As during previous editions, this year’s conference featured more than two dozen scientists, engineers, policy experts, and thought leaders from Georgia Tech and beyond, illustrating how collaboration across fields – from science and engineering to public policy and international affairs – helps to advance strategic research priorities. 

“Frontiers is about discovery and connections across disciplines and generations,” says Susan Lozier, dean of the College of Sciences and Betsy Middleton and John Clark Sutherland Chair. “This edition provided an inspiring glimpse into the future of space exploration and the many ways Georgia Tech is contributing to research and missions seeking answers to what lies beyond our planet.” 

Commitment to Space

Space research is a key institutional priority at Georgia Tech, which is home to numerous academic and research programs in planetary sciences, robotics, mission design, space policy, and other areas. 

The recently established Space Research Institute (SRI) serves as the central hub connecting the broad range of space-related research across campus. Led by Jud Ready, who also serves as principal research engineer at the Georgia Tech Research Institute, SRI has expanded support for space research and commercialization through initiatives such as the CreationsVC Space Fellows Program and Centers, Programs, and Initiatives seed grant program.

SRI’s efforts are in line with Georgia Tech’s long-standing contribution to space exploration. Hundreds of Yellow Jacket alumni work in the space sector, including several graduates who are playing key roles in the Artemis program. To date, more than a dozen Georgia Tech alumni have traveled to space.

Exploring the Final Frontier

The conference featured a series of panels and discussions led by faculty and researchers from the Colleges of Sciences and Engineering as well as the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts. 

Sessions explored how researchers are studying the processes and conditions that support planetary habitability, seeking to answer one of humanity’s greatest questions: Does life exist beyond Earth? Speakers also examined how analog fieldwork in Earth’s extreme environments can inform space exploration, and how space research, in turn, can deepen our understanding of our own world.

Additional conversations centered on building better space missions through improved understanding of team and individual resilience, data collection, navigation, and the development of advanced technologies like the robots developed through the NASA LASSIE Project. 

Frontiers also highlighted Georgia Tech’s commitment to preparing the next generation of space scientists, engineers, and leaders. Student training and engagement were recurring themes throughout the day, with speakers emphasizing opportunities for student-led and student-run missions and research. A panel of Georgia Tech alumni shared their own STEM career journeys, challenging the idea of “one right path” to success — and acknowledging the resources and opportunities available at the Institute. 

A highlight of the conference was a fireside chat with Atlanta-native, retired U.S. Army Colonel and NASA Astronaut R. Shane Kimbrough (M.S. Operations Research 1998). Kimbrough, who spent a total of 388 days in space and performed nine spacewalks across three missions, reflected on his career and the evolution of spaceflight. He emphasized the expanding role of public-private and international partnerships in advancing ambitious goals, such as creating a permanent human outpost on the Moon. 

Policy and Public

The conference also explored how policy influences space discovery and innovation, with discussions touching on such issues as space security, access, governance, sustainability — and the influence of technology and science fiction on public perception and policy. 

Panelists described current policy frameworks governing outer space as struggling to keep pace with rapidly advancing technologies and expanding activities. According to these experts, increasing tensions among commercial, research, and recreational uses of space call for greater coordination among private and government entities to balance competing priorities while maximizing opportunities for innovation and exploration. 

The conference was punctuated by a networking lunch connecting attendees with Atlanta’s public astronomy community – including partners at several universities and the Georgia Tech Astronomy Club, which set up telescopes for attendees to safely observe the sun. Later that evening, the Georgia Tech Observatory hosted its Public Night, welcoming the broader Atlanta community to campus for telescope views of Jupiter, the Orion Nebula, and other celestial bodies. 

The Observatory Night was a fitting conclusion to a full day focused on Georgia Tech’s commitment and contributions to inspiring future generations of space explorers through research, education, and outreach. 

Experience the Frontiers conference in pictures on the College of Sciences’ Flickr account.

Georgia Tech researchers are making AI easier to understand through their work on Transformer Explainer. The free, online tool shows non-experts how ChatGPT, Claude, and other large language models (LLMs) process language. 

Transformer Explainer is easy to use and runs on any web browser. It quickly went viral after its debut, reaching 150,000 users in its first three months. More than 563,000 people worldwide have used the tool so far.

Global interest in Transformer Explainer continues when the team presents the tool at the 2026 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2026). CHI, the world’s most prestigious conference on human-computer interaction, will take place in Barcelona, April 13-17.

[Related: GT @ CHI 2026]

“There are moments when LLMs can seem almost like a person with their own will and personality, and that misperception has real consequences. For example, there have been cases where teenagers have made poor decisions based on conversations with LLMs,” said Ph.D. student Aeree Cho.

“Understanding that an LLM is fundamentally a model that predicts the probability distribution of the next token helps users avoid taking its outputs as absolute. What you put in shapes what comes out, and that understanding helps people engage with AI more carefully and critically.”

A transformer is a neural network architecture that changes data input sequence into an output. Text, audio, and images are forms of processed data, which is why transformers are common in generative AI models. They do this by learning context and tracking mathematical relationships between sequence components.

Transformer Explainer demystifies how transformers work. The platform uses visualization and interaction to show, step by step, how text flows through a model and produces predictions.

Using this approach, Transformer Explainer impacts the AI landscape in four main ways:

• It counters hype and misconceptions surrounding AI by showing how transformers work.
• It improves AI literacy among users by removing technical barriers and lowering the entry for learning about AI.
• It expands AI education by helping instructors teach AI mechanisms without extensive setup or computing resources.
• It influences future development of AI tools and educational techniques by providing a blueprint for interpretable AI systems.

“When I first learned about transformers, I felt overwhelmed. A transformer model has many parts, each with its own complex math. Existing resources typically present all this information at once, making it difficult to see how everything fits together,” said Grace Kim, a dual B.S./M.S. computer science student. 

“By leveraging interactive visualization, we use levels of abstraction to first show the big picture of the entire model. Then users click into individual parts to reveal the underlying details and math. This way, Transformer Explainer makes learning far less intimidating.”

Many users don’t know what transformers are or how they work. The Georgia Tech team found that people often misunderstand AI. Some label AI with human-like characteristics, such as creativity. Others even describe it as working like magic.

Furthermore, barriers make it hard for students interested in transformers to start learning. Tutorials tend to be too technical and overwhelm beginners with math and code. While visualization tools exist, these often target more advanced AI experts.

Transformer Explainer overcomes these obstacles through its interactive, user-focused platform. It runs a familiar GPT model directly in any web browser, requiring no installation or special hardware. 

Users can enter their own text and watch the model predict the next word in real time. Sankey-style diagrams show how information moves through embeddings, attention heads, and transformer blocks.

The platform also lets users switch between high-level concepts and detailed math. By adjusting temperature settings, users can see how randomness affects predictions. This reveals how probabilities drive AI outputs, rather than creativity.

“Millions of people around the world interact with transformer-driven AI. We believe that it is crucial to bridge the gap between day-to-day user experience and the models' technical reality, ensuring these tools are not misinterpreted as human-like or seen as sentient,” said Ph.D. student Alex Karpekov. 

“Explaining the architecture helps users recognize that language generated by models is a product of computation, leading to a more grounded engagement with the technology.” 

Cho, Karpekov, and Kim led the development of Transformer Explainer. Ph.D. students Alec Helbling, Seongmin Lee, Ben Hoover, and alumnus Zijie (Jay) Wang assisted on the project. 

Professor Polo Chau supervised the group and their work. His lab focuses on data science, human-centered AI, and visualization for social good.

Acceptance at CHI 2026 stems from the team winning the best poster award at the 2024 IEEE Visualization Conference. This recognition from one of the top venues in visualization research highlights Transformer Explainer’s effectiveness in teaching how transformers work.

“Transformer Explainer has reached over half a million learners worldwide,” said Chau, a faculty member in the School of Computational Science and Engineering. 

“I'm thrilled to see it extend Georgia Tech's mission of expanding access to higher education, now to anyone with a web browser.”

A Spark of Curiosity

In 2017, faculty conversations began circulating about a new kind of capstone experience, one driven by student discovery and entrepreneurial thinking rather than predetermined client requirements. The idea intrigued Omojokun.

“I remember thinking, this is really different from anything I’ve ever taught,” he said.

In his previous courses, Omojokun took pride in providing the structured, rigorous framework students needed to master complex concepts. While those interactions were dynamic, the curriculum required a specific, focused trajectory. CREATE-X offered a different kind of challenge: the "X" of the program, representing undefined, endless potential.

“CREATE-X is full of unknowns. You don’t know what industry the students are diving into, what roadblocks they’ll run into and navigate out of, or what small- to large-scale successes they’ll achieve throughout the semester. It really had my blood pumping,” he said. As someone who loves the challenge of academia, it was an invigorating way to help the next generation apply what they’ve learned in a new context.

Omojokun co-taught the first CREATE-X Capstone section with College of Computing students in fall 2018 alongside Craig Forest, associate director of the Invention Studio. While the initial computer science cohort was small, the experience was immediately powerful.

“It was humble beginnings but deeply eye-opening,” he said.

In this new environment, students weren't just solving problems; they were seeking them and sometimes pivoting. Traditional client-driven capstones offer students invaluable experiences in delivering high-quality products, responding to clients’ often evolving needs, and adhering to professional standards. CREATE-X added a layer of venture-validation, requiring students to identify a gap in the market and build something with commercial viability.

As the semesters continued, CREATE-X grew from a program with an interesting capstone course Omojokun enthusiastically co-taught to a professional inflection point for him. He found himself talking about it frequently, with colleagues, with students, even with prospective undergraduates who may not see a capstone for years.

He began encouraging prospective and incoming students to take CREATE-X pathways. 

“I would tell students, down to first-year students, when you get that opportunity to engage with CREATE-X, take it. You don’t even have to wait until capstone, as there are multiple pathways; in fact, Startup Lab has no prerequisites. Whatever path you take, you’ll remember it for years to come. Whether you officially take a problem solution to market or not, the entrepreneurial confidence gained is priceless.”

Spreading CREATE-X Into the College of Computing

By 2020, when the first Jim Pope Faculty Fellowship cohort opened, applying felt natural. He had already become an unofficial ambassador for CREATE-X, helping students navigate options, promoting programs in classes, and rallying colleagues to engage.

“It was an opportunity to become more connected to this thing that I felt was changing the game on campus,” he said. “It cemented my affiliation with CREATE-X.”

The fellowship gave name and weight to the work he was already doing, while also expanding what was possible.

The Jim Pope Faculty Fellowship provides faculty with $15,000 in discretionary funding, which can support a one-semester break from teaching, along with structured training in evidence‑based entrepreneurship, dedicated mentorship, and the opportunity to work closely with students launching startups.

The fellowship also equips faculty to become entrepreneurial instructors and mentors through the CREATE‑X ecosystem, giving them tools to integrate entrepreneurship into their coursework and curricula. Each cohort of fellows is trained to embed entrepreneurial methods, develop new innovation‑focused assignments, and serve as advisors within programs like Startup Lab, Idea‑to‑Prototype, and Startup Launch.

For faculty across Georgia Tech, the fellowship offers something rare: institutional backing, resources, and formal recognition for bringing entrepreneurship into their teaching and shaping how students learn to become problem‑solvers.

Omojokun said he sees CREATE-X as the apex of applying technical fundamentals. 

As part of the fellowship, Omojokun brought the program’s ethos into his courses, even a foundational course like CS 1331: Introduction to Object Oriented Programming, where he created a CREATE-X–branded final project. Students built a “problem database” application as their final homework assignment, cataloging real issues they encountered in daily life, assessing their skills to solve them, evaluating markets and metrics, and then deciding potential pathways forward.

“It’s an innovation diary,” he said. “A tool that can get them closer to thinking like a founder.”

The response from students, including many non-computing majors who take his section each semester, has been overwhelmingly positive. While the project is challenging, the open-ended nature and real-world relevance motivate deeper engagement. 

“When students believe their work will solve a meaningful problem for a meaningful population, they bring passion to it,” he said. “They start observing the world differently.”

The more Omojokun saw, the deeper his enthusiasm grew.

Shaping the College of Computing

Even as he stepped into the role of inaugural chair of the School of Computing Instruction in 2022, CREATE-X remained at the forefront of Omojokun’s conversations. Interest in the program continued to grow significantly. Students stopped him in the hallways to talk about their ideas. Faculty reached out to ask about mentorship opportunities. And he continued championing the program in the many settings he entered.

“It turns out that the most engaged group of students in CREATE-X is computing undergraduates,” Omojokun said. “I wanted to make sure that high involvement continued, no matter what size we are,” he said.

Over time, Omojokun strengthened the partnership between the College of Computing and CREATE-X, weaving entrepreneurship deeper into the College's curricular fabric.

Last January, Omojokun was appointed as the associate dean for Undergraduate Education in the College of Computing. One of his priorities was highlighting CREATE-X’s curricular impact. In coordination with key stakeholders — including Kelly Ann Fitzpatrick (computing), Craig Forest (mechanical engineering), and Raul Saxena (CREATE-X) — he nominated the program for the ABET Innovation Award.  The award honors programs that challenge the status quo in technical education and demonstrate a measurable impact on student learning in ABET-accredited disciplines, such as natural sciences, computing, engineering, and engineering technology. CREATE-X won.

The CREATE-X Advantage With Faculty 

When faculty are considering something like the Jim Pope Fellowship, Omojokun said the biggest barrier he hears about from them is time. With courses that can enroll 300 students per section and extensive responsibilities beyond the classroom, time is a scarce resource.
He could relate. 

“There are always lots of things on my physical and virtual desktop. I always warn people before they enter my office,” he said.

However, Omojokun argued that participating in the fellowship program was time well spent because it helps them rediscover the most exciting parts of teaching.

“It’s worth the time. One of the goals of teaching is to see students passionate about what they’re learning, and CREATE-X makes that happen consistently,” he said. 

The Future With Technology

As AI reshapes industries, Omojokun believes that CREATE-X equips students to navigate the unknown and forge new paths as existing ones shift, providing a versatile skill set that transfers to employment, potentially self-employment, and beyond. 

“There’s a lot of uncertainty with AI in the workspace, but CREATE-X gives students the confidence and skills to succeed at whatever comes,” he said. “We are putting students through this process of finding a problem that’s meaningful and matters to the world; mastering that allows them to lead in any environment.”

Applications Now Open: Become a Jim Pope Faculty Fellow

The 2026 Jim Pope Faculty Fellowship is now accepting applications. For faculty who want to explore integrating entrepreneurship into their teaching, mentoring student founders, and helping shape a culture of innovation across campus, this fellowship offers resources and a supported pathway to begin. Faculty from all disciplines are encouraged to apply to the Jim Pope Fellowship. Priority deadline: July 1; final deadline: Aug. 11.
 

“Attending the 75th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting is both an honor and a responsibility: a chance to represent my academic community which focuses on the study of elusive particles called neutrinos while learning from those who have shaped the field,” says Papadopoulou, who will join Georgia Tech as a School of Physics assistant professor in August 2026. “I hope to come away with a deeper understanding of how transformative ideas emerge and how to cultivate the kind of leadership and vision needed to guide future large-scale scientific efforts that will unravel some of the mysteries of the universe.”

Papadopoulou obtained her Ph.D. in experimental physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. As part of her research, she analyzed neutrino data collected by the MicroBooNE detector at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Illinois and electron scattering data from the Jefferson Lab in Virginia. 

In 2022, she joined Argonne National Laboratory as a Maria Goeppert Mayer Fellow, continuing her research as a member of the MicroBooNE, Short-Baseline Near Detector, Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment, and Jefferson Lab’s Electrons-For-Neutrinos collaborations. Her work focuses on testing the performance of simulation predictions against existing and new neutrino and electron data sets. 

Papadopoulou currently serves as a J. Robert Oppenheimer Fellow at Los Alamos National Laboratory where she is working to better understand neutrino interactions.

Though this scholarship is typically given to 40 exceptional incoming first-year students, a select few second- and third-year students are chosen to receive the honor for exemplifying the program’s pillars of scholarship, leadership, progress, and service.

“Annie and Madeline are exemplary campus leaders and will be able to build on their progress and service with the support of the Stamps Program. We are thrilled for the contributions they bring to the environmental science community,” says Linda Green, principal academic professional and interim director of the Environmental Sciences (ENVS) program.

About Annie Lin

Lin is a second-year ENVS major conducting undergraduate research on methane and natural gas in the Glass Research Group. Previous research highlights include quantifying microplastics in Georgia’s coastal water and working with a student group to publish the first publicly available data on microplastics pollution in the Chattahoochee River.

“I hope to build a career in environmental policy and justice — developing and implementing scientific, holistic, and equitable solutions to environmental issues and bridging the gaps between research, policy, and communities,” says Lin.

She is a student coordinator for Georgia Tech’s Center for Sustainable Communities Research and Education and the Georgia Tech student engagement and network coordinator for the United Nations Regional Centre of Expertise Greater Atlanta.

Why environmental science? 

“I was born and raised in Atlanta and grew up close to the Chattahoochee River,” explains Lin. “In high school, I was very involved with Chattahoochee Riverkeeper, including an 11-mile, eight-hour paddling cleanup; field and lab work to track bacterial contamination caused by sewage spills; and speaking to state legislators about environmental bills. These experiences taught me the importance of helping make the necessary systemic changes to address environmental issues.”

About Madeline Weller 

Weller is a second-year ENVS major working in the Tang Research Group, characterizing rare earth elements from Georgia kaolinite clay minerals for renewable energy applications. She also works on the Georgia Tech Methane Vertically Integrated Project to pioneer local methane measurements and in Georgia Tech’s Office of Sustainability to further sustainability efforts and outreach with Solar Stewards.

“Through experiences with Solar Stewards, I saw firsthand how community and rooftop solar can impact people, reducing their energy burden…,” says Weller. "Being at Georgia Tech has provided me with the resources and courage to act on my passion for achieving sustainability through energy equity, ensuring everybody has access to reliable and affordable electricity."

