City Planning, Transportation, and Urban Growth

Georgia Tech, Emory Expand Research at Science Square

admin — Wed, 18 Jun 2025 19:39:41 +0000

Georgia Tech, Emory Expand Research at Science Square admin Wed, 06/18/2025 - 15:39

Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University are taking medical and biomedical research to the next level by moving seven cutting-edge labs into Science Square, the Southeast’s premier life sciences district. This expansion is more than just growth in square footage; it marks a major push to establish Atlanta as a Top 5 technology hub in the U.S.

“Science Square Labs marks a pivotal step forward for Georgia Tech and for Atlanta’s growing life sciences ecosystem. We’re not only accelerating our research and innovation — we’re building powerful momentum across the region,” said Ángel Cabrera, president of Georgia Tech. “Our labs moving to this space will attract top talent and drive medical innovation. The move sets the stage for transformative discoveries, and we hope others will join us to continue Atlanta’s evolution into a global hub for medical breakthroughs.”

This move comes as Georgia Tech saw a 46% increase in research awards from 2018 to 2024, evidence of the Institute’s fast-growing impact. By adding these labs, Atlanta strengthens its position on the national stage for advanced tech and life sciences innovation.

Why It Matters

Saving lives: From early cancer detection and more innovative immune therapies to healing damaged tissues and managing chronic diseases, the research that will be conducted at Science Square tackles health issues millions face.
Fueling a tech hub: By combining research powerhouses like Georgia Tech and Emory with next-gen laboratory facilities, Atlanta is building the brainpower and resources to compete with national tech centers.
Economic growth: Science Square is helping attract top researchers, startups, and funding — bringing jobs, investment, and opportunities to Georgia. Most recently, Duracell announced they are moving their research and development headquarters to Science Square.

Research for Real Life

The new labs at Science Square will support teams tackling life-changing challenges:

Gabe Kwong, Robert A. Milton Chair, College of Engineering, is developing a two-step cancer defense: tagging tumor cells with a synthetic “flag,” then supercharging T cells (the body’s infection-fighting white blood cells) to track down and destroy them. Early lab tests show the technique works against breast, brain, and colon cancers — and prevents regrowth.
Tara Deans and her team are teaching cells new jobs — when to grow, which type of cell to become, or how to release medicine. Their goal is to design smart cells that can sense what’s happening in the body and act as “living therapies,” delivering treatment exactly where, when, and at the level needed.
Alex Vlahos is developing ways to reprogram cells to understand and treat diseases. His team makes new protein tools that help cells sense their environment, communicate with each other, and respond to problems — repairing tissues, fighting cancer, or calming an overactive immune system.
Ed Botchwey co-directs the Regenerative Engineering and Medicine Center, a collaboration between Georgia Tech, Emory University, and the University of Georgia. His team develops advanced biomaterials that work with the body’s immune system, combined with specialized methods, to produce therapeutic cells and their beneficial byproducts. They focus on innovative regenerative treatments for conditions like sickle-cell disease complications, severe muscle injuries, and injuries affecting the mouth, face, and skull.
John Blazeck designs new ways to help the immune system fight disease. His team engineers cells and proteins to better target cancer, improve immune therapies, and develop next-generation treatments.
Corey Wilson, Love Family Professorship, College of Engineering, is building custom-made biological systems from scratch. By mixing protein engineering with genetic tinkering, his team is creating powerful new tools for science and medicine that help us understand how proteins and genes work.
Alyssa Panitch, professor and chair in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, designs innovative materials that help tissues heal better and scar less — whether skin, blood vessels, or even joints. Her team’s biomaterials promote healing on both the inside and outside of cells, guiding the body’s natural repair process.

More About Science Square Labs

Science Square Labs, which opened in 2024, offers more than 368,000 square feet of premium lab and innovation space across 13 floors. Strategically located across from Georgia Tech’s North Avenue Research Area, the building is designed to bring together academic institutions, startups, and industry leaders.

As part of the continued expansion, Georgia Tech announces a major new lease at Science Square. Jon Mayeske of Cushman and Wakefield represented Georgia Advanced Technology Ventures, an affiliate organization of Georgia Tech, which signed a 10-year lease beginning February 15, 2026, for a 36,364 square-foot space on the sixth floor of Science Square Labs. This cutting-edge life sciences facility includes modern lab spaces, offices, and amenity areas designed to foster collaboration among researchers.

Trammell Crow is the master developer of the Science Square District, programmed for over 2.1 million square feet of labs, offices, and residential and retail spaces in multiple phases.

Summary sentence

Georgia Tech and Emory University are advancing Atlanta’s position as a top U.S. tech hub by relocating seven pioneering biomedical research labs to Science Square, a premier life sciences district driving innovation, talent, and economic growth.

Summary

Georgia Tech and Emory University are accelerating Atlanta’s emergence as a national leader in life sciences and technology by relocating seven advanced biomedical research labs to Science Square, a state-of-the-art innovation district.

Dateline

Wed, 06/18/2025 - 12:00

media@gatech.edu

Contact

Siobhan Rodriguez
Senior Media Relations Representative
Institute Communications

Keywords

Georgia Institute of Technology

Emory University

Science Square Labs

Atlanta tech hub

Life sciences innovation

biomedical research

Medical breakthroughs

research and development

Advanced laboratory facilities

Georgia Tech Research

Top 5 technology hub

Southeast life sciences district

Research awards growth

Immune therapies

Cancer detection research

Regenerative Medicine

Synthetic Biology

Smart cells

Protein engineering

Chronic disease management

Georgia Advanced Technology Ventures

Economic development Georgia

Tech talent attraction

innovation ecosystem

Startup incubation

public-private partnerships

research commercialization

Lab space expansion

go-researchnews

News room topics

Business and Economic Development

Campus and Community

Health and Medicine

Science and Technology

Categories

City Planning, Transportation, and Urban Growth

Economic Development and Policy

Institute and Campus

Mercury ID

682819

Source updated

Wed, 06/18/2025 - 15:38

Georgia Tech, Emory Expand Research at Science Square

admin — Wed, 18 Jun 2025 17:55:40 +0000

Georgia Tech, Emory Expand Research at Science Square admin Wed, 06/18/2025 - 13:55

ATLANTA, GA – June 2025 – Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University are taking medical and biomedical research to the next level by moving seven cutting-edge labs into Science Square, the Southeast’s premier life sciences district. This expansion is more than just growth in square footage; it marks a major push to establish Atlanta as a Top 5 technology hub in the U.S.

