Based on a superlattice composed of alternating single-crystal "stripes" just a few nanometers wide, the "nanohelix" structure is part of a family of nanobelts - tiny ribbon-like structures with semiconducting and piezoelectric properties - that were first reported in 2001.

The nanohelices, which get their shape from twisting forces created by a small mismatch between the stripes, are produced using a vapor-solid growth process at high temperature. Information about the growth and analysis of the new structures was reported in the September 9 issue of the journal Science.

The research was sponsored by the National Science Foundation, NASA Vehicle Systems Program, U.S. Department of Defense Research and Engineering (DDR&E), the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

"This structure provides a new building block for nanodevices," said Zhong Lin Wang, a Regents professor in the School of Materials Science and Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. "From them we can make resonators, place molecules on their surfaces to create frequency shifts - and because they are piezoelectric, make electromechanical couplings. This adds a new structure to the toolbox of nanomaterials."

With their superlattices composed of many near-parallel single-crystal stripes each about 3.5 nanometers wide and offset about five degrees, the nanohelices are very different from the nanosprings and nanorings of zinc oxide reported by the same research group in Science in 2004. Nanosprings are composed of a single crystal whose shape is governed by balancing the electrostatic forces created by opposite electrical charges on their edges with the elastic deformation energy of the entire structure.

The nanohelices reach lengths of up to 100 microns, with diameters from 300 to 700 nanometers and widths from 100 to 500 nanometers. The nanohelices exist in both right- and left-handed versions, with production split approximately 50-50 between the two directions.

"This is a brand new structure which shows a new growth model for nanomaterials," Wang said. "But from the properties point of view, these are like the earlier nanobelts in having semiconducting and piezoelectric properties which makes them good for electromechanical coupling."

However, unlike the earlier single-crystal nanosprings which are elastic, the nanohelices are rigid and retain their shape even when cut apart.

"When we first saw these structures, we were amazed by their perfection," said Wang, who is also director of Georgia Tech's Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology. "Once you form a nanohelix, it is perfectly uniform."

The nanohelices are formed using a simple process similar to the one used for fabricating other nanobelts. However, changing the growth conditions leads to entirely different structures.

Zinc oxide (ZnO) powder is positioned inside an alumina tube in a horizontal high-temperature tube furnace. Under vacuum, the material is heated to approximately 1,000 degrees Celsius, at which point an argon carrier gas is introduced. Heating continues until the furnace reaches approximately 1,400 degrees. The nanohelix structures form on a polycrystalline aluminum oxide (Al2O3) substrate in the furnace.

"The key difference between growing nanohelices and the earlier types of nanobelt is that we control raising the temperature and when we introduce the carrier gas," explained Wang. "With the earlier structures, we introduced the carrier gas flow at the beginning. With these nanohelices, we only introduce the carrier gas when the temperature reaches a certain level. That allows formation to begin in a vacuum, which is the key to controlling the helix formation."

Heating the zinc oxide powder in a vacuum leads to formation of structures with polar surfaces. When the carrier gas is introduced, the growth changes to minimize the polar surfaces, creating the superlattice structure with mismatches at the crystalline interfaces. The nanohelices begin and end with conventional single-crystal nanobelt structures. "By the time the carrier gas is introduced, the crystal orientation is fixed, but the structures must continue to grow," Wang explained. "Introducing the carrier gas initiates a transition to the superlattice structure."

Formation of a nanohelix is initiated from a single-crystal stiff nanoribbon that is dominated by polar surfaces. An abrupt structural transformation of the single-crystal nanoribbon into stripes of the superlattice-structured nanobelt leads to the formation of a uniform nanohelix due to rigid structural alteration, Wang said. The superlattice nanobelt is a periodic, coherent, epitaxial and parallel assembly of two alternating stripes of zinc oxide crystals oriented with their c-axes perpendicular to one another. Growth of the nanohelix is terminated by transforming the partially polar-surface-dominated nanobelt into a non-polar-surface-dominated single-crystal nanobelt.

"The data suggest that reducing the polar surfaces could be the driving force behind the formation of the superlattice structure, and the rigid structural rotation and twist caused by the superlattice results in the initiation and formation of the nanohelix," Wang explained.

The first dozen batches of nanohelices produced a yield of only about 10 percent, but Wang believes that can be improved over time.

Thus far, Wang's research team has produced nearly 20 different zinc oxide nanostructures, including nanobelts, aligned nanowires, nanotubes, nanopropellor arrays, nanobows, nanosprings, nanorings, nanobowls and others. And there may yet be other structures discovered.

"You never know what other structures might be out there that could be added to this toolbox," he said. "From the richness of this configuration and the complete properties, this is a unique material that could become the new material for nanotechnology following carbon nanotubes."

A wideband semiconductor, zinc oxide also has interesting piezoelectric and optical properties, can produce ultraviolet laser emissions and shows electroluminescence at room temperature. Those properties make it potentially useful in many applications.

"You can use it for spintronics, biomedical applications and many things you can make with silicon technology," Wang said. "Zinc oxide is much cheaper and easier to work with than gallium nitride."

Other collaborators on this work included Pu Xian Gao, Yong Ding, Wenjie Mai, William Hughes, and Changshi Lao, all in Georgia Tech's School of Materials Science and Engineering.

Research News & Publications Office
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Media Relations Contacts: John Toon (404-894-6986); E-mail: (john.toon@edi.gatech.edu); Fax: (404-894-4545) or Jane Sanders (404-894-2214); E-mail: (jane.sanders@edi.gatech.edu).

Technical Contact: Zhong L. Wang (404-894-8008); E-mail: (zhong.wang@mse.gatech.edu).

Writer: John Toon

The concept vehicle, known as the ULTRA AP (Armored Patrol), was built to help the U.S. military evaluate multiple science and technology options - including ballistic and mine protection - that could benefit future vehicle design. The concept vehicle combines proven vehicle technologies with advanced materials and engineering concepts.

Research and development for the ULTRA has been conducted by the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), which led a unique team of research engineers from both GTRI and the automotive industry. The research initiative has been sponsored by the Office of Naval Research (ONR).

"By bringing together experienced commercial vehicle designers with experts in advanced materials and cutting-edge engineering, we are providing a test bed for evaluating technologies that can help the military develop true 'leap-ahead' concepts," said David Parekh, GTRI's deputy director. "By including persons with high-performance automotive engineering and NASCAR expertise as part of our team, we were able to root this advanced concepts project in real-world vehicle design."

The ULTRA AP emphasizes high-output diesel power combined with advanced armor and a fully modern chassis. The design matches the best of modern commercial automotive technology with racing experience, explained Gary Caille, a GTRI principal research engineer.

In the ULTRA AP, the GTRI/industry team has made improvements in two key areas by taking a systems approach to survivability and safety:

* Survivability: This factor involves a vehicle's ability to shield occupants from hostile action. The ULTRA AP will feature novel design concepts and research advances in lightweight and cost-effective armor to maximize capability and protection. The new armor was designed at GTRI in partnership with the Georgia Tech School of Materials Science and Engineering. The vehicle also incorporates a "blast bucket" designed to provide ballistic, blast and enhanced roll-over protection. New vehicle designs must incorporate dramatically increased resistance to explosions caused by mines and improvised explosive devices, Caille noted.

* Safety with Performance: The ULTRA design explored the use of on-board computers to integrate steering, suspension and brakes to provide an unparalleled level of mobility and safety, Caille added. The new vehicle's integrated chassis represents an advancement over the most advanced current production vehicles.

The ULTRA AP project has been supported by the Office of Naval Research (ONR) as part of its mission of investigating and assessing new technologies for military use. By providing the ULTRA AP concept vehicle for the U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Army to study, ONR expects to spur innovative thinking and gather feedback on the ideas being demonstrated.

In developing the ULTRA AP, GTRI brought together a group of industry professionals that included Scott Badenoch, an auto industry advanced development and racing professional; Tom Moore, former Chrysler vice president of Liberty Operations, the company's advanced engineering center; Walt Wynbelt, former program executive officer with the U.S. Army Tank Automotive and Armaments Command, and Dave McLellan, the former Corvette chief engineer for General Motors.

The ULTRA project is linked directly to "e-safety," an emerging automotive concept that combines computers and advanced technologies to make driving safer, McLellan noted. In e-safety, night driving systems and stability control add security, while radar systems - already available in Europe - actually slow vehicles automatically under certain conditions.

The Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) is the nonprofit applied research arm of the Georgia Institute of Technology. GTRI conducts more than $140 million in research each year for a variety of industry and government clients in a broad range of technologies. For more information, visit (www.gtri.gatech.edu).

The Office of Naval Research (ONR) manages science and technology research for the Navy and Marine Corps. ONR sponsors basic and applied research in oceanography, advanced materials, sensors, robotics, biomedical science and technology, electronics, surveillance, mathematics, manufacturing technology, information science, advanced combat systems and technologies for ships, submarines, aircraft and ground vehicles. For more information, visit (www.onr.navy.mil).

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Media Relations Contacts:
(1)Kirk Englehardt, Georgia Tech Research Institute (678-557-2533 or 404-385-0280); E-mail: (kirk.englehardt@gtri.gatech.edu);
(2) John Toon, Georgia Institute of Technology (404-894-6986); E-mail: (john.toon@edi.gatech.edu);
(3) Jane Sanders, Georgia Institute of Technology (404-894-2214); E-mail: (jane.sanders@edi.gatech.edu);
(4) Office of Naval Research (703-696-5031); E-mail: (onrpao@onr.navy.mil).

Technical Contact: Gary Caille, Georgia Tech Research Institute (404-463-4603); E-mail: (gary.caille@gtri.gatech.edu).

When Star Software was admitted to the Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC) Warner Robins incubator in 2000, the information technology company had seven employees. Today it employs more than 85, generates more than $5 million in annual revenue and is moving into a new 15,000-square-foot building.

But ATDC isn't the only Georgia Tech group to assist Star in its growth. Eaves also credits Georgia Tech's Procurement Assistance Center (GTPAC) for helping the company win several important government contracts. Co-located with ATDC's Warner Robins facility, GTPAC provides marketing and technical assistance to smaller companies wanting to do business with federal, state and local governments.

"Most entrepreneurs possess plenty of technical skills but lack the business savvy necessary to build a company," says Eaves. "ATDC and GTPAC prevent you from making mistakes - and save you time by pointing you in the right direction."

Though Star Software has received a lot of attention, it isn't the only success story in Warner Robins. Since its inception in 1991 as ATDC's first location outside of Atlanta, Georgia Tech's technology incubator has helped 27 startups and 14 landing parties plant roots in the community, increasing jobs and strengthening Warner Robins' economic base.

No small feat, say observers, noting that many incubators have struggled, even those located in large technology hubs.

"There were some people who worried that an incubator wouldn't be able to survive outside of Atlanta," says Larry Walker, a former state representative who helped secure funding for the project. Indeed, Walker admits that even he had a few concerns. "But ATDC has been a tremendous success exceeding our best expectations," he says, noting the Warner Robins incubator has paved the way for other ATDC offices in Savannah and Columbus.

Changing landscape

When ATDC opened its doors in Warner Robins' Advanced Technology Park, the neighborhood was pretty sparse. In fact, only two buildings stood at that time: the Middle Georgia Technology Development Center (MGTDC) with ATDC as its anchor tenant, and a speculative building, which was a joint project of the city and county government.

Today, the park comprises more than 35 buildings, with many occupied by former ATDC members who leased or bought real estate to accommodate their companies' growth.

"There is no question that the ATDC has been a catalyst for the park's success," observes Morgan Law, executive director of the Houston County Development Authority, the park's developer.

Although the park originally targeted technology companies and manufacturers as tenants, professional service firms, such as doctors and law practices, have been attracted to the park in recent years, Law says. Business supply firms, restaurants and retailers have also sprouted around the park's periphery. As a result, the west side of Warner Robins has metamorphosed from country fields into a mixture of commerce and technology.

In addition to bringing new jobs to Warner Robins, the technology park has also bolstered tax rolls. "When land moves from public to private ownership, it benefits everyone by increasing the flow of tax dollars to schools and public parks," Law observes, noting that since the park opened, land prices have risen from $25,000 to $100,000 per acre.

Part of ATDC's mission in Warner Robins is to support the Warner Robins Air Logistics Center. To this end, ATDC's landing party program - which helps attract companies from other states to set up shop in Georgia - has been instrumental in bringing more aerospace industry to the community. Among recent newcomers are Cubic Defense Applications, Megabyte International, Terma and Quantum Research International.

"The base is Georgia's largest industrial complex - employing more than 25,000 - but many people don't realize that two-thirds of the money flowing into it doesn't stay in Georgia," points out James Calvin, founder of Microcross Inc., a former ATDC company. Many components for planes and weapon systems are sourced from other states, he explains, noting that "landing parties help counteract this outflow by providing new jobs in the area."

More eggs in the basket

In addition to serving the military base, ATDC has broadened the technology mix in Warner Robins.

"We don't have to hold our breath anymore about BRAC (base realignment and closure) so hopefully the base will continue to prosper, but with any economy it's also important that you diversify," says Robert Hatcher, a partner at NanoMist® Systems, a current ATDC member.

"ATDC has helped the community see the importance of encouraging other types of technology businesses - that there is life beyond the base," adds Gary Martin, founder of IDMI, which graduated from the incubator in 2002.

Both NanoMist and IDMI are good examples of this diversification.

NanoMist is commercializing an innovative technology for delivering ultra-fine mists composed of micron- and submicron-sized droplets. This technology has a variety of applications, but NanoMist has made the most progress in commercializing a fire-suppression solution that uses water mist - an alternative to chemical agents that have environmental concerns.

"The smaller the droplets, the larger their surface area, enabling heat to be absorbed more quickly," explains K.C. Adiga, Nanomist's founder. In lab tests, NanoMist's technology extinguished a 12-inch diameter pan of flaming kerosene in 10 seconds using only 25 milliliters of water (less than 1 fluid ounce or 1/8 cup). Besides being remarkably fast, NanoMist's fire-suppression solution is cheaper than chemical agents and causes less damage.

NanoMist is now expanding into nanomaterials process technology and electronics cooling, and the company has a strong patent portfolio in these areas. Other potential applications include: sterilizing instruments in hospital operating rooms, preventing staph infections in recovery rooms, and sanitizing during food packaging processes.

Founded in 1996, IDMI developed the first online solution for insurance companies. PTS, its flagship product, allows agencies to manage their databases and systems - everything from underwriting to data warehousing - from the Internet, which increases efficiencies and reduces errors and costs.

Since leaving ATDC to move into larger offices in the technology park, IDMI has grown to 25 employees with customers in 14 states, Martin reports. The company generated $2.5 million in 2004 revenue and is on track to double revenue to $5 million in 2005.

And though Star Software initially served defense contractors, the company has been branching out. This summer Star Software launched its first educational product, which enables schools to access better software, ranging from auditing and accounting programs to Smart Card technology for managing student attendance or food programs.

"We're targeting lower-end school districts that don't have large IT budgets," Eaves says, noting that the company has already signed on three customers. "We also hope to get into healthcare before the year is over, offering both IT solutions and process engineering."

Still another new direction, Star Software is developing an information retrieval technology that combines images and words to generate more meaningful searches. Funded with a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I grant from the National Science Foundation, the company now is studying the feasibility of an automated tool for analyzing satellite imagery.

One of ATDC's newest resources for helping both existing and startup companies is the Aerospace Innovation Center. Located in the same building as ATDC, the innovation center is one five created in 2003 to support technology-based economic development in Georgia.

"The innovation center opens up new avenues in funding, R&D, education and training," explains Sherry Giddings, manager of the Warner Robins ATDC and director of the innovation center. "It gives us more ways to help ATDC companies, which get free membership in the center."

Instant credibility

Membership in ATDC has benefited Warner Robins startups in a variety of ways, say entrepreneurs.

"Besides being able to move into a professional environment without breaking the bank, you also have access to top-level resources," points out IDMI's Martin. "Consultants are a luxury that startups can't otherwise afford - typically you're limited to asking advice from friends or family."

Being affiliated with Georgia Tech also provided IDMI with instant credibility. "It was a regular part of my sales pitch when trying to get clients," Martin says. "Being an ATDC member squelched any objections they might have had about giving their business to a small startup company."

Microcross' Calvin credits ATDC for helping his company survive tough times. Microcross, which builds open-source development tools that make embedded computer systems easier to program, was about to close on $6 million in venture-capital funding four years ago. Yet before the financing went through, the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks occurred and capital markets dried up overnight.

Counseling from ATDC manager Jerry Wilson kept Microcross on course, Calvin says. (Founder of the Warner Robins incubator, Wilson died from cancer in 2003. Earlier this summer, Georgia Tech named the ATDC wing in MGTDC in Wilson's honor.)

"When our funding fell through, Jerry advised us to focus on generating revenue instead of trying to attract investors," Calvin explains. "Jerry painted a picture of reality for us - that VC money wouldn't be available for two or three years - and he helped us be resourceful. If we hadn't been proactive, we would have been forced to shut our doors."

Part of Microcross' belt-tightening included downsizing from 12 to three employees. Today, however, the rebounding company has six employees and expects to generate $1 million in revenue this year.

At Star Software, Eaves also links much of his company's success to the incubator. "We wouldn't be where we are today without ATDC - that's something I realize more and more as time goes by," he says.

Research News & Publications Office
Georgia Institute of Technology
75 Fifth Street, N.W., Suite 100
Atlanta, Georgia 30308 USA

Media Relations Contact: John Toon (404-894-6986); E-mail: (john.toon@edi.gatech.edu).

Writer: T.J. Becker

Pirelli and researchers from the Georgia Electronic Design Center (GEDC) at Georgia Tech will develop a new generation of integrated optical systems. Atlanta will become the North American operational branch of Pirelli Labs, the advanced research center of the group based in Milan. The group, founded in 2001, specializes in broadband access and second generation photonics.

Pirelli will also consolidate all of its North American corporate staff activities in the new Atlanta center, including the headquarters of Pirelli Broadband Solutions, a new company that engineers and markets the innovations conceived in Pirelli Labs. This alliance will help position Georgia to become a world-class center of research excellence in photonics and broadband technologies.

"Pirelli already has a great history here in Georgia, with tire facilities in Rome," said Governor Perdue. "I am very proud that this great company has chosen Georgia for its new North American headquarters location and as the home of the new company: Pirelli Broadband Solutions. Pirelli's selection of Georgia as its new home for the broadband business was driven by the value of proximity to Georgia Tech's Electronic Design Center (GEDC), which is recognized worldwide as the leading academic research laboratory in high-speed communications electronics."

Under the agreement, visiting researchers from both organizations will work in Georgia Tech laboratories -- and in the clean rooms of Pirelli Labs near Milan. There, advanced facilities devoted to research and development of optical components for telecommunications occupy about 54,000 square feet in the Pirelli Labs building.

Pirelli's location in Atlanta will initially include laboratory space at the GEDC in the Technology Square Research Building at Georgia Tech, as well as additional headquarters office space next door in the Centergy One building. Pirelli's initial team will consist of executive, engineering, scientific, marketing and sales professionals.

"We are excited at the reception we have received in Georgia and the cooperation at all levels from the governor, his staff and the University System of Georgia," said Kevin Riddett, president and chief executive officer of Pirelli North America, Inc.

Added Giorgio Grasso, CEO of Pirelli Labs Optical Innovation: "By combining the respective know-how, Pirelli Labs and Georgia Tech will be able to develop new cutting-edge broadband access and optical technologies for the North American market. We view our partnership with GEDC as a major strategic asset in our future broadband activities."

Pirelli, a pioneer in photonics worldwide, is among the world's leaders and innovators in a number of fields, including its key markets of tires and telecommunications systems.

"Today's announcement indicates that we are making great progress in establishing Georgia as a hot spot in the world of electronic design," said Craig Lesser, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Economic Development. "We set out to make Georgia a world leader in the design of high-speed communications systems, devices and chips, and Pirelli's location here takes us one step closer to achieving that vision."

The Pirelli decision demonstrates the impact that Georgia Tech can have on the state's economy, noted Georgia Tech President Wayne Clough.

"We are excited that an innovative company like Pirelli has chosen to locate at Technology Square in partnership with GDEC," said Clough. "This outcome reflects the power of linking Georgia Tech's research and educational assets with those of the state of Georgia to help build the state technology sector in a time when competition for such jobs comes not only from other states, but other nations as well."

Research News & Publications Office
Georgia Institute of Technology
75 Fifth Street, N.W., Suite 100
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Media Relations Contact: John Toon (404-894-6986); E-mail: (john.toon@edi.gatech.edu).

When surfaces touch in a humid environment, moisture forms water bridges, or capillaries, between them. On familiar size scales, this process - known as nucleation - helps hold sand castles and wet concrete together, and is critical to the formation of clouds. But sometimes these structures can be less helpful, causing friction sufficient to slow or even stop nanoscale machinery - or in food processing, creating large clusters of sugar, salt, baby cereals or coffee.

By studying the frictional forces acting on an atomic force microscope (AFM) tip drawn across a glass surface, researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have demonstrated for the first time that the formation of these capillaries is thermally activated. Their study suggests that it may be possible to reduce the adhesion between surfaces by reducing temperatures and putting nanoscale surfaces into motion before the water bridges have time to form.

"When you move very slowly, there is time for a capillary to form at each tiny bump or asperity in the surface," explained Elisa Riedo, an assistant professor in Georgia Tech's School of Physics. "But when you move faster, you have fewer capillaries. If you go fast enough, the capillaries do not have time to form."

Understanding the relationship between nucleation time and temperature could be crucial to the designers of very small devices that must operate in the presence of moisture, as well as to the food processing industry. "Since formation of the capillaries affects friction and adhesion between particles, if we understand this relationship, we can understand how small particles and nano-surfaces glue together," she noted.

A report on the research, which has been sponsored by the National Science Foundation and the Petroleum Foundation, was published in the journal Physical Review Letters on September 23rd.

Experimentally, Riedo and her postdoctoral collaborator Robert Szoszkiewicz used an AFM with specially-crafted ball-shaped tips that had diameters ranging from 40 to 100 nanometers. That provided a multi-contact area of approximately 30 square nanometers.

While maintaining a constant humidity of about 40 percent, they moved the tip across a slightly rough glass surface that had irregularities approximately one nanometer high. While the tip was moving, they recorded the resistance to motion - measured in piconewtons or nanonewtons - while varying the temperature and velocity.

By charting their data, they saw evidence that the friction measured was directly related to temperature, suggesting the growth of capillary structures increases as temperature increases. "The more energetic the water molecules are, the more likely it is that they will form capillaries," said Szoszkiewicz. "We found that nucleation times grow exponentially with the inverse of temperature."

The researchers found that the nucleation times of nanoscopic capillaries increased from 0.7 milliseconds to 4.2 milliseconds when the temperature decreased from 332 to 299 degrees Kelvin - which is approximately room temperature.

"To form water bridges, molecules need to overcome an energy barrier. The thermal energy can provide the energy they need, however, it takes time for these bridges to form," Riedo noted. "The longer the surfaces are together, the stronger the contact will be because more bridges can form."

When surfaces come close together, several processes can occur, Szoszkiewicz said. After contact, moisture naturally adsorbed on the surfaces - along with water molecules from the air - will concentrate close to the true contact point because of diffusion. Some initial water bridges will then form between contacting asperities.

When objects move close together but don't touch, a different process occurs. Moisture adsorbed on each surface may coalesce, and because of attractive forces, jump together, forming a water bridge. At a given temperature, this nucleation process will differ for each surface depending on its ability to adsorb moisture. Newly formed capillaries then act as water sinks, attracting more water molecules because pressure inside the capillary bridge is lower than the pressure outside it. The process continues to a point at which an equilibrium capillary bridge is formed.

"The question we considered was what would be the dominant phenomenon and what would be the time scale for both phenomena," Szoszkiewicz said. "We have experimentally demonstrated that with nano-rough surfaces, nucleation will be dominant."

Beyond applications to atmospheric science, the food industry and nanoscale sliding machinery, the findings suggest another way to control ink flow in dip-pen nanolithography. In that process, ink flowing from an AFM tip is used to write nanoscale patterns that could be useful in such processes as semiconductor lithography.

"In this case, you might use the temperature dependence to increase the velocity of the ink flow, decrease it, or make the flow improbable," said Riedo. "There are a lot of implications for the technology. Each of the materials involved will have its own properties regarding velocity and how rapidly it forms capillary bridges."

The researchers also measured the size of energy barrier required for water molecules to nucleate. "This energy was predicted by theoretical models using classical thermodynamics, and it matched really well with our experiments," said Riedo.

The researchers hope the information they provide will help engineers deal with capillary forces in a more efficient way. Because water is ubiquitous, more information is needed about how it behaves at the nanoscale.

"Water is of crucial importance everywhere in our world - in biology, earth sciences, atmospheric sciences and industrial processes," Riedo noted. "From a fundamental point of view, it is difficult to do theoretical models of water. But there is a huge interest in this from both theoretical and technological standpoints."

Research News & Publications Office
Georgia Institute of Technology
75 Fifth Street, N.W., Suite 100
Atlanta, Georgia 30308 USA

Media Relations Contacts: John Toon (404-894-2214); E-mail: (john.toon@edi.gatech.edu) or Jane Sanders (404-894-2214); E-mail: (jane.sanders@edi.gatech.edu)

Technical Contacts: Elisa Riedo (404-894-6580); E-mail: (elisa.riedo@physics.gatech.edu) or Robert Szoszkiewicz (404-894-0941); E-mail: (rs365@mail.gateh.edu).

Writer: John Toon

The Samsung RFIC Design Center will develop technology for next-generation communication systems, expanding to system-on-chip devices for modem, digital and RF equipment. Innovations developed by researchers at the new center will impact a broad spectrum of Samsung's worldwide product offerings.

Over the next five years, the new center could employ more than 100 design scientists and engineers. The center will initially be located in the Technology Square Research Building, which also houses the GEDC.

In April, the company announced its decision to open the center in Atlanta, citing Georgia Tech's strengths in radio-frequency and mixed-signal research as major reasons for choosing the location. Center researchers are expected to collaborate with Georgia Tech faculty and staff on a broad range of issues, including contributions to the IEEE standard for cognitive radio (IEEE 802.22).

SEM is a division of the Samsung Corporation, a global leader in semiconductor, telecommunication, digital media and digital convergence technologies.

"The Samsung RFIC Design Center is the starting point for our collaboration with Georgia Tech and the state of Georgia, and will expand our ability to play an even greater role in bringing high-function, high-quality and low-cost products to the world marketplace," said Ho-Moon Kang, President and CEO of SEM. "We are pleased with the welcome we have received from Georgia Tech and the state of Georgia as signified in this ribbon-cutting event."

Location of the Samsung facility demonstrates the impact that Georgia Tech can have on Georgia's economy, noted Georgia Tech President Wayne Clough.

"Attracting first-class research and development facilities from global leaders like Samsung, a company known for its forward-looking leadership in the industry, is precisely what the GEDC was established to do," he said. "By leveraging Georgia Tech's research and educational assets, we can work with private industry to build Georgia's economy based on the technology industries of the future."

In addition to Georgia Tech's leadership in mixed-signal electronics, wireless devices and RFIC technologies, companies such as Samsung are also interested in recruiting top technical talent, Clough noted. Working with Samsung's RFIC Design Center will allow Georgia Tech students to gain valuable real-world experience in electronic design.

Joy Laskar, director of the GEDC, expects the collaboration with Samsung to boost the center's expertise and reputation in the areas of high-frequency high-speed electronic design, and the utilization of new technology in next generation communication applications.

"We are excited at the prospect of working with SEM Co. to pursue areas of common interest," he said. "We appreciate the confidence the company has shown through the location of the new design center with the GEDC."

Location of the design center boosts Georgia's reputation and demonstrates the state's positive technology development, noted Governor Sonny Perdue.

"We are confident that SEM will find Georgia an outstanding location for its research and development headquarters for these important new technologies," Perdue said. "Its presence here will add to the state's growing reputation as an environment that encourages and nourishes science and innovation."

Chang-Ho Lee, formerly with the GEDC, has been named director of the new design center. He said the collaboration with Georgia Tech will intensify as the company develops new relationships with the campus community and recruits Georgia Tech graduates to the company's technical staff.

About SEM: Samsung Electro-Mechanics was established in 1973 as a manufacturer of key electronic components, and the company has grown into one of the industry leaders, thanks to cutting-edge technology and top product quality. SEM pioneered the technological framework for Korean production of A/V components and the company diversified into materials and computer parts. In the early 1990s, the focus was on manufacturing chip components, multi-layer circuit boards, and mobile communication and optical components. In the late 1990s, operations expanded into the production of digital products with applied high-frequency, software, engineering and design technologies. For more information, see (www.sem.samsung.co.kr).

About the Georgia Electronic Design Center: The Georgia Electronic Design Center (GEDC) supports world-class research, active and solution-oriented industry collaboration, intellectual property generation and revenue generating commercialization efforts. Supported both by industry partners and federal laboratories, GEDC's research is broadly focused on fostering technology at the intersection of today's communications applications: wireless/RF, wired/copper and fiber channels.

Research News & Publications Office
Georgia Institute of Technology
75 Fifth Street, N.W., Suite 100
Atlanta, Georgia 30308 USA

Media relations contact: John Toon (404-894-6986); E-mail: (john.toon@edi.gatech.edu)

Consider these statistics:

• From 1989 to 2001, U.S. patent applications from researchers in China, India, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan increased 759 percent, while patent activity for homegrown technology grew at a slower pace of 116 percent.

• Sweden, Finland, Israel, Japan and South Korea each spend more on research and development (R&D) as a share of their gross domestic product (GDP) than the United States.

• Only 5.7 percent of undergraduate degrees in the United States are in natural sciences and engineering compared to 8 percent in Japan and 11 percent in Taiwan and South Korea.

Although these benchmarks are relative - indicating percentage growth rather than absolute numbers - they reflect a disturbing trend.

"The United States continues to have an innovative edge, but at the same time, our advantage is shrinking," says G. Wayne Clough, president of the Georgia Institute of Technology and co-chairman of the National Innovation Initiative (NII), sponsored by the Council on Competitiveness (COC). A task force of business and academic leaders, NII released a report, "Innovate America," in December 2004 that recommends specific tactics for honing America's innovation capabilities.

Sustaining the United States' leadership position is a serious issue - with far more at stake than national pride. Because it leads to new industries and higher-paying jobs, innovation is directly linked with economic prosperity.

Not the Usual Suspects

This isn't the first time America's competitive advantage has been threatened, but today the challenge is more complex.

"In the 1980s, the United States was inventing things, but not manufacturing them as well, particularly at the small and medium-sized establishment level," says Jan Youtie, a senior research associate at Georgia Tech's Office of Economic Development and Technology Ventures. "That led to government programs like MEP (Manufacturing Extension Partnership) to enhance our competitiveness. Now the real concern is whether we can maintain our pace of innovation."

Another twist is a new cast of players. In the 1980s, competition came from high-skilled, high-wage countries like Japan and Germany. Today, emerging Asian countries are displaying surprising clout in technology. For example, India is winning recognition in software development, and South Korea is showing strength in electronics and computer storage and display technologies.

Yet China is sparking some of the greatest concern as it evolves from being merely a low-cost competitor to one with growing technology capabilities. From 1989 to 2001, China's high-tech industry output - which includes aerospace, computers, communications equipment, pharmaceuticals and medical instruments - jumped eightfold from $30 billion to $257 billion. In comparison, the United States' output slightly more than doubled from $423 billion to $940 billion.

"This year China is expected to produce nearly 100 million mobile phones and three million laptops, more than Korea and India combined," observes Philip Shapira, a professor in Georgia Tech's School of Public Policy. In addition to manufacturing, China has dramatically increased its R&D spending and is becoming a high-volume producer of research, he says. In fact, China recently edged Japan out of second place in the number of published papers on nanotechnology and is now right behind the United States.

Shrinking Talent Pool

Knowledge economies depend on skilled scientists and engineers, and in the United States that workforce is aging. More than 25 percent of today's scientists and engineers are in their fifties, and many will retire by 2010. Because fewer students are pursuing science and technology degrees, new blood is in limited supply.

In the last three decades, the United States has fallen from No. 3 to No. 17 in global rankings of countries with college students earning science and engineering degrees. And the future doesn't look any better: Only 5.5 percent of high-school students taking the ACT college entrance exam in 2002 planned to major in engineering, down from 8.6 percent in 1992.

Compensation is one deterrent, experts say. Pursuing a business degree is viewed as an easier - and faster - payoff.

"This nation asks a lot of its people to become Ph.D.s," says Diana Hicks, chair of Georgia Tech's School of Public Policy. "Students spend a great deal of time and money to obtain doctoral degrees when they could have been out in the market earning salaries and building pensions. In a knowledge economy, smart people have a lot of opportunities. Being a scientist isn't the only interesting career."

That's a problem because foreign students have helped make up for the dearth of U.S. students enrolled in science and engineering. After graduating, foreign students often remain in the United States for research jobs, contributing to our nation's knowledge base.

Society is another influence, others say. "Society rewards people in its public culture and the images portrayed in the media. Yet American culture often values sports and movie stars over being a scientist," notes John McIntyre, director of Georgia Tech's Center for International Business Education and Research.

"The thoughtful people in our society don't get media play," says Kathleen Kingscott, IBM Corp's director of innovation policy and an NII participant. Kingscott sees the effect with her two children, who aren't interested in science, even though they are good students. In fact, Kingscott recalls encouraging her 11-year-old daughter to attend a science program for young girls sponsored by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

"It was the last thing in the world she wanted to do. She didn't want to be perceived as a geek," says Kingscott. "We need to make it cool to be smart."

At the same time American students are abandoning science and engineering, fewer foreign students are coming to the United States.

Some of the decline stems from 9/11, with new immigration policies making it more difficult for foreign students to secure visas. Another reason, as other countries have bolstered educational centers, their young people no longer are dependent on the United States for advanced training.

And if foreigners do choose to study in the United States, they have more reasons for returning home. In many countries with reformed economies, salaries for professors and researchers have escalated significantly.

When Xiao-Yin Jin was working at the Shanghai Industry Foundation in 1990, his annual salary was less than $1,200 in U.S. dollars. "And I held a full professor position at the time," says Jin, a visiting scholar at Georgia Tech's Technology Policy and Assessment Center. Today, Chinese professors in key universities earn more than $12,000 per year, he says.

Chinese professors can further increase their income by doing government or industry-funded research, where a portion of grant money (about 10 to 15 percent) is available as salary or bonuses. Another incentive, government policies encourage scientists to become entrepreneurs, Jin adds. If a researcher's innovation can be used to start a business, the organization is tax-free for three to five years.

As the entrepreneurial climate heats up in other countries, there's a sort of "Wild West" allure, observes Chad Evans, vice president of the Council on Competitiveness' NII. "There's a sense that students could change the world if they go back to their own countries … that they might become the next Bill Gates," he explains.

