Georgia Tech's Renewable Bioproducts Institute (RBI) is pleased to announce the appointment of Hanjiang (John) Xu as director of the Multiphase Forming Lab. This strategic selection leverages Xu's extensive experience in papermaking, new product and process development, fluid mechanics, and project management.

The only one of its kind in North America, this innovative system significantly reduces the amount of water required to process paper. As a result, the heat and energy needed to dry the paper—typically an energy-intensive process—are also reduced. The Multiphase Forming Lab uses up to 70% less water, which substantially lowers the energy required for drying.

Xu brings over 20 years of experience in managing laboratory paper machines and pilot testing equipment, along with a robust background in fluid mechanics, material science, and instrumentation development. His professional experience includes significant roles at International Paper, AstenJohnson, and Georgia Tech’s George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering.

"We are thrilled to have John lead the establishment and operation of this new facility," said Carson Meredith, RBI executive director. "His extensive knowledge and industry experience make him the ideal leader to partner with both RBI members and non-members to drive reduced energy consumption and costs.”

Xu's career is marked by innovative research and successful commercialization of new products and processes. At AstenJohnson, he served as a senior research scientist, specializing in forming and press fabrics used in the paper industry. His work led to the commercialization of several new forming and press products, and he managed pilot press stand at AstenJohnson and participated in papermaking trials at different pilot facilities to evaluate the performance of these fabrics.

Prior to AstenJohnson, Xu held positions at International Paper's Corporate Technology Center, where he managed the Microfinishing Lab and Humidity Resistant Liner Lab. His research provided critical insights that influenced the company’s major business decisions. He also developed various unique instruments for different paper mills at International Paper.

Xu earned his Ph.D. in paper science and mechanical engineering from Georgia Tech’s Institute of Paper Science and Technology. His doctoral research focused on the measurement of fiber suspension flow and forming jet velocity profile using Pulsed Ultrasonic Doppler Velocimetry (PUDV). He also holds a B.S. in Material Science and Engineering from Tsinghua University in Beijing, China.

For more information about the Multiphase Forming Lab, please contact: Hanjiang (John) Xu at hanjiang.xu@me.gatech.edu

On May 13, 2025, Georgia Tech celebrated a major milestone in sustainable manufacturing with the ribbon cutting of its new Multiphase Forming Lab in the Paper Tricentennial Building. The event, hosted by the Renewable Bioproducts Institute (RBI), marked the official launch of a pioneering system that promises to revolutionize the papermaking industry.

The Multiphase Forming System, the only one of its kind in North America, dramatically reduces the amount of water needed in the paper production process. By using up to 70% less water, the system also significantly cuts down on the energy required for drying — traditionally one of the most energy-intensive steps in papermaking. This innovation, developed by principal investigator Cyrus Aidun, not only enhances efficiency but also supports broader sustainability goals by lowering greenhouse gas emissions.

The grand opening event featured remarks from Georgia Tech President Ángel Cabrera, Executive Vice President for Research Tim Lieuwen, and Carson Meredith, executive director of RBI, among others. Attendees included industry leaders, researchers, and students, all eager to witness the unveiling of a technology that has been five years in the making.

The Multiphase Forming project has garnered widespread interest from the paper and packaging industries. A recent extension of the research, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (DOE-EERE), integrates this forming system with cutting-edge refining and drying technologies. Led by Meredith, this initiative aims to further reduce energy consumption and environmental impact in paper manufacturing. John Xu has been appointed to run the facility.

Meredith said, “Today is milestone in RBI’s history, as we continue to partner and innovate with the paper and pulp industry.  We’d like to share our gratitude with our researchers, students and industry sponsors International Paper, Kimberly Clark and Solenis.”

CREATE-X, Georgia Tech’s premier entrepreneurship program, kicked off its 12th Startup Launch cohort this month with a record-breaking 137 student teams and 25 faculty and research teams — totaling 318 founders. The summer-long accelerator, known for turning ideas into real-world ventures, is once again positioning Georgia Tech as a national leader in invention and startup creation.

This year’s cohort spans a wide range of industries, including artificial intelligence, defense, healthcare, gaming, sustainability, media management, agriculture tech, fashion tech, education, and more. 

“These founders are in the messy middle and that's a beautiful place to be. There’s a lot of freedom in that,” said Margaret Weniger, director of Startup Launch. “We’re all going to be in this together. It's a safe space to try new things. It’s OK if it doesn't work out because what we want founders to learn is an entrepreneurial mindset and entrepreneurial spirit — something you take with you no matter what you do after this.”

Over the next 12 weeks, teams will validate ideas, build products, and acquire customers with the help of dedicated coaches, a robust founder community, and a network of mentors and alumni. 

Raghupathy "Siva" Sivakumar, Georgia Tech’s inaugural vice president of Commercialization and the faculty founder of CREATE-X, spoke about the core of CREATE-X and what it would take for founders to succeed.

“Startup Launch is not about Georgia Tech gaining from your success. We are here just for one reason, which is to make you successful,” he said. “You need to hold yourself accountable. You need to be ambitious in terms of how big a problem you solve. You need to be emphatic that the customer matters. The successful teams are 100% behind what's going to make the lives of customers easier and better.”

In 2014, CREATE-X was co-founded by Sivakumar, Steve McLaughlin(who is now the president of The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art), and other Georgia Tech faculty, including Ray Vito, Craig Forest, and Ravi Bellamkonda (who is now the executive vice president and provost of The Ohio State University). The program received its initial major philanthropic support from Chris Klaus, a Georgia Tech alumnus and tech entrepreneur, whose gift helped launch the initiative, and , played a key role in building out the program's maker courses. Over the years, CREATE-X has continued to grow, thanks largely to the philanthropic support of alumni and foundations who believe in its mission.

In the last decade, the program has produced over 650 startups, $2.4 billion in portfolio valuation, and had eight founders named to Forbes’ 30 Under 30. Wagner shared stories of past teams who pivoted dramatically — from a glucose-monitoring pillow to a sobriety app now valued at over $350 million, and from a camping gear delivery service to a billion-dollar logistics platform. 

“We don’t know which ideas will become the next unicorns,” Weniger said. “But we’re betting on you.”

At the kickoff event, McLaughlin and Klaus were honored for their contributions to Georgia Tech’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. McLaughlin encouraged the founders through the story of CREATE-X.

“From the very beginning, we challenged CREATE-X to be a startup as well. To this day, CREATE-X has raised its own money to do this. It's a reminder of what it takes to make this happen,” he said. “This is the most difficult challenge you have ever taken. I think at the time, we were probably skeptical about whether students could do it. Now we know that you can.”

Georgia Tech President Ángel Cabrera reflected on the impact of McLaughlin, Klaus, and others who saw the vision of Georgia Tech being an entrepreneurial campus. 

“Ten years ago, this was a crazy, absurd idea,” he said. “Now, 150 teams are working on their own crazy ideas. Even though sometimes there's this idea of the entrepreneur as a loner, what you learn very quickly is entrepreneurship is a team sport.”

Klaus spoke about people collaborating and helping solve problems together. 

“I'm especially inspired by Georgia with its complex history,” he said. “It continues to be a place where peace can be envisioned and pursued. I think this recognition strengthens my commitment to building bridges, resolving conflict, and lifting up voices that seek unity. As you build your businesses, you'll be building collaborations and partnerships, and hopefully make the world a better place.”

As the summer progresses, founders will be guided by CREATE-X’s core values: experiential education, entrepreneurial confidence, and real-world impact. Weniger encouraged teams to “show up uncomfortable” and “leverage every single resource” available.

The journey will culminate at Demo Day, where teams will showcase their startups to investors, industry leaders, and the broader community. The event is free, open to the public, and promises a front-row seat to the next wave of Georgia Tech-born innovation.

Demo Day 2025 will take place on Thursday, Aug. 28, at 5 p.m., in the Exhibition Hall. For more information and to RSVP, visit the CREATE-X Demo Day Eventbrite.

The College of Sciences is pleased to announce the launch of the AI4Science Center. The center will promote research and collaboration focused on using state-of-the-art artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) techniques to address complex scientific challenges.

“AI and ML have the potential to revolutionize scientific discovery, but there is a clear need for foundational research centered on AI/ML methodologies and application to scientific problems,” says Dimitrios Psaltis, professor in the School of Physics.

Psaltis will co-lead the center with Molei Tao, professor in the School of Mathematics, and Audrey Sederberg, assistant professor in the School of Psychology.

The new center will combine expertise and resources from various disciplines to foster the creation of robust, reusable tools and methods that can be used across scientific domains. Specifically, the center will organize seminars and an annual conference in addition to providing seed funding for collaborative projects across units. 

Nearly 40 faculty members from the College’s six schools have already agreed to participate in activities proposed by the center; additional faculty involvement is expected from across the Institute.

The center builds upon initiatives such as Tech AI, the Machine Learning Center, and the Institute for Data Engineering and Science, which seek to boost Georgia Tech’s leadership in cutting-edge, AI/ML-powered interdisciplinary research and education.

The College’s seed grant program will sponsor the center for three years, starting in fiscal year 2026. Created in 2024, this program funds new centers that seek to increase the College’s research impact and advance its strategic goal of excellence in research through a focus on novel interdisciplinary areas or discipline-specific topics of high impact. The AI4Science Center is the third initiative to be seeded by this program, following the funding of the Center for Sustainable and Decarbonized Critical Energy Mineral Solutions and the Center for Research and Education in Navigation in 2024.

“The AI4Science Center was selected for its approach, timeliness, organization, and strong support from all six of the College’s schools,” says Laura Cadonati, associate dean for Research and professor in the School of Physics. “Faculty enthusiasm about this initiative reflects the growing importance of AI/ML tools in research today and the desire for more interdisciplinary collaboration in this space at the College and beyond.”

Thomasville, Georgia, is a hub of training and talent for local manufacturers. But Mason Miller could tell there was something missing.

“We didn't have any training for advanced manufacturing in our area,” said Miller, vice president of Academic Affairs at Southern Regional Technical College (SRTC), which offers education and training programs in technical and manufacturing fields. “Companies had to go out and recruit people from Michigan to run their machines. That's when we said, ‘We don’t want that to happen — we need to be doing that right here.’”

That’s where the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute (GTMI) stepped in. Working with partner program Georgia Artificial Intelligence in Manufacturing (Georgia AIM), GTMI helped connect SRTC with the resources and expertise needed to develop a robust training program tailored to the needs of local manufacturers.

Miller said at first, he was skeptical. “When GTMI said they wanted to be partners, I thought, ‘OK, this is another situation where we're going to talk for a minute, everybody says things and then goes away — and that’s it,’” said Miller. “That's not how it's been at all.”

Rather, it’s been a true partnership driven by SRTC, with curriculum focused on automation and robotics developed by the Technical College System of Georgia and GTMI. The curriculum is also shaped by local industry input to directly address workforce gaps in the region’s manufacturing sector. 

“As a state institution, we're here to serve you,” said Steven Sheffield, senior assistant director of Research Operations at GTMI and a point person of the partnership. “Tell us the problem, and we will work hard to try to solve it with you.”

Filling the Workforce Gap

Miller was committed to giving SRTC students the advanced manufacturing skills needed to stand out in the workforce. Yet the evolving manufacturing landscape and the needs of local manufacturers revealed gaps in SRTC’s curriculum, particularly in AI, automation, and robotics.

With GTMI and Georgia AIM researchers contributing key expertise to the expanded smart manufacturing curriculum, Miller noted the partnership is “opening our eyes to what we can do with AI. We're going to start integrating that into our programs.”

Beyond AI and robotics, SRTC leadership identified a crucial gap in their program: training in precision machining, a skill that local manufacturers like Check-Mate Industries sorely needed. 

“If we want to attract new business and industry to Georgia, we need to be able to show them we can provide a skilled workforce,” said Miller. 

To address this missing piece, GTMI and Georgia AIM helped procure funding to acquire and refurbish precision-machining equipment from longtime partner Makino. Georgia AIM also supported the renovation and outfitting of two SRTC lab spaces with additional updated equipment. 

Last fall, SRTC launched its new Precision Manufacturing & Engineering and Manufacturing Engineering Technology programs, with instructors trained by GTMI faculty in precision manufacturing. The new program at SRTC is one example of the ways GTMI experts are working with communities across the state to expand access to training and new technology.

“Not a lot of technical colleges have this type of machinery,” said Marvin Bannister, SRTC precision machining and manufacturing program chair. Instructors like Bannister received specialized training at GTMI’s Advanced Manufacturing Pilot Facility to ensure they felt confident teaching students how to operate the machinery. “Not only is it something else to add to my skill set, but the most important thing is that I'll be able to train other students who desire to learn on a machine like this.”

Because of SRTC’s expanded offerings, the technical college has strengthened partnerships and developed new internship programs with local manufacturers. “We all want the same thing,” said Miller, “which is to grow industry partnerships and to create a talent pipeline for our state.”

GTMI and Georgia AIM also support STEM programs with Thomasville area schools and internship programs for K-12 teachers with local manufacturers such as Check-Mate. These efforts deepen the connections between students and manufacturers, opening doors to future careers in the sector.

“We’re here to connect the dots and enable these types of partnerships,” says Steven Ferguson, a principal research scientist with GTMI and co-director of Georgia AIM. “When teams and their networks come together to solve a challenge for just one manufacturer, the impact can reach across an entire region.”

Space researcher. Materials scientist. Entrepreneur. And Yellow Jacket. The only thing missing on Jud Ready’s resume is “astronaut.” Not for lack of trying, though. Ready had hoped earning his bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in materials science and engineering at Georgia Tech would lead him to a spot in NASA’s Astronaut Corps. Instead, it’s led him to the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), where his passion for space is alive and well.

1. What about space fascinates you? 
It all goes back to my dad being interested in space. In first grade, we went to a how-to-use-the-library class, and I came across a book about the Mercury and Apollo astronauts. I checked it out and renewed it over and over again. I eventually finished it in second grade. So, I’ve had a lifelong commitment since then to space.

2. What drew you to engineering? 
I grew up in Chapel Hill. In that same first grade class, we went to the University of North Carolina chemistry department. My mom is really into roses, and they froze a rose in liquid nitrogen then smashed it on the table. It broke into a million bits, and I was like, “What?!” The ability of science to solve the unknown grabbed me. And I had a series of very good science teachers — Mr. Parker in fifth grade, in particular. Then I took a soldering class in high school. We built a multimeter that I still have and still use, and various other things. And I suddenly discovered and started exploring engineering. Plus, I just like making things.

3. How did your career change from hoping to be an astronaut to being an accomplished materials engineer? 
When I started looking at colleges, that was my primary interest: What school would help me become an astronaut the quickest. I applied to Georgia Tech as an aerospace engineer, but was admitted as an undecided engineering candidate instead. It was the best thing that could have happened. Later, I got hired as an undergrad by a professor who was doing space-grown gallium arsenide on the Space Shuttle. Ultimately, they offered me a graduate position. I accepted, because I knew you needed an advanced degree to be an astronaut — and for a civilian, a Ph.D. in a relevant career such as materials science.

I applied so many times to be an astronaut — every time they opened a call from 1999 until just a few years ago. Never got in. But I was successful at writing proposals and teaching. So I started doing space vicariously through my students, writing research proposals on energy capture, such as solar cells; energy storage, such as super capacitors; and energy delivery like electron emission. They’re all enabled by engineered materials.

4. What makes Georgia Tech and GTRI a key contributor to the future of humans and science in space? 
Georgia Tech offers us so many unfair advantages over our competition. The equipment we’ve got. The students. You’ve got the curiosity-driven basic research coupled with the GTRI applied research model. We’ve had VentureLab and CREATE-X. Now we’ve got Quadrant-i to foster spinout companies from research.  

5. One of your solar cell technologies is headed to the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum. What is it? 
Early in my career, we developed a way to texture thin film photovoltaics to allow for light trapping. Inverted pyramids are etched into silicon wafer-type solar cells so a photon of light has a chance to hit different surfaces and get absorbed. But thin film solar cells typically don’t etch well. I thought we could use carbon nanotubes to form a scaffolding, a structure like rebar. It’s mechanically reinforcing, but also electrically conductive. We coat the thin film solar cell material over the carbon nanotube arrays. You’ve got these towers, and you get this photon pinballing effect. Most solar cells perform best when perpendicular to the sun, but with mine, off angles are preferred. That’s great for orbital uses, because the faces and solar panels of spacecraft are frequently off-angle to the sun. And then you don’t have the complexity of mechanical systems adjusting the solar arrays. So, we got funding to demonstrate these solar cells on the International Space Station three times, and those are some of the cells we provided to the Smithsonian. 

Read more on the CoE Webpage

When Marielle Frooman joined the McShan Lab, she brought a strong passion for chemistry, but no lab experience. Today, the fourth-year Georgia Tech biochemistry student is the first co-author of a groundbreaking malaria study published in Scientific Reports, a Nature Portfolio journal. Through extensive experimentation coupled with computer modeling, Frooman led a team of undergraduate and graduate researchers that uncovered eight peptides that can help the immune system recognize and fight the malaria parasite. 

“Malaria kills over 500,000 annually with the mortality rate substantially higher in Africa,” says Frooman. “Our research explores how specific peptides bind to proteins that trigger immune responses.”

Frooman originally hoped the research would help her learn how to think like a scientist and gain basic lab knowledge.

She gained those skills and more, quickly becoming recognized as an exceptional researcher.

“Marielle is one of the most passionate and talented undergraduate researchers I have ever worked with,” says Andrew McShan, McShan Lab principal investigator and associate professor in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry. “She is also a caring mentor and motivated future leader who wants to change the world. Her malaria research has the potential to provide real therapeutic outcomes, including better designs for vaccines and immunotherapy.” 

From curiosity to contribution

Frooman’s journey into undergraduate research began with persistence. After a year and a half of searching for lab opportunities, she attended a School of Chemistry and Biochemistry research showcase. She approached several graduate students and professors with no success, until she met McShan.

“Our first meeting was so relaxed and friendly that I didn’t even realize Professor McShan was the principal investigator,” admits Frooman. “That’s how it all started.”

Once she officially joined the lab, Frooman contributed to every stage of the research, including designing experiments, performing computational and wet lab work, analyzing data, and writing and presenting the paper.

Lessons in resilience

The team faced several challenges.

“The research was delayed by failure after failure,” says Frooman. “But each setback taught us something valuable.”

The team’s biggest challenge involved trying to grow crystals of the peptide/HLA (protein) complexes to determine how they fit together. They spent two years attempting various methods, but nothing worked.

Guided by McShan, Frooman and the team then came up with the idea of using computational modeling to enable a deeper understanding of how the peptides and proteins interact at both biophysical and structural levels.

“Utilizing the computational modeling enabled us to see the best bindings and turned into a game-changing insight for our research, potentially leading to the design of more effective malaria treatments and vaccines,” explains Frooman.

She is quick to credit Georgia Tech and McShan for providing her with such a valuable learning experience.

“At many universities, undergraduates rarely do meaningful research, but at Tech, it’s a priority,” explains Frooman. “I’m extremely grateful for the opportunity to grow in such a supportive environment, and to learn from mentors like Professor McShan who lead by example and make time for every student.”

Her advice to other undergraduates entering research?

“Embrace your failures. They make the successes even more rewarding,” shares Frooman.

Outside the lab

On campus, Frooman is president of the Student Affiliates of the American Chemical Society and Cleanup Crew at GT, a member of Alpha Phi International Fraternity, and a campus tour guide who serves on their executive board. 

She especially loves being a tour guide as it allows her to share her love of Georgia Tech and its people:

“Everyone is unapologetically themselves and fully invested in their major or interests. As someone who loves chemistry, I enjoy being surrounded by people who are just as dedicated to their passions.”

Frooman is a recipient of the Chance Family Scholarship, presented to two School of Chemistry and Biochemistry upperclassmen, recognizing their academic excellence, research contributions, and potential for career success in the field.

Recently, she shifted her research focus to organic synthetic chemistry and now works in the Gutekunst Lab. Her career goals include earning a Ph.D. in Chemistry with an emphasis on natural product synthesis, the lab-based creation of complex chemical compounds found in nature.

“I’ve seen what university labs can do,” says Frooman. “I hope to one day lead my own lab, advancing impactful research and mentoring the next generation of scientists.”

You’re managing the Texas Panhandle’s power grid. Heavy winds are blowing, and a worn-out utility pole ignites a fire by crashing onto a transmission line. Luckily, the fire department arrives quickly, putting out the fire before it spreads to nearby cities. But the same thing may happen again with gusty conditions predicted for the next 24 hours. Should you shut off miles of power lines to reduce that risk, causing outages for thousands of residents? Should you add batteries to the grid or move some power lines underground to lessen the impact of future fires? That sounds useful, but paying for these upgrades would require raising electricity rates.

Players of the Current Crisis video game are pondering these questions, similar to professional grid managers during the Texas Smokehouse Creek fire in 2024. But the players did not purchase Current Crisis at a run-of-the-mill gaming store. They might have played it at Georgia Tech’s Dataseum, which featured the game in a recent exhibition. Or they might have helped develop it in weekly meetings with Daniel Molzahn, associate professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering and EPIcenter initiative lead. 

“Current Crisis started as a computer simulation I programmed in Summer 2020 for a senior-level course I taught that fall,” says Molzahn. “My students had to dispatch crews to maintain or repair a simplified model of the Georgia power grid. In the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic, each dispatch had a risk of infection and quarantine, which meant losing the crew for the rest of that round. The students had a fixed budget to balance two competing goals: operating a power system with minimal outages and keeping the repair crews healthy.” 

The class project was popular, and its scope began to grow. Molzahn proposed turning his simulation into a video game in a July 2021 grant application to the National Science Foundation. He received the five-year award that fall and launched his “Vertically Integrated Project” on power grid gaming the following spring. It soon attracted about 35 students per semester, from sophomores to those pursuing graduate degrees in various disciplines. Most students stay for three to four semesters.

Tristan Ziegler joined the VIP as a computational media sophomore in Spring 2022 — and still works on it three years later as a professional programmer. “I found the project by searching for ‘game’ on the VIP website,” says Ziegler, who graduated in 2024. “It offered much more freedom than traditional classes but still allowed me to earn credits and grades, unlike a student organization where you volunteer your time.”

The students quickly discovered the benefits of working toward a shared goal in smaller groups, focused on coding, grid modeling, graphic design, or artistic creativity. Some volunteered to lead initiatives, such as organizing the Dataseum exhibition or the 2025 Seth Bonder summer camps, where they will teach high schoolers the basics of game programming. 

Another long-term member of the VIP team is Ryan Piansky, a doctoral student, who studies the resilience of power grids to wildfires. He combines well-known engineering tools — algorithms for finding a mathematically optimal problem solution — with historical wildfire data to evaluate grid management decisions.

“I have examined if policies based on established engineering principles help the people who need the most help, reduce the risk of outages broadly across the whole grid, and optimally allocate limited resources,” explains Piansky, who works in Molzahn's research lab. “To do that, I combine power grid models with realistic wildfire simulations to assess if those policies would likely generate desirable outcomes in a range of plausible scenarios.”

The VIP work on grid modeling has informed Piansky’s research, but the climate models he uses to mimic the spread of wildfires are too complex for a fast-moving video game. That’s why he has helped the students develop simplified versions of these models. Humidity and vegetation, for example, influence both real fires and those popping up in Current Crisis. 

Piansky’s research is part of Molzahn’s long-term goal: developing computer tools that help professional grid managers improve the grid’s resilience to natural disasters — from pandemics and wildfires to hurricanes, heat waves and floods. 

“We plan to record the choices made by Current Crisis players in crowdsourced datasets that will support our research,” says Molzahn. “By using these datasets to train machine-learning algorithms, we can harness the power of AI to develop better disaster response policies.” (The European Space Agency uses a similar gamification strategy to map moon craters.) 

The project’s benefits go well beyond these research contributions. Its educational value includes experience working in multidisciplinary teams of students at different levels and leadership development. Molzahn also hopes the game will help build public acceptance of disruptive actions during real disasters. 

“Recognizing the tradeoffs inherent in grid management is important, whether it’s understanding why power shutoffs reduce fire risks or why service restorations are time-consuming,” says Molzahn. “This may also generate broader public support for electricity rate increases and tax allocations to pay for infrastructure hardening.”

Written by: Silke Schmidt