Russell Clark, lead principal investigator of the CEAR Hub and senior research scientist at the Institute for People and Technology (IPaT), has been named the interim director of sustainability for IPaT where he can help drive the practice and culture of sustainability related to IPaT’s research projects.

“Sustainability has been an important and growing theme for Georgia Tech during the last several years as evidenced by Georgia Tech’s Sustainability Next plan,” said Clark. “I’m looking forward to this new role which aligns with the Institute’s strategic vision and goals.”

Clark has been supporting IPaT in various roles for many years and continues with a joint appointment as faculty in the School of Computer Science. He earned his doctoral degree from the College of Computing at Georgia Tech and was the co-director of the Georgia Tech Research Network Operations Center which supported a variety of research projects across campus.

He was also part of the leadership team creating the Smart Sea Level Sensors project that installed internet-enabled water level sensors across flood-vulnerable Chatham County via a working partnership between officials from the Chatham [County] Emergency Management Agency (CEMA), the City of Savannah, and Georgia Tech scientists.

In addition to IPaT’s research, Clark is working to incorporate educational opportunities for Georgia K-12 students to learn more about resiliency, sustainability, and emergency preparedness. Sharing the latest environmental, economic, and social sustainability research topics are part of his community engagement vision which he has already done by working with Georgia Tech’s Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics, and Computing (CEISMC) which enhances PreK-12 and post-secondary STEM education in the state.

At the college level, Clark, through CEAR Hub, is establishing a new Vertically Integrated Projects Program team which engages undergraduate and graduate students in ambitious, long-term, large-scale, multidisciplinary projects. His resilience and sustainable knowledge expertise has been utilized to teach and co-advise students across campus in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, and Georgia Tech’s Lorraine campus in France.

“My long and deep involvement with the Georgia coastal community where I live today has created a passion for pursuing research focused on resilience and sustainability,” said Clark. “I hope to build on Georgia Tech’s rich history of sustainability to forge innovative relationships, elevate research and education, and improve the long-term economic and commercialization potential for the state of Georgia with our current and future research projects.”

- Written by Benjamin Wright - 

Nature doesn’t waste energy, and nature finds ways to adapt to a changing world. Understanding those two principles led David Frost to his interest in bio-inspired design. Frost, the Elizabeth and Bill Higginbotham Professor in Georgia Tech’s School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, has spent the last dozen years searching for ways to use nature’s efficiency and ingenuity to improve the civil engineering field. His efforts are paying off. In the last year alone, research from his lab has resulted in multiple patent filings, licensing agreements, and product launches — all of which take their inspiration from the biological world.

Many of those research projects have been the subjects of doctoral research by Frost’s students, with support and advisement from Michael Helms, co-director of Georgia Tech’s Center for Biologically Inspired Design (CBID) and the Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems lead for biologically inspired design. The CBID mandate is to encourage researchers to find inspiration in the biological world, where design solutions have been in development for three-and-a-half billion years as life has on Earth has evolved. Building on the concept that nature isn’t wasteful, one of the goals of bio-inspired design is to develop products that are both energy and materially efficient, and therefore more sustainable.

As the subsurface exploration and excavation thrust leader for the National Science Foundation (NSF) Center for Bio-mediated and Bio-inspired Geotechnics (CBBG), Frost focuses on what’s going on below the planet’s surface. His inspiration comes from things like tree roots, earthworms, spider webs, and ant colonies. In fact, ants are what first got him interested in bio-inspired design.

“There are many organism systems that have not been thought of as necessarily the most intelligent systems. But in fact, they are following a set of rules, approaches, or guidelines and are producing things that, in the end, are both energy- and resource-efficient and adaptive,” said Frost. “One of these is ant colonies. We see the hills above ground, but what’s going on below the ground, with the tunnels and chambers, is fascinating.”

Early in his time with CBBG, Frost came across a Florida artist who made metal castings of ant colony structures. Frost acquired some, made more castings of his own, and then built digital models of ant colonies to understand how the structures maintain their strength. He also studied exactly how ants build such complex structures so efficiently.

“They take advantage of capillarity, arching effects, and the strength of spirals,” explained Frost.

Ants dig by carefully and quickly probing each grain of sand or dirt, in the same way a human might test a Jenga piece, before deciding whether it can be safely removed without damaging the tunnel. As a result, ants are extremely energy efficient as they dig, continually removing the least encumbered pieces of material. Based on this information, Frost and his team are exploring ways to improve the effectiveness and energy usage of tunnel-boring machines.

Other bio-inspired projects from Frost’s research that are further along in the development process include building anchors inspired by tree roots, a ground heat-exchange system based on spirals and plant xylem, a geogrid (or stabilization mesh) design based on spiderwebs, a worm-inspired soil probe, and another probe design influenced by a vortex and centipedes that would displace a minimum amount of soil.

“I'm convinced that just about any system in nature we look at will help us think about analogs for things that, as human engineers, we’d like to do — and do better,” said Frost. “The opportunities for inspiration and improvement are endless.”

Take the Root-Inspired Ground Anchor (RIGA), for example. Anchors are an essential element in construction, stabilizing retaining walls and other foundation structures. Traditionally, anchors are straight poles inserted into the ground. Looking at tree roots, Frost wondered if there was a better way. That thought led him to inventing an anchor that can be driven into the ground and then expanded under the surface, similar to the structure of tree roots. The expandable anchor improves load capacity by up to 75% and is about two-thirds as long as a conventional anchor. After years of refinement, the device has been patented, licensed, and is the basis of a startup founded by Ph.D. student John Huntoon.

Frost takes the most pride in the real-world impact of his bio-inspired designs. Since 2023, Georgia Tech has filed, or is in the process of filing, utility patents for five of them. Like the RIGA system, those patents will be available for licensing for commercial use. Companies have already contacted Frost about his heat-exchange and geogrid concepts.

“Civil engineering doesn’t traditionally have a culture of patent-producing research,” noted Frost. “It’s exciting to see these filings and how they can generate energy and enthusiasm for studying natural systems and using what we learn to improve the world. Practical application has always been very important to me.”

Frost is finding that practical application also appeals to the next generation of civil engineers — specifically K-12 students interested in the profession who tour the CBID affiliated labs on campus. The students study nature’s designs and figure out how to apply them, rather than learn traditional construction methods.

“Ants, spiders, and worms are immediately relatable for middle- and high-school students,” Frost said. “They think engineering is all math and science, and that doesn’t sound fun to them. Instead, we show them they can be inspired by anything and then use that to make it about conservation and adaptation and energy minimization. Those are things they are interested in.”

Frost is hopeful that the students of today and tomorrow will continue to take inspiration from nature, enabling humans to adapt to a changing world as effectively as nature has.

A newly designed soil-powered fuel cell that could provide a sustainable alternative to batteries was recognized as an honorable mention in the annual Fast Company Innovation by Design Awards.

Terracell is roughly the size of a paperback book and uses microbes found in soil to generate energy for low-power applications. 

Previous designs for soil microbial fuel cells required water submergence or saturated soil. Terracell can function in soil with a volumetric water content of 42%

Terracell placed in Fast Company’s list of the best sustainability-focused designs of 2024.

Researchers at Northwestern University lead the multi-institution research team that designed Terracell.

Josiah Hester, an associate professor in Georgia Tech's School of Interactive Computing who previously worked at Northwestern, directs the Ka Moamoa Lab, where the project was conceived. 

The team includes researchers from Northwestern, Georgia Tech, Stanford, the University of California-San Diego, and the University of California-Santa Cruz.

Their research was published in January in the Proceedings of the Association for Computing Machinery on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable, and Ubiquitous Technologies. The researchers will also present this work at the ACM international joint conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing (Ubicomp), Oct. 5-9.

According to the Fast Company website, the Innovation by Design Awards recognize “designers and businesses solving the most crucial problems of today and anticipating the pressing issues of tomorrow.” Winners are published in Fast Company Magazine and are honored at the Fast Company Innovation Festival in the fall.

“Terracell could reduce e-waste and extend the useful lifetime of electronics deployed for agriculture, environmental monitoring, and smart cities,” Hester said. “We were honored to be recognized for the design innovation award. It is a testament to the promise of sustainable computing and our hope for a more sustainable world.”

For more information about Terracell, see the story featured on Northwestern Now, or visit the project’s website.

The latest Sustainability Next Research Seed grants have been awarded. The seed grant program is administered by BBISS in collaboration with the Renewable Bioproducts Institute (RBI), the Strategic Energy Institute (SEI), and the Institute for People and Technology (IPaT). The program nurtures promising areas for future large-scale collaborative sustainability research, research translation, and high-impact outreach; provides mid-career faculty with leadership and community-building opportunities; and broadens and strengthens the Georgia Tech sustainability community as a whole.

The call for proposals was modeled after the Office of the Executive Vice President for Research’s (EVPR) “Moving Teams Forward” and “Forming Teams” programs. All told, the work of 49 researchers — from 19 Schools in five Colleges, the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), and external partners and research professionals from several of Georgia Tech’s Interdisciplinary Research Institutes (IRIs) — will benefit from these grants.

Moving Teams Forward

• Toward a Center on Effective Climate Communication; Bruce Walker (Psych), Susan Lozier (EAS), Claire Arthur (Music), Jessica Roberts (IC), Carrie Bruce (IC), Amy Bower (Woods Hole Oceanographic Inst).
• Moving Teams Forward to Building a Path Toward Community-Owned Resilience Hubs for Ethical Climate Adaptation and Mitigation: An Interdisciplinary and Community-Engaged Approach; Sofia Perez-Guzman (CEE), Allen Hyde (Hist&Soc), Danielle Willkens (Arch), Alexander Robel (EAS), Jennifer Hirsch (SCoRE), Valerie Thomas (ISYE), Joe Bozeman (CEE), Nicole Kennard (BBISS), Jung-Ho Lewe (AE).
• A Digital Twin for Atlanta: Toward a Building Energy Demand/Mobility Nexus; Patrick Kastner (Arch).
• Sustainable Development in Africa: Cropland Expansion, Fire, Climate Change, and Economic Solutions; Yuhang Wang (EAS), Olga Shemyakina (Econ), Kexin Rong (CS).
• Interdisciplinary Program in Transportation; Adjo Amekudzi-Kennedy (CEE), Alexander Robel (EAS), Christopher Wiese (Psych), Kurt Wiesenfeld (Physics), Nimisha Roy (Comp Inst).
• Enabling Disadvantaged Communities to Baseline the Performance of Residential Energy Systems; Jung-Ho Lewe (AE), Scott Duncan (AE), David Solano (AE).

