Georgia Tech has announced the recipients of the 2026 Institute Research Awards, honoring faculty, staff, and research teams whose work has made significant scientific, technological, and societal impact. Presented by the Office of the Executive Vice President for Research, the awards recognize excellence across six categories spanning innovation, mentorship, collaboration, engagement, and research program development and impact. This year’s honorees reflect the breadth of Georgia Tech’s research enterprise — from foundational discovery to commercialization and community partnerships — and will be recognized at the Faculty and Staff Honors Luncheon on April 24.

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After watching hundreds of mosquitoes buzzing around one of their colleagues and collecting 20 million data points, Georgia Tech and Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers have created a mathematical model that predicts how and where female mosquitoes will fly to feast on humans. 

The new study is the first to visualize mosquito flight patterns and provides hard data for improving capture and control strategies. In addition to being a nuisance, mosquitoes transmit diseases such as malaria, yellow fever, and Zika, which cause more than 700,000 deaths every year.

“It’s like a crowded bar,” said David Hu, a professor in Georgia Tech’s George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and the School of Biological Sciences, with an adjunct appointment in the School of Physics. “Customers aren’t there because they followed each other into the bar. They’re attracted by the same cues: drinks, music, and the atmosphere. The same is true of mosquitoes. Rather than following the leader, the insect follows the signals and happens to arrive at the same spot as the others. They’re good copies of each other.”

Read more and watch: 
Georgia Tech College of Engineering newsroom and The Conversation

The building blocks of proteins, amino acids are essential for all living things. Twenty different amino acids build the thousands of proteins that carry out biological tasks. While some are made naturally in our bodies, others are absorbed through the food we eat. 

Amino acids also play a critical role commercially where they are manufactured and added to pharmaceuticals, dietary supplements, cosmetics, animal feeds, and industrial chemicals — an energy-intensive process leading to greenhouse gas emissions, resource consumption, and pollution.

A landmark new system developed at Georgia Tech could lead to an alternative: a commercially scalable, environmentally sustainable method for amino acid production that is carbon negative, using more carbon than it emits.

The breakthrough builds on a method that the team pioneered in 2024 and solves a key issue – increasing efficiency to an unprecedented 97% and reducing the bioprocess cost by over 40%. It’s the highest reported conversion of CO2 equivalents into amino acids using any synthetic biology system to date.

Published in the journal ACS Synthetic Biology, the study, “Cell-Free-Based Thermophilic Biocatalyst for the Synthesis of Amino Acids From One-Carbon Feedstocks,” was led by Bioengineering Ph.D. student Ray Westenberg and Professor Pamela Peralta-Yahya, who holds joint appointments in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry and School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. The team also included Shaafique Chowdhury (Ph.D. ChBE 25) and Kimberly Wennerholm (ChBE 23); alongside University of Washington collaborators Ryan Cardiff, then a Ph.D. student and now a Chain Reaction Innovations Fellow at Argonne National Laboratory, and Charles W. H. Matthaei Endowed Professor in Chemical Engineering James M. Carothers; in addition to Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Synthetic Biology Team Leader Alexander S. Beliaev.

"This work shifts the narrative from simply reducing carbon emissions to actually consuming them to create value,” says Peralta-Yahya. “We are taking low-cost carbon sources and building essential ingredients in a truly carbon-negative process that is efficient, effective, and scalable.”

Heat-Loving Organisms

The work builds on the cell-free technology the team used in their earlier study. “Previously, we discovered that a system that uses the machinery of cells, without using actual living cells, could be used to create amino acids from carbon dioxide,” Peralta-Yahya explains. “But to create a commercially viable system, we needed to increase the system’s efficiency and reduce the cost.”

The team discovered that bits of leftover cells were consuming starting materials, and — like a machine with unnecessary gears or parts — this limited the system’s efficiency. To optimize their “machine,” the team would need to remove the extra background machinery.

"Leftover cell parts were using key resources without helping produce the amino acids we were looking for,” says Peralta-Yahya. “We knew that heating the system could be one way to purify it because heat can denature these components.”

