Exhibitions

Middle Schoolers’ Feedback Informs New Approach to AI-based Museum Exhibits

dgivens8 — Fri, 30 May 2025 18:14:41 +0000

Middle Schoolers’ Feedback Informs New Approach to AI-based Museum Exhibits dgivens8 Fri, 05/30/2025 - 14:14

Researchers at Georgia Tech are creating accessible museum exhibits that explain artificial intelligence (AI) to middle school students, including the LuminAI interactive AI-based dance partner developed by Regents' Professor Brian Magerko.

Ph.D. students Yasmine Belghith and Atefeh Mahdavi co-led a study in a museum setting that observed how middle schoolers interact with the popular AI chatbot ChatGPT.

“It’s important for museums, especially science museums, to start incorporating these kinds of exhibits about AI and about using AI so the general population can have that avenue to interact with it and transfer that knowledge to everyday tools,” Belghith said.

Belghith and Mahdavi conducted their study with nine focus groups of 24 students at Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry. The team used the findings to inform their design of AI exhibits that the museum could display as early as 2025.

Belghith is a Ph.D. student in human-centered computing. Her advisor is Assistant Professor Jessica Roberts in the School of Interactive Computing. Magerko advises Mahdavi, a Ph.D. student in digital media in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication.

Belghith and Mahdavi presented a paper about their study in May at the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) 2024 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI) in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Their work is part of a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant dedicated to fostering AI literacy among middle schoolers in informal environments.

Expanding Accessibility

While there are existing efforts to reach students in the classroom, the researchers believe AI education is most accessible in informal learning environments like museums.

“There’s a need today for everybody to have some sort of AI literacy,” Belghith said. “Many middle schoolers will not be taking computer science courses or pursuing computer science careers, so there needs to be interventions to teach them what they should know about AI.”

The researchers found that most of the middle schoolers interacted with ChatGPT to either test its knowledge by prompting it to answer questions or socialize with it by having human-like conversations.

Others fit the mold of “content explorers.” They did not engage with the AI aspect of ChatGPT and focused more on the content it produced.

Mahdavi said regardless of their approach, students would get “tunnel vision” in their interactions instead of exploring more of the AI’s capabilities.

“If they go in a certain direction, they will continue to explore that,” Mahdavi said. “One thing we can learn from this is to nudge kids and show them there are other things you can do with AI tools or get them to think about it another way.”

The researchers also paid attention to what was missing in the students’ responses, which Mahdavi said was just as important as what they did talk about.

“None of them mentioned anything about ethics or what could be problematic about AI,” she said. “That told us there’s something they aren’t thinking about but should be. We take that into account as we think about future exhibits.”

Making an Impact

The researchers visited the Museum of Science and Industry June 1-2 to conduct the first trial run of three AI-based exhibits they’ve created. One of them is LuminAI, which was developed in Magerko’s Expressive Machinery Lab.

LuminAI is an interactive art installation that allows people to engage in collaborative movement with an AI dance partner. Georgia Tech and Kennesaw State recently held the first performance of AI avatars dancing with human partners in front of a live audience.

Duri Long, a former Georgia Tech Ph.D. student who is now an assistant professor at Northwestern University, designed the second exhibit. KnowledgeNet is an interactive tabletop exhibit in which visitors build semantic networks by adding different characteristics to characters that interact together.

The third exhibit, Data Bites, prompts users to build datasets of pizzas and sandwiches. Their selections train a machine-learning classifier in real time.

Belghith said the exhibits fostered conversations about AI between parents and children.

“The exhibit prototypes successfully engaged children in creative activities,” she said. “Many parents had to pull their kids away to continue their museum tour because the kids wanted more time to try different creations or dance moves.”

Summary sentence

Partnering with Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry, Researchers at Georgia Tech are creating accessible museum exhibits that explain artificial intelligence (AI) to middle school students.

Summary

Ph.D. students Yasmine Belghith and Atefeh Mahdavi co-led a study in a museum setting that observed how middle schoolers interact with the popular AI chatbot ChatGPT.

Dateline

Fri, 06/21/2024 - 12:00

Contact

Nathan Deen

Communications Officer I

School of Interactive Computing

Associated importer

Keywords

go-ai

artificial intelligence

middle school

AI education

go-researchnews

Research Horizons

Categories

Community

Education

Exhibitions

Georgia Tech Arts

Music and Music Technology

Mercury ID

675196

Source updated

Wed, 07/17/2024 - 10:05

Student Innovation Shines at Spring 2025 CS Junior Design Capstone Expo

dgivens8 — Thu, 24 Apr 2025 14:28:41 +0000

Student Innovation Shines at Spring 2025 CS Junior Design Capstone Expo dgivens8 Thu, 04/24/2025 - 10:28

From a digital tool to enhance workshops to a real-time analytics platform for warehouse sensors, computing students demonstrated a wide range of software solutions at the Spring 2025 Computer Science Junior Design Capstone Expo.

Held on April 21 in the Georgia Tech Exhibition Hall, the event highlighted the technical skills and creativity of third- and fourth-year students in the School of Computing Instruction.

The Expo is the culmination of a two-semester course in which computer science and computational media majors partner with public and private sector clients to design minimally viable products such as mobile apps, dashboards, and analytics platforms to solve real-world problems. Volunteers judge teams on functionality, aesthetics, and presentation quality.

1st Place – ETD Workshop App

This digital platform replaces physical cards with a scalable, interactive web application to support Georgia Tech’s Effective Team Dynamics workshop.

Team Members: Kevin Cao, Benjamin Diprete, Vincent Kong, Heeba Merchant, Ameerah Mourad, Scott Watanuki

2nd Place – Extropian Analytics Platform

Partnering with Extropian, the team upgraded a golf app demo into a commercial-grade platform with a refined UI/UX and insights powered by biomechanical sensor data.

Team Members: Uma Dukle, Tyler Harris, Nikil Kandala, Aryan Shah, Jeffrey Yang

3rd Place (Tie) – Spring/Gait Analysis Dashboard

This computer vision dashboard analyzes running gait using biometric and joint-tracking data, aiding athletes and physical therapists.

