If you know what diatoms are, it’s probably for their beauty. These single-celled algae found on the ocean floor have ornate glassy shells that shine like jewels under the microscope.

Their pristine geometry has inspired art, but diatoms also play a key role in ocean chemistry and ecology. While they are alive, these algae contribute to the climate by drawing down carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and releasing oxygen through photosynthesis, while fueling marine food webs.

Now, a team led by Georgia Tech scientists has revealed that diatoms leave a chemical fingerprint long after they die, playing an even more dynamic role in regulating Earth’s climate than once thought. 

In a study published in Science Advances, the researchers found that diatoms’ intricate, silica-based skeletons transform into clay minerals in as little as 40 days. Until the 1990s, scientists believed that this enigmatic process took hundreds to thousands of years. Recent studies whittled it down to single-digit years.

“We’ve known that reverse weathering shapes ocean chemistry, but no one expected that it happens this fast,” said Yuanzhi Tang, professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences and senior author of the study. “This shows that the molecular-scale reactions can reverberate all the way up to influence ocean carbon cycling and, ultimately, climate.” 

From Glass to Clay

When a diatom dies, most of its silica skeleton dissolves on the seafloor, returning silica to the seawater. The rest can undergo reverse weathering — a process that transforms the silica into new clay minerals containing trace metals, while turning naturally sequestered carbon back to the atmosphere as sediments react with seawater. This recycling links silicon, carbon, and trace-metal cycles, influencing ocean chemistry and stabilizing the planet’s climate over time. 

Tang and her team set out to uncover how, and how quickly, reverse weathering happens. Using a custom-built, two-chamber reactor, they recreated seafloor conditions in the lab. One chamber held diatom silica, while the other contained iron and aluminum minerals. A thin membrane allowed dissolved elements to mix while keeping the solids separate.

Using advanced microscopy, spectroscopy, and chemical analyses, the researchers tracked the full transformation from the dissolution of diatom shells to the formation of new clays. 

The results were striking. Within just 40 days, the diatom silica became iron-rich clay minerals — the same minerals naturally found in marine sediments. 

Tang noted that this rapid transformation means that reverse weathering isn’t a slow background process, but rather an active part of the modern ocean’s chemistry. It can control how much silica stays available for diatoms to grow, how much carbon dioxide is released or stored, and how trace metals and nutrients are recycled in marine ecosystems.

“It was remarkable to see how quickly diatom skeletons could turn into completely new minerals and to decipher the mechanisms behind this process,” said Simin Zhao, the paper’s first author and a former Ph.D. student in Tang’s lab. 

 “These transformations are small in size but are enormous in their implications for global elemental cycles and climate,” she added. 

The results suggest that the influence of reverse weathering on the coupled silicon-carbon cycles may also respond on far shorter timescales, making the ocean’s chemistry more dynamic — and potentially more sensitive to modern environmental changes.

“Diatoms are central to marine ecosystems and the global carbon pump,” said Jeffrey Krause, co-author and oceanographer at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab and the University of South Alabama. “We already knew their importance to ocean processes while living.  Now we know that even after they die, diatoms’ remains continue to shape ocean chemistry in ways that affect carbon and nutrient cycling. That’s a game-changer for how we think about these processes.” 

The discovery also helps solve a long-standing mystery about what happens to silica in the ocean, Tang says. 

Scientists have long known that more silica enters the ocean than gets buried on the seafloor. The findings suggest that rapid reverse weathering transforms much of it into new minerals instead, keeping ocean chemistry in balance.

From Atoms to Earth Systems and Beyond

The findings offer new data for climate modelers studying how the ocean regulates atmospheric carbon. The research also lays the groundwork for improving models of ocean alkalinity and coastal acidification — key tools for predicting how the planet will respond to climate change. “This study changes how scientists think about the seafloor, not as a passive burial ground, but as a dynamic chemical engine,” Tang said. 

Tang sees the study as a powerful reminder of why basic research matters. “This is where chemistry meets Earth systems,” she said. “By understanding how minerals form and exchange elements at the atomic level, we can see how the ocean shapes global cycles of carbon, silicon, and metals. Even molecular-scale reactions within hair-sized organisms can ripple outward to shape planet-level dynamics.” 

The team’s next steps are to explore how environmental factors such as water chemistry influence these transformations. They also plan to use samples from coastal and deep-sea sites to see how these lab discoveries translate to natural environments.