The challenge was in how to protect the essential system components from the high temperatures, she adds. “We wondered if introducing enzymes produced by a heat-loving bacterium, Moorella thermoacetica, might protect our system, while still allowing us to denature and remove that inefficient background machinery.”

The results were astounding: after introducing the enzymes, heating and “cleaning” the system, and letting it cool to room temperature, synthesis of the amino acids serine and glycine leaped to 97% yield — nearly three times that of the team’s previous system.

Scaling for Sustainability

To make the system viable for large-scale use, the team also needed to reduce costs. “One of the most costly components in this system is the cofactor tetrahydrofolate (THF),” Peralta-Yahya shares. “Reducing the amount of THF needed to start the process was one way to make the system more inexpensive and ultimately more commercially viable.”

By linking reaction steps so waste from one step fueled the next, the team devised a method to recycle THF within the system that reduces the amount of THF needed by five-fold — lowering bioprocessing costs by 42%.

“This decrease in cost and increase in yield is a critical step forward in creating a method with real potential for use in industry and manufacturing,” Peralta-Yahya says. “This system could pave the way for moving this carbon-negative technology out of the lab and onto the continuous, industrial scale."

 

Funding: The Advanced Research Project Agency-Energy (ARPA-E); U.S. Department of Energy; and the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Biological and Environmental Research Program.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acssynbio.5c00352

Since 2020, Georgia Tech has partnered with Sandia National Laboratories, a federally funded research and development center focused on national security. In February, the two institutions renewed their collaboration with a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), reaffirming a relationship that has already strengthened research capabilities on both sides.

The partnership has driven progress in areas ranging from hypersonics to bioscience, while also deepening institutional ties beyond research. Joint faculty appointments — such as Anirban Mazumdar, who holds roles at both Sandia and the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering — demonstrate how closely the organizations work together. The collaboration has also expanded student talent pipelines, providing more avenues for Georgia Tech students to pursue careers at the national lab.

“At its core, this partnership is about people,” said Tim Lieuwen, executive vice president for Research at Georgia Tech. “Sandia and Georgia Tech share a commitment to discovery and developing the talent, creativity, and collaboration our nation needs.”

The renewed MOU, he said, “strengthens connections between our researchers, opens new doors for our students, and builds meaningful career pathways into national service. When our communities work together to address national priorities, we not only accelerate technological advances — we expand opportunities for the people who will shape the future of our nation’s security.”

Under the new MOU, Sandia and Georgia Tech will focus on integrated research across key national security‑aligned areas, including secure artificial intelligence and computing, quantum technologies, critical minerals, advanced manufacturing, energy and grid resilience, and hypersonics. The partnership emphasizes connecting manufacturing, computation, and systems approaches directly to national security applications.

“Together, we have been solving new and unprecedented challenges in science and engineering, and now we have a great opportunity to develop this partnership,” said Dan Sinars, Sandia’s deputy chief research officer. “Our research benefits both national security and national prosperity, and keeps the country at the forefront of the world.”

With this strengthened connection, the partners aim to grow their shared research footprint through increased funding, publications, and faculty-led startups. Over the long term, Georgia Tech intends to become one of Sandia’s top hiring pipelines, ensuring that talent developed through joint research continues into national security careers.

History of the Partnership

The Institute’s collaboration with Sandia began in the mid‑2010s, when the labs selected Georgia Tech as one of its partner institutions. The first MOU, signed in 2015, formalized the relationship and outlined initial technical focus areas. 

In 2018, George White, executive director of strategic partnerships, and Olof Westerstahl,  senior director strategic initiatives in the Office of Corporate Engagement, helped expand the partnership. They launched “Sandia Day,” an event designed to introduce Georgia Tech faculty to Sandia researchers and spark new collaborations. By 2020, the organizations signed a second MOU that expanded the partnership’s technical focus areas to include energy and grid security, materials and nanotechnology, advanced electronics, advanced manufacturing, advanced computing, cyber and information security, bioscience, hypersonics, quantum information science, and engineering sciences.

The results have been substantial. Since 2018, Sandia has sponsored $35 million in research collaborations with Georgia Tech. Researchers from both institutions have co-authored 450 publications since 2016. Research activity continues to accelerate, with $1.6 million in new contracts in the past year alone. As of August 2025, Sandia employs 325 Georgia Tech alumni — a testament to the impact of the growing talent pipeline.

