News Briefs

EcoCAr Arrives At Georgia Tech

October 22, 2009

The wheels have arrived.

Following months of planning and preparing, students at Georgia Tech have finally received the car they hope to convert into a fuel-efficient, green machine that is eco-friendly, stylish and performance savvy.

EcoCAR: The NeXt Challenge, along with its headline sponsors, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and General Motors (GM), challenges 17 universities across the U.S. and Canada to redesign and reengineer a GM donated vehicle to further minimize fuel consumption and reduce emissions while retaining the vehicle’s performance and consumer appeal. EcoCAR aims to inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers by giving them the tools and experience necessary to secure a more energy-efficient future.

EcoCAR

As the student engineers from Georgia Tech embark on the second phase of the challenge, they will incorporate plug-in hybrid electric vehicle architecture powered by a lithium ion battery and fueled by ethanol into the vehicle. In the first phase of the competition, the team designed a virtual model of their vehicle using advanced software and computer modeling tools, which earned them keys to the vehicle so they could turn their cutting-edge simulations into reality. Now they have moved on to the physical stage of the competition which involves working under the hood of the vehicle and, ultimately, taking it on the road.

“EcoCAR gives students hands-on design and engineering experience,” said Dr. David Taylor, the student advisor. Our students have worked hard this past year, and they are excited for the opportunity to integrate their designs into the vehicle.”

EcoCAR is a three-year competition that builds on the 20-year history of DOE advanced vehicle technology competitions by giving engineering students the chance to design and build advanced vehicles that demonstrate leading-edge automotive technologies. GM provides vehicles, vehicle components, seed money, technical mentoring and operational support. The DOE and its research and development facility, Argonne National Laboratory, provide competition management, team evaluation, technical and logistical support. Through this important partnership between government and industry, EcoCAR aims to inspire and support the next generation of scientists and engineers to unite around the common goal of sustainable mobility. Additional information about the EcoCAR competition and photos can be found online at:
http://www.ecocarchallenge.org; http://www.green-garage.org; http://archive.ecocarphoto.com/c/ecocarphoto

For more information Contact Don Fernandez (Phone: )

Two Tech Professors Win NIH New Innovator Award

September 24, 2009

Two Georgia Tech professors have been honored by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for work that celebrates creativity and innovation among young and promising researchers.

Dr. Melissa Kemp of the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering and Dr. Christine Payne of the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry are the first Georgia Tech faculty members �“ and first in Georgia - to receive the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award.

The award provides $1.5 million in research funding - $300,000 a year for five years �“ to each early career investigator honored. Now in its third year, the 2009 NIH New Innovator Award will be presented to 50 individuals to recognize their potential to produce major impact on broad, important problems in biomedical and behavioral research.

Kemp is being recognized for research that utilizes engineering methods to analyze complex biochemical networks. Specifically, she is studying how oxidative environments influence immune cell function. One of her goals is to develop computational models that can predict responses to drug interventions for inflammatory disease and cancer.

"I am thrilled and honored to receive this award at an early stage of my career,” Kemp said. “Young researchers often feel pressure to conduct ‘incremental science’ in order to acquire funding. The grant provides my lab the financial freedom to explore unconventional ideas as part of our research efforts.”

Payne’s honor is in recognition for her research targeting and delivering nanoparticles to living cells and the development of microscopy methods to image dynamic events inside cells. Her research has promising applications in the arena of drug and gene delivery along with displaying potential to further understand the fundamental functions of the cell.

“This award provides a great opportunity to focus on the science of nanoparticle-cell interactions and the development of new fluorescence microscopy methods,” Payne said.

While both Kemp and Payne have received the award for their individual achievements, the two are also involved in a joint collaboration that combines microscopy, modeling and biochemical analysis in an effort to understand the intracellular environment.

The NIH Director’s New Innovator Awards were announced today. Kemp and Payne are both in Bethesda, Maryland, to accept the honor.

More information on the New Innovator Award is at http://nihroadmap.nih.gov/newinnovator. For descriptions of the 2009 recipients’ research plans, see http://nihroadmap.nih.gov/newinnovator/Recipients09.asp.

For more information Contact Don Fernandez (Phone: )

Nancy Nersessian Elected Fellow of Cognitive Science Society

September 23, 2009

Nancy J. Nersessian, Regents’ Professor with a joint appointment in the College of Computing and the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts at Georgia Tech, was elected as a Fellow of the Cognitive Science Society this summer.

The society is an international organization that promotes interdisciplinary research in the field of cognitive science, which is comprised of disciplines as diverse as artificial intelligence, linguistics, anthropology, psychology, neuroscience, philosophy and education.

“I’m honored to be elected a Fellow,” said Nersessian. “I see it as recognizing the fact that for over 25 years I’ve been engaged in research on the cognitive practices of scientists and engineers and have contributed to establishing a sub-field within cognitive science that focuses on scientific and technological thinking. Although much of the research aims to understand basic cognitive processes, one major application area has been to learning in science and engineering.”

Nersessian is known as one of the founders of the field of cognitive studies of science and has a study appearing in the October 2009 issue of the journal Topics in Cognitive Science.

Her study of the working methods of scientists helps in understanding how class and instructional laboratory settings can be improved to foster creativity, and how new teaching methods can be developed based on this understanding. These methods will allow science students to master model-based reasoning approaches to problem solving and open the field to many more who do not think of themselves as scientists as traditionally viewed.

“Cognitive studies of scientific and technological thinking reveal that scientific reasoning and problem solving, even if at times extraordinarily creative, extend ordinary cognition,” said Nersessian. “This implies that many more people could become scientists, given well-designed training. Teaching methods developed from investigations of model-based reasoning are already improving student mastery of science.”

Before her election as a Fellow, Nersessian served as president of the Cognitive Science Society during 2003 to 2004 and was on the governing board from 2001 to 2006.

She is currently associate editor of the journal, Cognitive Science.

For more information Contact David Terraso (Phone: 404-385-2966)

Bioengineering student named Kauffman Fellow

September 17, 2009

Georgia Tech bioengineering Ph.D. student Yash Kolambkar is one of 13 postdoctoral researchers to be named among the first Kauffman Postdoctoral Fellows.

In addition to providing a salary and benefits to support the fellows’ research over the course of the yearlong fellowship, the Kauffman Foundation has matched each fellow with an academic advisor to mentor him/her on matters beyond research, and an experienced investor or corporate leader to serve as a business mentor. During the fellowship year, each fellow also will undertake an industry internship suited to his or her research interests and objectives.

Kolambkar is a researcher in the biomedical field with a strong focus on translation of research ideas into commercially viable products.

Yash has earned a technology commercialization certificate from the nationally recognized TI:GER (Technological Innovation: Generating Economic Results) program, based at Georgia Tech and Emory Law School. In the program, he developed a commercialization plan for his PhD technology, which would restore cartilage in osteoarthritic patients. He has been a consultant to VentureLab, where he identified and evaluated Georgia Tech technologies with strong commercial potential.

He is currently preparing to successfully defend his PhD thesis.

For more information Contact Don Fernandez (Phone: )

ECE Receives $2 Million Commitment from Harris Corporation

September 17, 2009

The Georgia Institute of Technology’s School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) has received a $2 million commitment from the Harris Corporation, an international communications and information technology company headquartered in Melbourne, Florida.

The $2 million gift, made through the Harris Foundation, will help support a capital campaign for construction of a new ECE headquarters facility and the renovation of the school’s 47-year-old Van Leer Building.
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The gift, made through the Harris Foundation, will help support a capital campaign for construction of a new ECE headquarters facility and the renovation of the school’s 47-year-old Van Leer Building, where some 7,000 students receive instruction each year.

Harris will donate $500,000 each year for four years beginning in 2010 �“ the anticipated completion date of the Georgia Tech Foundation’s private fund drive for the new facilities. Specifically, the Harris gift is intended for construction of an auditorium or other similar space.

Dr. G.P. “Bud” Peterson, president of Georgia Tech and Howard L. Lance, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Harris, today signed an agreement for the donation during a special ceremony at the Harris Customer Briefing Center in Melbourne, Florida. The event also included a reception attended by Harris employees who are Georgia Tech graduates and by other representatives from the university.

“Our faculty and students are currently scattered across 10 buildings around the campus, the Van Leer classrooms are outdated, and the building lacks adequate laboratory facilities,” said Dr. Gary S. May, professor and Steve W. Chaddick School Chair of ECE, who also attended the check presentation.

“Clearly, this generous lead gift from Harris Corporation provides significant momentum for the school’s long-term capital needs and helps to create a new presence that will serve us well in the 21st Century.”

Harris has a decades-long partnership with Georgia Tech and its School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, which is the largest producer of electrical and computer engineers by degree in the nation. The company employs nearly 200 of the school’s graduates.

In addition to the $2 million gift announced today, Harris has donated some $280,000 to the university since 2006. This includes a five-year, $250,000 pledge for a research lab in the Nanotechnology Research Center, and another $30,000 to support various programs within the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

For more information Contact Lisa Grovenstein (Phone: 404-894-8835)