{"686657":{"#nid":"686657","#data":{"type":"news","title":"IMS Launches Series on Interdisciplinary Innovation with AI Computing Panel ","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe Institute for Matter and Systems (IMS) hosted the inaugural Boundaries and Breakthroughs\u003Cem\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/em\u003Epanel on Nov. 11, setting the stage for a new era of interdisciplinary dialogue at Georgia Tech. The event, held in the Marcus Nanotechnology building, brought together experts in electrical engineering, computer architecture, and computer systems design to tackle one of today\u2019s pressing challenges: artificial intelligence (AI) scalability and sustainable high-performance computing.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAs one of Georgia Tech\u2019s 11 interdisciplinary research institutes, IMS is designed to break down silos between traditional academic units. By operating core user facilities and fostering collaborative research, IMS creates a unique ecosystem where device-level innovation meets systems-level design. This event personified that mission by connecting researchers who typically work on different ends of the stack.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe\u2019re looking for opportunities to bring people together to have discussions that are both informative and potentially create a little bit of friction in the best possible way around trending topics in science and engineering,\u201d said Mike Filler, IMS deputy director, during opening remarks.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe panel was moderated by \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/ece.gatech.edu\/directory\/divya-mahajan\u0022\u003EDivya Mahajan\u003C\/a\u003E, assistant professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and featured \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/moin.cc.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EMoinuddin Qureshi\u003C\/a\u003E, professor of computer science; \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.scs.gatech.edu\/people\/anand-padmanabha-iyer\u0022\u003EAnand Iyer\u003C\/a\u003E, assistant professor of computer science; and \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/matter-systems.gatech.edu\/people\/asif-khan\u0022\u003EAsif Khan\u003C\/a\u003E, associate professor in electrical and computer engineering.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe discussion explored the dynamics between compute abundance and energy constraints. As AI models scale up, power consumption has become a societal issue, driving up energy demands and even influencing political conversations. The panelists agreed that the bottleneck isn\u2019t compute \u2014 a computer\u2019s ability to process and execute tasks \u2014 but data movement. Moving data uses 100 to 1,000 times more energy than computation, making memory systems the critical frontier.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe conversation highlighted how breakthroughs in compute must occur at every layer \u2014 from individual devices to full computer systems. At the device level, Khan mentioned emerging memory technologies and \u201cbeyond CMOS\u201d approaches such as embedding compute within memory and exploring bio-inspired architectures.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFrom a computer architecture level, Qureshi advocated rethinking interfaces and creating designs optimized for the future of computing. AI needs regular patterns to work optimally, and current patterns are not set up for that.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIf you want efficiency, design systems that make sense for AI,\u201d Qureshi said. \u201cDevelop new interfaces, develop new modules, architectures, and organization that make for a specific pattern.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAt the systems level, Iyer stressed practical strategies like near-memory compute and energy-aware scheduling while acknowledging the need for co-design between hardware and software.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cNow in terms of brains or bio-inspired computing, my conjecture is that there is currently no hardware that is capable of doing it,\u201d Khan said. He also noted that right now, there is no computer or algorithm that has the scale of computing comparable to human brain power.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe panelists didn\u2019t shy away from provocative ideas \u2014 such as whether graphic processing units are the final solution for AI and whether matrix multiplication alone can lead to artificial general intelligence. While opinions varied, all agreed that organizations like IMS are key to bringing together diverse expertise to tackle these questions collaboratively.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe Boundaries and Breakthroughs series continues in \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/matter-systems.gatech.edu\/events\/boundaries-breakthroughs-panel-series-bioelectronics-med-tech\u0022\u003EJanuary with a panel on bioelectronics and medical technologies\u003C\/a\u003E, reinforcing IMS\u2019s commitment to fostering dialogue that spans the full spectrum of innovation.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe Boundaries and Breakthroughs panel explored how interdisciplinary collaboration can drive solutions for the future of artificial intelligence.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"The Boundaries and Breakthroughs panel explored how interdisciplinary collaboration can drive solutions for the future of artificial intelligence. "}],"uid":"35272","created_gmt":"2025-12-01 17:02:37","changed_gmt":"2025-12-01 17:03:39","author":"aneumeister3","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2025-12-01T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2025-12-01T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"678737":{"id":"678737","type":"image","title":"BB_web_story.png","body":null,"created":"1764608566","gmt_created":"2025-12-01 17:02:46","changed":"1764608566","gmt_changed":"2025-12-01 17:02:46","alt":"Panelists speaking at the Boundaries and Breakthroughs panel series","file":{"fid":"262809","name":"BB_web_story.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/12\/01\/BB_web_story.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/12\/01\/BB_web_story.png","mime":"image\/png","size":4029223,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/12\/01\/BB_web_story.png?itok=zYZRftI4"}}},"media_ids":["678737"],"groups":[{"id":"660369","name":"Matter and Systems"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[{"id":"194606","name":"Artificial Intelligence"},{"id":"153","name":"Computer Science\/Information Technology and Security"},{"id":"149","name":"Nanotechnology and Nanoscience"}],"keywords":[{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"193655","name":"Artificial Intelligence at Georgia Tech"},{"id":"193652","name":"Matter and Systems"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:amelia.neumeister@research.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EAmelia Neumeister\u003C\/a\u003E | Research Communications Program Manager\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe Institute for Matter and Systems\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["amelia.neumeister@research.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}