpage
 

Across more than 1,100 combined respondents, the study uncovers selective temporal stability in energy preferences. Some attributes—such as support for higher RPS targets, reductions in water use, and preferences for online smart‑meter information—remain relatively stable over time. In contrast, others shift considerably: WTP for increasing the rooftop solar share declines by more than 40%, while WTP to protect monthly credit banking rises more than 200%, reflecting heightened awareness of net‑metering debates and rapid growth in rooftop solar adoption.

Importantly, the study reveals that environmental attitudes, measured through New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) scores, once strongly predicted preferences for rooftop solar and smart‑meter technologies in 2017, but these relationships fade or even reverse by 2023—signaling a shift as these technologies transition from niche, identity‑driven goods to mainstream infrastructure. Meanwhile, environmental attitudes continue to robustly shape preferences for RPS increases and water‑use reductions in both survey waves.

Read Full Story on the EPIcenter Webpage

The paper examines various strategies for enhancing the flexibility of data center energy use. One approach is to use backup power systems, such as uninterruptible power supplies, to support the grid during emergencies. Another method involves rerouting computing jobs to different data centers in other locations to balance energy demand. The authors also discuss implementing smart scheduling techniques that shift workloads to off-peak hours, reducing strain on the grid. Additionally, they highlight adjusting processor speeds by lowering CPU (central processing unit) and GPU (graphics processing unit) clock rates to limit power consumption when needed. Finally, the paper suggests pre-cooling data center equipment to limit the energy required for cooling during peak demand periods. Notably, experimental evidence shows that underclocking GPUs can cut power consumption by 40% with only a 22% performance loss, suggesting technical feasibility for demand-response interventions.

Despite these technical options, the authors find that real-world cost considerations and reliability concerns limit widespread adoption. Data center operators generally do not change their behavior in response to electricity prices, as job revenue far outweighs energy costs under normal conditions. For example, a GPU rented at $2 per hour consumes only $0.04 worth of electricity at average prices, making curtailment unattractive except during extreme price spikes. Surveys indicate that operators are reluctant to compromise reliability or deploy backup systems for ancillary services. Consequently, price-based incentives alone are unlikely to drive meaningful flexibility.

Read more on the EPIcenter Webpage
Listen to a podcast on the research here

Kala Jordan has been promoted to Research Scientist II. With a background spanning biology, health informatics, and STEM education, Jordan brings a multidisciplinary approach to her work. She plays a key role in AI‑CARING, leading studies that support the development of personalized collaborative AI systems designed to improve quality of life for older adults.

Noah Posner has been promoted to Senior Research Scientist. As manager of the Interactive Product Design Lab, Posner focuses on interactive experiences grounded in physical interaction. His research spans CAD‑based prototyping, rapid fabrication, and STEAM education, and he teaches courses in physical prototyping and industrial design.

Peter Presti has been promoted to Principal Research Scientist. Over his 22‑year career at Georgia Tech, Presti has collaborated with major industry partners and federal agencies. His research spans sensor systems, biometrics, wearable computing, signal processing, embedded systems, and integrated hardware‑software prototyping.

Richard Starr has been promoted to Senior Research Scientist. Starr oversees the IPaT Secure Data Enclave, developing and managing the institute’s secure infrastructure for healthcare data. His work ensures campus‑wide compliance with HIPAA, IRB requirements, and partnership agreements.

Andrew Zhao has been promoted to Research Scientist II. Zhao, a Georgia Tech alumnus with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Computer Science, specializes in social computing. His work examines how social media facilitates information flow and connection, particularly around mental health and elections. He supports the CANDOR Portal and AI‑CARING projects, contributing full‑stack development, data pipelines, LLM fine‑tuning, and infrastructure management.

“These promotions are wonderful and well deserved. Hearty congratulations to Andrew, Kala, Richard, Noah, and Peter!” said Michael Best, executive director of IPaT.

“These promotions are a testament to the outstanding capabilities and contributions of IPaT’s research faculty community,” added Maribeth Gandy Coleman, director of research for IPaT.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fellows and projects include:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Read the full story >>

A Career Built on Service and Adaptability

Hanson’s journey in higher education began immediately after high school when she joined Purdue University and discovered her passion for supporting students, faculty, and academic communities. She carried that passion across multiple institutions before landing at Tech, building a career grounded in adaptability, resilience, and people-centered service.

Her Georgia Tech chapter began in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE), where she supported the Water Resources Engineering group. There, she became a trusted resource for students and faculty alike — a steady presence who celebrated their successes, listened during challenges, and helped build a sense of community. 

Hanson credits Lisa Tuttle in CEE with helping her navigate the Georgia Tech landscape. With Tuttle’s help, she also discovered a talent for event planning and administrative leadership, eventually serving as administration manager and supporting the CEE chair with meetings, alumni engagement, and major departmental initiatives. One of her most memorable experiences was coordinating a trip to NATO headquarters in Belgium, an opportunity that deepened her appreciation for global collaboration and institutional history.

“Crystal was an extraordinary contributor throughout her time in CEE, first in the Water Resources Engineering group and later as the trusted manager of the entire administrative support team,” said Donald Webster, Karen and John Huff School Chair in CEE. “In every role, she brought dedication, professionalism, and genuine care for others. Crystal consistently went above and beyond to support the people of CEE — not only through professional challenges, but also during moments of personal crisis — always with compassion, steadiness, and grace. Her presence made our community stronger, more resilient, and more humane.”

A Trusted Partner in Research Leadership

Hanson later transitioned to the Executive Vice President for Research (EVPR) office, where she worked under leaders including Stephen Cross, Christopher Jones, Giselle Bennett, Raheem Beyah, and Julia Kubanek. Her time in this environment was formative. She absorbed the complexities of research administration, budgeting, and strategic planning, all while contributing to a culture where staff felt valued and included.

“When I joined the EVPR office, and it had only three or four people, it seemed everyone was doing two or three jobs,” said Christopher Jones, who joined the office in 2013 and is now the John F. Brock III School Chair in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. “Crystal was an immediate fit, bringing with her organizational and management skills, a sense of humor, and an appreciation of our mission.  She is someone whom I always look forward to seeing, both then and now.”

After Beyah left the EVPR office to become the dean and Southern Company Chair in the College of Engineering, Kubanek became the new vice president for Interdisciplinary Research (VPIR). Together, Kubanek and Hanson built and expanded the VPIR team, helping to shape its operations and identity.

Among her many contributions, Hanson initiated the Interdisciplinary Research Spotlight Awards, recognizing staff and research faculty who go above and beyond in the Interdisciplinary Research Institutes (IRIs). She also shepherded the Research Faculty Teaching Fellows program, ensuring that research faculty across Georgia Tech and the Georgia Tech Research Institute had opportunities to develop teaching skills in partnership with the Center for Teaching and Learning.

The Connector at the Heart of the VPIR Office

Crystal describes herself as someone who prefers to work behind the scenes: cleaning up after events, coordinating logistics, and taking on nearly any task that needs to be done. 

“Crystal is the ultimate behind-the-scenes master organizer and people connector,” said Kubanek. “She develops individual relationships that enable her to organize, in short order, a meeting of numerous campus leaders whose calendars should be impossible to align. She comes bearing snacks and a smile and is the heart of our operation.”

Hanson’s deep institutional knowledge and extensive network positioned her to navigate Georgia Tech’s complex landscape. She serves as a bridge between the VPIR office, the IRIs, GTRI, and campus partners, ensuring that communication flows smoothly and people feel supported, informed, and connected.

“Her deep institutional knowledge and strong networks across campus meant she almost always knew the right person to connect with or the best way to move something forward,” said Punya Mardhanan, a former colleague in VPIR and now assistant director of business operations for the Space Research Institute. “Crystal works incredibly efficiently and often completes things before anyone asks. She never seeks recognition for the many ways she supports her team.”

A Colleague, Advisor, and Steady Source of Wisdom

Hanson’s colleagues consistently describe her as someone who not only gets things done but also makes everyone around her better.