Team Members: Aishani Chakraborty, Anisha Sadhale, Samuel Taubman, Robert Terpin, Anish Vallabhaneni, Nolan Winter

3rd Place (Tie) – Poolerz – Carpool Optimization

This mobile and web application simplifies carpooling for families through route and schedule optimization algorithms.

Team Members: Tyler Cady, Matthew Dworkin, Ignacio Galindo, Natasha Narayanan, Annie Vallamattam

One returning client organization was the Sustainability Solutions Group & Institute’s Center for Sustainable Communities.

“We like to give them real-world problems, not just stuff that's made up out of thin air,” client and Georgia Tech alumnus Garry Harris said. "We feed them articles, webinars, and relevant papers throughout the process. They build an inventory of knowledge that drives the project and invest in it because it’s important.”

Student Daniel Long, who worked with Harris’s company, appreciated the collaborative structure. “He gave us a detailed vision but left the implementation up to us. We worked with him to define features and implemented them in two-week iterations. He was always open to our ideas and gave us consistent feedback.”

Another student group, Team Spark, collaborated with Sentinel Devices, a first-time client, to create a dashboard visualizing real-time sensor data.

“Part of the real-world challenge for them was being persistent and communicating what they needed,” said CEO Forrest Shriver.

He added that he met with the team multiple times in person, and their ideas made the project more efficient. “It’s been awesome so far because it’s allowed us to explore more opportunities, adding onto our product that we wouldn’t have had otherwise.”

Spark team member Jenny Lee explained, “Their devices provide sensor data in real time, and our job was to turn that into something useful and readable for the user.”

Teammate Daiwik Pal said, “We didn’t touch any code at first. We spent a semester aligning with the client’s goals before implementation began.”

Each team balanced creativity and technical rigor, and the Spring 2025 CS Junior Design Capstone Expo offered a compelling look at how students are already making an impact beyond the classroom.

More photos of the expo can be found here.

Summary sentence

Summary

Held on April 21 in the Georgia Tech Exhibition Hall, the event highlighted the technical skills and creativity of third- and fourth-year students in the School of Computing Instruction.

Dateline

Thu, 04/24/2025 - 12:00

emily.smith@cc.gatech.edu

Associated importer

Keywords

CS Junior Design Capstone

cs junior design capstone expo

College of Computing

school of computing instruction

Categories

Education

Exhibitions

Student Competition WInners (academic, innovation, and research)

Mercury ID

682002

Source updated

Thu, 04/24/2025 - 10:28

Thesis on Human-Centered AI Earns Honors from International Computing Organization

dgivens8 — Tue, 22 Apr 2025 14:30:41 +0000

Thesis on Human-Centered AI Earns Honors from International Computing Organization dgivens8 Tue, 04/22/2025 - 10:30

A Georgia Tech alum’s dissertation introduced ways to make artificial intelligence (AI) more accessible, interpretable, and accountable. Although it’s been a year since his doctoral defense, Zijie (Jay) Wang’s (Ph.D. ML-CSE 2024) work continues to resonate with researchers.

Wang is a recipient of the 2025 Outstanding Dissertation Award from the Association for Computing Machinery Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction (ACM SIGCHI). The award recognizes Wang for his lifelong work on democratizing human-centered AI.

“Throughout my Ph.D. and industry internships, I observed a gap in existing research: there is a strong need for practical tools for applying human-centered approaches when designing AI systems,” said Wang, now a safety researcher at OpenAI.

“My work not only helps people understand AI and guide its behavior but also provides user-friendly tools that fit into existing workflows.”

Wang’s dissertation presented techniques in visual explanation and interactive guidance to align AI models with user knowledge and values. The work culminated from years of research, fellowship support, and internships.

Wang’s most influential projects formed the core of his dissertation. These included:

CNN Explainer: an open-source tool developed for deep-learning beginners. Since its release in July 2020, more than 436,000 global visitors have used the tool.
DiffusionDB: a first-of-its-kind large-scale dataset that lays a foundation to help people better understand generative AI. This work could lead to new research in detecting deepfakes and designing human-AI interaction tools to help people more easily use these models.
GAM Changer: an interface that empowers users in healthcare, finance, or other domains to edit ML models to include knowledge and values specific to their domain, which improves reliability.
GAM Coach: an interactive ML tool that could help people who have been rejected for a loan by automatically letting an applicant know what is needed for them to receive loan approval.
Farsight: a tool that alerts developers when they write prompts in large language models that could be harmful and misused.

“I feel extremely honored and lucky to receive this award, and I am deeply grateful to many who have supported me along the way, including Polo, mentors, collaborators, and friends,” said Wang, who was advised by School of Computational Science and Engineering (CSE) Professor Polo Chau.

“This recognition also inspired me to continue striving to design and develop easy-to-use tools that help everyone to easily interact with AI systems.”

Like Wang, Chau advised Georgia Tech alumnus Fred Hohman (Ph.D. CSE 2020). Hohman won the ACM SIGCHI Outstanding Dissertation Award in 2022.

Chau’s group synthesizes machine learning (ML) and visualization techniques into scalable, interactive, and trustworthy tools. These tools increase understanding and interaction with large-scale data and ML models.

Chau is the associate director of corporate relations for the Machine Learning Center at Georgia Tech. Wang called the School of CSE his home unit while a student in the ML program under Chau.

Wang is one of five recipients of this year’s award to be presented at the 2025 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2025). The conference occurs April 25-May 1 in Yokohama, Japan.

SIGCHI is the world’s largest association of human-computer interaction professionals and practitioners. The group sponsors or co-sponsors 26 conferences, including CHI.

Wang’s outstanding dissertation award is the latest recognition of a career decorated with achievement.

Months after graduating from Georgia Tech, Forbes named Wang to its 30 Under 30 in Science for 2025 for his dissertation. Wang was one of 15 Yellow Jackets included in nine different 30 Under 30 lists and the only Georgia Tech-affiliated individual on the 30 Under 30 in Science list.