The Money Pot

Trends in federal funding are also undermining America's knowledge base.

From the end of World War II to 1980, Uncle Sam provided the bulk of the nation's research and development (R&D) dollars. Yet the private sector now foots the lion's share (68 percent), and nearly three-fourths of that money is earmarked for development, not basic research. Sometimes referred to as "discovery research," basic research seeks to expand knowledge of a subject without specific applications in mind.

"Basic research is important because it sets up the country for the next generation of technology so we don't run out of innovations," Hicks says.

Yet the portion of the federal government's R&D portfolio that goes toward basic research has been stagnant or declining for most non-biomedical disciplines during the past 15 years, says Kei Koizumi, R&D budget and policy director at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Looking at 2006 and beyond, cuts for basic research look worse, he adds.

President George W. Bush's 2006 proposed budget devotes $132.3 billion to R&D spending, up a mere 0.1 percent from 2005. NASA stands to benefit the most, with increases for space exploration resulting in fallout for other agencies.

At the Department of Defense (DOD), the biggest supporter of engineering research, there would be a slight budget increase. Yet within DOD's accounts devoted to science and technology, basic research dollars would drop 12.9 percent with a 14.7 percent decrease for applied research, according to Koizumi.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) and National Institutes of Health (NIH), two large supporters of basic research, will see slight budget increases - 2.8 and 0.5 percent respectively. But once adjusted for inflation, there is actually less discretionary money for research: The size of NSF grants and the number of NIH research projects will shrink.

"Already at NSF, less than one out of five applicants receive funding, which compares to a 25 to 35 percent rate of funding in the past," Koizumi says. "Of course we want competition, but we also stand to lose a lot of good ideas."

Investing in the Future

Basic research may seem expendable to politicians because it's not about instant gratification.

"You don't pay today and see the results tomorrow. Basic research provides for the future," notes Samuel Rankin, associate executive director of the American Mathematical Society, who likens basic research to a 401(k) fund.

Indeed, basic research has the ability to create entirely new areas of commercial activity. For example, basic research funded by the government has led to the Internet, bar coding, robotics and gene mapping.

Many of the products Americans enjoy today stemmed from federally funded research initiated more than 20 years ago, says Evans of the Council on Competitiveness. "If we aren't making that investment today, the chances of there being innovations for us to enjoy in the future are slim," he adds.

Federal funding for basic research also has a profound effect on the talent pool. "Universities need stable funding not only for research to come to fruition but also to train graduate students," Rankin says. "When students see the funding spigot turned on and off, it affects morale. They think, 'Why put up with this?' These are bright people who have other opportunities."

In addition to increased funding, experts call for a diversified R&D portfolio for basic research.

"We can't just put all our eggs in one basket," Evans explains. "Health sciences may be poised for great breakthroughs, but you still need the talented mathematicians for computer modeling. It's the interface of disciplines that will lead to new fields of discovery."

Increased funding is just one aspect of sustaining the United States' knowledge base; innovation depends on a complex ecosystem.

Underscoring that fact, NII's "Innovate America" report recommends 32 strategies across three categories: talent, infrastructure and funding. Implementing the plan calls for a unified effort, Clough stresses: "It can't be done solely from the government side. It requires the cooperation of industry and universities as well."

And though the United States is still at the front of the innovation race, that's no excuse to delay action, experts agree.

"This isn't a problem with a short-term fix," says Alan Porter, co-director of Georgia Tech's Technology Policy and Assessment Center. "Beyond our knowledge base, we have nothing else - no natural resources - that gives us a competitive edge in the global economy. We're fine right now, but in 15 years, this could really bite us."

Note: This article first appeared in the Spring/Summer 2005 issue of Georgia Tech's Research Horizons Magazine.

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Writer: T.J. Becker

A research team from the Georgia Institute of Technology and Drexel University has discovered a surprising new mechanism by which polymer materials used in nanocomposites control the growth of particles. Reported on August 28th at the 230th national meeting of the American Chemical Society, the findings could provide a new tool for controlling the formation of nanoparticles.

Growing particles within the confinement of polymer-based structures is one technique commonly used for controlling nanoparticle growth. After formation of the particles, the polymer matrix can be removed -- or the resulting nanocomposite used for a variety of applications.

In a series of experiments, the research team found a strong relationship between the chemical reactivity of the polymer and the size and shape of resulting nanoparticles.

"We have concentrated on the reactivity of the polymeric matrix and how that influences the growth of particles," explained Rina Tannenbaum, an associate professor in Georgia Tech's School of Materials Science and Engineering. "We found that in the melt the key parameter influencing particle size is actually the type of interaction with the polymer. The molecular weight of the polymer and the synthesis temperature are almost insignificant."

In a series of experiments, Tannenbaum and her collaborators created iron oxide nanoparticles within polymer films of different types, including polystyrene, poly(methyl methacrylate), bisphenol polycarbonate, poly(vinylidene di-fluouride) and polysulfone. The polymeric matrix was then decomposed using heat, leaving the particles to be characterized using transmission electron microscopy.

"These polymers spanned a variety of functional groups that differed in the strength and nature of their interactions with the iron oxide particles and in their position along with polymer chain," Tannenbaum explained. "We found that the characteristic nanoparticle size decreased with the increasing affinity -- the strength of the interaction -- between the polymer and the iron oxide particles."

Specifically, iron oxide particles formed in strongly interacting polymer media tended to be small (10-20 nanometers in diameter) and pyramid-shaped, while those formed in weakly-interacting media tended to be larger (40 to 60 nanometers in diameter) and spherical.

The researchers also found that the length of the polymer chain was only weakly related to the particle growth. "This means that for the same result, we can work in the melt with lower molecular-weight materials and have lower glass transitions," Tannenbaum explained.

Based on the experimental results, Tannenbaum and Associate Professor Nily Dan of Drexel's Department of Chemical Engineering charted the relationship between average particle size and the reactivity of the polymer interface. That information should help other scientists as they attempt to regulate the growth of nanoparticles using polymer reactivity.

Tannenbaum and Dan theorize that the polymer layer surrounding a nanoparticle while it grows favors an optimal interfacial curvature that sets the equilibrium particle characteristics. That may be related to the free energy of the adsorbed polymer layer.

While the researchers focused on iron oxide in this work, they believe the control mechanism should be broadly applicable to other particles and polymeric materials.

Next, the researchers plan to explore the influence of polymers in solution -- a more complicated task involving more variables.

"In solution, the situation is much more complicated," Tannenbaum said. "The polymer chains are on the loose, and face competition from the solvent. The chains will be reluctant to adsorb onto the surface of the particles, so we may end up with larger particles than in the melt. In solution, molecular weight of the polymer will have an impact."

The work reported at the American Chemical Society meeting is part of a broader study of how nanoparticles interact with polymers -- specifically, the interface between polymer chains and nanoparticles.

"The interface has important fundamental properties," Tannenbaum noted. "When you look at nanocomposites, the interface is a very large component of the whole structure. You can't look at a nanocomposite as having just two components -- the interface is really a third."

Beyond their use as a means for controlling nanoparticle size, nanocomposites may also have applications of their own. Their periodic structure, for instance, can be useful in optical and photonic applications.

The research has been sponsored by the National Science Foundation, Petroleum Research Fund of the American Chemical Society, U.S. Air Force Research Labs and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

Tannenbaum, Dan and collaborators Melissa Zubris of Georgia Tech, Eugene Goldberg of the University of Florida, and Shimon Reich of the Weizmann Institute of Science earlier reported on the polymer-directed synthesis of nanoclusters in the journal Macromolecules.

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Technical Contact: Rina Tannenbaum (404-385-1235); E-mail: (rina.tannenbaum@mse.gatech.edu).

Writer: John Toon

Research by the Georgia Institute of Technology and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has yielded a method that proved to be 95.2 percent accurate in identifying and classifying Coxiella burnetii. The laboratory test delivers results in about five minutes compared to about two hours for the lab technique currently used to detect this bacterium.

"Because of its potential use as a bioweapon, we needed a method to detect Coxiella burnetii at an early stage, and we needed to be able to determine which strain is present so authorities can determine the geographic area from which it came," said Facundo Fernandez, an assistant professor in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Georgia Tech. He presented the research team's findings Sept. 1 at the 230th American Chemical Society National Meeting in Washington, D.C.

Fernandez and his Ph.D. student Carrie Young, a chemist in the CDC's Environmental Health Lab, collaborated with CDC researchers in the National Center for Environmental Health and the National Center for Infectious Diseases. They combined mass spectrometry -- an analytical technique to study ionized molecules in the gas phase -- and a mathematical data analysis technique called partial least squares analysis.

Mass spectrometry allows researchers to look at the profiles of different proteins expressed in a microorganism. Partial least squares analysis lets researchers separate important information from "noise" -- or biological baseline shifts caused by sample preparation variations -- that could corrupt a predictive model.

Not only is the combination of these techniques into one method a novel concept, this research also represents the first time that Coxiella burnetii has been detected at the strain level with a rapid detection process, Fernandez noted. Such classification is a challenging task with bacteria, he added. Researchers believe the technique also will work with other pathogens, which they expect to begin studying this fall.

Coxiella burnetii is a species of concern because it causes the highly infective human disease Q fever, which is transmitted primarily by cattle, sheep and goats. A human can be infected by as few as one bacterium. The disease can be manifested as a chronic or acute case, depending on the strain. Symptoms can include high fever, severe headache, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain and chest pain. Q fever can also lead to pneumonia and hepatitis. The chronic form of the disease can cause endocarditis, an infection of a heart valve, and even lead to death.

In addition to being a public health threat, Coxiella burnetii is listed as a Category B bioterrorism agent because of its long-term environmental stability, resistance to heat and drying, extremely low infectious dose, aerosol infectious route and history of weaponization by various countries, according to the CDC.

To date, Georgia Tech and CDC researchers can differentiate between seven Coxiella burnetii strains, which come from Australia, the United States and Europe. Some strains are more infective than others, and the researchers' method determines not only the strain, but whether it's a Phase I or II strain depending on its ability to infect, Fernandez explained.

"The next step is to fine tune our model and increase the number of strains we can identify," Fernandez said. "There is a library of strain samples available to us, though the samples are sanitized with gamma radiation and rendered inactive before analysis." To identify strains, researchers examine the appearance of biomarker proteins in samples.

"In some cases, we classify a strain by the presence or absence of a biomarker. And sometimes we see the same biomarker proteins, but at varying levels, in different strains," Fernandez noted.

The researchers' detection technique is highly sensitive, meaning it can detect Coxiella burnetii strains at very low concentrations - specifically at the attomole level, which is equivalent to 1 X 10-17 moles. (Moles measure the actual number of atoms or molecules in a sample.)

Until now, the best method to differentiate between strains of Coxiella burnetii was a laboratory technique called polymerase chain reaction (PCR), which analyzes the genes of a bacterium and yields results in one to two hours. The new method, which analyzes the proteins of a bacterium, can yield results in five minutes. For now, it is also a laboratory test, though separate research involving Fernandez and other Georgia Tech researchers is pursuing development of a field-testing instrument.

"In a bioterrorism event, you want more than one method to determine the strain you are dealing with," Fernandez noted. "So you would use our technique first and then use PCR as a second method to independently confirm your results. Also, our method using mass spectrometry, allows you to quickly replicate your analysis - even 10 times if you want to. That gives you an added degree of statistical significance."

Fernandez and his colleagues began the research in June 2004 with funding from the CDC and a Georgia Tech Research Corporation seed grant. With their encouraging results about the method's capability, they plan to apply for additional federal funds in the near future.

Working with Fernandez and Young are John Barr and his colleagues Adrian Woolfitt and Hercules Moura of the National Center for Environmental Health, and Edward Shaw (now at Oklahoma State University) and Herbert Thompson of the National Center for Infectious Diseases.

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Media Relations Contacts: Jane Sanders, Georgia Tech (404-894-2214); E-mail: (jane.sanders@edi.gatech.edu); Fax (404-894-4545) or John Toon, Georgia Tech (404-894-6986); E-mail: (john.toon@edi.gatech.edu) or National Center for Environmental Health, CDC (404-498-0070); E-mail: (atsdric@cdc.gov).

Technical Contacts: Facundo Fernandez, Georgia Tech (404-385-4432); E-mail: (facundo.fernandez@chemistry.gatech.edu) or John Barr, CDC (770-488-7848); E-mail: (JBarr@cdc.gov).

Writer: Jane Sanders

A research team from Queen's University in Canada and the Georgia Institute of Technology in the United States reported on the development of the "switchable solvents" in the August 24th issue of the journal Nature. The first example of what could become a family of such solvents can be changed from a non-ionic liquid to an ionic liquid -- and back again -- with the alternate addition of nitrogen or carbon dioxide.

The ability to rapidly change the key properties of a solvent could allow multiple steps of a chemical reaction to be carried out without the need for removing and replacing solvents. That could potentially reduce pollution, cut cost and speed chemical processing.

"This process could provide a potential tool for benign and economical processing in the manufacture of high-value specialty chemicals," said Charles Liotta, Georgia Tech's vice provost for research and graduate studies, Regents professor of chemistry and a member of the team reporting in the journal. "One possible use for these solvents would be for such applications as the manufacture of pharmaceuticals and pharmaceutical precursors, especially for asymmetric or chiral compounds."

Chemical processing often requires multiple reaction and separation steps, and the type of solvent required for each step may be different. The solvent is therefore usually removed and replaced after each step, contributing to total processing costs, said Charles Eckert, a professor in Georgia Tech's School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and director of the Specialty Separations Center.

"When you have to add and remove solvents, it's both expensive and polluting," he noted. "With this new class of solvents, we would be able to do what are called 'one-pot syntheses' -- that is, to carry out several steps in the same container with the same materials without having to do separations in between."

The switchable solvent system provides a means of reducing the environmental impact from producing pharmaceuticals and other products that are essential to society today, noted Philip Jessop, the paper's lead author and Canada Research Chair in Green Chemistry at Queen's University.

"We all want the products of the plastics and pharmaceutical industries, but we don't want the pollution," Jessop noted. "Our research is seeking ways to decrease the amount of solvent waste being generated by these companies."

The reaction begins with a one-to-one mixture of two non-ionic liquids: DBU (1,8-diazabicyclo-[5.4.0]-undec-7-ene) and 1-hexanol. When carbon dioxide is bubbled through the liquid mixture at one atmosphere of pressure, the liquid becomes ionic. The change can be readily reversed, with the ionic liquid converted back to its previous non-ionic state by bubbling nitrogen or argon through it.

The change of properties takes place at room temperature, and can be accelerated by raising the temperature to about 50 degrees Celsius. The change takes place rapidly, as soon as enough of the gas is bubbled through, Eckert said.

"The carbon dioxide actually reacts with a nitrogen atom of the amidine, so the carbon dioxide here is not a solvent -- it's a reactant," he explained. "That provides a redistribution of charge that makes the combination ionic. When the nitrogen gas is bubbled through, the carbon dioxide is swept out because it is only weakly bound, so the solvent goes back to its original state."

The researchers reported that the non-ionic liquid (hexanol and DBU) formed under nitrogen is as nonpolar as chloroform, while the ionic liquid formed under carbon dioxide is as polar as propanoic acid. The researchers demonstrated the polarity changes by testing the solubility of the nonpolar compound decane in each liquid.

The solvent tested by researchers from Queen's and Georgia Tech is a "proof of concept," though practical applications aren't yet known. The work being done by the research team -- which also includes David Heldebrant and Xiowang Li, both from Queen's University -- is an example of how chemical design principles are facilitating the application of green chemistry.

"We are designing molecules for a specific function," Eckert explained. "We decide what functions we want, then put atoms together in such a way that we can achieve that function. The collaboration of chemists and chemical engineers at different institutions is what makes it possible to look at both the molecular aspects and the applications."

Solvents known as ionic liquids are salts that are liquid at room temperature or near-room temperature.

"They tend to have a lot of organic character, and have been widely hailed as environmentally benign because they have no vapor pressure," Eckert noted. "They have applications where they are beneficial, and they have some unusual properties that we hope to use."

Eckert and Liotta are recipients of the 2004 Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards, which recognized their collaboration in developing benign tunable solvents that couple reaction and separation processes.

Green chemistry refers to the development of chemical processes and products that reduce or eliminate the use and generation of hazardous substances. Rather than focusing on the natural environment and pollutant chemicals in nature, this type of chemistry seeks to reduce and prevent pollution at its source.

"We're concerned with pollution prevention rather than treatment," said Jessop. "That's a much more economic way to approach the problem."

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Media Relations Contacts: John Toon, Georgia Tech (404-894-6986); E-mail: (john.toon@edi.gatech.edu); Fax: (404-894-4545) or Nancy Dorrance, Queen's University (613-533-2869); E-mail: (dorrance@post.queensu.ca) or Jane Sanders, Georgia Tech (404-894-2214); E-mail: (jane.sanders@edi.gatech.edu); Fax (404-894-4545).

Writer: John Toon

The GTPAC staff, specifically Jerry Shadinger, helped Bremen-Bowdon Manufacturing Co. win a U.S. government award to produce combat and military dress uniforms and outerwear. The multi-year, multi-million-dollar federal contract has helped keep the company in business, along with the 400 jobs it provides in a town of 1,840, said Elizabeth Plunkett-Buttimer, co-chair and co-CEO of the business started by her grandfather in the late 1940s.

"This kind of economic opportunity means a lot to a small town," said Plunkett-Buttimer, who also serves as chair and CEO of a family-owned sister company, Bowdon Manufacturing Co. "It's not numbers on a page, but people's lives."

Like most U.S. textile and apparel manufacturers, Bremen-Bowdon's domestic retail customer base has been completely lost to inexpensive imports. The one remaining market is the U.S. government, which by law must secure a portion of its purchases from domestic sources.

"Georgia Tech has helped us in the process of reinventing our business by giving us very important leads as to contracts, when they would become available and how to go about doing business with the government," Plunkett-Buttimer said.

She said GTPAC seminars on how to do business with the government have been particularly helpful for her companies' strategic future.

"They have been instrumental in our transition from serving retail clothiers to serving the U.S. government," she continued. "This transition was necessary for our survival and for maintaining these manufacturing jobs in the U.S."

GTPAC was formed in 1985 to provide assistance to Georgia companies interested in marketing services and products to the federal government. Today the program provides assistance at federal, state and local government levels all at no cost to the businesses.

"We provide firms with information, guidance and assistance on the procurement process," said Zack Osborne, program manager at GTPAC's Warner Robins office. "In addition to individual counseling, we conduct training exercises and seminars around the state about procurement rules and procedures, and how to find bidding opportunities."

Prior to joining Georgia Tech 13 years ago, Osborne spent 28 years in procurement for the Air Force. His wealth of real-world experience is typical of GTPAC counselors, many of whom are retired from careers in government procurement. The GTPAC staff boasts a combined 270 years of government contracting experience.

In addition to Warner Robins, GTPAC counselors are stationed at offices in Albany, Atlanta, Augusta, Columbus, Rockmart and Savannah.

The GTPAC program, supported by the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) and Georgia Tech's Office of Economic Development and Technology Ventures in Atlanta, is premised on a belief that government contracts sustain local economies by creating and saving jobs in Georgia. That conclusion is supported by the numbers: In 2004 alone, DLA estimates that 15,251 jobs were either saved or created in Georgia through the program, with nearly 2,000 of those jobs found in the manufacturing sector.

In addition, 267 of GTPAC's 1,490 clients received government contracts worth a total of nearly $650 million last year, Osborne said. With an annual operating cost of about $921,000, which GTPAC shares equally with DLA, those figures translate into a return-on-investment of an astonishing 1,407 to 1, according to Osborne.

Over the past 20 years, GTPAC has helped Georgia companies earn contracts worth a combined $2.4 billion, he noted.

The level and amount of counseling provided by GTPAC varies with the individual companies' needs. While some already have government experience and need limited help with specific areas of the process, Osborne said, the majority of GTPAC's 1,500 clients are new to the government-procurement market and are primarily interested in broadening their customer base.

GTPAC may work with a company for one year or more before it receives its first government contract, Osborne said, but under GTPAC's guidance along with a healthy dose of perseverance, many companies will eventually earn a contract of some kind.

"The hardest one to get is the first one," he continued. "Later contracts come easier because the company has experience under its belt. And as companies become more comfortable and successful with the process, they need us less and less."

The virtue of tenacity is exemplified by a Savannah, Ga.-based small business called Daniel Defense Inc. Owner and CEO Marty Daniel started the company in 1999 to specialize in the M-16 and M-4 weapons systems for military, law enforcement and civilian customers.

Two years ago, he learned there was a need for an improved aiming-support subsystem known as the Rail Interface System which would in turn fit a number of M-16 improvements sought by the Department of the Navy. Since the desired specifications were similar to some of Daniel's products, he was encouraged to bid for the work. After designing a product which met the required specifications, Daniel contacted the GTPAC office in Savannah, where Osborne and Larry Blige provided comments and input that led to the final proposal.

"When we originally bid on this project, the solicitation was quite an undertaking," recalled Daniel. "We needed some help with the technical portion to make sure we turned in what the government was used to seeing."

He added, "We were on a tight schedule to complete the proposal. Zack came down from Warner Robins and worked with us through the weekend when it was down to the wire. We got the bid turned in about 30 minutes before UPS closed, but we got it in on time."

After receiving notification of a pre-award survey to be conducted by the Defense Contract Management Agency, Daniel turned again to GTPAC. Counselors provided direct hands-on assistance by reviewing the pre-award item checklist onsite with Daniel and his subcontractors prior to the government review. GTPAC also participated in the actual pre-award survey at Daniel's request.

Earlier this year Daniel was notified that his company along with two others had been selected to share a $50 million contract and received purchase orders to produce a limited run of products for testing. The winner of the testing phase stands to receive the large production orders.

"Along with the contract were requirements for reports that had to be filed," he said. "Zack and Larry were also a huge help with those contract documents."

In addition, a quality assurance specialist from the Georgia Tech Savannah Regional Office, Don Pital, helped Daniel revise and simplify the company's ISO 9000 quality assurance plan while still meeting government standards.

GTPAC's assistance is not limited to military contractors, Osborne emphasized.

"A company may want to provide something for the U.S. Forest Service or the Department of State or some other department," he said. "As long as it's a governmental agency at some level, we'll help them find a niche where they might be able to broaden their business base."

Tony Richardson falls into that category. A commercial mortgage banker with 22 years of experience and a former assistant director of FDIC in Atlanta, Richardson founded a project management consulting firm, ARF Inc., 10 years ago.

Shortly after being established, AFR was certified as a small disadvantaged firm in the 8(a) program by the Small Business Administration (SBA). The SBA recommended that Richardson seek additional specialized technical assistance in developing a marketing strategy and proposal preparation methodology for government contraction.

"Larry Selman and Larry Fountain from GTPAC have been tremendous with me throughout my entire career, Richardson said. "They have taught me government contracting, government regulations, how to do business with the federal government - and they have helped me land three major contracts."

The most recent is a $12 million award from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to perform inspections for new multi-family construction projects in eight states, Richardson said.

Previous work, also for HUD, involved providing management and marketing services for single-family foreclosure properties.

"Those guys at Georgia Tech helped me prepare not only the technical proposals, but they also helped me prepare the pricing proposals," he said.

"You do most what you do best," Richardson added. "My expertise is housing, and with GTPAC's help, I've found my niche with the federal government."

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Atlanta, Georgia 30308 USA

Media Relations Contact: John Toon (404-894-6986); E-mail: (john.toon@edi.gatech.edu); Fax: (404-894-4545).

Technical Contact: Zack Osborne (478-953-1460); E-mail: (zack.osborne@edi.gatech.edu).

Writer: Gary Goettling

Federal regulation calls for companies engaged in certain industrial activities to obtain a storm water permit and implement a pollution prevention program. Although an important endeavor, this can also be an onerous task, especially for small and mid-sized companies with fewer resources.

To ease compliance headaches, Georgia Tech's Energy and Environmental Management Center (EEMC) has developed storm water pollution prevention plan (SWPPP) software that streamlines the planning process - reducing time and effort by as much as 80 percent.

Funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Water, this Web-based tool initially helps companies determine whether or not they even need a storm water permit. "If you don't have any pollutants exposed to storm water, you are exempt, but most manufacturers fall into one of the 11 categories that require a permit," says Ginny Key, an instructional designer at EEMC.

Available at either www.gatechstormwater.com or www.gatechenvironment.com, the SWPPP software walks companies through a series of questions about their facilities, such as whether they have outdoor fueling stations or loading docks. Then the tool guides companies through:

• Assembling a pollution prevention team.
• Identifying potential pollutants.
• Selecting appropriate best management practices (BMPs) to control pollutants.
• Recordkeeping and reporting.
• Employee training.
• Implementing and updating the plan.

Plans will vary tremendously depending on a company's internal expertise, the contour of its property, potential pollutants and nearby receiving waters.

Some pollution-prevention remedies may require structural modifications, such as installing mechanisms to equipment to prevent fuel spills. Yet many best practices are a simple matter of good housekeeping, point out Ed Hardison and Jim Walsh, EEMC project engineers who helped develop the SWPPP tool.

For example, wooden pallets used to store equipment or containers may have collected grease or hazardous materials. Preventing pollution in storm water runoff can be easily handled by covering the pallets or taking them inside. Another low-tech remedy: making sure that outside storage drums are covered and not corroded.

When the SWPPP tool presents a best practice, it includes various business factors, such as implementation and maintenance costs, level of difficulty and expertise required. The SWPPP tool also provides contact information about each state's permitting authority and if there are additional state requirements that must be met.

At the end of the program, the SWPPP tool produces a customized plan in a rich-text-format document that can be easily converted to any word-processing system. The program also saves all information and features a revision log, which enables companies to go back to the Web site and modify their plans as they make changes. For example, if they introduce new materials, those considered potential pollutants must be tracked.

One of EEMC's greatest challenges was incorporating complex government regulations into a user-friendly tool. "We wanted to make the process as easy as possible without watering down the information too much," explains Greg Rupert, a Web designer and software specialist at EEMC. "I think people will be surprised at how effortless the process is compared to the sophistication of their final plans."

User-friendliness is critical not only in creating a pollution prevention plan, but also implementing it. "If a regulator visits your facility and finds that you're not in compliance, you can be fined," Walsh says. "These fines typically range from $10,000 to $20,000, which may not sound monstrous, but can really hurt smaller companies."

Research News & Publications Office
Georgia Institute of Technology
75 Fifth Street, N.W., Suite 100
Atlanta, Georgia 30308 USA

Media Relations Contact: John Toon (404-894-6986); E-mail: (john.toon@edi.gatech.edu).

Technical Contacts: Ginny Key (404-894-6107); E-mail: (ginny.key@edi.gatech.edu); Jim Walsh (404-402-3263); E-mail: (jim.walsh@edi.gatech.edu) or Ed Hardison (229-430-4210); E-mail: (ed.hardison@edi.gatech.edu).

Writer: T.J. Becker

At the Georgia Institute of Technology, experts across campus responded with research, training and service projects. Among their goals are better infrastructure design, configuration of port operations to reduce down time, protection of cleanup and construction workers and accessibility to services and housing for hurricane victims with disabilities.

"During the coming months and years, there will be many opportunities for the talents of our unique community to help our fellow citizens in the impacted areas recover from this stunning disaster," says Georgia Tech President Wayne Clough.

Here we highlight some of the efforts already under way.

Structural Damage and Port Recovery Assessments

With a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF), Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering David Frost organized three teams of researchers, including graduate students, to conduct week-long field studies. They assessed infrastructure damage in the Gulf Coast region in September and October.

Frost and his colleagues have conducted numerous post-disaster reconnaissance studies following major natural and human-induced events, including earthquakes in Asia and California, the Indian Ocean tsunami and the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York City.

"These studies have yielded significant new insights into both the characteristics of the events as well as the performance of manmade infrastructure subjected to these catastrophic events," notes Frost, who is director of Georgia Tech's Savannah, Ga., campus.

One of the research teams - led by Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering Glenn Rix - is determining the link between physical damage from Hurricane Katrina and the operational capacity and recovery of Gulf Coast ports, including the Port of New Orleans. Meanwhile, researchers led by Frost are analyzing wind and storm surge damage data they collected from across the Gulf Coast region.

The studies may help define a zone that is potentially subject to certain types of damage. Then engineers could design structures within a certain distance of the shore to a higher standard than those farther inland, Frost explains. For example, in Savannah, one set of building codes applies to structures on the east side of Interstate 95 and another set to buildings on the west side of the highway.

The researchers collected information along the Gulf Coast, as they have done at other disaster sites in recent years, using integrated digital data collection systems Frost and his colleagues have developed. Included among these are data collection systems -- called P-Quake and P-Damage -- that run on a personal digital assistant (PDA) and incorporate data from handheld GPS devices, digital cameras and digital voice recorders. The systems allow researchers to collect data in a timely way to ensure its quality in an environment where it could potentially perish as cleanup begins, Frost notes.

A second team, led by Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering Hermann Fritz of Georgia Tech Savannah, was the first Georgia Tech research group to conduct reconnaissance in the Gulf Coast area in late September and early October.

"Most amazingly, hurricane-proof designed buildings did not suffer major wind damage, even in areas with peak hurricane winds," Fritz notes. "However, all buildings -- even massive structures such as hotels and office buildings, were washed out at the height of the storm surge."

Another team, led by Frost, gathered data along the path of Katrina from the coast northward. "We wanted to assess the overall infrastructure damage," Frost explains.

Frost's team also is making a detailed assessment of structural damage to high-rise buildings. They collected data and will analyze it face by face and floor by floor. "We are trying to determine, for example, why there might have been more damage at a lower level or why one hotel and not the one next to it was damaged," he explains.

The research team led by Rix is focusing on the Gulf Coast ports, including the Port of New Orleans. Collaborating with Rix are Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering Reggie DesRoches, Associate Professor of Public Policy Ann Bostrom and Assistant Professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering Alan Erera.

Rix and DesRoches made an initial visit to the Port of New Orleans in October, and the entire team plans to follow up with operations managers there several times next year to track the recovery process.

"We are looking at the Port of New Orleans and its response to this natural disaster from a systems-level perspective," Rix explains.

The team's efforts to understand the impact of Katrina and Rita on Gulf Coast ports is closely linked to a recently funded project on seismic risk mitigation at ports as part of the Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (NEES) program of NSF. In that project, a large group that includes researchers from Georgia Tech, nine other universities and consultants, are studying at methods to reduce the impact of earthquakes on ports. The five-year, $3.6 million project got under way this fall.

"Although the damage to Gulf Coast ports was caused by hurricanes rather than an earthquake, it still provides valuable information on the effects of natural hazards on port operations and will allow us to calibrate our models of how ports respond to significant disruptions," Rix notes.

In a related project done under the auspices of the American Society of Civil Engineers' (ASCE) Technical Committee on Lifelines and Earthquake Engineering, DesRoches and his collaborators spent several days gathering data on the damage that Hurricane Katrina inflicted on bridges and the transportation network in the Gulf Coast region.

The information they collect will be used in computer models for earthquake recovery prediction, DesRoches explains. In addition, the data may help improve infrastructure design and rehabilitation of existing infrastructure, he notes.

"We're trying to determine the impact of damage on the recovery process," DesRoches explains. "Our models will help us make projections about the impact of an earthquake -- in particular in Charleston, S.C., should another major earthquake, like the one in 1886, occur again."

This project is funded by the Mid-America Earthquake Center (MAEC), which is supported by NSF, and ASCE.

"This research is a rare learning event, an opportunity to see first hand the impact of such a natural disaster," DesRoches says. "We do a lot of simulation and experimental work in our lab. But you cannot learn this kind of information in a lab or simulation. You have to learn it in the field."

Health and Safety Training and Information

To help train workers involved in cleanup and rebuilding in the Gulf Coast and south Florida areas damaged by hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma, the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) awarded a one-year, $400,000 Susan Harwood Training Grant to the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) on Sept. 30.

GTRI researchers led by project director and senior research engineer Paul Schlumper developed and are providing training materials and conducting training sessions that address occupational and safety health hazards that may be encountered by disaster recovery workers, supervisors and employers.

"Work zone safety and fall protection for people who are working on roofs is OSHA's top priority for us," says Dan Ortiz, chief of the Occupational Safety and Health Division in GTRI's Health and Environmental Systems Laboratory. "…. Our concern is that in the zeal to remove debris and restore buildings, workers and employers will take shortcuts. We want to have resources out there to make sure workers have the proper protective equipment and knowledge of environmental hazards."

In a related GTRI effort, researchers are collaborating with colleagues at Louisiana State University (LSU) to provide information to residents and contractors in the region on the health and environmental hazards they may face as they clean up and renovate hurricane-damaged homes. Senior research scientist Bob Schmitter is leading the Georgia Tech portion of the project, which is funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency through its regional Technical Outreach Services to Communities (TOSC) programs operated by Georgia Tech and LSU (Regions 4 and 6, respectively).

Among the hazards homeowners face are asbestos, lead-based paint, mold and various hazardous materials, Schmitter notes. TOSC experts compiled written information and distributed it to residents in shelters and home improvement stores.

Waste Disposal and Recycling

In addition, at the request of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, GTRI researchers are evaluating the feasibility of using a GTRI-designed plasma furnace system to dispose of some of the tremendous volume of debris in the region.

"There's not enough landfill space available to handle this much waste, and open burning of it would pose such a huge environmental problem," says senior research scientist Ken Johnson.

GTRI's plasma pyrolysis gasification system uses plasma arc technology, which creates a form of "artificial lightning," using electricity to convert an ionized gas, such as air, into a plasma state. The extremely hot plasma temperature can gasify organic wastes into low-BTU fuel gases and melt inorganic wastes into an inert rock-like glassy residue.

To date, the furnace system has been used in the lab only. GTRI's laboratory model could be transported to the Gulf Region and handle 12 tons of waste a day. But the need exists for a mobile system that could handle 1,000 tons a day. Johnson has discussed construction of such a system with a company that could build it quickly.

Referrals for Hurricane Victims with Disabilities

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, FEMA and the American Red Cross listed in its victim hotline database a Georgia Tech-based center that promotes voluntary compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Hurricane victims with disabilities misunderstood the center's mission, though, and flooded it with calls about all kinds of relief and assistance.

The Southeast Disability and Business Technical Assistance Center (DBTAC) housed at the Center for Assistive Technology and Environmental Access in the Georgia Tech College of Architecture was inundated with over 2,200 calls in the month following Katrina over its toll free hotline (1-800-949-4232). So the Southeast DBTAC, funded since 1991 by the U.S. Department of Education's National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, became a referral center, says assistant project director Pamela Williamson.