Outside of research, she is a member of Energy Club @ GT; Sigma Gamma Epsilon, the national honor society for the Earth Sciences;  Association of Environmental Engineers and Scientists; Photography @ GT; and Runnin’ Wreck.

Why environmental science?

“I chose environmental science because I was inspired to use my science skills to help find a solution to environmental issues, including climate change,” she explains. “Improving environmental conditions is not just important for biodiversity and ecosystems, but essential for human health and the longevity of future generations.”

Published today in the journal Nature Communications, the paper “Trivalent Titanium in High-Titanium Lunar Ilmenite” confirms titanium in a reduced, trivalent state in a black, metal-rich lunar mineral called ilmenite. It’s a state only possible in low-oxygen environments, conditions researchers refer to as “reducing.”

“Models have suggested that these reducing conditions may have varied at different locations and times across the surface of the Moon,” says lead author Advik Vira, a graduate student in the School of Physics who recently earned his doctoral degree. “We hope our microscopy technique can be a valuable step in mapping and understanding the Moon’s 4.5-billion-year history.”

The team anticipates that their technique could be used on many of the lunar samples collected more than 50 years ago by the Apollo missions in addition to the Apollo Next Generation Samples — a group of lunar samples that have been stored under pristine conditions — and new samples from the planned Artemis missions, with Artemis II slated for launch this spring. The technique might also be applicable to samples collected from the far side of the Moon and returned in 2024 by the Chang’e-6 mission.

“The Moon holds clues not only to its own past, but also to the earliest eras of Earth’s evolution — history that has long since been erased from our planet,” Vira says. “This study is a step toward understanding the history of both and a reminder that there is still so much left to learn from the lunar rocks we’ve brought back to Earth.”

The School of Physics research team included corresponding authors Vira and Professor Phillip First; in addition to graduate student Roshan Trivedi; undergraduate students Gabriella Dotson, Keyes Eames, Dean Kim, and Emma Livernois; and Professor Zhigang Jiang, along with Institute for Matter and Systems Materials Characterization Facility Senior Research Scientist Mengkun Tian; School of Chemistry and Biochemistry Senior Research Scientist Brant Jones and Thom Orlando, Regents' Professor in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry with a joint appointment in the School of Physics. 

The Georgia Tech team was joined by Addis Energy Senior Geochemist Katherine Burgess; Macalester College Assistant Professor of Geology Emily First; along with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Research Scientist Harrison Lisabeth, Senior Scientist Nobumichi Tamura, and Postdoctoral Fellow Tyler Farr, who recently earned a Ph.D. from Georgia Tech’s George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering.

CLEVER research

The investigation began with a dark gray rock called a lunar basalt. Formed when ancient magma erupted on the Moon’s surface, minerals crystallized as it cooled — preserving key information in their structures. Billions of years later, the rock was brought to Earth by the 1972 Apollo 17 mission, where a small piece is now stored at Georgia Tech’s Center for Lunar Environment and Volatile Exploration Research (CLEVER), a NASA Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI) center led by Orlando.

As a NASA virtual institute, CLEVER supports researchers exploring lunar conditions and developing tools for the upcoming crewed Artemis missions, and provided the lunar samples for this research. The SSERVI also plays a critical role in training the next generation of planetary researchers: both Vira and Farr earned their Ph.D.s while on the CLEVER team.

“At CLEVER, we are very interested in understanding the impacts of space weathering,” Vira says. “We implemented modern sample preparation and advanced microscopy techniques to image samples at the atomic level, and were curious to apply it more broadly to the collection of Apollo rocks in the Orlando Lab. This sample caught our attention.”

“When we imaged an ilmenite crystal from the lunar basalt, what struck us first was how uniform and perfect the crystal structure was,” he recalls. “We found no defects from space weathering and instead saw an undamaged, pristine crystal — undisturbed for 3.8 billion years.”

To investigate further, the team analyzed small chips of the rock with Burgess, a member of the RISE2 SSERVI team and then a geologist at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory. Using state-of-the-art electron microscopy and spectroscopy techniques, Vira determined the oxidation state of the elements in the ilmenite present. 

In spectroscopy measurements, each element leaves a distinct ‘signature,’ Vira explains. “When we brought our results back to Georgia Tech’s Materials Characterization Facility, Mengkun (Tian) noticed something unusual: the signature showed titanium might be present in the trivalent state.”

The presence of trivalent titanium had long been suspected in this lunar mineral. The team was intrigued. 

A new window into old rocks

With funding from Georgia Tech’s Center for Space Technology and Research (CSTAR), Vira returned to the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory to analyze additional samples. The results confirmed that more titanium was present than the mineral’s formula (FeTiO₃) predicts — indicating a portion of the titanium present was trivalent.

“That led me to place our measurements in terms of the broader geological context,” Vira shares. Working with First, Vira explored how ilmenite with trivalent titanium could help reconstruct the nature of ancient magmas from the Moon, especially the chemical availability of oxygen.

“Because its location on the Moon was noted during the Apollo mission, we know exactly where this rock is from, and we can determine how old the rock is,” he explains. “When coupled with our trivalent titanium measurements, we can use that information to estimate the reducing conditions for this specific region at the specific time our rock formed.”

If the upcoming Artemis missions return samples suitable for the team’s technique, these rocks could provide a new window into ancient lunar geology. The research also highlights that many lunar samples already on Earth could be reexamined to look for trivalent titanium.

“There is still so much to learn from the lunar samples we have already brought to Earth,” Vira says. “It’s a testament to the long-term value of each sample return mission. As technology continues to advance, this type of work will continue to give us critical insights into our planet and our place in the universe for years to come.”

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-026-69770-w

Funding: This work was directly supported by the NASA SSERVI under CLEVER. Researchers were also supported by the NASA RISE2 SSERVI and the Heising-Simons Foundation. Funding for collaborations between the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory and Georgia Tech for the investigation of lunar minerals was provided by the Georgia Tech Center for Space Technology and Research. Sample preparation was performed at the Georgia Tech Institute for Matter and Systems, which is supported by the National Science Foundation. This work utilized the resources of the Advanced Light Source, a user facility supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, and was supported in part by previous breakthroughs obtained through the Laboratory Direct.

“I was placing an order from a food truck outside the College building when a student approached and asked if I remembered him,” Briana Lampert said. “It was Hoc! It took me a few moments to realize.”

Years earlier, Lampert taught Hoc Nguyen and Cardin Ho in fourth-grade language arts and reading at Hambrick Elementary School in Stone Mountain, Georgia. Today, both are computer science (CS) majors at Georgia Tech.

Nguyen first recognized Lampert’s name while searching for his academic advisor during registration. “I thought her name was familiar, but only when I met her in person did I recall she was my teacher,” he said.

Although he doesn’t remember many details from elementary school, Lampert left a lasting impression. “I remember that she was a very kind teacher and that the class liked her because of how nice she was,” he said.

After their initial meeting, Nguyen shared that Ho was also a Georgia Tech student. Lampert later ran into both students on campus while attending an event, and the three spent nearly an hour catching up.

“They were both lovely and full of personality, just as they are now. I remember how sweet and intelligent they were,” Lampert said. 

“They were very close, even then, and part of a crew that included a group of smart and talented kids. I knew they would go on to do great things, but I had no idea that any of us would end up at Tech.”

Ho also remembers Lampert’s approach in the classroom. “I remember Ms. Lampert had lots of patience,” he said. “Our class, me included, really tested her every day, yet she always maintained it to keep us on track.”

After teaching for five years, Lampert transitioned into academic advising. She started at Georgia State University in 2017 and moved to Georgia Tech in 2022. She said the move allowed her to focus on the part of education she enjoyed most.

“The part of the job that I loved the most was one-on-one interactions with students,” Lampert said. “With advising, I can provide the targeted support to students that I enjoy, but on a broad scale.”

In her current role, Lampert works closely with students as they navigate their academic journeys, while focusing on empathy and connection. She is especially passionate about supporting underrepresented student groups and helping students access campus resources.

Her experience as a teacher continues to shape her approach.

“It is important when working in higher education to remember that while Tech students are academically gifted, K-12 education does not teach a person how to ‘be a college student,’” she said. “Those skills are not inherent.”

For Nguyen, having a former teacher as an advisor has made a difference. He also enjoys reflecting on other classmates and teachers he keeps in touch with, who were part of his early academic journey.

“Having Ms. Lampert as an advisor is honestly quite nice,” he said. “It makes talking about your goals and classes a lot easier if your advisor is someone you knew from your childhood.”

Now studying CS, Nguyen discovered his interest in STEM in middle school, when he had more hands-on opportunities in science and technology.

For students considering the field, he recommends starting with personal interests. 

“CS is such a broad field that there can be some parts you don’t find interesting and others you do,” he said. “By just starting with something you like, you can enjoy the learning process more and get the skills needed.”

For Lampert, the experience highlighted the lasting impact of education across different stages of students’ journeys. 

“Hoc reminded me that, all things considered, there is a short span of time between elementary school and college,” she said. “He reaffirmed that educators are crucial at every stage of a student’s life.”

Amino acids also play a critical role commercially where they are manufactured and added to pharmaceuticals, dietary supplements, cosmetics, animal feeds, and industrial chemicals — an energy-intensive process leading to greenhouse gas emissions, resource consumption, and pollution.

A landmark new system developed at Georgia Tech could lead to an alternative: a commercially scalable, environmentally sustainable method for amino acid production that is carbon negative, using more carbon than it emits.

The breakthrough builds on a method that the team pioneered in 2024 and solves a key issue – increasing efficiency to an unprecedented 97% and reducing the bioprocess cost by over 40%. It’s the highest reported conversion of CO2 equivalents into amino acids using any synthetic biology system to date.

Published in the journal ACS Synthetic Biology, the study, “Cell-Free-Based Thermophilic Biocatalyst for the Synthesis of Amino Acids From One-Carbon Feedstocks,” was led by Bioengineering Ph.D. student Ray Westenberg and Professor Pamela Peralta-Yahya, who holds joint appointments in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry and School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. The team also included Shaafique Chowdhury (Ph.D. ChBE 25) and Kimberly Wennerholm (ChBE 23); alongside University of Washington collaborators Ryan Cardiff, then a Ph.D. student and now a Chain Reaction Innovations Fellow at Argonne National Laboratory, and Charles W. H. Matthaei Endowed Professor in Chemical Engineering James M. Carothers; in addition to Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Synthetic Biology Team Leader Alexander S. Beliaev.

"This work shifts the narrative from simply reducing carbon emissions to actually consuming them to create value,” says Peralta-Yahya. “We are taking low-cost carbon sources and building essential ingredients in a truly carbon-negative process that is efficient, effective, and scalable.”

Heat-Loving Organisms

The work builds on the cell-free technology the team used in their earlier study. “Previously, we discovered that a system that uses the machinery of cells, without using actual living cells, could be used to create amino acids from carbon dioxide,” Peralta-Yahya explains. “But to create a commercially viable system, we needed to increase the system’s efficiency and reduce the cost.”

The team discovered that bits of leftover cells were consuming starting materials, and — like a machine with unnecessary gears or parts — this limited the system’s efficiency. To optimize their “machine,” the team would need to remove the extra background machinery.

"Leftover cell parts were using key resources without helping produce the amino acids we were looking for,” says Peralta-Yahya. “We knew that heating the system could be one way to purify it because heat can denature these components.”

The challenge was in how to protect the essential system components from the high temperatures, she adds. “We wondered if introducing enzymes produced by a heat-loving bacterium, Moorella thermoacetica, might protect our system, while still allowing us to denature and remove that inefficient background machinery.”

The results were astounding: after introducing the enzymes, heating and “cleaning” the system, and letting it cool to room temperature, synthesis of the amino acids serine and glycine leaped to 97% yield — nearly three times that of the team’s previous system.

Scaling for Sustainability

To make the system viable for large-scale use, the team also needed to reduce costs. “One of the most costly components in this system is the cofactor tetrahydrofolate (THF),” Peralta-Yahya shares. “Reducing the amount of THF needed to start the process was one way to make the system more inexpensive and ultimately more commercially viable.”

By linking reaction steps so waste from one step fueled the next, the team devised a method to recycle THF within the system that reduces the amount of THF needed by five-fold — lowering bioprocessing costs by 42%.

“This decrease in cost and increase in yield is a critical step forward in creating a method with real potential for use in industry and manufacturing,” Peralta-Yahya says. “This system could pave the way for moving this carbon-negative technology out of the lab and onto the continuous, industrial scale."

Funding: The Advanced Research Project Agency-Energy (ARPA-E); U.S. Department of Energy; and the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Biological and Environmental Research Program.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acssynbio.5c00352

The event began with a luncheon for College of Sciences’ faculty and staff where representatives from GTRI provided an overview of its mission and research areas.

“The better our faculty and staff understand GTRI, the better we can support students interested in pursuing careers there,” says James Stringfellow, career education program manager at the College of Sciences, who organized the event.

Stringfellow welcomed attendees and thanked GTRI for creating meaningful opportunities for students. He also emphasized the value of the growing pipeline between the College and GTRI.

Following the luncheon, GTRI recruiters met one‑on‑one with students to discuss available positions and the best methods to find and apply for GTRI research roles.

The event concluded with a GTRI panel featuring Jeremy Brown, director of education and outreach; Eric Klein, senior research associate; and Thomas Martin, (EE 91), chief scientist. The panelists highlighted its broad range of positions and encouraged students to consider internships, co-ops, and long‑term career paths at GTRI.

“We hire around 500 students a year, and many earn security clearances,” explains Brown. “We want students to get connected to GTRI early and understand our mission. Talk to us about your research projects and how you want to contribute.”

Students who attended said the panel’s conversational format helped them better understand how their academic work can translate into research careers.

“The atmosphere was great — more of a conversation than a lecture. I liked that it was tailored for students who are interested in research,” says Txaber Treviño, a first‑year aerospace engineering major.

“I came because I was interested in careers where I can apply a science degree,” shares Aryan Bhakta, a first‑year biology major. “GTRI is a great example of a place where researchers can make a difference.”

Panelists emphasized the GTRI’s mission‑driven work and the importance of curiosity, persistence, and hands‑on experience.

“The work done at GTRI is important,” says Martin. “As a university-affiliated research center, we work on emerging technologies that serve a higher purpose. It’s an exciting and fulfilling place to work.”

Klein encouraged students to explore opportunities early in their academic careers. “Use your co-ops, internships, or research jobs on campus to prepare for a future aligned with what you are passionate about,” he says. “And if you have trouble finding a research position in your area of interest, go to a professor or volunteer. That really stands out on a résumé.”

GTRI Day is part of the College of Sciences Career Education event series. The Students and Alumni Leadership Dinner on Wednesday, April 8th, will close out the semester's events.

In the International Disaster Reconnaissance (IDR) course, students now use Filio, a platform built by School of Computing Instruction Senior Lecturer Max Mahdi Roozbahani, to capture immersive 360° media, photos, and video that transform real disaster sites in India and Nepal into living digital classrooms. 

Offered by the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering and taught by IDR director and Regents’ Professor David Frost, the course pairs traditional fieldwork with Roozbahani’s expertise in immersive technology and data-driven learning, transforming on-the-ground observations into reusable, interactive educational resources. 

How Computing Can Capture Data 

Disasters are not only physical events; they are also information events, Roozbahani says. Effective response and long-term resilience depend on the ability to observe, record, and communicate critical data under pressure. Georgia Tech’s IDR course pairs structured on-campus preparation with international field experiences, enabling students to study the cascading effects of major disasters, including how local building practices, governance, and culture shape damage and recovery. 

“When students step into a disaster zone, they learn quickly that resilience is a systems problem: physical, social, and informational. Our job in computing is to help them capture and reason about that system responsibly,” Roozbahani said. 

Learning from the 2025 Himalayas Expedition 

During spring break last year, the cohort traveled along the Teesta River corridor in Sikkim, India. The region is shaped by steep terrain, fast-moving water, and critical infrastructure in narrow valleys. 

The visit followed the October 2023 glacial lake outburst flood from South Lhonak Lake, which destroyed the Teesta III hydropower dam and impacted downstream towns, including Dikchu and Rangpo. Field stops across India included Lachung, Chungthang, Dikchu, Rangpo, Gangtok, and New Delhi. 

Students explored both upstream and downstream consequences. 

Upstream, the team examined how steep terrain and river confinement amplify flood forces, creating cascading risks for infrastructure. Using Filio’s interactive 360° media, students captured conditions in Lachung and Chungthang, allowing viewers to explore the landscape through a 360° photo and 360° video that reveal how topography and river dynamics intensify disaster impacts. 

They studied community-scale effects downstream, including damaged buildings, disrupted access, and prolonged recovery timelines. 

Rangpo offered a glimpse of recovery in motion, with materials staged for rebuilding bridges and roads essential to commerce and emergency response.

“The first time I worked on a computer there and wrote my first program, I was hooked,” he said. 

“There is something uniquely satisfying about seeing the immediate results of your work. I also appreciated how objective coding is. It either works or it does not.” 

Musaev’s journey in CS continued at Kyrgyz-Russian Slavic University, where a chance discovery set the stage for his academic path abroad. After spotting a leaflet for a presidential scholarship, he applied and was among the ten winners out of roughly 1,500 applicants. 

“As part of the scholarship, the organizers selected an American university for me, Georgia Institute of Technology, which I had not heard of at the time,” he said. 

At Tech, Musaev earned his bachelor’s in CS. He later continued his studies as a graduate research assistant and earned his master’s in CS. 

That early fascination with problem-solving and clarity continues to shape Musaev’s approach to teaching today. As a lecturer in the School of Computing Instruction (SCI), he teaches CS 2316 Data Input and Manipulation and his favorite course, CS 1331 Introduction to Object-Oriented Programming. 