While a Georgia Tech student, Wang earned recognition from big names in business and technology. He received the Apple Scholars in AI/ML Ph.D. Fellowship in 2023 and was in the 2022 cohort of the J.P. Morgan AI Ph.D. Fellowships Program.

Along with the CHI award, Wang’s dissertation earned him awards this year at banquets across campus. The Georgia Tech chapter of Sigma Xi presented Wang with the Best Ph.D. Thesis Award. He also received the College of Computing’s Outstanding Dissertation Award.

“Georgia Tech attracts many great minds, and I’m glad that some, like Jay, chose to join our group,” Chau said. “It has been a joy to work alongside them and witness the many wonderful things they have accomplished, and with many more to come in their careers.”

Summary sentence

Zijie (Jay) Wang (Ph.D. ML-CSE 2024) is a recipient of the 2025 Outstanding Dissertation Award from the Association for Computing Machinery Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction (ACM SIGCHI).

Summary

Dateline

Thu, 04/17/2025 - 12:00

Contact

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

Keywords

College of Computing

School of Computational Science and Engineering

artificial intelligence (AI)

Georgia Tech News Center

Daily Digest

Research Horizons

go-researchnews

go-ai

Categories

Computer Science/Information Technology and Security

Congressional Testimony

Digital Media and Entertainment

Economic Development and Policy

Education

Energy

Engineering

Environment

Exhibitions

Georgia Tech Arts

Industrial Design

Institute and Campus

Institute Leadership

International Education

Life Sciences and Biology

Military Technology

Music and Music Technology

Nanotechnology and Nanoscience

Performances

Physics and Physical Sciences

Policy, Social Sciences, and Liberal Arts

Research

Robotics

Special Events and Guest Speakers

Student Honors and Achievements

Student Research

Mercury ID

681961

Source updated

Tue, 04/22/2025 - 10:29

Finding Niche Problems to Solve with SuperStream

dgivens8 — Fri, 28 Mar 2025 15:25:41 +0000

Finding Niche Problems to Solve with SuperStream dgivens8 Fri, 03/28/2025 - 11:25

While Idea to Prototype (I2P) students gear up to demonstrate their innovations during this spring’s I2P Showcase, let's revisit the fall showcase with last semester’s third-place winning team, SuperStream.

Founded by John-Wright Stanly, a fourth-year computer science major, SuperStream addresses companies’ audience engagement problem by enabling video previews through shared URLs.

Q&A With SuperStream's Sole Founder, John Wright Stanly

What made you want to pursue this idea?
Stanly: I did a startup three years ago, and we failed miserably. While doing that, I was trying to build in-house and share videos through links. I realized that nothing currently on the internet that I could find was actually solving this issue. Basically, the standard around sharing videos and links is very complicated, and we simplify that process for companies. Even though it's very small and particular, I wanted to be the first person that would solve this problem.

What surprised you about the I2P process?
I did I2P last semester, and I've already pivoted once in the idea. I don’t have all the answers. I’m just starting, and I think it's really cool that a course like this exists at George Tech, where you can be supported and figure things out in the first stages, maybe in three months.

What was your favorite part of I2P?

I think it's the meetups. We get to see what everyone else is working on.

What was the most challenging part of I2P?
I think the most challenging part was being a solo entrepreneur. Honestly, just finding the time in my day.

What advice would you give to other students considering entrepreneurship?
I think entrepreneurship is not as scary as it seems. We're really lucky that we go to a university where it’s supported. I think that Georgia Tech students take it for granted how enriched the ecosystem is here. My friends at other schools don't really have the same support. So, when you go to a school that is as supportive as that, I think you should totally take the leap of faith.

Want to be part of the next wave of technological advancements? Register for the Spring 2025 I2P Showcase to see our latest cohort of I2P inventors and their prototypes. The event takes place April 21, 5 p.m., in the Marcus Nanotechnology Building Atrium.

For those interested in taking I2P, course registration opens for the summer and fall semesters on April 14. The I2P course offers undergraduate students research credit, up to $500 in reimbursement for physical material expenses, faculty mentorship, and the opportunity to compete in the I2P Showcase. Winners receive golden tickets to CREATE-X’s Startup Launch program, a summer accelerator that provides $5,000 in optional seed funding; $150,000 in in-kind services (including accounting and legal support); mentorship; entrepreneurial education; and more. Winners also advance directly to the semifinal round of the InVenture Prize, a faculty-led innovation competition.

The I2P course opens three times a year: in the spring, summer, and fall. Both undergraduate and graduate students can take the course, and undergraduate students can take it up two times. For more information, visit the I2P program website.

Subtitle

Summary sentence

SuperStream, founded by John-Wright Stanly, a fourth-year computer science major, won third place in last semester's Idea to Prototype (I2P) Showcase by tackling the challenge of audience engagement through video previews via shared URLs.

Summary

SuperStream, founded by John-Wright Stanly, a fourth-year computer science major, won third place in last semester's Idea to Prototype (I2P) Showcase. SuperStream tackles the challenge of audience engagement by enabling video previews through shared URLs. Stanly's journey began with a failed startup, which inspired him to simplify the process of sharing videos and links.

Dateline

Fri, 03/28/2025 - 12:00

breanna.durham@gatech.edu

Contact

Breanna Durham

Marketing Strategist

Keywords

SuperStream

John-Wright Stanly

Computer Science

audience engagement

video previews

shared URLs

startup

Idea to Prototype Showcase

Georgia Tech

entrepreneurship

research credit

material reimbursement

faculty mentorship

I2P course

technological advancements

CREATE-X

startup launch

accelerator

seed funding

in-kind services

mentorship

entrepreneurial education

InVenture Prize

Competition

founders

Categories

Business

Exhibitions

Student and Faculty

Student Competition WInners (academic, innovation, and research)

Mercury ID

681429

Source updated

Fri, 03/28/2025 - 11:25

Double Victories at the Fall 2024 I2P Showcase

dgivens8 — Wed, 08 Jan 2025 21:49:37 +0000

Double Victories at the Fall 2024 I2P Showcase dgivens8 Wed, 01/08/2025 - 16:49

Two teams tied for Best Overall projects of the Fall 2024 I2P Showcase. Over two hours, 49 teams displayed prototypes that they developed over the semester to hundreds of attendees, while judges circulated the room. The showcase is the last event of their Idea-to-Prototype (I2P) course, where Georgia Tech students earn research credit (for undergraduate students only), receive up to $500 in reimbursement for physical material expenses, and build a working product with faculty mentorship. The course is held in the spring, summer, and fall. Graduate students can also take the course, and student can take it up two times.

