Probing Charge Carriers in Mixed Ionic-Electronic Conducting Polymers

Abstract:

Conjugated polymers continue to emerge as next-generation electronic materials for mixed ionic-electronic conduction applications, ranging from biomedical sensing to energy storage. However, their development is hampered by a lack of rational design principles due to missing fundamental knowledge about how ion-charge interactions and dynamic polymer nanostructure influence charge transport and storage along polymer chains. In this talk, I will first discuss how we are exploiting the ultrafast dynamics of photoexcited charge carriers to provide details on their nanoscale environment and trapping behavior. Then I will show how in situ electronic and vibrational spectroscopy of polymer electrodes can be used to track their complex nanoscale dynamics during charging, revealing insights into nanostructures that support the formation of mobile carriers.

Bio:

Dr. Chris Grieco is an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Auburn University, where his research group develops laser spectroscopy methods to probe charge carriers in conducting polymers used in electrochemical applications ranging from bioelectronics to batteries. Prior to Auburn, Chris earned a PhD in Chemistry at Penn State University where he worked with Prof. John Asbury studying how to improve exciton and charge carrier dynamics in organic molecules and polymers for solar cells. Chris then worked with Prof. Bern Kohler as a postdoctoral scholar at the Ohio State University, where he developed ultrafast transient absorption spectroscopy methods for probing the elusive structure and photochemistry of the eumelanin biopigment.

Recent Awards:

• NSF CAREER Award, 2025
• Norman Edmund Inspiration Award, Edmund Optics, 2024
• Ultrafast Education Award - Bronze, Edmund Optics, 2024
• Gerhard Closs Postdoctoral Award, Inter-American Photochemical Society, 2023

BIO
Jeffrey Hubbell is a pioneer in the field of immuno-modulatory materials whose research spans biology, chemistry, and engineering to generate novel solutions to common health problems. His work focuses on using biomaterials and engineered proteins to enhance the body’s own immune system to fight inflammatory and autoimmune disorders, allergies, and disease states like cancers. With more than 400 papers and 100 issued US patents, Hubbell uses biomaterials and protein engineering approaches to investigate topics in regenerative medicine and immunotherapeutics. In regenerative medicine, he develops both materials and protein therapeutics to address issues such as chronic wound healing in diabetes and bone repair after trauma. In immunotherapeutics, he pursues nanomaterials in vaccination for infectious disease and cancer as well as targeted therapy with RNA, protein-material conjugates for inverse vaccines to induce antigen-specific tolerance in autoimmunity and allergy, and in protein therapy to tip immune balances toward aggression in immuno-oncology and toward tolerance in inflammatory disease. His interests are both basic and translational, having founded or co-founded six biomedical companies based on his technology.

Before moving to New York University, Hubbell was at the University of Chicago in the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, where he helped build its strength in immunoengineering. Prior to that, he was on the faculty of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL, where he served as founding Director of the Institute of Bioengineering and Dean of the School of Life Sciences), the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETHZ) and University of Zurich, the California Institute of Technology, and the University of Texas in Austin. He was elected to the US National Academy of Engineering in 2010, the National Academy of Medicine in 2019, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2021, and the National Academy of Sciences in 2023.

Join President Cabrera with Rodney Adkins, former Senior Vice President at IBM, to discuss leadership in technology. 

Date: Wednesday, April 29, 2026, at 12:00 p.m.

Location: Coda, Room 114 (Google Maps link)

Lunch provided!

Title: Safety Alignment of Generative Foundation Models

Abstract: Modern LLMs are safety-aligned through supervised finetuning (SFT) and reinforcement learning from human feedback (RLHF) to mitigate harmful, undesirable, or disallowed outputs. Despite ongoing progress, LLMs still exhibit critical safety gaps: models can be jailbroken into revealing harmful content, often overrefuse benign queries, and fail to maintain safety under adversarial scenarios. My dissertation research advances the safety alignment of generative foundation models by developing principled tools, architectures, and training methods that strengthen their robustness and reliability at scale. Specifically, this thesis focuses on three complementary thrusts: a) Understanding and shaping the safety landscape of LLMs, b) Internalizing safety in agentic reasoning intelligence, and c) Grounding safety and robustness in multimodal perception.

Bio: Anthony is a CS Ph.D. candidate at Georgia Tech working with Polo Chau. His thesis research has elevated foundational AI efforts at Nvidia, Meta, IBM, Intel, and ADP via internships and collaborations, and has resulted in several first-author publications and awards at NeurIPS, ACL, ICCV, EMNLP, CVPR, and BMVC. His research has contributed to the AI foundation of multiple funded industry research grants totaling over $1.4M. Learn more about him at shengyun-peng.github.io.

About HotCSE

HotCSE is an academic seminar series to bring Ph.D. students in Computational Science and Engineering together to discuss interesting topics. The topics consist of high-performance computing, machine learning, data analysis, simulation, computational sustainability, medical informatics, etc.

The talks have always been enjoyable and have ranged from quite informal to formal conference style talks. Either chalks or slides can be used to help people understand your talk. It is also a great forum to practice conference talks and bounce around new ideas.

Currently the talks are sponsored by the School of Computational Science and Engineering. The goal of CSE is slightly broader than that of these talks - we want to bring more people outside CSE to discuss their related work here.

This seminar presents a synthesis of research focused on leveraging these data sources for infectious disease prediction, spanning from classical statistical approaches to modern AI architectures.

Key Areas of Discussion:

• Statistical Methodologies: The presentation covers a family of models that combine autoregressive time series structure with penalized regression on Google search data. This includes extensions to spatial-temporal modeling, multi-disease settings, and COVID-19 adaptation.
• AI Architectures: Recent work on attention-based transformer architectures for time series forecasting will be discussed, highlighting methods for multivariate dependency modeling, in-context learning, and efficient linear attention.
• Practical Application: Drawing from ongoing participation in the CDC FluSight forecasting initiative, the session compares the strengths and limitations of both paradigms and shares practical lessons learned from real-time deployment.

The talk aims to offer perspective on when and how statistical rigor and deep learning flexibility each contribute to reliable disease forecasting.

About the Speaker

Dr. Shihao Yang is the Harold E. Smalley Early Career Professor and Assistant Professor in the School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Georgia Tech. He completed his PhD in statistics and post-doc in Biomedical Informatics at Harvard University. Dr. Yang’s research focuses on data science, with special interest in time series, dynamical systems, and applications in infectious disease transmission forecasting.

To attend, please register online via Zoom.

Host: Prof. John Wise

Title: Cataclysmic variables as radio sources

Abstract

Cataclysmic variables (CVs) are a common type of binary star, consisting of an Earth-sized white dwarf accreting matter from a small, cold red dwarf companion. While CVs have been known of for over a century and well-studied across the electromagnetic spectrum by hobbyists and professionals alike, we still lack a comprehensive picture for how they produce radio emission. In this talk, I will introduce the major hypothesis for where and how radio emission is produced in these binary stars: astrophysical jets from the white dwarf and coherent flaring from the companion star. In particular, I will focus on the latter scenario. Some of my recent work has revealed a wide variety of behavior that reinforces CVs as dynamic and interesting laboratories for astrophysics. The study of these coherent mechanisms is broadly applicable to stellar magnetic activity, opening up new pathways for observing stellar coronal mass ejections and exospace weather, which has direct consequences for exoplanet habitability.

Developing a community-based perspective on data center development

The Sound of Motion: Transforming Artistic Body Movement into Music for Motor Therapy

Designing Ethical Robot Behaviors for Unforeseen Human-Robot Interactions Using LLMs

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IPaT: GVU Lunch Lecture Series

PLEASE NOTE SEMINAR IS TUESDAY THE 21st!

Abstract: How should we act under incomplete information? We must integrate over missing values to assess the risk of a downstream decision, or the expected risk reduction from gathering further information.  Applications include NLP annotation, LLM workflows, clinical medicine, experimental design, and many others.  The classical approach to predicting missing values involves fitting some generative model to the incomplete data.  Alas, classical methods are slow and often inaccurate due to local optima, poor mixing, or model misspecification.  We propose a low-fuss, efficient alternative with fewer assumptions: given incomplete data, train a neural network to directly predict masked values. Our generic network architecture resembles BERT: it constructs a representation for each random variable's posterior marginal distribution and iteratively refines it through attention on other random variables and entities.  We find that this posterior marginal Transformer ("Marformer") works much better than EM and almost as well as MCMC even when those methods know the true data generating model, and it outperforms them on naturally occurring data. We outline future methods for adaptive masking and a future design for managing data collection efforts.

Bio: Jason Eisner is Professor of Computer Science at Johns Hopkins University and a Fellow of the Association for Computational Linguistics. At Johns Hopkins, he is also affiliated with the Center for Language and Speech Processing, the Mathematical Institute for Data Science, the Cognitive Science Department, and the Data Science and AI Institute. His goal is to develop the probabilistic modeling, inference, and learning techniques needed for a unified model of all kinds of linguistic structure, and to connect existing models (such as LLMs) to commonsense reasoning, formal reasoning, and downstream applications. His 180+ papers have presented various algorithms for parsing, machine translation, and weighted finite-state machines; formalizations, algorithms, theorems, and empirical results in computational phonology; unsupervised or semi-supervised learning methods for syntax, morphology, and word-sense disambiguation; and principled methods for conversational AI, including neural language modeling and semantic parsing. From 2019-2024 he was Director of Research at Microsoft Semantic Machines, which developed new approaches to conversational AI. He is also the lead designer of Dyna, a declarative programming language that provides an infrastructure for AI algorithms. He has received 3 school-wide awards for excellence in teaching, most recently in 2025, as well as recent 

 Zoom Link

Meeting ID: 977 5500 1285  | Passcode: 247306 

For more information, or for CODA guest access, please contact shatcher8@gatech.edu at least 2 business days prior to the event.

