Noura Howell and Joe Bozeman lead the “Microscale Thermal Tech for Sustainability” research initiative for the Institute for Matter and Systems at Georgia Tech. Their research in this role focuses on sustainable thermoregulation strategies for climate change resilience. Howell is an assistant professor of digital media in the Ivan Allen College of liberal Arts, and Bozeman is an assistant professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

In this brief Q&A, Howell and Bozeman discuss their research focus, how it relates to Matter and System’s core research focuses, and the national impact of this initiative.

What is your field of expertise and at what point in your life did you first become interested in this area?

Howell's field of expertise is Human-Computer Interaction, particularly embodied interaction design research and design futuring. Embodied interaction design research is about designing interactions with technologies that involve more of humans' bodies beyond just eyes on a screen and hands on a mouse or keyboard. Thermal perception (feeling warmth and coolness) is an important part of human embodied experience, and designing technologies for thermal perception is an exciting area of design research. Design futuring, Howell's other sub-speciality, offers ways to envision, discuss, and debate future scenarios with technology. So, this proposal uses design futuring to explore alternative futures for thermal technologies for sustainability. 

Howell has been interested in sustainability ever since she was a kid growing up playing in the woods in Florida, picking wild citrus, watching the lizards, frogs, snakes, armadillos, and birds, helping the tortoises cross the road, and canoeing near gators. Howell has been interested in thermal interactions ever since she was a kid in elementary school on the hot Florida playground, touching a hot metal jungle gym bar, and noticing that it felt so hot that it felt cool. Much later, she learned about thermoreceptors in our skin and that this phenomenon is called paradoxical cold, when some cold receptors in our skin respond to high temperatures. 

Bozeman's field of expertise is in sustainable energy development, climate change adaptation/mitigation, and developing equitable solutions for socioecological, urban carbon management, and food-energy-water nexus challenges. Bozeman does life cycle assessment and energy systems modeling for sustainability with a special emphasis on the social receptivity of technological administration.

Bozeman first became interested in this area during his time working for the public sector as a sustainability officer and energy manager. In those roles, he oversaw and addressed many sociotechnical challenges regarding indoor comfort, air quality, and compliance with environmental protection laws. During this period, it became clear to him that more needed to be done in thermoregulation and the systems that facilitate it.

What questions or challenges sparked your current research?

Thermoregulation, or maintaining a healthy body temperature, is essential for survival. Meanwhile, the world is getting hotter, and humans must adapt. When people feel too hot, it can hinder their productivity, and extreme heat can lead to death. HVAC uses too much energy and struggles to accommodate the wide variety of thermal comfort preferences of building occupants, while many people work outdoors.

Our project tackles the challenge of sustainable thermoregulation.

Matter and systems refer to the transformational technological and societal systems that arise from the convergence of innovative materials, devices, and processes. Why is your initiative important to the development of the IMS research strategy?

This proposal combines thermal technology and microscale fabrication to innovate sustainable thermoregulation strategies for climate change resilience. This helps advance IMS research strategy in their interdisciplinary areas of microelectronic technologies, built environment technologies, and human-centric technologies. While this project is only a start, sustainable thermoregulation will require transformational technological and societal systems shifts arising from the convergence of innovative materials, devices, and processes, and so this project is a good fit for IMS, and we are very happy to be working on this project under the auspices of IMS.

What are the broader global and social benefits of the research you and your team conduct?

This proposal convenes transdisciplinary expertise across Georgia Tech and beyond to propose agenda-setting visions for future work to establish the significance of this research nexus on more sustainable ways to support people in maintaining a comfortable, healthy body temperature. This is an essential form of climate change resilience and adaptation. This proposal has the potential to impact science, technology, and society through bringing disparate disciplines together to establish a new research area of sustainable, microscale thermoregulation techniques for climate change adaptation. This research promises to conceptually advance the state-of-the-art via design futuring scenarios, future visions of just-around-the-corner possibilities in this new research area.

What are your plans for engaging a wider Georgia Tech faculty pool with the Institute for Matter and Systems research?

We will convene researchers across Georgia Tech and beyond to exchange expertise, brainstorm wild ideas, and synthesize ideas into design futuring scenarios. Stay tuned for interview and workshop opportunities.