As a part of the showcase, the winning team, or teams in this case, also receive a golden ticket into the CREATE-X summer startup accelerator, Startup Launch. This program provides founders with $5,000 in optional seed funding, $150,000 in in-kind services like accounting and legal services, mentorship, and entrepreneurial education, among other benefits. At the end of that experience, startup teams can present their products to investors and industry partners at Demo Day, which attracts over a thousand attendees each year.

Additionally, winners of the showcase advance directly to the semifinal round of the InVenture Prize, a faculty-led innovation competition for undergraduate students and recent BS graduates of Georgia Tech.

This semester, the first place teams were Allez Go and Soul. Team Allez Go’s founders, Adam Kulikowski and Jason Mo, created a real-time visualization system for fencing blades using infrared light and reflectors to accurately track positions during a bout. Team Soul, made up of Ashraf Mansour, Benjamin Wilson, and Michal Gregus, developed fitness-tracking soles and shoes, combining the functions of a smart scale, a workout tracker, and a diet tracker into a singular device.

Second place was awarded to Team Convexity Electronics, consisting of Calla Scotch, Levi Bloch, and Phi Cai. Convexity Electronics produces 3D-printed circuit boards that aim to be smaller, faster, and cheaper than lithography-based circuitry.

Team SuperStream, made up of solo-preneur John-Wright Stanly, took home third place. SuperStream adds video previews to URLs to increase engagement.

Read our Q&A with Team Allez Go and Soul below, and stay tuned for our interviews with the other winning teams!

Q&As

Team AllezGo

Adam Kulikowski, Sophomores, Computer Science

Jason Mo, Sophomores, Computer Science

Why did you pursue your startup?
Kulikowski: We're both fencers. I've been fencing for 10 years, and Jason's been fencing close to 10 as well. So, fencing as a sport is really hard to view for non-fencers, and so the idea that we wanted to do is use visualizations, animations, and replays in a similar way that other kinds of sport visualization companies did.

What was the I2P course like for you all?
Mo: So, this prototype actually started over the summer. I was in Startup Lab and just did a study abroad program. During that class, they mentioned that I2P is a great opportunity, and I had this prototype already in the works.

What surprised you about I2P?

Mo: I2P was very generous with funding; we never had any issues with using up our $500. It was just really helpful because our prototype was pretty heavy hardware.

What was your favorite part about I2P?
Mo: Our weekly meetings with Aaron Hillegass, our mentor, were always very, very insightful. I just shot him an email for I2P, hoping that we could work together on this. Sometimes we would talk about prototypes or updates. He had some really good insights, but our mentor also has a lot of industry experience and a lot of experience with his own startups. It was really fun to just ask him general questions and career advice. He was always very responsive, very supportive for us.

Kulikowski: In addition, I really liked seeing the iterations each week. I think the weekly updates kept us accountable to do at least one small thing every week. So, it was cool to see how the ideas slowly started to formulate each week, small steps and small progresses.

What was challenging about building your prototype over the semester?
Mo: There's a lot of technical challenges. One of the things we did this semester is we changed from a 30 frames per second (FPS) camera to a camera that shoots at 120 FPS. And with that, we could detect a lot more processing power. The camera that we're using is only limited to Windows. I've been using a very old laptop, and that's sort of been a bit problematic when we're trying to do very compute intensive tasks.

What would you say to students that are interested in entrepreneurship?
Kulikowski: There are a lot of people that came by our booth, and a lot of them were freshmen students. Every one of them we told, “If you have an idea, if you're really passionate about something, I2P is a fantastic opportunity.” This semester, with the hands-off approach, really felt like you could just work on this idea, and everything was there to support you working on it. That was fantastic because it's we could take full advantage of the time, the resources, and truly flesh out this idea. I really love the support we had and how we had the bonding with the other students.

Team Soul

Ashraf Mansour, Senior, Computer Science

Benjamin Wilson, Junior, Computer Science

Michal Gregus, Junior, Physics and Electrical Engineering

What’s the thought behind the name?
Mansour: We're kind of bringing life through our electronics, back into the shoe, and building a better fitness tracker and a more holistic picture of human health.

What was the showcase like for your team?
Wilson: It was a little nerve wracking. I have full faith in our ideas and concepts, but I feel personally like we still have a long way to go for our project. I’m still satisfied with where we are now, but we never really anticipated that we we're going to win anything.

Mansour: The showcase made me realize how much faster all this moves, even compared to my expectations. We came in with a very basic prototype that we wanted to improve on, but I think the potential was enough to sell the judges in this case. Now we have a big responsibility to deliver on that potential.

What was your favorite thing about I2P Showcase?

Mansour: It really reminds you how much of a tech hub Georgia Tech really is. Seeing how entrepreneurship boosts in real time, especially at the early stages, is something that’s really awe inspiring.

What was challenging about building your prototype over the semester?

Mansour: There are a lot of unique engineering challenges with the product that we’re building, some we anticipated and others we didn’t, but I think that speaks to the true soul of engineering. That adaptability and sense of problem solving is really important.

Wilson: I’m very grateful to have the other people that were involved in this project for brainstorming and making the design better.

What would you say to students that are interested in entrepreneurship?

Wilson: I definitely would encourage anyone that wants to pursue their own startup or has a new idea to just start. It’s far more efficient and far more rewarding to put your ideas out there and try. You’ll learn a lot more through that process of failing than you will contemplating.

A photo gallery from the Fall 2024 I2P Showcase can be viewed on the CREATE-X Flickr page.

CREATE-X is now accepting applications for the summer and fall semesters of the I2P course, and applications for their summer accelerator, Startup Launch. The deadline for I2P applications for Summer 2025 is May 12. The deadline for Startup Launch applications is March 19, 2025. For questions, please email create-x@groups.gatech.edu.