“It’s easy to overlook what’s happening quietly in marine sediments,” Tang said. “But these subtle mineral reactions are part of the machinery that regulates Earth’s climate, and they’re faster and more beautiful than we ever imagined.”

 

Citation: Simin Zhao et al., Rapid transformation of biogenic silica to authigenic clay: Mechanisms and geochemical constraints. Sci. Adv. 11, eadt3374 (2025).

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adt3374

Funding: National Science Foundation (OCE-1559087; OCE-1558957)

In the startup world, existing research often helps uncover a problem that needs a solution. For two Georgia Tech graduates, studying metabolomics, the exploration of the body’s chemical processes, and an existing NASA chemical analysis technology inspired a company that hopes to change the face of preventative healthcare. 

Tech College of Engineering alumni Chad Pozarycki, Ph.D., CHBE, 2022, and José Andrade, AE, 2025, are on a mission to make biochemical monitoring more accessible — with a focus on preventing disease. Today, their startup Deleon, using NASA’s technology (originally designed to search for life on Mars) and metabolomics, provides a system that uses daily urine sampling to track metabolites related to overtraining, stress, and recovery. Future applications will be aimed at early disease detection.

“Something that frustrated me about metabolomics was its lack of focus on preventive care,” said Andrade. “We created Deleon by combining these ideas and tracking the human metabolome to optimize for healthy lifestyles.”

The Deleon founders began the company shortly after Pozarycki completed his graduate studies at Georgia Tech, with Andrade moonlighting and Pozarycki working a part-time job at Georgia Tech’s bike shop to keep the project afloat. In the beginning, funding was a major challenge. 

“I finished my Ph.D., was working on Deleon, and didn’t have any income. CREATE-X gave us $5,000 in funding, which motivated us to keep going on this project,” said Pozarycki.

CREATE-X, Georgia Tech’s campus-wide initiative to instill entrepreneurial confidence and help students launch startups, provided more than funding. Through the program, Deleon received guidance on finding potential customers. 

“The one-on-one advice from expert CREATE-X entrepreneurs and organizers like Rahul [CREATE-X director] and Margaret [LAUNCH associate director] was super valuable and helped us focus on launching our minimum viable product and getting our first customers,” said Andrade.

The program’s culminating event, Demo Day, gave Deleon a platform to present to investors and the public. Among dozens of student-led startups, Deleon’s data-driven approach attracted strong interest. The exposure led to an eventual $850,000 investment, partially funded by Georgia Tech's early-stage fund, GTF Ventures. This investment allowed the founders to work full-time on the company, hire a team, and build a lab space.

“I would recommend the CREATE-X program to anyone,” Pozarycki said. “Even if you don’t think you want to start a company, there’s a lot you can learn about commercialization in this program that may change your mind and give you more control over your own fate.”

Deleon’s path from concept to launch highlights the growing role of Georgia Tech’s entrepreneurial ecosystem in supporting student innovation. Programs like CREATE-X not only help students build companies but also contribute to regional economic growth by keeping talent and investment in the Southeast.

“CREATE-X is the best environment on campus to learn by doing,” Pozarycki said. “You are encouraged to build something real, not just talk about it. You’ll leave knowing how to talk to customers, how to pitch, and how to think like a founder.”

Opportunities for Entrepreneurs

Students, faculty, researchers, and alumni interested in developing their own startups are encouraged to apply to CREATE-X’s Startup Launch. The early admission deadline to apply for Startup Launch is Nov. 17. Spots are limited. Apply now for a higher chance of acceptance and early feedback.

Cricket powder-based protein brownies. A visualization system for fencing blades. A personalized AI application for analyzing blood work. All I2P Showcase prototypes. See what Georgia Tech students have been developing this semester at the Fall 2025 Idea to Prototype (I2P) Showcase on Tuesday, Dec. 2, at 5 p.m. in the Marcus Nanotechnology Building. This year, attendees will have even more original inventions to view, with over 60 teams displaying prototypes. 

The event marks the culmination of the semester-long I2P course, where undergraduate students develop functional prototypes aimed at solving real-world problems. Prototypes this semester include a smart military drone, a gentler device for cervical cancer screening, a rotating espresso station, tools to keep AI safe, compact data centers, systems that simulate cyberattacks to help companies strengthen their defenses, and many more. 

The showcase is free and open to students, faculty, staff, and members of the local community. 

Winning teams will receive prizes and a “golden ticket” into CREATE-X’s Startup Launch, a summer accelerator that provides optional seed funding, accounting and legal service credits, mentorship, and more to help students turn their prototypes into viable startups.

This is a free event, and refreshments will be provided. Register for the Fall 2025 I2P Showcase today!

Plastic packaging is ubiquitous in our world, with its waste winding up in landfills and polluting oceans, where it can take centuries to degrade.

To ease this environmental burden, industry has worked to adopt renewable biopolymers in place of traditional plastics. However, developers of sustainable packaging have faced hurdles in blocking out moisture and oxygen, a barrier critical for protecting food, pharmaceuticals, and sensitive electronics.

Now, researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a biologically based film made from natural ingredients found in plants, mushrooms, and food waste that can block moisture and oxygen as effectively as conventional plastics. Their findings were recently published in ACS Applied Polymer Materials.

“We’re using materials that are already abundant in and degrade in nature to produce packaging that won’t pollute the environment for hundreds or even thousands of years,” said Carson Meredith, a professor in Georgia Tech’s School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (ChBE@GT) and executive director of the Renewable Bioproducts Institute. “Our films, composed of biodegradable components, rival or exceed the performance of conventional plastics in keeping food fresh and safe.”

Meredith’s research team has worked for more than a decade to develop environmentally friendly oxygen and water barriers for packaging. While earlier research using biopolymers showed promise, high humidity continued to weaken the barrier properties.

However, Meredith and his collaborators found a fix using a blend of these natural ingredients: cellulose (which gives plants their structure), chitosan (derived from crustacean-based food waste or mushrooms), and citric acid (from citrus fruits).

“By crosslinking these materials and adding a heat treatment, we created a thin film that reduced both moisture and oxygen transmission, even in hot, humid conditions simulating the tropics,” said lead author Yang Lu, a former postdoctoral researcher in ChBE@GT.

The barrier technology developed by the researchers consists of three primary components: a carbohydrate polymer for structure, a plasticizer to maintain flexibility, and a water-repelling additive to resist moisture. When cast into thin films, these ingredients self-organize at the molecular level to form a dense, ordered structure that resists swelling or softening under high humidity.

Even at 80 percent relative humidity, the films showed extremely low oxygen permeability and water vapor transmission, matching or outperforming common plastics such as poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) and poly(ethylene vinyl alcohol) (EVOH).

“Our approach creates barriers that are not only renewable, but also mechanically robust, offering a promising alternative to conventional plastics in packaging applications,” said Natalie Stingelin, professor and chair of Georgia Tech’s School of Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) and a professor in ChBE@GT.

The research team has filed for patent protection for the technology (patent pending). The research was supported by Mars Inc., Georgia Tech’s Renewable Bioproducts Institute, and the U.S. Department of Defense through the National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship Program. Eric Klingenberg, a co-author of the study, is an employee of Mars, a manufacturer of packaged foods.

Citation: Yang Lu, Javaz T. Rolle, Tanner Hickman, Yue Ji, Eric Klingenberg, Natalie Stingelin, and Carson Meredith, “Transforming renewable carbohydrate-based polymers into oxygen and moisture-barriers at elevated humidity,” ACS Applied Polymer Materials, 2025.

 

Members of the Georgia Tech community gathered in the Marcus Nanotechnology Building on Oct. 23 for the third annual Oliver Brand Memorial Lectureship on Electronics and Nanotechnology. This year’s lecture was delivered by Vijay Narayanan, fellow at the IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, who spoke on designing and building the future of artificial intelligence (AI) with next-generation silicon technologies.

“Oliver’s past exemplified interdisciplinary discovery, from early work in physics and MEMS to leadership in micro/nano systems — linking institutions and domains,” said Michael Filler, deputy director of the Institute for Matter and Systems (IMS). “He helped shape large-scale research infrastructures, integrated faculty from across engineering and science, and forged connections between academia, government, and industry.

The Brand Lecture invites speakers whose work and innovations reflect the spirit of Oliver Brand’s legacy of research that bridges fields and transcends traditional boundaries.

“I’d like to thank [IMS] for inviting me to this podium to talk a little bit about how I see materials really driving many of the semiconductor innovations that are key for AI design as we see it today,” said Narayanan.

“Driven by AI, there’s a growth in semiconductors in many topical areas,” he said. “There’s significant growth, and it’s not just apps. It’s hardware, technologies, things that will actually grow the ecosystem. And there’s some challenges, very big challenges.”

One of those challenges is the energy consumption associated with large language models. 

“One case of training for GPT-4 is equivalent to 25 jetliner round trips from New York to Tokyo,” said Narayanan. “That’s a lot of energy.” 

He emphasized the critical role of scientists in addressing the rapid growth in AI-driven compute demands and the urgent need for sustainable, scalable technologies. His talk explored cutting-edge developments in materials science, including nanosheet transistors, advanced lithography, and novel materials like rhodium and topological semimetals. Narayanan underscored the importance of interdisciplinary approaches to overcome energy and performance challenges in next-generation silicon technologies.

“Let us carry forward Oliver’s legacy of curiosity, collaboration, and compassion, and let us embrace the challenge of innovation,” Filler said in closing remarks.

Brand, who died in 2023, left a legacy that lives on through interdisciplinary research at Georgia Tech. He spent more than 20 years as a member of the Institute’s faculty. In addition to leading the Institute for Electronics and Nanotechnology (IEN), he was a professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, director of the Coordinating Office for the National Science Foundation-funded National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure (NNCI), and director of the Southeastern Nanotechnology Infrastructure Corridor, one of the 16 NNCI sites.

Brand united researchers in the fields of electronics and nanotechnology, fostering collaboration and expanding IEN to include more than 200 faculty members. In addition to his respected work in microelectromechanical systems, he is remembered for his kindness, dedication, and unwavering support for all who knew him.

Previous Lectures:

• Andreas Heirlemann Gives Inaugural Oliver Brand Memorial Lecture on Electronics and Nanotechnology
• Michael Strano Presents the Second Annual Oliver Brand Memorial Lectureship on Electronics and Nanotechnology

Pop culture has often depicted robots as cold, metallic, and menacing, built for domination, not compassion. But at Georgia Tech, the future of robotics is softer, smarter, and designed to help.

“When people think of robots, they usually imagine something like The Terminator or RoboCop: big, rigid, and made of metal,” said Hong Yeo, the G.P. “Bud” Peterson and Valerie H. Peterson Professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering. “But what we’re developing is the opposite. These artificial muscles are soft, flexible, and responsive — more like human tissue than machine.”

Yeo’s latest study, published in Materials Horizons, explores AI-powered muscles made from lifelike materials paired with intelligent control systems. The technology learns from the body and adapts in real time, creating motion that feels natural, responsive, and safe enough to support recovery.
 

Muscles That Think, Materials That Feel

Traditional robotics relies on steel, wires, and motors, but rarely captures the nuances of human motion. Yeo’s research takes a different approach. He uses hierarchically structured fibers, which are flexible materials built in layers, much like muscle and tendon. They can sense, adapt, and even “remember” how they’ve moved before.

Yeo trains machine learning algorithms to adjust those pliable materials in real time with the right amount of force or flexibility for each task.

“These muscles don’t only respond to commands,” Yeo said. “They learn from experience. They can adapt and self-correct, which makes motion smoother and more natural.”

The result of that research is deeply human. For someone recovering from a stroke or limb loss, each deliberate movement rebuilds not just strength — it rebuilds confidence, independence, and a sense of self.

 

A Glove That Gives Freedom Back

One of the first real-world applications is a prosthetic glove powered by artificial muscles (published in ACS Nano, 2025), a device that behaves more like a helping hand than a mechanical tool. Traditional prosthetics rely on rigid motors and preset motions, but Yeo’s design mirrors the natural give-and-take of real muscle.

Inside the glove, thin layers of stretchable fibers and sensors contract, twist, and flex in sync with the wearer’s intent. The glove can fine-tune grip strength, reduce tremors, and respond instantly to the user’s movements, bringing dexterity back to everyday life.

That kind of precision matters most in the smallest tasks: fastening a button, lifting a glass, holding a child’s hand.

“These aren’t just movements,” Yeo said. “They’re freedoms.”

For Yeo, the idea of restoring freedom through movement has driven his research from the very beginning.
 

A Mission Rooted in Loss

Yeo's work is deeply personal. His path to biomedical engineering began with loss — the sudden death of his father while Yeo was still in college. That moment reshaped his sense of purpose, redirecting his focus from machines that move to technologies that heal.

“Initially, I was thinking about designing cars,” he said. “But after my father’s death, I kind of woke up. Maybe I could do something that helps save someone’s life.”

That purpose continues to guide his lab’s work today, building technologies that help people recover what they’ve lost.

Achieving that vision, however, means tackling some of engineering’s toughest challenges.
 

Soft Machines, Hard Problems

Creating lifelike muscles isn’t easy. They need to be soft but strong, responsive but safe. And they must avoid triggering the body’s immune system. That means building materials that can survive inside the body — and learn to belong there.

“We always think about not only function, but adaptability,” Yeo said. “If it’s going to be part of someone’s body, it has to work with them, not against them.”

His team calibrates these synthetic fibers like precision instruments — tested, adjusted, and re-tuned until they operate in sync with the body’s natural movements. Over time, they develop a kind of “muscle memory,” adapting fluidly to changing conditions. That dynamic adaptability, Yeo explained, is what separates a machine from a prosthetic that truly feels alive.
 

From Collaboration to Innovation

Solving problems this complex requires more than one discipline. It takes an entire ecosystem of collaboration. Yeo’s lab brings together experts in mechanical engineering, materials science, medicine, and computer science to design smarter, safer devices.

“You can’t solve this kind of problem in isolation,” he said. “We need all of it — polymers, artificial intelligence, biomechanics — working together.”

That collaborative model is supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institutes of Health, and Georgia Tech’s Institute for Matter and Systems. In 2023, Yeo received a $3 million NSF grant to train the next generation of engineers building smart medical technology.

His team now works closely with healthcare providers and industry partners to bring these devices out of the lab and into patients’ lives.


The Future You Can Feel

The future of robotics, according to Yeo, won’t be defined by power or complexity but by feel.

“If it feels foreign, people won’t use it,” he said. “But if it feels like part of you, that’s when it can truly change lives.”

It’s the opposite of The Terminator, where machines replace us. Yeo is designing these machines to help us reclaim ourselves.

 

Asif Khan and Akanksha Menon have been selected to participate in the 2025 EU-US Frontiers of Engineering (FOE) Symposium, taking place October 20-23 in Bordeaux, France.

Hosted by the National Academy of Engineering in partnership with the European Council of Academies of Applied Sciences, Technologies and Engineering (Euro-CASE), and supported by The Grainger Foundation, the symposium is an invitation-only gathering of approximately 60 early- to mid-career engineers from the United States and Europe. The program is designed to foster interdisciplinary collaboration and explore emerging engineering challenges.

Participation in the EU-U.S. FOE Symposium is considered one of the most prestigious honors for mid-career engineers and is often regarded as a catalyst for future leadership roles in the field, with many past participants going on to achieve high professional distinction.

Read the full story by the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering

This story by Caitlin Hayes is shared jointly with the Cornell Chronicle newsroom.

Study co-author Joel E. Kostka is the Tom and Marie Patton Distinguished Professor and associate chair for Research in the School of Biological Sciences with a joint appointment in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. He also serves as faculty director of Georgia Tech for Georgia's Tomorrow. 

The Kostka Lab works in peatland ecosystems to quantify changes in microbial communities brought on by climate change drivers. In particular, next generation gene sequencing and omics approaches are employed to investigate the microbial groups that mediate organic matter degradation and the release of greenhouse gases.

Peatlands make up just 3% of the earth’s land surface but store more than 30% of the world’s soil carbon, preserving organic matter and sequestering its carbon for tens of thousands of years. A new study sounds the alarm that an extreme drought event could quadruple peatland carbon loss in a warming climate. 

In the study, published October 23 in Science, researchers find that, under conditions that mimic a future climate (with warmer temperatures and elevated carbon dioxide), extreme drought dramatically increases the release of carbon in peatlands by nearly three times. This means that droughts in future climate conditions could turn a valuable carbon sink into a carbon source, erasing between 90 and 250 years of carbon stores in a matter of months.

“As temperatures increase, drought events become more frequent and severe,  making peatlands more vulnerable than before,” said Yiqi Luo, senior author and the Liberty Hyde Bailey Professor in the School of Integrative Plant Science’s Soil and Crop Sciences Section, in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) at Cornell University. “We add new evidence to show that with peatlands, the stakes are high. We observed that these extreme drought events can wipe out hundreds of years of accumulated carbon, so this has a huge implication.”

“To me, this study is striking in that it shows that around 10 to 100 years of carbon uptake by one of the most important global soil carbon stores can be erased by just two months of extreme drought,” adds Joel Kostka, Tom and Marie Patton Distinguished Professor in Biological Sciences at Georgia Tech.

It was already well-established that drought reduces ecosystem productivity and increases carbon release in peatlands, but this study is the first to examine how that carbon loss is exacerbated as the planet warms and more carbon dioxide enters the atmosphere. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates extreme drought will become 1.7 to 7.2 times more likely in the near future. 

