Woodruff School 2016-2017 Annual Report

2016-2017

ANNUAL

REPORT

FROM THE CHAIR I am delighted to present this annual report summarizing the accomplishments of the Woodruff School’s faculty, staff and students during the 2016-17 academic year. We were blessed to have hosted one of our former school chairs, John A. Brighton, on March 14, 2017. John is now retired and has just published his memoir entitled Starting from Scratch. John’s visit gave us a chance to reflect back on the transformation of the Woodruff School over the past 35 years. John Brighton (1982-1988) catalyzed the turn-around in the fortunes of the Woodruff School. John got us to believe in ourselves and set our current trajectory. His successor, Ward Winer (1988-2007), expanded this vision, hired great faculty members, grew the graduate program and expanded the Woodruff School’s physical footprint through the construction of three new buildings. As their immediate successor, I am deeply grateful for having stood on the shoulders of these two giants of mechanical engineering!

As you may have heard, I am retiring on April 1, 2018 after ten years as Chair of the Woodruff School and 38 years as a faculty member. When I first stumbled onto campus in fall quarter 1980, the mechanical engineering program was housed in the John Saylor Coon Building on Cherry & Ferst. We had 30 faculty members, enrolled 1,322 undergraduates and a mere 125 graduate students, granted 304 BME degrees, 63 MSME degrees, and only 8 doctoral degrees. Our research expenditures were less than $1M. In contrast, as indicated in this report, we have 101 faculty members, granted 615 BS, 211 MS, and 70 Ph.D. degrees, and enrolled 2,278 undergraduate students along with over 800 graduate students. Our research expenditures were just a tad short of $40M. Thus, this is where we stand as we begin our 129th year as Georgia Tech’s founding academic discipline. More important (than these accomplishments) is how the Woodruff School’s culture of discovery, creativity and innovation grows stronger each and every day. The past ten years have been the highlight of my professional career. I am deeply grateful that each of you has allowed me to ride on your shoulders and share in your many successes! Stay strong! Stay collaborative!

Stay creative! But most importantly, stay hungry!

Best Regards, Bill Wepfer Eugene C. Gwaltney, Jr. School Chair and Professor

ABOUT THE WOODRUFF SCHOOL The first degree offered at the Georgia School of Technology, as the Institute was called at its inception in 1888, was the Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering. Today, the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering offers: 2 bachelor of science programs 4 master of science programs

ENROLLMENT, FALL 2016

2,278 834

graduate students 433 MS

+

401 Ph.D.

2

No.

national ranking of ME undergraduate program, released Fall 2016

4 doctor of philosophy programs

undergraduate students

RANKINGS, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT

482 women 267 international

151 distance learning 139 women 277 international

101

DEGREES AWARDED, 2016-2017

B.S. Degrees

211

M.S. Degrees

70

Ph.D. Degrees

9

No.

national ranking of ME graduate program, released Spring 2017

FACULTY

full-time, tenure-track faculty

+

national ranking of NRE graduate program, released Spring 2017

9 non-tenure track faculty 33 adjunct appointments 63 research faculty

21 senior faculty with endowed or distinguished chairs 3 faculty with new NSF Early CAREER Awards 3 NAE members who hold emeritus or adjunct appointments 70 staff members

FINANCES

615

6

No.

$38.8M

FY17 new sponsored research awards

FY17 Expenditures: $71,103,000 Other $1,400,000 GT Foundation $5,634,000

State $29,290,000

GTRC $893,000 Sponsored Research $35,069,000

RESEARCH NEWS

The Art of Self-Folding Origami Jerry Qi and a team of researchers from Georgia Tech and Peking University have found a new use for the PowerPoint slide: Producing self-folding three-dimensional origami structures from photocurable liquid polymers. The technique, which utilizes the volume shrinkage phenomenon during photo-polymerization to bend film along the direction of a light path, could someday be used in applications ranging from space missions to biomedical devices.

Exosome Messengers Research conducted by Brandon Dixon has illuminated the critical role of courier nanoparticles. The research, which discovered that exosomes move with an increased sense of urgency depending on their payload, has produced important findings on the road to targeted therapy.

The Future of Farming Jonathan Rogers and researchers from Georgia Tech are building machines that will change the monotony of agriculture. The machines, which hang over crops and swing along cables, are fitted with cameras to take pictures of plants, helping researchers get more frequent measurements and avoid laborious field work.

