Energy Research | Research News Center

August 26, 2026

Open Source, Big Ideas: Scientific Computing Community Heading to Georgia Tech

4 min read

Georgia Tech is hosting the 2026 MFEM (Modular Finite Element Methods) Community Workshop, Sept. 22-25. MFEM supports research in computational physics, earth systems modeling, engineering, energy, and other fields.

From Top Left (clockwise): Ana Mazmishvili, Ryan Anthony, Samin Alipour, Faeze Fahimi Aghda

August 18, 2026

EPIcenter Summer Research Program Helps Doctoral Students Advance Energy Research

5 min read

Four Georgia Tech doctoral students spent the summer working on their dissertation research through the Energy Policy and Innovation Center's (EPIcenter) Summer Research Program.

Casey Wichman, Associate Professor in Georgia Tech’s School of Economics.

August 12, 2026

How Does Wildfire Smoke Affect the Economy?

1 min read

Georgia Tech economist Casey Wichman explains how increased wildfire smoke from climate change affects spending, productivity, and healthcare costs.

Saman Zonouz is a Georgia Tech associate professor and lead researcher for the DerGuard project.

August 6, 2026

As Water Systems Face Cyberattacks, Georgia Tech Research Points to Solutions

4 min read

Recent cyberattacks on municipal water systems across the United States have renewed concerns about the cybersecurity of the operational technology that supports critical infrastructure.

Field tour attendees in Soperton, Georgia.

July 28, 2026

Hope Among the Pines: A Field Tour in Southeast Georgia Presents Carbon Exchange as Solution

6 min read

The Georgia Carbon Exchange can provide economic incentives to help landowners keep and manage their forests for carbon sequestration, with benefits to impact the entire state.

July 27, 2026

Yuanzhi Tang Named Fellow of the American Chemical Society

2 min read

Yuanzhi Tang, executive director of the Strategic Energy Institute (SEI) and Georgia Power Professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, has been named an American Chemical Society (ACS) Fellow.

$Side-by-side scientific visualization comparing in-situ photoelasticity and modeled stress field evolution during fracture testing of a transparent material. The left panel shows a rectangular specimen with rainbow-colored stress patterns radiating from a crack tip near the center-right edge, while the right panel shows a corresponding color-coded stress map with blue, green, yellow, and red regions indicating increasing stress concentration around the crack tip. Labels at the top identify the two methods.$

July 24, 2026

Rapid Testing Offers Path to More Sustainable Material Choices

5 min read

At Georgia Tech’s Daedalus Lab, Christos Athanasiou and postdoctoral researcher Danqi Sun are working to provide greater certainty to designers and engineers by rethinking how materials are tested for their fracture characteristics.

SEI's Director of Research and Studies Rich Simmons teaching at the Energy Unplugged Camp

July 20, 2026

Building the Energy Workforce of Tomorrow Through Energy Unplugged at Georgia Tech

5 min read

Energy Unplugged camp, a collaboration between the Strategic Energy Institute (SEI), the Energy Policy and Innovation Center, and CEISMC, attracted students from across the country for an immersive, hands-on experience in real-world energy systems.

Rich Simmons on a car designed by the GT-Motorsports team at the Michigan International Speedway

July 20, 2026

Richard Simmons Named Interim Director of Student Competition Center

2 min read

Richard Simmons, principal research engineer in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, has been named interim director of the Student Competition Center (SCC).

YouTube Thumbnail of Engineered at Tech Episode with GT Researcher Katerine Graham and Undergrad student Harrison Burnside

July 15, 2026

Engineered at Tech: Pinpointing River Pollution

1 min read

Environmental engineer Katherine Graham is developing new methods to pinpoint pathogens in water to help local agencies make rivers and reservoirs cleaner.

Sam Shelton, Founding Director of the Strategic Energy Institute (Photo Credit: Georgia Tech Institute Communications)

July 7, 2026

In Memoriam: Sam Shelton, Founding Director of the Strategic Energy Institute

3 min read

Sam Shelton, founding director of the Strategic Energy Institute (SEI), longtime professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, and designer of the torch for the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, passed away on June 20, 2026.

4 panel image: clockwise from upper left - solar panels in field, data center and cooling complex, Hormuz Island, gas pump in a car's fuel port

July 1, 2026

EPIcenter Experts in the News: AI, Prices, and the War

1 min read

EPIcenter Faculty Affiliates have recently contributed to more than a dozen news broadcasts, public radio interviews, and national media conversations on energy price trends, the war in Iran, and what these mean for everyday Americans.

June 30, 2026

Meet the Expert: Brian An

1 min read

In this EPIcenter Expert series, meet Brian An, EPIcenter Affiliate, studying the intersection of energy resilience and urban policy to improve grid equity during extreme weather.

United States map showing the eight regions of the CORE-CM Initiative. Courtesy: Department of Energy Core-CM Initiative

June 24, 2026

Mining New Possibilities for Critical Minerals: Mapping a Stronger U.S. Supply Chain

4 min read

A new Department of Energy award will help Georgia Tech lead a regional effort to identify, recover, and reuse materials essential to energy, manufacturing, and national security.

Stock image that shows a soccer stadium as the center of an AI chip design

June 24, 2026

What It Takes to Deliver a Tech‑Heavy World Cup

1 min read

With hundreds of thousands of people attending the 104 World Cup games, Georgia Tech experts explain how electrical and computer engineering are facilitating some of the tournament's newest and most crucial technology.

Georgia Tech's Tech Tower with flowers blooming in the foreground

June 24, 2026

Researchers Discover Membrane-Based Approach to More Sustainable Oil Refining

6 min read

Published in Nature, the researchers' findings suggest that using membranes to separate crude oil before distillation could significantly reduce the energy, water, and carbon footprint of petroleum refining.

Professors Ryan Lively (Georgia Tech) and Dong-Yeun Koh (KAIST). Koh used to be postdoctoral researcher in the Lively Lab.

June 24, 2026

Researchers Discover Membrane-Based Approach to More Sustainable Oil Refining

6 min read

Published in Nature, the researchers' findings suggest that using membranes to separate crude oil before distillation could significantly reduce the energy, water, and carbon footprint of petroleum refining.

June 18, 2026

Zhuomin Zhang Receives ASME 2026 James Harry Potter Gold Medal

1 min read

Zhuomin Zhang, J. Erskine Love, Jr. Professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, has been awarded the 2026 James Harry Potter Gold Medal by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).

Graphic showing #1 public university in energy in Georgia Tech colors

June 9, 2026

Georgia Tech Maintains No. 1 Ranking in Energy and Fuels for Third Consecutive Year

2 min read

U.S. News & World Report has named Georgia Tech the top-ranked public university in energy and fuels research (No. 3 nationally). The Institute has maintained this ranking every year since the category was first introduced in 2024.

Ben Emerson, Assistant Professor of Aerospace Engineering giving a tour of the Ben T. Zinn Combustion Lab for the Summer Carbon Management Fellows

June 5, 2026

Summer Carbon Management Fellows Program Visit to the Ben T. Zinn Combustion Lab

1 min read

The combustion lab had the pleasure of touring visiting scholars from several neighboring universities on Wednesday, May 27. The combustion lab tour was part of a larger campus visit centered on the topic of carbon management.