Read the full story in the Cornell newsroom. 

###

Other co-authors include Cornell postdoctoral researchers Jian Zhou and Ning Wei; senior research associate Lifen Jiang; and researchers from Georgia Institute of Technology, Florida State University, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), ETH Zurich, Northern Arizona University, the Australian National University, the University of Western Ontario and Duke University.

Funding for the study came in part from the National Science Foundation, USDA, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets.

Building on more than a year of successful collaboration, Dolby Labs has extended its investment in Georgia Tech’s College of Computing for a second year, donating $600,000 to support cutting-edge research.

Dolby and the College each have laboratories in the Coda building, which promotes collaboration at various levels. The audiovisual technology company supported seven research projects last year, spanning computing systems and AI modeling. The partnership also includes events such as this month’s co-hosted student seminar.

“This partnership has reinforced the importance of taking an interdisciplinary approach to our research,” said Vivek Sarkar, Dean of Computing, who worked in industry for two decades before returning to academia.

“I’d like to see us go even deeper in finding ways to combine faculty from different schools and different research areas to work with one partner.”

[VIDEO: GT Computing Dean Discusses Dolby Deal Details with Senior VP]

Yalong Yang, an assistant professor at Georgia Tech’s School of Interactive Computing, is one of the researchers who received Dolby support last year. He and his lab have been working on creating interactive, immersive versions of stories from the New York Times. 

“We’re particularly interested in the engagement side,” Yang said. “That’s what Dolby’s business is about.” Yang and his collaborators have been showing the immersive stories to test subjects while collecting data on heart rate and eye movement.

These collaborations have resulted in several published papers. The code developed is released as open source, enabling anyone to use it. Meanwhile, Dolby scientists can tailor the code for their own needs. 

“We deliberately look for ambitious, farther-looking projects," said Shriram Revankar, senior vice president of Dolby’s Advanced Technology Group.

[RELATED: Dean's Session Spotlights Industry Role in Preparing Students for Workforce Success]

"These are the risks that academia can take and do well in, because they have constant access to new students and other faculty."

At its core, the partnership is about developing relationships among faculty, students, and Dolby, according to Humphrey Shi.

"The students get experience in solving real-world problems for an international corporation, and Dolby’s researchers expand their knowledge through connecting with Tech faculty," said Shi, an associate professor in interactive computing whose research has also been supported by Dolby.

Raheem Beyah has been selected as Georgia Tech's next provost and executive vice president for Academic Affairs, beginning Nov. 1. 

Beyah has served as the dean of the College of Engineering and Southern Company Chair at Georgia Tech since 2021. Under his leadership, the College has strengthened its national and global reputation for innovation, research excellence, and student success, earning top-10 national rankings across every engineering discipline. 

Known for his mentorship and collaborative leadership, Beyah will assume the role of the Institute's chief academic officer — leading and supporting all academic and related units, including the Colleges, the Library, and professional education. He will also oversee academic and budgetary policy and priorities for the Institute.

"Raheem Beyah's commitment to students, faculty, and staff has always been at the heart of his leadership," said Georgia Tech President Ángel Cabrera. "He understands firsthand what they experience — their challenges, aspirations, and the drive that defines a Georgia Tech education. That perspective will make him an outstanding provost and a tremendous partner in advancing Georgia Tech's mission." 

An Atlanta native who earned his master's and Ph.D. in electrical and computer engineering from Georgia Tech after completing a bachelor's degree at North Carolina A&T State University, Beyah is recognized as a leading expert in network security and privacy.

"What excites me most about Georgia Tech is how we bring different disciplines together to solve real problems," he said. "Innovation happens when engineers work alongside artists, humanists, and social scientists, connecting technology with purpose and people. As provost, I'm eager to continue building those bridges and supporting the incredible creativity that defines this community."

In 2024, Beyah was named a fellow by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). It is the highest echelon of membership in IEEE, the world's largest technical professional organization dedicated to "advancing technology for the benefit of humanity." He is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Society for Engineering Education, a lifetime member of the National Society of Black Engineers, and an Association for Computing Machinery distinguished scientist.

Before joining the faculty at Georgia Tech, where he has served in various leadership roles, Beyah was a faculty member in the Department of Computer Science at Georgia State University, a research faculty member with the Georgia Tech Communications Systems Center, and a consultant in Andersen Consulting's (now Accenture) Network Solutions Group.