Boosting Performance with Tiny Tornadoes Andrei Fedorov and researchers from Georgia Tech have added the equivalent of a miniature tornado to the interface between electrospray ionization (ESI) and a mass spectrometer (MS), allowing researchers to improve the sensitivity and detection capability of the widely-used ESI-MS analytical technique. Scientific fields serving biomedical and health applications ranging from biomarker detection and diagnostics to drug discovery and molecular medicine could benefit from the new technique.

First Georgia Tech Alan T. Waterman Award Winner Woodruff School Associate Professor Baratunde Cola was awarded a million-dollar grant for his development of new engineering methods to control light and heat in electronics at the nanoscale.

The Alan T. Waterman Award is regarded as the nation’s highest honor for early-career scientists and engineers and honors Cola’s work in piloting a breakthrough other researchers have been attempting to overcome for decades. Dr. Cola is the first Waterman Award winner from Georgia Tech.

Neuroscience Robotics For scientists listening in on the faint whispers of brain neurons, a first-ever robotic technique for cleaning the tiny devices that record the signals could facilitate a new level of automation in neuroscience research. Based on their cleaning technique and earlier innovations that automated the process of connecting the pipettes to cells, Craig Forest and researchers at Georgia Tech have demonstrated what’s believed to be the first robot to perform sequential patch-clamp recording in cell culture, brain slices, and in the living brain – without a human operator.

Creating the Next in Robotics Magnus Egerstedt has been heavily involved with the creation of Georgia Tech’s Robotarium. The 725-square-foot facility houses nearly 100 rolling and flying swarm robots accessible to anyone. Researchers from around the globe can write their own computer programs, upload them, and get results as Georgia Tech machines carry out the commands. The one-of-a-kind Robotarium hopes to foster more collaboration within the robotics community allowing scientists and engineers to share their findings more widely, and build on successes.

Laying a Flexible Foundation

Medical Robots Increased efficiency means less downtime in operating rooms and shorter, less expensive hospital stays for patients. Jaydev Desai and his team of researchers are working toward developing patientspecific, 3D-printed robots that are designed to allow physicians to better do their jobs and aid in surgery and breast cancer diagnoses.

Research led by Suresh Sitaraman aims to lay the groundwork for manufacturing next-generation flexible electronics. Flexible electronics, circuits and systems that can be bent, folded, stretched or conformed without losing their functionality, have the potential to make an impact on some of society’s greatest challenges ranging from health care to defense.

ALUMNI NEWS

Four Alumni, One Global Game-Changer ME alumni Johney Green (Ph.D ME ’00), recently named Associate Laboratory Director for Mechanical and Thermal Systems Engineering at National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado, and Roderick Jackson (Ph.D ME ’09), Lonnie Love (Ph.D ME ’95), and Brian Post (Ph.D ME ’13), all leaders at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, are spearheading the Additive Manufacturing Integrated Energy (AMIE) project, which pairs a 3D-printed house and vehicle to bring about a revolutionary solution to the global energy crisis.

First Responders Disasters at nuclear power plants present extensive problems for search and rescue teams, from lethal radiation exposure to danger from weakened structures.

Jun Ueda and researchers from Georgia Tech are working on a project that could one day put robots on the ground in the immediate aftermath of a nuclear catastrophe, helping to rescue people trapped in the plant and to contain dangerous nuclear material in situations where quick action is critical.

Powerful Female Engineer Sophia Velastegui (BME ’98), recently appointed Chief Product Officer at Doppler Labs at the University of California, was named one of the 43 most powerful female engineers of 2017 by Business Insider. Business Insider annually recognizes women engineers in US tech who are leading the field of engineering.

Leadership and Educator Awards White Noise and Molecular Dances Molecules of medicine entering a cell receptor interact in nanosecond speed making them nearly impossible to watch.

By fine-tuning an atomic scale instrument with the use of electronic white noise, engineers are able to observe molecular interactions play by play. The research conducted by Todd Sulchek is paving the way for a clearer understanding of why some drugs work well and others don’t.

Pamela M. Norris (MSME ‘89, Ph.D.’92), Executive Associate Dean for Research, School of Engineering and Applied Science and Frederick Tracy Morse Professor, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of Virginia, was honored with the Elizabeth Zintl Leadership Award from the University of Virginia’s Maxine Platzer Lynn Women’s Center. Norris also received the Society of Women Engineers’ Distinguished Engineering Educator Award.