“From the moment I started teaching it, something just felt natural,” he said. “I enjoy coding live in class, watching students grasp new ideas, and explaining not only how things work, but why they were designed that way.” 

Although Musaev is now rooted in academia, his career has included significant time in industry. After completing his degrees, he worked at Siebel Systems, where he developed customer relationship management software and helped transition a flagship product from desktop to the web. He then returned to Kyrgyzstan to found and manage a successful software company before returning to the United States to earn his Ph.D. 

He believes those experiences provide perspective that cannot be learned in a classroom alone. 

“My advice may be nontraditional,” he said. “Spend time in industry. Seeing how the concepts you teach are applied in practice provides an invaluable perspective. This is something you simply cannot gain from textbooks alone.” 

Since joining SCI in January 2020, Musaev has found a strong sense of community. 

“I am very happy to be part of this team,” he said. “Everyone is supportive and willing to help. It truly feels like a collaborative environment.” 

For Musaev, the most meaningful moments come from students, often unexpectedly. 

“Recently, I was walking with a head TA discussing course-related topics when a student suddenly stepped in front of us and interrupted our conversation. He told me I was the best professor he had ever had. Moments like that are difficult to put into words, but they mean everything to us as instructors,” he said. 

He said he hopes students find value in his classes and leave each lecture having learned something new.  

“I also want them to genuinely enjoy CS. It is an incredible field, and I cannot imagine doing anything else.” 

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

Luis Delgado, second-year neuroscience and pre-medical student

A Gainesville, Georgia, native, Luis is building the academic foundation to one day serve his community as a medical professional, a dream made possible by the generous backing of this scholarship. Read Luis Delgado’s story.

Nick Fabrizio, third-year psychology and computer science student 

Raised in Albany, Georgia, Nick grew up in a community where attending college was not a given. Imagining a future in a tech-driven academic environment required both courage and support. Because of Tech Promise, Fabrizio was able to dream big and set his sights on Georgia Tech. Read Nick Fabrizio's story. 

“Since I was a student, APS has been my professional home  — hosting my first conference talk and networking opportunity, publishing my first paper, and offering me mentoring over the years,” says Cadonati, who is a member of Georgia Tech’s Center for Relativistic Astrophysics. “Serving on the APS Board of Directors now is a privilege and an opportunity to amplify the voices of physicists at every career stage.”

Cadonati’s primary research interests include gravitational wave and particle astrophysics. Since 2002, she has been a member of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) Scientific Collaboration. Cadonati has held several leadership roles with LIGO, including heading its data analysis and astrophysics division during the discovery of gravitational waves — a breakthrough which led to the project's founders receiving the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics. 

Previously, she was a member of the Borexino Collaboration, focused on solar neutrino detection, and the DarkSide Collaboration, centered on the direct detection of dark matter.

Cadonati earned her Ph.D. in physics from Princeton University and completed postdoctoral research at Princeton University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Before joining Georgia Tech in 2015, she was an associate professor of physics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her honors include an APS Fellowship, National Science Foundation CAREER Award, Atlantic Coast Conference Academic Consortium Distinguished Lecturer Award, Georgia Tech’s Outstanding Faculty Research Author Award, and the Technische Universität München Institute for Advanced Study Hans Fischer Senior Fellowship, which was awarded in 2025.

Five Georgia Tech leaders have been selected for the 2026 ACC Academic Leaders Network (ACC-ALN) Fellows program. ACC-ALN is designed to foster cross-institutional networking and collaboration among ACC institutions while increasing leadership capacity among the academic leaders at each institution.  

“This year’s class is a truly impressive cohort,” said Paul R. Sanberg, FNAI, president of NAI. “I commend them on their incredible pursuits, and I’m honored to welcome them to the Academy.”

Recognizing NAI Senior Member Chandra S. Raman

Raman is a physicist, inventor, and technology entrepreneur whose work is helping shape the future of quantum sensing. As the Dunn Family Professor of Physics, he studies how atoms behave at extremely low temperatures and uses that knowledge to build new kinds of ultra-precise measurement devices.

Best known for the co-invention of chip‑scale atomic beam technology — a breakthrough that makes it possible to build tiny quantum sensors for navigation and timing — Raman and his team’s patented devices can operate where GPS fails. These inventions form the foundation for a new generation of manufactured quantum hardware, offering new capabilities for autonomous vehicles, aerospace systems, and national security.

To bring these technologies from the lab to real-world use, he founded 8Seven8, Inc.:

“By launching 8Seven8 as the first quantum hardware company in Georgia, we are creating high-tech jobs, building a skilled workforce pipeline, and seeding a quantum ecosystem in the Southeast that will see lasting economic benefits,” explains Raman. “We seek to establish the region as a player in the rapidly expanding quantum technology economy.”

He is the principal investigator for the Raman Lab, a Fellow of the American Physical Society, a frequent invited speaker at international conferences, and an advisor to national and space-based quantum initiatives. Raman holds six patents, including three issued U.S. patents and two licensed patents. Through his research, mentorship, and entrepreneurial leadership, he is working to advance scientific discovery and the development of practical technologies with lasting impact.

“This award is the culmination of years of effort in developing innovative approaches to bringing quantum sensing out of the lab,” says Raman. “The NAI is chock-full of wonderful inventors, and I am privileged to be among them. Through this award, I hope to bring useful inventions out of the lab and promote Georgia as a great place to be an entrepreneur.”

Recognizing NAI Senior Member Jason Azoulay

Azoulay is the Georgia Research Alliance Vasser-Woolley Distinguished Investigator in Optoelectronics and the principal investigator for the Azoulay Group. His research has pioneered the development of new classes of functional materials and made field-leading advancements in core areas spanning:

· Homogeneous catalysis applied to polymer synthesis

· Electronic, photonic, spin, magnetic, and quantum materials

· Device fabrication and engineering

· Chemical sensing for environmental monitoring

· Synthesis, application, and engineering of high-performance polymers across multiple technology platforms.

Azoulay has demonstrated new classes of organic semiconductors with infrared functionality by exploiting new light-matter interactions, analyzing emergent transport phenomena, and understanding device physics, functionality, and engineering considerations. His work has resulted in nine issued patents and many additional applications.

Additionally, he is the principal investigator for two multi-million-dollar National Science Foundation (NSF) grants. The first grant harnesses an underused part of the electromagnetic spectrum for energy sensing, manufacturing, and more. His team creates organic polymers that can efficiently convert infrared radiation into electrical signals and develop the materials into functional devices. The initiative is the NSF’s principal vehicle to continue the momentum of the decade-long Materials Genome Initiative and takes advantage of the power of machine learning and chemical synthesis to develop new functional materials.

The second NSF-funded program develops CP-based optical and electrical sensing platforms that operate in complex aqueous environments and enable the detection and discrimination of challenging analytes known to negatively impact human, biota, and ecosystem health.

Azoulay holds a joint appointment in the School of Materials Science and Engineering and leads Georgia Tech’s Center for Organic Photonics and Electronics (COPE). COPE-affiliated faculty create flexible organic photonic and electronic materials and devices that serve the information technology, telecommunications, energy, and defense sectors.

If you’ve walked the aisles of a grocery store, scrolled through social media, watched television, or set foot in a fast-casual restaurant chain in recent months, you know that protein is having its moment.  

"The IOP has a long and distinguished history as the primary learned society and professional body for physicists in the U.K., Ireland, and beyond,” says Kamerlin, who completed both a Master of Natural Sciences and a Ph.D. in Theoretical Organic Chemistry from the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom. “As a society, it plays an important role in building community, promoting science, advancing advocacy for our discipline, and supporting the next generation of physicists.”

Kamerlin joins a list of distinguished Fellows that includes legendary physicists such as Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell, a preeminent astrophysicist responsible for the discovery of pulsars (a previously unknown type of star) and the first female president of the IOP.

“It is a great honor to be awarded Fellowship of the IOP, particularly as women more broadly remain vastly underrepresented in physics,” Kamerlin says. “I look forward to giving back to the physics community, supporting the mission of the society, and working to remind the next generation that physics is for everyone."

About Lynn Kamerlin

Kamerlin’s research in computational biophysics is at the intersection of chemistry and biology, where she focuses on investigating fundamental physical chemistry and using computational tools to understand complex biomolecular problems. Currently, she is interested in leveraging machine learning tools to design new enzymes and in predicting protein structures and behaviors using large language models.

In addition to her roles at Georgia Tech, Kamerlin is a senior editor of Protein Science, the editor-in-chief of Electronic Structure, and was named a 2025-27 visiting professor at Lund University. She was also named a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, received the 2026 Inspiration and Resilience Award from the Biochemical Society, and was the 2023 Biophysical Society Theory & Computation Subgroup Mid-Career Award Winner.

“Support from the RCSA is much appreciated right now to maintain our research productivity and pedagogic service to our student body,” says Agarwal. “The focus of RCSA extends beyond scientific research to include student success, which is in excellent concert with Georgia Tech’s mission.”

Agarwal, who joined Georgia Tech in 2017, holds joint appointments in the Schools of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Biological Sciences. His research group studies natural products — small molecules created by living organisms — to understand how they are made and explore potential uses. In 2021, Agarwal was named an RCSA Cottrell Scholar in recognition of his study of natural products found in oceans and his efforts to develop new curricula for undergraduates related to this research.

His additional professional recognitions include the NSF CAREER Award, the American Society of Pharmacognosy Matt Suffness Young Investigator Award, the Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award, and the Sloan Research Fellowship.

The new initiative was sparked by ongoing research at Georgia Tech — and a Yellow Jacket connection: when Postdoctoral Research Fellow Hannah Youngblood’s work on exfoliation glaucoma (XFG) was featured by the BrightFocus Foundation, it caught the attention of Jennifer Rucker, an Alabama resident who was diagnosed with XFG several years ago.

Excited that the research could change outcomes for people like her — and proud that it’s happening at her husband Philip Rucker’s, EE 72, alma mater — Jennifer Rucker reached out to Youngblood and her advisor, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry Professor and Kelly Sepcic Pfeil, Ph.D. Chair Raquel Lieberman. 

“As the wife of a Georgia Tech graduate and an individual with pseudoexfoliation glaucoma, I was inspired to support the scientists whose efforts may help me and others,” Jennifer Rucker says. What followed was a meaningful dialogue and a shared sense of purpose — and the creation of the Georgia Tech Glaucoma Research Fund (Wreck Glaucoma! Fund). 

“It meant so much that Jennifer took the initiative to reach out to learn more about our research,” says Lieberman. “Moments like this remind me how deeply meaningful it is to connect with people in the broader community who are navigating glaucoma. Opportunities for such personal connections are rare, but they inspire and further motivate us to achieve our lab’s mission to improve the lives of individuals suffering from blindness diseases.”

A Personal Connection

Youngblood’s interest in glaucoma research also stems from a personal connection: her father was diagnosed with glaucoma as a young adult. Now, Youngblood studies the genetic and molecular factors behind XFG in the Lieberman research lab. 

“XFG is an aggressive form of the disease with no known cure,” Youngblood says. While scientists know that XFG is the result of abnormal accumulation of proteins in the eye, current treatments only address symptoms rather than treating the root cause of the disease.

“We know XFG is driven by protein buildup, but we still don’t know why it happens,” she explains. “My work studying specific genetic variants aims to uncover this.” 

The Genetics of Glaucoma

In particular, Youngblood is researching the role of LOXL1, a protein that plays a role in soft tissue throughout the body, including the eyes.

“Research has shown that people with variants in the genes responsible for this protein are more likely to have XFG,” she says. “That made me curious to see if the variants might be impacting the structure of the LOXL1 protein itself and how those variants might lead to disease.”

Youngblood is currently testing her theory in the lab. “My hope is that new insight into proteins like LOXL1 will bring us closer to treatments that address XFG at its source,” she says. “The new Georgia Tech Glaucoma Research Fund is a tremendous step forward in making that hope a reality.”

Support the Georgia Tech Glaucoma Research Fund

Please visit the Glaucoma Research Fund support page to give to this specific program. To discuss additional philanthropic opportunities, please contact the College of Sciences Development Team: development@cos.gatech.edu

Your investment ensures that these scholars and researchers have world-class resources, facilities, and mentors to excel in this critical work. Thank you for helping us shape the future.

“The Sloan Research Fellows are among the most promising early-career researchers in the U.S. and Canada, already driving meaningful progress in their respective disciplines,” says Stacie Bloom, president and chief executive officer of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. “We look forward to seeing how these exceptional scholars continue to unlock new scientific advancements, redefine their fields, and foster the wellbeing and knowledge of all.”

"This is a wonderful and welcome surprise that will support my ongoing research on mountains across the globe,” says Freeman. “It's a vote of confidence and will let me get out there and get to work."

Freeman is one of 126 scientists selected this year for the honor and will receive a two-year $75,000 grant of flexible funding to support his research.

He joins the ranks of nearly 50 faculty from Georgia Tech who have received Sloan Research Fellowships, including School of Mathematics’ Alex Blumenthal in 2024, Hannah Choi in 2022, Yao Yao in 2020, Konstantin Tikhomirov in 2019, Lutz Warnke in 2018, Zaher Hani in 2016, Jen Hom in 2015, and Greg Blekherman in 2012; School of Chemistry and Biochemistry's Vinayak Agarwal in 2018; School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences' Christopher Reinhard in 2015; and School of Physics’ Chunhui (Rita) Du in 2024 and Tamara Bogdanović in 2013. 

Freeman joined the Institute in 2023 and was also recently named a 2024 Packard Fellow by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and 2025 Early Career Fellow by the Ecological Society of America.

Understanding the ‘escalator to extinction’

Known for his groundbreaking research in climate change and bird ecology, Freeman studies birds worldwide from Appalachia to Ecuador. He specializes in tropical populations where his work is centered on understanding how mountain species respond to a changing climate — and how to facilitate their survival. 

“Tropical mountains are some of Earth’s largest biodiversity hotspots; they harbor an extraordinary number of species,” shares Freeman. “Additionally, tropical mountain birds are particularly sensitive to environmental change, so they can serve as an early warning system for global conservation efforts.”

Previously, his research has shown that some species are on an ‘escalator to extinction’ with vulnerable groups moving to higher elevations to escape warming temperatures. At the top of the escalator, some summit-dwelling species are disappearing. 

“We know that many species are on this escalator,” Freeman says. “The next step is to figure out which species are most vulnerable and why. In order to direct conservation efforts, we need to know who is vulnerable, why small increases in temperature have dramatic effects, and what can be done to help.”

A worldwide early warning system

To uncover those answers, Freeman is taking two approaches: mapping global patterns with big picture data and conducting on-the-ground research in the tropics.

To target the former, he created the Mountain Bird Network, which supports community scientists in conducting bird surveys on their local mountains. The goal is to create a system that allows researchers to diagnose vulnerable species before they are too sparse to save.

“When a species is in trouble, we need to know as soon as possible,” Freeman says. “Once a population is small enough to be at risk of extinction, it’s very hard to reverse that process. The Mountain Bird Network collects data on mountain bird abundances and distributions across the globe, which, when used with data from a global citizen science program called eBird, can be leveraged to build models to identify which species might be vulnerable before those populations become critically small.”

A living lab on Tech Mountain

Freeman’s other avenue of research involves building an ambitious living laboratory in Pinchincha, Ecuador. The research site will span thousands of meters along the flanks of a local mountain, spanning lowland rainforest, foothill rainforest, and cloud forest ecosystems.

“The mountain is home to thousands of birds from hundreds of species,” Freeman says. “My goal is to track and understand their daily lives — and how climate changes impact them.”

Using cutting-edge tracking technology, he will tag and monitor their daily movements, mapping those against microclimate sensors placed at different elevations along the mountain’s slopes. The challenge of placing and maintaining thousands of tiny sensors in rugged conditions means that it has never been done before.

“We’ll track these birds for at least five years –- but hopefully for decades,” Freeman says. “The data we gather at Tech Mountain will be the first of its kind, and my hope is that it makes a real difference in conservation efforts worldwide.”

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.

At the time, he was an undergraduate at Mississippi State University (MSU) studying chemical engineering. He was fresh off a series of research opportunities, but was still unsure of what doing research full-time would look like or what he wanted to do post-undergraduate.

Now, Lucas has earned a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from Georgia Tech with a focus on nanomaterial drug delivery for cancer immunotherapy. And according to him, the path from undergraduate to Ph.D. can be traced directly back to his REU.

Previously, Lucas had worked in labs in high school and his early college career, but those roles were mostly task-based.

“I'd started working in a lab at the University of Southern Mississippi my senior year of high school,” he said. “I was doing polymer coatings for corrosion resistance. Then I did some miscellaneous stuff at MSU. But the REU was interesting because it was in some ways the most structured research experience that I'd had to that point.”

During that summer, Lucas worked with Kim Curtis’ group in the Georgia Tech School of Civil and Environmental Engineering. He worked to understand how incorporating titanium oxide particles into cement can absorb pollutants when exposed to sunlight. It was his first hands-on, interdisciplinary research experience.

“That summer was significant both in starting to make sense what research could actually look like on a full-time day-to-day basis and also what being at Tech might be like.” 

Beyond the research, Lucas discovered that being on Georgia Tech’s campus was just as formative. Surrounded by peers who were similarly driven, and often similarly unsure about their paths, he began to see himself as a “real” researcher. Meetups with fellow REU students, sessions on research communication, and structured mentorship all gave him confidence.

The impact of Lucas’ REU experience didn’t end there. It helped him earn a spot in Cornell’s international research experience program (iREU) the following year. There, he worked on nanomaterials for cancer vaccine applications. The transition from cement technologies to vaccine applications became the bridge to his eventual Ph.D. focus. 

“The REU truly became a launchpad for Sam's career, as it has for others who have come through our program,” said Leslie O’Neill, education outreach manager. “Several of our former participants have returned to Georgia Tech for their Ph.D., and it’s because the experience gives them clarity about research and opens doors they didn’t even realize existed."