People sought housing assistance, general financial assistance, food, information on how to get prescriptions filled, replacement of various assistive devices and medical equipment that were lost or damaged in the storm and answers to insurance questions. DBTAC staff even handled some calls from potentially suicidal hurricane victims.

Though DBTAC's grant does not cover any of these services, staff members compiled a resource list to use to refer callers to the correct organizations.

"We tried to be as customer-service oriented as possible," Williamson says. "We already had some of the referral agencies in our database, but we added many more to our list so we could help hurricane victims with disabilities."

In light of its response to Katrina, the Southeast DBTAC has revamped its work scope in Mississippi for the coming year to focus its efforts on providing ADA-related assistance to hurricane victims with disabilities. These efforts include ensuring that temporary housing is accessible, providing interpreters for people who are deaf so they can communicate with relief organizations and working with contractors to ensure that rebuilding is done in accordance with ADA Standards for Accessible Design.

Research News & Publications Office
Georgia Institute of Technology
75 Fifth Street, N.W., Suite 100
Atlanta, Georgia 30308 USA

Media Relations Contacts: Jane Sanders (404-894-2214); E-mail: (jane.sanders@edi.gatech.edu) or John Toon (404-894-6986); E-mail: (john.toon@edi.gatech.edu).

Technical Contacts:
1) David Frost at 912-966-7948 or david.frost@ce.gatech.edu
2) Glenn Rix at 404-894-2292 or glenn.rix@ce.gatech.edu
3) Hermann Fritz at 912-966-7947 or hermann.fritz@gtsav.gatech.edu
4) Reginald DesRoches at 404 385-0826 or reginald.desroches@ce.gatech.edu
5) Dan Ortiz at 404-894-8276 or daniel.ortiz@gtri.gatech.edu
6) Paul Schlumper at 404-385-1797 or paul.schlumper@gtri.gatech.edu
7) Ken Johnson at 404-894-8075 or ken.johnson@gtri.gatech.edu
8) Shelley Kaplan at 404-385-0636 or shelley.kaplan@coa.gatech.edu

Writer: Jane Sanders

Beyond fundamental physics interest, the work could provide a foundation for future research with potential implications for quantum information systems.

Bose-Einstein condensates are formed by cooling gas atoms to a fraction of a degree above absolute zero. At that temperature, the atoms all drop into the same quantum state. That makes them coherent, all possessing the same quantum wave function, a state comparable to that of photons in laser systems.

In a paper published in the November issue of the journal Nature Physics, researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology reported experimental evidence that this coherence also extends to the internal spin degrees of freedom in condensate atoms, which in this case had three different spin states, denoted by 1, 0 and -1.

"The question had been whether the coherence of Bose-Einstein condensates extended to what was going on in the internal states of the atoms," explained Michael Chapman, a professor in Georgia Tech's School of Physics. "The major message of our work is that it does. We have seen manifestation that this Bose-Einstein coherence extends to the spin degrees of freedom. This gives us a much richer system to study."

The research was sponsored by the National Science Foundation and NASA.

Coherence in condensate spin states had been predicted theoretically, and research teams - including Chapman's - had been seeking experimental confirmation. While the results have no immediate practical applications, they provide a foundation for future experiments that could ultimately have important real-world uses.

Chapman plans to use the experimental system to study how relatively small condensates - those containing between 10 and 100 atoms - interact in a quantum way. Researchers understand the quantum behavior of small numbers of atoms, while semi-classical physics explains how large atomic ensembles work. Chapman wants to learn about the behavior of atomic groups in between those two size extremes.

"We are really interested in this regime in which quantum yields to classical," he explained. "The interest is similar to that of nanotechnology because we're asking the same basic questions. It's fundamentally interesting because while we can write down the exact quantum solution for one or a few atoms and the semi-classical approximations for a large group of atoms, we can't specify what will happen for this in-between region."

Chapman also hopes the small-scale condensate systems will be useful to understanding the atomic analogue of quantum optics or quantum atom optics, where physicists are interested in the behavior of just a few atoms. In condensates containing a million atoms, adding or removing one atom doesn't make a difference. But in groups containing only a hundred or so atoms, theory suggests that adding or removing one atom would make a substantial difference to the properties of the condensate.

Chapman notes that internal spin degrees of freedom can exhibit quantum entanglement in a phenomenon known as "spin squeezing." Understanding that effect in Bose Einstein condensates could be useful to researchers studying quantum information systems and quantum computing.

"Quantum entanglement is the bread-and-butter of quantum information and quantum computing," he said. "From the first time that people realized you could make a condensate that has spin degrees of freedom, people knew that would be interesting because if it really behaves this way, we could use this entanglement to make systems that might have applications to quantum information."

Experimentally, Chapman's research team - which included Ming-Shien Chang and Qishu Qin along with theoretical collaborators Wenxian Zhang and Li You - began with hundreds of millions of atoms of rubidium gas in a magneto-optical atomic trap that was overlapped with an optical trap. From this large number, they loaded a smaller group of atoms into the optical trap.

By applying magnetic fields to condensates created in the optical trap, they created condensates in different spin states and chose rubidium atoms with a -1 spin state to begin the experiment. Into that group, they injected microwave energy, which caused some of the atoms to transition from their original state to a spin 0 state. They then observed as atoms in the condensate collided with one another.

Some - but not all - collisions produced a change in state among the atoms. For instance, when two spin -1 atoms collide, their spin orientations remain unchanged because angular momentum must be conserved. However, when two spin 0 atoms collide, the result can be one spin -1 and one spin +1 atom. Over time, these collisions created quantities of the third spin state (+1) that did not exist in at the start of the experiment.

"We created a spin state that didn't exist in the original form," Chapman said. "That spin state was created by the other spin states that were coherently interactive in the condensate."

The researchers periodically turned off the atomic trap and applied a magnetic field gradient that pulled apart the different spin states, allowing measurement of the number of atoms at each spin state. With that information, the researchers charted spin-state population fluctuations through as many as a dozen oscillations.

The dynamics the researchers observed are analogous to Josephson oscillations in weakly connected superconductors and represent a type of matter-wave four-wave mixing. Beyond the evidence of coherent interaction between the atoms, the research demonstrated the ability to control the evolution of the rubidium system by magnetically applying differential phase shifts to the spin states, Chapman noted.

Research News & Publications Office
Georgia Institute of Technology
75 Fifth Street, N.W., Suite 100
Atlanta, Georgia 30308 USA

Media Relations Contacts: John Toon (404-894-6986); E-mail: (john.toon@edi.gatech.edu) or Jane Sanders (404-894-2214); E-mail: (jane.sanders@edi.gatech.edu).

Technical Contact: Michael Chapman (404-894-5233); E-mail: (michael.chapman@physics.gatech.edu)

Writer: John Toon

The Technology Acceleration for National Security (TANS) Network includes seven founding incubators from Alabama, Colorado, Georgia, Maryland, New York, Texas and Virginia. Additional applications are being processed and the Network is expected to reach 10 states by early 2006.

"We are proud to be chosen to participate in this network of elite incubators around the country," said Tony Antoniades, general manager of the ATDC. "This effort will make it much easier for our companies with homeland security technologies to get in front of the right audiences. The use of their innovative technologies will ultimately lead to a safer America."

Selected for their superior services and capabilities, these incubators represent 106 resident small businesses. The incubators will work with these and future member companies to meet the emerging technology needs of major government organizations and corporations. The TANS Network will create a channel into the security marketplace, providing advanced technologies to improve national security while helping the incubator members advance their local economic development goals.

Companies represented by the Network provide solutions such as compliance-driven vulnerability scanning for networks, high-beam X-ray scanning for containers, nanotechnologies, multimedia search, wireless antenna technology, transliteration data mining to match terrorist names, IT user authentication, data visualization, massive data storage/transfer, and a treatment for anthrax.

The Network will provide a powerful method for major corporations and government agencies to identify and nurture innovative security technologies, including those being developed outside the Washington, DC-area. TANS organizer the Chesapeake Innovation Center (CIC) already works with partners such as Northrop Grumman, BearingPoint, ARINC and the National Security Agency (NSA). The new network will expand these efforts while adding additional security technology customers located near each member incubator.

"We believe entrepreneurship is a key national asset for enhancing the security of our nation. The TANS Network will help entrepreneurs across America address critical technology challenges faced by the Department of Homeland Security, Department of Defense, intelligence community, state/local government, and major corporations," said John Elstner, CEO of the CIC.

Business incubators and accelerators provide support services - often including consulting and office space -- to accelerate the success of small businesses. TANS Network members will provide proprietary services to help their residents succeed in the often complex world of government contracting and security technology. Services will include market intelligence, focused networking, and teaming on contracts.

Founding Members of the TANS Network include:

The Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC)
The Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC) is a nationally recognized science and technology incubator that helps Georgia entrepreneurs launch and build successful companies. ATDC provides strategic business advice and connects its member companies to the people and resources they need to succeed. Part of the Georgia Institute of Technology, the ATDC serves 36 early-stage technology companies in Atlanta, Columbus, Savannah and Warner Robins.
Tony Antoniades, General Manager
http://www.atdc.org

Chesapeake Innovation Center (CIC)
America's first business accelerator for the homeland and national security sectors, the CIC harnesses the power of entrepreneurship to enhance our nation's technological edge. A public-private partnership initiated by the Anne Arundel Economic Development Corporation, the CIC is a driving component of Maryland's emerging "Informatics Corridor." CIC partners include Northrop Grumman, BearingPoint, Next Century Corp. and the National Security Agency. Among the Center's sponsors are DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary US LLP, ARINC, M&T Bank, Kelly FedSecure, and Whiteford Taylor and Preston. The Center's 19 resident member companies offer a range of security and informatics technologies and services.
John Elstner, CEO
www.cic-tech.org

Colorado Springs Technology Incubator (CSTI)
Opened in March 2001, the Colorado Springs Technology Incubator serves to foster the development and success of high-growth companies in the greater Colorado Springs area. The mission of the organization is to provide resources to entrepreneurs, allowing them to successfully grow their companies into major employers in the area. These companies will contribute high-wage jobs, an outlet for local intellectual capital and contributions to the local economy.
Gary Markle, President
http://www.cstionline.org

Harrisonburg Innovation Center (HIC)
The Harrisonburg Innovation Center (HIC) is the first technology innovation center in the City of Harrisonburg's newly created Harrisonburg Downtown Technology Zone (HDTZ). Located two hours from Washington, D.C. and ideal for federal contractor relocation, the HIC is a "self-networking" environment that integrates intellectual capital with technology to develop health and security solutions for corporate and national well-being. The HIC provides client-members unprecedented support through their highly developed philosophy and model that networks client-members, provides contracting and research vehicles, helps grow client-members through business assistance seminars and workshops and provides a "world class" and secure technology infrastructure. (facility opens January '07)
Jim Barnes, Executive Director
http://www2.ci.harrisonburg.va.us/index.php?id=211 and www.hdtz.org

Northeast Alabama Entrepreneurial System (NEAES)
The Northeast Alabama Entrepreneurial System (NEAES) is an economic development program designed to assist new and emerging businesses by providing a series of business incubation services which accelerate the growth of companies and provide for long-term stability. NEAES is working to develop new business opportunities centered around technology clusters developing in the East Alabama region. As a founding partner of the Center for Collaborative Research & Training CCRT), NEAES, along with its private and public partners, is leading in the development of an initiative that will focus on training and education for corporate and public executives to optimize their decision making capabilities in dealing with emergency situations. CCRT will also focus on the development of simulation programs leading to more effective emergency planning exercises and clearer decision making by mid to upper level management.
Giles McDaniel, Executive Director
http://www.neaes.org

Texas Research & Technology Foundation (TRTF)
The Texas Research and Technology Foundation (TRTF) is a non-profit scientific research and education organization focused on leveraging the life science and technology-based assets in San Antonio and South Texas to provide medical and technological benefits and economic development opportunities in the South Texas Region, State of Texas, and the Nation. The TRTF network includes universities, colleges, industry representatives, military medical and intelligence professionals, technology commercialization and venture capital experts to provide a systematic process to create commercial enterprise around cutting-edge technologies, and nurture the enterprise through business development to maturity.
York Duncan, President
http://www.trpf.com

Watervliet Innovation Center (WIC)
The Watervliet Innovation Center (WIC) is a state-of-the-art business incubation program focused on accelerating the growth of emerging homeland defense and security technology companies. A new, focused program of the Center for Economic Growth, the WIC is located in a modern facility at the Watervliet Arsenal, home to the US Army's manufacturing center for large caliber cannon, 10 established private sector technology companies and defense contractors, and Benet Laboratories, a $120 million government research laboratory with world-class capabilities in materials, composites, and coatings. The Watervliet Innovation Center supports existing and start-up technology companies developing advanced materials, nanotechnology, and information technology for cutting edge homeland defense and security applications.
Simon Balint, Director
www.watervlietinnovation.org

ATDC News & Information
Georgia Institute of Technology
75 Fifth Street, N.W., Suite 100
Atlanta, Georgia 30308 USA

Media Relations Contact: John Toon (404-894-6986); E-mail: (john.toon@edi.gatech.edu).

The 2005 Georgia Manufacturing Survey shows that companies basing their competitive strategies on the development of innovative products or processes enjoy higher returns on sales, pay better wages and have less to fear from outsourcing than do manufacturers relying on other competitive strategies.

Georgia manufacturers that rely on innovation for their competitive edge reported returns on sales 50 percent higher than companies that compete by providing low cost products - a gap that grew substantially since the last survey in 2002. Innovative companies paid workers a third more than the average Georgia manufacturer and were 40 percent less likely to lose work to outsourcing than were companies competing on low cost.

The survey of Georgia manufacturers, part of a periodic study begun more than a decade ago, was conducted by the Office of Economic Development and Technology Ventures and the School of Public Policy at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

"Innovation, whether in products or processes, or in organization or services to customers, is one of the main paths through which manufacturers can become more distinctive, secure market premiums, satisfy customers, expand sales, reward workers and improve their bottom line," explained Phil Shapira, a professor in Georgia Tech's School of Public Policy and a study co-author. "Companies that do not continuously innovate will find themselves under increasing pressure from low-cost producers in the United States and globally."

Offering innovative products gives companies a competitive edge that provides protection against outsourcing and allows them to charge a premium - which creates higher margins and allows higher wages, notes Jan Youtie, a researcher in Georgia Tech's Office of Economic Development and Technology Ventures and another study co-author.

"If a company competes on the basis of innovation, that usually means only a few other companies are offering similar products," she said.

After launching its iPod music player, for example, Apple Computer was able to charge a premium - and still commands a majority of the market. And Google has maintained a competitive edge by continuing to offer new products that build on its market-leading search engine, Youtie noted.

But innovation isn't limited to products and processes. Companies can also compete using innovative marketing strategies and organizational approaches, she said. Aflac's talking duck, for instance, provided a marketing innovation that helped the company stand out in the crowded health insurance market.

"The benefits to innovation are pretty much across the board for companies in quality of goods, variety of goods, market share, increased capacity, reduced time for product delivery, improved production flexibility - and reduced inputs of materials, labor and energy," she noted.

But there are barriers to innovation that involve costs, capabilities and risks that may keep some companies away.

"It's not just a matter of money," Youtie said. "There are also issues with having qualified personnel to undertake the innovation, seeing the need in the marketplace, and overcoming a concern that innovative products cannot penetrate markets dominated by established companies."

The relatively low priority placed on innovation doesn't bode well for the state's manufacturing community.

"Without more innovation in Georgia, manufacturers abroad will steadily out-compete us by having better products and more efficient processes," Shapira warned. "This is a particular concern for Georgia's base of small and mid-sized companies. While we have many excellent small firms in the state, we lack the large base of innovative, specialized and flexible small manufacturers seen in some other advanced industrial economies."

Fewer than 8 percent of companies responding to the survey chose to compete on innovation. However, a much larger percentage applied innovation to products and processes that were part of other strategies. The survey found that nearly half of Georgia manufacturers had introduced a new or significantly improved product between 2002 and 2004. Branch facilities of companies headquartered outside the state had the highest rate of new product introduction.

Those new products can quickly become important. The average manufacturer introducing new-to-the-market products reported that those products accounted for nearly 20 percent of sales. Nearly 12 percent of innovators reported that their new products accounted for 50 percent or more of sales.

While innovation has traditionally been considered the business of large high-tech companies, Youtie noted that firms of all sizes - and in all technologies - can benefit. Traditional industries such as food processors can innovate in product packaging and marketing, while apparel and carpet firms might apply new finishes - perhaps based on nanotechnology - to differentiate their products.

Though small companies may lack the innovation resources and networks of larger competitors, they can often make decisions and implement changes more quickly, Youtie noted.

The study found that returns on sales ranged from more than 6 percent for companies competing on innovation to less than 4 percent for companies competing on low cost. The breakdown of competitive strategies chosen included:

• Providing high quality products and services (53 percent);

• Offering the lowest price (20 percent);

• Adapting products to customer needs (14 percent);

• Providing quick delivery of products or services (12 percent);

• Including value-added services with products (10 percent);

• Developing product innovations and new technology (8 percent).

The percentage of companies competing on the basis of low cost declined from 27 in 2002 to 20 percent in 2004. Youtie and Shapira speculate that's because many companies using that strategy have simply gone out of business.

"Low price will bring in more sales for a while, but it's hard to keep that up," Youtie noted. "You have to compete with companies in countries with even lower cost structures."

For decision-makers, the study's implications are clear. "Firms, industry associations, universities and state and local policymakers all need to be involved in new efforts to stimulate many more of our small, mid-sized and larger industrial enterprises to invest in the innovative strategies that will help them not only to survive, but also to grow," Shapira said.

Other findings of the 2005 Georgia Manufacturing Survey included:

• 18 percent of Georgia manufacturers lost work to international outsourcing between 2002 and 2004. "Outsourcing is a real concern now, and I expect it will continue to affect Georgia manufacturers," Shapira said. "Some of the firms that took part in our 2004 survey will not be in businesses in the state, or will have fewer employees, when we repeat our survey in 2007."

• About 12 percent of manufacturers gained "insourcing" work from facilities elsewhere in the United States. While that shows Georgia continues to be competitive within the nation, it raises concern if that competitiveness stems only from low wages, Shapira cautioned.

• 48 percent of manufacturers identified concerns with human resources, up significantly from the 2002 study. While earlier surveys found concern about availability of skilled workers, more than a quarter of the 2005 respondents had problems finding workers with basic skills - up from just 11 percent in 2002. Despite the concern, however, 20 percent of the respondents made no investment in worker training.

• Nearly 40 percent of manufacturers reported lean manufacturing concerns, an increase from 2002 statistics.

• Nearly one in five companies reported concerns about energy costs and conservation - even prior to the recent storm-related energy cost increases.

The survey was sent to approximately 4,000 Georgia manufacturers that had 10 or more employees. Completed surveys from 648 manufacturers were weighted to reflect employment and industry distributions.

The Georgia Manufacturing Survey is conducted periodically to assess the condition of Georgia's manufacturing industry. In addition to the authors already named, Georgia Tech School of Public Policy graduate students John Slanina, Jue Wang and Jingjang Zhang provided research assistance in the 2005 study.

The project was supported by the U.S. Department of Commerce's NIST Manufacturing Extension Partnership, the U.S. Economic Development Administration, the Center for Paper and Business and Industry Studies at Georgia Tech, the Georgia Department of Labor, and the QuickStart Program of the Georgia Department of Technical and Adult Education.

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Media Relations Contact: John Toon (404-894-6986); E-mail: (john.toon@edi.gatech.edu)

Technical Contacts: Jan Youtie (404-894-6111); E-mail: (jan.youtie@edi.gatech.edu) or Phil Shapira (404-894-7735); E-mail: (ps25@prism.gatech.edu)

Writer: John Toon

Boron carbide is the Defense Department's material of choice for body armor. It is the third hardest material on earth, yet it's extremely lightweight. But it has an Achilles heel that piqued the interest of Georgia Tech Professor of Materials Science and Engineering Robert Speyer five years ago.

He knew that the boron carbide powder used to form the armor had a reputation for poor performance during sintering -- a high-temperature process in which particles consolidate, without melting, to eliminate pores between them in the solid state. Poor sintering yields a more porous material that fractures more easily - not a good thing for a soldier depending on it to stop a bullet.

Determined to understand the sintering problem, Speyer built an instrument called a differential dilatometer to measure the expansion and contraction of materials during sintering heat treatments to temperatures as high as 4,300 degrees Fahrenheit.

"As a particle compact sinters, it shrinks 12 to 15 percent," Speyer explained. "There are nuances that occur in contraction, and if you monitor them accurately (with a dilatometer), it tells you what is happening at different stages in the sintering process. So we used that information in conjunction with additional materials characterization techniques to figure out the reasons why boron carbide didn't sinter well, and then found ways around them."

From these findings, Speyer and his research team have created a new boron carbide formation process based on methodical control of thermal and atmospheric conditions during sintering. The method yields higher relative densities - and thus better ballistic performance - than currently available boron carbide armor. (Relative density is a percentage that indicates how close a material is to its theoretical density, which implies having no pores.)

The research has been reported in the Journal of Materials Research.

The current commercial process, called hot pressing, squeezes boron carbide powders together between large dies, while heating to elevated temperatures. It yields armor materials with a 98.1 percent relative density.

Speyer's pressureless sintering method yields a 98.4 percent relative density and hardness greater than hot pressing. But it can be done faster and at a lower cost than hot pressing. For the most demanding applications, post-sintering hot isostatic pressing (HIP) is used. It increases the relative density of the part to 100 percent through the hydrostatic squeezing action of a high-temperature, high-pressure gas.

"Our material made using HIP is remarkably harder than the current ceramic armor used in the Iraq and Afghanistan theaters," Speyer said. "Plus, because we're not using uni-axial hot pressing, we can make complicated, curved shapes for use in form-fitting body armor and other applications. Hot pressing allows for some curvature so long as the parts can stack together, but there's no chance of making parts like a single-piece helmet."

To make such products, Speyer has formed a company called Verco Materials under the advisory support of Georgia Tech's VentureLab, which helps faculty members commercialize their research. Ceramics expert Beth Judson is the company's general manager, and Jon Goldman is the VentureLab commercialization catalyst helping Verco get started. A Georgia Tech patent on Speyer's sintering process for boron carbide is pending, and when granted, Verco will have access to an exclusive license, Judson said.

The company has received two technology commercialization grants - totaling $100,000 -- from the Georgia Research Alliance to fabricate prototypes for potential military and industrial customers. The Georgia Tech Rapid Prototyping and Manufacturing Institute assisted with fabrication of model armor shapes. Also, VentureLab continues to analyze the company's potential markets.

Beyond body armor, potential military applications include aircraft/rotorcraft protective components. Civilian markets include industries "that can exploit the phenomenal abrasion resistance of theoretically dense boron carbide," Speyer said.

Products manufactured by these industries include bearings, blast nozzles, cutting and mining tools, and pump and turbine shafts. The military market is growing rapidly with more than a half billion dollars worth of ceramic armor orders pending in this fiscal year, Goldman noted. That market is expected to double by 2009, according to a recent report in the publication Ceramic Industry. Bearings are a $27 million market with 5.7 percent annual growth expected through 2007.

Military applications - body armor, in particular - would be Verco's first target market, and its potential is promising, Speyer noted. The U.S. Army Soldier Systems Center in Natick, Mass., has conducted ballistic testing on a small boron carbide disk provided by Verco. Detailed results are classified, but the Army says they are encouraging. With a $75,000 grant from the center, Verco will produce 6- by 6-inch plates for more comprehensive military ballistic testing within the next few months.

Early next year, the Army Research Laboratory (ARL) at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland will be examining boron carbide materials (including complex shapes) they purchased from Verco. ARL is interested in Verco's potential ability to form complex shapes cost effectively.

Meanwhile, Verco expects to make thigh and shin plate prototypes in early 2006 for a Johnstown, Penn., company called Concurrent Technologies Corporation (CTC). The plates will be evaluated for use in CTC's Ballistic Gauntlet, a new lower-body armor product for use in military and commercial vehicles in war zones to protect against the pervasive threat of improvised explosive devices. It was the idea of CTC engineer Scott Burk, who recently served in the Persian Gulf for 21 months.

The company's current design calls for the Ballistic Gauntlet's thigh and shin plates to be made from titanium, but its cost has risen recently, and it's hard to form and heavier than boron carbide, Judson and Goldman said.

In one other effort, Verco and the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) are collaborating. GTRI has developed a composite armor "blast bucket" for the ULTRA AP, a concept vehicle designed to illustrate potential technology options for improving survivability and mobility in future military combat vehicles. Verco and GTRI hope to modify the "blast bucket" by replacing heavier ceramic spheres with lightweight boron carbide spheres in the composite structure to make it attractive for use in new helicopters, as well as in retrofitting current rotorcraft, Judson said.

If Verco gets initial defense-related contracts from the customers it is courting, the company would need a tremendous productive capacity - enough to make thousands of parts a week, Judson and Goldman said. Plans call for a highly automated manufacturing facility in Georgia that would initially hire a significant number of engineering and manufacturing employees.

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Media Relations Contact: John Toon (404-894-6986); E-mail: (john.toon@edi.gatech.edu); Fax (404-894-4545).

Writer: Jane Sanders

However, a solution is in sight, and two recent demonstrations at educational technology conferences in Missoula, Mont., whet the appetite of educators and information specialists who want to use it to level the playing field for students. Atop a remote mountain near Missoula, engineers at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) awed conference attendees with the video streaming, Web surfing and email capabilities of new wireless technology standards called 802.16 or WiMax (an acronym for Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access).

WiMax is a set of standards for delivering point-to-point, as well as point-to-multi-point wireless broadband connectivity. Point-to-point transmission is a direct transmission from a tower to a central-office-type location up to 30 miles away. At the central office location, point-to-multi-point connectivity extends up to five miles from the central office.

"WiMax is important because it's potentially the most cost-effective approach for broadband data service in rural areas," says Jeff Evans, a GTRI senior research engineer who led the demo team. In rural areas, the cost to lay fiber for wired broadband service is about $200,000 or more per mile, an investment that communications companies typically don't want to make because they cannot recoup their money within several years.

"But with WiMax, an Internet service provider that wants to reach a small community up to 30 miles away can set up a wireless link for thousands of dollars rather than hundreds of thousands," Evans notes. "You can quickly provide a long-haul link of 70 megabits per second and then deploy a local WiMax radio to provide up to several megabits per second to each home in the area -- giving you DSL speeds at a reasonable cost."

Such access may soon be available in Georgia and elsewhere. WiMax-capable equipment for fixed-location connections is expected to be readily available on the market by the end of this year. Meanwhile, a new mobile WiMax standard, or 802.16e, is expected in late 2006 with compatible equipment available in 2007.

Around the nation, wireless technology companies and researchers have been demonstrating the capabilities of the new standards. The Georgia Department of Education's Mike Hall, deputy superintendent of information technology, involved GTRI researchers in the Montana demo through GTRI's Foundations for the Future (F3) technology assistance program for K-12 Georgia schools. Intel sponsored the conferences and invited Evans and his colleagues to design and implement the network demos.

"The people who saw the demo were amazed," says Terry Smithson, Intel's K-12 marketing manager. "They had to ride horses for two and a half hours to get to the top of the mountain. Then we presented a live videoconference with GTRI researchers, and later let the participants surf the Internet, see streaming video and check email on laptops."

Hall hailed the success of the demo in overcoming the speed, performance, distance and security issues that hamper current wireless technology. Though WiMax won't necessarily be a solution inside the walls of Georgia schools - many of which are already hard-wired for broadband Internet access - the technology could make it possible for students to learn in all kinds of places. He hopes Georgia can lead the nation in implementing this goal.

"We envision access for all students from bus stops, playgrounds, parks and, more importantly, all homes," Hall says. "If I live in a small, south Georgia community right now, high-speed access is a major problem. Technology is a great equalizer. With equipment and access, the world can come into any home."

GTRI, GDOE, Intel and TSI, an Atlanta-based technology integration company, are making plans for continued interaction to bring WiMax technology to Georgia's students and others. TSI owner John David Pickering says: "Now we have a good consortium of industry like Intel, business people like myself and researchers at GTRI that will allow companies and educators to see and use the latest, greatest technology. It will take all of us to deliver it."

Research News & Publications Office
Georgia Institute of Technology
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Media Relations Contacts: Kirk Englehardt (404-385-0280); E-mail: (kirk.englehardt@gtri.gatech.edu) or Jane Sanders (404-894-2214); E-mail: (jane.sanders@edi.gatech.edu) or John Toon (404-894-6986); E-mail: (john.toon@edi.gatech.edu).

Technical Contacts: Jeff Evans at 404-894-8245 or (jeff.evans@gtri.gatech.edu); Mike Hall at 404-657-0810 or (mhall@doe.k12.ga.us); Terry Smithson at 916-356-0416 or (terry.smithson@intel.com) or John David Pickering at 404-886-5339 or (pick@tsillc.us).

Writer: Jane Sanders

In one of three papers published the journal's December 8 issue, a group of physicists from the Georgia Institute of Technology led by Professors Alex Kuzmich and Brian Kennedy describe the storage and retrieval of single photons transmitted between remote quantum memories composed of rubidium atoms. The work represents a significant step toward quantum communication and computation networks that would store and process information using both photons and atoms.

But the researchers caution that even with their rudimentary network operation, practical applications for quantum networking remain a long way off.

"The controlled transfer of single quanta between remote quantum memories is an important step toward distributed quantum networks," said Alex Kuzmich, the Cullen-Peck Assistant Professor in Georgia Tech's School of Physics. "But this is still a building block. It will take a lot of steps and several more years for this to happen in a practical way."

Slightly more than a year ago in a paper published in the journal Science, Kuzmich and collaborator Dzmitry Matsukevich described transferring atomic state information from two different clouds of rubidium atoms onto a single photon. That work was the first time that quantum information had been transferred from matter to light.

In the new paper in Nature, Kuzmich, Kennedy and collaborators Thierry Chaneliere, Dzmitry Matsukevich, Stewart Jenkins, Shau-Yu Lan carry the earlier operation one step farther by storing and retrieving single photons from clouds of ultra-cold rubidium atoms - demonstrating the storage of light-based information in matter.

From an applications perspective, the storage and retrieval of a qubit state in an atomic quantum memory node is an important step towards a "quantum repeater." Such a device would be necessary for transmitting quantum information long distances through optical fibers.

Existing telecommunications networks use classical light to transmit information through optical fibers. To carry information long distances, such signals must be periodically boosted by repeater stations that cannot be used for quantum networking.

The Georgia Tech researchers began their experiment by exciting a cloud of rubidium atoms stored in a magneto-optical trap at temperatures approaching absolute zero. The excitation can generate a photon - but only infrequently, perhaps once every five seconds. Because it is in resonance with the atoms from which it was created, the photon carries specific quantum information about the excitation state of the atoms.

The photon was sent down approximately 100 meters of optical fiber to a second very cold cloud of trapped rubidium atoms. The researchers controlled the velocity of the photon in the second cloud by an intense control laser beam. Once the photon was inside the cloud, the control beam was switched off, allowing the photon to come to a halt inside the dense ensemble of atoms.

"The information from the photon is stored in the state of excitation of many atoms of the second ensemble," explained Jenkins, a graduate student who specializes in quantum optics theory. "Each atom in the ensemble is slightly flipped, so the atomic ensemble is sharing this information - which is really information about spin."

After allowing the photon to be stored in the atomic cloud for time periods that exceeded 10 microseconds, the control beam was turned back on, allowing the photon to re-emerge from the atomic cloud. The researchers then compared the quantum information carried on the photon to verify that it matched the information carried into the cloud.

"When the single photon is generated, the first atomic ensemble is in an excited state," explained Chaneliere, a postdoctoral fellow in the Kuzmich lab. "When we read the information from the second ensemble and find a coincidence between its excitation and the excitation of the first ensemble, we have demonstrated storage of the photon."

To confirm the single photon character of the storage, the researchers used anti-correlation measurements involving three single photon detectors.

Storage of the photon for even a brief period of time within the atomic ensemble depends on careful control of potentially-interfering magnetic fields. And it works only because the rubidium atoms are so cold that their motion is limited.

"Quantum information is very fragile," said Chaneliere. "If you have a magnetic field, the atoms spin out of phase, and you can lose the information. For the moment, that is certainly a limitation on the use of this for quantum networking."

For the future, the team hopes to add additional nodes to their rudimentary quantum network and encode useful information onto their photons.

They must also increase the probability of creating single photons from the first atomic cloud. While gathering data, the researchers excited the first cloud of atoms approximately 200 times a second. A single photon was created about once every five seconds, reported Matsukevich, a graduate student in the Kuzmich lab.

Highlighting the speed at which progress is being made toward quantum networking, Kuzmich, Kennedy and their team have more recently demonstrated entanglement between two atomic qubits separated by a distance of 5.5 meters. The work is described in a paper submitted to the journal Physical Review Letters.

"This entanglement would be important to a number of applications, including quantum cryptography," said Kuzmich. "We have generated entanglement of atomic qubits. We also showed that we can take this entanglement and map it from atoms to photons."

Research by Kuzmich, Kennedy and their colleagues has been supported by NASA, the Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Program, National Science Foundation, Research Corporation, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and Cullen-Peck Chair.

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Media Relations Contact: John Toon (404-894-6986); E-mail: (john.toon@edi.gatech.edu).

Technical Contacts: Alex Kuzmich (404-385-4507); E-mail: (alex.kuzmich@physics.gatech.edu) or Brian Kennedy (404-894-5221) ; (brian.kennedy@physics.gatech.edu).

Writer: John Toon

The Air Force contract brings total funding for VAST to $920,000, including other contracts from the Air Force and the Army. The flow-control-technology company, a member of Georgia Tech's VentureLab for the past two years, is the 10th company to be formed and win financing while in VentureLab.

"VAST is commercializing technologies coming out of Prof. Ari Glezer's flow-control work at School of Mechanical Engineering," said Tom Crittenden, VAST's vice president of research and development and a part-time member of the research faculty in mechanical engineering. "We believe these technologies are going to have several important real-world applications."

Among those potential uses are:

• Allowing military and civilian aircraft to fly without wing flaps, thereby greatly decreasing weight and making planes more efficient, maneuverable and reliable;

• Enabling helicopters to fly faster and more efficiently by using flow control techniques to lessen fuselage drag;

• Steering military munitions in flight, making such projectiles more accurate and efficient;

• Altering air flow over tractor-trailer trucks, thereby saving 10 to 15 percent in fuel consumption at highway speeds;

• Regulating the speed of wind turbines, thus protecting them from the disrupting effects of wind variations.

"VAST is working on technologies that could have a revolutionary effect on future aviation, among other things," said Stephen Fleming, Georgia Tech's chief commercialization officer. "The fact that they've gotten major phase-two Air Force funding is very satisfying for Commercialization Services - it's a big part of what we do here."