“Every new lab, every partnership, brings Atlanta one step closer to being one of the nation’s top tech hubs,” said Pat Wilson, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Economic Development. “This investment signals to the world that Georgia is serious about innovation. Strong research attracts talent and companies — and delivers breakthroughs that improve lives right here in our backyard.”

Why It Matters

Saving lives: From early cancer detection and more innovative immune therapies to healing damaged tissues and managing chronic diseases, the research that will be conducted at Science Square tackles health issues millions face.

Fueling a tech hub: By combining research powerhouses like Georgia Tech and Emory with next-gen laboratory facilities, Atlanta is building the brainpower and resources to compete with national tech centers.

Economic growth: Science Square is helping attract top researchers, startups, and funding — bringing jobs, investment, and opportunities to Georgia. Most recently, Duracell announced they are moving their research and development headquarters to Science Square.

Research for Real Life

The new labs at Science Square will support teams tackling life-changing challenges:

Gabe Kwong, Robert A. Milton Chair, College of Engineering, is developing a two-step cancer defense: tagging tumor cells with a synthetic “flag,” then supercharging T cells (the body’s infection-fighting white blood cells) to track down and destroy them. Early lab tests show the technique works against breast, brain, and colon cancers — and prevents regrowth.

Tara Deans and her team are teaching cells new jobs — when to grow, which type of cell to become, or how to release medicine. Their goal is to design smart cells that can sense what’s happening in the body and act as “living therapies,” delivering treatment exactly where, when, and at the level needed.

Alex Vlahos is developing ways to reprogram cells to understand and treat diseases. His team makes new protein tools that help cells sense their environment, communicate with each other, and respond to problems — repairing tissues, fighting cancer, or calming an overactive immune system.

Ed Botchwey co-directs the Regenerative Engineering and Medicine Center, a collaboration between Georgia Tech, Emory University, and the University of Georgia. His team develops advanced biomaterials that work with the body’s immune system, combined with specialized methods, to produce therapeutic cells and their beneficial byproducts. They focus on innovative regenerative treatments for conditions like sickle-cell disease complications, severe muscle injuries, and injuries affecting the mouth, face, and skull.

John Blazeck designs new ways to help the immune system fight disease. His team engineers cells and proteins to better target cancer, improve immune therapies, and develop next-generation treatments.

Corey Wilson, Love Family Professorship, College of Engineering, is building custom-made biological systems from scratch. By mixing protein engineering with genetic tinkering, his team is creating powerful new tools for science and medicine that help us understand how proteins and genes work.

Alyssa Panitch, Wallace H. Coulter Department Chair, College of Engineering, designs innovative materials that help tissues heal better and scar less — whether skin, blood vessels, or even joints. Her team’s biomaterials promote healing on both the inside and outside of cells, guiding the body’s natural repair process.

More About Science Square Labs

Trammell Crow is the master developer of the Science Square District, programmed for over 2.1 million square feet of labs, offices, and residential and retail spaces in multiple phases.

Summary sentence

Summary

Dateline

Wed, 06/18/2025 - 12:00

media@gatech.edu

Contact

Siobhan Rodriguez
Senior Media Relations Representative
Institute Communications

Keywords

Georgia Institute of Technology

Science Square Labs

Atlanta tech hub

Life sciences innovation

biomedical research

Medical breakthroughs

research and development

Advanced laboratory facilities

Georgia Tech Research

Top 5 technology hub

Southeast life sciences district

Research awards growth

Immune therapies

Cancer detection research

Regenerative Medicine

Synthetic Biology

Smart cells

Protein engineering

Chronic disease management

research commercialization

Lab space expansion

News room topics

Business and Economic Development

Campus and Community

Health and Medicine

Science and Technology

Categories

Biotechnology, Health, Bioengineering, Genetics

City Planning, Transportation, and Urban Growth

Institute and Campus

Life Sciences and Biology

Mercury ID

682818

Source updated

Wed, 06/18/2025 - 13:54

Georgia Tech, Emory Expand Research at Science Square

admin — Wed, 18 Jun 2025 17:34:41 +0000

Georgia Tech, Emory Expand Research at Science Square admin Wed, 06/18/2025 - 13:34

Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University are taking medical and biomedical research to the next level by moving seven cutting-edge labs into Science Square, the Southeast’s premier life sciences district. This expansion is more than just growth in square footage; it marks a major push to establish Atlanta as a Top 5 technology hub in the U.S.

Why It Matters

Saving lives: From early cancer detection and more innovative immune therapies to healing damaged tissues and managing chronic diseases, the research that will be conducted at Science Square tackles health issues millions face.

Fueling a tech hub: By combining research powerhouses like Georgia Tech and Emory with next-gen laboratory facilities, Atlanta is building the brainpower and resources to compete with national tech centers.

Economic growth: Science Square is helping attract top researchers, startups, and funding — bringing jobs, investment, and opportunities to Georgia. Most recently, Duracell announced they are moving their research and development headquarters to Science Square.