George White, senior director of strategic partnerships, has been named a member of the inaugural National Semiconductor Technology Center (NSTC) Workforce Advisory Board (WFAB).

“The appointment to the Natcast Workforce Advisory Board is truly an honor and represents an opportunity for myself and my esteemed colleagues to help increase U.S. competitiveness in this most consequential sector,” said White.

Comprising U.S. leaders focused on growing the semiconductor workforce from the private sector, higher education, workforce development organizations, the Department of Commerce, and other federal agencies, the WFAB will support the efforts of the recently established NSTC Workforce Center of Excellence (WCoE). It will offer critical input on national and regional workforce development strategies to ensure WCoE initiatives are employer-driven, worker-centered, and responsive to real-time industry challenges.

Read the full release from Natcast

Georgia Tech researchers have developed biosensors with advanced sleuthing skills and the technology may revolutionize cancer detection and monitoring. 

The tiny detectives can identify key biological markers using logical reasoning inspired by the “AND” function in computers — like, when you need your username and password to log in. And unlike traditional biosensors comprised of genetic materials — cells, bits of DNA — these are made of manufactured molecules.

These new biosensors are more precise and simpler to manufacture, reducing the number of false positives and making them more practical for clinical use. And because the sensors are cell-free, there’s a reduced risk for immunogenic side effects.

“We think the accuracy and simplicity of our biosensors will lead to accessible, personalized, and effective treatments, ultimately saving lives,” said Gabe Kwong, associate professor and Robert A. Milton Endowed Chair in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, who led the study, published this month in Nature Nanotechnology. 

Breaking With Tradition

The researchers set out to address the limitations in current biosensors for cancer, like the ones designed for CAR-T cells to allow them to recognize tumor cells. These advanced biosensors are made of genetic material, and there is growing interest to reduce the potential for off-target toxicity by using Boolean “AND-gate” computer logic. That means they’re designed to release a signal only when two specific conditions are met.

“Traditionally, these biosensors involve genetic engineering using cell-based systems, which is a complex, time-consuming, and expensive process,” said Kwong.

So, his team developed biosensors made of iron oxide nanoparticles and special molecules called cyclic peptides. Synthesizing nanomaterials and peptides is a simpler, less costly process than genetic engineering, according to Kwong, “which means we can likely achieve large-scale, economical production of high-precision biosensors.”

Unlocking the AND-gate

Biosensors detect cancer signals and track treatment progress by turning biological signals into readable outputs for doctors. With AND-gate logic, two distinct inputs are required for an output. 

Accordingly, the researchers engineered cyclic peptides — small amino acid chains — to respond only when they encounter two specific types of enzymes, proteases called granzyme B (secreted by the immune system) and matrix metalloproteinase (from cancer cells). The peptides generate a signal when both proteases are present and active.

Think of a high-security lock that needs two unique keys to open. In this scenario, the peptides are the lock, activating the sensor signal only when cancer is present and being confronted by the immune system. 

“Our peptides allow for greater accuracy in detecting cancer activity,” said the study’s lead author, Anirudh Sivakumar, a postdoctoral researcher in Kwong’s Laboratory for Synthetic Immunity. “It’s very specific, which is important for knowing when immune cells are targeting and killing tumor cells.”

Super Specific

In animal studies, the biosensors successfully distinguished between tumors that responded to a common cancer treatment called immune checkpoint blockade therapy — ICBT, which enhances the immune system — from tumors that resisted treatment. 

During these tests, the sensors also demonstrated their ability to avoid false signals from other, unrelated health issues, such as when the immune system confronted a flu infection in the lungs, away from the tumor.

“This level of specificity can be game changing,” Kwong said. “Imagine being able to identify which patients are responding to the therapy early in their treatment. That would save time and improve patient outcomes.”

The first step toward this simpler, precise form of cancer diagnostics began with an ambitious but humble ($50,000) seed grant from the Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience five years ago for a collaboration between Kwong’s lab and the lab of M.G. Finn, professor and chair in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry.

It evolved into a multi-institutional project supported by grants from the National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health that included researchers from the University of California-Riverside, as well as Georgia Tech faculty researchers Finn and Peng Qiu, associate professor in the Coulter Department.

