As the U.S. works to strengthen its industrial base and reshore critical manufacturing capabilities, workforce development has emerged as a central challenge — and opportunity. 

The Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute (GTMI) recently welcomed its first Hiring Our Heroes (HOH) Fellow to help address this growing need. Lukas Berg, a retiring U.S. Army officer, will be working with GTMI to support new education and training programs aimed at preparing Georgians for careers in advanced manufacturing.

“Lukas Berg brings a unique blend of operational experience, academic insight, and a deep commitment to service,” said Thomas Kurfess, executive director of GTMI. “His perspective will be invaluable as we work to build stronger connections between Georgia’s communities and the advanced manufacturing sector.”

Hiring Our Heroes is a nationwide initiative led by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation that helps veterans and military spouses transition into civilian careers through short-term fellowships. Since 2021, Georgia Tech has hosted more than two dozen HOH fellows, beginning with U.S. Army veteran Erik Andersen, who now serves as interim deputy director for the Research, Electronics, Optics, and Systems Directorate at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), where he also helps lead the HOH program. 

Berg is the first fellow to be placed outside of GTRI, a sign of the program’s growing reach across campus and its potential to support a broader range of workforce development efforts.

“It’s been exciting to see how the Hiring Our Heroes program has grown at Georgia Tech,” said Andersen. “Berg’s placement at GTMI reflects the Institute’s commitment to connecting military talent with real-world innovation and workforce development. Veterans bring a unique perspective and skill set to these challenges, and I’m proud to see the program expanding to new parts of campus.”

Berg’s military career includes aviation command roles, teaching positions at West Point and the Joint Special Operations University, and deployments across multiple regions. At GTMI, he will be contributing to a new initiative that partners with rural school districts to introduce students to hands-on learning in advanced manufacturing, an effort designed to spark interest in high-potential career paths and support long-term workforce readiness.

With personal ties to Georgia Tech and a strong sense of purpose, Berg sees this fellowship as a meaningful next step. We spoke with him to learn more about what brought him to GTMI and how he views the role of manufacturing and workforce development in shaping the country’s future.

What inspired you to pursue a fellowship at the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute after your military service?

Last year, I visited Georgia Tech with many of the junior officers and pilots assigned to my helicopter battalion in Savannah. Our agenda included stops at the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute and the Advanced Manufacturing Pilot Facility, both of which struck me as being absolutely vital to maintaining the technological edge required to fight and win on the modern battlefield. Pursuing a fellowship at GTMI felt like a natural extension of my military service, and I suspected that it would put me back at the intersection of thinkers and doers (where I have always felt most at home). 

You mentioned your grandmother taught at Georgia Tech for over 30 years — how has her legacy influenced your academic and professional journey?

My grandmother, Maria Venable, was the first woman to serve as a full-time faculty member in Georgia Tech’s School of Modern Languages. She poured herself into both her family and her students, and I was lucky to count myself in both populations, as she agreed to tutor me for the AP German exam in high school (but only if I behaved as well as her students at Tech). Her example inspired me to pursue a teaching assignment at West Point halfway through my Army career, and I experienced the same joy in teaching that she did. It’s something that I will continue to do for the rest of my life, whether in a formal or informal capacity.

Can you share more about the specific initiatives you'll be working on at GTMI related to advanced manufacturing education?

Most immediately, I am joining a new GTMI initiative that partners with rural school districts to deliver several weeks’ worth of curriculum and hands-on practice in advanced manufacturing. We just kicked off a pilot program with Bainbridge High School in Decatur, and it’s exciting to see their students leveraging sophisticated systems to design and build Pinewood Derby cars that would make Cub Scouts across the country green with envy. Beyond this initiative, I hope to contribute to other efforts that get young people excited about careers in manufacturing and that assist adult learners in re-skilling and up-skilling for this high-potential industry.

What are you most looking forward to as you begin your fellowship at GTMI?

Georgia Tech feels like a physical and intellectual crossroads of modern civilization. I’m excited to not only contribute as a member of GTMI but also to learn about the countless other departments, institutes, and programs that are convening talent to solve the world’s thorniest problems. 

What skills or insights are you hoping to gain during your time at GTMI that will support your next career chapter?

As an Army officer, I’ve been stationed across the country and deployed around the world, but Georgia has always been home. (Gladys Knight’s “Midnight Train to Georgia” has been a fixture on my playlist since I left for West Point at the age of 17.) Now back with my family, I look forward to using my time at GTMI to learn about my home state and identify ways that I can contribute to its near and long-term prosperity, whether through roles in academia, government, or private industry. I also look forward to expanding my network in all these communities, as no single one has a monopoly on problem-solving.

Why do you believe rebuilding America’s industrial base and manufacturing workforce is critical to national security today?

As a career aviator, much of my professional life was spent agonizing over the availability of parts to repair my helicopters. It seemed like there were never enough, and they always took too long to get to me. This experience, coupled with lessons learned from our support of Ukraine’s self-defense, contrasted starkly with my recent study of America’s 20th-century role as the “arsenal of democracy.” I’m convinced that we need to regain that reputation, and I would like to see Georgia at the forefront of associated design, manufacturing, and education initiatives.  

How do you see veterans playing a unique role in strengthening the U.S. manufacturing workforce?

I think veterans are the most natural candidates in the world for roles in the manufacturing workforce. They possess the knowledge, skills, and abilities to be successful in most endeavors, but most are looking for ways to extend their service beyond their time in uniform. What better way than to contribute to a field that is so vital to our national security and prosperity?

What does “Progress and Service” mean to you, and what does it mean to you personally to be contributing to that mission?

I love Tech’s motto. I grew up in a family and community that reinforced at every turn the idea that our highest potential as human beings is realized when we serve others. This motivated my choice to serve in the military for the past 20 years, and it remains my North Star for this next chapter. I also love the idea of technological progress being the vehicle by which Georgia Tech collectively serves others, and I hope to accelerate this progress during my time at GTMI. 

If you could give one piece of advice to other service members considering a fellowship like this, what would it be?

Inventory your passions and define your purpose. Then start reaching out to people in related fields. I have been amazed at how generous people have been with their time and how eager they have been to help me find my second calling and related opportunities.

The Strategic Energy Institute (SEI) at Georgia Tech concluded its third cohort of Energy Faculty Fellows in August, welcoming a diverse group of researchers for a 10-week summer fellowship. The program is designed to advance energy innovation and collaboration by supporting cross-institutional partnerships and facilitating dialogue on regional, national, and global energy priorities.

The program intends to build research partnerships between Georgia Tech and other academic institutions — specifically, emerging research institutions including R2 universities, minority-serving institutions, historically Black colleges and universities, and primarily undergraduate institutions.

“The Energy Faculty Fellows program is a key part of our five-year strategy to expand collaboration and strengthen workforce development in energy research,” said Christine Conwell, SEI’s interim executive director. “The cross-institutional collaborations foster broader engagement across the energy sector and help connect diverse research communities to meet the demands of the evolving energy landscape.”

During the fellowship, participants engage in joint research with their Georgia Tech hosts and their research teams, gaining hands-on experience and insights. These experiences not only enrich their immediate projects but also contribute to strengthening research systems at their home institutions.

The program continues to advance workforce development in the energy sector by involving undergraduate researchers in its core activities. Students work closely with fellows on applied research, enabling them to explore potential career paths and evaluate their interest in contributing to the future of energy innovation.

Here is the 2025 cohort of SEI’s Energy Faculty Fellows, in their own words.

Fellow: Jamal Mamkhezri, Associate Professor of Economics, New Mexico State University
Host: Laura Taylor, Professor, School of Economics, and Director, Energy Policy and Innovation Center, Georgia Tech

Over the past 10 weeks, I have worked closely with my host, Laura Taylor, and a talented group of students on projects that spanned a wide range of energy topics — from peer-to-peer energy trading and battery storage in wholesale markets to the impacts of energy prices on retail spending, EV charging infrastructure, electricity outages and crime, and the potential of small modular reactors. My own research during this period focused on two key areas: analyzing the impact of data center expansion on wholesale electricity prices and evaluating how utility-scale solar projects influence property and farmland values across the Southeast. 

The biggest takeaway from this experience has been the power of interdisciplinary collaboration, combining economics, policy, and engineering perspectives with students and faculty. It sparked richer questions and solutions than what I would have developed on my own. 

To my peers back home: Embrace cross-disciplinary hubs like SEI to elevate your research and connections.

Fellow: Judy Jenkins, Professor of Chemistry, Eastern Kentucky University
Host: Erin Ratcliff, Professor, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Georgia Tech

I started the fellowship with two goals — to collaborate with Erin Ratcliff and her group while at Georgia Tech, and to build the foundation for continued collaboration after I return to Eastern Kentucky University. These goals have been realized, and so much more. The Ratcliff group and the whole SEI team welcomed me into the Georgia Tech energy community and supported this partnership every step of the way. 

I particularly enjoyed getting to work alongside graduate students and postdocs in the Ratcliff group. While they were much more familiar with the chemical system of interest, I had more experience in some of the techniques. Together we made a great team! Getting to spend 10 weeks with them helped me move from general ideas for collaboration to a much more specific and nuanced understanding of the ways we can work together going forward. 

Outside of the lab, I appreciated the way the SEI team introduced us to their initiatives more broadly. I have a much better understanding of the scope of the Institute and the ways different people are working together.

Fellow: Cody Gonzalez, Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering, University of Texas at San Antonio
Hosts: Nazanin Bassiri-Gharb, Harris Saunders Jr. Chair and Professor, George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering; and Hailong Chen, Associate Professor, George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Tech
Undergraduate Student: Rebecca Lima, University of Texas at San Antonio

During my fellowship, I collaborated with Nazanin Bassiri-Gharb and Hailong Chen on two research fronts: lead zirconate antiferroelectrics and stress-potential coupling in solid-state batteries. 

Rebecca Lima, an undergraduate student from my university, was able to join the research through the SURE program and was able to achieve highly oriented lead zirconate films with promising applications in energy storage and actuation, with help from Nazanin’s Ph.D. student, Milan Haddad. 

In Chen’s lab, alongside postdoctoral researcher Zhantao Liu, we advanced solid-state cell characterization for improved capacity and self-sensing. Lima also led a battery coating workshop as a knowledge exchange between Georgia Tech and UTSA.

During the 10 weeks, I also began discussions with Tequila Harris on studying how manufacturing methods affect battery anode coatings, with plans to use her pilot-scale, roll-to-roll facility for future testing and collaboration.

Working in the Advanced Research Institute (ARI) in The Kendeda Building with Shannon Yee provided critical support and equipment for electrochemical cell characterization. Through networking within Kendeda, I also got an opportunity to participate in weekly brainstorming sessions on topics like clean water and robotics.

Looking ahead, I plan to integrate Bassiri-Gharb’s expertise in antiferroelectric synthesis and piezo force microscopy with my background in electrochemical cell fabrication to pursue electrochemical strain microscopy. This will enable direct strain measurement from ionic currents, advancing high-capacity batteries and ultra-dense electrochemical actuators for precision applications like telescope mirror alignment.

I'm grateful to my colleagues at UTSA for encouraging me to apply and sharing their positive experiences at Georgia Tech. My time here has been incredibly rewarding — working alongside outstanding collaborators has strengthened my research and expanded both my network and ideas. The Energy Faculty Fellows program has already led to new proposals and co-authored papers, and I’ve encouraged others to apply. Collaborating across disciplines — from materials science and electrochemistry to advanced manufacturing — has opened up exciting opportunities to tackle real-world challenges in energy and beyond.

Fellow: Hossein Taheri, Associate Professor of Manufacturing Engineering, Georgia Southern University.
Host: Jin-Yeon Kim, Senior Research Scientist, Georgia Tech Research Institute

Over the past 10 weeks, I collaborated with my Georgia Tech host Jin Yeon Kim on two key research projects. The first evaluated advanced nondestructive testing (NDT) methods — like PAUT and MCT — for assessing quality in metal additive manufacturing. The second explored acoustic-based NDT techniques to assess the operational health of lithium-ion batteries, particularly in electric vehicle applications. As demand for battery-powered technologies grows, ensuring safe and reliable operation through in-situ monitoring is critical. These efforts have laid a strong foundation for future proposals and joint publications.

The biggest takeaway has been the value of cross-institutional collaboration in advancing interdisciplinary research. Working with researchers at Georgia Tech deepened my technical expertise and showed how partnerships can accelerate innovation. 

To my peers at Georgia Southern: Seek out collaborations beyond your institution. They can lead to new ideas, stronger research impact, and more opportunities for funding, publication, and student development. Collaboration is not only beneficial but is essential for addressing today’s engineering challenges.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded School of Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) Professor & Regents’ Entrepreneur Rampi Ramprasad a $2 million grant to advance research at the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) and polymer science. He and a multidisciplinary team of Georgia Tech researchers will design next-generation polymer-based packaging materials that can easily be recycled or biodegraded at the end of their use. The project addresses one of the most pressing challenges in global sustainability: plastic waste.

Read more on the Georgia Tech Materials Science and Engineering Newspage

Srinivas Peeta, the Frederick R. Dickerson Chair in Transportation Systems at Georgia Tech’s School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, has been appointed Co-Editor-in-Chief of Transportation Research Part B: Methodological. This prestigious journal focuses on the mathematical and analytical foundations of transportation systems, addressing critical challenges in areas such as traffic flow, network design, control and scheduling, optimization, queuing theory, logistics, and behavioral modeling. 

Transportation Research Part B complements other journals in the series—Part A (Policy and Practice), Part C (Emerging Technologies), and Part D (Transport and Environment)—forming a comprehensive suite of publications that collectively represent the forefront of transportation science. The journal serves a diverse and specialized audience, including operations researchers, logisticians, economists, econometricians, mathematical modelers, transportation engineers, geographers, and planners.

Professor Peeta brings decades of experience to this role. His research spans dynamic traffic assignment, congestion mitigation, and the development of resilient transportation networks. His association with Transportation Research Part B began in the early 1990s as a reviewer, and he has since published approximately 25 papers in the journal. Since 2019, he has served as an Associate Editor, playing a key role in managing the editorial process and upholding the journal’s high standards.

Please join us in congratulating Professor Peeta for this well-earned recognition. We are confident he will continue to guide Transportation Research Part B with excellence and vision, shaping the future of transportation research.

J. Cole Faggert, a Ph.D. student in the School of Physics, has received a NASA FINESST (Future Investigators in NASA Earth and Space Science and Technology) Award to study supermassive black holes and the physics of their plasma flows. His research proposal was one of 24 selected from more than 450 astrophysics submissions this year. 

“It’s amazing to be recognized for this research,” says Faggert. “I am grateful to my research group for helping me prepare the proposal and inspiring my ideas.”

Through the FINESST program, NASA’s Science Mission Directorate provides three-year grants for “graduate student-designed and performed research projects that contribute to its science, technology, and exploration goals,” according to the program’s website. 

Faggert will serve as the future investigator of the award and will be advised by Feryal Özel, chair and professor in the School of Physics. 

“I am very proud that Cole has been selected for the FINESST Fellowship, one of the most competitive graduate awards in the country,” says Özel, who is the principal investigator of the research. “This fellowship will support groundbreaking research on multi-wavelength imaging of black holes — an area central to advancing our understanding of black holes and galaxies. It is especially exciting that this work also contributes directly to the development of our space-based mission at Georgia Tech.”

A key aspect of Faggert’s proposal is its multi-frequency approach, which generates and analyzes images of supermassive black holes using different radio wavelengths. When combined and compared, these multi-frequency observations allow scientists to learn about black holes and explore fundamental physical concepts such as gravity and plasma behavior.

“One of the coolest things about studying cosmic objects like black holes is that you have to work with the information you have,” explains Faggert. “But when you combine several avenues of information, like in multi-frequency radio imaging, you can gain a better understanding of phenomena and under conditions that can’t be replicated on Earth.”

This research aligns with current trends in astrophysics that focus on advanced imaging techniques to broaden the data available on the structure, formation, and behavior of black holes and other celestial objects. According to Faggert, this information can then be contrasted with theoretical simulations, providing insights into fundamental physics and the nature of the universe.

Receiving the FINESST Award is particularly meaningful for Faggert, given his longstanding interest in space and his previous exposure to NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility and Langley Research Center through the Virginia Aerospace Science and Technology Scholars program.

“Being associated with NASA holds a special place in my heart. Over the years, my focus has shifted from designing space missions to studying the science those missions make possible. It is definitely rewarding to come full circle and be recognized by NASA for this research,” he adds.

Daniel Yue, assistant professor of IT Management at the Scheller College of Business, has been awarded the prestigious Best Dissertation Award by the Technology and Innovation Management Division of the Academy of Management. The recognition celebrates the most impactful doctoral research in the field of business and innovation.

Yue’s dissertation, developed during his Ph.D. at Harvard Business School, explores a paradox at the heart of the AI industry: why do firms openly share their innovations, like scientific knowledge, software, and models, despite the apparent lack of direct financial return? His work sheds light on the strategic and economic mechanisms that drive this openness, offering new frameworks for understanding how firms contribute to and benefit from shared technological progress.

“We typically think of firms as trying to capture value from their innovations,” Yue explained. “But in AI, we see companies freely publishing research and releasing open-source software. My dissertation investigates why this happens and what firms gain from it.”

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Georgia Tech researchers have designed the first benchmark that tests how well existing AI tools can interpret advice from YouTube financial influencers, also known as finfluencers.

Lead author Michael Galarnyk, Ph.D. Machine Learning ’28, joined lead authors Veer Kejriwal, B.S. Computer Science ’25, and Agam Shah, Ph.D. Machine Learning ’26, along with co-authors Yash Bhardwaj, École Polytechnique, M.S. Trustworthy and Responsible AI ‘27; Nicholas Meyer, B.S. Electrical and Computer Engineering ’22 and Quantitative and Computational Finance ’24; Anand Krishnan, Stanford University, B.S. Computer Science ‘27; and, Sudheer Chava, Alton M. Costley Chair and professor of Finance at Georgia Tech.

Aptly named VideoConviction, the multimodal benchmark included hundreds of video clips. Experts labelled each clip with the influencer’s recommendation (buy, sell, or hold) and how strongly the influencer seemed to believe in their advice, based on tone, delivery, and facial expressions. The goal? To see how accurately AI can pick up on both the message and the conviction behind it.

“Our work shows that financial reasoning remains a challenge for even the most advanced models,” said Michael Galarnyk, lead author. “Multimodal inputs bring some improvement, but performance often breaks down on harder tasks that require distinguishing between casual discussion and meaningful analysis. Understanding where these models fail is a first step toward building systems that can reason more reliably in high stakes domains.”

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This study examines how short-term variability in wind power—known as wind intermittency—affects real-time electricity system imbalances in U.S. regional power markets. The authors, Victoria Godwin and Matthew E. Oliver of the Georgia Institute of Technology and EPIcenter affiliates, analyze data from four major system operators: Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), New York ISO (NYISO), Southwest Power Pool (SPP), and PJM Interconnection. They focus on Area Control Error (ACE), a real-time metric used by grid operators to measure the mismatch between electricity supply and demand, adjusted for frequency deviations. Maintaining ACE near zero is essential for grid stability.

The authors find that a doubling of hourly wind generation variance increases average hourly ACE by 2% in BPA, 3.7% in NYISO, and 11.4% in SPP—equivalent to 1.2 MW, 1.8 MW, and 9.35 MW increases in system imbalance, respectively. PJM shows no significant effect, likely due to less granular data. They also show that sudden increases in wind generation are more likely to cause oversupply (positive ACE), while sudden drops lead to undersupply (negative ACE), confirming asymmetric operational impacts.

Read Full Story on the EPIcenter Website