Ecologists have long recognized microbes as decomposers and pathogens in ecological communities. But their role as classic consumers who produce chemicals to compete with larger animals could be an important and common interaction within many ecosystems -- and one that scientists often overlook, according to the authors of a paper published this week in the journal Ecology.
"There is the notion that these spoiled resources are not that important," said Mark Hay, a Georgia Institute of Technology professor of biology, who led a team of graduate students conducting the research. "But when you total them up, they are appreciable, especially in marine ecosystems."
"Microbes that can hold onto these resources and use them for their own growth would be advantaged over microbes that could not prevent their resource from being consumed by animals," Hay added. "If microbes could produce chemicals that prevented crabs or fishes from using these resources, then those microbes should gain an advantage and become more abundant."
As part of an interdisciplinary graduate training program funded by the National Science Foundation, Hay, two of his faculty colleagues and four Ph.D. students tested this notion with a field and lab study they began at the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography near Savannah, Ga., in summer 2002. They were prompted by an assertion made in a paper published in 1977 by ecologist Dan Janzen, who suggested that microbes are rotting fruits, molding seeds and spoiling meat to make these resources repugnant to other animals, allowing microbes to consume them instead.
To test whether aged meat attracts fewer consumers than fresher meat, researchers baited crab traps with menhaden -- a fish typically used for bait -- that had been rotting in a pool of warm water - some of it for one day and the rest for two days. They also baited other traps with freshly thawed menhaden, which contained relatively few microbes. Then they set the traps in the marshes near Skidaway Island and caught hundreds of stone crabs, as well as other crab species, fishes and snails.
Many more animals were attracted to the freshly thawed bait than the rotten fish. "So we assumed that had to do with palatability," Hay said. "It could have been that the predators didn't smell the rotten fish, but that's not consistent with what we know about carrion on the roadway. It could have been that the predators smelled it, but didn't want it."
Counting the species found in the traps confirmed the level of attraction to the various forms of the bait, but it didn't necessarily test feeding, Hay noted. "It could be that the rotten food is just as good, but a lot of the good smells have leached out in the water, so maybe it's just food that's harder for predators to find," he explained.
Researchers assessed their questions about feeding by conducting laboratory experiments. To eliminate food avoidance because of texture, they fed stone crabs, lesser blue crabs and striped hermit crabs noodle-like test foods made from pureed forms of either the freshly thawed menhaden or the rotten bait. Researchers found that, no matter the rotten bait's texture, stone crabs avoided eating the rotted, microbe-laden food, but readily consumed the freshly thawed menhaden containing few microbes.
"Even when the stone crabs were handed the rotten fish, they didn't want to eat it," Hay said.
Next, researchers tested whether microbes directly affected the palatability of microbe-laden, rotting food. They placed menhaden in two different pools for two days -- one group in seawater where microbes were allowed to grow naturally and the other in seawater with the antibiotic chloramphenicol added to suppress microbe growth. In the lab, stone crabs readily ate both freshly thawed menhaden and fish that had soaked in water with antibiotics, but refused to eat the rotten fish not protected from microbial attack.
To determine if reducing bacterial growth affected an animal's ability to find the bait, researchers also repeated the trapping experiment in the marsh, but used newly thawed fish, fish soaked in antibiotic treated water and fish aged without antibiotics. They found that both freshly thawed bait and aged, antibiotic-treated bait attracted animals more frequently than traps containing aged, microbe-laden menhaden.
Then researchers extracted various compounds from the microbe-laden bait to test whether chemicals produced by the microbes were indeed responsible for these feeding and attraction behaviors.
They found that chemical extracts composed of numerous compounds suppressed stone crab feeding when added to otherwise palatable fish flesh. But, of the several specific compounds they isolated and identified, none of the compounds by itself had this effect, Hay noted. So the researchers could not pinpoint a single compound causing the behaviors.
"But we can say the effect is chemical because we got rid of the nutrient and texture aspects of the bait and determined that it's something in this fraction of the bait's chemistry," Hay said. "It's either a complex mix of chemicals or perhaps something we destroyed during our lab test processes or maybe a chemical present in a very small amount that we failed to identify. There's uncertainty about this."
What's certain is that microbes are an omnipresent part of the ecosystem, Hay said. "They are not passively waiting on the bottom of the marsh floor for the rest of the community to deliver feces and other wastes that are not useful to anybody else," he added. "They are also trying to grab what they can at the start."
Hay hopes the research will make ecologists think more critically about the broad role of microbes in the ecosystem. Microbes are often omitted or relegated to a minor role in food web diagrams, but they should be depicted as direct competitors with larger animals, he said.
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]]>Using five different microscopy techniques, the researchers showed that the violent collapse of bubbles - an effect caused by the ultrasound - creates enough force to open holes in the membranes of cells suspended in a liquid medium. The holes, which are closed by the cells in a matter of minutes, allow entry of therapeutic molecules as large as 50 nanometers in diameter - larger than most proteins and similar in size to the DNA used for gene therapy.
"The holes are made by mechanical interaction with the collapsing bubbles," said Mark Prausnitz, a professor in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. "The bubbles oscillate in the ultrasound field and collapse, causing a shock wave to be released. Fluid movement associated with the resulting shock wave opens holes in the cell membranes, which allow molecules from the outside to enter. The cells then respond to the creation of the holes by mobilizing intracellular vesicles to patch the holes within minutes."
Done by scientists at Georgia Tech and Emory University in Atlanta, the research was reported in the journal Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology (Vol. 32, No. 6). The work was supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF).
Ultrasound is the same type of energy already widely used for diagnostic imaging. Drug delivery employs higher power levels and different frequencies, and bubbles may be introduced to enhance the effect.
Ultrasound drug delivery could be particularly attractive for gene therapy, which has successfully used viruses to insert genetic material into cells - but with side effects. It could also be used for more targeted delivery of chemotherapy agents.
"One of the great benefits of ultrasound is that it is noninvasive," Prausnitz said. "You could give a chemotherapeutic drug locally or throughout the body, then focus the ultrasound only on areas where tumors exist. That would increase the cell permeability and drug uptake only in the targeted cells and avoid affecting healthy cells elsewhere."
Researchers have only recently found that the application of ultrasound can help move drugs into cells by increasing the permeability of cell membranes. It had been hypothesized, but not definitively shown, that the ultrasound increased the permeability by opening holes in cell membranes.
Prausnitz and collaborators Robyn Schlicher, Harish Radhakrisha, Timothy Tolentino, Vladimir Zarnitsyn of Georgia Tech and Robert Apkarian (now deceased) of Emory University set out to study the phenomenon in detail using a line of prostate cancer cells. They used scanning and transmission electron microscopy of fixed cells and two types of optical microscopy of living cells to assess ultrasound effects and cell responses.
Beyond demonstrating that ultrasound punched holes in cell membranes, the researchers also studied the mechanism by which cells repair the holes. After the ultrasound exposure, they introduced into the cell medium a chemical not normally taken up by the cells. By varying when the chemical was introduced, they were able to determine that most of the cells had repaired their membranes within minutes.
Though the researchers used prostate cancer cells in the study reported in the journal, they have also studied other types of cells and believe ultrasound offers a general way to briefly create openings in many classes of cells.
Researchers face a number of challenges, including FDA approval, before ultrasound can be used to deliver drugs in humans. For example, the effects of the ultrasound were not consistent across the entire volume of cells, with only about a third affected. Researchers will also have to address safety concerns and optimize the creation of collapsing bubbles - a phenomenon known as cavitation - within bodily tissues.
"Before we can use ultrasound for therapy in the body, we will have to learn how to control the exposure," Prausnitz noted. "If we can properly design the impact that ultrasound makes on a cell, we can generate an impact that the cell can deal with. We want just enough impact to allow transport into the cell, but not so much of an impact that the cell would be stressed beyond its ability to repair the injury."
Researchers don't yet know if the membrane holes cause long-term harm to the affected cells. General assays show that cells survive after resealing the membrane holes, but detailed studies of cell behavior are still needed. Evidence from other researchers suggests that cell membranes are frequently damaged and repaired inside the body - without long-term ill effects. That suggests cells may similarly tolerate ultrasound's effects.
"One of the real challenges is going to be translating the successes that have occurred in the laboratory and in small animals into clinical success in people," said Prausnitz. "Now that we better understand the mechanism of ultrasound's effects, we can more effectively take advantage of it for medical therapy."
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]]>Discovery of the new link between clouds and the biosphere grew out of efforts to explain increased cloud cover observed over an area of the Southern Ocean where a large bloom of phytoplankton was occurring. Based on satellite data, the researchers hypothesized that airborne particles produced by oxidation of the chemical isoprene - which is emitted by the phytoplankton - may have contributed to a doubling of cloud droplet concentrations seen over a large area of ocean off the eastern coast of South America.
Using complex numerical models, they estimated that the resulting increase in cloudiness reduced the absorption of sunlight by an amount comparable to what has been measured in highly polluted areas of the globe. If confirmed by field studies, this connection between clouds and biological activity could add a critical new component to global climate models. Many environmental scientists believe that increased cloud cover may be partially countering the effects of global warming by reducing the amount of energy the planet absorbs from the sun.
Researchers Athanasios Nenes of the Georgia Institute of Technology and Nicholas Meskhidze - formerly at Georgia Tech but now at North Carolina State University - reported their findings Nov. 2 in Science Express, the online advance publication of the journal Science. The research was sponsored by NASA, the National Science Foundation and a Blanchard-Milliken Young Faculty Fellowship.
"Studies like this one may help reshape the way we think about how the biosphere interacts with clouds and climate," said Nenes, an assistant professor in Georgia Tech's School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences and School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. "One of the largest uncertainties right now in climate models is the ability to predict how clouds would respond to changing particle levels - whether they originate from humans with air pollution or from biological activity. We can now see very strongly the influence of marine biology on oceanic clouds."
Researchers had previously theorized that dimethyl sulfide (DMS) - which is also emitted by phytoplankton - affects the formation of clouds by increasing the number of sulfate particles, which can absorb moisture and form cloud droplets. When oxidized, isoprene may enhance the effect of DMS by increasing the number and size of the particles while helping them to chemically attract more moisture. The impact of isoprene on atmospheric particulate matter was previously thought to be important only for terrestrial plants, Nenes said.
The researchers stumbled upon the phytoplankton-cloud connection quite accidentally. "While looking at the satellite pictures, I noticed that cloud properties over large phytoplankton blooms were significantly different from those that occurred away from the blooms," recalled Meskhidze, now an assistant professor in NC State's College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences.
The Southern Ocean normally has relatively few particles around which cloud droplets can form. The isoprene mechanism could therefore have a significant effect on the development of clouds there - and may account for most of variation in the area's cloud cover.
"If a lot of particles form because of isoprene oxidation, you suddenly have a lot more droplets in clouds, which tends to make them brighter," Nenes explained. "In addition to becoming brighter, the clouds can also have less frequent precipitation, so you might have a build-up of clouds. Overall, this makes the atmosphere cloudier and reflects more sunlight back into space."
In their paper, the researchers estimated that the isoprene emissions reduced energy absorption in the area by about 15 watts per square meter. "This is a huge signal," said Nenes. "You would normally expect to see a change of a couple of watts."
The Southern Ocean is ideal for study because it is largely untouched by pollution and has relatively steady temperature and meteorological conditions during the seasons in which phytoplankton blooms appear. "This seems to be one of those rare regions in the globe where the biology really takes over," Nenes explained. "That allows us to see strongly the impact of biology on the clouds."
As a next step, Nenes would like to examine other areas of the globe for similar activity. "There are a lot of areas that have intense biological activity, so with time we are going to explore more regions to see if this is a widespread phenomenon. Chances are that we will see this in other places," he added.
Nenes and Meskhidze used data from satellite observations to estimate the amount of chlorophyll in the ocean, the emission of isoprene and its connection to cloud formation. Before this new mechanism can be incorporated into global climate models, however, it will have to be confirmed by field experiments.
Atmospheric scientists believe that by blocking sunlight, increased cloudiness has up until now partially mitigated the effects of global warming. The role of oceanic biology on cloud formation could therefore be a major factor in controlling global climate, and the new mechanism identified by Nenes and Meskhidze may make it even more important. This effect needs to be better understood, Nenes noted, because anything that can change global clouds can dramatically alter the impact of greenhouse gases on our changing climate.
"It shows that there is still a lot we need to explore to better understand the delicate balance in nature," said Meskhidze. "It will require the cooperative efforts of researchers from many different fields to identify the chemical components in these aerosols, to estimate the amounts of this and other potentially important gases emitted from the ocean, and to better characterize the effort of organics on cloud droplet formation."
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Writer: John Toon
]]>Using the 'world's smallest controlled heat source' - a tiny atomic-force microscope (AFM) cantilever - scientists from the Georgia Institute of Technology and Texas Tech University have developed a new way to study explosives that have nanometer-scale features.
The technique provides new information about such phenomena as melting, evaporation and decomposition of explosives at the smallest length scales. Because the performance of these materials depends heavily on nanometer-scale factors such as crystal size and voids between crystals, the research could ultimately lead to safer explosives and better control over how they work.
Dubbed 'nanodectonics,' the research was described in the August 29 online issue of the American Chemical Society journal Nano Letters.
"Scientists would like to design energetic materials with specific responses, with a given temperature producing a given burn rate, for example," explained William King, an assistant professor in the Georgia Institute of Technology's School of Mechanical Engineering. "Before our measurements, no one was able to interrogate these properties at the nanometer scale. With the data we have generated, it is possible to build physics-based models of how these materials behave rather than relying on empirical relationships seen at the macro scale."
Using an AFM tip capable of heating spots as small as a few nanometers in diameter, the researchers performed nanometer-scale thermal analysis on thin films of a polycrystalline energetic material known as Pentaerythritol Tetranitrate (PETN). They melted, evaporated and decomposed the PETN at length scales ranging from 100 nanometers to a few micrometers.
"We have shown that we can control the morphology of energetic materials on the nanoscale, and also measure nanoscale properties of these materials," said Brandon Weeks, an assistant professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas Tech University. "The hope is that since very small amounts of the material are needed for study, we can measure the properties in a very safe manner and extrapolate the information to bulk properties. Thus far, there has been very little research into the nanoscale properties of energetic materials outside of military applications."
For instance, voids between crystals of energetic materials are believed to play an important role in the rapid decomposition - or explosion - of the materials. When exposed to an initiation stimulus, these voids become 'hot spots' and act as ignition sites that grow in temperature, size and pressure, leading to the detonation processes that make explosives useful in construction, mining and other commercial activities.
The formation of these voids is not directly controlled during materials synthesis. However, a better understanding of explosives at the nanoscale could lead to better control of the synthesis process - and better explosive materials, Weeks said.
"Ideally, we want to control the nanoscale properties of energetic materials to understand the physics at short length scales and make the materials safer," he added. "Perhaps we could engineer features into a material like PETN that would make it sensitive to a certain initiation stimulus. If the correct stimulus were not used, then the material would no longer behave like an explosive."
Experimentally, the researchers used their heated AFM cantilever to apply heat to a thin film of PETN. By varying the temperature as the cantilever was scanned across the film, the researchers were able to map the melting, evaporation and decomposition rates as a function of temperature, and observe their effects.
"By controlling the way we scan the tip over the surface, we can cause the material to re-condense into its solid form," King said. "When it re-condenses, it has fundamentally different crystalline structure. That gives us control over the crystal structure on the nanometer functional length scale."
The crystalline structure of energetic materials changes over time, and the researchers measured those changes during their study of the PETN films. For instance, the crystals become larger over time, which changes the materials properties and can make explosives less effective as they age.
PETN is a high explosive used in mining, construction and the defense industries, but because the researchers worked with such small quantities of it, there was no danger of an explosion in their lab. Weeks said the samples they studied were just a thousandth of the amount necessary to support an explosion. He estimated that the amount of material removed by the cantilever during the tests amounted to about 400 zeptograms. (A zeptogram is one-sextillionth of a gram).
The silicon-based cantilevers, which are fabricated in King's research group, include a built-in electrical resistance heater than can produce temperatures of up to 1,000 degrees Celsius. The temperature of the probe can be controlled to within approximately one degree Celsius.
Beyond energetic materials, the analytical technique made possible by the heated AFM cantilever could be used to study and improve other materials.
"We would expect other crystalline or polycrystalline materials to generally behave in a similar fashion, although the specifics would be unique for each material," King added. "We could use this same technique to study small-scale thermal properties of a whole suite of materials that we haven't been able to measure before. If we can get to know these materials at the nanometer scale, that would allow us to design them at larger scales."
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]]>"It seems unlikely that fuel from a biorefinery - at least in the beginning - is going to be as cost-effective as fuel from traditional fossil sources," said Charles Eckert, a professor in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. "To make the biorefinery sustainable, we must therefore do everything we can to help the economics. If we can take a chemical stream worth only cents per pound and turn it into chemicals worth many dollars per pound, this could help make the biorefinery cost effective."
To help make that happen, Eckert and collaborators Charles Liotta, Arthur Ragauskas, Jason Hallett, Christopher Kitchens, Elizabeth Hill and Laura Draucker are exploring the use of three environmentally-friendly solvent and separation systems - gas-expanded liquids, supercritical fluids and near-critical water - to produce specialty chemicals, pharmaceutical precursors and flavorings from a small portion of the ethanol feedstock. The green processes could produce chemicals worth up to $25 per pound.
"These are novel feedstocks for chemical production," Eckert noted. "They are very different from what we've dealt with before. This gives us different challenges, and provides a rich area for interdisciplinary research."
Using near-critical water and gas-expanded liquids, Eckert and his colleagues have already demonstrated the production of vanillin, syringol and syringaldehyde from a paper mill black liquor side stream. They have also proposed a process that would generate levulinic acid, glucaric acid and other chemicals from the pre-pulping of wood chips. That process would use an alcohol-carbon dioxide mixture, followed by depolymerization and dehydration in near-critical water.
Research aimed at producing high-value products from cellulose feedstocks is being done through the 'AtlantIC Alliance for BioPower, BioFuels and Biomaterials,' a coalition of three research institutions in the United States and the United Kingdom. The alliance, which includes Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Imperial College and Georgia Tech, seeks to solve the complex issues involved in economically producing ethanol fuel from cellulose materials such as wood chips, sawgrass, corn stovers - and even municipal waste.
"The feedstock would likely be different in different geographic locations, depending on what was readily available," Eckert noted. "In the Southeast, we have abundant forest resources. In the West, sources would include sawgrass, corn stovers and similar plant materials. In the United Kingdom, there is strong interest in producing fuels from municipal wastes."
The Alliance is taking a comprehensive approach to the biorefinery, conducting studies of how to maximize plant growth through genetic engineering, developing new microbial techniques for digesting cellulose, and applying environmentally-friendly chemical processes for reactions and separations. The organizers decided to pursue only non-food sources as their feedstock.
Using tunable solvent systems in the biorefinery would avoid the generation of wastes associated with processes that depend on strong acids - which must be neutralized at the end of the reaction.
For instance, near-critical water - familiar H2O but at 250 to 300 degrees Celsius under pressure - separates into acid and base components that can be used to dissolve both organic and inorganic chemicals. When the pressure is removed, the water returns to its normal properties.
Gas-expanded liquids, such as carbon dioxide in methanol, provide a flexible solvent whose properties can be adjusted by changing the pressure. When the reaction is over, the pressure is released, allowing the carbon dioxide to separate from the methanol.
Supercritical fluids, such as carbon dioxide under high pressure, simplify separation processes. Separation of the carbon dioxide from chemicals dissolved in it requires only that the pressure be reduced, allowing the CO2 to return to its gaseous state.
Though many challenges remain before biorefineries can be designed and built, Eckert says it is important to invest now in this renewable source of energy and chemicals.
"To make the biorefinery work will require a major effort that must be well coordinated among everybody working on it," he said. "The biorefinery is one of several answers that we need to pursue as part of a national energy strategy. Our future economic well-being requires us to deal with the energy issue."
Eckert described the green processes Sept. 10 at the 232nd national meeting of the American Chemical Society in San Francisco. The presentation was part of a session 'Green Chemistry for Fuel Synthesis and Processing.'
In 2004, Eckert and Liotta received a Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award for their development and promotion of benign tunable solvents that couple reaction and separation processes.
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]]>Used for treating prostate cancer and other forms of the disease, the new system is based on complex numerical optimization algorithms licensed from the Georgia Institute of Technology. Beyond improving the overall treatment, the new system dramatically reduces the time required for planning the seed placement.
The Panther⢠Brachy InversePlan system, announced by Prowess, Inc. at the annual meeting of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology, improves local tumor control by more consistently focusing radiation while reducing the number of radioactive seeds and needles used. Because the treatment planning can now be done in less than a minute - compared to hours with older systems - planning can be done just prior to seed implantation. That eliminates an extra clinical visit and ensures that the plan is based on the dimensions of the tumor and organ at the time of implantation.
"From the clinical side, this is a significant advance in being able to treat prostate cancer with fewer side effects while providing better local tumor control," said Eva Lee, a mathematician and associate professor in Georgia Tech's Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering. "From the clinician's point of view, this will allow physicians to prescribe how they want the radiation to be applied, and the system will produce an optimized plan to do that. The system will produce a better outcome, reduce the amount of time required to design the plan, and allow patients to recover more quickly."
The optimization algorithms developed by Lee and colleague Marco Zaider at the Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York account for numerous factors, including the dose provided by each radioactive seed, shape of the organ being treated, location of tumor cells within the organ, location of critical structures for which radiation dose should be limited, sensitivity of tissues to radiation, and expected shrinkage of the organ after treatment. The goals are to provide consistent tumor-killing radiation doses to the tumor cells while limiting potentially damaging doses to nearby critical structures, such as the urethra, bladder and rectum.
Earlier computer-aided techniques for determining the best locations to place the seeds required many hours of planning, and could not optimize for specific doses specified by physicians. Because so much time was required to plan the treatment, patients had to make two clinic visits - one to obtain information for planning the treatment and a second to actually implant the seeds. Because the size and shape of the prostate can change over time, the time between planning and implantation allowed the creation of potential inaccuracies that could reduce the tumor control and cause side effects.
"This system can be used in real time," said Lee. "The patient can come in, the imaging is done, and we can then do the planning and implantation right away. There is no delay between the imaging, planning and implantation of the seeds."
Because the system can quickly re-optimize the placement plan, changes can be made quickly while the patient is on the operating table to account for difficulties in placing seeds, Lee noted.
John Nguyen, president of Prowess, said the new system gives physicians better control over radiation doses while reducing the time required to treat each patient.
"Physicians can now really impose clinical criteria within the planning process," he said. "Further, the system is extraordinarily fast, requiring only seconds to design an optimal plan. Having a system so fast means physicians can dynamically adjust and re-optimize the treatment plans as they insert needles. This was impossible to do before."
The new software should help clinics provide more consistent cancer treatment that does not depend solely on the skills of the treating physicians.
"Right now, the planning varies from physician to physician even though the end goal is the same," he noted. "Using this system, they can test out different options, varying the dose constraints to see in minutes if they can come up with a better plan. Such a system will help standardize treatment."
Prowess will add the new algorithms to treatment planning systems it already has in operation at more than 700 clinics in the United States.
The patented system is based on optimization techniques known as mixed integer programming. It was licensed to Prowess in 2004 and converted to a commercial product after clinical trials of more than 100 patients demonstrated its effectiveness at improving treatment plans. The system runs on high-end personal computers.
Beyond prostate cancer therapy, the mixed-integer algorithms can also be used to optimize radioactive seed and external beam radiation treatment for a broad range of other cancers. With support from the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health and Whitaker Foundation, Lee has also been working with specialists on improving treatments for breast, lung, cervical, brain and liver cancers.
"Once the optimization has been determined, we can use this in many different applications and it works very well for improving local tumor control," she said. "I feel really good about seeing this applied in the clinic to improve treatment to patients."
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]]>Finding those materials will require analyzing potentially billions of possible material combinations. In response, J. Carson Meredith, an associate professor at Georgia Tech's School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, is developing a new screening system that will enable researchers to evaluate hundreds or thousands of potential materials in a single experiment. Meredith presented details of this combinatorial toolkit on Sept. 10 at the American Chemical Society's 232nd national meeting in San Francisco.
When it comes to proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells - the type of fuel cell that the automotive industry is focusing on - one of the biggest stumbling blocks is the membrane itself.
Resembling a piece of kitchen plastic wrap, the membrane is sandwiched between two electrodes - an anode and cathode - just as in a battery. As hydrogen gas flows into the fuel cell at the anode side, a platinum catalyst separates the hydrogen into electrons and protons. The membrane's job is to conduct the positively charged protons through to the cathode side and prevent the negatively charged electrons from passing through. Instead, electrons are conducted through an external circuit to the cathode, creating an electrical charge that can power a vehicle's electrical motor. Then at the cathode side, the electrons reunite with the protons and oxygen to form water as a byproduct.
"Current membranes on the market are costly because they're made out of fluorinated materials as opposed to conventional hydrocarbon-based plastics," Meredith noted. "Durability is another issue. Due to the harsh environment of the fuel cell, the typical lifespan for a PEM is a couple thousand hours. After that, the membranes begin to degrade chemically - and literally fall apart. They develop leaks, and the fuel begins to 'cross over' the oxygen side, causing the electrical current to drop drastically."
Part of a multi-partner project funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Meredith is developing a methodology to produce low-cost, thermally stable membranes.
"Our goal is to double the membrane's durability and cut costs in half," Meredith said. In addition to Georgia Tech, project partners include the University of Hawaii and three private companies -- Arkema Inc., United Technologies Corp. and Johnson-Matthey.
In contrast to traditional membrane development - a synthesis-intensive process that requires many distinct steps - the partners are taking a 'formulation approach.' This involves selecting a number of different polymers, with each one picked for a specific property, and then combining the polymers in one mixing step so the final material retains all of the desired properties.
On that wish list of membrane properties are:
* high conductivity for protons with low conductivity for electrons;
* a very thin material that still maintains its shape and structural integrity;
* the ability to resist acid and hydrolytic degradation; and
* the ability to remain hydrated at high temperatures, yet prevent the fuel (hydrogen or methanol) from passing through.
Besides the unique characteristics of the selected polymers, other factors will affect the final membrane material, such as the ratio of polymers to the mixture, the order of their addition and the speed of stirring.
"Finding the right polymers and parameters is like looking for a needle in a haystack," Meredith said, noting there are literally billions of choices. "Formulation is a powerful and under-utilized approach to PEM design, but new tools are necessary to discover how to control the formulations."
That's where combinatorial methods come into play, integrating computational design, sample libraries, high-throughput screening and informatics.
Although combinatorial methods have been used in drug discovery, Meredith is pioneering their use in fuel-cell technology and other fields. He has developed a technology for depositing large collections of polymers on a single microscopic slide, using property gradients to create thousands of variations in composition, temperature and thickness.
These polymer libraries undergo high-throughput screening, which shows researchers how different samples stack up in terms of mechanical strength, conductivity and water permeability.
"Combinatorial methods allow us to search through possibilities much more efficiently," Meredith said. "We can run through hundreds of materials in just a couple of hours."
In contrast to combinatorial methods that Meredith has developed for biomedical applications, the toolkit for fuel-cell membranes requires the capability to screen conductivity and water permeability, and the latter has been one of Meredith's biggest challenges.
"It sounds simple - expose the material to water vapor and see how much comes through the other side - but it's subject to a lot of difficulties," he explained. "For one thing, it's hard to get all the water out of these membranes so you can measure what goes in."
Meredith has now developed all the basic components for the fuel-cell combinatorial toolkit and is screening known materials to validate them.
He is quick to note that combinatorial methods are not meant to replace traditional testing where researchers conduct detailed analyses of material. "Our objective is to quickly screen for properties of interest, recognizing that we're not getting the most accurate measurement possible," he explained. "We're substituting speed for accuracy, which means there is a greater uncertainty."
Yet there's a big payoff: Combinatorial methods help researchers consider - and identify - more promising materials.
"This enables us to look at a much broader range of possibilities," Meredith said, explaining that promising polymers can then be analyzed in a more traditional, time-consuming manner. "But if you only use traditional methods, you're just looking at a few chemistries. These may not be optimal, and you may be overlooking the best material."
Research News & Publications Office
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Media Relations Contacts: Jane Sanders (404-894-2214); E-mail: (jsanders@gatech.edu) or John Toon (404-894-6986); E-mail : (jtoon@gatech.edu).
Technical Contact: Carson Meredith (404-385-2151); E-mail : (carson.meredith@chbe.gatech.edu).
Writer: T.J. Becker
]]>Also, the research - conducted at the Georgia Institute of Technology's College of Computing -- identified two additional techniques for combating spam: improving the security of the Internet's routing infrastructure and developing algorithms to identify computers' membership in 'botnets,' which are groups of computers that are compromised and controlled remotely to send large volumes of spam. The findings are now directing the researchers' design of new systems to stem spam.
"Content filters are fighting a losing battle because it's easier for spammers to simply change their content than for us to build spam filters," said Nick Feamster, a Georgia Tech assistant professor of computing. "We need another set of properties, not based on content. So what about network-level properties? It's harder for spammers to change network-level properties."
Feamster and his Ph.D. student Anirudh Ramachandran presented their findings on Sept. 14, 2006 in Pisa, Italy, at the Association for Computing Machinery's annual flagship conference of its Special Interest Group on Data Communication (SIGCOMM).