“She’s like a mother hen to the VPIR team,” said Rob Kadel, executive director of research program administration. “I can always go to Crystal and say, ‘Who should I talk to about this?’ and she will know exactly who to talk to. She is never afraid to speak her mind. She’s a trusted advisor.”

Her leadership has also extended beyond formal responsibilities. She played a key role in designing the VPIR workspace during renovations, coordinated team retreats and bonding activities, and infused every gathering with energy and warmth.

“She cares so much about the Georgia Tech community,” said Colly Mitchell, director of events and engagement for the Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience. “Crystal is incredibly responsive, helpful, and friendly. She brings a big burst of energy to every gathering.”

“Words that immediately come to mind when I think of Crystal are collaborative, dependable, responsive, and a true breadth of knowledge,” adds Cynthia Moore, director of operations for the Institute for People and Technology, who worked alongside Hanson for nearly a decade. “Crystal will truly be missed, along with her knowledge of all things Georgia Tech and research.”

A Legacy of Generosity and Excellence

After nearly 14 years at Georgia Tech, Hanson will retire on April 1. She will be remembered as someone who connected people, solved problems, and always went above and beyond. 

According to Raheem Beyah, provost and executive vice president for Academic Affairs, “Crystal was simply exceptional. She was a creative thought partner who provided outstanding support and strategic advice, and she became a dear friend. I am a better leader after working with Crystal, and Georgia Tech is a better place because of her. I can’t think of many people who deserve a wonderful retirement more than she does.”

Hanson looks forward to spending more time with her family, including her two daughters and two granddaughters, whose busy schedules she is eager to be part of. She and her husband have plans for travel, concerts — including those of her son-in-law’s band, Grouplove — and perhaps even a cruise around the world.

Georgia Tech extends its deepest gratitude to Crystal Hanson for her years of exceptional service, leadership, and dedication. Her impact will continue to resonate across the VPIR office, the IRIs, and the broader research community.

We wish her joy, adventure, and well-deserved rest in the next chapter of her life.

Set in the heart of Tech Square on the Georgia Tech campus, this year’s event explores how energy systems, materials, technologies, supply chains, and policy must evolve in response to AI’s accelerating impact. As digital infrastructure expands and computation intensifies, the need for reliable, resilient, and sustainable power has never been more urgent. 

“Energy Day reflects Georgia Tech’s strength in connecting world-class research in materials and components with the infrastructure and partnerships needed to translate discovery into scalable energy technologies that serve industry, society, and the future economy,” said Eric Vogel, executive director of the IMS and the Hightower Professor in Materials Science and Engineering. 

Energy Day 2026 also marks an important milestone with the introduction of its first group of corporate sponsors: GE Vernova, Southern Company, Georgia Power, ExxonMobil, Southwire Spark, Gems Setra, and Tektronix. Their support reflects a shared commitment to advancing energy solutions. 

“Tektronix is excited to be part of Energy Day because advancing the future of energy starts with precise measurement and trusted insights,” said Christopher Bohn, president of Tektronix. “From power electronics and high voltage systems to grid scale renewables and AI driven control technologies, the breakthroughs discussed here directly align with the innovations we support through our products and solutions. Collaborating with Georgia Tech allows us to engage early with emerging research and the next generation of engineers—critical collaborators in building a cleaner, smarter, and more resilient energy ecosystem.”

The keynote address will be delivered by Vanessa Z. Chan, a nationally recognized leader at the intersection of innovation, commercialization, and emerging technologies. Chan will provide insights on accelerating technological discovery, emphasizing how AI is transforming energy and materials design. She will discuss how commercialization strategies must rapidly evolve across multidisciplinary energy domains from grid modernization to advanced batteries and clean manufacturing.

Building on the themes introduced in the keynote, the program transitions into a fireside chat with Georgia Tech EVPR Tim Lieuwen featuring Amit Kulkarni and Jim Walsh. Kulkarni is vice president of Product Management and Strategy for the Gas Power business within GE Vernova, where he oversees the world’s largest portfolio of power generation equipment. Walsh, vice president of GE Vernova’s Consulting Services, leads teams providing innovative solutions across the full spectrum of power generation, delivery, and utilization.

Next comes a policy-focused panel that will explore the surge in power demand driven by AI, how the United States is addressing today’s most urgent energy challenges, and the long-term implications of today’s decisions for a sustainable energy future. Bringing together leading voices in U.S. environmental and energy policy, the panel features Joe Aldy of Harvard University and former special assistant to the president for Energy and Environment; Al McGartland of New York University’s Institute for Policy Integrity and former Environmental Protection Agency lead economist and director of the National Center for Environmental Economics; and Kevin Rennert, fellow and director of the Comprehensive Climate Strategies Program at Resources for the Future and former staff member on the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.

The second panel focuses on critical materials — the foundation of advanced energy systems and digital technologies. As AI, data centers, and advanced energy technologies drive demand for critical materials, securing them now requires integration and coordination across the entire value chain. Panelists include Rachel Galloway, British consul general in Atlanta; Vijay Murugesan, head of Materials Intelligence and Digital Innovation at Amazon; Colin Spellmeyer, executive strategic sourcing leader at GE Vernova;  Charles Sims, Tennessee Valley Authority Distinguished Professor of Energy and Environmental Policy at the University of Tennessee; and Nortey Yeboah, principal engineer at Southern Company. Together, they will offer perspectives on the policy and economic frameworks shaping the energy supply chain, from developing raw resources to manufacturing the technologies essential to future energy systems.

In the afternoon, participants can dive deeper into specialized topics through three focused technical tracks. 

• “Meeting the Demand for Power” will examine how emerging technologies, advanced nuclear systems, and renewable integration can work together to deliver reliable, resilient electricity.
• “Data Center Infrastructure and Resources” will explore innovations in thermal management technologies, energy-efficient computing, and the broader resource impacts of expanding digital infrastructure.
• “Grid Technologies and Markets” will highlight strategies for strengthening grid capacity, incorporating demand-side management, and optimizing carbon performance as energy systems evolve.

“Meeting the rapidly rising electricity demand driven by AI requires bold ideas, coordinated action, and research that moves at the speed of innovation,” said Yuanzhi Tang, executive director of the SEI. “Energy Day 2026 brings together the people and expertise needed to shape resilient, sustainable energy systems for the future. At Georgia Tech, we see this event as a catalyst for new partnerships, new solutions, and a shared commitment to strengthening the nation’s energy foundation.”

Energy Day 2026 is designed for researchers advancing emerging energy technologies, policymakers navigating shifting regulatory and geopolitical landscapes, industry professionals seeking insight into emerging tools and supply chains, and students preparing to enter one of the most consequential sectors of the decade. It also welcomes anyone interested in AI, sustainability, electrification, and critical materials. 

Join us to explore the future of energy. To learn more and register, visit: Energy Day 2026.

“Four minutes is too long.”

That’s the note undergraduate Chris Zuo sent me along with photos of countless mosquito bites on his bare skin. This full-body massacre wasn’t the result of a camping trip gone awry. He’d spent that limited amount of time in a room with 100 hungry mosquitoes while wearing nothing but a mesh suit we thought would have protected him.

Thus began our three-year journey trying to understand the behavior of a deceivingly simple insect, the mosquito. It may sound like a professor’s sadistic plan, but, really, we did everything by the book. Our university’s institutional review board approved our procedures, making sure Chris was safe and not coerced in any way. The mosquitoes were disease-free and native to our home state of Georgia. And this session resulted in the first and last bites anyone received during the study.

Besides my role as torturer of students, I am an author and professor at Georgia Tech with over 20 years of experience studying the movement of animals.

Mosquitoes are the world’s most dangerous animal. The diseases they carry, from malaria to dengue, cause over 700,000 deaths per year. More people have died from mosquitoes than wars.

The world spends US$22 billion per year on billions of liters of insecticides, millions of pounds of larvicides, and millions of insecticide-treated bed nets – all to fight a tiny insect that weighs 10 times less than a grain of rice and has only 200,000 neurons.

Yet, people are losing the war on mosquitoes. These insects are evolving to thrive in cities and spreading disease more rapidly with climate change. How can such simple animals find us so easily?