In 2020, Lucas arrived back on campus, where he enrolled in the  Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering’s Joint Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering program. As part of Susan Thomas’ lab, his research focused on nanomaterial drug delivery for cancer immunotherapy. He spent the next five and a half years working on immune system engineering and drug delivery systems. 

Although he had once imagined a career in oil and gas — a common trajectory for Mississippi State engineers — his REU experience pointed him in a new direction.

After defending his dissertation in 2025, Lucas is now continuing as a postdoctoral researcher in the Thomas Lab, contributing to nanomedicine projects while preparing for a future career in biotech or pharmaceuticals.

He credits the REU with giving him the clarity and confidence to pursue research at the highest level. His advice to undergraduates considering the program is simple: Go for it.

“If you apply for it and get an offer, just go ahead and do it,” said Lucas. “There’s not really a downside.” 

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 

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.

“It’s literally life or death sometimes,” says Brandon Brigner, a fall 2025 biochemistry graduate now pursuing a master’s in chemistry.

Four Georgia Tech students share their experiences on the front lines of medicine as EMTs, including Brigner; Lianna Homrich, a fourth-year biology major; Daeun “Esther” Lee, a third-year biomedical engineering major; and Krishna Monroe, a third-year neuroscience major. Brigner, Homrich, and Monroe work as EMTs on ambulances while Lee serves as a technician at Emory University Hospital Midtown. Each plans a career in medicine and serves on the leadership team for EMS at Tech, a student organization dedicated to expanding access to and knowledge of emergency medical services on campus.

Why become an EMT?

All four agree that EMT work offers unmatched medical experience.

“You can show up on someone’s worst day and immediately make a difference,” says Lee.

Homrich started exploring EMT work after realizing she needed clinical hours for the pre-health track. “The adrenaline and lifesaving aspect appealed to me. I knew I’d learn so much from living the hands-on side of medicine.”

Brigner began working as an EMT in high school. “I wanted to get started on my pre-med journey,” he explains. “Becoming an EMT is one of the most powerful medical experiences you can have — and it’s definitely solidified my decision to pursue medicine as a career.”

What’s the job like?

Monroe first joined an ambulance crew with American Medical Response in DeKalb County and now works for Grady Health System. “At a basic level, our job is to stabilize patients and get them to the hospital safely,” says Monroe.

Brigner explains that most ambulance EMTs split time between emergency calls, special events, and transfers. “It can be intense,” he says. “When everything goes well, you can seriously change someone’s life trajectory.”

Monroe adds that there is no typical shift on an ambulance. “We’ve had anything from people shot in the chest to someone struggling to breathe to someone experiencing abdominal pain because they are hungry. You respond where the public needs you.”

What do you like best about being an EMT?

Homrich appreciates the people. “You’re on a truck for 12 hours with career paramedics who spend their lives saving others. Many are former military; I learn something new every shift. They’re heroes.”

Lee values the teamwork she finds at the hospital. “Usually when something very high acuity comes in, like a cardiac arrest, you have everyone in the emergency room acting as a team. We’re doing chest compressions, checking in with each other, and switching out when needed. Everyone is there in this very stressful time, working together to save someone’s life.”

How does EMT work prepare you for careers in medicine?

EMT work offers solid medical experience and critical soft skills. “You’re making decisions about real patients,” says Monroe. “You have your own patient, sometimes with no help for 30-45 minutes, depending on how long it takes to get to the hospital. It’s the best clinical experience you can get.”

Lee adds, “It teaches creativity, problem solving, and composure under pressure — skills you can’t learn from a textbook. You learn to stay composed in chaos.”

How do you balance school and work?

All four agree that it takes a lot of organization and discipline. “Having a good calendar system is key, and strategically scheduling classes really helps,” says Homrich. “I’ve definitely fallen into traps where I get really into EMS — picking up cool events or overnight shifts for bonuses — but I’ve learned to make schoolwork a priority. Academics come first.”

Lee primarily works weekends to accommodate her school schedule. “I work 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays,” she says. “I get most of my studying done during the week.”

What kind of training does it take to become an EMT?

Monroe is an Advanced EMT while Brigner, Homrich, and Lee hold the EMT Basic designation. Training includes coursework, skills testing, and clinical ride-alongs. To become an EMT, students must complete training, earn National Registry EMT certification, and apply for a state license.

“The real learning happens during clinicals or ‘third rides,’ where you ride along as the third person on the truck,” says Homrich.

Monroe estimates that he has spent more than 600 hours studying and training to earn both certifications.

Can you describe a meaningful moment in your EMT career?

Beyond the life-saving thrills, these students encounter moments that stay with them forever.

Brigdon remembers an incident from his very first day as an EMT:

“We were transporting a patient up from the depths of the D.C. subway. After putting him on the gurney, we took the escalator instead of the elevator. The fire crew saw us and immediately let us know that wasn’t the right move. Listening to their angry feedback put into perspective how serious this job is and the life-changing implications of doing it right. That moment taught me that every decision matters.”

Homrich remembers leading an “honor walk,” a ceremony to honor organ donors and support their families, for a deceased teenage patient being transferred for organ donation:
“At 19 years old, I wheeled a son away from his mother for the last time, knowing she’d never see him again. It was heavy but also meaningful because his sacrifice would create so much life. That moment reminded me how much trust people place in us — and the importance of what we do.”

What is Emergency Medical Services at Tech (EMS at Tech)?

A student organization dedicated to improving emergency medical care on campus, the club partners with Grady EMS and the Georgia Tech Police Department to respond to medical emergencies, lead CPR and first aid classes, and provide clinical opportunities for members.

“EMS at Tech is a community where you can nerd out and share your passion for emergency medicine,” says Homrich, the club’s vice president. “When you’re with friends at lunch, no one wants to hear about applying a tourniquet for an arterial bleed. But at EMS at Tech, everyone is an emergency medicine enthusiast who wants to share experiences.”

Last semester, the group trained more than 160 students, faculty, and staff in CPR/AED and supported campus events like Homecoming and Halloween. EMS at Tech also guides students pursuing EMS certifications and helps administer the Todd Family Fund EMS Scholarship, which covers tuition for Grady EMS Academy classes.

That opportunity is here again. Applications for the 2026 Summer Startup Launch cohort are now open.

If you’ve identified a meaningful problem, have begun talking to real users, or feel a pull to build something bigger than a class project, this is your moment. Startup Launch gives you the structure, support, and ecosystem to take your idea further than you ever thought possible.

A Launchpad With a Proven Track Record

In the past year alone, CREATE‑X founders have:

• Led their startup to successful acquisitions.
• Raised six-figure funding rounds.
• Gained acceptance into highly selective Y Combinator.
• Built products used by customers, communities, and companies across industries.

The ability to identify a problem, validate real user needs, build something that works, and communicate that value — that combination makes students stand out in a competitive job market. Employers notice it. Graduate programs notice it. And investors notice it.

This is why Startup Launch isn’t just a summer project.
It becomes a defining career asset.

What You Get in Startup Launch

Startup Launch is intentionally built to give students every advantage while they build their venture. This year, we’ve expanded support even further.

Participants receive:

• $200,000 in-kind services like accounting and cloud credits.
• Dedicated coaching and mentorship from experienced founders and startup experts.
• Exclusive workshops and founder-focused programming.
• Access to the CREATE-X network, a community of builders, investors, and potential customers.

You’ll spend the summer fully immersed in your startup, surrounded by peers also tackling ambitious problems.

And you’ll leave with something real to show for it.

Applications for the Summer 2026 cohort close March 17. Apply to Startup Launch today.

“The selection committee received more than a dozen proposals that push the boundaries of AI-enabled science and encourage collaboration across units. I look forward to seeing the great science, strong results, and successful future external funding enabled by these seed grants,” says Dimitrios Psaltis, professor in the School of Physics and director of the AI4Science Center. 

Launched earlier this semester, the center promotes cross-disciplinary research on AI tools that address scientific challenges. The following three proposals were selected by the center based on their scientific goals, extent of interdisciplinary collaboration, and potential for outside funding: 

Spring 2026 AI4Science Center Seed Grant Recipients  

Graph Foundation Models for Protein Conformational Dynamics | School of Chemistry and Biochemistry 

• PIs: Professor Peter Kasson, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry; Professor JC Gumbart, School of Physics; Assistant Professor Amirali Aghazadeh, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering
• Graduate student: Jeffy Jeffy
• Team statement: “The AI4Science Center’s seed funding will allow us to complete and test a prototype of our new deep learning architecture for protein dynamics. We're super excited about the project and happy that this gives us support to pursue our new idea.”

Combinations of Verified AI and Domain Knowledge for New Insights in Theoretical Physics | School of Physics

• PIs: Assistant Professor Aishik Ghosh, School of Physics; Professor Vijay Ganesh, School of Computer Science
• Graduate student: Piyush Jha
• Team statement: “This seed funding gives us an opportunity to connect two fields in a way that could transform our approach to certain problems in theoretical physics.”

Harnessing the Manifold Geometry of Neural Representations for Robust LLM Safety | School of Psychology 

• PIs: Assistant Professor Audrey Sederberg, School of Psychology; Assistant Professor Pan Li, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering
• Graduate student: Ruixuan Deng
• Team statement: “Our project injects insights from human neuroscience directly into AI safety algorithm design, allowing us to move beyond black-box approaches toward more interpretable and principled safety mechanisms. By closing the loop, these computational models will also provide new feedback and insights for neuroscience.”

To achieve better training outcomes with faster deployment results, Fukang Liu and Feiyang Wu, graduate students under Professor Ye Zhao from the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and faculty member of the Institute for Robotics and Intelligent Machines, have published a duo of papers in IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters. This is a collaborative work with three other IRIM affiliated faculties, Profs. Danfei Xu, Yue Chen, and Sehoon Ha, as well as Prof. Anqi Wu from School of Computational Science and Engineering.

To develop more reliable motion learning for humanoid robots and enable humanoid robots to perform complex whole-body movements in the real world, Fukang led a team and developed Opt2Skill, a hybrid robot learning framework that combines model-based trajectory optimization with reinforcement learning.  Their framework integrates dynamics and contacts into the trajectory planning process and generates high-quality, dynamically feasible datasets, which result in more reliable motion learning for humanoid robots and improved position tracking and task success rates. This approach shows a promising way to augment the performance and generalization of humanoid RL policies using dynamically feasible motion datasets. Incorporating torque data also improved motion stability and force tracking in contact-rich scenarios, demonstrating that torque information plays a key role in learning physically consistent and contact-rich humanoid behaviors.

While other datasets, such as inverse kinematics or human demonstrations, are valuable, they don’t always capture the dynamics needed for reliable whole-body humanoid control.” said by Fukang Liu. “With our Opt2Skill framework, we combine trajectory optimization with reinforcement learning to generate and leverage high-quality, dynamically feasible motion data. This integrated approach gives robots a richer and more physically grounded training process, enabling them to learn these complex tasks more reliably and safely for real-world deployment. - Fukang Liu

In another line of humanoid research, Feiyang established a one-stage training framework that allows humanoid robots to learn locomotion more efficiently and with greater environmental adaptability. Their framework, Learn-to-Teach (L2T), unlike traditional two-stage “teacher-student” approaches, which first train an expert in simulation and then retrain a limited-perception student, teaches both simultaneously, sharing knowledge and experiences in real time. The result of this two-way training is a 50% reduction in training data and time, while maintaining or surpassing state-of-the-art performance in humanoid locomotion. The lightweight policy learned through this process enables the lab’s humanoid robot to traverse more than a dozen real-world terrains—grass, gravel, sand, stairs, and slopes—without retraining or depth sensors.

By training an expert and a deployable controller together, we can turn rich simulation feedback into a lightweight policy that runs on real hardware, letting our humanoid adapt to uneven, unstructured terrain with far less data and hand-tuning than traditional methods. - Feiyang Wu

By the application of these training processes, the team hopes to speed the development of deployable humanoid robots for home use, manufacturing, defense, and search and rescue assistance in dangerous environments. These methods also support advances in embodied intelligence, enabling robots to learn richer, more context-aware behaviors.Additionally, the training data process can be applied to research to improve the functionality and adaptability of human assistive devices for medical and therapeutic uses.

As humanoid robots move from controlled labs into messy, unpredictable real-world environments, the key is developing embodied intelligence—the ability for robots to sense, adapt, and act through their physical bodies,” said Professor Ye Zhao. “The innovations from our students push us closer to robots that can learn robust skills, navigate diverse terrains, and ultimately operate safely and reliably alongside people. - Prof. Ye Zhao

Author - Christa M. Ernst

Citations

Liu F, Gu Z, Cai Y, Zhou Z, Jung H, Jang J, Zhao S, Ha S, Chen Y, Xu D, Zhao Y. Opt2skill: Imitating dynamically-feasible whole-body trajectories for versatile humanoid loco-manipulation. IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters. 2025 Oct 13.

Wu F, Nal X, Jang J, Zhu W, Gu Z, Wu A, Zhao Y. Learn to teach: Sample-efficient privileged learning for humanoid locomotion over real-world uneven terrain. IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters. 2025 Jul 23.
 

“Peatlands are essential carbon stores, but as temperatures warm, this carbon is in danger of being released as carbon dioxide and methane,” says Kostka, who is also the associate chair for Research in the School of Biological Sciences and the director of Georgia Tech for Georgia’s Tomorrow. Understanding the ratio of carbon dioxide to methane is critical, he adds, because while both are greenhouse gasses, methane is significantly more potent.

Kostka is the corresponding author of a new study unearthing how and why peatlands are producing carbon dioxide and methane. 

The research, “Northern peatland microbial communities exhibit resistance to warming and acquire electron acceptors from soil organic matter,” was published this summer in Nature Communications, and was led by co-first authors Borja Aldeguer-Riquelme, a postdoctoral research associate in the Environmental Microbial Genomics Laboratory, and Katherine Duchesneau, a Ph.D. student in the School of Biological Sciences.

The study builds on a decade of research at the Oak Ridge National Lab’s Spruce and Peatland Responses Under Changing Environments (SPRUCE) experiment, a long-term research project in Minnesota that allows researchers to warm whole sections of wetland from tree top to bog bottom.

“Over the past 10 years, we’ve shown that warming in this large-scale climate experiment increases greenhouse gas production,” Kostka says. “But while warming makes the bog produce more methane, we still observe a lot more CO2 production than methane. In this paper, we take a critical step towards discovering why — and describing the mechanisms that determine which gases are released and in what amounts.”

Methane mystery

The subdued methane production in peatlands has been a long-standing mystery. In water-saturated wetlands, oxygen is scarce, but microbes still need to respire — a type of ‘breathing’ that allows them to produce energy for metabolic function. Without oxygen, microbes use nitrate, sulfate, or metals to respire — still releasing carbon dioxide in the process. However, if these ingredients aren’t present, microbes ‘breathe’ in a way that releases methane.

Since nitrate, sulfate, and metals are relatively rare in peatlands, methane production should be the most likely pathway, but surprisingly, observations show the opposite. “In both fieldwork and lab experiments, peatlands produce much more carbon dioxide than methane,” Kostka explains. “It’s puzzling because the soil conditions should help methane production dominate.”

To solve this mystery, the team leveraged a suite of cutting-edge genetic tools called “omics” —  metagenomics (studying DNA), metatranscriptomics (studying RNA), and metabolomics (a technique used to study the “leftovers” of metabolism), providing a detailed look under the hood of the microbial “engine” that cycles organic matter in wetlands. It also gave a new window into the diversity of soil microbes in wetlands: 80 percent of the organisms identified in the study were new at the genus level.

‘Omics’ innovations

Over the course of several years, the team collected samples from a peatland enclosed in an experimental chamber that was slowly warmed, then analyzed the samples using omics to see how they changed. Initially, they hypothesized that warming the soil would cause microbial communities to change quickly. “Microbes can evolve and grow rapidly,” Kostka says. “But that didn’t happen.”

The DNA-based methods showed that while the microbial communities stayed largely stable, the bog did release more greenhouse gasses as it warmed. To assess the metabolic potential of the microbes, Duchesneau and Aldeguer-Riquelme constructed microbial genomes, investigating how they were decomposing the organic matter in peatlands and cycling carbon.

“We found that microbial activity increases with warming, but the growth response of microbial communities lags behind these changes in physiological or metabolic activity,” Kostka says. He cautions that this doesn’t necessarily mean that wetland communities won’t change as climates warm — just that these shifts might come behind metabolic ones. 

A diversity of discoveries

And the methane? The team believes that microbes may be breaking down organic matter to access the key ingredients for producing carbon dioxide — nitrate, sulfate, and metals — though more research is currently underway to investigate this.

“Doing this type of integrated omics research in soil systems is still incredibly difficult,” Kostka says. The challenge is multifaceted: the research leverages years of experiments, long-term datasets, advanced laboratory techniques, and fieldwork innovations. 

At SPRUCE, experimental chambers are about 1,000 square feet. While it’s an impressive experimental setup, researchers still must be careful: “We need to take soil samples for many years, so if we take too many, there’d be no soil left!” Kostka explains. “Part of our research involves developing better, non-destructive sampling techniques.”

The other challenge lies in what makes these peatlands so unique: it’s very hard to detect small changes because of the sheer diversity of organisms present. “Every time we conduct this type of research, we learn more about these incredible systems,” he says. “There’s always something new.”

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-61664-7

Funding: The Office of Biological and Environmental Research, Terrestrial Ecosystem Science Program and Genomic Science programs, under the US Department of Energy (DOE); the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, a DOE Office of Science User Facility sponsored by the Biological and Environmental Research program. The SPRUCE experiment is funded by the Biological and Environmental Research program in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science.

“AI is here to stay; therefore, I want students to learn to treat it like a lab partner, not an answer machine,” says Fenton, who also serves as adjunct professor in the School of Biological Sciences. “By making its methods and limits visible, we can use AI to strengthen conceptual understanding, practice ethical judgment, and build the habits of inquiry that real science requires.” 

Fenton has already had insightful exchanges with the other faculty fellows: Joy Arulraj of the College of Computing, Patrick Danahy of the College of Design, and Ying Zhang of the College of Engineering. 

“We're finding new ways to collaborate on AI in education, so I am sure that our collective impact will be greater than the sum of our individual projects,” he adds.

As part of the program, each fellow is leading a project during the 2025-26 academic year that advances AI’s role in higher education. They will share project outcomes through C21U Learning Labs and other campus events. 

Fenton’s project, “AI as a Learning Assistant,” centers on developing AI-enabled instructional modules for four courses: Computational Physics (PHYS 3266/6260), Introductory Physics I (PHYS 2211), Neurophysics (PHYS 4250), and Scientific Writing (PHYS 6801). The modules pair simulation-based practice, guided prompting, and coding mini-labs with model “trust checks,” including verification steps, error cues, and citation prompts. The goal is to help students learn to ask better structured questions, reason with evidence, evaluate AI output and failure modes, and use AI ethically — while giving instructors lightweight analytics to target misconceptions and refine materials across semesters.

Inspired by SpaceX’s Super Heavy booster, a team led by Georgia Tech’s Spencer Bryngelson and New York University’s Florian Schäfer modeled the turbulent interactions of a 33-engine rocket. Their experiment set new records, running the largest ever fluid dynamics simulation by a factor of 20 and the fastest by over a factor of four.

The team ran its custom software on the world’s two fastest supercomputers, as well as the eighth fastest, to construct such a massive model.

Applications from the simulation reach beyond rocket science. The same computing methods can model fluid mechanics in aerospace, medicine, energy, and other fields. At the same time, the work advances understanding of the current limits and future potential of computing. 

The team finished as runners-up for the 2025 Gordon Bell Prize for its impactful, multi-domain research. Referred to as the Nobel Prize of supercomputing, the award was presented at the world’s top conference for high-performance computing (HPC) research.

“Fluid dynamics problems of this style, with shocks, turbulence, different interacting fluids, and so on, are a scientific mainstay that marshals our largest supercomputers,” said Bryngelson, an assistant professor with the School of Computational Science and Engineering (CSE).

“Larger and faster simulations that enable solutions to long-standing scientific problems, like the rocket propulsion problem, are always needed. With our work, perhaps we took a big dent out of that issue.”

The Super Heavy booster reflects the space industry’s move toward reusable multi-engine first-stage rockets that are easier to transport and more economical overall. 

However, this shift creates research and testing challenges for new designs.

Each of Super Heavy’s 33 thrusters expels propellant at ten times the speed of sound. As individual engines reach extreme temperatures, pressures, and densities, their combined interactions with the airframe make such violent physics even more unpredictable.

Frequent physical experiments would be expensive and risky, so scientists rely on computer models to supplement the engineering process. 

Bryngelson’s flagship Multicomponent Flow Code (MFC) software anchored the experiment. MFC is an open-source computer program that simulates fluid dynamic models. Bryngelson’s lab has been modifying MFC since 2022 to run on more powerful computers and solve larger problems. 

In computing terms, this MFC-enhanced model simulated fluid flow resolution at 200 trillion grid points and one quadrillion degrees of freedom. These metrics exceeded previous record-setting benchmarks that tallied 10 trillion and 30 trillion grid points.

This means MFC simulations provide greater detail and capture smaller-scale features than previous approaches. The rocket simulation also ran four times faster and achieved 5.7 times the energy efficiency of comparable methods.   

Integrating information geometric regularization (IGR) into MFC played a key role in attaining these results. This new approach improved the simulation’s computational efficiency and overcame the challenge of shock dynamics.

In fluid mechanics, shock waves occur when objects move faster than the speed of sound. Along with hampering the performance of airframes and propulsion systems, shocks have historically been difficult to simulate.

Computational scientists have used empirical models based on artificial viscosity to account for shocks. Although these approaches mimic the physical effects of shock waves at the microscopic scale, they struggle to effectively capture the large-scale features of the flow. 

Information geometry uses curved spaces to study concepts of statistics and information. IGR uses these tools to modify the underlying geometry in fluid dynamics equations. When traveling in the modified geometry, fluid in the model preserves the shocks in a more natural way. 

“When regularizing shocks to much larger scales relevant in these numerical simulations, conventional methods smear out important fine-scale details,” said Schäfer, an assistant professor at NYU’s Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences.

“IGR introduces ideas from abstract math to CFD that allow creating modified paths that approach the singularity without ever reaching it. In the resulting fluid flow, shocks never become too spiky in simulations, but the fine-scale details do not smear out either.” 

Simulating a model this large required the Georgia Tech researchers to run MFC on El Capitan and Frontier, the world's two fastest supercomputers. 

The systems are two of four exascale machines in existence. This means they can solve at least one quintillion (“1” followed by 18 zeros) calculations per second. If a person completed a simple math calculation every second, it would take that person about 30 billion years to reach one quintillion operations.

Frontier is housed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and debuted as the world’s first exascale supercomputer in 2022. El Capitan surpassed Frontier when Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory launched it in 2024.

To prepare MFC for performance on these machines, Bryngelson’s lab followed a methodical approach spanning years of hardware acquisition and software engineering. 

In 2022, Bryngelson attained an AMD MI210 GPU accelerator. Optimizing MFC on the component played a critical step toward preparing the software for exascale machines.

AMD hardware underpins both El Capitan and Frontier. The MI300A GPU powers El Capitan while Frontier uses the MI250X GPU. 

After configuring MFC on the MI210 GPU, Bryngelson’s lab ran the software on Frontier for the first time during a 2023 hackathon. This confirmed the code was ready for full-scale deployment on exascale supercomputers based on AMD hardware. 

In addition to El Capitan and Frontier, the simulation ran on Alps, the world’s eight-fastest supercomputer based at the Swiss National Supercomputing Centre. It is the largest available system that features the NVIDIA GH200 Grace Hopper Superchip.

Like with AMD GPUs, Bryngelson acquired four GH200s in 2024 and began configuring MFC to the latest hardware innovation powering New Age supercomputers. Later that year, the Jülich Research Centre accepted Bryngelson’s group into an early access program to test JUPITER, a developing supercomputer based on the NVIDIA superchip.

The group earned a certificate for scaling efficiency and node performance on the way toward validating that their code worked on the GH200. The early access project proved successful for JUPITER, which launched in 2025 as Europe’s fastest supercomputer and fourth fastest in the world.

“Getting the level of hands-on experience with world-leading supercomputers and computing resources at Georgia Tech through this project has been a fantastic opportunity for a grad student,” said CSE Ph.D. student Ben Wilfong.

“To leverage these machines, I learned more advanced programming techniques that I’m glad to have in my tool belt for future projects. I also enjoyed the opportunity to work closely with and learn from industry experts from NVIDIA, AMD, and HPE/Cray.”

El Capitan, Frontier, JUPITER, and Alps maintained their rankings at the 2025 International Conference for High Performance Computing Networking, Storage and Analysis (SC25). Of note, the TOP500 announced at SC25 that JUPITER surpassed the exaflop threshold. 

The SC Conference Series is one of two venues where the TOP500 announces updated supercomputer rankings every June and November. The TOP500 ranks and details the 500 most powerful supercomputers in the world. 

The SC Conference Series serves as the venue where the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) presents the Gordon Bell Prize. The annual award recognizes achievement in HPC research and application. The Tech-led team was among eight finalists for this year’s award.

Along with Bryngelson, Georgia Tech members included Ph.D. students Anand Radhakrishnan and Wilfong, postdoctoral researcher Daniel Vickers, alumnus Henry Le Berre (CS 2025), and undergraduate student Tanush Prathi.

Schäfer’s partnership with the group stems from his previous role as an assistant professor at Georgia Tech from 2021 to 2025. 

Collaborators on the project included Nikolaos Tselepidis and Benedikt Dorschner from NVIDIA, Reuben Budiardja from ORNL, Brian Cornille from AMD, and Stephen Abbot from HPE. All were co-authors of the paper and named finalists for the Gordon Bell Prize. 

“I’m elated that we have been nominated for such a prestigious award. It wouldn't have been possible without the combined and diligent efforts of our team,” Radhakrishnan said. 

“I’m looking forward to presenting our work at SC25 and connecting with other researchers and fellow finalists while showcasing seminal work in the field of computing.”

“We are thrilled to have an official Ambassador Program featuring a group of students ready to help with special events and recruiting activities,” says Academic Program Manager Ashley Edwards, who created the program. “Events become much more meaningful when alumni and prospective students can speak with actual students who provide a real-world perspective about life at Georgia Tech.”

The ambassadors will be busy, says Edwards. They will play a key role in recruitment activities, including the bi-weekly It’s All About Science and Math event where prospective students visit campus for an overview of the College, enjoy lunch with faculty and students, and even sit in on a class. Ambassadors will also help host admitted student events, such as the Explore Science and Math Open House, participate in alumni engagement events, and assist with career education programs. 

“Being an ambassador is a chance to share my experiences and help others find their place here,” says Meghan Hamrick, a third-year chemistry major on the pre-health track. “I want to give back to the Institute that has given so much to me.”

Ambassadors will serve as a direct link for prospective students seeking personalized insight.

“Talking with a current student who participates in things they are interested in, like marching band, intramural soccer, or living in our Explore Living Learning Community, makes it real for prospective students. It’s a powerful connection,” explains Edwards.

“I hope I can be a useful resource. I think my experiences with neuroscience, study abroad, and working in the Housley Lab will resonate with future students,” says Inara Sheeraz, a third-year neuroscience major.  

Anja Govednik, a second-year physics major, looks forward to talking up her major. “I’d love to answer questions about physics — there’s so much more than most people realize!”

Representing the College

The ambassadors were selected based on GPA, short essay questions, campus involvement, and, for the finalists, a one-minute video introduction.

“We had more than 85 amazing students apply, so choosing was hard,” says Edwards. “We wanted a broad array of students, including transfer students, undergraduate researchers, student leaders, athletes, work-study students, and students from each major.”

She adds, “Most importantly, we looked for students who want to help, are passionate about science and math, really love Georgia Tech and the College of Sciences, and are excited to get other people to love the Institute as much as they do.”

Edwards is pleased to have the program up and running. “It’s a win-win. Not only will it showcase our strengths and the human side of the College of Sciences, but it will also help our student ambassadors. They’ll gain resume-worthy experience, connect with alumni, and engage with prospective students and parents. Plus, ambassadors will have opportunities to work closely with our deans and learn more about the College beyond academics.”

Meet the 2025 College of Sciences ambassadors: 

Ameera Alam, Psychology; Agastya Arora, Mathematics; Walker Bailey, Mathematics/Economics; Jayanna Baptiste, Biology; Alison Bolaños, Neuroscience; Laurel Bourg, Physics; Giuli Capparelli Sanabria, Biology; Pallavi Dokka, Neuroscience; Anjali Ganapathiraju, Biology; Anja Govednik, Physics; Meghan Hamrick, Chemistry; Britney Huynh, Biology; Ava-Elizabeth Jacoby, Psychology; Meghana Kesari, Neuroscience; Melody Lee, Computer Science/Mathematics; Larissa Martin, Astrophysics; Andrea Ninh, Biology; Malavika Niverthi, Neuroscience; Lea Setton, Psychology; Inara Sheeraz, Neuroscience; Nidhi Shenoy; Biochemistry; Deandra Smith, Neuroscience; J’Avani Stinson, Biology; Ishita Sukul, Biology; and Ria Vittal, Biochemistry.

The surface and atmosphere of Mars have seen many changes over its 4.5-billion-year history. While the planet's current atmosphere is very thin (about 0.6% of Earth's), it was once thick enough to sustain liquid water.

According to new research published in Communications Earth & Environment, these atmospheric changes could play a key role in how we interpret sediment deposits on the planet.

“We found that the changing pressure resulting from atmospheric changes would have produced sediment-rich water flows with varying shapes over time,” says co-author and Georgia Tech Assistant Professor Frances Rivera-Hernández, adding that since Mars’ present-day atmosphere is very thin, the associated low pressures would produce behaviors not seen on Earth. 

“Earth’s thicker atmosphere means that there are higher pressures on our planet, which produce very different behaviors,” she explains. “This means that Earth analogs may not be reliable for interpreting some Martian sedimentary landscapes.”

“At low present-day pressures, Mars mud would boil and levitate if the surface temperature was warm, or freeze and flow more like lava if the temperature was cold,” adds study lead Jacob Adler, who began working on the project while a postdoctoral researcher in Rivera-Hernández’s PLANETAS Lab at Georgia Tech, and continued the study in his current role as an assistant research professor in Arizona State University's School of Earth and Space Exploration. 

The team also included Georgia Tech Ph.D. student and current PLANETAS Lab member Sharissa Thompson, along with researchers from the Open University and Czech Academy of Sciences.

“This study adds a critical layer of nuance to analogue research,” says Rivera-Hernández. “By comparing our lab results to real Martian landforms, we can better reconstruct Mars’ past climate — leading to increasingly successful research in the future.”

Making Martian mud

In order to recreate past conditions on the red planet, the team conducted over 70 experiments in a Mars simulation chamber, testing how flowing water-sediment mixtures would be affected by the varying pressures and temperatures throughout the planet’s history.

Thompson, who specializes in understanding these types of mixtures, played a key role in interpreting the results. “As part of my Ph.D. work at Georgia Tech, I uncover how and why flow shapes evolve as pressure changes, which helped us understand how these flows could have shifted with changing pressures on Mars over time,” she says. “I’m thrilled to have contributed to the innovative flow experiments this study conducted.”

The experiments revealed that at higher atmospheric pressures, water and mud would have similar flow physics (rheology) as on Earth, indicating that some of the oldest sedimentary features on the surface should appear similar to Earth environments. In these scenarios, surface conditions may also have been more habitable for life.

On the other hand, as Mars started to lose most of its atmosphere, the dominant physics in sediment flow experiments changed to freezing and boiling. The team found that at the lower pressures Mars has experienced after the Noachian, the rheology and deposit shapes (morphology) were not at all Earth-like.

“When we mapped out where on Mars, we would expect this different behavior, we found that this opposite behavior could happen at the same time at different locations on the planet,” Adler shares. “The small-scale climate variations across Mars’ topography are enough to see these opposing effects.”

Decoding Mars' past

The research suggests that studying the specific shapes of features like sediment flows, debris flows and mudflows could help scientists better estimate climate conditions. It also highlights how laboratory experiments are a critical part of planetary science activities, as they can help scientists better interpret remote sensing and modeling results.

"By finding matching morphologies of what we see on Mars and what we see in these lab experiments, we might be able to better time-stamp the paleoclimate record,” Adler explains.

"We’ve sent rover missions to Mars largely because we find compelling remote sensing evidence of deposits formed by water or mud that could indicate a habitable environment,” he adds. “We are often eager to compare what we find to Earth analogs, but these are not always suitable for comparison. This study shows there is still much we can learn about Mars by conducting experiments under Mars conditions.”

Funding: NASA

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02879-w 

“This fellowship with the Archive is a fantastic opportunity for me as a physicist. There is an incredible community of creatives that I get to be a part of and draw inspiration from,” he says. “It’s also very validating that an organization with as much prestige as the SJA finds value in the work we’re doing here in the lab. I’m so grateful that people believe in me and the work that we’re doing.”

Cachine is one of just eight individuals selected this year from a nationwide pool. The one-year fellowship supports work at the intersection of technology and the liberal arts, and will provide essential support for his creative trajectory, including a stipend, mentoring, and a robust community of peers.

At Georgia Tech, Cachine is the lab manager and lead experimentalist for the Matsumoto Group where he works alongside his advisor, School of Physics Associate Professor Elisabetta Matsumoto. 

“As a physicist who studies craft, I often see that this is an overlooked area of research, especially in women’s health,” Cachine says. “I hope that beyond building a pathway to improved patient outcomes, my work this year will show people that crafting traditions are incredible technological feats — they are entire knowledge systems waiting to be explored.  There is so much we can learn from craft.”

“I went up to him, and he was crying,” says Manoj. “He told me his name was Darren, that he was experiencing homelessness, and that people wouldn’t even look at him.”

As he spoke with Darren, hugging him and getting him out of oncoming traffic, others began to stop, bringing water, Chick-fil-A sandwiches, and comfort. “I saw how one small gesture inspired others to help,” says Manoj. “It helped me see the bright side of humanity — and inspired me to get more involved in helping others.”

Back on campus, he looked for ways to make a difference. At the beginning of his sophomore year, he joined the newly formed Yellow Jackets Against Poverty  organization.

Today, he leads it — living out Georgia Tech’s motto of Progress and Service and inspiring others to do the same.

Get to Know Yellow Jackets Against Poverty

Tell us about the club:

Manoj: Our main goal is to give back to the community. We’re a hodgepodge and serve in many ways, including building shelters, cleaning up unhoused encampments, creating food and hygiene drives, and volunteering for the after-school program at Boyce L. Ansley School. Our goal is to have at least one activity per week for students to make a difference, but we usually have two or three opportunities. It’s all about helping the community and showing what Georgia Tech students can do.

Why did you join?

Manoj: When you’re at Tech, it’s such a beautiful place with green spaces and welcoming people. But living on the edge of campus freshman year, I saw the dichotomy between Tech and right outside of Tech. We live such privileged lives, and I wanted to do something to bridge that gap.

How many members do you have?

Manoj: We have around 90 active members, and they are all incredible people who want to give back and spread kindness. We’re growing quickly because our message resonates. There are lots of Tech students who want to volunteer — they just don’t know how and where.

Why is this club important?

Manoj: Most clubs at Georgia Tech focus on building your resume, which is great and necessary. But volunteering is transformative. You learn who you are by giving back. You get to interact with your community and make your mark on the world.

