High-entropy alloys, which are made from nearly equal parts of several primary metals, could hold great potential for creating materials with superior mechanical properties.

But with a practically unlimited number of possible combinations, one challenge for metallurgists is figuring out where to focus their research efforts in a vast, unexplored world of metallic mixtures.

A team of researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology has developed a new process that could help guide such efforts. Their approach involves building an atomic resolution chemical map to help gain new insights into individual high-entropy alloys and help characterize their properties.

In a study published Oct. 9 in the journal Nature, the researchers described using energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy to create maps of individual metals in two high-entropy alloys. This spectroscopy technique, used in conjunction with transmission electron microscopy, detects X-rays emitted from a sample during bombardment by an electron beam to characterize the elemental composition of an analyzed sample. The maps show how individual atoms arrange themselves within the alloy, allowing researchers to look for patterns that could help them design alloys emphasizing individual properties.

For example, the maps could give researchers clues to understand why substituting one metal for another could make an alloy stronger or weaker, or why one metal outperforms others in extremely cold environments.

"Most alloys used in engineering applications have only one primary metal, such as iron in steel or nickel in nickel-based super alloys, with relatively small amounts of other metals," said Ting Zhu, a professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech. "These new alloys that have relatively high concentrations of five or more metals open up the possibility of unconventional alloys that may have unprecedented properties. But this is a new compositional space that has not been explored, and we still have a very limited understanding of this class of materials."

The name "high entropy" refers to the lack of uniformity in the mixture of metals as well as how many different and somewhat random ways the atoms from the metals can be arranged as they are combined.

The new maps could help researchers determine whether there are any unconventional atomic structures that such alloys take that could be leveraged for engineering applications, and how much control researchers could have over the mixtures in order to "tune" them for specific traits, Zhu said.

To test the new imaging approach, the research team compared two high-entropy alloys containing five metals. One was a mixture of chromium, iron, cobalt, nickel, and manganese, a combination commonly referred to as a "Cantor" alloy. The other was similar but substituted palladium for the manganese. That one substitution resulted in much different behavior in how the atoms arranged themselves in the mixture.

This schematic illustration of the new palladium-containing high entropy allow shows how new alloy contains large palladium clusters (blue atoms).

"In the Cantor alloy, the distribution of all five elements is consistently random," Zhu said. "But with the new alloy containing palladium, the elements show significant aggregations due to the much different atomic size of palladium atoms as well as their difference in electronegativity compared to the other elements."

In the new alloy with palladium, the mapping showed that palladium tended to form large clusters while cobalt seemed to collect in places where iron was in low concentrations.

Those aggregations, with their sizes and spacings in the range of a few nanometers, provide strong deformation resistance and could explain the differences in mechanical properties from one high-entropy alloy to another. In straining tests, the alloy with palladium showed higher yield strength while keeping similar strain hardening and tensile ductility as the Cantor alloy.

"The atomic scale modulation of element distribution produces the fluctuation of lattice resistance, which strongly tunes dislocation behaviors," said Qian Yu, a coauthor of the paper and a professor in Zhejiang University. "Such modulation occurs at a scale that is finer than precipitation hardening and is larger than that of traditional solid solution strengthening. And it provides understanding for the intrinsic character of high-entropy alloys."

The findings could enable researchers to custom design alloys in the future, leveraging one property or another.

The team also included researchers from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville; Tsinghua University; and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

This research was supported by the National Science Foundation through grant No. DMR-1810720, the Department of Energy through contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231, the National Natural Science Foundation of China through grant No. B16042, and the State Key Program for Basic Research in China under grant No. 2015CB659300. The content reflects the views of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the sponsoring agencies.

CITATION: Qingqing Ding, Yin Zhang, Xiao Chen, Xiaoqian Fu, Dengke Chen, Sijing Chen, Lin Gu, Fei Wei, Hongbin Bei, Yanfei Gao, Minru Wen, Jixue Li, Ze Zhang, Ting Zhu, Robert Ritchie, and Qian Yu, "Tuning Element Distribution, Structure and Properties by Composition in High-Entropy Alloys," (Nature, October 2019). http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1617-1

Via the American Institute of Physics (AIP):

Since 1968, the American Institute of Physics has recognized journalists, authors, reporters and other diverse writers for their efforts in science communication. The winners of the 2019 Science Communication Awards are announced for their topical works on robotics inspired by animals, the nature of the universe, climate change, the awe and excitement of space, and the mystery of black holes.

Winners will receive an engraved Windsor chair, a certificate of recognition, and $3,000 for each category. The 2019 winners ar

• BOOKS (co-winners): David L. Hu for “How to Walk on Water and Climb Up Walls” (Princeton University Press) and Marcia Bartusiak for “Dispatches from Planet 3” (Yale University Press),
• ARTICLES: Nathaniel Rich for “Losing Earth – The Decade We Almost Stopped Climate Change. A Tragedy in Two Acts” (New York Times Magazine),
• WRITING FOR CHILDREN: Raman Prinja for “Planetarium” (Bonnier Books), and
• BROADCAST AND NEW MEDIA: Rushmore DeNooyer for “NOVA - Black Hole Apocalypse” (the WGBH Educational Foundation).