STUDENT NEWS

Distinguished Postdoctoral Appointment

Mahvi

Tomko

Jaoudeas

AMSE Graduate Teaching Fellows Woodruff School graduate students Allison Mahvi (advised by Srinivas Garimella), and Megan Tomko (advised by Julie Linsey) have been selected as American Society of Mechanical Engineers Graduate Teaching Fellows for the 2017-2018 academic year. The fellowship is intended to encourage outstanding graduate students to pursue an academic career.

NRE graduate student Abdalla Abou Jaoudeas (advised by Anna Erickson) was named as one of the first two Deslonde de Boisblanc distinguished postdoctoral appointees by Idaho National Laboratory.

The appointments are competitively awarded to early career researchers who embody the spirit of ingenuity of de Boisblanc and who have leadership potential.

EcoCAR3 Competition Each year, Georgia Tech sends a team of engineers to the U.S. Department of Engineering and General Motors Advanced Vehicle Technology EcoCAR3 competition to prove that they have designed the fastest, most environmentallyconscious car possible. This year the Georgia Tech College of Engineering team was awarded third place overall and second in the technical category. The team included Woodruff School students Matthew Brasselle and Austin Matthews (advised by Michael Leamy) and was made up of master’s and bachelor’s degree students from mechanical, electrical, chemical, and biomolecular engineering majors.

NSF Graduate Research Awards Woodruff School graduate researchers Anthony Chen (mechanical engineering, undergraduate), Michael Hunckler (mechanical engineering, advised by Andrés Garcia), David Roby Lynn (mechanical engineering, advised by Tom Kurfess), Myela Paige (mechanical engineering, advised

by Kate Fu), Andrew Rohskopf (mechanical engineering, advised by Asegun Henry), Thomas Spencer (mechanical engineering, advised by David Hu), Orlin Velev (mechanical engineering, undergraduate) and Kevin Webb (mechanical engineering, advised by Surya Kalidindi) were awarded National Science Foundation (NSF) 2017 Graduate Research Fellowships. The NSF received close to 13,000 applications and made 2,000 award offers to outstanding students pursuing research-based master’s and doctoral degrees at accredited United States institutions.

2015-2016 AWARDS & PROMOTIONS FACULTY

STUDENTS

Nazanin Bassiri-Gharb – Woodruff Faculty Fellow Hailong Chen – Serve-Learn-Sustain Grant Baratunde Cola – Alan T. Waterman Award James Collins – Promoted to Research Engineer II Levent Degertekin – 2017 Energy Harvesting Best Paper Award Jeffrey Donnell – Promoted to Principal Academic Professional Craig Forest – BME Outstanding Advisor Award Katherine Fu – ASME Atlanta Section Early Career Engineer of the Year Award Andrés J. García – JDRF Georgia Chapter Research to Reality Leadership Award Caroline Genzale – Promoted to Associate Professor with tenure; Army Research Office Young Investigator Award; NSF Faculty Early Career Development Award Ari Glezer – 2017 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Fellow Samuel Graham – Distinguished Alumni Award from Florida A&M/Florida State College of Engineering and ME Department Tequila Harris – Executive Leadership in Academic Technology and Engineering at Drexel; Atlanta’s 40 Under 40 Surya Kalidindi – Material Science and Engineering Data Challenge Award Tony Kim – 2016-2017 Georgia Partners in Regenerative Medicine Seed Grant Award; NSF Faculty Early Career Development Award Satish Kumar – Woodruff Faculty Fellow Tom Kurfess – NSF Partnership for Innovation Award Michael Leamy – Woodruff Faculty Fellow Seung Woo Lee – Hanwha Advanced Materials Non-Tenure Faculty Award David McDowell – Scientific Committee of Fatigue Damage of Structural Materials Lifetime Achievement Award Matthew McDowell – AFOSR Young Investigator Program Award; NSF Faculty Early Career Development Award Shreyes Melkote – ASME Foundation Swanson Fellowship; SME Fellow Bob Nerem – 2017 Center for Teaching and Learning Faculty Award for Academic Outreach Devesh Ranjan – Granted tenure Karim Sabra – Promoted to Professor Christopher Saldana – SME Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award; NSF Partnership for Innovation Award; 2016 Class of 1940 Course Survey Teaching Effectiveness Award Marc Smith – Zeigler Outstanding Educator Award Susan Thomas – Center for Teaching and Learning/BP America Junior Faculty Teaching Excellence Award; HIH Physical Science-Oncology Grant Cassandra Telenko – NSF Partnership for Innovation Award Yan Wang – Woodruff Faculty Fellow Wayne Whiteman – Promoted to Principal Academic Professional; Continuing Education Faculty Award for UPCEA South Region Shuman Xia – Promoted to Associate Professor with tenure Shannon Yee – ORAU Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award; ASME 2017 Pi Tau Sigma Gold Medal Award Aaron Young – IEEE/IEEEUSA 2017 New Face of Engineering Cheng Zhu – HIH Physical Science-Oncology Grant