Scientists know mosquitoes have terrible eyesight and depend on chemical cues to make up for it. Knowing what attracts a mosquito, though, isn’t enough to predict its behavior. You can know a heat-seeking missile is drawn to heat, but you still won’t know how a missile works.

Enter Chris and his self-sacrifice in the mosquito room. By tracking the flight of many mosquitoes around him, we hoped to determine how they made decisions in response to his presence. Understanding how mosquitoes respond to humans is a first step to controlling them.

How Mosquitoes Zero In On Their Meal

Out of 3,500 species of mosquitoes, over 100 species are classified as anthropophilic, meaning they prefer humans for lunch. Certain species of mosquitoes will find the one person among a whole herd of cattle in order to suck human blood.

This is quite a feat considering mosquitoes are weak flyers. They stop flying in a slight 2-3 mph breeze, the same air speed generated by a horse’s swinging tail. In calmer conditions, mosquitoes use their minuscule brains to follow human heat, moisture and odors that are carried downwind.

Carbon dioxide, the byproduct of respiration of all living animals, is particularly attractive. Mosquitoes notice carbon dioxide as well as you notice the stink of a full dumpster, detecting it up to 30 feet (9 meters) away from a host, where concentrations dip to a few parts per million, like a few cups of dye in an Olympic-size pool.

Mosquitoes’ vision isn’t much help as they hunt for their next blood meal. Their two compound eyes have several hundred individual lenses called ommatidia, each about the width of a human hair. They produce a somewhat blurry mosaic or pixelated image. Due to the laws of optics, mosquitoes can discern an adult-size human only at a few meters away. With their vision alone, they cannot distinguish a human from a small tree. They inspect every dark object.

Gathering the Flight-Path Data

The challenge with studying mosquito flight is that, like trash-talking teenagers, most of what they do is meaningless noise. Mosquitoes flying in an empty room are largely making random changes in flight speed and direction. We needed many flight trajectories to cut through the noise.

One of our collaborators, University of California, Riverside, biologist Ring Cardé, told us that back in the 1980s, scientists conducted “bite studies” by stripping down to their underwear and slapping the mosquitoes that landed on their naked bodies. He said nudity prevented confounding variables, such as the color of a shirt’s fabric.

Chris and I looked at each other. Sit naked and wait to become mosquito prey? Instead, we designed the mesh suit that Chris originally wore into the mosquito room. But after seeing Chris’ bites, we needed a better way.

Instead, Chris washed long-sleeved clothes in unscented detergent and wore gloves and a face mask. Fully protected, Chris only had to stand and wait, while a cloud of mosquitoes swarmed him.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention introduced us to the Photonic Sentry, a camera that simultaneously tracks hundreds of flying insects in a room. It records 100 frames per second at 5 mm resolution for a space like a large studio apartment. In just a few hours, Chris and another graduate student, Soohwan Kim, generated more mosquito flight data than had previously been measured in human history.

Jörn Dunkel, Chenyi Fei and Alex Cohen, our mathematician collaborators at MIT, told us that the geometry of Chris’ body was still too complicated to study the mosquitoes’ reactions. Mathematicians excel at simplifying complex problems to their essence. Chenyi suggested we go easy on Chris – why not replace him with a simple dummy: a black Styrofoam ball on a stick combined with a canister of carbon dioxide.

Over the next two years, Chris filmed the mosquitoes circling the Styrofoam dummies mercilessly. Then he vacuumed up the mosquitoes, trying not to get bitten.

Deciphering the Trajectories

A mosquito flies like you would an airplane: it turns left or right, accelerates or hits the brakes. We determined a mosquito’s flight behavior as a function of its speed, location and direction with respect to the target as the first step in creating our model of their behavior.

Our confidence in our behavioral rules increased as we read more trajectories, ultimately using 20 million mosquito positions and speeds. This idea of incorporating observations to support a mathematical hypothesis is a 200-year-old idea called Bayesian inference. We illustrated the mosquito behavior we’d observed in a web application.

Using our model, we showed how different targets cause mosquitoes to fly differently. Visual targets cause fly-bys, where mosquitoes fly past the target. Carbon dioxide causes double takes, where mosquitoes slow down near the target. The combination of a visual cue and carbon dioxide creates high-speed orbiting patterns.

Up until now, we had used only experiments with Styrofoam spheres to train our model. The true test was whether it could predict mosquito flights around a human. Chris returned to the chamber, this time wearing all white clothes and a black hat, turning himself into a bull’s-eye. Our model successfully predicted the distribution of mosquitoes around him. We identified zones of danger, where there was a high chance of a mosquito circling around him.

Predicting mosquito behavior is a first step toward outsmarting them. In mosquito-prone areas, people design houses with features to prevent mosquitoes from following human cues and entering. Similarly, mosquito traps suck in mosquitoes when they get too close but still allow between 50% and 90% of mosquitoes to escape. Many of these designs are based on trial and error. We hope that our study provides a more precise tool for designing methods for mosquito capture or deterrence.

When Chris’ mother attended his master’s degree defense, I asked her how she felt about her son using himself as bait for mosquitoes. She said she was very proud. So am I – and not just because I’m relieved Chris didn’t ask me to take his place in the mosquito chamber.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Jie Wu, an engineering graduate student, was studying a type of striking white beetle found in Southeast Asia and attempting to figure out how to mimic its brilliant color when an unexpected discovery upended the experiment.

Jie and I had been hoping to identify naturally occurring whitening pigments that could be used in paper and paints. The beetle’s white exoskeleton is made from a compound called chitin, which is a type of carbohydrate – one that is also commonly found in crab and lobster shells.

First, Jie extracted chitin nanofibers from crab shells obtained from food waste that are chemically the same as those found in the white beetles. But instead of creating a white material as intended, Jie produced dense, transparent films. The nanofibers more readily assembled in tightly packed films than in the porous structures Jie desired.

On a whim, Jie measured the rate at which oxygen passed through the film. The result was astonishing: The barrier allowed less oxygen through than many existing packaging plastics.

That serendipitous finding in 2014 shifted my team of engineering students’ focus from color to packaging. We asked whether natural materials could rival the performance of common plastics. In the years since, our team has used this discovery to create biodegradable films that offer a more sustainable and effective alternative to plastic packaging.

Challenges of Plastic Packaging

Plastic packaging is commonly used to protect food, pharmaceuticals and personal care products. These plastics keep out moisture and oxygen from the air, so products stay fresh and safe.

Most packaging has several layers that work together to keep air out, but these layers hinder reuse and recycling efforts. As a result, most of this plastic barrier packaging is discarded to landfills as single-use materials.

Many researchers have sought alternatives that are renewable, biodegradable or recyclable, yet just as effective. At Georgia Tech, my team of students and post-docs has spent more than a decade tackling this problem. This journey began with that beetle.

Building a Better Barrier

Chitin is widely available in food waste and mushrooms, and it is used in products such as water filters and wound dressing. However, our early attempts to scale up the film technology based on the beetle-inspired experiment failed.

In 2018, the team made an important leap forward by using spray coating to create layers of chitin and cellulose nanomaterials. Cellulose, like chitin, is a carbohydrate polymer – a chain of repeating carbohydrate units – and it is obtained from plants. These abundant natural materials have opposite electric charges, which led to better barrier performance when we combined them than either material alone.

In this approach, the team sprayed down a layer of chitin, followed by a layer of cellulose. The opposite charges between the chitin and cellulose created a long-range attraction between them that binds the layers to create a dense interface.

Later, in collaboration with Meisha Shofner, a materials scientist, and Tequila Harris, a mechanical engineer, other students showed these coatings could be applied with scalable, roll-to-roll techniques. Roll-to-roll coating methods are preferred in industry because the coatings are applied continuously to large rolls of a substrate material, such as paper or other biodegradable plastics.

Still, humidity posed a major challenge, limiting any real-world applications. Moisture swelled the film, allowing more oxygen to sneak through.

