Student and Faculty

Stitched for Strength: The Physics of Stiff, Knitted Fabrics

admin — Wed, 30 Jul 2025 12:39:36 +0000

Stitched for Strength: The Physics of Stiff, Knitted Fabrics admin Wed, 07/30/2025 - 08:39

School of Physics Associate Professor Elisabetta Matsumoto is unearthing the secrets of the centuries-old practice of knitting through experiments, models, and simulations. Her goal? Leveraging knitting for breakthroughs in advanced manufacturing — including more sustainable textiles, wearable electronics, and soft robotics.

Matsumoto, who is also a principal investigator at the International Institute for Sustainability with Knotted Chiral Meta Matter (WPI-SKCM2) at Hiroshima University, is the corresponding author on a new study exploring the physics of ‘jamming’ — a phenomenon when soft or stretchy materials become rigid under low stress but soften under higher tension.

The study, "Pulling Apart the Mechanisms That Lead to Jammed Knitted Fabrics," was published this week in Physical Review E, and also includes Georgia Tech Matsumoto Group graduate students Sarah Gonzalez and Alexander Cachine in addition to former postdoctoral fellow Michael Dimitriyev, who is now an assistant professor at Texas A&M University.

The work builds on the group’s previous research demonstrating that knitted materials can be mathematically ‘programmed’ to behave in predictable ways. “These properties are intuitively understood by people who knit by hand,” Matsumoto says, “but in order to manipulate and use these behaviors in an industrial setting, we need to understand the physics behind them. This new research is another step in that direction.”

An Unexpected Twist

Gonzalez, who led the research, first became interested in jamming while conducting adjacent research. “I was using model simulations to characterize how different yarn properties affect the behavior of knitted fabrics and noticed a strange stiff region,” she recalls. “In our previous research, we had also seen this behavior in lab experiments, which suggested that what we were seeing in the simulations was a genuine phenomenon. I wanted to investigate it further.”

After digging into the topic, she realized that what she was seeing was called ‘jamming.’ In knits, Gonzalez explains, jamming occurs when stitches are packed tightly together, and the fabric resists stretching. Although it’s a well-known phenomenon, the physics has mostly been investigated in granular systems, like snow or sand, rather than fabrics.

“In fabrics, when you pull softly, the response is surprisingly stiff, but when you start pulling harder and harder, the stitches rearrange, and the material softens,” Matsumoto says. “In granular systems, this is a little like how avalanches work. At low forces, the snow pack is solid, but when the slope is steep, the force of gravity liquidizes that snow pack into an avalanche.”

“In fabrics, it is a little like having a tangle in a piece of jewelry,” she adds. “If you pull on it, it gets quite stiff, but if you loosen the knot, the chain can reconfigure, and it's not so stiff.”

Unraveling the Physics of Jamming

Using a combination of experiments with industrially knitted fabrics and computer models, the team analyzed what causes jamming in fabrics and how to control it. “We wanted to determine how different yarn properties impacted jamming,” Gonzalez explains. “Our goal was to understand the mechanics of jamming through how yarn interacts at various touchpoints in stitches.”

The team found that both machine tension and yarn thickness played a key role in making a fabric more or less jammed, and that jamming behaves differently depending on which direction the fabric is stretched.

“When you stretch a knit along the rows, the stiffness of the yarn causes fabric jamming. Jamming in the other direction is due to yarn contacts,” says Gonzalez. “We also showed that the impacts of changing machine tension and yarn thickness differ depending on fabric direction.”

“Discovering that fabric jamming works differently in different directions was a key insight,” she adds. “To our knowledge, the physics of this has never been explored before.”

Modern Innovation — With a Centuries-Old Technique

The research dovetails with Matsumoto’s WPI-SKCM2 Center work, which involves investigating fundamental aspects of knots and chirality. The Center is interested in a class of materials called “knotted chiral meta matter” that could lead to more sustainable materials.

For example, knitting — which leverages chiral knots — could be used to create more elastic fabrics from natural materials. “In many cases, manufacturers use yarns that combine, for example, polyester, cotton, and elastane to create a desired elasticity,” Matsumoto says. “Our research suggests that manipulating the topology of the stitches could lead to a similar elasticity, reducing the need for petroleum-based fibers and creating a more sustainable textile.”

“Knitting has the potential to be extremely useful in manufacturing, but knowledge has typically been shared through intuition and word of mouth,” she adds. “By creating these mathematical models, we hope to formalize that knowledge in a way that’s accessible for large-scale manufacturing — so we can leverage this centuries-old intuition for modern innovation.”

Funding: This work was supported by the World Premier International Research Center Initiative (WPI), Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan; National Science Foundation (NSF); and Research Corporation for Science Advancement (RCSA).

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/g94g-c6tt

Summary sentence

Physicists unravel the secrets of the centuries-old practice of knitting in a new study that explores the physics of ‘jamming’ — a phenomenon when soft or stretchy materials become rigid under low stress but soften under higher tension.

Summary

Researchers in the School of Physics unravel the secrets of the centuries-old practice of knitting in a new study that explores the physics of ‘jamming’ — a phenomenon when soft or stretchy materials become rigid under low stress but soften under higher tension.

Dateline

Fri, 07/25/2025 - 12:00

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Written by Selena Langner

Contact: Jess Hunt-Ralston

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Wed, 07/30/2025 - 08:38

LIGO Detects Most Massive Binary Black Hole to Date

admin — Wed, 16 Jul 2025 18:35:41 +0000

LIGO Detects Most Massive Binary Black Hole to Date admin Wed, 07/16/2025 - 14:35

The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO)’s LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA (LVK) collaboration has detected an extremely unusual binary black hole merger — a phenomenon that occurs when two black holes are pulled into each other's orbit and combine. Announced yesterday in a California Institute of Technology press release, the binary black hole merger, GW231123, is the largest ever detected with gravitational waves.

Before merging, both black holes were spinning exceptionally fast, and their masses fell into a range that should be very rare — or impossible.

“Most models don't predict black holes this big can be made by supernovas, and our data indicates that they were spinning at a rate close to the limit of what’s theoretically possible,” says Margaret Millhouse, a research scientist in the School of Physics who played a key role in the research. “Where could they have come from? It raises interesting questions.”

A binary black hole merger absorbs characteristics from both of the contributors, she adds. “As a result, this is not only the most massive binary black hole ever seen but also the fastest-spinning binary black hole confidently detected with gravitational waves.”

“GW231123 is a record-breaking event,” says School of Physics Professor Laura Cadonati, who has been a member of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration since 2002. “LIGO has been observing the cosmos for 10 years now. This discovery underscores that there is still so much that this instrument can help us learn.”

A Cosmic View

The findings challenge current theories on how smaller black holes form, says School of Physics Assistant Professor and LIGO collaborator Surabhi Sachdev. Smaller black holes are the result of supernovae: dying and collapsing stars. During that collapse, explosions can tear apart or eject part of the star’s mass — limiting the size of the black hole that forms.

“Black holes from supernovae can weigh up to about 60 times the mass of our Sun,” she says. “The black holes in this merger were likely the mass of hundreds of suns.”

Because of its size, GW231123 also allowed the team to study the merger in unprecedented detail. “LIGO has observed scores of black hole mergers,” says Cadonati. “Of these, GW231123 has provided us with the clearest view of the ‘grand finale’ of a merger thus far. This adds a new clue to solve the puzzle that are black holes, including their origins and properties.”

“While we saw that our expectations matched the data, the extreme nature of this event pushed our models to their limits,” Millhouse adds. “A massive, highly spinning system like this will be of interest to researchers who study how binary black holes form.”

Decoding a Split-Second Signal

Millhouse and School of Physics Postdoctoral Fellow Prathamesh Joshi used Einstein’s equations for general relativity to confirm LIGO’s detections.

To find black holes, LIGO measures distortions in spacetime — ripples that are created when two black holes collide. These patterns in gravitational waves can be used to find the signature signal of black hole collisions.

“In this case, the signal lasted for just one-tenth of a second, but it was very clear,” says Joshi. "Previously, we designed a special study to detect these interesting signals, which accounted for all the unusual properties of such massive systems — and it paid off!”

“To ensure it wasn’t noise, the Georgia Tech team first reconstructed the signal in a model-agnostic way,” Millhouse adds. “We then compared those reconstructions to a model that uses Einstein's equations of general relativity, and both reconstructions looked very similar, which helped confirm that this highly unusual phenomenon was a genuine detection.”

Sachdev says that seeing the signal at both LIGO Observatories — placed in Hanford, Washington and Livingston, Louisiana — was also critical. “These short signals are very hard to detect, and this signal is so unlike any of the other binary black holes that we've seen before,” she says. “Without both detectors, we would have missed it.”

A Decade of Discovery

While the team has yet to determine how the original black holes formed, one theory is that they may have resulted from mergers themselves. “This could have been a chain of mergers,” Sachdev explains. “This tells us that they could have existed in a very dense environment like a nuclear star cluster or an active galactic nucleus.” Their spins provide another clue as spinning is a characteristic usually seen in black holes resulting from a merge.

The team adds that GW231123 could provide clues on how larger black holes are formed — including the mysterious supermassive black holes at the center of galaxies.

“Gravitational wave science is almost a decade old, and we're still making fundamental discoveries,” says Millhouse. “It’s exciting that LIGO is continuing to detect new phenomena, and this is at the edge of what we've seen thus far. There's still so much we can learn.”

The team expects to update their catalogue of black holes in August 2025, which will provide another window into how this exceptionally heavy black hole might fit into the universe, and what we can continue to learn from it.

Funding: The LIGO Laboratory is supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation and operated jointly by Caltech and MIT.

Summary sentence

Before merging, both black holes were spinning exceptionally fast, and their masses fell into a range that should be very rare — or impossible.

Summary

Before merging, both black holes were spinning exceptionally fast, and their masses fell into a range that should be very rare — or impossible. The result of the merge, GW231123, is the largest binary black hole merger ever detected with gravitational waves.

Dateline

Tue, 07/15/2025 - 12:00

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Written by Selena Langner

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Wed, 07/16/2025 - 14:35

Brain-Inspired AI Breakthrough Spotlighted at Global Conference

dgivens8 — Thu, 26 Jun 2025 16:46:41 +0000

Brain-Inspired AI Breakthrough Spotlighted at Global Conference dgivens8 Thu, 06/26/2025 - 12:46

Researchers at Georgia Tech have taken a critical step forward in creating efficient, useful and brain-like artificial intelligence (AI). The key? A new algorithm that results in neural networks with internal structure more like the human brain.

The study, “TopoNets: High-Performing Vision and Language Models With Brain-Like Topography,” was awarded a spotlight at this year’s International Conference on Learning Representations (ICLR), a distinction given to only 2 percent of papers. The research was led by graduate student Mayukh Deb alongside School of Psychology Assistant Professor Apurva Ratan Murty.

Thirty-two of Tech’s computing, engineering, and science faculty represented the Institute at ICLR 2025, which is globally renowned for sharing cutting-edge research.

“We started with this idea because we saw that AI models are unstructured, while brains are exquisitely organized,” says first-author Deb. “Our models with internal structure showed more than a 20 percent boost in efficiency with almost no performance losses. And this is out-of-the-box — it’s broadly applicable to other models with no extra fine-tuning needed.”

For Murty, the research also underscores the importance of a rapidly growing field of research at the intersection of neuroscience and AI. “There's a major explosion in understanding intelligence right now,” he says. “The neuro-AI approach is exciting because it helps emulate human intelligence in machines, making AI more interpretable.”

“In addition to advancing AI, this type of research also benefits neuroscience because it informs a fundamental question: Why is our brain organized the way it is?,” Deb adds. “Making AI more interpretable helps everyone.”

Brain-inspired blueprints

In the brain, neurons form topographic maps: neurons used for comparable tasks are closer together. The researchers applied this concept to AI by organizing how internal components (like artificial neurons) connect and process information.

This type of organization has been tried in the past but has been challenging, Murty says. “Historically, rules constraining how the AI could structure itself often resulted in lower-performing models. We realized that for this type of biophysical constraint, you simply can’t map everything — you need an algorithmic solution.”

“Our key insight was an algorithmic trick that gives the same structure as brains without enforcing things that models don't respond well to,” he adds. “That breakthrough was what Mayukh (Deb) worked on.”

The algorithm, called TopoLoss, uses a loss function to encourage brain-like organization in artificial neural networks, and it is compatible with many AI systems capable of understanding language and images.

“The resulting training method, TopoNets, is very flexible and broadly applicable,” Murty says. “You can apply it to contemporary models very easily, which is a critical advancement when compared to previous methods.”

Neuro-AI innovations

Murty and Deb plan to continue refining and designing brain-inspired AI systems. “All parts of the brain have some organization — we want to expand into other domains,” Deb says. “On the neuroscience side of things, we want to discover new kinds of organization in brains using these topographic systems.”

Deb also cites possibilities in robotics, especially in situations like space exploration where resources are limited. “Imagine running a model inside a robot with limited power,” he says. “Structured models can help us achieve 80 percent of performance with just 20 percent of energy consumption, saving valuable energy and space. This is still experimental, but it's the direction we are interested in exploring.”

“This success highlights the potential of a new approach, designing systems that benefit both neuroscience and AI — and beyond,” Murty adds. “We can learn so much from the human brain, and this project shows that brain-inspired systems can help current AI be better. We hope our work stimulates this conversation.”

Subtitle

Summary sentence

Researchers at Georgia Tech have developed an algorithm that helps AI models develop internal organization just like the human brain — boosting efficiency by 20 percent.

Summary

Researchers at Georgia Tech have developed an algorithm that helps AI models develop internal organization just like the human brain — boosting efficiency by 20 percent.

Dateline

Thu, 06/26/2025 - 12:00

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Written by Selena Langner

Contact: Jess Hunt-Ralston

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Thu, 06/26/2025 - 12:46

Brown, Engle, Nemirovski Elected to National Academy of Sciences

admin — Wed, 18 Jun 2025 16:20:38 +0000

Brown, Engle, Nemirovski Elected to National Academy of Sciences admin Wed, 06/18/2025 - 12:20

Scientific endeavors across Georgia Tech are broad, deep, and varied — a fact underscored last week when the National Academy of Sciences announced three Tech scholars among its newest members.

Marilyn Brown is one of the nation’s top analysts of clean energy policy; Randall Engle is a leader in understanding individual differences in memory and attention; and Arkadi Nemirovski has helped shape the field of continuous optimization.

Each now joins an elite group of the nation’s foremost scientists in a historic moment for the Institute: It’s the first time three scientists from Tech have been elected to the Academy in a single year.

“The election of Georgia Tech faculty members from across multiple disciplines into the National Academy of Sciences is extraordinary,” said Rafael L. Bras, provost, executive vice president for Academic Affairs, and K. Harrison Brown Family Chair. “We are incredibly proud and congratulate Professors Brown, Engle, and Nemirovski on this well-deserved honor. This distinction is a testament to their significant contributions and an honor that recognizes that critical research happens at the intersection of disciplines.”

Election to the National Academy of Sciences is among the highest honors a scientist can receive, recognizing “distinguished and continuing achievements in original research,” as the Academy puts it. It has been reserved for just 2,403 people in the United States. Nominations for new members can come only from current Academy members.

“In the hierarchy of scientific acknowledgment, the only things higher are the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Nobel Prize,” said Engle, professor in the School of Psychology. “In my wildest dreams, I never imagined it for myself.”

Engle studies the nature of working memory and its relationship to attention control. At its most basic, his work focuses on how people differ in their ability to concentrate on a single task. Understanding these differences helps us understand why individuals’ cognitive performance varies.

Engle came to Georgia Tech in 1995 to lead the School of Psychology. After 13 years, he stepped down to create the Georgia State University/Georgia Tech Center for Advanced Brain Imaging. His work has been influential in social and developmental psychology, emotion, and psychopathology, among other areas. He is a fellow of the American Psychological Association and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

“I don’t know of any successful scientists who do what we do for the glory. We are driven by questions and are so fortunate to have jobs where people actually pay us to spend our lives looking through the metaphorical microscope,” Engle said. “At the same time, we all love having our work acknowledged and respected by our scientific heroes. That is what this feels like: People who I have read about in my field since I was an undergraduate are saying that my work has value.”

Like Engle, Nemirovski expressed surprise at his election to the Academy, despite more than five decades of contributions to optimization theory and algorithms.

“While I respect my professional achievements, I do not value them as matching the honor,” said Nemirovski, who came to Georgia Tech in 2005 and is the John Hunter Chair and Professor in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering.

Yet he is credited with several significant achievements in the field of convex optimization — the Ellipsoid algorithm (with D. Yudin), mirror descent, interior point methods for nonlinear convex problems (with Y. Nesterov), and robust optimization (with A. Ben-Tal) — and in non-parametric statistics (with A. Juditsky).

In fact, Nemirovski credited his collaborators with helping him build an impactful career.

“The excellent professional training I got under supervision of Professor Eugene Shilov at the Department of Mechanics and Mathematics of Moscow State University, and the honor and privilege to communicate and, in many cases, to collaborate with outstanding colleagues — Boris Polyak, Rafail Khasminskii, Yuri Nesterov, Aharon Ben-Tal, Anatoli Iouditski, Alexander Shapiro, David Donoho, Stephen Boyd — their influence made me what I am as a professional,” he said.

Nemirovski also is a fellow of the National Academy of Engineering and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Brown has established herself as an international leader in the analysis of clean energy policies. She’s a pioneer in incorporating behavioral and social science principles into complex energy-engineering models that are used to evaluate policy proposals and to assess opportunities such as the size of the energy-efficiency gap in the United States.

She developed an approach as a regulator of the Tennessee Valley Authority that characterizes energy efficiency in terms of a power plant — in essence, the size, cost, and reliability of the plant that would not have to be built if companies took steps to conserve energy. She also developed carbon accounting methods at Georgia Tech that were applied to the first carbon footprint assessments of the nation’s largest 100 metropolitan areas.

“Being elected to the National Academy of Sciences is a great honor,” said Brown, Regents Professor and Brook Byers Professor in Sustainable Systems in the School of Public Policy. “It is also a great testament to the outstanding faculty and students across Georgia Tech, who are fostering the kind of sustainable energy systems and policies that will help the world step back from the brink of climate disaster.”

Brown arrived at Georgia Tech in 2006 after establishing herself at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory as a national leader in the analysis and interpretation of energy futures in the United States. A year later, she and her co-authors won the Nobel Peace Prize for their work on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Working Group III Assessment Report on Mitigation of Climate Change.

Earlier this year, Brown also was elected to the National Academy of Engineering.

“Colleagues like Professors Brown, Engle, and Nemirovski are what makes Georgia Tech such a special place,” Bras said. “They are true scholars and dedicated teachers, and they are examples to their students, their friends, and colleagues. We all rejoice with them.”

Summary sentence

Election to the Academy is among the highest honors a scientist can achieve.

Summary

Brook Byers Professor, Marilyn Brown is among 3 Georgia Tech faculty elected to the National Academy of Sciences. Election to the Academy is among the highest honors a scientist can achieve.

Scientific endeavors across Georgia Tech are broad, deep, and varied — a fact underscored last week when the National Academy of Sciences announced three Tech scholars among its newest members. Marilyn Brown is one of the nation’s top analysts of clean energy policy; Randall Engle is a leader in understanding individual differences in memory and attention; and Arkadi Nemirovski has helped shape the field of continuous optimization. Each now joins an elite group of the nation’s foremost scientists in a historic moment for the Institute: It’s the first time three scientists from Tech have been elected to the Academy in a single year.

From Poetry to Polymers: How the Pursuit of a Creative Path Led to Electrochromic Materials

admin — Fri, 06 Jun 2025 14:54:59 +0000

From Poetry to Polymers: How the Pursuit of a Creative Path Led to Electrochromic Materials admin Fri, 06/06/2025 - 10:54

Eric Shen, a research engineer in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, loves art and science in equal measure — and believes it’s possible for creatives to build STEM careers that foster joy. In the latest installment of the “Unexpected Paths” series, Shen discusses his work with color-changing windows and why he continues to be at Georgia Tech after over a decade.

