Six Georgia Tech College of Engineering faculty members are among the National Academy of Inventors (NAI) 2023 Class of Fellows. The honor is the highest professional distinction awarded solely to inventors.

No other university or organization in the world has more honorees this year than Georgia Tech. The group of six holds more than 200 patents.

• Farrokh Ayazi, electrical and computer engineering
• Maohong Fan, civil and environmental engineering
• Christopher Jones, chemical and biomolecular engineering
• Wilbur Lam, biomedical engineering
• Susan Margulies, biomedical engineering
• Karthikeyan Sundaresan, electrical and computer engineering

The Georgia Tech engineers are among 162 worldwide inventors honored in 2023. According to the NAI, “their work spans across disciplines and exemplifies their dedication and inspiration to translating research into commercial technologies that benefit society.”

The 2023 class will be honored in June at the NAI annual meeting.

Read the full story at the College of Engineering website.

The Renewable Bioproducts Institute (RBI) at Georgia Tech benefits from a substantial endowment that is invested to advance the evolving science and technology needs of the bioproducts industry and emerging bioeconomy through graduate research. The endowment over the years has supported more than 1,500 engineers and scientists and a leading body of scientific research. RBI has released the Request For Proposals (RFP) for the annual year 2024-25 fellowships. Proposals are due on Feb. 1, 2024. The RFP document describing the application process and several important changes for this year can be found at 2024-25 RFP Proposals.

The principal mission of RBI is to incubate and develop interdisciplinary teams of researchers that can establish thought leadership through new bioproduct research directions. Our focus is on pre-competitive, use-inspired research with a technical, economic, or policy focus. All supported work needs to address an aspect of bioproducts and the developing bioeconomy. The RBI Fellowship supports this mission by promoting two objectives:  

(1)  Helping teams of faculty to establish new concepts, publish early results, and develop competitive federal, industry, or foundation proposals in the future.  

(2) Training a diverse group of graduate-level professionals who can support the evolving bioproducts R&D workforce. 

                       ***NEW PROGRAM CHANGES*** 

• Along with Graduate Research Assistant (GRA) stipend and tuition support, RBI will provide $1,000 of materials and supplies funding or a $1,000 credit toward the use of RBI’s analytical facilities. 
• The fellowship was formerly called the PSE (Paper Science and Engineering Fellowship). It has been renamed as the RBI Fellowship. 
• The fellowship minor requirement has been changed from 12 hours to nine hours. The minor will consist of two core courses and one elective, described here. For students outside of the College of Sciences or College of Engineering, an alternative set of courses can be considered. 
• Awards can support GRAs from any school within Georgia Tech and can be advised by teams consisting of faculty from any Georgia Tech school, although the relevance of the disciplines included must be clear. 

Providing research testing services to both internal and external stakeholders is an integral function of the Renewable Bioproducts Institute (RBI). These services include chemical analysis; corrosion; paper, board and box testing; pulp analysis; and pulp recovery analysis. Established over 25 years ago, RBI’s testing services are well-known in the industry for their quality and customer service. RBI is one of the ten interdisciplinary research institutes at Georgia Tech that champions innovation in converting biomass into value-added products, developing advanced chemical and bio-based refining technologies, and advancing excellence in manufacturing processes.

The RBI research testing services is a team of professional scientists and engineers who work together to provide information and offer solutions required by a manufacturers and users of biomass products, as well as Georgia Tech faculty and students engaged in research on campus. The multidisciplinary capabilities of the team make them uniquely qualified to address customers' technical needs in the areas of process and product development, and quality control. Where appropriate, the team involves RBI faculty and other staff experts to arrive at the best possible solution for their customers and users.

In this article, we will focus on a day’s work with the chemical analysis team. Headed by Rallming Yang, senior research scientist at RBI, the team is equipped to follow the Technical Association of the Paper and Pulp industry (TAPPI) standard of testing, which only a small number of labs in the country can do, and has also developed some of its own internal protocols. Yang leads two specific characterization programs within RBI: (1) the pulping and bleaching analysis, paper recycling, and recovery lab, and (2) the chemical analysis lab.

The chemical analysis team is busy year-round with research projects and testing services. In addition, during the Spring semester, the team also provides support to a paper science laboratory course for undergraduate and graduate students. In the recent times, chemical analysis of black liquor from pulp mills has kept the team busy with more than 30 projects completed by the team over three months for various industry customers. Currently, black liquor analysis continues to account for over 50% of the workload of the lab.

Black Liquor (BL) is a byproduct of a wood pulping and is released when cellulose fibers are separated from wood chips. BL contains lignin, which is used as a biofuel within the mill, and several other chemicals that are recovered and reused. In most pulp mills, nearly 50-70% of BL is converted into a convenient source of fuel or energy. Due to the important role played by black liquor in a paper mill, it needs to be tested regularly to ensure consistency in composition. The RBI chemical analysis lab gets BL samples from a pulp mill, who contact the lab by email to get their testing request into the queue. The process involved in the testing is very intense and has multiple steps that need to be carefully administered.

In the first step, inorganic elements in BL are identified by digesting it in a precise mixture of acids and filtering the mixture. The filtrate is introduced into an Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP) Emission Spectrometer that can identify more than 70 different inorganic elements and compounds like sulfur, potassium, sodium, iron, calcium, etc. The next step involves identifying the proportion of anions like sulfate, chloride, thiosulfate. In this step, BL is diluted to a specific level and analyzed using a method called Capillary Ion Electrophoresis (CIE).

The next step involves analyzing BL for organic substances using two methods – gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC/MS) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometry (FTIR). For organic substances with a lower molecular weight of less than 600 Daltons (Da), GC/MS is employed where the gas chromatography separates the chemical mixture, and the mass spectrometry identifies each of the components.

The final step is to identify organic substances and polymers with higher molecular weights. For example, lignin is one of the main polymers in BL with a molecular weight higher than 600 Da. FTIR is used for testing during this step. Based on vibrations within each molecule, an FTIR spectrum allows identification of molecular groups within lignin. The equipment then uses a computer to identify the substances by comparing the sample spectrum with a built-in library. The RBI team provides detailed lab reports that is used by the pulp mill to adjust their operating parameters for trouble-free operations.

In addition to the chemical analysis of byproducts like black liquor and other chemical compounds, Rallming Yang’s team also conducts studies on pulping and bleaching, repulping, and fiber characterizations.

The Georgia Tech campus recently served as host to the 2023 RCE Americas Regional Meeting. From September 26 – 29, students, academics, and working professionals from around the Americas gathered to share their diverse perspectives and experiences, and delved into the discourse of sustainability. Participants attended panel sessions, presentations, site visits, and workshops (one of which was student led) over the three-day meeting, offering their unique viewpoints on how sustainability plays a role in their work and academic careers.

RCE Greater Atlanta was acknowledged by the United Nations University (UNU) on December 18, 2017, as a Regional Centre of Expertise on Education for Sustainable Development. RCE Greater Atlanta is one of over 190 RCEs recognized worldwide as part of the UNU RCE network. RCEs support multi-stakeholder implementation of the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the regional level, through education and training.

RCE Greater Atlanta is committed to leveraging educational resources for regional implementation of the SDGs, with a focus on equity and justice, building on Atlanta’s history as the home of the Civil Rights Movement. RCE Greater Atlanta members, representing all sectors of community, business, government, and civil society, contribute to the creation of an inclusive and collaborative community that advances SDG knowledge and action, and nurtures strong youth leadership by harnessing higher education capacity and knowledge for regional benefit.

Among the speakers were Keisuke Midori, section chief from the Ministry of the Environment of Japan; Jenny Hirsch, senior director of the Georgia Tech Center for Sustainable Communities Research and Education, representing RCE Greater Atlanta; and Georgia Tech President Ángel Cabrera. Several of the speakers traveled or participated virtually from around the United States, as well as from places as far-flung as Mexico, Puerto Rico, Canada, Peru, and Columbia. Atlanta was also well represented with participants and speakers from many area colleges and universities including Morehouse School of Medicine, Kennesaw State University, and Georgia Gwinnett College. A wide range of topics were presented such as “Youth Initiatives at Assateague Island,” “Energy Equity: Advancing SDG 7 Affordable and Clean Energy Through Community-University Partnerships,” and “Young Leaders of the Earth Charter at RCE Bogota.”

Several Georgia Tech students were in attendance and have offered their perspectives on the event. Lakshya Sharma, a master’s student in Human Computer Interaction and the student coordination manager for RCE Greater Atlanta, says, “The conference provided people coming from a wide variety of backgrounds an opportunity to present views, opinions, and talk about differences. I was given the responsibility to lead one of these sessions, where we discussed how important local community action is and how these actions can be made more efficient, inclusive, and effective. Participating in these discussions gave me a fresh perspective on things and made me explore new ways to solve problems, which I can now implement as a professional.”

Perrin Brady, who is studying History, Technology, and Society at Georgia Tech and serving as a student engagement coordinator for RCE Greater Atlanta, said, “I was able to raise questions to the room that I struggle with as a young person, like how to navigate possible conflict between requiring fast climate solutions and needing equitable/sustainable solutions that take time and consideration. People's answers gave me hope for future impacts I could make.”

Julie Chen, another student engagement coordinator, who is studying architecture at Georgia Tech, said, “The range of presentations remains an inspiration, as I was able to witness different RCEs actively involved in unique projects to further the UN SDGs. It was especially heartening to see young students taking the initiative. The RCE Americas Network is a great platform to share these efforts.”

The event was sponsored by Oak Ridge Associated Universities; Kennesaw State University’s Global Education Community Engagement and Outreach; Goethe Zentrum; and several Georgia Tech organizations, namely the Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems, the Renewable Bioproducts Institute, the Strategic Energy Institute, the Atlanta Global Studies Center, and the Ray C. Anderson Center for Sustainable Business with the Drawdown Georgia Business Compact.

The RCE Americas Meeting is an annual event.  For more information, see the following links:

Meeting Resources: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1K8XeWuCEXq66TEVZuQQm3X3EzfXQ3zVB?usp=sharing

Presentation Recordings: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpof6N7frRLybc0UW8dhX4A

Researchers at Georgia Tech will work to develop new controllable materials for 3D printing, electronics made from plastics, and semiconductors that convert infrared light into electrical signals as part of the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) efforts to create advanced materials.