Then came another breakthrough. In 2024, another collaborator, Natalie Stingelin, and I discovered that two common food components resisted water vapor when combined: carboxymethylcellulose – which is found in ice cream, for example – and citric acid.

The result was a film that hindered the transmission of moisture. The citric acid reacted with the cellulose to form cross-links, which are chemical junctions that bind the cellulose molecules. Once bound, they reduced the film’s moisture uptake.

We integrated this new discovery with the prior work by combining the citric acid and cellulose, and then casting this mixture as a freestanding film by coating it onto a substrate, such as chitin.

However, that formulation did not have strong oxygen barrier properties because it did not contain the highly crystalline cellulose nanomaterials from our first film. Our team’s most recent achievement, from October 2025, combines the above innovations. As a result, we’ve created a bio-based film that is an excellent barrier to both oxygen and moisture.

Scaling Up Production

When cast into thin films, these components self-organize into a dense structure that resists swelling with water vapor. Tests showed that even at 80% humidity the film matched or outperformed common packaging plastics.

The materials are renewable, biodegradable and compostable. Our team has filed several patent applications, and we are working with industry partners to develop specific packaging uses.

One challenge that applications face is a limited supply of the bio-based components compared to the high volume of conventional plastics. Like any new material, it would take time for manufacturers to develop supply chains as the films begin to be used.

For example, the market demand for purified chitin is small right now, as it is used in niche applications, such as wound dressings and water filtration. Due to its variety of uses, packaging could increase that market demand.

The next challenge is scaling up from experimental films to industrial production, which would likely take several years. The team is exploring roll-to-roll coating techniques and working with industry partners to integrate these materials into existing packaging lines.

Policy and consumer demand will also play a role. As governments push for bans on single-use plastics and companies set sustainability targets, bio-based films could become part of the solution.

The story of this breakthrough reminds me that science often advances through unexpected results. From a failed attempt to mimic a beetle’s color to a promising alternative to plastic, this research shows how curiosity can lead to solutions for some of our biggest challenges.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

The event kicked off with a keynote address from Alex Fitzsimmons, acting undersecretary of the Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER) at the U.S. Department of Energy. He shared insights into the administration’s work at the intersection of cybersecurity and the rapidly evolving U.S. energy sector. The first panel of the day, “Energy Innovation,” explored leaders’ perspectives on organizational innovation within the industry. With Tech undergraduate Neil Ghosh moderating the panel, Roderick Jackson, Jamie Barber, and Mark Tozzi discussed emerging energy technologies and their potential impact on the industry. 

Later, the Industry Showcase featured representatives from energy companies such as GE Vernova, Cherry Street Energy, Orion, GTA, Kimley Horn, and E4E Solutions, providing valuable networking and career development opportunities for students and professionals. A panel on “Overcoming Growing Pains” followed, with Josh Stallings, vice president of Power Delivery Strategy and Support at Georgia Power; Daniel Molzahn, associate professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE); and Lisa Berry, GE Vernova’s technical director for Decarbonization and Data Centers for the Americas region. The discussion was moderated by Radhika Sharma, co-president of the Energy Club and a graduate student in ECE, and focused on current challenges facing the rapidly growing energy industry.

One of the standout moments of the conference was the Student Symposium, where 16 student researchers presented their work while competing for $1,000 in prize money sponsored by Cobb EMC. Projects ranged from residential demand management optimization studies to the challenges and viability of hydrogen combustion engines. Erik Barbosa earned first place for his research on a multiscale approach to thermochemical energy storage within buildings. Daksh Adhikari received second place for examining the mitigation of flow boiling instabilities with active flow control, and William Schertzer placed third for work using machine learning and neural networks to model anion exchange membrane degradation. 

The final event of the day, “Scaling Emergent Energy Technologies,” focused on growing the newest energy technologies within the industry. Moderated by Georgia Tech undergraduate James Lovely, the panel included Luke Bockewitz, director of business development at Kinetics; Nian Liu, associate professor and Robert G. Miller Faculty Fellow in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering; and Thomas Cuthbert, chief technology officer at Emrgy. The conference closed with a keynote speech from James Marlow, president and CEO of Southface Institute, who provided a framework for thinking through innovation and tactical advice for aspiring energy innovators and leaders.

"The level of organization and vision demonstrated by the students was outstanding,” Molzahn said. “By focusing on the evolving energy landscape and inviting experts from across the field, they created an event that sparked important conversations for our campus.” 

“It was an honor to serve as the Energy Club’s 2026 conference chair and work alongside the strong energy community at Georgia Tech,” said Jonathan Acree. “Meaningful innovation in energy depends on collaboration, and it was truly encouraging to see such an interdisciplinary group of talented students, researchers, and industry leaders come together around the shared goal of advancing our energy future.”

The conference also highlighted Georgia Tech’s role as a hub for forward-thinking dialogue on global energy challenges — and the importance of collaboration and innovation in shaping the evolving energy landscape and fostering the next generation of leaders in the field. 

Written by Georgia Tech students: Braden Queen, Orit Endalk, Eli Acree, Radhika Sharma

More than 6,200 high school students across Georgia tuned in for Engineers Week 2026. Through a series of online talks, Georgia Tech researchers shared a glimpse of the technologies shaping the future.  

Funded by Roland Ewubare, a distinguished Nigerian lawyer and corporate executive, the fellowship recognizes emerging scholars whose master’s or doctoral work meaningfully connects with societal engagement and impact. 

The program expands opportunities for graduate researchers committed to addressing real world challenges through innovative, community centered inquiry.

Nimo is a third year Ph.D. student in computer science and a graduate research assistant in the Technologies and International Development Lab led by Michael L. Best, executive director of the Institute for People and Technology and professor in both the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs and the School of Interactive Computing. He is co-advised by Irfan Essa, professor in the School of Interactive Computing.

Nimo’s research explores human centered natural language processing for healthcare, as well as multilingual AI systems in low resource contexts. Nimo develops tools to evaluate and improve the safety, robustness, and global inclusion of language technologies. His broader goal is to build AI systems that are fair, reliable, and effective across diverse languages and cultures, helping ensure that technological advances benefit communities often overlooked in mainstream AI development.

“I’m very grateful to receive this fellowship for societal impact,” Nimo said. “Thank you for this support and believing in the work, and I’m excited to keep building research that translates into real world benefit.”

Nimo earned his B.S. in electrical and computer engineering from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia, and his M.S. in computer science from the University of Texas at Austin.

“It was a hypothesis. I was the experiment, and the hypothesis was proven true.” 

Can an inner-city student who grew up below the poverty line earn a Ph.D. and make a career in research? In theory, yes.  

The barriers are many. But literature suggests that early exposure to STEM and research opportunities can increase the odds for students in need.  

For Kendreze Holland, the idea of making it to college and earning an advanced degree was a hypothesis. Sure, theoretically it could be done — but in his own home, not everyone had even made it past high school.  

Often, the first question on the way to scientific discovery is: What if? What if a student like Holland received the right help at the right time? What if he was guided along the way by mentors who were leaders in their fields? What if he was given the opportunity to develop professional skills and make valuable connections? 

Holland asked himself: What if he could be the one to prove the hypothesis true? 

Introduction 

Holland grew up in northwest Atlanta, one of seven children raised by a single mother. Being one of so many children, most would struggle to stand out. But Holland always sought to be different.  

“My perpetual intention was to be less of a burden to my mother,” he said. “Since my mother’s education limited her abilities to help with my schoolwork, I went above the call of duty to stand out in academics.” 

His mother’s education was cut short in ninth grade so she could raise her first child, Holland’s older sister, and no one in his family had gone to college. In his mind, he had three career paths to choose from: football, hip hop, or retail.  

“Standing at a solid 5 foot 8, the first would have been difficult,” he joked. “And the latter two were not my calling.” 

Just like his mother, the course of his life changed in his ninth-grade year. For Holland, it began an academic journey he never expected.  

In 2012, he was attending B.E.S.T. Academy, an all-boys public school for grades six through 12 focused on business and STEM. Biology class was just another hour waiting to pass for the 15-year-old Holland, until the day two guest speakers from Georgia Tech walked into the room with “some weird apparatuses and mechanical chopsticks.” 