From 18 months of Internet routing and spam data the researchers collected in one domain, they have learned which network-level properties are most promising for consideration in spam filter design. Specifically, they learned that:
* Internet routes are being hijacked by spammers;
* They can identify many narrow ranges within Internet protocol (IP) address space that are generating only spam;
* and they can identify the Internet service providers (ISP) from which spam is coming.
"We know route hijacking is occurring," Feamster said. "It's being done by a small, but fairly persistent and sophisticated group of spammers, who cannot be traced using conventional methods."
Route hijacking works like this: By exploiting weaknesses in Internet routing protocols, spammers can steal Internet address space by briefly advertising a route for that space to the rest of the Internet's routers. The spammers can then assign any IP address within that address space to their machines. They send their spam from those machines and then withdraw the route by which they sent the spam. By the time a recipient files a complaint related to this IP address, the route is gone and the IP address space is no longer reachable.
"Even if you're watching the hijack take place, it's difficult to tell where it's coming from," Feamster explained. "We can make some good guesses. But Internet routing protocols are insecure, so it's relatively easy for spammers to steal them and hard for us to identify the perpetrators."
Feamster and researchers elsewhere are actively working to improve the security of Internet routing protocols, he added.
Better spam filtering will also result from a system, which Feamster hopes to design, based on collaborative, network-level filtering among ISP operators.
"Within the single domain that we are studying, it's interesting that you don't see the same IP addresses repeatedly being used to send spam to that domain," Feamster said. "So ISP operators need to be able to securely share information about IP addresses associated with spam."
In addition to studying network-level properties of spam, Ramachandran and Feamster compared their lists of IP addresses used to send spam against eight frequently used 'blacklists' compiled by network operators to help filter spam.
"We found that these blacklists listed IP addresses for only about half of the spam being sent using route hijacking," Feamster said. "The best case scenario is that these blacklists are still missing IP addresses from which at least 20 percent of spam is sent. This 20 percent rate of false negatives is likely to cause a high percentage of false positives, and so this approach may also cause a lot of legitimate email to be mistakenly tagged as spam."
The researchers also plan to use this finding in the spam filter development efforts, Feamster added. Meanwhile, the researchers are continuing to collect Internet routing and spam data.
"It's always nice to have long-term data to help us see trends," Feamster noted. "These are valuable studies that help us see if people's behavior changes over time."
Indeed, it has in this case. The rate of spam has nearly doubled in the past two years in the one domain where the researchers collected their routing data for this study.
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Media Relations Contacts: Jane Sanders (404-894-2214); E-mail: (jsanders@gatech.edu) or John Toon (404-894-6986); E-mail: (jtoon@gatech.edu).
Technical Contact: Nick Feamster (617-388-7479); E-mail: (feamster@cc.gatech.edu)
Writer: Jane Sanders
]]>The guidebook, developed by researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology for the Georgia Department of Transportation, helps planners assess their pedestrian environment and prioritize projects to improve it.
Advocates of pedestrian travel say walking can help citizens and communities in numerous ways. It can decrease obesity, and therefore improve public health. Walking can reduce air and noise pollution, as well as traffic congestion and petroleum consumption. It also builds a sense of community. Also, walking requires no special training, and it's relatively cheap to implement. The guidebook explains how.
"There's something in the guidebook for everyone -- from local, regional and state planners in the beginning stages all the way to the advanced stages of developing pedestrian facilities -- and that was our intent," said Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering Adjo Amekudzi, the project's principal researcher. "It was also important to us that it not be prescriptive. There is not one model that fits all."
Amekudzi and fellow researcher Karen Dixon -- a former Georgia Tech associate professor who led the study until she moved to Oregon State University in 2005 -- worked with an advisory committee of public and private group stakeholders to establish a vision, goals and objectives for pedestrian planning in Georgia.
"Georgia must continue to develop pedestrian facilities (which include sidewalks, walkways, crosswalks and shelters) as a viable transportation choice," Amekudzi said. "We want to make walking for short trips safe and convenient and provide citizens the opportunity to maintain a healthy and active lifestyle. That is our vision."
Given the number of accidents in Georgia involving both pedestrians and vehicles, safety is a high priority with regard to pedestrian facilities, Amekudzi says. From 2000 to 2003 in Georgia, 8,416 pedestrians were injured, and 624 were killed in collisions with vehicles.
Detailed in the guidebook (now available online at www.dot.state.ga.us/bikeped/pedestrian_plan) are four primary goals: 1) enhance safety; 2) create seamless integration of pedestrian facilities into the transportation system; 3) integrate planning and design of pedestrian facilities into transportation planning; 4) encourage a pedestrian-friendly environment for everyone.
"We understand that we cannot build our way out of congestion," said Georgia DOT Commissioner Harold Linnenkohl. "This guidebook, which provides communities with concrete strategies to create bike and pedestrian alternatives, is critical to our overall transportation program."
Each goal in the guidebook correlates to several action items, and the guidebook provides basic planning tools to help achieve these ends. "This allows us over time to execute our goals and objectives incrementally to get to the more pedestrian-friendly environment we need in Georgia," Amekudzi noted.
The 132-page guidebook includes six chapters covering the vision and goals, planning and prioritizing projects, pedestrian facility funding, Georgia pedestrian laws, pedestrian safety and educational strategies, and land-use and zoning policy. It also cites some examples of successful pedestrian facility projects and provides a listing of other pedestrian planning resources.
Though the Peach State is the targeted end user, governments outside Georgia may find parts of the guidebook useful, Amekudzi noted.
Here are some highlights from the guidebook:
* A prioritization framework provides details on how to choose pedestrian projects. Planners should consider an area's pedestrian deficiency index factors, such as safety concerns, and pedestrian potential factors, such as centers of activity. "To come out on top, you need to fund projects where you have the highest pedestrian deficiency and potential index factors," Amekudzi explained.
"Funds for building pedestrian-friendly facilities are still hard to come by, but the situation is getting better, thanks in part to some recent federal legislation," Amekudzi said. The guidebook cites the Transportation Efficiency Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) and the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU). These laws make pedestrian project funding available to improve air quality and enhance surface transportation. The SAFETEA-LU law funded the Fifth Street Bridge project in midtown Atlanta to make it a pedestrian-friendly environment.
* Other funding sources include the federal Safe Routes to School program, federal lands and recreational trails money, and highway safety programs. In Georgia, the Governor's Office of Highway Safety and the Georgia Division of Public Health fund pedestrian projects to create community improvement districts and reduce traffic congestion. Also in Georgia, local-option sales taxes can be used to fund pedestrian projects.
* A fundamental question for pedestrians is safety. A lack of driver and pedestrian education, as well pedestrian infrastructure, are often to blame for collisions between pedestrians and vehicles, Amekudzi said. Education supported by good pedestrian infrastructure will help to convince people that they can safely and conveniently walk, rather than ride, for short trips, she added.
* It's important for pedestrians and drivers to understand that crosswalks exist at all corners of intersections, even if the crosswalks are not marked. Also, at crosswalks without traffic signals, pedestrians always have the right-of-way.
* "Land use and zoning have a huge impact on pedestrian travel," Amekudzi said. "That's the core of it. We need land use and zoning that allows mixed-use development to promote a pedestrian-friendly environment." The guidebook outlines some pedestrian-related ordinances and policies.
* An urban example of a walkable community is Atlantic Station in Atlanta. It is a 138-acre, mixed-use development containing retail, commercial, and residential properties, along with public spaces. Atlantic Station is built on the former site of Atlantic Steel Company and was one of the nation's largest brownfields.
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Media Relations Contacts: Jane Sanders, Georgia Tech (404-894-2214); E-mail: (jsanders@gatech.edu) or John Toon, Georgia Tech (404-894-6986); E-mail: (jtoon@gatech.edu) or Karlene Barron, GDOT (404-463-6460); E-mail: (karlene.barron@dot.state.ga.us)
Technical Contacts: Adjo Amekudzi (404-894-0404); E-mail: (adjo.amekudzi@gatech.edu) or
Karen Dixon, Oregon State University (541-737-6337); E-mail: (karen.dixon@oregonstate.edu)
Writer: Jane Sanders
]]>An expert in signal processing and aerospace radar systems, Melvin has been with GTRI for eight years, most recently as director of SEAL's Adaptive Sensor Technology Project Office.
Melvin's research has led to three U.S. patents on adaptive radar technology, and he has authored more than 120 technical articles appearing in journals, conference proceedings and government reports. He holds a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Lehigh University and is an active member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). This spring Melvin was named the "Young Radar Engineer of the Year" by the IEEE Radar Systems Panel of the Aerospace and Electronic Systems Society.
"Bill Melvin will be an outstanding laboratory director," said Stephen E. Cross, GTRI's director and a vice president of Georgia Tech. "In addition to a keen intellect, he possesses the kind of leadership qualities that Jim Collins cites in 'Good to Great,' such as personal humility coupled with tremendous drive and commitment to the organization. Bill is a hard worker and is well respected by his colleagues at GTRI and Georgia Tech as well as in our stakeholder communities."
At SEAL, researchers focus on developing radio frequency (RF) sensors, which includes radar, electromagnetic environmental effects and antenna technology. "Our mission is to contribute to the country's defense, security and well-being by solving complex sensor problems," Melvin explained.
"These are exciting times for radar, as a lot has changed in the past 15 years," Melvin continued. "It used to be that radar systems directed energy into the skies in their search for Soviet aircraft. Today we're pointing radar systems toward the Earth to provide defense and intelligence communities with information on all types of ground threats."
That presents a challenge to make radar systems more effective. For one thing, today's radar systems must operate in environments with increasingly complex interference, contending with site-specific clutter and man-made objects. What's more, spectrum has diminished due to the growing number of wireless devices, such as cell phones and wireless LANs.
Another emphasis at SEAL is signal processing techniques, which use complex algorithms to process data from RF receive elements. "We're trying to make radar bang up against the laws of physics," Melvin said, referring to radar systems that can look through walls and map the interiors of buildings. "To do that, we need to extract as much information as possible out of the data that a system receives."
Key units at SEAL include:
- Radar Systems Division, which develops air-to-ground and space-to-ground sensors. Important areas include electronic protection (anti-jamming), adaptive sensor technology and life-cycle management (helping the government maintain radar systems by identifying shortcomings and developing new parts or upgrades).
- Air and Missile Defense Division, which develops sensors for ballistic missile defense. Among areas of expertise are antenna engineering, tracking and sensor fusion.
- Electromagnetic and Antennas Division, which investigates both new and existing threat systems for the intelligence community and explores electromagnetic effects and antenna design and measurement techniques.
- Tactical Weapons and Sensors Project Office, which develops sensors for tactical weapons systems that support military troops on the ground. Launched in 2004, the TWSPO office is a highly specialized area that Melvin hopes to grow.
Although the defense community benefits greatly from SEAL's work, the lab is also pursuing related radar technologies for applications in air traffic control, vehicle safety, site intrusion detection and healthcare. In highway safety, for example, radar systems could be used to keep cars at safe distances.
"Radar is a highly multidisciplinary field, and SEAL has a great team of subject matter experts," Melvin said. "By pooling their talent, we can develop highly innovative, end-to-end solutions that best meet our customers' requirements."
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Media Relations Contacts: John Toon (404-894-6986); E-mail: (jtoon@gatech.edu) or Kirk Englehardt (404-407-7280); E-mail: (kirk.englehardt@gtri.gatech.edu).
Technical Contact: William Melvin (770-528-3274); E-mail: (bill.melvin@gtri.gatech.edu).
Writer: T.J. Becker
]]>One source of potential interference is the electronic article surveillance (EAS) systems that help retailers, libraries and other establishments prevent theft and track inventory. Also, early signs suggest potential concerns from the radio-frequency identification (RFID) systems that are now coming into more widespread use.
Georgia Tech's EAS/Medical Device E3 Test Center helps manufacturers improve compatibility between implantable medical devices and systems that radiate electromagnetic energy. The Center, which has focused on EAS systems for more than a decade, has recently expanded its operations and facilities to test new types of security and logistical systems - including RFID.
"EAS systems may cause medical devices to do anything from shutting down to invoking therapy at the wrong time - not a good thing if you're wearing a defibrillator, which is supposed to shock the heart when needed," explained Ralph Herkert, manager of the Center, which is part of the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI).
Typically, manufacturers use filters to reduce electromagnetic interference, but medical devices pose special challenges. The operating frequencies and modulation characteristics of EAS systems and tag deactivators can fall in the same frequency band as biological signals, such as the heartbeat. Filters would not only eliminate the EAS signals but also the very signals that medical devices are designed to detect.
"Instead of filters, medical device manufacturers must deal with the interference in other ways, such as refining their firmware algorithms," Herkert said.
Researchers at the Center simulate real-world conditions by placing a medical device in a tank of saline solution that simulates the electrical characteristics of body tissue and fluid. The tank then moves along a track that exposes the medical device to nine different EAS systems and five tag deactivators that use various types of magnetic, acoustic-magnetic and radio frequency technologies.
Several tests are performed with the device placed in different orientations to represent how people typically interact with EAS field emissions. Manufacturers use the resulting data to improve products and make sure they meet Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requirements. In fact, the center's testing procedures have been used to develop a standardized test protocol for medical device and EAS manufacturers.
"By enabling manufacturers of EAS systems and medical devices to work together, the center reduces adversarial roles and minimizes problems before they occur," said Jimmy Woody, who spearheaded the establishment of the Center and served as its manager through 2001.
Although the Center initially tested pacemakers and defibrillators, today it conducts research on a variety of medical devices including implantable hearing devices, drug-infusion pumps, neurostimulators, cardiac monitors and glucose monitors. And because today's patients may use more than one medical device, the center has been evaluating possible interactions between different types of devices, such as bone-healing stimulators and implanted cardiac devices.
Most recently, the Center has been investigating new types of security and logistics systems that could be potential emission threats to medical devices. For example, more companies are using radio frequency identification (RFID) systems for inventory control. Right now these devices typically are found on warehouse and shipping containers. Yet as costs decline, RFID technology may soon show up in stores on individual products.
In response, GTRI is acquiring RFID systems, which will be set up and used with the Center's EAS testing protocols.
"As RFID becomes ubiquitous, testing medical devices against RFID readers and active tags in all frequency ranges will be an essential growth area of the EAS/Medical Device E3 Test Center," said Gisele Bennett, director of GTRI's Electro-Optical Systems Lab (EOSL), which oversees the center.
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Media Relations Contacts: John Toon (404-894-6986); E-mail: (jtoon@gatech.edu) or Kirk Englehardt (404-407-7280); E-mail: (kirk.englehardt@gtri.gatech.edu).
Technical Contacts: Ralph Herkert (404-657-0446); E-mail: (ralph.herkert@gtri.gatech.edu) or Gisele Bennett (404-407-6155); E-mail: (gisele.bennett@gtri.gatech.edu).
Writer: T.J. Becker
]]>Microcomputed tomography (microCT) - which yields three-dimensional X-ray images with a resolution 100 times higher than clinical CT scans - is commonly used to image bone for osteoporosis research but has not been useful for imaging soft biological tissues such as cartilage. These tissues simply don't interfere with the microCT's X-rays as they pass through a sample, and therefore don't show up on scans.
But by combining microCT with an X-ray-absorbing contrast agent that has a negative charge, researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology were able to image the distribution of negatively charged molecules called proteoglycans (PGs). These molecules are critical to the proper functioning of cartilage.
"By detecting PG content and distribution, the technique reveals information about both the thickness and composition of the cartilage -- important factors for monitoring the progression and treatment of osteoarthritis," said Associate Professor Marc Levenston in Georgia Tech's George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering.
He and Associate Professor Robert Guldberg, also in the School of Mechanical Engineering, collaborated to establish and validate the principle of the technique, dubbed Equilibrium Partitioning of an Ionic Contrast agent-microCT, or EPIC-microCT. Then they applied the technique in vitro to monitor the degradation of bovine cartilage cores and to visualize the thin layer of cartilage in an intact rabbit knee.
"This technique will allow pharmaceutical researchers to obtain more detailed information about the effects of new drugs and other treatment strategies for treating osteoarthritis," Levenston said.
A report on the research will be published Dec. 19 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and appeared in the online early edition on Dec. 4. The National Science Foundation, National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Disorders, and the Arthritis Foundation funded the work.
Experiments conducted by Ph.D. student Ashley Palmer established the principles and protocol of EPIC-microCT. Researchers first immersed cartilage samples in the contrast agent solution and waited for the agent to diffuse into the tissue. Tissue with fewer negatively charged PGs absorbed more of the negatively charged contrast agent, and tissue with a higher PG concentration repelled it.
Researchers then used EPIC-microCT to detect the concentrations of the contrast agent, which allowed them to calculate the amount of PGs in different parts of the cartilage. Because degrading cartilage loses PGs over time, researchers could monitor the progression of tissue changes. In addition, differences in the X-ray signal of cartilage and bone allowed researchers to isolate the cartilage layer on a rabbit joint and determine its thickness, indicating that this technique also can be used to measure tissue thinning during disease progression.
In follow-on research funded by a new, two-year grant from the National Institutes of Health, the researchers will gather additional quantitative data and use the technique to examine the very thin cartilage of rat knee joints. Researchers will nondestructively evaluate osteoarthritis progression and then attempt to use this approach to monitor cartilage changes over time in vivo, or inside the same live animals.
"Ultimately, if we can monitor cartilage changes with good resolution and do it with little or no invasion of the tissue in live animals, then we can track osteoarthritis progression and the effects of drug therapy or other treatments over time," Guldberg said.
Researchers have already addressed a significant technical hurdle in making the imaging technique feasible. They researched several contrast agents and tried two others before choosing HexabrixTM, which is approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use as a contrast agent for various imaging procedures in humans. When diluted, it produced an X-ray signal that allowed distinction of bone from cartilage.
"The ability to separate bone from cartilage in the microCT scan is a big deal," Guldberg said. "It suggests that this technique may work in vivo."
But dilution reduces the contrast agent's sensitivity and therefore the technique's PG-monitoring capability, the authors write in their paper. "In this next phase of research, we hope to find a one-shot concentration of the contrast agent that works for analyzing both cartilage thickness and composition," said Levenston, the senior author on the paper.
In addition, the researchers must address technical issues involving the in vivo delivery and retention of a sufficient volume and concentration of the contrast agent, they note in the paper.
"But even if the technique only works for in vitro studies, it still provides useful quantitative, high-resolution, 3D images that researchers can use to nondestructively monitor cartilage degeneration and even regeneration in small animal models," Guldberg said.
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Media Relations Contact: John Toon (404-894-6986); E-mail: (jtoon@gatech.edu).
Technical Contacts: Robert Guldberg (404-894-6589); E-mail: (robert.guldberg@me.gatech.edu); Ashley Palmer (404-385-6779); E-mail: (ashley.palmer@gatech.edu).
Writer: Jane M. Sanders
]]>The new director of the Georgia Tech Research Institute's (GTRI) Electronic Systems Laboratory (ELSYS), McDermott specializes in the design and development of high-performance avionics hardware and software systems that make modern aircraft and other weapons systems do their jobs.
"Everything involves computer architectures today," said McDermott, who has 22 years of technical and managerial experience at both GTRI and Lockheed-Martin Aeronautical Systems in nearby Marietta, Ga. "When I went to work for Lockheed, the first project I worked on was a local area network that ended up in the F-22 Raptor."
Computer hardware and software for military systems are the bread-and-butter of ELSYS, which focuses on systems architecture, defensive avionics, and command-and-control systems. The lab is perhaps best known for modernization programs aimed at updating military systems such as the venerable C-130 transport, the first variant of which flew more than 50 years ago.
When McDermott joined GTRI four years ago, he took over leadership of the C-130 Avionics Modernization Program (AMP), the lab's single largest project. As a subcontractor to Boeing, ELSYS supports updating critical systems with modern digital equipment, work that has been worth $16 million so far.
But updates to radar and defensive systems aren't the lab's only vital defense work. McDermott sees growth areas ahead in command-and-control systems, part of the military's efforts to move information closer to the people who need it.
"There is a general focus in the Department of Defense to push the information flow out to the users at the tip of the spear. We are seeing a lot of initiatives to take traditional command-and control information and put it onto the systems in the field - aircraft, tanks and even soldiers' backpacks," he said. "Because we have such broad experience with the systems that are in users' hands today, GTRI has unique capabilities to offer that can help quickly transition information technologies from the command centers to the field."
He figures his experience with Lockheed can help ELSYS in its collaborations with large defense contractors.
"I was in senior management at Lockheed, so I understand the business models that these large commercial companies use," he said. "When they ask us to do something, I understand why. It may make a large contractor more comfortable if the person they're working with in GTRI has been in their shoes."
Opportunities to work with commercial companies reinforce the importance of the lab's continuous process improvement program, which resulted in a CMM Level 3 rating in 2003 under the Software Engineering Institute Capability Maturity Model. Work is now underway to attain a rating under the new CMMI-integrated model by the end of 2007.
"Documented processes are a requirement for many of the larger system integration projects that we have," McDermott noted. "It's important for GTRI to keep a focus on continuous improvement of our processes, because that's what our customers expect."
But ELSYS researchers have become known for much more than defense work. Through a long-term collaboration with the state of Georgia, its researchers help Georgia companies understand what they must do to meet OSHA regulations. And the lab's program on accessibility for the disabled recently won national acclaim that has fueled interest from organizations worldwide.
For McDermott, joining GTRI after an 18-year career at Lockheed was like going home. With an M.S. degree in electrical engineering and a B.S. in physics - both from the Georgia Institute of Technology - he was comfortable at the home of the Yellow Jackets, and had even played drums in the marching band.
"One of the things that attracted me back to Georgia Tech was the opportunity to teach," he said. "Being involved in the academic process helps bring us closer to the schools and colleges that make up Georgia Tech."
In a collaboration between GTRI and the College of Engineering, McDermott has been part of developing the new professional master's degree program in systems engineering. He also teaches short courses on such topics as electronic warfare principles, systems engineering team leadership, and earned value principles.
McDermott took over as lab director on September 1, replacing the retiring Bill Rogers. "We have a great group of people here in ELSYS, and the transition has been a smooth one," he added. "Bill Rogers developed a great management team, and we owe a lot of credit to him and his predecessors for building a strong lab."
McDermott is married to the former Susan Ellis. They have three children: Christopher (age 17), Anna (15) and Bonnie (12), and live in northeast Cobb County.
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Writer: John Toon
]]>Liquid crystals are a key component of the displays used in most laptop computers and the increasingly-popular flat panel televisions. Controlled by a network of transistors, the liquid crystals change their optical characteristics in response to electrical signals to create the text and images we see.
Manufacture of the panels is complex, requiring multiple steps that can introduce defects. Among the steps is the application of a polymer film - the so-called alignment layer - to the two pieces of glass between which the liquid crystals operate. The film, which must be rubbed after being coated on the glass, anchors the crystals with a fixed alignment. The process of rubbing to create the necessary alignment can damage some of the transistors and introduce dust, producing defects that can reduce the manufacturing yield of the panels.
By adding side chains to the polymer molecules, researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have found a way to eliminate the polymer rubbing step. Instead, they use the in-situ photopolymerization of alkyl acrylate monomers in the presence of nematic liquid crystals to provide a cellular matrix of liquid crystalline droplets in which the chemical structure of the encapsulating polymer controls the liquid crystal alignment.
"Small changes in the chemical nature of the polymer will change the alignment of the molecules at surfaces," said Mohan Srinivasarao, a professor in Georgia Tech's School of Polymer, Textile and Fiber Engineering. "It turns out that this can be done over a fairly large area, and it is reproducible. This would be an alternative way to create the alignment that is needed in these devices."
Srinivasarao described the self-aligning of liquid crystals on September 14th at the 232nd national meeting of the American Chemical Society in San Francisco. His presentation was part of the session "Organic Thin Films for Photonic Applications."
Beyond the potential for simplifying the manufacture of liquid crystal devices, the self-aligning technique could also be used in new types of diffraction gratings.
Srinivasarao and collaborators Jung Ok Park and Jian Zhou have used the technique and a nematic material with negative dielectric anisotropy to fabricate highly flexible liquid crystal devices that have high contrast and fast response times - without using an alignment layer. Control is obtained by variation of the alkyl side chains and through copolymerization of two dissimilar monofunctional acrylates.
Beyond simplifying the fabrication process and potentially increasing device yield, the technique also offers other advantages. Because devices are based on vertical alignment of the liquid crystals, their 'off' state can be made completely dark. In addition, the liquid crystals provide strong binding between the two substrate surfaces, making the resulting display less sensitive to mechanical deformations and pressure - ideal for flexible displays that lack the structure provided by glass plates.
Though the technique developed at Georgia Tech offers advantages over existing systems, Srinivasarao doesn't expect a change in the way the current generation of laptop screens and televisions are made. That's because existing manufacturing processes are mature and changing them probably can't be justified economically.
But beyond applications to future flexible displays, what the researchers learn from their approach could apply to the next generation of display devices based on liquid crystals.
"When we make this polymer, the molecules automatically generate the alignment," Srinivasarao said. "We are interested now in figuring out what is responsible for making that happen. We want to link the chemical nature of these polymeric materials to how the liquid crystal molecules behave at the surface."
Current displays use polyimides for an alignment layer because these materials are heat resistant and can be used over a broad range of temperatures for extended periods of time. The alkyl acrylates that Srinivasarao and his colleagues are using lack that same robustness, so material improvements would be needed before they could be used to manufacture flexible displays.
"If we can show similar results - switching times faster than 30 milliseconds and high contrast ratios - with more robust polymeric materials, then we could say that this approach would be viable," he said.
The research has been supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation's Division of Materials Research.
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Georgia Institute of Technology
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Media Relations Contacts: John Toon (404-894-6986); E-mail: (jtoon@gatech.edu) or Jane Sanders (404-894-2214); E-mail: (jsanders@gatech.edu).
Technical Contact: Mohan Srinivasarao (404-894-9348); E-mail: (mohan.srinivasarao@ptfe.gatech.edu).
Writer: John Toon
]]>Researchers hope to learn how diatoms assemble these nanometer-patterned, intricate micro-architectures to find better methods for creating nanomaterials in the laboratory.
"Diatoms are nature's most gifted nanotechnologists," said Nils Kröger, an assistant professor in Georgia Tech's School of Chemistry and Biochemistry and the School of Materials Science and Engineering. "We want to learn how diatom cell walls are produced because human technology can't make something that intricate by self-assembly processes and under ambient conditions."
Diatoms are single-celled organisms that frequently appear as a brown, slippery coating on submerged stones and as phytoplankton in the open ocean. Tiny pores in the cell wall allow diatoms to exchange nutrients with the environment and remain at the surface of the water to absorb sunlight for photosynthesis. Diatom photosynthesis is responsible for 20 percent of the world's organic carbon. The pores allow diatoms to be lightweight, but their cell wall gives them a strong mechanical structure. The strength of the cell wall comes from amorphous silica, or silicon dioxide (SiO2) -- virtually the same material as glass.
Diatom cell walls show an enormous diversity in form, most of them amazingly beautiful and ornate, depending on specific biomolecules produced by the diatom, Kröger explained. Previous research has shown that uniquely modified proteins called silaffins and extremely long polyamine chains play a role in the structural design of the cell wall. Kröger hypothesizes that the structure of the diatom silica critically depends on the type of silaffin present within the diatoms' silica-producing organic matrix. Therefore, he expects that changing the 'silaffin equipment' of a diatom cell should result in novel silica nanostructures.
Kröger and collaborator Nicole Poulsen, a postdoctoral researcher in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, have developed a technique to genetically engineer diatoms. The process allows insertion of mutated or foreign genes into the genome of the diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana. Kröger believes this technique will enable the creation of diatoms with novel silica structures. He will describe the technique in an invited presentation on Dec. 12 at the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union.
Genetic manipulation of diatoms will increase the understanding of their cellular biochemistry and potentially enable the use of these organisms for the production of commercially valuable compounds and materials, Kröger said. But inserting a gene through the strong silica cell wall is difficult. The wall must be penetrated, but not broken, and the foreign gene must be accepted into the diatom's genome, he explained.
To insert the genes, such as those that encode different silaffins, through the diatom cell wall, Kröger and Poulsen use a technique called microparticle bombardment. DNA-coated tungsten particles are 'shot' on the diatoms under high heliumpressure, thus enabling them to penetrate the strong diatom cell wall. The diatom incorporates the introduced DNA into its genome, and selection of the transfected cells is achieved using the antibiotic nourseothricin. When new genes are introduced with the technique developed by Kröger and Poulsen, they can be expressed constantly or be turned on and off when necessary. Specific details of the technique were published in the October 2006 issue of the Journal of Phycology.
Kröger and Poulsen established this technique for the diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana because it is currently the only diatom species with a completely sequenced genome.
"Knowing the genome sequence and having established a method for genetic modification of this organism means we can, in principle, analyze the function of every gene and the protein that it encodes," Kröger said. "This will eventually enable us to identify the key cellular biomolecules involved in creating the strong, intricately patterned diatom cell walls."
The research has been supported by a grant from the Office of Naval Research and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
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Media Relations Contact: John Toon (404-894-6986); E-mail: (jtoon@gatech.edu).
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Writer: Abby Vogel
]]>Among the surprises is data indicating that a secondary underwater movement amplified the original tsunami to create a wave run-up more than 60 feet high along more than a one-mile section of coastline. Data also raise the possibility that some regional geophysical characteristic may be making Java more vulnerable to tsunami earthquakes.