Abstract

Civil society organizations (CSOs) operate at the frontline of civic engagement, often navigating complex political, social, and economic environments. In East Africa, CSOs face several challenges, ranging from a shrinking civic space, to increasingly disengaged populations to shrinking funding. CSO programming has also been ineffective in many cases leading to wasted resources, poor feedback loops and sub-par outcomes. This talk draws on practical experience working with CSOs in the region to unpack the behavioral barriers that limit civic participation as well as effective CSO programming. It explores how behavioral science has been applied through experimentation, co-design and communications to redesign engagement strategies, influence policy, improve public service delivery and improve government responsiveness to citizens' voices. This talk will also highlight key lessons on what works, what doesn’t, and why, offering a grounded perspective on how to design more effective, context-sensitive civic engagement programs.

Abstract

The internet has fundamentally changed small businesses in the United States. Social media and e-commerce platforms have enabled new business models, many of which can be operated from home offices and basements. Entrepreneurs are less dependent on brick-and-mortar presences than ever. We argue that this shift has dramatic effects on small business owners’ political behaviors and identity. The small-business-owner-as-civic-leader archetype that features so heavily in American civic and political life is not inherent to entrepreneurial activity, but is rather the product of interactions that are specific to brick-and-mortar businesses, especially when co-located with other brick-and-mortar businesses. Brick-and-mortarness, we argue, exposes business owners to a plethora of routine interactions with the government (via parking, construction, building permits, etc.) that catalyzes (sometimes collective) political actions. These mundane political actions teach small business owners how local politics works, but also socialize them to see themselves as political beings, with long term and broad impacts on how they relate to local politics and civic life. We test this using data from a statewide survey on Minnesota small business owners and through a new dataset of small business owners’ participation in the January 23, 2026 anti-ICE strike in Minnesota. We find consistent support for our theory. An implication of this is that the technological innovations of the  internet suppresses the political socialization of business owners into individual and collective political actors.

With more than nine years of experience in early-stage venture investing, including prior roles in the Bay Area and at Toyota Ventures’ frontier tech fund, Erin brings a seasoned investor’s perspective to innovation, commercialization, and startup growth. In this conversation, she will share insights into venture investing, Georgia Tech’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, and the role GTF Ventures plays in supporting innovation emerging from campus. 

Attendees will gain a better understanding of fund operations, capital raising, and what investors look for in early-stage opportunities. This session will be especially valuable for innovators, founders, and anyone interested in the intersection of research, entrepreneurship, and investment at Georgia Tech.

About Erin Keller

Erin Keller is Venture Fund Lead at the Georgia Tech Foundation, where she leads diligence, investment recommendations, and post-deal support. She previously spent more than six years in the Bay Area investing in early-stage companies, most recently at Toyota Ventures’ frontier tech fund. Erin began her career at a Medtech Venture Studio in Atlanta and holds a degree in Biomedical Engineering from Georgia Tech.

Sponsored by The Institute for Data Engineering and Science (IDEaS).
Supported by the School of Computer Science.

Abstract: Generative AI systems are no longer just tools — they are becoming active participants in how people make sense of themselves, seek support, and navigate moments of vulnerability. Nowhere is this shift more consequential than in mental health, where large language models (LLMs) are increasingly mediating help-seeking, shaping perceptions of care, and producing guidance at scale. This talk positions digital mental health as a critical testbed for interrogating the foundations of generative AI, where questions of reliability, alignment, and human impact are especially salient.

Drawing on empirical research, I describe how LLMs participate in mental health discourse: as conversational agents, sources of guidance, and mediators of support. While these systems demonstrate remarkable fluency and scalability, they also exhibit important limitations: variability in correctness and consistency, cultural and therapeutic misalignment, and challenges in capturing the nuance of lived experience. I further discuss emerging risks associated with generative systems in this context, including over-reliance, sycophantic responses, and the potential erosion of human agency and social connection. These findings underscore a broader tension in generative AI: systems optimized for engagement and responsiveness may not align with the goals of care, safety, and long-term wellbeing. I conclude by outlining a human-centered foundation for generative AI — one that foregrounds identity, agency, and institutional context, and advances toward systems that are not only capable of generating language, but are accountable to the human conditions they shape.

Bio: Munmun De Choudhury is J. Z. Liang Professor at the School of Interactive Computing and Co-Lead of Patient-Centered Care Delivery at the Children's Healthcare of Atlanta-Pediatric Technology Center in Georgia Institute of Technology. Dr. De Choudhury is known for her contributions to the fields of computational social science, human-computer interaction, and digital mental health. Through fostering interdisciplinary collaborations, Dr. De Choudhury and her collaborators have contributed significantly to advancing the development of computational techniques for early detection and intervention in mental health, as well as in unpacking how social media use benefits or harms mental well-being.

De Choudhury's contributions have been recognized through awards like the 2023 SIGCHI Societal Impact Award, the 2023 ICWSM and the 2022 Web Science Trust Test-of-Time Awards, the 2021 ACM-W Rising Star Award, as well as nearly two dozen paper awards. In 2024, she was inducted into the SIGCHI Academy and in 2025 was named an ACM Distinguished Member. Beyond her academic contributions, Dr. De Choudhury is a persistent contributor to policy-framing and advocacy initiatives, and is frequently sought for expert advice to governments and media. Notably, Dr. De Choudhury was an invited contributor to the Office of U.S. Surgeon General’s 2023 Advisory on The Healing Effects of Social Connection. Currently, she serves as a member of the Technical Advisory Group of the Commission for Social Connection at the World Health Organization and also advises the World Bank.

Zoom link for virtual participation

With over 25 years of experience in pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device development, Barbara Solow is a recognized leader in non-dilutive funding strategy and healthcare innovation. As the founder of Concept to Market LLC, she has guided organizations ranging from startups to global contractors through product commercialization, regulatory strategy, and public-sector funding, leading programs valued at over $1 billion for U.S. government agencies and helping clients secure more than $3 billion in non-dilutive funding. In this session, Barbara will share how non-dilutive funding can be used to help start and grow a biotech company while minimizing the need for dilutive capital.

The Bench2Market funding series is created to provide commercialization guidance to the university research community.  Learn more at https://biolocity.gatech.edu/news-and-events/b2m-talks/. 

Prior to podcasts, Piard worked in social media — she was the first social media manager at Cox Media Group, where she consulted with the company’s newspapers and stations across the country on the best ways to engage their communities, and traveled on behalf of the U.S. Department of State to Ethiopia, Senegal, Chad, and Fiji to train journalists, students, and civil society and business leaders on the medium. Piard will speak about her career, her French upbringing, and the importance of the podcast as a medium.

Abstract: Neural interface technologies provide new opportunities to assist and augment human behaviors. For instance, muscle activity can be transformed into commands for an assistive device for people with disabilities or provide richer control for a computer than interfaces like mice and keyboards. Connecting signals from the nervous system to an external device in this way presents users with a new, potentially unintuitive, mapping between their movements and those of the device. Users often change their behavior as they learn to control neural interfaces, and many neural interfaces leverage machine learning to let the device adapt to the users. This co-learning creates complex and high-throughput interactions between algorithms and the nervous system. In my talk, I’ll present recent research in my lab demonstrating that the algorithms we use in neural interfaces influence neural computations and user learning. I will then present new computational frameworks we’ve developed to predict and shape user-algorithm interactions. These discoveries open possibilities to build neural interfaces that intelligently interact with the nervous system to assist and rehabilitate motor function across diverse users and applications.

Bio: Dr. Orsborn is a Cherng Jia and Elizabeth Yun Hwang Associate Professor in the departments of Electrical & Computer Engineering and Bioengineering at the University of Washington. Her research explores sensorimotor plasticity in brain-computer interfaces and how plasticity is influenced by the algorithms used. She completed her Ph.D. at the UC Berkeley/UCSF Joint Graduate Program in Bioengineering and her postdoctoral training at NYU’s Center for Neural Science. She recently received the NSF CAREER award, a Sloan Fellowship, and was named an Emerging Leader by the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering.

Panelists

• Amb. Lawrence Silverman, Professor of the Practice
• Rachel Whitlark, Associate Professor
• Adm. Sandy Winnefeld, Distinguished Professor of the Practice
• Alasdair Young, Professor and Neal Family Chair
• Moderator: Jenna Jordan, Associate Professor and Associate Chair

Seminar Speakers

REGISTER HERE to attend in-person.

REGISTER HERE to attend online.