The two guests used the equipment — gel electrophoresis systems and pipettes — to show the boys what research can look like in real life. 

“This experience sparked within me a drive for science, and it was the first time I realized that I wanted to, and could, attain an advanced scientific degree,” Holland said.  

The two speakers were Manu Platt, a professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University, and Jerald Dumas, a postdoctoral researcher. Platt and Dumas were there to recruit students for a new program called Project ENGAGES within the Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB).  

The program was co-founded by Platt and the late Robert M. Nerem, IBB’s founding executive director, to give students like Holland an opportunity to participate in real research projects that would hopefully plant a seed in the next generation of scientists.  

Students come from one of eight partner schools in Atlanta. Once accepted, they are connected to a Georgia Tech graduate student who mentors them and supervises their work, and they get paid to work in their assigned lab for one year.  

Project ENGAGES does more than expose students to STEM concepts and ideas. It equips them with the skills and knowledge to carry out their own independent research projects. They also have opportunities to establish connections with university faculty and industry representatives who can provide career guidance and support. 

Methods 

Though Holland didn’t meet the program’s age requirement in 2012, he applied again the next year and was accepted. During his junior and senior years of high school, he worked in Platt’s lab, where he aided with projects involving proteins, cell cultures, and antibodies.  

“Over the course of those two years, the growth I saw scientifically, professionally, and in maturity, all corroborated my belief that Kendreze was going far, and able to push past whatever goals and obstacles he comes up against,” said Platt, now the director of the Center for Biomedical Engineering Technology Acceleration housed within the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering.  

Holland's experience sparked a love for science and a career-long connection with Georgia Tech. After high school, he graduated summa cum laude with a degree in chemistry from Georgia State University. As an undergraduate, he stayed connected with Tech and with IBB as a Petit Scholar, a yearlong mentorship program and research experience for top students around Atlanta. 

“I really wanted to stay close to home, and I felt like everything was in my backyard,” he said. “There are many people who come here from other places to Tech because of the great science that is going on. There’s something special about Atlanta, and I’m just getting the best of what I can from it.” 

He credits his time in Project ENGAGES with giving him the confidence and resilience to continue toward his goals. Like many others in the program, he was a first-generation college student with little to no guidance for his academic career. The holistic approach of Project ENGAGES provided professional development opportunities and standardized test preparation to ready him for life in college and beyond. 

“I knew I wanted to go to grad school, but I didn’t know I was going to do all these things,” he said. “Having that one goal sprouted a lot of side quests that just grew into something bigger.” 

After graduating from Georgia State in 2020, Holland was accepted into Georgia Tech’s Bioengineering Graduate Program as a doctoral student. In December 2025, he became the first Project ENGAGES alumnus to successfully defend his dissertation, and he is expected to graduate this spring. 

Lakeita Servance, assistant director of Outreach Initiatives at IBB, was the program manager for Project ENGAGES when Holland was accepted and cheered him on more than 10 years later as he presented his doctoral research. 

“As I sat in that room while he was defending his dissertation and sharing his research with all of us, I still reflected on that boy I saw at 16 years old,” she said. “It was this full circle moment to see him make it all the way back here. The investment we made over a decade ago has paid off in such a large way.” 

Results 

In addition to being the first in his family to go to college and earn an advanced degree, Holland received financial support from the National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship Program; was awarded multiple prestigious fellowships, including FORD, GEM, and Herbert P. Haley; landed an internship with 3M Corporate Research Materials Laboratory; and served as a mentor in the Nakatani Research and International Experience for Students. He has published papers, led panel discussions, applied for patents, and presented his research at national conferences.   

“All that stemmed from Project ENGAGES,” he said. “And more importantly, I applied to be a mentor for the ENGAGES program.” 

Holland said some of his most meaningful experiences have come from being able to give back. He has served as a mentor, both formally and informally, to more than half a dozen students, some who come from backgrounds much like his own. 

“I wanted to give back to the program because it poured so much into me. They were able to get me all the way to the Ph.D. level, so I knew that I could use my grind to help other students.” 

Conclusion 

Having proved the hypothesis true, Holland is turning his focus to the future, considering his options in academia and corporate research while he continues to work as a postdoc at Georgia Tech.  

His research in John Blazeck’s lab focuses on cellular engineering using CRISPR gene editing technology to regulate gene profiles, meaning he and other researchers can turn certain genes up and others down to affect the way cells respond. Though he is currently working with yeast cells, he hopes that his research will translate into mammalian cells that could have more clinical applications.  

“In terms of diseases and disorders, you can use it to tune genes to help someone experiencing cancer by helping immune cells or stopping cancer cells from dividing rapidly,” he said. “You can also help other cells to survive longer, and longer cell viability means potentially a patient can survive longer.” 

What began as a presentation in a high school science class has led Holland to a future he never expected. Tequila Harris, professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and co-director of Project ENGAGES, said his story shows others that they can do the same.  

“I believe his achievements will inspire and motivate generations of students to pursue dreams that they may not have known they had. Kendreze Holland has fundamentally shown others that there are multiple pathways to engage in STEM and that opportunities and access to advanced degrees can be attained by those willing to do the work.” 

Holland's story is symbolic of the ultimate goal for Project ENGAGES: to change the lives of talented young people who may never have had the opportunity to succeed.  

“That’s why I was so adamant about getting my Ph.D.,” he said, “to show that one could potentially overcome what they were going through to do something extraordinary.” 

Project ENGAGES is possible thanks to philanthropic support from our generous community: Donate here.

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

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

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

Her tool is a Venn diagram that asks three questions:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

With its compact form factor, capable arm, and relatively affordable price, Stretch has already become a favorite among researchers looking to push the boundaries of assistive robotics. The pitch competition invites Georgia Tech students to imagine not just what the robot can do, but what it should do to meaningfully improve daily life for people aging with disabilities.

This year, teams across several disciplines—from engineering, to business, to computing, and the sciences—submitted video pitches outlining how their technology concept tackles real-world problems users face. The winning team earned $1,000 and, more importantly, the chance to spend a semester working with Stretch in Georgia Tech’s Aware Home turning their pitch into a working prototype. Sponsors included TechSAge, AI-CARING, the Institute for People and Technology (IPaT), and Hello Robot.

First place was awarded to “Chef Stretch,” a concept aimed at helping older adults with disabilities determine whether food has spoiled so they can prepare and consume food safely. The five-student team included Caitlin Woodward and Elizabeth Thompson (College of Engineering), Aditi Ashok (Scheller College of Business), and Michelle Gu and Vedita Sawhney (College of Sciences).

While Chef Stretch took the top prize, the judges awarded an honorable mention to Ali Vafaeian (College of Computing) for “Bimanual Clothes Manipulation and Assisted Dressing” with a $500 cash prize. His proposal tackles another essential activity of daily living, dressing, which can be challenging task for many individuals with mobility impairments. 

Read more about this competition and watch the winning students pitches >>

“IPaT is bringing two core competencies to both of these research pillars,” said Maribeth Gandy Coleman, IPaT’s director of research. “First, we’re advocating for and supporting the use of people-centered techniques to inform the research and co-designing the resulting system with all the stakeholders. Second, we’re also making sure we can translate this research into a real return on investment for Children’s. We are ensuring that what we design can be deployed in the hospital, and that it can be integrated with their existing systems and merge as seamlessly as possible with their existing workflows.”

Supporting Data Science, Machine Learning, and Artificial Intelligence (Pillar 1)
Pillar 1 focuses on harnessing artificial intelligence to enable more personalized and predictive pediatric care. The work aims to improve data collection infrastructure, support equitable AI practices, and build a Children’s-Georgia Tech pediatric AI collaboration that integrates advanced AI tools into clinical workflows.

Clinical Deterioration Prediction
One of the flagship projects within Pillar 1 involves developing machine learning models that can detect clinical deterioration in hospitalized children. The goal is to identify when a patient needs urgent escalation to the intensive care unit — faster and more accurately than traditional monitoring.

To achieve this, IPaT research scientists are:

• Extracting and securely transferring electronic health record (EHR) data from Children’s clinical systems.
• Training predictive models using that real‑world data.
• Building the software infrastructure required to deploy these models inside Children’s.
• Integrating model outputs directly into the EHR using Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources communication protocols. (FHIR is an international standard for the electronic exchange of healthcare information.)

This infrastructure is intentionally designed not just for this single project but as a repeatable, scalable framework for future AI‑enabled clinical tools developed through the Children’s-Georgia Tech partnership.

AI-Enhanced Decision-Making for Hospital Operations
A second emerging project under Pillar 1 aims to address one of healthcare’s most persistent operational challenges: ICU capacity management. Seasonal fluctuations, such as surges in flu or Covid‑19 cases, can create sudden ICU demand surges and staff illnesses, which can make scheduling and staffing decisions challenging.

IPaT is building models that incorporate historical hospital activity, seasonal variation, and real‑time census and staffing levels to predict scheduling needs and help Children’s optimize resource allocation. This research is just beginning, but holds the potential for improving both care delivery and staff well‑being. More importantly, IPaT is applying user-centered design and research techniques along with the engineering work to engage with Children’s people and processes to ensure that these prediction and resource allocation models actually work, and that they will actually be used and useful in the Children’s clinical environment. 

 

Supporting Patient‑Centered Care Delivery (Pillar 2)
Pillar 2 seeks to improve pediatric outcomes by focusing on the “whole child” — physical, psychological, social, and emotional well‑being — while accounting for the needs of families, caregivers, and community environments. Particular emphasis is placed on behavioral health, rural healthcare access, and chronic illness in underserved populations.

IPaT contributes to this work on two fronts:

User Experience and Workflow Research
IPaT’s user experience (UX) researchers conduct interviews, workflow studies, and design evaluations with Children’s clinicians and staff. This human‑centered research helps shape the interfaces, processes, and technologies needed to deliver patient‑centered care in practical, usable ways. These contributions ensure that tools created through the partnership align with the realities of clinical practice.

Data Integration for Behavioral and Social Insights
For Pillar 2 research, IPaT’s secure data enclave enables Children’s EHR data to be transferred, stored, and analyzed in a HIPAA‑compliant environment. Researchers are using this infrastructure to combine clinical data with voluntarily contributed social media information from consenting participants. The aim is to explore indicators of psychological well‑being, behavioral health trends, and early warnings related to self‑harm.

A Secure, Scalable Data Infrastructure to Support Both Pillars
The IPaT secure data enclave provides a protected, secure environment for storing and analyzing sensitive patient information. It serves as the backbone connecting Georgia Tech researchers with Children’s clinical systems. Both Pillar 1 and Pillar 2 research initiatives rely on this Georgia Tech IPaT-managed secure infrastructure to safely enable:

• EHR data transfer and storage.
• Machine learning model development.
• Testing and validation workflows.
• Eventual operational deployment back into Children’s systems.

This secure, scalable architecture is central to the shared goal of translating research into actionable clinical tools.

Accelerating Pediatric Discovery 
Georgia Tech’s partnership with Children’s represents a powerful model for cross‑institutional innovation. By aligning IPaT’s strengths in human‑centered design, machine learning, and secure data systems with Children’s clinical expertise, IPaT is helping to build solutions that move quickly from concept to bedside.

As these projects grow, especially with the ongoing expansion of the clinical deterioration system and the launch of the AI-enhanced operations initiative, IPaT research scientists anticipate even greater opportunities to support Children’s mission and improve pediatric health outcomes.

Thank you to Richard Starr for providing insight about these research projects.

The study finds that higher electricity rates and greater shares of college-educated residents are associated with lower household consumption, while larger homes, electric heating, and higher incomes drive usage upward. Notably, electric vehicle (EV) incentive programs correlate with increased household electricity demand—even after controlling for public charging infrastructure—suggesting these programs effectively promote EV adoption and at-home charging. In contrast, energy efficiency (EE) and renewable energy (RE) programs show no clear relationship with consumption in multivariate models. 

Read Full Story and listen to a related podcast on the EPIcenter Newspage

The study finds that EV ownership remains relatively low among households with “median” characteristics — approximately 1% of household vehicles are electric — but increases substantially when households report access to community charging infrastructure. In contrast, single‑vehicle households and households located in states without Tesla dealerships exhibit significantly lower EV ownership rates. When examining adoption intent, the authors find that access to community and workplace charging, trust in the federal government, more liberal political ideology, younger age, and urban residence are consistently associated with higher stated interest in EV adoption. Notably, single‑vehicle households express significantly greater intent to adopt one in the future, despite being less likely to own an EV today. The analysis also reveals that public transit users show elevated EV adoption intent at earlier stages of consideration, suggesting potential complementarities between transit use and personal vehicle electrification.

Read Full Story and listen to a related podcast on the EPIcenter Newspage

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

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

AI’s Hidden Footprint: How Data Centers Reshape Communities

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Economist Probes the Energy Costs of the AI Boom

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

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

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

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

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

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

Gamifying a Strained and Aging Power Grid

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

From Coastlines to Communities

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

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

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

AI Data Centers: A New Resilience Frontier

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

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

Campus as a Living Laboratory

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

Finding Joy in Climate Action

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

Building a Shared Vision

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

After the conversations, several themes emerged:

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

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

Diabetic foot ulcers, for example, are slow to heal and can increase the risk of infection, hospitalization, and even amputation. 

To address this critical challenge, researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) and the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) have developed a sensor designed to monitor chronic wounds in real-time. Embedded directly into a bandage, this flexible, low-cost device could transform wound management for diabetic patients and other critical applications — such as providing direct treatment to soldiers on the battlefield or managing chronic wounds in elderly populations and patients with limited healthcare access — by reducing invasive bandage changes and ensuring timely medical intervention.

“For diabetic patients with foot ulcers, long-term monitoring and care are essential,” said GTRI Principal Research Engineer and Project Lead Judy Song. “We were inspired by the success of wearable glucose monitors to develop a compact, affordable sensor tailored to wound care.”  

This project was supported by GTRI’s Independent Research and Development (IRAD) program between 2022-2025 and reflects the strength of interdisciplinary collaboration across Georgia Tech. Researchers from three out of GTRI’s eight laboratories developed the sensor with experts from the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering and the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Tech and Emory University.

About one in four people with diabetes will develop a foot ulcer at some point in their lives, making it one of the leading causes of foot amputations. For these patients, nerve damage and poor blood flow hinder the body’s natural healing process and allow wounds to linger and worsen. 

During the initial phases of their research, the team noted that nitric oxide (NO) had been previously identified as a key biomarker for wound health due to its central role in the healing process. Nitric oxide improves blood flow, reduces inflammation, promotes tissue growth and fights infection. By tracking nitric oxide levels in wounds, clinicians could determine whether a wound is improving or detect early signs of trouble. 

"Nitric oxide plays a fascinating, almost paradoxical, role in wound healing,” said GTRI Senior Research Engineer Victoria Razin, who is co-leading the project. “It’s essential for processes like blood flow and tissue repair, but can also signal when something is going wrong.”

At the core of the smart bandage is a flexible sensor powered by a three-electrode system capable of detecting changes in nitric oxide. The team used advanced Aerosol Jet® printing techniques to fabricate the sensor, significantly reducing production costs from thousands of dollars to just a few dollars per unit and making the design more affordable and scalable.

“Typically, prototyping these sensors can cost thousands of dollars, but our approach brought costs down dramatically,” said Chuck Zhang, the Eugene C. Gwaltney, Jr. Chair and Professor in ISYE and a program director at the National Science Foundation (NSF), who oversaw sensor fabrication for this project. “Lower costs let us iterate quickly and deliver something that could have real healthcare impact.”

To test the sensor’s accuracy, the team conducted extensive laboratory studies in both biological and simulated wound conditions. 

