A team of researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the Georgia Institute of Technology has 3D printed a dual-phase, nanostructured high-entropy alloy that exceeds the strength and ductility of other state-of-the-art additively manufactured materials, which could lead to higher-performance components for applications in aerospace, medicine, energy and transportation. The research, led by Wen Chen, assistant professor of mechanical and industrial engineering at UMass, and Ting Zhu, professor of mechanical engineering at Georgia Tech, was published in the August issue of the journal Nature.

Over the past 15 years, high entropy alloys (HEAs) have become increasingly popular as a new paradigm in materials science. Comprised of five or more elements in near-equal proportions, they offer the ability to create a near-infinite number of unique combinations for alloy design. Traditional alloys, such as brass, carbon steel, stainless steel and bronze, contain a primary element combined with one or more trace elements.

Additive manufacturing, also called 3D printing, has recently emerged as a powerful approach of material development. The laser-based 3D printing can produce large temperature gradients and high cooling rates that are not readily accessible by conventional routes. However, “the potential of harnessing the combined benefits of additive manufacturing and HEAs for achieving novel properties remains largely unexplored,” says Zhu.

Chen and his team in the Multiscale Materials and Manufacturing Laboratory combined an HEA with a state-of-the-art 3D printing technique called laser powder bed fusion to develop new materials with unprecedented properties. Because the process causes materials to melt and solidify very rapidly as compared to traditional metallurgy, “you get a very different microstructure that is far-from-equilibrium” on the components created, Chen says. This microstructure looks like a net and is made of alternating layers known as face-centered cubic (FCC) and body-centered cubic (BCC) nanolamellar structures embedded in microscale eutectic colonies with random orientations. The hierarchical nanostructured HEA enables co-operative deformation of the two phases.

“This unusual microstructure’s atomic rearrangement gives rise to ultrahigh strength as well as enhanced ductility, which is uncommon, because usually strong materials tend to be brittle,” Chen says. Compared to conventional metal casting, “we got almost triple the strength and not only didn’t lose ductility, but actually increased it simultaneously,” he says. “For many applications, a combination of strength and ductility is key. Our findings are original and exciting for materials science and engineering alike.”

“The ability to produce strong and ductile HEAs means that these 3D printed materials are more robust in resisting applied deformation, which is important for lightweight structural design for enhanced mechanical efficiency and energy saving,” says Jie Ren, Chen’s Ph.D. student and first author of the paper.

Zhu’s group at Georgia Tech led the computational modeling for the research. He developed dual-phase crystal plasticity computational models to understand the mechanistic roles played by both the FCC and BCC nanolamellae and how they work together to give the material added strength and ductility. 

“Our simulation results show the surprisingly high strength yet high hardening responses in the BCC nanolamellae, which are pivotal for achieving the outstanding strength-ductility synergy of our alloy. This mechanistic understanding provides an important basis for guiding the future development of 3D printed HEAs with exceptional mechanical properties,” Zhu says.

In addition, 3D printing offers a powerful tool to make geometrically complex and customized parts. In the future, harnessing 3D printing technology and the vast alloy design space of HEAs opens ample opportunities for the direct production of end-use components for biomedical and aerospace applications.

Additional research partners on the paper include Texas A&M University, the University of California Los Angeles, Rice University, and Oak Ridge and Lawrence Livermore national laboratories.

Story by Melinda Rose, Associate News Editor at UMass Amherst. 

The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) has honored Georgia Tech aerospace engineering professor George Kardomateas with the Spirit of St. Louis Medal for exemplary work in the progress of aeronautics and astronautics. He is in great company as Daniel Guggenheim, Neil A. Armstrong, John E. Northrup, John W. Young (AE 1952), George W. Lewis, Charles S. Draper, Robert G. Lowey, Michael Collins, and the late Dewey Hodges have also received this premier medal. ASME will present Kardomateas with the medal at the International Mechanical Engineering Congress & Exposition in Columbus, Ohio, October 30-November 3, 2022.

Kardomateas has spent over thirty years improving aircrafts from a structural standpoint. More specifically he investigates ways to ensure that aerospace structures retain their structural integrity. He focuses on the special part of mechanics called fracture mechanics, which studies the conditions for the initiation and propagation of cracks and debonds. “Fracture mechanics and damage tolerance have been very successful in that, nowadays, airplanes don’t usually come down because of structural failure,” explained Kardomateas.

He credits his lifelong scientific triumphs to his education in the United States and Greece, his collaboration with past and present colleagues at Georgia Tech, and the academic system in America. “The environment at Georgia Tech fosters collaboration and innovation. The higher education system provides opportunities through the collegial network in scientific forums where ideas can be exchanged with those inside and outside of your institution.” Former AE School professors, including the late Bob Carlson, and George Simitses, inspired him as colleagues and also acted as mentors to him.

Kardomateas earned a diploma from the National Technical University of Athens in Greece and both his master’s and doctoral degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 1989, he joined the School of Aerospace Engineering's faculty at the Georgia Tech. He has authored three books, An Introduction to Fatigue in Metals and Composites, Structural and Failure Mechanics of Sandwich Composites, and Mechanics of Failure Mechanisms in Structures. He is also the editor of six volumes on the topic of failure mechanics of composite and sandwich structures, an associate editor of the Handbook of Damage Mechanics: Nano to Macro Scale for Materials and Structures, as well as the author of about 200 papers published in refereed journals or as parts of books.