Flow-control technology involves the use of tiny jets embedded in a smooth surface such as an airplane wing or a projectile. The jets are of two types: those that use an electronically driven piezoceramic element to blow out minute puffs of air, and those that use "combustion actuators" - small explosive charges - to create tiny but powerful jets that can reach supersonic speeds.

Crittenden explained that combustion-actuator technology is best suited to objects that move faster than Mach 0.25, or about 190 miles per hour, such as aircraft wings and munitions. Piezoceramic element technology is better suited to objects moving at speeds below that point.

Crittenden believes the first application of VAST technology could involve flap-less flight control in full-scale unmanned aerial combat vehicles such as the experimental Boeing UCAV. He envisions applying such flight-control technology to other military aircraft eventually and even to passenger planes someday.

"Ultimately, we'd like to become a permanent partner with a large airframe company once the technology is developed enough," he said. "We've done a couple of projects with Boeing. ... Hopefully we'll be able to show them that this is something they should be looking at for their next generation of planes and UAVs."

VAST originally received a Phase 1 Small Business Technology Transfer contract of about $100,000 from the Air Force for proof-of-concept work. The current second-phase contract of $750,000 is to be spent over two years. VAST also previously received a Phase I Small Business Innovation Research contract from the U.S. Army for $70,000.

"VentureLab helped VAST by giving us access to business knowledge and expertise which we lacked," Crittenden said. "VentureLab helped us assess the markets where the technology could be useful and expand in directions we hadn't previously considered."

Georgia Tech's Commercialization Services, a division of the Office of Economic Development and Technology Ventures, helps identify Georgia Tech discoveries with potential commercial value. When it finds a promising technology, Commercialization Services either helps negotiate technology-licensing agreements with existing companies, or its VentureLab unit assists fledgling companies through the critical feasibility and first-funding phases.

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Media Relations Contacts: Rick Robinson (404-385-2562); E-mail: (rick.robinson@edi.gatech.edu) or John Toon (404-894-6986); E-mail (john.toon@edi.gatech.edu).

Writer: Rick Robinson

Their research is focused on silicon-germanium (SiGe) integrated circuit technology, which can provide cost savings, compact size and improved efficiency in the same way that advances in silicon technology have made consumer electronics smaller and less expensive.

This research is supported by the U.S. Department of Defense and is known as the "Silicon-Germanium Transmit-Receive Module Project." A joint effort between the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) and faculty within the Georgia Electronic Design Center (GEDC) at Georgia Tech, its objective is to develop silicon-germanium technology for next-generation phased-array radar systems.

"The GTRI folks have a strong background in radar systems, while we have the silicon-germanium (Si-Ge) device and circuit expertise," said John D. Cressler, Byers professor in Georgia Tech's School of Electrical and Computer Engineering and a GEDC researcher. "We've teamed up to work on a new approach that literally has the capability to revolutionize the way radar systems are built, and this new GTRI-GEDC synergy is very exciting."

Phased-array radar systems under development by the Department of Defense, such as the Theater High-Altitude Area Defense Radar, are large, bulky and consume huge amounts of energy to power thousands of modules and thousands of gallium arsenide chips to electronically direct the radar beams.

"We're trying to put all the functionality of those complex modules onto a single chip, essentially reaching for the same level of functional integration in radar systems that has been going on in consumer electronics for the past decade," explained co-principal investigator Mark Mitchell, a GTRI senior research engineer.

Silicon-germanium chips may hold the answer, according to researchers, because of their capacity to hold an extraordinary number of very high-speed circuits on a single chip. In addition, silicon-germanium is a less expensive material than the compound semiconductors such as gallium arsenide or indium phosphide that have long been used in radar systems.

"In SiGe, you take a conventional silicon integrated circuit and use nanotechnology techniques to introduce germanium inside the silicon on an atomic scale," explained Cressler.

These nanoscale silicon-germanium layers can double or even triple chip performance, according to Cressler. The procedure is "completely compatible with conventional silicon chip manufacturing, so there's no cost penalty for the improved performance," he noted.

The main benefit, adds Mitchell, is cost. Phased-array radar systems, as presently constituted, are quite expensive. More affordable systems could also open up new applications for communications, aircraft weather radar and mobile uses such as collision-avoidance radar devices for automobiles, he notes.

Silicon-germanium is not without drawbacks for radar systems, however.

"The biggest limitation for the radar application is the amount of power that you can generate," said Mitchell. Silicon-germanium amplifiers can only produce about one watt of radio frequency (RF) power, versus 10 watts from a typical gallium arsenide device.

"While that's not adequate for some applications, it could be perfect for radar," said Mitchell, citing a GTRI study conducted for the Missile Defense Agency several years ago.

"They told us to ignore current technology and focus on the system parameters to determine how much power per element we'd want to get," he explained. "Our conclusion was roughly one watt per element. So the fact that silicon-germanium has the potential of delivering that makes it a perfect match for this particular application."

Even in cases where the lower power-handling capability of silicon-germanium might necessitate a design change, such as adding more antenna elements to generate the same output, "we're potentially saving so much money that we can make tradeoffs in the design that get around those limitations," he added. "If our elements are two or three orders of magnitude cheaper, and we only need twice as many, we still come out way ahead in terms of cost."

Another consideration that may be more of a design challenge than a drawback is that SiGe-based radar's lower per-element power equates to a larger antenna for greater sensitivity - perhaps tens of meters in size, depending on the application.

GTRI researchers such as senior research engineer Tracy Wallace are exploring ways to make these larger systems "tactically transportable." The work is being supported by the U.S. Missile Defense Agency.

"They can be much thinner and they can be folded up onto themselves," Wallace explained. "We have sketches, models and drawings of how that can be done."

Depending on the radar's destination, or if the fabrication cost of folding the radar is too high, the antenna and its supporting systems may simply be fashioned in a manner that facilitates final assembly on site, says Wallace, noting that some types of radar are already constructed that way.

Designers are also investigating ways to measure and compensate for deformities caused by the effect of gravity on a large aperture. One aspect of that is knowing the exact locations of all radiating elements to within a fraction of a wavelength, according to Wallace. One approach favored by Wallace and his team involves photogrammetry, which provides information about physical objects by interpreting patterns of electromagnetic radiant energy and multiple digital photographs taken from different locations.

Another consideration arising from larger antenna arrays is the increased amount of data they collect, "so more computer resources are needed," Wallace said. "But as technology advances, that comes pretty cheap."

In another major government contract, GEDC researchers are developing silicon-germanium technology for electronic systems for NASA to use in lunar and Martian exploration, and interplanetary space probes.

Besides the advantages of low cost, high integration capability and high speed, SiGe chips are ideally suited for space because of the material's natural radiation hardness, a key concern for all space electronics, Cressler says.

Of particular interest to NASA is that silicon-germanium circuits also perform well in space's cryogenic temperatures - close to absolute zero, according to Cressler. Most electronic components do not work well in a very cool environment such as space. At present, spacecraft, probes and planetary rovers must be fitted with electronic "warm boxes," which add significant bulk, weight and cost to missions.

"If you want your electronics to operate in the shadows of craters on the lunar landscape, for example, you're talking about an extremely frigid environment - minus 230 degrees Celsius or 43 Kelvins above absolute zero," Cressler noted. "Silicon-germanium electronics can operate at temperatures approaching absolute zero, and thus are ideally suited for such applications. It would be a huge advantage from a space-mission perspective to be able to simply let your electronics operate at those cold temperatures, and thus NASA is very interested in our SiGe research."

The first silicon-germanium transistors were demonstrated in the late 1980s, but only in the past five years or so has the field attracted widespread attention from the private sector, Cressler says.

With more than 20 scientists and graduate students involved in silicon-germanium research, Cressler's GEDC group is the largest university team in the world devoted to device and circuit research in SiGe.

"Anybody involved in high-speed communications circuits cares about SiGe," he said. "This new technology is an enabler for rethinking the way business-as-usual is done across a wide array of electronics applications, and that makes it really exciting to work on - and of course it is very nice that Georgia Tech is leading the way."

Research News & Publications Office
Georgia Institute of Technology
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Media Relations Contacts: John Toon (404-894-6986); E-mail: (john.toon@edi.gatech.edu) or Kirk Englehardt, Georgia Tech Research Institute (404-385-0280); (kirk.englehardt@gtri.gatech.edu) or Rick Robinson, Georgia Electronic Design Center (404-385-2562); (rick.robinson@edi.gatech.edu).

Technical Contacts: John Cressler (404-894-5161); E-mail: (john.cressler@ece.gatech.edu) or Mark Mitchell (770-528-7158); E-mail: (mark.mitchell@gtri.gatech.edu) or Tracy Wallace (770-528-7570); E-mail: (tracy.wallace@gtri.gatech.edu).

Writer: Gary Goettling

Some of these natural compounds showed the potential to kill cancer cells, bacteria and the HIV virus, according to research at the Georgia Institute of Technology. In fact, two of them exhibit anti-bacterial activity towards antibiotic-resistant Staphylococcus aureus at concentrations worth pursuing, though researchers don't know yet whether the concentrations of the compounds required to kill the bacterium would be harmful to humans.

The compound that was isolated in the greatest abundance -- named bromophycolide A by the researchers -- killed human tumor cells by inducing programmed cell death (called apoptosis), a mechanism that is promising for development of new anti-cancer drugs, researchers noted.

The findings on three of these compounds - called diterpene-benzoate natural products -- are reported in the Oct. 12 online issue of the American Chemical Society journal Organic Letters. Information on the other compounds will be published later.

The research, which is part of an environmental conservation, economic development and drug discovery project in Fiji, was primarily funded by the Fogarty International Center at the National Institutes of Health. Georgia Tech Professor of Biology Mark Hay leads the project, which also aims to benefit the Fijian government and villages, which own their local natural resources and will benefit monetarily if these natural resources become marketable drugs.

"We're only at the test-tube level so far," explained Julia Kubanek, a Georgia Tech assistant professor of biology, chemistry and biochemistry, who is the lead author on the paper. "The next step is to discover how these compounds work and then to study them in a more complex model system."

The U.S. pharmaceutical company Bristol Myers Squibb is collaborating with Georgia Tech researchers to determine how some of these 10 compounds kill cancer cells. Meanwhile, Georgia Tech has filed a provisional patent to protect the discovery of these structures and small variations of them.

"These molecular structures are curious in the way carbon atoms are attached," Kubanek said. "It's very unusual. They represent a new category of organic molecules. It's exciting as a biochemist to observe that living organisms have evolved the ability to synthesize such unique and exotic structures compared to other molecules typically produced by seaweeds."

The source of these new molecular structures is a red seaweed (Callophycus serratus) collected from four Fijian sites. Among the sites, researchers found variations in the molecular structures produced by the species.

"There are chemical differences among populations of this seaweed species, even though two of the sites where it was collected are only about 2 kilometers apart," Kubanek noted. "… This shows us there are small, but valuable differences within species, and this genetic biodiversity is important to protect as a resource for the future."

Researchers have been analyzing extracts from about 200 marine plant and invertebrate animal samples they collected from the Fijian coral reef in June 2004 with the permission of the Fijian government and local resource owners.

"Marine organisms make molecules for their own purposes that we might co-opt for our own use as pharmaceutical agents," Kubanek explained. "The organisms' purposes include defense against predators, the ability to fight diseases, and the production of chemical cues, such as those used for sex recognition."

Hay, Kubanek, and their colleagues collected baseball-sized samples of reef species that exhibit unusual growth and/or behavioral phenomena. Among their collection were soft corals, marine sponges, slugs, and green, red and brown seaweeds.

In the lab, researchers extracted these organisms using mixtures of organic liquids, which opened up the cells and dissolved the natural products. The organic liquids were then removed from the extract by evaporation, and small quantities of each extract were tested against a battery of pharmaceutical drug targets, including malarial parasite, tuberculosis-causing bacteria, and several cancers.

Typically, these tests involve exposing live, disease-causing cells -- parasites, bacteria or cancer cells -- to an extract and then assessing cell death compared to cells that were not exposed to extracts. Georgia Tech scientists then prioritized further study of extracts that had strong effects on these disease-causing cells.

The Callophycus red seaweed was one of the first five species that researchers investigated to identify the compounds within extracts that caused strong effects against disease-causing cells. Anne Prusak, a former Georgia Tech student and research technician, separated the new molecules from other components of the extract by a process called chromatography, which takes advantage of the different chemical characteristics of compounds.

Finally, researchers used X-ray crystallography (work done at Emory University in Atlanta), nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and mass spectral analyses to determine how carbon, oxygen, bromine and hydrogen atoms connected to make up the molecular structures of the 10 new natural products.

Much research is left to do before any of these compounds are used to formulate a drug available on the market, Kubanek said. It typically takes at least a decade from the discovery of a compound to the marketing of a new drug. If that does happen in this case, Fijian villagers and the Fijian government would benefit financially from the discovery because of an agreement that is already in place, she added.

Because of the long timeframe in getting a drug to market, the project in Fiji provides other immediate conservation and economic development benefits to villagers and the government.

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Georgia Institute of Technology
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Atlanta, Georgia 30308 USA

Media Relations Contacts: Jane Sanders (404-894-2214); E-mail: (jane.sanders@edi.gatech.edu) or John Toon (404-894-6986); E-mail: (john.toon@edi.gatech.edu).

Technical Contacts: Mark Hay (404-894-8429); E-mail: (mark.hay@biology.gatech.edu) or Julia Kubanek (404-894-8424); E-mail: (julia.kubanek@biology.gatech.edu).

Writer: Jane Sanders

GTRI's Accessibility Evaluation Facility assesses a variety of products based on the requirements outlined in Section 508 of the federal Rehabilitation Act. Beyond evaluation, however, the researchers can recommend improvements to the products based on the concept of universal design.

"When we test products for accessibility, we conduct user testing and perform a checklist evaluation of the product based on technical standards for accessible design and sound human-factors design principles," explained GTRI senior research scientist Brad Fain, who leads research in the facility. (Human factors design and engineering focuses on the interface between humans and machines.)

Research participants, recruited from the local disability community, perform a series of tasks with the products being tested. Researchers monitor participants' performance on these tasks. The results of this user testing and the checklist evaluation provide researchers with objective data about product accessibility.

"We can collect human performance data and provide it, along with our checklist evaluation results and design recommendations, to designers who can make changes in products to make them more accessible to people with disabilities, as well as everyone else," Fain said.

That concept is called universal design, and it makes a product accessible to as many different types of users as possible. "It is user-centered design," Fain explained. "The user is at the center instead of the technology."

One example of universal design is a cell phone created for the hard of hearing; it would also be useful to people talking on their phones in noisy environments. Another is a cell phone designed for the blind; it could be useful to people in situations where their visual attention is somewhere else, such as a person driving a car.

Universal design concepts, as well as federal standards, guide Fain and his colleagues as they evaluate products. They have examined items such as photocopiers, ATMs, cell phones, televisions, printers and scanners for customers, including Ricoh, Pitney-Bowes, the National Council on Disability, the Arthritis Foundation and the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR), a division of the U.S. Department of Education.

"The biggest problem we see is that designers often fail to consider that someone with a disability might use their product," Fain said. Traditionally, industrial designers have not designed products with such users in mind, but that is changing because of Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, which requires that federal agencies purchasing electronic and information technology equipment consider accessibility in their purchasing decisions, he adds.

To assist designers and government officials with Section 508 compliance, researchers at GTRI and Georgia Tech's Center for Assistive Technology and Environmental Access (CATEA) created the Accessibility Assistant, an online evaluation tool available at accessibility.gtri.gatech.edu/assistant. The work was done under a NIDRR grant to CATEA to provide technical assistance under the umbrella of Georgia Tech's Information Technology Technical Assistance and Training Center.

The Accessibility Assistant includes a comprehensive database of more than 400 accessibility guidelines that direct rigorous accessibility testing for various types of products. From this database, researchers customize a relevant checklist of guidelines for each product type.

Since new Section 508 standards became effective in 2001, more companies are producing equipment that they intend to be accessible to people with disabilities, Fain notes. GTRI researchers can provide objective evaluations - as well as suggestions for improvement -- of these products for companies that seek that review.

Fain and his colleagues also conduct evaluations for the Arthritis Foundation to determine a product's ease of use for arthritis patients, who have upper and lower mobility issues, including difficulty grasping and lifting, as well as reduced sensation. GTRI is the sole independent laboratory authorized to test products for the Arthritis Foundation Ease of Use program. If a product passes testing and its manufacturer chooses to participate in the program, the company can use the Arthritis Foundation logo in its advertisements.

Researchers evaluate products based on an arthritis-specific set of accessibility guidelines, as well as user testing by people with the disease. Products evaluated to date include a garden sprayer, household cleaning tools, coffee packaging, self-injection and home medical care monitoring kits, gloves, pill bottles, juice containers, golf clubs and even beds.

Mary Simpkins, 60, suffers with arthritis and wants to help others cope with the disease. She is a frequent product tester for GTRI's work for the Arthritis Foundation. Among the products she's tested were several different types of bottle tops.

"Usually, it's the shape of the bottle top that we're testing," she explained. "In one case, one shape was identical to another, but one of the two tops was easier to open because the plastic it was made of had a little different, softer feel to it. It was very astute of the company to experiment with different materials."

The details that researchers get from testers like Simpkins help GTRI do more than just evaluate products. "Anybody can evaluate a product," Fain said. "But we focus on collecting objective data and working directly with the designers of these products on how to improve them. We explain in detail how to solve the product accessibility problems that affect people with arthritis."

James Johnson, who lost substantial function in all four limbs due to a diving accident, also offers his perspective on technology accessibility as an evaluator of office machines and electronics being tested at GTRI.

"It was an opportunity to provide my input," explained Johnson, a sales and marketing manager in the outpatient pharmacy at Atlanta's Shepherd Center, a rehabilitation hospital. "I've come across some obstacles and had some ideas for solutions. So this was an opportunity to offer my ideas. I don't know if the designers followed through with my suggestions, but I've got a voice in the process."

Research News & Publications Office
Georgia Institute of Technology
75 Fifth Street, N.W., Suite 100
Atlanta, Georgia 30308 USA

Media Relations Assistance: John Toon (404-894-6986); E-mail: (john.toon@edi.gatech.edu) or Kirk Englehardt (404-385-0280); E-mail: (kirk.englehardt@gtri.gatech.edu).

Technical Contact: Brad Fain (404-894-7261); E-mail: (brad.fain@gtri.gatech.edu).

Writer: Jane Sanders

The GEDC-SEM-ETRI team presented a full proposal to the IEEE 802.22 Standards Committee, which met in Vancouver, British Columbia, during the second week of November.

IEEE 802.22, the new communication standard for wireless regional area networks (WRAN), uses cognitive radio as its main enabling technology. Cognitive radio is a wireless technology that optimizes increasingly crowded spectrum resources by finding and utilizing unoccupied frequencies.

GEDC and SEM contributed the spectrum sensing segment of the team's proposal, which was presented by Kyutae Lim, GEDC's associate director of technology and a research engineer in Georgia Tech's School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Spectrum sensing technology, considered by many to be the most critical component of cognitive radio technology, uses minimal power to enable rapid analysis of bandwidth usage conditions in a given area.

This technology, developed by GEDC and SEM engineers, is the first research result from Samsung RFIC Design Center at Georgia Tech, established in August 2005.

"As an academic research organization, we're very pleased to be contributing to the new IEEE 802.22 standards," said Joy Laskar, director of Georgia Electronic Design Center and a professor with Georgia Tech's School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. "We believe our work with Samsung and ETRI will aid in forging a useful new communications standard."

SEM's vice president, Haksun Kim, said, "Samsung Electro-Mechanics Company is gratified to be working with the Georgia Electronic Design Center on the new IEEE 802.22 communication standard. We believe that cognitive radio will lead to important future business opportunities for our company."

ETRI contributed the overall framework of the proposed system, which is based on Orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) technology. The framework concept consists of medium access control (MAC) and physical (PHY) layers.

"ETRI is pleased to have made a significant contribution to the IEEE 802.22 standard proposal, teamed with Samsung and Georgia Tech," said Chang-Joo Kim, director of ETRI's Radio Technology Department. "The work being done by our team and others will accelerate the development of cognitive radio technologies that will enable dynamic spectrum resource management."

About GEDC: The Georgia Electronic Design Center (GEDC) supports world-class research, active and solution-oriented industry collaboration, intellectual property generation and revenue generating commercialization efforts. Supported both by industry partners and federal laboratories, GEDC's research is broadly focused on fostering technology at the intersection of today's communications applications: wireless/RF, wired/copper and fiber channels. For more information, see (www.gedcenter.org).

About SEM: Samsung Electro-Mechanics was established in 1973 as a manufacturer of key electronic components, and the company has grown into one of the industry leaders, thanks to cutting-edge technology and top product quality. SEM pioneered the technological framework for A/V components and materials, multi-layer circuit boards, and mobile communication and optical components. In the late 1990s, operations expanded into the production of digital products with applied high-frequency, software, engineering and design technologies. For more information, see (www.sem.samsung.co.kr).

About ETRI: ETRI, established in 1976, is a non-profit research organization supported by the Korean government. It has developed information technologies such as TDX-Exchange, high density semiconductor microchips, Mini-Super Computer (TiCOM), CDMA mobile telecommunication system, WiBro (Wireless Broadband), and terrestrial DMB. For more information, see (http://www.etri.re.kr)

Research News & Publications Office
Georgia Institute of Technology
75 Fifth Street, N.W., Suite 100
Atlanta, Georgia 30308

Media Relations Contacts: Rick Robinson (404-385-2562); E-mail: (rick.robinson@edi.gatech.edu) or John Toon (404-894-6986); E-mail: (john.toon@edi.gatech.edu).

Technical Contact: Kyutae Lim, Georgia Electronic Design Center (404-385-6008); (ktlim@ece.gatech.edu).

Writer: Rick Robinson

This is the fourth and the single largest Susan Harwood Training Grant awarded to the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) in the past three years.

The grant is funding GTRI researchers to develop and provide training materials and conduct training sessions addressing occupational and safety health hazards that may be encountered by disaster recovery workers, supervisors and employers.

The training - expected to begin by mid-November -- will target those providing skilled support services (e.g., utility, demolition, debris removal and heavy equipment operation), site clean-up services, and recovery activities, including the rebuilding and reconstruction of the damaged areas.

"We'll be going out there with mobile training units, coordinating our locations with OSHA and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)," said Dan Ortiz, chief of the Occupational Safety and Health Division in GTRI's Health and Environmental Systems Laboratory. "Our approach in the disaster areas will have to be different than what we've done before. For example, electricity may not be available in some areas, so we'll do demos and distribute one-page technical guides instead of giving PowerPoint presentations."

Ten GTRI employees - including Art Wickman and Thomas Dean, who conducted training for workers cleaning up after the World Trade Center attack -- will form teams that rotate in and out of the disaster areas for the next six months. Senior research engineer Paul Schlumper will direct the project.

First, they will provide training in Mississippi, which is part of GTRI's territory for the OSHA-sponsored work and disaster site training it has done since 1978. Then teams will move into Louisiana and Texas and coordinate with their counterparts there, Ortiz explained.

"Work zone safety and fall protection for people who are working on roofs is OSHA's top priority for us," Ortiz noted. "…. Our concern is that in the zeal to remove debris and restore buildings, workers and employers will take shortcuts. We want to have resources out there to make sure workers have the proper protective equipment and knowledge of environmental hazards."

Topics that GTRI training will cover include: electrical and electrocution hazards, hand and power tool safety, biological hazards, chemical and respiratory hazards, confined space hazards, heat stress, ergonomic considerations, and hazardous materials and waste.

GTRI experts hope to reach thousands of workers, some of whom will have language and literacy barriers, Ortiz said. Thus, they will provide training and written materials in Spanish and use symbols and other graphics to explain concepts.

"We suspect that a high percentage of the workers will be people whose only language is Spanish," Ortiz added. "So we will have the assistance of a Spanish-speaking consultant. We'll adapt our materials as we need to do to meet the needs of these workers."

Research News & Publications Office
Georgia Institute of Technology
75 Fifth Street, N.W., Suite 100
Atlanta, Georgia 30308 USA

Media Relations Contacts: Jane Sanders (404-894-2214); E-mail: (jane.sanders@edi.gatech.edu); Kirk Englehardt (404-385-0280); E-mail: (kirk.englehardt@gtri.gatech.edu); or John Toon (404-894-6986); E-mail: john.toon@edi.gatech.edu)

Technical Contacts: Paul Schlumper (404-385-1797); E-mail: (paul.schlumper@gtri.gatech.edu) or Dan Ortiz (404-894-8276); E-mail: (daniel.ortiz@gtri.gatech.edu)

Writer: Jane Sanders

Using the results from more than 150 different experiments in which temperature and pressure conditions were systematically varied, nanotechnology researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology created a "road map" to guide future nanomanufacturing using the vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) technique.

The results, reported this month in the journal Advanced Materials (Vol. 17, pp.1-6), join earlier Georgia Tech work that similarly mapped production conditions for nanostructures made from zinc oxide - an increasingly important nanotechnology material. Together, the two studies provide a foundation for large-scale, controlled synthesis of nanostructures that could play important roles in future sensors, displays and other nanoelectronic devices.

The research was supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the NASA Vehicle Systems Program, the Department of Defense Research and Engineering (DDR&E) and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

"For the future of nanomanufacturing, we needed a systematic map to show the best conditions for producing these structures reproducibly with high yield," explained Zhong Lin Wang, director of Georgia Tech's Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology. "This information will be necessary for scaling up the production of these interesting structures for the applications that will be developed."

In work that required more than a year to complete, Wang and collaborator Christopher Ma collected information on more than 45 separate combinations of growth conditions governing the production of cadmium selenide nanostructures. In their experimental set-up, powdered cadmium selenide was heated to hundred of degrees Celsius in a simple horizontal tube furnace under the flow of nitrogen gas, using gold as a catalyst.

The technique produced three different types of nanostructures:

• "Nanosaws/nanocombs," unusual structures that form with "teeth" on one side and a smooth surface on the other;

• "Nanobelts," which are ribbon-like structures, and

• "Nanowires" that resemble grass and grow vertically from the substrate.

The researchers varied the temperature at the cadmium selenide source, the temperature of the silicon substrate where the structures grew, and the gas pressure inside the furnace. They repeated each experimental condition three times, each time determining where the structures grew on the substrate and counting the number of nanosaws/nanocombs, nanobelts and nanowires in samples that were examined with electron microscopy.

"These three different structures are all produced using the same general experimental conditions, but somehow you get different percentages of each," Wang said. "Our goal was to determine how to control the conditions to learn how to get close to 100 percent yield of each structure. This required a systematic study of the experimental conditions."

Each experiment required approximately two days to produce the structures and analyze the samples.

Based on their experimental work, Wang and Ma mapped the optimal conditions for producing each of the three structures - and learned more about the fabrication process. For instance, they found that growth of the nanostructures is primarily controlled by the nitrogen gas pressure inside the chamber and the temperature of the substrate where the structures are deposited. They also learned where each type of structure was likely to be deposited on the substrate under each set of conditions.

Cadmium selenide nanosaws and nanocombs are the most finicky to grow. At the other end of the scale, nanowires can be produced from cadmium selenide at a broad range of temperature and pressure conditions. Specifically, the researchers reported:

• Lower temperatures at the source material (630 degrees C), higher pressures (600 millibars) and substrate temperatures of approximately 575 degrees C produce the highest percentage of nanosaws and nanocombs.

• Lower temperatures at the source material (700 degrees C), lower chamber pressures (4 millibars) and substrate temperatures of approximately 575 degrees C produce the highest percentage of nanobelts.

• Growth of nanowires can be carried out at a broad range of temperatures and pressures, with higher source temperatures favoring the growth of nanowires over nanosaws.

"If other groups want to produce these structures, they can use our plots to determine the pressures that will be required, the temperatures and the locations within the chamber where they will grow," Wang said. "Until now, researchers have had to determine these parameters by trial and error."

Cadmium selenide has been studied for applications in optoelectronics, luminescent materials, lasing materials and biomedical imaging. It is perhaps best known as the basis for quantum dots that have applications in biomedical imaging.

Zinc oxide is a semiconducting, piezoelectric and optical material with potential applications in sensors, resonators and other nanoelectronic structures. The systematic study of growth parameters for these structures involved more than 100 experiments and was published in the Journal of Physical Chemistry (B, Vol. 109 (2005) 9869-9872).

"Now that we have determined the optimal requirements for growth, it should be straightforward to scale up the production of these structures," Wang concluded. "We have a lot of ideas for potential applications."

Research News & Publications Office
Georgia Institute of Technology
75 Fifth Street, N.W., Suite 100
Atlanta, Georgia 30308 USA

Media Relations Contacts: John Toon (404-894-6986); E-mail (john.toon@edi.gatech.edu) or Jane Sanders (404-894-2214); E-mail: (jane.sanders@edi.gatech.edu).

Technical Contact: Zhong Lin Wang (404-894-8008); E-mail: (zhong.wang@mse.gatech.edu).

Writer: John Toon

The work represents a key step toward a new generation of optical communication systems that would be as much as 100 times faster than current technology, bringing closer such applications as real-time telemedicine and movies on demand. While operating their terahertz modulator, the research team observed an effect that is well known in atomic physics - but until now hadn't been seen in the semiconductor materials that make up optical modulators.

"This is just one piece, but potentially a very important piece, of a very high bit-rate optical communication system for telecommunications and other applications," said David Citrin, an associate professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. "The point of the experiment was to show that we can operate a modulator at terahertz frequencies, though we are still a long way from a practical device."

Supported by the National Science Foundation, the research was reported in the October 28, 2005 issue of the journal Science.

Existing telecommunication systems depend on modulators to encode data onto beams of light that then can be carried long distances by optical fibers. Modulators work by rapidly changing their reflectivity, which varies the intensity of light beams passing through them. These variations correspond to the ones and zeroes that are the language of digital communication.

Modulators are also used as switches to reroute data streams by alternately reflecting light or allowing it to pass.

But most current modulators have a drawback - they cannot operate faster than the electronic circuitry used to control them. To boost data speeds, researchers have been seeking alternative control technologies.

"Conventional optical modulators use a voltage change to alter the properties of a material which changes the reflectivity," Citrin explained. "Electrically switched systems are just too slow to go much beyond where we are now. But by using very high frequency electromagnetic energy to modulate the signal, the hope is that we can generate signals that have much higher data rates than what we can achieve with today's electrical circuits."

To gain those higher rates, Citrin and colleagues at the University of California, Santa Barbara and the NASA Ames Research Center used very high-frequency waves from a free-electron laser to control the modulator. These electromagnetic waves consist of an oscillating electric field and have the advantage of being able to move through free space without the need for circuitry.

"In principal, you can modulate light much more quickly than you can switch electrical current," said Citrin, a theoretician who has been working as part of the team for more than a decade. "Instead of connecting the modulator to an electrical circuit, we placed it into the beam of the free-electron laser, a unique research facility at the University of California Santa Barbara."

Because terahertz oscillation is difficult to measure directly with existing technology, the researchers used indirect means to verify the modulation speed.

Before this approach can lead to faster communication systems, the modulation must be optimized - and the remainder of the system advanced to terahertz speeds.

For example, researchers will have to develop inexpensive and convenient sources of the electromagnetic energy they use for switching. Another challenge will be to optimize the bit depth - the difference in light intensity that represents ones and zeros. And to minimize energy requirements, they must reduce the amount of power required to operate such a system. Finally, the other components of a communications system will also have to advance to terahertz operation

The research team, which included S.G. Carter, V. Birkedal, C.S. Wang, L.A. Coldren, A. V. Maslov and Mark Sherwin in addition to Citrin - also wants to understand the science of the modulation system.

"There is a lot of interesting science going on into how the modulation works," Citrin said. "We want to understand the issues that influence the ultimate limits of the modulation rate. If we can really understand the physics, we should be able to understand the limits not only of the modulate rates, but also the modulation depth and what are the weakest fields we might be able to use."

As part of the "signature" of terahertz operation, the researchers observed an effect known as the Autler-Townes Splitting. The effect is well-known in atomic physics, but the Science paper was the first report of it in the semiconductor quantum wells which are part of the modulator.

The splitting occurs when the devices are driven to operate at high frequencies, and its signature is a "double-peak" in the reflectivity of the quantum wells.

"This is an interesting physical effect that can change the optical properties of the medium from reflective to transparent," Citrin explained. "That may have its own interest for many other applications as well."

Research News & Publications Office
Georgia Institute of Technology
75 Fifth Street, N.W., Suite 100
Atlanta, Georgia 30308 USA

Media Relations Contact: John Toon (404-894-6986); E-mail: (john.toon@edi.gatech.edu)

Technical Contact: David Citrin (david.citrin@ece.gatech.edu)

Writer: John Toon

That two of the four students shown in the photo are now full-time GTRI researchers says a lot about Bennett's leadership, mentoring skills and connections to Georgia Tech academic departments.

Director of GTRI's Logistics and Maintenance Applied Research Center (LandMARC) and a professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Bennett recently became the first director of the Institute's new Electro-Optical Systems Laboratory (EOSL). An electrical engineer by training, she brings to the job an appreciation for GTRI's existing customers and a vision for developing new research areas where the lab can apply its expertise.

"EOSL has core research technologies that have high potential for growth," said Bennett. "We are going to continue to be the research resource for our existing customers in areas such as optical sensing and systems design, and for our future customers in such areas as medical imaging and optical communication. We'll continue to grow our work with the Department of Defense, and we'll have new customers at the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation and industry."

Though the lab's focus on electro-optical systems may seem narrow, the field includes a broad range of disciplines and a set of applications that continues to grow.

Traditionally a physics-based discipline, electro-optics now includes electrical engineering and chemistry - and such high-visibility applications as nanotechnology and solid-state lighting. Within EOSL, research areas include remote sensing; modeling and analysis; integrated sensing systems that include optical, RF and acoustic sensors; optical device technology; LIDAR system design and measurement; microelectronics; nanotechnology; solid state lighting; performance support systems; sensor data collection and analysis - and even education through the Department of Defense SENSIAC program.

New research areas, including optical communication and medical imaging, will build on the expertise developed for Department of Defense programs over the years.

"We've got significant programs in multi-spectral imaging and hyper-spectral imaging, and we've got some of the leading experts in modeling atmospheric turbulence and electro-optical systems," Bennett noted. "Medical imaging can involve optical systems for looking into the human body where there is a lot of scattering of the signal. Our expertise in atmospheric scattering and modeling can be applied to this kind of imaging."

Already, there are projects in such areas as bruise detection and locating blood vessels. There are collaborations with Grady Memorial Hospital, and proposals for research with Emory University, Piedmont Hospital and the American Heart Association.

Bennett, who holds a Ph.D. from Georgia Tech, is a professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. She teaches courses there in optics and design while supervising Ph.D. students. That's been helpful for her publishing, research collaboration, and recruiting graduate students who become GTRI engineers.

"That reach-back to the academic side is very important because students learn about applications and real problems from us, while we are recruiting our future engineers," she said. "Just about everybody in my former group was a student of mine at one time or another."

Beyond choosing the best Georgia Tech graduates, the academic collaboration also brings new ideas and new energy to her research. She currently has projects with eight of Georgia Tech's academic schools.

"The collaboration with the academic side is very important, and probably half of my current work has collaborative components with the academic side," Bennett noted. "Both sides can benefit from the different skill sets and the different interests in the types of problems we like to work on. It has worked out well for us."

As director for EOSL, she'd like to bring Georgia Tech's optics groups closer together so that the outside world will see a single unified research team. That collaborative approach also applies to GTRI labs, where she'd like to explore more joint projects.

"Collectively, we are stronger together than we are as individual labs," Bennett said. "We need to be one GTRI in all we do."

Beyond teaching, her leadership was recently recognized by Georgia Tech Provost Jean-Lou Chameau, who included her in the first group of ten fellows in the new Georgia Tech Academic Leadership Program.

In 2000, Bennett founded LandMARC as a multidisciplinary center which now has more than $12 million in direct research. The center focuses on condition based maintenance; RF and optical tagging, tracking and visibility, and performance support technology. The work led to two national awards for the Electronic Performance Support System and RFID utilization.

She is a member of the IEEE, Optical Society of America (OSA), SPIE International Society for Optical Engineering and International Society for Logistics (SOLE). On campus, Bennett has provided leadership for numerous organizations and activities, serving as acting chair of the Institute Promotion Review Committee, chair of the Conflict of Interest Policy Review, chair of the Faculty Status and Grievance Committee, chair of the Intellectual Property Committee and vice chair of the Executive Board.

Before moving to Georgia Tech, she studied or held positions at the University of Central Florida, the University of California at San Diego, and the University of Colorado at Boulder. She believes that experience gives her a different perspective on how organizations can work.

Beyond work, she enjoys flying, traveling around the world, motorcycle riding and collecting fountain pens - with a concern about writing as a "lost art."

GTRI Director Stephen Cross praised Bennett's vision for EOSL.

"The vision she has communicated has created real excitement in that lab," he said. "Gisele is well known in the campus community and has been involved in leadership positions both on campus and at the national level. We expect great things from EOSL."

Research News & Publications Office
Georgia Institute of Technology
75 Fifth Street, N.W., Suite 100
Atlanta, Georgia 30308 USA

Media Relations Contacts: John Toon (404-894-6986); E-mail: (john.toon@edi.gatech.edu) or Kirk Englehardt (404-385-0280); E-mail: (kirk.englehardt@gtri.gatech.edu) or Jane Sanders (404-894-2214); E-mail: (jane.sanders@edi.gatech.edu).

Technical Contact: Gisele Bennett (404-894-0155); E-mail: (gisele.bennett@gtri.gatech.edu).

Writer: John Toon

An interdisciplinary group of scientists and engineers at the Georgia Institute of Technology recently formed the Center for Biologically Inspired Design (CBID) with the goal of capitalizing on the rich source of design solutions present in biological processes. The researchers believe nature can inspire design and engineering solutions that are efficient, practical and sustainable and thus have the potential to greatly enhance new technologies, materials and processes.

"Biology can be a powerful guide to understanding problems in design and engineering," said Associate Professor of Biology Marc Weissburg, CBID co-director. "In comparative physiology, we teach that every animal has to solve a particular problem to survive, so every animal is a design solution for a particular problem.

"They can provide solutions for more efficient manufacturing and design of materials with new capabilities, for example. These are things the biological world has solved, and if you study them, you have the opportunity to apply that knowledge in the human sector. You can also extend that reasoning to ecological processes. These are guiding principles behind the Georgia Tech Center for Biologically Inspired Design."

CBID's mission is to promote world-class interdisciplinary research and education at Georgia Tech in biologically inspired design. CBID researchers also want to communicate to government and industry officials that nature can provide unique design solutions to the problems they must address.

CBID director and Professor of Biology Jeannette Yen began this process with an invited talk on the center's mission and activities Oct. 29 at the Bioneers Southeast Forum on the Atlanta campus of the Savannah College of Art & Design. This conference is one of 20 similar "town hall" meetings held annually in North America.

Bioneers is a network of citizens, scientists and entrepreneurs that explores practical solutions adapted from natural systems and native cultures and then applies these solutions to fundamental environmental, economic and social challenges. Its long-term goal is to engage leaders in various fields in a conversation and learning process to help them understand the root causes of the region's economic, social and environmental problems, according to its Website (www.inspiringfutures.org/bioneers/ workshopdescriptions). Then leaders can make decisions based on the long-term impacts on the broader community and the natural environment.

"This is a key invitation for us," Yen said. "It's a great opportunity to get connected locally with leaders in the region."

Yen presented the mission and activities of CBID, which formed this past summer with a three-year internal seed grant. The idea for the center began with discussions between Yen and Weissburg. Weissburg's interest grew out of his research for the Office of Naval Research on understanding olfactory guidance in crabs. The Navy was interested in this process because it wanted to build autonomous devices with a similar capability, he explained.

Then, earlier this year, Yen, Weissburg and Professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering Craig Tovey studied with Bioneer and biomimicry expert Janine Benyus for 10 days in Costa Rica.

"We wanted to see how nature does things like gathering and transporting energy, and then see if we can translate those processes for human applications," Yen said. "Georgia Tech is a great place to do this kind of research. It provides engineers who want to apply their expertise with biologists a new way to design solutions to problems."

After this experience, the idea for the center developed further with the help of a biological metaphor - that of an "invasive" species, with the Center as the new species and Georgia Tech as the established community that is productive and successful.

"Invasive species can have a negative connotation, but we're not talking about disrupting the community," Weissburg explained. "We're talking about augmenting it and adding to its functionality and activity. We used the analogy of a new species trying to fit into a community as a way to think about what our center could do to increase the productivity of the Tech 'ecosystem.'"

As CBID encourages interaction among its initial 17 members, Yen expects an increase in biomimetic research - that is, research in biologically inspired design. Already, however, biomimetic research projects are under way in biosensing, materials design, locomotory devices, systems organization and "green" technology.

Examples include:

* Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering Minami Yoda is developing an auditory retina based on the fish ear.

* School of Materials Science and Engineering Professor Ken Sandhage and School of Chemistry and Biochemistry Assistant Professor Nils Kröger explore nanostructure synthesis via the self-assembled, biomineralized template -- the marine diatom.

* Tovey is designing Web-hosting optimization techniques based on the foraging strategy of honey bees.

* Assistant Professor of Applied Physiology Young-Hui Chang and Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering Lena Ting use neuro-mechanical control principles derived from animals to engineer prosthetics and robots.

Yen noted that biomimetry even offers inspiration for the way students -- and faculty - learn. "Like animals, we can learn by playing," Yen explained. "We're looking to nature as our template."

Research News & Publications Office
Georgia Institute of Technology
75 Fifth Street, N.W., Suite 100
Atlanta, Georgia 30308 USA

Media Relations Contacts: Jane Sanders (404-894-2214); E-mail: (jane.sanders@edi.gatech.edu); Fax (404-894-4545) or John Toon (404-894-6986); E-mail: (john.toon@edi.gatech.edu) or Edward McNally, Bioneers conference (404-371-8554 or 404-281-6419); E-mail: (emcnally59@abovethefold.info)

Technical Contacts: Jeannette Yen (404-385-1596); E-mail: (jeannette.yen@biology.gatech.edu) or Marc Weissburg (404-894-8433); E-mail: (marc.weissburg@biology.gatech.edu)

Writer: Jane Sanders

"Transportation officials had infrastructure plans designed to meet that population demand of the area," said Crocker. "When I looked to find out why it wasn't built, I found out that it was the projects that crossed county borders that weren't constructed."

Crocker said he believes many of the transportation projects weren't accomplished because of problems that occurred in the cooperation between counties in the area. Further research showed that similar problems occurred when projects crossed state lines and even international boundaries.

"I kept reading about the European Union and wondered whether they were dealing with the same types of issues only on a much larger scale," said Crocker. "They have several projects that cross international borders and need to have the cooperation of several governments."

For part of his Fulbright Fellowship, Crocker will be researching several major European Union transportation projects that cross member state lines, such as the Trans-Alpine tunnel between France and Italy.

Crocker decided that he'd like to find a way to study how the European Union dealt with its transportation issues and see if those lessons could help solve some of the issues here in Atlanta and the United States. "Knowing what types of organizations help facilitate infrastructure construction will become increasingly important, so that's why I'm interested in it," he said.

Crocker believes that the growing population will only increase the demand for better transportation systems and he hopes his work can help solve the issues facing the Atlanta area.

The Fulbright Fellowship program was created in 1946 with legislation sponsored by Senator J. William Fulbright, who reasoned that nations would be less likely to go to war against each other if people could study abroad and learn about each other's cultures. Each year, the U.S. component of the international program awards about 900 grants for American students to pursue international research.

The research runs counter to the enemy release hypothesis, first proposed by Charles Darwin in 1859, which holds that exotic species become invasive because they are free from the pressures of being eaten by their natural enemies in their native environment. Left without these controls, exotic plant species can run amuck and crowd out the native flora.

"What enemy release doesn't take into account is that while exotic plants may be free from their so-called natural enemies from their home range, they gain novel enemies in their new range," said John Parker, graduate student at Georgia Tech. "Because they've never had to adapt to being eaten by these consumers, they may lack the appropriate defenses to ward them off, essentially going from the frying pan into the fire."

Parker and biology professor Mark Hay tested the enemy release hypothesis with two species of crayfish found in the southeastern United States and one species of grass carp that had previously been introduced from Asia to control aquatic weed growth.

They paired 10 exotic plants with related native plants in the lab to test how the crayfish would respond when given a choice between similar plants. They found the crayfish preferred the exotic plants by a ratio of three to one.

In another part of the study, they took a broader view of feeding preferences by feeding 57 native and 15 exotic plant species collected from 11 sites throughout the southeastern United States to both species of crayfish and to the Asian grass carp. Again they found native crayfishes preferred the exotic meals. But the exotic grass carp had no preferences. It shares little evolutionary history with either native or exotic plants, so essentially all the plants were exotic to it- a finding that further suggests that the evolutionary history between plants and their consumers is an important predictor of plant edibility.

Parker and Hay were so surprised by their findings that they re-examined data from the scientific literature on the feeding preferences of terrestrial herbivores, including three native grasshoppers and one native and four exotic slugs. The studies they looked at had never analyzed their data for the palatability of native vs. exotic plants.

"We really wanted to challenge our findings for aquatic systems," said Parker. "We wanted to know if perhaps aquatic and terrestrial systems work differently and our unusual results were the result of working in a system that nobody had looked at before."

They were even more surprised when their new results looked exactly like their findings for aquatic herbivores. In these three studies, one conducted in the mountains of the Pacific Northwest, another in the plains of Texas and another in the forests of upstate New York, all four native herbivores again preferred exotic plants over natives. Three of the four exotic consumers again had no preference.

"Now we had essentially four separate studies with 11 herbivores and over 300 plant species collected from all around the continental United States all saying essentially the same thing: native herbivores prefer to consume exotic over native plants," said Parker.

While the results of these studies run counter to the widely accepted enemy release hypothesis, they do support the 'new associations' hypothesis of biological control. This hypothesis holds that since native plants have evolved alongside their native consumers, they've developed defenses to them. Since the newly introduced plants haven't evolved with the native consumers, they may lack appropriate defenses and may be more prone to being eaten in their new environment.

"This is analogous to disease theory in that you might be highly susceptible to new diseases or enemies that you haven't built up resistance against," said Parker.

In addition to its biological importance, the research may help point the way to better strategies for controlling the damage caused by exotic species - estimated by noted Cornell ecologist David Pimentel to be more than $137 billion per year in the United States alone.

"Currently, most exotic plant control is done with herbicides, mechanical removal or by importing the plants' exotic enemies," said Parker. "Each of these methods has serious drawbacks, including high costs and the potential for harmful effects on native species. Our results imply that restoring native herbivore communities may be a viable option to help control exotic plant invasions."

Parker is now working on determining whether native herbivores do in fact control exotic plant growth in field settings, an important step in determining whether biological control with native herbivores is feasible.

"Hopefully our results will also lead to better hypotheses about why some exotic species fare so well in their new environments," he said.

In a country where summer temperatures can reach 130 degrees, frequent power outages have been a huge source of public anger and frustration since the United States toppled Saddam Hussein's regime in May 2003. On "good" days, Iraqis might have 12 hours of on-again, off-again electricity. But often the total is only half of that.

The Georgia Tech College of Management's Huang Executive Education Center recently lent a hand in helping solve this shortage by providing leadership training to 38 members of the Iraq Ministry of Electricity who traveled to Atlanta. Georgia Tech's Strategic Energy Initiative helped, too, teaching Iraqi officials about the latest and greatest in power-plant technology.

Contracted by the United States Agency for International Development via Bechtel Corporation, GE Energy selected Georgia Tech to provide the training program. "We've had a good relationship with GE Energy, providing other types of training for its employees, so when they recognized they needed help with Iraq, we were a natural place to look," said Dan Stotz, director of executive education for the business school.

During a two-month period, Iraq Ministry officials came in two different groups: first upper-level managers and then operations people. With the help of translators, they took classes covering a range of management and energy issues and made field trips to power plants.

One Iraqi project manager (who goes unnamed here because of the deadly reprisals cooperating with Americans could cost him) stressed that improved security is key to boosting his country's electrical capacity. Iraq's power infrastructure has been a favorite target of insurgents determined to undermine international efforts to rebuild the country.

Many foreign companies who could help speed the construction of badly needed power stations have kept their distance because of all the explosive violence, the project manager lamented. "We're doing our best to improve the situation," he said. "We have enough people, but we need more foreign aid."

Iraq's power grid never recovered from hits taken during the 1991 Gulf War because of the international embargo blocking the flow of goods and services into and out of the country, he explained. Faced with parts shortages, power managers had to jerry-rig the system to work as best they could. Keeping Baghdad fed with electricity was their top priority as the power infrastructure in other regions fell into deep disrepair, he said. Reportedly the extreme extent of the grid's dilapidation proved to be a big shock to coalition forces, greatly hindering their efforts to restore order.

Some business-school professors were disheartened to learn of management practices that became standard in the Iraq Ministry during Hussein's regime. "Given Saddam's legacy of favoritism, a lot of the principles you'd consider to be normal - pay for performance, merit recognition - just aren't there," said Dennis Nagao, associate professor of organizational behavior. "We taught them best practices. However, they have a lot of entrenched individuals, the old guard, who are going to be difficult to root out."

Fortunately, the Iraq Ministry officials who came to Tech seem committed to making a difference, Stotz said. "They're glad that Saddam is gone and very hopeful for the future. They know that getting electricity to the people is very important to the future of their country."

An Iraqi training coordinator employed by GE said he was very pleased with the high quality of Georgia Tech's leadership development program. "I wish everyone in the Iraqi Ministry could get the training," he said. "They need it."

For almost all of the participating Iraqis, this was their first trip to America. Making time to explore Atlanta, visiting such attractions as the zoo and the World of Coca-Cola Museum, they were pleasantly surprised by the friendliness of Americans. "They wanted to know why the Americans in Iraq aren't as friendly," Nagao said. "I had to explain that's because we're not being shot at here."

John Chapman, chief engineer for Space Shuttle Propulsion at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., would debate that idea. It's vital, he says, to have your destination in mind - to know where you're going, and why.

But Chapman acknowledges whether you're road-tripping across America, soaring in a glider held aloft by thermal air currents or working to put the most complex machine ever created - the space shuttle - into Earth's orbit, there's nothing like the journey.

As STS-114: Space Shuttle Return to Flight readies for launch, Chapman is thoroughly immersed in the latter of those journeys. "What's always been most fascinating to me is the simple challenge of flight - persuading a chunk of metal anchored by gravity to fly into the sky," Chapman says. "Look at the solutions humanity has devised over the centuries to get off the ground, to fly through the air, to escape gravity and enter space. Look at the concepts we're developing today. Imagine the possibilities we'll think of tomorrow."

As a leader in the Marshall Center Office of Chief Engineers, part of the Engineering Directorate at Marshall, Chapman is adept at finding solutions, and imagining possibilities. He provides technical recommendations about flight hardware and program issues to the Shuttle Propulsion Program manager. He leads a team of engineering experts, endorsed by NASA Chief Engineer Rex Geveden at NASA Headquarters in Washington, who help solve issues associated with sending the nation's flagship space vehicle back to orbit.

For Chapman, a 25-year NASA veteran who has been involved with the STS-114 since its development and has held nearly every shuttle office manager, deputy manager and business manager post at Marshall, his current job is the culmination of a love affair with flight that reaches back as far as he can remember. An avid model builder even today, he quickly tired in his youth of purchasing tiny jars of model airplane paint, and inquired about bulk supplies of the real thing at a general aviation airport in his hometown of Spartanburg, S.C. "I was looking for model paint," he recalls. "Somehow, I ended up with a job."

He worked at the airport throughout his high school and college years, eventually learning about aircraft mechanics and electrical systems well enough to install hardware in private planes. He spent every spare moment - and most of his earnings - taking flying lessons. He earned his pilot's license on July 15, 1969, the day before Apollo 11 left Earth, carrying the first human beings to walk on the surface of the Moon.

Flying is integral to his life, Chapman says - over the years, he has owned a small plane and two unpowered lightweight gliders. He co-founded the Huntsville Soaring Club for glider enthusiasts, and even proposed to his wife Cindie, a chemist in the Materials and Processes Laboratory at Marshall, while soaring high over the green hills of east Tennessee.

Chapman earned a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering in 1973 from the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. Between 1973 and 1978, he performed engineering studies on the early development phases of the space shuttle, working first for Northrop Services and then for D.P. Associates, both of Huntsville. He spent the subsequent year field-testing laser-based missile guidance systems for the U.S. Army at Teledyne Brown Engineering in Huntsville, and then joined NASA as an engineer in 1980.

Writing computer programs at the Marshall Center to analyze shuttle propulsion hardware, Chapman was once more drawn to the journey, and to a familiar destination. In 1981, NASA was preparing for STS-1, the shuttle's maiden space voyage. Chapman - who had road-tripped from South Carolina to the Florida Cape with his father 10 years earlier to watch the launch of Apollo 15, and had, with a college roommate, snagged VIP passes to the Apollo 16 launch in 1972 - convinced a group of fellow Marshall engineers they should witness the very first shuttle launch. They borrowed an old motor home from a local car dealer and hit the road.

STS-1 climbed into history, and "carried" Chapman's gang - and the country - along with it.

"I've never forgotten that experience," Chapman says. He also remembers well the close group of friends who made the trip with him, including two young engineers named Sandy Coleman and Jim Kennedy. Today, Coleman is manager of the External Tank Project Office at Marshall, and Kennedy is director of NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla.

"We've all come a very long way since then," Chapman says, his words encompassing not just three individuals, but an agency and a nation. "But the journey isn't over yet."

Where to next? "Pick a destination," he says, and points to the sky.

Physicists at the Georgia Institute of Technology have just reached an important
milestone in the development of these systems by entangling a photon and a single atom located in an atomic cloud. Researchers believe this is the first time an entanglement between a photon and a collective excitation of atoms has passed the rigorous test of quantum behavior known as a Bell inequality violation. The findings are a significant step in developing secure long-distance quantum communications. They appear in the July 22, 2005 edition of the Physical Review of Letters.

Relying on photons or atoms to carry information from one place to another, network security relies on a method known as quantum cryptographic key distribution. In this method, the two information-carrying particles, photonic qubits or atomic qubits, are entangled. Because of the entanglement and a rule in quantum physics that states that measuring a particle disturbs that particle, an eavesdropper would be easily detected because the very act of listening causes changes in the system.

But many challenges remain in developing these systems, one of which is how to get the particles to store information long enough and travel far enough to get to their intended destination. Photonic qubits are great carriers and can travel for long distances before being absorbed into the conduit, but they're not so great at storing the information for a long time. Atomic qubits, on the other hand, can store information for much longer. So an entangled system of atoms and photons offers the best of both worlds. The trick is how to get them entangled in a simple way that requires the least amount of hardware.

Physicists Alex Kuzmich and Brian Kennedy think that taking a collective approach is the way to go. Instead of trying to isolate an atom to get it into the excited state necessary for it to become entangled with a photon, they decided to try to excite an atom in a cloud of atoms.

"Using a collective atomic qubit is much simpler than the single atom approach," said Kuzmich, assistant professor of physics at Georgia Tech. "It requires less hardware because we don't have to isolate an atom. In fact, we don't even know, or need to know, which atom in the group is the qubit. We can show that the system is entangled because it violates Bell inequality."

"With single atoms, its much more difficult to control the system because there is so much preparation that must be done," said Kennedy, professor of physics at Georgia Tech. "For the collective excitation, the initial preparation of the atoms is minimal. You don't have to play too much with their internal state - something that's usually a huge concern."

In addition to having the system pass the rigorous test of Bell inequality, researchers said they were able to increase the amount of time the atomic cloud can store information to several microseconds. That's fifty times longer than it takes to prepare and measure the atom-photon entanglement.

Another challenge of quantum communication networks is that since photons can only travel so far before they get absorbed into the conduit, the network has to be built in nodes with a repeater at each connection.

"A very important step down the road would be to put systems like this together and confirm they are behaving in a quantum mechanical way," said Kennedy.

Last April, Gaylord received the Georgia Tech Class of 1934 Distinguished Professor Award. The prize, which includes the honor of delivering the summer commencement address, is the most prestigious award bestowed upon Tech faculty members. The recipient is chosen for his or her outstanding commitment to teaching, research and service and is selected by the Faculty Honors Committee.

At the ceremony, former student Theresa Maldonado (Ph.D. 1990), now on the faculty of Texas A&M, said, "Dr. Gaylord respected my capabilities completely. He demanded excellence. He also demonstrated a powerful human side of compassion when I had my first child while completing my dissertation. He is a key person in my life and a model for me to follow. His impact on me still resonates to this day."

Known for going the extra mile for students, he started an end of semester event called the Extended Program of Attitude Readjustment in 1974. The program is an informal gathering of students, faculty and staff and has taken place every semester for 30 years.

In October, the Optical Society of America will honor him with the Esther Hoffman Beller Medal. The award is in recognition of his ". . . innovative teaching that has brought the latest research results alive for students for 30 years and for his significant contributions to establishing Georgia Tech's optics and photonics programs," according to the citation.

Gaylord came to Tech in 1972. He earned his bachelor's degree in physics and his master's degree in electrical engineering from the University of Missouri in Rolla. He received a doctorate in electrical engineering from Rice University. He has been a key contributor to the founding and development of the optics and photonics program at Georgia Tech. Gaylord is co-developer, with M. G. Moharam, of the Rigorous Coupled-Wave Analysis (RCWA) for the exact analysis of grating diffraction.

He has also developed exact analogies between electromagnetic optics in dielectrics and electron wave optics in semiconductors and contributed to the development of holographic data storage, fiber gratings, semiconductor quantum optoelectronic devices, birefringence measurements, photonic crystals and chip-level optical interconnects.

Gaylord is the author of 350 technical publications and 25 patents in the areas of diffractive optics, optical interconnects, optoelectronics and semiconductor devices. He has received the Curtis W. McGraw Research Award from the American Society for Engineering Education and the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) Graduate Teaching Award. He is a Fellow of the Optical Society of America, IEEE and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

"The Foundation is a way for me and my fellow astronauts to give back to a country who afforded us an extraordinary opportunity," said Apollo 15 Command Module Pilot and Foundation Chairman Col. Al Worden. "It is vital that America remains a technological leader in the world, and that responsibility rests upon these future generations."

Each scholar will receive $10,000, for a total of $170,000 (one recipient is yet to be named). That will increase the total amount of scholarship money awarded to more than $2 million to a total of 196 students.

Candidates are nominated by faculty members at 18 different colleges and universities and reviewed by a scholarship board. Two nominees from each school are submitted to the foundation's scholarship committee for review. Selections by the committee are presented to the foundation's board of directors for final approval.

Established by the original Mercury astronauts in 1984, the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to helping the United States retain its world leadership in science and technology by providing scholarships to students pursuing these fields. More than 50 astronauts from the Gemini, Apollo and Shuttle programs have since joined the cause, raising money through personal appearances, special events, corporate/individual donations and membership fees. Its headquarters is located in the Astronaut Hall of Fame at Kennedy Space Center, FL.

The 2005-2006 recipients (Georgia Tech and Penn State were awarded scholarships for both nominees):

Georgia Tech - Jarret Marshall Lafleur from Mapleville, RI is a senior in Aerospace Engineering with a 4.0 GPA. He presented a wing morphing design for use on Mars to NASA that apparently represents the first instance of a published full design of such a vehicle for a planet other than earth. He plans to earn a Ph.D. and work in a multidisciplinary group dedicated to space design problems.

Isaac David Penny from Lawrence, KS is a senior in Mechanical Engineering with a 3.87 GPA. He is a fourth generation engineer and plans to develop an air transportation system for third world countries beginning by using his knowledge and skills as a pilot and leader in "ambitious technical Projects."

Harvey Mudd College - Robert Martin Panish

Miami University - Ethan Silva Karp

North Carolina A&T - Christopher Jessamy

North Carolina State - Patrick Garrett Keistler

North Dakota State - Jonathan Michael Pikalek

Penn State - Andrew Scott Bielen and Adam Nolan Morgan

Syracuse University - Brien R. Flewelling

Texas A&M - Justin Howard Wilson

Tufts University - Russell E. Sargent

University of Colorado - Erin L. Reed

University of Oklahoma - TBD

University of Minnesota - Craig Michael Lewandowski

University of Washington - Angela Marie Stickle

Washington University - Aaron Frank Mertz

Current technology is too cumbersome for this kind of rapid detection and response. But new advances in liquid and gas phase chemical sensing being made at the Georgia Institute of Technology may lead to the development of palm-sized sensing tools that can provide the instant detection needed to stop such an attack.

Using small quantum cascade lasers, researchers at Tech, along with colleagues from Tel-Aviv University and OmniGuide Communications, have built and demonstrated a prototype handheld gas phase chemical sensing device and a liquid phase sensing device. The details appear in the July 15, 2005 issue of Analytical Chemistry and the May 9, 2005 issue of Applied Physics Letters.

The quantum cascade laser is the key to scaling down midinfrared chemical sensing tools to fit in the palm of the hand, said Boris Mizaikoff, associate professor in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Georgia Tech.

"This diode laser light source emits midinfrared frequencies, operates at room temperature and is small - roughly the same size as the laser you use in a laser pointer or CD player," said Mizaikoff.

Almost every organic molecule has a very distinctive absorption pattern in the midinfrared range (roughly between three and 20 microns) Illuminating molecules with a laser tuned to its fingerprint frequency will cause the molecules to vibrate as they absorb radiation at that frequency.

Detecting a chemical is as simple as illuminating a small volume of gas or liquid with a laser. If the laser is tuned to a characteristic absorption frequency of benzene, for example, and benzene is present, the molecules will vibrate and absorb an amount of radiation at its characteristic absorption frequency indicating its concentration.

"The quantum cascade lasers can be designed by bandstructure engineering to emit almost anywhere in the midinfrared band," said Mizaikoff. "So, if the molecule you want to detect has an absorption at 11 microns, you design a laser that emits precisely at that frequency. With the concept of the quantum cascade laser, that's possible for the first time."

For the gas sensing modules, Mizaikoff and his student Christy Charlton use a photonic band gap hollow waveguide (developed by OmniGuide),essentially a hollow, flexible tube, to both contain very small amounts of the air being sampled and assist in sensing. The waveguide can be built to propagate only one wavelength of light very well. So when the laser illuminates the gas molecules inside the waveguide, the waveguide will propagate only the selected fingerprint frequency for detecting a specific molecule.

"In our paper, we've shown that if we take only one meter of photonic band gap hollow waveguide with an inner diameter of 700 microns coupled to a frequency-matched quantum cascade laser, we've been able to detect levels down to 30 parts-per-billion (ppb) of ethyl chloride," said Mizaikoff. "In our opinion, it's among the most sensitive measurement that's been demonstrated in gas phase sensing in a hollow wave guide to date."

Gas sensing done this way requires a sample of only one milliliter of gas, compared to few hundreds of milliliters for other techniques using regular multi-pass gas cells, he added.

One of the most promising applications for this technology is breath diagnostics, said Mizaikoff.

"A lot of diseases, like asthmatic conditions or acute lung injuries, have specific biomarkers that are contained in breath," he said. "The problem is that you have a dramatic increase of these markers, but still at very low concentration levels, so you need extremely sensitive and reliable tools to detect these changes. We believe this is one way to develop a very compact sensing device, which could provide the sensitivities needed for breath diagnostics."

Since the lasers are so small, devices could be made to sense multiple chemicals by simply adding more lasers.

For the liquid phase device, researchers use a planar silver halide waveguide, developed at Tel-Aviv University, to transmit the radiation. As with the gas devices, the quantum cascade lasers vastly increase the sensitivity of liquid phase chemical detection at the surface of this waveguide.

"By making the waveguide thinner and coupling the laser into that, we're actually increasing the amount of energy transported in the so-called evanescent field, which means the sensitivity goes up," said Mizaikoff.

Currently, there are only few techniques available that can provide an instant response at trace-levels in water monitoring. Usually, gas or liquid chromatography, which require collecting samples, is needed to detect such fine amounts.

"This might be the road to sensors that can continuously measure at ppb levels, with molecular selectivity, and instantaneously," said Mizaikoff. "We believe this technology will be the inroad to single digit ppb water quality measurement."

"More students are discovering the advantages of a small liberal arts college at a large research university like Georgia Tech. They get the best of both worlds," says Elizabeth Miller, academic adviser and recruitment coordinator for Ivan Allen College at Georgia Tech.

"We are seeing the results of a good game plan. We've learned that investing in the Web is the way to go and that campus visits are a high predictor for enrollment," says Richard Barke, former associate dean of Ivan Allen College and associate professor of Public Policy.

Recruitment Numbers from 2004 to 2005

Ivan Allen College vs. Georgia Tech Overall

Increase in # of Applications47%6.7%

Increase in Deposits, expected to enroll50%-4.6% *

Increase in In-State Deposits44%-1.7%

Increase in Out-of-State Deposits88%5.3%

*reflects planned decrease in number of seats for freshman class

Shadow Day
Ivan Allen College participates in all the recruitment efforts of the main Admissions office for Georgia Tech, but added a new Shadow Day program this past year with impressive results.

"We have given much thought to how to attract students to a new non-engineering program at a major engineering university. The Student Advisory Board for Ivan Allen College really helped us refine our recruiting ideas to help us boost our visibility and enrollment," says Barke.

Knowing that interested students tend to enroll after visiting campus, the recruitment team planned two Shadow Days in March of this year for all recently admitted students who either expressed interest in Ivan Allen College majors or were undecided. Of the prospective students who attended Shadow Day, 95 percent sent their enrollment deposits -- an impressive marketing result by any standard. For Shadow Day, the College invited 300 high school students and about 80 participated, including a number of out-of-state students who made the trip.

For Shadow Day, the prospective students registered online and selected their major interests, which the College matched to the classes they attended on Shadow Day. Ivan Allen College students hosted the prospective students and no parents were invited so they got a good feel for the real world of being a Tech student. Over lunch, students were joined by deans, faculty members and advisers for informal chats, and in the afternoon students could opt to learn more about other interests such as sports, music, drama, the Greek system, computers, etc. Due to Shadow Days' strong results and positive feedback from participants, the College plans to host Shadow Days again in both the fall and spring semesters.

"Everyone from the professors to the student volunteers were very open to working with the Student Advisory Board to make the day succeed, and I would definitely say that it did," says recent graduate and board member Sarah Edwards, History, Technology, and Society, May 2005.

Phone Banks
Over the past three years, student volunteers from Ivan Allen College ran phone banks for two evenings in April to call recently admitted students in order to answer their questions and find out their interests. With increasing results each year, Miller found the phone banks to be an effective way to reach prospective students during a crucial decision-making stage.

Recruitment Process
Miller emphasized that recruiting students is a process with many steps along the way. The College improved the recruitment process significantly, developing an award-winning student recruitment Web site, monitoring Web site usage, and tracking contacts with all prospective students to better understand the most effective recruiting methods.

"The Web is now the number one way students pick a college, so we worked hard to create an interactive Web site, to build in key words for searches and track what pages are being looked at the most. We see the most traffic on our Web site from August to October when high school seniors return to school and start seriously planning which schools to apply to," says Miller.

Applications, Diversity Rise
Just as interest in the liberal arts has surged at Tech, so has interest in the Institute as a whole. This year, Tech received nearly seven percent more applications than it did for the fall semester in 2004. The rise is mostly due to the success of the aggressive recruiting programs Tech put into place several years ago.

Increasing the intellectual and ethnic diversity of the student body has been a top priority for recruiters at Georgia Tech. The rise in applications to Tech's non-engineering programs such as liberal arts, management (which saw a 6.5 percent increase in applications) and the sciences (where applications increased by 3.6 percent) is a strong indicator that these programs are paying off.

The 6.5 percent increase in the number of African-Americans in the freshman class and a 4.8 percent rise in Hispanic students is another gauge of these programs' success. Since 2001, Tech has seen a 44 percent increase in the number of African-American freshman and a 77 percent increase in the number of Hispanic students. These gains come despite the fact that Tech does not practice Affirmative Action in admitting students.

Although more students are sending their applications to Tech, the Institute has reduced the number of students enrolling this year by five percent in order to keep class sizes to a reasonable level. The dip in enrollment by female students is largely a by-product of the smaller class size. Since 2003, Tech has increased the enrollment of women in the freshman class by 20 percent.

Georgia Tech Quick Facts

Total applications 9,157(6.7 percent increase from 2004)

Total expected to enroll 2,487 (planned 4.6 percent decrease from 2004)

Number of women to enroll 726(7 percent decrease from 2004)

Number of African-American students to enroll 163(6.5 percent increase from 2004)

Number of Hispanic students to enroll 110(4.76 percent increase from 2004)

Average high school GPA 3.74

Average SAT score1340

Number of perfect test scores 13 SAT's, 3 ACT's

Most popular first names:
female - Ashley (19), Lauren (19), Sarah (19)
male - Michael (81), Matthew (57), David (52)

Most popular last names:
female - Smith (8), Johnson (6), Patel (5)
male - Lee (14), Smith (14), Kim (12)

Most popular majors:
Undeclared College of Engineering-UEC (386)
Mechanical Engineering-ME (217)
Biomedical Engineering-BMED (194)

48 states, District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico represented. No freshmen from Hawaii or Wyoming.