Juan Carrano – SME Education Foundation Family Scholarship Andrew Conant – Nuclear Nonproliferation International Safeguards Fellowship Anthony Chen – NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Award Brian Fuchs – DoE Integrated University Program Fellowship Award Wesley Gillis – Nuclear Nonproliferation International Safeguards Fellowship Ehsan Hossemian – Sigma Xi Best Ph.D Dissertation Award and Master Thesis Award Michael Hunckler – NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Award Abdalla Abou Jaoude – Idaho National Laboratory Distinguished Postdoctoral Appointment Stephen Johnson – 1st prize in student poster competitions, 68th Annual APS-DFD meeting Gregg Kurfess – SME Education Foundation Family Scholarship Xianglei Liu – Sigma Xi Best Ph.D Dissertation Award and Master Thesis Award David Roby Lynn – NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Award Akanksha Krisnakumar Menon – Center for the Science and Technology of Advanced Materials and Interfaces Graduate Fellowship; Environmental Award for Leadership and Sustainable Initiatives Allison Mahvi – ASME Graduate Teaching Fellow Terese Martinez – 2017-2018 William Randolph Hearst Fellowship Michael Mikhaeil – Stewardship Science Academic Program Symposium Poster Session Winner Alex B. Miller – Dennis R. Washington Achievement Scholar Award Vinh Nguyen – Sigma Xi Best Ph.D Dissertation Award and Master Thesis Award Myela Paige – NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Award George Peters – 2017-2018 William Randolph Hearst Fellowship Bladimir RamosAlvarado – Sigma Xi Best Ph.D Dissertation Award and Master Thesis Award Andrew Rohskopf – NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Award Chelsea Siberglied – 2017-2018 William Randolph Hearst Fellowship Thomas Spencer – NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Award Megan Tomko – ASME Graduate Teaching Fellow Max Toothman – Best Student Paper Award Noise Con Conference Kevin Webb – NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Award Orlin Velev – NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Award Ethan Wescoat – MT Connect Student Challenge Award, Application Competition IMTS Shoushi Xu – Sigma Xi Best Ph.D Dissertation Award and Master Thesis Award

STAFF Leena Applebee – Outstanding Academic Advisor Primary Role; NACADA Outstanding Advising Award Jason Barnes – Promoted to Mechanical Engineer III Marlena Frank – Promoted to IT Support Professional Sr Kyle French – Promoted to Electrical Engineer III Kenneth Garrick – Promoted to Facilities Assistant Camellia Henry – Promoted to Academic Advisor I Angela Hicks – Promoted to Assistant Director, Financial Operations Destiny Kee – Promoted to Admin Professional Sr Anh Nguyen – Promoted to Electronics Specialist Darren Nowell – Promoted to Financial Admin Lead Nathaniel Watkins – Promoted to Financial Manager I Lois Wiggins – Promoted to Financial Manager I Darryl Williams – Promoted to Building Coordinator I Segried Winfrey – Promoted to Admin Supervisor

ALUMNI Valerie Bennett – Manchester Group and Associate’s 2016 Woman of Exemplary Distinction Brian Fronk – American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers New Investigator Award Maria Isabel Carnasciali – University of New Haven William L. Bucknall Excellence in Teaching Award Roderick Jackson – Recognized for Innovation in Energy Efficiency Deborah Kilpatrick – Recognized 2017 Women Leaders in STEM Pamela Norris – Society of Women Engineers’ Distinguished Engineering Educator Award Timothy W. Simpson – Appointed Paul Morrow Professor in Engineering Design and Manufacturing at Penn State’s College of Engineering Sophia Velastegui – Named Business Insider Power Female Engineer Joseph J. Weismann – Named Vice President of Radiological and Government Affairs at US Ecology, Inc.

