Issuu

THE BOOK

From The Tech Square Community

WELCOME TO THE BOOK

The power of innovation lies in the systems that make breakthroughs possible, and the most eﬀective ecosystems are built with intention. Physical space serves not as an endpoint, but as a platform for connection across universities, industry, capital, and community, moving ideas from concept to real-world application with clarity and purpose.

Tech Square demonstrates this model through the integration of research, entrepreneurship, and corporate engagement in one place. Anchored by Georgia Tech, it brings together faculty, students, founders, and industry leaders in a dense, highly interactive environment. Curated programming, active property management, and consistent convening create repeated opportunities for connection, turning proximity into collaboration and collaboration into progress. The result is a community where ideas are tested, partnerships are formed, and innovation advances with speed and intention.

The stories in The Book document how this ecosystem comes to life. They show how research is translated into companies, how corporate partners engage with academic discovery, how talent is developed and retained, and how place can accelerate each step of that process. This collection of stories, perspectives, and partnerships provides a window into the momentum building across Tech Square and the broader innovation community it continues to shape.

Kevin Byrne President and CEO

The University Financing Foundation (TUFF)

day out.

Thank you for being part of that work.

David Tyndall Founder and Owner Collaborative Real Estate

Tech Square by the Numbers

It is the people, research teams, and shared ideas that make Tech Square a concentrated and centralized place for innovation in Atlanta.

We acknowledge that while some things are diﬃcult to quantify, such as the dynamic connections between those conducting research, innovating, studying, and working in Tech Square, we do our best to understand the community's interests and needs so we can make meaningful introductions and plan engaging events throughout the year.

In 2025, individuals from over 224 companies and institutions contributed to the Tech Square community. From entrepreneurs building their companies at the Atlanta Technology Development Center (ATDC) to the professors and students in the Tech Square Research Building (TSRB), there is something to learn from everyone you meet in the neighborhood.

A milestone event in 2025, was welcoming the Biltmore Innovation Center into the Tech Square fold, and along with it, CREATE-X, Velocity, Askari Defense, and Studio B. In 2025, the Biltmore Innovation Center hosted 76 events, engaging 2,480 attendees. A few recurring or notable events at the Biltmore in 2025 included the Founder + Funder Jog, AI Tinkerers Meetups, Atlanta Tech Week, the ATL CTO Club, and the weekly Biltmore Coﬀee Connects.

Our science journalists ampliﬁed the stories of the people, research, events, and companies that are shaping the evolution of this unique innovation ecosystem. Our 2025 Book highlights 28 of these stories, ranging from research advancements, startup spotlights, corporate innovations, and economic development, from the total of 101 featured throughout the year on our website, weekly newsletter, and social media.

Our Innovation Ecosystem Relationship Managers, who create community and help people solve problems through connection, fostered over 750 strategic introductions among innovation ecosystem members. To highlight a few speciﬁc impacts, these introductions have led to the development of a new ATDC scouting tool, provided founders at ATDC with access to free mental health services, and led to a CREATE-X hire. Our Innovation Ecosystem Relationship Managers also developed a corporate innovation luncheon, which now attracts more than 50 people at the events held every other month, including representatives from approximately 30 corporations and universities, including Georgia Tech, Georgia State University, Emory University, and the University of Georgia.

In addition to events held at the Biltmore Innovation Center, we hosted over 30 events at both the Centergy Building and the Tech Square Research Building, drawing a total of more than 850 attendees. These events include educational lunch & learns, the TSRB Traveling Library, headshot day, and seasonal events such as the TSQ Pumpkin Carving Contest. Our events, which are coordinated by our Activations Specialist, provide creative, meaningful, and fun ways for the community to gather and learn together. For example, TSQ Tuesdays provide a consistent meeting time and place for researchers to relax and also share ideas. In fact, an Emory researcher brought a problem that GTRI researchers collaborated on. We also hold events to give back such as blood drives, adopt-a-dog day, and preparing backpacks for students going back to school.

Additionally, hundreds of other events were held by various organizations in and around the Tech Square neighborhood throughout the year, including student group meetings, workshops, mixers, demo days, career fairs, panels, lectures, and more.

224

Companies and institutions contributed to our Tech Square community.

101

Published stories featuring our community’s innovation, research, and accomplishments.

240

TSQ sponsored events held throughout Tech Square

750

Strategic introductions made among our innovation ecosystem members

Organizations attended a corporate innovation luncheon including 4 universities.

850

Introductions made by our Innovation Ecosystem Relationship managers in 2025.

Meet Your Innovation Ecosystem Relationship Manager: Mikey DiCenso

After starting his career as an industrial engineer for Fortune 100 companies, Mikey joined the startup world as a entrepreneur and then found his passion for enabling innovators, working from the following perspectives:

• State-funded Entrepreneur Support Organization (ESO)

• Venture ﬁnance

• Accelerator

I LOVE building our Atlanta ecosystem...

• President of Startup Atlanta

• Organizing committee of Atlanta Tech Week

• Volunteer for Venture Atlanta.

My superpower is being a connector, I love solving problems by introducing two rockstars to each other.

Email: mdicenso@collabre.co

Phone: (248) 840-2286

Impact-oriented introductions made in 2025

Outside of work, Julie is usually listening to a podcast or audiobook with coﬀee in hand—always learning, and always paying attention to how people connect.

Meet Your Innovation Ecosystem Relationship Manager:

Julie Pierre

Julie leads community and stakeholder engagement across Tech Square with a particular focus on the Biltmore Innovation Center. Her work focuses on making it easier for the right people to meet, build trust, and actually work together.

Before joining the TSQ ATL team, Julie spent over six years at Atlanta Tech Village, where she supported one of the largest and most active startup communities in the country. She began her career in nonproﬁt work, bringing over a decade of experience in relationship-driven environments where trust, consistency, and follow-through mattered. That background continues to shape how she approaches community today.

Julie puts structure around what is often left to chance—maintaining regular touchpoints with stakeholders, creating consistent opportunities for interaction, and making thoughtful introductions that lead to real collaboration. She is known for being relational, straightforward, and reliable—someone people trust to follow through and keep things moving.

Email: jpierre@collabre.co

Meet Your Activations Specialist:

Vicky Fowler

Vicky is the Activations Specialist behind the buzz at Tech Square—and if you've spent any time in the clubhouse, you already know her face. She's the force that turns spaces into experiences, constantly dreaming up and executing dynamic programming across a portfolio of properties that keeps the community coming back.

Rooted in the belief that great places are built on great connections, Vicky brings together entrepreneurs, researchers, students, creatives, and industry leaders—and makes it look eﬀortless. Through bold partnerships, community-driven engagement, and an instinct for what makes people feel at home, she transforms physical environments into living, breathing innovation ecosystems.

Her work is equal parts strategy and soul, always culturally relevant, always meaningful, and always moving. For Vicky, it's never just an event. It's the moment someone ﬁnds their next collaborator, their next idea, or their next home base.

Email: vfowler@collabre.co

ANCHORS & ARRIVALS

The past year brought signiﬁcant change to the Tech Square landscape. Georgia Tech made a landmark move by transforming the historic Biltmore into its newest startup incubator, welcoming notable arrivals like CREATE-X and Askari Defense through its doors. Beyond the Biltmore, longtime anchors like Southwire, Home Depot, and International Paper continued to innovate and celebrate major milestones. This section takes a look at the established anchors that put Tech Square on the map—and the new arrivals further cementing its reputation as one of the South's premier innovation ecosystems.

The Biltmore Enters the Tech Square Fold!

Written by Neema Tavakolian

Big news, Tech Square community! The historic Biltmore on West Peachtree Street is oﬃcially joining the TSQ fold, and we couldn’t be more excited to welcome this iconic Atlanta landmark into our neighborhood of innovation, collaboration, and big ideas.

Since 2016, the Biltmore has been owned by the Georgia Tech Foundation (GTF), making it a part of Atlanta’s history. But this isn’t just another oﬃce building or co-working space; this is an intentional transformation. The Biltmore is becoming a powerhouse for tech-driven innovation, academic integration, and entrepreneurial growth.

Why Now?

This next chapter isn’t happening by chance. Georgia Tech’s bold vision is to build a national hub for innovation, creativity, and entrepreneurship—not just in Atlanta but globally. The Biltmore will increasingly become the home for this vision. Situated in the heart of Tech Square, on Georgia Tech’s campus, it is surrounded by the university’s $1.45 billion in annual research activity, the #4 ranked engineering school in the nation, and the second most innovative school in the U.S. This proximity ensures that startups and innovators have direct access to world-class faculty, researchers, and labs, strengthening the pipeline from idea to commercialization.

"The reason to be in Tech Square is to be around all this talent, technology, and innovation." —

Josh Tullis, Senior Director of Corporate Engagement, Georgia Tech

While Georgia Tech is the foundation, Tech Square’s reach extends beyond—home to Emory, Georgia State, Morehouse, Spelman, SCAD, and other top institutions, creating an unparalleled interdisciplinary collaboration and talent environment.

A Hub Like No Other

The Biltmore is set to host a dynamic mix of programs and resources to drive the next wave of innovation, including:

• Academic Integration - New entrepreneurial pathways, including minor and graduate programs.

• A Deep Tech Venture Studio - Accelerating startups built on groundbreaking research.

• Research Commercialization ProgramsTranslating innovation into thriving businesses.

• A National Security Innovation ProgramLeveraging Georgia Tech’s #2 national Department of Defense research ranking to develop dual-use technologies.

• Industry Partnerships - Co-locating talent, startups, and prominent industry leaders to drive collaboration and commercialization.

• Investment Powerhouse - Hosting venture capital ﬁrms, including Georgia Tech’s new Georgia Startup Foundation, to connect innovators with funding and growth opportunities.

When the Biltmore ﬁrst opened in 1924, it welcomed visionaries who shaped the economic future of Atlanta and the Southeast. Now, 100 years later, it is again becoming the meeting ground for entrepreneurs, researchers, and investors ready to shape what comes next.

From coworking spaces to accelerator programs, from deep-tech startups to industry-shaping ventures, the Biltmore will amplify Tech Square's energy in ways never seen before in this city. This is where tech meets tradition, where research fuels startups, and where ideas become impact.

We’ll share more updates as this transformation unfolds, but for now, let’s celebrate this exciting moment for our community. Join us for weekly coﬀee connections, Atlanta Tech Week, and other events at the Biltmore because the best ideas start with great conversations.

Powerful Innovation Is a Function of Shared Ideas and Collaboration

Written by Pearl Kaplan

Collaboration drives technological advancement at Southwire Spark, which is the innovation hub for Southwire Company, LLC, one of North America’s largest wire and cable producers.

“Our cross-functional teams co-design solutions with our academic and start-up partners, validate them in instrumented testbeds, and pilot them in real operating environments,” said Michael Powell, Manager of Technology Partnerships at Spark.

Spark cultivates strategic partnerships with universities, startups, national labs, government agencies, and other industry partners to explore emerging grid technologies, applications of artiﬁcial intelligence and machine learning, advanced materials innovation, robotics, and intelligent machines.

For a collaboration right here in Tech Square, Spark is exploring a new project with Home Depot's Innovation Lab, OrangeWorks, related to supply chain management and distribution center transfers.

Putting Science and Strategy into Motion

Just as roads ﬁll up during rush hour, the power grid becomes congested, causing cables to run hotter. Spark aims to reduce energy grid congestion and keep power lines cooler, especially as data centers plug in.

To meet this demand, Spark is commercializing AMPAMAX ™ cables after seven years of research and development with a startup spun out from a Cambridge University researcher. AMPAMAX ™ cables increase electrical capacity through a high-emissivity conductor coating that allows heat to be released into the atmosphere. As a result of this heat reduction, the AMPAMAX ™ cables eﬃciently carry electricity, unlocking additional capacity without the need to build new towers while strengthening the reliability of legacy infrastructure.

It's Joule’s First Law, or the Joule heating equation, at the core of the AMPAMAX ™ cable functionality. This formula calculates the power (P) dissipated as heat by an electrical conductor with a given resistance (R) and ﬂowing current (I), P = I 2 R. When current (I) or resistance (R) is lowered, such as the high-emissivity conductor coating allows, heat generation is reduced.

“AMPAMAX ™ cables will be great for Southwire’s sustainability goals as well as addressing the issue of a congested electric grid in the US. This comes at a good time as the electric grid is seeing rising pressures from things like AI data centers that are using tons of electricity,” said Kiran Manchiraju, Southwire Company’s Vice President of Research and Lead at Spark. Even as commercialization is in process, utilities are already planning to invest in this system upgrade, including at a site in Kentucky.

Additionally, Spark’s recycled copper and aluminum program integrates circular-economy partnerships with an AI-driven materials-intelligence platform to increase recycled content while protecting performance, cost, and supply assurance, turning Southwire’s sustainability commitments into operational advantage. This metal recycling process, related to the production from ore to cathode, reduces Scope 1 greenhouse gas emissions.

Spark’s emerging technologies include highly conductive materials, graphene, advanced coatings, new metal alloys, and composite materials. The Spark team shares, “ Our mission is clear. We convert high-potential ideas into grid-ready products and platforms that improve sustainability, resilience, and help shape the standards that will deﬁne how power is delivered.”

Moving Beyond Transaction

Talent and ecosystem development are a big part of Spark’s mission. Through summer internships and employing part-time students, the Spark team mentors interns and Capstone Project teams, co-creates with entrepreneurs, and collaborates with public stakeholders to align innovation with priorities such as decarbonization, advanced materials development, and grid modernization.

Reﬂecting on industry and academic collaborations, Manchiraju said, “We want to create more robust partnerships, not just being transactional.” To achieve this, Spark conducts engagement with a variety of universities to develop the next generation of talent, including Georgia Tech, Kennesaw State University, the University of Georgia through the Student Industry Fellows Program, the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, and the Atlanta University Center Consortium, which includes Clarke Atlanta University, Morehouse College, and Spelman College.

Spark works with students on projects related to artiﬁcial intelligence, machine learning, superconductivity, materials science, data analytics, digital twins for grid applications, and metallurgy. Powell said, “The result is a pipeline of solutions—and a pipeline of people—ready to deliver durable impact at scale.”

Image: Southwire Spark

CREATE-X’s Big Move to the Biltmore

Written by Neema Tavakolian

startup cities in the United States.

“This milestone underscores Georgia Tech’s commitment to expanding entrepreneurship programs that drive innovation across some of the most critical frontiers of our time,” said Rahul Saxena. “From deep tech and artiﬁcial intelligence to medicine, national security, energy and sustainability, neuroscience, the creative industries, and design, CREATE-X reﬂects our belief that entrepreneurship is a powerful catalyst for real-world impact.”

Since its inception, CREATE-X has empowered over 34,000 students representing 38 academic majors to launch over 650 student-founded startups. Together, these ventures have reached a total valuation of more than $2.4 billion, highlighting CREATE-X’s impact as a powerful engine of innovation and economic mobility.