Summary sentence

Allez Go and Soul tied for Best Overall projects at the Fall 2024 I2P Showcase, earning spots in the CREATE-X summer startup accelerator and advancing to the InVenture Prize semifinals.

Summary

Two teams, Allez Go and Soul, tied for Best Overall projects at the Fall 2024 I2P Showcase, where 49 teams displayed their semester-long prototypes. The winners receive a golden ticket to the CREATE-X summer startup accelerator and advance to the semifinal round of the InVenture Prize. Allez Go developed a real-time visualization system for fencing blades, while Soul created fitness-tracking soles and shoes. Second and third places went to Convexity Electronics and SuperStream, respectively.

Dateline

Wed, 01/08/2025 - 12:00

breanna.durham@gatech.edu

Contact

Breanna Durham

Marketing Strategist

Keywords

I2P Showcase

Georgia Tech

Best Overall projects

Allez Go

soul

CREATE-X

startup launch

InVenture Prize

prototypes

student innovation

entrepreneurship

Fencing visualization

Fitness-tracking shoes

Convexity Electronics

SuperStream

startups

Categories

Exhibitions

Special Events and Guest Speakers

Student and Faculty

Student Competition WInners (academic, innovation, and research)

Mercury ID

679323

Source updated

Wed, 01/08/2025 - 16:47

Iterating Better Therapy Support: Electrosuit

dgivens8 — Fri, 19 Jul 2024 14:24:41 +0000

Iterating Better Therapy Support: Electrosuit dgivens8 Fri, 07/19/2024 - 10:24

CREATE-X is built to help students integrate entrepreneurship into their academic journey through courses, workshops, and a startup accelerator. This spring, a new set of students displayed their solutions to real-world problems at the I2P Showcase. It’s our privilege to shine a light on and celebrate those journeys. Today’s spotlight focuses on the spring I2P Showcase third-place winners.

Electrosuit

Aubrey Hall, a first-year biomedical student, and Sherya Chakraborty, a first-year computer science major, founded a startup to produce a garment that eases the use of at-home, prescribed electrical stimulation for people with chronic pain, stroke, and motor impairments.

What made you interested in building this solution?

“I did research at Northwestern for a couple of years before this, and some of the patients I worked with had severe stroke and spasticity in their arms,” Chakraborty said. “I found out that when they tried using at-home prescribed electrical stimulation, they had trouble setting it off themselves. So, we created a garment to ease pressure on that.”

What part of the course was most helpful to you?

“One of our mentors, Sun Mi Park, was the first person to patent printable wires on fabric, and that gave us some inspiration to make our garment even more compact, easier to use, and integrate some interesting ideas that we wouldn’t have been able to without our mentors. So, our mentors are honestly the best part of the program,” Chakraborty said.

“For me, you don’t get a lot of chances to apply these engineering courses outside of the classroom,” said Hall. “This course is a really interesting way to get firsthand experience building a prototype and really understand the engineering process.”

What’s so special about CREATE-X?

“I think these student projects are the future, and a lot of these projects make it out of college and become actual companies. Giving students that possibility to make a change just from a simple idea and fueling that with funding so we don’t have to take risks out of our own pockets is a, really big deal,” Chakraborty said.

“It’s helpful to have that safety net, knowing that you have your mentors to back you, and also the people of the program to back you. It brings a lot of security and opportunity to try different things out and not have to be so fearful of failure. Even if you fail a million times, you can get back up and try again,” Hall said.

What’s the best insight you’ve gained from doing this?

“I think one big misconception is that entrepreneurship has a lot to do with finance and business and just lucrative ideas, but it’s pretty important to understand that you can solve a seemingly everyday problem,” said Chakraborty. “If it affects you or your friends, it’s still worth trying to find a way to solve it, especially backed up with money and mentors from CREATE-X. What’s the harm in trying something out?”

“Don’t try to make it feel like it’s an all-or-nothing project,” Hall said. “You’re allowed to live your life as a college student but also pursue these interesting ideas and figure out if you enjoy entrepreneurship. It shouldn’t be this daunting task where if you don’t put everything in, you’re going to fail.”

“It’s also important to keep an open mind. We might come in with an idea and a very specific way of executing that idea, but we found out through talking with mentors, and with other students and people who gave us advice, that sometimes the idea you come in with is not going to be the same thing you end up with,” Chakraborty said.

Next Steps

“We’ve only done four or five prototypes so far,” she noted. “We want to do at least 12 of those prototypes and keep working with our mentors, keep making connections at Emory, and just constantly getting more and more feedback about our prototypes until we get to a state where we’re satisfied, and we can demo our product and work with physical therapists across Atlanta.”

If you’re a student interested in building your own product for college credit, apply for I2P. And join us for Demo Day, Aug. 29, at 5 p.m., in the Georgia Tech Exhibition Hall to see new CREATE-X founders launch products in a variety of industries. Tickets are free but limited. Register today to secure your spot.

Subtitle

Summary sentence

Electrosuit, a startup by Aubrey Hall and Sherya Chakraborty, secured third place in the Spring 2024 I2P Showcase, and their product, a garment for at-home electrical stimulation, targets individuals with chronic pain or motor impairments.

Summary

Electrosuit, a startup founded by first-year students Aubrey Hall and Sherya Chakraborty, won third place in the Spring 2024 I2P Showcase. Their product aims to develop a garment to facilitate at-home electrical stimulation for individuals with chronic pain or motor impairments. The founders speak about common misconceptions around entrepreneurship, pressure, and being open to feedback in a Q&A.

Dateline

Fri, 08/02/2024 - 12:00

breanna.durham@gatech.edu

Contact

Breanna Durham

Marketing Strategist

Keywords

female founders

entrepreneurship

startup

Business

CREATE-X

founders

Competition

Categories

Business

Community

Exhibitions

Institute and Campus

Student and Faculty

Student Competition WInners (academic, innovation, and research)

Mercury ID

675523

Source updated

Fri, 07/19/2024 - 10:24

The FinTech Gap: Dolfin Solutions Rises

dgivens8 — Thu, 18 Jul 2024 21:14:41 +0000

The FinTech Gap: Dolfin Solutions Rises dgivens8 Thu, 07/18/2024 - 17:14

During the school year and the summer, Georgia Tech students can incorporate entrepreneurship into their college experience through courses, workshops, special events, and even a startup accelerator. CREATE-X invites you to delve into the journeys of our top achievers, this time focusing on the Spring 2024 I2P Showcase first-place winners:

Dolfin Solutions

Marianna Cao, James Gao, and Jaeheon Shim, first-year computer science majors, are the founders of Dolfin Solutions, a personal financial management platform that promises a unified solution to budgeting, transaction management, and expense tracking, among other personal finance tasks.

What challenges did you have in I2P, and how did you work through them?

“We were really lucky to get an excellent mentor, Aaron Hillegass. He has a lot of experience in the industry as a startup founder himself, and he gave us a lot of help, both technical as well as business, throughout the process. That helped us make better decisions,” Gao said.

“I think the biggest challenge was, I had done projects in the past by myself, writing the full stack, but working together, communicating the requirements, and integrating everyone's different code at the end was a little bit of a logistical struggle,” Shim said. “But we managed to figure it out.”

What advice do you have for students interested in I2P or entrepreneurship in general?

“Go for it. It's a three-credit course, so it counts toward your junior capstone as well. You get $500. Now is the perfect time to start because you don't have much to lose. If you're doing I2P and your company fails, you still have four years of college; you can still pursue a traditional path. It's a little risk but a lot to gain,” Shim said.

“Even if you pivot or change your idea, it's important to believe in what you started,” said Cao. “If you don't believe in your app, then nobody else does. Right now, you have all of the friends, mentors, professors, and the right resources, and money is not an issue. It's a good opportunity for you to work on it on the side, and maybe it could turn into something.”

What’s Next?

“We’re going to build for the iOS and Android platforms, and then we're going to deploy hopefully by the end of summer,” Shim said.

Subtitle

Summary sentence

First-year computer science majors Marianna Cao, James Gao, and Jaeheon Shim, share their experience in building Dolfin Solutions, is a personal financial management platform.

Summary

Spring 2024 I2P Showcase winners share their entrepreneurship experience during I2P. Founded by first-year computer science majors Marianna Cao, James Gao, and Jaeheon Shim, Dolfin Solutions is a personal financial management platform. The founders share their experiences, challenges, and advice for aspiring entrepreneurs, with plans to further develop their app.

Dateline

Thu, 07/18/2024 - 12:00

breanna.durham@gatech.edu

Contact

Breanna Durham

Marketing Strategist

Categories

Business

Exhibitions

Institute and Campus

Student and Faculty

Student Competition WInners (academic, innovation, and research)

Mercury ID

675520

Source updated

Thu, 07/18/2024 - 17:12

Team iManhole Wins Fall 2023 EGHI/GT Global Health Hackathon

dgivens8 — Fri, 22 Mar 2024 15:23:41 +0000

Team iManhole Wins Fall 2023 EGHI/GT Global Health Hackathon dgivens8 Fri, 03/22/2024 - 11:23

Students tackled climate change in the Fall 2023 Emory Global Health Institute (EGHI) /Georgia Institute of Technology (GT) Global Health Hackathon, Nov. 11, at Tech Square ATL Social. Competing for cash prizes and a spot in GT Startup Launch, first place went to Team iManhole. The team created an integrated system that gathers real-time data from manholes and uses machine learning algorithms to predict flooding to manage traffic and evacuation routes.

“The effects of climate change are felt in every country with the brunt and burden of an unmanaged climate crises threatening to set back global health progress by eroding decades of poverty eradication and health equity efforts worldwide,” said Dr. Rebecca Martin, EGHI director of Emory Global Health Institute. “Students are an important partner in our work as a global community to mitigate the impacts of climate change on health, safety, and security.”

The EGHI/GT Global Health Hackathon is a partner event between EGHI and CREATE-X. It provides multidisciplinary student teams from Emory University and the Georgia Institute of Technology an opportunity to create technology-based product solutions for global health problems. The target for this fall’s event was creating solutions that address urban flooding, urban heat, or global sea level rise in densely populated, low-resource urban settings. Prizes included $4,000 and a golden ticket into CREATE-X Startup Launch for first place winners, $3,000 for second place winners, $2,000 for third place winners, and $500 each for two honorable mention winners.

“This hackathon continues to be a wonderful partnership between our two institutions that gives these talented students the platform and support to put forward solutions to the most pressing issues we face today,” Rahul Saxena, director of CREATE-X, said. “Each hackathon, I’m increasingly impressed with their ingenuity and their dedication to build something of impact.”

Check out the event program on the EGHI website and see photos from the event on the CREATE-X Flickr account. The full list of the winners of this year’s event includes:

1st Place: iManhole

An integrated system that gathers real-time data from manholes and uses machine learning algorithms to predict flooding to manage traffic and evacuation routes

Team Members: Imran Shah, Leonardo Molinari, and Jiaqi Yang

2nd Place: Canopy

A climate-tech software platform for democratizing climate analytics using machine learning for urban development planning.

Team Members: Deesha Panchal, Kruthik Ravikanti, Vaibhav Mishra, Nicholas Swanson, Jennifer Samuel, and Vaishnavi Sanjeev

3rd Place: Floodwise

A package of effective simulations and an informed chatbot that help facilitate wise decisions during floods.

Team Members: Ansh Gupta, Dimi Deju, Mukund Chidambaram, and Sahit Mamidipaka

Honorable Mention

Conquering Heat Islands

Process and hardware that uses excess solar power to mine crypto

Team Members: Rida Akbar, DJ Louis, Edward Zheng, Dmitri Kalinin, and Jade Bondy

Real-Time Computational Modeling of Urban Flooding and Evacuation in Local Atlanta Communities

Integrated system to gather real-time data from manholes and use machine learning algorithms to predict flooding and optimize traffic/evacuation.

