{"688452":{"#nid":"688452","#data":{"type":"news","title":"The Challenges and Opportunities of Cold Weather and Technology","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWhile Italy\u2019s 2026 Winter Olympics draw the world\u2019s attention to snow and ice, Georgia Tech researchers are also confronting cold at its most extreme.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESome labs in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/ece.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Electrical and Computer Engineering\u003C\/a\u003E (ECE) use liquid nitrogen and liquid helium to chill cryogenic test systems to as low as 4 Kelvins (K), or -452.47 degrees Fahrenheit (F), temperatures that rival the coldest regions of deep space.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAt this point, materials and electronic devices stop behaving in familiar ways, which is exactly why ECE researchers use these extreme conditions to explore and\u0026nbsp;develop new semiconductor technologies.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cElectronics are very temperature dependent,\u201d Professor \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/ece.gatech.edu\/directory\/john-d-cressler\u0022\u003EJohn Cressler\u003C\/a\u003E said, whose lab houses some of these cryogenic test systems. \u201cWhether you see it or not, every electronic you buy has a tested temperature spec associated with it.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ECurrent commercially sold devices, including most cell phones, are made to run between 32 F and 85 F. Researchers in ECE test across a far wider range, as they develop technology with extraterrestrial and quantum computing applications in mind.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOther ECE teams work in natural extremes, carrying instruments into polar regions where cold creates challenges that no lab can fully replicate.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EJust as cold pushes athletes in different ways, it guides ECE research down its own distinct paths.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/ece.gatech.edu\/news\/2026\/02\/challenges-and-opportunities-technology-cold\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ERead the full story on the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering\u0027s website.\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EIn labs chilled to 4 kelvins (-450 degrees!) and on expeditions to polar regions, Georgia Tech scientists are discovering how extreme cold simultaneously challenges and advances technology in computing, space exploration, and the interpretation of Earth\u2019s natural signals.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"In labs chilled to 4 kelvins (-450 degrees!) and on expeditions to polar regions, Georgia Tech scientists are discovering how extreme cold simultaneously challenges and advances technology in computing, space exploration, and more."}],"uid":"36558","created_gmt":"2026-02-20 18:51:26","changed_gmt":"2026-02-20 19:43:10","author":"zwiniecki3","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2026-02-20T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2026-02-20T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"679385":{"id":"679385","type":"image","title":"cold-techs--1-.gif","body":null,"created":"1771613526","gmt_created":"2026-02-20 18:52:06","changed":"1771613526","gmt_changed":"2026-02-20 18:52:06","alt":"Tech in the Cold","file":{"fid":"263540","name":"cold-techs--1-.gif","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/02\/20\/cold-techs--1-.gif","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/02\/20\/cold-techs--1-.gif","mime":"image\/gif","size":23995589,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2026\/02\/20\/cold-techs--1-.gif?itok=4pbIyOsL"}}},"media_ids":["679385"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/ece.gatech.edu\/news\/2026\/02\/challenges-and-opportunities-technology-cold","title":"Read the Full Story"}],"groups":[{"id":"660369","name":"Matter and Systems"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"},{"id":"660370","name":"Space"}],"categories":[{"id":"145","name":"Engineering"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"167686","name":"Semiconductors"},{"id":"1228","name":"memory"},{"id":"179829","name":"cold"},{"id":"623","name":"Technology"},{"id":"170841","name":"silicon-germanium"},{"id":"167146","name":"space"},{"id":"2868","name":"atmosphere"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39451","name":"Electronics and Nanotechnology"},{"id":"193652","name":"Matter and Systems"},{"id":"193657","name":"Space Research Initiative"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EZachary Winiecki\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["zwiniecki3@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}