In one set of experiments, endothelial cell cultures were used to create “wounds” by scraping the cell layers. As the cells migrated to repair the gap, nitric oxide production increased, and the sensor successfully tracked these changes in real-time. Additional fluid tests using blood plasma and red blood cells demonstrated that the sensor could reliably detect nitric oxide in a variety of conditions that closely mimic real-world wound environments.

These experiments confirmed that the sensor can identify the fluctuations in nitric oxide associated with different phases of wound healing. 

Lab testing was led by Dr. Wilbur Lam, a professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering and at Emory University School of Medicine, with support from Kirby Fibben, a biomedical engineering Ph.D. student at Tech. 

"There’s a significant clinical need for real time, minimally invasive sensor technologies that detect nitric oxide,” said Dr. Lam. “While we’re starting with wound healing, there’s multiple other applications for vascular, hematologic, and pulmonary diseases as well.” 

The next step in the project is integrating the sensor into a functional wearable device. The team is combining the sensor with a miniaturized potentiostat (MicroPS) – a small electronic device that measures chemical signals – along with flexible electronic components and a system to transmit data to a mobile app. 

The MicroPS, designed by the GTRI research team, led by GTRI Research Engineer Curtis Mulady, enables compact electrochemical measurements and the wireless platform transmits nitric oxide readings from the bandage to a mobile app via Bluetooth. The app uploads the data to a cloud platform, giving clinicians the ability to remotely monitor wound progress in real time. This system could reduce the need for frequent in-person checkups, enabling earlier interventions and improving outcomes for patients.

Future iterations of the bandage aim to include “closed-loop” systems capable of both monitoring and treating wounds, said GTRI’s Song. For example, sensors could trigger a response, like releasing therapeutic agents or antimicrobials directly to the wound, when abnormalities are detected.

The researchers are also exploring commercialization pathways, including partnerships with medical device companies or the formation of a startup. 

“This sensor meets a real need for early detection of infection and to evaluate wound healing, and I believe it could have significant commercial success,” said Peter Hesketh, a professor in the School of Mechanical Engineering who led sensor design and performance testing. 

Other contributors to this project from GTRI include Mulady, Cora Weidner, Maxwell Blanchard, Rachel Erbrick and Christopher Heist. Zhaonan “Zeke” Liu, a postdoctoral fellow in ISYE, assisted with sensor fabrication, while Rizky Ilhamsyah, a graduate research assistant in the School of Mechanical Engineering, contributed to sensor design and performance testing. 

Writer: Anna Akins 
Photos: Sean McNeil 
GTRI Communications
Georgia Tech Research Institute
Atlanta, Georgia USA

For more information, please contact gtri.media@gtri.gatech.edu. 

To learn more about GTRI, visit: Georgia Tech Research Institute | GTRI

Leanne West, chief engineer of pediatric technologies at Georgia Tech and a national leader in pediatric health innovation, has been honored as a 2026 Innovator of the Year in Pediatric Health by the Atlanta Business Chronicle and selected as one of Titan CEO’s 2026 Georgia Titan 100 Honorees. These recognitions celebrate West’s leadership and impact in pediatric health innovation at both the local and national level. In January, West was also named chief research and innovation officer at Shriners Children’s, a role that expands her longstanding commitment to pediatric innovation. 

RMS is an engineering firm highly specialized in aerial and maritime combat systems, with offices in Texas and Georgia. This partnership combines VLRCOE’s strengths in rotorcraft aeromechanics and advanced configurations with RMS’ operational defense and applied systems engineering expertise to address a critical need for the U.S. Army.

The military has phased out or retired other drone vehicles, including the MQ-1 Gray Eagle, RQ-7 Shadow, and OH-58 Kiowa Warrior. Deploying a new AI-powered UAV can take over the intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions typically flown by those older UAVs. 

Read Full Story on the AE Webpage
 

Over the course of 36 hours, participants collaborated in teams to brainstorm, design, and prototype projects that promote sustainable practices based on diverse problem statements, addressing this year’s tracks: renewables; electrification & mobility; and smart grid. These themes targeted urgent issues, from balancing renewable energy supply and demand to safeguarding infrastructure against cyber threats and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Despite the arrival of a winter storm and the hackathon shifting to a fully virtual format, students persevered and produced top-tier projects, which were evaluated by a panel of judges. 

The event kicked off with an engaging opening ceremony featuring inspiring keynote speeches that set the tone for the hackathon’s ambitious objectives. Ann Dunkin, Distinguished External Fellow at Georgia Tech’s Strategic Energy Institute (SEI), served as the first of these keynotes, presenting her experiences as chief information officer for the U.S. Department of Energy. She gave participants, whether newcomers or veterans in the energy space, diverse problems to tackle, ranging from cybersecurity risks in substations to climate concerns in the age of artificial intelligence. Dunkin emphasized that no matter the challenge, a strong team can always develop innovative solutions. 

“I was impressed by the quality and completeness of the solutions that the students created over about 40 hours,” said Dunkin. "Students created real solutions that meet market needs, and they conveyed an incredible amount of information in the three minutes they had to present their solutions.” 

Despite the switch to a virtual format, participants could still talk to mentors throughout the event. These mentors included a Google lead, startup CEOs, Ph.D. researchers, and other professionals with decades of experience in the energy industry. Mentors provided feedback on participants’ ideas and guided them to think more deeply about the problems they chose. The various workshops also provided participants with a chance to dig deep into specific topics. 

Michael Levy, U.S. utilities lead at global consulting firm Baringa, presented his workshop on using data and modeling to shape utility decisions, policy, and regulatory strategy. GE Vernova representatives presented “The Energy of Change,” an interactive workshop featuring climate simulations and team challenges to explore the trade-offs between cost, grid capacity, and carbon impact in the real world. Major League Hacking provided guides on GitHub Copilot and Google AI Studio. The final workshop, “Org Efficiency in Early Startups,” was led by Hunter Harris from the technology incubator complex Atlanta Tech Village. Harris taught participants what to prioritize in an early startup, including how to build a management structure and find the right strategy for attracting customers. 

Troy Rice, vice president and general manager of Florida Power and Light under NextEra Energy, gave a keynote speech on utility business models and how to set yourself apart in a large industry. Rice discussed his experience, which began as a Tech graduate from the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering. After learning about NextEra’s business model, he eventually created and taught an internal class called “How NextEra Makes Money.” Rice used this story to explain the importance of becoming an expert in knowledge that others in your company overlook. He also discussed the future of energy generation, emphasizing the growth of renewable energy in utility portfolios and often-overlooked potential career opportunities. 

The energy and creativity culminated in the Project Expo, where 22 innovative solutions were showcased. Representatives from the Strategic Energy Institute, Microsoft, NextEra Energy, GE Vernova, and Georgia Tech professors judged projects, offering insights and feedback. 

The closing ceremony celebrated the participants’ achievements and the event highlights, featuring Emily Morris, founder and CEO of Emrgy, as the final keynote speaker. Morris shared insights from her experience as a technology startup founder in the energy sector, discussing the unique challenges of navigating a risk-averse industry. She encouraged aspiring entrepreneurs to start by envisioning their future press release to clarify their end goal and avoid getting lost in immediate challenges. Morris emphasized the importance of leveraging your network, whether your Georgia Tech connections or hometown community, regardless of whether you pursue academia, industry, or the startup world. 

With more than 110 registered participants, 22 project submissions, and leaders from some of the biggest energy and tech companies, EnergyHack@GT served as a platform for innovation and learning, showcasing the potential of student-led initiatives in shaping the future of energy and sustainability. Awards were presented to the top three projects for their creativity and impact, with the winning teams receiving cash prizes provided by the startup Tractian: 

• Best Overall Hack: AppliScan
• Second Place: TeraWatt
• Third Place: WattsUp 

Take a look at all the projects submitted: https://energyhack-gt-26.devpost.com/project-gallery

Written by Georgia Tech students: Braden Queen, Orit Endalk, Radhika Sharma 

Advancing the frontiers of regenerative medicine means more than pushing scientific boundaries — it means improving and extending human life. The Regenerative Engineering and Medicine Center (REM) is a partnership with Georgia Tech, Emory University, and the University of Georgia (UGA) that supports this mission through inter-institutional collaborations in research in regenerative medicine.  