Team Members: Imran Shah, Leonardo Molinari, and Jiaqi Yang

Subtitle

Summary sentence

Students tackled climate change in the Fall 2023 Emory Global Health Institute (EGHI) /Georgia Institute of Technology (GT) Global Health Hackathon, Nov. 11, at Tech Square ATL Social.

Summary

Dateline

Thu, 12/07/2023 - 12:00

breanna.durham@gatech.edu

Contact

Breanna Durham

Marketing Strategist

breanna.durham@gatech.edu

Keywords

Hackathon

entrepreneurship

startup

CREATE-X

Business

sustainability

climate change

Competition

EGHI

Emory

Categories

Business

Environment

Exhibitions

Institute and Campus

Student and Faculty

Student Competition WInners (academic, innovation, and research)

Mercury ID

671463

Source updated

Fri, 03/22/2024 - 11:22

Fall 2023 I2P Showcase Teams Debut Prototypes

dgivens8 — Wed, 20 Mar 2024 16:49:20 +0000

Fall 2023 I2P Showcase Teams Debut Prototypes dgivens8 Wed, 03/20/2024 - 12:49

Over 40 student teams showcased products at the Fall 2023 I2P Showcase. The event was the final piece of the Idea-to-Prototype (I2P) course, a CREATE-X Make class where both undergraduate and graduate students have the opportunity to advance an invention idea toward a real product by performing basic research, analysis, building, and testing. Teams accepted into I2P receive a $500 reimbursement for physical expenses, course credit (undergraduate students only), and mentorship from a Georgia Tech faculty member.

The winners for this semester’s competition include:

1st Place: NueroChamp

2nd Place: QTACK

3rd Place: BloodSight.AI

Q&A With the Winning Teams

Team BloodSight.AI

A personalized AI medical application enhancing insight by providing analytics-driven reports for patients and physicians featuring medical insights such as vulnerabilities to diseases and lifestyle recommendations based on current blood work.

Founder: Adhira Choudhury, computer science, undergraduate student

How has CREATE-X helped you?

Working with CREATE-X, I had the privilege of being mentored by Melissa Heffner [co-director of Female Founders]. From my first Idea-to-Prototype experience as a freshman last fall, Melissa has been an invaluable guide. She has not only helped me brainstorm and refine my ideas but also supported me in understanding the intricate process of transforming a product concept into a viable startup.

What made you pursue entrepreneurship?

Since I was a kid, I’ve been interested in the intersection between business and computer science. To me, entrepreneurship is a gateway to the intersection by leveraging technology to solve people-centric issues. And at the end of the day, I want to know I've had a true impact on the world.

What was the best interaction you had at I2P?

I got to have a one-on-one with a physician at the showcase, which helped provide invaluable insights to BloodSight.AI. It was incredible to get end-user feedback on the spot.

What should students know about I2P or entrepreneurship?

Don’t give up. I did this exact program as a first-year student in the Fall 2022 Idea-to-Prototype program and learned firsthand the power of hands-on experience. Working live on a prototype doesn't just spark ideas; it reveals the precise steps needed to evolve them into a minimum viable product.

Entrepreneurship is within reach—just a leap of faith away. At Georgia Tech, you're never alone. There's always a community ready to support and guide you through the journey of idea creation.

QTACK

Developing intuitive and affordable analytics solutions for logistics companies, empowering them to compete effectively without the need for in-house data science expertise.

Founders: Pranav Devarinti, undergraduate student, computer science; William “Bryce” Pardo, undergraduate student, computer science

What made you all pursue entrepreneurship?

Devarinti: We both have extensive backgrounds in data science and a shared interest in entrepreneurship. My interest came from my mom, who has her own business.

How did you learn about CREATE-X?

Pardo: For me, it was Demo Day during freshman year. Looking at all the different companies there, I was so amazed. I started talking to founders, figuring out how they got started, and one recommended the Klaus Startup Challenge. In the spring, I participated and then took Startup Lab over the summer, which is where I met Pranav, my partner.

We’re so thankful for our mentor Greg Mihalik. He’s been such a huge help.

What was the best advice you received in I2P?

Pardo: How to negotiate a deal, or how to convert them from people you’re working with to people who are paying, and also how to discover that product market fit. The advice he gave us was to cast a wide net. He advised working with companies in different areas, and then narrowing in on where we could provide the most value.

What was your biggest take away?

Pardo: Go to a lot of these events, at least to I2P Showcase. You don’t know what can come of it.

What should students know about I2P or entrepreneurship?

Pardo: A lot of it has to be very self-driven. You need to be able to motivate yourself to do the work. You won’t have someone to tell you to do all these things. Some people will tell you what you should do, but you need to be the one to take the initiative and do it.

Devarinti: With a lot of things in life, you put in X amount of effort and get Y amount of return. However, especially with startup stuff, you can put in a ton of effort, and get nothing in return, and other times you work for half a day, and things work out. You have to keep going. It’s not fair, but it’s fun.

NueroChamp

A concealed and comfortable non-invasive EEG monitoring device for effective long-term pediatric seizure detection to improve the quality and health of children with epilepsy.

Founders: Caitlin Van Zyl, undergraduate, biomedical engineering; Jacqueline “Jacqui” Van Zyl, undergraduate student, mechanical engineering; and, Meg Weaver, undergraduate student biomedical engineering

What was the best interaction you had at I2P?

Caitlin Van Zyl: One of the first [people who] came up to us was a chemical researcher, and he was just looking at our project. He loved it. He was giving us a bunch of other applications where we could apply our device for epileptic seizures.

What made you all pursue entrepreneurship?

Caitlin Van Zyl: We joined Tech knowing that we would want to do entrepreneurship and CREATE-X was the biggest entrepreneurship program on campus. I’ve been loving all of this mentorship with other teams and getting to see all these cool projects. Professor [Craig] Forest has been an incredible mentor and energizer. Seeing his passion brought out this attitude of We Can Do It.

Jacqui Van Zyl: I’m a huge researcher, and over the years I’ve recognized the real way to have an impact is being able to translate research into practical prototypes.

Meg Weaver: Being a student at Tech and working on projects and completing internships, I’ve seen where there can be gaps in the medical device field. There’s so much research to be done, and so having the opportunity to be a part of that and moving it forward is exciting.