“We view our work with Sandia as the model for engagement with other national labs,” said White. “With the new MOU, we will continue to grow the Sandia partnership. I would like to see our footprint double in scope in the next five years.”

 

Hospital stays can be long and arduous; they can also cause serious complications. When a person lies in one position too long and begins to sweat, painful sores called pressure injuries (PIs) can form on the body, leading to infection or even death. A patient can develop a PI in a few days — or even a few hours. And once present, a PI is hard to treat. To address this issue, researchers at Georgia Tech have developed a new, flexible, sensor-filled fabric to monitor areas at risk of PIs and alert hospital staff when a patient needs to be turned.

Read more about Georgia Tech’s research on preventing pressure injuries »

Georgia Tech researcher Nick Housley is developing a drug‑delivery system designed to send cancer treatments directly to tumors while minimizing damage to healthy tissue. His team’s approach uses self‑assembling nanohydrogels (SANGs) that circulate through the body, remain inactive in healthy environments, and release their drug payload only when they encounter the unique chemical conditions created by tumors. This “cancer‑agnostic” strategy avoids the pitfalls of traditional targeted therapies, which can lose effectiveness as tumors evolve, and aims to reduce the harsh side effects patients often endure. Early preclinical results show that the nanohydrogels successfully concentrated drugs at tumor sites, and Housley’s team is now preparing for broader testing to move the technology toward clinical trials.

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The Georgia Institute of Technology has been awarded up to $21.8 million from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) to deliver a first-of-its-kind therapy to patients with lymphatic disease.

For many of these patients, care has long meant pain and disfigurement alongside other severe side effects, rather than receiving treatment that addresses the disease itself. This new ARPA-H award marks a potential turning point.

Lead researcher Susan Napier Thomas, Woodruff Professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and the Parker H. Petit Institute of Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB), has collaborated with her colleague J. Brandon Dixon, Woodruff Professor in the Woodruff School and IBB, for more than a decade on this project. The research partners are driven by the lack of meaningful treatment options available to patients.

“Funding support at this level is unprecedented,” Thomas said. “It finally gives us a chance to move beyond symptom management and toward real treatment. We’re addressing an underserved population with a huge unmet need.” 

A Gap in Care

The lymphatic system helps keep fluid moving through the body and plays a key role in immune health. When it does not function properly, fluid can build up in tissues, causing chronic pain and other long-term complications. Thomas noted that despite its toll on patients, lymphatic disease has lagged decades behind cardiovascular care in both treatment and research investment. 

“We are excited about this groundbreaking project in lymphatic engineering,” said Andrés García, IBB executive director. “By uniting interdisciplinary expertise, this work addresses long-standing challenges in lymphatic disease and moves meaningful solutions closer to the patients who need them most.”

What Comes Next

In the coming years, Thomas, Dixon, and their research partners will work toward an initial human trial, with an early focus on rare lymphatic conditions in children, as well as chronic disease in adults.

“This award reflects Georgia Tech’s growing leadership in using engineering to solve some of healthcare’s biggest challenges,” said Carolyn Seepersad, Eugene C. Gwaltney Jr. School Chair and professor in the Woodruff School. “It reinforces the Institute’s role in advancing innovations that improve patient care and strengthen Georgia’s position as a hub for health technology and biomedical innovation.”

The award was made through ARPA-H’s Groundbreaking Lymphatic Interventions and Drug Exploration (GLIDE) program led by Dr. Kimberley Steele.

This research was funded, in part, by the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) under Agreement No. 1AY2AX000137-01. The views and conclusions contained in this document are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as representing the official policies, either expressed or implied, of the U.S. government.

 

 

 

Abstract 

“It was a hypothesis. I was the experiment, and the hypothesis was proven true.” 

Can an inner-city student who grew up below the poverty line earn a Ph.D. and make a career in research? In theory, yes.  

The barriers are many. But literature suggests that early exposure to STEM and research opportunities can increase the odds for students in need.  

For Kendreze Holland, the idea of making it to college and earning an advanced degree was a hypothesis. Sure, theoretically it could be done — but in his own home, not everyone had even made it past high school.  