"We are honored to award these five incredible works of literature and film,” said AIP CEO Michael Moloney. “As masters of communication, this year’s winners have demonstrated unique, poignant and universally relevant storytelling about topical concepts that highlight the beauty of scientific discovery.”
 

BOOK CO-WINNER: “How to Walk on Water and Climb Up Walls” by David Hu

David Hu’s “How to Walk on Water and Climb Up Walls,” published by Princeton University Press, is one of two winners for this year’s book award. Hu’s book explores the astounding diversity and versatility of animal locomotion and how engineers are inspired by it as they design robotics. His team discovered how dogs shake dry, how insects walk on water and how eyelashes protect the eyes from drying.

Judges praised Hu’s book for featuring an interdisciplinary group of scientists working the front lines of their fields.

“A lot of people ask me where I get my ideas. I like to study things that relate to everyday life,” Hu said. “I get inspiration from raising my children. From a diaper change with my son, I was inspired to study urination. From watching my daughter being born, I was inspired by her long eyelashes.”

Hu earned a doctorate in mathematics and a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is currently a professor of mechanical engineering and biology as well as an adjunct professor of physics at Georgia Tech. He is a recipient of the National Science Foundation CAREER award for young scientists, the Ig Nobel Prize in physics, and the Pineapple Science Prize.

Hu’s previous work has been featured in The Economist, The New York Times, Saturday Night Live and Highlights for Children. He is originally from Rockville, Maryland.

Getting cancer drugs to their target can be difficult under the best of circumstances, but in the case of brain cancer the challenge is compounded by the blood-brain barrier- a semipermeable barrier that has evolved to keep the brain “safe” from toxins in the blood. The effectiveness of that barrier also prevents many cancer-fighting drugs and therapies from reaching their intended targets.

Costas Arvanitis, an assistant professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory and his collaborators, Gino Ferraro and Rakesh Jain from Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, were invited by Nature Reviews Cancer (NRC) to write a review article on the topic, synthesizing and consolidating the existing body of research and offering recommendations for future areas of study that could act as a guide for other researchers and scholars both inside and outside the field. That review was published on October 10, 2019.

“We felt it was extremely important to be able to summarize what has been done in this field, identify components that are important, and, based on that knowledge, try to determine the next big questions that must be answered to move the field forward,” said Arvanitis. “There are many people studying cancer, but they may not have had an opportunity to study in depth the intricacies of the blood-brain barrier.

Arvanitis also espoused the benefits of looking at the blood-brain barrier from an engineering standpoint.

“In nanomedicine you can spend a lot of time identifying new molecules targeting different pathways to treat cancer, but the problem is that systemically administered drugs may essentially never reach the cancer cell because of the blood brain barrier. This is fundamentally an engineering problem. We must understand the biological properties of the system so we can design rational therapies and strategies to overcome it.”

Arvanitis has been working with colleagues on a solution that involves using targeted ultrasound to massage the barrier in a way that increases its permeability. A 2018 study by his group and his collaborators, which was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), demonstrated the promise of the technique and also highlighted the need for further understanding on the challenges posed by the blood-brain barrier.

The research review highlighted a range of areas for future study. First, the need for deeper understanding of the structure and function of brain vessels within the tumor microenvironment. Second, its rate-limiting role in emerging immunotherapeutic approaches and how targeted drug delivery strategies like focused ultrasound can overcome this bottleneck. The review also goes on to recommend incorporating systems biology and mathematical modeling to identify new therapeutic techniques and the rational design of therapeutic interventions.

“We think that this paper has the potential to shape research moving forward. This is the first review specifically about brain cancer and the blood-brain barrier,” added Arvanitis. “We hope that it can serve as a guide for others in this research field and result in improved outcomes for patients.”

Associate professor Tianye Niu joined the Woodruff School this fall and is still getting settled in as he adjusts to life on campus in the heart of Atlanta. In this Q&A he talks about his path to Atlanta, the motivations behind his research, and what drew him to Georgia Tech.
 

Where are you from and how did you end up at Georgia Tech?

I'm originally from China and I did my undergrad and Ph.D. at USTC Hefei. All of my degrees are in physics electronics. For the past ten years, I had been working at Georgia Tech, first as a postdoc and then as a Research Scientist I, and Zhejiang University at Hangzhou as a Research Professor. I started here at Georgia Tech this fall. When I worked as a postdoc at Georgia Tech, I felt this is a peaceful and supportive place to pursue my career and that is why I am here again.
 

Why did you choose a career in academia?

