{"691935":{"#nid":"691935","#data":{"type":"event","title":"Your Trash Is a National Asset. The Engineering Challenge Hiding in Every Waste Stream","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cbr\u003ESPEAKER: ARTHUR HUANG, CEO and Co-founder of MINIWIZ\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAbstract: This year, one of MINIWIZ\u0027s decentralized upcycling systems lands at Georgia Tech, live, running on waste generated right here. That\u0027s not a future vision or a distant case study, it\u0027s down the hall. For 21 years we\u0027ve been finding ways to turn trash into products, work that today spans 18 countries. It taught us something we didn\u0027t expect starting out: the hard part was never turning waste into a product. It was turning waste into a product people actually want. Simple, well made, good looking, priced right, at the scale of real architectural or medical grade products. Nail the engineering and skip the design, and you get a demo nobody buys. Nail the design and skip the engineering, and you get a prototype that never reaches the people who need it. Solve both and something changes at a level bigger than any one product: waste stops being a liability and becomes a domestic resource, hiding in plain sight. Come see what that actually looks like, not the pitch version, the one running on this campus.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBio: Arthur Huang is a structural engineer, architect, and circular economy innovator who serves as the CEO and Co-founder of MINIWIZ, a global leader in transforming post-consumer waste into retail interiors, architectural structures, and consumer goods. Educated at Harvard University (MArch II) and Cornell University (BArch), Huang has also shared his expertise through teaching positions in architecture at Cornell, NCTU, Tung Hai, and NCKU. For over a decade, he has focused on accelerating the shift to a closed-loop circular economy, earning his company prestigious accolades such as the World Economic Forum\u2019s (WEF) Technology Pioneer Award, the Financial Times\u0027 Earth Award, and the Wall Street Journal\u0027s Asian Innovation Award. A National Geographic Explorer since 2016, Huang was recognized as the runner-up for the 2019 WEF Circular Leadership Award, while MINIWIZ was concurrently named by the WEF as one of the top 11 companies leading the global transition to a circular economy.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ETrash Lab Grand Opening Tour\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EAfter the lecture, join IPaT and Miniwiz for a demonstration of our new makerspace and campus plastic recycling resource, the miniTrashpresso powered by Miniwiz, in the new Georgia Tech Trash Lab during 2:00 \u2013 4:00 p.m. in TSRB, room S27 (basement level). You can ask the TSRB front desk for directions to go to the basement. Directional signs will also be in place in the building. In addition, faculty interested in scheduling tours\/demos for classes may contact Tim Trent at tim.trent@gatech.edu for touring the lab from Aug. 31 - Sept. 1.\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cimg src=\u0022https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/2026-08\/mintrashpresso%20Large.jpeg\u0022 alt=\u0022miniTRashpresso machine\u0022\u003E \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch2\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E---\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EIPaT: GVU Lunch Lecture Series\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe IPaT: GVU Lunch Lecture Series is free and features guest speakers presenting on topics related to people-centered technologies and their impact on society. Lunch is provided at 12:00 p.m. (while supplies last) and the talks begin at 12:30 p.m. Join us weekly or watch video replays. Lectures are held in the \u003Cstrong\u003ETech Square Clubhouse\u003C\/strong\u003E behind the Centergy One building in Technology Square.\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/ipat\/lunch-lectures\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003Ehttps:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/ipat\/lunch-lectures\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWaste isn\u0027t a disposal problem, it\u0027s an unclaimed materials supply chain. Turning it into a national asset takes engineering smart enough to make trash something people actually want, and this year, it\u0027s running live on this campus.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Waste isn\u0027t a disposal problem, it\u0027s an unclaimed materials supply chain. Turning it into a national asset takes engineering smart enough to make trash something people actually want, and this year, it\u0027s running live on this campus."}],"uid":"36792","created_gmt":"2026-08-25 13:41:15","changed_gmt":"2026-08-27 15:55:37","author":"zluo317","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","field_event_time":{"event_time_start":"2026-09-01T12:00:00-04:00","event_time_end":"2026-09-01T13:30:00-04:00","event_time_end_last":"2026-09-01T13:30:00-04:00","gmt_time_start":"2026-09-01 16:00:00","gmt_time_end":"2026-09-01 17:30:00","gmt_time_end_last":"2026-09-01 17:30:00","rrule":null,"timezone":"America\/New_York"},"location":"Tech Square Clubhouse","extras":[],"groups":[{"id":"69599","name":"IPaT"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"188084","name":"go-ipat"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[{"id":"1795","name":"Seminar\/Lecture\/Colloquium"}],"invited_audience":[{"id":"78761","name":"Faculty\/Staff"},{"id":"177814","name":"Postdoc"},{"id":"78771","name":"Public"},{"id":"174045","name":"Graduate students"},{"id":"78751","name":"Undergraduate students"}],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}