The establishment of a physical home marks a pivotal evolution for CREATE-X. Since its founding, the program has empowered students to transform bold ideas into viable startups through a unique blend of academic programming, mentorship, and hands-on learning. Previously, CREATE-X operated without a centralized hub—its makerspace, classrooms, and staff offices were spread across multiple buildings on campus. While this distributed model supported growth, it limited opportunities for deeper connection, collaboration, and community-building. Now, with a permanent headquarters at the Biltmore Innovation Center, CREATE-X unites its makerspace and office functions under one roof and gains a larger, dedicated space for community gatherings. This new home enhances visibility, fosters a stronger sense of identity, and positions student entrepreneurs at the heart of Atlanta’s innovation ecosystem.

CREATE-X is now located steps from Georgia Tech’s campus and nestled within a dense network of research labs, venture capital ﬁrms, corporate innovation centers, and co-working spaces. The new headquarters positions student entrepreneurs at the epicenter of inspiration and execution.

“The new space serves as a critical strategic connector,” s aid Sivakumar “Siva” Raghupathy, Vice President of Commercialization. “By bringing student startups into close proximity with key stakeholders, innovative ideas, and essential resources, we’re creating an environment where early-stage ventures can truly ﬂourish. In fact, CREATE-X has launched

As CREATE-X settles into its new home, the stories, companies, and breakthroughs emerging from this entrepreneurial launchpad are highly anticipated. This is a testament to Georgia Tech’s ongoing transformation into a national leader in innovation and entrepreneurial education and a powerful signal of what’s to come.

OrangeWorks Celebrates a Decade of Innovation

Written by Neema Tavakolian

Last Friday, for its 10th anniversary, Home Depot’s Innovation Lab, OrangeWorks, opened its doors to the Tech Square community for a special open house. Attendees got a behind-the-scenes look at the company’s cutting-edge research and development eﬀorts. Located in the Centergy Building, OrangeWorks serves as a hub for emerging technol ogy, fostering collaboration among Home Depot teams, Geor gia Tech researchers, and the broader innovation ecosystem in Atlanta.

Visitors explored interactive demos, engaged with Home Depot’s innovation team, and gained ﬁrsthand insight into how the company harnesses AI, robotics, and advanced materials to redeﬁne retail and home improvement. Student interns at OrangeWorks showcased the lab’s maker space capabilities, guiding attendees through ongoing and past

ed Home Depot’s diverse talent development programs, including internships, apprenticeships, and returnships, designed to support employees and external candidates looking to advance their careers in innovation and technology

Inside International Paper’s Innovation Center

Written by Neema Tavakolian

The International Paper Atlanta Innovation Center, located in the Centergy Building of Tech Square, serves as a strategic hub for data science, analytics, and operational innovation across the company’s nationwide mill network. The location was chosen to oﬀer proximity to other innovation centers and provide direct access to Georgia Tech’s talent pool, research capabilities, and startup ecosystem.

According to Allen Turner, manager of the Atlanta Innovation Center team, the center focuses on three core areas: equipment health, process and ﬂow optimization, and support for the customer service group serving International Paper’s mills. Intern projects have included diagnostics for mechanical systems, chemical process modeling, and optimization of mill operations such as steam generation and pulp bleaching.

The Innovation Center has partnered with Georgia Tech graduate programs, including the Master’s in Analytics, to bring interns who contribute to business intelligence, AI-driven diagnostics, and machine learning initiatives. One former intern, Maggie Xia, works full-time as a data scientist at Inter -

Xia initially joined International Paper as an intern, working on proof-of-concept projects involving custom interfaces and predictive modeling tools. She developed a “what-if” interface used by mill operators to explore production scenarios, which is now customized for individual mills across the company. She also worked on mill balance modeling, collaborating with teams on the containerboard side of the business.

Hired full-time in September 2024, Xia continues to support data science initiatives across the company, utilizing tools such as Python and Azure to enhance analytics at scale. She notes signiﬁcant growth in International Paper’s technical capabilities since her internship.

The Innovation Center remains a lean, business-focused unit that delivers value through applied analytics, diagnostics, and operational support, emphasizing practicality and direct

Image: Maggie Xia

New Accelerator Housed at the Biltmore to Propel Startup Innovation at Georgia Tech

Written by Georgia Parmlee

Velocity Startups joins Georgia Tech’s comprehensive commercialization ecosystem, solidifying the Institute’s role as a national leader and premier hub for research commercialization and startup growth. Velocity Startups serves as a bridge between early-stage startup founders who are focused on scaling their businesses and readying themselves for late-stage accelerators such as the Advanced Technology Development

At Georgia Tech, many startups that complete the CREATE-X Startup Launch program and present at the Demo Day event will gain access to Velocity Startups. The accelerator will also oﬀer strategic programming, funding, and access to Georgia Tech’s research resources and serve as a coordinating entity for Metro Atlanta’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, engaging more than 50 colleges

Now Out of Stealth, Askari Is Building Smarter, Decentralized Defense Systems

Written by Neema Tavakolian

A new defense technology startup is emerging from stealth with a distinct perspective on a rapidly evolving problem. Askari Defense, founded by Robbie van Zyl, Benjamin Airdo, and Marc van Zyl, is developing systems designed to counter autonomous machines, beginning with drones but extending into a broader category of robotic threats.

The company recently relocated to Atlanta and operates out of the Biltmore Innovation Center, placing it within close proximi ty to Georgia Tech’s research ecosystem and a growing network of Department of Defense activity across the Southeast. For the founders, that geographic move was strategic.

“Georgia Tech is pumping out potential hires for Askari constantly,” they said, pointing to the Institute’s engineering talent pipeline and its connections to federal partners.

Askari also participated in Georgia Tech’s CREATE-X program, where the team built on an already established concept and reﬁned its direction through mentorship. The founders noted that working with CREATE-X, particularly with mentor Rahul Saxena, helped them close key gaps in their early strategy.

Beyond Counter-Drone

While Askari is often described as a counter-drone company, the founders frame drones as only one part of a larger techno logical shift.

Their broader focus is on what they describe as counter robot detection and denial systems, technologies designed to identify, intercept, or disable autonomous machines across diﬀerent environments.

That framing reflects how quickly unmanned systems have evolved in recent years. Conflicts such as the war in Ukraine and more recent conflicts in the Middle East have demonstrated how relatively low-cost drones can play an outsized role in modern warfare, often using techniques like frequency hopping to avoid traditional jamming systems.

ing that their long-term work extends beyond any single

the founders said, describing how this principle shapes

This approach stands in contrast to many existing defense systems, which are often large, centralized, and dependent on layered communication networks. Askari is instead prioritizing portability, autonomy, and direct usability in the ﬁeld without setup or integration.

“If our systems eﬀectively serve the atoms of warfare, then they can be easily scaled to serve the molecules,” they said, referring to individual operators in the ﬁeld. Systems designed for frontline use, they added, can scale into broader applications such as base defense over time.

Image: Askari

Askari’s systems use onboard computers to reduce reliance on external communications. In contested environments where signals can be jammed or degraded, this design choice becomes critical.

“The real-time processing and autonomy onboard the interceptor eliminate the need for two-way communications,” the founders explained.

Their systems integrate machine vision and artiﬁcial intelli gence to operate with a high degree of independence. By building autonomy directly into the interceptors, Askari aims to reduce cognitive burden and increase reliability in real-world conditions.

The team frames this as a practical engineering constraint rather than a purely theoretical one.

“Physics cannot be patched,” they said, underscoring the limits of software-based solutions in physical environments.

This perspective informs how they approach countermeasures. Instead of relying solely on electronic warfare techniques like jamming, which can often be circumvented, Askari is exploring combinations of kinetic and autonomous responses that function against hardened threats, even when communications abilities are degraded.

Rethinking Cost and Deployment

In addition to technical design, Askari is also challenging prevailing economic assumptions in defense technology. “There’s a trend of companies going after expensive central ized systems,” the founders said. “We’re building something less expensive, easier to use, and decentralized.”

This strategy centers on logistical simplicity. By lowering both cost and operational complexity, Askari aims to make its systems more scalable and adaptable across diﬀerent use cases.

The team frames this in terms of cost asymmetry, pushing back on a common benchmark in defense discussions: cost-per-kill.

“There are always cheaper ways to engage a target,” the found ers said. “But cost-per-kill doesn’t always account for what it takes to actually deploy those systems.”

While often used to compare technologies, cost-per-kill typically focuses on the price of a single engagement and overlooks the broader system requirements. Platforms that advertise low cost-per-kill, such as lasers, vehicle-mounted turrets, or high-power microwave systems, often depend on signiﬁcant infrastructure, power, logistics, and personnel to operate eﬀectively.

Askari instead focuses on how capability and deployment scale together. Their systems are designed to be eﬀective while remaining portable and easy to deploy, reducing the logistical burden required to operate them.

This model could allow for broader use without the same level of infrastructure investment, aligning with how modern conﬂicts are increasingly shaped by distributed systems and smaller units operating at the edge.

Navigating the Defense Ecosystem

Askari’s primary customers are expected to be U.S. and allied government entities. While defense procurement involves complex requirements and long adoption cycles, the company is deliberately structuring its approach to move faster than traditional pathways allow.

“We understand that adoption within government systems takes time,” the founders said, “which is why we’re focused on building pull from the ground up.”

Rather than relying solely on top-down acquisition, Askari is engaging directly with end users operating in the ﬁeld, including soldiers. By prioritizing operator needs, the company is developing systems that deliver immediate, tangible value, enabling rapid iteration and strong user advocacy early in the lifecycle.

Image: Askari

Introducing Studio B.

Written by Neema Tavakolian

Fresh off Georgia Tech’s announcement of its new Biltmore Innovation Center initiative, the Tech Square ecosystem is about to gain another new space for strategic landing parties, tech founders, and their service providers. Tech Square ATL is proud to announce the upcoming opening of "Studio B.," a short-term office and coworking space situated on the top floor of the historic Biltmore, located in the heart of Tech Square. More than just office space, Studio B. offers a flexible and economical entry point into the 1M+ square feet Tech Square innovation ecosystem that hosts the innovative work of

The name "Studio B." nods to the building’s rich history. Once home to Atlanta’s WSB radio station, the Biltmore has long symbolized creativity and communication. Today, the space honors that legacy while embracing the future of innovation. It blends the Biltmore's history with the spirit of progress. It embodies the core themes of a disruptor’s journey—building, broadcasting, and bold ambitions—while providing a dynamic environment for growth and creativity.

Studio B. meets the unique needs of the technology community. With ﬂexible leasing, coworking spaces, high-speed internet, and inclusion in the Tech Square ATL network, it fosters a collaborative environment where strategics, researchers, and founders can focus on building ideas, technologies, and companies.

“We wanted to create more than just a place to work. Studio B. is a space where disruptors can experiment, collaborate, and thrive,” says Julie Pierre, Biltmore’s full-time Innovation Ecosystem Relationship Manager. “With its location in the heart of Tech Square and its deep ties to the Biltmore’s legacy, Studio B. is poised to become a cornerstone of Atlanta’s growing tech community.”

For more information about Studio B. or to schedule a tour, don't hesitate to get in touch with Chris Fix at cﬁx@collabre.co.

EVENTS

Spark Innovation Center at Tech Square

This past year was a landmark one for events in and around Tech Square. From Georgia Tech's inaugural AI Career Fair to a series of entrepreneurial and tech-focused summits, Tech Square served as a gathering place for industry leaders, founders, and innovators. Research talks and lectures rounded out a robust calendar of programming. Together, these events united Atlanta's brightest minds and reinforced Tech Square's role as the city's premier hub for collaboration and innovation.

Midtown Day Captured: Atlanta Tech Week Highlights

Written by Neema Tavakolian

Midtown Day gave Atlanta Tech Week a massive pulse, turning Tech Square into a playground for big ideas, chance encounters, and innovation in motion. From sunrise jogs to sunset happy hours, the day captured what makes this district hum: people coming together to build, test, and debate the future.

Founder + Funder Jog

Midtown Day kicked oﬀ at dawn with runners lacing up at The Biltmore. Founders, investors, and friends clocked a casual 3.5-mile run together—part workout, part moving meetup—set ting the tone for a day built on connections.

The Traveling Library:

A pop-up book exchange led by TSQ Clubhouse Manager Vicky Fowler stocked with handpicked reads invited passersby to slow down, swap stories, and share ideas—proving that sometimes, inspiration hides between pages.

Robot Demo Day at Centergy:

Dogs, humanoids, a robot centipede, and other hardware took over the Centergy courtyard, turning heads and sparking conversations about the next wave of automation.

Ethical & Responsible AI Panel:

Over lunch, researchers like TSRB’s Richmond Wong and industry voices like Alexandria de Aranzeta dove deep into thorny questions: Is AI inherently biased? Who should be accountable? Can we build better systems, or are we just baking old prejudices into new tech?

Part trail, part tasting tour, the Tech Hop led attendees through multiple booths showcasing food and beverage founders, Atlanta startups, and Georgia Tech research groups.

The Future of AI in Creative:

In the evening, a panel and happy hour explored how generative AI transforms art, entertainment, and storytelling—and where human creativity still holds the edge.

Led by Andy Marshall and the Georgia Cleantech Innovation Hub, Georgia’s clean energy founders and operators swapped insights and stories, no pitch decks, no press.

Cleantech Hustle Hour:

Tech Square Tech Hop:

Corporate Innovation Center Connect

Written by Neema Tavakolian

At the intersection of business and breakthrough ideas in Atlanta, the Corporate Innovation Center's Connect series ensures that momentum doesn’t stay siloed. Spearheaded by Mikey DiCenso, Innovation Ecosystem Relationship Manager at Collaborative Real Estate, the event series brings together some of the region’s top corporate innovation centers to collaborate, learn, and grow stronger together.

Each session in the series is more than a networking opportunity—it’s a working forum for sharing strategies, surfacing shared challenges, and exploring new directions in technology and innovation. Participants have included professionals from Southwire, International Paper, Home Depot, Catalyst by Wellstar, Delta, and Chick-ﬁl-A, as well as researchers, investors, startup founders, and others shaping Atlanta’s tech landscape.

Why Connect Innovation Centers?

Corporate innovation centers often operate with distinct strategies. Some focus on launching startups through venture studios, others invest directly in external ventures, while many look inward, developing tools, training programs, or R&D capabilities to advance internal innovation. Despite their diﬀerences, these centers frequently face similar questions: How do we measure success? How do we engage startups meaningfully? How do we pilot new technologies eﬃciently?

The Connect series provides a platform for discussing these questions collectively. “This series is about creating a fabric of connectivity between corporate players and the broader innovation community in Tech Square,” said DiCenso. “We want to make collaboration the default, not the exception.”

Throughout several events, the series welcomed representatives from multiple innovation centers and hosted discussions on impact measurement, startup engagement, innovation piloting, KPI tracking, and other related topics.

Guest speakers also led focused discussions on issues such as university partnerships and internal R&D strategies.

“Strategic innovation thrives on collaboration. By fostering strong connections between corporate innovation centers, startups, and research institutions, we accelerate breakthroughs, scale disruptive technologies, and create lasting impact. Shared success depends on a dynamic exchange of ideas, resources, and expertise, driving industries forward and shaping a sustainable future. That is exactly what these monthly connection meetings are striving to achieve.”

