ISSUE 1 2015
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Unseen Machines BY RICK ROBINSON
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Global Explorers BY BRETT ISRAEL
ENERGY STORAGE
The Future’s So Bright
Innovations will make renewables like solar power less expensive and more reliable Page 30
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Engineering Entrepreneurs BY LAURA DIAMOND
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Materials Acid Test BY RICK ROBINSON
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EXHIBITA
SAPELO ISLAND In the summer of 2014, Georgia Tech scientists traveled to Sapelo Island, a barrier island along the Georgia coast. Sapelo, famous for its swampy beauty, is accessible only by boat or airplane and remains largely wild. Ecologists from faraway countries have been studying the Sapelo salt marsh since the 1950s. Jennifer Glass, an assistant professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, visited Sapelo in July with her team of students to study the microorganisms in Sapelo’s marshes and water. Photo by Brett Israel. R E S E A R C H H O R I ZO N S 1
EXHIBITA
DIGGING IN THE MARSH Walking in the Sapelo marsh is hard work. The mud sucked the team’s rubber boots into the ground. Their slog churned the soil and released sulfur odors into the air. Once in the marsh, Jennifer Glass and her students hammered a threefoot-long PVC pipe into the ground to collect a soil sample. To remove the sample, the team had to get dirty. The students plunged their hands into the soil, elbow deep, and dug the pipe free from the mud’s grip. Chloe Stanton (left) and Melissa Warren hold a fresh core sample, while Amanda Cavazos (back, right) looks on. Photo by Brett Israel. 2 w w w. r h . g a t e c h . e d u
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DIRTY WORK At the end of a long day in the field, Jennifer Glass’ students were covered in mud and bug bites but excited at having new samples to analyze. The team took the core samples back to their lab in Atlanta, where they hope to answer questions about the Earth’s ability to cope with greenhouse gas emissions. From left to right are Chloe Stanton, Amanda Cavazos, Melissa Warren, and Jennifer Glass. For more on their trek to Sapelo, see the Explorers story on page 4. To watch the team at work, visit b . gatech.edu/1wLp9h5. Photo by Brett Israel. 4 w w w. r h . g a t e c h . e d u
EXHIBITA
R E S E A R C H H O R I ZO N S  5
ISSUE 1 2015
CONTENTS
D E PA R T M E N T S 1
Exhibit A Sapelo Island provides a unique environmental research lab.
7
Cross Talk Research at Georgia Tech extends from micro to global.
56 Glossary Explanations for terminology used in this issue.
FRONT OFFICE 9 Profile Julia Lundrigan describes research on turbine combustion.
22 Unseen Machines 30 Power Up 38 Explorers 46 Work Shop 52 Acid Test
Micro-electromechanical systems offer new ways to detect sound, motion, position, force, pressure, chemicals, and bacteria. Improving energy storage and conversion is key to expanding the use of renewable energy sources. Georgia Tech scientists and engineers are traveling the globe to take on some of the world’s toughest challenges. Undergraduates are launching startup companies before they even graduate, with some help from support programs. A research team is studying how to improve materials that must survive acid gases in pollution-control equipment.
STAFF Editor John Toon Art Director Erica Endicott Writers T.J. Becker, Laura Diamond, Brett Israel, Jason Maderer, Rick Robinson, John Toon Photographers Rob Felt, Gary Meek Photo Director Rhys Black Copy Editor Brigitte Espinet COVER The cover photo shows a solar simulator that helps researchers study systems that capture thermal energy from the sun. Photo by Rob Felt. Back cover: A Carib bean reef squid photographed during Danielle Dixon’s research off the coast of Belize. Photo by Abby Wood. ADDRESS CORRECTIONS Please send address corrections to John Toon (jtoon@ gatech.edu) or 404-894-6986. POSTMASTER Please send address changes to: Research News & Publications Georgia Institute of Technology 177 North Avenue NW Atlanta, Georgia 30332-0181 USA REPRINTS Articles from this magazine may be reprinted with credit to Georgia Tech Research Horizons.
13 Expertise Professor Richard Neu investigates fracture and fatigue.
Research Horizons magazine is published to communicate the results of research conducted at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Web www.rh.gatech.edu Twitter @gtresearchnews
14 File A look back at the impact of millimeter wave research. 20 Visualization Understanding innovation trends by studying patents.
Assistant Professor Asegun Henry and his research team are developing an improved approach for capturing solar thermal energy using liquid metal to store heat.
Copyright 2015 by the Georgia Tech Research Corporation. All rights reserved. ISSN #1060-669
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IMAGE COURTESY OF GLEB YUSHIN
CROSS TALK
Georgia Tech researchers are developing improved materials for the electrodes of multifunctional batteries. The work, described in an article on page 7, could address energy density challenges for these batteries.
MICRO TO GLOBAL
GEORGIA TECH RESEARCHERS DEVELOP MICRO MACHINES, STORE RENEWABLE ENERGY, AND TACKLE WORLD PROBLEMS
Steve Cross is Georgia Tech’s executive vice president for research.
Georgia Tech is the center for a talent-rich innovation ecosystem that facilitates transformative opportunities, strengthens collaborative partnerships, and maximizes the economic and societal impact of the Institute’s research. These goals are reflected in this issue of Research Horizons magazine, which is packed with stories showing the impact our faculty and students are having on our state, nation, and the world. In these pages, you’ll get an in-depth look at how we’re finding new ways to capture, store, and convert renewable energy. You can also take a peek at some tiny devices that may help the deaf hear, detect human illness, make bridges safer, and keep crops disease-free. In the meantime, our students continue to play a key role in ensuring that Georgia Tech’s reputation for research excellence remains strong. We’re creating a special culture of innovation
that supports student creativity and entrepreneurship. Be sure to check out the article about our unique programs that help students bring their ideas to life and start companies of their own before they even graduate. Finally, you will experience some of the exciting research Georgia Tech is doing around the world — from Antarctica to India and beyond. Our research is powered by ideas, led by faculty, and supported by a diverse group of professionals and students. This research is critical to advancing scientific knowledge. As always, I welcome your feedback. Enjoy the magazine! Steve Cross Executive Vice President for Research April 2015 R E S E A R C H H O R I ZO N S 7
HOTLANTA MADE COOLER
Heat is the deadliest natural disaster facing the United States, killing more people than hurricanes, tornadoes, and earthquakes combined. The bulk of these deaths occur in cities, which are heating up about twice as fast as the rest of the planet. The number of heat-related deaths is projected to more than double by 2050. But a new Georgia Tech study shows this projected increase can be averted if city leaders and urban planners adopt a few basic strategies. The study focused on Atlanta, Philadelphia, and Phoenix, and found on average that potential heat-related deaths would be reduced by nearly 60 percent if cities plant more trees and increase green space; decrease impervious surface areas such as parking lots; and increase the reflectivity of roads and rooftops. If these methods were implemented in Atlanta, the city would see no increase in heat-related deaths over time. “This shows that large cities in different regions of the country can significantly reduce deaths and improve overall quality of life if they embrace these strategies,” said Brian Stone, a professor in Georgia Tech’s School of City and Regional Planning. “Many cities already use some of these sustainability efforts, but they must be implemented on a greater scale if we are to have a true impact.” The study supports other research about the urban heat island effect, which turns cities into cauldrons through the combined impact of climate change and rising temperatures driven by a predominance of concrete and a shortage of vegetation. Researchers computed multiple projections regarding population growth, housing and construction changes, global and urban temperature increases, and heat-related illnesses and deaths. They also tested the impact of different heat management strategies to offset the projected deaths. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention funded the four-year study. The findings are published in the journal PLOS ONE. 8 w w w. r h . g a t e c h . e d u
Factoid Atlanta’s tree coverage is 48 percent, the highest of all major American cities, and above the national average of 27 percent.
Anyone who has blown a bubble and seen how quickly it pops has firsthand experience with the major challenge in creating stable foams. At its most basic level, foam is a bunch of bubbles squished together. Liquid foams, a state of matter that arises from tiny gas bubbles dispersed in a liquid, are familiar in everyday life, from beer to bathwater. They also are important in commercial products and processes, including pharmaceutical formulation, oil production, food processing, cleaning products, cosmetics, and hair and skincare products. Lightweight dry foams for the construction of buildings, automobiles, and airplanes are key to energy efficiency. But making lightweight foam has one big challenge: keeping the foam stable. Georgia Tech researchers have developed a new type of foam — called capillary foam — that solves that problem. The research shows for the first time that the combined presence of particles and a small amount of oil in water-based foams can lead to exceptional foam stability. “It’s very difficult to stabilize foams, and we want foams that are stable for months or years,” said Sven Behrens, a professor in the School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering. The study was sponsored by the National Science Foundation and reported in the journal Angewandte Chemie.
H E AT: R O B F E LT; F O A M : G A R Y M E E K
BETTER BUBBLES
PROFILE
FLAME MAKER
JULIA LUNDRIGAN LIGHTS A FIRE UNDER COMBUSTION RESEARCH Julia Lundrigan is a third-year graduate student in Georgia Tech’s School of Aerospace Engineering (AE). She studies how flames behave in aircraft and power generation engines at Georgia Tech’s Ben T. Zinn Combustion Lab, where engineers use the latest tools for the study of combustion and fluid mechanics. As an undergraduate, she helped launch a career fair for AE students. Today, she still plays a role in attracting companies to campus.
R O B F E LT
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WHERE ARE YOU FROM? I’m originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, but I came to Georgia Tech for my undergraduate degree. I graduated from AE with my bachelor’s degree in 2012. WHAT DREW YOU TO AEROSPACE ENGINEERING? Complex mechanical systems have always been interesting to me, so going to work on big aircraft engines seemed really cool. I switched my major to mechanical engineering so that I could apply to co-ops, then I started co-oping at Rolls Royce in my sophomore year. HOW WAS YOUR EXPERIENCE WITH THE CO-OP PROGRAM? In my first semester in the Rolls Royce lab, I was doing aerodynamic rig testing on components for aircraft engines. By the
second semester, I was working on the F-136 engine assembly instrumentation and test team. I got to see one of the engines on the test stand, which was pretty amazing.
WHAT DO YOU STUDY NOW? We study how flames behave. If you’re flying at high altitude where it’s really cold, then one of the worst things that can happen is you lose the flame in your combustor; it’s difficult to relight at high altitude. Also, when the flame goes out or is unstable, it can damage a lot of hardware, which is a really expensive problem. We want to make sure that the flame is on its best behavior. On a fun level, we make fire and take pictures of it. We have really powerful lasers that we get to play with and use for diagnostics. HOW DID YOU LAUNCH THE AE CAREER FAIR? Up until my junior year, every major except AE had a career fair. I was an officer in Sigma Gamma Tau, the AE honor society, and we reached out to companies to come to campus. We had nine companies and a couple hundred students participate in our first year. The career fair has grown every year since then. Many companies, such as Delta, United Technologies, GE, Honeywell, and BorgWarner, come every year. I’m still involved, and this past year was our biggest, with 12 companies and over 300 students. R E S E A R C H H O R I ZO N S 9
FRONTOFFICE
PROTECT THE NET BlackForest system offers a recipe for predicting attacks
Factoid In its latest Emerging Cyber Threats Report, Georgia Tech warns about loss of privacy, abuse of trust between users and machines, attacks against the mobile ecosystem, rogue insiders, and the increasing involvement of cyberspace in nation-state conflicts. The report is published annually by the Georgia Tech Information Security Center and the Georgia Tech Research Institute.
Coordinating distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, displaying new malware code, offering advice about network break-ins, and posting stolen information — these are just a few of the online activities of cyber criminals. Watching activities like these can provide security specialists with advance warning of pending attacks and information about what hackers are planning. Gathering and understanding this cyber intelligence is the work of BlackForest, an intelligence gathering system developed at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI). By using such information to create a threat picture, BlackForest complements other GTRI systems designed to help corporations, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations battle increasingly sophisticated threats to their networks. “BlackForest is on the cutting edge of anticipating attacks,” said Christopher Smoak, a GTRI research scientist. “We gather and connect information collected from a variety of sources to draw conclusions on how people are interacting. This can drive development of a threat picture that may provide pre-attack information to organizations that may not even know they are being targeted.” The system collects information from the public Internet, including hacker forums and other sites where malware authors and others gather. Connecting the information and relating it to past activities can let organizations know they are being targeted and help them understand the nature of the threat, allowing them to prepare for specific types of attacks. Detecting the organization of DDoS attacks is a good example of how the system can be helpful, Smoak noted. DDoS attacks typically involve thousands of people who use the same computer tool to flood websites with so much traffic that customers can’t get through. The attacks hurt business, harm the organization’s reputation, bring down servers — and can serve as a diversion for other nefarious activity. But they have to be coordinated using social media and other means to enlist supporters. BlackForest can tap into that information to provide a warning that may allow an organization to, for example, ramp up its ability to handle large volumes of traffic. “We want to provide something that is predictive for organizations,” said Ryan Spanier, a GTRI research engineer. “They will know that if they see certain things happening, they may need to take action to protect their networks.”
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Crowd science is making possible research projects that might otherwise be out of reach, tapping thousands of volunteers to help with tasks such as classifying animal photos, studying astronomical images, and counting sea stars in photos. Also known as citizen science, these efforts to involve ordinary people in research have attracted interest from policymakers, scientific agencies, and others. A study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Acad emy of Sciences takes a comprehensive look at this trend, finding common threads in projects hosted on Zooniverse, now the most popular crowd science platform. “We are seeing projects that couldn’t be done before, and we are seeing them done on a massive scale and at a fast speed,” said Henry Sauermann, an associate professor in the Scheller College of Business at Georgia Tech. “However, these are not conventional laboratory research projects going online. It’s not a substitution of crowd science for conventional research projects.” Though a few crowd science projects require technical knowledge from contributors, most expect little more than the ability to follow simple instructions — reporting what animals are doing in photos, for example. “The key is to translate the complicated science into something that’s easily done by people who don’t need to understand the scientific details,” explained Sauermann. Though crowd science is attracting considerable interest, it’s actually not a new idea. Ornithologists have used amateur birdwatchers to count populations of different species and report their locations. What’s new is access by the general public to masses of scientific images and data made possible by the broad reach of the Internet and personal computers. With support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Sauermann and co-author Chiara Franzoni from the Politecnico di Milano in Italy studied seven of the projects hosted on Zooniverse. During 180 days, volunteers contributed 129,500 hours of labor worth $1.5 million.