In addition to his work at Georgia Tech, he has served the discipline in several capacities. The ASME Fellow has operated as an Associate Editor of the Journal of Applied Mechanics, and the AIAA Journal, as a Contributing Editor of the International Journal of Non-Linear Mechanics and as a guest editor of the International Journal of Solids and Structures and the Journal of Mechanics of Materials and Structures. In addition, he has served as the technical chair of the 2014 ASME Congress, general chair of the 2015 ASME Congress, and the steering committee chair of the 2017 ASME Congress. He was the elected chairman of the Applied Mechanics Division Composites Committee and the program representative of the Aerospace Division Structures and Materials Committee.  Kardomateas has also served in many other panels and committees including as the Chair of the Daniel Guggenheim Medal Award Board, and on the Organizing Committee of the sixth, seventh, tenth and eleventh Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing’s International Conferences on Sandwich Structures; he has also served on external evaluation committees for many academic programs.

Currently, the medal winner is working on his next book that focuses on the fracture and fatigue of metallic and composite aerospace structures, which will include his latest research advances in the field.

Physical Internet Center doctoral researchers Jingze Li and Yulia Xu were recognized at the 2022 Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE) Annual Conference and Expo for placing 1st and 2nd in the Logistics and Supply Chain (LSC) Division Best Student Paper competition. "Both papers resulted from great team project work with industry leaders, addressing key logistic and transportation challenges and helping to shape the Physical Internet. They are quite timely as they provide solutions helping to alleviate the worldwide trucker and logistic worker shortages" remarked Professor Benoit Montreuil.

Jingze is first author of the paper "Trucker-sensitive Hyperconnected Relay-based Transportation: An Operating System", coauthored by doctoral student Miguel Campos and Professor Benoit Montreuil. Li commented, "In line with the concept of Physical Internet, we want to provide efficient and sustainable solutions from a new transportation paradigm to alleviate worldwide truck driver shortage and detention issues. I would like to give credit to my team, including PhD colleagues Katja Meuche, Yujia Xu, Onkar Kulkarni, faculty members Mathieu Dahan, Leon McGinnis, Yao Xie as well as our automotive manufacturer collaborators Brandon Walker, Ryan Purman, and Mark Owen." 

Yujia is first author of the paper "Dynamic Workforce Management in Hyperconnected Parcel Logistic Hubs", with Montreuil as coauthor. "It's my great honor that our work was selected as the second-place winner and I am grateful to my co-author Yiguo Liu and my advisor Benoit Montreuil for their great support and help."

Also of note, Reem Khir, NSF AI Institute for Advances in Optimization (AI4OPT) postdoctoral fellow, received the 2022 IISE Best Paper Award for her work "Dynamic Workload Balancing with Limited Adaptability for Facility Logistics" with Alan Erera and Alejandro Toriello in the Facilities Design and Planning Track, Supply Chain and Logistics Division.

The Georgia Institute of Technology has selected Thomas R. Kurfess as the new executive director of the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute (GTMI). Kurfess is the HUSCO/Ramirez Distinguished Chair in Fluid Power and Motion Control and professor of mechanical engineering at Georgia Tech. He received his S.B., S.M., and Ph.D. degrees in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and received an S.M. degree from MIT in electrical engineering and computer science.

“Chaouki Abdallah, executive vice president for research, and I are very excited about Tom taking on this role. Advanced manufacturing is a top federal priority as an ‘industry of the future.’ Tom’s experience and international reputation from his history in academia, industry, and the government will be a great complement to our existing vibrant community of students, staff, and faculty committed to manufacturing research and education—positioning Georgia Tech to meet regional, national, and global needs,” said Julia Kubanek, vice president for interdisciplinary research at Georgia Tech.

“We’re grateful for the efforts of the search committee led by Professor Meisha Shofner and to the leadership of Professor Ben Wang as executive director of GTMI for 11 years until he stepped down at the end of May. We also appreciate Professor Shreyes Melkote for serving as interim director this month while we finalized Tom’s appointment.”

Kurfess first joined the faculty at Georgia Tech in 1994, and has taken on a variety of special assignments in addition to his teaching and research.

His research focuses on the design and development of advanced manufacturing systems targeting secure digital manufacturing, additive and subtractive processes, and large-scale production enterprises. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME). He was president of SME in 2018, and currently serves on the Board of Governors of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).

During 2019-2021, Kurfess was on leave serving as the chief manufacturing officer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) where he was responsible for strategic planning for ORNL in advanced manufacturing. He was also the founding director for the Manufacturing Science Division at ORNL.

He served as the assistant director for advanced manufacturing at the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the executive office of the President of the United States of America from 2012-2013, where he was responsible for coordinating federal advanced manufacturing research and development.

“For decades, Georgia Tech has led the Nation’s academic institutions in the advanced manufacturing sector. It is an honor for me to be tapped to continue our efforts in this area. I am excited to take the helm at the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute (GTMI) in continuing its role as a technology leader in advanced manufacturing for the State of Georgia, the United States, and the world. We will be a conduit enabling the Georgia Tech community in their efforts to accelerate and develop manufacturing technologies and workforce capabilities, providing a forum in which they can openly collaborate, and facilities that are world-class for their efforts. I look forward to engaging a wide range of traditional and nontraditional teams integrating technical areas with business, economic, and policy areas to provide a manufacturing basis for the U.S. and the world that will ensure a strong, just, secure and equitable future for society,” said Kurfess.

“Given that GTMI is one of Georgia Tech’s Interdisciplinary Research Institutes, I look forward to engaging a wide range of traditional and nontraditional teams integrating technical areas with business, economic, and policy areas to provide a manufacturing basis for the U.S. and the world that will ensure a strong, just, secure and equitable future for society.”

The Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute (GTMI) is one of Georgia Tech’s 10 interdisciplinary research institutes, and an integral part of the broader Georgia Tech research enterprise. In 2021, GTMI celebrated its 30th anniversary. GTMI's mission is to convene industry leaders, government partners, and top researchers to collaborate on the grand challenges facing the U.S. manufacturing industry today: accelerating technology development and deployment, creating quality jobs, ensuring global competitiveness, and advancing economic and environmental stability.

School of Industrial and Systems Engineering Professor Pinar Keskinocak was recognized at Georgia Tech’s annual 2022 Faculty and Staff Honors Luncheon with the Class of 1934 Outstanding Service Award. The award recognizes her long service both to the Institute and to her field.

Keskinocak has long served as a leader with the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS). A fellow with the institute, she has served as president, vice president of membership and professional recognition, and is the co-founder and former president of the INFORMS Section on Public Programs, Service, and Needs, and the president of the INFORMS Health Applications Society.

At Georgia Tech she has also served as the College of Engineering Advance Professor for six years and was a leading voice over the past three years of the Covid-19 pandemic. In addition to working with the Georgia Department of Public Health, she served on the Institute’s Covid task force helping to establish an institutional approach to the pandemic.

“It’s an honor, first of all, to have had the opportunity to serve,” she said. “Our communities at Georgia Tech and beyond are wonderful, so to be recognized among all of these outstanding contributors is a great honor.”

Keskinocak’s research focuses on the application of operations research and management science with society impact, particularly regarding health and humanitarian applications, supply chain management, and logistics. She is the director of ISyE’s Center for Health and Humanitarian Systems. Recent work has focused on infectious disease modeling in response to Covid-19.

Read more about Keskinocak’s latest research here: New Study Shows Hybrid Learning Led to Significant Reduction in Covid-19 Spread

Georgia is a place where people know how to make things. Consider that the parts holding rockets together as they blast into space are made in Dodge County. Carbice in Atlanta produces thermal tape for satellites. And Saft America in Valdosta makes advanced batteries that power airplanes, satellites and race cars.

Manufacturing of all types is soaring in the state, with over 11,000 companies employing an estimated 393,500 workers in 2021 – about 9% of Georgia’s workforce. Approximately three-quarters are production workers.

Today’s manufacturing is clearly not the old assembly line. Software and robots operated by highly trained technicians are driving America’s – and Georgia’s – maker resurgence. Even traditionally low-tech operations such as poultry plants are incorporating technology and robotics to automate dirty or dangerous jobs that are hard to fill.

Companies employing these advanced manufacturing practices had a total output of nearly $62 billion in 2019, representing approximately 10% of Georgia’s Gross State Product, according to National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) data.

Georgia has a lot going for it as a rising star in advanced manufacturing. Its reputation as the best state to do business is the result of a host of assets for companies looking to relocate and grow, according to John Morehouse, director of the Georgia Center of Innovation for Manufacturing at the Georgia Department of Economic Development (GDEcD). These assets include a pro-business climate, a trained workforce and a strategic location that allows companies to reach 80% of the U.S. market via truck, rail or plane. And the Port of Savannah is a gateway to (and from) the world.

One of the biggest draws is Georgia Quick Start, the nation’s No. 1 workforce training program that has provided customized training for more than 1 million workers. Another is the increasing flow of venture capital to the region.

Manufacturers are “recognizing this is where there’s a lot of value, and value is what they’re seeking,” says John Avery, director of the Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC) at Georgia Tech.

Process Control

Maintaining a technological edge doesn’t come cheap. Southwire Company, a maker of wire and cable, is in the midst of a $1 billion investment that is “putting a lot of money into our factories, making a difference for our customers and adding capacity,” says CEO Rich Stinson.

While the process of making wire and cable has changed little over the years, the technology has advanced.

“What has changed is the equipment and the control of the process to make wire and cable,” explains Southwire Senior Vice President William Berry. “We’ve developed better control of motors, better products such as servo motors [that rotate machine parts with high efficiency].”

To grow manufacturing, the state is channeling resources into helping companies get started and improve their processes and technology. GDEcD’s innovation center has “teams that work in agricultural technology, energy technology, information technology, logistics, manufacturing, in aerospace,” says Morehouse. “We talk to them about what their challenges are to growth, and then connect them to the right resources in the state, whether that be an expert in academia, or other companies, or government agencies.”

The center can gear up to assist an entrepreneur with a new product idea or a large company with a production-line challenge.

New Industrial Revolution

The state, along with its agencies and educational institutions, has been pushing adoption of Manufacturing 4.0 (or Industry 4.0), which is dramatically changing the ways companies improve, manufacture and distribute products. New technologies like the Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing and artificial intelligence (AI) are being integrated into operations.

Georgia Institute of Technology has been at the forefront of research and development in this area. Its Advanced Manufacturing Pilot Facility (AMPF) is a 20,000-square-foot, reconfigurable R&D facility in Midtown Atlanta that provides space for industrial, academic and government agencies to develop innovative manufacturing projects. It also serves as a teaching laboratory for Tech graduate students.

Made possible by a $3 million donation from the Delta Air Lines Foundation, AMPF is a flexible facility that can house all kinds of advanced manufacturing innovation projects, including industrial robotics and additive, hybrid, composite and digital manufacturing.

Companies use the space to test new designs and get feedback about new ways of producing products, according to Aaron Stebner, associate professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech, who is working on research integrating data informatics and machine learning for development of new manufacturing processes.

The state is committed to helping Georgia companies acquire and develop such advanced technologies to increase efficiency and competitiveness. As part of this effort, Georgia Tech launched the Georgia Manufacturing 4.0 Consortium to work with businesses in defense and related industries. The Georgia Manufacturing 4.0 initiative “is about helping Georgia manufacturers adopt Industry 4.0 technologies. There’s a special emphasis on small manufacturers who may be overwhelmed about the latest software they should buy, or don’t even have time to think about how to put a sensor on a machine to help with uptime,” says Stebner. “Through those programs, we can actually provide them assistance with workforce training, as well as innovate with them.”

Gulfstream, for example, equips workers with wearable devices to provide remote step-by-step instructions in situations where a supervisor is not on hand, says Stebner. Augmented intelligence can provide that supervision and continuous reminders to the employee.

“The human workforce is going to move to higher value-added activities, as they always have, whether it’s in agriculture, whether it’s in manufacturing today, and mechanization or automation back in the day,” explains Shreyes Melkote, a mechanical engineering professor who is executive director of the Novelis Innovation Hub at Georgia Tech. The partnership between Tech and the aluminum manufacturer and recycler focuses on basic and applied research related to sustainable processes.

Leading-edge Applications

Data is a key to adding efficiency to manufacturing operations. When ProcessMiner opened for business in 2014, its original goal was to optimize manufacturing processes for the pulp and paper industry.

Today, its platform predicts problems in real time using AI within the manufacturing process for companies in the pulp, paper and plastics industries. Pilot projects are underway for water treatment and energy sectors.

“We decided to go ahead and take on the challenge of solving this problem, not for one specific industry, but for manufacturing,” says Kamran Paynabar, co-founder and chief science officer at ProcessMiner.

The company’s focus is “leveraging AI, data science, machine learning, as well as domain knowledge for improving continuous manufacturing systems,” explains Paynabar. It can predict the quality of the product coming off the assembly line by collecting and processing data using machine learning and other technologies.

“Another thing that we really wanted to include in our offering and platform was the combined integration of domain knowledge and process experience plus data analysis to make sure that the solution that we provide actually works for the manufacturing system,” says co-founder and CEO Karim Pourak.

Lumber might seem like a simple business, but Rayonier Advanced Materials is developing decidedly high-tech applications for wood and its byproducts, such as purified cellulose. These substances are used in products that require absorbent materials like baby diapers and adult incontinence products. They’re also used in plastics, run-flat tires, sausage casings, timed-release pharmaceuticals and even LCD screens, according to Larissa Fenn, director of research and development into new high-purity cellulose (HPC) products at Rayonier’s Marketing and Research Center.

One recent project involved the use of wood byproducts to create prebiotics, or the food that fosters the growth of good bacteria in animals. Rayonier partnered with the University of Georgia’s poultry science department to test a product in chicken that was derived from wood extraction processes. “We wanted to see how it would perform in increasing their gut health and helping them to be resistant to disease,” Fenn says.

From Lab to Factory

The state is also a good place for new companies to get up and running.

Carbice is an Atlanta-based start-up company dedicated to designing, developing and producing a unique thermal material to remove heat from electronic devices. It produces thermal tape that can be used in satellites, and the growing company needed assistance to take its manufacturing operations to scale.

Carbice spun out of a lab at Georgia Tech to address a long-standing problem within the space industry of how to control heat generated by satellite circuit boards. It is a prime example of academic research that has evolved into a growing company with a valuable product.

“It’s one thing to be able to do lab-scale demonstrations of technology, but I focused on how do you make the material so that it can be scaled up for manufacturing,” says CEO Baratunde Cola. “Each of these satellites has about 50,000 square inches of thermal glue that they use to put on all the different electronic boxes. And the problem with it is that that glue is a very challenging manufacturing process.”

The company created a first-of-its-kind Space Pad that can adhere to the heat source on a satellite or other device. “Then you can easily take it off and stick it on. It takes a process that used to take three weeks and turns it into a three-minute process,” says Cola.

This is a material that will “replace things like thermal grease and thermal paste or graphite pads and ultimately simplify manufacturing,” says Cola. “It will improve performance across space, power trains in electric vehicles, semiconductor manufacturing, data centers and cloud computing, graphics cards and high-performance gaming.”

Technologies such as 3D printing enable companies to produce products that can be geared to customers in ways that were not possible in the past.

The Atlanta Drone Group is using advanced manufacturing processes to build its unmanned aircraft for “public safety from the ground up,” says CEO Matt Sloane. The company just released a new drone that can be configured to carry different kinds of payloads depending on the need of the individual agency, he says.

“We’ve done a lot of 3D printing of prototype parts, and in some cases, production parts are going to be 3D-printed,” says Sloane. “We’ve done a lot of 3D scanning, looking at the various sensors and scanning them so that we can integrate them into the design. And then we’re using cutting-edge carbon fiber lay-up [lamination] methods, that you typically see in [Formula One] racing rather than traditional drone manufacturing.”

Finding a Better Way

One of the biggest advanced manufacturing sectors is machining. This precision prototyping and manufacturing process creates parts that go into a wide range of products from farm equipment to airplanes.

Eastman’s Kencoa Aerospace, a supplier of multi-axis precision-machined and sheet metal-fabricated components, serves a customer list that includes Lockheed Martin, Gulfstream Aerospace and Boeing, which is constructing NASA’s Space Launch System – the most powerful rocket ever built.

Aerotech Machining is part of a growing manufacturing sector springing up in Chatham County near the Port of Savannah. The firm opened decades ago to serve the aerospace, agricultural, power generation and rail industries. With the aid of CNC (computer numerical control) machine tools, the company designs and produces parts using preprogrammed software and code to control the movement of production equipment. Aerotech can fashion parts using detailed specs as well as create designs to meet a specific use.

“They may come to us with a need, not quite knowing what the part should look like, and we would design and give them a 3D rendering of the part for their approval,” says Aerotech President Joey Jones. “We would make them a prototype. If they accept the prototype, then we will send the part off into production and make them however many pieces they need – from two to 200, or a lot more than that.”

Advanced manufacturing companies like these are driven by the need for efficiency and the elimination of waste from production methods. Many companies have turned to production methods such as lean manufacturing to reduce process inefficiencies. Automation and other technologies are now also decreasing process times and costs.

“We started our lean journey in 2003 and so we’re working to eliminate waste in all areas of the business,” says Brandyn Chapman, CEO of PHX Holdings, which owns Phoenix Stamping Group. The company makes sheet metal and rod component parts. “We’ve utilized technology as another tool to assist to that end. It’s one way we’ve implemented an ERP [enterprise resource planning] system and then utilized that to streamline and automate specific functions through the use of information technology.”

New battery and electric-vehicle parts makers have gotten a lot of press lately in Georgia but one long-time corporate citizen is Saft America. A wholly owned subsidiary of France’s TotalEnergies, the company specializes in advanced technology battery solutions for industry. Its products are in everything from satellites to airplanes where reliability is a must. More than 500 batteries are in space “and we’ve been there since 1966, which I think makes a pretty big statement,” says Kirk Rosenlund, general manager at Saft America.

Across the state, advanced manufacturing is growing as the national economy expands and increasingly companies realize that the best place to make things is right here in Georgia.

This article originally appeared in the June 2022 issue of Georgia Trend.
Written by RANDY SOUTHERLAND

A national shortage has parents and families across the country struggling to feed newborns as store shelves have been left bare of baby formula products – including many brands critical to young children with specific vulnerabilities. Retailers are having to ration their supplies, some parents have resorted to shipping in formula from overseas, and social media sites have been used to crowdsource goods to be shipped to parents nervous about where their children’s next meal might come from.

Georgia Tech economics expert Tibor Besedes says it has been a perfect storm of issues to create this stress-inducing situation.

“Like many other industries, the formula producers have faced supply chain issues with respect to ingredients and containers. Waves of Covid-19 infections have affected their workforce and how much formula they can produce,” explained Besedes.

The final straw that may have led to this nationwide shortage: an Abbott production shutdown in February 2022 after several babies were sickened and two died from bacterial infections connected to consuming baby formula from the Sturgis, Michigan facility. A recall followed, and that facility is believed to make at least 20% of all formula bought by consumers nationwide.

“It is one of a few plants in the U.S. producing formula,” said Besedes. “That fact itself is a bottleneck as those few plants operating in the U.S. produce 98% of all formula sold in the U.S.”

“The formula market has been highly concentrated for a long time,” explained Lindsay Rose Bullinger, Georgia Tech assistant professor of public policy. “Now we’re dealing with a crisis and it’s hard to be proactive.”

The overwhelming majority of those formula products are only made by four different companies, explains Wendy White, a nationally known food safety expert.

“Because infant formula is the sole source of nutrition and targeted at such a vulnerable population, it has extra regulations in the Infant Formula Act of 1980,” explains White.

This includes mandatory registration for any infant formula manufacturers and requirements for all formulation, processing details, and ingredient lists to be filed with the FDA.

The regulations are critical, according to Bullinger.

“We’re trying to make a product comparable to breast milk. Newborn children can’t digest many of the proteins in cow’s milk,” she explained.

Formula is developed by scientists in highly regulated environments for infants that are incredibly susceptible to sickness as their immune and digestive systems have just begun adapting to nourishment outside of the womb.

Diluted or homemade options do not provide the right balance of nutrients that infants need at the most critical time of their lives. Manufactured formulas are made in highly sterile environments to avoid harmful additions from getting into these mixtures.

“It’s incredibly hard to get that right in a home environment without introducing bacteria,” Bullinger said.

Those strict regulations also mean that possible scenarios to help alleviate this formula shortage have been complicated. Just shipping some in from another country? Not so fast.

“Foreign manufacturers need to obtain FDA approvals to begin exporting to the U.S. to make up the shortage,” said Besedes. “The FDA is now looking at manufacturers based in countries with similar regulations to expedite their approvals and increase shipments to the U.S.”

The first relief came from overseas within the past week – a shipment of about 70,000 pounds of formula. More foreign shipments are expected in the coming days, but the supply may only last for about a week as issues continue to compound.

“Once there was a recall and parents heard, they started stockpiling formula,” said White. The result is taking already short supplies and stretching them even thinner.

“The supply chain has to also deal with the unneeded bullwhip effect due to shortage gaming and hoarding behavior, making the situation even worse than what it should be,” says Operations Management Associate Professor Morvarid Rahmani.

White also says that 50% of the infant formula in America is purchased through government subsidies.

States who provide this assistance often sign exclusive contracts with one of these four formula manufacturers. Abbott carries the contract in nearly two-thirds of U.S. states – complicating the purchases for families with infants in those locations.

“Families in communities that are economically disenfranchised may be disproportionately affected,” explained Bullinger. “But even if you have the money, if you cannot buy formula how else are you supposed to feed an infant.”

Families who rely on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, also commonly known as food stamps) or Supplemental Nutrition for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) may not be able to choose which brand of formula they can receive. They can only get the formula their state has a contract with. If it is out, they may just be out of luck.

Some of the most hard-to-find infant formulas are the specialized products developed for newborns with milk allergies or other digestive issues. There’s a special emphasis on sourcing those products for parents in need.

So how much longer could this shortage impact American consumers? At least a few weeks, Georgia Tech’s experts say.

“Abbott is estimating that it’ll take about two weeks to get production to resume but another 6-8 weeks to get formula back on supermarket shelves,” says White.

That means the closed facility should be open in late May with production back up to full speed sometime in August. Limited diversity in the market has left parents in a bind.

“A shortage could be alleviated by increasing output of other plants and manufacturers, which is being done, but it is difficult to replace an entire plant,” explained Besedes.

“Ramping up production has been difficult because of shortages in labor and ingredients as well as production scheduling challenges,” explained Rahmani.

Some desperate parents have had to resort to extreme measures. But pediatricians have said infants should only be fed formula or breast milk. Anything else is likely deficient. Using alternative feeding methods could lead to long-term problems.

“There is a risk that a shortage will mean babies will not be getting the nutrition they need to develop. That could lead to a range of health problems affecting their physical growth and brain development,” explained Senior Research Engineer Maureen Linden from Georgia Tech’s Center for Inclusive Design and Innovation.

“Consumers should listen to their pediatricians and other experts and follow their advice. Pediatricians may have available samples they can give out,” said Besedes.

They can also offer advice for alternative baby formula (to the one in shortage) which is available. Medical experts are strongly advising against diluting formula or trying to recreate it at home which could cause long-lasting damage.

“We may see a rise in the rate of developmental disabilities in the age group that is presently reliant on formula – those presently six months or less,” says Linden.

Nutrition is the most important thing in an infant’s life. It’s the number one priority – making sure we are feeding them and they are developing,” explained Bullinger.

That’s why infants often get so many checkups – to make sure they are growing and gaining weight. Proper nutrition is critical for that to happen.

In the meantime, consumers can take their own action. White says it’s worth trying to buy online or shopping around at different stores.

The federal government has relaxed regulations for SNAP and WIC recipients to be able to get products with increased flexibility.

The White House has also invoked the Defense Production Act which is aimed to help manufacturers ramp up output quickly.

“Those companies will have first dibs at materials and ingredients that are needed to make formula,” said Bullinger.

“This shortage should be temporary, as demand settles, and supply is replenished from the reopened Abbott plant and FDA-approved imports,” says White.

Regardless, Georgia Tech experts have said we should have seen this coming and could have been better prepared and quicker to act – particularly for the sake of the youngest among us.

“The FDA, Biden’s administration, and baby formula manufacturers have been slow in taking actions during the past few months to prevent that. This crisis could have been prevented by timely actions,” said Rahmani.

“Infants always get the short end of the stick. They can’t speak for themselves,” said Bullinger.

Experts in this story:

Tibor Besedes

Wendy White

Lindsay Rose Bullinger

Maureen Linden

Morvarid Rahmani, associate professor, Operations Management Scheller College of Business

Multiple members of the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) contributed to the four-year project.

Georgia Institute of Technology has been named the EcoCAR Mobility Challenge Year Four champion by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Tech’s award-winning interdisciplinary team consists of approximately 60 undergraduate and graduate students from the College of Engineering, College of Computing, Scheller College of Business, and Georgia State University.

Eleven North American university EcoCAR teams gathered for the final challenge in Arizona from May 9-20, 2022. The event marked the culmination of the competition, which tasked the universities with applying propulsion system electrification, autonomous driving control, and vehicle-to-infrastructure connectivity, to improve the energy efficiency of a 2019 Chevrolet Blazer while maintaining safety, utility, and consumer acceptability.

Over the four-year competition — sponsored by the DOE, General Motors (GM) and MathWorks — each team transformed its vehicle from a design concept into a reality. The final year of competition challenged teams to test, prove, and refine their work from the previous three years, mimicking a real-world automotive product development cycle.

ECE professor David Taylor is a faculty advisor for Georgia Tech’s EcoCAR team, along with professors Michael Leamy in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering (ME), and Thomas Fuller in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (ChBE).

“The role of ECE in this competition is significant, ranging from powertrain electrification to driving automation. Our team’s vehicle excelled in these areas, winning the events concerned with energy consumption and autonomous operation,” said Taylor. “The EcoCAR program provides valuable experiences for ECE students because the real-world challenges of the project effectively supplement classroom learning.”

Georgia Tech’s EcoCAR team is a $1 million research program housed under Georgia Tech’s Vertically Integrated Projects (VIP) Program. VIP allows undergraduate and graduate students to participate in ambitious, long-term, multidisciplinary project teams that are led by faculty. The VIP program originated in ECE under the leadership of professor Edward Coyle.

ECE graduate research assistant (GRA) Nicholas Hummel played a key leadership role on the team along with fellow GRA Nishan Nekoo in ME. Both Hummel and Nekoo received their master’s degrees this spring. Hummel also gave the first-place presentation on Connected and Automated Vehicle Systems with recent ECE bachelor’s degree graduate Joyce Zhao.

“I've been on the team for the past two years, and have seen it come from a nearly fully virtual format at the beginning of the pandemic to the success we've achieved this year,” said Hummel, who led the team’s driving automation efforts. “If I had not joined this team, I would never have had the opportunity to grow so much as a leader and increase my passion for automation and robotics.”

Additionally, recent ECE bachelor’s degree graduate Braeden Dickson, along with recent ME bachelor’s degree graduate Anna Cobb, gave the first-place presentation on Propulsion Controls and Modeling. Braeden worked on powertrain controls to convert the conventional Chevy Blazer to a hybrid electric vehicle architecture. With his efforts, Georgia Tech vehicle was the only vehicle of the competition to improve energy consumption over the stock Blazer.

Read more about the award-winning team, view pictures from the finale, and learn about future plans. 

Finalists for the position of executive director of the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute (GTMI) will be delivering vision presentations during the week of May 9. The candidates have been asked to present their vision for GTMI, perspectives on how to build a strong GTMI community that supports and develops its staff and researchers from across the Institute, and to take questions from the Georgia Tech community. The schedule for these sessions is shown below along with the in-person location, Microsoft Teams link for the virtual option. Biographical information for the candidates is provided below. A post-presentation survey link was sent internally via email to portions of the GT community.

Wednesday, May 11 at 12:00p
Tom Kurfess - Callaway building, 813 Ferst Drive, NW, Room 114 or link here for virtual participation

Thursday, May 12 at 2:00p
Chuck Zhang – Callaway building, 813 Ferst Drive, NW, Room 114 or link here for virtual participation  

- - - - - - Short Bios - - - - - 

Tom Kurfess
Wednesday, May 11 at 12:00p 
Callaway building, 813 Ferst Drive, NW, Room 114 
Virtual option - link here

Thomas R. Kurfess is the HUSCO/Ramirez Distinguished Chair in Fluid Power and Motion Control and Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech. He received his S.B., S.M. and Ph.D. degrees in mechanical engineering from M.I.T. in 1986, 1987 and 1989, respectively. He also received an S.M. degree from M.I.T. in electrical engineering and computer science in 1988. During 2019-2021 he was on leave serving as the Chief Manufacturing Officer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), where he was responsible for strategic planning for ORNL in advanced manufacturing. He was also and was the Founding Director for the Manufacturing Science Division at ORNL. During 2012-2013 he served as the Assistant Director for Advanced Manufacturing at the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Executive Office of the President of the United States of America, where he was responsible for coordinating Federal advanced manufacturing R&D. He was President of SME in 2018, and currently serves on the Board of Governors of the ASME. His research focuses on the design and development of advanced manufacturing systems targeting secure digital manufacturing, additive and subtractive processes, and large-scale production enterprises. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and is a Fellow of ASME, AAAS, and SME. 

Chuck Zhang
Thursday, May 12 at 2:00p 
Callaway building, 813 Ferst Drive, NW, Room 114
Virtual option link here

Dr. Chuck Zhang is a Harold E. Smalley Professor in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial & Systems Engineering at Georgia Tech. He is also an affiliated faculty member with Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute (GTMI). He serves as the Director of the newly established Center for Composite and Hybrid Materials Interfacing (CHMI) which is a three-university NSF Industry/University Cooperative Research Center (IUCRC) headquartered in GTMI. Dr. Zhang’s current research interests include advanced composite/nanocomposite structures manufacturing and maintenance, additive manufacturing, bio-manufacturing, and manufacturing cybersecurity. As PI and Co-PI, he has led or conducted over 50 research projects sponsored by numerous federal agencies including Department of Defense, Department of Veterans Affairs, Food and Drug Administration, National Institute of Standards and Technology and National Science Foundation, as well as industrial companies such as ATK, Cummins, Delta Air Lines, and Lockheed Martin. He currently serves as a Co-lead of the “Soft Robotics Technology Working Group” for NextFlex, one of the Manufacturing USA Network Institutes. Dr. Zhang is a fellow of Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE). He has published over 220 refereed journal articles and 230 conference papers. He also holds 26 U.S. patents.

WASHINGTON, April 22, 2022 – The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), General Motors and MathWorks announced the 15 North American universities and the 2023 Cadillac LYRIQ as the vehicle selected for the EcoCAR EV Challenge, the next DOE-sponsored Advanced Vehicle Technology Competition (AVTC) set to begin in Fall 2022. 

Georgia Tech has earned a spot as one of the 15 universities to participate in this prestigious series. “This year, the selection process was highly competitive due to the number of outstanding applications we received from universities, big and small, across the U.S and Canada,” said Kristen Wahl, Director of the Advanced Vehicle Technology Competition (AVTC) Program at Argonne National Laboratory. “We are pleased to announce that Georgia Tech will be competing in the EcoCAR EV Challenge and we are excited to see what the teams will accomplish in supporting the country’s transition to clean energy and electric vehicles.” 

Managed by Argonne National Laboratory, the EcoCAR EV Challenge will be at the cutting edge of automotive engineering education, serving as a proving ground for future automotive engineers. The four-year competition will challenge students to engineer a next-generation battery electric vehicle (BEV) that deploys connected and autonomous vehicle (CAV) features to implement energy efficient and customer-pleasing features, while meeting the decarbonization needs of the automotive industry. 

