Research

Georgia Tech Celebrates 2025 Ph.D. Graduates in Cybersecurity and Privacy

dgivens8 — Mon, 28 Jul 2025 14:47:40 +0000

Georgia Tech Celebrates 2025 Ph.D. Graduates in Cybersecurity and Privacy dgivens8 Mon, 07/28/2025 - 10:47

The School of Cybersecurity and Privacy at Georgia Tech is proud to recognize the accomplishments of five doctoral students who finished their doctoral programs in Spring 2025. These scholars have advanced critical research in software security, cryptography, and privacy, collectively publishing 34 papers, most of which appear in top-tier venues.

Ammar Askar developed new tools for software security in multi-language systems, including a concolic execution engine powered by large language models. He highlighted DEFCON 2021, which he attended with the Systems Software and Security Lab (SSLab), as a favorite memory.

Zhengxian He persevered through the pandemic to lead a major project with an industry partner, achieving strong research outcomes. He will be joining Amazon and fondly remembers watching sunsets from the CODA building.

Stanislav Peceny focused on secure multiparty computation (MPC), designing high-performance cryptographic protocols that improve efficiency by up to 1000x. He’s known for his creativity in both research and life, naming avocado trees after famous mathematicians and enjoying research discussions on the CODA rooftop.

Qinge Xie impressed faculty with her adaptability across multiple domains. Her advisor praised her independence and technical range, noting her ability to pivot seamlessly between complex research challenges.

Yibin Yang contributed to the advancement of zero-knowledge proofs and MPC, building toolchains that are faster and more usable than existing systems. His work earned a Distinguished Paper Award at ACM CCS 2023, and he also served as an RSAC Security Scholar. Yang enjoyed teaching and engaging with younger students, especially through events like Math Kangaroo.

Faculty mentors included Regents’ Entrepreneur Mustaque Ahamad, Professors Taesoo Kim and Vladimir Kolesnikov, and Assistant Professor Frank Li, who played vital roles in guiding the graduates’ research journeys.

Learn more about the graduates and their mentors on the 2025 Ph.D. graduate microsite.

Subtitle

Summary sentence

Summary

Five Ph.D. students from Georgia Tech’s School of Cybersecurity and Privacy graduated in Spring 2025, contributing significant research in software security, cryptography, and privacy with 34 published papers. Highlights include Ammar Askar’s concolic execution tools, Zhengxian He’s industry collaboration, Stanislav Peceny’s advances in multiparty computation, Qinge Xie’s adaptability across domains, and Yibin Yang’s award-winning work on zero-knowledge proofs. Faculty mentors played key roles in supporting their success.

Dateline

Wed, 05/14/2025 - 12:00

jpopham3@gatech.edu

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JP Popham, Communications Officer II

College of Computing | School of Cybersecurity and Privacy

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Source updated

Mon, 07/28/2025 - 10:46

Four Startup Lab Students Selected for 2025 Immersive Cohort at SXSW

dgivens8 — Fri, 04 Apr 2025 14:10:41 +0000

Four Startup Lab Students Selected for 2025 Immersive Cohort at SXSW dgivens8 Fri, 04/04/2025 - 10:10

Four students from Startup Lab have been selected to join the 2025 immersive cohort at South by Southwest (SXSW) in Austin, Texas. Alex Aridgides (mechanical engineering and economics), Shinhai Chen (industrial engineering), Varuni Chopra (industrial engineering), and Christie Peng (computer science) are the first Georgia Tech students to be invited to the program.

The weeklong, all-expenses-paid program offers university-affiliated innovators the chance to refine their innovations, engage in customer discovery, and network with industry leaders and peers at SXSW. The annual festival celebrates technology, film, music, education, and culture. Students participated in a competitive application process, which involved submitting applications, meeting specific evaluation criteria, and being selected by a panel of industry experts, mentors, and SXSW organizers.

Yolanda Payne, the students’ Startup Lab instructor, presented the SXSW opportunity in class.

"My goal is to be their biggest cheerleader,” she explained. “I had great teachers who helped me get to where I am today, and I strive to emulate their support. I’m always willing to guide students toward new opportunities."

She learned about the SXSW immersive cohort from Nakia Melecio, director of the National Science Foundation I-Corps Southeast Hub. The $15 million initiative crosses nine major research universities in the southern U.S. and accelerates the translation of deep tech research into commercial ventures. The hub works closely with entrepreneurial faculty, students, and researchers to equip them with the tools, networks, and support to bring their innovations to market.

Melecio plays a central role in identifying and advancing strategic opportunities for university partners and their entrepreneurial teams. “When the opportunity to participate in SXSW arose, I recognized it as an ideal platform to showcase the talent and innovation coming out of our region.”

Melecio added that Startup Lab is ideal for amplifying NSF I-Corps’ goals because of the course’s proven track record of fostering hands-on learning and commercialization readiness. “Startup Lab helps prepare students not just to think entrepreneurially, but to act on their ideas with confidence and a structured path forward. It was a natural fit for this opportunity.”

Payne says the experience students gained in Startup Lab helped prepare them for the immersive cohort. “The knowledge is being solidified by an experience you’re having in my class and the real world.”

Chopra agrees that Startup Lab teaches essential business development fundamentals and customer discovery principles, skills that are relevant to the SXSW program. She recommends the course to other students and emphasizes the value of combining engineering or technical backgrounds with entrepreneurship skills.

“We take a lot of classes that are directly related to our major, and they're very technical. But when it comes to wanting to start something of your own or even understanding how startups work, it's completely different than the rest of our coursework.”

Startup Lab is a three-credit course that focuses on evidence-based entrepreneurship. This hands-on class covers ideation, teamwork, customer discovery, minimum viable products, the business model canvas, and other topics. Students learn how to launch a startup by integrating in-class lectures with practical, out-of-class activities, including interviewing potential customers and refining their startup ideas based on real-world feedback.

The program provides access to valuable resources, mentorship from seasoned entrepreneurs, and a supportive community to help students develop their startups. Startup Lab and NSF I-Corps are also exploring other industry showcases for student entrepreneurs like SXSW.

Chen chose Startup Lab to pursue his entrepreneurial interests. “I knew that Georgia Tech had a really good startup culture, so I researched what they had to offer, and Startup Lab was the first step." He also noted Payne's impact as an instructor. "The best part is how much she cares about the topic. She has a lot of background knowledge and is passionate.”

Startup Lab is unique because it "de-risks the business model,” Payne says. Many entrepreneurs first build their products and then talk to potential customers. However, Startup Lab students perform customer discovery, sharing their ideas with potential end users, listening to their needs and feedback, and then building the product.

Peng recalls a powerful moment of pitching an idea for an app to streamline MARTA operations. “I had a fun time coming up with this idea. We learned a lot about interviewing, coming up with possible solutions, and refining our idea,” she says. "Being surrounded by so many brilliant individuals at Georgia Tech makes it easy to get idea formation or networking connections you need for your idea to succeed."

Aridgides has ambitious post-program goals, envisioning creating change through entrepreneurship. "I want to start a company to change the world for the better and make a big impact. That's my life goal. I think through a company, I can achieve that."

Payne reminds students that they possess something many adults lack: time to explore different ideas. She also says Startup Lab can help students value and see their ideas in new ways.

“They don't recognize that the product they're working on could be pursued through entrepreneurship or think of themselves as entrepreneurs. And even if they don't pursue it, it helps them in all aspects of life because business and capitalism are part of what we do every day.”

If you’re a student interested in adding entrepreneurship to your course schedule, registration for the summer and fall semesters opens on April 15. In addition to Startup Lab, students also have the opportunity to build a prototype with support through Idea to Prototype and CREATE-X Capstone Design.

Summary sentence

Four Georgia Tech students—Alex Aridgides, Shinhai Chen, Varuni Chopra, and Christie Peng—have been selected for the 2025 immersive cohort at South by Southwest (SXSW) in Austin, Texas, where they will refine their innovations and network with industry le

Summary

Four Georgia Tech students from Startup Lab—Alex Aridgides, Shinhai Chen, Varuni Chopra, and Christie Peng—have been selected for the 2025 immersive cohort at South by Southwest (SXSW) in Austin, Texas. This weeklong, all-expenses-paid program allows university-affiliated innovators to refine their innovations, engage in customer discovery, and network with industry leaders. The students were chosen through a competitive application process and are the first from Georgia Tech to be invited. Their instructor, Yolanda Payne, emphasizes the importance of hands-on learning and entrepreneurial skills gained through Startup Lab.

Dateline

Fri, 04/04/2025 - 12:00

breanna.durham@gatech.edu

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Article by Alyson Key

CREATE-X Contact:

Breanna Durham

Marketing Strategist

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startup lab

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commercialization

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business development

startups

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Student Competition WInners (academic, innovation, and research)

Mercury ID

681600

Source updated

Fri, 04/04/2025 - 10:10

Scientists Find Vehicles Susceptible to Remote Cyberattacks in Award-Winning Paper

dgivens8 — Mon, 02 Dec 2024 20:37:41 +0000

Scientists Find Vehicles Susceptible to Remote Cyberattacks in Award-Winning Paper dgivens8 Mon, 12/02/2024 - 15:37

Cybersecurity researchers have discovered new vulnerabilities that could provide criminals with wireless access to the computer systems in automobiles, aircraft, factories, and other cyber-physical systems.

The computers used in vehicles and other cyber-physical systems rely on a specialized internal network to communicate commands between electronics. Because it took place internally, it was traditionally assumed that attackers could only influence this network through physical access.

In collaboration with Hyundai, researchers from Georgia Tech’s Cyber-Physical Systems Security Research Lab (CPSec) observed that threat models used to evaluate the security of these technologies were outdated.

The team, led by Ph.D. student Zhaozhou Tang, found that vehicle technology advancements allowed attackers to launch new attacks, improve existing attacks, and circumvent current defense systems.

For example, Tang’s findings included the possibility for attackers to remotely compromise the computers used in cars and aircraft through Wi-Fi, cellular, Bluetooth, and other wireless channels.

“Our job was to thoroughly review existing information and find ways to protect against these attacks,” he said. “We found new threats and proposed a defense system that can protect against the new and old attacks.”

In response to their findings, the team developed ERACAN, the first comprehensive defense system against this new generation of attackers. Designed to detect new and old attacks, ERACAN can deploy defenses when necessary.

The system also classifies the attacks it reacts to, providing security experts with the tools for detailed analysis. It has a detection rate of 100% for all attacks launched by conventional methods and detects enhanced threat models 99.7% of the time.

The project received a distinguished paper award at the 2024 ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security (CCS 24) held in Salt Lake City. Tang presented the paper at the October conference.

“This was Zhaozhou’s first paper in his Ph.D. program, and he deserves recognition for his groundbreaking work on automotive cybersecurity,” said Saman Zonouz, associate professor in the School of Cybersecurity and Privacy and the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has designated the transportation sector as one of the nation’s 16 critical infrastructure sectors. Ensuring its security is vital to national security and public safety.

“Modern vehicles, which rely heavily on controller area networks for essential operations, are integral components of this infrastructure,” said Zonouz. “With the increasing sophistication of cyberthreats, safeguarding these systems has become critical to ensuring the resilience and security of transportation networks.”

This paper introduced to the scientific community the first comprehensive defense system to address advanced threats targeting vehicular controller area networks.

The CPSec team is putting the technology it has developed into practice in collaboration with Hyundai America Technical Center, Inc., which sponsors the work. Tang hopes ERACAN’s success will raise awareness of these new threats in the research community and industry.

“It will help them build future defenses,” he said. “We have demonstrated the best practice to defend against these attacks.”

Tang received his bachelor’s degree at Georgia Tech, where he first performed security-related work for the automobile industry. While working with Zonouz on his master’s degree, he decided to change course and pursue research initiatives like vehicle security in a Ph.D. program.

“It is interesting how it came full circle,” he said. “I will continue on this path of automobile security throughout my Ph.D.”

ERACAN: Defending Against an Emerging CAN Threat Model, was written by Zhaozhou Tang, Khaled Serag from the Qatar Computing Research Institute, Saman Zonouz, Berkay Celik and Dongyan Xu from Purdue University, and Raheem Beyah, professor and dean of the College of Engineering. The CPSec Lab is a collaboration between the School of Cybersecurity and Privacy and the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Summary sentence

Georgia Tech researchers, with Hyundai, uncovered wireless vulnerabilities in vehicles' internal networks.

Summary

Georgia Tech researchers, with Hyundai, uncovered wireless vulnerabilities in vehicles' internal networks. They developed ERACAN, a defense system with near-perfect attack detection, addressing new and old threats. The project, recognized at CCS 2024, highlights the urgent need to secure critical transportation systems.

Dateline

Mon, 11/25/2024 - 12:00

jpopham3@gatech.edu

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John Popham

Communications Officer II

School of Cybersecurity and Privacy

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Mercury ID

678727

Source updated

Mon, 12/02/2024 - 15:37

Georgia Tech Ph.D. Student, GEM Fellows Alum Receives Role Model Award from SHPE

dgivens8 — Fri, 22 Mar 2024 15:31:39 +0000

Georgia Tech Ph.D. Student, GEM Fellows Alum Receives Role Model Award from SHPE dgivens8 Fri, 03/22/2024 - 11:31

Carolina Colón, a Ph.D. student at Georgia Tech and a member of GTRI’s GEM Fellowship cohort, has been honored with the "Role Model Award – Graduate" by the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE). This award is part of SHPE's Technical Achievement and Recognition (STAR) Awards and will be presented at the SHPE National Convention taking place in Salt Lake City, Utah, from Nov. 1-5.

Carolina Colón

Carolina is currently working toward her Ph.D. in Bioengineering, focusing on T-cell therapies, at the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering. She earned her B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from the Florida Institute of Technology in 2022 and holds an A.A. in Engineering from Valencia College, awarded in 2019.

Originally from Puerto Rico, she moved to Florida for her last year of high school.

Research at GTRI, Georgia Tech

Carolina's research work aims to combine aerospace engineering and bioengineering to develop devices that enable the mass production of cell therapies to lower their cost and make them more accessible.

GEM Fellowship

Colón was a participant in GTRI’s GEM Fellowship program in 2022. The national GEM Consortium provides funding for graduate education through corporate sponsorships and a partnership with university partners, such as Georgia Tech.

The National GEM Consortium is a network of leading corporations, government laboratories, elite universities, and elite research institutions that empowers qualified students from underrepresented communities to pursue a graduate degree in a STEM field. GEM’s mission is to garner a talent pool of African American, Hispanic American, and Native American advanced degree-seekers in STEM fields.

Every year, GEM identifies and recruits close to 2,000 students and working professionals from underrepresented groups to participate in its program, which consists of three graduate fellowship tracks: Master of Science in Engineering, Ph.D. in Science, and Ph.D. in Engineering.

GEM also provides financial support to aspiring graduate students from underrepresented groups, allowing them to pursue their dreams without worrying about money.

Students selected into the GEM Fellowship program must complete a corporate internship during the summer and attend graduate school during the fall and spring semesters. In exchange, students are provided funding for graduate school through an agreement with their home institutions.

In the GEM Fellowship program, one of her advisors was GTRI Principal Research Engineer Jud Ready of the Electro-Optical Systems Laboratory (EOSL).

Ready said that Carolina “increased teamwork and morale while creatively expanding knowledge of her lab mates’ different cultural backgrounds.”

Said Carolina of her GEM experience: "The experience I gained at GTRI will definitely last me a lifetime, and it’s something that has changed my life immensely. Thanks to all at EOSL and GEM."

Other Research Programs

Carolina’s research and professional trajectory has also been aided by her participation in multiple Georgia Tech summer research programs, including the Cell Therapy Manufacturing (CMaT), FOCUS, and SURE programs. Georgia Tech’s FOCUS program is one of the nation’s premier graduate recruitment programs designed to attract highly skilled students who have historically been underrepresented in higher education. The Summer Undergraduate Research in Engineering/Sciences (SURE) program is a 10-week summer research program designed to attract qualified under-represented minority and women students into graduate school in the fields of engineering and science.

Woodruff School Honors

Most recently, as a new graduate student at Georgia Tech, she has been selected as the Vice President of the Woodruff School Graduate Women (WSGW) group and has already put into motion her ideas regarding Hispanic heritage, GT PRIDE, community college information sessions, etc.

The School of Mechanical Engineering has recognized her Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) efforts. She is an active volunteer with student recruitment panels and represented the school at the Women of Technology Gala. The school also awarded her the Inaugural Women of Woodruff “Rising Star” award for her efforts.

To cap it off, the Woodruff School also awarded Carolina the inaugural Interdisciplinary Research Fellowship (IRF). This honor recognized Carolina's vision of intertwining the fields of aerospace and bioengineering to create enhanced devices and enable cell therapies in the space environment for astronauts in long-term space missions.

Nada es imposible si lo intentas. (Nothing is impossible if you try.)
-- Carolina Colón

Beyond Academia

In addition to her studies, Carolina has worked with Marriott Hotels for about ten years. When she is not in the lab, Carolina enjoys activities such as watching anime, learning languages, playing video games, and swimming.

About the Award and SHPE

SHPE is the largest association in the U.S. aimed at supporting Hispanics in STEM fields. The organization’s STAR Awards are annual honors given to individuals, companies, and government agencies that have demonstrated commitment and measurable impact in advancing Hispanics in STEM. The awards are a key feature of the annual SHPE National Convention.

Carolina has been a member of SHPE for three years. A key example of her contribution to SHPE is that, in 2022, she was invited to represent Georgia Tech College of Engineering at the SHPE national conference in North Carolina, and is reprising the same role this year as well.

Leading up to last year’s event, she helped students with graduate school applications, resumes, practice interviews, and pointers on how to land internships. At the event, she talked to many students and told/encouraged them to apply to the many programs that she has participated in, such as Georgia Tech’s FOCUS and SURE programs.

The award received by Carolina Colón reflects GTRI’s and Georgia Tech’s ongoing commitment to creating a diverse academic environment and advancing excellence in STEM fields.

Carolina Colón’s recent accolade serves as a testament to her dedication and contribution to the field of STEM. It also highlights the quality of research and academics within GTRI and Georgia Tech.

We are proud to celebrate her achievements.

Ready said about Carolina: “It seems apparent already that she is destined to be one of those ‘special’ students that go on to make an impact throughout their career in numerous areas.”

We agree—and expect to note many more achievements in the future.

Writer: Christopher Weems
GTRI Communications
Georgia Tech Research Institute
Atlanta, Georgia

Photos: Candler Hobbs
Georgia Institute of Technology

The Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) is the nonprofit, applied research division of the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech). Founded in 1934 as the Engineering Experiment Station, GTRI has grown to more than 2,900 employees, supporting eight laboratories in over 20 locations around the country and performing more than $940 million of problem-solving research annually for government and industry. GTRI's renowned researchers combine science, engineering, economics, policy, and technical expertise to solve complex problems for the U.S. federal government, state, and industry.

Summary sentence

Summary

Dateline

Fri, 10/27/2023 - 12:00

michelle.gowdy@gtri.gatech.edu

Contact

(Interim) Director of Communications

Michelle Gowdy

Michelle.Gowdy@gtri.gatech.edu

404-407-8060

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Keywords

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Research

go-researchnews

science and technology

EOSL

student researcher

developing future technology leaders

SHPE

Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers

Categories

Research

Student and Faculty

Student Honors and Achievements

Student Research

Mercury ID

670725

Source updated

Fri, 03/22/2024 - 11:30

GTRI’s Stefan Abi-Karam Receives Esteemed FPL Community Award

dgivens8 — Fri, 22 Mar 2024 14:56:41 +0000

GTRI’s Stefan Abi-Karam Receives Esteemed FPL Community Award dgivens8 Fri, 03/22/2024 - 10:56

Stefan Abi-Karam, a member of the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) and a Ph.D student in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Georgia Tech, has been honored with the prestigious FPL Community Award at the 33rd International Conference on Field-Programmable Logic and Applications (FPL 2023) in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Abi-Karam, a Research Engineer I in GTRI's Cybersecurity, Information Protection, and Hardware Evaluation Research (CIPHER) Laboratory, was recognized for his paper titled "GNNBuilder: An Automated Framework for Generic Graph Neural Network Accelerator Generation, Simulation, and Optimization." The paper explores the intersection of hardware acceleration and applied deep learning, and delves into areas such as electronic design automation (EDA), FPGA architecture, and VLSI algorithms.

The FPL Community Award recognizes significant research contributions within the field-programmable logic community. It is awarded based on the impact and potential long-term benefits of open-source research, as assessed by peer reviewers during the conference.

Said Stefan, "I am really happy that there is community recognition for open-source academic hardware research, as this is still not the norm, or the open-source aspect is not seen as valuable in many academic research projects."

Abi-Karam's work, conducted in collaboration with Prof. Cong Hao of Georgia Tech's School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE), stands out for its focus on the pragmatic aspects of engineering, automation, and co-design of high-level-synthesis-based hardware accelerators for computing graph neural networks. Stefan also received his bachelor's degree from Georgia Tech.

Stefan’s research has potential applications in various fields, including high-energy physics, where the deployment of graph neural networks in hardware.

Abi-Karam's dedication to his research and his success in blending his Ph.D. studies with his work at GTRI exemplify GTRI’s Mission's aims of Educating Future Technology Leaders and being a “People-First” environment.

This award not only recognizes Abi-Karam's individual excellence but also underscores GTRI’s and Georgia Tech's role as leaders in the field of cybersecurity and electrical and computer engineering research.

"The award itself was very unexpected since this was my first time at the FPL conference!" said Stefan excitedly and humbly. "It was also the first time I got to meet and talk to many of the other professors and students for the first time who also work in my research area as well as other areas that overlap with my work at GTRI."

Congratulations, Stefan!

Subtitle

Summary sentence

Stefan Abi-Karam, a member of the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) and a Ph.D. student was recently honored with the prestigious FPL Community Award for his significant research contributions within the field-programmable logic community.

Summary

Dateline

Mon, 11/27/2023 - 12:00

michelle.gowdy@gtri.gatech.edu

Contact

(Interim) Director of Communications

Michelle Gowdy

Michelle.Gowdy@gtri.gatech.edu

404-407-8060

Associated importer

Keywords

GTRI

Research

go-researchnews

science and technology

innovation

student research

developing future technology leaders

FPL

Field-Programmable Logic and Applications

Georgia Tech Electrical and Computer Engineering

Categories

Education

Institute and Campus

Research

Student Honors and Achievements

Mercury ID

671239

Source updated

Fri, 03/22/2024 - 09:58

Digital Inspection Portal Uses AI and Machine Vision to Examine Moving Trains

admin — Fri, 26 Jan 2024 13:50:41 +0000

Digital Inspection Portal Uses AI and Machine Vision to Examine Moving Trains admin Fri, 01/26/2024 - 08:50

Collaboration between Norfolk Southern Corporation and the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) has led to the development of digital train inspection portals that use advanced machine vision and artificial intelligence to examine trains moving at speeds of up to 60 miles per hour to identify mechanical defects that may exist.

Machine vision technology in the portals produces images of key components located on the front and back, top, bottom, and sides of train cars, providing a 360-degree view of the complete train. Images produced by the portal are analyzed within minutes of a train’s passage, allowing any issues identified to be reported immediately.

Two train portals are currently in operation on adjacent tracks in Leetonia, Ohio, and the company plans to have as many as a dozen in service by the end of 2024. Among them will be a train portal already under construction near Jackson, Georgia, which is located south of Atlanta.

“Norfolk Southern is deploying Digital Train Inspection Portals to enhance rail safety across the company’s 22-state network,” said Mabby Amouie, chief data scientist for the company. “The portals feature cutting-edge machine vision inspection technology developed in partnership with GTRI, which engineered the hardware, and Norfolk Southern’s Data Science/Artificial Intelligence and Mechanical teams, which built the brains behind the program.”

The machine vision portion uses 38 high-resolution cameras consisting of a mix of area and line scan cameras to photograph critical components of each rail car moving through the portals. Powerful lights comparable to those used in sports stadiums allow the cameras to take approximately a thousand photographs of each moving rail car.

“Being able to look at the train while it’s moving at 60 miles per hour provides visibility into defects that would be difficult to see otherwise,” said Gary McMurray, division chief of GTRI’s Intelligent Sustainable Technologies Division. “You want to be able to look at a train while it’s in motion because that’s when components are stressed, and you can see other dynamic faults.”

To reduce the amount of data that must be analyzed, each camera is aimed at a specific area of the train and takes photographs only when components of interest are visible. “The high-speed cameras are strategically placed at angles to capture things that are difficult to detect with the human eye during stationary inspections,” said Amouie.

Sensors at each portal determine the speed of each train passing through and use that information to precisely control when the photographs are taken.

“Even with a train traveling 60 miles per hour, we are able to calculate in real time when to tell each camera to take a picture,” said Colin Usher, a GTRI senior research scientist who led development of the machine vision system. “Only images of critical components are taken and the other areas of the train that are inconsequential to identifying defects are not captured. That optimizes the image capture and saves space in the computer system.”

The images produced by the system are analyzed by artificial intelligence algorithms developed by Norfolk Southern. The algorithms were designed to provide a combination of high accuracy and very low rates of false positives. If defects are spotted, the AI systems reports them immediately.

“The computer transmits the information to Norfolk Southern’s Network Operations Center, where the data is reviewed by subject-matter experts to identify and address issues to proactively ensure the safety of rail operations,” Amouie said. “Critical defects are flagged for immediate handling.”

The machine vision system uses image compression techniques to reduce the size of the photographs processed by computer servers located in the portals. For a single train, the data analyzed can amount to as much as 500 gigabytes. Because the inspection needs to be done quickly, the image processing is done on-site.

The inspection portals must operate year-round in all kinds of weather conditions and in geographic locations that range from extreme heat to cold. The machine vision system therefore has to operate despite heavy vibration levels, temperature extremes, rain and snow – and to remain clean as trains pass over.

To protect the cameras, air blown over the camera lenses shields them, while air-conditioned enclosures prevent overheating of the equipment. The system operates in a tunnel structure that helps protect the equipment and control lighting, which must be consistent across the train being inspected.

The project, which began in 2021, involved approximately a dozen researchers in four GTRI laboratories. The research built on imaging work done earlier for a variety of applications, including the food processing industry, which needed to monitor poultry on moving processing lines.

“By partnering with GTRI, Norfolk Southern is tapping into the best in machine vision technology in any market,” Amouie said. “We chose GTRI to be a partner because they develop advanced technology solutions and large-scale system prototypes to address the most difficult problems in national security, economic development and the overall human condition.”

Writer: John Toon (john.toon@gtri.gatech.edu)
GTRI Communications
Georgia Tech Research Institute
Atlanta, Georgia USA

The Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) is the nonprofit, applied research division of the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech). Founded in 1934 as the Engineering Experiment Station, GTRI has grown to more than 2,900 employees, supporting eight laboratories in over 20 locations around the country and performing more than $940 million of problem-solving research annually for government and industry. GTRI's renowned researchers combine science, engineering, economics, policy, and technical expertise to solve complex problems for the U.S. federal government, state, and industry.

Summary sentence

Norfolk Southern Corporation and the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) have developed digital train inspection portals that use advanced machine vision and artificial intelligence to identify mechanical defects that may exist on moving trains.

Summary

Collaboration between Norfolk Southern Corporation and the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) has led to the development of digital train inspection portals that use advanced machine vision and artificial intelligence to examine trains moving at speeds of up to 60 miles per hour to identify mechanical defects that may exist.

Dateline

Fri, 01/19/2024 - 12:00

michelle.gowdy@gtri.gatech.edu

Contact

(Interim) Director of Communications

Michelle Gowdy

Michelle.Gowdy@gtri.gatech.edu

404-407-8060

Associated importer

Keywords

GTRI

Research

go-researchnews

science and technology

innovation

Norfolk Southern

Transportation

Trains

security

inspection

artificialintelligence

railways

Rail

machinevision

nationalsecurity

Georgia

News room topics

Business and Economic Development

Categories

City Planning, Transportation, and Urban Growth

Community

Computer Science/Information Technology and Security

Institute and Campus

Research

Mercury ID

672285

Source updated

Fri, 01/26/2024 - 08:49

Gosden Named Executive Chief of Staff for the Office of the Executive Vice President for Research

admin — Wed, 29 Nov 2023 14:46:38 +0000

Gosden Named Executive Chief of Staff for the Office of the Executive Vice President for Research admin Wed, 11/29/2023 - 09:46

Kathleen T. Gosden, Georgia Tech’s chief counsel for Student Life and Academic Affairs, has been named the executive chief of staff for the Office of the Executive Vice President for Research (EVPR), effective Dec. 1.

Gosden joined Georgia Tech in 2011 and has served in varying roles, including as interim general counsel and vice president for Ethics and Compliance and acting deputy general counsel, roles she held concurrently during 2022. Prior to that, she served as assistant chief counsel and senior attorney in employment and litigation for 10 years. She has practiced law in both private practice and public service roles. Notably, before joining Tech, she served for 12 years at the State of Georgia Attorney General’s Office, where she represented and advised state agencies, including the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia.

In the new role, Gosden will advise Chaouki Abdallah, EVPR and the overall EVPR office on administrative and institutional matters and develop actions plans on policies and procedures, operational effectiveness, and communications on issues that advance the Institute’s priorities, goals, and outcomes set forth in the Institute strategic plan. She will serve as a key campus collaborator on executive initiatives, promote research-related matters and objectives, serve as a liaison and representative on campus committees, and provide strategic oversight to administrative staff within the Office of the EVPR.

“Kathleen’s time at Tech and her mix of private and public experience position her well to serve in this new capacity,” said Abdallah. “She has been a great partner, collaborator, and trusted expert to the Georgia Tech research enterprise, and I look forward to working with her in her new role as we continue to safely grow our research and improve our services to our research personnel.”

During her tenure at Georgia Tech, Gosden has counseled on a range of institutional issues, including Free Speech and the First Amendment, Title IX, research administration and security, compliance, and scholarly misconduct. She has also served on various committees and negotiations and provided advising and training on issues related to Human Resources, Athletics, and Faculty Affairs, among others.

“In my time at Georgia Tech, I have been extremely impressed by the research enterprise, its leadership, and the tremendous growth and innovation,” said Gosden. “I am thrilled to be joining the EVPR’s Office and to be serving in this new role.”

Gosden holds a Bachelor’s of Arts in English and a Juris Doctor from the University of Georgia.

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She will assume the role Dec. 1.

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Wed, 11/29/2023 - 12:00

evproffice@gatech.edu

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Wed, 11/29/2023 - 09:45

GTRI Works to Enhance EV Battery Reuse and Recycling in Georgia

admin — Fri, 09 Jun 2023 14:11:31 +0000

GTRI Works to Enhance EV Battery Reuse and Recycling in Georgia admin Fri, 06/09/2023 - 10:11

Amid the surge in demand for lithium-ion batteries, which power everything from smartphones to electric vehicles (EVs), there is a greater need to properly recycle them. The Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) is working to optimize Georgia’s EV battery supply chain by developing cost- and energy-efficient methods to recover materials from spent batteries so that more of them can be reused – and pose fewer environmental risks.

Georgia is quickly emerging as a hub for the electronic transportation industry. According to data from the Georgia Department of Economic Development, since 2018, 35 EV-related projects have contributed $23 billion in investments in the state.

South Korea-based Hyundai Motor Group recently broke ground on its first fully dedicated EV manufacturing facility in Savannah’s Bryan County. The company has also teamed up with LG Energy Solution to invest $4.3 billion in building an EV battery cell manufacturing plant at the same location.

EV manufacturer and automotive technology company Rivian, which is based on Irvine, Calif., has announced a $5 billion investment in its second U.S. plant located east of Atlanta in Morgan and Walton Counties.

Hyundai’s new facility is expected to reach full production capacity at the end of 2025, with 30 gigawatt hours (GWh) of energy anticipated to support the production of 300,000 EVs. Rivian, meanwhile, anticipates its Georgia plant will employ over 7,500 workers while producing up to 400,000 vehicles each year.

“This level of industry engagement in Georgia is unprecedented,” said Kevin Caravati, a GTRI principal research scientist, who is supporting this project. “The Hyundai plant, for example, could create tens of thousands of jobs in a very rural part of Georgia, which would be a step in the right direction for the entire state.”

The lithium-ion batteries that power EVs are seen as desirable over other battery technologies because of their high energy density, which allows electric cars to travel longer distances on a single charge. These types of batteries also have a low self-discharge rate, which means that the stored energy remains available for an extended period of time even when the vehicle is not in use.

However, these batteries can easily turn into fire hazards – especially at the end of their life cycle. Very few batteries ever end up being recycled and those that do get recycled are often mishandled.

“Currently, there are no recycling standards in place, which poses challenges for the entire supply chain,” said Milad Navaei, a GTRI senior research engineer, who is leading this project. “Our goal is to create circular economy for batteries in Georgia where we can reduce our dependence on raw materials that often come from overseas and can be very expensive.”

Lithium-ion batteries use metals including lithium, nickel, manganese, and cobalt that are mined in locations such as Africa’s Democratic Republic of the Congo, Chile and Argentina. During the production process, the metals are combined with other materials to form the two key components of a battery cell – the cathode and the anode. Inside a battery, the cathode, which has a negative charge, and anode, which has a positive charge, interact to generate electrons that power the electronic device. Most lithium-ion batteries are currently made in China.

Navaei noted that geopolitical sensitivities and lingering supply chain challenges in many of these regions makes GTRI’s work all the more crucial.

GTRI’s research consists of two parts: One, develop more advanced analytics capabilities for fleet management companies to monitor the health and performance of EV batteries, and two, optimize the recovery of raw materials from batteries at the end of their useful life.

“The battery is the most important part of an EV, and it’s critical to know the battery’s state of health (SoH), which is the ratio of the present capacity to the initial capacity,” said Navaei. “Our goal is to utilize technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT) to monitor the SoH of these batteries and estimate the life cycle, which heavily depends on the usage and the type of battery for its safe and reliable implementation in the next life application.”

GTRI aims to integrate these technologies into companies’ existing inventory management systems to streamline process management and reporting.

For the second part of the research, GTRI is utilizing a statistical technique known as parametric modeling to aggregate data about known behaviors and characteristics of EV batteries to help companies make more informed decisions about properly depowering them and repurposing their raw materials with minimal environmental impact.

“Developing a robust system-modeling approach to support our energy research is a primary focus of ours,” said GTRI Principal Research Scientist Ilan Stern, who is also supporting the project. “Since our ultimate goal is to utilize domestic sources in our supply chain, really the only way to do that is by building out strong recycling models to account for the fact that these companies are working with finite materials and many of them are coming from conflict zones.”

GTRI is working with a number of industry partners on this project, including many companies that participated in Georgia Tech Battery Day earlier this year. At the event, over 230 energy researchers and industry participants convened to discuss emerging opportunities in energy storage research. Some of the companies represented at the event included Hyundai Kia, Delta Airlines, Cox Automotive and Panasonic.

Writer: Anna Akins
Photo Credit: iStock
GTRI Communications
Georgia Tech Research Institute
Atlanta, Georgia

The Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) is the nonprofit, applied research division of the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech). Founded in 1934 as the Engineering Experiment Station, GTRI has grown to more than 2,900 employees, supporting eight laboratories in over 20 locations around the country and performing more than $800 million of problem-solving research annually for government and industry. GTRI's renowned researchers combine science, engineering, economics, policy, and technical expertise to solve complex problems for the U.S. federal government, state, and industry.

Summary sentence

The Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) is working to optimize Georgia’s EV battery supply chain by developing cost-and energy-efficient methods that pose fewer environmental risks.

Summary

The Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) is working to optimize Georgia’s EV battery supply chain by developing cost- and energy-efficient methods to recover materials from spent batteries so that more of them can be reused – and pose fewer environmental risks.

Dateline

Wed, 06/07/2023 - 12:00

michelle.gowdy@gtri.gatech.edu

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(Interim) Director of Communications

Michelle Gowdy

Michelle.Gowdy@gtri.gatech.edu

404-407-8060

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Fri, 06/09/2023 - 10:08

Research Out Front: Experts Look Ahead to 2023 and Beyond

admin — Thu, 09 Feb 2023 03:46:02 +0000

Research Out Front: Experts Look Ahead to 2023 and Beyond admin Wed, 02/08/2023 - 22:46

What differentiates how people are able to hold their attention on a task? How do people acquire new skills? These are tough questions that Georgia Tech cognitive scientist Alex Burgoyne is trying to find good answers to.

For decades, schools, companies, and federal agencies have tried to use standardized tests to determine whether someone will be a success before they are hired or assigned. But Burgoyne says there are better ways to figure out if a candidate is likely to be a good fit.

“We’re looking at more fluid abilities like problem-solving, working memory, and how people can control their attention,” explains Alexander Burgoyne, a cognitive scientist in the School of Psychology.

Burgoyne and his fellow researchers are taking a closer look at the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, better known as the ASVAB. With the U.S. Navy, Burgoyne and his colleagues are using modeling to determine if pilots, air traffic controllers, and flight officers are hitting the mark during their training. The ASVAB, which is highly focused on acquired math and verbal skills, may not measure more specific skills necessary for success.

“Air traffic controllers, for example, need to be able to maintain focus for long periods of time. Whether or not they can make change for a $10 bill is less important for their day-to-day jobs,” he says.

Burgoyne says his work also addresses adverse impact in employment and selection practices. Acquired knowledge tests like the ASVAB often have stratified results that make it harder for applicants from minority communities to succeed.

“The military has a duty to improve their selection procedures to reduce inequities, and they can all better predict who will do well in certain types of training,” he says.

Burgoyne is conducting testing with naval trainees at Naval Air Station Pensacola in Florida, but Fortune 500 companies have also been in contact with him about this cognitive ability research.

Because every failed personnel search or newly assigned team member who can’t pass training costs an organization valuable time, money, and resources, says Burgoyne, “Every company that is hiring must worry about whether they have equitable selection measures in place.” He says it’s a systemic issue and currently a hot topic of conversation.

In the next year, Burgoyne and his colleagues in the Attention and Working Memory Lab at Georgia Tech will continue identifying how to measure different levels of memory capacity and mental focus, as a better determinant for successful performance in a variety of settings.

Learn more about Burgoyne and five fellow researchers in the Georgia Tech newsroom.

Summary sentence

As we kick off a new year, hear from six young, pioneering Georgia Tech researchers who are tackling some of the world’s most complicated issues and working on solutions.

Summary

As we kick off a new year, experts at Georgia Tech are working to understand how some of the world's most pressing concerns will play out over the next 12 months. Hear from six young, pioneering Georgia Tech researchers who are tackling some of the world’s most complicated issues and working on solutions — ranging from feeding an ever-growing population to controlling wheelchairs via wireless brain wave patches.

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Thu, 01/05/2023 - 12:00

jess@cos.gatech.edu

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Steven Norris
Senior Director of Social Media and Media Relations
Georgia Tech

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Thu, 01/05/2023 - 14:45

New Research Gives Users Another Reason to Hate Unwanted Ads

admin — Fri, 11 Nov 2022 16:14:40 +0000

New Research Gives Users Another Reason to Hate Unwanted Ads admin Fri, 11/11/2022 - 11:14

New research released this week reveals the process used by third party advertisers to target online users can be viewed or manipulated by online adversaries using only their target's email address.

A four-person team of researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology, University of Illinois Chicago (UIC), and New York University (NYU) presented their findings Wednesday at the ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security (CCS), a premier security venue.

Today, much of the advertising that appears online is specifically tailored to individuals based on their browsing history, location, and a variety of other factors that have been collected by third party advertising networks.

This data is collected by tracking cookies, which are sent out by third party ad networks and correlated with unique identifiers like email addresses. These cookies allow advertisers to create extensive profiles of internet users, however as the researchers found, this system can be influenced by bad actors.

Once an attacker knows a user’s email address, they can tap into the information being collected by any third-party advertiser observing a specific user’s targeted ad stream. This could allow bad actors insight into to an individual’s detailed browsing history, such as online retailers and travel websites.

“Third party ad networks have no direct relationship with users. Thus, if they want to track user activity across devices, they must rely on identity information, such as email addresses, given to them from other various websites,” said Paul Pearce, assistant professor in the School of Cybersecurity and Privacy (SCP) at Georgia Tech. “Our work shows the way that information is passed to the ad networks is both insecure and hard to verify. If an attacker knows a victim’s email address, they can lie to the ad network pretending to be a user, leading to very real privacy problems.”

The researchers describe this susceptibility as advertising identity entanglement and it happens when attackers confuse ad networks into correlating the attacker’s tracking cookies with a targeted person’s email address, looping them into the data being gathered by third parties. As Pearce and his colleagues state in their paper, adversaries can also leverage the process to send ads of any kind to their targets.

"When I use the Internet on my own private device, like a phone or a laptop, I don't expect that anyone who knows my personal email could manipulate what I see,” said Chris Kanich, associate professor at UIC. “This attack is particularly disturbing, and I am relieved that I use ad and tracking blockers in my web browsers."

To test the scale of this problem, researchers created an artificial users and profile for their experiment, at no time was a real person targeted. By knowing only, the experimental user’s email address, the team was able to Identify specific items and websites the victim interacted with.

Along with shopping habits, the test also showed retargeted advertisements can contain sensitive location information. For example, if a victim interacted with some hotel and travel websites, the attacker could then receive retargeted ads for the specific hotel the victim viewed.

“An ad network potentially leaking travel plans to anyone with a target’s email address is a significant privacy threat and potentially dangerous to people being stalked,” said Damon McCoy, associate professor at NYU.

The researchers indicate that combatting this problem without the support of ad networks is challenging, but ad blockers provide a reasonable initial option to limit exposing a user’s private data. Mitigation of this threat shouldn’t just fall on the users, however. The team also suggests that if third party ad networks encrypted the process of exchanging identity information and ensured the data was verified and correct it would help mitigate the threat.

The research was presented at ACM CCS’22. The paper, Cart-ology: Intercepting Targeted Advertising via Ad Network Identity Entanglement, is co-authored by SCP Ph.D. student ChangSeok Oh, Kanich, McCoy, and Pearce. In accordance with ethical research guidelines, the threat was disclosed to Criteo, one of the largest third-party ad networks on the market, as well as Yahoo.

Summary sentence

Cybersecurity Researchers Show How Attackers Can See Your Online Ads Knowing Only Your Email Address

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Thu, 11/10/2022 - 12:00

jpopham3@gatech.edu

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John Popham

Communications Officer for School of Cybersecurity and Privacy

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Fri, 11/11/2022 - 10:11

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Carolina Colón

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GTRI’s Stefan Abi-Karam Receives Esteemed FPL Community Award

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Digital Inspection Portal Uses AI and Machine Vision to Examine Moving Trains

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Gosden Named Executive Chief of Staff for the Office of the Executive Vice President for Research

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GTRI Works to Enhance EV Battery Reuse and Recycling in Georgia

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Research Out Front: Experts Look Ahead to 2023 and Beyond

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New Research Gives Users Another Reason to Hate Unwanted Ads

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