A new algorithm tested on NASA’s Perseverance Rover on Mars may lead to better forecasting of hurricanes, wildfires, and other extreme weather events that impact millions globally.

Georgia Tech Ph.D. student Austin P. Wright is first author of a paper that introduces Nested Fusion. The new algorithm improves scientists’ ability to search for past signs of life on the Martian surface. 

In addition to supporting NASA’s Mars 2020 mission, scientists from other fields working with large, overlapping datasets can use Nested Fusion’s methods toward their studies.

Wright presented Nested Fusion at the 2024 International Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining (KDD 2024) where it was a runner-up for the best paper award. KDD is widely considered the world's most prestigious conference for knowledge discovery and data mining research.

“Nested Fusion is really useful for researchers in many different domains, not just NASA scientists,” said Wright. “The method visualizes complex datasets that can be difficult to get an overall view of during the initial exploratory stages of analysis.”

Nested Fusion combines datasets with different resolutions to produce a single, high-resolution visual distribution. Using this method, NASA scientists can more easily analyze multiple datasets from various sources at the same time. This can lead to faster studies of Mars’ surface composition to find clues of previous life.

The algorithm demonstrates how data science impacts traditional scientific fields like chemistry, biology, and geology.

Even further, Wright is developing Nested Fusion applications to model shifting climate patterns, plant and animal life, and other concepts in the earth sciences. The same method can combine overlapping datasets from satellite imagery, biomarkers, and climate data.

“Users have extended Nested Fusion and similar algorithms toward earth science contexts, which we have received very positive feedback,” said Wright, who studies machine learning (ML) at Georgia Tech.

“Cross-correlational analysis takes a long time to do and is not done in the initial stages of research when patterns appear and form new hypotheses. Nested Fusion enables people to discover these patterns much earlier.”

Wright is the data science and ML lead for PIXLISE, the software that NASA JPL scientists use to study data from the Mars Perseverance Rover.

Perseverance uses its Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry (PIXL) to collect data on mineral composition of Mars’ surface. PIXL’s two main tools that accomplish this are its X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) Spectrometer and Multi-Context Camera (MCC).

When PIXL scans a target area, it creates two co-aligned datasets from the components. XRF collects a sample's fine-scale elemental composition. MCC produces images of a sample to gather visual and physical details like size and shape. 

A single XRF spectrum corresponds to approximately 100 MCC imaging pixels for every scan point. Each tool’s unique resolution makes mapping between overlapping data layers challenging. However, Wright and his collaborators designed Nested Fusion to overcome this hurdle.

In addition to progressing data science, Nested Fusion improves NASA scientists' workflow. Using the method, a single scientist can form an initial estimate of a sample’s mineral composition in a matter of hours. Before Nested Fusion, the same task required days of collaboration between teams of experts on each different instrument.

“I think one of the biggest lessons I have taken from this work is that it is valuable to always ground my ML and data science problems in actual, concrete use cases of our collaborators,” Wright said. 

“I learn from collaborators what parts of data analysis are important to them and the challenges they face. By understanding these issues, we can discover new ways of formalizing and framing problems in data science.”

Wright presented Nested Fusion at KDD 2024, held Aug. 25-29 in Barcelona, Spain. KDD is an official special interest group of the Association for Computing Machinery. The conference is one of the world’s leading forums for knowledge discovery and data mining research.

Nested Fusion won runner-up for the best paper in the applied data science track, which comprised of over 150 papers. Hundreds of other papers were presented at the conference’s research track, workshops, and tutorials. 

Wright’s mentors, Scott Davidoff and Polo Chau, co-authored the Nested Fusion paper. Davidoff is a principal research scientist at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Chau is a professor at the Georgia Tech School of Computational Science and Engineering (CSE).

“I was extremely happy that this work was recognized with the best paper runner-up award,” Wright said. “This kind of applied work can sometimes be hard to find the right academic home, so finding communities that appreciate this work is very encouraging.”

News Contact

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded $7.5 million to Ankur Singh, Carl Ring Family Professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering (ME) and professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME) at Georgia Tech and Emory, for his pioneering research in creating functional models of the human immune system in the lab.

The funding, sourced from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, supports two projects aimed at developing human immune organoids, which are sophisticated models engineered to replicate and study the natural human immune responses. The research could revolutionize vaccine development and immune system research, particularly for aging populations.