Read the article here »

Summary sentence

Eric Shen loves art and science in equal measure — and believes it’s possible for creatives to build STEM careers that foster joy.

Summary

Eric Shen loves art and science in equal measure — and believes it’s possible for creatives to build STEM careers that foster joy. Learn about his unexpected path to becoming a research engineer in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry.

Dateline

Wed, 05/28/2025 - 12:00

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Mercury ID

682584

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Fri, 06/06/2025 - 10:54

Army Vet Guides Student Team in Delivering Digital Solution for Military Operations

dgivens8 — Tue, 20 May 2025 18:04:40 +0000

Army Vet Guides Student Team in Delivering Digital Solution for Military Operations dgivens8 Tue, 05/20/2025 - 14:04

A team of Computing students has developed a digital intake system for the U.S. Army, which is set to be implemented as early as next month, transforming a time-consuming, paper-based process into an efficient, modern platform.

The project was part of Computer Science Junior Design Capstone Expo, where students collaborate in teams to build functional software solutions for real-world clients. For team members Jonathan Collins, Joel Cave, Srithan Nalluri, Mark Podrazhansky, and Caden Virant, that client was the U.S. Army. School of Computing Instruction Lecturer Aibek Musaev led their Junior Design section.

“The Army spends a significant amount of time maintaining, documenting, and repairing equipment that allows them to complete their mission,” said Collins, a U.S. Army veteran. “Our system essentially took the current maintenance process and converted it from an entirely paper-based process to a completely digital one.”

The team built a streamlined web application utilizing a set of modern tools that enhance data management, create a user-friendly interface, and ensure seamless operations. The new system improves accountability and visibility across Army maintenance operations by digitizing the intake and tracking processes. It eliminates the risk of lost paperwork and makes it easier for personnel to stay updated on equipment status and repair needs.

2nd Lt. Noah Parsons, the Army’s point of contact for the project, was impressed with both the product and the team’s professionalism.

“Georgia Tech students have completed the intake system to perfection,” Parsons said. “They performed exceptionally and professionally. I cannot stress how great of a job they have done for their class and for the Army as well. Our company intends to start using the intake system as early as next month.”

For Collins, who served four years in the Army before enrolling at Georgia Tech, the experience was meaningful.

“A large part of my role in the Army involved the very maintenance processes we’ve been working to improve,” he said. “I can’t even count how many hours my coworkers and I spent with the current system. Now, being able to use this new chapter of my life to make meaningful improvements feels incredibly rewarding.”

Collins also took the lead in communicating with the military client, helping the team navigate strict requirements and non-negotiable specifications.

With this system, the Army decided what they wanted, and the team was tasked with delivering exactly that with no variation.

The project taught the team critical lessons about ownership, communication, and collaboration under pressure.

“Communication with the client is the absolute most important thing,” Collins said. “You could have the best programmers in the world, but it won’t matter if you can’t deliver the product the client wants. Meeting often and getting consistent feedback was key.”

The Army plans to begin using the system as early as June, bringing the students’ work full circle and marking a meaningful contribution to real-world military operations.

Summary sentence

Summary

Dateline

Tue, 05/20/2025 - 12:00

emily.smith@cc.gatech.edu

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Tue, 05/20/2025 - 14:04

Georgia Tech to Strengthen Nation’s Faculty Development in Geospace Science

admin — Tue, 20 May 2025 16:30:33 +0000

Georgia Tech to Strengthen Nation’s Faculty Development in Geospace Science admin Tue, 05/20/2025 - 12:30

Georgia Tech’s Colleges of Engineering and Sciences have been chosen by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to hire a new faculty member focused on solar-terrestrial science and space weather research. The NSF is prioritizing a national need in geospace physics and selected Georgia Tech from a pool of national universities.

“Space weather has many societal implications, including dangers to the power grid, the aviation sector, satellite lifetimes, communications, and navigation,” said Morris Cohen, professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) and the grant’s co-principal investigator. “However, the number of qualified graduating students interested in this area is not sufficient to meet the future demand. This is especially true as the generation of professionals trained during the space race of the 1960s and ‘70s continues to retire.”

NSF will fund the position for five years and $1.5 million. The grant is led by Susan Lozier, dean of the College of Sciences and Betsy Middleton and John Clark Sutherland Chair. She and Cohen are joined by Raheem Beyah, dean of the College of Engineering and Southern Company Chair, and Glenn Lightsey, the John W. Young Chair in the Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering (AE).

The two Colleges relied heavily on their strength in space research and Georgia Tech’s culture of multidisciplinary collaborations in the NSF application. These traits will allow Georgia Tech to conduct a unique search process. Instead of one unit making the hire as is typical in higher education, leaders from four schools will team up with the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) for the search process. It’s an approach that addresses a nationwide problem in the field.

“Decades ago, space physics largely fell within electrical engineering,” Beyah said. “These days, it’s highly interdisciplinary and typically has no true home — faculty are often scattered across aerospace engineering, applied physics, and earth sciences.”

Beyah said that a few universities have a large cluster of space physics faculty as a result. Many others have none. He said this limits the pipeline of future space science professionals because a substantial fraction of students has little or no exposure to the field.

Georgia Tech is right in the middle, with a presence in solar-terrestrial science and space weather research but not a large cluster of faculty members. The new hire will allow Tech to reach more students interested in the field. Georgia Tech also pointed to its Vertically Integrated Projects program as a mechanism to get many new students involved in the new hire’s research.

According to Lozier, solar-terrestrial science and space weather encompass at least four buckets: advanced theory and simulations that span the extremes of physics; big data and machine learning; innovative tools to collect new types of measurements; and operational needs in industry and defense, which motivate translation of research into real-world practice.

“This breadth has hampered faculty growth in this area, as it has other interdisciplinary research fields like quantum computing and neuroscience,” Lozier said. “These areas straddle pure science and engineering, which often are separate in university hierarchy. We believe these interdisciplinary aspects of geospace science should be celebrated. More importantly, we believe they can be turned into a strength.”

Representatives from AE, ECE, GTRI, the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, and the School of Physics will form the hiring committee. The hire will complement Georgia Tech’s February announcement of a new Space Research Initiative. Once the NSF-funded position is filled, the Colleges will collectively fund and search for a second faculty member in the field.

Subtitle

With NSF support, Colleges of Sciences and Engineering will collaborate to hire a researcher focused on solar-terrestrial science and space weather.

Summary sentence

With NSF support, Colleges of Sciences and Engineering will collaborate to hire a researcher focused on solar-terrestrial science and space weather.

Summary

With NSF support, Colleges of Sciences and Engineering will collaborate to hire a researcher focused on solar-terrestrial science and space weather.

Dateline

Wed, 05/22/2024 - 12:00

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Fri, 05/24/2024 - 15:24

Campus Connection Inspires Mother and Son to Find Purpose and Passion

admin — Fri, 09 May 2025 14:00:41 +0000

Campus Connection Inspires Mother and Son to Find Purpose and Passion admin Fri, 05/09/2025 - 10:00

When Andrew Rush started at Georgia Tech last fall, he already had a sense of direction as soon as he set foot on campus. His mother, Holly Rush, is a longtime Georgia Tech staff employee, and this exposure influenced Andrew to study at the Institute.

We caught up with Holly and Andrew to learn more about what makes Georgia Tech so appealing to students and employees alike, and the unique perspective their mother-son relationship brings to campus.

How long have you worked at Georgia Tech? What do you do as a financial operations assistant director?

[Holly] I have been at Georgia Tech since 2000 and joined the College of Computing in early 2005. Ironically and very memorably, I found out I was expecting Andrew right after I started in Computing. I still recall being very nervous about telling my new boss that I was expecting, but she was happy for me and very accommodating. I went to the bookstore right after our meeting and bought Andrew his first Georgia Tech t-shirt, which I plan to pass down to him one day.

Being part of the College for this long, I have watched it grow from having divisions to schools. I began as a financial administrator and steadily grew into my current role as assistant director of financial operations for the School of Computational Science and Engineering (CSE). In my current role, I oversee financial operations for the School of CSE, including budgeting, forecasting, financial reporting, and ensuring compliance with Institute and sponsor guidelines. I work closely with faculty, staff, and leadership to support our financial programs and other initiatives. It is a rewarding role that allows me to contribute to the success of the college while watching it grow, just like my own journey here.

How much influence did your mom’s work at Georgia Tech have on your interest in coming here for college?

[Andrew] It definitely played a role. I grew up a fan of all things Georgia Tech, so this was always my dream school. When I got in, all the stars aligned. Tech was my dream school, my mom worked there, and I was close to home. It was perfect.

What is it about Georgia Tech that has kept you here for more than two decades?

[Holly] From the beginning, I have always felt that my work contributes to something bigger – supporting faculty who offer world-class education and innovation. I have had the opportunity to grow professionally and work alongside very talented colleagues.

How has your first year gone? What do you like best about attending Georgia Tech?

[Andrew] Overwhelming. I wasn’t sure what to expect from attending college. The college lifestyle was a big change for me, and I had to learn how to navigate it. I knew Georgia Tech would be challenging, and I thought I was ready for it, but it was still harder than I expected. However, I managed to get through my first year with great resilience and finish stronger than I started.

What do you each like best about being on campus together?

[Holly] I enjoy being nearby and getting to share this chapter of his life. There are many times that Andrew is focused on his studies or his fraternity commitments, so he doesn’t get to come home as often as I would like. But with me being on campus, we can grab a quick lunch or have a short visit. I also like knowing he is a short walk from my office if I want to drop off a homemade meal. Even when we are both too busy for a visit, sometimes I find myself looking out the window across campus. Just seeing the top of a building where he is attending class gives me comfort knowing he is there.

[Andrew] Bouncing off of what my mom said, it has been great. It is comforting that I can go to her office just to say “hey,” and not drive all the way home. It’s nice that when I’m having a rough patch with school, she drops by to offer some reassurance.

What has been the key to reaching the milestones of a fulfilling career and witnessing your children achieve their goals?

[Holly] The key to reaching these milestones has really been maintaining a healthy work-life balance. Georgia Tech has given me the space and support to grow professionally while also being present as a parent. That balance has been everything. It allowed me to build a fulfilling career that I’m proud of, while also being there to watch my children grow and pursue their dreams, including Andrew becoming a Georgia Tech student himself. Being able to do both, without having to choose one over the other, has truly been the foundation of my success and happiness.

What do you look forward to in the next few years studying computer engineering at Georgia Tech? And after graduating?

[Andrew] I am most excited for my threads and starting my career. I have learned so much that I am already applying my studies. I recently used Raspberry Pi to build a circuit that enabled a motion detector to work and set off an LED indicating motion. This was a part of my discovery class for my major, and it was the most fun I have had at Georgia Tech so far. It was very new and exciting to learn about, and it motivates me to put my skills to work.

After graduating, I want to work in cybersecurity, possibly as a hardware security engineer for the government or even my own startup. The project I mentioned opened my eyes to my threads and really motivated me to continue in this field.

Rush is one of more than 150 College of Computing staff members who support the College and its five schools. Staff members are the backbone of the College. From managing operations to providing essential services, their dedication ensures the seamless delivery of education, research, and community support, making them integral to the College's success.

Summary sentence

Holly Rush has worked at Georgia Tech since 2000. Her employment influenced her son, Andrew, to attend the Institute and study computer engineering.

Summary

We caught up with Holly and Andrew to learn more about what makes Georgia Tech so appealing to students and employees alike, and the unique perspective their mother-son relationship brings to campus.

Dateline

Thu, 05/08/2025 - 12:00

Contact

Bryant Wine, Communications Officer
bryant.wine@cc.gatech.edu

Keywords

College of Computing

college of engineering

School of Computational Science and Engineering

College of Engineering; School of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Daily Digest

The Whistle

whistle

Georgia Tech News Center

Mother's Day

News room topics

Campus and Community

Categories

Community

Computer Science/Information Technology and Security

Engineering

Student and Faculty

Mercury ID

682285

Source updated

Fri, 05/09/2025 - 09:59

Graduating CS Major Draws Strength from Father’s Example to Lead in Tech

dgivens8 — Mon, 28 Apr 2025 18:00:46 +0000

Graduating CS Major Draws Strength from Father’s Example to Lead in Tech dgivens8 Mon, 04/28/2025 - 14:00

For Tai’Re Barashango, the journey toward computer science (CS) began early, sparked by Lego Mindstorms, a curious mind, and inspiration from his father.

“Growing up, my father taught CS at the high school level,” Tai’Re said. “He never pushed it on me, but I’d visit his office and see what he was working on. Just being around it got me interested.”

Now a faculty member in Georgia Tech’s College of Computing, Sababu Barashango remembers his son’s early creativity well.

“He loved music- listening, dancing, even writing rap songs,” said Sababu, a fellow at the Constellations Center for Education in Computing. “He performed one at his elementary school that became their unofficial theme song. He was also active in sports like basketball, cross country, and track.”

That creative energy extended to technology. Tai’Re began building robotic animals and catapults in middle school using Lego Mindstorm kits, some of which were passed down from his dad. “I gave him my programmable Lego sets,” Sababu said. “And, during summers in high school, I would enroll him in free online courses for coding to complement his CS course.”

At Union Grove High School, he took his first digital technology class.

“Once I started coding, I realized this is kind of my thing,” Tai’Re said.

Outside the classroom, Tai’Re was deeply involved in community service. As a first-year college student, he earned the A.D. King Foundation’s Outstanding Youth Leadership of the Year award. He was recognized for completing over 100 hours of service and for his leadership as a JROTC battalion commander. He also delivered a speech on youth empowerment at the ceremony.

“It was powerful being in a room with people connected to the Civil Rights Movement and others breaking barriers in education,” Tai’Re said. “I think it’s important to give back and inspire kids to be ambitious.”

His father shared how proud he is of his son’s accomplishments. “Tai’Re has grown into a young man with compassion, intelligence, and maturity. He’s a great problem solver, in school and life.”

Now a graduating CS major, Tai’Re has made the most of his time at Tech. He’s been active in research and student organizations. He’s worked as a long-term student assistant in the College of Computing and interned as a software engineer with Genuine Parts Company, tackling real-world technical challenges.

Among his many memorable moments at Georgia Tech, one standout experience for Tai’Re was a Vertically Integrated Project (VIP) with School of Literature, Media, and Communication’s Joycelyn Wilson. His team created a digital archive focused on hip-hop culture.

“We built a website where you could look up songs, watch videos, and even view AI-generated lyric analysis,” Tai’Re said. “It was amazing to merge my love of music with CS.”

He credits CS 1332: Data Structures and Algorithms and other early courses in the School of Computing Instruction for giving him the foundation he needed to succeed.

“That class gave me core skills for technical interviews,” Tai’Re said. “Project-based classes helped me build a strong resume.”

Outside of academics, he was involved in groups such as the African Student Association, African American Student Union, and the Black Student Computing Organization (BSCO).

“BSCO was especially helpful. They host events, share our resumes, and connect us to recruiters,” Tai’Re said.

All the preparation has paid off. After graduation, Tai’Re will begin his career as a software engineer with Cargill in Midtown Atlanta.

His advice for students is to be patient and stay curious.

“Computer science is broad; it might take time to find your niche. But it’s worth exploring. Georgia Tech is rigorous, but you grow a lot as a person and a coder.”

Summary sentence

For Tai’Re Barashango, the journey toward computer science (CS) began early, sparked by Lego Mindstorms, a curious mind, and inspiration from his father.

Summary

For Tai’Re Barashango, the journey toward computer science (CS) began early, sparked by Lego Mindstorms, a curious mind, and inspiration from his father.

Dateline

Mon, 04/28/2025 - 12:00

emily.smith@cc.gatech.edu

Associated importer

Keywords

graduation 2025

College of Computing

school of computing instruction

News room topics

Campus and Community

Categories

Education

Student and Faculty

Student Honors and Achievements

Mercury ID

682101

Source updated

Mon, 04/28/2025 - 14:00

Faculty Earn Fellowships for Heart Modeling and Data Optimization Research

admin — Fri, 25 Apr 2025 14:42:41 +0000

Faculty Earn Fellowships for Heart Modeling and Data Optimization Research admin Fri, 04/25/2025 - 10:42

Two faculty members represented Georgia Tech as new fellows to the world’s leading organization dedicated to applied mathematics, computational science, and data science.

The Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) selected Elizabeth Cherry and Katya Scheinberg as Class of 2025 fellows. The two Georgia Tech faculty join an illustrious class of 23 other researchers from around the globe in this year’s class.

SIAM selected Cherry to recognize her contributions to mathematical and computational modeling and extensive service to the SIAM community. She studies the electrical behavior of cardiac cells and tissue.

Cherry’s computer models and simulations improve understanding of cardiac dynamics in normal and diseased states. Using these tools, she designs advanced strategies for preventing and treating arrhythmias.

“SIAM has played a huge role in my professional development—the first conference I attended as a graduate student was a SIAM conference, and I’ve attended at least one SIAM conference almost every year since then,” Cherry said.

“Given this long history, it means a lot to me for SIAM to acknowledge my contributions in this way.”

Scheinberg, from Georgia Tech’s College of Engineering, was selected for her foundational contributions to derivative-free optimization and optimization applications in data science and her dedicated service to the optimization community.

Cherry is the fifth faculty member from the School of Computational Science and Engineering (CSE) to be selected as a SIAM Fellow.

Cherry’s announcement as a SIAM Fellow comes weeks after serving in a leadership role at a SIAM conference. She co-chaired the organizing committee of the SIAM Conference on Computational Science and Engineering (CSE25).

In 2023, SIAM members reelected Cherry to a second term as a council member-at-large. She began her three-year term in January 2024.

"SIAM Fellows are selected for deep mathematical contributions. Receiving Fellow status is a high honor for any applied mathematician," said Regents’ Professor Srinivas Aluru, senior associate dean of the College of Computing and Class of 2020 SIAM Fellow.

"Not only are Elizabeth's contributions technically outstanding, but her work also provides deep insights into the functioning of the heart and its abnormalities."

Cherry’s leadership and service extends outside of SIAM, influencing students and faculty across Georgia Tech.

In December, the College of Computing appointed Cherry as associate dean for graduate education. Before this appointment, she served as associate chair for academic affairs of the School of CSE.

With her new role as associate dean, Cherry continues serving as director of CSE programs at Georgia Tech.

In March 2024, Cherry was among five Georgia Tech faculty members selected for the ACC Academic Leaders Network (ACC ALN) Fellows program. The ALN program fosters cross-institutional networking and collaboration between ACC schools, increasing each institution’s academic leadership capacity.

Cherry was part of a team of Georgia Tech and Emory University researchers who won a Georgia Clinical and Translational Science Alliance award in 2023. The group earned the Team Science Award of Distinction for Early Stage Research Teams award for work that captures high-resolution visualizations of spiral waves that create heart arrhythmias.

SIAM will recognize Cherry, Scheinberg, and Class of 2025 fellows during a reception at the SIAM/CAIMS Annual Meetings this July in Montréal.

“It is such an honor to be recognized as a SIAM Fellow,” Cherry said. “I’m thrilled to join my CSE colleagues who have also received this recognition.”

Subtitle

Summary sentence

The Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) selected Elizabeth Cherry and Katya Scheinberg as Class of 2025 fellows.

Summary

Two faculty members represented Georgia Tech as new fellows to the world’s leading organization dedicated to applied mathematics, computational science, and data science.

Dateline

Fri, 04/11/2025 - 12:00

Contact

Bryant Wine, Communications Officer
bryant.wine@cc.gatech.edu

Associated importer

Keywords

College of Computing

School of Computational Science and Engineering

go-researchnews

Research Horizons

Daily Digest

Georgia Tech News Center

SIAM

News room topics

Science and Technology

Categories

Biotechnology, Health, Bioengineering, Genetics

Computer Science/Information Technology and Security

Life Sciences and Biology

Student and Faculty

Mercury ID

681734

Source updated

Fri, 04/25/2025 - 10:41

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