— Michael Powell, Southwire Company

Image: Charles Deluvio/Unsplash

Trends and Tactics

Participants shared how their centers deﬁne and practice innovation. The approaches ranged widely—some prioritize startup acceleration or joint ventures, while others focus on workforce development or in-house product experimentation. Venture capital models and corporate venture studios were also part of the mix.

Across the board, several technological trends emerged as shared areas of interest. Many centers are closely watching developments in data science, AI, advanced sensors, and data convergence. Others cited power management, robotics, hard tech, and resource optimization as key topics they’re working on or monitoring.

Why Tech Square?

While the event’s focus isn’t limited to one location, many participating centers are based in or around the Tech Square area. Its close ties to Georgia Tech, access to top-tier technical talent, and proximity to other innovation hubs make it a practical site for testing ideas, ﬁnding collaborators, and staying close to emerging trends.

Unlike more concentrated innovation corridors like Silicon Valley, Atlanta’s tech ecosystem is geographically spread out—from Buckhead and Peachtree Corners to Atlanta Tech Village and South Downtown. That fragmentation can be a challenge but also a strength: it allows various approaches, industries, and communities to develop in parallel. Events like Corporate Innovation Center Connect help bridge those distances by oﬀering regular touchpoints for connection and alignment.

As innovation centers continue to evolve and deﬁne their roles in corporate strategy, gatherings like this provide a needed forum, grounded in practical insights and collaborative intent. This series is vital in bridging fragmentation and fostering proximity into partnerships in a city where innovation is geographically dispersed.

If you are interested in attending a future Corporate Innovation Connect, please do not hesitate to contact Mikey DiCenso at

Boosting Brainpower Through Community

Written by Pearl Kaplan

As Tech Square’s sun-ﬁlled leaves are replaced with sparkling lights and the Biltmore Innovation Center is adorned with decorations, let’s reﬂect on the abundance of opportunities the community had to gather, learn, and create this fall in Tech Square.

Plan now to be in Tech Square this winter. Whether you are a founder, researcher, student, or investor, the Tech Square ATL winter calendar already has a list of oﬀerings to ignite your imagination, inspire reﬂection, and strengthen community connections during the short winter days.

Weekly sources of inspiration include TSQ Tuesdays where conversations turn into collaborations, Coﬀee Connect at The Biltmore on Tuesdays, IPaT GVU Lunch Lectures on Thursdays, and ATDC Feedback Fridays. Monthly opportunities to exchange ideas feature ATDC Entrepreneurs Night, Startup Oasis, Civic Hack Nights, and the TSQ Traveling Library at the Tech Square Research Building. Whether you’re looking to network, learn, or be inspired, there’s a tapestry of opportunities to explore and be inspired by interconnected insights. Before ringing in the new year, let’s take a moment to celebrate our favorite fall memories!

that socialization is helpful for brain health because it provides cognitive stimulation, buﬀers stress, supports emotional regulation, and is associated with decreased neuroinﬂammation.

This November’s Lunch & Learn at the TSQATL Clubhouse, held during Alzheimer’s Awareness Month, brought together community members to discover science-backed strategies to strengthen brain health and memory at any age. After the talk and Q&A discussion, which was the ﬁrst in a series of wellness events, attendees were energized and discussing with others the actionable insights gained on exercise, MIND Diet ingredients, and the recommended seven to nine hours of quality sleep. For those looking for a credible source of information, Dr. Ashley-Caporale recommended the American Academy of Neurology.

Speaking of meaningful interactions, additional events that provided opportunities for the exchange of new ideas and insight were a series of Conversations@TechSquare discussions, hosted by the Georgia Tech Institute for People and Technology (IPaT). This series, designed to be an interactive dialogue, provided a space to explore current challenges, diﬀerent perspectives, and interdisciplinary solutions. The topics in the series ranged from Georgia Tech’s goal to engage with Georgia’s 159 counties, an in-development Atlanta Ronald McDonald House, and Georgia Tech’s multi-functional VR/AR/XR space, VRlandia.

Every other month, Mikey DiCenso, Innovation Relationship Manager at Tech Square ATL, hosts corporate innovation luncheons for the community to meet, share best practices, and discuss opportunities. These events incorporate networking, a corporate presentation, and small-group discussion with innovation centers and R&D departments of the Centergy building, Tech Square, and the greater Atlanta area. For example, in December, Catalyst by Wellstar presented on how to amplify portfolio companies beyond pilots to a group of 40 attendees. DiCenso said, “Tech Square and the greater Atlanta ecosystem is overﬂowing with innovation activity.”

Building

Innovation is accelerating at the Biltmore Innovation Center. An example of this place-based innovation ecosystem is the weekly Biltmore Coﬀee Connects, which provides the community space and time to share ideas. “Cadence builds conﬁdence. Consistency builds community,” said Julie Pierre, Community & Ecosystem Engagement Manager at Tech Square ATL and the Biltmore Innovation Center, who hosts the weekly event. Julie adds, “Together, cadence and consistency create the conditions for trust, belonging, and organic connection. This is why I believe so much in recurring programming.”

ing. To achieve this, competitive innovators united to show case their creativity at both the Pumpkin Carving Contest and Paper Tree Decorating Contest. Against the backdrop of seasonal movies and music, teams brought their vision to life, including using pumpkin-powered battery power for lights and making paper ornaments to decorate the paper tree. The Tech Square Day of Holiday Festivities included a pop-up market, carolers, and conversation in the Biltmore Innovation Center, followed by seasonal drinks and live music in the Centergy Lobby. Attendees gathered to share successes, ideas, and inspirations for the season and new year.

In addition to holiday festivities, recurring events such as TSQ Tuesdays, which pair social gatherings with featured talks and activities, oﬀer opportunities for community members to connect throughout the year. “It’s great to see how diﬀerent people attend each week,” says Vicky Fowler, Event Coordina tor at Tech Square ATL. Fowler adds, “TSQ Tuesdays provide a welcoming place for attendees to engage in conversations and explore innovative ideas, and it’s this combination of providing a foundational event with featured talks or activities that allows for continual creativity, conversation, and connection.”

Various community-driven events were hosted at the Biltmore, including AI Tinkerers Atlanta events, led by Avoilan Bingham of Drive Capital, where AI practitioners collaborate to build applications and push the boundaries of language models and generative AI. Additionally, Georgia Tech students have coordinated a Let’s Play Georgia Tech with their Chess Lunch & Learns in the Biltmore lobby. Additionally, the November Atlanta CTO club breakfast was held in Studio B. on the top ﬂoor of the historic Biltmore Innovation Center.

Georgia Tech Hosts Its First AI Career Fair

Written by Pearl Kaplan

Students were provided with direct opportunities to share their interests with companies in attendance who are actively seeking AI talent. Additionally, students gained ﬁrst-hand insights into how AI is being used in the workplace, for example, with machine learning and business services. “This is an amazing event to have these opportunities to meet these employers in person. I have always gotten interviews from meeting people in person,” said a Georgia Tech student and computer science major.

The AI Career Fair was open to all undergraduate, graduate, and professional students interested in creating or using AI as a tool in their careers, including students studying computer science, data science, engineering, and beyond. Sherri von Behren, Corporate Engagement Manager with The Scheller College of Business, shared, “It’s great to see our MBA students here too!” Additionally, a Georgia Tech Evening MBA student said, “This has been a positive experience. I came prepared to talk with these employers. It is a good mix of companies, both large and small.”

The 28 attending companies, which are integrating AI into their work, represented a variety of sectors, from supply chain to security. These included BlackRock, Cisco Systems, Deposco, Geotab, Google, Halco Lighting Technologies, IBM, Lennar, Lumen Technologies, ScottMadden, Inc., and Waystar.

Students Connected with Startup Opportunities

Startups attending the Georgia Tech AI Career Fair included Airia, Beep, Tractian, and Evident, a member of the Atlanta Technology Development Center (ATDC) focused on cybersecurity. Evident co-founder and Georgia Tech alum, Nathan Rowe, said, “The event was successful! We’ve already kicked oﬀ conversations with two candidates for some project-based work over winter break and are eager to start discussing summer internship opportunities”.

To support both students and startups, Georgia Tech’s Oﬃce of Commercialization recently launched a pilot program to help students and startups share talent and experience with paid internships, which is an impactful way to help both students get a foot in the door and provide support to startups that might not yet have the funding available to provide paid internships.

“Half of the students are start-up founders, working and going to school at the same time,” said Ana Rose (Collins), Senior Data Analyst with participating company Deposco. Ana added that she “understands what [students] are going through” as she is also in the Georgia Tech Master of Computer Science program with some of the students who attended today.

tor pitch ready,” said Madissen Lombardo, IBM Americas Z Software Sales Leader.

Tim Brown, Director of Professional Education for Tech AI, worked directly with students at the AI Career Fair to review resumes and discuss their professional careers. At the event, Tim shared with Fox 5 News how Georgia Tech is supporting both students and professionals in adapting and building AI skills, such as machine learning and generative AI, through online degree programs and professional education.

An Eye on the Future: Leading with Vision 2030

Georgia Tech is committed to advancing excellence in AI education and research, and is ranked third in the nation for AI by the 2025 University Magazine rankings. This professional development event, in which the Georgia Tech Career Center and Tech AI directly collaborated, highlights this commitment to advancing students’ ongoing opportunities and career success.

This collaborative event aligns with two of the foundational principles of the Georgia Tech Oﬃce of the President’s "Vision 2030: Inclusive Innovation for a Better Future": "Students are our top priority," and "We celebrate collaboration."

The next AI-centered professional development initiative is the Fall AI Career Fair, which is scheduled for September 28, 2026.

Image: Georgia Tech Career Center

Startup Exchange Summit Inspires Students and Entrepreneurs Across Atlanta

Written by Chloe Huggins

Hundreds of college students gathered for Startup Exchange’s Spring 2025 Summit at the Tech Square Clubhouse on April 22nd. The summit brought together student founders from across Atlanta. Students came from notable schools like Geor gia Tech, Emory, Spelman, Morehouse, the University of Geor gia, Georgia State, Kennesaw State, the Savannah College of Art and Design, and more.

These founders were brought into the TSQ Clubhouse, where they could exhibit their innovative start-up ideas. Six of the best teams got to hit the stage and pitch live to investors who served as judges for the competition. The six start-ups launching their live pitches at the event were Georgia Tech-founded start-ups: Allez Go, CarbonCents, Clariyon, Echo Log, Tabl and Senior Sheild Technology.

The event started with a social hour, where the aspiring entrepreneurs could network and watch smaller start-up demonstrations and pitches on the upper ﬂoor. Then, the audience began to watch six of Georgia Tech’s best home-grown start-ups duke it out for dominance, recognition and funding. The start-ups ranged from biomedical devices (Senior Shield technologies) to sports broadcasting software for fencing (Allez-Go). Linus Nagata, a Student Events Board Member and coordinator for the event, was watching from the second story balcony. “All the pitching by the fellowship founders made me inspired also to do entrepreneurship,” he said. Students like Linus lined rows of chairs and stood over the top ﬂoor balcony of the clubhouse to watch the pitching commence. Ultimately, the audience

Image: StepUp

32 Image: Arjun Dewan

Image: Arjun Dewan

As the judges deliberated and the audience cast their ballots, Start-up Exchange brought out a few founders to have a coﬀee chat with the audience. Jay Deuskar, the Co-Founder and CTO of Prize Picks, was selected to speak, as was Ted Feldmann, the founder and CEO of Durin. Deuskar and Feldmann are Georgia Tech Alumnus, and Feldmann was also a previous showrunner for GT Start-up Exchange. David Serrao, the Director of Community Growth at GT Start-Up Exchange, said, “One thing I thought was cool was we had Ted Back on. When I started, he was the one running the coﬀee chats, so I think it’s cool to see full circle the people in the start-up exchange community going from students here working on building Georgia Tech as kind of an entrepreneurship ecosystem to doing their own things and

After much deliberation, the judges came out and announced the winner of the event, Senior Shield. They received the grand prize of the event, which included investor funding and mentorship from Atlanta’s best start-up pioneers. The audience granted Clariyon a Software start-up focusing on healthcare applications, to help hospitals maximize AI assistance while keeping data private, as their favorite. Second and third place went to Tabl and Allez Go, respectively, and all the startups left in good spirits after presenting to judges such as Jake Kaemf the founder and CEO of The Everyday Company, Jennifer Whitlow, a community partnerships representative at Fusen, and Dr. Paul Lopez board chair, co-founder and partner for TiE Atlanta, and 11-11 Ventures.

Overall, Georgia Tech’s start-up exchange was a success. Students left inspired and energized. Founders left acknowledged, and some even left rewarded with mentors and funding for their work. Even the judges left satisﬁed with the new talent and potential companies to invest in. This annual event was Georgia Tech’s Start-up Exchange’s big blow-out to celebrate and reward the community of founders, builders, inventors, and

Image: Arjun Dewan

PEOPLE

At the heart of Tech Square are its people. Visionary founders, builders, researchers, and changemakers all working together to shape the future of Atlanta. In 2025, we saw leaders rise to drive meaningful change, oﬀer fresh perspectives, and challenge the way we think, whether through groundbreaking research, bold ideas, or the ambitious goal of launching 1,000+ startups in a single year. The citizens of Tech Square showed up, and showed out.

Spark Innovation Center at Tech Square

Catching “Entrepreneur’s Disease”: A Sit Down with ATDC’s John Avery

Written by Neema Tavakolian

“We hope to get everyone to catch ‘entrepreneur’s disease,’” says John Avery. Avery isn’t talking about an actual illness. He means the contagious excitement that comes with entrepreneurship. As director of Georgia’s Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC), he has seen this occur ﬁrsthand. ATDC, the state’s technology incubator, has spent the last 45 years helping entrepreneurs transform big ideas into startups across the state.

Walk into ATDC’s main hub in Tech Square, and you can feel the buzz. “The environment is what makes ATDC unique,” Avery explains, noting how experienced mentors mingle daily with wide-eyed founders. That collaborative energy—seasoned entrepreneurs swapping ideas with ﬁrst-time startup teams—is hard to replicate. And it’s by design: Avery has cultivated a community where advice, encouragement, and even the occasional tough love are always within earshot.

For the past 7 years, John Avery, director of Georgia Tech’s ATDC, has led a team supporting technology entrepreneurs across the state, helping startups launch, scale, and connect with investors and resources.

A Statewide Mission

Though housed at Georgia Tech, Avery is quick to point out that ATDC is much broader than a campus initiative. “As the state’s incubator, we work with startups across all of Georgia,” he says. In other words, ATDC’s reach extends far beyond Atlanta. Today, the organization operates programs in seven Georgia cities: Atlanta, Albany, Athens, Augusta, Columbus, Macon, and Savannah, each with its own startup catalyst oﬃce on the ground. This statewide presence means a tech entrepreneur in Savannah or Augusta can tap into ATDC’s resources without moving to Atlanta.

The statewide focus on serving innovators across Georgia is supported by partnerships with private and public universities throughout the state. “We’re eager to work with everyone from Georgia State and the University of Georgia to Columbus State, Emory University, the Atlanta University Center, and more,” Avery says, underscoring that collaboration fuels the whole state tech ecosystem. And the impact is tangible. ATDC’s portfolio companies have collectively created more than 14,000 jobs across Georgia, helping spread the wealth of the tech boom well outside the Metro Atlanta bubble. Last year alone, ATDC welcomed a record 34 new startups into its ranks, bringing the total number of active members to 141 companies.

Coaching and Collaboration Over Cohorts

Unlike a typical accelerator that runs ﬁxed-length cohorts, ATDC’s incubation model is refreshingly ﬂexible. “There are no cohorts. You are in and out of ATDC at your own pace,” Avery notes. Startups can apply whenever they’re ready and stay as long as they need to grow, without a graduation deadline looming. This open-ended approach lets founders focus on development instead of racing against a program clock.

It also means companies receive support through the valley of death—that perilous phase that follows the launch of a product but precedes steady growth. This support is given for however long it takes a company to get over that hump.

Central to ATDC’s model is its team of full-time coaches. Avery emphasizes that these coaches aren’t just occasional advisors; they’re deeply embedded partners in each startup’s journey. ATDC’s industry-focused “practice areas”—from financial technology (fintech) and health tech to robotics and sustainability—each have a dedicated expert coach with a vast network in that sector. Those coaches meet with founders one-on-one, often on a weekly basis, to troubleshoot challenges, brainstorm strategies, and make valuable introductions. “Our coaches build relationships,” Avery says, describing how they might scout promising new startups in their field one day and help a portfolio company refine its sales pitch the next. It’s a hands-on, relationship-based coaching model that scales mentorship in a way that ad-hoc volunteer mentors often can’t match.

ATDC also keeps its doors open to any Georgian with a startup dream. Budding entrepreneurs who aren’t yet in the official portfolio can still dip their toes through the ATDC Educate program: a series of workshops and courses available to anyone, statewide. Every Tuesday, live startup classes are offered in-person at ATDC’s offices and virtually cover fundamentals such as customer discovery and product-market fit. (There are

Thriving Amid Uncertainty

Running a startup incubator means riding out economic ups and downs, and right now, founders face headwinds—from high interest rates to tighter research funding. Avery isn’t overly fazed. “Recent NIH funding freezes have brought about uncertainty, but that’s where entrepreneurship thrives,” he says, his optimism shining through. In other words, constraints can spur creativity. That resilient mindset is reﬂected in ATDC’s recent results: even during a nationwide venture capital slowdown in 2024, roughly a quarter of ATDC companies successfully closed funding rounds. And many of those startups are tackling signiﬁcant problems in demanding industries, from healthcare to manufacturing, where traditional funding sources may be drying up but new solutions are sorely needed.

Despite these challenges, Avery is focused on the road ahead. Georgia Tech and many members of Atlanta’s tech community have publicly set their sights on making Atlanta a top-ﬁve innovation hub in the U.S., and ATDC is gearing up to do its part. “Despite uncertainty, we are gearing up for scale,” Avery says of the teams’ future plans. That means recruiting staﬀ, forging more corporate partnerships, and leveraging technology to support more startups faster. He even suggests that ATDC’s public-university hybrid model could serve as a blueprint for other states seeking to establish their own entrepreneurial ecosystems.

Cecile Zhang on Camerimage’s Reckoning: The Data Behind the 3.1% Controversy

Written by Neema Tavakolian

The Camerimage Film Festival, founded in 1993, has long been a revered institution for cinematographers, offering a dedicated space to celebrate the artistry behind the camera. Unlike mainstream festivals such as Cannes or the Oscars, Camerimage focuses solely on cinematography, elevating those who shape a film’s visual language. This unique role has established the festival as a "magic circle"—a term borrowed from Dutch historian Johan Huizinga—where cinematographers can step away from industry pressures and immerse themselves in creative exchange and camaraderie. The festival is held in Toruń, Poland at the end of November every year, spanning the course of one week with multiple events occurring simultaneously. Over the years, Camerimage has hosted many prominent filmmakers, including Darren Aronofsky, Agnieszka Holland, Alfonso Cuarón, and David Lynch, among others.

However, Camerimage 2024 was overshadowed by controversy following a statement from festival director Marek Żydowicz that many found exclusionary: "Can the pursuit of change exclude what is good? Can we sacriﬁce works and artists with outstanding artistic achievements solely to make room for mediocre ﬁlm productions?" His words ignited an outcry, particularly among female cinematographers, who have long felt underrepresented in the industry and at the festival.

Cecile Zhang, a cinematographer with over a decade of experience, was deeply aﬀected. Originally from China, Zhang is based in Tech Square’s TSRB and is pursuing her PhD in the Georgia Tech Digital Media department. She is also a lecturer at the Beijing Film Academy. For her, Camerimage has always been a place of duality—both a celebration of her craft and a space where she has experienced subtle exclusion pressures.

“Żydowicz’s statement crystallized those unspoken anxieties,” Zhang writes in her essay analyzing the controversy.

The statement and the festival’s broader gender disparities prompted a wave of protest. Cinematographers took to Instagram, using hashtags such as #CamerimageProtest and #IStandForFemaleCinematographers to voice their discontent.

One of the most potent images fueling the protest was a viral data visualization claiming that only 3.1% of Camerimage’s main competition nominees over the past 30 years were female. The visualization—a minimalist bar chart with starkly low numbers for female nominees—quickly became a rallying symbol, amassing over 20,000 views and signiﬁcant media coverage. Yet, as Zhang critically examines in her essay, the chart’s design and methodology raise serious concerns.

Drawing from visual data analysis frameworks, Zhang highlights how the visualization lacks transparency, omits key categories (such as debut ﬁlms and student competitions), and presents an oversimpliﬁed view of systemic gender bias.

Georgia Tech and TSRB professor Yanni Loukissas’s perspective on data analysis underscores this critique: "Datasets are neither neutral nor universal but are deeply tied to the contexts in which they are created and used. Their meaning and utility are inherently tied to these local contexts, making it essential to understand how and why they were created."

Zhang’s data collection efforts, which incorporated a broader range of competition categories, found that female representation at Camerimage was 6.1%—still low but significantly higher than the 3.1% figure circulating online.

Her research also revealed another key factor: the average career trajectory of cinematographers. On average, it takes nearly 27 years for a cinematographer to advance from starting their career to being selected for Camerimage’s main competition. This insight reframes the representation issue, suggesting that while gender disparity remains a serious concern, progress in newer competitions like the Cinematography Debut category (where female representation is higher) may pave the way for a more balanced participation in the future.

Despite these complexities, media coverage reduced the controversy to a binary conﬂict between Żydowicz and the protesting cinematographers. Headlines from major outlets like Deadline and Variety framed the festival as emblematic of the systemic exclusion of women, with Żydowicz cast as the primary antagonist.

Zhang critiques this oversimplification: “This leads me to reflect on how inaccurate data visualization could wield such influence in this protest. How did it spark such intense emotions, convincing many that targeting a single individual—or even a single festival—could rectify systemic biases that female cinematographers have faced for over seven decades? What fueled this surge of collective energy in the conflict? More importantly, does this approach truly pave the way for meaningful and lasting change?”

Beyond data, Zhang examines the role of social media in shaping activism. With its visual and immediate format, Instagram proved an eﬀective mobilization platform, but it also fostered performative activism—or slacktivism. As engagement metrics like likes and shares became the primary indicators of success, the movement risked prioritizing visibility over substantive change.

One of Zhang’s most striking observations highlights the silence of the most influential industry figures—the production studios and decision-makers who control hiring opportunities. “One clear example of this disconnect is the silence of the most powerful stakeholders in this conflict—the production studios and industry leaders who control the job opportunities for female cinematographers. These key decision-makers could enact lasting change, yet they remain largely absent from the conversation.”

Ultimately, Zhang’s essay challenges Camerimage and its critics to consider more profound structural changes beyond viral outrage. Her ﬁndings emphasize the need for more comprehensive data, greater transparency in representation statistics, and industry-wide eﬀorts to support emerging female cinematographers beyond festival selection numbers.

Her final reflection encapsulates the complexity of the issue: “The more we celebrate the success of the protest on Instagram, the more likely we are to overlook the real challenges that persist in the offline world. Social media activism can create the illusion of progress but often masks the deeper systemic issues that need to be addressed beyond the digital sphere.”

As Tech Square continues to foster interdisciplinary research and digital media innovation, Zhang’s work is a vital reminder of the power and limitations of data-driven advocacy in the digital age.

Editor’s Note: Cecile Zhang’s essay “The 3.1% Controversy” is part of a larger development project and is not yet publicly available.

image:

Cecile

Zhang

Professor Yanni Loukissas Is Helping Us See Data Differently

Written by Neema Tavakolian

to help everyday people use data about the places they live in more eﬀectively to better understand their environment and potentially become better stewards of those places.

Loukissas often emphasizes the importance of using data in context. He urges a shift in mindset “from data set to data setting”, focusing not only on what the data says but where and why it was collected, as well as how it might be repurposed. Data, he argues, never exist in a vacuum; they come from real places, real communities, and real experiences. By recognizing these “invisible entanglements” between data and setting, people can approach information more critically and creatively. He wrote about this approach at length in All Data Are Local: Thinking Critically in a Data-Driven Society.

The Glass Pigeon Project: Seeing the World Through Bird Data

One vivid example is the Glass Pigeon Project (oﬃcially called Pigeon Glass), an augmented-reality (AR) app that lets people see campus through a bird’s eyes by layering bird color data onto live video. Developed in collaboration with Georgia Tech Professor and biologist Emily Weigel, as well as undergraduate students Michael Zhou and Shruti Vedula, Pigeon Glass utilizes eBird, a database of bird sightings (including local species such as pigeons and cardinals), to demonstrate how birds perceive color in their environment. Point the tablet’s camera at campus EcoCommons and you’ll see patches of color highlighted—a visualization of how a pigeon or hawk might ﬁnd shelter or a mate amidst the greenery and concrete.

instance, an area of trees tinted in AR might illustrate where a cardinal could once hide from predators, now thinned out by construction. In this way, data becomes a story about our shared environment. Projects like Pigeon Glass turn data into both a lens and a tool. It becomes a way to look at the world diﬀerently and a means to act on what we learn.

Media Bridge: Making Microplastics Visible

Another of Loukissas’s initiatives sheds light on an invisible pollution problem through public art and data. “Plasmatic Mirror,” a project developed for the Georgia Tech Library Media Bridge, focused on microplastics, the tiny plastic particles that inﬁltrate our waterways but are nearly impossible to see. This project, developed in collaboration with Dr. Emily Weigel, PhD student Ploypilin Pruekcharoen, and undergraduate Miles Appleton, was displayed on a large, high-resolution screen mounted on a pedestrian bridge. Loukissas and his students wondered how Atlanta residents connect to their water supply. How could they visualize something like microplastic pollution, especially when hard data on local water quality is scarce?

The team’s solution was to turn data into an interactive experience. Passersby walking under the Media Bridge found themselves showered in words. Snippets of news text about microplastics broke apart and “stuck” to each passerby’s silhouette. Even the deﬁnition of microplastic appeared on the screen, making the pollution literally stick to people. It was a creative way to get non-experts to see themselves in a data story. By

As the students presented their ﬂood maps, showing where a two-foot-high tide would reach a grandparent’s house, their demonstration made a strong impression on city leaders. By giving teens the tools to visualize their future and voice their concerns, his team helped a new generation see data as something they can own and utilize, rather than just something that happens to them.

research project led by Georgia Tech Professor and Sociologist Allen Hyde to help youth in coastal Georgia use flood data to advocate for their communities. In places like Savannah, GA (where rising seas and storms are a growing concern), his team, including PhD students Mohsin Yousufi and Michelle Reckner, set up workshops to teach teens how to map potential inundations in their neighborhoods. Using models of sea-level rise created by Georgia Tech climate scientists, the students visualized what a few feet of water would mean for their community. They also layered their personal knowledge onto these maps—noting where high tide already creeps onto a street and which evacuation routes their families trust—effectively “putting their lived experiences on the map”.

Data as a Lens and a Tool

Across all these projects, the approach is the same: making data local, tangible, and empowering. Loukissas treats data not as an abstract trove for experts but as a medium for everyday learning and action. Whether through an AR app, an art installation, or a community mapping tool, he ﬁnds creative ways to ask what that information means for people today. It’s a perspective that resonates widely because it bridges technical information with human experience.

He hopes that by engaging with data that is close to home, people will become more attuned to local issues and more conﬁdent in addressing them. As he says, “Data gives entry to so many subjects, which is what I love about it.” In the hands of the communities and their members, data can become a meaningful part of the stories people tell about themselves and the places they live.

Fashioning a Sustainable Future from Fungi

Written by Neema Tavakolian

“It’s the smell of the future,” says Mya Love Griesbaum, reﬂecting on her work with fungi. The 21-year-old materials researcher has come to appreciate the earthy odor of decomposing matter, a scent that symbolizes possibility: a future where fungi clean up pollution and transform the fashion industry. As the founder of Mycorrhiza Fashion, she is developing a sustainable approach to textiles by cultivating fungi-derived materials that can help address the pollution problem in the fashion industry. Her research journey from a high school science project to a fungi-made dress on the runway is a story where science and creative design come together.

Early Inspiration: Fungi That Feast on Pollution

Griesbaum’s fascination with fungi took root in an unlikely place: an oil spill cleanup report. She learned that crews often rely on absorbent plastic pads to soak up oil—essentially “cleaning up pollutants with a diﬀerent pollutant,” as she notes in disbelief. That irony spurred her search for better solutions. She learned about mycoremediation—using fungi to remove environmental contaminants—and was instantly captivated by the idea that mycelium (the part of the fungi system responsible for releasing enzymes that degrade pollutants) could be nature’s cleanup crew.

As a high school sophomore at the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy, Griesbaum conducted a semester-long research project, studying several species of white rot fungi, a group of fungal species known for their voracious appetite for toxic chemicals. Fungi are nature’s decomposers; their thread-like mycelia release enzymes that break down tough molecules in pollutants and essentially “digest” the material they grow on. Griesbaum investigated how these fungi could neutralize water contaminants, laying the groundwork for her future mission. It amazed her that some fungi can even enzymatically degrade petrochemical-derived plastics, breaking them down into simpler compounds that can serve as a carbon source for growth. In simpler terms, the fungi, given the right conditions, can literally “eat” the plastic. That revelation planted a seed: What if the power of fungi could be harnessed to address the waste in another toxic industry she cared about –fashion?

Image: Brian the Photographer and Jason Earl

Image: Elizabeth Kelly

Blending Fashion Passion with Biomaterials

Beyond the lab, Griesbaum became inspired by fashion and textiles through her sisters during high school. She was alarmed to learn that the fashion and textiles industries are among the world’s top polluters. Fast fashion churns out trends at the cost of nearly 10% of global carbon emissions and mountains of waste, with roughly one-third of garments never even sold. As she puts it, the clothing we love can come with a heavy environmental price tag, from chemical dyes polluting rivers to synthetic ﬁbers contributing to microplastic pollution. Griesbaum felt a growing conviction that her fungi research could help change that.

Arriving at Georgia Tech in 2022 to study Materials Science and Engineering, Griesbaum set out to merge her two passions. “I wanted to continue down the path of bio- and myco-remediation, but apply it to something tangible like fashion,” she says. Early in her freshman year, she sketched out an experimental plan and emailed professors across multiple departments, seeking a mentor adventurous enough to support her research on fungi-based textiles. Before long, she teamed up with like-minded classmates and entered Georgia Tech’s Idea to Prototype (I2P) program, a hands-on incubator for student inventors.

For her first I2P project, Griesbaum’s team attempted to grow a leather-like material from mycelium, the fibrous root network of fungi, as a sustainable alternative to animal leather. By December 2022, their prototype “fungi fashion” won second place at the I2P showcase for its inventive approach. Encouraged, Griesbaum pushed further. The following semester, she tackled the problem of textile waste by seeing if fungi could “eat” polyester, the plastic-based fabric found in so many fast-fashion garments. She fed patches of polyester-blend cloth to hungry fungal cultures, first providing them with a dextrose “appetizer” to kick-start their metabolism. The experiment showed promise as the fungi began breaking down the synthetic fibers. It earned Griesbaum first place in the Spring 2023 I2P competition. This victory secured her a spot in Tech Square’s prestigious CREATE-X Startup Launch accelerator, turning her classroom project into a budding startup.

Moving into the Startup Launch program in Summer 2023, Griesbaum shifted from a purely research-based approach to an entrepreneurial mode. CREATE-X provided seed funding and mentorship in the heart of Tech Square, Atlanta’s innovation hub, adjacent to Georgia Tech. Griesbaum conducted exhaustive customer discovery, interviewing everyone from strangers on the street to textile industry veterans, to ﬁgure out how fungal biomaterials might ﬁt into the real world of fashion. Through these conversations, she realized the bigger opportunity was business-to-business: partnering with apparel manufacturers or designers who could integrate sustainable materials at scale, rather than trying to sell mushroom leather belts, wallets, or shoes directly to consumers.

Every year, Startup Launch culminates in its Demo Day towards the beginning of the fall semester. That fall, Griesbaum met a graduate student at Demo Day who stopped by her booth and explained that many industrial design students were looking for sustainable materials to work with. That graduate student, Rob Stout, ended up introducing Griesbaum to Professor Yaling Liu, an expert in “soft goods” (textiles and fabrics) at Georgia Tech. Liu introduced Griesbaum’s materials to her class, and she even sold some of her early mycelium material prototypes to Liu’s graduate design students for testing. By her second year of college, Griesbaum was assembling an interdisciplinary team around Mycorrhiza Fashion. “Interdisciplinary collaboration is where progress is made,” she says, echoing a core belief that complex problems demand diverse expertise. She welcomed volunteers from various ﬁelds, including industrial design, chemical engineering, microbiology, and anyone motivated by the vision of fungus-derived fashion.

Going Global: Atlanta, Spain, Singapore

Georgia Tech’s support went beyond entrepreneurship programs. Griesbaum secured a President’s Undergraduate Research Award (PURA) grant, which funded her lab work on myco-textiles as a student researcher. She also took her ambition overseas: a study-abroad term in Spain introduced Griesbaum to Jessica Dias, a Barcelona-based designer working with biomaterials. Dias, co-founder of the BioBabes collective, gave Griesbaum a fresh perspective on aesthetics and wearable design for mycelium-based fabrics. “Jessica oﬀered valuable insight into an architect’s perspective,” Griesbaum notes, balancing her science training with creative ﬂair. This exchange reinforced her mantra that true innovation happens at the intersection of disciplines and cultures.

With a growing team and prototype in hand, Griesbaum next entered SUSTAIN-X, Georgia Tech’s sustainability entrepreneurship initiative, in early 2024. Competing against startups tackling everything from upcycled oyster shells to solar-powered drones, she made the case that fashion, the third-largest polluting industry, could be transformed for the better. The judges were impressed. Griesbaum, still only a sophomore, took home ﬁrst prize at the SUSTAIN-X Pitch Competition in spring 2024 for Mycorrhiza Fashion’s fungi-derived textile concept. The win came with $2,500 and a coveted spot in the next CREATE-X accelerator cohort, validating her venture’s potential.

That summer, an even bigger opportunity beckoned half a world away. Griesbaum applied and was accepted into the Global Education and Mobility (GEM) Trailblazer Exchange Programme, leading her to Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore. NTU is globally ranked for materials science and sustainability innovation. As part of an international cohort of young innovators, Griesbaum pitched Mycorrhiza Fashion at a local competition and won the top prize: 10,000 SGD in funding and a two-year mentorship program through NTU. Located at the heart of global textile manufacturing, Singapore’s proximity to Southeast Asia’s environmental challenges provided Griesbaum with ﬁrsthand exposure to the industry’s supply chain issues. It also expanded her team:

dress’s unique texture and earthy aesthetic prompted both curiosity and praise from the audience. For Griesbaum, seeing a model walk the runway in a material she had grown from fungi was a triumphant moment and proof that science and couture could intertwine. It was also a full-circle milestone linking back to Tech Square: many of the connections and mentors that helped her reach the runway were nurtured through the Georgia Tech and Atlanta innovation community.

standards of everyday wear. That means iterating on formula tions, strengthening the mycelium-based leather so it’s not just eco-friendly but also long-lasting and supple. Meeting grant milestones from the NTU partnership is another priority, as the team works to optimize the scaling up of production of their biomaterial. They are also forging new collaborations with designers and textile recyclers in Singapore, aiming to pilot the integration of mycelium textiles into real products.

True to her interdisciplinary ethos, Griesbaum’s team is now expanding its tool kit beyond fungi. One new research direction involves bacteria that can help break down polyester, one of the most common plastics in clothing. By combining fungal and bacterial remediation strategies, Mycorrhiza Fashion aims to tackle the issue of polyester pollution from multiple angles, potentially even transforming old polyester garments into nutrients for cultivating new biomaterials. It’s a vision of circularity, emblematic of what Griesbaum calls a “coevolution of people and technology,” meaning that human progress will come from working in tandem with our innovations and relationship with nature – and in her case, with living organisms themselves.

Griesbaum draws inspiration from pioneers like Neri Oxman, the MIT professor who pioneered “material ecology” by blending biology, technology, and design. This sparked an entire mindset shift in engineering and design. Inspired by Oxman, Griesbaum’s work blurs the lines between lab scientist, engineer, and fashion designer. Her startup’s name, Mycorrhiza, evokes the symbiotic partnership between fungi and plant roots, a ﬁtting metaphor for the collaborative network that has helped her venture grow.

Image: Brian the Photographer and Jason Earl

How Georgia Tech Is Stepping Up Its Startup Game: A Chat with the Chief Commercialization

Written by Neema Tavakolian

Imagine an Atlanta where there’s a pathway for every breakthrough in a Georgia Tech lab to launch into a startup and scale to a billion-dollar “unicorn”. This isn’t a distant fantasy—it’s the vision that Dr. Raghupathy “Siva” Sivakumar, Georgia Tech’s chief commercialization officer, is championing. In recent years, Georgia Tech has quietly built a commercialization engine that’s already produced over $3 billion in startup valuation and thousands of jobs for Atlanta and Georgia. Now, armed with a six-pillar strategy and an ecosystem of innovation programs, Sivakumar aims to amplify that impact, helping to make Atlanta one of America’s top five tech hubs. The goal? Launch 1,000 startups per year and mint at least one unicorn annually. This bold bet would redefine Atlanta’s economic future.

In his role as the Chief Commercialization Oﬃcer, Raghupathy “Siva” Sivakumar directs the Institute to advance research translation, technology licensing, and startup creation.

A Mission to Transform Atlanta’s Tech Economy

Georgia Tech’s startup surge is not happening in a vacuum. It aligns with the city’s broader aspiration to become a top-tier tech hub, rivaling the likes of Boston, Austin, and Silicon Valley. Atlanta’s mayor and civic leaders have set ambitious targets, and Georgia Tech is stepping up as a catalyst. Why now? Consider two converging trends Sivakumar highlights: recent college graduate unemployment is at a historic high, while the cost of starting a company has never been lower. “The timing has never been better for universities to step up and say, ‘hey, we are all about entrepreneurship,’” he said. “With over 250,000 students in the Atlanta region, empowering even a fraction of them to become entrepreneurs could generate a tidal wave of innovation jobs.” Georgia Tech’s mission is clear: to infuse entrepreneurial conﬁdence in its students and faculty, driving a startup boom that lifts the

Image: Georgia Tech

Six Pillars of a Startup Powerhouse

How will Georgia Tech get from roughly 120 startups a year today to 1,000? Sivakumar’s roadmap centers on six strategic pillars:

1. Cultivating an Entrepreneurial Culture

A school like Stanford beneﬁts from a legacy startup mindset; Georgia Tech must create one. Programs like CREATE-X immerse students and researchers in entrepreneurship, growing from eight teams in year one to 140 this summer. These ventures have generated billions of dollars in value and created jobs. Sivakumar stresses that culture change requires volume—hundreds of “at-bats” so success stories inspire the next wave.

2. Bridging the Research-to-Market Gap

With 1,000+ faculty and 2,000 labs, Georgia Tech produces inventions daily. Many face the “valley of death” before they’re market-ready. Internal seed funds and prototype grants raise technology readiness levels, ensuring promising ideas reach investors or customers instead of stalling in the lab.

3. Startup-Friendly IP Policies

University intellectual property (IP) processes are often slow and discouraging. Georgia Tech revamped its approach. Licenses for Institute-owned IP can now be secured in a week, down from months. Students own the IP they develop independently, and faculty face fewer barriers to spinning out companies, signaling Tech’s role as a partner, not a gatekeeper.

4. Frictionless Pathways to Startups

Image: StepUp

Tech is widening the on-ramps to entrepreneurship. Graduate students or outside entrepreneurs can lead faculty inventions if the inventor isn’t ready to launch. Quadrant-i, the faculty coun terpart to CREATE-X, pairs research with Entrepre neurs-in-Residence who serve as interim CEOs. The goal: no viable idea left unexplored.

5. Scaling Up After Launch

Survival after launch is critical. Georgia Tech is building a stronger scale-up environment to help young ventures move from ﬁrst prototype to their ﬁrst customers. Beyond early programs like CREATE-X and Quadrant-i, founders can tap into resources such as VentureLab’s NSF I-Corps training, ATDC, and Engage, which provide mentorship, curriculum, and indus try connections. External partners like Atlanta Tech Village and Christopher Klaus’s Fusen World add even more pathways for growth. Together, these supports create a cradle-to-scale pipeline designed to help startups grow into sustainable, investment-ready companies.

6. Leading a New Era of Academic Impact

Most university research creates knowledge that shapes society, but only a small portion makes the leap into companies, products, or direct economic impact. Georgia Tech aims to close that gap by treating innovation and entrepreneurship as core parts of its mission, on equal footing with teaching and discovery. Faculty can now earn tenure credit for entrepreneurship, and students receive academic credit for startup projects. By documenting and sharing its playbook, Tech hopes to inspire a new generation of “startup campuses” nationwide.

Firing on All Cylinders

These pillars come to life through a network of interlocking programs on campus and beyond. At the ground level, CREATE-X demystifies entrepreneurship for students by integrating it into coursework and providing a pipeline from idea to prototype to launch. Its sister program, Quadrant-i, does the same for faculty and researchers, complete with a cadre of Entrepreneurs-in-Residence to guide deep-tech ventures. Overseeing intellectual property is Georgia Tech’s Office of Technology Licensing, which rapidly protects and licenses inventions, ensuring innovators can move quickly from patent to product. VentureLab, meanwhile, serves as the Institute’s entrepreneurial R&D arm, developing startup curricula and spearheading significant initiatives and training. Fueling it all is the Georgia Tech Foundation Startup Investment Fund, a growing venture fund (currently about $22 million) reserved exclusively for seeding Georgia Tech-affiliated startups. Together, these entities form a cohesive support system, from the first spark of an idea in a lab or classroom to later-stage funding rounds. A Georgia Tech entrepreneur can find guidance and resources every step of the way.

In just four years since the Office of Commercialization was established, key metrics have climbed by double digits annually. Last year alone saw about 120 startups launched by students and faculty, and over 450 new inventions disclosed. Sivakumar’s team knows, however, that hitting their “1000 startups a year” moonshot means continuously retooling and fine-tuning the engine. “It’s not just about volume for volume’s sake; it’s about reaching a critical mass where entrepreneurship becomes woven into the fabric of campus life and the city’s identity,” Sivakumar says. “ When one in ten Georgia Tech people is founding a company each year, the effects will radiate outward. Venture capital will take notice, students will flock to Atlanta for opportunities, and corporations will deepen their local R&D roots.” Georgia Tech’s vision is to provide precisely that catalyst by unleashing its innovation output at an unprecedented scale.

It’s rare for a research university to take such an active stake in a city’s and state’s economic destiny, but Georgia Tech is uniquely intertwined with Atlanta’s and Georgia’s fortunes. “Universities cannot aﬀord to outsource impact and innovation,” Sivakumar argues. By treating startup creation as a core mission, Georgia Tech is not only reinventing itself—it’s helping reinvent Atlanta as “Startup City, USA.” Out-of-state investors and founders would do well to take note: as Tech realizes its aims, the next great tech hub will not be in the Bay Area or the Northeast, but the South.

Image: Georgia Tech

RESEARCH

Spark Innovation Center at Tech Square

With Georgia Tech as one of Tech Square's anchors, groundbreaking research and innovation are woven into the fabric of everyday life. This year, as AI reshaped industries across the globe, Tech Square emerged as a serious force in AI research and innovation. From human-computer interaction and robotics to digital media, sensing, and hardware, meaningful strides were made across the board—and at the crossroads of disciplines. That spirit of interdisciplinary collaboration is what makes the work here so distinct. In this section, we highlight the ideas, partnerships, and breakthroughs driving progress at Tech Square and beyond.

Data Driven Enrichment for Georgia Aquarium’s Sea Otters

Written by Neema Tavakolian

Enrichment is a crucial component of animal care in zoos and aquariums, designed to stimulate natural behaviors and improve welfare. Many facilities rely on off-the-shelf dog toys to provide enrichment as they are affordable, durable, and readily available. However, these generic toys are not tailored to the specific needs of different species, limiting their effectiveness. More specialized tools, designed with species-specific behaviors and ecological roles in mind, have the potential to offer greater cognitive engagement and behavioral benefits.

Charles Ramey, a Georgia Tech PhD student in the School of Interactive Computing, studies computer science and intelligent systems at TSRB. His research focuses on animal-computer interaction, leveraging experience in machine learning, rapid prototyping, low-power embedded systems, and robotics. In collaboration with Georgia Aquarium’s trainers, staff, and researchers, Ramey develops instrumented enrichment objects—toys embedded with sensors—to better understand how animals interact with enrichment over time. Rather than focusing solely on designing species-specific devices, the project emphasizes using these technologies to quantify engagement, determine when animals may benefit from novel enrichment, and detect behavioral changes that could indicate shifts in health or well-being.

His recent pilot study, Shelling Out the Fun: Quantifying Otter Interactions with Instrumented Enrichment Objects, published in December 2024, utilizes sensors embedded in enrichment objects to characterize how sea otters interact with food-dispensing toys and determine whether researchers can successfully collect quantified interaction data using enrichment devices. The study involved the five sea otters (Enhydra lutris) at the Georgia Aquarium, testing two instrumented enrichment objects: a KONG ® Genius Leo dog toy, which the sea otters already use as an enrichment device, and a novel, scallop-shaped device. The motion sensors within these devices measured otter engagement with the toys based on the time and effort required for each otter to extract the food rewards within the toys. Results showed that, on average, the otters took longer to get less food from the novel object, which may be due to a learning curve. During the study, data were collected from both embedded sensors and video cameras to track interaction times. The researchers weighed the food in each toy before and after each otter interaction session.

Image: Georgia Aquarium

Anecdotally, the team noted diﬀerences in how the otters interact with the toys through the video footage.

“One otter, Bixby, did not interact with the scallop at all,” says Ramey. “Each interaction session was conducted in an isolated pool to prevent any of the otters from learning from the others. They all did variations of shaking and banging each object against the walls and ﬂoor. Also, each otter was only given each object once during the pilot study, so we don’t have any observations over time yet,” he concludes.

The pilot study’s approach to collecting quantiﬁed data proved feasible, demonstrating that innovative enrichment tools can capture detailed behavioral data in real-world settings. While the primary focus was on validating the data collection method, the study also observed a coincidental correlation between the novelty of the device and the time it took otters to extract food, suggesting potential avenues for future exploration.

Ramey’s work aligns with animal-computer interaction studies that use wearable electronics to assess health and behavior. His study emphasizes the use of durable, safe, and cost-eﬀective species-speciﬁc enrichment tools. The research also highlights the limitations of repurposed dog toys and advocates for the development of purpose-built alternatives using sustainable methods and materials.

This research sets a precedent for developing data-driven enrichment strategies across zoos and aquariums. The Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) establishes enrichment standards, and Ramey’s findings may hopefully contribute to enhancing these guidelines. By quantifying the effectiveness of enrichment, researchers can potentially improve the welfare and cognitive engagement of captive animals. The study also opens possibilities for automated tracking and adaptive enrichment systems, refining how facilities monitor and optimize animal well-being.

Future studies will build on this pilot, reﬁning device design and tracking behavioral trends over extended periods. This approach provides scalable solutions for animal enrichment, thereby enhancing the quality of life in managed care environments.

The two instrumented enrichment objects after the pilot study was completed. A) The Kong® Genius Leo toy with electronics added. B) The novel scallop enrichment object.

The Lab Building the Antennas of Tomorrow

Written by Neema Tavakolian

Dr. Ghalichechian's journey began in Iran, where he earned his bachelor's degree from Amirkabir University of Technology. His academic pursuits led him to the University of Maryland-College Park, where he obtained his M.S. and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, focusing on electrostatic micromotors. His professional path included a stint in the industry at FormFactor, Inc., as well as academic roles at Ohio State University. In 2021, he brought his expertise to Georgia Tech, founding the mmWave Antennas & Arrays Lab within the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE).

Decoding the Millimeter-Wave Spectrum

The lab primarily focuses on millimeter-wave (mmWave) frequencies, ranging from 30 to 300 GHz. These high-frequency bands are critical to next-generation wireless networks like 5G and the forthcoming 6G systems, which are poised to enable ultra-fast data speeds, low-latency communication, and new applications such as augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and mobile holograms.

Ph.D. student Seung Yoon “Sonny” Lee points to this growing demand:

“The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) predicts global mobile video traﬃc will account for more than 75% of total mobile traﬃc by 2030,” Lee notes. “On-chip antenna research is just beginning. We will do our best to respond to future demands for high wireless communication volumes, including integrating new materials currently being developed in our laboratory for multifunctional on-chip applications.”

Phased Arrays: Electronically steerable antenna systems that can direct beams without moving parts.

• Reﬂectarrays and Transmitarrays: Hybrid structures combining features of traditional antennas and lenses

• On-Chip Antennas: Miniaturized antennas integrated directly onto semiconductor chips, crucial for compact devices.

• Reconﬁgurable Antennas: Antennas capable of altering their frequency, radiation pattern, or polarization dynamically.

Ph.D. student William Pavlick is helping drive innovation in reconﬁgurable antennas, collaborating with researchers at Stanford University to design mechanically reconﬁgurable electromagnetic metasurfaces.

“Working with Dr. Ghalichechian and my colleagues has provided me with an environment for success,” says Pavlick. “We work collaboratively to ﬁnd robust solutions to the problems we solve. I look forward to continuing my research and helping to innovate solutions to next-generation communication problems.”

Pavlick explains that mechanical reconfiguration offers a unique advantage by enabling global device reconfiguration with simple actuation methods—an essential property for future adaptable communication systems.

Innovations in Materials and Measurement

Beyond design, the lab also explores advanced materials, such as phase-change materials like vanadium dioxide (VO₂), which can dramatically change their electrical properties when exposed to external stimuli like heat or electric fields. These materials open the door to tunable RF switches, filters, and dynamic antenna systems that can adapt to different operating conditions in real-time.

Precision is key in validating these systems. The lab uses robotic measurement platforms to thoroughly characterize antennas' electromagnetic performance, ensuring designs work as intended when deployed in complex, real-world environments.

A Culture of Collaboration

The mmWave Antennas & Arrays Lab thrives not just on in-house innovation but through collaboration across Georgia Tech and beyond. Dr. Ghalichechian’s partnerships span disciplines and institutions, working with:

• Prof. Farrokh Ayazi (ECE) on RF energy harvesting

• Prof. John Cressler (ECE) on VO₂ switches and radiation eﬀects

• Prof. Jane Gu (ECE) on mmWave antenna arrays

• Prof. Vanessa Smeth (ME) on device packaging

• Prof. W. Hong Yeo (ME) on wireless biomedical devices

• External institutions such as Stanford University and Baylor University's SMARTHub.

This interconnected approach allows the lab to tackle challenges at the crossroads of electromagnetics, materials science, mechanical engineering, and biomedical innovation.

A Vision for the Future

The mmWave Antennas & Arrays Lab combines theoretical research with practical application to reshape global communication infrastructure. By pushing the boundaries of what is possible in wireless communication, Dr. Ghalichechian and his team are laying the groundwork for a future where connectivity is faster, more dependable, and seamlessly integrated into our daily lives.

Image: StepUp

Exploring Interactive Tech for Affordable and Inclusive Music Education

Written by Chloe Huggins

What if music education got a makeover? Focusing less on rigid rules and traditional notations, and more on visual expression and personal interpretation of sounds.

Through Georgia Tech’s Institute of People and Technology (IPaT), Ph.D. student researcher Moeiini Reilly and composer Nicole Brancato are reimagining the future of music education. Their goal is to make music education more aﬀordable and equitable by using low-cost, interactive technology.

At the Ka Moamoa Lab inside the Tech Square Research Building (TSRB), Reilly and Brancato are rethinking traditional K-12 Music Education. The two are developing low-cost interactive tools that empower students to interpret and compose music freely. They use touch-based musical instruments, digital interface (MIDI) devices, and graphic notation (i.e., drawing, scribbling, writing, etc.) to give people of all backgrounds access to music education and creation.

“Growing up in a Samoan-Hawaiian household meant music was an integral part of life. From church to the jams at family gatherings, it always felt like music was uniquely embedded into our way of life. I wanted to ﬁnd a way to represent that in STEAM education,” Reilly says.

The researchers’ workshop combines art and tangible comput ing technology to create culturally relevant, low-cost STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics) learning environ ments. The study titled "Expressing Sound Visually: Lessons from a Workshop on Graphic Notation and Iterative Musical Interpretation" combines technology with visual and sonic expressions to give learners a sense of authorship and identity during the workshop.

Traditional music education often excludes students from low-income and underrepresented communities because instruments and private lessons are expensive. Typical music lessons may also focus on teaching Western-standard music notation.

“We wanted to explore a low-cost solution that reorients the idea of musical instrumentation and instruction,” Reilly explains. Conventional music curriculum often stiﬂes personal expression, especially for those without formal training. This research seeks to ﬁll those gaps and deliver innovative, inclusive solutions.

“I’ve long been drawn to the idea that everyone has the capacity to create,” Brancato says. Within their research, Reilly and Brancato encourage their pupils of all ages and backgrounds to express themselves artistically.

Obstacles Within Traditional Music Education:

touch-sensitive MIDI controller that turns inanimate objects such as bananas, aluminum foil, or even water into musical instruments. Participants use graphic notation to “draw” music using shapes, colors, and lines instead of traditional notes. Researchers provide prompts, such as “What does the color blue sound like?” or “What sound would your childhood toy make?” Such tools encourage musical creativity, collaboration, and interpretation over technical expertise.

During a 90–120-minute session, participants explore the Playtron and learn about graphic notation. They complete tasks that involve listening to and notating musical excerpts, then expressing their interpretations both visually and verbally.

Participants then revisit the same excerpt and create revised or entirely new graphic notations, reﬂecting any changes in their interpretation. Then they explain their thought process for both rounds and share their insights with their peers.

“I was taken by how powerfully people responded to our workshops: Even participants with no musical background expressed themselves in deeply nuanced ways, especially through graphic notation,” Brancato says.

In the study’s final phase, participants form peer groups and collaborate to create a single graphic score on a large canvas, either as a collective interpretation or as a totally new composition inspired by the original excerpt. Each group presents its final score, discussing their creative decisions and the reasoning behind them. Afterward, participants complete a reflective survey with open-ended questions about their creative identity and perceptions of authenticity.

“One of my favorite findings in our pre-surveys of workshop participants was that every single person, whether they had musical backgrounds or not, identified as being playful. They may not have identified as being artists, or having strong inner voices, or even being confident in sharing their ideas, but they knew at their core that they were playful. I think that is also what inspires me to pursue research that bridges community and identity,” Reilly notes. The

The study’s results reveal diverse outcomes. Non-musicians and engineers initially defaulted to straight lines in their drafts. Over time, however, nearly all participants began creating more expressive, metaphor-rich representations. Trained musicians struggled initially to let go of traditional music notation, such as staﬀ, notes, time signatures, and clefs, but ultimately found the process liberating.

Across the board, participants reported feeling validated in their unique interpretations of the same melody. The activities’ visual and tactile nature helped bridge gaps in skill level and experience.

Brancato and Reilly’s research is not only about music composition—it is also about access. By centering creative equity and agency, their project supports music education for K–12 students of all ﬁnancial backgrounds. Core philosophy also holds potential for teaching broader creative and interpretive skills. Most importantly, it oﬀers a replicable model for integrating low-cost, interdisciplinary technology into informal K–12 learning environments.

Reilly and Brancato’s future plans for this project include expanding the program into classrooms, reaching wider demographics, and developing a long-term curriculum that would teach children this new style of music education over the course of a school year. The researchers’ efforts may inspire other future research in Artificial Intelligence-assisted notation or culturally specific approaches to music-making. By turning every learner into a composer, coder, and creative, this technology helps close opportunity gaps in underfunded educational spaces.

Research Showcases Unmanned, Solar-Powered UAVs

Written by Isabella Fonseca

and high costs, shorten ﬂight durations, incur signiﬁcant downtime due to recharging and (often expensive) battery replacement and maintenance. Additionally, the lithium mining required to produce batteries releases fossil fuels and CO2 into the atmosphere. Extracting lithium also uses a vast amount of water—contributing to water insecurity, often in water-poor regions such as Chile and Argentina.

aircraft stores harvested energy in capacitors, which store and release electrical energy by distributing charges onto plates. According to the article, unlike batteries, the capacitors are "lightweight, can endure millions of charging cycles, and intelligently regulate the energy for all operations." Thus, the switch from batteries to solar energy stored in capacitors can potentially increase the widespread use of UAVs.

Image:

Goel said that while he and Hester had individual interests in battery-free computing, the idea for the UAVs was born out of collaboration. "I'm a robotics person, and I always loved creating… So I was talking with [Hester] and just brainstorming ideas for what my research could potentially be. And we were joking like, 'Oh, it would be fun if we could combine computing with [robotics]," said Goel. Although it began jokingly, when the pair teamed up with collaborators at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, the idea started to solidify into something tangible. They published their ﬁrst article on battery-free UAVs in 2023 and continue to evolve the idea, with their most recent publication being the February article.

However, the process wasn't without obstacles. Many of these obstacles stemmed from the lack of prior knowledge about batteryless UAVs and the large amount of space required for the design. Furthermore, the removal of batteries presented challenges that do not exist for traditional ﬂight controllers, one being the aircraft's energy awareness. "The big issue with battery-free robotics, or anything battery-free, is you have to be very aware of the energy in your system—not just how much energy is in your system right now, but also how much energy you are harvesting," explained Goel. With traditional ﬂight controllers, energy is expended whenever necessary; however, with solar power, the amount of energy available for use depends on external factors, like weather, time of year, and the angle and direction of the craft.

Goel developed an algorithm to enhance the device's energy awareness to address this issue. It began by logging the amount of energy in the aircraft's system and capacitors. "We use that data to predict if our energy and system are going up or down. And based on that, we can predict if we can be more aggressive with how we're using our energy or [if] we have to be more conservative because we're going to run out," explained Goel.

Along with managing energy awareness, the team also focused on designing a lightweight UAV that could sustain long ﬂights. Ironically, according to Goel, the earliest prototype had wings that were too light. "It could ﬂy, but with a sudden wind gust, it would become unstable and lead to crashing," said Goel. So, creating a system that was simultaneously lightweight and controllable was vital.

Finally, making UAVs more widespread also required making them environmentally conscious. For Goel, this means making sustainability a ﬁrst step: "If we don't think about sustainability from the start, it's going to lead to the system becoming more of a burden on the environment rather than helping it."

In upcoming research, the team aims to develop more intelligent methods for predicting how much energy they harvest. One idea presented by Goel is to "actually forecast, like a weather forecast, how much energy we'll be getting and use that information for more intelligent controls." The team also aims to add a collaborator specialized in aerodynamics, who can assist with the in-ﬂight stability of the UAV.

However, the primary goal remains to make UAVs more widespread by combating the limitations created by batteries. "As long as we can make a more robust and stable flight in good weather conditions, we can fly indefinitely while the sun is out. That's the dream," said Goel.

Ultimately, Hester and Goel’s ﬁndings display how switching from batteries to solar power not only makes for a more sustainable device but also expands the limitless uses for UAVs.