“The progression of the research, from an initial seed grant all the way to animal studies, was very smooth,” Kwong said. “Ultimately, a collaborative, multidisciplinary effort turned our early vision into something that could have a great impact in healthcare.”

Citation: Anirudh Sivakumar, Hathaichanok Phuengkham, Hitha Rajesh, Quoc D. Mac, Leonard C. Rogers, Aaron D. Silva Trenkle, Swapnil Subhash Bawage, Robert Hincapie, Zhonghan Li, Sofia Vainikos, Inho Lee, Min Xue, Peng Qiu, M. G. Finn, Gabriel A. Kwong. “AND-gated protease-activated nanosensors for programmable detection of anti-tumour immunity.” Nature Nanotechnology (January 2025).  https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-024-01834-8

Funding: This research was supported in part by National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants 5U01CA265711, 5R01CA237210, 1DP2HD091793, and 5DP1CA280832.

Effective January 1st, David Sherrill will serve as interim executive director of the Georgia Tech Institute for Data Engineering and Science (IDEaS). Sherrill is a Regents' Professor in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry with a joint appointment in the College of Computing. Sherrill has served as associate director for IDEaS since its founding in 2016.

"David Sherrill's leadership role in IDEaS as associate director, together with his interdisciplinary background in chemistry and computer science, makes him the right person to support this transition as interim executive director," said Julia Kubanek, professor and vice president for interdisciplinary research at Georgia Tech. 

Sherrill succeeds Srinivas Aluru who will be taking a new position as Senior Associate Dean in the College of Computing. Aluru, a Regents' Professor in the School of Computational Science and Engineering, co-founded IDEaS and served as its co-executive director (2016-2019) and then as executive director (2019-date), spanning eight and a half years. Under his leadership IDEaS grew to more than 200 affiliate faculty spanning all colleges, encompassing multiple state, federal, and industry funded centers. Notable among these is the South Big Data Hub, catalyzing the Southern data science community to collectively accelerate scientific discovery and innovation, spur economic development in the region, broaden participation and diversity in data science, and the CloudHub, a Microsoft funded center that provides research funding and cloud resources for innovative applications in Generative Artificial Intelligence. More recently, Aluru established the Center for Artificial Intelligence in Science and Engineering (ARTISAN), and expanded the Institute’s research staff to provide needed cyberinfrastructure, software resources, and expertise to support faculty projects with large data sets and AI-driven discovery. "I've had the pleasure of serving as Associate Director of IDEaS since it was founded by Srinivas Aluru and Dana Randall, and I'm excited to step into this interim role.” said Sherrill. “IDEaS has an important mission to serve the many faculty doing interdisciplinary research involving data science and high performance computing."

Sherrill’s research group focuses on the development of ab initio electronic structure theory and its application to problems of broad chemical interest, including the influence of non-covalent interactions in drug binding, biomolecular structure, organic crystals, and organocatalytic transition states. The group seeks to apply the most accurate quantum models possible for a given problem and specializes in generating high-quality datasets for testing new methods or machine-learning purposes. 

Sherrill earned a B.S. in chemistry from MIT in 1992 and a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Georgia in 1996. From 1996-1999 Sherril was an NSF Postdoctoral Fellow, working under M. Head-Gordon, at the University of California, Berkeley.

Sherrill is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the American Chemical Society, and the American Physical Society, and he has been Associate Editor of the Journal of Chemical Physics since 2009. Sherrill has received a Camille and Henry Dreyfus New Faculty Award, the International Journal of Quantum Chemistry Young Investigator Award, an NSF CAREER Award, and Georgia Tech's W. Howard Ector Outstanding Teacher Award. In 2023, he received the Herty Medal from the Georgia Section of the American Chemical Society, and in 2024, he was elected to the International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science.

--Christa M. Ernst

Gold and white pompoms fluttered while Buzz, the official mascot of the Georgia Institute of Technology, danced to marching band music. But the celebration wasn’t before a football or basketball game — instead, the cheers marked the official launch of Georgia AIM Week, a series of events and a new mobile lab designed to bring technology to all parts of Georgia

Organized by Georgia Artificial Intelligence in Manufacturing (Georgia AIM), Georgia AIM Week kicked off September 30 with a celebration on the Georgia Institute of Technology campus and culminated with another celebration on Friday at the University of Georgia in Athens and aligned with National Manufacturing Day.