Top Foreign countries:
India (46)
Korea, Republic of (South) (25)
China (5)
Pakistan (3)
Nigeria (2), Russia (2), Taiwan (2), Venezuela (2)

There are 10 sets of twins.

There are 103 freshmen who have multiple legacies with 501 with at least one legacy.

There are 1,000 high schools represented.

73 percent (1821) of the freshmen class submitted a web application.

There are 78 National Merit Finalists.

With the CCNE designation, Emory and Georgia Tech now possess one of the largest federally funded programs in the U.S. for biomedical nanotechnology, biomolecular and cellular engineering, cancer bioinformatics and biocomputing, translational cancer research, education and training, intellectual property creation, and nanomedicine commercialization and economic development.

"This grant demonstrates the high level of confidence the National Cancer Institute has in Emory University, Georgia Tech and in the State of Georgia," said Governor Sonny Perdue. "The progress we have made would not have been possible without collaboration among these universities and agencies such as the Georgia Cancer Coalition and the Georgia Research Alliance. The State of Georgia is truly at the cutting edge of biomedical research."

Nanotechnology is research and technology at the atomic, molecular or macromolecular levels, where particles are measured with a nanometer equivalent to one-billionth of a meter, or 100,000 times smaller than a strand of human hair. Coupled with the new genomic understanding of human cancers, nanotechnology offers promise for much earlier cancer detection, personalized diagnostics for targeted treatment and the creation of new nanoscale drugs for metastatic cancers.

Scientists involved in this grant will accelerate the development of "bioconjugated nanoparticles" for cancer molecular imaging, molecular profiling and personalized therapy. Emory and Georgia Tech scientists already have productive research collaborations using major grants from the NIH to develop several kinds of nanoparticle probes, including "quantum dot" nanoparticles -- tiny semiconductor particles that have unique electronic and optical properties due to their size and their highly compact structure. Quantum dot based probes can act as markers for specific proteins and cells and can be used to study protein-protein interactions in live cells or to detect diseased cells.

"Nanotechnology will eventually apply to all cancers; however, this grant is focusing on breast and prostate cancers because they represent a number of compelling challenges and opportunities in cancer research," said Bill Todd, President and CEO of the Georgia Cancer Coalition and an important supporter of the grant. "These cancers are among the most common cancers and have high mortality rates, yet there is evidence that with targeted therapies for these types of cancer we can improve survival in Georgia and in the nation."

The CCNE's Director and Principal Investigator is Shuming Nie, PhD, the Wallace H. Coulter Distinguished Chair and Professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME) at Georgia Tech and Emory. He is also Associate Director for Nanotechnology Bioengineering at Emory's Winship Cancer Institute, and a Georgia Cancer Coalition Scholar. Co-Principal Investigator is Jonathan Simons, MD, Director of the Winship Cancer Institute and Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at Georgia Tech.

"Nanotechnology enables us to bring together scientists in many disciplines, including basic biomedical and clinical sciences, engineering and computer science," says Dr. Nie. "The joint Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University provides a truly collaborative environment for multidisciplinary research in 'Bio+Nano+Info', and for translating bioengineering technologies and basic discoveries into clinical medicine. This Center will benefit cancer patients not only in the WCI clinics but also in Georgia and the world by providing new technologies for early detection, more accurate molecular-level diagnosis, and targeted nanoparticle drugs for individualized cancer therapy."

The Emory/Georgia Tech CCNE will comprise 75 researchers and administrators working at six different institutions across the country. At Emory, the cross-disciplinary teams will include basic researchers in biomedical engineering, pathology, radiology, urology, pharmacology, biochemistry, molecular biology and medical and surgical oncology. Leading Georgia Tech scientists will come from departments of biomedical engineering, electrical and computer engineering, materials science and engineering, chemistry and biochemistry.

"This grant is yet another recognition of the strength created through the innovative partnership between Emory University and Georgia Tech," said Georgia Tech President Wayne Clough. "By combining our talent, resources and creativity, a team is created that can tackle some of the most difficult and resistant problems facing mankind."

The Georgia Tech-Emory partnership is embodied in the joint Georgia Tech/Emory Department of Biomedical Engineering, a unique academic unit that was established in 1997 with Dr. Don Giddens, Dean of the Georgia Tech College of Engineering as its founding chairman, and has rapidly risen to its current US News & World Report ranking as third among 2005 Graduate Programs. In addition to the CCNE grant, this public-private partnership has led to several large-scale NIH awards totaling $21 million to Emory University and Georgia Tech, including a grant to develop nanoparticle probes for molecular and cellular imaging, a Bioengineering Research Partnerships (BRP) award to correlate biomarkers with prostate cancer behavior, and a U01 center award to develop nanotechnology for molecular analysis and detection of cardiovascular plaques. In addition, Emory's Winship Cancer Institute has been awarded an NCI P20 planning grant, which is the first step in attaining the Georgia's first-ever NCI Comprehensive Cancer Center designation.

"The momentum for this new nanotechnology center comes from the common vision shared by our cancer investigators in basic science, translational research, engineering, and clinical care at Emory and Georgia Tech," said Michael M.E. Johns, MD, CEO and director of Emory's Woodruff Health Sciences Center. "That vision is to reduce the time separating basic discovery in nanotechnology and earlier cancer detection and therapies that will target biomarkers for personalized and predictive therapy."

"The College of Engineering at Georgia Tech has long been committed to working with the Winship Cancer Institute and the Georgia Cancer Coalition to employ technology to advance research in the battle against cancer," said Don Giddens, Dean of the Georgia Tech College of Engineering. "This highly competitive CCNE award gives national recognition to the tremendous strengths in nanomedicine that Tech and Emory have, and it is symbolic of the great potential inherent in the Emory-Georgia Tech partnership."

Dr. Larry McIntire, Chairman of the joint Georgia Tech/Emory Department of Biomedical Engineering, also applauds the synergistic collaborations between Emory and Georgia Tech. "This CCNE grant demonstrates that by combining technology and medicine, Georgia Tech and Emory can move the promise of nanotechnology into the realm of nanomedicine to diagnose and treat specific cancers. The nanomedicine platforms being developed are extremely powerful and have the potential to be applied in many areas of human disease."

The CCNE application received broad support not only from Emory and Georgia Tech but also from the State of Georgia. Georgia has devoted a significant portion of its tobacco settlement dollars to statewide cancer initiatives through the Georgia Cancer Coalition. Through its program called "Extraordinary Opportunities in Cancer Research," the GCC committed $1.1 million in matching funds for the CCNE grant. These funds will be in the form of two additional faculty positions for the project and seed grants available to Emory and Georgia Tech faculty working on the CCNE. In addition, two of the Georgia Tech project/core leaders (Drs Shumning Nie and May Dongmei Wang) and five of the Emory leading investigators (Drs Robin Bostick, Leland Chung, Milton Datta, Ruth O'Regan, and Dong Shin) are GCC Distinguished Cancer Scholars.

The Georgia Research Alliance committed $2.5 million in support of the CCNE application for nanotechnology equipment, commercialization and economic development and two GRA Eminent Scholars in cancer nanotechnology.

"This grant is an important step forward in collaborative cancer research," said Dr. Simons. "At the Winship Cancer Institute and Georgia Tech, we are working together to create bioengineering technologies that will lift the entire field of cancer research and cancer care. This collaboration is strengthened by the vision and involvement of the National Cancer Institute and the State of Georgia through the GCC and the GRA, who have worked tirelessly to foster a thriving collaborative research environment."

The center is also supported by strategic alliances with two NCI Specialized Programs of Research Excellence (SPORES), one in breast cancer at Vanderbilt University (Nashville, TN) and the other in human prostate cancer at the University of Washington (Seattle, WA). It will also be supported by collaboration with two NCI Comprehensive Cancer Centers, the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (Seattle, WA) and the Johns Hopkins Oncology Center (Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, MD). The CCNE is further strengthened by partnerships with non-profit /government organizations (e.g., the American Cancer Society and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), with bio/nanotechnology companies (e.g., Beckman-Coulter, Applied Biosystems, Crystalplex Corp, Nanoplex Technologies, and CRI), and with biocomputing industry leaders (e.g., Hewlett Packard Corp and Microsoft Research).

Emory University President James Wagner will provide institutional support of
$1 million to develop a cancer nanotechnology fellowship program. Georgia Tech President Wayne Clough also will provide $1 million for purchase of nanotechnology equipment and facilities. Significant in-kind support will also be provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Cancer Society.

"This CCNE designation will truly make Emory and Georgia Tech destination universities for technology research that can reduce the burden of human cancer and potentially other diseases," said Dr. Wagner.

"We are delighted to have Abir Mullick as our new director of Industrial Design," said College of Architecture Dean Thomas Galloway. "Abir is a perfect fit for the Industrial Design program. He brings a combination of interdisciplinary collaborations along with his experience in universal design that will enhance both the Center for Assistive Technology and Environmental Access (C.A.T.E.A.) as well as the academic programs within the College of Architecture."

Mullick says he is excited to be at Georgia Tech and, after consulting with faculty, staff and students, hopes to create a new vision for the Industrial Design program.

"I would like to see Industrial Design move in a collaborative way," said Mullick. " I'd like to see us expand the department and create bridges across campus."

Much of Mullick's research has been in the universal design area. One of more recent projects was the universal bathroom, sponsored by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research. During the course of his research Mullick was able to design two adjustable bathrooms. In these bathrooms two fixtures, the sink and shower, move around the bathroom wall and they adjust. Through fixture movement, the bathrooms reorganize and open up spaces for independent and dependent use, and for care providing situations. The fixtures also adjust in height to accommodate variations in stature including standing users, sitting users and children.

"These bathrooms are intended prolong independence, allow offering care, and assist care-providers," said Mullick. "Unlike current bathrooms, which are designed primarily for independent users, these bathrooms consider the needs of the human life cycle and address dependent use and care providing alongside independent use in the bathroom.
They are excellent examples of how the universal design philosophy can create flexible environment and produce innovative designs that are high in usability, convenience, aesthetics, surprise, and fun."

Mullick replaces Lorraine Justice, who left Georgia Tech to become the head of the Design School at Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

"Over the last decade Georgia Tech has shown the consistency in performance that reflects the quality of this institution," said Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Jean-Lou Chameau. "I'm pleased to see that excellence continue, despite the challenges that we face in today's competitive higher education marketplace."

Chameau continued, "We're especially proud of our ability to maintain an elite status among public universities during a time when our state funding has decreased. I'm hopeful that a rebounding economy will provide better dollars for higher education in the future."

Georgia Tech's nationally prominent College of Engineering held steady with a ranking of 6th. Among Tech's highlights this year is the ranking of the Biomedical Engineering program, which climbed two slots to 4th. The College of Engineering had five of its programs ranked in the top 5 among specialty areas. For the third year in a row, Georgia Tech's Co-op program was ranked one of 12 "Academic Programs to Look For" under internships and co-ops.

"Our Engineering programs continue to maintain the highest standards," said Chameau. "Biomedical Engineering made a significant improvement, while the other programs continue to receive high marks. While such rankings certainly cannot convey the depth and breadth of the high-quality education Georgia Tech provides, it is nonetheless quite gratifying to have our ongoing efforts recognized."

Tech continues to have some of the most generous alumni. The percentage of Tech graduates contributing to the Institute is the highest among any public university in the top 50.

Starting Tuesday, September 6 the Georgia Institute of Technology, Technology Square, the Piedmont Park Conservancy and the Midtown community will present their promotion, "Trolley Nights in Midtown." The promotion runs Tuesdays, Sept. 6, 13, and 20 from 6 - 9 p.m.

Customers riding the new complimentary Georgia Tech Midtown Trolley Loop will receive specials from the merchants at Technology Square and other Midtown merchants along the route. A list of each night's specials will be distributed on the Georgia Tech Trolley along with an "I Rode the Midtown Trolley" sticker.

The Midtown Trolley Loop operates Monday-Friday from 5 -10 p.m., Saturdays from noon-6 p.m. and Sundays from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. The trolley makes 20 stops beginning at the Georgia Tech College of Management at Technology Square (Fifth and West Peachtree Streets), circling to Piedmont Park via Juniper Street, Ponce de Leon Avenue and Piedmont Avenue, traveling back down Juniper and Peachtree Streets and ending at the Technology Square starting point. For people driving to Midtown, parking is available on the street or at Georgia Tech's 1,550-space parking deck on Spring and Fourth Streets. A map of the entire Loop route is available at www.parking.gatech.edu/midtowntrolley.

The Georgia Tech Midtown Trolley Loop is a complimentary transportation service provided to the Midtown community by the Georgia Institute of Technology and supported by Atlanta Botanical Garden, Midtown Alliance, Midtown Neighbors' Association, and Piedmont Park Conservancy. The goal of the Midtown Trolley Loop is to strengthen community-building efforts, provide improved access, promote local businesses, and to encourage and support a pedestrian-friendly experience.

While the majority were able to make travel arrangements home, international students faced greater challenges, since returning to their home country could jeopardize the status of their student visas.

As some students slept in the Student Center's conference facilities and others showered at the Campus Recreation Center, Tech negotiated on behalf of Tulane with a local apartment complex to provide the displaced students with a place to live during the next several months if necessary.

During the students' brief stay, offers of support from the general public poured in to Georgia Tech. People from metro Atlanta and across the country generously offered everything from food to housing. Tech is extremely appreciative of the efforts put forth by the public to make our visitors welcome and is happy to report that housing for the students evacuated from Tulane University has been settled.

Most were able to schedule flights to return to their hometown. Nearly two dozen students are living in a local apartment complex; others are hoping to be taken in by regional universities to continue their academic and research work. The Office of the Dean of Students is working with the Tulane Alumni local network in organizing support and assistance for these students and their families.

During the evacuation, Director of the Georgia Tech Student Center Rich Steele said he was extremely proud of the students and staff members who were able to put such a large operation into motion so quickly.

Georgia Tech has planned an ambitious, three-week fundraising effort to aid hurricane victims along the Gulf Coast. If met, it would be the Institute's largest charitable contribution for disaster relief.

Representatives from several of Tech's student organizations met last week in the Student Services Building to discuss a campus strategy for offering assistance to displaced residents in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. They set a monetary goal of $50,000, earmarked for a major charity.

Assistant Dean of Students Danielle McDonald, who led the meeting, said that from Sept. 6 until Oct. 1, a table along Skiles Walkway would accept donations for this effort. Other fundraising is expected to take place during Tech's two home football games in September.

McDonald said documentation could be arranged for individual donations in excess of $100, and that departmental collections should be brought to the Office of Community Service, located in the Student Services Building.

Early plans are also being formulated for a service trip to the affected areas to aid in the clean-up effort during winter break. Community Service Coordinator Sarah Brackmann said she is in contact with the Red Cross to determine volunteer needs, and that future information pertaining to the initiative would be posted at www.service.gatech.edu.

All requests will be considered on a case-by-case basis through Thursday, September 8. Student applicants will need to present proof of enrollment at a school in the areas affected by Hurricane Katrina. Admissions will be granted for one semester only. Students who wish to continue their education at Georgia Tech, will be able to apply at a later date through the regular admissions process. Already, Georgia Tech has accepted eight students who were qualified and needed a place to continue their education.

Undergraduate applicants should contact Georgia Tech's Office of Undergraduate Admission at 404-894-4154 or admission@gatech.edu. Graduate applicants should contact the Office of Graduate Admissions at 404-894-1610.

In accordance with the policy of the University System of Georgia, students from the affected areas will be eligible to apply for a waiver of out-of-state tuition or to have tuition and fees deferred, if they have already paid tuition to their home institution, or received financial aid from their home institution.

Georgia Tech does not currently have space available in its residence halls and will be referring new students admitted under this policy to other housing options.

Perhaps Tim English, chapter executive officer for the Metro Atlanta region of the Red Cross said it best, "Georgia Tech's response has been incredible. The Georgia Tech faculty, students, and staff were right there helping provide services, and Georgia Tech has bent over backwards to help in any way they could. We are most grateful for their support."

As president of this university, I have never been more proud of our students, faculty, staff, and alumni who have volunteered time, money and creative talents to assist those in need.

Although much has been done, our work is far from complete. Our admissions officers have worked with not only Tulane students, but with those from other impacted universities, to allow them to continue their programs of study. At this point, we have enrolled approximately 55 students with others being processed. I know we will all want to welcome them to campus and treat them as part of our Georgia Tech community.

We are continuing to consider ways we might partner with faculty and graduate students from the University of New Orleans and Tulane to assist in their research and educational efforts. We are also beginning to explore how our faculty and students might help in the major effort needed to plan and rebuild the damaged area.

During the coming months and years, there will be many opportunities for the talents of our unique community to help our fellow citizens in the impacted areas recover from this stunning disaster.

For all of our good efforts, some of you may have heard in the media today that our shelter in the Coliseum was closed to the Red Cross because of scheduling conflicts. This is not true and many media outlets have issued corrections or called to get accurate information.

Everyone involved with events scheduled for the Coliseum prepared alternative venues and plans for the scheduled events. We were prepared to continue our association with the Red Cross if the Coliseum and the role it could play was needed. Fortunately, the Red Cross was able to find individualized housing for the remaining evacuees that were sheltered in the Coliseum. Contrary to the reports, the Coliseum remains open until Friday as a shelter to provide services to those who are relocating.

The recovery effort will continue for months to come, and Georgia Tech will stay involved. Our student body, the Facilities Office, Student Affairs, Auxiliary Services, Campus Police, Sodexho, the Athletic Association, and many others have worked around the clock to organize and support relief efforts. All are to be commended for their tireless efforts on the behalf of others.

I want to thank everyone on this campus for all that you have done during the past week. As always, our university is a reflection of the people who live and work here, and we have much to be proud of.

G. Wayne Clough
President

"Our plan was to get evacuees to more permanent and private accommodations by Friday," said Metro Atlanta Red Cross CEO Tim English.

"Georgia Tech's response has been incredible. The Georgia Tech faculty, students and staff were right there helping provide services, and Georgia Tech has bent over backwards to help in any way they could. We are most grateful for their support."

Last Friday, the Red Cross began using Alexander Memorial Coliseum as a temporary evacuation center for several hundred evacuees from hurricane-affected areas. The Coliseum housed evacuees but mainly served as a distribution point for evacuees to obtain food and clothing.

Through Thursday night, the Red Cross will still provide food, clothing, food stamps, computers and phone lines at the Coliseum to evacuees who do not need shelter. The mini pharmacy is still in operation, and a social security representative is still in place. Distribution of the Red Cross debit cards has been moved to the Adamsville shelter.

Persons wishing to donate money, clothing, food and other items should contact the American Red Cross at 1-800- HELP NOW. To volunteer with the Metropolitan Atlanta Chapter of the American Red Cross, call 404-876-3302.

Georgia Tech would like to thank the countless Georgians who brought food, clothing and other much needed items to evacuees staying at Tech. Your generosity is much appreciated.

Georgia Tech is grateful to have had this opportunity to help those affected by Hurricane Katrina take their first steps toward rebuilding their lives. Georgia Tech's faculty, staff and students will continue to work with the Atlanta community to provide aid to anyone affected by the hurricane.

The Georgia Institute of Technology has been awarded a grant totaling $4.16 million for photonic and phononic (the photonic crystal's acoustic equivalent) crystal research by the Office of Naval Research (ONR). The grant also includes a two-year option for an additional $2.75 million. The new research group, led by Ali Adibi, an associate professor in Georgia Tech's School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, will develop very effective, yet relatively inexpensive tools for the manufacture of three-dimensional (3-D) photonic and phononic crystals.

While significant progress has been made in the large-scale fabrication of two-dimensional (2-D) photonic crystals, 3-D crystals are much more difficult to manufacture and the necessary tools are expensive. With extra dimensions of control, 3-D crystals produce effects that are impossible with conventional optics.

But because of the high cost of manufacturing tools, many researchers don't have the tools they need to experiment with different 3-D crystal structures and uses. The Georgia Tech group's goal is to develop new 3-D crystal fabrication tools affordable enough to make them accessible to a much wider range of researchers, stepping up crystal research and increasing the possibility for innovation.

The new tools will be based on optical patterning of 3-D polymeric structures with chemical and biochemical modification to create high-quality photonic and phononic crystals with tailored functions and resolutions below 100 nanometers.

A portion of the group's research will focus on multiphoton lithography (MPL) and multibeam interference lithography (MBIL). These polymer micropatterning methods show great potential for efficient and low-cost creation of 3-D microstructures. Other research focus areas include the development of an expanded range of materials for computer structures, the development of tools that integrate the characteristics of biomaterialization (room temperature, chemically selective nanoparticle assembly) with those of synthetic polymer microlithography (precise scalable fabrication of controlled 2-D and 3-D structures), and simulation and characterization tools to test the strengths and weaknesses of each tool.

Key collaborators on the project, called APEX (Advanced Processing-tools for Electromagnetic/acoustic Xtals or crystals), include Joseph Perry and Seth Marder, professors in Georgia Tech's School of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Kenneth Sandhage, professor in Georgia Tech's School of Materials Science and Engineering. Other research collaborators include William Hunt, a professor in Georgia Tech's School of Electrical and Computer Engineering; Nils Kröger, an assistant professor of Chemistry; Robert Norwood and Nasser Peyghambarian from the University of Arizona; and Shu Yang from the University of Pennsylvania.

"I consider this the beginning of a great effort to expand our group into one of the most well-known centers for photonic crystal research," Adibi said.

According to the Graduate Management Admission Council, only two percent of the approximately 1,400 MBA programs in America offer a dual-degree program of any kind. While some schools have only recently begun offering this option as student demand for competitive edge grows, the College of Management has had a dual-degree program for more than twenty years.

Through the business school's Technology Leadership Program, which is rapidly growing in popularity, students like DePasquale can earn two graduate degrees almost as fast as it takes to earn one. The MBA can be paired with a degree from any other graduate program at Tech.

DePasquale saw the doors that having two graduate degrees could open while working in the aerospace industry for two years prior to starting at Tech.

"It's not hard for an aerospace engineer to rise as a technical manager, but to move into business operations and development, a background in business is very useful," he says. "It's rare that you find people strong in both areas."

DePasquale, who's due to finish both of his degrees in May 2006, says his combined studies haven't been as difficult as they might seem, thanks to the Technology Leadership Program's flexibility.

"The administration and faculty in both schools at Georgia Tech have been extremely accommodating and helpful," he says. "There are mature processes in place that make enrolling and studying in the Technology Leadership Program hassle-free."

Though DePasquale knew from the get-go that he wanted to earn two degrees simultaneously, many master's and doctoral students don't learn of the dual-degree option until after they've begun their graduate studies, says Paula Wilson, director of MBA admissions at the College of Management. Some decide to add the MBA to their agenda when they learn that they can earn both degrees in seventy to seventy-six course hours versus the ninety-plus hours required if the degrees weren't consolidated.

"Several years ago, we would enroll only four or five dual-degree students a year," Wilson says. "Today a third of our MBA students are pursuing dual degrees. Enrollment in the Technology Leadership Program surged once the name of the master's in management was changed to MBA in 2002. The MBA program's rise in the rankings has also generated a lot of interest. The word is getting out."

Ricardo Campbell was halfway through earning his master's degree in physics at Tech when he realized that he was more interested in technology-related entrepreneurship than conducting physics research professionally. So he knew enrolling in the MBA program was the way to go.

"A lot of people think physics and business are a strange mix," says Campbell, who earned his master's in physics in May 2004 and is due to finish his MBA in December. "But IBM saw the value and said it's a great combination."

After interning at IBM last summer, he accepted a full-time position with the computer giant that he'll start after graduation. Campbell, who focused on nanomaterials while in the physics program, will continue to draw upon his scientific background as he helps IBM explore new business opportunities, like nanotechnology, as a member of the company's market intelligence division.

"A large part of my job surveying the marketplace will involve looking at companies who are very technical in nature and being able to understand their end products….," he says. "Having wonderful business skills to complement my technical education is a tremendous asset going out into the workforce."
People interested in enrolling in the Technology Leadership Program can attend an information session at 6:30 p.m. November 10 in the Georgia Tech Student Center (Room 301). To register, visit the Technology Leadership Program Website http://mgt.gatech.edu/programs/mba/dual.html or call 404-894-8722.

Writer: Brad Dixon, College of Management

"We're using the jaw to think about the genetic basis of biomechanical systems," said J. Todd Streelman, assistant professor in the School of Biology at the Georgia Institute of Technology. "We want to understand the genes that control this lever system. What we found was that this simple biomechanical system is much more complex than previously thought."

Streelman, along with colleagues from the Forsyth Institute at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine and the Hubbard Center for Genome Studies at the University of New Hampshire, predicted that components of the jaw that were functionally or developmentally related would be controlled by the same set of genes, or genetically integrated.

"We were surprised to see that the genetic basis of components involved in opening the jaw is independent of the jaw-closing system," said Streelman.

Researchers compared two cichlid species that dwell in Africa's Lake Malawi. One species had force modified jaws that are more adept at biting prey; the other had speed modified jaws, which are more accomplished at using suction to feed on plankton. Each jaw system is essentially a lever system made up of one out-lever and two in-levers.

"We found that as the closing in-lever gets longer, the out-lever gets shorter and vice-versa," explained Streelman. "When the in-lever is long, this gives the jaw a high mechanical advantage and the jaw can produce more force for biting. When the out-lever is long, that results in a lower mechanical advantage and a better design for suction-feeding. This negative correlation is produced by genetic integration."

But, when the team mapped the regions of the genome controlling the jaw-opening system, they found that these levers are controlled by different chromosomes.

In another part of the study, researchers showed that the gene bmp4 is a major factor in controlling the jaw-closing system. When the team injected bmp4 protein into the developing embryos of another fish species, the zebrafish, they saw that the mechanical advantage (and thus the biting power)of the jaw increased.

"This experiment fuses the traditional disciplines of developmental genetics and evolutionary biology," said Streelman. "We've demonstrated that important functional differences operating in adult organisms are elicited by changes in early development. Our next goal is to understand the genetic bases underlying the differences between the simple biomechanical system of the lower jaw and complex systems of the anterior jaw in these fish."

By allowing faster response to new developments, real-time tracking should theoretically help managers make better business decisions, but the opposite is sometimes true, find Nicholas Lurie, assistant professor of marketing at Georgia Tech College of Management, and Jayashankar Swaminathan, an operations professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The frequent feedback provided by supply-chain monitoring tools like Radio Frequency Identification Technology - small chips attached to pallets, cases or individual product units for remote tracking - might cause managers to overreact to random fluctuations in demand, responding to the most recent data received instead of examining the bigger picture, explain the researchers in their working paper, "Is Timely Information Always Better? The Effect of Feedback Frequency on Performance and Knowledge Acquisition."

"If retailers could choose to receive a monthly, weekly or daily recap of Campbell's tomato soup sales, which recap frequency would they choose? Many would select the daily recap, thinking it would give them a competitive edge," Lurie says. "However, our study finds that when a manager is given more frequent information on product demand, decision-making performance actually decreases, particularly in environments characterized by a high degree of variability."

Real-time feedback affects many types of business activities beyond supply-chain management. For example, online stock traders' performance seems to suffer from too much information. Previous research suggests that they tend to trade more frequently in response to price movements that might simply be random, Lurie notes.

He and Swaminathan studied the effect of feedback frequency on performance using two computer-based experiments, in which subjects acted as newsvendors dealing with inventory orders, and a "virtual factory" management simulation giving participants an opportunity to apply concepts such as inventory management, lot sizing, and process control in a realistic environment.

Based on their results, the researchers advise managers using technologies that provide frequent feedback to temper their reactions to the most recent data received.

For more information, contact Lurie at 404-894-4380 or nicholas.lurie@mgt.gatech.edu.

Writer: Brad Dixon, College of Management

Around 8:45am during routine grounds cleaning, a facilities worker picked up an item believed to be trash in the courtyard between the Glenn and Cloudman residence halls on the southeast side of campus and it exploded.

Campus Police were immediately notified, and the two residence halls were evacuated as a safety precaution. Approximately 100 students were evacuated from the two residence halls. Many students were already in class at the time of the event.

Two similar devices were found in the same area and the Atlanta Police and Fire Departments were called in to assess and contain the situation.

The Atlanta Police Department bomb squad detonated the remaining two devices shortly before noon and students were allowed to re-enter the residence halls. The facility worker was taken to a clinic for evaluation and released.

The Georgia Tech Campus Police are investigating the incident with the Atlanta Police Department and are asking for anyone with information on the incident to contact them at 404-894-2500 or crimetips@police.gatech.edu.

Jeffrey Skolnick, Ph.D., a renowned systems biologist and previously director of the Buffalo Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics at SUNY-Buffalo, will join the faculty of the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) this spring as the Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar in Computational Systems Biology.

"Computational systems biology is a foundation for the next revolution in biomedicine," said Georgia Tech Provost Jean-Lou Chameau. "Dr. Skolnick's work is a perfect fit with the outstanding research already being conducted in nanotechnology and bioengineering here at Georgia Tech. The addition of Dr. Skolnick and his team of researchers will help position Georgia Tech and the state as leaders in this important field."

Dr. Skolnick will bring with him 19 research scientists and technicians and more than $1.5 million in federal funding, primarily from the National Institutes of Health.

"Georgia Tech and its School of Biology are doing some incredible work in cancer research," said Dr. Skolnick. "The Institute has built a collaborative environment for meaningful interdisciplinary research especially in the areas of science, computing, and engineering. The environment cuts across schools and research centers and offers opportunities to take new ideas, scientific breakthroughs, and business applications ideas from theory to practice."

According to GRA President C. Michael Cassidy, systems biology is the foundation for the next wave of advances in biomedicine.

"Dr. Skolnick is an entrepreneurial scholar whose research is critical to the future health of Georgians and Americans," said C. Michael Cassidy, president of the Georgia Research Alliance. "He has relationships with pharmaceutical and technology companies, holds three patents, has developed and licensed software to biotech companies, and has founded an early stage structural proteomics company. This is the mix of entrepreneurialism and scholarly acumen we seek in our scholars."

Systems biology is the integration of mathematics, physics, chemistry and biology with advanced, high performance computing and engineering and is focused on exploiting the vast information growing out of the sequencing of the human genome. One practical example is that as a systems biologist, Dr. Skolnick brings a different scientific approach to creating new drugs. Utilizing bioinformatics and systems biology, his method allows drug developers to reduce the number of compounds they must screen by a factor of 10. This creates cost savings and can significantly shorten the time to market for new drugs.

Dr. Skolnick and his team will be housed in the School of Biology, a unit in the College of Sciences. As a part of his hiring, the Georgia Research Alliance will provide support for new technology and lab facilities for Dr. Skolnick and his team.

The researchers are a father and son, working together on opposite coasts. Their study findings are reported in the on-line edition of the journal Cancer Letters, found at Sciencedirect.com (quicksearch: El-Sayed nanoparticles).

"In an earlier study we showed how gold nanoparticles could be bound to malignant cells, making cancer detection easier. Now we have examined how the particles' ability to absorb light helps kill those cancer cells," said principal author Ivan El-Sayed, MD, assistant professor of otolaryngology at UCSF Medical Center.

Ivan conducted the study with his father, Mostafa El-Sayed, PhD, director of the Laser Dynamics Laboratory and chemistry professor at Georgia Tech.

Many cancer cells have a protein, known as epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), all over their surface, while healthy cells typically do not express the protein as strongly. By conjugating, or binding, the gold nanoparticles to an antibody for EGFR, suitably named anti-EGFR, the researchers were able to get the nanoparticles to specifically attach themselves to the cancer cells.

In the new study, the researchers incubated two oral squamous carcinoma cell lines and one benign epithelial cell line with anti-EFGR conjugated gold nanoparticles and then exposed them to continuous visible argon laser. "The malignant cells required less than half the laser energy to be killed than the benign cells," said Ivan. "In addition, we observed no photothermal destruction of any type of cell in the absence of gold nanoparticles at these low laser powers."

"We now have the potential to design an 'all in one' active agent that can be used to noninvasively find the cancer and then kill it," Ivan said. "This holds great promise for a number of types of cancer."

"There is the real potential to design instrumentation to allow noninvasive detection and treatment of the particles in living humans," Mostafa said. "The particles can be used to create multiple designer agents targeted toward specific cancers. Much work still needs to be done, but at some point, we hope to be able to inject these compounds into patients with cancer in a search-and-destroy mission. Finding cancers not apparent to the eye will help physicians detect cancers earlier. Exposing the cells to the correct amount of light would then cause destruction of the cancer cells only and leave the healthy cells alone."

The technique isn't toxic to human cells. "Gold nanoparticles have been used in humans for 50 years," Ivan said. "For example, in the past, a radioactive form of colloidal gold has been used to search for cancerous lymph nodes."

"Our technique is very simple and inexpensive-only a few cents worth of gold can yield results. We think it holds great promise to reduce the time, effort, and expense in cancer research, detection, and therapy in humans and under the microscope," he added.

Ivan, who sees many patients with oral cancers, hopes that in the not-too-distant future his research will pay off for his patients. "Our best chance to save lives is to catch cancer and treat it early. Our work with gold nanoparticles may result in a valuable tool in fighting not only oral cancers, but also a number of other types, including stomach, colon and skin cancers."

The research was supported by a grant from the Chemical Science, Geoscience and Biosciences Division of the U.S. Department of Energy.

On Sunday morning, December 18, 46 Georgia Tech students and three staff members will head to Mobile, AL, for a five-day trip to help residents clean up their flood damaged homes.

"We will be working in an area that was flooded by creeks as a result of the storm surge," said Sarah Brackmann, assistant director of student involvement for the Office of Community Service (OCS). "We'll be tearing sheetrock out of houses and cleaning up mold."

Civil engineering student and president of the Tech chapter of Engineering Students Without Borders Angharad Pagnon said that her group and the OCS began contacting government agencies and non-profit organizations just after Katrina hit to find the best way to provide aid. They were told there was a need on the outskirts of the damaged areas. They came in contact with an organization called Volunteer Mobile, and it was clear they needed the students' help, said Pagnon.

"This is an area that has been overlooked, so far," said Brackmann. "These are people who received funds from FEMA, but the funds didn't cover everything."

Brackmann said students will be matched with their jobs for things like roofing, drywall and painting based on their skill level. "A lot of the work we do will be flexible, as needed," she said.

To help prepare students for the experience, the Georgia Tech Research Institute held an orientation for student volunteers. They showed them photographs of the area and taught them about the potential health and safety hazards they may encounter on the site.

In addition to raising more than $50,000 for relief efforts, students and the Institute have responded to the needs of the Gulf Coast in a myriad of ways. Shortly after Katrina, Tech provided food and shelter to 275 student evacuees from Tulane University. Volunteers from Tech helped many of them get to their hometowns and assisted others who needed help finding housing in Atlanta.