Reshaping the Future of Emotion AI

Written by Neema Tavakolian

Tech Square, Dr. Noura Howell and her team at the Future Feelings Lab are redeﬁning how we perceive emotions in the digital age. Howell, an Assistant Professor at Georgia Tech with a background in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and design research, leads a team that explores the complex relationship between technology, emotion, and society. “The Future Feelings Lab’s mission is to explore alternative ways of feeling and imagination with technology,” she explains. Her work challenges the status quo, asking critical questions about how technology can better understand and respond to human emotions without reducing them to mere data points.

A Space for Imagination and Critique

The Future Feelings Lab is more than just a research hub—it is a space where interdisciplinary collaboration thrives. Howell and her team are particularly interested in the ethical implications of emotional biosensing and Emotion AI—technologies that claim to detect, predict, and even inﬂuence human emotions based on data such as facial expressions, physiological signals, and behavioral patterns. However, Howell quickly points out that these technologies are far from neutral.

“Imagination influences the future directions of AI,” she says, “but right now, tech companies are promoting their imagined futures. Why are tech companies the ones to decide the future of AI?” This question lies at the heart of Howell’s work. She believes that the future of AI should not be shaped solely by a handful of tech giants. “Why should we let people like Elon Musk be the ones to decide the direction of AI?” she asks. Instead, Howell advocates for a more inclusive approach: “We need to invite more diverse people to imagine the future of technology.” This ethos is reflected in the lab’s commitment to reflective design. This methodology encourages critical reflection on the assumptions embedded in technology, thereby inviting broader participation in shaping its future.

Dr. Noura Howell earned her PhD from UC Berkeley's School of Information, where she was part of the BioSENSE lab. With a background in human-centered design and engineering, she has contributed to projects in Singapore, Morocco, and China, and has worked with leading institutions like MIT Media Lab, Intel Labs, Microsoft, and The Echo Nest.

Emotion AI

One of Howell’s most recent contributions to the field is her 2024 paper, "Reflective Design for Informal Participatory Algorithm Auditing: A Case Study with Emotion AI." This paper explores the ethical and practical challenges of Emotion AI, a rapidly evolving field that utilizes algorithms to predict human emotions based on facial expressions and other biometric data.

Image: Scott

Fillmer/Unsplash

In the study, Howell and her team designed a simple web-based tool that allowed participants to compare their self-reported emotions with predictions made by an Emotion AI system. The goal was to invite critical reflection on the accuracy and ethical implications of Emotion AI. Participants used the probe in their daily lives, logging their emotions and comparing them to the AI’s predictions. The findings revealed significant discrepancies between how people felt and how AI categorized their emotions, highlighting the limitations and potential harm of Emotion AI.

Key takeaways from the study include:

• Critiques of Emotion AI : Participants highlighted fundamental ﬂaws in Emotion AI, including the assumption that facial expressions directly correspond to internal emotions. As one participant noted, "People don’t really express emotions on their faces." If I feel happy, it doesn’t show." This critique aligns with Howell’s earlier work, such as her 2018 paper "Emotional Biosensing: Exploring Critical Alternatives," in which she argued that emotional biosensing technologies often oversimplify the complexity of human emotions.

• Factors Contributing to Inaccuracy : Participants identiﬁed several factors that led to inaccurate predictions, including lighting conditions, wearing glasses, and even makeup. These ﬁndings underscore the need for more robust and inclusive training data for Emotion AI systems.

• Patterns of Miscategorization : The study also revealed troubling patterns, such as the AI miscategorizing neutral or sad expressions as "disgust" or "suspicion." These errors underscore the technical limitations of Emotion AI and raise ethical concerns about how such systems could stigmatize or misrepresent individuals, particularly in high-stakes contexts such as hiring or security.

From Critique to Design: A Call for Ethical Emotion in AI

Howell’s research not only critiques existing technologies but also oﬀers a roadmap for more ethical and inclusive AI systems. In her 2024 paper, she calls for humility in AI design, urging developers to acknowledge the limitations of Emotion AI and prioritize user agency. For example, she suggests allowing users to challenge or reinterpret the AI’s predictions rather than treating them as deﬁnitive truths.

This approach builds on her earlier work, advocating for a shift away from individual-focused, optimization-driven emotional biosensing toward more care-centered and context-aware designs. “We need to design technologies that respect the complexity of human emotions and invite more diverse voices to the table,” Howell emphasizes.

The Future of Emotion AI: A Collaborative Eﬀort

Howell’s work is a call to action for researchers, designers, and policymakers to rethink how we approach Emotion AI. By integrating reﬂective design principles and participatory methods, her research opens new possibilities for creating technologies that respect the complexity and diversity of human emotions.

As Emotion AI continues to permeate various aspects of our lives—from workplace monitoring to mental health apps—Howell’s research serves as a reminder that technology should serve humanity, not the other way around. “The future of AI is too important to leave to a few powerful voices,” Howell says. “It’s time for all of us to imagine and build a better future together.”

COMPANIES

One of Tech Square's boldest ambitions is to serve as the launchpad for 1,000+ startups a year—and the ecosystem to make it happen is already here. With programs like Velocity and CREATE-X, alongside a dynamic mix of global companies, incubators, and investors, Atlanta is proving itself as a city built for what's next. Here, we highlight some of the many companies turning vision into reality and pushing the boundaries of what's possible.

Spark Innovation Center at Tech Square

Turning Down the Noise: CalmWave and Catalyst by Wellstar Aim to Cure ICU Alarm Fatigue

Written by Neema Tavakolian

Imagine you’re recovering in a hospital ICU, only to be jarred awake every other minute by sudden, constant alarms. Monitors for heart rate, blood oxygen, blood pressure, and more all clamor for attention. Most of these alarms aren’t urgent: studies show that an ICU patient can trigger 150 to 400 alerts daily, the vast majority of which require no clinical intervention.

This constant noise isn’t just an annoyance. It’s a phenomenon called alarm fatigue, when clinicians become desensitized to alarms due to sheer overload, potentially missing the rare critical alert amid hundreds of false ones.

“Between 80% and 99% of beeps and machine sounds in ICUs have no action or real meaning to them,” says Ophir Ronen, CEO of health tech company CalmWave. “You as a patient can’t rest in the ICU because of this. That’s the problem we’re solving”.

Alarm fatigue has emerged recently as a top patient safety hazard in modern hospitals. A 2023 National Institutes of Health study linked high alarm burden with lower patient safety and staﬀ well-being. Nurses risk cognitive overload and burnout while patients endure stress and disturbed sleep while bombarded with noise that is often ignored. In some tragic cases, nurses and clinicians miss critical alarms, drowned out by noise.

Plumbers for Hospital Data

CalmWave, a Seattle-based startup spun out of the Allen Institute for Artiﬁcial Intelligence (AI2) incubator in 2022, wants to build what it calls a “Quiet ICU.” The company addresses alarm fatigue by generating safe recommendations that clinicians use to eliminate non-actionable alerts and by ensuring that those that remain are clinically meaningful.

“Alarm tones from bedside vital sign monitors were designed to alert clinicians to perceived physiological or technical problems,” Ronen says. “Every year, new devices and monitors are introduced—this means more beeps, more sounds.”

“Alarm fatigue in ICUs is an unacceptable status quo,” Ronen adds. "By empowering clinicians to quiet the cacophony, ﬁnally, CalmWave is solving a critical healthcare challenge and paving the way for hospitals nationwide to deliver more humane, attentive care.”

CalmWave’s hospital operations platform unifies these data streams, allowing hospitals to see the bigger picture. Using Transparent AI, the system analyzes both real-time and historical data—vital signs, medication timing, prior alarms—to recommend smarter, patient-specific alarm thresholds. For example, a patient with chronically low oxygen saturation might not need an alert every time it dips. CalmWave tunes thresholds to filter out false alarms while ensuring real dangers are flagged.

Early results are promising. A case study from a proof-of-concept in one ICU showed that CalmWave’s recommendations cut non-actionable alarms by 58%.

The platform also oﬀers a central dashboard where staﬀ can visualize all monitors in one place, breaking traditional data silos. “Previously, it was just reactive, but now with the data, CalmWave helps hospitals be more proactive,” Ronen says. The goal is an ICU where alarms only sound when necessary, creating calm for caregivers and patients.

A Catalyst in Atlanta’s Tech Square

To turn this vision into reality inside hospitals, CalmWave found an ally 2,600 miles from Seattle: Catalyst by Wellstar, an innovation center and venture fund based in Atlanta. Housed in the Centergy building in Tech Square and backed by Georgia’s Wellstar Health System, Catalyst by Wellstar was established in 2023 as a ﬁrst-of-its-kind digital health incubator and venture fund focused on tackling healthcare challenges. CalmWave caught Catalyst’s attention with its Quiet ICU concept. In 2024, Catalyst selected CalmWave for its portfolio, providing funding and mentorship, and facilitated a pilot in a Wellstar hospital to prove the technology in a real clinical environment.

That hospital was Wellstar Kennestone, a 633-bed regional medical center in Metro Atlanta. The CalmWave team began with a retrospective data analysis—months of ICU logs and trends—before generating customized alarm recommenda-

Encouraged by the data, Wellstar greenlit a live bedside pilot in its critical care unit, deploying CalmWave to guide real-time alarm settings. The goal was to replicate that 50–58% reduction. If successful, it meant quieter rooms, more rest for patients, and fewer missed alerts. “Wellstar’s forward-thinking approach makes it the perfect partner,” Ronen added.

From Kennestone to Nationwide

Following its success at Kennestone, CalmWave is now preparing for a national rollout. The company recently raised $5.2 million in funding, with Catalyst by Wellstar among the investors. “We have strong momentum,” Ronen said. The plan is to expand CalmWave into hospital systems across the U.S., from regional centers to major academic institutions.

At just three years old, CalmWave is moving quickly. Its partnership with Catalyst not only delivered capital but also critical real-world validation. Now, as the company rolls out its “Quiet ICU” solution across the country, its mission remains clear.

“Alarm fatigue in ICUs is an unacceptable status quo,” Ronen insists. With stronger data, more intelligent alerts, and growing partnerships, CalmWave is out to change that.

Image: Judy-Beth Morris/Unsplash

A Lens on Food Waste: How Raccoon Eyes Tackles the Problem with Vision AI

Written by Pearl Kaplan

Pairing a lifelong interest in cooking, especially the gathering with friends and family around the table, with ﬁnancial responsibility is what inspired Ivan Zou, the co-founder of Raccoon Eyes, to dig into the problem of food waste.

Ivan shares, “When I started seeing how much food was being not eaten by students and wasted in kitchens, I was inspired to ﬁnd a solution at the intersection of the kitchen and consumer that could help avoid both waste and economic cost.”

Raccoon Eyes does just this by monitoring our trash cans and our future, addressing the 22 million pounds of food wasted annually in U.S. universities, which is approximately 142 pounds for the average college student, by delivering measurable reductions in campus dining waste.

Recognizing Food Waste in Under a Second Using Vision AI, 3D Imaging, and AI/ML

Powered by vision AI to understand the type of food waste and 3D imaging to measure its weight, Raccoon Eyes calculates the food waste with 90% accuracy.

All of this happens in less than a second, by showing pans, trays, and serving containers to scanners before food is thrown out by kitchen staﬀ, or as students place thousands of plates a day on the conveyor belt, where they will pass under the camera, as they return to the kitchen for disposal and cleaning.

To achieve this, Raccoon Eyes maintains an updated dataset containing thousands of labeled pictures of food waste to support automated identification with the artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML) model. This real-time, AI-driven process replaces the manual weighing of food waste, which is a time-consuming task. For example, kitchen staff must manually move and weigh the trays, which puts a lot of pressure on them, especially towards the end of the day/work shift. Additionally, there are space or logistical constraints to consider, such as where to place a scale in the kitchen to track food waste.

methods based on the food that is being wasted or not served at all. For example, Ivan shared that “in a new deployment at a U.S. university, for a chicken wrap that was being served, the data revealed that 70% were eating the chicken and not the wrap/bread”.

Revealing this highly customized insight from the analyzed data is how Raccoon Eyes works together with kitchens and teams to learn about their food waste and identify a few of the most impactful and feasible solutions each semester to optimize

Image: StepUp experience.” Paired with the implementation of Raccoon Eyes, the Georgia State University Sustainability Initiatives Oﬃce hosted a student orientation in November 2024 to raise awareness about food waste and promote responsible dining habits, such as starting with smaller servings and reﬁlling plates as needed, to minimize leftovers.

From the Commons to the Classroom: Connecting Students with Real-World Data

In addition to reducing food waste, Georgia State University has integrated real-world data from Raccoon Eyes to provide both graduate-level project opportunities and hands-on experience for undergraduate business analytics students.

Under the supervision of Dr. Wendy Roth and Dr. Nesreen El-Rayes at the J. Mack Robinson College of Business in the Department of Management, nine MBA students analyzed the datasets collected through the Raccoon Eyes AI system to generate actionable insights aimed at helping Georgia State University Dining reduce food waste and improve operational eﬃciency. The project’s ﬁndings led to the development of two research posters, which will be presented at the INFORMS Annual Meeting 2025 in Atlanta. These posters highlight both the scale of campus food waste and the transformative potential of AI-powered image recognition in addressing sustainability challenges.

In parallel, the National Student Data Corps at GSU, an undergraduate club, also housed within the Management Department, has been granted access to one year of dining hall data. This initiative enables undergraduate business analytics students to gain hands-on experience with real sustainability data while raising awareness about food waste and promoting data-driven impact across the campus community.

Image: National Data Corps Club

A Recipe for Change: Engaging the Next Generation

To explore the intersection of operational excellence, behavioral change, and sustainability, Georgia Tech students Catherine Dent, Nikhita Chinmay, and Ivan Santillan collaborated on "Waste Not, Watch Lots: Raccoon Eyes AI on Food Waste" as part of the 2024-2025 Sustainability Fellows and Undergraduate Sustainability Ambassadors Project. In collaboration with the Ray C. Anderson Center for Sustainable Business in the Scheller College of Business, the team installed Raccoon Eyes technology alongside eﬀorts to encourage actionable behavioral change in an Atlanta elementary school, aiming to address food waste. They found that food waste accounted for 144 pounds during just one lunch period.

Using the data-driven results from Raccoon Eyes, onsite visits, waste categorization, and feedback-driven interviews with students, the team made speciﬁc recommendations for smarter portion sizes and menu adjustments. The behavioral change focus was on launching a Raccoon Eye Kiosk, featuring the mascot “Rowdy the Raccoon,” which has engaging narratives tailored to diﬀerent grade levels to draw attention to the impacts of food waste and enhance student participation with real-time audio and visuals. The team also crafted engaging educational materials, such as posters and stickers, containing positive nudges to encourage students to make better food choices, such as when taking food, composting, or sharing unopened snacks.

Ivan shares, “In elementary schools, the focus is on engagement, education, and behavior change with these students so they can learn at a young age how not to take too much food.” Rowdy is currently scavenging for food waste at seven universities, located in Georgia, Michigan, Florida, and Texas, as well as elementary school cafeterias in Georgia.

Focusing on Long-Term Value and a Future with Less Food Waste

Each year, 120 billion pounds of food are wasted in the United States, which is 325 pounds of waste per person. This is estimated to be approximately 40% of the entire US food supply, resulting in a loss of around $160 billion per year. And at the same time, nearly 14% of U.S. households did not have enough food on their tables in 2023, according to the United States Department of Agriculture's national annual report on household food security.

In addition to the economic cost of paying for food that is not eaten, there are costs associated with transporting the waste to landﬁlls, as well as the ongoing management and monitoring of these facilities. On the environmental side, food ends up in landﬁlls, where it produces methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Reducing food waste is one of the 20 Drawdown Georgia Climate Solutions presented to reduce carbon emissions.

Drawdown Georgia, which is a multi-university research-based initiative launched in 2020 with funding from the Ray C. Anderson Foundation and led by Georgia Tech in collaboration with researchers at Emory University, Georgia State University, and the University of Georgia, highlights several major projects that aim to prevent, recovery, and recycle food such as the Atlanta-based startup Goodr, which Jasmine Crowe-Houston launched in 2017 to “Feed more and waste less” by picking up food waste and redistributing it for the greater good.

Other solutions exist to prevent food waste from entering landﬁlls and reduce methane emissions, such as the food waste pick-up service CompostNow, which is also available at Georgia Tech's dining halls. Another Atlanta-based organization is Concrete Jungle, led by Executive Director Katherine Kennedy, which celebrates foraging, farming, and redistributing Georgia-grown produce that would have otherwise gone to waste with hunger relief organizations across the state.

Ivan highlights that it is “Not only the culture of working with kitchens, but also the potential with business, to be more eﬃcient and save money. This includes labor, transportation, purchasing, time spent, and staﬃng in kitchens.”

A New Route to Electrification: How Metzev Is Centralizing EV Battery Recycling

Written by Isabella Fonseca

original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) manage shipments of lithium batteries and scrap metal. Amptrail provides customers with information on delivery schedules, live maps of shipment locations, and a central place to manage and communicate directly with suppliers. Metzev simpliﬁes the process of recovering, processing, and tracing batteries—ulti mately making battery recycling easier.

One of Metzev's greatest focuses is keeping batteries in a circu lar loop. Currently, producing new Lithium-ion batteries requires procuring non-renewable minerals such as cobalt and lithium, and the manufacturing process releases fossil fuels and CO2 into the atmosphere. However, recycling the batteries bypasses this procedure. Despite the advantages to recycling, according to Metzler Concepción, “There is a lack of dedicated tools to lithium battery recycling, even though battery recycling has been around forever.” That’s where Metzev comes in, providing recyclers and OEMs with the tools to organize the recycling operation.

The idea for Metzev began when Metzler Concepción was only a junior in high school. At eight years old, he started working with batteries, converting a small electric motorcycle to Lithi um-ion batteries. Throughout middle and high school, he continued experimenting. However, during this period, he also noticed two significant issues in the industry: first, OEMs were receiving a stockpile of discarded batteries. Second, Lithium-ion batteries are expensive for any project, ranging from those small-scale as his electric motorcycle to those large as solar fields. With these two problems in mind, Metzev's objective was born.

Knowing he wanted to start a business, Metzler Concepción decided to attend Georgia Tech. At Tech, he continues to be

ble through Amptrail, the startup focused on producing high-performance Second-Life Lithium-ion batteries. However, during the sales process, the company realized the demand for new ways to manage the logistics of EV battery shipments—an idea they had already been developing for internal uses. Since then, the startup has made the jump from developing hardware to software.

Image: Nick Jio/Unsplash

While Metzev is undergoing internal shifts, it also hopes to bring about changes within the industry. Metzler Concepción acknowledges that there is no doubt the EV industry is growing; however, he also believes that "there needs to be a big shift in access to other types of electrification." One of the most significant difficulties within the EV industry is infrastructure, including charging stations, which often cannot be supported by the grid.

Which is why the development of battery backups for the grid is crucial and, in the words of Metzler Concepción, "will then, in turn, make EV infrastructure more accessible, more doable, and then get more EVs on the road, lowering carbon emissions and going to the point that we need to hit to ultimately save Earth."

Protecting the planet remains at the core of Metzev's mission. To reach net-zero emissions by 2050, electriﬁcation needs to occur at a much higher rate. However, the cost and production of batteries make this challenging to achieve. Metzler Concepción emphasized the importance of making electriﬁcation more accessible . "The only way for that to happen is to reduce the battery cost, which is exactly what Metzev does."

StrideLink Brings Gait Analysis

Home with Wearable Tech

Written by Neema Tavakolian

Most of us take thousands of steps each day without a second thought. Yet those steps hold clues about our health: how we walk—our gait—can reveal issues with balance, recovery from injuries, and even neurological conditions. Traditionally, analyzing a patient’s gait meant an expert eyeballing how they walk in a clinic, a method that is subjective and prone to error. High-tech gait labs with $40,000 equipment exist but are bulky and impractical for routine use. This is the gap that Atlanta-based startup StrideLink aims to ﬁll by bringing lab-level gait analysis to a pair of wearable sensors and a smartphone app.

Founded by Georgia Tech alumna Marzeah “Zea” Khorramabadi, StrideLink’s story began as many startups do—with a personal realization and a big question. Khorramabadi, originally from Birmingham, Alabama, was a computer engineering student fascinated by medical devices and wearables. In the summer of 2020, she and her friend (and eventual co-founder) Cassandra McIltrot, a biomedical engineering student, discussed McIltrot’s research on post-stroke rehabilitation. Walking ability is a crucial indicator of our health especially during recovery. “We thought to ourselves—why don't we measure this?” McIltrot said of that moment. As Khorramabadi later put it, “It all boils down to how we walk”. The insight that a subtle change in gait can signal a looming fall or a slow recovery planted the seed for StrideLink.

In 2021, Khorramabadi took the idea to Georgia Tech’s CREATE-X Startup Launch accelerator, teaming up with McIltrot and Neel Narvekar, StrideLink’s CTO, to turn their project into a company. The CREATE-X program pushed the young team to conduct intensive customer discovery. “Before even attempting to design a product, [we] spent six months interviewing various experts” to learn how they assess gait and what they need. To reﬁne their concept, the StrideLink team spoke with various clinicians, patients, and biomechanics researchers.

“A lot of people design ﬁrst without talking to their custom er, but that’s the biggest mistake you can make,” she said, emphasizing how those early conversations shaped StrideLink’s solution. By the end of spring, the team had developed a prototype good enough to win “Best Overall Project” at Georgia Tech’s 2021 Capstone Design Expo. More importantly, they had deﬁned a clear need for their product in healthcare.

StrideLink was formally incorporated in 2022 and secured $1.2 million in pre-seed funding from angel investors, the Georgia Tech Foundation, and Dorm Room Fund. Those backers, many experienced in orthopedic devices, not only provided capital but also connections in StrideLink’s ﬁrst target market: orthopedics. With funding, the team (now led by Khorramabadi as CEO, with McIltrot as COO, and Narvekar as CTO) set out to validate their technology outside the lab. “Our team was committed to developing a product that matches the accuracy of gold-standard gait analysis tools, while remaining accessible and eﬀortless for everyday patients to use,” Khorramabadi said, recalling an early test of their prototype against a high-end gait lab. Collaborating with a physician at Emory University, they ran validation studies tracking real patients through surgery and recovery. They measured gait patterns in foot and ankle surgery patients before an operation and then at intervals up to 12 months post-op. This allowed StrideLink to build a unique dataset of how walking metrics change during rehabilitation, proving the sensors’ clinical value.

StrideLink’s shoelace-sized sensor attaches to a shoe to record detailed gait metrics. In trials, patients wear the sensors for a few minutes daily, and the data syncs to an app for analysis.

At its core, StrideLink’s product is a wearable gait analysis kit: two small sensors that clip onto a person’s shoes and record the nuanced details of each step. The system uses inertial measurement and custom algorithms to capture the whole gait cycle – essentially an EKG-like trace of one’s walking pattern. In layman’s terms, it measures how fast and how evenly your feet hit the ground, how long each foot stays in contact, and other aspects of your stride. All that data is sent to a smartphone application where patients and their doctors can see trends over time. Importantly, StrideLink makes gait tracking objective. “Currently, measurements of physical function are untracked and unmeasured in the majority of cases. Assessments in lower extremity orthopedics - a market we are really focusing on - beneﬁts from having this information alongside more traditional imaging like an X-ray or an MRI,” Khorramabadi explained. StrideLink provides quantitative metrics on a patient’s mobility, insights missing from post-surgery checkups and physical therapy evaluations. This is more informative for doctors and motivating for patients who can see their progress (or spot problems) day by day.

After earning an FDA registration for its device in late 2024, StrideLink began rollout. Today, StrideLink is partnered with a handful of orthopedic practices in the Southeast, including clinics in Georgia, Alabama, and Florida, to pilot the sensor kit with patients. These early pilots let the team gather feedback on how the system ﬁts into clinical workﬂows, its value to physicians, and patient ease-of-use. Patients found the device easy for their at-home rehab, and doctors began seeing the potential of data-driven recovery tracking. Demand quickly outstripped what the small startup could supply. “We have a whole waitlist of physicians and practices that are eager to adopt this in their practice,” Khorramabadi reported, highlighting the strong interest from clinicians. Several clinics have already signed letters of intent to adopt StrideLink as a standard tool once it’s more broadly available.

Buoyed by positive pilot results, StrideLink is now looking to scale up. The company is raising a seed funding round to ramp up production and expand its reach. While orthopedics is the initial focus—patients recovering from knee, hip, or foot surgeries—the startup’s vision goes further. “One of the things we’re looking at doing over the next 24 months is expanding into those other healthcare verticals… neuro and pediatrics,” Khorramabadi said. The core need for better mobility monitoring is just as pressing in neurology and pediatrics: stroke survivors and people with Parkinson’s could benefit from continuous gait tracking, as could children with conditions like cerebral palsy that affect movement. By adapting its platform for these groups, StrideLink sees an opportunity to fill significant gaps in how clinicians monitor progression and therapy effectiveness outside hospital settings.

From a student project sparked by a simple question, StrideLink has grown into a venture-backed company on the cusp of changing orthopedic care. It reﬂects a broader trend in healthcare toward remote patient monitoring and personalized rehab. If Khorramabadi and her team have their way, analyzing your gait might soon be as simple as lacing up your shoes.

Image: StepUp

How VinoBarrel Is Balancing Tradition and Innovation in the Wine Industry

Written by Isabella Fonseca

Seth Lytle, CEO of VinoBarrel, was celebrating a friend's birthday in the lush vineyards of Napa Valley while contemplating a life-altering decision. He was up for a big promotion, and it seemed like an easy choice from the outside.

However, a greater question circled his mind: "What am I really meant to do?"

To ﬁgure out his future, Lytle looked towards his childhood, where he grew up surrounded by the craft of winemaking. His grandfather is an Italian immigrant and has spent the past sixty years making wine, teaching Lytle not only the process but also wine's power to bring people together.

Additionally, he had a background in systems engineering. A Georgia Tech graduate, he was fascinated with discovering new ways to shorten previously tedious processes. However, in his day job, he felt most fulﬁlled when he got to use his innovation skills to connect with others. "I had the greatest passion and came alive when I got to create experiences at conferences," said Lytle.

Lytle, along with Marshall Knox (VPO) and Torey Mercurio (Principal Engineer), began to develop an idea for a product that combined everything he was passionate about. "I enjoy wine. I'd been around it. I like bringing people together. I like creating eﬃcient systems."

In 2022, Lytle turned down the promotion and founded VinoBarrel, a decision that would transform his history into his legacy. Since then, VinoBarrel has patented its design, partnered with various wineries and high-class venues, and joined ATDC's Accelerate Portfolio.

The product is the world's ﬁrst sophisticated and sustainable wine preservation and pouring system, simplifying the process of serving wine to customers in venues such as resorts. Each barrel system can support two kegs, and using IoT (Internet of Things) sensors, the barrels can preserve,

Image:

Kym Ellis/Unsplash

Image: StepUp

One advantage of adopting VinoBarrel, especially for wineries, is the product's ability to streamline the process of serving wine for staﬀ members at partnering venues. "I would go to some of these wineries, and the lines would be unbelievably long and frustrating. And you must decide—am I going to wait in that long line?" explained Lytle. However, when venues have a barrel system, not only do they not lose the opportunity for a customer, but the staﬀ member to focus less on the physical task of pouring wine and more on creating a human connection.

Another aim of the switch from bottles to barrels is the product's sustainability eﬀort. According to VinoBarrel's website, most of the industry's carbon emissions result from packaging and transporting the product. Although bottles work best for aging some wine, much of it is pressed, fermented, and aged in barrels and stainless steel containers. VinoBarrel emphasizes that when wine is transported in kegs instead of bottles for higher volume services, 76% of its carbon emissions are reduced.

However, the bulk of the tech within the barrel is intentionally concealed. "It's technology that's hidden. And it honors winemaking's craft, history, and artisanship by utilizing materials that create that heart and psychological connection," said Lytle.

Using the design to appeal to customers' hearts is meticulously present in everything from the copper spout, which is a reference to Lytle's father, an artist and plumber, to the POS screen, which wineries can customize to play videos of the winemaking process. "Everything that I've tried to do in any experience I've created was to be authentic and do something representative, to connect with feelings as much as with your head," said Lytle.

Although VinoBarrel is making strides within the wine industry, the journey has not always been easy. In addition to the initial fear accompanying starting a startup, the company faced pushback. According to Lytle, the wine industry is not always welcome to change. While the industry has made great eﬀorts to become more sustainable in recent years, it is reluctant to let go of the traditional bottle. However, this pushback inspired VinoBarrel to create a pivot in their target consumer. "I had to ﬁnd people who would understand that this is an augmentation tool. It is absolutely not meant to take away jobs. It's meant to help with surges," explained Lytle.

Another challenge Lytle faced was ﬁnding a community within the startup world. "It's not easy to be an entrepreneur at all. It can feel very lonely for sure at times," said Lytle. However, he has found community in Tech Square, an experience he believes will increase with the startup's addition to ATDC.

Despite the challenges, VinoBarrel is on an upward trajectory. One of their most recent ventures, the creation of the VinoBarrel Wine Club, is a testament to this. The club is an opportunity for members to join a community of wine lovers, try new wines across Atlanta, and receive complimentary daily pours. After only two weeks, the Wine Club has already gained 173 members through the sign-up process, which requires customers to interact with one of the barrel systems. Lytle feels that the startup is the purpose he was searching for when he made his decision in Napa Valley. "I don't want to regret not having pursued something that is truly great for this world. And it's not just the product—it's about bringing people together."

For other entrepreneurs choosing whether or not to follow the call to innovate, Lytle oﬀers this advice: "Pursue something meaningful to [you]—not just about dollars. And take pivots, but don't sacriﬁce who you are or your true worth."

Special Thanks To Our Partners

About The Book

Centergy One Associates

Editor-in-Chief: Neema Tavakolian

Graphic Design: Veronica Pennix

Contributing Team: Mikey DiCenso, Isabella Fonseca, Vicky Fowler, Chloe Huggins, Pearl Kaplan, Georgia Parmelee, Julie Pierre

Powered By: