A Note from the Executive Director

 

The year 2017 will always be a very special and memorable one to me.

In keeping with the Petit Institute mission, we cultivated many exciting research breakthroughs and collaborative projects, driven by an interdisciplinary spirit that encourages engineers, scientists, clinicians, and entrepreneurs to work together on overcoming some of the world’s most complex health related challenges. 

In 2017, our bio-community grew to more than 200 faculty and 1,300 trainees, as well as 19 research centers. Additionally, 12,633 people attended the 253 events we hosted last year. 

Faculty research funding totaled over $69.2 million in 2017. We contributed over $850K of early-stage funding to our researchers through the Petit Institute Seed Grant, as well as other seed grant programs from the Regenerative Engineering Medicine research center and from Dr. J. David Allen’s generous gift.

In October, a team of Petit Institute faculty and staff, led by Professors Krishnendu Roy and Johnna Temenoff, celebrated the launch of the new National Science Foundation (NSF) Engineering Research Center for Cell Manufacturing Technologies (CMaT). This new interdisciplinary center represents a $40 million initiative over the next decade and positions Georgia Tech as an international leader in cell manufacturing. The NSF CMaT award required incredible leadership, teamwork, and hard work by our faculty and staff, and it will have a profound impact on enabling affordable, cell therapies for the treatment of currently incurable, chronic diseases and other clinical conditions. 

I invite you to learn more about this tremendous year through this online impact report. 

And finally, I’d like to personally thank you for helping make 2017 another incredibly successful year. When I look back on the past 22 years at Georgia Tech and my nearly nine years as executive director of the Petit Institute, I feel immensely thankful and privileged to have worked with so many talented and collegial faculty, students, and staff. I also want to express my deep gratitude to Pete and Janet Petit and our other donors as well as our external advisory board members for their essential financial support and guidance. Bob Nerem's vision began the Petit Institute journey back in 1995, but it grew to more than any of us could have imagined through the collective generosity and talents of everyone who is a part of this thriving community we call the Petit Institute.

 

Robert E. Guldberg, Ph.D.

Executive Director, Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience
The Petit Director’s Chair in Bioengineering and Bioscience
Professor, George Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering

 

Bob Guldberg headshot

Petit Institute Leadership

Robert E. Guldberg, Ph.D.
Executive Director, IBB
The Petit Director’s Chair in Bioengineering and Bioscience
Professor, George Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering

Nicholas V. Hud, Ph.D.
Associate Director, IBB
Director, NSF Center for Chemical Evolution
Regents’ Professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry

Petit Institute Faculty Steering Committee

  • Robert E. Guldberg, Executive Director, Petit Institute, and Professor, School of Mechanical Engineering
  • Nicholas V. Hud, Associate Director, Petit Institute, and Professor, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry
  • King Jordan, Associate Professor, School of Biological Sciences
  • Ravi Kane, Professor, School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
  • Harold Kim, Associate Professor, School of Physics
  • Wilbur Lam, Associate Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering
  • Raquel Lieberman, Associate Professor, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry
  • Valeria Milam, Associate Professor, School of Materials Science and Engineering
  • Manu Platt, Associate Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering
  • Francesca Storici, Associate Professor, School of Biological Sciences
  • Todd Sulchek, Associate Professor, School of Mechanical Engineering
  • Joshua Weitz, Professor, School of Biological Sciences