Georgia Tech also opened the Coliseum for the Red Cross to use as a temporary shelter. Several volunteers from campus coordinated activities for the children at the shelter, while trained caseworkers volunteered their time to help evacuees obtain needed resources. Members of the Christian Campus Fellowship (CCF) helped provide meals to the evacuees at the shelter.

During the fall break, the Tech chapter of CCF organized a relief trip that delivered 225 student volunteers to four locations along the Gulf Coast. The organization worked with Tech's Student Health Services to provide tetanus shots for student volunteers, and the Counseling Center to provide orientation sessions.

Even though it's been months since the storms hit, Brackmann said the need for relief is ongoing. "There's still going to be a lot of need for the future. We want to do future trips over the spring and summer. That will be when we can really get to rebuilding the infrastructure in the affected areas."

This summit is the first of the regional summits that will discuss how to implement the National Innovation Initiatives recommended by a national summit last December. The Council on Competitiveness will hold its 2005 national meeting in conjunction with this southeast summit.

Georgia Tech President Wayne Clough and BellSouth CEO Duane Ackerman will welcome business, government and thought leaders to the Georgia Tech campus.
The summit will concentrate on "Exploring the South's Potential for Innovation Leadership."

More than 20 prominent CEOs, university presidents and civic leaders will discuss the South's assets and needs to make the region an innovation leader.

When: October 31, 2005 at 8 A.M. Eastern Standard Time

Where: Georgia Tech Hotel and Conference Center - Technology Square
800 Spring Street NW

Who: Prominent names in American business, labor, education and governance including:
F. Duane Ackerman, Chairman and CEO, BellSouth Corporation
Sandy K. Baruah, Acting Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development
Arden Bement Jr., Director, National Science Foundation
C. Garry Betty, President and CEO, Earthlink
James Blanchard, Chairman of the Board, Synovus
Governor Kathleen Blanco, Louisiana
Jim Clinton, Executive Director, Southern Growth Policies Board
Molly Corbett Broad, President, University of North Carolina
William Brody, Chairman, National Innovation Initiative and President, Johns Hopkins University
C. Michael Cassidy, President and CEO, Georgia Research Alliance
G. Wayne Clough, President, Georgia Institute of Technology
Emily S. DeRocco, Assistant Secretary of Labor for Employment and Training
Nicholas M. Donofrio, Executive Vice President, Innovation and Technology, IBM Corporation
Robert C. Dynes, President, University of California System
Shirley Ann Jackson, President, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
E. Floyd Kvamme, Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers
C. Dan Mote Jr., President, University of Maryland
Lori A. Perine, Executive Director, American Forest & Paper Association
Governor Sonny Purdue, Georgia
Robert Reynolds, Vice Chairman and COO, Fidelity Investments
James B. Roberto, Deputy Director for Science and Technology, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Michael C. Ruettgers, Chairman of the Board, EMC Corporation
David A. Sampson, Deputy Secretary, U.S. Department of Commerce
Charles W. Steger Jr., President, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Deborah L. Wince-Smith, President, Council on Competitiveness

Summit Agenda: http://www.southern.org/main/STC/SI2/agenda.shtml

RSVP: All members of the media interested in attending should RSVP to Georgia Tech Media Relations.

Contact:
Matt Nagel
Georgia Tech Media Relations
404-894-7460
matthew.nagel@icpa.gatech.edu

About Southern Growth Policies Board
Southern Growth Policies Board is a non-partisan public policy think tank based in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. Formed by the region's governors in 1971, Southern Growth Policies Board develops and advances visionary economic development policies by providing a forum for collaboration among a diverse cross-section of the region's governors, legislators, business and academic leaders and the economic- and community-development sectors. Supported by the governments of 13 southern states and Puerto Rico, Southern Growth provides its members, and the region, with authoritative research, discussion forums and pilot projects in the areas of technology and innovation, globalization, workforce development, community development, civic engagement and leadership. To learn more about Southern Growth Policies Board, visit www.southern.org.

About The Council on Competitiveness
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 376 members have been awarded this honor by AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 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 18 from 8 to 10 a.m. at the Fellows Forum during the 2006 AAAS Annual Meeting in St. Louis, Mo.

This year's AAAS Fellows will be announced in the AAAS News & Notes section of the journal Science on 28 October 2005.

The Fellows from Georgia Tech are:

Peter J. Webster, in the Atmospheric and Hydrospheric Sciences section, for outstanding scientific discoveries of the coupled ocean-atmosphere system and for superior scientific and organizational leadership of international field campaigns.

James L. Gole, in the Chemistry section, for fundamental studies at the interface of chemistry, physics, and materials science in high temperature molecules, laser spectroscopy, sensors, porous silicon, and nanotechnology.

Charles L. Liotta, in the Industrial Science and Technology section, for distinguished contributions to the field of physical organic chemistry and for outstanding leadership and vision in enhancing academic and industrial research partnerships.

James D. Foley, in the Information, Computing, and Communication section, for early contributions to the fields of computer graphics and user interfaces.

Willie Pearson, Jr., in the Social, Economic, and Political Sciences section, for distinguished contributions to the scholarship of diversity in science and for promotion of broadened participation of underserved populations in the sciences.

Barry Bozeman, in the Social Impacts of Science and Engineering Section for distinguished contributions to scholarship, teaching, and mentoring in science and technology policy, particularly for research in evaluating the societal implications of research.

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).

These marketing students - seniors Christin Hubbard and Matt Swanburg, junior Jason Nelson, and sophomore Vicki Rokhlin - are appearing on three segments of the five-minute program "Quad Squads," competing against four peers from the University of Georgia.

During the first segment, which debuted October 10, they learned their challenge: To see which team can devise the best marketing plan aimed at college students for Amp'd Mobile, a new phone company whose service allows customers to access broadband, play mp3s, and watch cable programs on their cellphones.

On the second segment, which began airing October 31, "Quad Squads" shows the progress the two teams have made. Pitted against each other because of their schools' longstanding athletic rivalry, the teams are competing for a $1,000 scholarship for each member, a trip to mtvU's Spring Break, and a year of free service from Amp'd. The winner will be decided during the filming of the third segment Nov. 13 when the teams make their presentations to Amp'd executives, who will consider using the winning concept in their product launch.

Though each segment is only five minutes long, mtvU has spent numerous hours filming the Tech team, recording group meetings, conducting interviews, and following each student around campus. The team's members, who were recruited by Tech marketing faculty after mtvU contacted the school, have spent many more hours off-camera formulating their strategy, a six-week process with a $2,500 budget.

"It's taken a huge chunk of time," says Rokhlin, who figures it will all be worth it if they win. She recognizes that it will make terrific resume material regardless. "This is going to look incredible."

The experience has been a "reality" check for most team members. "It's not really reality TV if you have to do everything three or four times," Nelson notes.

Broadcast on campus only in dormitories, the Student Center and Recreation Center, mtvU's "Quad Squads" can also be viewed on mtvU's Website http://www.mtvu.com/uber/index.jhtml?name=live.

Writer: Brad Dixon, College of Management

"I made a java-based application that anyone with a web browser and iTunes can go to and use this website to launch it," said Freeman. "It takes about three to four minutes to churn through everything and make a signature of their music collection. They can make it their cell phone ring tone or use it for their blog or their web page. They can email it to people. They can post it on the web page if they want."

The iTunes Signature Maker is a free software program that can run with most browsers.

Freeman is a composer by nature and said he wanted to share his passion for music. The application is a way for the average person to have a creative music experience.

"I find it pretty accurate as a representation of the type of music I listen to," said Freeman. "It is also an interesting piece of music in its own right. It is not something that stylistically would be bought in a bin at Wal-mart, but it is something that is very interesting to listen to."

Freeman said he came up with the idea because he didn't have a way to accurately tell people what his unique music tastes were. The program allows him to simply let anyone listen to the signature that depicts his tastes through music.

The program uses iTunes to select the favorite tunes or most-listened-to songs of the individual creating the signature. It then allows the user to select certain criteria for how the signature is made. The signature can run anywhere from five seconds to five minutes.

It has been a huge hit on the web and has even been featured on Marketplace, airing on public radio.

Freeman says he received a Rhizome Commission for the iTunes Signature and is proud of how many people have been touched by his latest invention.

"There have been about 36,000 hits on the website and I'm amazed," said Freeman.

The Rhizome Commissions Program is made possible by support from the Jerome Foundation in celebration of the Jerome Hill Centennial, the Greenwall Foundation, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.

For more information on iTunes Signature Maker, please visit http://www.jasonfreeman.net/itsm/.

"GTISC is committed to raising awareness and educating consumers and enterprises alike to the security issues associated with emerging and growing technologies," said Mustaque Ahamad, director of GTISC. "The Wireless Security Summit is an important forum for leading executives and experts across all areas of the wireless spectrum to come together and examine the security concerns and possible solutions for this high-growth industry. We wish to thank the executives from CNN.com, AirDefense, BellSouth, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Cingular Wireless, InterContinental Hotels Group, Internet Security Systems and RF Micro Devices for participating in the Summit and sharing their expertise with us."

Mitch Gelman, senior vice president and executive producer of CNN.com, will deliver the Summit's keynote address. Gelman will discuss the global impact and risks of wireless technologies from the perspective as one of the world's leaders in online news and information delivery.

In addition, the Summit's executive panel will examine the security challenges associated with wireless technologies and highlight potential approaches for mitigating them from the perspectives of the end user, service provider, security leader and wireless component developer. The following industry leaders will participate in the panel discussion, moderated by Steve Zimba, BellSouth's [NYSE: BLS] director of voice strategy:

· David Thomas, vice president of product management and field engineering for AirDefense;

· Jack Storey, vice president and chief information officer for Children's Healthcare of Atlanta;

· Kelly Williams, executive director, technology strategy for Cingular Wireless;

· John Copeland, the John H. Weitnauer, Jr. Technology Transfer Chair for the Georgia Tech School of Electrical and Computer Engineering;

· Gustaaf Schrils, vice president of technology for InterContinental Hotels Group [LON: IHG, NYSE: IHG (ADRs)];

· Chris Rouland, chief technology officer for Internet Security Systems [NASDAQ: ISSX]; and

· Jerry Neal, executive vice president of marketing and strategic development, and co-founder of RF Micro Devices [NASDAQ: RFMD].

The Wireless Security Summit is part of GTISC's semi-annual security summit series. In addition to raising security awareness within the technology industry, the summit series enables GTISC researchers to define and develop new research efforts for security challenges that are prevalent in today's technology-driven environment. For more information about the GTISC Wireless Security Summit and its participants, please visit http://gtisc.gatech.edu.

About GTISC
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.

Georgia Tech Alumni Association Chairman William J. "Bill" Goodhew and Alumni President Joseph P. Irwin welcomed the 68 club officers representing 48 alumni clubs from around the country who attended the annual conference held Oct. 6 and 7. The event is a forum that promotes innovative strategies and techniques for building stronger organizations.

Awards were presented to alumni clubs that excelled in competitive activities, including scholarship participation and Roll Call support. Twenty clubs advanced through the Alumni Clubs' tier program: Arizona; California's Orange County and San Diego; Florida's Emerald Coast, Central Florida, Fort Myers/Naples, Miami and Palm Beaches; West Georgia, Athens, Augusta, LaGrange and Marietta, Ga.; Indianapolis; Motor City, Mich.; Twin Cities, Minn.; Gateway (St. Louis); Cincinnati; and Chattanooga and Memphis, Tenn.

Ramblin' Wreck Volunteer of the Year awards were presented to Troy W. Rice, IE 01, president of the Palm Beach, Fla., club, and Murray L. Schine, Text 68, LaGrange, Ga., club president.

"Normally, in most catalytic reactions, water can stop the reaction. It kills the catalyst," said Uzi Landman, director of the Center for Computational Materials Science, Regents' and Institute professor and Callaway chair of physics at Georgia Tech.

And that's a big problem because ensuring that a reaction is water-free can add to production costs. Many catalytic reactions occur at high temperatures, which evaporates the water, said Landman. "However, any time that the reaction temperature is lowered and there's humidity unfavorable effects may occur. You hope that when you heat the reaction up that the adsorbed water will come off, but sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes the adsorption of water leads to an irreversible modification, such as oxidation, and deactivation of the catalyst. It's poison; it poisons the catalyst," he said.

In the late 1980's, Japanese scientist Masatake Haruta discovered that small particles of gold (which is chemically inert in bulk form and normally not a catalyst) are chemically very reactive. He also found that water can promote this catalytic activity.

Since the late 1990's, Landman's group has been using advanced quantum mechanical computational methods to investigate how and why nanoclusters of gold act as chemical catalysts under dry conditions. This led to certain predictions that were verified experimentally by Ulrich Heiz's group, who is now at the Technical University of Munich.

Earlier this year, the two groups co-authored a paper in the journal Science. It showed theoretical and experimental evidence of the role of charging on the catalytic activity of gold nanoclusters made of eight atoms when they are bonded to naturally occurring oxygen vacancy defects on a magnesia surface that supports the gold. In the recent Physical Review Letters paper, the Georgia Tech group has made theoretical predictions on how a single water molecule can catalytically enhance a low-temperature reaction that turns carbon monoxide into carbon dioxide.

Using computer simulations, Landman and post doctoral fellow Angelo Bongiorno, found that the water molecule enhances the binding of an oxygen molecule to an eight atom gold nanocluster, either free or supported on an undefective magnesia substrate. The water molecule catalytically activates the aforementioned oxidation reaction of carbon monoxide. In the earlier studies on gold nanoclusters, defects in the support surface were required to give the gold a slight negative charge. In this latest study, the presence of a water molecule makes that requirement unnecessary.

Here's how it works: the structure of the water molecule, H-O-H, is such that the end with the oxygen atom has a slight negative charge, while the two hydrogen atoms are positively charged. In the quantum molecular dynamics simulation, the negatively charged oxygen side of the water molecule bonds to one of the gold atoms, leaving the positively charged hydrogens of the water molecule dangling. Subsequently, an oxygen molecule (made of two oxygen atoms) binds favorably to a neighboring gold atom of the cluster and gets a slight negative charge in the process.

This results in an adsorbed slightly negatively charged oxygen molecule near one of the positively charged hydrogen atoms of the adsorbed water molecule. Since, in chemistry, (as in love) opposites attract, the two get together. So the oxygen pulls a proton (a positively charged hydrogen) from the water molecule resulting in formation of a hydroperoxyl (OOH) group and a hydroxyl (OH).

Now, this relationship can't last because the addition of the hydrogen to the oxygen molecule to form OOH weakens the bond between the two oxygen atoms. All it takes to break that bond is a carbon monoxide molecule approaching from the gas phase, which bonds to one of the oxygens of the OOH to form carbon dioxide. This leaves the proton to return to the hydroxyl to reform the water molecule. The product carbon dioxide desorbes readily from the surface, and the left over oxygen atom stays bonded to the gold. But this single oxygen atom is very active (as singles often are) and is easily led away when another carbon monoxide comes along to bond with it to make a second carbon dioxide molecule.

"This reaction opens the door to a completely new idea; that polar molecules, like water, or molecules that are good proton donors may show us new channels of reactivity," said Landman. "We may be able to take other catalytic reactions and use water as a promoter under some selective conditions," added Bongiorno.

"In the future, we want to test the effect of multiple water molecules to see if there is a limit to how many water molecules can enhance reactions. In this case, we used magnesium oxide as a substrate. We'd like to know if the effect limited to that substrate or will it work with others?," the two researchers said.

Caption:

Illustration of reaction turning carbon monoxide (CO) into carbon dioxide (CO₂) using a water molecule (H₂0) to enhance the catalytic activity of an eight-atom nanocluster of gold. Color key: oxygen atoms = red; hydrogen atoms = white; carbon atoms = aquamarine; gold atoms = gold; and magnesium atoms = green.

(a) H₂0 (in red and white) approaches a nanocluster of eight gold atoms supported on a defect-free magnesium oxide surface.
(b) The oxygen atom of the H₂0 binds to the gold, leaving its positively charged hydrogen atoms dangling. Meanwhile an oxygen molecule (O₂) bonds to the gold at another location with one of the oxygen attached directly to the gold cluster. The adsorbed oxygen molecule acquires a slight negative charge. An approaching CO molecule (red and green) is shown at the top.
(c) The dangling end of the oxygen molecule attracts a positively charged hydrogen atom off the H20 resulting in a hydroperoxyl group (OOH) and leaving a hydroxyl (OH) where H₂0 was.
(d) The carbon atom of the CO binds to the OOH, which causes the hydrogen atom to head on its way to join back with the OH to reform H₂0.

Universities across the country are playing a unique role in the relief effort by providing shelter, resources and comfort to those who were affected by Katrina's devastation. The Georgia Tech community has offered its services and talents to help evacuees through a difficult time.

President Wayne Clough says he's proud of the University and the Atlanta community for their efforts to help out.

"The Georgia Tech community has made a great effort to respond quickly and diligently to the needs of the evacuees from Katrina," said Clough. "Our Students, faculty and staff demonstrated a deep sense of humanity in their caring approach to helping those who have been impacted by the hurricane. I've never been more proud of Georgia Tech."

The Institute has opened its doors to evacuees from the Gulf Coast. Among the first evacuees to Tech were 275 students from Tulane University that arrived on campus needing food and shelter. Some Tulane students remain in the area, while others have moved on to family or friends for their accommodations.

Georgia Tech has enrolled 65 students from Tulane and the University of New Orleans. There are more students that maybe processed in the coming days and weeks. The College of Architecture has accepted seven Tulane students into its program at Georgia Tech. Not all of them are registered yet, but they are attending classes. Mechanical Engineering has accepted five graduate students as transient students for the fall semester. Biomedical Engineering has accepted two undergraduates and one graduate student from Tulane.

Justin Harper, a computer science student, created a Web Site (www.katrina-survivor.com) to help evacuees locate family members and friends. There are over 14,000 survivors registered.

Several fund-raising campaigns are underway to help with the relief effort. The Office of Community Service is encouraging students to donate $5 and faculty, staff and alumni to donate $10 to the relief efforts. Their goal is to raise $50,000 across the campus community.

As part of the effort, several student organizations have signed up to collect monetary donations on the Skiles Walkway from September 6 - September 20. In addition, money was collected at the University of North Carolina home game. Students will continue raising funds at the University of Connecticut game on Saturday, September 17. Students are also collecting clothes and other supplies to send to those in need.

The Georgia Tech community has played a large part in helping the Red Cross at the Georgia Tech Coliseum. Several volunteers from campus coordinated activities for the children at the shelter, while trained caseworkers and volunteered their time to help evacuees obtain needed resources. Members of the Campus Christian Fellowship helped provide meals to the evacuees at the shelter.

Clough says he knows Georgia Tech will be ready to help throughout the rebuilding process.

"There will be more challenges for the Georgia Tech community to meet in the coming weeks, months and years. I know our institution is up to the task, and we'll be ready to lend a helping hand when we are needed."

Plans are already underway to make trips later this school year to help rebuild the region devastated by Katrina.

The College of Architecture has initiated discussions to offer Tulane architecture faculty members visiting scholar status for the semester and possible part-time employment.

Materials Science and Engineering is assisting several University of New Orleans professors in getting NSF funding needed to continue their research at Tech. NSF is preparing guidelines so that displaced professors can work. These professors have previously worked with Professor Z.L. Wang, who is exploring the possibility of having them work out of the Tech campus.

"I'm delighted that Mei-Yin has accepted the position as chair," said Provost Jean-Lou Chameau. "She is an exceptional scholar and has great leadership potential. I am excited about the future of the physics program under her leadership and look forward to supporting her drive toward continued success."

Chou said one of the first orders of business will be to continue the growth of the School. Work is being done to build a biophysics program that she hopes to have in place within the next few years.

"In the past, the traditional way of looking at bio-related phenomena has been by using the biologist's point-of-view," she explained. "But there's a way physics can contribute: mainly by using experimental techniques developed for physics as well as applying methods in theoretical physics to the study of biological systems."

Working with the faculty, Chou said the School plans to identify one or two more areas for expansion as well as strengthen existing research groups by hiring faculty members who "define the field."

The School of Physics currently has 27 full-time academic faculty members. Chou said she hopes to increase that to about 40 in five to seven years.

"Physics must continue to play a vital role in the institutional development of Georgia Tech by performing frontier research and by providing an outstanding educational environment," she said. "Our strengths are that we have very good faculty members and scientists. This is a good intellectual group. We want to improve the community so faculty and students will feel this is a productive environment. I'm a strong believer that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts."

"Students are interested in making their degrees stand out, and they see the merits of joint degrees with rewards in the marketplace," says Molly Cochran, associate profess and director of undergraduate programs in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs. "The Economics and International Affairs graduate will have strong policy analysis skills as well as strong math, science and computer science skills, making them very attractive to employers."

Students will be required to take two senior capstone courses, jointly taught by International Affairs and Economics professors, providing students with a unique perspective on theory and research in the field.

"The new Economics and International affairs degree leverages the strengths of the faculty in both schools," said Willie Belton, associate professor and undergraduate director in the School of Economics. "In Economics we have a significant number of faculty who focus on international economics and international development and in International Affairs many of their faculty's expertise are in political economies of specific countries and regions."

"When you study international affairs, your level of analysis is usually the nation state, and you really can't conceive of the nation state as a political entity without understanding the role that economics plays," says Andrew Miles, a senior who recently changed his major from International Affairs to Economics and International Affairs. "I took three economics courses before I knew this new major existed. The practical side of me felt that adding economics to my degree would make me more marketable in the private sector."

The new EIA joint degree is the newest of several new joint degrees offered by schools in Ivan Allen College, including bachelor's degrees in International Affairs and Modern Languages, Global Economics and Modern Languages, and Computational Media.

Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts
Ivan Allen College, the liberal arts college of Georgia Tech, was founded in 1990 to provide a strong liberal arts dimension for all Tech students and to permit focused majors in humanities and social sciences, with an international, technological and professional emphasis. The College is named for the late Ivan Allen Jr., who represented the essence of "the new South" and, among other achievements, is credited with helping ease racial tension in Atlanta during his two terms as mayor. Ivan Allen College includes the Schools of Economics; History, Technology and Society; the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs; Literature, Communication and Culture; Modern Languages; and Public Policy as well as Air Force, Army, and Navy Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) units.

Though it might not have been a relaxing week, the students realized that even the basic engineering skills they had learned in their studies so far could help transform a community in a developing country.

"I learned more in a few days than I could have learned in a year of school," said Laura Premenko, an undergraduate student majoring in both civil engineering and architecture. "We saw the conditions, saw how everything works, and we measured and dug holes. We tangibly figured out what needed to be done."

The students were all members of the Georgia Tech chapter of Engineering Students Without Borders (ESWB), a national student organization that encourages students to lend their engineering know-how to communities in developing countries. The group included Michael Saunders, a professor in Georgia Tech's School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, four undergraduate students and one graduate student.

Residents in the area, in a community near La Lima called Colonia Los Angeles, had appealed to the national organization of ESWB for help with its very basic and possibly contaminated water system. The area had annexed itself from the main city, electing to handle its own utilities due to the difficult expense of obtaining services from the city. To save money, the community installed and now maintains its own water system, complete with an elevated water tower, submerged pump in an available well and a PVC-pipe distribution system.

The project goal was to bring much cleaner water to 185 homes (with about 1,200 residents) in the community. When the Georgia Tech group arrived, the community asked them to help with three primary objectives - checking its pump, fixing the power and improving the distribution system. It was also using a very old and inadequate water tower that made improvement difficult, Saunders said.

With the current water system, the community can afford to provide itself with water five hours in the morning and three hours in the afternoon. When water is unavailable, residents store water in their pila (multi-purpose basins) or buckets. Without these waters, they would have to go down to a nearby river. But the river is dangerously contaminated with untreated wastewater from the community, which is dumped directly into the river from the sewer.

This became one of the group's top priorities.

"The sewage goes right into the creek that runs alongside the town," Premenko said. "When they don't have water, they go to the creek. We would even see kids playing there and eating mangos - it was horrible."

While in Honduras, the students gathered as much data as possible, focusing on site assessment, pipe and distribution-system measurements, and extensive water-quality investigations of well water and water in the distribution system. And with friendly help from many of the community's children and adults, the ESWB students also managed to establish a map the entire area during their visit.

Once the total water project cost has been assessed based on the findings, the group can determine how much additional funding they will need to complete various aspects of the project. The system may need a new water tower, a completely new piping system, a disinfection approach for the water, a well capacity study and possibly a new pumping system. To implement as many improvements as possible, the students developed a fundraising package to help drum up extra funding from businesses and organizations.

"That's one of the things I liked most about this project," said Brenda Vargas, an undergraduate student of civil engineering and out-going president of the Georgia Tech chapter of ESWB. "It involves so many aspects of being an engineer. You're going out and helping someone, you're doing engineering, you're doing management, and you're finding a way to pay for it."

To complete their summer activities, students on the site assessment team made a technical presentation at the annual conference of the Georgia Association of Water Professionals in July. The team is seeking input and technical assistance and oversight from them and other professionals across the state, region and United States.

The next step of the project will be a feasibility assessment to determine the best way to solve the community's water problems. The group has tentative plan to return to La Lima later this year or early next year to focus on implementing solutions for the problems they found during the summer trip.

The trip was both a valuable learning experience for students and a way to open engineering students' eyes to how they can use their knowledge to improve lives, Saunders said, and students in institutions like Georgia Tech can be an important tool.

"These communities really need a bunch of 'talented techies' to solve their problems, and we've got plenty at Georgia Tech," Saunders said.

Barbara D. Boyan, the Price Gilbert Jr. Chair in Tissue Engineering in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University, deputy director of research for the Georgia Tech/Emory Center for the Engineering of Living Tissues and a Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar, was selected as a Top Innovator in science.

Boyan joined the faculty of the Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering in 2002 as the Price Gilbert Jr. Chair in Tissue Engineering and is an adjunct professor in the Department of Orthopedics at Emory University. She is a Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar and deputy director of research at the Georgia Tech-Emory Center for the Engineering of Living Tissue. She is the founder of the Biomedical Development Corp. and OsteoBiologics, Inc.

A recognized authority on bone mineralization, Boyan is among the leading researchers working in the area of bone and cartilage cell biology in the field of orthopedic and oral health. Boyan's research interests involve the mechanism of action of hormones and growth factors in chondrocytes, which form cartilage, and osteoblasts, which are bone-forming cells; normal and pathologic calcification; tissue engineering; and response of cells to biomaterials.

Elizabeth D. Mynatt, associate professor in the College of Computing and director of the Graphics, Visualization and Usability (GVU) Center at Georgia Tech, has been named the Top Innovator in technology by Atlanta Woman Magazine.

Mynatt is an internationally recognized expert in the areas of ubiquitous computing and assistive technologies - examining the social and design implications of having computer technology continuously present in many aspects of everyday life. As one of the principal researchers in the Aware Home Research Initiative, she investigates the design of future home technologies, especially those that enable older adults to continue living independently as opposed to moving to an institutional care setting. Mynatt has also played a pivotal role in creating the new Ph.D. program in Human-Centered Computing (HCC) - the first program of its kind that brings together studies in human-computer interaction (HCI), learning sciences and technology, cognitive science, artificial intelligence, robotics, software engineering, and information security.

Mynatt was recently appointed director of the Georgia Tech Graphics, Visualization and Usability Center, a campus-wide research center dedicated to creating computer technologies that naturally enhance the abilities of people and enable new human endeavors. She is also responsible for graduate educational programs that merge studies of human needs and capabilities with emerging computing technologies, including a highly regarded HCI Master's Degree Program that bridges computing, psychology, design and communication and the new Ph.D. Program in Human-Centered Computing.

"Beth Mynatt started a technology revolution, says College of Computing Dean Rich DeMillo. Over the last decade a lot of people have studied ways to make information technology more 'user friendly,' but Beth was the first to ask how technology would change if we started with the needs, desires and limitations of human users. You can see her influence everywhere as she has had a transformational effect on the field."

Mynatt is a Sloan Research Fellow and her research is supported by multiple grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF) including a five-year NSF CAREER award. She has chaired multiple conferences on computer interface technologies and auditory displays, and published numerous articles as an active leader in her field.

Mynatt and Boyan are two of ten metro Atlanta women featured as "Top Innovators" in the July/August 2005 issue of Atlanta Woman Magazine. "We considered women from a broad cross-section of the 20 counties that make up our readership," said editor in chief Echo Garrett. "Ultimately, we chose the inventors, agents of change and innovative women who have had major breakthroughs in their respective fields including: Technology, Medicine, Science, Law, Arts and Entertainment, Education, Government, Manufacturing and Finance."

Peter Webster, professor at Georgia Tech's School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, along with NCAR's Greg Holland and Tech's Judith Curry and Hai-Ru Chang, studied the number, duration and intensity of hurricanes (also known as typhoons or tropical cyclones) that have occurred worldwide from 1970 to 2004. The study was supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF).

"What we found was rather astonishing," said Webster. "In the 1970's, there was an average of about 10 Category 4 and 5 hurricanes per year globally. Since 1990, the number of Category 4 and 5 hurricanes has almost doubled, averaging 18 per year globally."

Category 4 hurricanes have sustained winds from 131 to 155 miles per hour; Category 5 systems, such as Hurricane Katrina at its peak over the Gulf of Mexico, feature winds of 156 mph or more.

"This long period of sustained intensity change provides an excellent basis for further work to understand and predict the potential responses of tropical cyclones to changing environmental conditions", said NCAR's Holland.

"Category 4 and 5 storms are also making up a larger share of the total number of hurricanes," said Curry, chair of the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Georgia Tech and co-author of the study. "Category 4 and 5 hurricanes made up about 20 percent of all hurricanes in the 1970's, but over the last decade they account for about 35 percent of these storms."

The largest increases in the number of intense hurricanes occurred in the North Pacific, Southwest Pacific and the North and South Indian Oceans, with slightly smaller increases in the North Atlantic Ocean.

All this is happening as sea-surface temperatures are rising across the globe-anywhere from around one-half to one degree Fahrenheit, depending on the region, for hurricane seasons since the 1970's.

"Our work is consistent with the concept that there is a relationship between increasing sea surface temperature and hurricane intensity," said Webster. "However, it's not a simple relationship. In fact, it's difficult to explain why the total number of hurricanes and their longevity has decreased during the last decade, when sea surface temperatures have risen the most."

"NCAR is now embarking on a focused series of computer experiments capable of resolving thunderstorms and the details of tropical cyclones," said Holland. "The results will help explain the observed intensity changes and extend them to realistic climate change scenarios."

The only region that is experiencing more hurricanes overall is the North Atlantic, where they have become more numerous and longer-lasting, especially since 1995. The North Atlantic has averaged eight to nine hurricanes per year in the last decade, compared to the six to seven per year before the increase. Category 4 and 5 hurricanes in the North Atlantic have increased at an even faster clip: from 16 in the period of 1975-89 to 25 in the period of 1990-2004, a rise of 56 percent.

A study published in July in the journal Nature came to a similar conclusion. Focusing on North Atlantic and North Pacific hurricanes, Kerry Emanuel (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) found an increase in their duration and power, although it used a different measurement to determine a storm's power.

But whether all of this is due to human-induced global warming is still uncertain, said Webster. "We need a longer data record of hurricane statistics, and we need to understand more about the role hurricanes play in regulating the heat balance and circulation in the atmosphere and oceans."

"Basic physical reasoning and climate model simulations and projections motivated this study," said Jay Fein, director of NSF's climate and large scale dynamics program, which funded the research. "These results will stimulate further research into the complex natural and anthropogenic processes influencing these tropical cyclone trends and characteristics."

Webster is currently attempting to determine the basic role of hurricanes in the climate of the planet. "The thing they do more than anything is cool the oceans by evaporating the water and then redistributing the oceans' tropical heat to higher latitudes," he said.

"But we don't know a lot about how evaporation from the oceans' surface works when the winds get up to around 100 miles per hour, as they do in hurricanes," said Webster, who adds that this physical understanding will be crucial to connecting trends in hurricane intensity to overall climate change.

"If we can understand why the world sees about 85 named storms a year and not, for example, 200 or 25, then we might be able to say that what we're seeing is consistent with what we'd expect in a global warming scenario. Without this understanding, a forecast of the number and intensity of tropical storms in a future warmer world would be merely statistical extrapolation."

Addtional Contacts:

Anatta, Media Relations
anatta@ucar.edu
303-497-8604
National Center for Atmospheric Research/University Corporation for Atmospheric Research

Cheryl Dybas, Public Affairs
cdybas@nsf.gov
703-292-7734
National Science Foundation

Tech was ranked No. 1 in Baccalaureate degrees awarded to African-American engineering students for the 2003-2004 school year with 126 degrees, up from No. 2 last year. Tech remained on top for master's degrees awarded to African-American students in engineering, rising to 34 degrees from 31 the previous school year.

Other top five bachelor degree producers include No. 2 North Carolina A&T State University with 110 degrees awarded; No. 3 Tennessee State University with 102; No. 4 Florida A&M University with 81; and No. 5 North Carolina State University at Raleigh with 79.

In engineering Ph.D. degrees awarded to African-American students during the 2003-2004 school year, Tech rose to No. 1, up 700 percent to 16 graduates from 2 graduates the previous school year.

"These rankings confirm Georgia Tech's strong commitment to attracting and graduating minority students in engineering and science," said Georgia Tech President Wayne Clough. "Given the growing need in our state and around the nation for talented citizens, we are proud of Georgia Tech's role as a national leader in creating and maintaining a supportive educational environment for minority students."

Considered by Georgia Tech to be an important tool to measure the success of campus diversity endeavors, the Black Issues rankings underscore Tech's efforts to create a diverse campus through strong recruitment and retention practices, rather than relying on quotas to boost minority enrollment.

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 15th 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.

Black Issues, 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 14 edition of Black Issues. Undergraduate statistics were released in the magazine's June 2 edition.

This gap is being filled by a Health Impact Assessment, or HIA, of the proposed Atlanta Beltline that is being conducted by Center for Quality Growth and Regional Development in the College of Architecture at Georgia Tech, with assistance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (C.D.C.) and funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

The Beltline project would convert a partly abandoned railroad that circles downtown Atlanta into a transit corridor and multi-use trail connected to an expanded city park system and targeted areas for redevelopment.

CQGRD and CDC are using HIA tools-techniques applied in many European countries-to ascertain the potential health impacts of the Beltline project. The HIA will identify both positive and negative impacts, paying special attention to the distribution of effects to determine whether at-risk populations are subject to particular negative impacts.

"The Beltline assessment is an opportunity to place health considerations at the forefront of the policy and project decision-making process," said Catherine L. Ross, Harry West Professor and Director of CQGRD.

