Graduate students from Georgia Tech and North Carolina State University took first place honors in the 2009 Revolutionary Aerospace Systems Concepts Academic Linkage, or RASC-AL, contest sponsored by NASA and the National Institute of Aerospace (NIA). They presented their work at a forum in Cocoa Beach, Fla.
In the graduate division, a team of Georgia Tech and North Carolina State University students studying at NIA won first place for their project titled, “Reusable Lunar Transportation Architecture Utilizing Orbital Propellant Depots.” Team members included Georgia Tech students Erik Axdahl, Patrick Chai, Michael Grimes, Robert Rowland and Matthew Long along with John Gaebler and Rafael Lugo from NC State. Prof. Alan Wilhite of Georgia Tech served as the team’s advisor.
An independent panel of space exploration experts drawn from NASA, industry and the academic community judged the entries. Teams scored points based on their final paper, oral presentations, outreach service, technicality and real-life concepts of the project.
Over the course of the forum, students toured NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, listened in on their peers’ oral presentations and had the opportunity to network with one another and industry experts during the poster session and planned activities.
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Showing posts with label georgia tech. Show all posts
Showing posts with label georgia tech. Show all posts
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Ga. Tech Researcher Recognized by EPA
Dr. Ajeet Rohatgi, a Regents’ and Electrical and Computer Engineering professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology, was recently recognized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the American Solar Energy Society (ASES) for a lifetime’s contribution to making solar technology a realistic, low-cost energy solution.
The U.S. EPA honored Dr. Rohatgi as an Individual Climate Protection Award Winner in a ceremony recently held at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
In addition, ASES selected Dr. Rohatgi as this year’s Hoyt Clarke Hottel Award Winner, for contributions in solar energy technology, and will honor him at the SOLAR 2009 conference, in Buffalo, New York later this year.
Rohatgi founded Georgia Tech’s PV research program and later established the first University Center of Excellence for Photovoltaic Research and Education (UCEP), a program funded by the U.S. Department of Energy. In 2007, he founded Suniva, a Norcross, GA-based company, to commercialize the world’s most advanced low-cost high-efficiency solar cells.
“This is a critical time in the history of solar research and deployment. Never before in my career have I seen today’s confluence of technological advances, political will and economic conditions necessary to bring solar into the mainstream. I’m honored to receive such recognitions as America and the world embrace photovoltaics as a practical energy solution,” said Rohatgi.
Throughout his career, Dr. Rohatgi has pushed the frontiers of PV cell performance and cost through research into the effects of impurities in silicon solar cells, the design and modeling of solar cells and the development of new fabrication techniques that simultaneously speed manufacturing and reduce costs. Dr. Rohatgi has authored and co-authored over 375 technical papers about solar, set 14 solar cell world records and helped more than 40 of the world’s largest solar companies develop new technologies.
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The U.S. EPA honored Dr. Rohatgi as an Individual Climate Protection Award Winner in a ceremony recently held at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
In addition, ASES selected Dr. Rohatgi as this year’s Hoyt Clarke Hottel Award Winner, for contributions in solar energy technology, and will honor him at the SOLAR 2009 conference, in Buffalo, New York later this year.
Rohatgi founded Georgia Tech’s PV research program and later established the first University Center of Excellence for Photovoltaic Research and Education (UCEP), a program funded by the U.S. Department of Energy. In 2007, he founded Suniva, a Norcross, GA-based company, to commercialize the world’s most advanced low-cost high-efficiency solar cells.
“This is a critical time in the history of solar research and deployment. Never before in my career have I seen today’s confluence of technological advances, political will and economic conditions necessary to bring solar into the mainstream. I’m honored to receive such recognitions as America and the world embrace photovoltaics as a practical energy solution,” said Rohatgi.
Throughout his career, Dr. Rohatgi has pushed the frontiers of PV cell performance and cost through research into the effects of impurities in silicon solar cells, the design and modeling of solar cells and the development of new fabrication techniques that simultaneously speed manufacturing and reduce costs. Dr. Rohatgi has authored and co-authored over 375 technical papers about solar, set 14 solar cell world records and helped more than 40 of the world’s largest solar companies develop new technologies.
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Friday, December 19, 2008
Two Georgia Tech Faculty Honored by the White House
Kim Cobb, assistant professor in Georgia Tech’s School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences in the College of Sciences, and Nick Feamster, assistant professor in the School of Computer Science and the Georgia Tech Information Security Center in the College of Computing, have been recognized as two of the nation’s top young scientists with a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE). The ceremony was held today at the White House.
The PECASE program recognizes outstanding scientists and engineers who, early in their careers, show exceptional potential for leadership at the frontiers of knowledge. This Presidential Award is the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on scientists and engineers beginning their careers.
“I’m delighted that the achievements and extraordinary potential of these two exceptional faculty members are being recognized by the National Science Foundation and by the President of the United States,” said Gary Schuster, interim president of the Georgia Tech. “This is outstanding news for them – a PECASE award and the accompanying support can have a lasting positive effect on a research career. And this is yet another indicator that Georgia Tech’s reputation is strong as a leading research institution. I am proud to serve at a university that has such dedicated and committed faculty members.”
Kim Cobb
Cobb’s research focuses on understanding climate change using geological archives such as corals and cave stalagmites. By reconstructing the climate from the past few decades to the last several millennia, Cobb aims to inform current climate models that help predict how changes might occur in the future.
“I’m happy that my climate change research seems to be a focus on the national stage,” said Cobb. “I hope that it serves to emphasize the importance of paleo-climate research in this field.”
She joined the faculty at Georgia Tech in 2004 after earning her Ph.D. in oceanography in 2002 from the Scripps Institute of Oceanography and spending two years as a postdoctoral fellow at Caltech.
“Models can only take you so far in seeing how the climate may change over the next few decades,” said Cobb. “In many cases, the data is too short, so the paleo-climate data is added to make a more complete record, so we can see how temperature and precipitation patterns respond to climate forcing.”
Cobb has spent time in the caves of Borneo, analyzing stalagmites in search of clues about the climate of the earth’s past. This month, she’s traveling to the Bahamas to take high-definition footage of coral reefs so they can be rendered in a 3D virtual environment.
The multidisciplinary research team, which also includes Frank Dellaert from Tech’s College of Computing and Brian Magerko from Tech’s Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts, will also be using the hi-def images they take of the reef to create a virtual ecosystem that scientists can use to collaborate and share data.
“This current research has educational uses for schools and museums, but we can also use the technology to capture large tracts of the reef in detail so other scientists can see species diversity and coral health without having to spend the money to go there,” she said.
Feamster received his Ph.D. in computer science from MIT in 2005, and his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering and computer science from MIT in 2000 and 2001, respectively. He joined the faculty at Georgia Tech in January 2006.
He is developing techniques, tools and systems to make it easier to manage and protect network operations. Networks, particularly communications networks, have become larger, more complex and virtually ubiquitous. This makes them more valuable to users, but also more vulnerable to problems and attacks.
“A lot of people have figured out that you can make a quick buck with spam or phishing attacks, and securing networks has become a really big problem,” Feamster said. “You have people out there who are not just trying to do damage or inflict harm to the network, but to make money.”
Much of Feamster’s current research focuses on making it easier for network operators and managers to do their jobs well. Network operators have to make the network highly available and secure at the same time, and that means monitoring network conditions, detecting problems that can be fixed and quickly taking steps to fix them. But when networks go down or suffer outside attacks, he says, operators often don’t have a complete picture of what happened and have to rely on anecdotal data gathered from individual users who have called a help line or reported a problem.
“If we could automate some of that and gather data from the edge of the network where the individual machines and users are and somehow push that information back into the network, it would help network operators figure out the problem and fix it faster,” he said.
Feamster also is working on solutions to unwanted network traffic—spam and phishing attacks. He says current fixes, such as applying spam filters based on words in an e-mail or the IP address of the sender’s computer, are too specific, and spammers have quickly figured out how to get around them. In his research, Feamster focuses on identifying some key and unchanging characteristics of spam so computer scientists can develop broader protections against it.