I chose a career in academia for two major reasons. The first one is the way of choosing interested scientific research. I am interested in the research topics combining fundamental sciences and real-world applications. These topics may have long-term impact on the society and may not be implemented within a short period of time. Academia provides the opportunity and patience to reach the goals. The second reason is the opportunity to meet the most talented minds and share my experiences with them. Students at Georgia Tech are very positive and creative when it comes to new knowledge and applications. It is very exciting to work with them everyday.
 

Who has influenced you in your career?

My research mentors, starting from my thesis during undergrad, my Ph.D.'s research advisor at USTC Hefei, my visiting advisor at U of Saskatchewan and then my Postdoc advisor at Georgia Tech. All these research advisors had an influence on my career.
 

What are you teaching this semester?

This semester there is no teaching requirement since I am just onboarding within the fall semester. Next spring I will teach MP/NRE 4750 - Diagnostic Imaging Physics. It's a required undergraduate and graduate class in MP/NRE program and it's on entry-level description of modern medical imaging methods. I plan to have a course project with the real data acquisition on one of the imaging modalities in my research lab.

What is your research area?

My research is in the area of medical imaging and image analysis, and specifically focusing on x-ray tomographic reconstruction and large-volume clinical data processing. It involves building software and hardware tools to perform the data acquisition and analysis.
 

Why did you get interested in this particular field?

I was always interested in making things applicable in the real world and help with the patient treatment. As an engineer, I was taught enormous techniques in class. When I visited the hospital, I found that new technologies are already appearing in clinical environments in a hysteretic phase. The translational study from bench to bedside is in urgent demand for the clinical applications. Meanwhile, huge amounts of medical data were buried in the hospital database. I think we do need to construct the bridge connecting the technology and clinical requirements.
 

So the goal is to scale up and bring these imaging technologies to the clinic?

Yes- to the clinic and to the end user, patient.
 

What research projects are you going to be working on here?

I would start two promising projects which have solid prior accumulation. The first one is an efficient and smart spectral CT imaging system design. Spectral CT is an advanced tomographic imaging modality with the capability of tissue material discrimination. Previous works on spectral CT usually apply complicated hardware to generate spectral photons. My new design abandoned these inconvenient operations and utilized an easy-to-make beam modulator to achieve the goal of spectral separation. The new scheme has the merits of high-speed data acquisition and low cost. It is extremely suitable for the dedicated CT systems including the conebeam CT in radiation therapy.

The second project is the inverse mathematical optimization of learning parameter selection for large volume medical image analysis. The conventional way of doing radiomics analysis is a trial-and-error process requiring tedious tuning on the parameters in the network. I am working on the automatic findings of the parameters using inverse optimization scheme based on the objective function in the analysis process. The new scheme is more robust and flexible to various situations in the data processing and can be implemented into the workflow of clinical applications.
 

How many students do you plan to have working in your lab?

At the initial stage, I prefer to have two students working on the projects. More students will be included when new results are coming out and new project are designed. I will mentor the students by leading them to understand the way of finding and solving problems themselves. In other words, the students are expected to be the leader of their project. To achieve this goal, I will put a lot of effort into discussing the project details and help them to come up with several potential solutions. In the discussion, I will help them to summarize the key points and write reports for their future publications.
 

What is the biggest challenge of being a new Professor on campus?

Well, organizing different responsibilities at the same time is the biggest challenge of being a new faculty. In the meetings with senior professors, I learned a lot about rules and policies of the school and I will keep learning from them. 

Take a look at what the Woodruff School has accomplished over the past year as researchers blazed new trails, competition teams showed what our students are made of, and faculty, students, and staff earned awards and recognition for their hard work.

Download the 2018-19 Annual Report

Thanks to a generous donation by Keysight Technologies, the Flowers Invention Studio now has a completely revamped electronics capability with the addition of two brand-new electronics workbenches.

The new workbenches are a significant upgrade and add exciting new capabilities to the Studio. The gift includes two state-of-the-art oscilloscopes, function generators, benchtop multi-meters, LCR meters and power supplies, totaling over $60,000 of in-kind brand new equipment. Amit Jariwala, Director of Design & Innovation for School of Mechanical Engineering notes that the gift "will enable the Flowers Invention Studio to support students from across different majors and disciplines to collaborate, design, build, test and debug an extensive range of projects that involve electronics”.

Kenn Wildnauer, Director of University Research Collaborations for Keysight Technologies notes that the aim of the gift is to facilitate "closer engagement between students, professors, and Keysight Technologies, and give back to the communities in which we do business.”

The gifted equipment is available for use by any Georgia Tech student, staff or faculty during open hours, whether it be for class, research, or entrepreneurial projects.

The Flowers Invention Studio is staffed and maintained by a volunteer student organization, Invention Studio at Georgia Tech. This organization comprises of over 100 student Prototyping Instructors (PIs) who all volunteer their time and energy to foster the culture of hands-on learning, tinkering and building community at Georgia Tech.

The School of Mechanical Engineering appreciates the kind gift of cutting-edge equipment and especially thanks Erica Depaula and Douglas Baney from Keysight for their leadership and coordination to make this gift happen. This gift along with the Flowers Invention Studio will continue to provide the best equipment, space and experience to students who will create the next.

Three minutes. That’s how long Olga Shishkov has to share years-worth of research when she competes in the final round of Georgia Tech’s Three Minute Thesis (3MT) Competition on Nov. 14. 

• Anmol Soni, Public Policy
  Carrots or Sticks: What Makes People Buy More Electric Cars?
• Anna Liu, Biomedical Engineering
  A Cheap Little Chip: Simplifying Cell Therapies
• Archana Ghodeswar, Economics
  The Economics of Industrial Ecology: ‘Alert today, Alive tomorrow’
• Brian Eberle, Mechanical Engineering
  Falling with Style: Automation and Pilot Cueing During Autorotation Maneuvers
• Chiamaka Obianyor, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
  Demystifying DNA Replication
• Darshan Sarojini, Aerospace Engineering
  Analysis and Optimization of Complex 3-D Structures through Dimensional Reduction to 1-D Models
• Foroozan Karimzadeh, Electrical and Computer Engineering
  Magic Behind an Efficient DNN Hardware Accelerator for Mobile Applications
• Jeongwon Kim, Mechanical Engineering
  Suppression of Combustion Instability
• Jyotsna Ramachandran, Materials Science and Engineering
  Hop on a SpongeBob Car: Journey Towards Improving Sustainable Transportation
• Katherine Birmingham, Bioengineering
  Stopping Cancer in Its Tracks: Preventing the Spread of Cancer
• Lin Xin, Physics
  Beat the Quantum Limit
• Mohammad Hamza Kirmanim, Materials Science and Engineering
  Turning Dreams to Reality: Human Travel to Mars, Overcoming Materials Limitation through Development of Ultra-High Strength and Lightweight Carbon-Nanotube Based Plastics
• Olga Shishkov, Mechanical Engineering
  Feeding, Squishing, and Cooling Maggots
• Paola Zanella, Aerospace Engineering
  Mitigation of Helicopter Accidents Related to Loss of Tail Rotor Effectiveness
• Pedro J. Arias-Monje, Materials Science and Engineering
  Plastic Fibers, Carbon Nanotubes and Spider-Man
• Po-Wei Huang, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (Master's Student - Exhibition)
  A Sustainable Method to Alleviate the Global Thirst of Lithium
• Smruthi Karthikeyan, Civil and Environmental Engineering
  Microbes, Oil Spills and Beyond: Using Microbes to Predict the Impact of Oil Spills
• Suttipong Suttapitugsakul, Chemistry and Biochemistry
  Not Just a Sugar Coating! Understanding the Language of Cells through Their Sweet Surface
• Udaya Lakshmi, Human-Computer Interaction
  Medical Making: Nurse Inclusion in Point of Care Innovation

When it comes to car maintenance, $2000 doesn't always get you much. Don't tell that to Georgia Tech's Wreck Racing team though, who won the concours competition and finished third overall in this year's Grassroots Motorsports $2000 Challenge in Gainesville, Florida.

The goal of the competition is to take $2000 and use it to buy a vehicle and transform it into a dynamic racecar designed to excel at both drag racing and autocross. In addition, the competition includes a ‘Concours’ aspect, mimicking events like the Concours d’Elegance which showcase prestigious vehicles often worth millions. In this part of the competition, judges rate all of the cars on style, creativity, execution, and engineering. As team member Milad Mozayyani puts it, "At  Wreck Racing we have a pretty unique opportunity. While we can’t spend more than $2000 on our car, we have access to an insane arsenal of machining tools at the Student Competition Center, so we can take essentially just a pile of scrap metal and turn it into functional suspension components, engine mounts, or whatever else we need."

The team is based out of the Georgia Tech Student Competition Center on 14^th Street and is made up of more than 60 students from 13 states, 8 countries, and 8 different majors. Team members come with a variety of skill levels and expertise, from hardcore car enthusiasts to complete beginners, and work together as a team, honing their design, build, and project management skills.

Shop manager Bekah Travis loves that they aren’t locked in to working on one specific subsystem of the car.

“I’ve been working on testing injectors, and I’ve been learning to weld,” she said. “We kind of take the frame of the car, take the different pieces that we find, and we have to figure out how to engineer solutions for them. So it's different every year. It's even different every week.”

For the last two years the Wreck Racing car has been a 1986 BMW 528e, purchased for $400 from a dealership in Savannah. During the first year working on the car the team stripped out just about everything BMW-related except for the shell. They dropped in a 5.3 L Chevy V8 from an early 2000’s Silverado, the front suspension of a 90’s BMW 3 Series, the rear axle out of a Ford Explorer, and a transmission out of 1967 Pontiac GTO. According to Mozayyani every component was chosen for a specific reason.

“The Chevy V8’s are known for being incredibly stout motors, the Pontiac transmission known for its robustness, the rear axle (a Ford 8.8) is also known for being virtually indestructible, and the 3 series suspension geometry gave us team the steering geometry they were after.”