Often, the first question on the way to scientific discovery is: What if? What if a student like Holland received the right help at the right time? What if he was guided along the way by mentors who were leaders in their fields? What if he was given the opportunity to develop professional skills and make valuable connections? 

Holland asked himself: What if he could be the one to prove the hypothesis true? 

Introduction 

Holland grew up in northwest Atlanta, one of seven children raised by a single mother. Being one of so many children, most would struggle to stand out. But Holland always sought to be different.  

“My perpetual intention was to be less of a burden to my mother,” he said. “Since my mother’s education limited her abilities to help with my schoolwork, I went above the call of duty to stand out in academics.” 

His mother’s education was cut short in ninth grade so she could raise her first child, Holland’s older sister, and no one in his family had gone to college. In his mind, he had three career paths to choose from: football, hip hop, or retail.  

“Standing at a solid 5 foot 8, the first would have been difficult,” he joked. “And the latter two were not my calling.” 

Just like his mother, the course of his life changed in his ninth-grade year. For Holland, it began an academic journey he never expected.  

In 2012, he was attending B.E.S.T. Academy, an all-boys public school for grades six through 12 focused on business and STEM. Biology class was just another hour waiting to pass for the 15-year-old Holland, until the day two guest speakers from Georgia Tech walked into the room with “some weird apparatuses and mechanical chopsticks.” 

The two guests used the equipment — gel electrophoresis systems and pipettes — to show the boys what research can look like in real life. 

“This experience sparked within me a drive for science, and it was the first time I realized that I wanted to, and could, attain an advanced scientific degree,” Holland said.  

The two speakers were Manu Platt, a professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University, and Jerald Dumas, a postdoctoral researcher. Platt and Dumas were there to recruit students for a new program called Project ENGAGES within the Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB).  

The program was co-founded by Platt and the late Robert M. Nerem, IBB’s founding executive director, to give students like Holland an opportunity to participate in real research projects that would hopefully plant a seed in the next generation of scientists.  

Students come from one of eight partner schools in Atlanta. Once accepted, they are connected to a Georgia Tech graduate student who mentors them and supervises their work, and they get paid to work in their assigned lab for one year.  

Project ENGAGES does more than expose students to STEM concepts and ideas. It equips them with the skills and knowledge to carry out their own independent research projects. They also have opportunities to establish connections with university faculty and industry representatives who can provide career guidance and support. 

Methods 

Though Holland didn’t meet the program’s age requirement in 2012, he applied again the next year and was accepted. During his junior and senior years of high school, he worked in Platt’s lab, where he aided with projects involving proteins, cell cultures, and antibodies.  

“Over the course of those two years, the growth I saw scientifically, professionally, and in maturity, all corroborated my belief that Kendreze was going far, and able to push past whatever goals and obstacles he comes up against,” said Platt, now the director of the Center for Biomedical Engineering Technology Acceleration housed within the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering.  

Holland's experience sparked a love for science and a career-long connection with Georgia Tech. After high school, he graduated summa cum laude with a degree in chemistry from Georgia State University. As an undergraduate, he stayed connected with Tech and with IBB as a Petit Scholar, a yearlong mentorship program and research experience for top students around Atlanta. 

“I really wanted to stay close to home, and I felt like everything was in my backyard,” he said. “There are many people who come here from other places to Tech because of the great science that is going on. There’s something special about Atlanta, and I’m just getting the best of what I can from it.” 

He credits his time in Project ENGAGES with giving him the confidence and resilience to continue toward his goals. Like many others in the program, he was a first-generation college student with little to no guidance for his academic career. The holistic approach of Project ENGAGES provided professional development opportunities and standardized test preparation to ready him for life in college and beyond. 

“I knew I wanted to go to grad school, but I didn’t know I was going to do all these things,” he said. “Having that one goal sprouted a lot of side quests that just grew into something bigger.” 

After graduating from Georgia State in 2020, Holland was accepted into Georgia Tech’s Bioengineering Graduate Program as a doctoral student. In December 2025, he became the first Project ENGAGES alumnus to successfully defend his dissertation, and he is expected to graduate this spring. 

Lakeita Servance, assistant director of Outreach Initiatives at IBB, was the program manager for Project ENGAGES when Holland was accepted and cheered him on more than 10 years later as he presented his doctoral research. 

“As I sat in that room while he was defending his dissertation and sharing his research with all of us, I still reflected on that boy I saw at 16 years old,” she said. “It was this full circle moment to see him make it all the way back here. The investment we made over a decade ago has paid off in such a large way.” 

Results 

In addition to being the first in his family to go to college and earn an advanced degree, Holland received financial support from the National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship Program; was awarded multiple prestigious fellowships, including FORD, GEM, and Herbert P. Haley; landed an internship with 3M Corporate Research Materials Laboratory; and served as a mentor in the Nakatani Research and International Experience for Students. He has published papers, led panel discussions, applied for patents, and presented his research at national conferences.   

“All that stemmed from Project ENGAGES,” he said. “And more importantly, I applied to be a mentor for the ENGAGES program.” 

Holland said some of his most meaningful experiences have come from being able to give back. He has served as a mentor, both formally and informally, to more than half a dozen students, some who come from backgrounds much like his own. 

“I wanted to give back to the program because it poured so much into me. They were able to get me all the way to the Ph.D. level, so I knew that I could use my grind to help other students.” 

Conclusion 

Having proved the hypothesis true, Holland is turning his focus to the future, considering his options in academia and corporate research while he continues to work as a postdoc at Georgia Tech.  

His research in John Blazeck’s lab focuses on cellular engineering using CRISPR gene editing technology to regulate gene profiles, meaning he and other researchers can turn certain genes up and others down to affect the way cells respond. Though he is currently working with yeast cells, he hopes that his research will translate into mammalian cells that could have more clinical applications.  

“In terms of diseases and disorders, you can use it to tune genes to help someone experiencing cancer by helping immune cells or stopping cancer cells from dividing rapidly,” he said. “You can also help other cells to survive longer, and longer cell viability means potentially a patient can survive longer.” 

What began as a presentation in a high school science class has led Holland to a future he never expected. Tequila Harris, professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and co-director of Project ENGAGES, said his story shows others that they can do the same.  

“I believe his achievements will inspire and motivate generations of students to pursue dreams that they may not have known they had. Kendreze Holland has fundamentally shown others that there are multiple pathways to engage in STEM and that opportunities and access to advanced degrees can be attained by those willing to do the work.” 

Holland's story is symbolic of the ultimate goal for Project ENGAGES: to change the lives of talented young people who may never have had the opportunity to succeed.  

“That’s why I was so adamant about getting my Ph.D.,” he said, “to show that one could potentially overcome what they were going through to do something extraordinary.” 

 

Project ENGAGES is possible thanks to philanthropic support from our generous community: Donate here.

While most people don’t think twice about a cut or scrape, for those with diabetes, every wound is a potential threat that requires vigilant care. 

Diabetic foot ulcers, for example, are slow to heal and can increase the risk of infection, hospitalization, and even amputation. 

To address this critical challenge, researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) and the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) have developed a sensor designed to monitor chronic wounds in real-time. Embedded directly into a bandage, this flexible, low-cost device could transform wound management for diabetic patients and other critical applications — such as providing direct treatment to soldiers on the battlefield or managing chronic wounds in elderly populations and patients with limited healthcare access — by reducing invasive bandage changes and ensuring timely medical intervention.

“For diabetic patients with foot ulcers, long-term monitoring and care are essential,” said GTRI Principal Research Engineer and Project Lead Judy Song. “We were inspired by the success of wearable glucose monitors to develop a compact, affordable sensor tailored to wound care.”  

This project was supported by GTRI’s Independent Research and Development (IRAD) program between 2022-2025 and reflects the strength of interdisciplinary collaboration across Georgia Tech. Researchers from three out of GTRI’s eight laboratories developed the sensor with experts from the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering and the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Tech and Emory University.

About one in four people with diabetes will develop a foot ulcer at some point in their lives, making it one of the leading causes of foot amputations. For these patients, nerve damage and poor blood flow hinder the body’s natural healing process and allow wounds to linger and worsen. 

During the initial phases of their research, the team noted that nitric oxide (NO) had been previously identified as a key biomarker for wound health due to its central role in the healing process. Nitric oxide improves blood flow, reduces inflammation, promotes tissue growth and fights infection. By tracking nitric oxide levels in wounds, clinicians could determine whether a wound is improving or detect early signs of trouble. 

"Nitric oxide plays a fascinating, almost paradoxical, role in wound healing,” said GTRI Senior Research Engineer Victoria Razin, who is co-leading the project. “It’s essential for processes like blood flow and tissue repair, but can also signal when something is going wrong.”

At the core of the smart bandage is a flexible sensor powered by a three-electrode system capable of detecting changes in nitric oxide. The team used advanced Aerosol Jet® printing techniques to fabricate the sensor, significantly reducing production costs from thousands of dollars to just a few dollars per unit and making the design more affordable and scalable.

“Typically, prototyping these sensors can cost thousands of dollars, but our approach brought costs down dramatically,” said Chuck Zhang, the Eugene C. Gwaltney, Jr. Chair and Professor in ISYE and a program director at the National Science Foundation (NSF), who oversaw sensor fabrication for this project. “Lower costs let us iterate quickly and deliver something that could have real healthcare impact.”

To test the sensor’s accuracy, the team conducted extensive laboratory studies in both biological and simulated wound conditions. 

In one set of experiments, endothelial cell cultures were used to create “wounds” by scraping the cell layers. As the cells migrated to repair the gap, nitric oxide production increased, and the sensor successfully tracked these changes in real-time. Additional fluid tests using blood plasma and red blood cells demonstrated that the sensor could reliably detect nitric oxide in a variety of conditions that closely mimic real-world wound environments.

These experiments confirmed that the sensor can identify the fluctuations in nitric oxide associated with different phases of wound healing. 

Lab testing was led by Dr. Wilbur Lam, a professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering and at Emory University School of Medicine, with support from Kirby Fibben, a biomedical engineering Ph.D. student at Tech. 

"There’s a significant clinical need for real time, minimally invasive sensor technologies that detect nitric oxide,” said Dr. Lam. “While we’re starting with wound healing, there’s multiple other applications for vascular, hematologic, and pulmonary diseases as well.” 

The next step in the project is integrating the sensor into a functional wearable device. The team is combining the sensor with a miniaturized potentiostat (MicroPS) – a small electronic device that measures chemical signals – along with flexible electronic components and a system to transmit data to a mobile app. 

The MicroPS, designed by the GTRI research team, led by GTRI Research Engineer Curtis Mulady, enables compact electrochemical measurements and the wireless platform transmits nitric oxide readings from the bandage to a mobile app via Bluetooth. The app uploads the data to a cloud platform, giving clinicians the ability to remotely monitor wound progress in real time. This system could reduce the need for frequent in-person checkups, enabling earlier interventions and improving outcomes for patients.

Future iterations of the bandage aim to include “closed-loop” systems capable of both monitoring and treating wounds, said GTRI’s Song. For example, sensors could trigger a response, like releasing therapeutic agents or antimicrobials directly to the wound, when abnormalities are detected.

The researchers are also exploring commercialization pathways, including partnerships with medical device companies or the formation of a startup. 

“This sensor meets a real need for early detection of infection and to evaluate wound healing, and I believe it could have significant commercial success,” said Peter Hesketh, a professor in the School of Mechanical Engineering who led sensor design and performance testing. 

Other contributors to this project from GTRI include Mulady, Cora Weidner, Maxwell Blanchard, Rachel Erbrick and Christopher Heist. Zhaonan “Zeke” Liu, a postdoctoral fellow in ISYE, assisted with sensor fabrication, while Rizky Ilhamsyah, a graduate research assistant in the School of Mechanical Engineering, contributed to sensor design and performance testing. 

Writer: Anna Akins 
Photos: Sean McNeil 
GTRI Communications
Georgia Tech Research Institute
Atlanta, Georgia USA

For more information, please contact gtri.media@gtri.gatech.edu. 