HONG LI/GETTY IMAGES
So Happy Together
FRONTOFFICE
IT’S A TRAP
EL NINO: NASA SCIENTIFIC VISUALIZATION STUDIO; QSD: GARY MEEK
GETTING WARMER The El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is Earth’s main source of year-to-year climate variability, but its response to global warming remains highly uncertain. Scientists see a large amount of variability in the ENSO from climate records going back thousands of years. Without a clear understanding of what caused this variability, predicting the climate phenomenon’s future is difficult. Now, a new study shows how this climate system responds to various pressures such as changes in carbon dioxide and ice cover, in one of the best models used to project future climate change. “All of the natural climate fluctuations are in this model, and what we see is that the El Niño responds to every single one of these, significantly,” Kim Cobb is a said Kim Cobb, a professor in Georgia professor in the Tech’s School of Earth and AtmoSchool of Earth spheric Sciences. and Atmospheric In the study, researchers analyzed Sciences. a series of transient coupled general circulation model simulations forced by changes in greenhouse gases, orbital forcing, meltwater discharge, and the ice-sheet history throughout the past 21,000 years. This is the farthest into the past that this model has been run continuously. The modeling required supercomputers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the National Center for Atmospheric Research to be dedicated to the simulation for months. “The model gives some very clear predictions that are very much in line with some of the best understandings of the physics controlling the El Niño system,” Cobb said. “It shows that this climate system in the model is sensitive to a variety of different natural climate changes that occurred over the past 21,000 years.” Published in the journal Nature, the study was sponsored by the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy.
Factoid GTRI research in quantum systems focuses on quantum information science, building and operating quantum information systems, and designing quantum devices.
GTRI researchers are designing, fabricating, and testing new components and devices to support quantum computing.
Researchers worldwide are working on quantum computers, a new type of computational device that could tackle specialized problems such as integer factorization or big data analysis much faster than conventional digital computers. Quantum computers will use one of a number of possible approaches to create quantum bits — units known as qubits — to compute and store data, giving them unique advantages over computers based on traditional transistors. Despite the great potential, however, quantum computing faces many challenges, including controlling the qubits and isolating them from noisy environments. Researchers at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) are helping address those challenges by designing, fabricating, and testing new components and devices aimed at supporting international quantum computing efforts. GTRI’s Quantum Systems Division (QSD) uses individual trapped atomic ions as qubits in its research. In collaboration with university and industry partners, QSD scientists recently demonstrated two new ion traps, including one that uses a system of integrated mirrors to read data from multiple ions. The researchers also advanced concepts for integrating the electronic systems needed to control the ion traps inside the vacuum containers within which the traps operate. The research was sponsored by the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) through the Army Research Office (ARO) and the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR). “We have a wide interest in developing the technologies needed by the field and using those technologies to perform the science needed to make advancements in quantum computing,” said Alexa Harter, chief scientist and associate director of GTRI’s Advanced Concepts Laboratory. “These are all projects that move us farther along the path of integration and technology development.” QSD has designed more than a dozen micro-fabricated ion traps, each with special properties, many of them intended to work with other devices also designed by the group. The planar ion traps are based on silicon VLSI [very-large-scale integration] technology and are both fabricated and tested at GTRI. The ion traps and other quantum components are shared with collaborators in the community.
Improving Missile Tests Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) researchers are working with a company in Huntsville, Ala., and the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) to test high-altitude missiles without ever firing a shot. AEgis Technologies, specialists in modeling and simulation, contracted with GTRI to collaborate with MDA on testing high-altitude air defense missiles. The work is the second phase of a multi-year project utilizing hardware-in-the-loop testing to enable more accurate modeling and simulation for AEgis customers. Hardware-in-the-loop simulators use portions of the real missile hardware, such as the seeker, with any missing pieces made up by simulated components. R E S E A R C H H O R I ZO N S 1 1
FRONTOFFICE
Factoid Anemia is a condition in which the blood lacks enough healthy red blood cells or hemoglobin. Hemoglobin in blood binds oxygen, allowing it to be circulated throughout the body.
THE COLOR OF ANEMIA A student-developed prototype device is a one-minute, at-home test A simple anemia testing device could provide rapid diagnosis of the common blood disorder and allow inexpensive home monitoring. The disposable self-testing device analyzes a single droplet of blood using a chemical reagent that produces visible color changes corresponding to different levels of anemia. The test produces results in about 60 seconds and requires no electrical power. A companion smartphone application can correlate the visual results to specific blood hemoglobin levels. By allowing rapid diagnosis and more convenient monitoring, the device could help patients receive treatment before the disease becomes severe, potentially heading off hospitalizations. 1 2 w w w. r h . g a t e c h . e d u
Anemia, which affects 2 billion people worldwide, is now diagnosed and monitored using blood tests done with costly test equipment available in hospitals or commercial laboratories. “Patients could use this device in a way that’s very similar to how diabetics use glucose-monitoring devices, but this will be even simpler because this is a visual-based test that doesn’t require an additional electrical device to analyze the results,” said Dr. Wilbur Lam, a physician in the Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and the Department of Pediatrics at the Emory University School of Medicine. The device was developed through a collaboration of Emory University, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, and Georgia Tech. It grew out of a 2011 undergraduate senior design project, and in 2013 was among the winners of Georgia Tech’s InVenture Prize, an innovation competition. It also won first place in the Ideas to SERVE Competition in Georgia Tech’s Scheller College of Business. To use it, a patient sticks a finger with a lance similar to that used by diabetics to produce a droplet of blood. The device’s cap is then touched to the droplet, drawing in a precise amount of blood using capillary action. The cap containing the blood sample is then placed onto the body of the clear plastic test kit, which contains the chemical reagent. After the cap is closed, the device is briefly shaken to mix the blood and reagent, producing the color. “When the capillary is filled, we have a very precise volume of blood, about five microliters, which is much less than what is required by other anemia tests,” explained Erika Tyburski, leader of the student team that developed the device. The prototype device was described in The Journal of Clinical Investigation. Development has been supported by the Atlantic Pediatric Device Consortium, the Georgia Research Alliance, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, the Georgia Center of Innovation for Manufacturing, and the Global Center for Medical Innovation.
GARY MEEK
Erika Tyburski (left), led the student team that developed the idea for a simple, one-minute anemia test. The prototype (above) consists of just two parts in which a reagent is mixed with a small sample of blood.
EXPERTISE
FLIGHT SAFETY
RICHARD NEU PROBES GAS TURBINE RELIABILITY
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This image shows a thermo-mechanical fatigue crack in a nickel base superalloy. Oxidation of the crack is evident.
TURBINE: SAULIAKAS/GETTY; MATERIALS: RICHARD NEU
2
Richard W. Neu investigates fatigue and fracture in gas turbine engines used in a variety of applications, including powering aircraft. With funding from multinational corporations and the U.S. Department of Energy, he researches degradation issues in metallic alloy systems, focusing particularly on how highly stressed metal parts change over time at the micron scale. 1 The goal of the research is to support the development of gas turbine engine designs with increased integrity, efficiency, and longevity. Neu, a professor in Georgia Tech’s George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and the School of Materials Science and Engineering, studies both jet turbine engines and gas turbines used for land-based power generation. These engines must use special alloy parts and active cooling strategies to survive temperatures that can exceed 1,400 degrees Celsius — hotter than the melting point of most metals. In such demanding environments, high temperatures and mechanical stress take a toll. In one investigation, Neu and his team compared the microstructure of an engine turbine blade in service for three years to an unused blade. 2 Structurally, the two blades turned out to be “vastly different,” reported Neu, who directs the Mechanical Properties Research Laboratory at Georgia Tech. And there’s an added durability challenge – both fatigue cracking behavior and the degradation of the microstructure depend on exactly how and when engine parts encountered temperature and stress during usage periods. Neu simulates these complex thermo-mechanical cycles in the laboratory to characterize material degradation under real-world operating conditions. 3 Neu typically tests nickel base superalloys, which are widely used in gas turbine engines, but he’s also studying promising newer materials. These include molybdenum-silicon-boron refractory alloys, which resist ultra-high temperatures and could replace superalloys in components that must withstand the most aggressive environments; and gamma titanium aluminides, novel temperature-resistant metals that are lightweight enough to be potentially revolutionary for aerospace applications.
An airfoil removed from an industrial gas turbine after 32,000 hours of service shows the harsh conditions the blades must withstand.
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In this thermo-mechanical fatigue experiment, the temperature of a nickel-base superalloy specimen was cycled between thermal extremes.
R E S E A R C H H O R I ZO N S 1 3
NEW WAVE
FILE
In this 1981 photo, Ron Bohlander — today a GTRI F ellow and principal research scientist — makes adjustments to what was at the time the world’s highest frequency millimeter wave radar.
The term millimeter wave refers to radar that operates at extremely high frequencies and is used for short-range applications. Millimeter waves can help guide or detect missiles, aid airplanes landing in bad weather, help vehicles avoid collisions, and support security screening. Millimeter waves are lower in frequency than the electromagnetic waves that produce light and heat, but higher than the waves used by radio broadcasts and cellular phones. Also known as mmW or MMW, they occur in the extremely high frequency (EHF) area of the electromagnetic spectrum, from 30 to 300 gigahertz (GHz). The Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) has been a leader in millimeter wave technology for decades. During and
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after World War II, the Engineering Experiment Station (EES) — as Georgia Tech’s applied research arm was then known — made a name for itself in radar research. By the 1970s, EES investigators were deeply involved in the basic science behind the behavior and performance of the quirky but valuable mmW spectrum. “During those early days of millimeter wave research, Georgia Tech led in developing applications for millimeter wave technology — certainly in the areas of radar, radiometry, and sensing in general,” recalled Edward K. Reedy, retired director of GTRI. “We contributed heavily to the phenomenology of millimeter waves: We had at least 50 people working in electro-optics and materials characterization, as well as radar.” One reason for the intense interest in millimeter waves was their size. Millimeter waves are shorter than other radar waves, so unlike the conventional radars that use those large rotating antennas seen in movies, mmW systems require only small antennas. These diminutive antennas can be etched into semiconductors that fit into a car bumper or the tip of a missile. From the start, moreover, GTRI researchers were intrigued by how millimeter wave behavior varies throughout the EHF band. On the negative side, those short wavelengths limit how far mmW signals can travel — a kilometer or less is the rule. However, the fact that the waves tend to weaken turned out to offer certain advantages. For instance, mmWs can be used in security applications involving body scanning because they scarcely penetrate the skin. GTRI researchers also found that though millimeter waves moving at one frequency might travel poorly through fog or rain, at a neighboring frequency, they might propagate much more effectively under the same conditions. “We were able to identify a number of windows, such as around 95 GHz and 225 GHz, where millimeter wave radars worked much better than at other regions,” Reedy said. “We also helped pioneer millimeter wave technology for collision avoidance in automobiles.” GTRI’s recent mmW work has focused on applications such as automated landing for aircraft and helicopter guidance under dusty conditions.
GEORGIA TECH RESEARCH INSTITUTE
GEORGIA TECH PIONEERED HIGH-FREQUENCY RADARS
FRONTOFFICE
Underwater Mapping
Researchers have identified a gene that allows cancer cells to break free from the primary tumor, allowing metastasis.
C E L L : C O U R T E SY M I C H E L L E DA W S O N ; U N D E R W AT E R : R O B F E LT
I GET AROUND
More than 90 percent of cancer-related deaths are caused by the spread of malignant cells from their primary tumor site to other areas of the body. A new study has identified how one important gene helps cancer cells break free from the primary tumor. A gene normally involved in the regulation of embryonic development can trigger the transition of cells into more mobile types that can spread without regard for the normal biological controls that restrict metastasis, the new study shows. Analysis of downstream signaling pathways of this gene, called SNAIL, could be used to identify potential targets for scientists who are looking for ways to block or slow metastasis. “This gene relates directly to the mechanism that metastatic cancer cells use to move from one location to another,” said Michelle Dawson, an assistant professor in the Georgia Tech School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering. “If you have a cell that overexpresses SNAIL, then it can potentially be metastatic without having any environmental cues that normally trigger this response.” In the study, the researchers showed how overexpression of the gene SNAIL in vitro allows breast cancer cells to operate independently of
the mechanics of the environment inside the body. Growing evidence suggests that cancer cells metastasize by hijacking the process by which cells change their type from epithelial (cells that lack mobility) to mesenchymal (cells that can easily move). In the new study, the researchers examined the biophysical properties of breast cancer cells that had undergone this transition through overexpression of SNAIL. The research team measured the mechanical properties within the nucleus and cytosol of breast cancer cells and then measured the surface traction forces and the motility of the cells on different substrates. They found that cells became much softer, which could help them spread throughout the body. Dawson’s lab collaborated with the lab of John McDonald, a professor in the School of Biology at Georgia Tech. The researchers found that regardless of the substrate on which the cells were grown, cells that overexpress SNAIL look and act like aggressive cancer cells. The study was sponsored by the National Science Foundation and published in The Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology.
A VIRTUAL WORLD FOR MATERIALS Accurately measuring how radio signals propagate in electromagnetic materials is difficult, especially at lower radio frequencies where long wavelengths are difficult to study as they propagate through the small samples typical of experimental materials. In work sponsored by the Air Force Research Laboratory, Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) researchers have developed a computer-based simulation technique that permits the characterization of complex natural and engineered materials. The new software tools allow investigators to modify traditional approaches and to explicitly simulate the experimental apparatus, including the specimen under test, using a computer-based simulation and parameter extraction tool suite.
Bathymetric lidars — devices that employ powerful lasers to scan beneath the water’s surface — are used today primarily to map coastal waters. At nearly 600 pounds, the systems are large and heavy, requiring piloted aircraft to carry them. A team at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) has designed a new approach that could lead to smaller and more efficient bathymetric lidars. The new technology, developed under the Active Electro-Optical Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (AEO-ISR) project, would let modest-sized unmanned aerial vehicles carry bathymetric lidars. And, unlike current systems, AEO-ISR technology is designed to gather and transmit data in real time, allowing it to produce high-resolution 3-D undersea imagery with greater speed and accuracy. These advanced capabilities could support a range of military uses such as anti-mine and anti-submarine intelligence and nautical charting, as well as civilian mapping tasks. In addition, the new lidar could probe forested areas to detect objects under thick canopies.
“Lidar has completely revolutionized the way that ISR is done in the military, and also the way that precision mapping is done in the commercial world,” said Grady Tuell, a GTRI principal research scientist who is leading the work. Tuell and his team have developed a new lightweight lidar, a prototype that has successfully demonstrated AEO-ISR techniques in the laboratory. The team has also completed a design for a deployable midsized bathymetric device that is less than half the size and weight of current systems and needs half the electric power. To simulate the movement of an actual aircraft, the prototype must be “flown” over a laboratory pool. To do this, the researchers install the lidar onto a gantry above a large water tank in Georgia Tech’s Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and then operate it in a manner that simulates flight. R E S E A R C H H O R I ZO N S 1 5
FRONTOFFICE
Researchers have developed an imaging technique for measuring and analyzing the root systems of mature plants. Information provided by the system could help plant scientists improve important food crops.
Plant scientists are working to improve important food crops such as rice, maize, and beans to meet the food needs of a growing world population. Root systems are essential to this work, but understanding what’s happening in these unseen parts of the plants has, until now, depended mostly on lab studies and subjective field measurements. To address that need, researchers from Georgia Tech and Penn State University have developed an imaging technique for measuring and analyzing the root systems of mature plants. The technique uses advanced computer technology to analyze photographs of root systems in the field. Root systems are complicated and vary among plants of the same species. Analyzing critical root properties in field-grown plants has traditionally depended on manual measurements, which vary with observer. 1 6 w w w. r h . g a t e c h . e d u
This new technique uses digital photography to provide a detailed image of roots from mature plants in the field. Individual plants to be studied are dug up and their root systems washed clean of soil. The roots are then photographed and the resulting images uploaded to a server that analyzes the root systems for more than 30 different parameters. The imaging and software are designed to give scientists statistical information to evaluate crop improvement efforts. “We can measure entire root systems for thousands of plants to give geneticists the information they need to search for genes with the best characteristics,” said Alexander Bucksch, a postdoctoral fellow in the Georgia Tech School of Biology and School of Interactive Computing. The research is supported by the National Science Foundation, the Howard Buffett Foundation, and the Burroughs Wellcome Fund. It was reported in the journal Plant Physiology.
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ROOT OF THE ISSUE
Alexander Bucksch is a postdoctoral fellow in the Georgia Tech School of Biology and School of Interactive Computing.
FRONTOFFICE
Robotic Hotter-Colder
NICK BURCHELL
ARBOREAL PARTNERS IN POLLUTION A new study has found that certain emissions from cars and coal-fired power plants promote processes that transform naturally occurring emissions from trees into organic aerosols. Organic aerosols make up a substantial fraction of ambient particulate matter that can affect climate, air quality, and human health. Combining laboratory studies and ambient measurements from multiple sites in and around Atlanta, Georgia, and rural Alabama, scientists found that sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides directly and substantially mediate the formation of aerosols from the volatile organic compounds produced by trees. “This finding is good news for pollution control. If we are able to further reduce sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions, we will not only decrease sulfate aerosols but also organic aerosols, thus lowering the total aerosol burden in the southeast United States,” said Nga Lee (Sally) Ng, an assistant professor in Georgia Tech’s School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering and School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. Scientists have known that human-made pollutants can interact with vegetation-emitted organic compounds, turning them into airborne particles. Those particles may affect air quality, human health, and climate. However, to what extent and how exactly human-made pollutants affect aerosol formation from vegetation in the ambient environments are poorly understood. Anthropogenic sulfate, produced mainly by coal-fired power plants, and nitrogen oxides, produced mainly by vehicle emissions, control between 43 and 70 percent of the total measured organic aerosol load in the southeastern United States during summer months, the study found. Published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the study was sponsored by the National Science Foundation, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Assistant Professor Sally Ng led a study of how certain emissions from cars and power plants interact with natural emissions from trees to form particulates.
Today’s robots usually see the world with cameras and lasers, which can miss objects hidden in clutter. Mobile robots could be more useful in homes if they could locate people, places, and objects. A complementary way robots can sense what is around them is through the use of small ultra-high frequency radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags. Inexpensive self-adhesive tags can be attached to objects, allowing an RFID-equipped robot to search a room for a tag’s signal, even when the object is hidden. Once the tag is detected, the robot knows the object it’s trying to find isn’t far away. “But RFID doesn’t tell the robot where it is,” said Charlie Kemp, an associate professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University. “To actually find the object and get close to it, the robot has to be more clever.” That’s why Kemp, former Georgia Tech student Travis Deyle, and University of Washington Professor Matthew Reynolds developed a new search algorithm that improves a robot’s ability to find and navigate to tagged objects. The team implemented the system on a PR2 robot, allowing it to travel through a home and locate tagged objects, including a medication bottle, TV remote, phone, and hairbrush. The researchers equipped the robot with articulated, directionally sensitive antennas and a new algorithm that allows the robot to find and navigate to the desired object. By moving the antennas on its shoulders and driving around the room, the PR2 can figure out the direction it should move to get a stronger signal from a tag and get closer to a tagged object. In essence, the robot plays the classic childhood game of Hotter-Colder, with the tag telling the PR2 when it’s getting closer to the object.
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FRONTOFFICE
SKINNY ELECTRIC GENERATOR Material could be woven into clothing to capture wasted energy
Zhong Lin Wang is a Regents Professor in the School of Materials Science and Engineering.
Researchers from Georgia Tech and Columbia Engineering have reported the first experimental observation of piezoelectricity and the piezotronic effect in an atomically thin material, molybdenum disulfide (MoS2). The discovery produced a unique electric generator and mechanical sensing devices that are optically transparent, extremely light, and very bendable and stretchable. In a paper published in the journal Nature, the researchers described the mechanical generation of electricity from the two-dimensional MoS2 material. The piezoelectric effect in this material had previously been predicted theoretically. In piezoelectricity, stretching or compressing a material causes it to generate an electrical voltage. Observing this property in two-dimensional materials opens the potential for new types of mechanically controlled electronic devices. “This material — just a single layer of atoms — could be made as a wearable device, perhaps integrated into clothing to
convert energy from your body movement to electricity and power wearable sensors or medical devices, or perhaps supply enough energy to charge your cellphone in your pocket,” said James Hone, professor of mechanical engineering at Columbia. “Proof of the piezoelectric effect and piezotronic effect adds new functionalities to these two-dimensional materials,” said Zhong Lin Wang, Regents Professor in Georgia Tech’s School of Materials Science and Engineering. “The materials community is excited about molybdenum disulfide, and demonstrating the piezoelectric effect in it adds a new facet to the material.” Wang’s group pioneered the use of piezoelectric generators for converting mechanical energy into electricity. His group is also developing piezotronic devices, which use piezoelectric charges to control the flow of current. The research was sponsored by the Department of Energy’s Office of Basic Energy Sciences.
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Researchers have observed piezoelectricity and the piezotronic effect in an atomically thin material, molybdenum disulfide (MoS2). The material could be the basis for electric generator and mechanical sensing devices.
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FRONTOFFICE
Cloaking Peptides
DECISION: NOEL HENDRICKSON/GETTY IMAGES; PEPTIDE: GARCIA LABORATORY
DECISIONS, DECISIONS Having more choices is generally considered a good thing — until you actually have to choose that one cellphone, one prescription drug plan, or one car model from among a dozen or so options. Economists call that problem choice overload, and the frustration it causes can lead to poor decisions. “Standard economic theory will tell you that more choice is always better,” said Tibor Besedes, an associate professor in the School of Economics at Georgia Tech. “Theoretically, that works out, but when you have to apply it, that’s very different. When you give people a lot of options, they can get bogged down and, at some level, become unwilling to consider anything because it just gets too complicated.” To help people make better choices when confronted by a large number of options, researchers studied decision-making strategies that break down the options into smaller groups that can be evaluated more effectively. Spurred by concerns over the large number of Medicare Part D prescription plans available, Besedes and collaborators from the University of Arkansas, Louisiana State University, and the University of Connecticut initiated the study to compare strategies for making choices from large groups of options. They set up an online experiment to study decisions made by 111 study subjects asked to select the option that would provide the best payoff from among 16 choices. The study evaluated three decision strategies: (1) simultaneous choice in which all 16 choices were considered together; (2) sequential elimination, which began with choosing one option from among four choices. Three additional choices were then added to the one chosen from the first group, and the process continued through five rounds until all but one option was eliminated; and (3) sports tournament in which four groups of four options were randomly chosen by a computer, and the subjects were asked to choose one option from each group. The options chosen from the four groups were then put into a finalist group from which the selection was made. The sports tournament increased, by 50 percent, the likelihood that volunteer study subjects would make the best choice — but was least liked and required more time than the other two approaches. The research, sponsored by the National Institute of Aging, part of the National Institutes of Health, was published by The Review of Economics and Statistics.
Tibor Besedes is an associate professor in the School of Economics at Georgia Tech.
When someone you know is wearing an unfamiliar hat, you might not recognize him. Georgia Tech researchers are using just such a disguise to sneak biomaterials containing peptide-signaling molecules into living animals. When biomaterials are introduced into the body, they normally stimulate an immune system response immediately. But the researchers used molecular cages like hats to cover binding sites on the peptides that are normally recognized by cell receptors, preventing recognition by the animal’s cells. The cages were designed to detach and reveal the peptides when they encounter specific wavelengths of light. So, when the disguised peptides are needed to launch biological processes, the researchers shine ultraviolet light onto the molecules through the skin, causing the “hat” structures to come off. That allows cells and other molecules to recognize and interact with the peptides on the surface of the biomaterial. This light-activated triggering technique has been demonstrated in animal models, and if it works in humans, it could help provide more precise timing for processes essential to regenerative medicine, cancer treatment, immunology, stem cell growth, and a range of other areas. The research represents the first time biological signals presented on biomaterials have been activated by light through the skin of a living animal. “Many biological processes involve complex cascades of reactions in which the timing must be very tightly controlled,” said Andrés García, a Regents Professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech. “With this technique, we can deliver a drug or particle with its signal in the ‘off’ position, then use light to turn the signal ‘on’ precisely when needed.” Supported by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health, the research was reported in the journal Nature Materials. It resulted from collaboration with scientists from the Max-Planck Institute.
Researchers have developed a technique for activating biological signals through the skin of a living animal using light. In this illustration, ultraviolet light shines through a pattern, initiating fluorescence in the biomaterial located under the skin.
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VISUALIZATION
COMBUSTION ENGINES VEHICLE PARTS HEATING & COOLING CATALYSIS & SEPARATION
ELECTRIC POWER
TEXTILES
PLASTICS & WHEELS
CHEM & POLYMERS
VEHICLES CONSTRUCTION
TURBINES & ENGINES
DOMESTIC APPLIANCES
FURNACE
MED INSTRUMENTS
METALS
FOOD DRUGS, MED CHEM
MEASUREMENT MACHINE TOOLS LIGHTING
BIOLOGICS LAB EQUIPMENT
MEDICAL DEVICES
COPYING & PRINTING
INFO TRANSMISSION
PHOTOLITHOGRAPHY
TELEPHONE COMM RADIO, COMM OPTICS TV, IMAGING & COMM SEMICONDUCTORS RECORDING
GAP MAP
DATA COMMERCE COMPUTING
PATENT MAPPING HELPS FIND INNOVATION PATHWAYS What’s likely to be the next big thing? What might be the most fertile areas for innovation? Where should companies invest their limited research funds? By providing a visual representation of where universities, companies, and other organizations are protecting intellectual property produced by their research, patent maps can help answer those questions. But finding real trends in these maps can be difficult because categories with large numbers of patents — pharmaceuticals, for instance — are usually treated the same as areas with few patents. Now, a new patent mapping system that considers how patents cite one another may help researchers better understand the relationships between technologies and how they may come together to spur disruptive new areas of innovation. The Patent Overlay Mapping system, which also categorizes patents in a new way, was produced by a team of researchers. “What we are trying to do is forecast innovation pathways,” said Alan Porter, professor emeritus in the Georgia Tech School of Public Policy and 2 0 w w w. r h . g a t e c h . e d u
the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial & Systems Engineering, and the project’s principal investigator. “We take data on research and development, such as publications and patents, and we try to elicit some intelligence to help us gain a sense for where things are headed.” Innovation often occurs at the intersection of major technology sectors, noted Jan Youtie, director of policy research services in Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute. Studying the relationships between different areas can help suggest where the innovation is occurring and what technologies are fueling it. The patent mapping research was supported by the National Science Foundation. In addition to Youtie and Porter, former Georgia Tech graduate student Luciano Kay, now a postdoctoral scholar at the Center for Nanotechnology in Society at the University of California Santa Barbara, helped conduct the research. The researchers used analytical software from Search Technology of Norcross.
MAP BASED ON: L. KAY, N. NEWMAN, J. YOUTIE, A.L. PORTER, I. RAFOLS (2013). PATENT OVERLAY MAPPING: VISUALIZING TECHNOLOGICAL DISTANCE.
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Tackling Big Data Petabytes of digital information are generated daily by sources such as social media, Internet activity, surveillance sensors, and advanced research instruments. The results are often referred to as big data — accumulations so huge that sophisticated computer techniques are required to identify useful information hidden within. Graph analysis is a prime tool for finding the needle in the data haystack. This potent technology — not to be confused with simple illustrations like bar graphs and pie charts — utilizes mathematical techniques that represent relationships in the data more efficiently than traditional statistical analyses. Researchers at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) are bringing graph analytics to bear on a range of data-related challenges. “Our first task is to look at the interesting properties of a graph to find the important questions we can ask of that graph,” said Dan Campbell, a GTRI principal research engineer. “The second task is to find the answers as quickly as possible, and then put them to practical use.” A graph is a type of data structure comprised of entities — meaning anything that can be represented digitally — and their relationships. In graph terminology, an entity is a vertex or a node; the connections between it and other vertices are edges or arcs. Graphs are constructed using software algorithms that represent both the data points and the relationships between them, and also enable computers to manipulate and analyze that information. GTRI researchers make extensive use of a graph-analysis framework called STINGER, built specifically to tackle dynamic, ever-changing applications such as social networks and Internet traffic. STINGER was created by a team led by David Bader, a professor in the Georgia Tech School of Computational Science and Engineering. “Social media analysis clearly has an important role to play in emergency response to both natural disasters, like Hurricane Sandy, and to potential terrorist attacks,” said David Ediger, a GTRI research engineer.
I TAKE MINE BLACK(HAT) Stopping Coffee Shop Hackers If you’re sitting in a coffee shop, tapping away on your laptop, feeling safe from cyber criminals because you didn’t connect to the shop’s Wi-Fi, think again. The bad guys may be able to see what you’re doing just by analyzing the low-power electronic signals your laptop emits even when it’s not connected to the Internet. Georgia Tech researchers are investigating where these information leaks originate so they can help hardware and software designers develop strategies to plug them. By studying emissions from multiple computers, the researchers have developed a metric for measuring the strength of the leaks — known technically as side-channel signals — to help prioritize security efforts. “People are focused on security for the Internet and on the wireless communication side, but we are concerned with what can be learned from your computer without it intentionally sending anything,” said Alenka Zajic, an assistant professor in Georgia Tech’s School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. “Even if you have the Internet connection disabled, you are still emanating information that somebody could use to attack your computer or smartphone.” Side-channel emissions can be measured several feet away from an operating computer using a variety of spying methods. Electromagnetic
Georgia Tech researchers Alenka Zajic (left) and Milos Prvulovic use a simple AM/FM radio to pick up side-channel signals from a cellphone. Such unintentional signals could be used to learn what computations are being done by the device.
emissions can be received using antennas hidden in a briefcase, for instance. Acoustic emissions — sounds produced by electronic components such as capacitors — can be picked up by microphones hidden beneath tables. Information on power fluctuations, which can help hackers determine what the computer is doing, can be measured by fake battery chargers plugged into power outlets adjacent to a laptop’s power adapter. Some signals can be picked up by a simple AM/ FM radio, while others require more sophisticated spectrum analyzers. And computer components such as voltage regulators produce emissions that can carry signals produced elsewhere in the laptop. “It is not really possible to eliminate all side-channel signals,” said Milos Prvulovic, an associate professor in the Georgia Tech School of Computer Science. “The trick is to make those signals weak, so potential attackers would have to be closer, use larger antennas, and utilize time-consuming signal analyses. We have found that some operations are much ‘louder’ than others, so quieting them would make it more difficult for attackers.” Results of the research were presented at the 47th Annual IEEE/ACM International Symposium on Microarchitecture in Cambridge, U.K. The work is sponsored by the National Science Foundation and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research. R E S E A R C H H O R I ZO N S 2 1
UNSEEN Hidden inside your smartphone are micron-scale sensors that detect acceleration, rotation, and more. Georgia Tech researchers are developing similar micro-electromechanical systems — known as MEMS — for applications ranging from health care to agriculture. Where will these tiny machines go next?
BY RICK R OBINS ON
Photo: iFixit, www.ifixit.com/Teardown/iPhone+6+Teardown/29213
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MACHINES
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Micro-electromechanical systems, or MEMS, may not be on your mind, but there could be some in your pocket.
innovative applications, and it can also make conventional devices — like smoke or movement detectors — smaller, smarter, and more effective.” Creating innovative sensors is highly interdisciplinary, Brand noted, requiring the joint efforts of electrical engineers, mechanical engineers, chemists, and biochemists — who are, in turn, supported by materials, packaging, and circuit-design experts. In addition, MEMS development is often expensive, demanding advanced facilities with device fabrication and characterization tools. IEN enables Georgia Tech researchers to address these challenges, Brand said. Its cleanrooms and associated labs, open to Georgia Tech and non-Georgia Tech researchers, make stateof-the-art fabrication and characterization equipment widely 2 4 w w w. r h . g a t e c h . e d u
available. As a result, most MEMS prototypes under development at Georgia Tech can be built right on campus. Many of these micron-size devices utilize even smaller elements — nanotubes and nanowires — that aren’t much larger than a single molecule. These tiny nanoscale parts help microsystems detect what they’re looking for. The presence of moving nanoscale elements has given rise to the term nano-electromechanical systems (NEMS), but most researchers just use the term MEMS. A wide variety of MEMS-related and microsystems projects are underway at Georgia Tech. The following is a sample of current MEMS research in the fields of consumer products, health care applications, environmental sensing, and infrastructure monitoring.
This annulus resonator gyroscope, designed in Farrokh Ayazi’s laboratory and fabricated in Georgia Tech cleanroom facilities, is a mere 800 microns across yet measures rotation around two in-plane axes — pitch and roll. A similar design being developed measures rotation around all three axes — yaw, pitch, and roll — using a single tiny device.
MEASURING MOTION AT THE MICROSCALE In the Integrated MEMS Laboratory at Georgia Tech, Professor Farrokh Ayazi and his research team are working on groundbreaking techniques for accurate motion sensing. In particular, they’re focused on very small gyroscopes, which detect rotation and are integrated on a silicon chip along with precision low-power accelerometers, which measure linear motion. Ayazi’s research into MEMS-based devices has produced inertial measurement microsystems with applications in automotive, navigation, robotics, gaming, and more. These devices could help both conventional and driverless cars navigate safely, or they could track the location of a person or other moving object in situations where GPS signals are problematic or absent. “Think of MEMS-based microsystems as multi-domain, with complex mechanical, fluidic, or optical devices working in tandem with electrical devices, all integrated and packaged together on a common tiny substrate,” said Ayazi, a professor in Georgia Tech’s School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Front-end micromechanical sensors gather multiple types of real-world analog data such as motion, sound, temperature, humidity, and gases, he explained. This analog data is converted into an electrical signal that the digital part of the system can process into useable information. In the case of tracking a moving person or object, tiny sensors based on Ayazi’s research can send accurate data on a subject’s linear and rotational motion — and, therefore, its location — for as long as the information is needed. This is a new capability. Smaller motion measuring devices have been effective for short-term applications like gesture-sensitive game controllers, but they introduce too many inaccuracies over time to be effective for navigation. Conventional large-scale inertial sensing systems are accurate enough for lengthy tracking jobs, but they’re too bulky to carry and very expensive. To achieve long-term accuracy in a microsystem, the Ayazi team had to master the problem of drift in gyros. This issue was occurring because conventional rotational sensors also detected linear motion, or vibration, contaminating the rotational signal. The team found they could eliminate drift and reduce power consumption by developing unique acoustic micro-resonators that use symmetric high-frequency gyroscopic modes, known as bulk acoustic wave gyroscopes. These micro-resonators have an ultra-high Q factor — greater than one million — which means they dissipate very little energy. The result was a MEMS-based sensor that promises to be uniquely effective in many navigation applications. These inertial sensors could also be used for other industrial and
AYA Z I : R O B F E LT; M E M S : FA R R O K H AYA Z I
Your smartphone likely uses a dozen or so tiny — yet powerful — MEMS sensors to support its sophisticated functions. And that late-model car undoubtedly carries scores of devices based on MEMS and other sensing technologies. Typically sized at the micron scale — millionths of a meter — MEMS devices use minuscule moving parts to perform a broad range of sensing tasks. Small as they are, they can detect sound, motion, position, force, pressure, chemicals, bacteria, and numerous other things worth knowing about. Note that these miniaturized sensors don’t always have moving parts, and a broader term — microsystems — is sometimes used rather than MEMS. At Georgia Tech, more than 20 research teams focus on MEMS-related research and development. Supporting them is the Institute for Electronics and Nanotechnology (IEN), one of Georgia Tech’s nine Interdisciplinary Research Institutes. IEN’s extensive shared-user facilities, including advanced labs and cleanrooms, are used by as many as 200 Georgia Tech faculty, graduate students, and postdoctoral researchers who work on MEMS and other microsystems. “More and more, our electronic systems must be aware of and even interact with their environment, and MEMS-based devices do that very well. They are the ear that detects sound and movement, the nose and tongue that detect toxic chemicals or smoke,” said Oliver Brand, a professor in Georgia Tech’s School of Electrical and Computer Engineering and executive director of IEN. “MEMS is like a sandbox of technologies and processes that lets us miniaturize sensors, and even put several sensing technologies onto a single chip, at low cost. It can enable many
Professor Farrokh Ayazi has developed tiny gyroscopes that use MEMS technology to track firefighters or other first responders in covered areas where GPS signals are stymied —in this case the Krog Street Tunnel, an Atlanta landmark decorated by local artists. R E S E A R C H H O R I ZO N S 2 5
(Left to right) Milad Navaei, Jie Xu, and Peter Hesketh, photographed at the Atlanta Botanical Garden, are using MEMS- related technology to develop a portable gas chromatograph that could provide on-site, real-time detection of crop disease and alert farmers to the need for quick corrective action.
consumer applications, including cellular phones, vehicles, gaming, and defense. Three commercial products based on these capabilities were recently introduced by Qualtré Inc., a startup company based on Ayazi’s research. STUDYING BLOOD CLOTTING The study of tiny bodily structures, or the placement of miniature implant devices, can benefit from the small size and diversity of MEMS-type microsystems. Dr. Wilbur Lam, a hematologist and bio-engineer, uses MEMS-related technologies to investigate the properties of human blood. “We use micro-fabricated technologies, both MEMS devices and simpler microfluidic devices, to study a wide range of projects involving the nature of blood and blood-related disease,” said Lam, an assistant professor at Georgia Tech and Emory University and a physician in the Emory School of Medicine. In one project, Lam and his research team are studying platelets, which are the tiny cell fragments responsible for blood clotting. With funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF), they’re looking at a basic question: How these 500-nanometer-thick cells actually stick together to seal up wounds, a process called platelet contraction. Using a MEMS-based platform involving pairs of submicron-size protein dots to which platelets attach, the researchers have measured the force of platelet contraction. A better understanding of platelet behavior could help treat common diseases like stroke and heart attack that involve too much or too little clotting. In another project, Lam and his research team have developed
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an in vitro system that allows them to observe the three main elements of clotting — platelets, fibrin formation, and blood vessels — at the same time. The aim is to gain increased understanding of how the different components work together. The researchers created a microfluidic device that replicates a blood vessel. They then grew a full endothelial cell layer that lines the entire inner surface of the device to create the artificial blood vessel. MEMS technology provided a trap-door structure that simulates a hole in the blood vessel to provide a model for bleeding. MEMS AND THE INNER EAR Health care applications such as implants can also take advantage of MEMS technologies. Pamela Bhatti, an associate professor in Georgia Tech’s School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, is studying the use of MEMS-based devices as a platform for treating problems in the inner ear. She’s looking specifically at cochlear implants that address hearing loss and vestibular prosthetic devices that treat loss of the sense of balance. Implants into the cochlea, the auditory portion of the inner ear, have been used for years to address total hearing loss. Bhatti is investigating whether MEMS-based sensors could provide improved results when implanted in the cochlea. One key issue involves the surgical challenge of handling a MEMS device that’s mounted on a polymer film substrate only 20 microns thick. The fragile device is difficult to place deep into the spiral-shaped cochlear cavity where it’s needed. Making the substrate thicker would help the device stand up to the force necessary for surgical placement, but would also make it larger and more difficult to fit into the tiny cochlear canal.
With NSF funding, Bhatti is studying a hybrid approach in which a MEMS-related device would be used in tandem with a hearing aid. The MEMS device could be implanted in the first turn of the cochlear spiral, which is easier to reach; there, it would detect the higher sound frequencies, while a more conventional hearing aid would pick up the lower tones. One challenge is keeping the MEMS device thin enough to allow the cochlear fluid to conduct acoustic energy to the hearing aid. “It’s a balancing act: You want the device to have small and precise features, and you also want it thick and malleable,” she said. In research that involves a potential vestibular prosthetic device, Bhatti is working on a micron-size angular accelerometer that would replicate the motion-sensing capabilities of a gyroscope. The goal is to use electrode arrays to stimulate the human balance system and, thus, overcome loss due to damage to the vestibular area of the inner ear.
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FLASHLIGHT INSIDE BLOOD VESSELS Looking inside human coronary arteries can be facilitated by both the power and tiny profile of MEMS technology. Levent Degertekin, a professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, is developing minute systems that can be mounted on a catheter used to find blockages in arteries. Currently, physicians guide a catheter through the body’s arterial system by viewing it from outside using X-ray technology or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), which are two-dimensional projections and provide limited resolution. Moreover, current catheters are equipped with 2-D ultrasound technology that doesn’t offer a frontal view. “Think of the current systems of moving the catheter as being like the GPS-based map in your car — it’s useful but it’s flat, and you can’t see that herd of sheep directly ahead of you,” Degertekin said. “The view from inside using today’s intravascular ultrasound doesn’t provide much help. It’s more like looking out a side window.” Degertekin’s approach equips the catheter tip with a tiny MEMS device that uses 3-D ultrasound capable of showing what’s directly ahead in the artery. The work is sponsored by the National Institutes of Health. He also wants to make these ultrasound systems compatible with MRI techniques instead of X-ray imaging. High-resolution 3-D MRI technology would give doctors a better outside view of the moving catheter, and avoid radiation-exposure issues. “It’s a futuristic and challenging design. We’re basically jumping at least two steps ahead of current technology,” he said. “Combining 3-D ultrasound with MRI is challenging because the techniques can interfere with each other.” Degertekin and his team are developing MEMS technology that produces 3-D ultrasound capabilities using thousands of tiny ceramic capacitors resembling drumheads. These tiny ultrasound elements, 30 microns wide, move up and down in response to acoustic signals. The drumheads are currently integrated with processing electronics on a single 1.4 millimeter silicon chip, and the researchers are working to reduce them to sub-millimeter size for some applications. To support this tiny array, the team has also pioneered technology that reduces the number of cable connections to the catheter. This approach helps minimize catheter size.
Oliver Brand, IEN’s executive director and a professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, is developing a chemical sensor platform that uses tiny oscillating MEMS devices to sense volatile organic compounds (VOCs). “These sensors work as miniature scales, weighing chemicals attached to them,” Brand said. Arrays of such MEMS sensors can be embedded in a small, low-power system that can detect toxic chemicals such as benzene in air and water samples. In related research, Brand’s graduate students deposit arrays of nanowires on top of MEMS devices to increase the surface area to which a target chemical can attach. The result is improved sensor performance. DIAGNOSING DISEASE Identifying harmful bacteria and viruses or other toxins in the environment is a task well suited to MEMS and other smallscale sensing technologies. Tiny sensors lend themselves to
Our electronic systems must be aware of and even interact with their environment, and MEMS-based devices do that very well. They are the ear that detects sound and movement, the nose and tongue that detect toxic chemicals or smoke
Professor Oliver Brand, director of the Institute for Electronics and Nanotechnology, is using tiny nano wires in MEMS devices to detect toxic chemicals such as benzene in air and water. In front of him is a ToF-SIMS system that can directly chemically image a surface.
NANOSCALE SENSING PARTS Nanotubes and nanowires can be key to MEMS device functionality. These tiny features move in response to force or acceleration, generating electrical or other signals that convey important sensing information, or they may just increase the surface area of a sensing element. R E S E A R C H H O R I ZO N S 2 7
the development of portable devices that can provide real-time sensing useful in agriculture, food production, and similar settings. Eric Vogel, a professor in Georgia Tech’s School of Materials Science and Engineering, researches two-dimensional materials, like graphene and molybdenum disulfide, that consist of single layers only one-atom thick. Such materials are being applied to multiple electronics uses, but they can also be used in microsystems for sensing applications. Vogel and his team are collaborating with two Irish institutions — the Tyndall National Institute at University College Cork and Queens University, Belfast — to find improved methods for detecting bovine respiratory disease, a $2 billon problem worldwide. In a program jointly funded by the NSF, the Science Foundation Ireland, and Invest Northern Ireland, the three teams are developing a portable device to test for infection on site, eliminating the need to send blood samples to a lab. “The problem is that the lab work takes a week or two, and by that point a sick cow could have infected 100 other cows,” Vogel said. “We’re developing a handheld device that could analyze special strips almost like a glucose sensor and would give rapid results at a low cost.” To make these low-cost strips, Vogel and his team are using a technology called ion sensitive field effect transistors. Nanoscale-
This device is part of a system under development by Professor Eric Vogel and two Irish research teams that uses nanoscalethick 2-D materials, laminated onto plastic substrates, to produce disposable semiconductors for quickly diagnosing bovine respiratory disease.
thick two-dimensional materials are laminated onto plastic substrates, producing disposable semiconductors at far less cost than conventional silicon. These semiconductors will be coated with a chemical layer being developed at the University of Belfast. Target biological agents in a blood sample will bind to this chemical layer. Their specific electrical charge will then be detected by the semiconductor underneath, enabling a diagnosis on the spot. FINDING FOODBORNE PATHOGENS Food safety sensing can provide an important defense against foodborne illnesses, a major international health problem. Jie Xu, a senior research scientist at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), is developing multiple microsystem-based technologies focused on detecting foodborne pathogens. In one project, Xu is investigating the use of optical biosensors that use MEMS/microsystem technology to detect pathogens in real time. Using an IEN cleanroom, she has fabricated a prototype bio-detection device consisting of a microfabricated
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waveguide chip conjugated with bioreceptors specific to food borne pathogens. A top layer of bioreceptors provides a binding site that attracts specific target pathogens. The binding action produces a measureable change in the optical signal from the target molecule; the waveguide, constructed using a silicon nitride thin film, conducts this light signal to the charge-coupled device (CCD) microchip detector. “You flow the sample, such as chicken rinse water, over the device, and if a pathogen such as Salmonella is present, it will bind to the bio-recognition element on the surface and give you a detectable signal,” Xu said. EARLY WARNING OF CROP DISEASES Identifying volatile organic compounds (VOCs) associated with crop disease can help farmers take quick action against pathogens. GTRI’s Jie Xu is working with Professor Peter Hesketh of the Georgia Tech School of Mechanical Engineering to develop another microsystem-based sensor platform, a portable gas chromatograph (GC) that detects VOCs in the air in real time. The aim is to provide an early diagnostic capability that would let farmers take corrective action far sooner than traditional approaches that rely on visual inspection. The researchers have fabricated a miniature GC that utilizes tiny separation columns micro-machined onto a silicon wafer. Combined with other sensors, it could seek a variety of fungus, mold, or other crop infections marked by the release of VOCs. “We’re working toward a handheld GC that’s about cellphone-size,” Hesketh said. “It would be a fraction of the size of traditional GCs, which use separation columns that are as long as 30 meters.” Additional potential uses include mobile stations that track atmospheric pollution or those that monitor VOC emissions at locations associated with petroleum products, like oil refineries or power plants. FINDING CONTAMINATION Detecting microorganism contamination is another important element of Hesketh’s research. With funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, he’s working with a University of Georgia team on an improved method for detecting food contamination involving bacteria and viruses found in various sources. The collaborators are developing a technique that uses magnetic beads to capture and extract microorganisms from a sample. The tiny beads are coated with an antibody that attracts the target organism. The researchers place the sample and beads in a device that’s basically a compact disc etched with tiny microfluidic channels. The disc, rotating at extremely high speeds, is designed to mix the beads thoroughly with the sample, helping ensure that all the existing organisms are found. To sense the extracted organisms, the researchers are designing a system that would use micro-cantilevers coated to attract the target bacteria. The cantilevers could employ tiny piezoelectric-resistive strain gauges capable of generating an electrical response when they make contact with the mass of even a single bacterium. DETECTING DANGER The sudden collapse of bridges and other structures in recent years has focused attention on aging U.S. infrastructure. Yang Wang, an associate professor in Georgia Tech’s School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, is collaborating with Professor Manos Tentzeris of the School of Electrical and Computer
R O B F E LT
Associate Professor Yang Wang is collaborating with other Georgia Tech researchers on the use of microsystem technology to develop wireless strain sensors. Utilizing conductive silver nanoparticles printed on paper or polymer, they’re producing lowcost sensors to give early warning of stress-induced changes in bridges or other structures.
Engineering to develop devices that remotely monitor structures for stress and the formation of cracks. These small strain sensors are low in cost, require no battery power, and can identify structural problems at an early stage. The research, which is also applicable to monitoring other structures beyond bridges, has been funded by the Federal Highway Administration and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research. “This ‘smart-skin’ technology is completely wireless. It doesn’t need a battery, and you don’t have to climb around on structures running long connecting cables,” Wang said. In this approach, small antennas tuned to specific radio frequencies are attached to various structural members. The antenna itself functions as the strain sensor. Even the slightest change in the structure deforms the antenna, producing an altered frequency response that can then be detected by a wireless reader. Initially, the researchers developed a prototype strain/ crack sensor that was successfully tested in the laboratory. This
prototype consisted of a small piece of copper deposited on a polymer substrate, along with a 1-millimeter-square radio frequency identification (RFID) chip. The copper antenna detected deformation, while the chip modulated the frequency response and functioned as a tag identifying the individual sensors. Now more sophisticated designs are underway. Over the past few years, Wang’s and Tentzeris’ research groups have been developing wireless strain sensors that are made using conductive silver nanoparticles printed on paper or liquid crystal polymer. Aimed at low-cost mass production, the nanoparticle printing technique offers a promising replacement for traditional manufacturing of printed circuits with copper or other conductors.
Enjoying this article? For more Georgia Tech research news, subscribe to our monthly e-newsletter: www. rh.gatech.edu/ subscribe and follow us on Twitter @gtresearchnews.
Rick Robinson is a science and technology writer in Georgia Tech’s Institute Communications. He has been writing about defense, electronics, and other technology for more than 20 years. R E S E A R C H H O R I ZO N S 2 9
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ENERGY STORAGE INNOVATIONS WILL MAKE RENEWABLES LESS EXPENSIVE, MORE RELIABLE
POW ER
UP
BY T.J. BECKER PHOTOS BY ROB FELT
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R
Researchers have made significant strides in new energy generation technologies. Yet, before renewable sources can make a significant contribution to our energy supply, similar strides will be needed in
“When it comes to renewable energy sources, there can be a mismatch between when power is available and when it’s needed,” said Tim Lieuwen, director of Georgia Tech’s Strategic Energy Institute (SEI). He points to grid faults caused by temporary loss of wind and solar power during the day. “In contrast to conventional power plants where you can turn power on, off, up or down, you can’t dispatch solar or wind — storage is a key enabler for significant penetration of these non-dispatchable sources,” Lieuwen said. Different challenges exist in the transportation sector, which accounts for about 30 percent of U.S. energy usage. Although there are a number of electric vehicles on the market, their limited range and high cost are obstacles to widespread adoption, which has researchers pursuing scalable ways to increase the power and energy density of electrochemical devices. “Storage is one of the critical issues required for electric vehicles to gain traction,” Lieuwen said. At the SEI, Lieuwen coordinates energy work across campus. Georgia Tech stands out from many research universities for its systems analysis and ability to tackle large-scale energy challenges, Lieuwen observed. “We not only have deep domain expertise but also people who can think about plugging innovations into a bigger system. Having these people work side by side creates real synergy.” Georgia Tech is participating in a number of high-profile projects sponsored by the Department of Energy (DOE), including its Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E).
SOME LIKE IT HOT
Among ARPA-E awardees is Asegun Henry, an assistant professor in Georgia Tech’s Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering. He is developing technology for a new type of concentrated solar power (CSP) plant that could increase efficiency by more than 50 percent over current facilities. Unlike photovoltaic plants that directly convert sunlight into electricity and have no means of storage, CSP facilities transform sunlight into thermal energy. The thermal energy can then be stored in molten salt for later use, when it’s discharged through a heat exchanger to create steam to run a turbine. Current CSP power plants cost about twice as much to operate as fossil fuel plants. The greatest inefficiencies occur at the turbine, where 60 percent of captured energy is lost, Henry explained. “You can make the engines more efficient by operating 3 2 w w w. r h . g a t e c h . e d u
ABOVE Concentrated solar power plants transform sunlight into thermal energy that can be used to drive a turbine for generating electricity. OPPOSITE Georgia Tech researchers are investigating the use of molten tin to store heat from a concentrated solar power system so it can be used to generate electricity as needed. PREVIOUS PAGE This solar simulator provides consistent power for testing solar thermal power systems.
them at higher temperatures — about 1,500 degrees Celsius. But to do this, you need different infrastructure.” Key to this infrastructure could be liquid metals, such as tin. Unlike salt, which will vaporize and decompose at high temperatures, metal can remain in a liquid state over a much greater range of temperatures — about 230 to 2,600 degrees Celsius. Yet, there’s also a drawback. When liquid metal comes into contact with other metals, it reacts immediately and corrodes. So, new materials are required for the facility’s pipes, valves, storage bins, and pumps. “Our answer is to use ceramics,” Henry said. “There are a number that are commercially available that are not corroded by the liquid metals we’re interested in.” Moving to higher temperatures also requires a new design for the solar receiver, which sits on top of a tall tower surrounded by a field of heliostats, collecting the sun’s rays. Without a new receiver design, the efficiency of the entire system would drop dramatically. In response, the researchers have created an optical cavity receiver that traps the light. The researchers are now testing their design, using a smallscale prototype. “If we’re successful, this could be a real game changer and help make solar energy cost-competitive with fossil fuels,” Henry said.
PHILIP LANGE/THINKSTOCK
energy storage, making it the new holy grail.
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LOOKING ON THE BRIGHT SIDE
“The potential of solar energy is amazing,” said Peter Loutzenhiser, an assistant professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, who is also focused on concentrated solar technologies. “Sunlight is the most abundant energy source on earth. Transforming sunlight and storing it in a long-term medium is the way of the future.” Loutzenhiser’s research team is collaborating on the design of a new thermochemical storage system: a three-year, $3.5 million project funded by the DOE’s SunShot Initiative and led by Sandia National Laboratories. Key to this storage system are perovskite materials, a type of metal oxide. Known as “the new black” in solar thermochemical circles, perovskites are prized for their electronic conductivity and oxygen exchange kinetics. In this application, the perovskites will enable CSP plants to operate at higher temperatures, resulting in more efficient cycles, Loutzenhiser said. He explained how the system would work: Concentrated solar energy from a heliostat field would heat the perovskites to about 1,000 degrees Celsius, where it’s possible to drive a chemical reaction and extract oxygen. This would result in reduced metal oxides, which would be stored in highly insulated tanks. To tap the energy later, the reduced metal oxides would be introduced into a stream of pressurized air that recovers the high thermal heat along with chemical heat. The resulting stream of hot pressurized air would run through a turbine generator to produce electricity. In this first year of the project, Sandia is developing materials while Loutzenhiser’s team is designing a solar thermochemical reactor to measure reaction properties and determine the performance of the perovskite materials. Then they will design and test a reactor that enables the perovskites to efficiently trap solar radiation. “Ideally, we want to capture more than 80 percent of the solar heat into our medium,” Loutzenhiser said, noting this would translate into far higher efficiencies than current CSP plants. To test the technology, Loutzenhiser’s team uses a highflux solar simulator, one of only three in the United States. The simulator consists of seven xenon arc lamps (each being 6 kilowatts) that enable the researchers to test their technology under repeatable conditions. “Instead of waiting for the sun to come up or hoping a cloud doesn’t pass by, we can run it 24 hours a day,” Loutzenhiser said, adding that the simulator can melt holes in ½-inch-thick steel plates in less than a minute. In other projects, Loutzenhiser is investigating ways to drive chemical reactions that result in the production of synthetic fuels. For example, his team has developed a hybrid solar/autothermal process that takes materials with high carbon content, such as sorghum or coal, and introduces water and concentrated solar power to transform them into synthesis gas. When sunlight is unavailable, pure oxygen is also introduced to burn a portion of the materials for heat, resulting in a continuous supply of synthesis gas. This synthesis gas, a mixture of hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide, can be converted into liquid hydrocarbons like gasoline and jet fuel, using existing chemical processes.
NEW BREED OF FUEL CELL
While raising temperatures is a key objective for Loutzenhiser and Henry, cooling things down is the aim of other energy researchers. Meilin Liu, a Regents Professor in the Georgia Tech School of Materials Science and Engineering and co-director of the Center for Innovative Fuel Cell and Battery Technologies, is developing a new breed of fuel cell — one that operates at intermediate temperatures. Currently, there are two leading fuel cell technologies: solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) and polymer electrolyte membrane 3 4 w w w. r h . g a t e c h . e d u
(PEM) fuel cells. Used in stationary applications, SOFCs operate at temperatures of 700 degrees Celsius or higher, while the PEM fuel cells that power electric vehicles operate at low temperatures of about 80 degrees Celsius. Both technologies have challenges, ranging from water and heat management to operational life — plus they’re expensive. With funding from ARPA-E, Liu is developing fuel cells that will be powered by methane, a clean and abundant fuel, and operate within a range of 300 to 500 degrees Celsius. “At these temperatures, we can overcome difficulties associated with SOFC and PEM technologies and achieve higher power density, longer life, and lower costs,” Liu said. The intermediate temperature fuel cells require new materials for electrodes and electrolytes, and Liu’s approach is to introduce nanostructured materials that will dramatically enhance the ionic transport along the interfaces. The goal is to create fuel cells for distributed power, which would serve as the primary power supply to individual houses. If successful, Liu envisions larger systems that could replace conventional fossil fuel power plants. “These fuel cells could To advance fuel cell technology, researchers are using this Raman test chamber to probe and map adsorbed species or new phases on electrode surfaces at temperatures of up to 750 degrees Celsius in a wide variety of gases.
come close to doubling the efficiency of current power plants — without the pollutants,” he said. Liu is also working on two other ARPA-E projects: Bi-functional electrochemical systems. In collaboration with the University of California-Los Angeles, Liu’s research group is creating a new class of materials that can be used as electrodes and simultaneously store chemical fuels like hydrogen or methane. The system would operate like a fuel cell, but if fuel weren’t available, then the battery would kick in to provide electricity. “The idea is to prevent any disruption of energy, which can happen with conventional fuel cells,” said Liu. Graphene-based supercapacitors. Liu and C.P. Wong, another Regents Professor in the School of Materials Science and Engineering, are working on a graphene-based supercapacitor that would offer significantly increased energy density while maintaining high power and long operational life. Another wunderkind in materials science circles, graphene is a two-dimensional material that conducts electricity better than copper and is 100 times stronger than steel, but much lighter. “Yet graphene has a tendency to stack together and form graphite,” Liu said. “And with a supercapacitor, you want to be able to use all the surface area.” To get around this problem, Wong and Liu are placing molecular spacers and incorporating metal compounds between
A student team led by Professor Tom Fuller (center, with folder) is part of the EcoCar3 competition supported by the Department of Energy and General Motors. The team is among 16 university-based groups that will each be converting a new Chevrolet Camaro into a hybrid-electric vehicle.
the graphene sheets, creating a 3-D porous structure. About 18 months into the project, the researchers have already demonstrated a capacity of 1,000 faradays per gram from the material — quadruple the energy density of current supercapacitors that use activated carbon particles.