Altogether, the agency is investing $3 million in the three projects led by faculty members in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering (ME) and the School of Materials Science and Engineering (MSE). Georgia Tech is a contributing partner on a fourth project led by Notre Dame researchers to explore materials that can be switched from an insulator to a metal with an external trigger.

The new awards are part of NSF’s Designing Materials to Revolutionize and Engineer our Future (DMREF) program, which is intended to discover and create advanced materials twice as fast and at a fraction of the cost of traditional research methods.

Read more about the researchers' plans on the College of Engineering website.

Akanksha Menon, assistant professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, has been awarded $3 million in funding from the Department of Energy (DOE) as part of their Energy Earthshots™ Initiative to advance clean energy technologies within the decade. 

The initiative includes a total of $264 million in funding that will support 11 new Energy Earthshot Research Centers (EERCs) led by DOE National Laboratories and 18 university research teams addressing one or more of the specific Energy Earthshots™ that aim to accelerate affordable and reliable clean energy solutions to mitigate the climate crisis to reach a net-zero carbon goal in 2050. 

Menon's project, titled Thermo-Chemo-Mechanical Transformations in Thermal Energy Storage Materials and Composites, will bring together Matthew McDowell, associate professor in the Woodruff School, Claudio Di Leo, assistant professor in the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering, and Jeff Urban from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, to provide a fundamental understanding of the coupled thermo-chemo-mechanical phenomena in thermal energy storage (TES) materials that will enable low-cost and stable storage.

David Sholl, a professor in Georgia Tech’s School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (ChBE), is leading a new Energy Earthshot Research Center (EERC) at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) that is focused on developing chemical processes that use sustainable methods instead of burning fossil fuels to radically reduce industrial greenhouse gas emissions to stem climate change and limit the crisis of a rapidly warming planet.

Sholl, who is director of ORNL’s Transformational Decarbonization Initiative, is director of the ORNL-led Non-Equilibrium Energy Transfer for Efficient Reactions (NEETER), which also involves ChBE faculty members Fani Boukouvala and Carsten Sievers as key members.

NEETER is one of two new DoE EERCs involving ChBE faculty; the other (co-led by Professor David Flaherty) is Harnessing Electrostatics for the Conversion of Organics, Water and Air: Driving Redox on Particulate Liquids Earthshot (DROPLETS).

A new kind of polymer membrane created by researchers at Georgia Tech could reshape how refineries process crude oil, dramatically reducing the energy and water required while extracting even more useful materials.

The so-called DUCKY polymers — more on the unusual name in a minute — are reported Oct. 16 in Nature Materials. And they’re just the beginning for the team of Georgia Tech chemists, chemical engineers, and materials scientists. They also have created artificial intelligence tools to predict the performance of these kinds of polymer membranes, which could accelerate development of new ones.

The implications are stark: the initial separation of crude oil components is responsible for roughly 1% of energy used across the globe. What’s more, the membrane separation technology the researchers are developing could have several uses, from biofuels and biodegradable plastics to pulp and paper products.

“We're establishing concepts here that we can then use with different molecules or polymers, but we apply them to crude oil because that's the most challenging target right now,” said M.G. Finn, professor and James A. Carlos Family Chair in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry.

Read the full story on the College of Engineering website.

This is part four of the student experiences series. William Berkey, a Ph.D. candidate in chemistry shares his experience from the 2023 RBI Spring Workshop on "Innovations in Packaging and Circular Economy."

Tell us about yourself.

My name is William Berkey. I got my undergraduate degree in chemistry from Davidson College in North Carolina. I am getting my Ph.D. in chemistry at Georgia Tech. I am co-advised by Stefan France and Christopher Jones. I work on the upcycling of carbohydrates to yield furan-containing building blocks as platforms chemicals and precursors to value-added fuels, materials, and products. Specifically, I work with the Garcia Gonzalez reaction and the Achmatowicz reaction. 

The paper I just published as the second author with my mentor Caria Evans (first author) is about converting amino acids — a renewable feedstock — to functionalities pyrroles that can be used for drug molecule development or other bio-active compounds.

How was your experience at the RBI workshop?

I really enjoyed the RBI workshop. It was interesting to see other people’s research and talk with fellow researchers on solving problems and potentially collaborating. The diverse set of talks from industrial, government, and research collaborators shows the wide set of problems still to be solved and different viewpoints on how to solve them. My main takeaway is that through collaboration, solutions to a wide range of problems affecting the industry can be achieved. 

What was your main takeaway from the poster session? 

What stood out during the poster session was the wide variety of topics that my peers were researching and the interesting findings they discovered. I interacted with several industrial representatives and a fellow Davidson alumnus who works in forest management. I received great advice on how to advance my research as well as how to pursue potential next steps in application. 

What more would you like to see in future events at the Renewable Bioproducts Institute?

I would like to see more talks on biorefining. I am interested in interacting with potential collaborators. I would like to see new seminars on research problem-solving or project idea creation.