"Little advancement has been made in this area due to the complex nature of the immune system and the challenges of making a functional human immune tissue outside the body,” said Singh, who is also director of the Center for Immunoengineering at Georgia Tech. “I am grateful to the NIH for supporting our work, which will enable us to develop an advanced technology that can help solve the problems of emerging infections and enhance our timely response to them.”

Building Next-Generation Human Immune Organoids

The goal of Singh’s first project is to replicate the complex environment of germinal centers (GCs) — the sites within lymph nodes where B cells are trained to produce the antibodies crucial for fighting infections. While animal models and current engineered systems have offered insights, they fall short in recreating the intricate processes that occur in human GCs, which limits their utility in vaccine development and understanding immune responses.

Singh’s method involves using a hydrated polymer-based gel material to create a structure that mimics the environment of lymphoid tissue in the body. By adding human immune cells (like B cells, T cells, and support cells) into this gel, the project tries to recreate how B cells mature into specialized immune cells that are important for a strong and lasting immune response. This advancement will allow scientists to grow and study these cells in the lab and use them for better vaccine testing, therapeutic development including cell-based therapies, and to deepen our understanding of the immune system.

The second project addresses a pressing issue in public health: the decline in immune function with age. As people age, their ability to mount effective immune responses against new infections diminishes, leading to higher mortality rates from diseases such as influenza and Covid-19. However, the underlying mechanisms — whether due to defects in aged B cells, impaired T cells, or changes in the lymphoid tissue environment — remain poorly understood.

Singh’s research proposes the development of an “aged B cell follicle” organoid, a novel platform that replicates the lymphoid microenvironment of older individuals. This system will allow researchers to dissect the factors driving age-related declines in immune function, offering a new tool for studying how aged B cells respond to antigens and identifying molecular targets to rejuvenate immune responses.

A Pioneering Step Forward in Immunology Research

The broader impact of Singh’s organoid research is wide-ranging. By enabling the study of human immune responses in a controlled, reproducible environment, the organoids could dramatically accelerate the development of vaccines and immunotherapies. The models could also provide new insights into whether a particular vaccine will be effective for a given individual, potentially reducing the time and cost of clinical trials.

Singh’s aged immune organoid platform could serve as a rapid screening tool for identifying older individuals who are likely to respond poorly to vaccines, enabling more personalized and effective vaccination strategies for that population. The models could be particularly useful in the context of pandemics or seasonal flu outbreaks, where timely and effective immunization is critical.

“By securing this substantial NIH funding, Singh’s work is poised to make a significant impact on both the scientific community and public health,” said Andrés García, executive director of the Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience, Regents' Professor in ME, the Petit Director's Chair in Bioengineering and Bioscience, and a collaborator on Singh’s first project. “This innovative immunoengineering research not only promises to advance our understanding of immune system function and aging, but also holds the potential to transform vaccine development, offering new hope for more effective disease prevention strategies across the lifespan.”

The NIH’s investment in Singh’s research underscores a growing recognition of the need for innovative approaches to studying human immunity. The Food and Drug Administration Modernization Act 2.0, for example, promotes the use of organs-on-chip technologies in the service of drug development. As organoid technologies continue to evolve, they could come to represent the future of immunological research, providing powerful new tools to combat infectious diseases and improve health outcomes globally.

Key collaborators on the first project include Andrés García; Ahmet Coskun, the Bernie-Marcus Early-Career Professor in BME; and Dr. Ignacio Sanz, Mason I. Lowance Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics and chief of the chief of the Division of Rheumatology at Emory School of Medicine. 

Key collaborators on the second project include Coskun; Jeremy Boss, professor and chair of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Emory School of Medicine; and Ranjan Sen, senior investigator in the Laboratory of Molecular Biology and Immunology at NIH’s National Institute on Aging. 

News Contact

Kicking off a new decade of startup production at Georgia Tech, CREATE-X hosted its 11th Demo Day, showcasing 100 startups created by Georgia Tech students, faculty, researchers, and alumni over 12 weeks this summer. More than 1,500 attendees, including Georgia government and business leaders, viewed new solutions ranging from fashion to healthcare in a bustling Exhibition Hall on Aug. 29.

The event traditionally begins shortly after the semester starts, giving the entrepreneurially curious a preview of what’s to come if they join the program’s accelerator during the next application cycle.

Demo Day is the culmination of the 12-week summer accelerator, Startup Launch, where founders receive mentorship, $5,000 in optional funding, and $150,000 in services to help build their businesses. Teams can be interdisciplinary, made up of co-founders even outside of Georgia Tech, and solopreneurs, ready to solve real-world problems.

Each year, Startup Launch has grown, from an initial cohort of eight startups to over 100 this year. The Office of Commercialization, the home of CREATE-X, plans to keep expanding opportunities for the Georgia Tech community to grow their entrepreneurial skills.

Counting courses, events, programming, and partnerships, CREATE-X has had more than 32,000 participants. The ultimate goal and mission of the program is to instill entrepreneurial confidence in all Tech students. Rahul Saxena, director of the program, spoke about how far the Institute has come in the last decade. 

“I’ve been plugged into Georgia Tech for over 10 years. In the past, when you said Georgia Tech and entrepreneurship in the same sentence, they’d laugh, believe it or not,” he said. “Fast-forward, we’re one of the top entrepreneurial schools in the country. Our first four cohorts value over $100 million, with one of them being a unicorn, and our last four cohorts are well on their way. We want our students to have as many shots at gold as possible before they graduate. And even if they decide on a traditional career pathway, we believe they’ll be ahead with this entrepreneurial mindset, which is something lacking in corporate.”

This year, CREATE-X reached over 560 startup teams launched. Founders represented 38 academic majors, and their total startup portfolio valuation exceeds $2 billion. 

CREATE-X opened its Startup Launch application for its next cohort on Aug. 30. For those interested, the priority deadline is Nov. 17. Early applicants have a higher chance at acceptance and the opportunity for more feedback. So, send in your applications to Startup Launch and become the next founder at Georgia Tech.

Missed out on Demo Day? Check out the CREATE-X Flickr page to see photos from the event and the Demo Day page to see other teams. For more opportunities to engage, visit the CREATE-X Engage page for upcoming events. 

Spotlight on Startups

Some of the standout startups from this year’s Demo Day include:

News Contact

In his 25-plus years at Georgia Tech, Regents' Professor Tim Liuewen earned his master's and Ph.D. degrees in mechanical engineering (1996 and 1999, respectively) and has held multiple leadership positions. On September 10, 2024, Lieuwen stepped into his latest role as interim executive vice president for Research (EVPR).

In a new interview, Lieuwen outlines his EVPR goals and priorities, including a people-first approach, and details the importance of showing Georgia Tech's impact — not just nationally and globally, but also to the state of Georgia and the Southeast. 

Read more »

News Contact

New research shows that an effort to improve wintertime air quality in Fairbanks, Alaska — particularly in frigid conditions around 40 below zero Fahrenheit — may not be as effective as intended. 

Led by a team of University of Alaska Fairbanks and Georgia Tech researchers that includes School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Professor Rodney Weber, the researchers' latest findings are published in Science Advances. 

In the study, the team leveraged state-of-the-art thermodynamic tools used in global air quality models, with an aim to better understand how reducing the amount of primary sulfate in the atmosphere might affect sub-zero air quality conditions.

The project stems from the 2022 Alaskan Layered Pollution and Chemical Analysis project, or ALPACA, an international project funded by the National Science Foundation, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and European sources. It is part of an international air quality effort called Pollution in the Arctic: Climate Environment and Societies.

Read the full story in the University of Alaska Fairbanks newsroom.

News Contact

James T. Stroud, Elizabeth Smithgall Watts Early Career Assistant Professor in the School of Biological Sciences at Georgia Tech, has been awarded the prestigious Founder's Prize by the British Ecological Society (BES), the largest scientific society for ecologists in Europe.

Commemorating the enthusiasm and vision of the organization’s founders, the Founder's Prize is awarded to an outstanding early career ecologist who is beginning to make a significant contribution to the science of ecology. 

Stroud is being recognized for his groundbreaking research as an integrative evolutionary ecologist, investigating how ecological and evolutionary processes may underlie patterns of biological diversity at the macro-scale.

Earlier this year, Stroud was also named an Early Career Fellow by the Ecological Society of America (ESA). He is the first person to win both seminal early career researcher awards from ESA and BES — the two largest and most influential ecological societies in the world — in the same year. 

“The British Ecological Society could not have selected a more deserving recipient of this prestigious award,” says David Collard, senior associate dean in the College of Sciences and professor in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry. “James is a model of faculty excellence in his innovative research, commitment to education, and leadership in the field. We look forward to his continued impact in driving forward the field of ecology.”

Stroud's highly multidisciplinary research combines field studies with macro-ecological and evolutionary comparative analyses, primarily studying lizards. His current interests focus on measuring natural selection in the wild, often leveraging non-native lizards as natural experiments in ecology and evolution.