In between, the Georgia AIM Mobile Studio made stops at schools and community organizations to showcase a range of technology rooted in AI and smart technology.

“Georgia AIM Week was a statewide opportunity for us to celebrate Manufacturing Day and to launch our Georgia AIM Mobile Studio,” said Donna Ennis, associate vice president, community-based engagement, for Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute and Georgia AIM co-director. “Georgia AIM projects planned events in cities around the state, starting here in Atlanta. Then we headed to Warner Robins, Southwest Georgia, and Athens. We’re excited about the opportunity to bring this technology to our communities and increase access and ideas related to smart technology.”

Georgia AIM is a collaboration across the state to provide the tools and knowledge to empower all communities, particularly those that have been underserved and overlooked in manufacturing. This includes rural communities, women, people of color, and veterans. Georgia AIM projects are located across the state and work within communities to create a diverse AI manufacturing workforce. The federally funded program is a collaborative project administered through Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute and the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute.

A cornerstone of Georgia AIM Week was the debut of the Georgia AIM Mobile Studio, a 53-foot custom trailer outfitted with technology that can be used in manufacturing — but also by anyone with an interest in learning about AI and smart technology. Visitors to the mobile studio can experience virtual reality, 3-D printing, drones, robots, sensors, computer vision, and circuits essential to running this new tech.

There’s even a dog — albeit a robotic one — named Nova.

The studio was designed to introduce students to the possibilities of careers in manufacturing and show small businesses some of the cost-effective ways they can incorporate 21st century technology into their manufacturing operations.

“We were awarded about $7.5 million to build this wonderful studio here,” said Kenya Asbill, who works at the Russell Innovation Center for Entrepreneurs (RICE) as the Economic Development Administration project manager for Georgia AIM. “We will be traveling around the state of Georgia to introduce artificial intelligence in manufacturing to our targeted communities, including underserved rural and urban residents.”

Some technology on the Georgia AIM Mobile Studio was designed in consultation with project partners Kitt Labs and Technologists of Color. An additional suite of “technology vignettes” were developed by students at the University of Georgia College of Engineering. RICE and UGA served as project leads for the mobile studio development, and RICE will oversee its deployment across the state in the coming months.

To request a mobile studio visit, please visit the Georgia AIM website.

During Monday’s kickoff, the Georgia Tech cheerleaders and Buzz fired up the crowd before an event that featured remarks by Acting Assistant Secretary of the U.S. EDA Christina Killingsworth; Jay Bailey, president and CEO of RICE; Beshoy Morkos, associate professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Georgia; Aaron Stebner, co-director of Georgia AIM; David Bridges, vice president of Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute; and lightning presentations by Georgia AIM project leads from around the state.

Following the presentations, mobile studio tours were led by Jon Exume, president and executive director, and Mark Lawson, director of technology, for Technologists of Color. The organization works to create a cohesive and thriving community of African Americans in tech.

“I’m particularly excited to witness the launch of the Georgia AIM Mobile Studio. It really will help demystify AI and bring its promise to underserved rural areas across the state,” Killingsworth said. “AI is the defining technology of our generation. It’s transforming the global economy, and it will continue to have tremendous impact on the global workforce. And while AI has the potential to democratize access to information, enhance efficiency, and allow humans to focus on the more complex, creative, and meaningful aspects of work, it also has the power to exacerbate economic disparity. As such, we must work together to embrace the promise of AI while mitigating its risks.”

Other events during Georgia AIM week included the Middle Georgia Innovation Corridor Manufacturing Expo in Warner Robins, West Georgia Manufacturing Day – Student Career Expo in LaGrange, and a visit to Colquitt County High School in Moultrie. The week wrapped on Friday, Oct. 4, at the University of Georgia in Athens with a National Manufacturing Day celebration.

“We’re focused on growing our manufacturing economy,” Ennis said. “We’re also focused on the development and deployment of innovation and talent in the manufacturing industry as it relates to AI and other technologies. Manufacturing is cool. It is a changing industry. We want our students and younger people to understand that this is a career.”