“The number of recipients is a good example,” he said. “If an e-mail has hundreds of recipients, there’s a good chance it’s spam. Also legitimate users of e-mail send messages that vary greatly in length, from one-liners to maybe several pages. The length of spam is almost always within a certain, limited range.”
Cobb and Feamster were nominated for the PECASE by the National Science Foundation. Eight federal departments and agencies annually nominate scientists and engineers at the start of their careers whose work shows exceptional promise for leadership at the frontiers of scientific knowledge during the twenty-first century. Participating agencies award recipients up to five years of funding to further their research in support of critical government missions.
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The PECASE program recognizes outstanding scientists and engineers who, early in their careers, show exceptional potential for leadership at the frontiers of knowledge. This Presidential Award is the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on scientists and engineers beginning their careers.
“I’m delighted that the achievements and extraordinary potential of these two exceptional faculty members are being recognized by the National Science Foundation and by the President of the United States,” said Gary Schuster, interim president of the Georgia Tech. “This is outstanding news for them – a PECASE award and the accompanying support can have a lasting positive effect on a research career. And this is yet another indicator that Georgia Tech’s reputation is strong as a leading research institution. I am proud to serve at a university that has such dedicated and committed faculty members.”
Kim Cobb
Cobb’s research focuses on understanding climate change using geological archives such as corals and cave stalagmites. By reconstructing the climate from the past few decades to the last several millennia, Cobb aims to inform current climate models that help predict how changes might occur in the future.
“I’m happy that my climate change research seems to be a focus on the national stage,” said Cobb. “I hope that it serves to emphasize the importance of paleo-climate research in this field.”
She joined the faculty at Georgia Tech in 2004 after earning her Ph.D. in oceanography in 2002 from the Scripps Institute of Oceanography and spending two years as a postdoctoral fellow at Caltech.
“Models can only take you so far in seeing how the climate may change over the next few decades,” said Cobb. “In many cases, the data is too short, so the paleo-climate data is added to make a more complete record, so we can see how temperature and precipitation patterns respond to climate forcing.”
Cobb has spent time in the caves of Borneo, analyzing stalagmites in search of clues about the climate of the earth’s past. This month, she’s traveling to the Bahamas to take high-definition footage of coral reefs so they can be rendered in a 3D virtual environment.
The multidisciplinary research team, which also includes Frank Dellaert from Tech’s College of Computing and Brian Magerko from Tech’s Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts, will also be using the hi-def images they take of the reef to create a virtual ecosystem that scientists can use to collaborate and share data.
“This current research has educational uses for schools and museums, but we can also use the technology to capture large tracts of the reef in detail so other scientists can see species diversity and coral health without having to spend the money to go there,” she said.
Feamster received his Ph.D. in computer science from MIT in 2005, and his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering and computer science from MIT in 2000 and 2001, respectively. He joined the faculty at Georgia Tech in January 2006.
He is developing techniques, tools and systems to make it easier to manage and protect network operations. Networks, particularly communications networks, have become larger, more complex and virtually ubiquitous. This makes them more valuable to users, but also more vulnerable to problems and attacks.
“A lot of people have figured out that you can make a quick buck with spam or phishing attacks, and securing networks has become a really big problem,” Feamster said. “You have people out there who are not just trying to do damage or inflict harm to the network, but to make money.”
Much of Feamster’s current research focuses on making it easier for network operators and managers to do their jobs well. Network operators have to make the network highly available and secure at the same time, and that means monitoring network conditions, detecting problems that can be fixed and quickly taking steps to fix them. But when networks go down or suffer outside attacks, he says, operators often don’t have a complete picture of what happened and have to rely on anecdotal data gathered from individual users who have called a help line or reported a problem.
“If we could automate some of that and gather data from the edge of the network where the individual machines and users are and somehow push that information back into the network, it would help network operators figure out the problem and fix it faster,” he said.
Feamster also is working on solutions to unwanted network traffic—spam and phishing attacks. He says current fixes, such as applying spam filters based on words in an e-mail or the IP address of the sender’s computer, are too specific, and spammers have quickly figured out how to get around them. In his research, Feamster focuses on identifying some key and unchanging characteristics of spam so computer scientists can develop broader protections against it.
“The number of recipients is a good example,” he said. “If an e-mail has hundreds of recipients, there’s a good chance it’s spam. Also legitimate users of e-mail send messages that vary greatly in length, from one-liners to maybe several pages. The length of spam is almost always within a certain, limited range.”
Cobb and Feamster were nominated for the PECASE by the National Science Foundation. Eight federal departments and agencies annually nominate scientists and engineers at the start of their careers whose work shows exceptional promise for leadership at the frontiers of scientific knowledge during the twenty-first century. Participating agencies award recipients up to five years of funding to further their research in support of critical government missions.
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Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Georgia Tech Student Named One of Twelve Mitchell Scholars
Sarang Shah has been named one of 12 recipients of the George J. Mitchell Scholarship. This is the second consecutive year that a student from the Georgia Institute of Technology has been selected to receive this honor. The Mitchell Scholarships are awarded annually to 12 Americans under the age of 30 to pursue a year of post-graduate study at any university in Ireland.
Finalists for the award were interviewed the weekend of November 22-23 in Washington, D.C. Shah was chosen from a pool of 300 candidates and is among the 10th anniversary class of Mitchell Scholars
“Having the opportunity to study and research theoretical mathematical
physics at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies and University
College Dublin will allow me to further pursue the fundamental
questions underlying how the universe works,” said Shah. “I intend to not only
research theoretical physics academically, but also to learn how to
educate the general public and policymakers about modern ideas and
research in theoretical physics.
Shah continued, “The Mitchell Scholarship is also known for fostering a close-knit community of scholars from a variety of fields of study. Being a member of such a community is a unique opportunity that will allow me to make the personal connections in Ireland and beyond to achieve my goals.”
A native of Acworth, Georgia, Shah is a physics and public policy major. Shah says these two fields fit together well for him.
“I have always been interested in understanding how the universe works, but at the same time I have been deeply concerned with the way society functions,” said Shah. “My sense of civic duty and helping my fellow human beings has led me to become involved in my community, study policy and politics, and also look for ways that my knowledge of physics can help me to understand public policy.”
During his four years at Georgia Tech, Shah has been active in a number of student initiatives geared toward environmental activism and political dialogue, including a campus-wide recycling program, a water conservation campaign and a Yellow Jacket Round Table designed to bring together student leaders to discuss and help resolve campus issues. He has also been a strong advocate in preserving free speech on campus, testifying before the State House Committee on Higher Education and authoring a resolution opposing a bill that would inhibit free speech. Shah is credited for his role in the defeat of the bill.
In addition to Shah’s political advocacy, he has conducted research in the field of theoretical neuroscience and developed textual analysis software to help map data. He will study mathematical physics at University College Dublin.
The Mitchell Scholarship is named for former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, who spearheaded the historic Good Friday Agreement of 1998, which produced peace in Northern Ireland. The Mitchell Scholarship recognizes outstanding young Americans who exhibit the highest standards of academic excellence, leadership and community service.
Last year, Adam Tart was named Georgia Tech’s first Mitchell Scholar. He is now working on mobile and ubiquitous computing at University College Cork.
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Finalists for the award were interviewed the weekend of November 22-23 in Washington, D.C. Shah was chosen from a pool of 300 candidates and is among the 10th anniversary class of Mitchell Scholars
“Having the opportunity to study and research theoretical mathematical
physics at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies and University
College Dublin will allow me to further pursue the fundamental
questions underlying how the universe works,” said Shah. “I intend to not only
research theoretical physics academically, but also to learn how to
educate the general public and policymakers about modern ideas and
research in theoretical physics.
Shah continued, “The Mitchell Scholarship is also known for fostering a close-knit community of scholars from a variety of fields of study. Being a member of such a community is a unique opportunity that will allow me to make the personal connections in Ireland and beyond to achieve my goals.”
A native of Acworth, Georgia, Shah is a physics and public policy major. Shah says these two fields fit together well for him.
“I have always been interested in understanding how the universe works, but at the same time I have been deeply concerned with the way society functions,” said Shah. “My sense of civic duty and helping my fellow human beings has led me to become involved in my community, study policy and politics, and also look for ways that my knowledge of physics can help me to understand public policy.”
During his four years at Georgia Tech, Shah has been active in a number of student initiatives geared toward environmental activism and political dialogue, including a campus-wide recycling program, a water conservation campaign and a Yellow Jacket Round Table designed to bring together student leaders to discuss and help resolve campus issues. He has also been a strong advocate in preserving free speech on campus, testifying before the State House Committee on Higher Education and authoring a resolution opposing a bill that would inhibit free speech. Shah is credited for his role in the defeat of the bill.
In addition to Shah’s political advocacy, he has conducted research in the field of theoretical neuroscience and developed textual analysis software to help map data. He will study mathematical physics at University College Dublin.
The Mitchell Scholarship is named for former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, who spearheaded the historic Good Friday Agreement of 1998, which produced peace in Northern Ireland. The Mitchell Scholarship recognizes outstanding young Americans who exhibit the highest standards of academic excellence, leadership and community service.
Last year, Adam Tart was named Georgia Tech’s first Mitchell Scholar. He is now working on mobile and ubiquitous computing at University College Cork.
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Thursday, November 20, 2008
Georgia Tech's Kirk Bowman Named Professor of the Year
Kirk Bowman, associate professor at Georgia Tech, has been named the 2008 Georgia Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. Bowman was selected from nearly 300 top professors in the United States.
“I am thrilled to be named the Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation,” said Bowman. “It validates my belief that research and teaching can be mutually reinforcing and positive sum.”
Bowman is a faculty member in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs in the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts. He is also the program director for study abroad for Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica and Cuba.
“Dr. Bowman excites and inspires students to understand the politics, economics and cultures of other countries,” said Sue V. Rosser, dean of the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts. “We are very pleased that his work has been recognized. He is an asset to his students, a credit to our profession, to the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs and to the Ivan Allen College.”
An expert in the politics of Latin America, Bowman is also a member of an interdisciplinary team researching conservation, economic development and drug discovery in Fiji.
He is the author of Militarization, Development and Democracy: The Perils of Praetorianism in Latin America. He is currently working on his next book, which explores national tourism policy in Latin America.
CASE and the Carnegie Foundation have been partners in offering Professor of the Year awards since 1981. TIAA-CREF, one of America’s leading financial services organizations and higher education’s premier retirement system, became the primary sponsor for the awards ceremony in 2000. Additional support for the program is provided by a number of higher education associations, including Phi Beta Kappa.
This year, there are winners in 44 states, the District of Columbia and Guam. CASE assembled two preliminary panels of judges to select finalists. The Carnegie Foundation then convened the third and final panel, which selected four national winners. CASE and Carnegie select state winners from top entries resulting from the judging process. Recipients were selected from faculty members nominated by colleges and universities throughout the country.
The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching was founded in 1905 by Andrew Carnegie “to do all things necessary to encourage, uphold and dignify the profession of teaching.” The Foundation is the only advanced-study center for teachers in the world and the third-oldest foundation in the nation. Its nonprofit research activities are conducted by a small group of distinguished scholars.
The Council for Advancement and Support of Education is the largest international association of education institutions, serving more than 3,400 universities, colleges, schools and related organizations in 61 countries. CASE is the leading resource for professional development, information and standards in the fields of educational fundraising, communications, marketing and alumni relations.
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“I am thrilled to be named the Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation,” said Bowman. “It validates my belief that research and teaching can be mutually reinforcing and positive sum.”
Bowman is a faculty member in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs in the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts. He is also the program director for study abroad for Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica and Cuba.
“Dr. Bowman excites and inspires students to understand the politics, economics and cultures of other countries,” said Sue V. Rosser, dean of the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts. “We are very pleased that his work has been recognized. He is an asset to his students, a credit to our profession, to the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs and to the Ivan Allen College.”
An expert in the politics of Latin America, Bowman is also a member of an interdisciplinary team researching conservation, economic development and drug discovery in Fiji.
He is the author of Militarization, Development and Democracy: The Perils of Praetorianism in Latin America. He is currently working on his next book, which explores national tourism policy in Latin America.
CASE and the Carnegie Foundation have been partners in offering Professor of the Year awards since 1981. TIAA-CREF, one of America’s leading financial services organizations and higher education’s premier retirement system, became the primary sponsor for the awards ceremony in 2000. Additional support for the program is provided by a number of higher education associations, including Phi Beta Kappa.
This year, there are winners in 44 states, the District of Columbia and Guam. CASE assembled two preliminary panels of judges to select finalists. The Carnegie Foundation then convened the third and final panel, which selected four national winners. CASE and Carnegie select state winners from top entries resulting from the judging process. Recipients were selected from faculty members nominated by colleges and universities throughout the country.
The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching was founded in 1905 by Andrew Carnegie “to do all things necessary to encourage, uphold and dignify the profession of teaching.” The Foundation is the only advanced-study center for teachers in the world and the third-oldest foundation in the nation. Its nonprofit research activities are conducted by a small group of distinguished scholars.
The Council for Advancement and Support of Education is the largest international association of education institutions, serving more than 3,400 universities, colleges, schools and related organizations in 61 countries. CASE is the leading resource for professional development, information and standards in the fields of educational fundraising, communications, marketing and alumni relations.
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Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Georgia Tech's Butera Named 2008 Jefferson Science Fellow
The U.S. Department of State has selected Electrical and Computer Engineering Professor Robert Butera as one of seven Jefferson Science Fellows for 2008–2009. Butera will work full-time on a project with the State Department or the U.S Agency for International Development (USAID) for the next year in Washington, D.C. Since the program’s inception in 2003, Butera is Georgia Tech’s first professor chosen as a Fellow.
Built on the premise that science, technology and engineering programs (STE) are integral to the foundations of modern society, the fellowship was established to foster partnerships between tenured scientists and engineers from U.S. academic institutions and offices within the State Department and USAID.
During his initial two-week visit to Washington, Butera said he and other Fellows were provided 21 two- to three-page project descriptions. After visiting the various offices sponsoring the projects, the Fellows decided amongst themselves their project selections.
“The projects were diverse, ranging from bureaus who wanted a technical person to be involved in science outreach, partnerships and/or serve as a ‘science officer’ for an entire region, to functional bureaus that serve specific tasks, such as international ocean agreements and climate change treaties.” Butera elected to work within the Office of Chemical and Biological Weapons Threat Reduction in the Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation, “which is the lead policy office within the U.S. government for foreign policy issues related to chemical and biological agents.”
A week of American Association for the Advancement of Science workshops helped to acclimate the Fellows to the interaction of various government offices from a science and policy perspective. “Another topic of emphasis was contrasting the thinking and decision-making priorities [between] scientists and engineers and policy-makers, and how to bridge that gap,” he said.
But Butera’s work will not just provide him with more experience working on treaties and negotiations regarding the destruction and non-proliferation of weapons. His two “dual-use” projects will aid both his research and the Institute. “I chose the office and the projects because they directly relate to ongoing programs that exist at Georgia Tech.”
“One [project] involves collaborating with foreign counterparts to develop educational tools and professional awareness strategies related to defining, recognizing and solving dual-use issues that may arise in the course of biological research,” Butera said. “A second project involves working with other federal agencies to develop strategies for dealing with the dual-use issues that may arise from the de novo synthesis of gene sequences.”
With his past experience as graduate program director, Butera had to deal with export control rules impacting student visas. “My experience this year is directly relevant to all of these areas,” Butera said. “While I am officially representing the State Department in my position for the next year, I hope that my time can both provide input to these processes from an academic perspective, as well as serve as a resource to the relevant offices when I return to Tech.”
He also refers to his dealing with the Institute’s Office of Research Compliance as a bioengineering researcher. “I hope that my participation and my specific activities regarding dual-use biological research can help improve our campus-wide research ethics training, as well as contribute to the ongoing activities of the Sam Nunn Security Program and the Center for International Strategy, Technology and Policy.”
Butera’s research is primarily in the fields of neuroengineering, physiological modeling and real-time instrumentation. He received his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Tech in 1991, and received his master’s (1994) and doctorate (1996) from Rice University in Houston. He has been a member of the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering faculty since 1999 after conducting postdoctoral research at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md. He also is a fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering and the associate editor of the Journal of Theoretical Biology.