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NEW FACULTY & STAFF Courtney Aiken, Faculty Support Coordinator, began Nov. 2016

Kostantinos (Costas) Arvanitis, Assistant Professor, began Aug. 2016

Gregory Sawicki Associate Professor, began Aug. 2017

Steven Biegalski

Professor & Associate Chair – NRE/MP Program began Aug. 2017

David Torello Lecturer, began Aug. 2017

Dan Kotlyar Assistant Professor, began Aug. 2016

Woonhong Yeo Assistant Professor, began July 2017

Laura Dawson, Academic Advisor I, began Aug. 2016

Samiah Blake, Courier II, began July 2017

Dhuman (Danny) Hardwar, IT Support Professional I, began Nov. 2016

Lea Brooks, Grants Administrator, began Oct. 2016

Frank Murdock, Mechanical Specialist, began Nov. 2016

Daphne Brown, Admin Professional III, began Dec. 2016

Scarlett Taylor, Event Coordinator II, began Aug. 2016

Matthew Carroll, Mechanical Specialist, began Nov. 2016

Bianca Tenney, Academic Assistant II, began May 2017

Jeanetta Clinton, Admin Professional II, began Jan. 2017

Ranjini Unnikrishnan, Appl Developer II, began Apr. 2017

Kirby Cuenca, Financial Admin III, began Jan. 2017

WOODRUFF SCHOOL ADVISORY BOARD Mr. David P. Adams, BME ‘86 President, Adams Capital, Inc. Mr. Thomas G. Arlotto, BME ‘82 Vice President Maestro Strategies LLC Dr. Farshad Ali Karimi-Azad BME ‘82 Dr. Rebeccah Brown MSME ‘00, Ph.D. ME ‘03 Vice President, Product Development, Quality Assurance & Regulatory Affairs MiMedx Group, Inc. Mr. R. Keith Chambless, BME ‘80 President, GeoFields, Inc. Mr. James Dullum, BME ‘74 Senior Partner, Fieldstone Equity Mr. Dolan Falconer President and CEO ScanTech Holdings, LLC

Dr. Johney Green, Jr. MSME ‘93, Ph.D. ME ‘00 Associate Laboratory Director, National Renewable Energy Laboratory

Ms. Emily Muhlberger BME ‘04, MBA ‘09 VP, Program Manager — Global Wealth & Investment Management Bank of America

Mr. Barry Holden, BME ‘70 President, Hoover Treated Wood Products, Inc.

Mr. Floyd R. Nation, BME ‘68 Law Office of Floyd R. Nation

Mr. Dennis W. Kelly, BME ‘76 Director, Smithsonian National Zoological Park

Mr. Steven Pinsky Chief Financial Officer Topix Pharmaceuticals, Ind./ Topiderm, Inc.

Mr. James N. McNeely BME ‘98, MSArch ‘01 Principal, Product Quickstart

Mr. Barry Powell Vice President, Low Voltage Distribution Business Unit, Siemens

Mr. Nelson McRay BME ‘85, MSME ‘87 Global Program Manager, Global Nonwovens Division Kimberly-Clark Corporation

Mr. Carl Ring, BME ‘78 Chairman Ring Container Technologies

Mr. Lawrence J. Montgomery BSME ‘78

Mr. Forrest Robinson, BME ‘82 President Mission Communications LLC

Dr. Karen A. Thole Department Head The Pennsylvania State University Dr. Kyle H. Turner BSEE ‘69, MSNE ‘69, Ph.D. NE ‘71 Principal, McCallum-Turner, Inc. Ms. Sophia Velastegui, BME ‘98 Chief Product Officer Doppler Labs Mr. Manny Walters, BME ‘92 Lead Recruiter, Phillips 66 Tracy Hawkins West, BME ‘90 Director of End-use, Power Delivery and Fleet R&D, Southern Company Services Mr. Nils Young, BME ‘68 Founder & Director DBS Manufacturing

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Editors: Susan Volkert, Candler Hobbs, Jeffrey A. Donnell

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