Researchers from across the globe will present new analyses of seismic data, field survey information and modeling results of the July 17, 2006 tsunami earthquake at the American Geophysical Union's (AGU) fall meeting in San Francisco. Andrew Newman, an assistant professor of geophysics at the Georgia Institute of Technology's School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, and Susan Bilek, an assistant professor of geophysics at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology are presiding over the Dec. 11 session devoted to the July disaster.
"Sharing what we're learning will help us to better characterize tsunami earthquakes and where they occur," Newman said. "We'll also be able to better assess in the future when these kind of earthquakes occur whether they are likely to create tsunamis."
Only about 0.1 percent of earthquakes of a 6.0 or larger magnitude on the Richter scale in the past 40 years have been classified as tsunami earthquakes, but their potentially catastrophic impact demands investigation into why and where they occur, Newman explained.
A tsunami earthquake is a slow-rupturing quake that occurs near the ocean floor. It uplifts a piece of the sea floor, and that deformation displaces water that propagates out to create a tsunami. Just 30 feet of slip in tectonic plates can create a 60-foot or higher wave on shore, and local wave run-up can be even higher, Newman noted.
Seismic data on the Java event revealed that the earthquake, which measured 7.7 on the Richter scale, did indeed rupture slowly compared to a typical earthquake, Newman said. It created a deadly tsunami that hit a 300-mile stretch of Java's coastline and claimed more than 600 lives in a 125-mile-long, high-impact area.
Newman and Bilek analyzed the distribution of aftershocks that occurred in the two weeks following the July 17 event. Most of them occurred at shallow depths and close to the trench -- the area where the Australian and Sunda plates collided.
"The nature of these aftershocks was a dead giveaway that this event was a classic tsunami earthquake," Newman explained. "Only tsunami earthquakes rupture in the shallowest portion of the trench -- only a few kilometers below the sea floor."
The July 2006 tsunami earthquake was the second such event to occur on the Java trench in the past 40 years; the previous one happened in 1994. "There may be something going on in this particular trench -- some regional characteristic -- that is increasing the potential for tsunami earthquakes in this area," Newman noted. His previous study of global data from 1970 to 2000 showed no indication of any seismic characteristics that made tsunami earthquakes occur more frequently in certain regions, but the Java event has renewed his interest in this possibility.
In another presentation in the same AGU meeting session, Hermann Fritz, a Georgia Tech assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering, will report the findings of the International Tsunami Survey Team (ITST) that he led into Java about two weeks after the tsunami earthquake. The team gathered perishable data on wave run-up, inundation, damage to structures, and sediment erosion and deposition along a 350-mile stretch of coastline. They recorded numerous eyewitness accounts on video to document survival strategies, as well as wave sequence and periods.
Most areas were hit by waves not exceeding 30 feet, but the team documented greater impact to a one-mile-long stretch of coastline on the island of Nusa Kambangan. It is a restricted-access area because high-security prisons are located there. In this area, the tsunami wave size exceeded 60 feet and inundated the coastline for more than half a mile inland, killing 19 inmates.
"The violent tsunami impact on Nusa Kambangan was visualized by a sharp trimline carved into the impact zone," Fritz said. "It shredded an entire forest and caused massive beach erosion of more than a meter vertically. The violent impact extended several miles beyond the area of island coastline we visited, but the rest was not accessible. We were the only survey team that was granted access -- which was in the company of federal agents -- to the off-limits island."
"This was an unusually high wave run-up for an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.7," Fritz explained. "So we presume there was some local forcing, or underwater earth movement, such as a sub-marine landslide or slump, that may have been triggered by the earthquake and caused a larger tsunami to hit this local area."
Most of the tsunami's casualties -- more than 400 of them -- occurred in Java's prime beach-tourist destination of Pagandaran, which is more than 20 miles west of Nusa, Fritz said.
As is common with slow-rupturing tsunami earthquakes, most people onshore in Java did not feel any shaking when the quake occurred 125 miles offshore, Fritz noted.
"Even the trained lifeguards on the beaches had a hard time recognizing the classic tsunami harbinger of initial shoreline recession," he added. "They didn't notice it because of the large surf waves that day."
Though the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a tsunami warning following the earthquake, it did not result in a local warning and evacuation because of communication and other logistical problems, Fritz said. But even if there had been a local warning, people would only have had 10 to 15 minutes at most to evacuate because the earthquake occurred so close to shore, he added.
Fritz and the survey team called for better education of the public to help them recognize the precursors of a tsunami. "Even if people feel weak ground-shaking on shore, they should move to higher ground," he said. "There's typically some degree of ocean drawback and/or an initial higher-than-normal wave, though the first wave is rarely the biggest one. Also, when people evacuate the beach, they need to stay away from the shore for the recommended six hours."
Researchers, including Fritz and his survey team colleagues, are working with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to improve public education about tsunamis. Public awareness has improved in Indonesia, Fritz said, but needs a boost in other at-risk areas, including the Pacific Northwest coastline of the United States, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico and Peru.
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Media Relations Contact: John Toon (404-894-6986); E-mail: (jtoon@gatech.edu).
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Writer: Jane M. Sanders
]]>Using a low-temperature atomic layer deposition (ALD) process, materials scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology produced aluminum oxide (alumina) replicas of wing scales from a Morpho peleides butterfly, a bright blue insect native to the rain forests of Central and South America. The artificial wing scales faithfully replicated the physical features and optical properties of the natural wing scales that served as templates.
"We can never come close to the richness of the structures that nature can make," said Zhong Lin Wang, Regents' Professor in the Georgia Tech School of Materials Science and Engineering. "We want to utilize biology as a template for making new materials and new structures. This process gives us a new way to fabricate photonic structures such as waveguides."
The work has been reported in the American Chemical Society journal Nano Letters. The research was supported by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH). The Day Butterfly Center at Callaway Gardens in Pine Mountain, Ga., provided the Morpho peleides butterfly specimen.
To create their artificial structures, Wang and colleagues Xudong Wang and Jingyun Huang deposited uniform layers of alumina onto butterfly wing scales one Angstrom at a time using the ALD process. (Huang was a visiting scientist from Zhejiang University, China). They were able to precisely control the thickness of the coating with the number of deposition cycles to which each wing scale template was subjected.
After the deposition, the coated scales were heated to 800 degrees Celsius to crystallize the alumina - and burn off the original butterfly wing scale. The resulting polycrystalline alumina was stronger than the original amorphous material deposited with the ALD process.
The artificial butterfly wing scale is a three-dimensional structure that retains the features of the original. That includes hollow tubular structures that split off at regular intervals, providing the potential for use as optical waveguides and optical splitters - and even as microfluidic or microreactor devices.
"Owing to the excellent uniformity of the alumina film, both the large-scale arrangement of the wing scales and the nanometer-scale periodic structures are perfectly preserved after this vigorous template removal process," the authors wrote. "The alumina replicas of the wing scales exhibit the same shape, orientation, and distribution as their 'parent' scales."
Butterfly wing colors are produced by a combination of pigments and reflection from photonic structures. "If you examine the wing scale, you see all of the intricate micron-scale and nanometer-scale features that determine the optical properties," Wang noted. "From a physical point of view, this is a very regular photonic structure with regular gaps that produce the bluish color."
The artificial wing scales produced by the researchers also reflect bluish light, though the color is of slightly longer wavelength than that of the original butterfly. That's because the chemical pigments that contribute to the original butterfly color are no longer present, and - Wang surmises - because the researchers had to dry the wing scales prior to deposition, which likely altered the size of their photonic structures.
Wang and his colleagues discovered that because the thickness of the alumina coating controlled the size and periodicity of the photonic structures, increasing the thickness shifted the reflected light toward the red portion of the spectrum. For instance, by increasing the coating thickness from 10 to 40 nanometers, the color reflected by the alumina wing scales shifted from the original blue to green, yellow, orange and eventually pink, Wang noted.
The complex nature of the structures would be impossible to create with any other process, he said. "This could provide a new way to make nanostructures that are replicated from biology," he said. "It allows us to fabricate truly tubular, three-dimensional interconnected nanostructures in a one-step process."
The atomic layer deposition process could potentially be used with other materials such as titanium oxide, and to replicate other biologically-inspired structures.
"As long as there is a void that the vapor phase can penetrate, an entire structure can be replicated using the ALD process," Wang said. "Regardless of what the substrate is and what the three-dimensional shape is, you can control it to the Angstrom level."
Next on the agenda may be the water strider, an insect that uses unique hydrophobic feet to skim gracefully across the surface of water. Wang would like to study the possibility of replicating the micron-scale structures of the insect's feet, but he has found that obtaining samples may be difficult.
"I was trying to catch one of them, but they are very quick," he admitted. "I almost fell into the water."
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Media Relations Contacts: John Toon (404-894-6986); E-mail: (jtoon@gatech.edu) or Jane Sanders (404-894-2214); E-mail: (jsanders@gatech.edu).
Technical Contact: Zhong Lin Wang (404-894-8008); E-mail: (zhong.wang@mse.gatech.edu).
Writer: John Toon
]]>Based on a collaboration of materials scientists and chemical engineers, the research aims to duplicate the self-cleaning surfaces of the lotus plant, which grows in waterways of Asia. Despite growing in muddy conditions, the leaves and flowers remain clean because their surfaces are composed of micron- and nano-scale structures that - along with a waxy coating - prevent dirt and water from adhering. Despite their unusual surface properties, the rough surfaces allow photosynthesis to continue in the leaves.
"When rain hits the leaves of the lotus plant, it simply beads up," noted C.P. Wong, a Regents Professor in Georgia Tech's School of Materials Science and Engineering. "When the leaves are also tilted at a small angle, the beads of water run off instantaneously. While the water is rolling off, it carries away any dirt on the surface."
The self-cleaning action of the lotus plant has intrigued researchers for decades, and recent studies done by researchers in several different groups have demonstrated the reasons behind the plant's unique abilities.
The plant's ability to repel water and dirt results from an unusual combination of a superhydrophobic (water-repelling) surface and a combination of micron-scale hills and valleys and nanometer-scale waxy bumps that create rough surfaces that don't give water or dirt a chance to adhere.
"Because of the combination of nano-scale and micron-scale structures, water droplets can only contact about three percent of the surface," Wong said. "They're just not touching very much of the lotus surface as compared to a smooth surface."
To address several unique applications, Georgia Tech researchers have attempted to duplicate the two-tier lotus surface using a variety of materials, including polybutadiene. But that organic compound isn't suitable for coatings that are exposed to sunlight because ultraviolet radiation breaks down its carbon bonds. So to address their first lotus application - self-cleaning insulators used on high-voltage power lines - the researchers had to develop another material.
Supported by the National Electric Energy Testing Research and Applications Center (NEETRAC), that project would solve a problem that plagues electric utilities. The build-up of dirt and dust on ceramic or silicone insulators used by high-voltage power lines can eventually create a short circuit that can damage the electric distribution network. It's impractical to manually clean the insulators.
Wong and collaborators Yonghao Xiu, Lingbo Zhu and Dennis Hess have developed a lotus surface able to withstand ultraviolet radiation using a combination of silicone, fluorocarbons, and inorganics such as titanium dioxide and silicon dioxide. Their prototype coating has shown excellent durability in long-term testing.
Supported by the National Science Foundation, NASA and other agencies, Georgia Tech is also pursuing other work based on lotus applications:
- Use of carbon nanotube bundles to create the surface bumps needed to prevent dust from accumulating on the surfaces of photovoltaic (PV) cells, space suits and other equipment intended for use on the moon or Mars - where there's no rain. Arranging patterns of nanotube bundles a few microns apart and applying a weak electrical charge should help keep dust away and maintain maximum efficiency in the PV cells that power space missions.
- Application of lotus coatings to prevent 'stiction,' which is the strong adhesive force that can form between the structures of micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) and substrates. The magnitude of these forces can be enough to deform the structures, resulting in device failure. With its superhydrophobicity and surface roughness, a lotus surface coating can prevent stiction, Wong said.
- A two-tier surface system composed of hexagonally-packed silica spheres on which gold nanoparticles were deposited. The resulting chemical and physical structures were studied to establish the impact of surface hydrophobicity and roughness on the measured contact angles on the rough surfaces.
- Lotus surfaces for use in implantable medical devices to prevent cells from attaching to form blood clots. If successful, this application could replace anti-clotting materials that are coated onto implantable devices such as stents used to hold blood vessels open.
The lotus plant is yet another example of how researchers can learn surprising lessons from what Nature has provided, Wong noted.
"It's not easy to get dust and dirt off a smooth surface," he said. "Though it seems counterintuitive, the roughness actually helps the cleaning process. We believe this lotus surface will have many potential applications."
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Technical Contact: C.P. Wong (404-894-8391); E-mail: (cp.wong@mse.gatech.edu).
Writer: John Toon
]]>When mixed with natural organic matter in water from the Suwannee River -- a relatively unpolluted waterway that originates in southern Georgia -- multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) remain suspended for more than a month, making them more likely to be transported in the environment, according to research led by the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Carbon nanotubes, which can be single- or multiwalled, are cylindrical carbon structures with novel properties that make them potentially useful in a wide variety of applications including electronics, composites, optics and pharmaceuticals.
"We found that natural organic matter, or NOM as we call it, was efficient at suspending the nanotubes in water," said Jaehong Kim, an assistant professor in the Georgia Tech School of Civil and Environmental Engineering.
The research will be published in the January issue of the American Chemical Society journal Environmental Science & Technology. Kim is the senior author and conducted the research with Professor Joseph Hughes, graduate student Hoon Hyung, both at Georgia Tech, and postdoctoral researcher John Fortner from Georgia Tech and Rice University. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency funded the research.
"We don't know for certain why NOM is so efficient at suspending these nanotubes in the laboratory," Kim said. "We think NOM has some chemical characteristics that promote adhesion to the nanotubes more than to some surfactants. We are now studying this further."
In the lab, Kim and his colleagues compared the interactions of various concentrations of MWNTs with different aqueous environments - organic-free water, water containing a 1 percent solution of the surfactant sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), water containing a commercially available sample of Suwannee River NOM and an actual sample of Suwannee River water from the same location as the commercially available preparation. They agitated each sample for one hour and then let it sit for up to one month.
The researchers then used transmission electron microscopy (TEM), measurements of opacity and turbidity, and other analyses to determine the behavior of MWNTs in these environments. The results were:
* MWNTs added to organic-free water settled quickly, and the water became completely transparent in less than an hour.
* When added to the SDS solution, the nanotubes immediately made the water dark and cloudy. After one day of settling, some nanotubes remained suspended, and the water was a light gray color.
* Water containing the commercially available sample of Suwannee River NOM originally appeared dark and cloudy, then gradually lightened after four days of settling. Some MWNTs remained suspended for more than a month.
* The results with an actual Suwannee River sample were similar to those with the commercially available preparation.
In addition, Kim and his colleagues used TEM to find that most MWNTs in both samples of NOM were suspended as individually dispersed nanotubes, rather than being clustered together as some other nanomaterials do in water. "This individual dispersion might make them more likely to be transported in a natural environment," Kim explained.
In light of these findings, Kim and his colleagues have expanded their research to other nanomaterials, including single-walled carbon nanotubes and C60, the so-called 'buckyball' molecules in the same family as carbon nanotubes. They are also experimenting with other NOM sources and studying different mixing conditions. "We are getting some interesting results, though our findings are still preliminary," Kim noted.
While researchers explore applications of nanomaterials and industry nears commercial manufacture of these novel products, it's essential for scientists and engineers to study the materials' potential environmental impact, Kim added.
"Natural organic matter is heterogeneous," he explained. "It's a complex mixture made from plants and microorganisms, and it's largely undefined and variable depending on the source. So we have to continue to study nanomaterial transport in the lab using various NOM sources to try to better understand their potential interaction in the natural environment."
In related research, Kim's research team is studying various other aspects of the fate of nanomaterials in water -- including photochemical and chemical reactions of C60 colloidal aggregates -- with the ultimate goal of understanding the environmental implications of nanotechnology.
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Media Relations Contact: John Toon (404-894-6986); E-mail: (jtoon@gatech.edu).
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Writer: Jane Sanders
]]>The ultra-thin, paper-like plastic can incorporate a variety of electronic circuits, yet it molds to any shape and appears to perform well in the extreme temperatures and intense radiation encountered by NASA spacecraft.
George E. Ponchak, a co-investigator and senior research engineer at NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio, said research to date indicates that LCP outperforms conventional materials for antennas and circuit boards in high-frequency radio applications aboard space vehicles.
"I think the chances are very high that LCP will be practical for a variety of NASA applications," Ponchak said .
Light weight is the material's biggest potential benefit to NASA, he said. Flexible LCP antennas would be lighter than today's structured antennas, and LCP-based circuits molded to available spacecraft areas could eliminate heavy metal boxes that currently house rigid circuit boards.
"Less weight lets us move to a smaller launch system, which in turn saves a lot of money," Ponchak said.
John Papapolymerou, a professor in the Georgia Tech School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, explains that LCP's unique structure - aromatic crystal polyester comprised of benzene rings, acetyloxy polymers, and carboxyl groups - allows it to be heat resistant, flexible and strong while also possessing excellent electrical performance.
Moreover, the material can serve as a highly efficient substrate - material on which semiconductor chips are attached - as well as the backplane that connects those chips together, said Papapolymerou, who with Prof. Manos Tentzeris leads a team researching LCP. Even micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) devices could be embedded on LCP, along with integrated circuits.
"It's like having a PC board type of technology that has many other advantages," Papapolymerou said. "We are already developing LCP-based technology for NASA applications, and I think eventually you will see LCP in next-generation consumer systems."
Among the material's advantages:
- It is 'near-hermetic' - highly resistant to humidity and other environmental conditions. It could be applied almost like wallpaper to space and other vehicles, forming large antennas aloft.
- It effectively processes radio frequencies (RF) up to 110 GHz, which is well into the millimeter wave range used for radars as well as for military and scientific communications. By contrast, conventional circuit-board RF capabilities dwindle swiftly above 5 GHz.
- It is cheaper to make than competing hermetic technologies such as ceramic substrates.
- Its thermal-expansion properties allow it to form multi-layer structures that won't crack or delaminate. That could lead to three-dimensional circuits that provide both reliability and a smaller footprint.
Papapolymerou and Tentzeris have received two three-year awards from the NASA/Earth Science Technology Office to pursue LCP-related applications. They are currently developing a precipitation-radar application that NASA could use to monitor global water cycling. In addition to NASA, the National Science Foundation is also supporting Georgia Tech's LCP work.
Recent LCP-related publications by the Georgia Tech LCP team have appeared in IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters, IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters, and IEEE Transactions on Advanced Packaging.
NASA's Ponchak notes that LCP still has hurdles to clear before it can be used in space. Though the material has performed well at high temperatures, it must still complete low-temperature and radiation tests. If it passes those tests, it could be incorporated into NASA spacecraft designs within two years, he said.
Papapolymerou believes that RF circuits for communications and radar are LCP's most promising application thus far. But Georgia Tech engineers are also investigating the robust polymer's capacity to embed analog and digital chips, RF MEMS devices and RF circuits together in one flexible, weather-resistant package.
Currently, Papapolymerou said, his team is weighing the reliability of RF MEMS switches embedded in LCP. Since RF MEMS devices have moving parts, they are more sensitive to environmental conditions than solid-state devices like chips and RF arrays.
LCP, which has been commercially available for many years, wasn't always a good candidate for environmentally demanding applications, Papapolymerou said. Ten years ago the malleable material tore easily, but changes in LCP chemistry have dramatically improved its strength and reliability.
The low cost of conventional circuit boards will probably bar the material from most applications below 5 GHz, he believes. But above that threshold LCP could have numerous uses, including wireless LAN at 60 GHz and military applications at 30, 40 and 94 GHz . Promising NASA applications include remote sensing precipitation radars at 14 and 35 GHz.
Tentzeris believes that LCP and other similar flexible organics could also be used for a new generation of ultra-wideband sensor and secure communication applications. The flexible nature of LCP, he said, allows easy integration with complex surfaces such as airplanes, cars and trucks. In addition, its light weight and thermal expansion properties could make possible low-cost portable multifunction modules operating in different frequency bands and standards.
He stresses that a major advantage of LCP-type organics lies in the fact that their electrical properties feature only a slight change for frequencies ranging from the low-end of the cellular communications (900-1800 MHz) to the high-end short-range broadband telecom, sensor and radar bands (110 GHz).
Currently, Tentzeris said, his team is developing ultra-broadband / multiband antennas and embedded functions on LCP that could be used for reconfigurable frequency and data-rate telecom and sensor applications. His team is also investigating novel 3D meta-material ideas utilizing LCP to develop flexible lenses and dramatically improve the power efficiency of RF/sensor modules.
Costs must come down before commercial LCP applications can take off, Papapolymerou said. But as production and demand for LCP-based circuits increase, commercial use could become more likely. In fact, he said, LCP-based circuits may play a role in next-generation consumer applications such as sophisticated communications products.
"Devices that must provide a lot of bandwidth - that's where you will need a substrate that has good, low-cost, small-footprint performance at frequencies like 30 or 60 GHz," Papapolymerou said. "Conventional circuit-board material will not do the job anymore."
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Media Relations Contacts: Rick Robinson (404-694-2294); E-mail: (rick.robinson@innovate.gatech.edu) or John Toon (404-894-6986); E-mail: (jtoon@gatech.edu).
Technical Contacts: John Papapolymerou (404-385-6004); E-mail: (ioannis.papapolymerou@ece.gatech.edu) or Manos Tentzeris (404-385-0378); E-mail: (emmanouil.tentzeris@ece.gatech.edu).
Writer: Rick Robinson
]]>Founded in California in 1926 and later expanded into Evans, Ga., in 1986, and further expanded into south Augusta in 2000, U.S. Battery produces deep-cycle batteries servicing the golf cart industry, sweeper-scrubber market, aerial lifts, commercial marine use and special applications.
Although the company was profitable, management knew there was room for improvement across the board. U.S. Battery's challenge was to figure out how to increase production with a minimal investment of new resources, but without sacrificing quality.
"They knew where they wanted to go, but they didn't know how to get there," says Elliot Price, region manager in the Augusta office of Georgia Tech's Enterprise Innovation Institute.
That destination for U.S. Battery was the ISO 9001-2000 standard for quality management systems. It mandates a number of requirements an organization must meet to achieve customer satisfaction through consistent products and services that meet customer expectations. Georgia Tech helped the company obtain ISO certification three years ago for its two manufacturing plants in Georgia.
"They had no formal quality management systems or system to look at opportunities to improve their processes," Price explains. "Everything was informal, and because of that there were chronic problems in the facility and a lot of hidden costs to the company."
To get U.S. Battery started in the right direction, Georgia Tech helped the company implement a documented system based on the ISO 9001-2000 standard that addresses inefficiencies in manufacturing by first providing a clear, impartial picture of how processes are actually working, according to Price. "At that point, they can determine whether those were the best ways to do things or not," he explains. "They could get a feel for what processes could be changed to make the overall manufacturing scheme more efficient and more effective."
Georgia Tech also coached company employees on implementing the documentation system so that everyone followed it, he adds.
The objectivity of the ISO process was essential, according to company President Terry Agrelius.
"The certification helped us look at some vital factors that served as focal points for achieving our corporate goals without letting feelings or the touchy-feely stuff get in the way," he says. "We could start measuring and monitoring ourselves through those corporate objectives to increase the output without increasing the burden to the company."
Pursuit of ISO certification is a long process that began in earnest for U.S. Battery in 2002, when a handful of employees attended a Georgia Tech-sponsored workshop on internal quality auditing. Bruce Eaton, U.S. Battery's quality control manager, was among the first group of attendees.
"Our domestic customers were the ones encouraging us to obtain ISO certification," says Eaton, noting that the company also sells batteries all over the world. "And Georgia Tech has been involved with that effort every step of the way since the beginning."
Education and development through classes and workshops are major certification requirements. U.S. Battery employees have taken advantage of Enterprise Innovation Institute education opportunities with instruction - usually conducted in Augusta but occasionally at the Atlanta campus - on numerous substantive topics including the aforementioned internal quality auditing, plus customer satisfaction, continual improvement, root-cause analysis and environmental issues.
Also, Tech helped the company conduct a pre-assessment - a dry-run of its quality management procedures to ensure compliance with the ANSI/ISO/ASQ Q9001-2000 international standard before the system is opened up to the ISO registration auditor.
"We walked right though it," grins Eaton.
One of the hidden resources uncovered by the work was employee involvement through their valuable ideas, solutions and approaches, according to Eaton.
"We thought we had - quote - employee involvement," he says, "but it wasn't to the degree required by the ISO standard. But employee involvement has played a major role in reducing our costs."
Employee buy-in was also important, Agrelius says, in part because it empowered everyone to look deeper into the process.
"From the points of view of management and labor, we had a central focus and central goals that we used as the methodology to come to a lot of resolutions," he says.
Lessons learned and applied from the ISO certification process have proven their worth by helping keep the company upright in stormy times.
"We were really hurting at the beginning of 2006," Eaton notes. "The price of lead had gone so high that we were almost giving batteries away. The profit margin had been squeezed right out of them." But U.S. Battery weathered the market far better than it would have pre-ISO, Eaton says.
Process improvements along with falling lead prices have also made good times better, Eaton adds. "Our quality system is recognized across the world and it has tremendous dollar value for the company. Sales have gone up each year since we've been certified."
Agrelius credits the company's improved performance and increased stability on U.S. Battery's management team, its labor force - and Georgia Tech.
"We had a great facilitator in Elliot, whose understanding of the ISO program brought many things to light for us," he says. "The ISO program was like opening a door to a whole new arena of high-caliber events that we would have been unable to touch without the assistance of Georgia Tech."
For more information about Georgia Tech Enterprise Innovation Institute assistance with quality and international standards, please contact Elliot Price (706-737-1415); E-mail: (elliott.price@innovate.gatech.edu) or Tim Israel (404-894-2272); E-mail: (tim.israel@innovate.gatech.edu) or contact your nearest Georgia Tech Regional Office.
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Media Relations Contact: John Toon (404-894-6986); E-mail: (john.toon@innovate.gatech.edu).
Writer: Gary Goettling
]]>The fuel-cell system that powers the 22-foot wingspan aircraft generates only 500 watts. "That raises a lot of eyebrows," said Adam Broughton, a research engineer who is working on the project in Georgia Tech's Aerospace Systems Design Laboratory (ASDL). "Five hundred watts is plenty of power for a light bulb, but not for the propulsion system of an aircraft this size." In fact, 500 watts represents about 1/100th the power of a hybrid car like a Toyota Prius.
A collaboration between ASDL and the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), the project was spearheaded by David Parekh, GTRI's deputy director and founder of Georgia Tech's Center for Innovative Fuel Cell and Battery Technologies.
Parekh wanted to develop a vehicle that would both advance fuel cell technology and galvanize industry interest. While the automotive industry has made strides with fuel cells, apart from spacecraft, little has been done to leverage fuel cell technology for aerospace applications, he noted.
"A fuel cell aircraft is more compelling than just a lab demonstration or even a fuel cell system powering a house," Parekh explained. "It's also more demanding. With an airplane, you really push the limits for durability, robustness, power density and efficiency."
In November, the researchers will present details of the project at the Society of Automotive Engineers' Power System Conference in New Orleans.
Fuel cells, which create an electrical current when they convert hydrogen and oxygen into water, are attractive as energy sources because of their high energy density. Higher energy density translates into longer endurance.
Though fuel cells don't produce enough power for the propulsion systems of commercial passenger aircraft, they could power smaller, slower vehicles like unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and provide a low cost alternative to satellites. Such UAVs could also track hurricanes, patrol borders and conduct general reconnaissance.
Fuel cell powered UAVs have several advantages over conventional UAVs, noted Tom Bradley, a doctoral student in Georgia Tech's School of Mechanical Engineering who developed the fuel cell propulsion system. For starters, fuel cells emit no pollution and unlike conventional UAVs, don't require separate generators to produce electricity for operating electronic components. "Another plus, because fuel cells operate at near ambient temperatures, UAVs emit less of a heat signature and would be stealthier than conventionally powered UAVs," he said.
Breaking new ground
A few other research groups have also demonstrated hydrogen-powered UAVs, but these aircraft were either very small or used liquid hydrogen. "Compressed hydrogen, which is what the automotive industry is using, is cheaper and easier to work with," said Bradley, "so our research will be easier to commercialize."
In contrast to the smaller UAVs, which had no landing gear and had to be hand launched, Georgia Tech's demonstrator vehicle operates like a full-sized aircraft, requiring no auxiliary batteries or boosters for take-off.
While little information has been released about other hydrogen-powered UAVs, outreach is an important part of Georgia Tech's project. "We are laying the groundwork in design development that others can use to develop hydrogen-powered aircraft," explained Dimitri Mavris, ASDL director and Boeing Professor in Advanced Aerospace Systems Analysis in Georgia Tech's School of Aerospace Engineering. "By documenting the technical challenges we've encountered - as well as our solutions - we provide a baseline for others to follow."
The researchers hope to see many other aircraft take to the skies on power from fuel cells.
"As significant as it is, we are not merely developing a one-of-a-kind airplane," added Parekh. "We're working to define a systems engineering approach for fuel-cell powered flight. We're seeking to blaze a trail that others can follow."
In addition to their upcoming presentation at the Society of Automotive Engineers meeting, the researchers presented papers earlier this year at meetings held by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. The project is supported with internal funding from GTRI, along with grants from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the National Science Foundation (NSF).