To learn more about GTRI, visit: Georgia Tech Research Institute | GTRI

School of Biological Sciences Assistant Professor Benjamin Freeman has been named a 2026 Sloan Research Fellow by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Regarded as one of the most competitive and prestigious awards available to early-career scholars, the Fellowship recognizes researchers “whose creativity, innovation, and research accomplishments make them stand out as the next generation of leaders.”

“The Sloan Research Fellows are among the most promising early-career researchers in the U.S. and Canada, already driving meaningful progress in their respective disciplines,” says Stacie Bloom, president and chief executive officer of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. “We look forward to seeing how these exceptional scholars continue to unlock new scientific advancements, redefine their fields, and foster the wellbeing and knowledge of all.”

"This is a wonderful and welcome surprise that will support my ongoing research on mountains across the globe,” says Freeman. “It's a vote of confidence and will let me get out there and get to work."

Freeman is one of 126 scientists selected this year for the honor and will receive a two-year $75,000 grant of flexible funding to support his research.

He joins the ranks of nearly 50 faculty from Georgia Tech who have received Sloan Research Fellowships, including School of Mathematics’ Alex Blumenthal in 2024, Hannah Choi in 2022, Yao Yao in 2020, Konstantin Tikhomirov in 2019, Lutz Warnke in 2018, Zaher Hani in 2016, Jen Hom in 2015, and Greg Blekherman in 2012; School of Chemistry and Biochemistry's Vinayak Agarwal in 2018; School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences' Christopher Reinhard in 2015; and School of Physics’ Chunhui (Rita) Du in 2024 and Tamara Bogdanović in 2013. 

Freeman joined the Institute in 2023 and was also recently named a 2024 Packard Fellow by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and 2025 Early Career Fellow by the Ecological Society of America.

Understanding the ‘escalator to extinction’

Known for his groundbreaking research in climate change and bird ecology, Freeman studies birds worldwide from Appalachia to Ecuador. He specializes in tropical populations where his work is centered on understanding how mountain species respond to a changing climate — and how to facilitate their survival. 

“Tropical mountains are some of Earth’s largest biodiversity hotspots; they harbor an extraordinary number of species,” shares Freeman. “Additionally, tropical mountain birds are particularly sensitive to environmental change, so they can serve as an early warning system for global conservation efforts.”

Previously, his research has shown that some species are on an ‘escalator to extinction’ with vulnerable groups moving to higher elevations to escape warming temperatures. At the top of the escalator, some summit-dwelling species are disappearing. 

“We know that many species are on this escalator,” Freeman says. “The next step is to figure out which species are most vulnerable and why. In order to direct conservation efforts, we need to know who is vulnerable, why small increases in temperature have dramatic effects, and what can be done to help.”

A worldwide early warning system

To uncover those answers, Freeman is taking two approaches: mapping global patterns with big picture data and conducting on-the-ground research in the tropics.

To target the former, he created the Mountain Bird Network, which supports community scientists in conducting bird surveys on their local mountains. The goal is to create a system that allows researchers to diagnose vulnerable species before they are too sparse to save.

“When a species is in trouble, we need to know as soon as possible,” Freeman says. “Once a population is small enough to be at risk of extinction, it’s very hard to reverse that process. The Mountain Bird Network collects data on mountain bird abundances and distributions across the globe, which, when used with data from a global citizen science program called eBird, can be leveraged to build models to identify which species might be vulnerable before those populations become critically small.”

A living lab on Tech Mountain

Freeman’s other avenue of research involves building an ambitious living laboratory in Pinchincha, Ecuador. The research site will span thousands of meters along the flanks of a local mountain, spanning lowland rainforest, foothill rainforest, and cloud forest ecosystems.

“The mountain is home to thousands of birds from hundreds of species,” Freeman says. “My goal is to track and understand their daily lives — and how climate changes impact them.”

Using cutting-edge tracking technology, he will tag and monitor their daily movements, mapping those against microclimate sensors placed at different elevations along the mountain’s slopes. The challenge of placing and maintaining thousands of tiny sensors in rugged conditions means that it has never been done before.

“We’ll track these birds for at least five years –- but hopefully for decades,” Freeman says. “The data we gather at Tech Mountain will be the first of its kind, and my hope is that it makes a real difference in conservation efforts worldwide.”