The team members fabricated their own drag-style suspension in the rear, creating what is known as a ‘3-link with a panhard bar’. They also CNC machined the lower control arm in the front suspension as the original one would be unable to withstand the loads being placed on the car. During its first year in the competition, the 528e took 2nd place overall, winning Best Engineered and Best in Concours, giving Wreck Racing its best ever result for the debut of a car.

This year the Wreck Racing team spent a good deal of their time turbo charging the car and converting it to run on a biofuel known as E85. E85 is 85% pure ethanol and 15% gasoline. It has a high resistance to knock, introduces a cooling effect when injected into the engine due to the high ethanol content, and has much cleaner emissions than conventional gasoline. However, it also has approximately 30% less energy than gasoline by weight, so a lot more of it was needed. That required the team to alter the car in some interesting ways. They modified the factory fuel injectors, removed the restrictor plates, and increased their flow rate by more than 100%, all for the low price of zero dollars. The turbo charger itself was a gift, taken from 13L Caterpillar diesel generator and donated by a CAT technician who had an extra one laying around.

In the end the ’86 BMW came through, earning them third overall and a second straight Best Concours title. Now it’s time to tackle a new car and new challenges as Wreck Racing prepares for 2020. New members of all majors and backgrounds are welcome to join, and they may find that the competition teams provide a creative outlet and a place to make new friends.

“Every single person on the team loves what they’re doing,” said Bekah Travis. “It has really become more than just the technical team that I’m part of to learn about cars. It's a support system and I think that's a very, very valuable and necessary part of being a Georgia Tech student. You need to find that supportive community, and for me it’s Wreck Racing.”

Text by Milad Mozayyani and Ben Wright
Photos by Wreck Racing and Scott Lear/GRM

In ME 2110 (Creative Decisions and Design) teams work together to build a mechatronic device that can accomplish a list of tasks. This semester they had to clear wooden blocks, plant Nerf bullets on the side of a rotating target, and place a magnetic ball on the top of the target, all in a set period of time. Based on the Despicable Me movies, the "shrink ray" competition inspired many teams to dress in costumes centered around the movies. 48 teams showcased their projects to judges in the design competition, justifying their design decisions, before going head-to-head-to-head-to-head in a competition to find out which project would perform the best. In the end Team AXE proved to be victorioous in both competitions- a rare feat. 

Travis Rogers from sponsor MSC came away impressed. "This was my first year coming here for this event," he said. "Most of my family are Tech people, so it was great to be here. What these students are doing is fantastic. The students are so creative with their projects, and everyone is excited. Students have friends and family here watching- it's great to see how supportive they are of each other."

Watch the final round of the competition:

Do you know someone who competed in the event? They're probably in the photo gallery.

Here are the results of the competition, held on Friday, November 15:

Competition

Design Review

143 teams from seven schools and two colleges competed for prizes at this year's Fall Capstone Design Expo as students showcased their senior projects. As the largest student design competition of its kind, Capstone is attracting sponsors from all over Georgia, from local fixtures like the Atlanta Hawks, the CDC, Cox Automotive, Emory Hospital, Georgia Department of Transportation, and Southwire, to national brands including Camelbak, Cisco, General Electric, General Motors, Lockheed Martin, the United States Air Force, and Under Armour. Each of these organizations was looking for students to take on a challenge and help them improve their operations, whether it was redesigning a smart medicine ball for the Hawks, maximizing traffic flow on I-85 for GDOT, or coming up with a better way to process bitter leaf for cooks in Africa. 

The teams who did not pursue sponsored projects came up with their own problems to tackle, designing firefighting robots, an automated tamper-proof pill dispenser, a range of medical devices, and a device for turning any writing tool into a smart device. 

After several hours of judging the winners were a mix of sponsored projects and individual pursuits, with the award for best overall project going to "Sky's the Limit," a Delta-sponsored project that examined the airline's warehousing methods. The team of industrial and systems engineering majors looked at how Delta stores and transports materials that get packed on their planes for routine flights, from pillows and blankets to snacks and soft drinks. They discovered that these items were stored in a range of warehouses and were delivered by partially filled trucks. The students found that there was a tremendous amount of money to be saved by optimizing the storage facilites and reducing the number of trucks needed to deliver items.

"The biggest challenge was working with all the different data sets," said senior and New Jersey native Afreen Fahad. "We had a lot of different data and different places that we had to consolidate together."

By combing through that data and finding a way to improve Delta's warehousing system the students came up with $750,000 in annual cost savings for Delta. They plan to pitch their proposal to the airline giant later this week.

While "Sky's the Limit" found a way for one of Atlanta's largest employers to trim costs, the top mechanical engineering team took on a social problem and developed a blood alcohol content (BAC) detector that renders a drinker's car keys unusable unless their BAC drops below a safe and legal level. The project wasn't sponsored, but caught the attention of InVenture Prize organizers, who gave Team Drink and Thrive a golden ticket that gives them a spot in the semifinals of Georgia Tech's annual invention competition. The team is also waiting to find out if their project will be accepted into the CREATE-X startup competition. 