Scott M. Bryant
Managing Partner
Hutchison Law

Scott is a managing partner of Hutchison, office manager of the firm’s Atlanta office, and co-chair of the firm’s Life Sciences practice. He represents life sciences and technology companies, venture capital funds and early stage investors, with a focus on venture capital and other equity and debt financings, licensing and technology transactions, mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance, securities, joint ventures and other complex transactions. Scott’s extensive legal experience and business background as a management consultant make him a key trusted advisor to C-suite executives and corporate boards of directors.

Abstract:

Bio: 

Host: Prof. Zhigang Jiang

Title: Hysterically driven anisotropic phase in rhombohedral graphene

Abstract: In the flat-band limit of 2D materials, Coulomb interactions dominate the electronic behavior and give rise to a plethora of symmetry-broken electronic phases. One example is the spontaneous polarization of valleys—a pair of low-energy bands with opposite momenta related by time reversal. Such a valley ferromagnetic state can by detected through magnetic hysteresis in transport measurements. Another example is the spontaneous breaking of rotational symmetry, leading to anisotropic electronic order. This phenomenon remains less explored due to geometric limitations of devices.

Here we report an experimental observation of an intriguing interplay between these two types of spontaneous symmetry breaking in a rhombohedral hexalayer graphene device, using angle-resolved transport studies. Our findings point to the emergence of rotational-symmetry-broken valley domains or stripe order. More interestingly, this anisotropic phase can be switched on and off via electrostatic doping—a phenomenon that cannot be explained by electronic order alone. In this talk, I will present these experimental observations and discuss potential explanations.

Bio: Jiang-Xiazi Lin is an Assistant Professor of Physics at Emory University. She joined Emory in 2024 after completing her postdoctoral research at Brown University, where she focused on magic-angle twisted graphene. Prior to that, she earned her Ph.D. from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. At Emory, she leads an experimental research group and continues to build on her expertise in fabricating 2D van der Waals devices and performing transport measurements in dilution refrigerator. Her current research interests center on flat-band electronic phases in 2D quantum materials.

Digital technologies are reshaping our work and our lives at unprecedented speed. This presentation examines three forces driving this Fourth Industrial Revolution: exponentiality, convergence, and ubiquity, and their implications for higher education and adult learning. Dr. Schatz explores critical questions: How do we leverage AI-enabled personalization to support careers when 40% of worker skills become obsolete every five years? How do we design learning ecosystems that scale adaptive support across institutional boundaries? How do we use data to inform lifelong learning while respecting individuals’ data sovereignty? Drawing on cognitive science and learning engineering research, this presentation offers actionable strategies for implementing AI-augmented adult learning systems that move from pilot projects to institutional practice.

Biosketch

Sae (pronounced like “say”) works at the intersection of cognition, technology, and data. She specializes in bridging the gap between scientific principles and human-centered practice, and her unique approach to “strategic storytelling” (translating complex topics into memorable messages) has garnered professional awards and seen her work translated into multiple languages. 

In 2023, Sae launched the Knowledge Forge LLC, a boutique consultancy offering keynotes, professional development workshops, and strategic services. Her clients include government agencies, academic institutions, and businesses. Recently, for example, she delivered keynotes at the UK Special Forces Club (Knightsbridge), Prometric board meeting, and Innovations in Testing annual conference. She’s published works in TD Magazine, Defense Dossier, and the Journal of Military Learning, and she helped to produce the Learning Engineering Toolkit (2022), authored Engines of Engagement: A Curious Book About Generative AI (2023), and contributed to the U.S. National Academies’ report on Adult Learning in the Military Context (2024). 

From 2015 to 2022, Sae served as the director of the Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) Initiative, a U.S. Department of Defense program for research, development, and policy stewardship. She also co-chaired the NATO Training Group (NTG) Individual Training and Educational Developments task group. Under her leadership, the U.S. ADL Initiative sparked the international community’s pursuit of the lifelong “digital learning ecosystem,” in part with her popular book Modernizing Learning: Building the Future Learning Ecosystem. Her efforts were also formally recognized as “a pathfinder for enterprise data services” by then–DoD Chief Data Officer David L. Spirk. 

Before joining the civil service, Sae worked as an applied human-systems scientist in both business and academia. From 2011 to 2014, she was the chief scientist at MESH Solutions (a defense contractor), where she led the U.S. Marine Corps’ Making Good Instructors Great project and the U.S. Joint Staff’s award-winning Blended Learning–Training effort. Prior to that, she held an assistant professorship with the University of Central Florida’s Institute for Simulation and Training. Sae is a prolific writer and professional presenter as well as a graphic designer who often uses those skills to enhance books, presentations, and infographics. 

She holds a doctorate in Modeling and Simulation (M&S), with an emphasis on human systems.

This convening will bring together experts to engage in a substantive discussion on the role of autonmous vehicle technology in regional and city planning. We’ll discuss where we are, likely futures, and the pros/cons of this evolving space. The session will feature short lightning talks by invited experts, followed by a moderated panel discussion designed to surface policy insights. Insights from the seminar will help inform both the City of Atlanta’s forthcoming Comprehensive Transportation Plan and ARC’s Metropolitan Transportation Plan efforts. 

We look forward to a candid, expert-driven conversation that bridges research, practice, and policy to shape the future of autonomous vehicle technology in the region. 

Registration requested.

Speakers include:

• Justin Hatch, GDOT
• Clayton Tino, Beep
• Emily Heintz, Curiosity Labs
• Cary Bearn, NACTO
• Ellen Dunham-Jones, Georgia Tech School of Architecture
• Rounaq Basu, Georgia Tech School of City and Regional Planning
• Moderated by: Hans Klein, Georgia Tech Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School of Public Policy

Title: Recent Advances in the Design and Simulation of Approximate Multi-Species Collisional Models in Computational Kinetic Theory

Abstract: Kinetic descriptions of particle systems are characterized by a balance of phase-space advection and particles collisions. Often the operators that model collisions are the most expensive part of a kinetic simulation, and simplified models are desired. In this talk, I will present some of these models and discuss recent extensions to the multispecies setting.

Bio: Cory Hauck is an applied mathematician and group leader of the Multiscale Methods and Dynamics Group. His research interests cover various aspects of numerical analysis, computational physics, scientific computing, and mathematical tools for scientific data. His primary research area lies is the development of numerical methods for kinetic equations and related models. These models are characteristic by multiscale phenomena, and their simulation requires advanced mathematical tools in modeling and computation.

Dr. Hauck received his Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from the University of Maryland in 2006.  Before moving to Oak Ridge, he did a postdoc in the Computational Physics and Methods Group and at the Center for Nonlinear Studies at Los Alamos. He serves on the editorial boards of SIAM Multiscale Modeling & Simulation, Journal of Scientific Computing, and others. He has received Householder Fellowship from ORNL and Early Career Award from the Department of Energy (ASCR).

The first portion details research in Articulatory Phonology, specifically the utilization of real-time MRI (rtMRI) to analyze the physiological mechanisms of speech production within the human vocal tract. 

The second portion provides an overview of how linguistics contributes to the Speech Technologies sector, focusing on the development and deployment of Text-to-Speech (TTS) systems.

Title: Breaking the Scaling Wall in Distributed Deep Learning

Abstract: Significant advances in computer architecture (development of extremely powerful server-class GPUs) and parallel computing (scalable libraries for dense and sparse linear algebra) have contributed to the on-going AI revolution. In particular, distributed training of deep neural networks (DNNs) relies on scalable matrix multiplication algorithms and efficient communication on high-speed interconnects. Pre-training and fine-tuning large language models (LLMs) with hundreds of billions to trillions of parameters and graph neural networks (GNNs) on extremely large graphs requires hundreds to tens of thousands of GPUs. However, such training often suffers from significant scaling bottlenecks such as high communication overheads and load imbalance.

In this talk, I will present several systems research directions that directly impact AI model training. First, I will describe my group's work in using a three-dimensional parallel algorithm for matrix multiplication in large-scale LLM training.  Second, I will demonstrate the application of the same algorithm to full-graph and mini-batch GNN training when working with extremely large graphs. Finally, I will also discuss the need for scalable collective communication routines for large-scale DNN training.

Bio: Abhinav Bhatele is an associate professor in the department of computer science, and director of the Parallel Software and Systems Group at the University of Maryland, College Park. His research interests are broadly in systems and AI, with a focus on parallel computing and distributed AI. He has published research in parallel programming models and runtimes, network design and simulation, applications of machine learning to parallel systems, parallel deep learning, and on analyzing/visualizing, modeling and optimizing the performance of parallel software and systems. Abhinav has received best paper awards at Euro-Par 2009, IPDPS 2013, IPDPS 2016, and PDP 2024, and a best poster award at SC 2023. He was selected as a recipient of the IEEE TCSC Award for Excellence in Scalable Computing (Early Career) in 2014, the LLNL Early and Mid-Career Recognition award in 2018, the NSF CAREER award in 2021, the IEEE TCSC Award for Excellence in Scalable Computing (Middle Career) in 2023, and the UIUC CS Early Career Academic Achievement Alumni Award in 2024.

Abhinav received a B.Tech. degree in Computer Science and Engineering from I.I.T. Kanpur, India in May 2005, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Computer Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2007 and 2010 respectively. He was a post-doc and later computer scientist in the Center for Applied Scientific Computing at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory from 2011-2019. Abhinav was an associate editor of the IEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems (TPDS) from 2022-2024. He was one of the General Chairs of IEEE Cluster 2022, and Research Papers Chair of ISC 2023.