Difficult design game
"Hydrogen power requires a drastically different approach to aircraft design compared to conventional planes powered by fossil fuels," observed Blake Moffitt, a doctoral student in Georgia Tech's School of Aerospace Engineering who designed much of the aircraft.
To construct the fuel cell power plant, researchers bought a commercial fuel cell stack and modified it extensively, adding systems for hydrogen delivery and refueling, thermal management and air management. They also built control systems, such as data acquisition so information could be transmitted during flight.
Among design challenges:
- Slim performance margins. Researchers developed innovative computer tools to analyze performance, which enabled them to optimize the propulsion system and aircraft design.
- Weight management. Creative methods were used to trim pounds, such as using carbon foam for the power plant's radiator.
- Reducing drag, which the team achieved via long, slender wings (spanning 22 feet), a streamlined fuselage, a rear-mounted propeller and an inverted V-shaped tail.
- Miniaturization. The fuselage measured 45 inches in length with a maximum width of 9.75 inches and maximum height of 7.25 inches. Finding components small enough to fit in this space required some ingenuity, such as using a pump from a liquid-cooled computer and a hydrogen tank designed for a paintball gun.
In June, researchers tested the vehicle at the Atlanta Dragway in Commerce, Ga. Hot, humid, windy weather made testing conditions less than ideal and reduced thrust. Yet researchers were able to conduct four flights, with the aircraft traveling between 2.5 and 3.7 meters above ground for up to a minute at a time.
"Especially important, the data generated during these flights validated our design methodologies," said Moffitt. "The data also indicated the aircraft is capable of longer, higher performance flights."
During the next few months, the team will continue to test and refine the aircraft, making it more reliable and robust. Ultimately, they plan to design and build an UAV capable of a trans-Atlantic flight - something that Parekh believes will be possible within the next five years.
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Media Relations Contacts: John Toon (404-894-6986); E-mail: (jtoon@gatech.edu) or Kirk Englehardt (404-407-7280); E-mail: (kirk.englehardt@gtri.gateh.edu)
Writer: T.J. Becker
]]>Researchers attribute the improvement to both a reduction in ozone-depleting chemicals phased out by the global Montreal Protocol treaty and its amendments and to changes in atmospheric transport dynamics. The study, funded by NASA, is the first to document a difference among stratospheric regions in ozone-level improvement and to establish a cause-and-effect relationship based on direct measurements by multiple satellite and ground-based, ozone-monitoring systems.
"We do think we're on the road to recovery of stratospheric ozone, but what we don't know is exactly how that recovery will happen," said Derek Cunnold, a professor of earth and atmospheric sciences at the Georgia Institute of Technology. "Many in the scientific community think it will be at least 50 years before ozone levels return to the pre-1980 levels when ozone began to decline."
The research results will be published Sept. 9, 2006 in the American Geophysical Union's Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres. Georgia Tech research scientist Eun-Su Yang led the study in close collaboration with Cunnold, Ross Salawitch of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology, M. Patrick McCormick and James Russell III of Hampton University, Joseph Zawodny of NASA Langley Research Center, Samuel Oltmans of the NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory and Professor Mike Newchurch at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.
The study's data indicate that atmospheric ozone has stopped decreasing in one region and is actually increasing in the other of the two most important lower regions of the stratosphere.
Scientists attribute the stabilization of ozone levels in the past decade in the 11- to 15-mile (18- to 25-kilometer) altitude region to the Montreal Protocol, enacted in 1987, and its amendments. The treaty phased out the use of ozone-depleting chemicals, including chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) emitted from such sources as spray-can propellants, refrigerator coolants and foam insulation.
In the 7- to 11-mile (11- to 18-kilometer) region, the researchers link a slight increase in ozone to changes in atmospheric transport - perhaps caused by natural variability or human-induced climate warming - rather than atmospheric chemistry. The changes in this altitude range - below the region where ozone-depleting gases derived from human activity are thought to cause ozone depletion - contribute about half of the overall-measured improvement, researchers said.
"There is now widespread agreement in the scientific community that ozone is leveling off in the 18- to 25-kilometer region of the stratosphere because of the Montreal Protocol," Cunnold said. "And we believe there is some tendency toward an increase in ozone in this region, though further study is needed to be certain.
"In the 11- to 18-kilometer region, ozone is definitely increasing because of changes in atmospheric dynamics and transport not related to the Montreal Protocol," he added. "But we don't know the long-term effect this change will have in this region."
Other recent studies complement these new findings. Among them are a study published in 2003 in the Journal of Geophysical Research, which reported a slowdown in the ozone depletion rate in the upper stratosphere at about 22 to 28 miles altitude (35 to 45 kilometers). Newchurch at the University of Alabama in Huntsville led this study in collaboration with: Cunnold, his former Ph.D. advisor; Yang, his former Ph.D. student; and other prominent scientists. Newchurch is also an author on the current paper.
More recently, a study published in the journal Nature on May 3, 2006 indicated a stabilization and slight increase in the total-column stratospheric ozone in the past decade. This work, led by Betsy Weatherhead at the University of Colorado at Boulder, relied on satellite and ground-based ozone data used in 14 modeling studies done by researchers around the world. She and her colleagues also attributed the changes to the Montreal Protocol, but could not separate treaty-related changes from transport-related changes because of limited information available on ozone variations by height.
In the current study, Yang, Cunnold and their co-authors reached their conclusions based on satellite and ground-based atmospheric ozone measurements. They analyzed a tremendous amount of data from three extremely accurate NASA satellite's instruments (SAGE I and II and HALOE) that began collecting data in 1979 and continued until 2005, with the exception of a three-year period in the early 1980s. Ground-based ozone measurements taken by NASA and NOAA from 1979 to 2005 and balloons provided essential complementary data for the study, Yang said. The satellites and the balloons measured ozone levels by atmospheric region. The ground-based data recorded measurements for the total ozone column.
"The ground-based measurements were especially important for the lower atmosphere because satellites can have difficulty in sensing the lowest regions," Yang said.
Salawitch, a senior research scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, noted: "Our study provides a quantitative measure of a key fingerprint that is lacking in earlier studies -- the response of the ozone layer as function of height. We reconcile the height-dependent response with observations from other instruments that record variations in total-column ozone".
To accurately attribute the ozone level changes to the Montreal Protocol, researchers had to account for long- and short-term natural fluctuations in ozone concentration, Cunnold noted. One such fluctuation is an 11-year solar cycle, and another is a two-year oscillation that occurs in the tropics, but affects ozone in other latitudes because of atmospheric transport. Despite the natural fluctuations, Yang, Cunnold and their co-authors are very confident in the conclusions they reached from the data they analyzed.
"We know from the study we've just published that the Montreal Protocol -- the first major global agreement related to atmospheric change -- is working," Cunnold said.
A new NASA satellite called Aura is continuing to measure ozone in various regions of the stratosphere, and these same researchers are involved in the ongoing study of the ozone layer using the satellite's data.
Research News & Publications Office
Georgia Institute of Technology
75 Fifth Street, N.W., Suite 100
Atlanta, Georgia 30308 USA
Media Relations Contacts:
1. Jane Sanders (404-894-2214); E-mail: (jsanders@gatech.edu)
2. John Toon (404-894-6986); E-mail: (jtoon@gatech.edu)
3. Philip Gentry, UA-Huntsville (256-824-6420); E-mail: (gentryp@uah.edu)
4. Alan Buis, JPL (818-354-0474); E-mail: (alan.buis@jpl.nasa.gov)
5. Harvey Leifert, American Geophysical Union (202-777-7507); E-mail: (hleifert@agu.org)
Technical Contacts:
1. Derek Cunnold (404-894-3814); E-mail: (cunnold@eas.gatech.edu)
2. Eun-Su Yang (404-894-3886); E-mail: (eun-su.yang@eas.gatech.edu)
3. Mike Newchurch, UAH (256-961-7825); E-mail: (mike@nsstc.uah.edu)
4. Ross Salawitch, JPL (818-354-0442); E-mail: (rjs@caesar.jpl.nasa.gov)
Writer: Jane Sanders
A copy of the paper to be published Sept. 9, 2006 in the Journal of Geophysical Research--Atmospheres will be available next week from Jonathan Lifland at (jlifland@agu.org) or 202-777-7535.
]]>All of Georgia Tech's eight schools that offer undergraduate programs ranked by U.S. News, including the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering, the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University, the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, the School of Materials Science and Engineering, and the George Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, were ranked in the top 10.
"Our engineering programs continue to be recognized as the best," said Georgia Tech President Wayne Clough. "The consistency of the rankings of the individual engineering programs bodes well for our continued success."
Four of Georgia Tech's engineering programs ranked in the top five among their specialty areas. Aerospace engineering ranked second, biomedical engineering placed fourth, civil engineering ranked third, and industrial engineering ranked first.
Electrical engineering and mechanical engineering both placed sixth, computer engineering ranked seventh, materials engineering placed ninth, and chemical engineering ranked tenth.
"Our students, faculty and staff are among the very best in the nation," said College of Engineering Dean Don Giddens. "We are always pushing the envelope in research and education. There is a collegial 'can do' spirit here that is remarkable."
Georgia Tech's College of Engineering is ranked fourth among graduate engineering programs in the United States by U.S. News and grants the largest number of engineering degrees in the nation. The college is also one of the top producers of black, female and Hispanic engineering graduates. Georgia Tech established its first engineering program, mechanical engineering, in 1888.
]]>The symposium will be an open discussion among selected leaders from business and education known for their successes in innovation and cutting-edge research. The dialogue will focus on the development of a favorable policy framework designed to stimulate successful partnerships between business, governments and academic institutions.
"I am honored to represent Georgia Tech and the United States in the G8 Business and University Leaders Symposium on Innovation," said Clough. "Georgia Tech is proud to be recognized as one of the world's most innovative technological universities and I look forward to sharing our views on topics so vital to the future of the global economy."
The results of the symposium will be presented to the G8 leaders at the G8 summit next week in St. Petersburg, Russia.
]]>In coordination with Gov. Sonny Perdue's launch today of the state's new Customer Service Improvement Initiative, in which all state agencies have united in an effort to make Georgia the best-managed state in the country, Davis announced that every USG campus is poised to implement a plan for improving customer service beginning Aug. 1.
"Each Georgia citizen who walks through our door for a government service is an opportunity," said Gov. Sonny Perdue. "It is my intention that Georgia government employees will take advantage of those opportunities, showing citizens that we respect and value their time."
"Georgia Tech has a long-standing commitment to enhance the quality of the undergraduate experience," said Georgia Tech President Wayne Clough. "Our Customer Service Improvement Plan gives us clear direction to better achieve that goal."
To kick off its new efforts to improve customer service, Georgia Tech will initially focus on two key service areas - academic advising and personal transactions.
Student advising is central to retention, timely graduation and student satisfaction, and Georgia Tech will work to strengthen its advising efforts. Special attention will also be paid to the convenience and efficiency of human resource transactions for the students, faculty and staff that work for Georgia Tech.
"We think Governor Perdue's new initiative is a real shot in the arm to our ongoing efforts to improve campus customer service. We are all for any program that encourages us to do a better job for our students and stakeholders," said Hal Irvin, senior director of organizational development at Georgia Tech and leader of the Tech's Customer Service Improvement efforts.
This past spring, Davis named Jim Flowers, special assistant to the USG's chief information officer, to serve as the USG's representative on the Governor's Customer Service Team, charging him with developing a customer service improvement plan for the USG. The chancellor also directed USG presidents to appoint Customer Service Champions to launch, guide and manage improvements that will make the services provided by each campus "faster, friendlier and easier" to access.
Customer service champions will work closely with their campus presidents, who - for extra motivation - recently had customer service improvement added to the list of key performance indicators on which they will be annually evaluated, Davis said.
He added that visitors to the Web site also will be able to submit their suggestions and criticisms via an online comment tool.
]]>"We've been searching for methods for controlling and tuning the nanocatalytic activity of gold nanoclusters," said Uzi Landman, director of the Center for Computational Materials Science and Regents' professor and Callaway chair of physics at Georgia Tech. "I believe the effect we discovered, whereby the structure and dimensionality of supported gold nanoclusters can be influenced and varied by the thickness of the underlying magnesium-oxide film may open new avenues for controlled nanocatalytic activity," he said.
Landman's research group has been exploring the catalytic properties of gold, which is inert in its bulk form, for about seven years. In 1999, along with the experimental group of Ueli Heiz and Wolf-Dieter Schneider at the University of Lausanne, Landman's group showed that gold exhibits remarkable catalytic capabilities to speed the rate of chemical reactions if it is clustered in groups of eight to about two dozen atoms in size.
Last year in the journal Science, the teams of Landman and Heiz (now at the Technical University of Munich) showed that this catalytic activity involves defects, in the form of missing oxygen atoms, in the catalytic bed on which the gold clusters rest. These defect sites, referred to as F-centers, serve as sites for the gold to anchor itself, giving the gold clusters a slight negative charge. The charged gold transfers an electron to the reacting molecules, weakening the chemical bonds that keep them together. Once the bond is sufficiently weakened, it may be broken, allowing reactions to occur between the adsorbed reactants.
Now Landman's group has found that by using a thin catalytic bed with a thickness of up to 1 nanometer (nm), or 4-5 layers, of magnesium oxide, one may activate the gold nanoclusters which may act then as catalysts even if the bed is defect-free. A model reaction tested in these studies is one where carbon monoxide and molecular oxygen combine to form carbon dioxide, even at low temperatures. In these reactions, the bond connecting the two atoms in the adsorbed oxygen molecule weakens, thus, promoting the reaction with CO.
In this study, Landman and company simulated the behavior of gold nanoclusters containing eight, sixteen and twenty atoms when placed on catalytic beds of magnesium oxide with a molybdenum substrate supporting the magnesium oxide film. Quantum mechanical calculations showed that when the magnesium oxide film was greater than 5 layers or 1 nm in thickness, the gold cluster kept its three-dimensional structure. However, when the film was less than 1nm, the cluster changed its structure and lied flat on the magnesia bed - wetting and adhering to it.
The gold flattens because the electronic charge from the molybdenum penetrates through the thin layer of magnesium oxide and accumulates at the region where the gold cluster is anchored to the magnesium oxide. With a negative charge underneath the gold nanocluster, its attraction to the molybdenum substrate, located under the magnesia film, causes the cluster to collapse.
"It's the charge that controls the adhesive strength of gold to the magnesia film, and at the same time it makes gold catalytically active," said Landman. "When you have a sufficiently thin layer of magnesium oxide, the charge from the underlying metal penetrates through - all the way to the interface of the gold cluster."
In the previous experimental studies, defects in the magnesium oxide were required to bring about charging of the adsorbed clusters.
"Until now, the metal substrate was regarded only as an experimental necessity for growing the magnesium oxide films on top of it. Now we found that it can be used as a design feature of the catalytic system. This field holds many surprises," said Landman.
Landman's group is currently undertaking further explorations into possibilities to regulate the charge, and hence the catalytic activity, in gold nanocatalytic systems.
Landman and Heiz's book titled "Nanocatalysis" is scheduled to be published this month.
The current research was performed at the Center for Computational Materials Science by postdoctoral fellows Davide Ricci and Angelo Bongiorno under the supervision of Landman. The research team also included Dr. Gianfranco Pacchioni, a colleague from the University of Milano.
The research appearing in the journal Science in 2005 was led by Landman and Heiz with Research Scientist Bokwon Yoon of the Center for Computational Materials Science as lead author.
Figure Caption:
Structures of a gold cluster (yellow) containing 20 atoms, adsorbed on a magnesium oxide bed ( magnesium in green and oxygen in red) which is itself supported on top of a molybdenum substrate (blue). The two-dimensional structure is more stable by 3.3 eV than the three-dimensional structure. The excess electronic charge at the interface is shown in and the charge depletion is shown in light blue. The net accumulated interfacial charge equals 0.3e for the less stable, pyramidal structure on the left, and it increases to 1.0e for the stable planar structure shown on the right.
The permanent of a matrix is currently a well-studied combinatorial problem with applications in many fields, as it corresponds to the number of perfect matchings of a bipartite graph. For example in physics, computing the permanent is central to the study of the Dimer and Ising Models, although the exact computation of the permanent is intractable. Mathematicians began studying the permanent about two centuries ago, partly because of its superficial similarity to the determinant, which is a much easier problem.
Vigoda's breakthrough discovery is a randomized algorithm which approximates the permanent to within an arbitrarily close factor in time polynomial and in the size of the input. Therefore, with the use of randomness, arbitrarily good approximations can still be obtained. Vigoda's paper also introduces techniques that have already found several important computing, physics, and mathematical applications. The award was presented at the International Symposium on Mathematical Programming this month in Rio de Janeiro.
For more information about the Fulkerson Prize, visit http://www.ams.org/prizes/fulkerson-prize.html.
To view Vigoda's award-winning paper, visit http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~vigoda/Permanent.pdf.
Writer: Joy Weaks, College of Computing
]]>"Our desire to excel has consistently placed Georgia Tech among the top national universities over the last decade," said President Wayne Clough. "This recognition reflects the high quality of our programs, faculty and students. In particular I'm proud that our undergraduate research program was named as an outstanding example of academic programs that lead to student success."
Georgia Tech's nationally prominent College of Engineering, which is the nation's largest, held steady with a ranking of 6th. The College of Engineering had four of its programs ranked in the top five among specialty areas. Aerospace ranked second, biomedical placed fourth, civil ranked third, and industrial engineering ranked first.
"Our engineering programs continue to be recognized as the best," said Clough. "The consistency of the rankings of the individual engineering programs bodes well for our continued success."
Georgia Tech's internships and cooperative education programs were ranked one of 12 'Academic Programs to Look For' under internships and co-ops. Also Tech was selected as one of 35 outstanding examples of undergraduate research opportunities among 'Academic Programs to Look For' under undergraduate research/creative projects.
Georgia Tech alumni continue to be some of the most generous. The percentage of Tech graduates contributing to the Institute is the highest among any public university ranked in the top 50.
]]>His idea was simple: Because neural circuits use electrical signals often conducted by neurotransmitters (chemical messengers) to communicate between the brain and the rest of the body, he could build neurotransmitters into the material used to repair a broken circuit. The neurotransmitters could coax the neurons in the damaged nerves to regrow and reconnect with their target organ.
Strange though his idea might have seemed to others in his field, Wang, an assistant professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University, discovered that he could integrate dopamine, a type of neurotransmitter, into a polymer to stimulate nerve tissues to send out new connections. The discovery is the first step toward the eventual goal of implanting the new polymer into patients suffering from neurological disorders, such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's or epilepsy, to help repair damaged nerves. The findings were published online the week of Oct. 30 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
"We showed that you could use a neurotransmitter as a building block of a polymer," said Wang. "Once integrated into the polymer, the transmitter can still elicit a specific response from nerve tissues."
The 'designer' polymer was recognized by the neurons when used on a small piece of nerve tissue and stimulated extensive neural growth. The implanted polymer didn't cause any tissue scarring or nerve degeneration, allowing the nerve to grow in a hostile environment post injury.
When ready for clinical use, the polymer would be implanted at the damaged site to promote nerve regeneration. As the nerve tissue reforms, the polymer degrades.
Wang's team found that dopamine's structure, which contains two hydroxyl groups, is vital for the material's neuroactivity. Removing even one group caused a complete loss of the biological activity. They also determined that dopamine was more effective at differentiating nerve cells than the two most popular materials for culturing nerves - polylysine and laminin. This ability means that the material with dopamine may have a better chance to successfully repair damaged
nerves.
The success of dopamine has encouraged the team to set its sights on other neurotransmitters.
"Dopamine was a good starting point, but we are looking into other neurotransmitters as well," Wang said.
The team's next step is to verify findings that the material stimulates the reformation of synapses in addition to regrowth.
"A successful nerve regeneration will require the nerve to synapse with the target organ," Wang said. "Since we've written this paper, we've also been able to get the nerves to form extensive synapses, which is a step in the right direction."
]]>"Are you sure?" said Kevin Caravati, a student project advisor and senior research scientist at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI). "The other project is right down the street."
Johnson's response was brief and to the point. "I want to help the less fortunate," he answered.
Four billion people globally suffer from chronic waterborne disease, and an estimated 13 million children die annually of diarrhea - conditions linked to a lack of adequate sanitation. In a developing country with extreme conditions like Bolivia, poor sanitation poses a serious health risk, contaminating the limited water supply and attracting disease-carrying insects.
"You realize how fortunate you are when you see that people around the world don't have clean water and sanitation," Johnson said.
Emory University's Center for Global Safe Water approached Georgia Tech's School of Civil and Environmental Engineering and GTRI to help remove a significant sanitation roadblock faced by developing countries - the design and cost flaws of current United Nations latrines.
"We wanted help with the project, but it was tough to find students enthusiastic about latrines," Caravati said. "Calvin was our first volunteer. He wanted to have a hands-on experience to build a prototype that had the potential to have a huge global impact on people."
Johnson immediately began work on designs for an inexpensive dry latrine system that uses the sun's rays to safely transform bacteria-laden waste into fertilizer.
He was then joined by his project partner Brad Davis, a building construction student at Georgia Tech, and the two hammered out a final design with Caravati. The goal was to create an improved solar latrine out of the most affordable and available materials. The interior needed to be heated at a minimum of 120 degrees Fahrenheit to kill pathogens, and the design and materials had to be as simple and cost effective as possible.
"We focused on designing the most inexpensive and durable model, taking into account what materials would be readily available in those nations. This gave Calvin and me the ability to think outside of the box and use everyday materials in our design," Davis said.
The team made two prototypes from a hodgepodge of household items, including a bicycle tube to insulate the waste and retain heat, a bleach bottle, plexi-glass, scrap wood and tin foil. The central idea was to 'bake' the waste with an oven-like design that could reach temperatures of more than 150 degrees Fahrenheit while still keeping the inhabited area cool enough for users.
Johnson, Davis and Caravati were able to build two very effective prototypes that would cost only $78 per unit, compared to $120 for existing models used. They were also able to reach sustained temperatures of over 150 degrees while still keeping the inhabited area cool enough for users.
With the initial prototypes completed, Johnson and the rest of the Georgia Tech project team plan to travel in January to a remote area of Bolivia's Andes Mountains to build several of the new latrines and instruct locals on how to build their own.
"I'm looking forward to making the trip to Bolivia after the season," Johnson said.
]]>The American Flag Memorial will consist of nearly 3,000 flags set up on Skiles Lawn, to represent each life that was lost during the 9/11 terrorist attacks. From Saturday through Monday, the flags will be displayed and organizers will raise money to sponsor a brick in Georgia Tech's name at the future World Trade Center Memorial.
In addition to the flag memorial and ceremony, a moment of silence will be observed on Monday, September 11, at 12:00 noon and a remembrance ceremony will be held on Monday, September 11, at 6:00 p.m. at the Campanile, near the Student Center. Members of the Georgia Tech community will share their reflections on 9/11 and how the tragedy impacted their lives.
The flag memorial and remembrance ceremony will encourage students, faculty, alumni, and community members to memorialize those who lost their lives in the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and rural Pennsylvania.
"Remembering our national tragedy can only bring new hope and understanding and put us on the road to forgiving our enemies," said Derek Greene, a Georgia Tech student and U.S. Marine who will speak at the remembrance ceremony.
Several individuals and departments are participating in this project. "I am delighted that so many students are collaborating on this project to unite our country and our campus," said Stephanie Ray, associate dean of students and director of Diversity Programs.
Tech student Connor Carolan-Tolbert, the project coordinator, emphasized the importance of honoring the victims. "The thousands of students, alumni, and visitors to our campus will appreciate Georgia Tech giving them a meaningful opportunity to reflect on the fifth anniversary of this tragedy," he said.
]]>The Daniel Guggenheim Medal was established in 1929 for the purpose of honoring persons who make notable achievements in the advancements of aeronautics. Its first recipient was aviation pioneer Orville Wright. Over the years, recipients have included some of the greatest names in aerospace, such as Jerome Hunsaker, Donald Douglas, Charles Stark Draper, Holt Ashley, Robert Goddard, Theodore von Karman, Charles Lindbergh, Igor Sikorsky, Hugh Dryden, Lawrence Bell, James Doolittle, Glen Martin and William Boeing.
The Guggenheim Medal is jointly sponsored by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), American Society of Mechanical Engineering (ASME), American Helicopter Society (AHS) and Society of Automotive Engineers.
Loewy has served as chair of Georgia Tech's School of Aerospace Engineering since 1993. Before joining Georgia Tech, Loewy served as professor and director of the Rotorcraft Technology Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
His current research interests include helicopter structural dynamics and aerodynamics; turbine engine aeroelasticity and dynamics; composite structures for aircraft and spacecraft; structural dynamics of large satellites; unsteady aerodynamics; and smart materials and structures.
Loewy has served on numerous NASA committees, chairing the Aeronautics Advisory committee. He was chief scientist of the U.S. Air Force from 1965-1966 and subsequently chaired the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board. He has also served on several boards of the National Research Council and several other government committees.
Loewy received NASA's Distinguished Public Service Medal in 1983 and has also been awarded the Spirit of St. Louis Medal from ASME and the Lawrence A. Sperry Award and the Dryden Lecturer from the AIAA. He was named an Honorary Fellow and Nikolsky Lecturer by the AHS.
Loewy earned his bachelor's degree in aerospace engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, his master's degree in aerospace engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his doctorate in engineering mechanics from the University of Pennsylvania.
]]>The list represents top young scientists, inventors and entrepreneurs in a wide range of disciplines - from chemistry and biology to chip design and software engineering - selected by Technology Review. The honorees are selected by the editors of the magazine in collaboration with a prestigious panel of judges from major institutions and corporations such as Boston University, Hewlett-Packard Labs, the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, the California Institute of Technology and Applied Materials.
"The TR35 is an amazing group of people," said Jason Pontin, editor-in-chief of Technology Review. "Their accomplishments are likely to shape their fields for decades to come. It's evident when you scroll back and see names like Sergey Brin, Jonathan Ive and Steve Jurvetson among the past winners."
King's groundbreaking research focuses on nanometer-scale thermal processing, with applications in nano-manufacturing and nano-materials analysis.
With the help of his graduate students, King recently developed instruments for probing the nanometer-scale thermomechanical properties of solid materials. The instruments are particularly useful for materials discovery, where scientists previously lacked tools for nanometer-scale thermal analysis. King also works on cantilever microsensors, whose integrated heaters allow for detailed examination of biological and chemical responses.
In 2004, King and collaborators developed a technique to use nanometer-sized heated probe tips for dip pen nanolithography (DPN), an increasingly popular technique using atomic-force microscopy probes as pens to produce nanometer-scale patterns. Using King's new thermal DPN method, scientists are now able to produce features too small to be formed with light-based lithography.
Between 1999 and 2001, King spent 1.5 years working in the Micro/NanoMechanics group at the IBM Research Laboratory in Zurich Switzerland on Millipede Probe-Based Data Storage, widely regarded as the first corporate, product-focused nanotechnology project in the world.
King has won a number of prestigious awards, including the elite Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), the highest award that the U.S. government can award to an untenured professor, and the National Science Foundation CAREER award. King has written over 100 articles in journals and technical conferences, and sits on the scientific advisory board at five companies.
He received his bachelor's degree at the University of Dayton and his master's and Ph.D. degrees at Stanford University.
King is Georgia Tech's third member of the TR35.
]]>Meindl, director of Tech's Pettit Microelectronics Research Center and the recent winner of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Medal of Honor, will lead the center's efforts to fuse multiple scientific disciplines in pursuit of breakthrough nanotechnologies.
"The most important economic event of the past half century has been the information revolution. Its principal driver has been the ubiquitous silicon microchip, which marvelously engages nanotechnology. Future breakthroughs comparable to the microchip in their impact may be possible through a fusion of discoveries in physical and biological science and engineering enabled by nanotechnology. The Georgia Tech Nanotechnology Research Center will be the first research center in the U.S. to focus primarily on this exciting and inspiring fusion," Meindl said.
During his career as a scientist, educator and high-level technology executive, Meindl logged a string of exceptional technical accomplishments. Early in his career, he developed micropower integrated circuits for portable military equipment at the Army Signal Corps R&D Laboratories in Fort Monmouth, N.J.
Later at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif., he created low-power integrated circuits and sensors for a portable electronic reading aid for the blind, miniature wireless radio telemetry systems for biomedical research, and non-invasive ultrasonic imaging and blood-flow measurement systems. He was the founding director of the Integrated Circuits Laboratory and a founding co-director of Stanford's Center for Integrated Systems, a model for university and industry cooperative research in microelectronics.
From 1986 to 1993, Meindl was senior vice president for academic affairs and provost of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., where he oversaw all teaching and research.
He joined Georgia Tech in 1993 and was appointed director of its Microelectronic Research Center in 1996. In 1998, he became the founding director of the Interconnect Focus Center, leading a team of more than 60 faculty members from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Stanford, Rensselaer, The State University of New York, Albany and Georgia Tech in partnership with industry and government. His research at Georgia Tech includes exploring solutions to problems that arise from trying to interconnect billions of transistors within a tiny chip.
An IEEE Life Fellow, Meindl is the recipient of the Benjamin Garver Lamme Medal of the American Association for Engineering Education, the J.J. Ebers Award of the IEEE Electron Devices Society, the IEEE Education Medal and the IEEE Solid State Circuits Award. He is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He holds bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees, all in electrical engineering, from the Carnegie Institute of Technology at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.