Research for Real Life

The new labs at Science Square will support teams tackling life-changing challenges:

Gabe Kwong, Robert A. Milton Chair, College of Engineering, is developing a two-step cancer defense: tagging tumor cells with a synthetic “flag,” then supercharging T cells (the body’s infection-fighting white blood cells) to track down and destroy them. Early lab tests show the technique works against breast, brain, and colon cancers — and prevents regrowth.

Tara Deans and her team are teaching cells new jobs — when to grow, which type of cell to become, or how to release medicine. Their goal is to design smart cells that can sense what’s happening in the body and act as “living therapies,” delivering treatment exactly where, when, and at the level needed.

Alex Vlahos is developing ways to reprogram cells to understand and treat diseases. His team makes new protein tools that help cells sense their environment, communicate with each other, and respond to problems — repairing tissues, fighting cancer, or calming an overactive immune system.

Ed Botchwey co-directs the Regenerative Engineering and Medicine Center, a collaboration between Georgia Tech, Emory University, and the University of Georgia. His team develops advanced biomaterials that work with the body’s immune system, combined with specialized methods, to produce therapeutic cells and their beneficial byproducts. They focus on innovative regenerative treatments for conditions like sickle-cell disease complications, severe muscle injuries, and injuries affecting the mouth, face, and skull.

John Blazeck designs new ways to help the immune system fight disease. His team engineers cells and proteins to better target cancer, improve immune therapies, and develop next-generation treatments.

Corey Wilson, Love Family Professorship, College of Engineering, is building custom-made biological systems from scratch. By mixing protein engineering with genetic tinkering, his team is creating powerful new tools for science and medicine that help us understand how proteins and genes work.

Alyssa Panitch, Wallace H. Coulter Department Chair, College of Engineering, designs innovative materials that help tissues heal better and scar less — whether skin, blood vessels, or even joints. Her team’s biomaterials promote healing on both the inside and outside of cells, guiding the body’s natural repair process.

More About Science Square Labs

Trammell Crow is the master developer of the Science Square District, programmed for over 2.1 million square feet of labs, offices, and residential and retail spaces in multiple phases.

Summary sentence

Summary

Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University are taking medical and biomedical research to the next level by moving seven cutting-edge labs into Science Square, the Southeast’s premier life sciences district. This expansion is more than just growth in square footage; it marks a major push to establish Atlanta as a Top 5 technology hub in the U.S.

Dateline

Tue, 06/17/2025 - 12:00

media@gatech.edu

Contact

Siobhan Rodriguez
Senior Media Relations Representative
Institute Communications

Keywords

Georgia Institute of Technology

Emory University

Science Square Labs

Atlanta tech hub

Life sciences innovation

biomedical research

Medical breakthroughs

research and development

Advanced laboratory facilities

Georgia Tech Research

Top 5 technology hub

Southeast life sciences district

Research awards growth

Immune therapies

Cancer detection research

Regenerative Medicine

Synthetic Biology

Smart cells

Protein engineering

Chronic disease management

Ángel Cabrera

Pat Wilson

Gabe Kwong

Tara Deans

Alex Vlahos

Ed Botchwey

John Blazeck

Corey Wilson

Alyssa Panitch

Georgia Advanced Technology Ventures

Economic development Georgia

Tech talent attraction

innovation ecosystem

Startup incubation

public-private partnerships

Cushman and Wakefield

Trammell Crow

Duracell R&D headquarters

research commercialization

Lab space expansion

News room topics

Business and Economic Development

Campus and Community

Health and Medicine

Science and Technology

Categories

City Planning, Transportation, and Urban Growth

Institute and Campus

Mercury ID

682817

Source updated

Wed, 06/18/2025 - 13:33

Can Cool Roofs Help Atlanta Beat the Heat? Georgia Tech Experts Weigh In

admin — Fri, 13 Jun 2025 00:11:41 +0000

Can Cool Roofs Help Atlanta Beat the Heat? Georgia Tech Experts Weigh In admin Thu, 06/12/2025 - 20:11

In a unanimous vote on June 2, the Atlanta City Council approved a significant ordinance requiring all new and replacement roofs to be built with light-colored, reflective materials, commonly known as “cool roofs.” The ordinance, set to take effect in one year, is part of a growing effort to reduce the city’s vulnerability to extreme heat.

Georgia Tech researchers say the new policy marks a major step forward in climate adaptation, especially for heat-vulnerable communities, and could help position Atlanta as a national leader in urban resilience.

How Cool Roofs Can Help Hotlanta

”On any given summer afternoon, temperatures in Atlanta’s intown neighborhoods can be as much as 15 degrees Fahrenheit higher than in the city’s most forested areas,” said Brian Stone, professor in the School of City and Regional Planning and associate director of Georgia Tech’s Center for Urban Resilience and Analytics.

That spike is partly due to the urban heat island effect — a phenomenon driven by heat-trapping materials like concrete, asphalt, and dark rooftops, combined with the loss of trees and natural landscapes. The impacts are not just uncomfortable — they’re dangerous. Extreme heat is now one of the deadliest forms of weather in the U.S., with disproportionate effects on low-income communities, elderly residents, and those without access to air conditioning.

According to Patrick Kastner, assistant professor in the School of Architecture, rooftops are key contributors. “A major driver [of heat buildup] is dark, heat-absorbing material that stores solar energy during the day and then re-radiates it at night. If you look at a satellite image, for most of the day rooftops have more exposure to the sun than building facades — so the material choice there matters a lot.”

The Power of Reflective Roofs — and Trees

Stone and his students conducted modeling that found that widespread adoption of cool roofs across Atlanta could lower summer afternoon temperatures by more than 2 degrees Fahrenheit in many neighborhoods. That’s comparable to findings in other global cities like London, where cool roofs have reduced average temperatures by up to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 F).