DRIVING INNOVATION
In automotive applications, Georgia Tech researchers are striving to make batteries and fuel cells more reliable and less expensive. “The reason we don’t see greater penetration of electric vehicles is largely driven by cost and life issues,” said Tom Fuller, a professor in the Georgia Tech School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering and co-director of the Center for Innovative Fuel Cell and Battery Technologies. Fuels cells have garnered much of the limelight in recent years; however, Fuller believes the ultimate solution for electric vehicles blends fuel cell and battery technologies. “Fuel cells eliminate the range problem,” he said. “Yet you need some means of energy storage to recover energy from braking and for operating the engine at its most efficient point.” In battery research, Fuller’s group is working with advanced materials, such as silicon and tin, which can store more lithium than electrodes made from carbon and metal oxide materials — potentially 10 times more. They have also been investigating different binders to better hold materials and make improvements in cycle life. On the fuel cell side, Fuller is focused on understanding causes of platinum degradation to make better use of the expensive material. “People have been trying to find a substitute for
platinum for decades, but it hasn’t happened,” said Fuller. “I believe it’s more practical to work with what we have at the moment.” He points to catalytic converters, where the amount of precious metals required has been reduced over the past couple of decades by orders of magnitude. “What used to be a very expensive amount of platinum or precious metal in your exhaust system is now pretty reasonable.” Fuller is also faculty lead on EcoCar3, an advanced vehicle technology competition, sponsored by the DOE and General Motors. In the four-year competition, student teams from 16 different universities will each be given a new Chevrolet Camaro to convert into a hybrid-electric car. At the end of each year, students will be evaluated on various criteria, such as reducing emissions and petroleum use while maintaining performance. The first phase of the competition is slated for May when mechanical, electrical, and overall systems design will be judged. Georgia Tech has been involved in two previous DOE competitions for advanced vehicles. “It’s a great opportunity for students to get involved with renewables in a real-world way,” said Fuller. “And the fact that the designated model for EcoCar3 is a Camaro sent everyone over the edge.”
MULTIFUNCTIONAL BATTERIES
At Professor Gleb Yushin’s laboratory in the Georgia Tech School of Materials Science and Engineering, researchers are addressing energy density challenges in electrochemical devices for a wide variety of applications. His research group is one of the few groups in the country that works with R E S E A R C H H O R I ZO N S 3 5
multifunctional batteries, research that is sponsored by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research. Recent innovations include carbon nanotube-based nonwoven fabrics that are coated with different types of ceramic materials and conductive polymers for lithium-ion storage. “This lightweight, flexible material can store energy but also bear a very high mechanical load,” said Yushin. “In fact, we’ve demonstrated specific strength higher than titanium, copper, and even structural steel.” Nanostructure is the secret sauce behind these multifunctional batteries, Yushin explained: “There are materials that can be brittle like glass or silicon, but if you make them in very small dimensions, they become much tougher. We’ve been able to gain precise control over the nanostructure and surface chemistry.” The battery material could be produced on an industrial scale and used to both construct and power unmanned aerial vehicles, high-performance ground vehicles, or smart textiles such as apparel with computing capabilities. Other projects from Yushin’s team include: Rechargeable alkaline batteries. Working with researchers at Princeton University, Yushin’s team is developing a novel chemistry to make alkaline batteries cycle like lithium-ion batteries. “Because the technology is water-based, it’s not flammable, so it’s much safer to use,” Yushin said. “The alkaline batteries have less energy than lithium batteries but could be recharged faster and be cheaper to make.” Highly stable sulfur batteries. Lightweight sulfur-based batteries are being used in military unmanned aerial vehicles, but their cycle life is too short for consumer applications. Yushin’s group has developed composite lithium sulfide-based cathodes with a unique microstructure and core-shell morphology that allows batteries to maintain high-rate performance for more than 1,000 cycles. Yushin has also co-founded a startup company, Sila Nanotechnologies, to commercialize materials for next-generation lithium-ion batteries. Launched in 2011, the company spent its first three years in the Advanced Technology Development Center, Georgia Tech’s business incubator, and then relocated last fall to Alameda, California, where it has a 31,000-squarefoot facility and 25 employees. Backed by Silicon Valley venture capital firms, Sila has already won industrial customers and is growing quickly, Yushin said. ISSUE 1 2015
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ENERGY STORAGE
ISSUE 1 2015
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Innovations will make renewables like solar power less expensive and more reliable Page 30
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PUTTING WASTE HEAT TO WORK
In other materials innovations, Samuel Graham, a professor in the School of Mechanical Engineering, is developing composite materials to capture and store waste heat generated by electric motors and electronics. In a project with Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Graham’s research team has developed a high thermal conductivity and high thermal storage capacity material by integrating phase change materials with expanded graphite nanoplatelet foams. “Whenever a material goes through a phase change, there is a large amount of heat that can be stored by the chemical rearrangement of the material’s structure,” Graham explained. Most phase-change materials have low thermal conductivities, causing heat to flow in and out very slowly. Graham’s team has been able to create a novel nanocomposite by combining graphite flakes and organic phase-change materials with high thermal conductivities. The result is an expanded graphite foam composite with thermal conductivity an order of magnitude higher than is possible by simply mixing the materials together — and the
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ability to retain up to 90 percent of the thermal storage capacity of the phase-change material. The goal of the project is to integrate the materials into heat exchangers to reduce the energy consumption in household appliances by providing hot water and hot air to dishwashers and clothes dryers. But the material also has other applications, Graham said, such as providing thermal management of electronics used in hybrid electric vehicles.
Major advances in energy storage have the potential to dramatically change the power game In addition to its high thermal conductivity and storage capacity, the expanded graphite composite can be easily scaled in manufacturing. “In contrast to aluminum foams, our expanded graphite foam can be easily machined, formed into shapes, and is far less expensive to produce,” Graham said.
SHIFTING DEMAND
New materials and technologies aren’t the only ways to address energy storage challenges. Another approach is power management, points out Valerie Thomas, a professor who has a dual appointment in Georgia Tech’s Stewart School of Industrial & Systems Engineering and School of Public Policy. In a recent study, Thomas and Deepak Divan, professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, looked at how a high adoption rate for electric vehicles would affect the cost of various sources of electricity. Among their findings: If you could control when vehicles are charged, so it could be done when most cost-effective for grid operators, the cost of electricity for the entire power system would be reduced — including for renewables. Power management is nothing new, Thomas said, pointing to demand-response programs where utilities pay customers to reduce power usage during hours when energy consumption is the highest. “It’s something I think needs more emphasis,” she said. “Energy challenges are typically viewed from the supply side; not to say we don’t want a better battery, but there are some very interesting opportunities on the demand side — changing how we use energy and how the system is managed.” At the same time, major advances in energy storage, especially for small-scale renewables, have the potential to dramatically change the power game, Thomas said. “For example, if it became easier to produce and store electricity on an individual basis, then we might not need the grid anymore.” Added Thomas: “These are really interesting times. Significant advances in energy storage could alter our entire way of managing and delivering electricity — resulting in less vulnerability to power outages and real environmental pluses.” T.J. Becker is a freelance writer based in Michigan. She writes about business and technology issues.
Professor Valerie Thomas is studying how a high adoption rate for electric vehicles would affect the cost of various sources of electricity. Among the findings: ÂControlling when vehicles are charged could reduce the cost of electricity for the entire power system.
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E X P L O R E R S From ice shelves in Antarctica to volcanic mountains in Africa, Georgia Tech scientists and engineers are traveling the globe to take on some of the world’s toughest challenges. BY BRETT ISRAEL ILLUSTRATION BY YUKO SHIMIZU
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RIGHT A lionfish swims in the waters of Belize. Lionfish are an invasive species in the Caribbean. OPPOSITE TOP Corals spawn at night in the waters off Carrie Bow Cay, Belize. BOTTOM A shark charges toward a scuba diver in the waters of Fiji.
That’s how many Danielle Dixson and colleagues speared during a single day of diving at the Carrie Bow Cay research station in Belize. This invasive species has infested the waters of the Caribbean. For scuba-diving scientists like Dixson, studying coral reefs here isn’t just difficult, it’s dangerous. While spearfishing, lionfish spines poked through the “lionfish-proof” catch bag trailing behind Dixson. A quick turn, a bump of the catch bag, and three spines containing painful venom lodged deep in her leg. The assistant professor in Georgia Tech’s School of Biology then began monitoring the swelling in her leg — while still monitoring coral spawning for her research. Dixson worked through the pain to finish her coral larvae collection, but got off the island before things took a turn for the worse. “The ER doctor told me if I had stayed on the island for one more day, I might have had permanent soft tissue damage,” Dixson said. Part of a lionfish spine is still buried in her leg. She keeps the remainder of the spine in a glass jar on her desk. From ice shelves in Antarctica to volcanic mountains in Africa, Georgia Tech scientists and engineers are traveling the globe to take on some of the world’s toughest challenges. They are exploring remote locations, new areas of science, and different ways for Georgia Tech to make the world a better place. The Institute’s seasoned explorers and adventurous spirit are attracting a fresh generation of scientists with a passion for getting out of the lab and figuring out firsthand how the world works. “Engineers are doers and problem-solvers,” said Joe Brown, an assistant professor in the Georgia Tech School of Civil and Environmental Engineering. “We get out in the field and make things happen.” In the past year alone, Brown spent six weeks in Mozambique, two weeks in India, a week and a half in Cambodia, and two weeks in Zambia.
Under the Sea
Belize isn’t the only remote location where Dixson has conducted research missions. She has traveled to the Great Barrier Reef and to Fiji, where she collaborated with Mark Hay, a professor in the School of Biology, who once spent 10 days underwater in the Aquarius lab off the coast of Florida to study coral reefs. In 2014, Dixson and Hay published an article in the journal Science showing that restricting fishing in certain areas might not be enough to help damaged coral reefs rebound beyond those borders. The researchers traveled to the main island of Fiji, on the country’s coral coast. They discovered that coral larvae and 4 0 w w w. r h . g a t e c h . e d u
juvenile fishes are picky about where they choose to settle. Both coral larvae and juvenile fishes can smell the difference between a reef that is unhealthy and one that is a suitable home. For the study, the researchers dove among some of the most breathtaking coral reefs on the planet, collecting samples of fish and coral. They lived in a village called Votua, near the town of Korolevu on the island of Viti Levu, where overfishing of a key species has led to coral reef degradation. To reverse this trend, they not only studied the reefs, but also navigated cultural differences to inform the village elders that they needed to protect certain key species so their reefs would stay healthy enough to feed future generations. “We sat on the floor, drank kava, and ate fish heads with the chief,” Hay said. “Culturally, that’s what the leaders do, and this is where the important discussions and information-sharing take place. At the end of the evening, if they trust you, they’ll tell the villagers, ‘OK, no more taking this fish.’ In some villages, that works pretty well, sometimes it’s a little chancy.” Kim Cobb, a professor in the Georgia Tech School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, also scuba dives in the name of science, but she does it with a big drill. Cobb and her lab explore the corals of Christmas Island, an atoll in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. They use a massive underwater hydraulic drill with a
DANIELLE DIXSON
Fortytwo lionfish.
CORAL: ABBY WOOD; SHARK: MARK HAY
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diamond-encrusted drill bit to bore into coral, removing core samples that provide clues about how the climate has changed over the past 10,000 years. “I do all the drilling myself,” Cobb said. “It’s tough. The drill is very heavy underwater, and there are always surging currents.” Cobb’s lab focuses on so-called hindcasting, comparing models of Earth’s past climate with data from fossil coral records, which is critical to optimizing climate models that will forecast, among other things, how the El Niño climate pattern will change as the Earth’s climate changes. Samples from modern coral reefs provide data from the past 50 to 100 years. Older coral can provide data from the past centuries and millennia. One of Cobb’s drilling expeditions was featured on Showtime’s Years of Living Dangerously. The show followed her to the equator in 2013 to capture the drilling process in action. For her next mission, Cobb and her students will return to Borneo where they will study cave stalagmites that also hold clues to the Earth’s past climate. “These are stunning sites, it’s just incredible that we can go there and do research,” Cobb said.
KIM COBB
At the Poles
Britney Schmidt, an assistant professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, has made three polar plunges to Antarctica. At McMurdo Station, her team, including engineers from the Georgia Tech Research Institute led by Mick West, built a robotic underwater vehicle called Icefin and deployed it to explore the underside of the ice shelves flowing off the continent. The team has been trying to figure out how these ice shelves interact with the ocean, a process that’s poorly understood. These are the first explorations of their kind. “I love physics and love that you can apply it to the natural world, but I don’t want to just do physics on a whiteboard,”
You’re standing on a place that people died to get to less than 100 years ago. Even though we’re here now with boats and a buffet, you can’t lose track of that.
OPPOSITE Professor Kim Cobb operates a hydraulic drill underwater off Christmas Island. ABOVE Members of Cobb’s lab explore the caves of Borneo.
Schmidt said. “I came to Georgia Tech because it was possible to do these missions.” The clues they find about the environment under Antarctica’s ice shelves, and the life that thrives in these harsh conditions, will help in the search for life on other planets, namely Europa, a moon of Jupiter. Antarctica’s icy oceans are remarkably similar to Europa’s ice-capped oceans. “Every day that I walk outside on Antarctica, I feel like I’m standing on Europa. It’s another world,” Schmidt said. “It’s like I tell my group: You’re standing on a place that people died to get to less than 100 years ago. Even though we’re here now with boats and a buffet, you can’t lose track of that.” Schmidt isn’t the only Georgia Tech scientist working in Antarctica. Jeanette Yen, a professor of biology, completed her third polar plunge in December 2014. Her team is studying an organism that serves as a “canary in the coal mine” for climate. R E S E A R C H H O R I ZO N S 4 3
Ground Game
During a research trip to South Africa, Joe Brown found an unexpected visitor in his room — a wild baboon. The baboon had let itself in through the window and ransacked Brown’s room before escaping out the same window. Such is the life of an engineer in a faraway land. Brown travels as often as possible to work on water and sanitation infrastructure in underserved communities. As part of a 4 4 w w w. r h . g a t e c h . e d u
TOP LEFT A GoPro camera on the Icefin robotic vehicle provides a look at the bottom of the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica. ABOVE Mick West (right), an engineer with the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), and GTRI research assistant Matt Meister stand next to Icefin in the moments before it is deployed through the ice shelf.
three-continent research consortium studying how crowdsourcing could help clean up rural drinking water, his team explores the problems of clean water in rural areas and urban slums, navigating cultural barriers as well as engineering problems. “We’re sometimes a little bit of a tourist attraction to the local residents,” Brown said. “Socially, if you’re working in that kind of environment, you have to have an easygoing, can-do attitude, because people will stare at you. You have to roll with the punches.” Georgia Tech engineers are dispelling stereotypes about not being able to communicate effectively. Not only are they passionate when talking on campus about their work, they are able to travel to foreign lands, navigate different cultures, and collaborate with local residents to solve problems. Tony Giarrusso, a senior research scientist in the Center for Geographic Information Systems in the Georgia Tech School of Architecture, is working closely with the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International and park rangers in Rwanda to monitor the mountain gorilla population in Volcanoes National Park. His work involves turning the rangers’ tracking data into easy-to-visualize
UNDERWATER: MICK WEST; DEPLOYMENT: JACOB BUFFO
From aboard the research vessel Lawrence M. Gould, they cruise past giant icebergs and through rafts of loose ice to Palmer Deep, a location where the water is 2,000-feet (600 meters) deep. From the ship, they lower plankton nets into the zero-degree Celsius water and haul live animals aboard. They carry each day’s catch back to the lab at Palmer Station. There, the scientists study plankton swimming motion with video cameras in a room kept at zero degrees Celsius, to mimic the animals’ natural environment. Plankton are the base of the food chain, but their environment is changing. Around the southern continent, the water temperature is stable at around zero degrees Celsius because of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. Carbon dioxide, a potent greenhouse gas, easily dissolves in the cold water, acidifying the ocean. The acidifying oceans might be triggering a destructive chain of events underwater that could harm the food web around the world. On the voyage home from Palmer Station, a humpback whale surfaced behind their boat for a few minutes. The whale was close enough for Yen to see the barnacles around the mouth and on the fins. The whale cleared its blowhole and dove under the boat, its tail never breaking the surface. “These huge creatures are dependent on tiny aquatic organisms at the bottom of the food chain for survival,” Yen said. “Knowing that is what keeps me coming back to Antarctica.” At the other pole, Greg Huey, professor and chair in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, is exploring the atmosphere above the Arctic. Huey conducts flight missions above the Arctic Circle to collect samples of the atmosphere. “You see just an endless expanse of white when you look out,” Huey said. Members of his lab don protective face gear as they venture into the frigid landscape to work on their atmospheric monitors on the ground. His lab found unprecedented levels of molecular chlorine in the air above Barrow, Alaska. The study was the first time molecular chlorine had been measured in the Arctic, and the first time that scientists had documented such high levels of molecular chlorine in the atmosphere — levels that have a strong influence on the Arctic’s atmospheric chemistry. The chlorine could affect the concentrations of mercury and ozone in the northern atmosphere. “We go there to measure very reactive species in the air because you can’t bring them home to do it,” Huey said.
Going Local
information about how the gorillas interact with each other or move in response to something in the environment. So, in collaboration with the organization, Giarrusso traveled to Rwanda for two weeks to teach their scientists and officials the best ways to track gorillas and visualize their movements with modern technology. He was also there to take vegetation readings to train software that recognizes different kinds of plant life. “The park was like Jurassic Park, it was amazing,” Giarrusso said. “As soon as we got in, we could hear gorillas.”
Nga Lee (Sally) Ng, assistant professor in the School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering and School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, investigates air pollution a little closer to Georgia Tech’s campus. Atlanta, known as a city in the forest, is a perfect place to study how chemicals emitted by human activities and trees interact with each other and affect air quality and climate. Ng travels with her Georgia Tech colleagues, including Rodney Weber and Nenes, to monitor sites around metro Atlanta. They also travel to the Talladega National Forest in Alabama, to tease apart pathways involved in aerosol formation. The team spent six weeks in the Talladega Forest, working in temporary labs as part of the largest U.S. atmospheric chemistry field project in decades: the Southeast Atmosphere Study. The research teams used instrumentation onboard aircraft and ground sites to better understand how chemicals emitted by human activities and plants interact with each other and affect air quality and climate in the southeastern United States. “The southeastern United States is a natural laboratory. It’s the best place to study this intriguing chemistry,” Ng said. “This is a great reason to be at Georgia Tech.”
Air up There
Crete is a Greek island in the Mediterranean Sea. On this pristine island is the Finokalia research station, where Athanasios Nenes, professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences and School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, goes to study how air pollution traveling across great distances interacts with
TONY GIARRUSSO
At the Coast
sunlight and affects climate. His group is also studying how pollution, especially when mixed with Saharan dust, can fertilize the oceans when it falls out of the sky. “The site is a science goldmine, a natural laboratory,” Nenes said. “Pollution can be transported over hundreds, even thousands of kilometers without being affected by other emissions along the way. Few sites elsewhere can offer this.” The research station is high on a hill, overlooking the blue waters of the Mediterranean. The station is packed with stateof-the-art scientific instruments and little else. “There is no running water and no toilets, so it’s a labor of love to work there,” said Katerina Bougiatioti, a postdoctoral researcher in Nenes’ lab. “There’s nothing but a few sheep nearby.” The research team stays in a small village of about 10 people that is a 20-minute drive from the research station. A local woman has befriended the researchers and cooks traditional Greek food for the team, often with fresh produce from her backyard. One day, a herd of goats caused a traffic jam on the drive to the research station.
Tony Giarrusso, holding an iPad, traveled to Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda to teach park officials how to monitor their mountain gorilla population.
On Sapelo Island, the bug spray won’t save you. Jennifer Glass and her students received that wisdom from a local scientist as they prepared for a long day of fieldwork on this remote barrier island on the Georgia coast. (See Exhibit A, inside front cover.) The surprise bite, the slap of skin that always comes too late, the never-ending itch to scratch — mosquitos, horseflies, red bugs, and no-see-ums are ubiquitous in this swampland. This is the baseline for scientific research in Georgia’s coastal marsh. For Glass’ four-woman team of biogeochemists, the bugs are but background noise. These scientists traveled 300 miles from Georgia Tech’s urban campus to this muddy hotbed of ecological research. They slogged through the marsh and removed chunks of the soil, called cores, sliced them up and took them back to their lab in Atlanta. Her lab was searching the marsh for new organisms and new routes of action in these chemical cycles. Some of these microbes produce greenhouse gases such as methane and nitrous oxide, both of which are many times more potent than carbon dioxide, the heat-trapping gas linked to climate change. Learning more about how microbes produce some gases and consume others could answer questions about the Earth’s ability to cope with greenhouse gas emissions. “This is one of the best parts of our job,” said Glass, an assistant professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. “This is what environmental science is all about: getting out and taking your own samples and getting to know an environment.” Brett Israel is a research news writer in Georgia Tech’s Institute Communications. He has degrees in biochemistry and molecular biology, as well as in journalism. R E S E A R C H H O R I ZO N S 4 5
Cory Hewett traces his entrepreneurial spirit to freshman year of high school when he purchased a spiral gumball machine and placed it in a sports bar in Peachtree City, a community south of Atlanta. By his senior year, he owned and managed more than 25 gumball and vending machines. Those early experiences helped him launch Gimme, a startup that has introduced hardware and an app to make vending machine operations more efficient for owners. But Hewett adds that the lessons and skills he’s gaining at Georgia Tech are crucial to further developing Gimme. “At Georgia Tech you learn how to solve problems, build practical things, and prototype your ideas,” Hewett said. “These skills give you the background and confidence to be an entrepreneur.” Hewett isn’t the only student exposed to such lessons. Faculty and administrators plan to make entrepreneurial confidence a signature feature of undergraduate learning at Georgia Tech. Through a combination of faculty-led and student-led programs, Georgia Tech is creating a startup pipeline that leverages the campus’ maker culture and encourages students to push their ideas even further. Possibly hundreds of student startups could be launched in the next three years. “The most important thing for us at Georgia Tech is graduating students who are going to be successful in a very rapidly changing international arena,” said Stephen Cross, Georgia Tech’s executive vice president for research. “We want our students to be well-versed in innovation and entrepreneurism.”
The Invention Studio is a student-run design-build-play space open to all Georgia Tech students. The studio is equipped with 3D printers, laser cutters, a waterjet cutter, an injection molder, and milling devices. It even contains a lounge and other meeting spaces.
WORK SHOP M A K E R C U LT U R E M E E T S S TA R T U P I N C U B AT O R S
story by Laura Diamond 4 6 w w w. r h . g a t e c h . e d u
photos by rob felt
See inside the Invention Studio. Download our tablet version at r.gatech.edu/iPad or r.gatech.edu/ android or visit our website at rh.gatech.edu.
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Cory Hewett is the CEO and co-founder of Gimme, a startup that creates and builds hardware and software to make vending machine operations more profitable for owners. The company has raised seed funding, begun manufacturing its own hardware and launched with a first customer.
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LEFT Rachel Ford and John Gattuso, two of the co-founders of FIXD, access the FIXD app to learn about car maintenance issues. ABOVE The FIXD device is plugged into a car’s diagnostic port, located just underneath the steering wheel, and connects the car to a person’s smartphone (BOTTOM) via Bluetooth. The app translates data from the sensor, explaining what might be wrong with the car, how soon it needs to be repaired, and how much the repair might cost.
Students are learning some of these skills in courses and programs led by faculty. During Startup Summer, teams of students spend 12 weeks assessing their ideas, participating in customer discovery, and meeting with potential investors. In the Startup Lab course, students hear from entrepreneurs about their experiences and then form teams to develop startup ideas. In the GT 2803 course, students work in interdisciplinary teams and explore opportunities for invention and discovery. Students are also learning some lessons more independently. The Startup Exchange meets weekly in the library and provides students with a collaborative hub to share ideas, successes, and failures. Invention Studio is a design-build-play space where any Georgia Tech student can experiment with different tools then build and prototype ideas. “Our vision is to offer a platform of programs for undergraduate entrepreneurs, beginning with their first day at Georgia Tech and continuing throughout their time here,” said Raghupathy Sivakumar, the Wayne J. Holman Chair Professor in Georgia Tech’s School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Sivakumar leads CREATE-X, a newly launched initiative to enhance undergraduate entrepreneurial confidence. (Georgia Tech alumnus Christopher W. Klaus has provided significant funding for CREATE-X, an accelerator for undergraduate startups.) Sivakumar is also involved with Startup Lab, Startup Summer, Idea to Prototype, and other entrepreneurial efforts on campus.
Faculty and administrators plan to make entrepreneurial confidence a signature feature of undergraduate learning at Georgia Tech. And, there is strong demand for these programs. About 30 students signed up for the first Startup Lab offered in 2014. This spring, more than 120 registered. Last year’s Startup Summer pilot saw 79 teams apply for eight spots. No one expects every student to launch a startup. Those who prefer to work for established companies will thrive if they are entrepreneurial, said Ravi Bellamkonda, the Wallace H. Coulter Professor and Chair of the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University. “The idea of intentionally providing the opportunity for students to explore entrepreneurism as part of their traditional education is a powerful one,” he said. “Can you create entrepreneurs? I like to think we can.” R E S E A R C H H O R I ZO N S 4 9
So, You Want to be an Entrepreneur Students at Georgia Tech who have big ideas have multiple avenues to transform these ideas into startups, and they can participate in these startup programs simultaneously.
STARTUP EXCHANGE This student group officially meets every Friday at 4 p.m. in the old rehearsal studio on the first floor of the Library. But, students meet and work there informally nearly every hour of every day, sharing their ideas, successes, and failures.
INVENTION STUDIO This is a design-build-play space open to any Georgia Tech student. It is for students — managed by students. Students from all majors are encouraged to experiment with the cutting-edge tools, machines, and printers.
GT 2803 This is an undergraduate course — typically for freshmen and sophomores — that helps students explore opportunities for invention and discovery. It is also called: “Your Idea, Your Invention.” Students work in interdisciplinary teams.
STARTUP HOUSE This living-learning community is open to sophomores, juniors, and seniors. It is centered on the lean startup methodology, with the community working collaboratively to evaluate business models, build actual startups, and create viable products and prototypes.
STARTUP LAB This course begins with students hearing from a different guest each week about his or her experience in a startup or entrepreneurial environment. Students then team up to develop a business model for a startup idea of their own.
STARTUP SEMESTER Startup Semester is not a course. Students apply and, if selected, they enjoy access to veteran entrepreneurship mentors, meet with potential investors, and work with group software and guest speakers.
INVENTURE PRIZE This is an annual innovation competition for undergraduate students. First place finishers win $20,000, plus a free patent filing, and an automatic spot in the summer cohort of Flashpoint, Georgia Tech’s business creation and innovation program. The second place prize is $10,000, plus the patent filing and Flashpoint spot.
IDEA TO PROTOTYPE This is for students who want to advance their ideas for a potential value-creating product by performing basic research, analysis, and testing leading to a proof-of-concept prototype.
STARTUP SUMMER This is a faculty-led, student- focused 12-week program. It allows student teams to launch startups based on their ideas, inventions, and prototypes. The teams come in with a clear hypothesis and, in exchange, receive grant money, mentors, lessons, exposure, and intellectual property protection.
STARTUP GAUNTLET Startup Gauntlet is a six-week startup lab for first-time or experienced entrepreneurs. Each week, hypotheses are made about the world, interviews are held, and results reported in a group setting in front of an expert instructor team. The result is an evidence-based startup business model, which must be developed before even building a prototype.
VENTURELAB Working with students and faculty, VentureLab helps create startup companies based on Georgia Tech research and ideas. Since 2001, it has launched 150 companies that have attracted more than $700 million in funding.
The annual InVenture Prize is among Georgia Tech’s more established and well-known programs that foster entrepreneurial spirit. Since 2009, this contest has rewarded students with cash prizes and free patents for big innovations that aim to solve the world’s problems. The first place prize is $20,000 plus a spot in Flashpoint, Georgia Tech’s startup accelerator program. “The culture we have underway started with InVenture, and now we are moving on to the next phase,” Bellamkonda said. “Does the idea stand up to commercial value, and can it survive on its own merit? Have the students caught the entrepreneur bug? Are they thinking of the second and third big idea?” 5 0 w w w. r h . g a t e c h . e d u
ATDC Students who successfully complete VentureLab may want their next stop to be the Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC). ATDC helps transform fledgling ventures into viable businesses. It is one of the nation’s premier technology startup incubators.
Extracurricular Class for Credit Competition Community Limited Time Summer Year-Round
More information about these programs and others can be found at www.create.gatech.edu.
It’s safe to say that Rachel Ford has the bug. The biomedical engineering student came in second in the 2014 InVenture competition as a member of team Sucette, which redesigned the pacifier to fit more naturally with a baby’s mouth and growing dental structure. It also changed colors when the baby has a fever. She continued working on the device during last summer’s Startup Summer program. As a result of that program and learning more about consumer and market demands, Sucette now emphasizes the “smart” design aspect of the pacifier, which enables a change in color to let parents
OFFICIAL WHITE HOUSE PHOTO BY PETE SOUZA
Jane’s journey: Startup Lab to Summer program to Startup House etc. Et quo quas aceate nullam enis molupta eroritas ex ea culliquis et etus idiamusciti dolenem quiae voluptatem. Itasimu Bitatia por audanimus as quos es ra con es pa quidel min corepre nost, net Torum qui occum et ma doluptur, sum faci to derite alitem audam.
know when their child is becoming sick. It changes color internally when fever is detected, and externally when temperatures may pose risks of heat-related illness. “What I’m doing now is so different from what I learned in my technical engineering classes,” Ford said. “But I would not have been able to do any of this without what I’m learning in the startup classes and programs.” Ford is also part of a startup that produces a device that helps people understand what’s going on with their cars: FIXD. The device is plugged into a car’s diagnostics port, just underneath the steering wheel, and connects the car to a person’s smartphone via Bluetooth. It explains the cause behind an illuminated check engine light, diagnoses the seriousness of the problem, and provides repair estimates. The sensor also delivers updates on when the car needs repairs and regular maintenance. Ford and John Gattuso, another member of the team, developed the company during last year’s Startup Lab course and continued working on it during Startup Summer. Since then, they have raised more than $30,000 on Kickstarter and are accepting pre-orders for the device. FIXD wasn’t the group’s original idea, however. They first considered a device to make regular breast self-exams easier to complete. But after interviewing about 80 women, they realized this wasn’t a feasible idea for a startup. Faculty in the Startup Lab told them to pivot to something else. That advice — combined with a call Gattuso received from his mom when her car’s check engine light came on — led the team to create a diagnostic tool for cars. “Our original idea failed, but it led us to a successful one,” Gattuso said. “The programs here let us know it’s OK if our first ideas fail, and then they show us how to turn what we’ve learned into an even better idea.” Faculty members aren’t the only ones helping eliminate the anxiety students can feel when starting a company. Student entrepreneurs are mentoring one another and sharing what they’ve learned. Partha Unnava teaches entrepreneurship and customer discovery to students participating in Startup Semester. Students don’t get course credit for the 10-week program, but they are exposed to the entrepreneurial mindset, meet potential mentors, and learn about acquiring seed money.
Partha Unnava explains the “Better Walk” crutch to President Barack Obama during the first White House Maker Faire held in the summer of 2014. Unnava redesigned crutches to minimize underarm pain and fatigue for users. Unnava, a former Georgia Tech student who withdrew from school to focus on launching Better Walk, also teaches entrepreneurship and customer discovery to students participating in Startup Semester.
“It’s about supporting one another and sharing what we’ve learned and making people realize they can do this, and they can do this now while still in college,” he said. Unnava is a former Georgia Tech student who withdrew from school to focus on launching his company, Better Walk, which redesigned the crutch to minimize underarm pain. He got the idea after spending six weeks hobbling uncomfortably on crutches after breaking his ankle. The invention landed him in the 2014 InVenture Prize finale. Shortly after that, President Barack Obama was trying out the crutch at the first White House Maker Faire where Unnava presented him with a letter on behalf of 150 universities expressing their commitment to strengthening their maker movements and services. Then earlier this year, Unnava was named to Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list, which features “game-changing entrepreneurs.” Not all students will see that same success and only a small percentage will ever start their own companies. But the goal is to provide the opportunity to all students, regardless of their major, said Steve McLaughlin, the Steve W. Chaddick School Chair and Professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. “We want to support entrepreneurial confidence and give our students another skill,” he said. “Startups and established companies value employees who are creative and entrepreneurial.” Not only do students learn about entrepreneurship and business, they also gain the technical skills that allow them to address today’s challenges. Hewett’s Gimme hardware plugs into a port just inside the door of vending machines and communicates with the mobile application. The app takes information from the vending machine about sales and cash on hand, making it easier for owners to manage their routes and know when to replenish supplies. “I knew this was an issue for vending machine operators, and it’s at Georgia Tech that I learned the technical skills to fix it,” Hewett said. “If you want to create your own job, this is where you learn to do it and how to do it right.” Laura Diamond, of Georgia Tech’s Institute Communications, writes about entrepreneurship and student issues. She is a former newspaper reporter. R E S E A R C H H O R I ZO N S 5 1
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ACID TEST
Energy research center tackles materials that tackle pollutants BY RICK ROBINSON // PHOTOS BY ROB FELT
Associate Professor Krista Walton directs the Department of Energy-funded Energy Frontier Research Center that is investigating how acid gases affect materials used in pollution control.
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Earth’s air pollution and climate change issues are linked to combustion and its detrimental byproducts: greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2) and gases that pollute the atmosphere such as nitrogen oxides. The good news is that today’s advanced materials can trap or neutralize these acid gases right in the smokestack, or even capture CO2 straight from the atmosphere. Multiple research teams are working to increase the efficiency of these important materials; the Department of Energy (DOE) is currently funding a number of such projects under its Energy Frontier Research Center (EFRC) program. But a key question remains: How do acidic gases affect materials designed to lower their emissions? How durable, for instance, will these advanced materials be when subjected to realworld environments like the hot exhaust flues of a power plant? “There’s a knowledge gap here — scientists don’t yet understand the fundamentals of how acid gases like carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and sulfur oxides interact with important classes of materials,” said Krista Walton, an associate professor in the Georgia Tech School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering (ChBE). “If you create a new material that separates CO2 with record efficiency in the lab, but it only lasts a few days in an industrial environment, then it’s not a useful advance.” The DOE recently awarded a four-year $11.2 million grant to Georgia Tech to lead an EFRC that studies materials degradation caused by acid gases. Directed by Walton, the new center involves research teams from six universities and a government laboratory. Collaborating with Georgia Tech are researchers from Lehigh University, University of Alabama, University of Florida, University of Wisconsin, Washington University in St. Louis, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Dubbed the Center for Understanding and Control of Acid Gas-Induced Evolution of Materials for Energy (UNCAGE-ME), the Georgia Tech-led effort is one of 10 new EFRCs recently funded by the DOE.
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MULTIPLE RESEARCH THRUSTS The seven partners are investigating a range of solid materials — including metals, polymers, ceramics, and composites — that have the ability to trap or chemically alter acid gases via separations/ catalysis techniques. The overall study is divided into several research thrust areas, and the goal in each case is to understand, down to the molecular level, exactly what’s taking place as acid gases interact with a given material. The EFRC is multifaceted, Walton explained. Unlike many materials efforts that focus on designing a single material for a target application, this center covers numerous materials and employs a wide range of research techniques. Moreover, the research process itself is highly integrated — most of the principal investigators from the seven partner institutions are involved in two or more projects. The center is tackling four major research thrusts, all concerned with materials relevant to industry. The work focuses on acid-gas interactions with: Model nonporous oxide-based solids, such as copper and titanium oxides. Ordered (crystalline) porous materials, such as metal organic frameworks. Disordered porous materials, including carbons and amine/oxide composites. External surfaces of porous materials.
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“The multiple partner structure of this EFRC fits our culture at Georgia Tech very well, because we’re accustomed to collaborating,” said David Sholl, a ChBE professor who is an EFRC deputy director and leader of the thrust investigating external surfaces of porous materials. “It means we can do things that no individual person can do alone; typically three, four, or even five different research groups are contributing their techniques to each thrust.” Professor Christopher W. Jones of ChBE is leading the thrust on disordered porous materials, while Professor Sankar Nair of ChBE is leading the ordered porous materials thrust. Assistant Professors Michael Filler and Ryan Lively of ChBE, as well as Professor Thomas Orlando of the Georgia Tech School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, are also principal investigators in the center. Zili Wu of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory is leading the research thrust that is addressing model nonporous oxide-based solids.
BROAD-BASED CENTER Besides acid gases such as carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and sulfur oxides, industrial exhausts also contain smaller amounts of other problematic constituents like hydrogen sulfide, hydrogen chloride, and chlorine. Though these chemicals usually occur only in trace amounts, their effect on materials is also poorly understood and could be significant. Capturing these gases, or changing them into less-harmful chemicals, is accomplished via two main approaches: Adsorption separations or membrane separations are leading methods for capturing CO2. Adsorption divides a target molecule from other chemicals by making it adsorb — stick — to the surfaces of a material. Alternatively, membranes can allow a given chemical species to pass through while blocking others. Catalysis increases the rate of a chemical reaction by utilizing an additional ingredient known as a catalyst. In the catalytic converter of a gasoline-fueled vehicle, for example, this approach is used to generate several changes, including converting carbon monoxide into CO2 by exposing it to platinum or other elements. “We’ve sought to position our center to be both a catalysis center and a separations center,” said Jones, an EFRC deputy director. “Until now, the constituents of industrial exhaust have rarely been studied by a large collection of people who are all focused on understanding how they work.” ATOMIC-LEVEL ANALYSIS The EFRC’s numerous research teams are utilizing a wide range of investigative approaches and techniques to study how acid gases interact with and degrade materials. A typical first step might involve developing an entirely new material in a given class, so researchers can fully map and understand its molecular structure and composition, explained Nair, who is leading the thrust on ordered (crystalline) porous materials such as metal organic frameworks. An in-depth knowledge of the material’s makeup allows the researcher to chart the locations and the concentration of its defects and impurities. Once such fully mapped materials are available, researchers can perform experiments on them aimed at analyzing gas/ material interactions at the molecular level. Such complex investigations are conducted at several length scales using multiple techniques — including scanning tunneling microscopy that allows researchers to view individual atoms, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, infrared or raman spectroscopy, X-ray crystallography and diffraction, and neutron scattering. “One of our hypotheses is that acid gases primarily interact with a material at so-called defect sites — also called heterogeneous
“This EFRC fits our culture at Georgia Tech very well, because we’re accustomed to collaborating. It means we can do things that no individual person can do alone” Georgia Tech researchers (left to right) David Sholl, Christopher Jones, and Sankar Nair are part of a team investigating the effects of acid gases on a variety of materials used in pollution control.
sites — within the material,” Nair said. “Now it’s quite possible that degradation could be taking place at these same sites. If so, we want to pinpoint how the interaction and the degradation are related.”
COMPUTER MODELING OF MOLECULES The EFRC, which involves some 50 researchers, including graduate students, is emphasizing its education mission along with its scientific one. Every student spends time at other institutions, becoming familiar with the other researchers and their investigative methods. The center’s experimental studies are being supported by extensive computational modeling efforts. Combining experimental approaches and computational techniques is key to achieving the fundamental knowledge that the center is working toward, said Sholl, whose own research focuses on computer modeling. Calculations made using computers are able to interpret experimental results in unique ways, and, in turn, experiments can help validate computer data. “What we ultimately want to know is, which atoms are on the surface of these materials and exactly where they are,” Sholl said. “There’s no experiment alone that can tell you that. We have to gradually deduce that information over time via a process of give-and-take that’s based on both experimental and computational methods.” Rick Robinson is a science and technology writer in Georgia Tech’s Institute Communications. He has been writing about defense, electronics, and other technology for more than 20 years. R E S E A R C H H O R I ZO N S 5 5
GLOSSARY
Concentrated Solar Power PAGE 56, POWER UP
Concentrated solar power, or solar thermal power, uses mirrors or lenses to concentrate sunlight onto a small area. Electricity is generated when this concentrated light is converted to heat to drive a steam turbine or another conversion technology. Georgia Tech researchers are developing ways to store larger amounts of heat using molten tin instead of the more common molten salts. They are testing the system using a powerful light source that simulates the sun.
Thermochemical Energy Storage PAGE 56, POWER UP
Researchers led by Professor Levent Degertekin are developing a single-chip catheter-based MEMS device that would provide forward-looking, real-time, threedimensional imaging from inside the heart, coronary arteries, and peripheral blood vessels.
Thermochemical systems store heat by using it to drive a reversible chemical reaction. The energy is released by driving the reverse chemical reaction, releasing stored heat that can be used to produce electricity. Georgia Tech researchers are using perovskite, a type of metal oxide prized for its electronic conductivity and oxygen exchange kinetics, for heat storage to drive an electricity-producing air cycle. In this application, the perovskites will enable concentrated solar plants to operate at higher temperatures, resulting in more efficient cycles.
Hindcasting
MEMS, or micro-electromechanical systems, are devices that operate at a very small size scale, on the order of microns (millionths of a meter) and even nanometers (billionths of a meter). At Georgia Tech, researchers are developing MEMS technologies for use in a variety of applications: handheld devices, environmental sensors, medical diagnostic systems, and strain sensors. 5 6 w w w. r h . g a t e c h . e d u
PAGE 56, EXPLORERS
Hindcasting is a way of testing numerical climate models by inputting information about past climate forcing and seeing how well the model’s output matches past observations of climate. At Georgia Tech, scientists are comparing model simulations of Earth’s past climate with data from fossil coral records, which is critical to testing climate models that will forecast, among other things, how the El Niño climate pattern will change as the Earth’s climate changes.
Invention Studio PAGE 56, WORK SHOP
This is a design-build-play space for Georgia Tech students, managed by Georgia Tech students. Students from all majors are encouraged to experiment with the cutting-edge tools, machines, and printers. It complements other programs that help students transform their ideas into startup companies.
R O B F E LT
MEMS PAG E 5 6 , U N S E E N M A C H I N E S
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GENERAL INQUIRIES AND OFFICE OF THE EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT FOR RESEARCH KIRK ENGLEHARDT Director, Research Communications Georgia Institute of Technology 404-894-6015 kirkeng@gatech.edu INDUSTRY COLLABORATION AND RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES DON MCCONNELL Vice President, Industry Collaboration 404-407-6199 donald.mcconnell@gtri.gatech.edu CORPORATE RELATIONS AND CAMPUS ENGAGEMENT CAROLINE G. WOOD Senior Director, Corporate Relations 404-894-0762 caroline.wood@dev.gatech.edu
CORE RESEARCH AREA CONTACTS BIOENGINEERING AND BIOSCIENCE CYNTHIA L. SUNDELL Director, Life Science Industry Collaborations Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience 770-576-0704 cynthia.sundell@ibb.gatech.edu ELECTRONICS AND NANOTECHNOLOGY DEAN SUTTER Associate Director Institute for Electronics and Nanotechnology 404-894-3847 dean.sutter@ien.gatech.edu ENERGY AND SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE SUZY BRIGGS Director of Business Development Strategic Energy Institute 404-894-5210 suzy.briggs@sustain.gatech.edu
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MANUFACTURING, TRADE, AND LOGISTICS TINA GULDBERG Director, Strategic Partnerships Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute 404-385-4950 tina.guldberg@gatech.edu MATERIALS
NATIONAL SECURITY MARTY BROADWELL Director, Business Strategy Georgia Tech Research Institute 404-407-6698 marty.broadwell@gtri.gatech.edu RENEWABLE BIOPRODUCTS NORMAN MARSOLAN Director Renewable Bioproducts Institute 404-894-2082 norman.marsolan@ipst.gatech.edu PEOPLE AND TECHNOLOGY RENATA LEDANTEC Assistant Director Institute for People and Technology 404-894-4728 renata@ipat.gatech.edu PUBLIC SERVICE, LEADERSHIP, AND POLICY JENNIFER CLARK Director Center for Urban Innovation 404-385-7224 jennifer.clark@gatech.edu ROBOTICS GARY MCMURRAY Associate Director of Industry Institute for Robotics and Intelligent Machines 404-407-8844 gary.mcmurray@gtri.gatech.edu
JUD READY Lead Liaison, Innovation Initiatives Institute for Materials 404-407-6036 jud.ready@gatech.edu
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