Originally funded by the Carnegie Corp. of New York and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Jefferson Science Fellows has been funded by the State Department since 2008. The program is administered by the Fellowships Office of the National Academies.
Jefferson Science fellowships are awarded by panelists selected from the National Academies. Nominations are limited to scientists, technologists and engineers with tenured faculty appointments at U.S. colleges or universities.
Nominees and applicants were chosen based upon the abilities to articulate science and technology issues to the general public; to quickly understand and discuss work and advancements outside their discipline areas; to maintain an open mind regarding public policy discussions at the State Department or USAID; and their “stature, recognition and experience” in the scientific or engineering community both in the United States and abroad.
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Built on the premise that science, technology and engineering programs (STE) are integral to the foundations of modern society, the fellowship was established to foster partnerships between tenured scientists and engineers from U.S. academic institutions and offices within the State Department and USAID.
During his initial two-week visit to Washington, Butera said he and other Fellows were provided 21 two- to three-page project descriptions. After visiting the various offices sponsoring the projects, the Fellows decided amongst themselves their project selections.
“The projects were diverse, ranging from bureaus who wanted a technical person to be involved in science outreach, partnerships and/or serve as a ‘science officer’ for an entire region, to functional bureaus that serve specific tasks, such as international ocean agreements and climate change treaties.” Butera elected to work within the Office of Chemical and Biological Weapons Threat Reduction in the Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation, “which is the lead policy office within the U.S. government for foreign policy issues related to chemical and biological agents.”
A week of American Association for the Advancement of Science workshops helped to acclimate the Fellows to the interaction of various government offices from a science and policy perspective. “Another topic of emphasis was contrasting the thinking and decision-making priorities [between] scientists and engineers and policy-makers, and how to bridge that gap,” he said.
But Butera’s work will not just provide him with more experience working on treaties and negotiations regarding the destruction and non-proliferation of weapons. His two “dual-use” projects will aid both his research and the Institute. “I chose the office and the projects because they directly relate to ongoing programs that exist at Georgia Tech.”
“One [project] involves collaborating with foreign counterparts to develop educational tools and professional awareness strategies related to defining, recognizing and solving dual-use issues that may arise in the course of biological research,” Butera said. “A second project involves working with other federal agencies to develop strategies for dealing with the dual-use issues that may arise from the de novo synthesis of gene sequences.”
With his past experience as graduate program director, Butera had to deal with export control rules impacting student visas. “My experience this year is directly relevant to all of these areas,” Butera said. “While I am officially representing the State Department in my position for the next year, I hope that my time can both provide input to these processes from an academic perspective, as well as serve as a resource to the relevant offices when I return to Tech.”
He also refers to his dealing with the Institute’s Office of Research Compliance as a bioengineering researcher. “I hope that my participation and my specific activities regarding dual-use biological research can help improve our campus-wide research ethics training, as well as contribute to the ongoing activities of the Sam Nunn Security Program and the Center for International Strategy, Technology and Policy.”
Butera’s research is primarily in the fields of neuroengineering, physiological modeling and real-time instrumentation. He received his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Tech in 1991, and received his master’s (1994) and doctorate (1996) from Rice University in Houston. He has been a member of the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering faculty since 1999 after conducting postdoctoral research at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md. He also is a fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering and the associate editor of the Journal of Theoretical Biology.
Originally funded by the Carnegie Corp. of New York and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Jefferson Science Fellows has been funded by the State Department since 2008. The program is administered by the Fellowships Office of the National Academies.
Jefferson Science fellowships are awarded by panelists selected from the National Academies. Nominations are limited to scientists, technologists and engineers with tenured faculty appointments at U.S. colleges or universities.
Nominees and applicants were chosen based upon the abilities to articulate science and technology issues to the general public; to quickly understand and discuss work and advancements outside their discipline areas; to maintain an open mind regarding public policy discussions at the State Department or USAID; and their “stature, recognition and experience” in the scientific or engineering community both in the United States and abroad.
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