"The idea behind our project was to combat drunk driving, and to give people who know they have a problem, but haven't necessarily been arrested or convicted for it, kind of a voluntary option, so that they could police themselves in a way to be proactive," said Acton, Georgia native Thomas Malchodi.

Malchodi's team was one of four with mechanical engineering students on it to earn awards, marking another strong showing for the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering. A combined indstrial design and mechanical engineering team designed a largely automated package sorting system for delivery trucks based on UPS data that they think could result in reduced delivery times and susbstantial cost savings. Mechanical engineering was also represented on both interdisciplinary project winners, with Calibration Nation finding a way to automate some of the work in calibrating car sensors on behalf of Cox Automotive and TempTEC developing an instantly warming and cooling device that an be used for pain management. Both teams included students from electrical engineering and mechanical engineering, as well as some computer engineering and computer science majors.

In the end Capstone competitors showed why Georgia Tech students are renowned for their ability to hit the ground running and making an impact, whether they're working on behalf of sponsors and employers or pursuing passion projects for their own interest in the hopes of starting their own companies. 

Photo Gallery 1 | Photo Gallery 2

Results

Best Overall Winner - Sky's the Limit, sponsored by Delta Airlines

Carolina Llerena (ISYE) - San Mateo, CA
Thomas Suh  (ISYE) - Augusta, GA
Kelsey Keith (ISYE) - Woodstock, GA
Mack Hathaway  (ISYE) - Atlanta, GA
Afreen Fahad (ISYE) - Mount Olive, NJ
Christine Valerie (ISYE) - Charlotte, NC
Madison Messier (ISYE) - Atlanta, GA
Priya Sharma (ISYE) - Alpharetta, GA
 

Aerospace Engineering - Flyright

Zivan Bholai (AE) - Orlando, FL
Denise Woode (AE) - Damascus, Maryland
Vikas Molleti (AE) - St. Pete Beach, Florida
Hamidreza Nazemi (AE) - Houston, TX
Emily Glover (AE) - Lawrenceville, Georgia
 

Biomedical Engineering - Bullseye, sponsored by Dr. Anand Sagar Jain, Emory Healthcare

Oscar Gutierrez (BME) - Doraville, GA
Ahmed Alnamos (BME) - Watertown, MA
Nishani Kanthasamy (BME) - Alpharetta, GA
Sondos Alnamos (BME) - Watertown MA

Civil and Envronmental Engineering- Still Design Group, sponsored by Georgia Tech's Office of Capital Planning and Space Management

Kimmie Hernandez (CE) - Sandy Springs, GA
Rachel Still (CE) - Ponte Vedra Beach, FL
Poonam Patel (CE) - Palm Harbor, FL
Danielle Kronowski (CE) - Augusta, GAystems 

Electrical and Computer Engineering- Backup Key Generation for Encrypted Website Data

Matthew Riley  (CMPE) - Decatur, GA
Maddy Parnall(EE) - Charleston, SC
Kee Hong (CMPE) - Seoul, South Korea
Michael Brzozowski (CMPE) - Manhasset, NY
Trenton Bruno (CMPE) - Warner Robins, GA
Reid Barton (EE) - Los Gatos, CA
Michael Lewis (CMPE) - Gainesville, FL

Industrial and Systems Engineering- Authority Life, sponsored by GWCCA

Peyton Skinner (ISYE) - Atlanta, GA
Mayke Vercruyssen (ISYE) - Atlanta, GA
Daniel Alayo-Matos (ISYE) - Miami, FL
Yihua Xu I(ISYE) - Hangzhou, China
Yunsang Kim (ISYE) - Seoul Korea
Brandon Kang (ISYE) - Duluth, GA
Emily Kornegay (ISYE) - Thomasville, GA
Hailun Chang (ISYE) - Taiwan

Industrial Design and Mechanical Engineering- Last Mile

Seunghyun Choe (ME) - Seoul, South Korea
Kai Zhang  (ID) - Qingdao, China
David Xu (ME) - Johns Creek
Francis Lin (ID) - Shenzhen
Uyen My Tran (ID) - Lilburn, GA

Mechanical Engineering- Drink and Thrive

Ryan Bogan (CS) - Libertyville, IL
Eric Ricci (CS) - Long Beach, NY
Sean Fitzpatrick (ME) - Yardley, PA
Alexander Gibson (ME) - Roswell, GA
Thomas Malchodi (ME) - Acton, GA

Best Interdisciplinary (Tie)

Calibration Nation, sponsored by Cox Automotive

Alex Schwartz (CMPE) - Manhasset, NY
Oguzhan Yilmaz(EE) - Istanbul, Turkey
Caroline Eckrote (ME) - Suwanee, GA
Lionel Jones (CMPE) - Fayetteville, GA
Eric Hsieh (EE) - San Diego, CA
Beatriz Dias(ME) - Roswell, GA

TempTec

Nick Zhao (EE) - Mason, OH
Izaan Kamal (CS) - Rochester, NY
Vibhav Bhat (CS) - Andover, MA
Jared Canty (EE) - Johnson City, TN
Mark Saleh (ME) - Charlotte, NC
Ryan Yeung (ME) - Roswell, GA
Alex Butterwick (ME) - Alpharetta, GA

The Woodruff School is home to 2,000 undergraduates and more than 800 graduate students, and they all have a story to tell. find out why Noa chose Georgia Tech, what he enjoys about mechanical engineering, and why he chose to pursue undergraduate research.

