When Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005, it wasn’t just another storm — it was one of the deadliest hurricanes in U.S. history. Entire neighborhoods disappeared, families were scattered, and lives were split into “before” and “after.” Nearly 20 years later, the haunting images of submerged rooftops and boat rescues remain vivid.

The Surge That Shattered New Orleans

On Aug. 29, 2005, early reports claimed New Orleans had “dodged the bullet.” But offshore winds funneled water into the city’s canals, triggering multiple catastrophic levee failures. The Lower Ninth Ward, where most fatalities occurred, was devastated as many residents, misled by comparisons to Hurricane Camille, chose not to evacuate. 

“Katrina’s storm surge was exceptional,” says Hermann Fritz, a civil engineering professor at Georgia Tech. “In some areas, we saw water levels over 27 feet — that’s like a three-story building.”

While much attention focused on New Orleans’ levee failures, Fritz points out that the surge’s sheer height and energy would have overwhelmed even more robust defenses in some areas. “Katrina showed us that nature can produce forces beyond our engineering designs,” he says.

A Disaster of Inequality

The storm didn’t strike evenly; it exposed and deepened existing social and economic inequalities. “The disaster hit lower-income Black neighborhoods hardest,” says Allen Hyde, associate professor of history and sociology. He notes how years of segregation, disinvestment, and discriminatory housing policies left these communities uniquely vulnerable. Hyde continues, “Many homes were in low-lying, flood-prone areas, and residents often lacked access to reliable transportation, making evacuation difficult or impossible.”

Georgia’s Changing Landscape: Migration and Impact

Katrina displaced hundreds of thousands and claimed a staggering toll of more than 1,800 lives. Georgia quickly absorbed many evacuees, reshaping its demographics and infrastructure. “Hurricane Katrina led to one of the largest displacements of people due to a natural disaster,” says Shatakshee Dhongde, a professor of economics. “It changed the demographics of Georgia in measurable ways, from school enrollment to the labor market.”

The U.S. Census Bureau tracked this migration, noting spikes in Louisiana-born residents in metro Atlanta. Local school districts enrolled hundreds of new students almost overnight, while housing markets saw increased demand from families looking for permanent homes. The arrival of so many displaced residents didn’t just strain schools and housing — it reshaped the state’s economy. Dhongde notes that evacuees often brought new skills, business ideas, and networks. At the same time, the state and local governments faced the financial burden of expanding social services, healthcare, and housing assistance. 

Dhongde adds, “The impact of a disaster doesn’t stop at the water’s edge. It travels with people, and those effects can last for years.” While the influx strained services, it also enriched Georgia’s cultural and economic fabric.

Hyde notes, “Gentrification made many neighborhoods unaffordable for former residents,” and adds that many Black evacuees didn’t return to New Orleans due to economic barriers and post-Katrina gentrification. Cultural communities scattered across cities like Atlanta, Houston, and Baton Rouge.

Lessons the Levees Still Teach

For Fritz, Katrina remains a wake-up call for coastal preparedness.  “We can’t stop hurricanes,” he says, “but we can improve how we design and maintain our defenses, and how we evacuate people before it’s too late.” He warns that climate change, with its potential to intensify storms, makes those improvements even more urgent.

Dhongde sees a parallel need for social and economic planning. “Disaster preparedness isn’t just about sandbags and levees,” she says. “It’s also about ensuring the communities receiving evacuees have the resources and support systems to integrate them successfully.”

Finally, Hyde stresses the importance of engaging youth and communities in preparedness efforts. “Youth advocacy programs, like those we’re piloting in Georgia, empower young people in marginalized neighborhoods with knowledge and agency to build long-term resilience. Disaster planning must be a community effort, inclusive and forward-looking.”

Institute Communications

Ignacio Montoya was on a flight from Los Angeles to Atlanta in 2024 with a serendipitous seatmate. The biomedical engineer was seated next to Georgia Tech President Àngel Cabrera, and the two had a conversation about Montoya’s personal story and career aspirations. 

Cabrera introduced Montoya to a professor who could take his work to the next level — Cassie Mitchell, an associate professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME). Montoya’s research uses AI to study how robotic exoskeletons and spinal cord stimulation can reawaken dormant neural circuits and help people with paralysis regain sensation, mobility, autonomy, and vital physiological functions once thought permanently lost. Drawing on his experience in leading-edge clinical research, he aims to turn scientific discoveries into real-world solutions that improve independence, quality of life, and health for those with spinal cord injuries. 

It’s not only a curiosity for him, though. In 2012, Montoya was about to graduate from Georgia Tech and become a fighter pilot in the Air Force. Then, one night, he got into a motorcycle accident that left him paralyzed from the chest down. 

Ever since, he has worked to better understand his injury and his options. After earning a master’s in biomedical engineering from Georgia Tech in 2018, Montoya moved to Los Angeles and joined a prestigious neurophysiology and neurorehabilitation lab at UCLA known for pioneering spinal stimulation and activity-based training to restore movement after paralysis. Now he’s taking everything he’s learned back to Georgia Tech.

Mitchell, also a faculty member in the Institute for Neuroscience, Neurotechnology, and Society, applies AI to data science to parse and predict complex medical research. She is also quadriplegic and personally understands the value of spinal cord research. At first, Mitchell mentored Montoya through the BME Ph.D. application process. Now she is his advisor. Montoya starts the program this fall — and he hopes to bring his personal injury recovery insights to the entire spinal cord injury survivor community.

 “My experience as a research participant gives me a unique perspective as I transition into a doctoral researcher,” he said. “It helps me bridge the gap between understanding the science and translating it into real-world clinical practice.”

From Complete Paralysis to Possibility 

Montoya nearly died in the accident. It left him with a complete spinal cord injury and severe peripheral nerve damage in his right arm.

“The doctor told me my spinal cord was like a banana — and mine had been crushed in the middle,” he recalled. “He said I had a 1% chance of regaining any mobility, function, or sensation.”

But Montoya’s life has always been about beating the odds. At 6, he and his father immigrated to the U.S. from Cuba. Years later, he earned a rated pilot slot in the Air Force — a distinction achieved by fewer than 1% of cadets. Then came the motorcycle crash. He flatlined for 15 minutes — a medical event with less than a 1% chance of survival, and even lower odds of returning with full brain function. If anyone was going to defy that prognosis, it was Montoya. He set out not just to walk again, but to rebuild his life and transform his recovery into a blueprint for others to follow.

Exoskeleton Endeavors 

After finishing his master’s at Tech, Montoya went to work with Reggie Egerton, a pioneering neurobiologist at UCLA. With Egerton’s guidance, Montoya experimented with neuromodulation — using electrodes to stimulate the spinal cord. The stimulus helps to excite the neurons below the injury that no longer communicate with the brain. 

While wearing electrodes, Montoya trained in a robotic exoskeleton that progressively reduced its robotic assistance. This encouraged him to contribute increasing effort through each step. Over time, the device provided less support during the swing and stance phases of walking, requiring more active participation. Beyond stepping, Montoya performed standing and weight-shifting exercises, all demanding maximum effort to retrain his nervous system through repetitive, weight-bearing sensory input. 

“Neuromodulation creates a bridge of signals that helps the remaining intact nerve fibers below the injury communicate with each other, enhancing neuroplasticity within the system,” he said.

If the neuromodulation works as intended, it can effectively remodel the nervous system. Through this process and two nerve transfers, Montoya has regained some function in his paralyzed right arm. He has also reversed many common medical complications from paralysis: temperature regulation, body awareness, sexual function, bone density, muscle mass, and digestive health.

“My injury is no longer considered complete, and I believe I’m the first person to achieve that through a combination of spinal stimulation, intensive training, and daily weight-bearing rehabilitation,” Montoya said. “I’m constantly out of my wheelchair — standing, moving, and training. That consistency has been the key. Every day, I walk in an exoskeleton.”

Returning to Georgia Tech

What was supposed to be a 12-month clinical research study turned into the next five years of Montoya’s life. He also wanted to better understand human physiology and how locomotor training worked, so he did a master’s in kinesiology from California State University, Los Angeles. Despite the progress Montoya had made with advancing the field of spinal cord injury and his own mobility, he wanted to bring all his expertise together. That’s when he happened to board a flight to Atlanta in the spring of 2024 with Cabrera.

Initially, Montoya and Mitchell connected so she could help guide him through the Ph.D. application process, but they quickly realized their research was complementary. Montoya is an expert in clinical trials, and Mitchell is an expert in taking clinical trial data and using AI to gather insights. 

“Ignacio wants to diversify his skill set and take his research career further, and data science is what he needs to do that,” Mitchell said. “We will look at his exoskeleton data and try to optimize the exoskeleton to the patient using AI.” 

For the start of his Ph.D., Montoya will remain in Los Angeles to continue his exoskeleton experiments in Edgerton’s lab, which has been collecting terabytes of data he’s never been able to analyze in full. Mitchell’s lab will analyze all that data and pull predictive insights that can feed back to Egerton’s lab and improve the patient experience. 

“AI can identify patterns the human eye wouldn't be able to detect,” Mitchell noted. “AI can help us better understand how and why an exoskeleton paired with spinal stimulation could help with spinal cord injury and function or quality of life.”

Montoya will travel between both coasts to conduct each element of the research before returning to Atlanta full-time. In the process, he’ll build a better knowledge base and exoskeleton training protocol.

This may not have been the path Montoya expected to take when he left Georgia Tech that night in 2012, but it’s a full circle.

“I’m back where my journey paused — this time to push the boundaries of what we believe the human body and spirit can achieve,” he said. “I’m not just walking again. I’m building a future where no one is beyond recovery.”

 

As Georgia positions itself as a hub for digital infrastructure, communities across the state are facing a growing challenge: how to welcome the economic benefits of data centers while managing their significant environmental and infrastructure impacts. These facilities, essential for powering artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and everyday internet use, are also among the most resource-intensive buildings in the modern economy.

While companies like Microsoft and Google have pledged to reach net-zero emissions, experts say more transparency and smarter policy are needed to ensure that data center development aligns with community and environmental priorities. That means ensuring adequate energy infrastructure, investing in renewables, training local workers, and mitigating water and carbon impacts through innovation.

A New Kind of Energy Crunch

The rapid rise of AI is fueling explosive demand for computing power — and in turn, energy.

“The proliferation of AI workloads has significantly increased data center energy requirements,” says Divya Mahajan, assistant professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. “Large-scale AI training, especially for language models, leads to elevated and sustained power draw, often nearing the thermal and power envelopes of graphics processing units systems.”

This sustained demand is particularly challenging in hot, humid regions like Georgia, where cooling systems must work harder. “Training these models can cause thermal instability that directly affects cooling efficiency and power provisioning,” Mahajan explains. “This amplifies reliance on external cooling infrastructure, increasing water consumption and grid strain.”

Environmental and Economic Pressure

“Each new data center could lead to greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to a small town,” says Marilyn Brown, Regents’ and Brook Byers Professor of Sustainable Systems in the School of Public Policy. “In Georgia, the growth of data centers has already led to plans for new gas plants and the extension of aging coal plants.”

There’s an environmental cost to this growth: electricity and water. A single large data center can consume up to 5 million gallons of water per day.

Rising demand has a price. “It’s simple supply and demand,” says Ahmed Saeed, assistant professor at the School of Computer Science. “As overall power demand increases, if supply doesn’t keep up, costs will rise and the most affected will be lower-income consumers.”

Still, experts are optimistic that policy and technology can help mitigate these impacts.

Innovation May Hold the Key

Despite the challenges, experts see opportunities for innovation. “Technologies like direct-to-chip cooling and liquid cooling are promising,” says Mahajan. “But they’re not yet widespread.”

Saeed notes that some companies are experimenting with radical ideas, like Microsoft’s underwater Project Natick or locating data centers in Nordic countries where ambient air can be used for cooling. These approaches challenge conventional infrastructure norms by placing servers underwater or in remote, cold regions. “These are exciting, but we need scalable solutions that work in places like Georgia,” he emphasizes.

What Communities Should Ask For

As communities compete to attract data centers, experts say they should push for commitments that go beyond job creation.

“Communities should ensure that their power infrastructure can handle the added load without compromising resilience or increasing costs,” Saeed advises. “They should also require that data centers use renewable energy or invest in local clean energy projects.”

Training and hiring local workers is another key benefit communities can demand. “Deployment and maintenance of data centers require skilled workers,” Saeed adds. “Operators should invest in technical training and hire locally.”

Policy Can Make the Difference

Stronger policy frameworks can ensure growth doesn’t come at the expense of Georgia’s most vulnerable communities. “We need more transparency from companies about their energy and water use,” says Brown. “And we need policies that prevent the costs of supporting large consumers from being passed on to residential ratepayers.”

Some states are already taking action. Texas passed a bill to give regulators more control over large power consumers. In Georgia, a bill that would have paused tax breaks for data centers until their community impact was assessed was vetoed — but experts say the conversation is far from over.

“Data centers are here to stay,” says Saeed. “The question is whether we can make them sustainable — before their footprint becomes too large to manage.”

Institute Communications

Giga, a global initiative focused on expanding internet connectivity to schools, launched its new tech and innovation event series “Giga Talks” on June 19 with a keynote address from Pascal Van Hentenryck, a leading artificial intelligence expert from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Van Hentenryck serves as the A. Russell Chandler III Chair and Professor in Georgia Tech’s H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering. He is also the director of Tech AI, Georgia Tech’s new strategic hub for artificial intelligence, and the U.S. National Science Foundation AI Institute for Advances in Optimization (AI4OPT), which operates under Tech AI’s umbrella.

In his talk, “AI for Social Good,” Van Hentenryck showcased how AI technologies can drive impact across key sectors—including mobility, education, healthcare, disaster response, and e-commerce. Drawing from ongoing research and real-world deployments, he emphasized the critical role of human-centered design and interdisciplinary collaboration in developing AI that benefits society at large.

“AI has tremendous potential to serve the public good when guided by ethics, equity, and purpose-driven innovation,” said Van Hentenryck. “At Georgia Tech, our work aims to harness this potential to create meaningful change in people’s lives.”

The event marked the debut of Giga Talks, a new speaker series designed to convene global thought leaders, engineers, and policymakers around timely issues in technology and innovation. The initiative supports Giga’s broader mission to connect every school in the world to the internet and unlock digital opportunities for children everywhere.

A video recording of Van Hentenryck’s talk is available on here.

 

Combining Technologies for Real-World Results

Van Hentenryck introduced a series of foundational approaches—such as primal and dual optimization proxies, predict-then-optimize strategies, self-supervised learning, and deep multi-stage policies—that enable AI systems to operate effectively and responsibly in high-stakes, real-time environments. These frameworks demonstrate the power of integrating AI with domain-specific reasoning to achieve results unattainable by either field alone.

“This is not just about building smarter algorithms,” Van Hentenryck said. “It’s about designing AI that can adapt, learn, and optimize under uncertainty—across supply chains, energy systems, and manufacturing networks.”

Grounded in Real-World Impact

The keynote aligned directly with the MIM 2025 focus on logistics and production systems. Drawing from recent work in supply chain optimization and smart manufacturing, Van Hentenryck emphasized how AI4OPT’s research is already generating measurable impact in industry.

MIM 2025, organized by NTNU’s Production Management Research Group and supported by MHI and CICMHE, featured more than 40 experts delivering keynotes, presenting research, and leading breakout sessions across topics in modeling, control, and decision-making in manufacturing and logistics.

 

About Tech AI

Tech AI is Georgia Tech’s strategic initiative to lead in the development and application of artificial intelligence across disciplines and industries. Serving as a unifying platform for AI research, education, and collaboration, Tech AI connects researchers, industry, and government partners to drive responsible innovation in areas such as healthcare, mobility, energy, sustainability, and education. Director of Tech AI, Pascal Van Hentenryck helps guide the institute’s research vision and strategic alignment across Georgia Tech’s AI portfolio. Learn more at ai.gatech.edu.

About AI4OPT

The AI Institute for Advances in Optimization (AI4OPT) is one of the National Science Foundation’s flagship AI Institutes and is led by Georgia Tech. The institute brings together experts in artificial intelligence, optimization, and control to tackle grand challenges in supply chains, transportation, and energy systems.

AI4OPT is one of several NSF-funded AI institutes housed within Tech AI’s collaborative framework, enabling cross-disciplinary research with real-world outcomes. Learn more at ai4opt.org.

In a bold step to advance AI across Latin America, Georgia Tech is helping Panama develop its first National Artificial Intelligence Strategy—leveraging world-class research, global collaboration, and human-centered design.

In partnership with Panama’s National Secretariat of Science, Technology and Innovation (Secretaría Nacional de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación, or SENACYT) and Georgia Tech Panama, Tech AI the AI Hub at Georgia Tech co-led a series of multisectoral workshops in Panama City on July 7–8. The initiative convened voices from government, academia, civil society, and the private sector to co-create an ethical, inclusive and forward-looking roadmap for AI in Panama.

We’re moving forward with one of the most exciting and important processes for Panama’s future: the development of our National Artificial Intelligence Strategy,” said Franklin A. Morales, Head of International Technical Cooperation Panama's Secretariat for Science, Technology and Innovation at SENACY, in a public statement. “Georgia Tech’s expertise is helping us shape a strategy that’s both ambitious and grounded in global best practices.

 The workshops were facilitated by Pascal Van Hentenryck, Director of Tech AI, the AI Hub at Georgia Tech and the NSF-funded AI Institute for Advances in Optimization (AI4OPT), and Tim Brown, Academic Program Director for AI at Georgia Tech Professional Education. Through interactive working groups, participants assessed Panama’s AI landscape, identified key challenges and opportunities, and helped lay the foundation for long-term national impact.

 In a public statement, Van Hentenryck noted:

We had the honor to spend three days in Panama working on their National AI Strategy with SENACYT, Georgia Tech Panama, and so many stakeholders who contributed their expertise, talent, and time. More to come, obviously. And thank you to the teams at SENACYT, Georgia Tech Panama, and Tech AI at Georgia Tech for an amazing organization.

SENACYT’s vision for Panama’s AI future emphasizes the role of technology in advancing opportunity and improving lives. “The future is not something we wait for—it’s something we build together,” Morales added in a separate public statement.

Additional contributions from leaders across Panama’s innovation ecosystem emphasized the importance of developing homegrown talent, applying AI in high-impact sectors like health and education, and serving as a regional testbed for responsible AI solutions.

 “This goes beyond technology. It’s about how we use artificial intelligence to improve people’s lives, make our systems more efficient, and elevate Panamanian talent,” shared a representative from Escala Latam. “We have a big opportunity: to train local talent, to scale responsible solutions, and to build, from Panama, solutions with global impact.”

 The initiative reflects Georgia Tech’s broader commitment to advancing AI as a public good.

 Through Tech AI and partnerships like this one, the Institute helps governments, industries, and communities around the world design AI strategies that are technically sound, globally relevant, and locally empowering.

“Artificial intelligence has been identified by SENACYT as a critical and emerging technology that requires urgent action to maximize its impact on the country’s economy, innovation capacity, and competitiveness,” said Eduardo Ortega Barría, National Secretary of Science, Technology and Innovation. “That’s why the National AI Strategy we are developing prioritizes broad and participatory reflection—this is a crucial step toward building a shared vision.”

As nations worldwide navigate the rise of artificial intelligence, Georgia Tech stands at the forefront, helping build AI strategies that are not only technically advanced but fundamentally human-centered.

 

GET INVOVLED

The public is also invited to shape the strategy. SENACYT launched a National Artificial Intelligence Survey—available through July 31 via www.SENACYT.gob.pa; SURVEY and SENACYT’s social media—to collect ideas, questions, and concerns from residents across Panama. (The survey includes 16 questions and is open to all residents of Panama—both nationals and foreigners. Its purpose is to gather perceptions, concerns, and opportunities to be considered in the national strategy. The survey will remain open until July 31, 2025).

 

About Tech AI

Tech AI is Georgia Tech’s interdisciplinary AI research and policy hub, bringing together expertise in optimization, robotics, ethics, education, and public-sector applications. With a mission to advance AI for social good, Tech AI helps partners across the globe design and deploy trustworthy, scalable AI systems.

 

About SENACYT

The National Secretariat of Science, Technology and Innovation (SENACYT) is an autonomous institution whose mission is to make science and technology tools for the sustainable development of Panama. Our projects and programs focus on advancing the country’s scientific and technological capabilities to close inequality gaps and promote equitable development that improves quality of life for all Panamanians.

Georgia Tech has been recognized in a new IDC white paper, A Blueprint for AI‑Ready Campuses: Strategies from the Frontlines of Higher Education, as a national leader in deploying artificial intelligence across higher education. The report, published in partnership with Microsoft, highlights Georgia Tech’s comprehensive approach to integrating AI into teaching, research, and campus operations.

The Institute is one of only four U.S. universities featured in the report, joining Auburn University, Babson College, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

“AI isn’t a single system or application—it’s a new foundation for how we work, teach, and learn,” said Leo Howell, Georgia Tech’s chief information security officer. “Our goal is to expose people to as many tools as possible, creating an ‘AI for All’ strategy that ensures everyone at Georgia Tech can leverage AI to enhance their work and learning experiences.”

Georgia Tech’s approach centers on a “persona-based model,” tailoring AI tools and resources to meet the needs of students, faculty, researchers, and administrators. That personalized approach, according to the report, is what makes Georgia Tech’s efforts both scalable and sustainable.

The white paper also emphasizes the importance of industry partnerships in Georgia Tech’s strategy. Through collaborations with Microsoft, OpenAI, and NVIDIA, the Institute is deploying advanced AI technologies while preparing students for the demands of an AI-driven workforce.

Georgia Tech’s success lies in its flexibility, the report notes. The Institute tests AI tools through targeted pilots, gathers user feedback, and rapidly iterates to improve outcomes. This adaptive mindset is recommended as a best practice for other institutions navigating their own AI transformation.

The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) is recognizing Georgia Tech alumnus and faculty member Tim Lieuwen with its most distinguished award: the ASME Medal.

He is the first person from Georgia Tech to receive the medal in its 105-year history. The honor is reserved for “eminently distinguished engineering achievement” — in Lieuwen’s case, for leadership in promoting clean energy and sustainable propulsion systems. He’s also being recognized for his contributions to policy and workforce development.

“I’m deeply honored to receive this award — and even more grateful for the extraordinary community that made it possible,” said Lieuwen, Tech’s executive vice president for Research and Regents’ Professor in the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering. “For three decades at Georgia Tech, I’ve been privileged to work alongside brilliant colleagues, students, and staff who shaped my journey and driven our shared success. This recognition isn’t mine alone; it belongs to every member of our Yellow Jacket family who turns bold ideas into real-world results. It’s a celebration of what we’ve accomplished together — and a powerful reminder of the exciting path ahead.”

Read more about the award from the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering.