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Video: Startup Coffee Company Has Engineering Roots at Georgia Tech

January 30, 2019, 10:54 am
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Watch as Dean McLaughlin learns about the roasting practices of TopTime Coffee

When Nolan Hall (Mechanical Engineering, 2017) came to Georgia Tech to study to be an engineer, he never imagined he would be launching not one, but two successful coffee suppliers in the Atlanta area.
 
The first is TopTime Coffee, a startup out of CREATE-X, a Georgia Tech initiative to instill entrepreneurial confidence in students and empower them to launch real startups. He went through CREATE-X Startup Launch in 2017 before graduating, greatly benefiting from the programs funding, mentoring and legal counsel. TopTime currently has a cart on Georgia Tech’s campus, caffeinating tired students on a daily basis.
 
Next up is Docent Coffee, a high-end coffee retailer providing amazing craft coffee, while not taking itself too seriously. Docent also showcases local artists on their coffee bags. And a little store by the name of Whole Foods has the product on their shelves as well. Docent has also taken over the Café & Velo space off Edgewood Avenue, serving coffee and snacks at the eatery.
 

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Samuel Graham Named to Georgia Tech Presidential Search Committee

February 1, 2019, 9:04 am
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Samuel Graham, the Eugene C. Gwaltney Jr. School Chair, George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, has been named to the Georgia Institute of Technology Presidential Search Committee which will conduct a national search to replace Georgia Tech President G.P. “Bud” Peterson, who will retire as president this summer. Dr. Graham earned his M.S. and Ph. D. at Georgia Tech, has been a member of the faculty since 2003, and became chair of the Woodruff School on July 1, 2018.

Woodruff School alumnus Thomas E. Noonan ('83) was also named to the committee. Mr. Noonan is the chairman of TEN Holdings LLC. 

 

Georgia Tech Press Release

Board of Regents Crest

The Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia (USG) today named members of the Georgia Institute of Technology Presidential Search Committee. The committee will conduct a national search to replace Georgia Tech President G.P. “Bud” Peterson, who will retire as president this summer.

“President Peterson has set records in research, enrollment and fundraising while leading Georgia Tech for the past decade,” Chancellor Steve Wrigley said. “I’m grateful for the members of the search committee who are dedicating their time and energy towards securing a bright future and talented leadership for Georgia Tech. We expect Georgia Tech’s next president to lead its world-class faculty, staff and students to even greater heights.”
 
Members of the Presidential Search Committee include:
  • Regent Ben J. Tarbutton III, committee chair
  • Regent C. Dean Alford
  • Regent Laura Marsh
  • Regent Sarah-Elizabeth Reed
  • Regent Sachin Shailendra
  • Regent Thomas Rogers Wade
  • Regent Don L. Waters, chairman, Board of Regents
  • Joeleen Akin, associate athletic director, Georgia Tech Athletic Association
  • Richard Barke, Ph.D., associate professor and director of undergraduate studies, School of Public Policy, Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts
  • Nisha D. Botchwey, Ph.D. associate professor, School of City and Regional Planning, College of Design
  • John F. Brock III, CEO, Coca-Cola European Partners (retired); chair, Brock Holdings LLC
  • David Brown, Facilities Infrastructure and Power Plant; chair, Georgia Tech Staff Council
  • Andrew Cox, president, Graduate Student Government Association
  • Evan Gillon, president, Undergraduate Student Government Association
  • Samuel Graham, Ph.D., chair, Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering
  • Joseph L. A. Hughes, Ph.D., professor, School of Electrical & Computer Engineering, College of Engineering; chair, Faculty Executive Board
  • Charles Isbell Jr., Ph.D., professor and executive associate dean, College of Computing
  • Michelle Jarrard, senior partner (retired), McKinsey & Company; board member, Lazard Inc., board member, Crawford & Company
  • Julia Kubanek, Ph.D., professor and associate dean, School of Biological Sciences, College of Sciences
  • Thomas E. Noonan, chairman, TEN Holdings LLC
  • Harold R. Reynolds, CEO, BankSouth
  • Beril Toktay, Ph.D., professor of operations management, Scheller College of Business
 
 
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Desai

February 6, 2019, 12:52 pm
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Jaydev Desai
Professor
UAW 3112
404.385.5381
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$25 Million Award Will Support Nuclear Nonproliferation R&D, Education

February 7, 2019, 6:53 am
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Anna Erickson with prototype radiation detector
 
A consortium of 12 universities and 10 national laboratories led by the Georgia Institute of Technology has been awarded $25 million from the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to develop new technologies and educational programs to support the agency’s nuclear science, security and nonproliferation goals.
 
The award will provide $5 million per year across a five-year period to link basic research at universities with the capabilities of national laboratories through the Consortium for Enabling Technologies and Innovation (ETI). The effort will focus on three core disciplines: computer and engineering science research through machine learning and high performance computing, advanced manufacturing and nuclear detection technologies. 
 
“We will be developing new enabling technologies to address not only the current challenges, but also those we might anticipate in the future,” said Anna Erickson, the consortium’s principal investigator and an associate professor in Georgia Tech’s Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering. “Beyond these technologies, we will create the next cohort of students and researchers able to join the national laboratories to implement cutting-edge technologies to help the NNSA achieve its goals.”
 
Among the potential research topics are understanding how advanced manufacturing might produce nuclear reactor components and fuel assemblies, machine learning to predict and uncover new phenomena affecting proliferation, and novel instrumentation to leverage cutting-edge capabilities in microelectronics, solid state technologies and other areas to detect radioactive materials.
 
“Machine learning and additive manufacturing are being actively used and pursued by leading private organizations, but they are not well utilized in our field today,” she explained. “We need to get away from conventional thinking and cultivate new technologies that take advantage of developments outside traditional nuclear engineering.”
 
The NNSA and the national laboratories are responsible for the nation’s nuclear stockpile, and also for preventing the spread of nuclear weapons and materials worldwide. That challenge is growing as new technologies – including additive manufacturing, also known as 3D printing – makes possible manufacturing that in the past could only be done in a limited number of facilities.
 
 
Anna Erickson with subcritical graphite pile
 
“We need to look at securing the technologies of the future,” Erickson said.
 
The technologies of the future will require people to use them. The ETI Consortium will be developing new coursework and pathways to national laboratory internships designed to attract the best students and give them a broad education that goes beyond traditional nuclear engineering. The courses will be taught by the participating universities, and potentially also through online platforms.
 
“We want to educate students who have a good understanding of new technologies in general,” Erickson said. “We will encourage them to challenge the world and see the world differently. Over the next five years, our goals are to create something that will have a lasting effect on this industry.”
 
The consortium’s education goal is to transfer more than 40 graduate students and 20 undergraduate students to the national laboratories over the next five years. As part of that strategy, it will provide approximately 70 internships, and establish eight faculty-student laboratory visit fellowships. 
 
Consistent with the vision of broadening the technology base, only a quarter of the faculty involved in the ETI Consortium will be traditional nuclear engineers. “People will come from all kinds of disciplines, from materials science to chemistry, advanced manufacturing and computer science. We are taking people with very diverse backgrounds and asking them to work together to create a new vision.”
 
In addition to Georgia Tech, the consortium will include the University of Wisconsin and The Ohio State University as leads of thrust areas, as well as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Michigan, University of Hawaii, Colorado School of Mines, Texas A&M University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Washington State University, Duke University and University of Texas at Austin.
 
The national laboratory partners will include Brookhaven National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Idaho National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.
 
“These grants will foster development of concepts and technologies that keep the United States at the forefront of nuclear monitoring and verification capabilities and allow us to nurture tomorrow’s nonproliferation experts,” said Brent K. Park, NNSA’s Deputy Administrator for Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation.  
 
At Georgia Tech, the effort will also include Steven Biegalski, professor in the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and chair of the Nuclear and Radiological Engineering and Medical Physics Program; Tim Lieuwen, executive director of the Strategic Energy Institute and a professor in the School of Aerospace Engineering; Amit Jariwala, senior academic professional in the School of Mechanical Engineering; Bernard Kippelen, the Joseph M. Pettit Professor and director of the Center for Organic Photonics and Electronics, and Chris Summers, professor emeritus and director of the Phosphor Technology Center of Excellence.
 
Success with the five-year ETI Consortium could help change the way students see the field of nuclear engineering and how the U.S. population views nuclear power and other components of the industry.
 
“We want people to think about nuclear engineering in a different light,” said Erickson. “Nuclear engineering has been very specific to a narrow discipline, but we are trying to show the community that we are much more. We want to create the next-generation thinker, and there is nothing traditional about this effort.”
 
The NNSA also announced the Consortium for Monitoring, Technology & Verification, a partnership of 14 universities led by the University of Michigan that is also funded for $25 million over five years. That organization seeks to improve U.S. capabilities to monitor the nuclear fuel cycle. “Its nonproliferation focus will be nuclear and particle physics, signals and source terms, and the physics of monitoring nuclear materials,” the NNSA announcement said.
 
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Media Relations Contact: John Toon (404-894-6986) (jtoon@gatech.edu).
 
Writer: John Toon
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Woodruff Alumna Wei Chen Elected to NAE

February 8, 2019, 10:50 am
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Wei ChenWoodruff School graduate Wei Chen is has been elected to the National Academy of Engineering (NAE). Chen, who graduated from Georgia Tech with a Ph.D in mechanical engineering in 1995, is the Wilson-Cook Professor in Engineering Design and Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Northwestern University's McCormick School of Engineering. She was honored for"contributions to design under uncertainty in products and systems, and leadership in the engineering design community."

Chen was one of 86 new members and 18 new foreign members announced by the NAE on February 7. She will not be the only 2019 inductee with Georgia Tech ties when the induction ceremony takes place on October 6 in Washington, D.C. Joining her will be Georgia Tech aerospace professor Krishan K. Ahuja and John H. Koon, professor of the practice Georgia Tech's School of Civil and Envionmental Engineering. 

NAE members with connections to the Woodruff School include professor Jan Shi, adjunct professor Tim Lieuwen, and professors emeritus Bob Nerem, Ward Winer and Ben Zinn.

Founded in 1964, the National Academy of Engineering is a private, independent, nonprofit institution that provides engineering leadership in service to the nation. It has more than 2,000 peer-elected members and foreign associates, senior professionals in business, academia and government, who are among the world’s most accomplished engineers.

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Dingreville

February 8, 2019, 12:54 pm
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Rémi Dingreville
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PatcherBot Going to Market

February 11, 2019, 5:42 am
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Automation technology developed in lab of Georgia Tech researcher Craig Forest being commercialized


For decades, a laboratory technique called patch clamping has been the gold standard for measuring the electrical properties of individual cells.
 
The process, which has been particularly useful in neuroscience, involves bringing a pipette filled with electrolyte solution and a recording electrode connected to an amplifier, into contact with the membrane of a single cell. So basically, researchers can eavesdrop on the furtive chattering of neurons in the ongoing effort to unlock the brain’s secrets.
 
Craig Forest and Ilya Kolb“Thousands of people practice this technique every day around the world,” says Craig Forest, a researcher in the Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience at Georgia Tech. “But it is painfully tedious and time consuming.”
 
So Forest and his colleagues decided to speed things up a bit. And now, their automated patch clamping robot – the ‘patcherBot’ – is being commercialized and will be made available to researchers worldwide with the signed licensing agreement between Georgia Tech Research Corporation (GTRC) and Sensapex, an electrophysiology device company based in Finland.
 
“This is exciting, because this technology is going from the lab, from some research journal articles, into the real world,” says Forest, associate professor in Tech’s Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and in the Coulter Department for Biomedical Engineering at Tech and Emory University.
 
“Our mission is to develop tools that make new science possible,” he adds.
 
Forest’s lab has been working on iterations of the patcherBot for at least six years, developing an image guidance version to target cells and automation technology to create a tight seal between the glass pipette (one micron in diameter) and the cell membrane, which provides a direct electrical connection to the inside of the cell.
 
In 2016 the research team overturned decades of dogma in the field, developing a robotic technique for reusing the pipettes– for years, went the assumption, these tiny glass tubes could only be used once and were then thrown away. Ilya Kolb, a former graduate student in Forest’s lab, questioned this and set out to find a cleaning method, now patent pending, that could adequately sterilize the pipettes.
 
“Traditionally, a researcher could do five to 10 recordings a day, and that’s if they’re really good,” Forest says. “Our idea was to clean the pipette automatically after each recording, so we could tell the robot to go back to cells over and over. You don’t even have to be in the room, just set it up and leave, and when you come back to the lab, you’ve recorded about 100 cells.”
 