What was your biggest take away?

Jacqui Van Zyl: Being able to iteratively prototype and being OK with failing, being OK with people coming back and saying, "That’s flawed” — that’s been a good experience for learning.

Caitlin Van Zyl: We’ve been under the mentorship of doctors. It kind of blew my mind how excited they were about our technology and how willing they were to advance it.

What should students know about I2P or entrepreneurship?

Meg Weaver: Go for it! Do I2P, at least to start learning the process. It’s going to be a great experience to learn what goes all into this.

Jacqui Van Zyl: It’s more than OK to fail and have these sets backs. You don’t really have a robust product or a successful product until you have quite a few failures, and I think that’s something that people should embrace.

Caitlin Van Zyl: No idea is too small. Any idea, take it and go into I2P, and see how it goes. One semester can mean so much.

Applications for I2P are accepted each semester and are now open for Spring 2024.

This semester’s winners earned a golden ticket to directly advance to the semifinal round of the Inventure Prize, an innovation competition for undergraduate students. The top team also earned a spot in the 2024 GT Startup Launch program, a 12-week summer accelerator that takes startups from the idea to market stage.

Interested in building your own startup to solve real-world problems while you’re still in college? Apply for GT Startup Launch today an get the support you need to make a viable product. Applications close March 19,2024.

Summary sentence

CREATE-X hosted its fall I2P Showcase, highlighting 40 student teams with products they made during the semester.

Summary

Dateline

Thu, 12/07/2023 - 12:00

breanna.durham@gatech.edu

Contact

Breanna Durham

Marketing Strategist

Associated importer

Keywords

showcase

entrepreneurship

startups

Business

exhibition

i2p

idea to prototype

CREATE-X

Categories

Business

Exhibitions

Institute and Campus

Student and Faculty

Student Competition WInners (academic, innovation, and research)

Mercury ID

671466

Source updated

Wed, 03/20/2024 - 12:49

Lilypad Health Wins 2024 Inventure Prize Competition

dgivens8 — Wed, 20 Mar 2024 16:29:21 +0000

Lilypad Health Wins 2024 Inventure Prize Competition dgivens8 Wed, 03/20/2024 - 12:29

The InVenture Prize Competition, held annually at the Georgia Institute of Technology, once again brought together brilliant minds, groundbreaking inventions, and a passionate audience eager to witness the future unfold. The showcase is an opportunity to display innovation, creativity, and entrepreneurial spirit.

At this year's competition, Lilypad Health emerged victorious. Their groundbreaking invention—an at-home, non-invasive menstrual blood screening tool—paves the way for accessible, non-invasive care.

Along with a $20k cash prize, Lilypad Health has secured a spot in CREATE-X Startup Launch, a program for Georgia Tech students, faculty, researchers, and alumni who want to launch their projects from idea stage (or beyond) into fully functioning and viable startups.

For second place, Team Makr Papr took the spot. Instead of juggling brochures, schedules, and business cards, their product allows users to utilize a smart name tag, streamlining all information in one place and aligning with the growing demand for eco-friendly solutions.

Lastly, Team Candor won the People’s Choice award. Their Constituent Relationship Management (CRM) platform is built for local governments struggling with managing citizen interactions. Team Candor’s CRM simplifies processes like complaint reporting, enhancing transparency, and responsiveness.

Inspired by these remarkable teams? You could be next! If you have a startup idea burning within you, consider applying for the summer 2024 Startup Launch program at create-x.gatech.edu. The deadline for applications is Tuesday, March 19, at 11:59 p.m. EST. Don’t miss your chance to turn your vision into reality.

Deep dive into the competition and team stories on the Georgia Tech News Center site.

Subtitle

Summary sentence

Lilypad Health, a startup opening doors to accessible, non-invasive care through an at-home, non-invasive menstrual blood screening tool, wins the 2024 Inventure Prize Competition.

Summary

At this year's Venture Prize Competition, Lilypad Health emerged victorious. The competition is held annually at the Georgia Institute of Technology to display innovation, creativity, and entrepreneurial spirit.

Dateline

Fri, 03/15/2024 - 12:00

breanna.durham@gatech.edu

Contact

Breanna Durham

Marketing Strategist

Associated importer

Keywords

CREATE-X

startups

Business

founders

InVenture Prize

startup launch

Categories

Exhibitions

Institute and Campus

Student and Faculty

Student Competition WInners (academic, innovation, and research)

Student Honors and Achievements

Student Research

Mercury ID

673563

Source updated

Wed, 03/20/2024 - 12:27

Exhibitions

Middle Schoolers’ Feedback Informs New Approach to AI-based Museum Exhibits

Expanding Accessibility

Making an Impact

Keywords

Categories

Student Innovation Shines at Spring 2025 CS Junior Design Capstone Expo

Keywords

Categories

Thesis on Human-Centered AI Earns Honors from International Computing Organization

Related links

Keywords

Categories

Finding Niche Problems to Solve with SuperStream

Q&A With SuperStream's Sole Founder, John Wright Stanly

Related links

Keywords

Categories

Double Victories at the Fall 2024 I2P Showcase

Q&As

Team AllezGo

Team Soul

Related links

Keywords

Categories

Iterating Better Therapy Support: Electrosuit

Electrosuit

What made you interested in building this solution?

What part of the course was most helpful to you?

What’s so special about CREATE-X?

What’s the best insight you’ve gained from doing this?

Next Steps

Related links

Keywords

Categories

The FinTech Gap: Dolfin Solutions Rises

Dolfin Solutions

What challenges did you have in I2P, and how did you work through them?

What advice do you have for students interested in I2P or entrepreneurship in general?

What’s Next?

Related links

Categories

Team iManhole Wins Fall 2023 EGHI/GT Global Health Hackathon

Related links

Keywords

Categories

Fall 2023 I2P Showcase Teams Debut Prototypes

Team BloodSight.AI

QTACK

NueroChamp

Keywords

Categories

Lilypad Health Wins 2024 Inventure Prize Competition

Keywords

Categories