Q: Tell us a little bit about yourself – where are you from and why did you choose Georgia Tech?

A: My name is Noa Holloway and I’m a second-year mechanical engineering major. I'm from Decatur, Georgia and I graduated from Charles Drew Charter School which is a public school in East Atlanta. I decided to attend Georgia Tech because I was offered a great financial aid package. As an in-state student the cost made it tough to beat compared to some out of state schools I was looking at.
 

Q: When did you know that you wanted to study engineering?

A: During high school I was enrolled in a four-year engineering curriculum. The engineering courses were fun and enjoyable so I decided to major in engineering at Tech. Before coming to Tech I didn’t realize how many areas of engineering there were, but I knew I had to pick a specific engineering major. I chose mechanical because it’s such a broad field.
 

Q: What have you enjoyed about mechanical engineering so far?

A: The ME 1770 class called Introduction to Engineering Graphics and Visualization was really fun. I’ve always enjoyed hands-on learning and working with others so the group project that involved CAD and 3D printing was the perfect assignment for me. I like seeing something come to fruition after I make it. I think these types of projects are pretty common throughout the program which is a plus.
 

Q: What organizations or clubs are you involved in?

A: Last year I was the program chair for the freshman chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) -Lambda Delta Rho. I am currently involved in NSBE and the Vertically Integrated Projects (VIP) Program. I also participate in intramural flag football and soccer.
 

Q: Tell us more about the VIP Program – what team are you a part of?

A: I'm a part of the secure hardware team. I’m working on a project that involves secure multi-party computation. We are basically trying to find a way for multiple parties to compute an outcome securely without adversaries trying to access the data that they're computing. The project is intended for computer engineering, computer science and electrical engineering majors, but I thought it would be beneficial to do something a little differen and, explore other areas of engineering outside of mechanical.
 

Q: What do you like about this particular project?

A: I like the concepts of encryption and being part of a team that helps prevent unauthorized parties from accessing private information. I get to use really large prime numbers as the base that serves as a code and someone trying to access information can’t because it would take them years to try and find the factors the prime numbers are based off of.
 

Q: Who advises the secure hardware team?

A: Dr. Vincent Mooney, a Georgia Tech professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering.
 

Q: What made you decide to participate in the VIP Program?

A: A lot of the older mechanical engineering students recommended the VIP Program. They said it was similar to having a part-time job and that participants are able to gain real world experience that employers will value.

Q: What's your favorite Georgia Tech memory so far?

A: At the end of last year we had a freshman get together in the Caldwell Hall basement to celebrate a classmate’s birthday. Students from all over campus were there including friends I had met in the classroom, dorms and in different programs. It was fun to be around all the great people I had met throughout the year. Academic life at Georgia Tech is challenging so it’s nice to be surrounded by so many people that you can rely on during the tough times. We had all made it through the first year together and that was something to celebrate.
 

Q: What's the biggest lesson you've learned so far?

A: You have to plan out everything that you want. You have to have plans, a backup plan and then backup plans for the backup plan. When things don’t work out the way you plan it you have to learn how to persevere. Georgia Tech has also taught me to never quit – if it was easy, everybody would do it!
 

Q: Do you have any idea what you want to do after you graduate?

A: Not yet. My interests are pretty broad and I want to try different things. I have enjoyed the SolidWorks class so much that I may want to explore product design. I could also see myself working for Accenture because I like consulting and solving problems.
 

Q: Do you have any rules that you live by?

A:I try to eat three times a day and meet as many people as I can. You never know where the connections you make throughout life could lead or how you could help each other out in the future.
 

Q: Do you have a favorite place on campus to study?

A: Last year my favorite place to study was the Multimedia Studio in the Georgia Tech Library. They provide services for large format printing and I enjoyed seeing the different posters students made. They also have large tables which allowed me to spread out my study materials.
 

Q: Do you have any role models you've looked up to along the way?

A: I met a guy, Greg, through NSBE. He’s a Georgia Tech computer science graduate and now works at Apple. Greg reached out to me before I even got here and gave me a lot of tips, which really helped because I had no idea what Georgia Tech was like or what to expect. Another role model I have is Io. He's a fourth year in computer engineering and has helped me a lot along the way. Finally, I look up to a lot of the guys who are active in NSBE. They secure a lot of internships and that's something I strive for.
 

Q: What is a fun fact that most people don't know about you?