Now, a researcher in a biology lab doesn’t have to be an expert in pipette pulling or patch clamping, says Forest, who has talked about the technology “democratizing this area of research,” and sees the potential of patch clamping becoming as commonplace as PCR (polymerase chain reaction), a common biology technique to make many copies of DNA.
 
Sensapex already has a customer – the first patcherBot will be delivered in April 2019 to Janelia Research Campus, one of the world’s leading neuroscience research centers, part of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. And Forest’s former grad student, Kolb, is now a researcher at Janelia, which has been on a 10-year optogenetic mission to develop fluorescent molecules – optogenetics uses light to control neurons that have been genetically modified to express light-sensitive ion channels.
 
At the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in October, where 30,000 neuro-researchers will gather in Chicago, Sensapex will have the patcherBot on display.
 
 
 
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McDowell Awarded Sloan Fellowship

February 19, 2019, 12:56 pm
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Sloan Winners
Four Georgia Tech faculty members, including one from the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, have been awarded research fellowships from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. The fellowships, awarded yearly since 1955, honor early-career scholars whose achievements mark them as among the most promising researchers in their fields.
 
“Sloan Research Fellows are the best young scientists working today,” says Adam F. Falk, president of the Sloan Foundation. “Sloan Fellows stand out for their creativity, for their hard work, for the importance of the issues they tackle and the energy and innovation with which they tackle them. To be a Sloan Fellow is to be in the vanguard of 21st-century science.”
 
Past Sloan Research Fellows include many towering figures in the history of science, including physicists Richard Feynman and Murray Gell-Mann, and game theorist John Nash. Forty-seven fellows have received a Nobel Prize in their respective field, 17 have won the Fields Medal in mathematics, 69 have received the National Medal of Science and 18 have won the John Bates Clark Medal in economics, including every winner since 2007. 
 
The new Sloan Fellows from Georgia Tech and Emory are:
 
Eva Dyer is an assistant professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University. She holds a Ph.D. in electrical and computer engineering from Rice University. 
 
Dyer’s research interests lie at the intersection of machine learning, optimization and neuroscience. Her lab develops computational methods for discovering principles that govern the organization and structure of the brain, as well as methods for integrating multi-modal datasets to reveal the link between neural structure and function. 
 
Matthew McDowell is an assistant professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and the School of Materials Science and Engineering. His research focuses on understanding how materials for energy storage and electronic devices change, transform and degrade during operation. He holds a Ph.D. from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Stanford University.
 
His research group uses situ experimental techniques to probe materials transformations under realistic conditions. The fundamental scientific advances made by the group guide the engineering of materials for breakthrough new devices. Current projects in the group are focused on 1) electrode materials for alkali ion batteries, 2) materials for solid-state batteries, 3) interfaces in chalcogenide materials for electronics and catalysis and 4) new methods for creating nanostructured metals.
 
McDowell in his lab
 
Chethan Pandarinath is an assistant professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering and in Emory’s Department of Neurosurgery as well as the Emory Neuromodulation Technology Innovation Center. Pandarinath also leads the Emory and Georgia Tech Systems Neural Engineering Lab. He holds a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Cornell University.
 
Pandarinath and an Emory-Georgia Tech team, including biomedical engineers, neurosurgeons and neurologists, are working to better understand how large networks of neurons in the brain encode information and control behavior by using sophisticated methods from the fields of artificial intelligence and machine learning. In studying the activity of these brain networks, Pandarinath’s team hopes to design new brain-machine interface technologies to help restore movement to people who are paralyzed, including those affected by spinal cord injury and stroke, and by Parkinson’s disease and ALS.
 
Konstantin Tikhomirov is an assistant professor in the School of Mathematics whose work is at the intersection of asymptotic geometric analysis and random matrix theory. He studies the geometry of high-dimensional convex sets with the help of probabilistic tools and using random linear operators, and the spectral distribution of random matrices by applying methods from discrete geometry. He holds a Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Alberta.
 
His research directions have multiple connections with applied science, in particular, for numerical analysis of large systems of linear equations, modeling communication networks and studying certain physical systems with large numbers of particles. 
 
Valued not only for their prestige, Sloan Research Fellowships are a highly flexible source of research support. Funds may be spent in any way a fellow deems will best advance his or her work. Drawn this year from 57 colleges and universities in the United States and Canada, the 2019 Sloan Research Fellows represent a diverse array of research interests.
 
Open to scholars in eight scientific and technical fields — chemistry, computer science, economics, mathematics, computational and evolutionary molecular biology, neuroscience, ocean sciences and physics — the Sloan Research Fellowships are awarded in close coordination with the scientific community. Candidates must be nominated by their fellow scientists, and winning fellows are selected by independent panels of senior scholars on the basis of a candidate’s research accomplishments, creativity and potential to become a leader in his or her field. Winners receive a two-year, $70,000 fellowship to further their research.
 
The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation is a philanthropic, not-for-profit grant making institution based in New York City. Established in 1934 by Alfred Pritchard Sloan Jr., then-president and CEO of the General Motors Corporation, the Foundation makes grants in support of original research and education in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and economics.
 
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Atlanta, Georgia  30332-0181  USA
 
Media Relations Contact: John Toon (404-894-6986)(jtoon@gatech.edu).
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Trailblazer Lecture Series

March 1, 2019, 8:30 am
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Interested students, faculty, staff, alumni, and members of the community are invited to join the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering for the first two installments of the Trailblazer Lecture Series which will bring influential leaders in engineering to the Georgia Tech campus to share their experiences. 
 
The first speaker (March 15) is Prof. Ellen Arruda, the Tim Manganello/BorgWarner Department Chair of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Michigan. Prof. Arruda is recognized as a world leader in the area of theoretical and experimental mechanics of molecular materials, including polymers, elastomers, composites, soft tissues, and proteins.  Her work has made tremendous impact on improving human health, advancing technologies for the repair of the anterior cruciate ligament and shock-absorbing helmets to prevent brain injury.
 
Prof. Arruda is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, president and fellow of the American Academy of Mechanics, a fellow of American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), and fellow and former president of the Society of Engineering Science. She is co-director of the University of Michigan’s (U-M) Exercise & Sports Science Initiative (ESSI) and has joint appointments in the U-M College of Engineering’s Macromolecular Science and Engineering Program and Biomedical Engineering Department.
 