Forming Teams

• Identifying and Amplifying Georgia Tech’s Research Strengths in Conserving Georgia’s Biodiversity in the Face of Rapid Global Change; Jenny McGuire (Biol/EAS), James Stroud (Biol), Emily Weigel (Biol), Lauren Speare (Biol), Saad Bhamla (ChBE), Matthew Swarts (GTRI), Allen Hyde (Hist&Soc), Jennifer Hirsch (SCoRE).
• UrbAdapt CA4: Urban Climate Adaptation for Indigenous Households in Guatemala Alberto Fuentes (INTA), Gregory Randolph (City Planning), Joshua Ayers (City Planning),Erick Calderón  (World Vision Intl), Sara Sywulka (World Vision Intl).
• Mitigating the Risk of Life-Threatening Power Outages During Extreme Weather; Constance Crozier (ISYE), (Brian) Yeokwang An (Pub Policy), Hiba Baroud (Vanderbilt).
• A Sustainability Data Dashboard for the GT Library Media Bridge, Yanni Loukissas (LMC), Emily Weigel (Biol), Alison Valk (Library), Jason Wright (Library), Charles Bennett (Library), Atlas Coltrain (LMC) (Co-funded by IPaT & BBISS).

Joint Initiative

• Modeling the Dispersal and Connectivity of Marine Larvae With GenAI Agents; Annalisa Bracco (EAS), Jacob Abernethy (CS), Xing Zhou (EAS), Renzhi Wu (CS), Guanghui Wang (CS) (Co-funded by IDeAS & BBISS).

Please visit this page for up-to-date information about the progress of this search.

The Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) invites applications and nominations for the Executive Director (ED) position in the Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems (BBISS). BBISS, one of Georgia Tech’s Interdisciplinary Research Institutes (IRIs), brings together researchers from across Georgia Tech, including academic and research units, to support world-class sustainability-focused research, student engagement, and industry, government, and nonprofit collaboration toward achieving systemic change.

The BBISS ED will be a dynamic, collaborative, and entrepreneurial leader who will unite a broad range of stakeholders around a vision to elevate and grow sustainability at Georgia Tech. As a systems thinker and inclusive relationship builder, the ED will expand and enhance BBISS collaborations and partnerships within and beyond Georgia Tech to broaden its sustainability footprint in local, regional, national, and international arenas.

The ED will catalyze the formation of interdisciplinary teams to support high-impact programming and grants in areas such as climate science, solutions, and policy; ecosystem and environmental health; sustainable cities and infrastructure; sustainable resource and material use; just and equitable sustainable development; and the economics and business of sustainability.

View the job description

Applications, Inquiries, and Nominations

To apply for the Executive Director position in the Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems, candidates are requested to submit the following:

• A curriculum vitae
• A letter of interest (not to exceed four pages) that summarizes your qualifications and includes a brief statement of your vision for BBISS
• Contact information for five references (to be contacted with candidate’s permission at a later date)

Candidates are requested to send their application materials (in Word or PDF) to the AGB Search Portal at this link by November 19, 2024, for best consideration.

Nominations and expressions of interest for this opportunity are encouraged. Please direct them to BBISSGATech@agbsearch.com or to the AGB search consultants listed below.

Monica Burton, Principal
monica.burton@agbsearch.com
C: 917.825.2961

Nancy Targett, Ph.D., Executive Search Consultant
nancy.targett@agbsearch.com
C: 302.233.5202

Scheller Business Insights is a dynamic video series that highlights the innovative thought leadership of the esteemed faculty at the Georgia Tech Scheller College of Business. At Scheller, we are committed to exploring ideas that educate and inform others about the profound impact of business on our lives and the world.

In this episode, Beril Toktay, Regents' Professor and faculty director of the Ray C. Anderson Center for Sustainable Business, defines net zero and discusses some ways to alleviate climate change by reducing carbon emissions to the point of net zero emissions.

Globally, most major polluters, such as China, the U.S., India, and the EU, are among over 140 nations with net-zero goals, which encompasses roughly 88 percent of global emissions. Meeting the Paris Agreement's 1.5°C climate threshold requires 45 percent emissions cut by 2030 and net-zero emissions by 2050 (United Nations Climate Action).

Toktay describes ways this can be accomplished in different business sectors. For example, in the energy sectors, this means moving from fossil fuels to renewable technologies, and in the transportation sector, moving to electrification and innovative battery technologies as well as developing the infrastructure to support these initiatives. These efforts help move businesses towards achieving net zero as well as providing cleaner air and water, and better health outcomes to the global population.

Listen as Toktay discusses what net zero means, the importance of getting to net zero, and how businesses can help reduce carbon emissions.