A: I play Pokemon Showdown on my computer every day. A lot of people wouldn't expect that but I love Pokemon so much.
 

Q: What's your favorite thing about being at Georgia Tech?

A: I think it's the pride in the challenge. A lot of people can say they did this and that in college, but when you say you went to Georgia Tech, people look at you differently. They know it's hard and they know what it means to get accepted and then graduate – it’s an accomplishment. With me being a minority student, I take pride in getting in, doing the work, and getting the most out of it.
 

Q: Was Georgia Tech on your radar in school at all?

A: No, not at all. My school partnered with Georgia Tech when I was in eighth grade on a “Bridge to Tech" program that was centered on becoming familiar with high school. I was used to coming on campus because the program brought us here, but I had never thought about coming here for undergrad. The morning that I got accepted was when I took the SAT, and I received a high enough score to not have to take pre-calculus. That was a good day and I'm glad I'm here.

Company founded on innovation developed at Georgia Tech forms partnership with leading compression garment manufacturer

A small company built around technology developed by researchers in the Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience at Georgia Tech is realizing some big dreams with the announcement of a new business partnership.

Georgia Tech alumni Nate Frank (BS ISyE, MBA) and Mike Weiler (BS BME, MS ME, PhD Bioengineering), co-founders of LymphaTech, announced their partnership with medi® to launch medi vision, a new compression garment measuring experience that creates a fast and accurate digital scan for patients affected by edema and other conditions requiring medical compression. LymphaTech and medi® made the announcement at the National Lymphedema Network conference in Boston in October.

Weiler was still pursuing his Ph.D. in Bioengineering as a member of researcher Brandon Dixon’s lab in the Petit Institute when he met Frank in 2012 while participating in the Georgia Tech TI:GER® (Technology Innovation: Generating Economic Results) program. Frank was an MBA student at the time. They teamed up and developed an innovative startup using the technology Weiler developed in Dixon’s lab.

Dixon, associate professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory, and the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at Tech, a co-founder of LymphaTech, has been the company’s chief scientific officer. Weiler is CEO and Frank is COO

“This is a great success story” says Margi Berbari, former TI:GER® director. “The current LymphaTech team is the original TI:GER® team and they are employing the technology innovation they developed in the TIGER® program.”

Weiler adds, “The TI:GER® curriculum enabled us to perform the initial market assessments and identify the opportunity within the industry. Our business model today is similar to the business model canvas that we developed during TI:GER®. We have continued to make improvements to the technology, but our original product-market fit and market segmentation still accurately reflect our business.”

First the team had to generate convincing clinical data to gain partnerships and sales. They partnered with a research group from Washington University in St. Louis that participated with several other organizations, including the Task Force for Global Health and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Frank and Weiler conducted their first field study at a lymphedema clinic in Sri Lanka where they completed a comprehensive measurement validation study collecting data necessary to develop partnerships in the U.S.

Edema is the accumulation of excess fluid in the body, which may arise from a variety of conditions including diseases of the blood vasculature and the lymphatic system. One of the main treatments for edema is the application of medical compression garments, which can take the form of standardized, ready-to-wear garments and custom-made garments. Medi® is one of the industry leaders in medical compression, providing a wide array of medical compression garments targeting venous and lymphatic conditions, while also providing orthopedic products as a worldwide leader in orthopedic bracing.

­LymphaTech’s core technology is a hand-held clinical tool for mobile 3D measuring that provides fast, accurate and reliable human body imaging and measurements. In only 60 seconds, the LymphaTech software generates a full 3D model of the limbs with limb volume and circumference measurement outputs. These measurements enable a high-resolution assessment of the geometry of the limb, which can be useful for single timepoint measurements and longitudinal tracking over time.

The partnership between LymphaTech and medi® and the launch of medi vision is the first commercial implementation of a hand-held, high-resolution 3D scanning tech specifically utilized for sizing and fitting compression garments. Medi vision utilizes a custom version of the LymphaTech 3D measuring software that is optimized to automatically generate the measurements specific for medi® compression garments. The platform then allows the measurements to be directly sent to the medi® custom E-shop for immediate garment ordering and product configuration.

“Until now, compression garments were measured with a standard tailor's tape measure, which is time consuming and is prone to significant measurement error,” says Frank.

The synergy of our 3D measuring system applied to optimize the compression garment fitting process is clear - the more accurate the measurement, the better fitting and performing garment. The result is a faster and more reliable measuring process leading to a better fitting, more effective compression garment.”

The current LymphaTech device can be used widely for measuring and monitoring human body geometry. Applications include physical therapy, vein diseases, lung care, orthopedics, and monitoring recovery after ACL surgeries. Weiler and Frank plan to expand use of LymphaTech innovations across multiple brands to better penetrate multiple markets.

This partnership currently operates in the U.S. and Germany but will expand to more countries in the near future.

News Contact Info:
Jerry Grillo
Communications Officer II
Parker H. Petit Institute for
Bioengineering and Bioscience