The Beltline HIA will be completed by the end of 2006 and the findings will be disseminated to local officials and the public.

###

The Center for Quality Growth and Regional Development (CQGRD) is dedicated to the study, dissemination, and implementation of ideas and technology that improve the theory and practice of quality growth. Established in 2003, the Center is a research arm of the Georgia Institute of Technology's College of Architecture. [www.coa.gatech.edu/cqgrd]

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is the nation's largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to improving the health and health care of all Americans. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation works with a diverse group of organizations and individuals to identify solutions and achieve comprehensive, meaningful, and timely change. [www.rwjf.org]

"What we realize is that you can take these opportunities to another level to allow our students the ability to take advantage of all the assets and resources that we have at Georgia Tech," said President Wayne Clough. "I think the exciting thing about both of these programs is that they can be shaped around the students' majors, but they tend to push the students out of those majors into something bigger."

Georgia Tech's current goal is to have 100 students enrolled in the International Plan by the end of this school year with five-year goal of getting 50 percent of the student body participating in an international experience by the time they graduate. Currently there are 77 students enrolled in the International Plan, and Associate Provost for Institutional Development Jack Lohmann believes the International Plan will help set Georgia Tech apart from its peers.

"There are only three universities that have about a third of their students involved in some sort of international experience (Cornell University, Stanford University, and Georgia Tech)," said Lohmann. "If we hit our goal of 50 percent of our students graduating with an international experience, we're going to be leaps and bounds above everyone else."

If Georgia Tech is able to reach its goal of 300 students enrolled in the International Plan within five years, there will be an increase in demand for foreign language classes. The International Plan calls for students to do a combination of studying abroad, working abroad (Co-Op or Internship) as well as foreign language classes.

School of Modern Languages Chair Phil McKnight believes his department is ready for the challenge. "The International Plan has funding in place to allow us to grow," said McKnight. "We are prepared to prioritize any student who is in the International Plan to get into language classes that they want."

Lohmann believes that the two years worth of hard work have made the program worthwhile.

"I think we've come up with the national standard. As I travel and give talks and presentations on what we're doing, it is very clear that no one else is doing anything like this," said Lohmann. "I think it is going to position Georgia Tech competitively."

A new program of MTV's mtvU network, which is broadcasted on college campuses nationwide, "Quad Squads" features the Tech and UGA students in three episodes competing to see which team can devise the best marketing plan for Amp'd Mobile, a new phone company whose service allows customers to access the Internet, play mp3s, and watch streaming video on their mobile phones.

The Tech team - seniors Christin Hubbard and Matt Swanburg, junior Jason Nelson and sophomore Vicki Rokhlin - learned they'd won during taping of the final episode November 13 after presenting their plan to marketing and advertising executives for Amp'd.

Their prize package includes a $1,000 scholarship for each team member, a trip to mtvU's Spring Break and a year of free service from Amp'd. The victory episode will continue airing regularly until Dec. 4, and all three five-minute shows will be available online indefinitely at mtvU's Website http://www.mtvu.com/uber/. Then, click on the green "enter here" bar and scroll through the list of shows.

"We always thought we were going to win," Swanburg says. But he concedes that viewers might have made a different prediction after the second episode aired October 31 (the first was on October 10).

"They portrayed us as underdogs in the second episode," Hubbard says, explaining that the team didn't want to reveal too many of their marketing ideas to their competitors, so the University of Georgia appeared out front at that point.

Team members say they learned to be careful about what they said on camera after the first episode when they saw how editing could be used to play up inter-group friction. "They could get things out of us, get us to say things," Hubbard says.

Filming proved to be a "reality" check for the team in other ways. "For example, we could sit here and talk with mtvU filming us," Hubbard elaborates, "and if they liked something, they would say, 'Stop, say that again. You move over here; the light wasn't right.'"

"It's not really reality TV if you have to do everything three or four times," Nelson adds.

He and his team members didn't know each other before mtvU selected them for the show after Tech marketing faculty encouraged students to audition. Show producers approached Georgia Tech and UGA because they wanted to pit schools with existing rivalries against each other.

Though each episode of "Quad Squads" is short, mtvU spent hours filming the Tech team, recording group meetings, conducting interviews, and following each student around campus. Team members spent many more hours off-camera formulating their strategy, a six-week process for which mtvU provided a $2,500 budget.

The team didn't know what the challenge was until taping began, but they knew it would involve marketing. The show's producers estimated it would only take ten hours a week of the students' time, but the amount proved to be much greater (approximately 120 hours total). "I had to quit a weekend job at Red Lobster for this," Nelson says.

During the home stretch, the team worked more than twenty-four hours straight. "I was really impressed with how well we came together in the last twenty-four hours," Rokhlin says. "It was a really stressful situation, but it was so fun!"

For their marketing plan to reach the eighteen- to twenty-four-year-old demographic desired by Amp'd, they created a variety of materials with the help of design students, including print-quality advertisements, a super-hero mascot and an elaborate model of an interactive tent booth for marketing the product's high-tech features at college sporting events.

Their market research showed that Amp'd would have to move beyond traditional media to reach this demographic, so their strategy included commericals shown in movie theaters and ads printed on pizza delivery boxes. All of their suggested promotional efforts were designed to drive people to the company's Web site, where they could learn more about the phone.

"Their whole presentation was very polished," says Fred Johnson, vice president of marketing for Amp'd who judged the contest. "What stood out overall was their professionalism and attention to detail. When they brought out the mockup of the booth, it blew us away. In a lot of professional presentations, they leave you with one last thing. They had three or four last things."

Despite all their hard work, Tech's team members haven't gained much fame from the show, because mtvU is only broadcasted to college dormitories and campus buildings like student and recreation centers. But they figure their most important audience is composed of the employers who will be impressed to see this experience on their resumes. "This is going to look incredible," Rokhlin says.

Writer: Brad Dixon, College of Management

Stuart Goldberg, assistant professor in the School of Modern Languages, will research "Mandelstam, Blok and the Boundaries of Mythopoetic Symbolism" at the Russian State Humanities University in Moscow, Russia.

David Goldsman, professor in the School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, will teach computer simulation at Bogazici University in Bebek-Istanbul, Turkey.

Fei-Ling Wang, associate professor in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs, will teach "U.S. Foreign Policy and a Possible East Asian Community: American Studies and U.S.-East Asian Relations" at Yonsei University in Seoul, Korea.

Goldberg, Goldsman and Wang are three of approximately 850 U.S. faculty and professionals who will travel abroad to some 150 countries for the 2005-2006 academic year through the Fulbright Scholar Program. Established in 1946 under legislation introduced by the late Senator J. William Fulbright of Arkansas, the program's purpose is to build mutual understanding between the people of the United States and other countries.

The Fulbright Program, America's flagship international educational exchange activity, is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Over its 59 years of existence, thousands of U.S. faculty and professionals have studied, taught or done research abroad, and thousands of their counterparts from other countries have engaged in similar activities in the United States. They are among more than 265,000 American and foreign university students, K-12 teachers, and university faculty and professionals who have participated in one of the several Fulbright exchange programs.

Recipients of Fulbright Scholar awards are selected on the basis of academic or professional achievement and because they have demonstrated extraordinary leadership potential in their fields. Among thousands of prominent U.S. Fulbright Scholar alumni are Milton Friedman, Nobel Laureate in Economics; James Watson, co-discoverer of the structure of DNA and Nobel Laureate in Medicine; Rita Dove, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet; and Craig Barrett, CEO of Intel Corporation.

The article describes work by, among other scientists, physicist Turgay Uzer of the Georgia Institute of Technology, mathematician Jerrold Marsden of the California Institute of Technology and engineer Shane Ross of the University of Southern California.

Imagine a group of celestial bodies-say, the Sun, the Earth, and a Spacecraft-moving along paths determined by their mutual gravitational attraction. The mathematical theory of dynamical systems describes how the bodies move in relation to one another. In such a celestial system, the tangle of gravitational forces creates tubular "highways" in the space between the bodies. If the spacecraft enters one of the highways, it is whisked along without the need to use very much energy. With help from mathematicians, engineers and physicists, the designers of the Genesis spacecraft mission used such highways to propel the craft to its destinations with minimal use of fuel.

In a surprising twist, it turns out that some of the same phenomena occur on the smaller, atomic scale. This can be quantified in the study of what are known as "transition states", which were first
employed in the field of chemical dynamics. One can imagine transition states as barriers that need to be crossed in order for chemical reactions to occur (for "reactants" to be turned into "products"). Understanding the geometry of these barriers provides insights not only into the nature of chemical reactions but also into the shape of the "highways" in celestial systems.

The connection between atomic and celestial dynamics arises because the same equations govern the movement of bodies in celestial systems and the energy levels of electrons in simple systems-and these equations are believed to apply to more complex molecular systems as well. This similarity carries over to the problems' transition states; the difference is that which constitutes a "reactant" and a "product" is interpreted differently in the two applications. The presence of the same underlying mathematical description is what unifies these concepts. Because of this unifying description, the article states, "The orbits used to design space missions thus also determine the ionization rates of atoms and chemical-reaction rates of molecules!" The mathematics that unites these two very different kinds of problems is not only of great theoretical interest for mathematicians, physicists, and chemists, but also has practical engineering value in space mission design and chemistry.

"I spent a semester observing TAs in their classes, talking with professors and students to see what we might do to improve the situation," said Cathy Jacobson, English as a Second Language consultant/instructor in the School of Mathematics.

The situation was that some math students had difficulty understand and communicating with the TAs whose native language wasn't English. With the variety of native languages spoken by international TAs, including Russian, Mandarin Chinese and Spanish, to name a few, language differences had the potential to be a big problem.

"There were also cultural conflicts as to what was expected in the classroom, how much interaction there should be and how to successfully implement question and answer sessions," recalled Jacobson.

From her observations, Jacobson devised a curriculum that is now a two-semester-long- course made up of a combination of classroom instruction, small group and one-on-one tutorials, with feedback from videotaped lessons, audiotaped assignments and students.

It wasn't just international TAs who stood to benefit from an organized training program, said Klara Grodzinsky, who teaches the fall semester of the program as an instructor in the School of Mathematics. Since TAs conduct a large amount of the problem solving, teaching and grading for a lecture class, it's essential that they be up to the task.

"I felt like our TAs didn't have a real centralized training program," said Grodzinsky. "We had one for the International TAs, but not for the rest."

So Grodzinsky devised a five-class course that began in the fall of 2000 that has since grown to a full semester. "We expanded it the next fall, because we didn't have enough time to cover all the topics we wanted to discuss," she said.

It's that kind of flexibility to alter the course based on the needs of the students that has helped make the program a success, said Rena Brakebill, assistant undergraduate coordinator in the School of Mathematics and instructor of the spring TA program. "We change the class each term based on the feedback from the TAs and the results of the student surveys."

In addition to classroom and video lessons, the program has begun incorporating microteaching, in which TAs prepare a 10-minute lesson and get feedback from their peers.

One of the biggest lessons new TAs learn is how to discourage and prevent cheating.

"The TAs we get are students who have some of the highest grade point averages. It never occurred to them to cheat and so many of them aren't aware of how to discourage it," said Brakebill.

The course also provides a way for new TAs to network and learn from each other's experiences.

"We have a few sections where we have case studies," said Brakebill. "What the TAs have found surprising is that many of them find different solutions based on their background. They learn to make judgments based on what the rules are."

What once was a short course devoted to helping international TAs has grown to become a model for TA instruction across campus. The program's success has prompted the Center for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning to use it as a template for a new course for all undergraduate TAs at Georgia Tech.

"Nitric oxide is produced by the body to fight infections. We discovered a mechanism that allows bacterial cells to detect nitric oxide and turn it into something that's harmless to the cell," said Stephen Spiro, associate professor in the School of Biology at Georgia Tech.

Spiro, along with colleagues Benoît D'Autréauz, Nicholas Tucker and Ray Dixon from the John Innes Centre, studied a non-pathogenic strain of Escherichia coli, which is very closely related to salmonella bacteria.

The pathogenic forms of E. coli and salmonella are usually transmitted to humans through undercooked meat, unwashed vegetables and cross contamination from surfaces on which these foods were prepared. Infections from either of these organisms can cause diarrhea, abdominal cramps and sometimes more serious illnesses that require hospitalization. E.coli doesn't respond well to antibiotics, while salmonella has developed several drug-resistant strains. Learning how the bacteria handle the body's immune response is the first step in developing more effective medicines.

Spiro and colleagues focused their study on the NorR protein and the role it plays in reducing the levels of nitric oxide. In response to nitric oxide, NorR binds to DNA in order to regulate expression of an enzyme that reduces the amount of nitric oxide in the bacteria. Since nitric oxide binds to metals, the researchers suspected that there might be a metal in the protein.

"It turns out that the protein NorR contains a single molecule of iron," said Spiro. "Our study found that the nitric oxide binds to the iron, which in turn activates the protein."

Once activated, the protein controls expression of the norVW genes. These genes encode an enzyme that removes the nitric oxide, allowing the bacteria to fend off the body's defenses.

The discovery of this mechanism is just the first step in what Spiro hopes will be a line of research aimed at disrupting the mechanism by which the bacteria rids itself of the poisonous nitric oxide.

"If we can interfere with the mechanism, it could lead to better antibiotics and better treatments," said Spiro.

The research was funded by a grant from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council.

"I feel that a lot of really good basic science research just stays in the laboratory when it could be out there helping patients," said Haynes, a senior in the Department of Biomedical Engineering. "I like clinical work because it gets things to patients more directly. I feel business is the avenue to translate basic science to clinical applications."

The program at Cambridge, he said, will prepare him to take nanotechnology and biotechnology solutions into the marketplace. The Imperial program will allow him to apply the things he's learned at Cambridge to medical imaging technologies, potentially benefiting patients with neurological disorders such as Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease.

It's career path that seems natural to the Calhoun, Louisiana, native who received his first computer when he was five and started experimenting with computer programming at age 11.

In high school, he developed a distance education program that united math students over the Internet. The project earned first place honors at the National Junior Science and Humanities Symposium. In college, his programming has not only helped him in research but also allowed him to create an Internet software application called Endeavor to help both students and instructors in teaching college calculus.

When it came time to choose a university he was torn between Georgia Tech, Rice University and MIT. "The President's Scholarship Program is pretty much what pulled me over," he said. "I liked Georgia Tech's campus better and its academic environment was what I was looking for."

At Tech, Haynes has made the most of the opportunities offered in biomedical engineering, working in the neuroengineering lab of Assistant Professor Steve Potter and at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta.

"One of the great things about Tech is its research program," said Haynes. "Work in the Potter lab has greatly complemented my coursework because you learn one thing in class and the next week you see it in the lab."

In Potter's lab, Haynes is testing how networks of neurons respond to different amounts of the chemical dopamine, which is involved in drug addiction, Parkinson's disease and schizophrenia. While many labs release the chemicals onto the entire culture of neurons, Potter wants to see how smaller groups of cells respond. "I created an enclosure and system to locally release chemicals, which will allow small volumes of neurotransmitters to stimulate cells much like what happens in a real brain," said Haynes.

At Children's Healthcare, Haynes is using a software program that renders the brain's cerebral cortex as a sphere, allowing doctors to measure the thickness of the cortex in various patient groups.

"We're trying to figure out what the normal thickness is and then measure children who have frontal lobe epilepsy, figure out what atrophy occurs in what area and correlate that with cognitive tests to see if there is a certain area of the brain that's more affected than others," said Haynes.

Haynes is the seventh Tech student to win the Marshall, a scholarship established by the British Government for American students in 1953 in appreciation for assistance received after World War II under the Marshall Plan.

Prominent former Marshall scholars include U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer; former U.S. Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt; New York Times foreign affairs columnist Tom Friedman; and the scientist/inventor Ray Dolby.

"Mergers and acquisitions involving firms from countries with dissimilar cultures, on average, do better than those between firms from countries with similar cultures," write Georgia Tech finance professors Rajesh Chakrabarti and Narayanan Jayaraman and doctoral student Swastika Mukherjee in the study "Mars-Venus Marriages: Culture and Cross-Border M&A."

According to the study, which examined 405 cross-border mergers and acquisitions from 1991 to 2000 involving acquiring companies from 34 countries and target firms in 37 countries, greater cultural disparity can be beneficial because of:

• Lower likelihood of acquisitions motivated by hubris in unfamiliar or distant environments.
• Greater autonomy granted to acquired firms in distant cultural locations, resulting in greater retention of their pre-acquisition strengths.
• Better screening, contracting, and due-diligence during the deal-making process as a result of heightened awareness of cultural differences.
• Diverse organizational strengths leading to performance-enhancing synergies.

Mergers and acquisitions rarely deliver their promised benefits, often resulting in long-term under-performance. But greater cultural disparity between merging firms seems to lessen detrimental effects, found the researchers, who examined corporate performance thirty and thirty-six months after the unions. Despite their risks, mergers and acquisitions are becoming increasingly common events as a result of rapid globalization. American companies conducted nearly $4 trillion worth of acquisitions between 1998 and 2000- more than in the previous thirty years combined. Twenty percent of those acquisitions were cross-border.

The researchers point to General Electric's acquisition of the Hungarian light-bulb maker Tungsram in 1989 as an example of a cross-border merger fraught with difficulty. Individualism and individual responsibility defined GE's culture but not that of Tungsram, reportedly drawing out the latter's assimilation by several years. Problems also plagued the merger of Michigan-based Upjohn and Sweden's Pharmacia B in 1995, with the former firm used to a more hierarchical structure. Their differences appear to have stemmed not only from corporate-level practices, but also from national cultural traits, the researchers note.

"While corporate culture may be extremely difficult to measure, there exist widely accepted metrics of national culture," they say. "It is important to reiterate that we focus on national culture as opposed to corporate culture in our study."

The study measured national cultural differences using not only language, religion, and legal/corporate governance systems, but also widely accepted measures developed by Geert Hofstede in his landmark book on international management, Culture's Consequences: International Differences in Work-Related Values. Hofstede's measures include power distance (the degree of inequality between people in a country), individualism (the extent to which society emphasizes individual achievements over collective ones), masculinity (how much society reinforces the traditional model of male power in the workplace) and uncertainty avoidance (societal attitudes toward ambiguity and unstructured situations).

In the study sample, Australia and the United States proved to have the most similar cultures while New Zealand and Malaysia had the most disparate. The study also found evidence that acquisitions go better when acquiring companies are from countries with stronger corporate-governance systems than the target firms.

This year's research scholars and professionals from 22 countries and regions, including Yemen, Egypt, and the United States, will work collaboratively over the next year to establish a broad framework for constructive action to ensure the future of higher education worldwide. The future of the academic profession, elite versus mass-access, the public-private mix in higher education, and the globalization of higher education will be among the key issues examined. The international team will provide insightful analysis that could serve as a realistic basis for refocusing and improving higher education in national and global contexts.

The thirty-one higher education specialists, one-third of whom come from the United States and two-thirds from any of the 140 countries worldwide with an active Fulbright program, are the newest Fulbright New Century Scholars selected to focus on a transnational topic of global significance for one year. This year's Fulbright New Century Scholars are examining the topic Higher Education in the 21st Century: Global Challenge and National Response. The group is being guided by New Century Scholar Distinguished Leader Philip G. Altbach, the J. Donald Monan, SJ Professor of Higher Education in the Lynch School of Education at Boston College.

The New Century Scholars will also pursue individual research projects abroad and in the United States. For Colatrella's individual project "Advancing Women in the Academy: Comparing Perceptions and Considering Solutions in the United States and Denmark," she will research how gender affects processes of access and advancement for faculty members in Denmark. Her collaborative project will investigate aspects of the academic profession in Denmark to compare and contrast perceptions of faculty working environments as well as considering the outcomes of equity efforts in a smaller, more socially homogenous industrialized nation that, like the U.S., has preferred raising awareness of equity issues to passing specific laws forbidding inequities. Although Denmark is a nation with progressive attitudes and laws regarding sex roles and work-family arrangements, its universities, like those in the U. S., experience a dearth of women at upper ranks and in administrative positions.

The New Century Scholars will come together three times during the program year to share research, exchange perspectives and pursue collaborative activities in dynamic seminar sessions planned for Boston, Cairo, and Paris. After meeting for the first time in Boston from September 28-30, 2005 to define the specific ways in which they will collaborate over the next year, the New Century Scholars will hold their mid-term meeting in Cairo from March 15-22, 2006. As part of their mid-term meeting in Cairo, the 31 New Century Scholars will consult in a series of roundtable discussions with higher education specialists and administrators from Egypt and surrounding countries at the American University of Cairo. Co-hosted by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the Franco-American Commission for Educational Exchange, a final plenary will take place in Paris from October 19-25, 2006. During the plenary, the New Century Scholars will present their final analyses and recommendations. Visit www.cies.org to find out more about the 2005-2006 Fulbright New Century Scholars Program; click Fulbright Global Programs for U.S. and non-U.S. Scholars.

Now in its fourth year, the Fulbright New Century Scholars Program seeks to take advantage of the synergy created when scholars from vastly different spheres focus on a single issue of concern to people worldwide. Last year, a team of 31 Fulbright New Century Scholars, including leading feminist scholars and policy makers, examined Toward Equality: The Global Empowerment of Women. Previous groups of New Century Scholars have examined Sectarian, Ethnic and Cultural Conflict Within and Across National Borders, as well as The Challenges of Health in a Borderless World.

Sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the Council for International Exchange of Scholars (CIES), which is a division of the Institute of International Education (IIE), the New Century Scholars Program is an international, interdisciplinary program designed for high quality research. The Program continues to provide a platform for a multinational group of outstanding scholars and professionals to produce a body of multidisciplinary research and analysis that might serve as the basis for the formulation of innovative approaches to policy issues of universal concern.

The IEEE Grade of Fellow is conferred by the board of directors upon a person with an extraordinary record of accomplishments in any of the IEEE fields of interest.

Li, an associate professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) at Georgia Tech, was elected a fellow for his contributions to signal processing for wireless communications. His general research interests include statistical signal processing and wireless mobile systems. In these areas, he has published about 100 papers in refereed journals or conferences and filed over 10 patents. He also has two books, entitled, Blind Equalization and Identification (co-authored with Z. Ding, published by Mercel Dekker Inc. in 2000) and OFDM for Wireless Communications (co-authored with G. Stüber, published by Springer in 2005).

Li served as a guest editor for special issues on Signal Processing for Wireless Communications for the IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications and an editorial board member of EURASIP Journal on Applied Signal Processing, and is currently serving as an editor for Wireless Communication Theory for the IEEE Transactions on Communications. He organized and chaired many international conferences, including technical program vice-chair of IEEE 2003 International Conference on Communications.

May, the Steve W. Chaddick School Chair for ECE, was elected a fellow for his contributions to semiconductor manufacturing and engineering education. Previously, May was the executive assistant to Georgia Tech President G. Wayne Clough, where he served as the president's chief liaison, and the Motorola Foundation Professor in the School of ECE.

May's research and educational interests are in computer-aided manufacturing of integrated circuits. The author of over 200 technical publications, he has written one textbook, Fundamentals of Semiconductor Fabrications and contributed to portions of 14 additional books. From 1994-2001, he was on the editorial board for the prestigious IEEE Transactions on Semiconductor Manufacturing, spending the last four years as editor-in-chief.

McLaughlin, the Ken Byers Professor in ECE, was elected a fellow for his contributions to information theory and applications to digital recording technology. From 1999-2003, he was a principal scientist for Calimetrics. Since 2003, he has been the director of research at Georgia Tech Lorraine, the European Campus of Georgia Tech in Metz, France.

McLaughlin is president of the IEEE Information Theory. He has published Information Theory: 50 years of Discovery (Wiley/IEEE Press, 1999) and more than 200 papers in journals and conferences and holds 24 U.S. patents. He received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) in 1997 where President Clinton cited him "for leadership in the development of high-capacity, nonbinary optical recording formats."

Swaminathan, a professor in ECE and the deputy director of the Packaging Research Center at Georgia Tech, was elected a fellow for his contributions in design tools, design methodologies and electromagnetic interference (EMI) control for power delivery in digital and mixed-signal systems. He is the founder of Jacket Micro Devices, a company specializing in integrated devices and modules for wireless applications where he serves as the chief scientist. Prior to joining Georgia Tech, he was with the Advanced Packaging Laboratory at IBM working on packaging for super computers.

Swaminathan's research interests are in digital, RF, optoelectronics and mixed-signal packaging with emphasis on design, modeling, characterization and testing. He has more than 250 publications in refereed journals and conferences, has co-authored three book chapters, has ten issued patents and has six patents pending. Swaminathan has been a guest editor for the IEEE Transactions on Advanced Packaging and IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques. He was the associate editor of the IEEE Transactions on Components and Packaging Technologies.

"We need to encourage people, not discourage them, from pursuing studies and careers in the sciences," says Sue Rosser, dean of the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts at Georgia Tech and co-author of "More Women in Science." "The issue is not the innate ability of men versus women, but the social climate factors which over time have been shown to turn away women and other under-represented groups."

The paper pulls together a large body of evidence of barriers throughout the faculty pipeline process and provides specific strategies to address these problems. In some disciplines, such as computer science and engineering, the low number of women faculty is partly attributable to the low number of women trained in those fields. However, for many fields, such as biology, the balance of men and women faculty is quite uneven despite the fact that women make up almost half of their graduating Ph.D.s (see table). This disparity indicates that strong women scientists may not pursue academic careers due to lack of encouragement, lack of confidence, or lack of female role models. To counter this problem, women Ph.D.s need to be explicitly encouraged to enter academia and programs such as professional societies, which provide role models and inspire self-confidence.

Further along the pipeline, evidence shows that women faculty members are more often asked to provide campus service on committees and as student advisers, not necessarily the best activity to win tenure approval in Research I institutions. To assist junior faculty in managing their pre-tenure activities, Georgia Tech ADVANCE Professor Jane Ammons in the College of Engineering developed a "speed mentoring" workshop in which junior faculty consult with four to five tenured case reviewers who examine their curriculum vitae and offer suggestions on how to strengthen their tenure case. Speed mentoring has been used on a campus-wide basis at Georgia Tech as well.

Unconscious bias is another barrier to increasing female faculty numbers. To address this often rather subtle factor, Georgia Tech developed a Web-based tool kit called Awareness of Decisions in Evaluating Promotion and Tenure (ADEPT) as part of a National Science Foundation (NSF) ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Program grant. ADEPT is designed to help promotion and tenure committee members, chairs and deans to better understand biases related to gender, race and disability. ADEPT includes a variety of downloadable applications that include case studies, scholarly research, an interactive game and other materials to provoke discussion.

The paper also outlines concerns regarding campus climate and the issues of balancing family and work with specific examples of problems and specific strategies used at various institutions to overcome them.

Several of the authors, including Rosser, are recipients of the prestigious National Science Foundation ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Program grants. The other authors include lead author Jo Handelsman of the University of Wisconsin-Madison; Nancy Cantor, chancellor and president of Syracuse University; Molly Carnes of the University of Wisconsin-Madison; Denice Denton, chancellor of the University of California, Santa Cruz; Eve Fine of the University of Wisconsin-Madison; Barbara Grosz of Harvard University; Virginia Hinshaw of the University of California, Davis; Cora Marrett of the University of Wisconsin System; Donna Shalala, president of the University of Miami; and Jennifer Sheridan of the University System of Wisconsin-Madison.

Sixteen students from the Woodwind Ensemble will travel to Shanghai and Beijing during fall break to participate in several collaborative concerts. Dr. Andrea Strauss says she and the students are excited about the trip. "Beijing is the largest city in China and has the most history to it. We'll be able to take in the sights such as Tiananmen Square and the Great Wall."

The trip is more than just a sight-seeing tour as Strauss has filled the itinerary with several opportunities for the students to perform while they are in China. These include the China Shanghai International Arts Festival, The Sino-U.S. Logistics Summit, Beijing Music Conservatory and Concord College.

"I think the performances are what make this trip different and unique for the students," said Strauss. "These students are going to have the chance to be ambassadors for their country and for Georgia Tech, but they are also going to be able to collaborate with a different culture in a real, unique musical interaction."

The students aren't music majors and are well aware of the fact that they will be missing three days of classes for the trip, but the opportunity was too much to pass up.

"I think it is an incredible opportunity to do something outside of what I normally do," said Adam Wilson. "I'm a computer science major, and when someone comes to me and says would you like to spend a week touring through China and playing music… you can't say no. It is something you have to do."

"For me this trip is a bonus," said Michael Abraham an aerospace engineering major. "I would have gone to play my clarinet in Wichita, Kansas. But the fact that it is China and a travel opportunity I may very well never have again makes the whole trip irresistible."

Strauss began putting together the nine-day trip this summer and saw an opportunity to give students a chance to be ambassadors at another Georgia Tech event. The Sino - U.S. Logistics Summit will be held in Shanghai while the ensemble is there, and the event's organizers welcomed the opportunity to have the ensemble perform.

"We are going to play at the opening ceremonies for the summit," said Strauss. "It was just an ironic coincidence that the summit was taking place at the same time we were going over for the Shanghai International Arts Festival."

The woodwind ensembles will be traveling for nine days through China during fall break and will be returning on October 22.

While polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells are widely considered the most promising fuel cells for portable use, their low operating temperature and consequent low efficiency have blocked their jump from promising technology to practical technology.

But researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have pinpointed a chemical that could allow PEM fuel cells to operate at a much higher temperature without moisture, potentially meaning that polymer fuel cells could be made much more cheaply than ever before and finally run at temperatures high enough to make them practical for use in cars and small electronics.

A team lead by Dr. Meilin Liu, a professor in the School of Materials Science and Engineering at Georgia Tech, has discovered that a chemical called triazole is significantly more effective than similar chemicals researchers have explored to increase conductivity and reduce moisture dependence in polymer membranes. The findings were published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

"Triazole will greatly reduce many of the problems that have prevented polymer fuel cells from making their way into things like cars, cell phones and laptops," said Liu. "It's going to have a dramatic effect."

A fuel cell essentially produces electricity by converting the chemicals hydrogen and oxygen into water. To do this, the fuel cell needs a proton exchange membrane, a specially treated material that looks a lot like plastic wrap, to conduct protons (positively charged ions) but block electrons. This membrane is the key to building a better fuel cell.

Current PEMs used in fuel cells have several problems that prevent them from wide use. First, their operating temperature is so low that even trace amounts of carbon monoxide in hydrogen fuel will poison the fuel cell's platinum catalyst. To avoid this contamination, the hydrogen fuel must go through a very expensive purification process that makes fuel cells a pricey alternative to conventional batteries or gasoline-fueled engines. At higher temperatures, like those allowed by a membrane containing triazole, the fuel cell can tolerate much higher levels of carbon monoxide in the hydrogen fuel.

The use of triazole also solves one of the most persistent problems of fuel cells - heat. Ceramic fuel cells currently on the market run at a very high temperature (about 800 degrees Celsius) and are too hot for most portable applications such as small electronics.

While existing PEM fuel cells can operate at much lower temperatures, they are much less efficient than ceramic fuel cells. Polymer fuel cell membranes must be kept relatively cool so that membranes can retain the moisture they need to conduct protons. To do this, polymer fuel cells were previously forced to operate at temperatures below 100 degrees Celsius.

Heat must be removed from the fuel cells to keep them cool, and a water balance has to be maintained to ensure the required hydration of the PEMs. This increases the complexity of the fuel cell system and significantly reduces its overall efficiency. But by using triazole-containing PEMs, Liu's team has been able to increase their PEM fuel cell operating temperatures to above 120 degrees Celsius, eliminating the need for a water management system and dramatically simplifying the cooling system.

"We're using the triazole to replace water," Liu said. "By doing so, we can bring up the temperature significantly."

Triazole is also a very stable chemical and fosters stable fuel cell operating conditions.

While they have pushed their polymer fuel cells to 120 degrees Celsius with triazole, Liu's team is looking into better polymers to get those temperatures even higher, he said.

Shirley Franklin became the fifty-eighth mayor of Atlanta in 2002. A first-time candidate for public office, Franklin redefined history and was elected as the city's first woman mayor and the first African American woman to serve as mayor of a major southern city. She was re-elected to a second term on November 8, 2005.

Since her first inauguration in 2002, Mayor Franklin has worked to build a "Best in Class" city by strengthening existing frameworks, implementing progressive changes, and making the tough decisions necessary to improve Atlanta.

Mayor Franklin vowed to give Atlantans the cleanest urban streams and rivers in the country and declared herself "the sewer mayor." In 2004, she persuaded Georgia Tech President Wayne Clough to chair a panel of nationwide environmental experts to design a program that became Clean Water Atlanta. The panel recommendations laid the foundation for a $3.2 billion overhaul of the city's aging water and sewer system. Franklin convinced the General Assembly to allow Atlanta to place a municipal option sales tax before the voters. Atlantans overwhelmingly passed the sales tax referendum generating money for Clean Water Atlanta and reducing the necessary increase in water and sewer rates.

Franklin earned her bachelor's degree in sociology from Howard University and was awarded her master's degree in sociology from the University of Pennsylvania. She was awarded honorary degrees from Howard University and the Atlanta College of Art. Franklin has been a resident of southwest Atlanta for nearly thirty-five years and is a proud parent of three adult children.

Master's and Ph.D. Commencement Speaker Michael Griffin

Nominated by President George W. Bush and confirmed by the United States Senate, Dr. Michael Griffin began his duties as the eleventh administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on April 14, 2005.

As administrator, he leads the NASA team and manages its resources as NASA seeks to advance the U.S. Vision for Space Exploration.

Prior to being nominated as NASA administrator, Griffin was serving as head of the Space Department at Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland. He was previously president and chief operating officer of In-Q-Tel and also served in several positions within Orbital Sciences Corporation in Dulles, Virginia, including chief executive officer of Orbital's Magellan Systems Division.

Griffin received a bachelor's degree in physics from Johns Hopkins University, a master's degree in aerospace science from Catholic University of America, a Ph.D. in aerospace
engineering from the University of Maryland, a master's degree in electrical engineering from the University of Southern California, a master's degree in applied physics from Johns Hopkins University, a master's degree in business administration from Loyola College, and a master's degree in civil engineering from George Washington University. He is a certified flight instructor with instrument and multiengine ratings.

Alan Kay to Receive Honorary Degree

Alan Kay is recognized as the father of the personal computer and is the first computationalist to be awarded an honorary degree from Georgia Tech.

One of the founders of the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), Kay led one of several groups that developed modern workstations (and the forerunners of the Macintosh); Smalltalk, the overlapping-window interface; Desktop Publishing; the Ethernet; Laser printing; and network "client-servers." He has devoted his work to changing the way science is taught by developing interfaces through which the concept of building things is the central focus.

His pioneering work in this area led to the outgrowth of the GVU Center, and Georgia Tech was the first place to teach his current form of Smalltalk, Squeak, to undergraduates.