Come and learn about a distributed CubeSat constellation concept that Georgia Tech is developing to map space weather effects on the ionosphere and their impacts on space-enabled technologies using natural signals of opportunity from lightning. This workshop will feature speakers from multiple GTRI laboratories and GT schools discussing the technologies and capabilities that Georgia Tech has available to provide important ionospheric measurements for “space weather meteorologists” that will also enable future improvements in forecast models.

Lunch provided.

Agenda

12-12:30p – lunch + meet and greet
12:30p-2p – workshop

"Predicting and Shaping User-device Interactions in Neural Interfaces"

Amy Orsborn
Cherng Jia and Elizabeth Yun Hwang Endowed Professor
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
University of Washington

Distributionally Robust Newsvendor on a Metric

Abstract:

We consider a fundamental generalization of the classical newsvendor problem where the seller needs to decide on the inventory of a product jointly for multiple locations on a metric as well as a fulfillment policy to satisfy the uncertain demand that arises sequentially over time after the inventory decisions have been made. To address the distributional-ambiguity, we consider a distributionally robust setting where the decision-maker only knows the mean and variance of the demand, and the goal is to make inventory and fulfillment decisions to minimize the worst-case expected inventory and fulfillment cost (where the expectation is taken over the worst case choice of distribution with given mean and variance). 

We present a significant generalization of the classical result of Scarf (1958) and give a policy with strong theoretical guarantees as well as good practical performance while maintaining the simplicity and interpretability of the solution in Scarf (1958). In particular, our policy first identifies a hierarchical clustering of the locations, and assigns a "virtual-underage cost" for each cluster. Our inventory solution ensures that for each cluster, the total inventory in the cluster is at least as large as the inventory level suggested by Scarf's solution for the virtual-underage cost if the cluster was a single point. We present a worst-case performance guarantee for our policy and also demonstrate that the policy performs well in practice. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first algorithm with provable performance guarantees.   (This is joint work with Ayoub Foussoul)

Bio:

Vineet Goyal is a Professor in the Industrial Engineering and Operations Research Department at Columbia University where he joined in 2010. He received his Bachelor's degree in Computer Science from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi in 2003 and his Ph.D. in Algorithms, Combinatorics and Optimization (ACO) from Carnegie Mellon University in 2008. Before coming to Columbia, he spent two years as a Postdoctoral Associate at the Operations Research Center at MIT. He is interested in the design of efficient and robust data-driven algorithms for large scale dynamic optimization problems with applications in  revenue management and healthcare problems. His research has been continually supported by grants from NSF and industry including NSF CAREER Award in 2014 and faculty research awards from Google, IBM, Adobe and Amazon.

Doors to the theater will open at 11:30 a.m. RSVP requested. This is an incredible opportunity, and we hope you will be able to join us!      

Parking

For information on parking for the event, please visit the Student and Campus Event Centers website. Parking on the Georgia Tech campus is limited, and with the size of this event, it will be difficult to navigate. Due to the limited parking, rideshare services (Uber, Lyft, etc.) are highly recommended. For these services, please use the address listed above.

From the Book

How to measure a life? After a career of service, retired four-star general Stanley McChrystal had much to contemplate. He pondered his successes and failures, his beliefs and aspirations, and asked himself, Who am I, really? And more importantly, who have I become? When I die, how will I be measured? In the end, McChrystal came to a conclusion as simple as it was profound: the reality of who we are cannot be recorded in dates or accomplishments. It is found in our character—the most accurate, and last full measure, of who we choose to be.    

On Character offers McChrystal’s blueprint for living with purpose and integrity, challenging us to examine not just our deeds but who we become through them. Drawing from a lifetime of experience, he distills profound insights on setting and meeting standards, aligning actions with beliefs, and offers practical advice on overcoming obstacles and pursuing self-improvement.    

According to McChrystal, character is not a trait inherited at birth, nor does it automatically come from education, position, or experience. Character, instead, comes down to a succession of choices, most mundane, several momentous, that reveal the deep truth of our capacity for virtue.    

In an era where understanding and upholding our ideals is more crucial than ever, On Character offers an inspiring roadmap for personal growth and integrity—a call to become our best selves, both as individuals and as Americans.

The Georgia Tech community is welcome to attend. Audience members will vote for the coveted People's Choice award! Also streaming live: https://gatech.zoom.us/j/99276332940

Can math models help us understand the brain?

Thursday, April 16, 2026
5:00PM - 6:00PM @ DM Smith 115 
Reception at 4:00pm in Skiles Atrium

Stelson Lecture Abstract

Can math models help us understand the brain? I would like to think that they can, and will illustrate by sharing some work my collaborators and I have done on the monkey visual system, which is very similar to that of humans. Specifically, I will focus on two visual properties: one is used in the detection of edges, the other is relevant when our eyes track moving objects. To explain the origin of these properties, simple mathematical ideas were first developed in idealized settings. They were then tested -- and fine-tuned -- via simulations using large-scale dynamical network models that are biologically more realistic.

SoM Colloquium Abstract

Convergence of ergodic averages from an observational viewpoint (Friday 4/17 at 11am)
The Birkhoff Ergodic Theorem describes typical behaviors and averaged quantities with respect to an invariant measure. In this talk, I will focus on "observable" events, equating observability with positive Lebesgue measure. From this observational viewpoint, "typical" means typical with respect to Lebesgue measure. This leads immediately to issues for attractors, where all invariant measures are singular. I will present highlights of developments in smooth ergodic theory that address these questions. The theory of physical and SRB measures applies to dynamical systems that are deterministic as well as random, in finite and infinite dimensions (where observability has to be interpreted differently). This body of ideas argue in favor of convergence of ergodic averages for typical orbits. But the picture is a little more complicated: In the last part of the talk, I will discuss some recent work that shows that in many natural settings (e.g. reaction networks), it is also typical for ergodic averages to fluctuate in perpetuity due to heteroclinic-like behavior.

About the Speaker

Lai-Sang Young is a Professor of Mathematics and Henry and Lucy Moses Professor of Science at the Courant Institute, New York University. She received her PhD from the University of California at Berkeley in 1978. Her primary area of research is dynamical systems, with applications to mathematical physics and computational neuroscience. She has given plenary lectures at the International Congress of Mathematicians (2018), International Congress on Mathematical Physics (1997, 2018), and in annual meetings of the American Mathematical Society and Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics. Her recent awards include the Moser Prize (2021), Hopf Prize (2023), and Schock Prize (2024). She is a member of the US National Academy of Sciences.

Host: Prof. JC Gumbart

Title: Mechanics of Infection: How Forces Shape Staphylococcus aureus Virulence

Abstract:
Mechanical forces play a central role in biological function, yet their impact on infection and evolution remains poorly understood. In this talk, I will present how concepts from physics, including force propagation, mechanical stability, and energy landscapes, can be used to understand bacterial adhesion at the molecular scale. Using large-scale molecular dynamics simulations combined with dynamic network analysis and single-molecule experiments, we show that Staphylococcus aureus adhesins are finely tuned to withstand extreme mechanical loads, with calcium acting as a key regulator of their mechanical response. Comparative analysis across strains reveals a clear evolutionary trend toward increased mechanoresilience in more virulent isolates. These computational results, supported by single-molecule measurements, establish a direct link between molecular-scale mechanics and pathogenicity. More broadly, this work highlights how computational biophysics can bridge molecular physics and evolution to uncover how mechanical forces shape biological function.

This seminar will introduce the active KIAT–GITCC Joint R&D funding opportunity, with a May 28 deadline, and include insights from a PI who previously secured this funding. Attendees will gain first-hand insights from experienced investigators on proposal development, evaluation processes, and building effective international R&D partnerships. The seminar will also highlight real case studies and lessons learned from successful global projects.

Date: April 13, 2026
Time: 3:00–4:00 PM (EST)
Location: Room 4107, Marcus Nanotechnology Building, 345 Ferst Dr. NW, Atlanta

Speakers

"Bridging Borders: Experiences and Strategies for Global Projects with KIAT"

Sehoon Ha, PhD
Assistant Professor, School of Interactive Computing
Georgia Institute of Technology, USA

"From Proposal to Success: KIAT Global R&D"

Jeyoun Dong, PhD
Principal Researcher
Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI), South Korea

Seminar Highlights

• Proposal preparation strategies and evaluation insights
• Real-world case studies of KIAT-funded projects
• Approaches to building effective international R&D consortia
• Lessons learned from successful global collaborations

Who Should Attend

Researchers interested in participating in upcoming GITCC Joint R&D proposals and expanding their global research partnerships are encouraged to attend.

Abstract: As AI becomes increasingly powerful and ubiquitous, it is disrupting skills and displacing workers. NSF’s National AI Institute for Adult Learning and Online Education (AI-ALOE) posits that AI can be part of the solution to the growing problem if we can use AI for reskilling, upskilling, and workforce development at scale. The long-term vision of AI-ALOE is to develop and use AI technologies to enhance the proficiency of online education for all adult learners, using in-person education as a benchmark. The day-to-day mission of AI-ALOE is to conduct responsible research into AI that is grounded in theories of human cognition and learning and derived from the scientific process of learning engineering. I will describe ongoing research at AI-ALOE.

Bio: Ashok Goel is a Professor of Computer Science and Human-Centered Computing in the School of Interactive Computing at Georgia Institute of Technology, and the Chief Scientist with Georgia Tech’s Center for 21st Century Universities. He is a Fellow of AAAI and the Cognitive Science Society, an Editor Emeritus of AAAI’s AI Magazine, and a recipient of AAAI’s Robert Engelmore Award, Outstanding AI Educator Award, Distinguished Service Award, and of multiple IBM Faculty Awards. Ashok is the PI and Executive Director of NSF’s National AI Institute for Adult Learning and Online Education (aialoe.org) headquartered at Georgia Tech. He is the Founder of Beyond Question AI, LLC.

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IPaT: GVU Lunch Lecture Series

Abstract: Archaeology is often considered to be about digging in the dirt. What could be less technological? But advances in technologies over the last 100 years have rocketed forward the scientific practice of archaeology. In this talk, GT's McEver Chair of Archaeology Allison Mickel will present the achievements of this century of technological advancements for archaeology and cultural heritage. More importantly, she will explore directions that the field is likely to move in over future decades, inviting collaboration across disciplines from you (yes you!), the audience.

Bio: Allison Mickel is the inaugural H. Bruce McEver Chair of Archaeological Science and Technologies at Georgia Tech, where she has arrived to build the Institute's first-ever archaeology program. Her research focuses on how archaeological work affects the communities that live on or near archaeological sites, particularly in the Middle East. She is the author of "Why Those Who Shovel Are Silent: A History of Local Archaeological Labor and Knowledge," which recovers the unrecorded expertise of locally-hired laborers at long-running archaeological projects in Jordan and Turkey. She is currently engaged in two projects in Atlanta focused on restorative history and public engagement, as well as a book project on current efforts to organize for workers' rights in Jordanian archaeology. She is also an active public anthropologist, writing for newspapers and online platforms, volunteering with the organization Skype a Scientist, reviewing educational material for organizations like the Boy Scouts of America, and organizing annual outreach events with local public schools for Anthropology Day.

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IPaT: GVU Lunch Lecture Series

Abstract: Since the release of ChatGPT in 2022, generative artificial intelligence has evolved rapidly from conversational tools to autonomous systems that reason, act, and learn independently. This represents a fundamental shift from AI as a classroom presence to educational infrastructure. Neuroscience now confirms what learning designers have long known: scaffolding, sequence, and cognitive friction are not optional features of learning—they are its foundations. General-purpose AI, deployed without pedagogical alignment, risks removing that friction, accumulating “cognitive debt” rather than foundational understanding.

In this talk, Pratschke introduces Generativism, her design approach for creating generative learning in a world where humans learn and work in partnership with AI, and the three integrated frameworks that operationalize it: (1) a Contextual Framework identifying four essential dimensions—cognitive, learner, pedagogical, and technical; (2) TPAIK, which reimagines the established TPACK framework to define the intelligences required of AI systems; and (3) the Agentic Community of Inquiry (ACoI), an adaptation of the Community of Inquiry model that provides a structure for multi-agent learning environments.

As AI moves from language to experience—from agentic systems to world models that generate entire simulated environments—the stakes for pedagogical design only increase. These frameworks provide the foundations for designing learning that takes place not just with AI, but inside the worlds it creates. The role of the educator is shifting—from consumer of AI tools to designer and creator of AI systems—and these frameworks serve as a guide.

Biography: Mairéad Pratschke is a researcher, strategist, and advisor who has worked at the intersection of digital technology and education for more than 25 years. She is the author of Generative AI and Education: Digital Pedagogies, Teaching Innovation and Learning Design (Springer, 2024), and her work focuses on moving institutions from passive AI adoption to intentional pedagogical system design. She is a visiting professor at the LSE Data Science Institute and sits on the External Advisory Board of AI-ALOE at Georgia Tech.

• Website: https://maireadpratschke.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maireadpratschke/

Allison Traylor
Assistant Professor
College of Behavioral, Social, and Health Sciences
Clemson University

Whether your team is starting a new project, working to establish new norms, or setting expectations for new members, a team charter can help your team lay the foundation for success. A team charter is a codified plan for how a team will manage teamwork activities. Team charters are evidence-based and are associated with improved team performance. This hands-on workshop will describe the benefits of team charters and provide the resources necessary to implement an effective charter in your team.

Team consult opportunity:

Our Team Science Skills presenters have graciously opened their schedules to provide a limited amount of attendees with direct feedback and guidance on their personal team issues. During a one-hour consulting session, attendees will be able to directly ask our experts questions and get personalized advice on how to effectively move their team forward.  Requesters must attend the full session and complete the post-evaluation survey to be eligible. 

Creating Space for Choice: LLM Supported Decision-Making in Inclusive Higher Education

Epistemic Breakdowns: A Theory of Friction in Civic Sociotechnical Systems

Human-Centered Explainable AI for Aging in Place

Virtual Ecological Research Assistant (VERA): Integrating a Metacognitive LLM Agent into an Inquiry-Based Learning Tool for Ecology

This discussion will focus on the personal side of the journey of an academic engineering researcher turned entrepreneur - founding and building their first company, establishing their team, developing a FDA regulated product, establishing manufacturing, and highlighting many of the lessons learned a long the way. The discussion will continue with further reflection on what early-stage entrepreneurs coming out of academia could expect on their own journeys and how we can support each other in bringing incredible technologies into the world as commercialized products.

Register to attend via Zoom.

The Bench2Market funding series is created to provide commercialization guidance to the university research community.  Learn more at https://biolocity.gatech.edu/news-and-events/b2m-talks/. 

Host: Prof. John Wise

Title: Little Red Dots as "Black Hole Stars”

Abstract

Perhaps the most stunning surprise revealed by JWST yet is a class of compact, red, high-redshift sources (z~2-9) found in virtually every image the telescope takes. The sheer numbers of these ``Little Red Dots" demand that any satisfying theory of the early Universe address their nature. In this talk I will summarize three years of relentless community effort that have shown traditional models of galaxies and AGN fall dramatically short when confronted by the Little Red Dots. Instead, several lines of evidence point to a novel astrophysical phenomenon,``black hole stars" (BH*s) -- black holes enveloped in dense gas that radiate in a manner reminiscent of stellar phenomena. I will discuss why BH*s appear to be a long-sought missing chapter in the origin story of almost every massive black hole. I will outline how ultimately unraveling the physics and origins of BH*s might require ``renaissance astronomy", combining insights from the study of transients, stars, globular clusters, Galactic archeology, and the most distant galaxies. 

Join us for lunch to learn how to better leverage the incredible resources available via your IBB Core Facilities! Lunch provided for registered attendees. 

Register to attend 

 

Chronic heat influences the everyday behaviors of people, including their short- and long-term choices, activities, modes of commute, and the use of teleservices. In this study, we conducted an original survey conducted during June 2025 to capture the reported mobility and activity patterns of Arizona residents during the heat season as part of the DOE's Southwest Integrated Field Laboratory (SW-IFL).

In this presentation, we will explore the results from this survey, including Arizonians’ reported changes in travel and activity characteristics during heat seasons, access and use of cooling strategies in the home, and their corresponding perceptions/attitudes on heat, travel, and health during summer. We will also cover an overview of SW-IFL activities in Tucson that aim to bridge climate science with policy, planning, and design.
 

Panelists will include:
- Rebecca Serna, Executive Director at Propel ATL
- John Saxton, Mobility Planning Director at the Atlanta Department of Transportation
- Eric Meyer, Planning Coordinator at the Atlanta Regional Commission
- Ron Knezevich, State Safety Engineering Manager at the Georgia Department of Transportation

This month's video is "Inspired by Intelligence: Purpose and Creativity in the AI Era" by creative technologist Kim Carson. Delivered just last year, this talk makes the case for AI as an inspirational tool for thought, not an agent of utopia or dystopia. 

The conversation will be facilitated by the Digital Learning and Instruction Librarian Justin Ellis.

This event is drop-in only and does not require registration. 

retroTECH’s Long Now Lecture Series is part of our efforts to create the future by exploring and preserving our technological pasts.

Featuring Jon Duke, a physician-scientist with a 25-year career spanning clinical practice, academic medicine, and advanced research in health informatics and analytics. Dr. Duke joined Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) in 2016 and has served as director of GTRI’s Health Emerging and Advanced Technologies Division since its inception in 2019. Over the course of his career, Dr. Duke has been awarded over $70M in external funding as a principal investigator and his academic publications have been cited over 6,000 times. Dr. Duke's work is enabling organizations to better use electronic health data to improve the well-being of patients and populations. His areas of research include decision support, data standards and interoperability, natural language processing, and artificial intelligence with applications spanning medication safety, public health, cost transparency, and clinical research.

Attendees should register through the Genius LMS, using the "GT Login" button. Click on "View Course Catalog", then enter "RCR" in the search bar to view the current RCR workshop sessions. You can view information about each class (including class times) by clicking on "more info".  To register for a class, click on "Register", then "Proceed to Checkout" (there is no cost for the sessions). Then click on "Confirm". You will receive a confirmation email with a calendar file. You will need to follow instructions given to you during the session in order to receive RCR in-person contact hour credit for attending.

SESSIONS OFFERED ON THIS DATE:

Tuesday, March 31  (Location - Video Meeting)

Data Management 9:00 - 10:00 AM

Science & Engineering in Society 10:00 - 11:00 AM

For more information about the RCR Workshop Series, including additional dates/sessions offered, refer to RCR Workshops and Events and Workshop FAQs.

Attendees should register through the Genius LMS, using the "GT Login" button. Click on "View Course Catalog", then enter "RCR" in the search bar to view the current RCR workshop sessions. You can view information about each class (including class times) by clicking on "more info".  To register for a class, click on "Register", then "Proceed to Checkout" (there is no cost for the sessions). Then click on "Confirm". You will receive a confirmation email with a calendar file. You will need to follow instructions given to you during the session in order to receive RCR in-person contact hour credit for attending.

SESSIONS OFFERED ON THIS DATE:

Wednesday, April 8  (Location - Video Meeting)

Authorship 10-:00 - 11:00 AM

Research Misconduct 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

For more information about the RCR Workshop Series, including additional dates/sessions offered, refer to RCR Workshops and Events and Workshop FAQs.

Abstract: Large Language Models are powerful models of language even for long stretches of generation. This has shifted the research frontier in natural language processing to where global coherence and consistency, strategic content planning and selection, and high-fidelity evaluation play increasingly important roles. These belong to discourse-level capabilities. I will first present a model of discourse in the framework of Questions Under Discussion (QUD), which provides the necessary data structure to move beyond a local view of text generation and informs us how to strategically decide which questions are worth answering in a given context. Next, I will share how this model can be used to measure and evaluate novelty, revealing the structural homogeneity in LLM outputs even when they differ in content. Finally, I will tackle the evaluation challenge for open-ended generation, focusing on fine-grained evaluation systems that capture implicit aspects absent from user specification. In all, this talk aims to address the need for discourse-level understanding and control in today’s generative models.

Bio: Jessy Li is an associate professor in the Linguistics Department and (by courtesy) the Computer Science Department at the University of Texas at Austin. She earned her Ph.D. from the Department of Computer and Information Science at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research interests are in computational linguistics and natural language processing, specifically discourse and pragmatics, natural language generation, evaluation, and language & code. She is a recipient of an NSF CAREER Award, ACL and EMNLP Outstanding Paper Awards, an ACM SIGSOFT Distinguished Paper Award, among others. Jessy is an AI research lead at the NSF-Simons CosmicAI Institute, and an affiliated faculty member at the Oden Institute for Computational Engineering & Sciences. She is the current Secretary of NAACL and a program chair of EMNLP 2026.

Zoom Link: https://gatech.zoom.us/j/95262711498?pwd=OoN50EsqjRdi5zAJtgWiZH7BLFYwOg.1

Meeting ID: 952 6271 1498 
Passcode: 144273

For CODA guest access, please contact shatcher8@gatech.edu at least 2 business days prior to the event.

Abstract: The ability to manufacture microscale sensors and other components for robotic systems has intrigued the robotics community for almost 40 years. There have been huge success stories; MEMS inertial sensors have enabled an entire market of low-cost, small-scale UAVs. However, the promise of ant-scale robots has largely failed. Ants and other small insects like mites can move at high speeds on surfaces from picnic tables to front lawns, but few small-scale robots have moved outside the lab. This talk will present themes across our work in scaling down robotics. A common thread across our work is the use of geometry, materials, and mechanisms to do part of the robot control and computation in hardware. For example, choosing the right foot geometry and size scale can result in a 3.6 cm high power autonomous biped capable of high speed locomotion at 25 cm/s. Novel fabrication processes can be designed to tightly couple high-bandwidth actuators, sensors, and mechanisms for locomotion and manipulation tasks. Finally, even sensors can be designed to quickly and easily detect flight-relevant events. 

Bio: Sarah Bergbreiter joined the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University as a Professor in the fall of 2018 after spending ten years at the University of Maryland, College Park. She started her academic career with a B.S.E. degree in electrical engineering from Princeton University in 1999. After a short introduction to the challenges of sensor networks at a small startup company, she received her M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of California, Berkeley in 2004 and 2007 with a focus on small-scale robots. Prof. Bergbreiter received the DARPA Young Faculty Award in 2008, the NSF CAREER Award in 2011, and the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) in 2013 for her research on engineering robotic systems down to millimeter size scales. She has received several Best Paper awards at conferences like ICRA, IROS, and Hilton Head Workshop with her fabulous group of students and former students, and is a Fellow of the ASME. She also served as Vice Chair of DARPA’s Microsystems Exploratory Council from 2020 through 2022. Outside of academia, she enjoys spending time with her husband and two daughters, running, biking, or skiing outside rather slowly, and the rare game of water polo.

Ambassador Satterfield will provide a clear and insightful tour of a world characterized by weakened rules of international order and institutions, growing competition from China and Russia, challenges to national sovereignty and technological leadership, and threats from Iran, North Korea, and other countriesincisively guide you through a tour of a world characterized by weakened rules of international order and institutions, growing competition from China and Russia, challenges to national sovereignty and technological leadership, and threats from Iran, North Korea, and others.  

About David Satterfield

David Satterfield is the former U.S. Ambassador to Turkiye and Lebanon, Acting Assistant Secretary for the Near East, Presidential Special Envoy for Middle East Humanitarian Issues in Gaza, special envoy for the Horn of Africa, National Security Council staff director, and now Director of the James A. Baker Institute for Public Policy at Rice University. 

Nunn School of International Affairs Professor of the Practice and Ambassador (ret.) Lawrence Silverman will conduct a dialogue with David, followed by your questions for Ambassador Satterfield.

Registration requested.

Location: Southwire Spark - 75 5th Street NW Atlanta, GA 30080 (suite 440-4th floor)

Date: Wednesday, April 1, 2026, at 12:00 p.m.

Location: Coda, Room 230 (Google Maps link)

Lunch provided!

Title: Fast Active-Set Thresholding Method for Nonnegative Least Squares

Abstract: Nonnegative Least Squares (NNLS) is a fundamental constrained optimization problem encountered in many applications such as image deblurring, signal processing, nonnegative matrix factorization, magnetic microscopy, and hyperspectral imaging. Active-set based methods are a common class of algorithms for solving NNLS which identify the optimal variable set of the NNLS solution. They do so by iteratively solving a series of unconstrained least squares problems, identifying which variables violate the nonnegativity constraints, and then swapping variables in/out of consideration until the optimal set of variables is found. Several variations improving upon this method exist in the literature. In this work, we propose an active-set swap heuristic which further improves upon existing active-set based methods for NNLS. Our optimizations are based upon adding multiple variables to the passive set within a threshold of the smallest gradient value and removing variables within a similar threshold of the closest boundary constraint. We leverage these optimizations to yield a Fast Active-Set Thresholding NNLS (FAST-NNLS) algorithm which significantly outperforms the existing state-of-the-art NNLS algorithms for a wide range of problems. Rigorous convergence guarantees are proven for the proposed method. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed method on multiple synthetic datasets and two real-world text analysis applications. In doing so, we present the most comprehensive NNLS solver comparison in the literature to date.

Bio: Ben Cobb is a CSE Ph.D. candidate conducting research at the intersection of high-performance computing and numerical linear algebra under the co-advisement of Richard Vuduc and Haesun Park. His doctoral research pertains to various forms of tensor decompositions for data analysis and compression.

About HotCSE

HotCSE is an academic seminar series to bring Ph.D. students in Computational Science and Engineering together to discuss interesting topics. The topics consist of high-performance computing, machine learning, data analysis, simulation, computational sustainability, medical informatics, etc.

The talks have always been enjoyable and have ranged from quite informal to formal conference style talks. Either chalks or slides can be used to help people understand your talk. It is also a great forum to practice conference talks and bounce around new ideas.

Currently the talks are sponsored by the School of Computational Science and Engineering. The goal of CSE is slightly broader than that of these talks - we want to bring more people outside CSE to discuss their related work here.

Join us Tuesday, March 31 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.  in the Scholars Event Theater, located on Price Gilbert's first floor, for a dynamic discussion on how augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), extended reality (XR), immersive storytelling, and interactive systems are shaping creative practice and research today.

Host: Prof. Mike Schatz

Title: The Self-Sustaining-Process in Taylor-Couette Flow

Abstract:
The self-sustaining process (SSP) of Waleffe (1997) proposes that a key ingredient in transition to turbulence in wall-bounded shear flows is a three-step process involving rolls advecting streamwise velocity, leading to streaks which become unstable to a wavy perturbation whose nonlinear interaction with itself feeds the rolls. Waleffe obtains this process in the linearly stable plane Couette and Poiseuille flow by including a forcing term, but it occurs naturally in Taylor-Couette flow via the esthetic and much-reproduced transition from laminar to Taylor-vortex and wavy-Taylor-vortex flows. More specifically, the instability of Taylor-vortex flow to wavy-vortex flow, a process which is the inspiration for the second phase of the SSP, is shown to be caused by the streaks, with the rolls playing a negligible role. In the third phase of the SSP, the nonlinear interaction of the waves with themselves reinforces the rolls. We show this both quantitatively and qualitatively, identifying physical regions in which this reinforcement is strongest, and also demonstrate that this nonlinear interaction depletes the streaks.

The session will begin with a moderated panel featuring targeted questions developed by Model NATO and the Atlanta Council on International Relations (ACIR). Drawing on their diverse professional backgrounds, panelists will offer unique insights into the geopolitical challenges facing the West. The event will conclude with an open Q&A session, offering the audience a rare opportunity to engage directly with these leaders in international security.

Paid parking is available in the Area 1 Visitor Lot. Register to attend.

Made possible through generous sponsorship by the Neal Family Endowment.

Panelists

• Moderator: Aiden Holland, Co-captain of the GT Model NATO Team
• Gen. Phil Breedlove (Ret.), Distinguished Professor of the Practice, Sam Nunn School of International Affairs
• Robert Kennedy, Professor Emeritus, Sam Nunn School of International Affairs; Chairman of the Board, Atlanta Council on International Relations
• Vicki Birchfield, Professor, Sam Nunn School of International Affairs; Co-director, Center for European and Transatlantic Studies

Event Schedule

12 — 12:30 p.m.: Brief Reception with catered, buffet-style lunch
12:30 — 2 p.m.: Panel followed by Q&A
2 – 2:30 p.m.: Closing remarks and networking 

Please RSVP to attend here >>

By bringing awareness to the scientific community of barriers that create challenges for people with disabilities when accessing their community, we hope to spark ideas and conversations that would lead toward a greater goal of reducing barriers and creating environments accessible to all.   

Speakers/Representatives from the Shepherd Center that will be at the event:

Facilitated by Dr. Deborah Backus, Vice President of Research and Innovation, and Director of Virginia C. Crawford Research Institute. Dr. Deborah Backus is a nationally recognized leader in neurorehabilitation research, physical therapy, and education, with more than 30 years of experience advancing evidence-based care for individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI), multiple sclerosis (MS), and other neurological conditions. She oversees multidisciplinary research programs and strategic partnerships that translate discoveries into real-world solutions for people with complex neurological conditions. 

Dr. John Morris is Director of the Accessibility User Research Collective (AURC) and a Senior Research Scientist in the User Experience and Usability Research Program. He leads research and development projects focused on assistive and rehabilitation technologies, ensuring that innovations are accessible, usable, and designed with the end user in mind. Dr. Morris also directs knowledge translation initiatives that bring research findings into practice, expanding access and independence for people with disabilities.

Dr. Raeda Anderson is a Research Scientist at the Shepherd Center’s Virginia C. Crawford Research Institute, where she leads transdisciplinary analytics to advance rehabilitation science with a strong emphasis on community participation and community integration for people with disabilities. Dr. Anderson’s work centers on understanding the social and environmental contexts that shape health equity, leveraging multimodal data to generate actionable insights that improve realworld rehabilitation outcomes. In addition to directing the iCORD Lab at Georgia State University, she collaborates widely across clinical and academic settings to promote evidence-based practices that enhance meaningful community engagement.

Dr. Brad Willingham directs Shepherd Center’s Multiple Sclerosis Research Program, where he leads a multidisciplinary team focused on improving health, function, and quality of life for people with multiple sclerosis (MS). His work spans neuromuscular physiology, neurorehabilitation, and digital health, bridging the gap between scientific discovery and clinical practice. Brad collaborates closely with clinicians and individuals with MS to design studies that generate practical, translation-ready solutions. His research integrates physiology, rehabilitation science, and technology to create strategies that can be adopted into real-world care.

Chris Maurer, Program Manager for the Center for Assistive Technologies

The Center for Assistive Technologies at Shepherd Center helps individuals regain independence after a neurological injury or condition. Challenges with mobility and cognitive function can impact daily activities like using devices, controlling home environments, and driving. Our team develops, tests, and customizes assistive technologies to support rehabilitation, empowering you to navigate life with greater ease and autonomy. Services include the Access Technology Lab (personal devices and technologies for life), the Driving Program, and the Wheelchair Seating and Mobility Clinic. 

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Shepherd Center was founded in 1975 as a private, not-for-profit hospital specializing in medical treatment, research, and rehabilitation for people with spinal cord injury, brain injury, stroke, multiple sclerosis, spine and chronic pain, multi-trauma, and other neurological conditions. Serving patients along the full continuum from the ICU through outpatient services, Shepherd Center is one of the nation’s top hospitals for rehabilitation, with patient rehabilitation programs that focus on individualized recovery and lifelong wellness. The Virginia C. Crawford Research Institute (CRI)  was established at Shepherd Center in 1996 to promote the synthesis of research into clinical practice. CRI supports an integrated program of rehabilitation research, including clinical, health services, and outcomes research. Support personnel have expertise in clinical trials coordination, grants management and financial accounting, information technology, library sciences, and biostatistics.  The James M. Cox Innovation Institute was established in 2025 to accelerate the journey from idea to impact and provide collaborative spaces where engineers, researchers, clinicians, therapists, and patients converge to build the future of rehabilitation. https://www.shepherd.org/  

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Conversations@TechSquare is a dynamic space for new ideas, not an environment for established concepts. We gather creators and innovators from across Georgia Tech, the broader Tech Square community, and beyond, to engage in open dialogue around some of today’s biggest challenges and opportunities. These gatherings are organized and hosted by the Georgia Tech Institute for People and Technology (IPaT) and will occur several times during a semester at the Tech Square Clubhouse. The Clubhouse address is 848 Spring Street NW, Atlanta, Georgia, 30308 (street level, behind the Centergy One Bldg.).

Tech Square Clubhouse

PARKING:
Parking is available at the Centergy One parking deck, located right next door. You can also find additional street parking via Park Mobile on Spring and 5th Street. Centergy One parking deck daily rates: Half Hour: $3.00 | One Hour: $6.00 | Two Hours: $12.00 | Daily Max: $20.00

GT CAMPUS BUS: Take the Gold route bus which stops at Tech Square.

Come learn what you need to know for this year’s ACME POCT project solicitation! And you will have the opportunity to talk with our service team experts.

"Sparking a Solution to Spasticity after Spinal Cord Injury"

Evan Sandler
Research Scientist, Spinal Cord Injury Research Program
Shepherd Center

Please RSVP to attend here >>

By bringing awareness to the scientific community of barriers that create challenges for people with disabilities when accessing their community, we hope to spark ideas and conversations that would lead toward a greater goal of reducing barriers and creating environments accessible to all.   

• Speakers/Representatives from the Shepherd Center that will be at the event:

Facilitated by Dr. Deborah Backus, Vice President of Research and Innovation, and Director of Virginia C. Crawford Research Institute. Dr. Deborah Backus is a nationally recognized leader in neurorehabilitation research, physical therapy, and education, with more than 30 years of experience advancing evidence-based care for individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI), multiple sclerosis (MS), and other neurological conditions. She oversees multidisciplinary research programs and strategic partnerships that translate discoveries into real-world solutions for people with complex neurological conditions. 

Dr. John Morris is Director of the Accessibility User Research Collective (AURC) and a Senior Research Scientist in the User Experience and Usability Research Program. He leads research and development projects focused on assistive and rehabilitation technologies, ensuring that innovations are accessible, usable, and designed with the end user in mind. Dr. Morris also directs knowledge translation initiatives that bring research findings into practice, expanding access and independence for people with disabilities.

Dr. Raeda Anderson is a Research Scientist at the Shepherd Center’s Virginia C. Crawford Research Institute, where she leads transdisciplinary analytics to advance rehabilitation science with a strong emphasis on community participation and community integration for people with disabilities. Dr. Anderson’s work centers on understanding the social and environmental contexts that shape health equity, leveraging multimodal data to generate actionable insights that improve realworld rehabilitation outcomes. In addition to directing the iCORD Lab at Georgia State University, she collaborates widely across clinical and academic settings to promote evidence-based practices that enhance meaningful community engagement.

Dr. Brad Willingham directs Shepherd Center’s Multiple Sclerosis Research Program, where he leads a multidisciplinary team focused on improving health, function, and quality of life for people with multiple sclerosis (MS). His work spans neuromuscular physiology, neurorehabilitation, and digital health, bridging the gap between scientific discovery and clinical practice. Brad collaborates closely with clinicians and individuals with MS to design studies that generate practical, translation-ready solutions. His research integrates physiology, rehabilitation science, and technology to create strategies that can be adopted into real-world care.

Chris Maurer, Program Manager for the Center for Assistive Technologies

The Center for Assistive Technologies at Shepherd Center helps individuals regain independence after a neurological injury or condition. Challenges with mobility and cognitive function can impact daily activities like using devices, controlling home environments, and driving. Our team develops, tests, and customizes assistive technologies to support rehabilitation, empowering you to navigate life with greater ease and autonomy. Services include the Access Technology Lab (personal devices and technologies for life), the Driving Program, and the Wheelchair Seating and Mobility Clinic. 

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Shepherd Center was founded in 1975 as a private, not-for-profit hospital specializing in medical treatment, research, and rehabilitation for people with spinal cord injury, brain injury, stroke, multiple sclerosis, spine and chronic pain, multi-trauma, and other neurological conditions. Serving patients along the full continuum from the ICU through outpatient services, Shepherd Center is one of the nation’s top hospitals for rehabilitation, with patient rehabilitation programs that focus on individualized recovery and lifelong wellness. The Virginia C. Crawford Research Institute (CRI)  was established at Shepherd Center in 1996 to promote the synthesis of research into clinical practice. CRI supports an integrated program of rehabilitation research, including clinical, health services, and outcomes research. Support personnel have expertise in clinical trials coordination, grants management and financial accounting, information technology, library sciences, and biostatistics.  The James M. Cox Innovation Institute was established in 2025 to accelerate the journey from idea to impact and provide collaborative spaces where engineers, researchers, clinicians, therapists, and patients converge to build the future of rehabilitation. https://www.shepherd.org/  

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Conversations@TechSquare is a dynamic space for new ideas, not an environment for established concepts. We gather creators and innovators from across Georgia Tech, the broader Tech Square community, and beyond, to engage in open dialogue around some of today’s biggest challenges and opportunities. These gatherings are organized and hosted by the Georgia Tech Institute for People and Technology (IPaT) and will occur several times during a semester at the Tech Square Clubhouse. The Clubhouse address is 848 Spring Street NW, Atlanta, Georgia, 30308 (street level, behind the Centergy One Bldg.).

Tech Square Clubhouse

PARKING:
Parking is available at the Centergy One parking deck, located right next door. You can also find additional street parking via Park Mobile on Spring and 5th Street. Centergy One parking deck daily rates: Half Hour: $3.00 | One Hour: $6.00 | Two Hours: $12.00 | Daily Max: $20.00

GT CAMPUS BUS: Take the Gold route bus which stops at Tech Square.

Please RSVP to attend here >>

By bringing awareness to the scientific community of barriers that create challenges for people with disabilities when accessing their community, we hope to spark ideas and conversations that would lead toward a greater goal of reducing barriers and creating environments accessible to all.   

• Speakers/Representatives from the Shepherd Center that will be at the event:

Facilitated by Dr. Deborah Backus, Vice President of Research and Innovation, and Director of Virginia C. Crawford Research Institute. Dr. Deborah Backus is a nationally recognized leader in neurorehabilitation research, physical therapy, and education, with more than 30 years of experience advancing evidence-based care for individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI), multiple sclerosis (MS), and other neurological conditions. She oversees multidisciplinary research programs and strategic partnerships that translate discoveries into real-world solutions for people with complex neurological conditions. 

Dr. John Morris is Director of the Accessibility User Research Collective (AURC) and a Senior Research Scientist in the User Experience and Usability Research Program. He leads research and development projects focused on assistive and rehabilitation technologies, ensuring that innovations are accessible, usable, and designed with the end user in mind. Dr. Morris also directs knowledge translation initiatives that bring research findings into practice, expanding access and independence for people with disabilities.

Dr. Raeda Anderson is a Research Scientist at the Shepherd Center’s Virginia C. Crawford Research Institute, where she leads transdisciplinary analytics to advance rehabilitation science with a strong emphasis on community participation and community integration for people with disabilities. Dr. Anderson’s work centers on understanding the social and environmental contexts that shape health equity, leveraging multimodal data to generate actionable insights that improve realworld rehabilitation outcomes. In addition to directing the iCORD Lab at Georgia State University, she collaborates widely across clinical and academic settings to promote evidence-based practices that enhance meaningful community engagement.

Dr. Brad Willingham directs Shepherd Center’s Multiple Sclerosis Research Program, where he leads a multidisciplinary team focused on improving health, function, and quality of life for people with multiple sclerosis (MS). His work spans neuromuscular physiology, neurorehabilitation, and digital health, bridging the gap between scientific discovery and clinical practice. Brad collaborates closely with clinicians and individuals with MS to design studies that generate practical, translation-ready solutions. His research integrates physiology, rehabilitation science, and technology to create strategies that can be adopted into real-world care.

Chris Maurer, Program Manager for the Center for Assistive Technologies

The Center for Assistive Technologies at Shepherd Center helps individuals regain independence after a neurological injury or condition. Challenges with mobility and cognitive function can impact daily activities like using devices, controlling home environments, and driving. Our team develops, tests, and customizes assistive technologies to support rehabilitation, empowering you to navigate life with greater ease and autonomy. Services include the Access Technology Lab (personal devices and technologies for life), the Driving Program, and the Wheelchair Seating and Mobility Clinic. 

-----

Shepherd Center was founded in 1975 as a private, not-for-profit hospital specializing in medical treatment, research, and rehabilitation for people with spinal cord injury, brain injury, stroke, multiple sclerosis, spine and chronic pain, multi-trauma, and other neurological conditions. Serving patients along the full continuum from the ICU through outpatient services, Shepherd Center is one of the nation’s top hospitals for rehabilitation, with patient rehabilitation programs that focus on individualized recovery and lifelong wellness. The Virginia C. Crawford Research Institute (CRI)  was established at Shepherd Center in 1996 to promote the synthesis of research into clinical practice. CRI supports an integrated program of rehabilitation research, including clinical, health services, and outcomes research. Support personnel have expertise in clinical trials coordination, grants management and financial accounting, information technology, library sciences, and biostatistics.  The James M. Cox Innovation Institute was established in 2025 to accelerate the journey from idea to impact and provide collaborative spaces where engineers, researchers, clinicians, therapists, and patients converge to build the future of rehabilitation. https://www.shepherd.org/  

----------------
Conversations@TechSquare is a dynamic space for new ideas, not an environment for established concepts. We gather creators and innovators from across Georgia Tech, the broader Tech Square community, and beyond, to engage in open dialogue around some of today’s biggest challenges and opportunities. These gatherings are organized and hosted by the Georgia Tech Institute for People and Technology (IPaT) and will occur several times during a semester at the Tech Square Clubhouse. The Clubhouse address is 848 Spring Street NW, Atlanta, Georgia, 30308 (street level, behind the Centergy One Bldg.).

Tech Square Clubhouse

PARKING:
Parking is available at the Centergy One parking deck, located right next door. You can also find additional street parking via Park Mobile on Spring and 5th Street. Centergy One parking deck daily rates: Half Hour: $3.00 | One Hour: $6.00 | Two Hours: $12.00 | Daily Max: $20.00

GT CAMPUS BUS: Take the Gold route bus which stops at Tech Square.

Abstract: NASA's Mission Juno began operations orbiting Jupiter on July 4, 2016, with a prime mission which contained 33 orbits and focused on studying the deep interior, atmosphere, and magnetosphere using remote sensing techniques involving meter-wave, microwave, infrared, optical and ultraviolet sensors. The first extended mission commenced in August 2021, and involved new techniques for studying Jupiter's environment as well as Jovian satellites (moons) Ganymede, Europa, and Io.

The Juno spacecraft, instruments, and novel results will be presented.

Abstract: Abstract: Large pre-trained models trained on internet-scale data are often not ready for deployment out-of-the-box. They are heavily fine-tuned and aligned using large quantities of human preference data, usually elicited using pairwise comparisons. While aligning an AI/ML model to human preferences or values, it is important to ask whose preference and values we are aligning it to? The prominent approaches of preference alignment are severely limited due to inherent assumption of uniformity by the preference models. We aim to overcome this limitation by building mathematical foundations for learning heterogeneous human preferences. In this talk, I will present PAL, a personalize-able reward modelling framework for pluralistic alignment. PAL has modular design that leverages commonalities across users while catering to individual personalization, enabling efficient few-shot generalization. PAL is versatile to be applied to various domains and matches or outperforms state-of-the-art methods on both text-to-text and text-to-image tasks with 100x fewer parameters in practice. I will also present theoretical results on per user sample complexity for generalization and fundamental limitations when there are limited pairwise comparisons.

References:

1. PAL: Sample-Efficient Personalized Reward Modeling for Pluralistic Alignment (ICLR 2025)
2. One-for-all: Simultaneous metric and preference learning (Neurips 2022)
3. Metric learning via limited pairwise comparisons (UAI 2024)
4. Bridging Lifelong and Multi-Task Representation Learning via Algorithm and Complexity Measure (ALT 2026)

Bio: Ramya Korlakai Vinayak is the Dugald C. Jackson assistant professor in the Dept. of ECE and affiliated faculty in the Dept. of Computer Science and the Dept. of Statistics at the UW-Madison. Her research interests span the areas of machine learning, statistical inference, and crowdsourcing, with a focus on preference learning and alignment under heterogeneity, reliable and efficient dataset creation, and human-in-the-loop systems. Her works aim to address theoretical and practical challenges that arise when learning from heterogeneous societal data. Prior to joining UW-Madison, Ramya was a postdoctoral researcher in the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Washington. She received her Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Caltech. She obtained her Masters from Caltech and Bachelors from IIT Madras. She is a recipient of the Schlumberger Foundation Faculty of the Future fellowship from 2013-15, and an invited participant at the Rising Stars in EECS workshop in 2019. She is the recipient of NSF CAREER Award in 2023.

ZOOM ACCESS
https://gatech.zoom.us/j/99656296661?pwd=W2wfPaoxiYZt3seJhLcK8I0eTr02YC.1

Meeting ID: 996 5629 6661 
Passcode: 797387