Chirico led the development and publication of the Institute’s first Climate Action Plan and co-led Tech’s sustainability plan, Sustainability Next. She is LEED Green Associate (Leed GA) accredited and holds certifications in the Carbon Disclosure Project, the Global Reporting Initiative, WaterSense, climate action planning, and Home Energy Survey Professional.

She holds a Ph.D. in public policy from Georgia Tech, a master’s in public health with a major in environmental health, and a bachelor’s degree in management from Georgia Tech. She has published books and written numerous chapters on sustainability related to systems thinking, net zero strategies, adaptive management, and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals on leadership for the collective well-being.

Below is a brief Q&A with Chirico in which she discusses her focus areas and how her work at Georgia Tech influences the energy and infrastructure initiative here.

• What is your field of expertise, and at what point in your life did you first become interested in this area? 

My field of expertise is sustainability, with a focus on the intersection of environmental, social, and economic systems. Although I began my career in finance, I discovered my passion for sustainability during a year I spent working abroad in New Zealand in 2000. That experience opened my eyes to the importance of balancing economic development with environmental stewardship and social responsibility. When I returned to the United States, I pursued a master’s degree in environmental health, followed by a Ph.D. in environmental policy. Over the past 25 years, I’ve dedicated my career to advancing sustainability and creating meaningful impacts. I continue to be inspired by the tangible, positive results that emerge when organizations integrate sustainability principles into their decision-making.

• What questions or challenges sparked your current work at Georgia Tech? What are the big issues facing the campus infrastructure right now as it relates to energy?

One of the most pressing challenges today is strengthening resilience for our infrastructure, well-being, and natural resources. As our environment continues to change, the ability to both mitigate impacts and adapt effectively is essential to our success. In my work, I am committed to advancing a healthier, safer, and more sustainable campus. Much of my work focuses on planning, reporting, and guiding efforts to build a stable, reliable, and clean energy infrastructure. A major part of this involves balancing firm energy sources with intermittent renewable sources in a way that ensures both reliability and sustainability. Georgia Tech has already made meaningful progress by installing over 1 megawatt of solar capacity and piloting the Stryten battery storage system. These projects demonstrate what is possible. We still have a long way to go to reduce our emissions and scale clean energy solutions across campus. Continuing to strengthen our energy resilience and expand renewable integration will be critical to meeting our long‑term goals.

• What interests you the most about leading the energy and infrastructure initiative? Why is your initiative important to Georgia Tech’s energy goals? 

What interests me most is the opportunity to collaborate with some of the nation’s top energy researchers to identify the most resilient, scalable, and forward‑thinking energy solutions for our campus. I’m particularly passionate about bridging the gap between research and operations to support turning innovative work into tangible, real‑world applications that strengthen Georgia Tech’s infrastructure. Building strong partnerships across academics, operations, and industry is central to this effort. When these groups work together, we can accelerate progress, pilot new technologies, and create a living-learning campus that demonstrates what a resilient, low‑carbon future can look like.

• What are the broader regional, global, and social benefits of the energy and infrastructure initiative at Georgia Tech?

It creates benefits that reach far beyond our campus. By implementing clean, resilient energy systems, we contribute to regional progress in the Southeast. Our campus can serve as a model and test bed, demonstrating scalable solutions and sharing best practices with peer institutions, local governments, and industry partners. Globally, our research and operational innovations support the broader transition to cleaner, more reliable energy systems. And socially, these efforts promote healthier communities, reduce environmental burdens, and help prepare a skilled workforce for the rapidly growing energy sector.

• What are your hobbies? 

My favorite hobbies are hiking, reading, yoga, and paddleboarding. I also love spending time in nature and with family and friends.

An illustrious career focused on understanding the nuances of energy policy through analytics has shaped the career of Marilyn Brown, the Regents & Brook Byers Professor of Sustainable Systems at the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School of Public Policy at Georgia Tech.

The oil shortages of the 1970s galvanized Marilyn Brown to focus her graduate research on ways to improve energy security and affordability. This focus launched an impactful career for Brown, currently a Regents & Brook Byers Professor of Sustainable Systems at the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School of Public Policy at Georgia Tech.

Along the way she was an Associate Professor of Geography at the University of Illinois, a two-term Presidentially appointed regulator of the Tennessee Valley Authority, and the Energy Engineering Division Director and Program Manager of Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s research on energy efficiency, renewable energy, and the electric grid.

Over the years, Brown has authored seven books, 350 publications, and contributed to the 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assessment reports for which the IPCC shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.

Leading local climate impact efforts

Interested in the physical sciences and mathematics early on, Brown worked on understanding the “diffusion” of innovation: how advances propagate in the energy field.

Her current projects focus on both local and national climate-related challenges. This research has been enriched by surveys of energy service providers, utility regulators, manufacturers, consumers, and low-income households.

Understanding the role of influencers and perceived risks and paybacks, helps optimize energy policies and programs. With this premise in mind, Brown has explored the consequences of high energy bills on households living on the edge. She led the first nationwide evaluation of the world’s largest low-income energy efficiency initiative, the Weatherization Assistance Program. The results documented the magnitude of the problem of inefficient housing nationwide, and the particularly high energy burden of low-income households in the South.

Full Story on the EPIcenter Newspage.

Perhaps most notably, governance‑related concepts such as community engagement, siting justice, and public trust are largely absent from the dominant keyword clusters revealed through TF‑IDF and LDA analysis. This pattern contrasts with long‑standing evidence that nuclear deployment outcomes hinge on procedural fairness, transparency, and risk communication. As cities face rising electricity demand, climate‑driven outages, growing data center loads, and new siting pressures, the lack of urban‑relevant framing in national SMR strategies may limit the technology’s ability to support equitable and resilient energy systems.

The authors conclude that viewing SMRs chiefly as engineering solutions risks missing their potential contributions to multi‑service energy portfolios and resilience planning. They argue that meaningful integration of SMRs into smart energy cities will require a broader policy architecture—one that explicitly addresses governance, cross‑sectoral applications, spatial justice, and local participation. Expanding future analyses to include state, provincial, and municipal policies will also be essential, given that these levels of government oversee land use, community engagement, and emergency management—factors central to nuclear siting and energy justice.

To learn more and listen to a podcast on the paper, please visit the EPIcenter Newspage.

The prize recognizes outstanding student research produced within the School and highlights the value of EPIcenter’s sustained research support and professional development for graduate students.

Ramadhani’s award-winning paper, titled “Battery Storage and Natural Gas Generator Market Power,” was developed during his participation in EPIcenter’s Summer Research Program for graduate and doctoral students pursuing energy policy research at Georgia Tech. Through the program, he received research mentoring and communications coaching that strengthened his work.

“This award reflects what can happen when students have the time, mentorship, and support to fully develop their ideas,” said Laura Taylor, director of EPIcenter. “Our Summer Research Program is designed to help graduate students advance rigorous energy policy research while also building the skills needed to communicate that work effectively.”

Supporting Graduate Research in Energy Policy

The program supports graduate students whose work contributes to energy policy and innovation. Student affiliates receive funding, mentorship, and access to EPIcenter’s research and communications resources, helping them build their academic profiles and translate complex research for broader audiences. 

In addition, they gain valuable opportunities to present their work, participate in EPIcenter programs and events, share their research through EPIcenter’s communications platforms, and build their skills through tailored collaboration and training with EPIcenter staff.

During the summer, Ramadhani worked closely with EPIcenter staff and mentors. The program’s stipend allowed him to spend those months fully focused on his research, rather than taking on teaching or other responsibilities.

"Participating in the program really made my summer productive. I got a lot of good feedback on how to shape the idea into a paper," he said.

Advancing Emerging Scholars

Ramadhani’s recognition reflects EPIcenter’s broader commitment to supporting graduate students whose research addresses critical energy and policy challenges. By pairing research support with mentorship and communications training, the center helps students develop work that earns recognition well beyond the program itself.