But cool roofs are only one part of a broader urban cooling strategy. In the same study, Stone’s team showed that planting trees in just half of Atlanta’s available planting zones could yield an even more dramatic effect, reducing temperatures by 4 F or more in some areas.

“Cool roofs are highly effective, but pairing them with increased urban tree cover would multiply the benefits, especially for neighborhoods currently lacking shade,” Stone said.

Equity and Energy Impacts

Atlanta’s ordinance requires cool roofing materials on new commercial construction and when existing commercial roofs are replaced. While that may sound like a technical design tweak, Stone emphasized its equity implications.

“Residents in South and West Atlanta, where tree canopy is sparse, and energy costs take up a larger share of household income, stand to gain the most,” Stone said. “When a cool roof is installed as part of a required roof replacement, those households will see meaningful reductions in cooling costs month after month.”

Kastner added that cool roofs could ease pressure on the electrical grid, lowering peak energy demand required for cooling during extreme heat and possibly reduce the risk of outages.

Durability, Maintenance, and Design Trade-offs

Stone noted that cool roofs tend to extend the life of roofing materials by limiting thermal degradation. However, he and Kastner also flagged some trade-offs.

For example, highly reflective coatings can create glare, especially on sloped roofs near neighboring buildings. The ordinance accounts for this by setting different standards for flat and pitched roofs. Maintenance is another consideration: over time, reflective coatings may degrade or become dirty, requiring periodic cleaning to maintain performance.

“Aesthetics and material compatibility may also challenge adoption when it comes to historic buildings or for roofs already outfitted with solar panels,” Kastner said. “But advancements in roofing technology, including high-performance materials that aren’t plain white, offer more flexible options than ever before.”

A Cool Roof Policy With National Impact

While cities like New York and Chicago have implemented cool roof programs for over a decade, Atlanta’s proposed ordinance is one of the most comprehensive in the country — applying to all roof types, not just flat industrial ones.

“Atlanta is steadily emerging as one of the most climate-resilient cities in the U.S.,” said Stone, pointing to the city’s urban forest and growing network of floodable parks as complementary resilience strategies. “Adding a best-in-class cool roofing ordinance to that portfolio is a bold step forward.”

And it could spark innovation across the region.

“Georgia Tech is uniquely positioned to help advance climate-resilient design,” Kastner said. “From research on advanced coatings to urban planning tools that target the most heat-vulnerable areas, we’re bringing science and policy together to shape cooler, healthier cities.”

Summary sentence

City’s New Rule Could Shape Broader Change to Protect Heat-Vulnerable Cities

Summary

In a unanimous vote on June 2, 2025, the Atlanta City Council approved a new ordinance requiring all new and replacement roofs to use light-colored, reflective materials known as “cool roofs.” Backed by Georgia Tech research, the policy is designed to reduce urban heat, lower energy costs, and improve climate resilience—especially in heat-vulnerable communities. As one of the most ambitious cool roof mandates in the nation, Atlanta’s move positions the city as a leader in urban climate adaptation and a model for other U.S. cities facing rising temperatures.

Dateline

Thu, 06/12/2025 - 12:00

Contact

Ayana Isles
Senior Media Relations Representative
Institute Communications

Keywords

urban heat

cool roofs

Atlanta ordnance

go-researchnews

News room topics

Earth and Environment

Categories

Architecture

City Planning, Transportation, and Urban Growth

Mercury ID

682782

Source updated

Thu, 06/12/2025 - 20:10

Georgia Tech Relaunches The Biltmore as Strategic Hub for Entrepreneurship in Tech Square

admin — Wed, 28 May 2025 14:14:41 +0000

Georgia Tech Relaunches The Biltmore as Strategic Hub for Entrepreneurship in Tech Square admin Wed, 05/28/2025 - 10:14

Georgia Tech is reimagining The Biltmore as the latest engine of innovation in Tech Square, launching a bold new chapter for one of Atlanta’s most historic landmarks. As part of an ambitious effort to make Atlanta a top-five U.S. tech hub, Georgia Tech is transforming The Biltmore into a vibrant center for launching, scaling, and accelerating startups in the heart of Midtown.

“This is more than a building — it’s a launchpad for Atlanta’s future,” said Georgia Tech President Ángel Cabrera. “At The Biltmore, we’re not just reinvigorating a landmark, we are creating space for more startups, more opportunity, and more innovation that moves Atlanta forward.”

Built in 1924 and marking its centennial last year, The Biltmore has long stood as a symbol of Atlanta’s growth, once serving as a central point for the city’s business and social life. Now, it begins its next century as a future-looking hub for entrepreneurship, where founders, researchers, investors, and industry leaders can collaborate to launch world-changing ventures.

“As home to the South’s first radio station, this over 100-year-old lasting Atlanta landmark has its own tech history,” said Commissioner Pat Wilson from the Georgia Department of Economic Development. “It’s fitting that our Tech Square neighbor will now play a role as a springboard to the innovative companies and ideas that will take us into the future.”

Tech Square: A National Innovation District

Previously acquired by the Georgia Tech Foundation, The Biltmore sits in the heart of Tech Square, a 2.5-million-square-foot innovation district that is home to:

More than 35 corporate innovation centers — including R&D labs, innovation hubs, regional tech headquarters, and corporate labs, making Tech Square one of the densest concentrations of corporate innovation activity in the country.

More than 30 Georgia Tech labs and programs, including the Advanced Technology Development Center and Venture Lab.

Two new towers that will open in 2026, expanding space for Georgia Tech’s Scheller College of Business and the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering.

The award-winning Coda building, which integrates high-performance computing, research, and startups under one roof.

“Atlanta is becoming the startup capital of the South, and this next chapter for The Biltmore strengthens our momentum,” said Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens. “We are bringing together the people, places, and resources to accelerate Atlanta’s growth as a world-class tech and innovation ecosystem.”

The Biltmore @ Tech Square: What's Inside

The revitalized Biltmore will house over 100,000 square feet of key pillars of Georgia Tech’s innovation ecosystem:

CREATE-X Headquarters – Georgia Tech’s flagship student startup accelerator boasting more than 600 startups already launched, a combined valuation exceeding $2.4 billion, and plans to launch 1,000 startups annually.

Quadrant-i – Turning Georgia Tech research into real-world startups by supporting inventors with guidance on finding customers, building teams, and bringing ideas to market.

Office of Technology Licensing – Helping companies around the world commercialize revolutionary research developed at Georgia Tech and accelerating the global impact of Georgia Tech innovations through strategic technology transfer.

VentureLab – Offering comprehensive entrepreneurial and commercialization training. VentureLab is home of the Southeast hub for the National Science Foundation Innovation Corps (I-Corps).

Startup Scaling Platform – Providing space, mentorship, programming, and funding to help scale early-stage startups from their first customer to their first 100 customers.

Corporate Engagement Office – Bringing startups and strategic industry partners together.

Venture Investment Hub – Hosting local and national venture capital firms alongside Georgia Tech and scores of locally founded startups.

Additional Strategic Partners – Supporting organizations and corporate innovations centers.

Together, these assets position Tech Square — and now, Atlanta — as one of the most nationally competitive ecosystems for entrepreneurship, research commercialization, and venture acceleration.

“We’re honored to have been engaged by the Foundation to help bring Georgia Tech’s vision to life,” said David Tyndall, an original co-developer of Tech Square and CEO of Collaborative Real Estate, which will oversee The Biltmore’s redevelopment. “The Biltmore is the centerpiece of Tech Square, and now it will become an international crown jewel of innovation. This will be a place where founders build, investors engage, and the future takes shape.”

Experience Tech Square in Action

Get a firsthand look at Tech Square during ATL Tech Week and the Tech Square Tech Hop on June 11, with an afternoon of startup showcases, networking, and cutting-edge technology on display.
Learn more at atl.tech and lu.ma/yxkiso65.

Summary sentence

Georgia Tech is transforming the iconic Biltmore into a dynamic hub of innovation in Tech Square, marking an exciting new chapter for one of Atlanta’s most historic landmarks.

Summary

As part of an ambitious effort to make Atlanta a top-five U.S. tech hub, Georgia Tech is transforming The Biltmore into a vibrant center for launching, scaling, and accelerating startups in the heart of Midtown.

Dateline

Wed, 05/28/2025 - 12:00

media@gatech.edu

Contact

Georgia Tech Media Relations

Associated importer

News room topics

Business and Economic Development

Categories

Building Construction

City Planning, Transportation, and Urban Growth

Economic Development and Policy

Institute and Campus

Mercury ID

682560

Source updated

Wed, 05/28/2025 - 10:14

SKYSCENES Dataset Could Lead to Safe, Reliable Autonomous Flying Vehicles

admin — Mon, 19 May 2025 13:31:53 +0000

SKYSCENES Dataset Could Lead to Safe, Reliable Autonomous Flying Vehicles admin Mon, 05/19/2025 - 09:31

Is it a building or a street? How tall is the building? Are there powerlines nearby?

These are details autonomous flying vehicles would need to know to function safely. However, few aerial image datasets exist that can adequately train the computer vision algorithms that would pilot these vehicles.

That’s why Georgia Tech researchers created a new benchmark dataset of computer-generated aerial images.

Judy Hoffman, an assistant professor in Georgia Tech’s School of Interactive Computing, worked with students in her lab to create SKYSCENES. The dataset contains over 33,000 aerial images of cities curated from a computer simulation program.

Hoffman said sufficient training datasets could unlock the potential of autonomous flying vehicles. Constructing those datasets is a challenge the computer vision research community has been working for years to overcome.

“You can’t crowdsource it the same way you would standard internet images,” Hoffman said. “Trying to collect it manually would be very slow and expensive — akin to what the self-driving industry is doing driving around vehicles, but now you’re talking about drones flying around.

“We must fix those problems to have models that work reliably and safely for flying vehicles.”

Many existing datasets aren’t annotated well enough for algorithms to distinguish objects in the image. For example, the algorithms may not recognize the surface of a building from the surface of a street.

Working with Hoffman, Ph.D. student Sahil Khose tried a new approach — constructing a synthetic image data set from a ground-view, open-source simulator known as CARLA.

CARLA was originally designed to provide ground-view simulation for self-driving vehicles. It creates an open-world virtual reality that allows users to drive around in computer-generated cities.

Khose and his collaborators adjusted CARLA’s interface to support aerial views that mimic views one might get from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

What's the Forecast?

The team also created new virtual scenarios to mimic the real world by accounting for changes in weather, times of day, various altitudes, and population per city. The algorithms will struggle to recognize the objects in the frame consistently unless those details are incorporated into the training data.

“CARLA’s flexibility offers a wide range of environmental configurations, and we take several important considerations into account while curating SKYSCENES images from CARLA,” Khose said. “Those include strategies for obtaining diverse synthetic data, embedding real-world irregularities, avoiding correlated images, addressing skewed class representations, and reproducing precise viewpoints.”

SKYSCENES is not the largest dataset of aerial images to be released, but a paper co-authored by Khose shows that it performs better than existing models.

Khose said models trained on this dataset exhibit strong generalization to real-world scenarios, and integration with real-world data enhances their performance. The dataset also controls variability, which is essential to perform various tasks.

“This dataset drives advancements in multi-view learning, domain adaptation, and multimodal approaches, with major implications for applications like urban planning, disaster response, and autonomous drone navigation,” Khose said. “We hope to bridge the gap for synthetic-to-real adaptation and generalization for aerial images.”

Seeing the Whole Picture

For algorithms, generalization is the ability to perform tasks based on new data that expands beyond the specific examples on which they were trained.

“If you have 200 images, and you train a model on those images, they’ll do well at recognizing what you want them to recognize in that closed-world initial setting,” Hoffman said. “But if we were to take aerial vehicles and fly them around cities at various times of the day or in other weather conditions, they would start to fail.”

That’s why Khose designed algorithms to enhance the quality of the curated images.

“These images are captured from 100 meters above ground, which means the objects appear small and are challenging to recognize,” he said. “We focused on developing algorithms specifically designed to address this.”

Those algorithms elevate the ability of ML models to recognize small objects, improving their performance in navigating new environments.

“Our annotations help the models capture a more comprehensive understanding of the entire scene — where the roads are, where the buildings are, and know they are buildings and not just an obstacle in the way,” Hoffman said. “It gives a richer set of information when planning a flight.

“To work safely, many autonomous flight plans might require a map given to them beforehand. If you have successful vision systems that understand exactly what the obstacles in the real world are, you could navigate in previously unseen environments.”

For more information about Georgia Tech Research at ECCV 2024, click here.

Summary sentence

Georgia Tech researchers created a new benchmark dataset of computer-generated aerial images that could allow autonomous flying vehicles to operate reliably and safely.

Summary

Few aerial image datasets exist that can adequately train the computer vision algorithms that would pilot autonomous flying vehicles. Judy Hoffman, an assistant professor in Georgia Tech’s School of Interactive Computing, worked with students in her lab to create SKYSCENES. The dataset contains over 33,000 aerial images of cities curated from a computer simulation program.

Dateline

Thu, 09/26/2024 - 12:00

Contact

Nathan Deen

Communications Officer

School of Interactive Computing

Associated importer

Keywords

go-ai

go-research

Artifical Intelligence

Center for Machine Learning

autonomous drones

drones; UAV; unmanned aerial vehicles

autonomous aircraft

computer vision

computer vision algorithm

computer vision systems

Categories

City Planning, Transportation, and Urban Growth

Computer Science/Information Technology and Security

Research

Mercury ID

677158

Source updated

Thu, 09/26/2024 - 15:12

Center for Urban Research Receives Grant to Help Improve Atlanta Neighborhoods

admin — Fri, 16 May 2025 13:18:41 +0000

Center for Urban Research Receives Grant to Help Improve Atlanta Neighborhoods admin Fri, 05/16/2025 - 09:18

The Southern Company Foundation awarded a $2.5 million grant to the Georgia Tech Center for Urban Research to support Mayor Andre Dickens’ effort to address socioeconomic inequities in Atlanta neighborhoods.

“This investment is a major step forward in Mayor Dickens’ effort to improve the quality of lives of all Atlantans,” said David Edwards, the founding executive director of the Center for Urban Research and the policy advisor for neighborhoods in the City of Atlanta Office of the Mayor.

“My goal is to ensure that the city of Atlanta is the best city in the country to raise a child,” said Mayor Andre Dickens. “And we’re going to achieve that by ensuring every child in the city lives in a healthy, thriving, and accessible neighborhood. This investment by the Southern Company Foundation will help us ensure that we track and evaluate our progress against that goal. I am very appreciative of their willingness to support this critical work.”

What: The Center for Urban Research, hosted in the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School of Public Policy, is a collaboration between Georgia Tech and the mayor’s office. It brings together university, community, nonprofit, and municipal leaders to develop and evaluate solutions that address inequities in urban centers. Current projects include neighborhood improvement plans and climate-oriented engineering for housing and facilities on public land.

Why: The Center will use the $2.5 million from the Southern Company Foundation to evaluate and inform the mayor’s “Achieving Fairness of Place” initiative, which is investing in seven historically disinvested neighborhoods to improve outcomes in housing, education, health, and economic mobility.

How: The Center for Urban Research will develop an impact measurement strategy for the project and track the results of the investments. It will also lead the research, informing the work on the ground and conducting and supporting local and national work on issues related to place-based transformation and neighborhood health. The Center is collaborating with more than 40 researchers at colleges and universities across the region.

“With this funding, we hope to establish the Center as a leader in research, practice, and partnerships and use Atlanta as a blueprint of what can happen nationwide to address urban inequity,” said Ishita Chordia, the associate director of the Center.

“Policymakers in Atlanta and beyond desperately need research support,” added Center Co-Director Brian An, an assistant professor at the Carter School.

The Southern Company Foundation’s grant will allow the Center to create fellowships and build an interdisciplinary team of master’s and doctoral students from the Carter School, the School of City and Regional Planning, the College of Computing, and others to provide the research analytics that policymakers often don’t have the time or money to procure themselves, An said.

“We are pleased to support the mayor’s Fairness of Place initiative with the Center for Urban Research to conduct research and determine best practices in community transformation,” said Myra Bierria, president of the Southern Company Foundation.

“This initiative, taking shape in several economically disadvantaged communities to provide residents with access to quality housing, education, workforce development, and public spaces, aligns with our focus on elevating our communities for generations to come. This grant reflects our commitment to these efforts and supporting the Atlanta communities we are privileged to serve.”

Summary sentence

The Southern Company Foundation awarded a $2.5 million grant to the Georgia Tech Center for Urban Research to support Mayor Andre Dickens’ effort to improve Atlanta neighborhoods.

Summary

The Southern Company Foundation awarded a $2.5 million grant to the Georgia Tech Center for Urban Research to support Mayor Andre Dickens’ effort to improve Atlanta neighborhoods.

Dateline

Wed, 05/07/2025 - 12:00

dminardi3@gatech.edu

Contact

Di Minardi

Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts

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Society and Culture

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City Planning, Transportation, and Urban Growth

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682259

Source updated

Fri, 05/16/2025 - 09:18

Machine Learning Encoder Improves Weather Forecasting and Tsunami Prediction

admin — Wed, 26 Mar 2025 01:20:41 +0000

Machine Learning Encoder Improves Weather Forecasting and Tsunami Prediction admin Tue, 03/25/2025 - 21:20

Successful test results of a new machine learning (ML) technique developed at Georgia Tech could help communities prepare for extreme weather and coastal flooding. The approach could also be applied to other models that predict how natural systems impact society.

Ph.D. student Phillip Si and Assistant Professor Peng Chen developed Latent-EnSF, a technique that improves how ML models assimilate data to make predictions.

In experiments predicting medium-range weather forecasting and shallow water wave propagation, Latent-EnSF demonstrated higher accuracy, faster convergence, and greater efficiency than existing methods for sparse data assimilation.

“We are currently involved in an NSF-funded project aimed at providing real-time information on extreme flooding events in Pinellas County, Florida,” said Si, who studies computational science and engineering (CSE).

“We're actively working on integrating Latent-EnSF into the system, which will facilitate accurate and synchronized modeling of natural disasters. This initiative aims to enhance community preparedness and safety measures in response to flooding risks.”

Latent-EnSF outperformed three comparable models in assimilation speed, accuracy, and efficiency in shallow water wave propagation experiments. These tests show models can make better and faster predictions of coastal flood waves, tides, and tsunamis.

In experiments on medium-range weather forecasting, Latent-EnSF surpassed the same three control models in accuracy, convergence, and time. Additionally, this test demonstrated Latent-EnSF's scalability compared to other methods.

These promising results support using ML models to simulate climate, weather, and other complex systems.

Traditionally, such studies require employment of large, energy-intensive supercomputers. However, advances like Latent-EnSF are making smaller, more efficient ML models feasible for these purposes.

The Georgia Tech team mentioned this comparison in its paper. It takes hours for the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts computer to run its simulations. Conversely, the ML model FourCastNet calculated the same forecast in seconds.

“Resolution, complexity, and data-diversity will continue to increase into the future,” said Chen, an assistant professor in the School of CSE.

“To keep pace with this trend, we believe that ML models and ML-based data assimilation methods will become indispensable for studying large-scale complex systems.”

Data assimilation is the process by which models continuously ingest new, real-world data to update predictions. This data is often sparse, meaning it is limited, incomplete, or unevenly distributed over time.

Latent-EnSF builds on the Ensemble Filter Scores (EnSF) model developed by Florida State University and Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers.

EnSF’s strength is that it assimilates data with many features and unpredictable relationships between data points. However, integrating sparse data leads to lost information and knowledge gaps in the model. Also, such large models may stop learning entirely from small amounts of sparse data.

The Georgia Tech researchers employ two variational autoencoders (VAEs) in Latent-EnSF to help ML models integrate and use real-world data. The VAEs encode sparse data and predictive models together in the same space to assimilate data more accurately and efficiently.

Integrating models with new methods, like Latent-EnSF, accelerates data assimilation. Producing accurate predictions more quickly during real-world crises could save lives and property for communities.

To share Latent-EnSF to the broader research community, Chen and Si presented their paper at the SIAM Conference on Computational Science and Engineering (CSE25). The Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) organized CSE25, held March 3-7 in Fort Worth, Texas.

Chen was one of ten School of CSE faculty members who presented research at CSE25, representing one-third of the School’s faculty body. Latent-EnSF was one of 15 papers by School of CSE authors and one of 23 Georgia Tech papers presented at the conference.

The pair will also present Latent-EnSF at the upcoming International Conference on Learning Representations (ICLR 2025). Occurring April 24-28 in Singapore, ICLR is one of the world’s most prestigious conferences dedicated to artificial intelligence research.

“We hope to bring attention to experts and domain scientists the exciting area of ML-based data assimilation by presenting our paper,” Chen said. “Our work offers a new solution to address some of the key shortcomings in the area for broader applications.”

Summary sentence

Ph.D. student Phillip Si and Assistant Professor Peng Chen developed Latent-EnSF, a technique that improves how ML models assimilate data to make predictions.

Summary

Ph.D. student Phillip Si and Assistant Professor Peng Chen developed Latent-EnSF, a technique that improves how ML models assimilate data to make predictions.

Dateline

Fri, 03/14/2025 - 12:00

Contact

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

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681164

Source updated

Tue, 03/25/2025 - 21:19

LA Fires Trigger Temporary Spike in Airborne Lead Levels

admin — Fri, 21 Feb 2025 02:51:37 +0000

LA Fires Trigger Temporary Spike in Airborne Lead Levels admin Thu, 02/20/2025 - 21:51

As the Los Angeles fires quickly spread starting Jan. 7, with wind gusts approaching 100 mph, scientists observed a 110-fold rise in airborne lead levels. This spike had receded by Jan. 11.

The fires enabled the first real-time data on airborne lead, thanks to a pioneering air quality measurement network known as Atmospheric Science and Chemistry (ASCENT), a nationwide initiative funded by the National Science Foundation, operating in 12 sites across the U.S.

ASCENT measured tiny particles smaller than 2.5 micrometers in diameter (PM2.5) — small enough to enter the lungs and bloodstream. Unlike typical wildfires that burn natural materials such as grass and trees, the Eaton Canyon and Palisades fires burned through infrastructures like homes, including painted surfaces, pipes, vehicles, plastics, and electronic equipment. This raised concerns about the toxicity of these particles in the air, especially since many of the buildings were constructed before 1978, when lead paint was still commonly used.

Lead is a toxic air contaminant that poses significant health risks, particularly for children, who are more vulnerable to its neurodevelopmental effects. While chronic lead exposure is well-documented, the effects of short-term spikes, like those recorded during these fires, are less understood.

“Our work through ASCENT,” said Sally Ng, Georgia Tech’s Love Family Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Earth and Atmospheric Sciences and the network’s principal investigator, “has provided us with new insights into the air we breathe, with unprecedented levels of detail and time resolution. Beyond the mass concentration of PM2.5 that is typically measured, we are now able to detect a wide range of chemical components in the aerosols in real time, to better understand and evaluate to what extent one is exposed to harmful pollutants.”

Investigators used several instruments to obtain hourly measurements at the ASCENT monitoring site in Pico Rivera, approximately 14 miles south of the Eaton Canyon fire, to assess atmospheric lead during the wildfires.

“Our findings showcased the importance of having real-time measurements of the chemical species that comprise particulate matter,” said California Institute of Technology Ph.D. candidate in atmospheric chemistry and ASPIRE researcher Haroula Baliaka. “During the LA fires, we provided the public with timely information about what they were breathing and how air quality evolved in the days that followed.”

This research has been published in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Summary sentence

The fires enabled the first real-time data on airborne lead, thanks to a pioneering air quality measurement network.

Summary

As the Los Angeles fires quickly spread starting Jan. 7 and wind gusts approached 100 mph, scientists observed a 110-fold rise in airborne lead levels. This spike had receded by Jan. 11.

Dateline

Thu, 02/20/2025 - 12:00

Contact

Angela Barajas Prendiville
Director, Media Relations

Associated importer

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Earth and Environment

Categories

Biotechnology, Health, Bioengineering, Genetics

Chemistry and Chemical Engineering

City Planning, Transportation, and Urban Growth

Engineering

Environment

Mercury ID

680641

Source updated

Thu, 02/20/2025 - 21:51

VIP Tackles Grid Resilience with Real-Time Power Outage Tracker

admin — Mon, 10 Jun 2024 15:43:41 +0000

VIP Tackles Grid Resilience with Real-Time Power Outage Tracker admin Mon, 06/10/2024 - 11:43

Georgia Tech's new GROWER VIP is creating the country's most comprehensive real-time power outage tracker for research use. The database will help researchers explore questions about the causes and effects of power outages and how policy interventions can help strengthen grid resilience.

Why now?

This understanding is urgent in the wake of increasingly extreme climate change-driven weather events and natural disasters, as well as the federal government’s investment of more than $15 billion in grid modernization under the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

The database will help researchers learn more about the causes of outages and their societal impacts, such as on housing prices, business activity, public health, and crime. It will also help them obtain greater insight into which communities experience the most frequent and longest outages and what can be done to help.

How does it work?

Utility companies report real-time power outages, but the data is fractured across different service territories and states.
Users can’t download data directly, making the information difficult to use for research and evaluation.
Because of this, it's hard for researchers and agencies to understand the extent and scope of problems with the energy grid.

To address these challenges, the GROWER team developed algorithms and web scrapers. They use Amazon Web Services to crawl the utility websites every 15 minutes and collect the power outage data for many states in one place.

Who’s Involved?

The Grid Resilience, Outage, Weather, and Emergency Response (GROWER) Lab is a Vertically Integrated Project launched in 2024 by faculty and students in the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts and the College of Engineering.

Brian Y. An, an assistant professor in the School of Public Policy, and Constance Crozier, an assistant professor in the School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, lead the project alongside John Kim, the lab manager and a public policy Ph.D. student. The group includes 15 students in computer science, city and regional planning, business, public policy, and industrial systems and engineering programs.

What’s Next?

The GROWER team has already begun applying findings from the dataset to research questions.

They are writing a paper based on data showing that racial and ethnic minorities experience more frequent and longer power outages than other groups and have also begun examining the effects of power outages on crime and medical emergencies.

This summer, they will partner with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory to provide technical assistance to the Department of Energy Grid Deployment Office, which is the lead federal agency administering grid modernization grants.

“It is incredibly rewarding to connect with research groups in and out of Georgia Tech who share this vision with us,” An said. “We’re excited to conduct robust research that will inform real-word policy making across the country."

Subtitle

The database will help researchers explore questions about the causes and effects of power outages and how policy interventions can help strengthen grid resilience.

Summary sentence

The database will help researchers explore questions about the causes and effects of power outages and how policy interventions can help strengthen grid resilience.

Summary

The database will help researchers explore questions about the causes and effects of power outages and how policy interventions can help strengthen grid resilience.

Dateline

Mon, 06/03/2024 - 12:00

dminardi3@gatech.edu

Contact

Di Minardi
Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts

Associated importer

News room topics

Society and Culture

Categories

City Planning, Transportation, and Urban Growth

Community

Energy

Environment

Policy, Social Sciences, and Liberal Arts

Mercury ID

674971

Source updated

Mon, 06/10/2024 - 11:42

City Planning, Transportation, and Urban Growth

Georgia Tech, Emory Expand Research at Science Square

Why It Matters

Research for Real Life

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Georgia Tech, Emory Expand Research at Science Square

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Georgia Tech, Emory Expand Research at Science Square

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How Cool Roofs Can Help Hotlanta

The Power of Reflective Roofs — and Trees

Equity and Energy Impacts

Durability, Maintenance, and Design Trade-offs

A Cool Roof Policy With National Impact

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SKYSCENES Dataset Could Lead to Safe, Reliable Autonomous Flying Vehicles

What's the Forecast?

Seeing the Whole Picture

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Center for Urban Research Receives Grant to Help Improve Atlanta Neighborhoods

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Machine Learning Encoder Improves Weather Forecasting and Tsunami Prediction

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LA Fires Trigger Temporary Spike in Airborne Lead Levels

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VIP Tackles Grid Resilience with Real-Time Power Outage Tracker

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How does it work?

Who’s Involved?

What’s Next?

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