]]>But even the most sophisticated tools currently used for studying cell communications suffer from significant deficiencies. Typically, these tools can detect only a narrowly selected group of small molecules or, for a more sophisticated analysis, the cells must be destroyed for sample preparation. This makes it very difficult to observe complex cellular interactions just as they would occur in their natural habitat - the human body.
Georgia Tech researchers have created a nanoscale probe, the Scanning Mass Spectrometry (SMS) probe, that can capture both the biochemical makeup and topography of complex biological objects in their normal environment - opening the door for discovery of new biomarkers and improved gene studies, leading to better disease diagnosis and drug design on the cellular level. The research was presented in the July issue of IEE Electronics Letters.
The new instrument, a potentially very valuable tool for the emerging science of systems biology, may help researchers better understand cellular interactions at the most fundamental level, including cell signaling, as well as identifying protein expression and response to the external stimuli (e.g., exposure to drugs or changes in the environment) from the organ scale down to tissue and even the single cell level.
"At its core, disease is a disruption of normal cell signaling," said Dr. Andrei Fedorov, a professor in Georgia Tech's Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and lead researcher on the project. "So, if one understands the network and all signals on the most fundamental level, one would be able to control and correct them if needed. The SMS probe can help map all those complex and intricate cellular communication pathways by probing cell activities in the natural cellular environment."
The SMS probe offers the capability to gently pull biomolecules (proteins, metabolites, peptides) precisely at a specific point on the cell/tissue surface, ionize these biomolecules and produce 'dry' ions suitable for analysis and then transport those ions to the mass spectrometer (an instrument that can detect proteins present even in ultra-small concentrations by measuring the relative masses of ionized atoms and molecules) for identification. The probe does this dynamically (not statically), imaging the surface and mapping cellular activities and communication potentially in real time. In essence, in scanning mode, the SMS probe could create images similar to movies of cell biochemical activities with high spatial and temporal resolution.
The SMS probe can be readily integrated with the Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) or other scanning probes, and can not only image biochemical activity but also monitor the changes in the cell/tissue topology during the imaging.
"The probe potentially allows us to detect complex mechano-bio-electro-chemical events underlying cell communication, all at the same time!" Fedorov said. "The future work is in refinement of the idea and development of a versatile instrument that can be used by biological and medical scientists in advancing the frontiers of biomedical research."
The key challenge for the Georgia Tech team, which includes Dr. Levent Degertekin, was to create a way for a mass spectrometer, the primary tool for studying proteins, to sample biomolecules from a small domain and do it dynamically, thus enabling biochemical imaging. The researchers had to find a way to pull the targeted molecules out of the sample, as if they were using virtual tweezers, and then transfer these molecules into a dry and electrically charged state suitable for mass spectrometric analysis.
The solution to the problem came from a trick related to the basic fluid mechanics of ionic fluids, as the researchers exploited strong capillary forces to confine fluid within a nanoscale domain of the probe inlet (enabling natural separation of liquid and gaseous environments) and then used the classical Taylor electrohydrodynamic focusing of the jets to produce charged ions, but in reverse (pull) rather than in a commonly-used forward (push) mode.
]]>The fund was created by a group of Cuban-American alumni with the intent of eventually rebuilding the bridge that historically brought Cuban students to Tech. The group, in collaboration with the Georgia Tech Office of Development, has raised $1 million of the initial goal of $5 million.
"For more than 75 years, Cuban students have been part of the academic and cultural environment at Georgia Tech," said Juan M. Portuondo, spokesperson for the alumni. "The technical training and developmental skills that we received at Tech prepared us well for professional careers in the United States and the many other countries where fellow alumni reside. It is time to give back not just to our Alma Mater but, most importantly, to our country of origin."
The group is currently soliciting gifts from alumni of Cuban descent. With the help of Tech's Office of Development they plan to approach corporations and foundations
interested in having a pool of Tech graduates eager to assist in the re-establishment of free enterprise in Cuba.
The fund will be managed by the Georgia Tech Foundation Inc. Gifts and commitments to the Georgia Tech Foundation may be designated by the donor for a specific fund or purpose, such as, "Reconstruyendo El Puente: A Fund for Scholars of Cuban descent at Georgia Tech." There are a number of ways in which charitable contributions can be made through outright gifts and commitments and deferred gifts, including will provisions.
For all questions on the Georgia Tech Foundation Inc, as manager of the fund, or to make a contribution to the program, please contact Marta Garcia at marta.garcia@dev.gatech.edu or Dorcas Wilkinson at dorcas.wilkinson@dev.gatech.edu.
Those interested in joining the Alumni Committee should contact Juan M. Portuondo at 305-361-1700 or e-mail ipgroup1@bellsouth.net.
]]>"The award was a huge surprise and I am incredibly honored - and owe much of the credit to the fantastic environment at Tech when I was an undergraduate," said Griffith. "Tech fostered independence and rigorous thinking, but in an environment of collegiality and fun, it made engineering seem like a wonderful career - Tech let my inner nerd hang out."
All MacArthur Fellows were selected for their creativity, originality, and potential to make important contributions in the future. This past week, the recipients learned by a phone call from the Foundation that they will each receive $500,000 in 'no strings attached' support over the next five years.
Griffith is a biotechnologist who is shaping the frontiers of tissue engineering and synthetic regenerative technologies. Her early work focused on designing novel substrates for liver cell cultures to allow pharmacologists to test in vitro the efficacy and toxicity of many potential drugs. She has designed several methods for fabricating scaffolds on which cultured cells can adhere and grow.
"These are people pushing boldly to change, improve, and protect our world, to make it a better place for all of us. This program was designed for such people - designed to provide an extra measure of freedom, visibility, and opportunity to sustain and nurture their trajectories," said Daniel J. Socolow, director of the MacArthur Fellows Program.
Griffith is offering the prospect of significant reduction in the need for future organ replacement or regeneration by developing a powerful tool for exploring the normal function of the liver and the mechanisms of disease that attack it. Her latest experiments are expanding the use of 3-D scaffolds for growing other cell types, such as blood-forming cells. These experiments lay the groundwork for building in vitro models of toxicity and cancer metastasis. Griffith works at the intersection of materials science, cell surface chemistry, physiology, and anatomy. She is extending the limits of biomedical engineering and its applications for diagnosing disease and regenerating damaged organs.
"I am grateful to Ajit Yoganathan for giving me great freedom and responsibility in his lab when I was an undergraduate at Tech," Griffith said. "But my undergraduate education was only a part of it. After I left, Tech emerged as a bioengineering giant under Bob Nerem's superb leadership. He has been a terrific inspiration to the whole field of bioengineering and to me especially."
Linda Griffith received a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1982 and a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley in 1988. In 1991, she joined the faculty of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as an assistant profesor of chemical engineering (1991-1996), after serving as a postdoctoral associate in the same department (1988-1990). She is currently a professor of biological engineering and mechanical engineering at MIT, where she is also director of the Biotechnology Process Engineering Center. Her scientific articles have appeared in such journals as Science, Biomaterials, and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA.
MacArthur Fellowships come without stipulations or reporting requirements, offering the
opportunity for Fellows to accelerate their current activities or take their work in new directions. The unusual level of independence afforded to Fellows underscores the spirit of freedom intrinsic to creative endeavors. Fellowships are awarded to women and men of all ages and at all career stages; the extraordinary creativity of MacArthur Fellows knows neither boundaries nor the constraints of age, place and endeavor.
The MacArthur Fellows Program was the first major grantmaking initiative of the Foundation. The inaugural class of MacArthur Fellows was named in 1981. Including this year's Fellows, 732 people, ranging in age from 18 to 82 at the time of their selection, have been named MacArthur Fellows since the inception of the program.
About the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation:
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is a private, independent grantmaking institution dedicated to helping groups and individuals foster lasting improvement in the human condition. Through the support it provides, the Foundation fosters the development of knowledge, nurtures individual creativity, helps strengthen institutions, helps improve public policy, and provides information to the public, primarily through support for public interest media.
Georgia Tech was ranked No. 4 for start-up companies, No. 11 overall for technology transfer (bringing technologies from the lab to market) and No. 8 for patents filed. Tech also ranked No. 9 in number of patents in 2005, according to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. While some of the rankings included information on technologies other than biotechnology, biotechnology still made up a significant portion of the total for each ranking.
Atlanta was also ranked No. 9 among top technology-transfer metro areas in the United States, according to the study.
The study, Mind to Market: A Global Analysis of University Biotechnology Transfer and Commercialization, shows the position of institutions, such as Georgia Tech, in the commercialization pipeline, which starts with the quality of research and moves to patented ideas and, finally, to the market. Based on information gathered in 2004, the study revealed that the U.S. dominates the top rankings on many key measures, including published research, patents issued and licensing income.
Georgia Tech has a strong reputation for shepherding technology from university research to the commercial market. And as biotechnology began to take hold in the research community in the late 1990s, Tech put itself on the frontlines of its development, both with the creation of the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University, a unique collaboration between a public engineering university and private medical school, and Tech's well-respected technology transfer offices, including the Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC), VentureLab and Emtech Bio.
"In 1997, Georgia Tech and Emory University partnered to form an interdisciplinary Department of Biomedical Engineering," said G. Wayne Clough, president of Georgia Tech. "Our unique relationship with Emory, coupled with our strategic, growing investment in biotechnology and a supportive environment for bringing research from the lab into commercial use, make Tech a top contributor to biotechnology innovation worldwide."
More than 50 companies have been created based on technology developed at Georgia Tech since 1990. In 2004, companies that had graduated from ATDC, a sizable portion of which were created from Georgia Tech technologies, employed 5,500 people and generated $1.7 billion in revenues, according to a recent economic impact study conducted by the Huron Consulting Group.
ATDC is one of the top technology business incubators in the country. The ATDC Biosciences Center provides biotech companies hoping to transform university research into real-world products with the space and equipment they need to get started.
"Growth in the number of start-up companies based on Georgia Tech innovations reflects the commercial relevance of our research, the support faculty members receive for their commercialization activities, the infrastructure investments made by organizations like the Georgia Research Alliance and the strength of our partnership with Emory University," said Wayne Hodges, vice provost in Georgia Tech's Enterprise Innovation Institute. "Biotechnology is a growing component of Georgia Tech's commercialization activities, and we would expect to see the number of start-ups continue to increase."
In addition to Tech's existing space for biotech start-ups, the planned Technology Enterprise Park, located just south of Georgia Tech's Midtown campus, will add space designed specifically for bioscience and technology companies leaving the incubation stage, with flexible space that will allow tenants to expand as needed.
"Great science leads to great commercial opportunities, but these biotech companies need a lot of support and space to get their businesses up and running," said Lee Herron, ATDC's general manager of biosciences. "Tech provides a supportive environment for these companies to grow - at both the incubation and post-incubation stages."
CardioMEMS, a company formed from Georgia Institute of Technology intellectual property, is one of Georgia Tech's many biotech start-up success stories. The company recently won approval from the Food and Drug Administration to market its first commercial product, the EndoSure® sensor, an implantable device that monitors blood pressure in aneurysm patients.
On the academic side, the Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory produces much of the groundbreaking research that serves as the seed of a new biotech product. Faculty members in the department, which combines the technical expertise of Georgia Tech with Emory University's medical expertise and clinical facilities, apply engineering principles to find solutions to clinical problems. The department boasts the No. 3 graduate program of biomedical engineering in the country, according to rankings from U.S. News & World Report.
]]>During the 2004-2005 academic year, Georgia Tech was ranked No. 1 in master's degrees in engineering granted to African-American students, with 29 degrees, up from 26 last year, when Tech also held the top spot.
Other top five degree producers at the master's level include North Carolina A&T State University and the University of Michigan, each with 26 degrees, and Old Dominion University and Southern Methodist University, each with 20 degrees.
"These rankings illustrate Tech's commitment to graduating top minority students in engineering," said President Wayne Clough. "We are proud of Georgia Tech's national leadership role in this area and even more proud of the success of our minority graduates."
Tech was ranked No. 2 in bachelor's degrees awarded to African-American engineering students with 117 degrees. North Carolina A&T University, a historically black university, held the top spot this year.
Tech shared the No. 3 slot for doctoral degrees with Vanderbilt University, George Mason University and the University of Florida. Each school granted four doctoral degrees to African-American engineering students during the 2004-2005 academic year. The No. 1 spot was held by the University of Maryland, followed by the University of Michigan.
Considered by Georgia Tech to be an important tool to measure the success of campus diversity initiatives, the Diverse rankings underscore Tech's efforts to create a diverse campus through strong recruitment and retention practices.
One of Tech's most successful minority recruitment projects is FOCUS, an annual event designed to attract the country's finest minority undergraduates to its graduate programs. Each year, African-American students from more than 80 colleges and universities across the nation attend the three-day series of lectures, tours, panel discussions and social events. The event, which is held annually during the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, is now in its 16th year.
In addition, Georgia Tech has a solid relationship with the historically-black institutions in the Atlanta area that make up the Atlanta University Center, Clark Atlanta University, Morehouse College, Morris Brown College, Spelman College, Morehouse School of Medicine and the Interdenominational Theological Center.
Diverse: Issues in Higher Education, a publication that covers minorities in American higher education, used statistics collected by the U.S. Department of Education to compile the rankings edition. The special report identifies the top 100 minority degree producers among institutions of higher education and is the only national report of U.S. colleges and universities awarding degrees to African-American, Latino, Asian-American and Native-American students.
The report was released as a two-part series spotlighting undergraduate and graduate statistics. Graduate and professional degree statistics appear in the July 13 edition of Diverse. Undergraduate statistics were released in the magazine's June 1 edition.
]]>In compact communication, signal processing and sensing optics technologies, multiple wavelengths of light are combined as a space-saving measure as they carry information. The wavelengths must then be separated again when they reach their destinations. Wavelengths used for these sophisticated applications have very high spectral resolution, meaning the distance between wavelengths is very small. The device that sorts out these crowded wavelengths is called a wavelength-demultiplexer (WD).
Compact optical WDs are key in spectral analysis for biosensers small enough to fit on a chip and for integrated circuits for optical information processing.
Georgia Tech researchers have designed a WD able to function at very high resolution in much tighter confines (as small as 64 microns by 100 microns - smaller than a millimeter) by developing a new design for photonic crystals, which are highly periodic structures typically etched in very thin silicon that are designed to control light and have the potential to revolutionize everything from computing to communications. The research had been published in Laser Focus World and Optics Express and was recently presented at the Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO 2006).
"We believe we have developed the most compact WD that has been reported to date," said Ali Adibi, a professor in Georgia Tech's School of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the lead researcher on the project. "If you want to have many optical functions on a single micro- or nano-sized chip, you have to be able to practically integrate all those functions in the smallest amount of space possible. Our WD solves many problems associated with combining delicate optical functions in such a small space."
The Georgia Tech team was able to shrink its WD by combining into one crystal three unique properties of photonics crystals - the superprism effect (separating wavelengths much more finely than a regular prism), negative diffraction or focusing (reversing the expansion of the light beam and focusing it back to its original size after interacting with the material being analyzed) and negative refraction (filtering wanted and unwanted wavelengths).
By combining these effects, Georgia Tech's WD takes an expanded beam of light and instead of expanding it further as wavelengths are separated, focuses the wavelength into different locations. The structure simultaneously separates wavelengths, focuses wavelengths instead of refracting them and then separates the wavelengths in one structure, solving the problems associated with wavelength interference without adding extra devices to the system.
"This project really demonstrates the importance of dispersion engineering in photonic crystals - and it's all done by changing the geometry of some holes you etch in the silicon. It's very simple and it allows you to combine properties into one material that you never could before," Adibi said.
Despite the more advanced capabilities of the photonic crystals used in Georgia Tech's WD, they are no more complex or difficult to manufacture than conventional photonic crystals, Adibi added.
The team members created these newly optimized crystals by using a modeling tool they developed two years ago to test the properties of a material much faster than time-consuming conventional numerical methods.
The result is a WD that is less than a millimeter in all dimensions rather than the several centimeters of other currently available WDs. Furthermore, Georgia Tech's WD can be integrated for several other functionalities on a single chip for signal processing, communications, or sensing and lab on-a-chip applications.
The work was supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR, G. Pomrenke) and in part by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and David and Lucile Packard Foundation.
]]>"At GTISC, we feel strongly that security should not be an after-thought with VoIP," said Mustaque Ahamad, principal investigator and director of GTISC. "By partnering with proven industry leaders ISS and BellSouth, GTISC will be able to lead the research efforts necessary to better understand VoIP threats and explore techniques that are well suited for securing VoIP devices, protocols and services."
Internet Security Systems and BellSouth have committed to a two-year research program totaling $300,000. This funding will enable GTISC faculty and graduate students to work with ISS and BellSouth technologists to develop and evaluate solutions that address VoIP security. In return, BellSouth and ISS will have access to the resulting intellectual property.
"Internet Security Systems was one of the first security companies to provide coverage for VoIP protocols in our products," said Christopher Rouland, chief technology officer at Internet Security Systems. "We look forward to working with experts at GTISC and BellSouth to further our understanding of VoIP vulnerabilities and how best to mitigate them for our customers."
"BellSouth is committed to ensuring security is an integral component in all our products and services and working with GTISC and ISS is one way to continue that focus with next generation products such as VoIP® said John Heveran, VP-Chief Information Security Officer, BellSouth.
Convergence of Internet technologies with traditional telecommunications services creates opportunities for added flexibility, lower costs and enhanced services and applications. However, to fully enable the benefits it is vital that any vulnerabilities be identified and addressed early. The researchers plan to conduct a security analysis of VoIP protocols and implementations and explore issues such as VoIP authentication for dealing with voice spam, modeling of VoIP traffic and device behavior, mobile phone security, and security of VoIP applications running on user agents.
About BellSouth Corporation
BellSouth Corporation is a Fortune 500 communications company headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. BellSouth has joint control and 40 percent ownership of Cingular Wireless, the nation's largest wireless voice and data provider with 57.3 million customers.
Backed by award-winning customer service, BellSouth offers the most comprehensive and innovative package of voice and data services available in the market. Through BellSouth Answers', residential and small business customers can bundle their local and long distance service with dial-up and high-speed DSL Internet access, satellite television and Cingular® Wireless service. For businesses, BellSouth provides secure, reliable local and long distance voice and data networking solutions. BellSouth also offers print and online directory advertising through The Real Yellow Pages® and YELLOWPAGES.COM® from BellSouth.
BellSouth believes that diversity and fostering an inclusive environment are critical in maintaining a competitive advantage in today's global marketplace. More information about BellSouth can be found at http://www.bellsouth.com.
About Internet Security Systems, Inc.
Internet Security Systems, Inc. (ISS) is the trusted security advisor to thousands of the world's leading businesses and governments, providing preemptive protection for networks, desktops and servers. An established leader in security since 1994, the ISS Proventia® integrated security platform automatically protects against both known and unknown threats, keeping networks up and running and shielding customers from online attacks before they impact business assets. ISS products and services are based on the proactive security intelligence of its X-Force® research and development team - the unequivocal world authority in vulnerability and threat research. The ISS product line is also complemented by comprehensive Managed Security Services and Professional Security Services. For more information, visit the Internet Security Systems Web site at http://www.iss.net or call 800-776-2362.
About the Georgia Tech Information Security Center
The Georgia Tech Information Security Center, a National Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education, is an interdisciplinary center involving faculty from the College of Computing, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs and the School of Public Policy. For more information, visit http://www.gtisc.gatech.edu.
Other Media Contacts:
Todd Smith
BellSouth
404-829-8723
Todd.Smith@bellsouth.com
Angela Frechette
Internet Security Systems
404-236-3197
afrechette@iss.net
The three finalists - all current Georgia Tech administrators - are: Sue Rosser, dean of Ivan Allen College, Gary Schuster, dean of the College of Sciences, and William Wepfer, vice provost for Distance Learning and Professional Education.
Rosser has served as dean of the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts since 1999. She was director of the Center for Women's Studies and Gender Research and professor of anthropology at the University of Florida-Gainsville from 1995 to 1999. In 1994-1995, she served as Senior Program Officer for Women's Programs at NSF. From 1986 to 1995 she served as director of Women's Studies at the University of South Carolina, where she was a professor of family and preventive medicine in the medical school.
She has edited collections and written approximately 120 journal articles on the theoretical and applied problems of women in science and technology and women's health. Rosser has written nine books, the most recent of which is "The Science Glass Ceiling: Struggles of Academic Women Scientists" (2004) from Routledge. She served as the Latin and North American co-editor of Women Studies International Forum from 1989-1993 and currently serves on the editorial boards of NWSA Journal, Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering, and Engineering and Women's Studies Quarterly. She has held several grants from the National Science Foundation, including "A USC System Model for Transformation of Science and Math Teaching to Reach Women in Varied Campus Settings" and "POWRE Workshop." She also serves as co-principal investigator on a $3.7 million ADVANCE grant from NSF.
Schuster has served as dean of College of Sciences since 1994. He spent 20 years in the chemistry department at the University of Illinois before his arrival at Tech and was the head of the Department of Chemistry there from 1990-1994. Schuster became the Vasser Woolley Chair of Chemistry and Biochemistry in 2001. He was an NIH post-doctoral fellow at Columbia University, a fellow of the Sloan Foundation, a Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar, and a Guggenheim fellow. In 1994, the American Chemical Society named Schuster the Cope Scholar. Schuster was the recipient of the 2006 Charles Holmes Herty Medal.
Schuster has continued to do research while publishing more than 100 refereed journal articles since his arrival at Georgia Tech. The College of Sciences has undergone numerous changes under his leadership. In the school of Chemistry and Biochemistry alone, more than 75 percent of the faculty have been hired during his tenure as dean, and the school has jumped in U.S. News and World Report rankings from 45th to 24th for graduate schools.
Wepfer joined the faculty at Georgia Tech in 1980 and served as the associate chair of graduate studies in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering. He grew the graduate program from 244 to 687 students. During Wepfer's tenure as associate chair, 106 students won prestigious NSF Fellowships.
Wepfer became vice provost for Distance Learning and Professional Education (DLPE) in 2002 and initiated a major reorganization. The DLPE seeks to provide Georgia Tech faculty with exceptional support and service in the delivery of educational programs to traditional credit students as well as life-long learners. Wepfer stresses the importance of distance-learning and professional education as compliments to Tech's strong education and research programs.
The final three candidates will meet with President Wayne Clough, administration officials, and deans in the coming weeks. An announcement of the new provost is expected by the end of August. The new provost will replace Dr. Jean-Lou Chameau, who has been named the president of the California Institute of Technology.
The provost and vice president for Academic Affairs is the chief academic and budget officer of the university. All academic, research and related units including the colleges, the library, professional education, and economic development report to the provost. Additionally, the provost administers the budgets of these units.
The provost oversees academic and budgetary policy and priorities, ensures the quality of the student body and maintains educational excellence. In addition, the provost also has oversight responsibility for issues associated with the recruiting, hiring, retention and performance of faculty and academic administrators and for the Institute's promotion and tenure process.
]]>The report, "How the Atlanta Region's Colleges and Universities Are Enriching Georgia,' brings together data from Atlanta-area private and public institutions and shows a spending impact from the institutions, their students, employees and visitors of more than $9.2 billion a year. Spending on capital improvements adds another $1.5 billion impact in Georgia.
"Higher education is a significant sector of the Georgia economy," said ARCHE President Michael A. Gerber. "This report shows us a different way to think about the region's colleges and universities. These are not only great educational institutions - they're major developers, they're tourist attractions, and they're big employers."
"Until now, we have vastly underestimated the economic impact and overall importance of higher education to Georgia," said Craig Lesser, Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Economic Development, who spoke at the report's release Wednesday. "Georgia has a great story to tell, and all of us need to do a better job of talking about higher ed's contributions to Georgia and Atlanta as great destinations to live and do business."
Enriching lives across the state
The impact of these institutions reaches beyond Atlanta to the state as a whole. Much of the report's data is available by industry sector and by impact on the state of Georgia as well as on the Atlanta region. The report is online at www.atlantahighered.org.
Numbers don't tell the whole story of the impact of these institutions on people around the state. So the report profiles seven Georgians - from a first-generation college student to a Decatur restaurant owner to a former U.S. Surgeon General - whose lives or businesses have been transformed by colleges and universities in the Atlanta area.
Visitors to campus
The 19 ARCHE member institutions draw 5.7 million visitors a year - 1.5 million of them for an overnight stay. They come for admissions visits, commencement celebrations, arts, sports, academic conferences and health care. While they're here, they spend $469 million each year in the state.
Key figures
"How the Atlanta Region's Colleges and Universities Are Enriching Georgia"
Combined annual economic impact on Georgia $10,767,423,000
(Includes impact of spending on capital improvements of $1,526,284,000 and impact of spending by colleges and universities, their students, employees and visitors of $9,241,140,000.)
Jobs created annually in Georgia 129,050
Combined annual economic impact on the Atlanta region $7,630,231,000
Jobs created annually in the Atlanta region 116,230
Students enrolled annually in Atlanta-area colleges and universities 216,500
Alumni of ARCHE-member institutions living in Georgia 522,540
State and local taxes paid in Georgia by alumni of ARCHE institutions $2.4 billion
Methodology
For purposes of this study, the "Atlanta region" or "Atlanta area" includes the Athens-Clarke County Metropolitan Statistical Area, the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta MSA and the Gainesville MSA. The study uses data from 49 degree-granting, accredited higher education institutions in these three MSAs. Of these, 21 are public and 28 are private (both for-profit and non-profit) institutions.
Information on annual spending and tax revenues is based on FY 2003 data and expressed in FY 2005 dollars. Information related to capital expenditures reflects an average annual impact based on the period FY 1999-FY 2003 expressed in FY 2005 dollars. Methodology details are at http://www.atlantahighered.org/archereports/econimpact.asp.
About ARCHE
The Atlanta Regional Council for Higher Education brings together the Atlanta region's public and private colleges and universities. ARCHE builds awareness of the size, scope, impact and value of higher education and helps its 19 member institutions share strengths through cooperative programs such as cross registration and library sharing. Founded in 1938, ARCHE's membership also includes six affiliated libraries and 12 corporate and nonprofit community partners.
Visit http://www.atlantahighered.org/for information about ARCHE, its members and its reports.
Media Contacts:
Michael A. Gerber, mgerber@atlantahighered.org
Beth Day, bday@atlantahighered.org
404.651.2668
Smaller spoons also help stop people from piling on too much food, according to a study conducted by van Ittersum with Brian Wansink of Cornell University and James Painter of Eastern Illinois University. Titled "Ice Cream Illusions: Bowls, Spoons, and Self-Served Portions," their study will appear in the September issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
The researchers believe their findings result from the human perceptual tendency to judge object sizes based on comparisons with neighboring items. Participants in the study, for example, served themselves 31 percent more ice cream when they were given a 34-ounce bowl instead of a 17-ounce bowl. Their servings increased by 14.5 percent when they were given a 3-ounce spoon instead of a 2-ounce utensil. When given both a large spoon and big bowl, they served themselves 56.8 percent more. Yet they were unaware of the greater ice cream quantities.
And these study participants were nutrition experts, a group one might expect to exhibit more moderation at food serving and consumption. The researchers invited eighty-five nutrition experts who didn't realize they were the subjects of an experiment to an ice-cream social. "While it is not clear how accurate people are in estimating ounces and calories, it was believed that this group would be most accurate given their expertise in nutrition," van Ittersum says.
When people over-serve themselves food, they're likely to overeat, he notes. That's because people eat an estimated 92 percent of the food they serve themselves. "If you want to lose weight, use smaller china and flatware," van Ittersum advises. "While 4 ounces of food on an 8-ounce plate might look like a good helping, 4 ounces on a 10-ounce plate could seem skimpy."
He believes these research findings have implications not only for those watching their weight, but also for the hospitality industry. Many experts have blamed expanding American waistlines on the growing size of restaurant food portions. Through the use of smaller plates, bowls and spoons, restaurants might be able to deflect such criticism while still convincing diners that they're getting a good value, van Ittersum says. "Of course, you cannot push this strategy to the limit," he says. "If people still feel hungry after they've finished their plate, you have a serious problem."
For more information, contact van Ittersum at 404-894-4380 or koert.vanittersum@mgt.gatech.edu.
Writer: Brad Dixon, College of Management
]]>"I'm especially pleased to learn that our faculty think so highly of Georgia Tech as a place to teach and conduct research," said Gary Schuster, provost of Georgia Tech. "We strive to create an environment that nurtures young faculty and encourages creative thinking from our faculty so they can produce innovative research that will enrich their fields, their students and the Institute."
The Scientist's Best Places to Work survey series-including BPTW Academia, BPTW Postdocs, and BPTW Industry-is currently in its fourth year. Survey respondents listed personal fulfillment as the top factor in determining workplace satisfaction. Peer relations, institutional management and tenure procedures also ranked among the most important factors. Institutions earning high marks in those categories took this year's top honors.
"We're proud to be able to provide this information to our readers year after year," said The Scientist publisher Richard Gallagher. "It's important for scientists to be able to tell their peers exactly how they feel about where they work."
The Scientist posted a Web-based questionnaire and invited readers and registrants on its web site to respond. Participants had to identify themselves as tenured or tenure-track life scientists working in academia or other non-commercial research organizations. More than 1,600 responses were evaluated. Participants were asked to assess their working conditions and environments by indicating their level of agreement with 39 criteria in eight different areas. They also indicated which factors were important to them. The magazine ranked 58 institutions from the United States, seven from Canada, and 10 from the U.K.
