On Friday, April 29, a group of outstanding members of the Georgia Tech research community were recognized at the annual Faculty and Staff Honors Luncheon.

Every year, the Office of the Executive Vice President for Research offers seven awards recognizing the contributions and achievements of faculty and staff in mentoring and research. The nominations come from across the many facets of the Georgia Tech research enterprise, which covers the totality of activities from basic research to commercialization and societal use.

All faculty with academic and research titles are eligible to be nominated for the Faculty Research Awards. For the Research Enterprise Enhancement Award and the Outstanding Achievement in Research Program Development Award, staff are eligible.

“We are honored to recognize these individuals’ extraordinary achievements in research,” said Rob Butera, vice president for Research Development and Operations. “Their accomplishments, hard work, and enthusiasm continue to make Georgia Tech an outstanding institution.”

Georgia Tech’s 2022 Institute Research Award winners include:

Outstanding Achievement in Research Program Development: Georgia Tech Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics Team (RADx).

The Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics program (RADx) was launched by the National Institutes of Health in April 2020 to speed development, evaluation, and commercialization of Covid-19 tests for use at home and in clinical settings. The Georgia Tech-Emory RADx team has been instrumental in providing crucial engineering and usability assessment as well as regulatory support for this initiative. 

• Wilbur Lam, professor and W. Paul Bowers Research Chair in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering and the Department of Pediatrics (Emory University)
• Oliver Brand, professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering and executive director of the Institute for Electronics and Nanotechnology
• Hang Chen, process support manager and research scientist at the Institute for Electronics and Nanotechnology
• Sarah Farmer, project manager and research scientist at the Center for Advanced Communications Policy and the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI)
• David Gottfried, Regents Researcher at the Institute for Electronics and Nanotechnology
• David Ku, Lawrence P. Huang Endowed Chair in Engineering Entrepreneurship in the Scheller College of Business and Regents' Professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering
• Amanda Peagler, research scientist at the Center for Advanced Communications Policy and GTRI
• Erika Tyburski, Program & Operations Manager at the Atlanta Center for Microsystems Engineered Point-of-Care Technologies

Outstanding Achievement in Advancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: Cassie Mitchell, assistant professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering

Outstanding Achievement in Early Career Research: Matthew T. McDowell, associate professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and the School of Materials Science and Engineering.

Outstanding Achievement in Research Enterprise Enhancement: Michelle Wong, assistant director of the Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience

Outstanding Achievement in Research Innovation: Natalie Stingelin, professor in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Advisor: Manos M. Tentzeris, Ken Byers Professor in Flexible Electronics in the School of Electrical & Computer Engineering

Outstanding Faculty Research Author: Zhiqun Lin, professor in the School of Materials Science and Engineering