“Georgia Tech is elated to be accepted into the EcoCAR EV Challenge, which marks our third consecutive Advanced Vehicle Technology Competition (AVTC). Georgia Tech’s participation in multiple AVTCs has significantly enriched the hands-on learning and training opportunities valued by our students, faculty, and administration. We greatly appreciate the financial and technical support provided by the headline sponsors, to include the U.S. Department of Energy, General Motors, and the Mathworks. With the new vehicle platform being an electric vehicle, and with an increased emphasis on diversity, equity, and inclusion, Georgia Tech looks forward to renewing our participation in one of the premier vehicle competitions in the United States.” Dr. Raheem Beyah, Dean, College of Engineering & Southern Company Chair at Georgia Institute of Technology. 

Georgia Tech students will work on the EcoCAR Challenge through a Vertically Integrated Projects (VIP) class, which is led by Woodruff School professors Antonia Antoniou and Michael Leamy, and School of Electrical and Computer Engineering professor David Taylor. The project is open to students of all majors and levels of experience with an emphasis on computer engineering, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, management, and computer science.
 
“In addition to the technical skills they acquire working on the EcoCAR Challenge, students gain valuable teamworking and project management skills, which prepare them well for a career in the automotive industry,” said Professor Michael Leamy. “We are thrilled to be selected to continue our participation in this incredible program.”

General Motors will donate a 2023 Cadillac LYRIQ to each team, challenging them to design, build, refine, and demonstrate the potential of their advanced propulsion systems and CAV technologies over four competition years. Teams will be tasked with complex, real-world technical challenges including enhancing the propulsion system of their LYRIQ to optimize energy efficiency while maintaining consumer expectations for performance and driving experience. 

More than $6M will be provided to the selected universities, including four Minority Serving Institutions, funding students to pursue advanced mobility research and experiential learning and supporting the recruitment and retention of underrepresented minority students and faculty to help build an EV talent pipeline that reflects the diversity of North America.

To improve diversity in STEM and higher education, diversity, equity, and inclusion will be incorporated into all areas of the competition. Teams will be challenged to identify and address specific equity and electrification issues in mobility through the application of innovative hardware and software solutions, outreach to underserved communities and underrepresented youth to increase awareness about advanced mobility and recruit underrepresented minorities into STEM fields. Four Minority Serving Institutions, including two Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), will also share more than $1M to strengthen their automotive programs and recruit and retain underrepresented minority students and faculty. 

The universities selected to participate in the EcoCAR EV Challenge include:

• Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University/ Bethune-Cookman University 
• Georgia Institute of Technology 
• Illinois Institute of Technology 
• McMaster University (Canada)
• Mississippi State University
• Ohio State University / Wilberforce University  
• University of Alabama 
• University of California, Riverside
• University of California, Davis
• University of Texas at Austin
• University of Waterloo (Canada)
• Virginia Tech 
• West Virginia University 

“Argonne has managed the Advanced Vehicle Technology Competitions program for DOE in partnership with the auto industry for more than three decades. The EcoCAR EV Challenge will build upon the program’s rich history to provide North America’s premier training ground for future EV engineers. Academia and Industry both recognize the role of experiential learning in helping to prepare students for the rapidly evolving automotive workforce,” said Wahl.

These universities will build student teams with multi-disciplinary engineering skill sets, such as Mechanical, Electrical, Computer, and Software engineering. The teams will also engage students from various other backgrounds such as Communications, PR, Business and Project Management to emulate the real-world experience of working in the automotive industry. This cross-disciplinary approach is critical to success in EcoCAR and also prepares students for successful careers in the mobility sector. 

The competition will kick off in Fall 2022 and conclude in May 2026. For more information, please visit ecocarevchallenge.org or avtcseries.org.

About EcoCAR EV Challenge: 

EcoCAR EV Challenge is a four-year collegiate engineering program that builds on the successful 34-year history of Department of Energy Advanced Vehicle Technology Competitions (AVTC) that exemplify the power of government/industry partnerships in addressing our nation’s toughest energy and mobility challenges and providing invaluable practical skills of promising young minds ready to enter the workforce.  

The EcoCAR EV Challenge is managed by Argonne National Laboratory and sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, General Motors, and MathWorks as the headlining sponsors. 

General Motors provides each of the competing teams with a Cadillac LYRIQ – the brand’s first all-electric vehicle built on GM’s Ultium Platform which encompasses a common set of propulsion components – battery cells, modules, packs and a family for Ultium Drive units. GM also provides vehicle components, seed money, technical mentoring and operational support. 

A foundational principle of EcoCAR is the use of Model-Based Design, a mathematical and visual design approach using MATLAB and Simulink that enables users to manage projects quickly and cost-effectively, collaborate on designs, and develop complex embedded systems.  MathWorks provides teams with a full suite of software tools, simulation models, training, technical mentoring and operational support. 

The U.S. Department of Energy and its research and development facility, Argonne National Laboratory, provide competition management, team evaluation and logistical support. Other sponsors provide hardware, software and training. 

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Reference to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not constitute or imply the U.S. Department of Energy’s endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the U.S. Government or any agency thereof. The Department of Energy’s role in this competition does not include the solicitation or selection of sponsorships, nor does it include the establishment of sponsorship criteria.