"I am completely overwhelmed and honored to receive this award,” Stroud says, “and especially from a society very close to my heart. My first ever scientific conference was a BES meeting.”

Stroud will be presented with an honorarium prize during a ceremony at the BES Annual Meeting in Liverpool this December. The meeting brings together over 1,000 ecologists to discuss the latest advances in ecological research. For more than a century, the BES has been championing ecology through its journals, meetings, grants, education, and policy work.

“This award really symbolizes the amazing support and guidance I have received throughout my career from an incredible network of mentors and colleagues,” Stroud adds, “and now, the amazing people I get to work with in my own research group, as well.”

###

About the British Ecological Society

The British Ecological Society (BES), founded in 1913, is the oldest ecological society in the world, championing the study of ecology for over a century. With over 7,000 members in more than 120 countries, the BES is the largest scientific society for ecologists in Europe and promotes the study of ecology through its six academic journals, conferences, grants, education initiatives and policy work. 

About Georgia Tech

The Georgia Institute of Technology, or Georgia Tech, is one of the top public research universities in the U.S., developing leaders who advance technology and improve the human condition. The Institute offers business, computing, design, engineering, liberal arts,  and  sciences degrees. Its more than 47,000 undergraduate and graduate students represent 54 U.S. states and territories and more than 143 countries. They study at the main campus in Atlanta, at instructional sites around the world, or through distance and online learning. As a leading technological university, Georgia Tech is an engine of economic development for Georgia, the Southeast, and the nation, conducting more than $1 billion in research annually for government, industry, and society. 

News Contact

Across Georgia Tech, researchers are exploring the universe — its origins, possible futures, and humanity and Earth’s place in it. These investigations are the efforts of hundreds of astrobiologists, astrophysicists, aerospace engineers, astronomers, and experts in space policy and science fiction — and all of this work is brought together under the Institute’s new Space Research Initiative (SRI).

The SRI is the hub of all things space-related at Georgia Tech. It connects research institutes, labs, facilities, Schools, and Colleges to foster the conversation about space across Georgia and beyond. As a budding Interdisciplinary Research Institute (IRI), the SRI currently encompasses three core centers that contribute distinct interdisciplinary perspectives to space exploration.

Center for Space Technology and Research

The Center for Space Technology and Research (CSTAR) is a hub dedicated to furthering the expansion of Georgia’s aerospace industry, which is already the state’s No. 1 economic driver. The center's team at Georgia Tech conducts cutting-edge research in fields such as astrophysics, Earth science, planetary science, robotics, space policy, space technology, materials science, and space systems engineering.

CSTAR boasts a collaborative network of more than 100 Georgia Tech faculty members and research staff, supported by annual funding exceeding $20 million. Its contribution to space research is highlighted by its active multiyear research grants totaling over $100 million. Each year, CSTAR also contributes to the academic community with around 100 peer-reviewed journal articles and provides mentorship to dozens of graduate and undergraduate students, shaping the next generation of space research.

Members of CSTAR have contributed to a variety of spaceflight projects, from observing the atmosphere of Jupiter, to creating carbon nanotube-based technology on CubeSats, to building an innovative, dual-use antenna that is simultaneously a critical life-saving handrail and a radio emitter inside an airlock on the International Space Station. Several examples of this research will soon be part of a new permanent display in the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. 

“The work done by the Georgia Tech research community in space is phenomenal,” said CSTAR Director Jud Ready. “We have worked on the International Space Station, launched numerous free-flying CubeSats in low Earth orbit, as well as our current crowning achievement, the Lunar Flashlight CubeSat, which is the world’s only heliocentric spacecraft currently owned and operated by an academic institution that recently demonstrated planetary optical navigation techniques for the first time, by any organization — including NASA.” Future missions include materials demonstrations on a lunar lander, as well as additional orbital activities of both the Earth and moon.

“The SRI will increase our reach and impact over and above these prior activities by at least an order of magnitude,” he said. “I am excited for what the future holds for Georgia Tech students, faculty, and research partners as a result of this new organization.”

Director: Jud Ready 
Associate Directors: Morris Cohen and Jennifer Glass

Center for Relativistic Astrophysics

The Center for Relativistic Astrophysics (CRA) is housed within the College of Sciences’ School of Physics. The center’s mission is to provide students with education and training in the key research areas of astroparticle physics, theoretical astrophysics, and gravitational wave astrophysics. 