]]>Specializing in environmental policy, Norton writes on international equity, sustainable theory, biodiversity policy and valuation methods. His current research is directed at clarifying spatio-temporal bounding in the formulation of environmental problems.
Norton is the author of Linguistic Frameworks, Ontology, Why Preserve Natural Variety?, Toward Unity Among Environmentalists, Searching for Sustainability and Sustainability: A Philosophy of Adaptive Management. He is the editor of The Preservation of Species and co-editor of several volumes, including Ethics on the Arc. He has also contributed to journals in several fields, including philosophy, biology, ecology, economics, ecological economics and environmental management.
Notron has served on numerous panels, including the Environmental Economics Advisory Committee of the Environmental Protection Agency's Science Advisory Board. He was a research associate at the Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy at the University of Maryland from 1981 to 1983, and was a Gilbert White Fellow at Resources from the Future from 1985 to 1986. He recently completed a second term as a member of the Governing Board of the Society for Conservation Biology, as well as three terms as a member of the Board of Directors of Defenders of Wildlife.
Norton received his bachelor's degree with distinction and honors in political science from the University of Michigan in 1966 and his doctoral degree in philosophy from the same institution in 1970.
]]>"Both Dr. Bréchignac, a renowned scientist and scholar in the area of nanophysics, and Mr. Silas, a dedicated alumnus and former CEO of Phillips Petroleum, meet the highest standards that can be set for receipt of an honorary degree," said Georgia Tech President G. Wayne Clough. "We are pleased to recognize both of them for their service to Georgia Tech."
Bréchignac is the current president of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) in France, the largest and most influential scientific organization in Europe. Bréchignac is known within the international scientific community as a specialist in atomic physics working at the interface of nuclear and molecular physics. Since the early 1990s, she has been a research collaborator with Georgia Tech faculty and recently has been instrumental in the establishment of a formal partnership between CNRS and Georgia Tech to engage in research of mutual interest.
In 2001 Bréchignac's extensive work with Tech faculty led to her appointment as adjunct professor of physics and distinguished visiting scholar chair at Georgia Tech. Georgia Tech has been collaborating with the CNRS since 1998 when a Georgia Tech Lorraine-CNRS Telecom lab opened on the Georgia Tech Lorraine campus in Metz, France. Recently this relationship has been strengthened with the formation of an international partnership known as 'Unite Mixte Internationale (UMI)' between Georgia Tech and CNRS. This partnership is the first of its kind in France, where CNRS has partnered with a non-French entity (Georgia Tech) to engage in research of mutual interest.
Silas received his undergraduate degree in chemical engineering from Georgia Tech and had a distinguished business career at Phillips Petroleum, culminating with a decade of service as its chairman and chief executive officer. Silas has been a civic leader at the local, state and national levels, including service as chairman of Junior Achievement, the National Boys and Girls Clubs of America, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Petroleum Institute. He has also been very supportive of the Institute for many years, including service on the Georgia Tech Foundation Board of Trustees and the Georgia Tech Advisory Board. This honorary degree recognizes his outstanding career in the energy field, his lifelong commitment to community service and his dedication and service to his alma mater.
Over the years Silas has provided significant leadership to his alma mater. He chaired the National Campaign Steering Committee for the five-year Campaign for Georgia Tech, which began with a $300 million goal and raised more than $700 million. He served as a trustee of the Georgia Tech Foundation for 18 years, and continues his relationship with the Foundation board as a trustee emeritus. He also served on the Georgia Tech Advisory Board for six years, including a one-year term as its chairman. He is a member of The Hill Society, which recognizes the Institute's principal philanthropists. In recognition of his efforts, Georgia Tech has presented him with the Joseph Mayo Pettit Alumni Distinguished Service Award, the Georgia Tech Alumni Exceptional Achievement Award, and the Scholar-Athlete Total Person Award.
As a student at Georgia Tech, Silas was a recognized leader on the basketball court, and he subsequently played on the U.S. basketball team that won the 1955 Pan American games in Mexico City. He has been inducted into both the Georgia Tech Athletic Hall of Fame and the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame.
Past recipients of honorary degrees from Georgia Tech include: Jimmy Carter, Ivan Allen Jr., Jacques Nasser, Jack Kilby, Shirley Jackson, Elizabeth Dole, Glen Robinson, John Young, John Slaughter, Alan Kay and Wallace H. Coulter.
]]>"With this new building, we will have 20,000 square feet of space dedicated to nanotechnology focused on physical science and engineering adjacent to a 10,000-square-foot facility dedicated to biological and biomedical nanotechnology research - this combination doesn't exist anywhere else in the world," said Dr. James Meindl, director of the new Nanotechnology Research Center, which will be housed in the new Marcus Nanotechnology Building.
"The Nanotechnology Building is one of the strategic facilities that will offer opportunities to the University System, as well as the state and nation," said Board of Regents Chancellor Erroll Davis. "Without question, it (the new facility) will help us accomplish our future education, research and economic development missions."
Nanotechnology research will produce materials ten times stronger than steel but much lighter in weight, digital storage units the size of sugar cubes that can hold all the information in the Library of Congress, and tiny medical devices that can detect individual cancer cells and target them with specialized treatment.
The possibilities that nanotechnology has in medical research are what led philanthropist Bernie Marcus, founder and chairman of the Marcus Foundation, to make a $15 million commitment to the building earlier this year.
"It is hard for people to understand what can come out of the nanotechnology world, but we do understand the benefits it can produce for medicine," said Marcus. "The combination of Georgia Tech working with other universities in this state doing nanotechnology research will give us great potential in solving terrible diseases."
Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue believes the new building will provide a wealth of research for the state.
"This facility isn't going to be exclusive. It is going to be available to scientists throughout our university system and in the private sector as well," said Perdue. "The role of government is to help facilitate a place where good ideas can come together and generate new ideas. This facility promotes innovating for the sake of a better quality of life for our citizens."
Georgia Tech President Wayne Clough said he believes the new facility will help Tech to attract research funding as well as top-notch faculty and students.
"This is a historic moment for Georgia Tech and a project that will last a lifetime," said Clough.
The naming of the Marcus Nanotechnology Building is pending Board of Regents approval, and the completion date for the new facility is summer 2008.
]]>As an affinity partner, the Global Learning Center will host events during Homecoming and Family Weekend as well as four additional alumni events during the coming year.
"We've always been impressed by the Global Learning Center's people, their responsiveness and support of our needs," said Jim Shea, vice president for fundraising and business development, Georgia Tech Alumni Association. "The facility is first-class and provides a convenient location and a distraction-free environment to provide alumni programming."
"The Georgia Tech Global Learning Center is an ideal location that is convenient for corporate meetings, management conferences and training seminars," Shea said.
The center also provides a gateway to lifelong learning opportunities at Georgia Tech. It is specifically engineered to support a variety of meeting needs including video conferencing and webcasting and is home to more than 500 corporate meetings and professional education courses annually.
"Building support for achieving the mission of the Alumni Association is always a priority for us," said Joe Irwin, president of the Georgia Tech Alumni Association. "Our alumni expect high-quality products and services from us, and the Georgia Tech Global Learning Center certainly meets that expectation."
"The center's professional staff pride themselves on delivering a hassle-free meeting experience so this endorsement by the Georgia Tech Alumni Association is gratifying," said Tim Copeland, director of marketing and sales for Distance Learning and Professional Education at Georgia Tech.
"Companies are beginning to assign a greater strategic value to meeting planning," said Copeland. "Because we only focus on professional meetings and seminars, the Georgia Tech Global Learning Center provides a distraction-free environment to support meeting objectives. We take care of the details so clients can focus on what's important - the content of the meeting."
More information about the Georgia Tech Global Learning Center is available online at http://www.gatechcenter.com.
]]>Designed to prepare participants for the February 16 (Preliminary Round) and February 23 (Final Round) contests, the Workshop Series can help you refine your venture ideas, establish a team, and develop your business plan.
The Workshop Series kicks off October 11 with "Creating High Potential Ventures for Fun and Profit-from 6 to 7:30 PM in Room 223 of the Management building. This workshop will feature insights from members of the Intrinsic Security team that won first place in the last Business Plan Competition. With support from VentureLab, which helps commercialize technologies developed at Georgia Tech, they are focused on bringing their network security services to market.
Intended both to educate and facilitate startups, the BPC often leads to the creation of real technology-based businesses. Both the Workshop Series and BPC are open to all Tech students and alumni who have graduated within the past five years. Those who attend the preparatory workshops don't necessarily have to enter the competition. They can come simply to "Experience Entrepreneurship," the competition's new tagline.
For a complete list of upcoming workshops as well as important deadlines for participation in the competition, please view the BPC online calendar at http://mgt.gatech.edu/fac_research/centers_initiatives/files_bpc/gatech_bpc2007_calendar.pdf.
BPC organizers are attempting to involve more undergraduates in the BPC this year through the creation of a new award for the best undergraduate team. Other prizes include first, second, and third places in the Final Round Competition; the Most Fundable category for the team considered most ready to enter the marketplace; the Social and Environmental Sustainability Award, which recognizes the plan that best addresses environmental concerns and/or demonstrates social responsibility; and the Showstopper Award, honoring the team that does the best job selling itself to judges in the BPC trade show. In an Elevator Pitch Competition, BPC participants get one minute to verbally sell their business concepts - the amount of time they might have in an elevator with a potential investor.
Since the inception of the university-wide Business Plan Competition in 2001, participants have collectively won $103,000 in cash prizes and $165,000 in services (legal, financial, etc.) Winning teams in the 2007 competition are expected to receive more than $20,000 in cash prizes and $40,000 in service awards. Prize amounts will be finalized and announced by January 9.
For more information, please visit the main BPC Web site or e-mail bizplan@mgt.gatech.edu. It's not necessary to RSVP to attend a workshop.
Writer: Brad Dixon, College of Management
]]>Chambliss met with some of Georgia Tech's top experts in alternative fuels and Georgia Tech President Wayne Clough to discuss new technologies designed to produce practical biofuels. In particular, the group discussed Georgia Tech's efforts to create a method for transforming the pulp of the Southern pine (a type of soft wood native to the southern U.S.) into ethanol.
The process, if properly funded and supported, could replace between 15 percent and 20 percent of Georgia's gasoline consumption, according to Dr. Sam Shelton, a lead researcher on the Southern pine project and a member of Georgia Tech's Strategic Energy Institute.
"Southern pine has huge potential for the State of Georgia," Shelton told Chambliss. "It's a great economic development opportunity."
Southern pine is readily available on tree farms in Georgia, making it a cheap material for ethanol extraction. Georgia tree farms, the top growers of Georgia pine, produce up to 18 million tons of extra wood pulp each year, according to the Georgia Forestry Commission. The wood, typically used by paper mills to produce paper goods, could instead be used to make ethanol.
The challenge lies in perfecting the process for removing the ethanol from the wood pulp. Georgia Tech researchers are working with special membranes designed to separate the ethanol and water from the pulp by catching the larger ethanol molecules.
Chambliss toured the lab working on the separation membranes guided by the project's director, Dr. Ron Rousseau.
With the right support, the researchers hope to have plants for converting Southern pine into ethanol in the next few years.
]]>"Our partnerships within Georgia Tech, the Shepherd Center, the wireless industry and other researchers, both domestically and abroad, have always promoted equitable access to wireless technologies for people with disabilities," says Dr. Helena Mitchell, CACP executive director and Wireless RERC principal investigator and co-director. "We look forward to the research and development of the RERC's new initiatives which also address this important field of study."
"We are very excited that continued funding has been awarded for the Wireless RERC," noted Dr. Michael Jones, Shepherd Center's vice president for research and technology and RERC co-director. "This award validates our accomplishments over the past five years and also affirms the growing importance of wireless technologies for disabled and non-disabled users alike."
The Wireless RERC will explore research and development of new wireless technology applications, as well as continue its work on legislative, policy and regulatory monitoring and analysis. Dr. Mitchell added, 'CACP's past policy activities have contributed to regulatory changes at the Federal Communications Commission where the Wireless RERC was cited three times in rulemakings regarding advanced technologies and emergency communications."
Areas of new technology development include emergency communications, location-based services, advanced auditory interfaces for handheld electronic devices, and universal remote control systems that allow a cell phone to seamlessly operate other electronic devices and appliances. The RERC team will also partner with wireless product manufacturers, mobile wireless service providers, and consumer volunteers with disabilities to test and report on the usability of a variety of wireless devices. Results from this product testing will be used to create an online resource of wireless product reviews that highlight important usability features.
The Wireless RERC is one of 23 RERCs in the United States. Other RERCs are devoted to fields such as aging, hearing or vision-related disabilities, public transportation, workplace accommodations, universal design, wheeled mobility, and information technology access.
Georgia Tech participants in the Wireless RERC include the Center for Assistive Technology and Environmental Access (CATEA), College of Computing, Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), Interactive Media Technology Center (IMTC), School of Psychology, School of Public Policy, and the Southeast Disability and Business Technical Assistance Center (SEDBTAC).
About Shepherd Center
Founded in 1975, Shepherd Center is the largest free-standing specialty hospital in the U.S., with comprehensive programs in spinal cord injury, brain injury, multiple sclerosis, spina bifida, post-polio syndrome, and other neuromuscular diseases. Shepherd is the premier provider of medical rehabilitation and community re-entry services and supports for people with disabilities in the Southeast. Since 1982, Shepherd Center has been designated by NIDRR as a Model System of Care for Spinal Cord Injury (SCI). For the seventh year in a row, Shepherd Center was recently recognized as one of the country's top rehabilitation hospitals in U.S. News & World Report's 2006 edition of 'America's Best Hospitals.'
The SWAN system, consisting of a small laptop, a proprietary tracking chip, and bone-conduction headphones, provides audio cues to guide the person from place to place, with or without vision.
"We are excited by the possibilities for people who are blind and visually impaired to use the SWAN auditory wayfinding system," said Susan B. Green, executive director, Center for the Visually Impaired in Atlanta. "Consumer involvement is crucial in the design and evaluation of successful assistive technology, so CVI is happy to collaborate with Georgia Tech to provide volunteers who are blind and visually impaired for focus groups, interviews and evaluation of the system."
Collaboration
In an unusual collaboration, Frank Dellaert, assistant professor in the Georgia Tech College of Computing and Bruce Walker, assistant professor in Georgia Tech's School of Psychology and College of Computing, met five years ago at new faculty orientation and discussed how their respective areas of expertise - determining location of robots and audio interfaces - were complimentary and could be married in a project to assist the blind. The project progressed slowly as the researchers worked on it as time allowed and sought funding. Early support came through a seed grant from the Graphics, Visualization and Usability (GVU) Center at Georgia Tech, and recently Walker and Dellaert received a $600,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to further develop SWAN.
Dellaert's artificial intelligence research focuses on tracking and determining the location of robots and developing applications to help robots determine where they are and where they need to go. There are similar challenges when it comes to tracking and guiding robots and people. Dellaert's robotics research usually focuses on military applications since that is where most of the funding is available.
"SWAN is a satisfying project because we are looking at how to use technology originally developed for military use for peaceful purposes," says Dellaert. "Currently, we can effectively localize the person outdoors with GPS data, and we have a working prototype using computer vision to see street level details not included in GPS, such as light posts and benches. The challenge is integrating all the information from all the various sensors in real time so you can accurately guide the user as they move toward their destination."
Walker's expertise in human computer interaction and interface design includes developing auditory displays that indicate data through sonification or sound.
"By using a modular approach in building a system useful for the visually impaired, we can easily add new sensing technologies, while also making it flexible enough for firefighters and soldiers to use in low visibility situations," says Walker. "One of our challenges has been designing sound beacons easily understood by the user but that are not annoying or in competition with other sounds they need to hear such as traffic noise."
SWAN System Overview
The current SWAN prototype consists of a small laptop computer worn in a backpack, a tracking chip, additional sensors including GPS (global positioning system), a digital compass, a head tracker, four cameras and light sensor, and special headphones called bone phones. The researchers selected bone phones because they send auditory signals via vibrations through the skull without plugging the user's ears, an especially important feature for the blind who rely heavily on their hearing. The sensors and tracking chip worn on the head send data to the SWAN applications on the laptop which computes the user's location and in what direction he is looking, maps the travel route, then sends 3-D audio cues to the bone phones to guide the traveler along a path to the destination.
The 3-D cues sound like they are coming from about 1 meter away from the user's body, in whichever direction the user needs to travel. The 3-D audio, a well-established sound effect, is created by taking advantage of humans' natural ability to detect inter-aural time differences. The 3-D sound application schedules sounds to reach one ear slightly faster than the other, and the human brain uses that timing difference to figure out where the sound originated.
The 3-D audio beacons for navigation are unique to SWAN. Other navigation systems use speech cues such as 'walk 100 yards and turn left,' which Walker feels is not user friendly.
"SWAN consists of two types of auditory displays - navigational beacons where the SWAN user walks directly toward the sound, and secondary sounds indicating nearby items of possible interests such as doors, benches and so forth," says Walker. "We have learned that sound design matters. We have spent a lot of time researching which sounds are more effective, such as a beep or a sound burst, and which sounds provide information but do not interrupt users when they talk on their cell phone or listen to music."
The researchers have also learned that SWAN would supplement other techniques that a blind person might already use for getting around such as using a cane to identify obstructions in the path or a guide dog.
Next Steps
The researchers' next step is to transition SWAN from outdoors-only to indoor-outdoor use. Since GPS does not work indoors, the computer vision system is being refined to bridge that gap. Also, the research team is currently revamping the SWAN applications to run on PDAs and cell phones, which will be more convenient and comfortable for users. The team plans to add an annotation feature so that a user can add other useful annotations to share with other users such as nearby coffee shops, a location of a puddle after recent rains, and perhaps even the location of a park in the distance. There are plans to commercialize the SWAN technology after further refinement, testing and miniaturizing of components for the consumer market.
"My study shows that giant pandas have some sort of color vision," said Kelling, graduate student in Georgia Tech's Center for Conservation Behavior in the School of Psychology. "Most likely, their vision is dichromatic, since that seems to be the trend for carnivores."
Vision is not a well-studied aspect of bears, including the giant pandas. It has long been thought that bears have poor vision, perhaps, Kelling said, because they have such excellent senses of smell and hearing. Some experts have thought that bears must have some sort of color vision as it would help them in identifying edible plants from the inedible ones, although there's been little experimental evidence of this. However, one experiment on black bears found some evidence that bears could tell blue from gray and green from gray. Kelling used this study's design as the basis to test color vision in Zoo Atlanta's giant pandas.
Over a two-year period, Kelling investigated whether giant pandas can tell the difference between colors and shades of gray. In separate tests, the two pandas (Lun Lun, the female, and Yang Yang, the male) were presented with three PVC pipes, two hanging under a piece of paper that contained one of 18 shades of gray and one that contained a color - red, green or blue. If the panda pushed the pipe located under a color, it received a reward. If it pushed one of the pipes under the gray paper, it received nothing.
Kelling tested each color separately against gray. In the green versus gray tests, the bears' performance in choosing green was variable, but mostly above chance. In the red versus gray tests, both bears performed above chance every single time. Only Lun Lun completed the blue versus green tests because Yang Yang had a tooth problem that prevented him from eating the treats used as reinforcement. For this trial, Lun Lun performed below chance only once.
"While this study shows that giant pandas have some color vision, it wasn't conclusive as to what level of color vision they have," said Kelling. "From this study, we can't tell if the pandas can tell the difference between the colors themselves, like red from blue, or blue from green. But we can see that they can determine if something is gray or colored. That ability and the accompanying visual acuity could lead to the pandas being better able to forage for bamboo. For instance, to determine whether to head for a bamboo patch that is healthy and colorful as opposed to one that is brown and dying."
]]>The center, to be based at Georgia Tech in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University, will be headed by Dr. Gang Bao, College of Engineering Distinguished Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, who will serve as director. Dr. William Dynan, associate director of MCG's Institute of Molecular Medicine and Genetics Program and a Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar in Molecular Biology, will be the associate director of the center.
The center will receive between $6 million and $10 million from the NIH over the next five years, and almost $3 million from the Georgia Research Alliance, a public-private partnership of Georgia universities, businesses and government created to build the state's technology industry.
"Georgia Tech is leveraging our strengths in nanotechnology and biomedical engineering to lead the way in the emerging field of nanomedicine, which has tremendous potential to make the practice of medicine more preventive and less invasive. This is the third nanomedicine/nanotechnology center that the NIH has awarded to Georgia Tech and Emory University, and we are very pleased to have the Medical College of Georgia join us as a partner in this one. Together we are helping Georgia to emerge as a top state for nanomedicine," said Dr. G. Wayne Clough, president of Georgia Tech.
"The continuing support of the NIH for the Emory and Georgia Tech programs in nanotechnology and biomedical engineering demonstrates their confidence in our scientists, our research accomplishments and our institutions," said Dr. James W. Wagner, president of Emory University. "Biomedical nanotechnology holds tremendous promise for the future of healthcare, and we are proud to play such a key role in this emerging field of science and medicine."
The new center, called the Nanomedicine Center for Nucleoprotein Machines, is one of the NIH's Nanomedicine Development Centers, a key initiative of the NIH's long-term nanomedicine research goals. The centers are required to have highly multidisciplinary scientific teams that include biologists, physicians, mathematicians, engineers and computer scientists.
"Georgia Tech's long-time partnership with Emory, developing partnership with Medical College of Georgia and collaborations with top researchers all over the world have helped attract the notice and considerable funding of the NIH," said Dr. Don Giddens, dean of Georgia Tech's College of Engineering. "We are particularly pleased that this new center includes a collaboration with the Medical College of Georgia and that an important impetus for our successful application came from the support of the Georgia Research Alliance."
The new center will initially focus on understanding how the body repairs damage to DNA, a molecule that encodes genetic information in each cell - a problem that lies at the heart of many diseases and illnesses. As cells replicate, mistakes are created in the DNA that, if not repaired, cause defects that lead to illness. DNA breakage can also occur from ionizing radiation, which is found in the environment, cosmic rays, radon gas and even the soil, as well as in our bodies, primarily from potassium and carbon.
Learning how protein complexes repair DNA damage could be the key to understanding structure-function relationships in the cell nucleus' protein machines, called nucleoprotein machines, that synthesize, modify and repair DNA and RNA. This could someday be used to reverse genetic defects, cure disease or delay aging.
"We need to understand the basic engineering design principles underlying how cells repair DNA damage with high precision, and apply this knowledge to the development of novel therapeutic strategies for a wide range of diseases, including cancer," said Bao. "The probes, tools and methodologies developed in our NDC will be applicable to a wide range of biological and disease studies." Bao also directs the NHLBI Program of Excellence in Nanotechnology at Emory and Georgia Tech.
"We are hoping that by studying the way natural machines are engineered by the body, we will develop the general principles that will allow us to engineer artificial machines that could carry out these processes in a therapeutic way, so you could fix genetic defects, for example," said Dynan, who studies double-strand DNA breaks resulting from radiation exposure.
In addition to experts at Georgia Tech, Emory and Medical College of Georgia, top researchers at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, New York University Medical Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, California Institute of Technology and German Cancer Research Center will also collaborate with the center.
Georgia Tech's Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University, a unique collaboration between a public engineering university and private medical school, is the No. 3 biomedical engineering graduate program in the country, according to rankings from U.S. News & World Report.
The Medical College of Georgia is the state's health sciences university and includes the Schools of Allied Health Sciences, Dentistry, Graduate Studies, Medicine and Nursing. MCG is a unit of the University System of Georgia and an equal opportunity institution. http://www.mcg.edu.
]]>The new name recognizes Georgia Tech's strong reputation for material handling and logistics, as well as its growing emphasis on global supply chain engineering and strategy.
The Supply Chain & Logistics Institute, headquartered in Atlanta, is a unit of Georgia Tech's H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering. U.S. News & World Report has ranked the school number one for 16 consecutive years.
The Supply Chain & Logistics Institute focuses on research, executive and professional education, and outreach programs in logistics and supply chain management. Its programs include the Leaders in Logistics industry-outreach program, the Supply Chain Executive Forum, and an extensive calendar of short courses and seminars. It also has educational partnerships in Singapore and Shanghai.
Georgia Tech's H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering also offers an executive master's in international logistics, a unique, 18-month, part-time graduate degree program.
]]>"Part of GTISC's mission is to develop education and research programs that will have real-world impact. We are bringing senior executives from a variety of companies ranging from the Fortune 500 to specialized technology firms to provide their perspectives on real-world challenges in the information security and privacy arena," said Mustaque Ahamad, director of GTISC and professor of computing. "This semester a common theme among the speakers is the close relationship between technology and policy for effectively addressing information security challenges."
Each GTISC Industry Leaders Lecture begins at 4:00 p.m. in the Centergy Building at 75 Fifth Street N.W. in Technology Square and is followed by a networking reception. To attend, please RSVP by email to gtisc-info@cc.gatech.edu.
The first speaker for fall is Phyllis Schneck, Georgia Tech alumna and vice president for Research Integration at CipherTrust, the global market leader in messaging security based in Alpharetta, Ga. Schneck will speak about "From Boardroom to War Room: Engaging Industry and Academia in National Security and Critical Infrastructure Protection." Also scheduled for the lecture series are speakers from Coca-Cola, Equifax, Southern Company, and SunTrust. The detailed schedule is below.
GTISC Industry Leaders Lecture Series - Fall 2006
September 19 Phyllis Schneck, vice president, research integration for CipherTrust, Inc. and chairman, board of directors, InfraGard National Members Alliance
September 26 David Rowan, senior vice president and director, enterprise technology risk management for SunTrust
October 10 Rebecca Blalock, senior vice president and chief information officer
Southern Company
October 31 Tony Spinelli, senior vice president, information technology security
Equifax
November 28 Jean-Michel Ares, senior vice president and chief information officer
The Coca-Cola Company
December 5 John A. DiMaria, product manager; business continuity marketing
BSI Management Systems
About the Georgia Tech Information Security Center
The Georgia Tech Information Security Center, a National Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education, is an interdisciplinary center involving faculty from the College of Computing, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs and the School of Public Policy. For more information, visit http://www.gtisc.gatech.edu.
With the grant, funded by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Walker will focus on annular helicon plasma sources for high thrust-to-power Hall thrusters.
The program is open to scientists and engineers at research institutions across the United States. Those selected, 21 scientists and engineers who submitted winning research proposals, will receive the grants over a 3-year period. Competition for YIP grants is intense. A total of 145 proposals were received in response to the AFOSR broad agency announcement solicitation in major areas of interests to the Air Force. Interest areas include aerospace and materials sciences, chemistry and life sciences, mathematics and information sciences and physics and electronics. AFOSR officials selected proposals based on the evaluation criteria listed in the broad agency announcement.
"AFOSR is proud to participate in the President's National Competitive Initiative by supporting the exciting research of these 21 outstanding scientists and engineers," said Dr. Brendan B. Godfrey, AFOSR director. "The AFOSR Young Investigator Research Program will grow to at least 50 grants over the next 3 years."
The program supports scientists and engineers who have received Ph.D. or equivalent degrees in the last five years. Grant recipients must show exceptional ability and promise for conducting basic research. The objective of this program is to foster creative basic research in science and engineering, enhance early career development of outstanding young investigators and increase opportunities for the young investigators to recognize the Air Force mission and the related challenges in science and engineering.
Walker's primary research interests lie in electric propulsion, plasma physics and hypersonic aerodynamics/plasma interaction. He has extensive design and testing experience with Hall thrusters and ion engines. Walker has also performed seminal work in Hall thruster clustering and vacuum chamber facility effects. As founding director of the High-Power Electric Propulsion Laboratory at Georgia Tech, his current research activities involve theoretical and experimental work in advanced spacecraft propulsion systems, diagnostics, plasma physics, helicon plasma sources, Hall thrusters and magnetoplasmadynamic thrusters. He also teaches courses in thermodynamics and compressible flow, jet and rocket propulsion and electric propulsion.
]]>Schuster, 60, has been dean of the Georgia Tech College of Sciences and professor of chemistry since 1994. In addition, he was named Vasser Woolley chair of chemistry and biochemistry at Georgia Tech in 2001.
"I am pleased that Dr. Schuster has agreed to accept the position of Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Georgia Tech," Clough said. "He has had an outstanding career as a teacher and researcher, and that, combined with his long tenure as a school chair at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and as a dean here on our campus, provides him with a clear appreciation of what it takes to be an outstanding provost."
"I am honored to be appointed as Provost at Georgia Tech ," Schuster said. "I am eager to continue to work with colleagues throughout the campus to set high goals and to provide the environment needed to realize those goals."
Throughout his academic career Schuster has been noted for his devotion to academic excellence. His mentoring work with younger faculty, focus on undergraduate success and collegial, interdisciplinary approach have helped substantially increase enrollment in and rankings of the College of Sciences during his tenure.
"I have had the pleasure of working with him for twelve years at Tech, and have admired his innovative and collaborative approach to ideas and his understanding of our goals we have for excellence in our teaching, research and service missions," Clough added.
Schuster has had leading roles in bringing internationally recognized research faculty to the Institute and in the conceptualization and development of the interdisciplinary biotechnology complex at Georgia Tech. He has published more than 250 refereed articles, holds 12 patents and has received numerous fellowships and awards.
Schuster came to Georgia Tech from the University of Illinois where he was head of the Department of Chemistry. He received his B.S. in chemistry from Clarkson College of Technology and Ph.D. from the University of Rochester.
]]>The exhibit features women around the world - from Ethiopia to Peru to Indonesia - pictured living their lives as farmers, factory workers, soldiers, midwives, mothers, and daughters. The photos highlight the geographic, racial, ethnic, lifestyle, and socioeconomic diversity of women assisted by UNFPA's work.
UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, provides women's health care and promotes the rights of women around the world. Americans for UNFPA is dedicated to building American support for the work of UNFPA.
"'Family of Woman' provides pictorial lessons in women's empowerment and development," says Terry Blum, director of the Georgia Tech Institute for Leadership and Entrepreneurship. "Joining Americans for UNFPA as an exhibit co-sponsor allows us to bring vivid images and experiences of women of the world directly to our campus."
Photographers contributing to the exhibit include Julie Denesha, photo editor for the Washington Times; Dana Gluckstein, whose work is part of the permanent collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; and Beth O'Donnell, whose upcoming book, Hearts of Gold, Angels in Africa, highlights extraordinary African women.
Speakers at the October 25 opening include Carol Hogue of the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University; Ruth Uwaifo Oyelere of Georgia Tech's School of Economics; Lynn Sibley of Emory University's Woodruff School of Nursing; and Anika Rahman, president of Americans for UNFPA.
To RSVP for the exhibit's opening event, call Rebecca Lemaitre at 646-649-9114 or email events@americansforunfpa.org. For more event info, visit http://www.americansforunfpa.org/events.
Writer: Brad Dixon, College of Management
]]>The process that gives rise to mutations in DNA, or mutagenesis, is a complex one involving a series of chemical reactions, which are not completely understood. A free radical, a stable neutral atom or a chemical group containing at least one unpaired electron, can scavenge an electron from DNA in a process known as oxidation, creating a hole in place of the scavenged electron. Such oxidation events can be caused by natural processes occurring in the body, or by ionizing radiation. It's well known that the ionization hole can travel long distances of up to 20 nanometers along the base pairs that form the rungs of the DNA ladder (discussed by Landman, Schuster and their collaborators in a 2001 Science article, volume 294, page 567). It is also well known that the hole tends to settle longer at spots in the DNA where two guanines (G) are located next to each other.
It's the next step that has eluded DNA researchers for decades - somehow the hole in the ionized DNA reacts with water. This critical step is the first in a series that brings about a change in the DNA molecule - one that evades the body's proof reading mechanism and leaves the altered DNA coding for the wrong proteins. When the wrong proteins are produced, it can lead through a complicated chain of events to an abnormally high rate of cell division - the result is cancer.
"We set out to explore the elementary processes that lead to mutagenesis and eventually cancer," said Uzi Landman, director of the Center for Computational Materials Science and Regents' professor and Callaway chair of physics at Georgia Tech.
"Until now, the mechanism by which water reacts with the guanine of the ionized DNA remained a puzzle. Through our first-principles, computer-based quantum mechanical theoretical modeling, coupled with theory-driven laboratory experiments, we have gained important insights into a critical step in a reaction that can have far reaching health consequences," he said.
Once the hole is settled on the two guanine bases, water molecules react with one of the bases at a location called the 8-th carbon site (C8). This reaction converts it into 8-oxo-7, 8-dihyrdroguanine (8-Oxo-G). But, this reaction requires more energy than seems to be available because, formally, it requires that a water molecule (H2O) split apart into a proton (H+) and a hydroxyl anion (OH-). This large energy requirement has puzzled scientists for a long time. Now the research team, led by Landman and Gary Schuster, provost-designate of Georgia Tech, professor of Chemistry and dean of the College of Sciences, has uncovered how the reaction occurs.
Here's what they found: A sodium counter-ion (Na+) diffusing in the hydration environment of the DNA molecule wanders into the major groove of the DNA double helical ladder. When the Na+ comes close to the hole created by the missing electron, its positive charge promotes the C8 carbon atom of the guanine to bond with a water molecule. In a concerted motion, the oxygen atom of the water molecule with one of its hydrogen atoms attaches to the C8 carbon atom. At the same time, the other proton of the water molecule connects the oxygen atom to that of a neighboring water molecule. This hydrogen bond elongates, leading to the formation of a transition state complex involving the two neighboring water molecules. The complex breaks up, transferring one of its protons (a positively charged hydrogen atom) to the neighboring water molecule, making a hydronium ion H3O+. This leaves the guanine neutral, with the rest of the first water molecule attached to it and prepares it for the rest of the already-known steps to making 8-Oxo-G.
Because it is positively charged, the H3O+ binds to the adjacent negatively charged phosphate, (PO4-) that is part of the backbone of the DNA molecule, to complete this step in the reaction.
The phosphate is crucial to the reaction because it acts as a sink that holds one of the reaction products, (H3O+) together with the other product (the guanine base with an attached OH- at the C8 location). According to quantum simulations, the energy barrier leading to formation of the transition state complex, and thus the required energy for this reaction step to occur, is 0.7 electron-volts (eV) - well below the energy required for dissociation of a water molecule immersed in a water environment. Obviously, without the presence of neighboring water molecules, the above reaction mechanism involving transfer of the proton to the neighboring phosphate group through the hydronium shuttle, does not occur and no products are generated.
The simulations unveiled that the Na+ plays a key role in promoting the reaction. To test this theoretical prediction in the laboratory, the team substituted the negatively charged PO4- near the reaction site with a phosphonate (PO3CH3) group. Because phosphonate is neutral, it doesn't attract the Na+. Without the Na+ to promote the reaction of the ionized DNA at the C8 carbon atom of the guanine base, the reaction becomes less likely. Furthermore, even if a reaction occurs and a H3O+ forms, it does not get attached to the neutral phosphonate, and consequently the reaction does not come to completion, and very little, or no 8-oxo-G is formed.
"The complexity of this reaction is an intrinsic part of the chemical process that we investigated, because it occurs only under very specific conditions requiring a complex choreography from its players, I believe that this complexity is part of nature's control mechanism," said Landman. "Perhaps such inherent complexity guards us from harmful mutagenetic events occurring more frequently, and it is possible that similar principles may hold in other important processes of biological relevance."
"This type of research requires the development of new modeling strategies and significant computational power. It also needed indispensable complementary and supplementary laboratory experiments. We were very fortunate to have this combination in our research team," he said.
The authors of the paper published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society are:
Robert N. Barnett, Angelo Bongiorno, Charles L. Cleveland, Abraham Joy, Uzi Landman and Gary B. Schuster from the Schools of Physics and Chemistry and Biochemistry at the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Image one caption:
The ionized 14-base pair oligomer of B-DNA [d(5'-AAGGAAGGAAGGAA-3')]/[d(3'-TTCCTTCCTTCCTT-5')], modeled in this study through a hybrid quantum/classical simulation method. The bold letters GG/CC in the middle of the sequence denote the region treated quantum mechanically (QM), where the ionization hole reside. The hole density, depicted in light blue, is superimposed.on the QM region. In the background we show the water environment surrounding the DNA molecule. In the QM region the color assignments are as follows: P yellow, C green, N blue, O (base) red, O (phosphate) red, O (H2O) orange, H (H2O) small blue spheres, Na purple. Note that most of the counter ions are located in the vicinity of the phosphate groups, with one of the counter ions in the QM region residing in them major groove.
Image two caption:
Steps of the reaction of water with the guanine radical cation in DNA. Only a small part of the system is shown, focusing on the reaction site (C8) and the immediate water molecules, with the oxygen of the attacking H2O molecule denoted as O1. A) step 1: the relaxed ionized configuration. (B) Step 2: the approach of an H2O molecule to C8 of the guanin base is accompanied by elongation of the dO1-H11 bond of the molecule along the axis connecting the oxygen to that of a neighboring water molecule, and the activated formation of a transition state complex (with a barrier of about 0.7 eV). (C) Step 3: further evolution of the reaction leads to breakup of the complex, with formation of a hydroxylated G radical (8-OH-3'-G.) and a concomitant proton shuttle process, ending with the attachment of an asymmetric hydronium group to the phosphate. The color assignments are as follows: P yellow, C gray, N blue, O red, H white. The reaction site is labeled C8 of the 3'-G, and the oxygen of the attacking H2O molecule is O1.
Georgia Tech and 140 other institutions of higher education were recognized for distinguished service among the nearly 500 schools named to the President's Honor Roll at the recent Campus Compact 20th Anniversary. Schools receiving distinguished service recognition provided exceptional community service over the past year, contributing their time, resources, energy, skills - and intellect - to serve America.
"This distinction recognizes Georgia Tech's incredible response to Hurricane Katrina victims," said Sarah Brackmann, assistant director of student involvement for community service at Georgia Tech. "The campus raised more than $50,000 for relief efforts, served as a temporary Red Cross shelter, assisted students evacuees from Tulane University, and more than 350 Tech students have traveled to the Gulf coast to volunteer for rebuilding efforts."
"We continue to have students traveling to the Gulf Coast to volunteer their time to rebuild homes damaged by Katrina. Over fall break a group of students traveled to New Orleans, and we are currently planning a similar trip over winter break to the Mississippi Gulf Coast," said Brackmann.
"Georgia Tech has set a strong example for college-level civic engagement," said Stephen Goldsmith, chief executive officer of the Corporation for National and Community Service, the federal agency that works to foster a culture of volunteering and service in America. "Many people and communities have been improved because Georgia Tech and its students identified some of society's most pressing needs and got involved."
"Georgia Tech has strong community outreach programs where Tech students volunteer in nearby schools providing tutoring, mentoring, leadership skills, and even help to coordinate sports programs like swimming and soccer, to Atlanta school children," said Andrea Ashmore, special assistant to the President and director of institute partnerships at Georgia Tech. "Our students serve as positive role models and give their time to encourage these youngsters to stay in school and excel."
It is fitting that the President's Honor Roll distinction comes just before the tenth anniversary of TEAM Buzz on October 21, an annual philanthropic initiative that brings together students, faculty and alumni for a day of service in Atlanta. This year's organizers expect a record turnout 2,000 volunteers participating in 43 unique projects like hosting a College Day for inner-city youth, assisting the elderly with home repairs, and running a carnival for at-risk children.
At Georgia Tech, there are 22 student organizations that have mission statements that specifically focus on community service. These organizations range from one-day service projects such as TEAM Buzz, organizations that focus on specific issues or offer ongoing opportunities for their members, to philanthropy events that raise money for non-profit organizations.
The President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll is co-sponsored by the Corporation, the Department of Education, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, USA Freedom Corps, and the President's Council on Service and Civic Participation. The recognition is presented in cooperation with Campus Compact, a national coalition of nearly 1,000 college and university presidents, and supported by all the major national higher education associations.
The award presentations came a day after the Corporation for National and Community Service released a comprehensive study showing college student civic engagement has risen significantly in recent years. The study, which used data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, showed that student volunteering increased approximately 20 percent from 2002 to 2005, and that 3.3 million college students serve their communities and nation. The study showed that college students between ages 16 to 24 are more likely to volunteer than cohorts in that age group who are not enrolled.
Observers have attributed the growth in student service to several causes: the proliferation of high-school and college service-learning classes; an increase in the number of campus offices that link students to volunteer opportunities, and the lingering impact of the September 11 and Hurricane Katrina catastrophes.
The Corporation for National and Community Service is working with other federal agencies, higher education and student associations, and nonprofit organizations to encourage even greater levels of service and civic engagement by college students. Their goal is to increase the number of college student participating in volunteer service to 5 million college students annually by 2010.
The Honor Roll provides more new evidence that the nation is beginning to move toward that level of student civic engagement. More than 1.1 million students from Honor Roll schools participated in local community service activities, and more than 219,000 Honor Roll students provided hurricane relief.
A total of 492 institutions - including private and public schools, four-year institutions, professional schools, and community colleges - were named to the first Honor Roll. Those schools chronicled a broad variety of service programs and activities that have strengthened neighborhoods around them and in the Gulf region.
]]>Hosted by the Georgia Institute of Technology, UPADI is scheduled for September 19-22, 2006, in Atlanta, Georgia. The theme of the bilingual conference is "Building a Sustainable Infrastructure: Education, Technology Innovation and Economic Development." Along with technical discussions, the four-day conference will feature five plenary sessions focusing on transparency and global ethics, economic development, free trade, sustainability and education.
Georgia Tech joins a list of sponsoring organizations and societies including UPADI, American Society of Civil Engineers, National Society of Professional Engineers, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, American Society for Engineering Education, Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, Pan-American Federation of the National Associations of Consulting Companies in the Americas (FEPAC) and the World Federation of Engineering Organizations. The convention will be held at the Westin Peachtree Plaza, located in the heart of downtown Atlanta.
Registration and conference details for UPADI can be found at http://www.upadi2006.com/english/index.shtml. Contact Diana Turner at 404-385-3510 for additional information.
Founded in 1949, UPADI represents a membership of approximately 2.5 million engineers from 26 member countries in North America, Central America, South America and the Caribbean. The goal of the organization is to advance science and technology to benefit humanity through hemispheric cooperation. The organization seeks to develop action plans, encourage outside funding and work for the economic development of the nations served. The UPADI conference was last hosted by the United States in 1990 in Washington, D.C.
]]>The Frederick R. Dickerson Chair is intended to serve as the foundation for major CEE research and education efforts in urban transportation systems, particularly the application of advanced communications and computing to facilitate congestion reduction and energy efficiency. The Chair's research will help alleviate traffic and air pollution through real-time communications and data processing that enhances public transit, ride-sharing systems and car rentals.
"A great father and mother, the benefit I received from association with Georgia Tech and the desire to contribute to resolving a significant problem all motivated our gift to Tech," Dickerson said.
Although Dickerson's research as a professor in Tech's School of Mechanical Engineering was in manufacturing automation, he has experience in the field of transportation. He served a year with the office of the Secretary for the U.S. Department of Transportation, started a successful bus and vanpool service in metro Atlanta in 1975 and once taught the graduate urban transportation course in civil engineering.
Dickerson's long history of philanthropy and service at Georgia Tech includes serving as an Alumni Association trustee. He is a member of the Phoenix Club, the Presidents' Council and the Hill Society, and also regularly contributes to the Machine Vision Fund within the School of Mechanical Engineering. In December 2004, he was awarded the Honorary Alumnus Award from the Georgia Tech Alumni Association for his work as a non-alumnus on behalf of the greater good of Georgia Tech. He holds several patents that have been the basis for Georgia Tech spin-off companies in robots and machine vision for manufacturing applications.
"The establishment of the Frederick R. Dickerson Chair is a significant step for the school," states Joseph B. Hughes, CEE chair. "To continue to compete at the highest levels and solve the world's largest infrastructure problems, we need to have endowments in place that allow innovative faculty to work with their students on asking new questions and creating new solutions. Steve Dickerson is a shining example of an academic who utilized creative thinking to create success through the formation of patents and companies. Whoever steps in as the Frederick R. Dickerson Chair can learn a lot from looking at Steve's experiences."
]]>"By assessing our attendees in this manner, our certificates will be more meaningful and valuable to our students and their companies," said Dr. Bill Holm, assistant vice provost for Distance Learning and Professional Education and director of the Georgia Tech defense technology education program.
Beginning in September, the assessments are required if the short course counts toward a certificate.
"The assessments can be as simple as 10 multiple-choice questions given each day at the beginning of the course," Holm said. "Students would then answer the questions and submit them at the end of the day."
Students attending at least 80 percent of the class receive a Certificate of Attendance indicating the continuing education units earned. Students who also pass the assessment receive a Certificate of Successful Completion indicating the CEUs earned and that the course helps satisfies requirements for a professional certificate. Depending on the field of study, five or six courses are required for a professional certificate.
Four courses in systems engineering are also being introduced to meet growing industry demand, as well as five other defense courses. These new systems engineering courses will eventually become part of a certificate program:
-Fundamentals of Modern Systems Engineering,
-Leading Systems Engineering Teams,
-Modeling and Simulation for Systems Engineering, and
-Systems Design and Analysis.
In addition to the systems engineering courses, the defense technology education program has added six short courses to its 58-course inventory:
-Radar Waveforms: Properties, Analysis, Design, and Applications,
-Introduction to Wireless Communication Systems,
-Modeling and Simulation of Antennas
-Atmospheric LIDAR Engineering
-Introduction to MIL-STD-1553, and
-Transmit/Receive Modules for Phased Array Radar: Components, Construction, and Costs.
"All of our defense technology courses highlight some of the latest research efforts of our scientists and engineers," Holm said. "Our researchers work on the forefront of science and technology to improve the defense preparedness of the U.S. We understand the importance lifelong education plays in that preparedness."
The 2006-2007 defense technology course schedule is posted online at http://www.pe.gatech.edu/. For more information about upcoming courses or the defense technology program, contact Holm at 404-385-6158 or bill.holm@gatech.edu.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Jennifer Wooley
Assistant Director of Client Marketing
404-385-7460
jennifer.wooley@dlpe.gatech.edu
Georgia Tech and Children's Healthcare of Atlanta have established the Center for Pediatric Outcomes and Quality (CPOQ), a collaborative research endeavor with a goal to apply science, engineering, technology and clinical expertise to improve healthcare for children by addressing both treatment and prevention. The center launched with the support of several major donors that provided $5 million in initial funding, as well as investments by Georgia Tech and Children's.
"Because their patients are children, pediatric hospitals are more susceptible to bad outcomes when medical errors occur," said François Sainfort, founding director of the Health Systems Institute (HSI) and William W. George Professor of Health Systems in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University. "At the same time, these hospitals are 'safety net' care providers that bear a heavier burden of uncompensated care. Thus, pediatric healthcare providers are faced with the challenge of simultaneously reducing costs and improving care quality."
"This collaborative effort combines the two institutions' clinical, operational and research strengths to provide a more defined structure for initiatives targeting several areas of quality improvement," said Dr. James E. Tally, president and CEO of Children's. "Doing so will enable us to implement better methods and technologies that truly make a difference in the lives of Georgia's children and to create what can be a model nationally."
The center will be a unit within the HSI, a recently created Georgia Tech/Emory institute that partners with local, regional and national healthcare organizations to research, develop, implement, test and distribute improved technologies for healthcare that will integrate state-of-the-art information, decision support, communication and biomedical technologies.
CPOQ's portfolio of planned projects includes human-computer interaction techniques designed to optimize usability and maximize acceptance of an electronic medical record system, consequently improving patient safety and quality of care; use of predictive modeling techniques to modernize Georgia Medicaid for children to improve quality of care while reducing costs; use of simulation to improve flow through the emergency department; and use of biomedical engineering techniques to reduce cost and improve outcomes for neonatal ICU patients on lifesaving heart and lung support.
"CPOQ will apply the latest technologies and methods from biomedical engineering, computer science, industrial engineering, management and other disciplines to solve problems associated with delivering quality care to children. Through the involvement of Children's, CPOQ has access to clinical and operational resources in both the inpatient and outpatient care environments, enabling us to tackle problems that address the entire life cycle of patient care - from preventive medicine to acute care to long-term care for chronic conditions," said Paula Edwards, the newly appointed director of CPOQ.
Children's Healthcare of Atlanta offers more than 30 pediatric specialties and has more than half a million patient visits annually at the three hospitals and 18 satellite locations it operates. Child magazine ranks Children's sixth among all pediatric hospitals in the nation.
Created in 2005 under the leadership of Don Giddens, dean of the College of Engineering, HSI is part of the the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University and brings together the expertise of many disciplines at Georgia Tech and Emory, including Georgia Tech's School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, the Georgia Tech Research Institute, the College of Computing, the College of Management, the College of Architecture, the School of Public Policy and Economic Development and Technology Ventures, as well as Emory's School of Medicine, School of Public Health, School of Nursing and Winship Cancer Institute.
]]>College Colors Day, one day before the official start of the college football season, celebrates and promotes the traditions and spirit that drive collegiate athletics by encouraging fans, alumni and students across the country to wear the colors and apparel of their favorite college throughout the day.
Georgia Tech fans have been sporting their white and gold for more than a century. Tech's traditional white and gold were chosen by the Class of 1891 and officially adopted in 1893. Blue was also originally included but was relegated to secondary status to white and gold.
So get out there and show everyone that you support Georgia Tech's Yellow Jackets by dressing in white and gold (and blue) on Sept. 1!
You can learn more about College Colors Day 2006, register your organization to participate in College Colors Day, or download flyers, logos and signs, at www.collegecolorsday.com.
]]>"Basically, what people are doing is choosing their own adventure; they are finding their own path through this piece of music," said Freeman. "There are a lot of different fragments of music and different ways you can connect them together. I composed the piece intuitively. I decided what all the fragments were going to be and all the different ways they could connect together."
The online user is then able to choose among two or three options in between each fragment of music. Their choice directly impacts the direction of the composition. At the end of each night, the software produces a new version of the musical score that reflects the audience's choices made online.
Freeman says the solo violin piece will then be played in live concerts to give the audiences a more interactive experience.
"The Graph Theory Project forces the audience to make choices and engage in the process of making music," said Freeman. "Some of the greatest musical experiences that I've had were creating music, not just listening to it. I can't write a piece that expresses that joy unless it shares it."
Freeman says that he was inspired to create a piece that would allow people to engage in music even if they didn't have a traditional music background.
"It is hard for people to talk about music in abstract terms using layman's language," Freeman said. "I had an idea of a virtual composer residency. Instead of sitting everyone down in a room and saying that I want a piece that is loud, fast, slow, soft. There is a visual interface on the Web that structures people's input. It gives them choices that are defined. They are not defined in language, they are defined through things they can click on and move around."
Freeman suggests that technology and a good graphic design make this a successful project.
"Technology is an interface through which we can connect people," said Freeman. "It allows people to be musically creative without needing to know how to play a traditional instrument."
The Graph Theory Project, which was commissioned by the Turbulence Internet art group and supported with a grant from the Greenwall Foundation, is available via the Web at http://turbulence.org/Works/graphtheory/ . Freeman is already planning several concert performances, including two in Atlanta this winter. For an updated list of concerts, please visit www.jasonfreeman.net
]]>What is Finding Common Ground?
AG: It's an idea [students] came up with to encourage dialogues on campus. So, we have three small group sessions comprised of 50-75 students each that are supposed to bring students from different facets of the community to the same table, teach them skills on how to dialogue on difficult issues and also help them understand the perspective of other students on campus.
When you say 'difficult issues,' what do you mean by that?
AG: I think it centers on differences in opinions. The war, in particular, is a difficult issue for students to converse about and express their different views civilly. There have been a number of times where students tried to promote dialogue and did so in a controversial way to spark interest, but the reaction from other students was to try to shut the dialogue down - they just wanted to see it go away rather than conversing and learning from it.
Is that the way Georgia Tech might have handled controversial speech in the past?
JS: I don't think that's how Tech handled it in the past. What's different is that we are having to confront and problem-solve situations that have not occurred on this campus often in the past. It's a new day for us in terms of dealing with important issues that are playing out both here on our campus and in the larger world. Our students come from all over the world. They bring their culture and their history; they bring their concerns of life back home when they're on the Georgia Tech campus. Some choose to express those concerns in more public ways.
AG: I think you're right, but I do think there's been a lag time in the learning from administrators on how to react, and I'll give an example. When an e-mail was sent out by the African American Student Union [in response to changes in the Housing Department's speech code for residents] stating "did you know it's OK to use the 'n-word' at Georgia Tech?", the reaction from administrators was very intense. I think the feeling some administrators had was that it had to be stopped.
JS: Like I said, I think we're in new territory. Today, some students are surprised that we would allow a student organization to send out an e-mail using a controversial word like that, or trigger-word, but others felt like there was nothing wrong with it - they were exercising their right to free speech.
I think it goes back to the fact that there are some students, faculty and staff wondering whether these recent changes in campus climate are in the best interest of Tech's future. Beginning to answer that question is what Finding Common Ground is all about - getting the community engaged in a dialogue about important issues pertinent to our campus. Some of this is new for us, but for other colleges and universities, it's part of the their daily fabric and culture.
Why is it new for Georgia Tech?
AG: It's not surprising that students are changing what they do on campus and how much they speak because, specifically, there's a leadership program now, there's an international program, an undergraduate research option, and an honors program that specifically makes its students attend speaker series and have conversations with the speaker and engage in intense debate. It's not surprising to me that they're continuing those sorts of things outside of the classroom.
JS: It's also due to our increased population. We have many more students now than five or 10 years ago. We also have students who are choosing Tech for majors other than engineering. So I think we're attracting a more multifaceted student body. I also think it's a generation of college students who are concerned about what's going on in the world and want to get involved.
So what is the gain in being able to have these discussions, if it means some will be offended?
AG: I think the gain for students is that the more you can listen to someone else's perspective and not tune them out, the better you are at making decisions and interacting with other people, and the more successful you can be in the workplace because you have that skill. I've heard this from Tech alumni time after time.
Another thing is that engineering is top-ranked and if we want to improve from here we have to bring up every other program we have at our school. And doing that is a lot about having dialogues and focusing on liberal arts and focusing on skills that management students might want. That will provide a more well-rounded educational experience and a more well-rounded student.
JS: My hope is that faculty will get involved, because their voice is currently absent. The student voice is there, the administrative voice is there, but I'm not hearing much from the faculty.
Why should faculty be involved?
JS: Because they are a very important part of the community, and they spend a lot of time with students both in and out of the classroom. I know students respect Tech faculty. I also know some are wondering what the faculty are thinking about regarding these issues. It would be a richer conversation if faculty were actively engaged and involved more. One way is for faculty to partner with students outside of the classroom by creating forums and other learning experiences.
After Finding Common Ground, what's next?
JS: The Georgia Tech community will have to step up to the challenge to continue to think of creative and educational ways to continue what's been started. I think we all - students, faculty and staff - have a place and a responsibility in continuing what this program has started. What's next is for someone to say, "I'm thinking of something that plays very nicely into this, and I'd like others to help me make it happen."
AG: My hope is that we have a better understanding of our expectations in discussion, that we will come out with a new model that allows for free expression and understanding, and that we will learn how to deal with it when we don't agree or are offended by what's being said.
JS: There are many creative ways to think about this and challenge ourselves to continue this work. The Finding Common Ground series is an excellent first step. I'm excited to hear Maya Angelou. I have been reading her writings - she really is a humanitarian who has wonderful insight into people, regardless of their race, gender or political affiliation. I think that's part of what this is about: how do we suspend, for a few moments, the labels that we place on each other and come together to find common ground and hopefully in the process appreciate and value each other more.
Maya Angelou's address will be at 8 p.m. in Alexander Memorial Coliseum. Free tickets for Tech students, faculty and staff are available at the Student Center Box Office and online at the link below. Each attendee is now allowed to purchase one guest ticket at the Student Center Box Office for $10.
]]>The Raymond Allen Jones Endowed Chair will be awarded to an individual who demonstrates excellence in teaching, research and scholarship; a track record of leadership in the profession; and a commitment to the highest moral standards. Preference shall be given to an individual whose past and future contributions and interests are influential to the construction industry.
"It is an honor to service the legacy of such accomplished alumni by recognizing one of the school's most distinguished faculty members, Dr. Bruce Ellingwood," said Joseph Hughes, chair of the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering. "Dr. Ellingwood epitomizes all of the attributes and distinctions that the Jones endowment seeks, and his work will continue to influence not only the construction industry, but the engineering profession as a whole."
Raymond Allen Jones Sr. was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Oct. 12, 1894. He attended North Carolina A&M (now North Carolina State University) from 1911 to 1914. He then transferred to Georgia Tech in 1914 and graduated with a degree in civil engineering in 1916.
In 1943, Jones' son, Raymond A. Jones Jr., entered Georgia Tech one year before entering the army in 1944 to serve in World War II. He returned to Tech in 1946 and graduated in 1949 with a degree in civil engineering. In April 1949, he went to work in the family business at the Atlanta office of J.A. Jones Construction Co. in April 1949.
Both father and son have been enthusiastic supporters of Tech and their communities.
Raymond Allen Jones Sr. served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Georgia Tech Research Institute, and was an avid Tech football fan, having been a player on the 'scrub' team when John Heisman was coach. He was a Rotarian and a member of the Piedmont Driving Club, Capital City Club, Charlotte Country Club and the Saint Andrews Bay Yacht Club in Panama City.
Raymond A. Jones Jr. has been a trustee of the Georgia Tech Alumni Association, vice chairman of the Georgia Tech Charlotte Campaign Steering Committee and a member of the Georgia Tech Advisory Board. He currently serves as an emeritus member of the Georgia Tech Foundation.
Jones has also served in many business and community leadership roles including: helping found Technology Park/Atlanta and serving a term as chairman of the board, serving as director of BB&T Corp., president of the Carolina Branch and National Division chairman of the Associated General Contractors of America, director of the Southeast Division of Boy Scouts of America and arbitrator with the American Arbitration Association. He was inducted into the Georgia Tech College of Engineering Hall of Fame on Nov. 3.
]]>Georgia Tech President Wayne Clough, vice chair of the Council on Competitiveness, represented higher education at the Council on Competitiveness Innovation Symposium. The symposium focused on the tremendous economic growth that has taken place over the last two decades and also looks forward to the challenges that lay ahead for American competitiveness.
Clough was the only university president to address the issues facing higher education institutions in an extremely competitive global economy.
"The world of the twenty-first century presents new challenges. The speed of technological change has increased, and a growing number of nations now compete in the technology space," said Clough. "Jobs and investments flow easily to the most promising locations. Innovation, flexibility, and agility have become the keys to success."
Clough remarked that it is the changing nature of higher education that is needed to keep the universities in the United States competitive.
"World-class universities that live at the inflection point of innovation will be a major force in this new environment. However, this role requires new approaches to higher education," said Clough. "Universities need to be agile and collaborative. They need to be flexible enough to pursue research, corporate partnerships, and global alliances when those opportunities present themselves."
According to Council Chairman Chad Holliday, Chairman and CEO of DuPont, the Council on Competitiveness is resolved to ask the tough questions, objectively frame the pressing issues, and will continue to advance an action agenda that will advance the US competitiveness in the new era of the council's third decade of existence.
An organization of the top business, university and labor leaders in the United States, the Council on Competitiveness is responsible for influencing the course of American competitiveness on regional, national and global scales. The Council stands unique in its ability to anticipate and respond to changing economic conditions through a series of comprehensive programs to maintain competitiveness and security, support innovation, benchmark national competitiveness and shape public policy. The Council is available on the Web at http://www.compete.org.
]]>This year 449 members have been awarded this honor by AAAS because of their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications. New Fellows will be presented with an official certificate and a gold and blue (representing science and engineering, respectively) rosette pin on Saturday, February 17 from 8 to 10 a.m. at the Fellows Forum during the 2007 AAAS Annual Meeting in San Francisco.
This year's AAAS Fellows will be announced in the AAAS News & Notes section of the journal Science on 24 November 2006.
The 2006 Fellows from Georgia Tech are:
Nancy Nersessian, in the section on Education, for shaping our understanding of scientific creativity and developing new methods for analyzing historical accounts of scientific innovations.
Zhong Lin (Z.L.) Wang, in the section on Engineering, for seminal contributions to the discovery, synthesis, understanding, and applications of novel one-dimensional nanomaterials. His work has impacted materials science, microscopy, and nanotechnology.
Boris Mizaikoff, in the section on Industrial Science and Technology, for building bridges with industry through his academic research in sensors and for facilitating technology transfer between academia and industry.
Evans M. Harrell II, in the section on Mathematics, for contributions to the study of spectra associated with partial differential equations, particularly gaps and lower bounds for eigenvalues of Schrödinger operators.
The tradition of AAAS Fellows began in 1874. Currently, members can be considered for the rank of Fellow if nominated by the Steering Groups of the Association's 24 sections, or by any three Fellows who are current AAAS members (so long as two of the three sponsors are not affiliated with the nominee's institution), or by the AAAS Chief Executive Officer.
Each Steering Group then reviews the nominations of individuals within its respective section and a final list is forwarded to the AAAS Council, which votes on the aggregate list.
The Council is the policymaking body of the Association, chaired by the AAAS President, and consisting of the members of the Board of Directors, the Retiring Section Chairs, delegates from each electorate and each regional division, and two delegates from the National Association of Academies of Science.
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is the world's largest general scientific society, and publisher of the journal, Science (www.sciencemag.org). The non-profit AAAS (http://www.aaas.org) is open to all and fulfills its mission to 'advance science and serve society' through initiatives in science policy; international programs; science education; and more.
]]>The technology, known as image-based surgical planning and developed with the help of pediatric cardiologists and pediatric surgeons at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), Emory University and Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, creates a three-dimensional model of the child's heart with data from the child's MRI scans at different times in the cardiac cycle, also called a 4-D MRI. The models allow surgeons to visualize the direction of blood flow and determine any energy loss in the heart. So if a surgeon were planning a certain correction to an area of a child's heart, a model created by the system would show the surgeon how well blood would flow through the newly configured heart.
The goal of the Georgia Tech/Emory project is to create a complete system that allows surgeons to get a detailed look at the child's heart functions with the new MRI system, design surgical procedures for optimum post-operative performance and evaluate the heart's performance with a sophisticated blood flow computer simulation.
The work was presented this month at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions meeting in Chicago and has been published in Circulation and the Annals of Thoracic Surgery.
"We use the MRI images and time data to create models of these children's vascular systems and hearts to simulate how they currently work and how they could work after surgery," said Ajit Yoganathan, Ph.D., a co-principal investigator on the project and associate chair of the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University. "The goal is to improve the quality of life for these children by understanding their current physiology and finding the best way to optimize the surgery for that particular child."
While the program isn't yet ready for use by surgeons outside the project, it could be available in about three to five years, Yoganathan said.
Although the normal heart has two ventricles or lower chambers of the heart used for pumping blood through the body, two out of every 1,000 babies in the United States are born with just one lower chamber. Considered one of the most complex congenital heart defects, a single-ventricle heart often leads to congestive heart failure if not repaired.
Patients with this defect often undergo multiple surgeries to reconfigure the pulmonary and systemic systems in operations called Fontan repairs, a reconfiguration that diverts the blood flow coming to the right side of the heart directly to the lungs so that the heart no longer has to pump blood to the lungs. Staged over several years, these surgeries are a common, but not always successful, option used for treating a single-ventricle defect.
After a less-than-optimal operation, children sometimes experience a reduced capacity to perform physical activities and may experience blood clotting and ventricle arrhythmias. The Georgia Tech/Emory surgery planning system could eliminate the need for additional surgeries by optimizing early surgeries.
"The research is meant to get at the root of the 'failing' Fontan, investigating why these pumping chambers fail in the hopes of devising new strategies to give these children a second chance in life. Using advanced imaging and bioengineering tools, the project hopes to describe how blood flows in this type of circulation and how this blood flow might be altered to extend the life of the patients," said Mark Fogel, M.D., director of cardiac MR in the Cardiac Center at Children's Hospital and a key collaborator on the project.
The Georgia Tech/Emory team began work on a system to help surgeons address the unique challenges of Fontan repair. In essence, the system determines how any geometric change in the current heart configuration will change blood flow and strength.
To perfect their system, researchers combined computational and experimental studies to create a method of assessing an optimum vessel configuration. The group worked heavily with fluid dynamic studies in the lab to get the most accurate simulation of blood flow.
Another tool, developed by a team led by Jaroslaw Rossignac Ph.D. in Georgia Tech's College of Computing, is a program that allows for manipulation of a 3-D model of a patient's cardiovascular system to try out different configurations with a mouse. Once the surgeon has the desired configuration, the new vascular configuration can then be tested with the Image-based surgical planning system to see how well the new surgical procedure would perform.
Georgia Tech and Emory completed the engineering aspects of the study with assistance from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The MRI and patient studies were gathered at CHOP and Children's Healthcare of Atlanta's Sibley Heart Center.
While the patient MRI database is currently only accessible to project participants, researchers are working with the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which funded the project, to open the database to other pediatric cardiologists and cardiac surgeons.
]]>WABE currently broadcasts a mix of mostly classical music format and news on 90.1 FM and is a National Public Radio affiliate. The details of PBA's proposal were not discussed at the meeting, but the proposal by Athletics was covered, in some detail, by Athletics Director Dan Radakovich.
Radakovich proposed that Tech explore converting WREK's FCC license into a commercial radio operator's license. That would allow ISP Sports, the multimedia rights holder for Athletics, to broadcast Tech games on an FM frequency. Currently, ISP broadcasts in Atlanta on AM 790 The Zone, but FCC regulations require some AM stations to reduce their power output at night, significantly reducing the station's reach, said Radakovich.
"One of the first complaints that I had gotten from our fan base is really the very weak radio coverage we have, especially after six o'clock, when the sun goes down," he told those attending.
ISP has explored paying current commercial FM stations to carry Tech games, but so far has been unsuccessful, he said.
When asked by Undergraduate Student Government Association (SGA) President Alison Graab whether he intended to increase the sports programming already broadcast on WREK, Radakovich answered that for the most part he envisioned the coverage staying the same with the exception of adding an hour-and-a-half to two hours of pre-game shows per game. He added that if the Institute decided to put a cap on the number of hours available for sports programming, they would abide by it.
The biggest concern expressed at the meeting, was how turning commercial would affect the rest of WREK's programming and the ability of students to control the station and benefit from the opportunities it provides.
"As a commercial station, your purpose is to make money. So wouldn't we have to change our programming to maximize our profit?" asked Jeremy Varner, general manager of WREK.
"You can be a commercial station and decide not to make a whole lot of money," answered Radakovich. "But you can't, if you"re a public station, make any money. A commercial station is only bound to profit by their owners. That would be the Institute's choice."
Colleen Terrell, WREK faculty advisor, expressed her concerns.
"I have extreme reservations about taking the station commercial. I think there will always be pressures for the students to change their programming to raise money for the Institute. If there's a budget crisis, if the station is commercial, then the station becomes something that can be sacrificed to raise money. I think it's going to be very very difficult for the students to remain in control of it," said Terrell.
Hans Klein, former WREK faculty advisor, expressed concern that changing the station's license might not even be possible under FCC regulations.
Radakovich said that he talked with a consultant and was told that there is an FCC process for changing licenses. Whatever way his proposal ends up, Radakovich said he thinks discussing the options is a good process to go through.
"It exposes options," he said. "From our standpoint in Athletics we want to make sure we are doing the right thing for the students and for the Institute. If along the way it helps us, then that's great."
Many questions still need to be investigated regarding the commercialization of WREK, said Fetig. Among them are: would WREK become a taxable entity, how does that change the way WREK is financed, what happens to the profits that WREK might make and does the station's technical requirements change?
The next step, said Fetig, is to bring the matter before the Radio Communications Board (RCB) so they can decide whether they want to be involved in investigating the three proposals. But if the board votes not to participate, he said, the proposals will still have to be looked at because the President has given me that responsibility.
"I want to make this as inclusive as possible, there are a lot of people who have an interest in this," said Fetig. "I want this out in the light of day, so that people can see the facts. I expect that we will have an opportunity for student comment."
Meeting attendees also included: Associate Vice President of Student Affairs Bill Schafer, Dean of Students John Stein, Assistant Dean Danielle McDonald, WREK Chief Engineer Eldon Stegall and Vice President of Campus Organizations for SGA Thomas Ernest.
]]>The distinction of 'Fellow' is bestowed by AIAA and its board of directors to members who have made notable and valuable contributions to the arts, sciences or technology in aeronautics or astronautics. Presentation of the new Honorary Fellows and Fellows will take place at the Aerospace Spotlight Awards Gala on May 15 at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, Washington D.C.
In 1933, Orville Wright became AIAA's first Honorary Fellow and today, AIAA's Honorary Fellows and Fellows are the most respected names in the aerospace industry.
As director of Georgia Tech's Space Systems Design Laboratory, Braun leads a research and educational program focused on the design of advanced flight systems and technologies for planetary exploration. His research group has a strong emphasis in the areas of space systems engineering, systems analysis and design optimization. Recent research projects include entry, descent and landing concepts for human-Mars exploration, pinpoint landing technology assessment for robotic exploration systems, entry system architectural concepts for human return from the Moon, and engineering strategies for asteroid rendezvous and planetary defense. He is responsible for undergraduate and graduate level instruction in the areas of space systems design, astrodynamics and atmospheric entry and is the author or co-author of more than 100 technical publications in the fields of atmospheric flight dynamics, planetary exploration systems, multidisciplinary design optimization and systems engineering.
Prior to joining the Georgia Tech faculty, Braun worked for sixteen years at the NASA Langley Research Center. While at NASA, he contributed to the design and operations of the Mars Pathfinder and Mars Microprobe flight systems, performing analyses pertaining to Mars entry, descent and landing. He was responsible for Earth Entry Vehicle technology and flight system development efforts for the Mars Sample Return project from 1999 to 2000. From 2001 to 2003, Braun served as the Mission Architect for the ARES Mars airplane mission. In this capacity, he was responsible for balancing science, implementation risk and cost across the ARES mission architecture and managing Mars airplane technology development, including the successful ground-based and high-altitude flight test program. Braun was a member of the Aircraft Design Group at Stanford University from 1991to 1996 and developed the collaborative optimization architecture during his time there. This architecture was shown to have significant computational and operational benefits in the optimization of large, loosely coupled design problems. Since completing his initial research in this area, several university and industry groups have applied this technique in the solution of a diverse set of engineering design problems.
AIAA advances the state of aerospace science, engineering and technological leadership. Headquartered in suburban Washington, D.C., the institute serves over 35,000 members in 65 regional sections and 79 countries. AIAA membership is drawn from all levels of industry, academia, private research organizations and government.
]]>Clough is one of four university presidents to participate on the task force, which includes three representatives from industry and six governors. Delegations from thirty-two states will be present to help the task force kick off the NGA's innovation initiative in Phoenix this week. The program will include a series of meetings and open dialogue about the innovation challenges that confront the United States, the role of states, and Initiative deliverables.
"I am honored to be a part of the Innovation America Task Force and represent Georgia Tech and the state of Georgia on the national stage," said Clough. "I have worked on the challenge of innovation from a national perspective as co-chair of the U.S. Council on Competitiveness' National Innovation Initiative. However, the efforts of state governments also make a vital contribution to the innovation process."
The NGA has taken on this task because the creation of 'hot spots' of innovation is a regional phenomenon in which state governments can play a critical role. It is the states that develop the nation's human capital through education; maintain public infrastructure, often including rights of way for broadband; and create a positive tax and policy climate for innovation. States are also increasingly investing in research at their universities. Governors are often in a position to serve as a 'convenor' and facilitator for the collaboration among government, higher education, and industry that is essential to innovation.
"The state of Georgia and Georgia Tech are working together to create an environment rich in innovation," said Clough. "We still have room to grow, and I am looking forward to the proposals and ideas that will come from the Innovation America initiative."
The NGA Innovation Initiative is a call to action for states to encourage innovation based growth in their region through economic and education policies. The process will ultimately provide governors with ideas and examples of how to help their colleges and universities realize their potential as vital resources for regional innovation.
The Innovation Task Force will also form a public campaign to inform America about the need for innovation and talent initiatives.
]]>To maintain this competitive advantage in the new science arena, developed countries must have government and educational policies that preserve the excellence and accessibility of their research universities, note researchers Marie Thursby, professor of strategic management at Georgia Tech College of Management; and Jerry Thursby, professor of economics at Emory University. That's because high-tech companies frequently seek collaborative relationships with research universities.Â
The researchers surveyed 249 R&D-intensive companies headquartered in the United States and Western Europe, finding that 49.6 percent of the R&D effort in developed nations is for new science while the proportion in emerging countries is 22 percent. The researchers distinguish 'new science' R&D from the application of 'familiar' sciences already in use by a company and/or its competitors.
"The new science at sites identified by our respondents is largely conducted in developed countries, and this is significantly related to university factors," write the Thursbys in the article, titled "Where is the New Science in Corporate R&D?" They note that the most striking result of their survey was finding that the type of science conducted at a particular location is most influenced by the ease of collaboration with nearby universities and the presence of faculty with special expertise. Survey respondents perceived universities in developed economies to have the greatest collaborative strengths.
Respondents also indicated that they expect their overall R&D to grow in emerging countries and decline in developed economies. While conventional wisdom suggests that lower cost would be the chief consideration driving this trend, the Thursbys' research shows that often more important factors include the quality of R&D personnel available and market issues, in addition to opportunities for university collaboration.
When it comes to new science, the edge held by developed countries could dull, warn the researchers. "Although respondents claim it is easier to collaborate with universities in developed countries, there is mounting evidence of changing corporate sentiment," write the Thursbys, citing corporate frustration at the increasing aggressiveness of U.S. and European universities when negotiating business/university research agreements. "This dynamic will only be accentuated as the quality of universities in emerging economies improves," the researchers add.
For more information, contact Marie Thursby at 404-894-6249 or marie.thursby@mgt.gatech.edu, or Jerry Thursby at 404-712-8688 or jthursb@emory.edu.
Writer: Brad Dixon
Assistant Director of Communications
Georgia Tech College of Management
404-894-3943
brad.dixon@mgt.gatech.edu
Elaine Justice
Assistant Director of Media Relations
Emory University
404-727-0643
elaine.justice@emory.edu
West currently serves as chairman and CEO of SEI, which was ranked fourth on the Wall Street Journal's Wall Street Honor Roll in 2001. In 2002 the American Banker magazine called West 'the most successful financial services chief executive over the last ten years.' In addition Barron's ranked West fifth behind Warren Buffett as the best CEO value in the country.
While he was an MBA student at the Wharton School, West and two classmates developed a computer strategy game to teach bank loan officers the art of commercial credit. The bankers liked the game and used it as a training tool through which they compared their loan decisions against those of the computer model. This initial success led the three students to found Simulated Environments Inc. Later, in 1971, West and his associates introduced an automated bank trust system that streamlined labor-intensive portfolio accounting functions, and the first trust department clients were signed on. In 1972, the company was reincorporated, changed its name to SEI Corporation, and began automating the back rooms of trust departments throughout the country.
By 1981, when the company went public, SEI had garnered 34 percent of the trust market and began diversifying into asset management and pension consulting through several acquisitions. Today SEI has revenues of more than $1 billion and a market capitalization of more than $5 billion. The firm manages more than $160 billion in assets, administers another $360 billion, and processes trillions of dollars worth of financial transactions each year.
In addition to his success in the business world, West has been a tireless advocate for Georgia Tech. He is chairman of the steering committee for the Institute's forthcoming comprehensive campaign and a member of the Georgia Tech Foundation Board of Trustees. He has served as chairman of the Georgia Tech Advisory Board and as a member of the National Campaign Steering Committee for the Campaign for Georgia Tech (1995-2000).
A native of Florida, West holds a bachelor's degree in aerospace engineering from Georgia Tech (1964) and an MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Master's and Ph.D. Commencement Speaker Catherine Bréchignac
Dr. Catherine Bréchignac, a renowned scientist and scholar in the area of nanophysics, is the current president of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) in France, the largest and most influential scientific organization in Europe. Bréchignac is known within the international scientific community as a specialist in atomic physics working at the interface of nuclear and molecular physics. Since the early 1990s, she has been a research collaborator with Georgia Tech faculty and recently has been instrumental in the establishment of a formal partnership between CNRS and Georgia Tech to engage in research of mutual interest.
In 2001 Bréchignac's extensive work with Tech faculty led to her appointment as adjunct professor of physics and distinguished visiting scholar chair at Georgia Tech. Georgia Tech has been collaborating with the CNRS since 1998 when a Georgia Tech Lorraine-CNRS Telecom lab opened on the Georgia Tech Lorraine campus in Metz, France. Recently this relationship has been strengthened with the formation of an international partnership known as 'Unite Mixte Internationale (UMI)' between Georgia Tech and CNRS. This partnership is the first of its kind in France, where CNRS has partnered with a non-French entity (Georgia Tech) to engage in research of mutual interest.
Bréchignac and Silas to Receive Honorary Degrees
Dr. Bréchignac and Mr. Cecil J. 'Pete' Silas will receive honorary doctoral degrees at the fall Commencement ceremonies. Silas received his undergraduate degree in chemical engineering from Georgia Tech and had a distinguished business career at Phillips Petroleum, culminating with a decade of service as its chairman and chief executive officer. Silas has been a civic leader at the local, state and national levels, including service as chairman of Junior Achievement, the National Boys and Girls Clubs of America, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Petroleum Institute. He has also been very supportive of the Institute for many years, including service on the Georgia Tech Foundation Board of Trustees and the Georgia Tech Advisory Board. This honorary degree recognizes his outstanding career in the energy field, his lifelong commitment to community service and his dedication and service to his alma mater.
]]>"As host of RoboCup 2007, Georgia Tech welcomes the international robotics community to Atlanta," said Georgia Tech College of Computing Associate Professor and RoboCup 2007 Atlanta General Chair Tucker Balch. "Over the past few years, Georgia Tech has emerged as a global leader in robotics research and innovation, based upon its partnerships with industry leaders and our strengths in interactive and intelligent computing. By hosting the 11th annual RoboCup competition, Georgia Tech will have a great opportunity to showcase the technology leadership of the Institute and the City of Atlanta to researchers and scientists worldwide."
RoboCup 2007 Atlanta will include approximately 218 senior robotic teams, and 140 junior teams from over 20 countries. These international teams will participate in soccer games and search-and-rescue missions, testing the limits in artificial intelligence and robotics research. The annual event, with sponsors including Microsoft, Lockheed Martin and CITIZEN, involves about 1500 students and faculty from leading universities around the world, as well as 500 middle school and high school students.
This year's RoboCup event will also feature the debut of the Nanogram League, a competition between microscopic robots. The MEMs (MicroElectroMechanical Systems) in competition can only be viewed via microscope, but attendees will be able to watch the contest via a magnified broadcast shown on large screens throughout the event.
The overall mission of the RoboCup research and education initiative is to foster artificial intelligence and robotics research by providing a standard problem where a wide range of technologies can be examined and integrated. The international project has a founding goal of developing a team of fully autonomous humanoid robots that can win against the human World Cup champion team by the year 2050.
RoboCup 2007 Atlanta invites the public to Georgia Tech to watch as teams put their robots to work competing in realistic search-and-rescue demonstrations, as well as four-legged and humanoid soccer games.
RoboCup 2007 Atlanta Schedule:
July 1: RoboCup Opening Ceremony
July 2-6: RoboCup Qualifying Competitions
July 7-8: RoboCup Finals
July 9-10: RoboCup Symposium
Georgia Tech's Campus Recreation Center (CRC) will serve as the main venue for most RoboCup events. In addition, Technology Square Research Building (TSRB) will be the site for simulation events and Georgia Tech's Student Center will be the main venue for the RoboCup Junior event.
In addition to hosting RoboCup 2007 Atlanta this summer, Georgia Tech will also play host to several other robotics industry events, including the Robotics: Science and Systems (RSS) Conference, a Robot Camp for Elementary and High School students and an International Aerial Robotics Competition.
For more information about RoboCup 2007 Atlanta, please visit http://www.robocup-us.org.
About the RoboCup
RoboCup is an international research and education initiative. Its goal is to foster artificial intelligence and robotics research by providing a standard problem where a wide range of technologies can be examined and integrated. The concept of soccer-playing robots was first introduced in 1993. Following a two-year feasibility study, in August 1995, an announcement was made on the introduction of the first international conferences and soccer games. In July 1997, the first official conference and games were held in Nagoya, Japan. Followed by Paris, Stockholm, Melbourne, Seattle, Fukuoka/Busan, Padua, Lisbon, Osaka and Bremen, the annual events attracted many participants and spectators. This year, the 11th anniversary of RoboCup, the competition and symposium is being held in Atlanta, Georgia. For more details about this year's RoboCup including participants and updated schedule, visit http://www.robocup-us.org/.
The GBP's annual Biomedical Industry Growth Awards honor people in the public and private sectors who have made extraordinary contributions to the growth of Georgia's life sciences industry. Giddens will be honored as the recipient from the public sector, and Dr. Eric Tomlinson, president and CEO of Altea Therapeutics, is the recipient from the private sector.
Giddens, one of the nation's pioneers in biomedical engineering, is being honored for developing Georgia Tech's bioengineering program, enhancing its research and technology commercialization efforts, and expanding the school's partnerships with Emory University. These partnerships have been critical in expanding the life sciences research base in Georgia and in creating an engine of growth for the life sciences industry.
"I'm honored to be recognized as a contributor to the impressive growth of Georgia's biomedical industry," Giddens said. "Georgia Tech's partnership with Emory has truly enhanced our opportunities for research innovation."
Giddens is the founding chair of the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University, a unique collaboration between a public engineering university and private medical school. The department is the No. 3 graduate program of biomedical engineering in the country, according to rankings from U.S. News & World Report.
Giddens received all three of his degrees (B.S.E. 1963, M.S 1965, and Ph.D. 1966) from Georgia Tech. He joined the Georgia Tech faculty in 1968. In 1992 he left his position as the chair of aerospace engineering to serve as the dean of the Whiting School of Engineering and professor of mechanical engineering at Johns Hopkins University until 1997. Giddens then rejoined Georgia Tech to serve as chair of The Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering. Giddens became the dean of the College of Engineering at Georgia Tech in 2002.
Giddens is a member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE), Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES), Big 10+ Deans Council, and a founding fellow and past president of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), fellow of the American Heart Association (AHA) and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). He received the H.R. Lissner Award from ASME in 1993 and was the ASME Thurston Lecturer in 1996. Giddens currently serves on a number of advisory boards and councils for academic institutions, corporations, and professional societies. He is also the author of more than 100 refereed publications and book chapters, 190 paper presentations and proceedings, and maintains an active research program in cardiovascular hemodynamics.
The Georgia Biomedical Partnership (GBP), founded in 1989, represents more than 270 pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device companies, universities, research institutes, government groups and other business organizations involved in the development of products that improve the health and quality of life people worldwide.
]]>Under IBM's new Open Collaborative Research program, results developed between IBM Research and top university faculty and their students for specific projects will be made available as open source software code and all additional intellectual property developed based on those results will be openly published or made available royalty-free.
Universities participating in the program include Carnegie Mellon University, Columbia University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Purdue University, Rutgers University, University of California at Berkeley, and the University of California at Davis. Initial projects will address software quality, privacy and security, mathematical optimization and clinical decision support.
"The program will allow faculty and students to freely conduct research without concern over IP management issues," said Stuart Feldman, vice president Computer Science, IBM Research. "This will not only help advance the state of the art in software but also will serve as a great illustration of of the benefits of collaborative innovation with the open source community."
The program will enable researchers at IBM to actively collaborate with faculty and students at top U.S. universities on a number of strategically defined software projects, specifically chosen for their immense societal importance, technical difficulty and need for a collaborative effort.
Beth Burnside, Vice Chancellor for Research, UC Berkeley, agrees that, "Our faculty are pleased to work with IBM as part of IBM's program in open collaboration. Berkeley faculty have long held that in many fields the impact and public benefit of university research is maximized by an open collaboration approach." And Pradeep Khosla, Dean, Carnegie Mellon University adds, "This program is driving additional investment in innovative university / IT industry research and CMU has always been keenly interested in growing these relationships."
The research aims for major advancements in the development of defect-free software, new healthcare solutions for better decision making by doctors and nurses, new technology to protect a person's identity and secure a company's data from thieves, and advanced mathematics to optimize methods for how we live and work everyday.
More specifically, the topics and universities for the initial collaborations are:
Software Quality (Rutgers University and University of California at Berkeley): The collaboration will develop program analysis techniques and tools for detecting and correcting software defects before they reach customers, focusing on industrial-size framework-based software systems that pose new challenges in their size and complexity.
Privacy and Security Policy Management (Carnegie Mellon University and Purdue University): The team will address the difficult problems faced by organizations in creating and managing end-to-end privacy and security solutions covering all types of data and work to drive the adoption of the open standards needed to achieve this.
Mathematical Optimization Software (Carnegie Mellon University and University of California at Davis): The collaboration is intended to significantly advance the size and scope of industrial problems that can be solved with mathematical optimization software.
Clinical Decision Support (Columbia University and Georgia Institute of Technology): The collaboration will include computer scientists and clinicians working in a variety of settings to create easy to use tools and interfaces for clinical decision support, removing barriers to IT adoption in this area.
These research projects demonstrate continued benefit from the Open Collaboration Principles announced by the University & Industry Innovation Summit Team in December 2005 (see http://www-304.ibm.com/jct09002c/university/scholars/news/open_collaboration.html). The principles complement other industry and university initiatives and accelerate collaborative research for open source software by providing guidelines for handling research results.
The IBM program is intended to accelerate the innovation and development of open software across a breadth of areas, thus enabling the development of related industry standards and greater interoperability, while managing intellectual property in a manner that enhances these goals.
University & Industry Innovation Summit Team participants
Carnegie Mellon University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Stanford University, University of California at Berkeley, University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign, The University of Texas at Austin, Cisco, HP, IBM, and Intel.
About IBM
For more information about IBM, please visit www.ibm.com.
Steven Tomasco
IBM Media Relations
914.945.1655
stomasc@us.ibm.com
The new book, Problems and Solutions in Biological Sequence is the first bioinformatics textbook to present problems and fully worked solutions, a need that Bioinformatics instructors had expressed for a long time.
No course is complete without practice problems that help students develop problem solving skills," said Borodovsky, Regents Professor and Director of the Georgia Tech Center for Bioinformatics and Computational Genomics who holds a joint appointment at Biology and Biomedical Engineering.
Borodovsky founded the master's program in bioinformatics at Georgia Tech in 1998 and started the doctoral program in 2003. Before coming to Tech, he was author of Computer Analysis of Genetic Texts, a textbook only available in Russian.
The problems in the new book are designed to help students develop algorithms for genome decoding and extracting information on genome function and evolution.
"We wrote this book because, in the graduate Bioinformatics class we have a heavy focus on problem solving so we thought that a set of the typical but difficult problems should be explained once in a systematic way," said Borodovsky.
Problems and Solutions in Biological Sequence Analysis is designed to be used in conjunction with BSA. However, in addition to solutions to all the problems included in BSA it contains its own complete set of problems and solutions to about double the number that are currently in BSA.
Problems and Solutions in Biological Sequence Analysis is published by Cambridge University Press. Cambridge University Press has reached an agreement with a Russian publishing company on a Russian edition of the new book.
]]>Vest N PDP is a non-profit group that raises money to buy protective vests for police dogs. Since its founding in 2002, the organization has donated vests to more than 40 police dogs in Georgia, including officers from the Atlanta Police Department (APD) and the MARTA Police Department. Each vest costs the group approximately $700.
Georgia Tech K-9 officers' duties stretch beyond the Tech campus and into the local community. They often are called in to assist APD's K-9 officers as their officers are bomb-sniffing dogs and Tech's are trained to patrol as well as identify potential explosives.
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