On April 12 the Woodruff School will host Prof. Yet-Ming Chiang, Kyocera Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He holds S.B. and Sc.D. degrees from MIT, where he has been a faculty member since 1984. His work focuses primarily on advanced materials and their role in clean energy.  Some of his current topics include new cathode and anode materials for lithium ion batteries, phase transformations in electroactive materials, electrochemical device design, and electrochemical-to-mechanical energy conversion.
 
Prof. Chiang is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, and a Fellow of the Materials Research Society and the American Ceramic Society. He is a recipient of the The Economist’s Innovation Award (Energy and the Environment category), the Electrochemical Society’s Battery Division’s Battery Technology Award, the Materials Research Society’s Plenary Lecturer, an R&D 100 and R&D100 Editor’s Choice Award, and the American Ceramic Society’s Corporate Achievement, Ross Coffin Purdy, R.M. Fulrath, and F.H. Norton Awards.
 
Please join us on March 15 and April 12 as we welcome Prof. Arruda and Prof. Chiang to the Woodruff School for what promises to be a pair of very interesting lectures from leaders in the fields of mechanical and materials engineering. These lectures will give attendees an opportunity to learn, inspire, and be inspired.
 
 
 
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Fu and Hatzell Each Win NSF CAREER Awards

March 7, 2019, 7:05 am
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Kate Fu and Marta Hatzell
 
Woodruff School Assistant Professors Katherine Fu and Marta Hatzell have each received the Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The award is one of the NSF’s most prestigious honors in support of junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education, and the integration of education and research within the context of the mission of their organizations. 
 
Dr. Fu, who serves as the director of Georgia Tech’s Engineering Design Research Lab, received her 2019 CAREER Award for research aimed at gaining a deeper understanding of the role that error management cognitive bias plays in the design process, and to identify and test means to mitigate that bias.
 
“We all have cognitive bias, and it's been studied pretty deeply in psychology, but a lot of the psychology studies look at more abstract scenarios,” elaborates Fu. “They've often tested for cognitive bias in problems that don't map as directly to situations like engineers working in design teams. We’re trying to understand how cognitive bias might play a role design, and how we can help to mitigate some of that bias to help engineers be more objective in their approach to decision making and design.”
 
The education component of the award will include a collaboration with the Center for Puppetry Arts (CPA) in Atlanta. Dr. Fu and her students will work with the CPA to develop distance learning and on-site STEM outreach programs aimed at increasing the pipeline for groups typically underrepresented in engineering - women and minorities. She will also partner with the CPA to design interactive, STEM-focused exhibits driven by technology.
 
Dr. Hatzell, whose research focuses on electrochemical systems for waste conversion, water treatment, and energy generation, received her 2019 CAREER Award for research on the development of revolutionary technology that transforms air into fertilizer using only the sun as the source of energy. This would allow for fertilizers to be made locally on farms, reducing waste and carbon emissions released from current centralized fertilizer production practices. Using this method would also improve access to fertilizers in isolated parts of the world that lack access to the global supply chain. 
 
“Using electrons and photons to split water to produce renewable fuels like hydrogen is a relatively old and established science,” said Hatzell. “We are trying to extend these processes to split nitrogen gas, rather than water, to produce renewable chemical commodities, such as ammonia-based fertilizers. Fertilizers are essential to produce food and eliminate global hunger. In fact, one third of all the protein consumed globally is dependent on the application of fertilizers. Therefore, developing technologies which increase access to fertilizers will be an important grand challenge as global population continues to increase."
 
Through the education plan associated with Dr. Hatzell’s award, she will work with environmental science teachers at Arabia Mountain High School who are participants in the Georgia Intern Fellowships for Teachers program to develop a teaching component for K-12 science classrooms connecting the nitrogen cycle with food production and clean agriculture.

"The Woodruff School congratulates Professors Kate Fu and Marta Hatzell on their NSF CAREER Awards," said Dr. Samuel Graham, Chair of the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech. "These awards are a result of the leadership they have demonstrated in their fields and their vision to address critical challenges that must be solved in order to move these fields to the next level.  We are excited about these opportunities for Professors Fu and Hatzell and the inspiration and training they will bring to the next generation of researchers."
 
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Graduate Program Rankings Announced

March 12, 2019, 7:54 am
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The U.S. News & World Report engineering graduate programs were released on March 12, 2019, with the George W. Woodruff School's mechanical engineering program ranking fifth and nuclear engineering placing ninth in their fields. 

For the eighth consecutive year, all 11 of Georgia Tech’s graduate engineering programs are ranked in the top 10 in their fields in the 2019 U.S. News & World Report graduate rankings.
 
Overall the Georgia Tech College of Engineering’s graduate programs are ranked seventh in the country and third among public colleges.
 
"The faculty, staff and graduate students should be proud of the reputation and accomplishments of our eight engineering schools and the College as a whole," said Steve McLaughlin, dean of the College of Engineering. "With all Georgia Tech graduate engineering programs placed in the top ten nationally, it is through their hard work that we continue to be recognized as one of the premier engineering colleges in the Nation. We are gratified that our peers recognize the efforts we make toward providing an exemplary graduate school environment and exceptional levels of research productivity.”
 

2019 Rankings for Georgia Tech's Engineering Graduate Programs 

Aerospace - 4th
Biomedical– 3rd
Chemical - 7th
Civil– 3rd
Computer - 5th
Industrial - 1st                 
Materials - 7th
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Satish Kumar Named ASME Fellow

March 12, 2019, 12:04 pm
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Associate Professor Satish KumarSatish Kumar has been elected a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). The ASME Committee of Past Presidents confers the Fellow grade of membership on worthy candidates to recognize their outstanding engineering achievements. This distinction has been bestowed upon only 2% of ASME’s 130,000 members. 
 
Kumar, an associate professor in Woodruff School, joined Georgia Tech in 2009 after working at IBM Corporation for a year. He is being recognized for his research on investigation of energy transport mechanism across the solid-solid and solid-liquid interfaces relevant to micro- and nano-electronic devices and thermal management systems, and electro-thermal transport in carbon nanotube networks based thin-film transistors relevant to flexible electronics. Kumar is author or co-author of over 100 journal or conference publications, and recipient of 2005 Purdue Research Foundation Fellowship, 2012 Summer Faculty Fellow from Air Force Research Lab, 2014 Sigma Xi Young Faculty Award, 2014 DARPA Young Faculty Award, and 2017 Woodruff Faculty Fellow.
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InVenture Prize Winners Include ME Students

March 14, 2019, 1:04 pm
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Three engineering students teamed up to develop a first-of-its-kind medical device that took home the top prize and $20,000 at the 2019 Georgia Tech InVenture Prize.
 
Using ultrasound technology coupled with a custom-built guidance tool, team Ethos Medical has invented a guidance system to help physicians guide needles into the spine accurately and safely. The team is comprised of two recent Georgia Tech biomedical engineering graduates, Dev Mandavia and Cassidy Wang, and mechanical engineering alumnus Lucas Muller.
 
Mandavia is a previous InVenture Prize winner, taking the title in 2017.
 
“Our mission is to get lumbar punctures placed successfully on the first try, every time,” he said.
 
“To get to where we are and actually win this award really means something to us,” Muller said. “It’s validation that what we’ve been doing for the last year really matters.”
 
The team has been working full-time to launch the company since inventing the device on campus last year. They have also been working closely with doctors in the Atlanta area to develop a prototype that medical professionals will use.
 
“The next step for us is to begin the FDA testing process,” says Wang.
 
On top of the cash prize, Ethos Medical will receive a free U.S. patent filing by Georgia Tech's Office of Technology Licensing valued at approximately $20,000.
 
TremorTrainer placed second with their therapeutic weighted glove designed for patients suffering from tremors. They hope their invention will help those patients regain some of their fine motor skills — especially for everyday tasks that require the use of their hands, such as eating or writing.
 
The People’s Choice Award — voted on by the general public — was given to Nix for their e-cigarette device, custom-coded to taper, reduce, and ultimately eliminate nicotine intake. The team will receive $5,000, and they plan to use it continue developing their smoking cessation tool. Nix includes current mechanical engineering students Mohammed Aamir, Robert Patterson, Dustin Sloan, Milan Smart, and Cory Stine.
 
Team Nix, InVenture Prize People's Choice winners
 
This is the 11th year of the Georgia Tech InVenture Prize.
 
Team Ethos Medical will face off against inventors from all 15 Atlantic Coast Conference universities when they represent Georgia Tech at the 2019 ACC InVenture Prize, which will take place in Raleigh, North Carolina, on April 16 and 17.
 
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Managing the Magic

March 15, 2019, 1:38 pm
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Disney Imagineer Trevor Larsen discusses his career and transition from engineering into executive leadership   
 
Trevor Larsen, Executive Vice President, Facilities & Operations Services, Walt Disney Parks and ResortsIt’s no secret that many Georgia Tech engineers move into leadership roles as their careers progress. Leadership just seems to be in the DNA of many of our graduates. But what makes an exceptional leader and how exactly do our alumni rise to these positions?
 
Trevor Larsen, a two-time College of Engineering alumnus, certainly fits this leadership mold. He has spent his entire professional career spanning nearly 30 years with The Walt Disney Company. Trevor was featured in the Georgia Tech Engineers magazine back in 2014 where he discussed his early days with Disney as an Imagineer and some of the attractions he helped design. Recently, however, Trevor was promoted to Executive Vice President, Facilities & Operations Services for Walt Disney Parks and Resorts so we decided to have a conversation with him about his transition from engineering into executive leadership.
 
 
1.  Recently, your role expanded to Executive Vice President, Facilities & Operations Services. This new role now requires you to oversee facilities & operations services for not only the U.S. Resorts, but the international sites as well. Had this position existed before or was it recently created?
 
This role has gone through various changes and it now includes the oversight of Walt Disney World Resort, Disneyland Resort, Shanghai Disney Resort, Disneyland Paris Resort, Hong Kong Disneyland Resort, and Tokyo Disney Resort. The new role reflects our company’s tremendous growth both domestically and internationally.
 
 
2.  You provide leadership to support teams including: Engineering Services, Manufacturing, Project Management, Property Management, Construction, Horticulture, Distribution Services, Textile Services, Environmental, Utilities, Safety, Global Development, Design & Engineering, and Strategic Sourcing. How do you manage all of these teams? 
 
Overall, I am fortunate to have an incredibly competent and mature leadership team that does most of the heavy lifting for daily operations. They keep me well-informed of key issues, and I do my best to help provide required resources and remove barriers that allow them to do their job with excellence.
 
 
3.  Do some of these teams take more of your time than others?  
 
Each team tends to have a rhythm of its own. Teams involved more closely with the daily operations—primarily the services teams—can require immediate attention. Teams involved more closely with projects require periodic regular attention for scope reviews, project funding, and operational integration. 
 
4.  What teams do you enjoy working with the most?
 
I love learning and new experiences. With a scope this broad, there is almost never a day I don’t ask questions about topics I am not as familiar with. Our company is filled with subject experts that patiently explain until ‘I get it,’ and I am very appreciative of that.  Candidly, there is not a team I do not enjoy working with. Given the broad variety of topics I am exposed to, coming away with new understandings of what it takes to run the equivalent of small cities is very rewarding. 
 
5.  What teams did you have the least amount of experience working with before starting your current role?  
 
The majority of my early career was focused on either design or services. Developing—and successfully delivering—projects was newer to me. What I have learned is a good scope and subsequent design that reflects the client’s true needs is the key to success. Most often my role in projects is helping assure the project teams have adequate resources—and time—to develop the design to a state that can be accurately estimated and scheduled. 
 
6.  Was there a learning curve for understanding what some of these teams do and how they operate when you began your role?
 
In every case, yes! I am a big believer in job shadowing and field walks to understand how things work. I am very much a visual learner, so seeing helps me grasp more quickly than just hearing.
 
7.  How difficult is it to manage facilities and operations for six massive properties that are located worldwide? Are you still based in Florida? How much travel is required of you in this position? 
 
Thankfully, technology has enabled many virtual options to stay connected; however, there is no substitute for face-to-face interaction. I am based in Florida and travel to California once a month, and to the international sites at least twice a year.
Trevor Larsen examining a rollercoaster
 
 
8.  You have been in leadership roles for many years now. Did you want to move into leadership early in your career? Was that a goal that you set for yourself? 
 
My goal is always to be my very best at whatever I am doing; work with excellence toward excellence.
 
I wanted to be an engineer since elementary school. I come from a legacy of science and engineering—I guess it’s just in my DNA. When I was offered the opportunity to move into leadership, I really struggled with the idea of leaving my passion for design. After much wise counsel, I took the plunge into leadership. It was the hardest change I had ever experienced—developing people instead of machines—but also the most rewarding. It is an incredible experience being part of helping people achieve their true potential.
 
 
9.  How many individuals do you now supervise or directly report to you?
 
I have nine direct reports who oversee over 15,000 Cast Members.
 
10.  You have had 14 positions during your 28-year career with Disney. How have you managed to get promoted so many times within one company? Is this vertical growth within an organization a rarity these days? Is Disney unique in this regard?
 
Wow, I did not realize I have had that many positions! I have never had a fully defined career path, although I have tried to be ready in advance for opportunities that may present themselves. Disney is a very large organization with many diverse career opportunities. I have enjoyed the variety of roles I have been part of, and I think that variety helps keep me engaged and motivated to do more. 
 
11.  Did you seek out all of these positions or were there a few that you were automatically promoted to? 
 
Service anniversaries are automatic, but promotions are not! Advancing at any rewarding activities in life takes hard work and commitment—and sometimes a little luck. Being ready when an opportunity presents itself is the best way to be considered for advancement. My wife and I have raised four very fine young men, all engineers. We have told them all their lives that they are interviewing for a future job every day and in most cases do not even realize it. It is amazing to watch them enter the workplace based on relationships they established years prior. Leaders always remember the people willing to arrive a little early, stay a little late, and do the tasks that others don’t want to. A good work ethic makes a lasting impression.
 
 
12.  Do you still get to do any engineering these days in your leadership role? 
 
With an asset base of the size and complexity our company has around the globe, I am involved with daily technical sustainment challenges and a tremendous amount of new development. All of that stretches me to learn something new almost every day and the foundations of engineering—critical thinking, being curious, asking good questions—serves me well. But, I suspect the days of pulling out Shigley and doing stress analysis are in the past.
 
Trevor Larsen inspects a ride
 
 
13.  What advice do you have for young engineering professionals seeking to get into leadership/managerial roles? What skills and character traits are needed for a successful leader/executive? 
 
We use a simple leadership formula to help describe what success looks like: (L+M)*T*R
(Leadership Skills + Management Skills) * Technical Aptitude * Relationship Skills. 
 
In the early years of a technical career, Management Skills (planning, organization, etc.) and Technical Aptitude (core engineering competencies) should be the primary focus. If a young engineer wants to advance into a position of leadership, they should expand their competencies and understand what good leadership and relationship skills look like and how to apply them.
 
 
14.  What are some of the most challenging parts of your job? What are some of the most rewarding parts of your job?
 
In most cases, the most challenging parts of my job are also the most rewarding. The most important aspect of what I do is making sure we have the very best leaders in place that support and inspire their teams every day. That solid foundation of incredible people makes the job truly enjoyable.  
 
 
15.  Reflecting back on almost 30 years at Disney, what stands out the most? 
 
During the opening of The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, we stood at the exit and watched the reactions of guests as they exited. Some looked anxious having felt true weightlessness for the first time in their life. Some laughed uncontrollably. They all left with priceless magical memories that will last a lifetime, which by far, highlighted for me the most memorable and rewarding aspect of what we do at Disney.

 
16.  Any comments on gearing up for Walt Disney World’s 50th anniversary in 2021? 
 
Our teams are very excited and looking ahead with anticipation to the 50th anniversary. There is so much for our guests to look forward to leading up to this milestone, including the addition of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disney’s Hollywood Studios opening on August 29, 2019.
 
To learn more about Trevor and his work with Disney, please see the 2014 article titled "The Magic of Engineering". 

Story: Candler Hobbs
Photos: Disney
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Twelve Faculty Members Awarded Promotion

March 26, 2019, 6:04 am
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Capstone Design Past Sponsor Spotlight: Siemens

March 28, 2019, 12:37 pm
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Capstone season is upon us and there are over 50 Mechanical Engineering teams showcasing their projects at the Expo on April 23rd at the McCamish Pavilion. The Capstone Design course is generously supported by numerous corporate partners and alumni. This weekly article series will highlight a few select sponsors, their projects, and the student teams working on their projects.
 
Siemens sponsored a Mechanical Engineering Capstone Design project during the Fall 2018 semester and decided to implement the process that Team Blade and Vanes created during the Fall 2018 capstone course into their company. Siemens AG is a German company that manufactures products in several industries ranging from healthcare to energy. They are well-known for their groundbreaking ideas and innovations in various business sectors.
 
Team Blades and Vanes
 
Team: Blades and Vanes - Cody Dawson, Alex Kemenov, Shefali Mitra, Jonathan Thompkins, Ivey Ferron, Taylor Kuter
 
Problem: Gas turbine maintenance is a complicated process. In order to service vane carriers located underneath the rotor, the entire rotor must be removed from the turbine using a  specially-ordered crane. This step in the maintenance process is extremely time-consuming and can cost upwards of $3.2 million in labor, downtime, and equipment rentals. Siemens wants Team Blades and Vanes to develop a design solution that will allow workers to remove the lower half of vane carriers without needing to remove the rotor from the turbine units.
 
Proposed Solution: The most difficult part of designing a solution for Team Blades and Vanes was understanding the size and complexity of the machine. Vane carriers can weigh almost 2,000 kg. To make matters even more difficult, the team had to design their solution without seeing the gas turbine. Vane carriers are shaped like half of a ring and rotate along a track. The team plans to use a “dummy ring” to push out and replace the actual vane carriers. Because the “dummy ring” is the main component of the new process, the team did an analysis to determine what type of material the “dummy ring” should be created from in order to withstand the conditions vane carriers are under. The team was unable to build a functioning prototype due to the large size of gas turbines, but the team created smaller-scaled, 3D-printed models to test the concept. 
 
Impact: The original process of removing vane carriers would take 42 hours to complete. Utilizing Team Blade and Vanes’ new process would decrease the amount of hours to replace vane carriers by over 30%. There were also safety concerns associated with the process of removing the motor unit that will no longer be applicable since the vanes can be removed without having to take out the rotor unit. An estimated financial savings of $1 million per turbine maintenance is expected using this new process. After being presented the idea, Siemens has decided to implement the process created by Team Blade and Vanes company-wide.
 
Siemens Captone Project Solution
 
Siemens’ capstone sponsorship allowed them to explore projects where they currently have a lack of manpower. According to one of the senior managers at Siemens, Team Blades and Vanes’ project was “the best presentation he’s seen”. Siemens was impressed with the work and professionalism exhibited by Team Blades and Vanes. Because of the large cost and time savings, Siemens has decided to adopt Team Blades and Vanes solution company-wide.
 
Check out over 200 exciting capstone design projects with real-world impacts at the Spring 2019 Capstone Design Expo on April 23rd at 4:30 pm in the McCamish Pavilion. More information on how to RSVP is on the website. Please invite friends and family to attend and cheer for our graduating seniors.
 
All senior students in Mechanical Engineering culminate their undergraduate educational experience with the Capstone Design course in order to provide firsthand experience at solving real world problems in a team environment. Students typically work in teams of four to six individuals and each team is advised by a faculty member. Companies interested in submitting a project for consideration can contact Dr. Amit S. Jariwala, at 404-894-3931 or via email at amit.jariwala@gatech.edu.
 
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Capstone Sponsor Spotlight: LymphaTech

April 4, 2019, 10:01 am
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Capstone season is upon us and there are over 50 Mechanical Engineering teams showcasing their projects at the Expo on April 23rd at the McCamish Pavilion. The Capstone Design course is generously supported by numerous corporate partners and alumni. This weekly article series will highlight a few select sponsors, their projects, and the student teams working on their projects.


 

LymphaTech sponsored two Capstone Design teams during the Fall 2018 semester, to gain different creative solutions for the same problem. LymphaTech is a Georgia Tech startup which develops technology to detect subtle changes in the volume and circumference of limbs. Their 3D imaging system is 99% accurate in diagnosing lymphadema compared to the old method of using water displacement and a tape measure. LymphaTech’s scanning application allows people to scan for lymphadema with no training.
 
Problem: There are currently products on the market to help diagnose lymphadema, but most of these options are very costly and/or inhabit a large amount of space. This can make those options impractical for many clinics. LymphaTech has developed an iPad program that can be used to scan a person’s limb and create a 3D model of the limb. Their 3D-scanning software is more accurate than the previous method of detection which depended on limb circumference and water displacement. Currently, medical users are scanning patient limbs by hand. This has resulted in inconsistent scans as different users scan at different lengths and users are unable to maintain a consistent distance during the arm scanning process.
 
Projected Impact: Lymphedema is a painful disease that causes swelling in the limbs. Unfortunately, lymphedema is not reversible. Early discovery of the onset of lymphedema is critical for a patient’s health and quality of life. According to LymphaTech’s site, approximately 30-50% of breast cancer survivors and 15% of all other cancer survivors develop lymphedema as a side effect of their cancer treatment. After battling cancer, patients have another disease that they must be cognizant of. Approximately one million patients are at risk or diagnosed with lymphedema. If lymphedema is not caught before 20% of swelling, the patient must have therapy over the course of their lifetime. The cost of managing the effects of lymphedema costs around $250,000.
 
Team 1: Team J. SLIM Engineering
 
 
Proposed Solution: Team J. SLIM Engineering is creating a low-cost, automated scanning system for LymphaTech’s lymphedema-detecting iPad scanning software. One of the largest problems that the team faced was creating a solution that fulfilled the requirements while staying under budget. Many of their choices were dictated by price. The final design has an iPad mounted to a rotating arm. The arm rotates around the patient’s arm and completes a scan in two minutes. The machine has a push-handle on the back and is on wheels so that it can be easily maneuvered around the clinic.
 
 
Team 2: Team Baumeister
 
Proposed Solution: Team Baumeister decided to build a frame that was sturdy but low-cst, using aluminum and steel. A holder component for the iPad was 3D printed and attached to the metal frame. This frame is large enough for a patient to stand near the frame while the iPad scans the patient’s arm in a circular fashion. The team’s prototype has an immobile design, meaning that it would need to stay in one place at a clinic. An operator can move the arm and height using a series of color-coded buttons located on the side of the frame.
 
Capstone Design Programs Manager, Lucinda Erisman had a chance to speak with LymphaTech’s co-founder, Mike Weiler at the Fall 2018 Capstone Design Expo. Mike was excited by the professional work, communication, and solutions that both teams showed. The teams gave LymphaTech new ideas to rethink their business processes and keep improving. The company has since taken the recommendations made by the Fall 2018 team and is currently sponsoring two teams in this Spring 2019 semester. 
 
 

 

Check out over 200 exciting capstone design projects with real-world impacts at the Spring 2019 Capstone Design Expo on April 23rd at 4:30 pm in the McCamish Pavilion. More information on how to RSVP is on the website. Please invite friends and family to attend and cheer for our graduating seniors.
 
All senior students in Mechanical Engineering culminate their undergraduate educational experience with the Capstone Design course in order to provide firsthand experience at solving real world problems in a team environment. Students typically work in teams of four to six individuals and each team is advised by a faculty member. Companies interested in submitting a project for consideration can contact Dr. Amit S. Jariwala, at 404-894-3931 or via email at amit.jariwala@gatech.edu.

 

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Ritchie

April 10, 2019, 9:14 am
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Ashley Ritchie
Communications Officer I
MRDC 4112
404-894-3399
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Woodruff Graduates Hoonred at CoE Alumni Awards

April 11, 2019, 12:18 pm
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On Saturday, April 6 the Georgia Tech College of Engineering held it's annual alumni awards banquet, honoring  select alumni who have contributed to the profession, advanced in their careers, and enhanced the lives of others both personally and professionally. These outstanding alumni are reviewed by each of the eight schools within the College and formally submitted for selection. The measure of the College's success is not seen only in educating students, but in those students’ achievements and contributions after leaving campus. Those being recognized, as well as those who have been honored at past ceremonies, are stellar examples of the success and leadership the College hopes to inspire.
 
Four Woodruff School alumni were honored at the event- two were inducted into the Academy of Distinguished Engineering Alumni and two were selected to join the Engineering Hall of Fame.

 

Academy of Distinguished Engineering Alumni

Oscar Gallego

 
Óscar Gallego
B.M.E. ’91
European Director
Digital & Chairman of the Board Spain Digital
General Electric, Oil & Gas, Digital (BHGE)
 
Óscar received his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Georgia Tech in 1991 while simultaneously receiving his degree in mathematics and science from St. Andrews. He also earned an EMBA from the European University in Belgium and a Ph.D. in Economics & Business Science Cum Laude Unanimous from the Universidad Pontificia Comillas in Spain. In 1992 Óscar started working in manufacturing for Procter & Gamble in Belgium and came back to Spain as Global Account Manager for DHL. During this time he also worked as a consultant for Arthur D. Little. In 2001 he joined Hewlett Packard for 14 years and received a Global Account 2014 President’s Quality Award. He left HP to co-fund as CEO a 3D printing start-up and received the 2016 EU BS Entrepreneur Award. Currently, Óscar is a European Director for General Electric Oil & Gas Digital (BHGE) and Chairman of the Board for General Electric Spain Digital. Óscar works part time as Professor at IESE, Universidad de Deusto and ICADE. He volunteers as Board Director of Tetramax, Industry 4.0 lead at DigitalES, Consejeros Invest President and a mentor in IMPACT (European accelerator).
 
 
Dennis Kelly
 
Dennis W. Kelly
B.M.E. ’76
Inaugural Dean 
Q. William Hammack School of Business at Oglethorpe University
 
Dennis received his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Georgia Tech in 1976, and he earned his master’s degree in business administration from Harvard University in 1981. Immediately after graduation from Georgia Tech, Dennis held managerial positions with Procter & Gamble. He is currently the Inaugural Dean of the Q. William Hammack School of Business at Oglethorpe University. Prior to his appointment at Oglethorpe, Dennis served for seven years as the director of the Smithsonian’s National Zoological Park and Conservation Biology Institute in Washington, D.C. and Front Royal, Virginia. In 2016 and 2017, Dennis served as the Chair of the Board of Directors of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. He held the position of CEO of Zoo Atlanta from 2003 to 2010, and prior to Zoo Atlanta, he was President, CEO and Vice Chairman of Green Mountain Energy Co. He also held executive positions within Coca-Cola. Dennis is a veteran of the U.S. Army and currently serves on the board of the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering.
 

Engineering Hall of Fame

 
William Collins
 
William R. Collins, Jr.
B.M.E. ’57,
M.S.Mgt. ’63
CEO
Collins and Arnold Construction, LLC (Retired)
 
Bill earned his bachelor of mechanical engineering in 1957 and an M.S. in management in 1963 from Georgia Tech. He is a retired CEO of Collins and Arnold Construction, LLC, a company that builds retail and commercial facilities throughout the South. Born and raised in Atlanta, Bill served a stint in the U.S. Army before going to work for The Pinkerton and Laws Company for 32 years. He was president and chairman when he left in 1992 to start his own company. His previous business endeavors include ownership of 26 Burger King Restaurants, farming 6,000 acres, and ownership of over 15 self-storage facilities. An emeritus member of the Georgia Tech Foundation’s board of trustees, Bill has received the Joseph M. Petit Alumni Distinguished Service Award and the Academy of Distinguished Engineering Alumni. He has also served on the Governor’s Board of Community Affairs. Collins and his wife, Jackie, reside in Milton and have three children, five grandchildren and one great-grandchild. Two of his children, his son-in-law, two grandchildren and both of their spouses are graduates of Georgia Tech, and another granddaughter is currently a first year student at the Institute.
 
 
Raymond French
 
Raymond J. French
B.M.E. ’61
Director of Space Programs
Lockheed Martin Corporation (Retired)
 
Before receiving his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering in 1961 from Georgia Tech, Ray was awarded an academic scholarship to Stanford University Engineering graduate school. He earned a master’s degree with a specialization in thermodynamics from Stanford in 1962. Ray immediately began work on the Apollo Lunar Landing Program, continuing the Aerospace Engineering career that he began under the Georgia Tech Industrial Co-Operative Engineering Program in Dallas, Texas. In the mid-1960s he led a corporate/NASA engineering/software team that created a solution to a mission critical thermodynamics problem on the Apollo spacecraft — which performed flawlessly on all Apollo missions from 1968–1972. Ray’s subsequent four-decade career in Aerospace Engineering and Corporate Executive Management included additional leadership positions in manned spaceflight programs beyond Apollo, including the NASA Space Shuttle and the International Space Station, which is currently in earth’s orbit. His other program management activities included those for earth orbital rocket launch vehicles, orbital teleoperation maneuvering spacecraft and ballistic missile interceptors. In 1999 Ray retired from his position as Director of Space Programs for a division of Lockheed Martin Corporation in Dallas, Texas. He and his wife, Elaine, have been married 57 years and currently live in the San Diego area. 
 
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Doctoral Student Earns Vertical Flight Society Scholarship

April 15, 2019, 10:03 am
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Brian Eberle
 
A George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering doctoral student was selected to receive a scholarship from the Vertical Flight Society's foundation. Brian Eberle, who is advised by Professor Jonathan Rogers, was one of 28 students whose research touches on vertical flight selected to receive a scholarship, which will be awarded at the Vertical Flight Society’s 75th Annual Forum in Philadelphia in May.
 
Eberle was awarded the Charles C. Crawford Scholarship, named in memory of the former Georgia Tech student, Army development leader, and GTRI researcher. Eberle's research focuses on automation of the helicopter autorotation maneuver, which is a maneuver a helicopter pilot performs to land safely after a loss of power. 
 
"Automation of this safety-critical maneuver is particularly relevant because of the transition of rotorcraft toward being fully autonomous," says Eberle. "We are also working on developing pilot cues to help them with decision making and control input timing throughout an autorotation."
 
Eberle is planning to finish his Ph.D. in the spring of 2020 and hopes to transition to a career in industry that allows him to use his research skills in a product development role.
 
Georgia Tech aerospace engineering doctoral students Aarohi Shah and Feyyaz Guner also received scholarships from VFS. Shah received the Jing Yen Cost Awareness Scholarship that is awarded to doctoral students who show interest in improving the affordability of rotorcraft and Guner received the Dr. E. Roberts (Bob) Wood Scholarship - named in memory of former Georgia Tech aeromechanics professor Dr. Bob Wood - for his submission on inflow modeling for multi-rotor configurations.
 
 
 
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