CRA researchers study the breadth of space, ranging from the early universe’s large-scale structure to particle interactions. They also study black holes and the merger of compact objects, the potential outcome of the evolution of stellar binary systems, and — closer to home — exoplanets and stars found in the Milky Way. Of particular strength are computational astrophysics and multi-messenger astrophysical studies with neutrinos, photons, and gravitational waves. 

In addition, CRA researchers actively participate in major international collaborations, such as the operations and development of existing and future detectors, including the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, the LIGO and LISA gravitational wave observatories, X-ray observatories NuSTAR and Athena, and gamma-ray detectors VERITAS and CTA.

“Bringing together all space research under a single umbrella will be a huge boon to the CRA’s research efforts and visibility,” said John Wise, CRA director. “I am excited about the opportunities the SRI will bring forth within such a collaborative environment, especially the prospect of Georgia Tech leading a space mission that can test the theoretical work performed within the CRA.”

Director: John Wise
Associate Director: Tamara Bogdanović

Georgia Tech Astrobiology

Astrobiology research at Georgia Tech, which includes experts in biochemistry, physics, aerospace engineering, planetary science, and astronomy, as well as others, seeks to answer these age-old questions: What is the origin of life? Does life exist on other worlds?

Georgia Tech’s astrobiology community includes students, staff, and faculty across campus, the educational curriculum, the Exploring Origins student-run group, an astrobiology fellows program, and keystone events. 

Many globally recognized researchers in this field are at Georgia Tech, and their recent discoveries hint at the potential for life on Mars and ocean worlds like Europa. Astrobiology at Tech brings together these faculty with scholars in the humanities and social sciences to share their research with the public and give it a broader cultural context. 

The Georgia Tech Astrobiology Graduate Certificate Program, an interdisciplinary initiative across several Schools and Colleges, is designed to broaden student participation in astrobiology. An undergraduate minor is in development. The purpose of these programs is to expand opportunities for both undergraduate and graduate students in the interdisciplinary field of astrobiology.

“One of the main reasons I came to Georgia Tech in 2020 is its vibrant astrobiology program,” said Christopher E. Carr, co-director of Georgia Tech Astrobiology. “It’s a true pleasure to have such amazing colleagues.”

Co-directors: Frances Rivera Hernández and Christopher E. Carr

News Contact

Georgia Tech researcher W. Hong Yeo has been awarded a $3 million grant to help develop a new generation of engineers and scientists in the field of sustainable medical devices. 

“The workforce that will emerge from this program will tackle a global challenge through sustainable innovations in device design and manufacturing,” said Yeo, Woodruff Faculty Fellow and associate professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University.

The funding, from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Research Training (NRT) program, will address the environmental impacts resulting from the mass production of medical devices, including the increase in material waste and greenhouse gas emissions.

Under Yeo’s leadership, the Georgia Tech team comprises multidisciplinary faculty: Andrés García (bioengineering), HyunJoo Oh (industrial design and interactive computing), Lewis Wheaton (biology), and Josiah Hester (sustainable computing). Together, they’ll train 100 graduate students, including 25 NSF-funded trainees, who will develop reuseable, reliable medical devices for a range of uses. 

“We plan to educate students on how to develop medical devices using biocompatible and biodegradable materials and green manufacturing processes using low-cost printing technologies,” said Yeo. “These wearable and implantable devices will enhance disease diagnosis, therapeutics, rehabilitation, and health monitoring.”

Students in the program will be challenged by a comprehensive, multidisciplinary curriculum, with deep dives into bioengineering, public policy, physiology, industrial design, interactive computing, and medicine. And they’ll get real-world experience through collaborations with clinicians and medical product developers, working to create devices that meet the needs of patients and care providers.

The Georgia Tech NRT program aims to attract students from various backgrounds, fostering a diverse, inclusive environment in the classroom — and ultimately in the workforce.

The program will also introduce a new Ph.D. concentration in smart medical devices as part of Georgia Tech's bioengineering program, and a new M.S. program in the sustainable development of medical devices. Yeo also envisions an academic impact that extends beyond the Tech campus.

“Collectively, this NRT program's curriculum, combining methods from multiple domains, will help establish best practices in many higher education institutions for developing reliable and personalized medical devices for healthcare,” he said. “We’d like to broaden students' perspectives, move past the current technology-first mindset, and reflect the needs of patients and healthcare providers through sustainable technological solutions.” 

News Contact

From commercialization to community engagement to partnerships with national labs and corporations, Georgia Tech leads in the development and use of direct air capture technologies.

Read more »

News Contact