How do you choose events?

Manoj: We work with amazing social workers and organizations like Intown Cares. They do so much good for the community, and we rely on them to help us help them. We also look online for volunteer opportunities.

Any success stories or memorable moments that come to mind?

Manoj: Every volunteering event has been a success story because it’s an opportunity for people to come together and work for a cause. One event I really enjoyed was when we built shelters and building panels for the unhoused community. All of us were just trying not to whack ourselves with the hammers, but we learned a lot about how to create a shelter that will be used to keep someone warmer in the winter.

We also recently organized a fundraiser where we sold pieces of pie and opportunities to pie club leadership in the face. From this fundraiser, we created 2,000 meals that we packed and distributed to people experiencing homelessness in our community.

What are your goals as president?

Manoj: My goal is simple: do as much as we possibly can. Whether that’s hosting coat drives, doing a STEM activity at an after-school program, or volunteering at a soup kitchen, we want to make an impact and push the message of kindness. Nobody should be left out.

Anything else you want people to know about the club?

Manoj: I’d like to make it abundantly clear that anybody is welcome to come to our events, not just Georgia Tech students. Faculty, staff, students, alumni, family, and friends are all welcome. For example, our wonderful faculty advisor, Heidi van de Wouw, who teaches in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, is an active volunteer at the Boyce L. Ansley School and entertains all of the kids with her infectious laugh!

How can people get involved?

Manoj: Follow us on Instagram or GroupMe for updates.

Tragedy and Responsibility

When Angela was 11, her father, Zdravko, was hit by a front loader while on the job. Describing the traumatic incident, Angela says, “Looking back on it, I didn’t realize the gravity of the situation because I was so young. We were told he tried to get up after being hit, but his coworkers wouldn’t let him. They called the ambulance and took him to Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta. That's when one of his co-workers came to our house and told me and my mom that he had gotten into an accident.” With a crushed pelvis, Zdravko underwent an 11-hour, life-saving surgery after which he was transferred to the Shepherd Center to recover and learn how to walk again.

As both of her parents are Croatian (previously Yugoslavian) immigrants who do not speak English fluently, Angela had to take on a more mature role in her family, acting as a translator during Zdravko’s recovery. Angela helped translate everything from documents and bills for her mother to the doctors and nurses caring for her father.

Despite the trauma of his accident, Zdravko has regained much of his independence, is back to a “new normal,” and is aware of the impact his accident has had on Angela’s educational experience.

“It’s weird how life works sometimes,” she says. "He came from a foreign country and got this construction job to help support his family, which would end up changing his life with the accident. But eventually, I was able to get this [Kids' Chance] scholarship and go to college because of it. So, that domino effect, it really does exist.”

Kids' Chance Scholarship

While researching her financial aid options, Angela discovered Kids’ Chance of Georgia, an organization that provides educational scholarships to the children of Georgia workers who have been seriously or fatally injured on the job. After applying for and receiving a scholarship, she began saving the monthly stipends that high school recipients receive for future college expenses — a decision that ultimately helped her attend Georgia Tech.

Founded in 1988, Kids’ Chance of Georgia was the first organization of its kind in the nation, and has been a model for Kids’ Chance charities in 49 other states as well as the national organization. Kids’ Chance organizations strive to offer need-based scholarships to the families of seriously injured workers and are supported by occupational safety and health programs like Georgia Tech OSHA Training Institute Education Center, which has contributed a full program certificate to the Kids' Chance of Georgia silent auction for years. 

Since its inception, the program has provided over 700 scholarships, raised almost $7 million, and established memorial scholarships and endowment funds for those in need. In the 2024-2025 academic year, Kids’ Chance of Georgia awarded approximately $125,000 in scholarship funding across 62 scholarships — including the one Angela receives.

Becoming the Resource They Needed

Now, as a first-generation college student, Angela is a junior at Georgia Tech. In addition to other financial aid she receives, the Kids’ Chance scholarship helped her make this possible. “It’s been very helpful being able to afford to live on campus; it's such a fun experience. I don't think I would have the same college experience without it because I've been able to meet so many great people and be surrounded by excellence in Atlanta and Georgia Tech,” she raves.

Majoring in biology with a minor in Spanish, Angela hopes to become a physician's assistant or an anesthesiologist assistant and is currently working as a nurse assistant. In middle school, Angela discovered she had an aptitude for learning Spanish and attributes this to the fact that she already speaks Croatian: “When you know more than one language, it’s easier to learn another.”

During the summer of 2025, she attended a study abroad trip to Costa Rica, where she studied epigenetics, cancer biotechnology, and bioethics. Tying her major and minor together, Angela strives to be fluent in Spanish as a healthcare professional, knowing that patients feel more relaxed when they can speak their native language.

“I've seen firsthand how hard it can be being sick, going to the hospital, and not knowing the language,” she says. “I want to become a medical professional who can communicate with patients in their native language because it's scary not knowing what's happening to you or what doctors or nurses are saying. I would love to be a kind of beacon of peace for those patients.”

Her Father's Pride

Angela has, without a doubt, made her father proud, taking a life-altering tragedy and all of its lessons and turning it into something positive.

“My father comes from an Eastern European country. He lived a very rural village life, and didn't get a college education in his country. I've told him about the scholarship, and he thinks it's great," she says. "I think he's very proud of where I am, that I'm able to go to school, that I'm able to navigate it, and be able to have this experience.”

Angela's journey — her determination and strength — embodies the Georgia Tech spirit. As she continues her education with support from Kids' Chance, she is turning her family's story into an example of resilience, compassion, and success.

“This is a great honor from the premier society in the world for the study of human intelligence,” he says. 

Engle’s research centers on the nature of our ability to maintain attention and focus in the face of external and internal distractions. His pioneering work has influenced a wide range of fields — including social psychology, emotion, psychopathology, developmental psychology, and psychological testing — and has contributed to modern theories of cognitive and emotional control. Tests developed in Engle’s lab will soon be used to select pilots and air traffic controllers for the U.S. Navy. These assessments evaluate one’s ability to focus attention and avoid distraction while problem solving. 

He obtained his Ph.D. in experimental psychology from The Ohio State University and joined Georgia Tech in 1995 as chair of the School of Psychology. Engle stepped down from that role in 2008 to establish the Georgia State University/Georgia Tech Center for Advanced Brain Imaging, where he served as director for four years. 

Throughout his career, Engle has received numerous awards. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences and is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, Association for Psychological Science, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Society of Experimental Psychologists, Memory Disorders Research Society, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

He served as editor of Current Directions in Psychological Science for more than 10 years and has been on the editorial board of several other journals. 

Josh Hembree, a mathematics major from Villa Rica, Georgia, is the first Ramblin’ Wreck driver to drive the Wreck at his own wedding. He’s also the first transfer student Wreck driver in at least a decade. 

Like approximately 25% of each new class of Tech students, Hembree transferred to the Institute. When he applied for first-year admission, he received a transfer pathway offer outlining the specific criteria he could meet to transfer to Tech. 

He began his college career at LaGrange College, where he was on the tennis team, and then finished the rest of his transfer requirements at the University of West Georgia. He arrived at Tech in August 2023. 

Joanna, Hembree’s wife, was the one who initially encouraged Hembree to get involved in student life. With her cheering him on, Hembree found his way to the Ramblin’ Reck Club on campus, which promotes the traditions and spirit of Tech. 

Becoming the Wreck Driver 

The club was a perfect fit, as Hembree is a proud lifelong Yellow Jacket fan with several alumni family members. When he was initially named the Wreck driver, his first call was to his wife. His second was to his dad. 

“Somehow, he seemed even more excited than me,” said Hembree. “And my grandad thinks it’s the coolest thing ever – he was also a math major when he was here, but he spent a lot of time in his dorm room. So, he’s excited to see me out here doing things on campus. They’ve bought season football tickets to watch all the ride outs.” 

The Wreck driver is the sole person with keys to the vehicle and is charged with all major upkeep of the car. They drive the car everywhere it goes, including onto the football field before home games. All Wreck driver candidates campaign for the position through the Ramblin’ Reck Club.  

Hembree’s proposal was one of building an environment where all students can have a meaningful experience with the Wreck. 

“I want people to be able to say, ‘Yeah, I was running late one day, and the Wreck picked me up at a bus stop and took me to class,’” said Hembree. “It’s trying to reach as many people as possible and give them a memory to share forever. Because Tech is hard, and if you make it here, you deserve a ride in the Wreck.” 

Advice for New Students, Celebrating National Transfer Student Week 

When it comes to being new on Tech’s campus, Hembree now echoes the same advice his wife once gave him: get involved. 

“It can be tempting to say you don’t have time for anything but schoolwork,” he said. “But if you have even a two-hour window in your day, try to do something social during it. Even if it doesn’t feel like it, it’s so much more productive to meet and connect with your peers.” 

This year, National Transfer Student Week (NTSW), which celebrates transfer students across the U.S., overlaps with Tech’s Homecoming week. Hembree and other Ramblin’ Reck Club members will spend the week waking up at 4 a.m. each day to make sure all the traditions, like the Freshman Cake Race, Wreck Parade, and Mini 500, go off without a hitch. 

Despite the long days, Hembree is proud to be a Yellow Jacket and spread the good word. 

“It really is the coolest thing – people hear me coming in the car and get the biggest smile on their face,” said Hembree. “It’s all about reaching as many people as possible and giving them a memorable experience.” 

National Transfer Student Week takes place from Oct. 20 – 24. For resources, events, and to learn more about transferring to Tech, review the NTSW resource page.  
 

“I am honored to be named an AMS Fellow and join this distinguished group of mathematicians,” says Święch, who joined Georgia Tech in 1993.

Święch is a leading global expert in the theory of viscosity solutions in nonlinear partial differential equations and has published numerous seminal papers in this and other fields. His research is fundamental to advances in pure and applied mathematics and scientific problem solving.

He has served on the editorial boards of several academic journals, including Applied Mathematics and Optimization Journal (2016-present), Mathematical Control and Related Fields (2011-18), and Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) Journal on Control and Optimization (2006-12). Święch gave the plenary lecture at the 2022 SIAM Annual Meeting and received, jointly with Shigeaki Koike, the Journal of the Mathematical Society of Japan’s 2010 Outstanding Paper Prize. In 2017, he coauthored, with Giorgio Fabbri and Fausto Gozzi, the book, Stochastic Optimal Control in Infinite Dimension: Dynamic Programming and HJB Equations.

Święch earned his Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

“Students asked for this event through the Career Pulse Survey, and we were happy to deliver,” says Career Education Program Manager James Stringfellow. “An increasing number of science and math majors are seeking industry opportunities after graduation.”

The turnout exceeded expectations with 16 employers and nearly 200 students in attendance.

“We had a great mix of employers from corporate, nonprofit, and government sectors, representing local, national, and global organizations,” shares Leslie Roberts, director of alumni relations and corporate engagement. “Their response demonstrates the high demand to engage with Georgia Tech’s top science talent.”

The expo offered undergraduate and graduate student attendees the chance to explore career pathways, discover internship and job opportunities, and gain valuable insights from industry professionals.

“We created SENE to serve both our students and employers equally,” says Stringfellow. “Recruiters are not just looking for technical skills — they’re looking for adaptable thinkers, problem solvers, and collaborators. That’s exactly what our students bring to the table.”

Employers shared positive feedback about the event and the caliber of students they met.

“I was impressed with the students here today,” says Kelly Glennon, (Biochemistry 2017), chief technical officer at Momar. “You can tell they took the time to prepare with strong resumes and good questions.”

Jeremy Brown, associate director of Education and Outreach at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), shares that he always enjoys working with College of Sciences students because they represent both consistency and excellence in their research interests and fit in well at GTRI: “We look for students who desire to solve complex problems for the federal government, state, and industry.”

Alana Williams, senior strategy and operations manager at McMaster-Carr says their new hires are based on potential rather than established skillsets. “We hire curious, smart, and capable people. It’s easy to find students like that at Georgia Tech,” 

Students also praised the expo’s format and focus.

“This was a great event,” says Kamisha Hill, a Ph.D. candidate in chemistry graduating this May. “I enjoyed speaking to a diverse group of organizations from government to small biotech to big industry.”

Fiona Waller, a fourth-year physics major, appreciated the focus on College of Sciences students: “The recruiters knew which opportunities would be exciting for us, and I didn’t have to explain my major.”

“I liked that it wasn’t super formal,” adds Luke Foster, a biochemistry master’s student. “It was easy to speak with the company representatives, and I appreciated the chance to make connections.”

Organizations in attendance included: Abbott Technologies, ALPLA Inc., Army Criminal Investigative Division - Forensic Exploitation, BODY20 Buckhead, BrandSafway, Cherry Street Energy, Deloitte, GeoVax Labs, GTRI, McMaster-Carr, Momar, Portal Innovations, Southern Company, State of Georgia, Syensqo, Takeda, Team Georgia Careers/Georgia Department of Administrative Services, and the United States Marine Corps Officer Program.

The next SENE is scheduled for October 7, 2026. Employers interested in participating should contact Career Education Program Manager James Stringfellow or Director of Alumni Relations and Corporate Engagement Leslie Roberts.

Freeman, who grew up in Seattle, mainly studies the ecology of tropical birds — but the discovery of Waterhouse’s paper made him curious about research closer to home. The results were surprising: over the last three decades, most of the bird populations in the region were stable and had been increasing in abundance at higher elevations.

The study, “Pacific Northwest birds have shifted their abundances upslope in response to 30 years of warming temperatures” was published in the journal Ecology this fall. In addition to lead author Freeman, the team also included Harold Eyster (The Nature Conservancy), Julian Heavyside (University of British Columbia), Daniel Yip (Canadian Wildlife Service), Monica Mather (British Columbia Ministry of Water, Lands and Resource Stewardship), and Waterhouse (British Columbia Ministry of Forests, Coast Area Research).

“It is great news that most birds in the region are resilient, and by doing this work, we can focus on the species that do need help, like the Canada Jay, which is struggling in this region,” Freeman says. “Studies like this help us focus resources and effort.”

Songbirds and snow

Conducting the fieldwork was a detective game, Freeman says. Each day, he would wake up at four in the morning to locate and visit the research areas — often navigating trails, open forest, and rough terrain on foot.

This area of the Pacific Northwest is punctuated with old-growth stands of trees — sections of forest that have never been logged or altered. “These areas feel like islands,” Freeman shares. “They feel ancient and untouched, but even in pristine habitats, birds are still responding to climate change.”

Most of the work was conducted during the birds’ breeding season, from late May into June. This is when the birds are most vocal, which is ideal for surveys, Freeman says. The downside? Even in June, there is often snow in the mountains. “I was out at dawn, hiking through snow in the freezing cold, wondering why I didn’t stay in bed,” he recalls. “But then I’d hear birds singing all around me and realize it was all worth it.”

Upward expansion — and resilience

By comparing the two “snapshots,” the team showed that while temperatures have increased over the last 30 years, most bird populations in the region haven’t declined — but they have become more abundant at higher elevations. “It’s encouraging,” Freeman says. “Thirty years of warming has led to changes, but for the most part, these bird populations are mostly stable or improving.”

One reason for this resilience could be the stability that old growth forests provide, and Freeman suggests that conserving wide swaths of mountain habitat might help birds thrive as they continue to adapt, while still supporting populations at lower elevations. The study also helps identify which bird species need additional support, like the Canada Jay — a gray and white bird known for following hikers in pursuit of dropped snacks.

It’s just one piece of Freeman’s larger research goal — he aims to do this type of snapshot research in many different places to identify general patterns, especially differences in temperate versus tropical environments.

“In the tropics, most bird species are vulnerable, with only a few resilient species. In the Pacific Northwest, we saw the opposite,” he says. “A pattern is emerging: temperate zones show more resilience, tropics more vulnerability.” 

Freeman is also conducting research with a group of students in Northern Georgia. “We predict that these Appalachian birds will be resilient as well,” he says, “but we need to study and understand what’s happening in nature — not just make predictions.”

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.70193

Funding: Packard Foundation

Ahead of Thanksgiving, the undergraduate Student Government Association (SGA) is inviting students to participate in its Home for the Holidays initiative. 

“We can assist at every stage of statistical analysis and for every School and major on campus,” says Kim.

She emphasizes that students and faculty don’t need a fully formed research design to seek help. In fact, Kim encourages early consultations — preferably before data collection.

“If you want a solid hypothesis and data plan, the best time to come is actually before you start collecting data,” she explains. “The goal is to make statistical support an integral part of the research process rather than a last-minute hurdle.”

Kim earned a Ph.D. in Quantitative Psychology from Georgia Tech in 2024. She proposed the idea for a Stats HelpDesk during the interview for her current position after witnessing people with great research ideas struggle to find accessible, customized statistical guidance.

“Many researchers — not just students but faculty as well — spend hours troubleshooting their data or interpreting output without knowing whether their approach is appropriate,” she says. “I want to bridge that gap.”

The service, which officially began in late September, is staffed solely by Kim. Despite its early phase, she has already supported faculty, graduate students, and undergraduates on projects ranging from senior theses to academic papers.

Liam Hart is a second-year Ph.D. student studying psychology. “I am still learning multilevel modeling but plan to use it for my thesis,” says Hart. “The Stats HelpDesk has been incredibly useful — helping me apply what I’m learning in class to my research — so that I can move forward with my research proposal.”

Consultations are by appointment only and should be set up through the Stats HelpDesk website. Remote and in-person meetings are available on Mondays from noon to 2 p.m. and on Tuesdays (remote only) from 1 – 2 p.m. Currently, the service is free, but a small charge may be added at a later date.

Looking ahead, Kim plans to expand the team to include specialists in areas such as Bayesian modeling, multilevel modeling, and item response theory.

“With more team members, we could allocate questions based on expertise,” she adds. “In the long term, we hope to grow into a collaborative resource that serves institutions beyond Georgia Tech.”

The event marks the culmination of the semester-long I2P course, where undergraduate students develop functional prototypes aimed at solving real-world problems. Prototypes this semester include a smart military drone, a gentler device for cervical cancer screening, a rotating espresso station, tools to keep AI safe, compact data centers, systems that simulate cyberattacks to help companies strengthen their defenses, and many more. 

The showcase is free and open to students, faculty, staff, and members of the local community. 

Winning teams will receive prizes and a “golden ticket” into CREATE-X’s Startup Launch, a summer accelerator that provides optional seed funding, accounting and legal service credits, mentorship, and more to help students turn their prototypes into viable startups.

This is a free event, and refreshments will be provided. Register for the Fall 2025 I2P Showcase today!

“It is a great honor to receive this recognition, which I share with the students and postdocs who have contributed to our research at Georgia Tech,” says Chapman. “I am also deeply grateful for the Institute’s outstanding research environment. It has been a privilege to advance the frontiers of quantum science and technology together.”

“We are delighted by this honor for Professor Chapman,” says Feryal Özel, chair and professor in the School of Physics. “The award highlights Mike’s decades-long contributions to atomic physics and the pioneering techniques he has introduced to the field throughout his career. We are especially proud that most of these contributions happened during his time at Georgia Tech.”

Chapman is a leading experimental quantum physicist whose research centers on developing and applying novel experimental methods in the areas of ultracold atoms, quantum optics, and quantum information. Before joining Georgia Tech in 1997, Chapman received his Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the California Institute of Technology.

A state-of-the-art anatomy and medical education system, the seven-foot-long Anatomage Table features life-size human — as well as several animal — bodies in digital formats, providing accurate representations of three-dimensional anatomy, physiology, and digital pathology.

“Cadaver dissection is still the gold standard,” explains Senior Academic Professional and Director of Anatomical Sciences Adam Decker, who has taught anatomy and other courses at Georgia Tech since 2010. “But the Anatomage Table lets students interact with living systems digitally — and that’s something we couldn’t offer before.”

Decker is a passionate advocate for using the best tools available to prepare students for medical careers. After leading efforts to bring prosections (pre-dissected specimens that students learn from) to Georgia Tech in 2021, he set his sights on acquiring the Anatomage Table.

“Providing the table was the logical next step,” says Decker. “It’s a way to bridge the tactile experience with dynamic visualization.”

The Anatomage Table was purchased with College of Sciences Technology Fee funds, designed to enhance students' experiences using modern instruments and techniques.

“It’s a great resource for our students, especially for those who are interested in pursuing any field of medicine,” says David Collard, senior associate dean in the College of Sciences. “It supports active learning that will enhance students' applications to medical programs, and gives them experiences with technologies they will encounter in post-graduate professional training.”

Anatomy in action

The Series 11 Anatomage Table is housed in the Gilbert Hillhouse Boggs Building and offers a one-to-one display of actual cadavers with five different bodies available for virtual dissection. Students can click on a structure and instantly access detailed information.

“It’s one thing to sit in a classroom and have a professor explain which body parts are which,” says Yusuf Abdalla, a second-year biology student with a pre-med focus. “But being able to independently manipulate the screen to view various parts of the body takes learning to the next level.”

The table offers a cleaner environment with less exposure to odors and chemicals than traditional cadaver dissection.

“Cadavers don’t come with labels. Using the table enables us to see how the body works as a system rather than just viewing individual parts,” adds Rayhan Quraishi, a fourth-year neuroscience major pursuing a career in medicine.

Decker emphasizes that while the Anatomage Table is a game changer, it doesn’t replace prosections. Students will continue to work with real hearts, lungs, and even full spinal cords, thanks to a partnership with Emory University’s Body Donation Program.

Combining cadaver dissection with the table enhances the overall learning experience, explains Decker:

“With prosections, they learn how the veins and arteries feel when you cut into them. With the Anatomage Table, students will see what it looks like when the heart beats or the lungs expand. They can virtually follow a drop of blood through the blood vessel, then use the touch screen to see what that same drop of blood would look like under a microscope. You can’t do that with a cadaver.”

From anatomy to imaging

One of the table’s most powerful features is its integration of diagnostic imaging. Students can compare anatomical structures side-by-side with CT and MRI scans and overlay images as they simulate physiological processes like heartbeats and brain activity.

Decker is currently designing a new course, Anatomy for Diagnostic Imaging, that will use the table to teach students how to interpret MRI, CT, and ultrasound scans. The Anatomage Table contains built-in datasets of MRIs of the spine, heart, and brain, so students can look at the diagnostic image and the actual structure at the same time.

“Some students enter medical school without once taking an anatomy course,” says Decker. “Georgia Tech students, on the other hand, will already have an introduction to imaging and pathology.”

Sameeha Lalani, a third-year biology major who works as an EMT praises the clinical features found in the table. “After one of my EMT shifts, I went back and recreated what happened to my patient using the table. It really made the clinical experience click, so I could better understand what happened.”

Expanding access

The table will soon be in use in BIOS 3754 (Anatomy Lab), which runs five lab sections each fall. Decker is also exploring ways to integrate the table into live lectures, transmitting demonstrations from the table directly into large lecture halls. 

Plans are currently underway to use the table in the wellness requirement course, APPH 1040 (Scientific Foundations of Health). Students will be able to visualize cardiovascular anatomy and heart disease by rotating the heart, opening chambers, and simulating conditions, such as a stroke or heart attack.

Decker is eager to collaborate with other departments and make the table a campuswide resource. He sees opportunities in health-related subjects across campus, including biomedical and mechanical engineering, neuroscience, and physiology. Student clubs like the Student Neuroscience Association, Physician Assistant Club, and Pre-Dental Society are also expected to rotate through the lab.

“Anatomy is an ancient science, but it’s the foundation of all healthcare. There are going to be many students who benefit from this — all across campus,” Decker says. “We’ve barely scratched the surface of what it can do.”

What Can Students Do With the Anatomage Table?

• Perform virtual dissections of life-size, digitized human cadavers with touch-responsive controls.
• Rotate, label, and isolate anatomical structures to study systems in detail.
• Compare anatomy with diagnostic imaging, including CT MRI, and ultrasound scans.
• Simulate physiological processes, such as heartbeats, blood flow, and brain activity.
• Explore built-in pathologies, including stroke, tumors, and liver disease.
• Access thousands of annotated structures from male, female, geriatric, pregnant, and animal cadavers.
• Overlay diagnostic images directly onto anatomical models for side-by-side analysis.
• Use real frozen cadaveric slices reconstructed into three-dimensional digital formats.
• Conduct pre- and post-lab activities to reinforce learning before and after cadaver dissection.
• Take anatomy tests, identifying pinned organs and structures.

Ramblin’ Royalty, hosted by the Student Center Programs Council (SCPC) within Student and Campus Event Centers (SCEC), celebrates students who embody Georgia Tech’s motto, Progress and Service. Previously known as Mr. and Ms. Georgia Tech, the program has evolved into a more inclusive scholarship initiative to represent all students who are making a positive impact on campus.   

A College of Sciences student was among the five students selected for this recognition.

Simon’s research team has been awarded $1.4 million through NASA’s Precursor Science Investigations for Europa (PSI-E) program. Their project is one of seven selected to provide essential insights that, according to the program announcement, “will maximize the science return during the radiation-limited lifetime of the Europa Clipper.” 

Simon also serves as the institutional lead co-investigator of a second $1.4 million project, led by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, which seeks to decipher how Europa's atmosphere and ionosphere contribute to the magnetic field near the moon. This project was selected during the same call for proposals.

“The research award is a fantastic opportunity to contribute to a mission centered on Europa’s complex plasma and electromagnetic environment,” says Simon, referencing the Georgia-Tech led proposal. “Our project combines foundational plasma physics from our School of Physics and geophysical knowledge from our School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences to understand how the magnetic field near Europa is affected by the plasma populating Jupiter’s environment.”

The research team includes Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Ph.D. students Ariel Tello Fallau and Charles Michael Haynes. Neil Baker, a Ph.D. student in the School of Physics, is contributing to the Berkeley-led PSI-E project that also includes Georgia Tech alumnus Lucas Liuzzo (Ph.D. EAS 2018), now an assistant research scientist at the University of California, Berkeley’s Space Sciences Laboratory. 

Groundwork for discovery

With a radius of only 1,560 kilometers, Europa is one of Jupiter’s four largest moons, known as the Galilean moons, discovered by Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei in the 1600s.

More than two decades ago, data from NASA’s Galileo mission — specifically magnetic field measurements collected far above Europa’s surface — pointed to the existence of a global subsurface ocean. This ocean, which may contain more liquid water than all of the Earth’s oceans combined, has made Europa a prime candidate in the search for life beyond Planet Earth.

“Finding evidence of a saltwater ocean lurking beneath Europa’s surface was a serendipitous discovery during the Galileo mission,” Simon explains. “NASA’s Europa Clipper mission picks up where the Galileo mission left off.” 

Launched in October 2024, the Europa Clipper space probe is expected to reach Jupiter’s orbit in 2030. That gives Simon and his team only a few years to complete their analysis. 

“Our research is doing the preparatory work to determine what and where we can measure further magnetic evidence of the ocean beneath Europa’s surface,” says Simon. “When the spacecraft arrives, we will find out whether our predictions are correct.”

Using advanced computer simulations, the team aims to better understand the magnetic fields near Europa. Part of these fields is generated by electric currents in the moon’s saltwater ocean; the other part is created by fast-moving flows of plasma — ionized matter that fills much of space — as it interacts with Europa’s atmosphere and surface.  

“Our project focuses on how the magnetic fields from plasma flow patterns compete with the magnetic signal from Europa’s ocean,” says Simon. “We want to determine which part of the magnetic field near Europa originates from the ocean and which part is a disruptive effect from the plasma.”

Deciphering these magnetic signals will provide essential context for interpreting Europa Clipper’s measurements, helping to not only confirm the ocean’s existence but also reveal details about its structure.

“Paul Sell is a wonderful addition to our College of Sciences community,” says Susan Lozier, dean of the College of Sciences, Betsy Middleton and John Clark Sutherland Chair, and professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. “His leadership brings renewed energy to the Georgia Tech Observatory, and I look forward to seeing how he expands its impact across campus and in the broader community.”

Observing the cosmos from campus

The Georgia Tech Observatory was established nearly two decades ago at a time when the Institute’s astronomy and astrophysics research and teaching ecosystem was in its infancy. 

School of Physics Principal Academic Professional Emeritus Jim Sowell created the facility on the roof of the Howey Physics Building in 2007 and served as its director until his retirement in 2024. 

“The Observatory — and its numerous variety of telescopes — makes it possible for Georgia Tech students and Atlanta-area visitors to see with their own eyes some of the best, awe-inspiring celestial delights, including craters on the Moon, Jupiter’s Red Spot, Saturn’s rings, and many other objects,” says Sowell.

The Observatory’s primary instrument is a 20-inch diameter telescope by Officina Stellare. Known as the Georgia Tech’s Space Object Research Telescope (GT-SORT), this Raven-class space surveillance telescope is used by researchers in the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering to monitor man-made spacecraft.

“What’s unique about the Georgia Tech Observatory is that it’s right on campus, offering a meaningful, hands-on experience to everyone,” explains Sell. “It can be readily integrated into experiential learning projects on campus all year round.”

Sell’s upper-level astronomy lab, which combines lectures with experiences at the Observatory, highlights the facility’s academic importance.

Yet, the Observatory’s impact extends beyond the classroom, thanks to free community events like “Public Nights at the Observatory,” which offer attendees the opportunity to explore the night sky. 

Held most months, weather permitting, this event features telescopes stationed outside the Howey Physics Building, allowing astronomy enthusiasts from Georgia Tech and beyond to view the Moon, Jupiter, Saturn, and other cosmic wonders. These gatherings typically draw more than 100 stargazers.

Specialized groups are also hosted at the Observatory. For example, the Georgia Tech Astronomy Club uses the facility during its weekly meetings.

“The Observatory is a haven where students can step outside for a moment and get lost in the stars,” says AJ Chadha, club president and fourth-year computer science major. “With one of the largest telescopes in Georgia, the on-campus 20-inch GT-SORT, we weave astronomy directly into student life.”

Under Sell’s leadership, the Observatory will continue to strengthen partnerships with student organizations, campus units, and community groups.

“I'm excited to explore additional ways we can use this resource for outreach and academic purposes that benefit both Georgia Tech and the Atlanta community,” Sell adds.

A passion for astronomy

Before joining Georgia Tech, Sell served as senior lecturer, astronomy undergraduate coordinator, and interim director of the teaching observatory at the University of Florida. 

His passion for astronomy began at an early age, sparked by a gift from his parents: an Orion refracting lens telescope.

“I remember taking out that telescope, even in freezing cold Ohio winters, simply because the observing conditions were better,” he recalls.

Sell nurtured his interest in astronomy through his university studies and extracurricular activities, which included working in planetaria as an undergraduate at the University of Toledo. He later obtained a Ph.D. in Astronomy from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

“I am grateful for the opportunity to share my passion for astronomy, not only with our physics students but with the larger Georgia Tech community — through classroom lectures, student advising, and Observatory outreach,” Sell says.

The course, BIOS 4590, is a research project lab for senior biology majors that provides an opportunity for professors to share their expertise with students in a hands-on environment. In his class, Associate Professor Vinayak (Vinny) Agarwal, who holds joint appointments in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry and School of Biological Sciences, aimed to introduce undergraduates to advanced bioinformatics tools through applied research using new-to-science raw data. 

The resulting paper, “Phylogenomic Identification of a Highly Conserved Copper-Binding RiPP Biosynthetic Gene Cluster in Marine Microbulbifer Bacteria,” which was recently published in ACS Chemical Biology, involves the historically understudied genus of Microbulbifer, a type of bacteria often associated with sponges and corals. These microbial communities are rich sources of natural products, small biological molecules often associated with medicine and drug discovery. 

"This class, and the resulting research, is a testament to the transformative power of hands-on learning,” says Susan Lozier, dean of the College of Sciences, Betsy Middleton and John Clark Sutherland Chair, and professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. “The success of this course — and the students’ remarkable achievement — reflects Georgia Tech's commitment to fostering curiosity, collaboration, and scientific rigor and to empowering the next generation of scientists and leaders."

Funded by Agarwal’s 2023 National Science Foundation CAREER grant and Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation Teacher-Scholar award, the class also received support from leadership in the College of Sciences, School of Biological Sciences, and School Chemistry and Biochemistry. The study’s lead author, graduate student Yifan (Grace) Tang, served as the class teaching assistant, and was funded in part by a Biochemistry and Biophysics Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need fellowship. 

“The students in this class are working on important, novel work — this cohort worked with real genomic data that had never been sequenced before,” she says. “Typically, researchers might work with one or two genome sequences, but we provided students with 42 — this might be the first time anyone has looked at Microbulbifer at such a wide scope.” 

From classroom to publication

To prepare for the class, Tang worked alongside Laboratory Manager Alison Onstine, who manages the School of Biological Sciences teaching laboratory spaces, to sequence the Key West bacterial genomes.

“Our work in the Agarwal Lab is in natural product discovery. We focus on finding new pharmaceutical drugs through marine bacteria — but with a bioinformatics spin,” Tang explains. “We wanted to bring this type of experience to undergraduates, so we gave fully sequenced genomes to students and asked them to look for potential properties.” 

Throughout the class, students learned different techniques for analyzing bacterial genome sequences and extracting data with various tools — gaining both lab and computational skills through hands-on experiences, live demos, and troubleshooting sessions. 

“The highlight was showing students just how much we can learn about a bacterial genus, especially one that hasn’t been studied at this scale before,” Tang shares. “This is a growing field, so there are so many opportunities for students to make meaningful contributions while learning new skills.”

Empowering future students

For many students, it was their first time using these types of tools, but Agarwal says that it’s something they'll likely encounter in both industry and research. He sees this type of research experience as especially helpful for seniors, who are often deciding between entering the workforce or continuing their education.

“Bioinformatics is increasingly important for analyzing big data. Students need the ability to manipulate and understand data using computational tools, and this class plays an important role in familiarizing them with this process,” he shares. “Our goal is to demystify research and give students the confidence and tools for both graduate school and for the workforce after graduation.”

The class will be offered for a third time in Fall 2026. While the exact course of research hasn’t yet been decided, “we always aim for something new that can produce publication-quality research — students don’t repeat past year’s work,” Agarwal says. This recent cohort of students built on the success of 18 undergraduates who took the class in 2023, who also published a paper. “This course truly underscores Georgia Tech’s commitment to pioneering meaningful undergraduate experiences — no other peer institution I know of is exposing undergraduates to bioinformatics at this level.”

Funding: NSF CAREER and the Dreyfus Foundation

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

Read more »

Raphaël Pestourie has earned back-to-back selections to the Institute’s Course Instructor Opinion Survey (CIOS) honor roll, placing him among the top-ranked teachers for Fall 2024 and Spring 2025.

By returning to the classroom this semester to teach two more courses, Pestourie continues to leverage proven experience to mentor the next generation of researchers in his field.

“Students played a very important part in the survey process, and I thank them for making the classes great,” said Pestourie, an assistant professor in the School of Computational Science and Engineering (CSE).

“I'm incredibly grateful that students shared their feedback so that I could go the extra mile to not only apply my expertise to teach in ways that I think work, but transform my instruction to reach students in the most impactful way I can.”

CIOS honor rolls recognize instructors for outstanding teaching and educational impact, based on student feedback provided through end-of-course surveys. 

Student praise of Pestourie’s CSE 8803: Scientific Machine Learning class placed him on the Fall 2024 CIOS honor roll. He earned selection to the Spring 2025 honor roll for his instruction of CX 4230: Computer Simulation. 

CSE 8803 is a graduate-level, special topics class that Pestourie created around his field of expertise. Scientific machine learning involves merging two traditionally distinct fields: scientific computing and machine learning.

In scientific computing, researchers build and use models based on established physical laws. Machine learning differs in that it employs data-driven models to find patterns without prior assumptions. Combining the two fields opens new ways to analyze data and solve challenging problems in science and engineering.

Pestourie organized student-focused scientific machine learning symposiums in Fall 2023 and 2024. CSE 8803 students work on projects throughout the course and present their work at these symposiums. Pestourie will use the same approach this semester. 

Compared to CSE 8803, CX 4230 is an undergraduate course that teaches students how to create computer models of complex systems. A complex system has many interacting entities that influence each other’s behaviors and patterns. Disease spread in a human network is one example of a complex system. 

CX 4230 is a required course for computer science students studying the Modeling & Simulation thread. It is also an elective course in the Scientific and Engineering Computing minor.  

“I see 8803 as my educational baby. Being acknowledged for it with a CIOS honor roll felt great,” Pestourie said. 

“In a way, I'm prouder of CX 4230 because it was a large, undergraduate regular offering that I was teaching for the first time. The honor roll selection came almost as a surprise.”

To be eligible for the honor roll recognition, instructors must have a minimum CIOS response rate of 70%. Composite scores for three CIOS items are then used to rank instructors. Those items are:

• Instructor’s respect and concern for students
• Instructor’s level of enthusiasm about the course
• Instructor’s ability to stimulate interest in the subject matter

Georgia Tech’s Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) and the Office of Academic Effectiveness present the CIOS Honor Rolls. CTL recognizes honor roll recipients at its Celebrating Teaching Day events, held annually in March.

CTL offers the Class of 1969 Teaching Fellowship, in which Pestourie participated in the 2024-2025 cohort. The program aims to broaden perspectives with insight into evidence-based best practices and exposure to new and innovative teaching methods.

The fellowship offers one-on-one consultations with a teaching and learning specialist. Cohorts meet weekly in the fall semester and monthly in the spring semester for instruction seminars. 

The fellowship facilitates peer observations where instructors visit other classrooms, exchange feedback, and learn effective techniques to try in their own classes.

“I'm very grateful for the Class of 1969 fellowship program and to Karen Franklin, who coordinates it,” Pestourie said. “The honor roll is not just a one-person award. Support from the Institute and other people in the program made it happen.”

Like in Fall 2023 and 2024, Pestourie is teaching CSE 8803: Scientific Machine Learning again this semester. Additionally, he teaches CSE 8801: Linear Algebra, Probability, and Statistics.

Linear algebra and applied probability are among the fundamental subjects in modern data science. Like his scientific machine learning class, Pestourie created CSE 8801. This semester marks the second time Pestourie is teaching the course since Fall 2024.

Pestourie designed CSE 8801 as a refresher course for newer graduate students. This addresses a point of need to help students get off to a good start at Georgia Tech. By offering guidance early in their graduate careers, Pestourie’s work in the classroom also aims to cultivate future collaborators and serve his academic community.

“I see teaching as our one shot at making a good first impression as a research field and a community,” he said. 

“I see my work as a teacher as training my future colleagues, and I see it as my duty to our community to do my best in attracting the best talent toward our research field.”

Chu, an assistant professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences has been awarded a $770,000 CAREER grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to create the first-ever comprehensive map of temperatures at the bottom of the ice sheet — a map that will span the entire Antarctic continent.

The NSF Faculty Early Career Development Program is a five-year grant designed to help promising researchers establish a foundation for a lifetime of leadership in their field. Known as CAREER awards, the grants are NSF’s most prestigious funding for early-career faculty.

In total, the Antarctic ice sheet holds enough water to raise global sea levels by over 200 feet — more than 50 feet higher than the top of Tech Tower. Climate models help predict how much of this ice may melt in the coming years, providing critical safety and planning information for coastal communities. However, researchers have limited knowledge of temperatures at the base of the ice sheet — miles beneath the surface — and these temperatures play a critical role in melting.

“Our research addresses this critical gap in Antarctic ice sheet modeling,” Chu explains. “If temperatures at the base are warm enough, the ice can melt and lubricate the interface.” The result? The surface acts like a slip-and-slide, carrying ice toward the ocean and accelerating melt. 

“It is crucial that we can accurately predict this behavior,” Chu says. “This map will be an essential step forward in refining our climate models for the safety of coastal communities, for infrastructure planning, and for climate adaptation worldwide.”

Mapping miles-thick ice

The process isn’t as simple as measuring the temperature with a thermometer though. The Antarctic ice sheet is, on average, over a mile thick and can range up to three miles thick.

Chu, who leads the Polar Geophysical Simulation Lab at Georgia Tech, will combine 20 years of radar data — the result of multiple international polar programs — and leverage a technique called “radar sounding,” which analyzes the echoes of airborne radar measurements. The brightness and shape of the echoes can reveal clues about subglacial meltwater and temperatures. To complete the picture, Chu will use cutting-edge generative artificial intelligence (AI) models.

“Innovations in generative AI are part of what makes this research possible,” says Chu, “but the driving force is the data collected by these long-term research studies. AI can help complete the picture — but only because that data exists.”

Preparing for the future

Chu aims for the temperature map to improve the parameterization of climate models and ice sheet projections. This will enable better predictions of future melt and help scientists assess areas that may be particularly vulnerable.

She hopes that the map will drive further advances in polar science. “Our datasets and radar observations will be open access, meaning they’ll be available for all researchers to use,” Chu shares. “We’ll also be sharing the AI processing codes that we develop and the enhanced ice sheet model outputs.”

Additionally, the research will train the next generation of climate scientists through developing educational programs for high schoolers, empowering and engaging students nationwide with hands-on polar science and AI applications.

“This research is about more than just mapping Antarctica — it’s about building tools that help us prepare for the future,” Chu says. “By making our data and models openly available, and by engaging students in the science behind climate change, we’re not only advancing polar research — we’re empowering the next generation to carry it forward.”

A joint initiative of the Colleges of Sciences, Computing, and Engineering, the program aims to educate students and advance the field of neuroscience through an interdisciplinary approach. It integrates neuroscience research with technological development to explore all levels of nervous system function. 

“Our first Ph.D. students represent a wide range of professional and research interests in neuroscience and neurotechnology,” says Tim Cope, program director and professor in the School of Biological Sciences and Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering. “The student-centered program is built on the strength of our exceptional researchers and educators. I am watching with excitement as our faculty and new students create a dynamic community of learning and collaboration that is dedicated to neuroscience discovery.”

Ph.D. program pioneers

Yvonne Milligan, a Kennesaw, Georgia native, is one of the program’s first students. Her research focuses on the nervous system and how it interacts with ovarian cancer.

For Milligan, choosing the program was an easy decision.

“Georgia Tech encourages forward-thinking,” she says. “As someone interested in various industry roles, I liked the support available for all career paths, not just academia.”

Abigail Holberton, a Georgia Tech alumna (BME 2022) from Dacula, Georgia, is also a member of the inaugural cohort. She studies in vitro and in vivo mild traumatic brain injury, examining the role of intracellular signals between cells. She joined the program to deepen her expertise in cellular and molecular neuroscience.

“Being part of the first class is a great honor as I hope to help pave the way for future scientists and engineers to explore neuroscience and neurotechnology,” she says. “I am very excited to learn about some of the most cutting-edge techniques in neuroscience from pioneers in the field.”

Georgia Tech and neuroscience

The Ph.D. program complements Georgia Tech’s B.S. in Neuroscience degree, one of the fastest-growing undergraduate majors at the Institute, as well as the recently launched Institute for Neuroscience, Neurotechnology, and Society. 

“Together, the new doctoral degree program, the undergraduate neuroscience program — now in its eighth year — and the Institute for Neuroscience, Neurotechnology, and Society will strengthen Georgia Tech’s core commitment to developing leaders who advance technology and improve the human condition,” says David M. Collard, senior associate dean in the College of Sciences and professor in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry. 

“Strengthened by the launch of our new Ph.D. program, Georgia Tech takes another big step forward as a top-tier destination for neuroscience,” Cope adds. “The program fosters an exciting environment for research and training — built on the strength of our faculty’s leading-edge work and their genuine enthusiasm for mentoring the next generation of neuroscientists.” 

With the academic year underway, Georgia Tech’s undergraduate Student Government Association (SGA) welcomes new leadership looking to achieve concrete goals and amplify student voices.  

Wang, who is a Ph.D. student in the School of Mathematics and a master’s student in the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering, will focus on developing mathematically-backed landing solutions for spacecraft. 

“I first became interested in powered descent problems during my Fall 2024 internship with NASA’s Human Landing System at Marshall Space Flight Center,” he says. “With my mathematical background in optimization and topology, and my passion for space exploration, I saw this research topic as a perfect fit when my co-advisor Dr. Panagiotis Tsiotras suggested it.”

Wang is co-advised by School of Mathematics Professor and Hubbard Research Fellow John Etnyre alongside Panagiotis Tsiotras, who holds the David and Andrew Lewis Endowed Chair in the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering and is also associate director at the Institute for Robotics and Intelligent Machines.

In addition to his Georgia Tech advisors, Wang will collaborate with a NASA Subject Matter Expert, who will connect him with the larger technical community. He will perform part of the research as a visiting technologist at multiple NASA centers, giving him the opportunity to work with leading engineers and scientists and share his research results directly with the NASA community.

From abstractions to space exploration

“NASA’s upcoming missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond need technology that allows spacecraft to land precisely at their intended sites,” says Wang. “My research will focus on the last stage of landing, called powered descent. This stage powers up engines, which guide the spacecraft into a safe landing using a pre-designed trajectory that autopilot follows.”

This means that researchers need to figure out the correct thrust, direction, and timing to reach a landing spot — all while navigating a landing that uses as little fuel as possible.

“A common approach is to treat this as an optimization problem: minimizing fuel consumption with rigid-body physics as constraints to determine the best thrust profile,” Wang explains. “This can work well, but it has drawbacks. It assumes that there is no uncertainty in the system (for example, that the thrust of the engines is applied perfectly) and it simplifies the motion of the spacecraft by treating it as though it’s traveling through flat space instead of on a true curved geometry. Both shortcuts introduce errors  — our research aims to address these gaps.”

To improve landing precision, Wang will develop a curved-space geometric mathematical model, which takes into account the curved-space geometry of spacecraft motion rather than assuming flat space. To find a fuel-efficient landing trajectory, Wang will develop the model around optimal covariance steering, a stochastic control problem that both minimizes fuel costs while keeping the uncertainty of the spacecraft's exact landing spot within a safe amount.

It’s a problem that leverages his experience in theoretical math and his background in aerospace engineering. “I’m incredibly honored that NASA finds this research exciting and is supporting my pursuit of it,” he says. “There are so many fascinating engineering problems that could benefit from deeper theoretical scrutiny, especially using abstract machineries not typically covered in an engineering curriculum. I hope this inspires more theoretical researchers and graduate students to explore bridging these gaps.”

“AI and ML have the potential to revolutionize scientific discovery, but there is a clear need for foundational research centered on AI/ML methodologies and application to scientific problems,” says Dimitrios Psaltis, professor in the School of Physics.

Psaltis will co-lead the center with Molei Tao, professor in the School of Mathematics, and Audrey Sederberg, assistant professor in the School of Psychology.

The new center will combine expertise and resources from various disciplines to foster the creation of robust, reusable tools and methods that can be used across scientific domains. Specifically, the center will organize seminars and an annual conference in addition to providing seed funding for collaborative projects across units. 

Nearly 40 faculty members from the College’s six schools have already agreed to participate in activities proposed by the center; additional faculty involvement is expected from across the Institute.

The center builds upon initiatives such as Tech AI, the Machine Learning Center, and the Institute for Data Engineering and Science, which seek to boost Georgia Tech’s leadership in cutting-edge, AI/ML-powered interdisciplinary research and education.

The College’s seed grant program will sponsor the center for three years, starting in fiscal year 2026. Created in 2024, this program funds new centers that seek to increase the College’s research impact and advance its strategic goal of excellence in research through a focus on novel interdisciplinary areas or discipline-specific topics of high impact. The AI4Science Center is the third initiative to be seeded by this program, following the funding of the Center for Sustainable and Decarbonized Critical Energy Mineral Solutions and the Center for Research and Education in Navigation in 2024.

“The AI4Science Center was selected for its approach, timeliness, organization, and strong support from all six of the College’s schools,” says Laura Cadonati, associate dean for Research and professor in the School of Physics. “Faculty enthusiasm about this initiative reflects the growing importance of AI/ML tools in research today and the desire for more interdisciplinary collaboration in this space at the College and beyond.”

Transportation Research Part B complements other journals in the series—Part A (Policy and Practice), Part C (Emerging Technologies), and Part D (Transport and Environment)—forming a comprehensive suite of publications that collectively represent the forefront of transportation science. The journal serves a diverse and specialized audience, including operations researchers, logisticians, economists, econometricians, mathematical modelers, transportation engineers, geographers, and planners.

Professor Peeta brings decades of experience to this role. His research spans dynamic traffic assignment, congestion mitigation, and the development of resilient transportation networks. His association with Transportation Research Part B began in the early 1990s as a reviewer, and he has since published approximately 25 papers in the journal. Since 2019, he has served as an Associate Editor, playing a key role in managing the editorial process and upholding the journal’s high standards.

Please join us in congratulating Professor Peeta for this well-earned recognition. We are confident he will continue to guide Transportation Research Part B with excellence and vision, shaping the future of transportation research.

“It’s amazing to be recognized for this research,” says Faggert. “I am grateful to my research group for helping me prepare the proposal and inspiring my ideas.”

Through the FINESST program, NASA’s Science Mission Directorate provides three-year grants for “graduate student-designed and performed research projects that contribute to its science, technology, and exploration goals,” according to the program’s website. 

Faggert will serve as the future investigator of the award and will be advised by Feryal Özel, chair and professor in the School of Physics. 

“I am very proud that Cole has been selected for the FINESST Fellowship, one of the most competitive graduate awards in the country,” says Özel, who is the principal investigator of the research. “This fellowship will support groundbreaking research on multi-wavelength imaging of black holes — an area central to advancing our understanding of black holes and galaxies. It is especially exciting that this work also contributes directly to the development of our space-based mission at Georgia Tech.”

A key aspect of Faggert’s proposal is its multi-frequency approach, which generates and analyzes images of supermassive black holes using different radio wavelengths. When combined and compared, these multi-frequency observations allow scientists to learn about black holes and explore fundamental physical concepts such as gravity and plasma behavior.

“One of the coolest things about studying cosmic objects like black holes is that you have to work with the information you have,” explains Faggert. “But when you combine several avenues of information, like in multi-frequency radio imaging, you can gain a better understanding of phenomena and under conditions that can’t be replicated on Earth.”

This research aligns with current trends in astrophysics that focus on advanced imaging techniques to broaden the data available on the structure, formation, and behavior of black holes and other celestial objects. According to Faggert, this information can then be contrasted with theoretical simulations, providing insights into fundamental physics and the nature of the universe.

Receiving the FINESST Award is particularly meaningful for Faggert, given his longstanding interest in space and his previous exposure to NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility and Langley Research Center through the Virginia Aerospace Science and Technology Scholars program.

“Being associated with NASA holds a special place in my heart. Over the years, my focus has shifted from designing space missions to studying the science those missions make possible. It is definitely rewarding to come full circle and be recognized by NASA for this research,” he adds.

The student club’s mission is to make a difference in public health through education, advocacy, and outreach.

Mahreen Chowdhury, a third-year biology major with a minor in health and medical sciences, serves as club co-president. She has been involved since its founding and is passionate about addressing healthcare disparities.

“Lung cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths in the United States,” says Chowdhury. “As students, we may not be able to treat patients, but we can educate and advocate for screening and prevention.”

Additional club officers include Matthew Kuimjian, co-president; Kripa Kannan, vice president; Diyanah Jilani, membership director; Malavika Niverthi, social media director; Nehal Jategaonkar and Pavan Induraj, outreach directors; and Praneetha Vishnubhotla, finance director.

ALCSI is part of a national organization with more than 66 collegiate clubs across the country. Georgia Tech’s chapter is now in its third year as a registered student organization and has grown to more than 40 members.

Growing community engagement

Chowdhury cites community partnerships as key to the club’s success.

Last fall, ALCSI members hosted a booth at EchoPark Speedway, formerly known as Atlanta Motor Speedway, with Kroger Health where they spoke with NASCAR attendees about smoking, lung health, and screening options.

“We talked to hundreds of people and shared information about screening centers,” shares Chowdhury. “A big part of it was listening to their stories about smoking, and for those who were interested, we provided a hotline number for follow-up questions.”

The club’s community engagement also included attending an Atlanta Hawks game where members received a public shoutout, partnering with Georgia Tech’s Fraternity and Sorority Life and the American Heart Association to decorate paper hearts with messages of support for heart patients, and collaborating with Emory’s Winship Cancer Institute for the White Ribbon Project, where they delivered white wooden ribbons with encouraging notes for those affected by the disease.

Expanding access

Chowdhury and Georgia Tech’s ALCSI have set an ambitious goal for the upcoming school year — working with local cancer centers like Winship or Northside Hospital to improve access to lung cancer screenings, particularly for underserved communities.

“I’ve spoken with medical school residents and advocates who’ve shared how difficult it can be to navigate insurance and primary care referrals,” says Chowdhury. “We’re trying to create a lung cancer screening referral partnership or some type of special event where individuals can get screened directly, without needing a primary care appointment.”

Faculty sponsor Lesley Baradel, lecturer in the School of Biological Sciences, is proud of the club and its accomplishments: “As faculty advisor, I am proud of the incredible impact our students have made in raising awareness about lung cancer, both here at Georgia Tech and throughout our broader community. Their dedication, creativity, and commitment to this cause demonstrate how knowledge and passion can come together to create meaningful change.”