Fani Boukouvala

Fani Boukouvala

Fani Boukouvala

Assistant Professor

Dr. Boukouvala is originally from Piraeus, which is the port of Athens in Greece. As the daughter of an airforce pilot, she travelled a lot with her family. Her first international move was actually to the USA, where she spent one year in Montgomery, Alabama. She later on lived in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and Crete, Greece, before returning to Athens to get her B.S Degree in Chemical Engineering from the National Technical University in Athens. In 2008, she moved back to the US to obtain a PhD in Chemical Engineering at Rutgers University in NJ. She then worked as a Postdoctoral Associate in both Princeton University and Texas A&M University. In August 2016, Dr. Boukouvala returned to the South East US, as an Assistant Professor in the School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at Georgia Tech. 

Her research interest in Process Systems Engineering (PSE) started during her PhD years, where she worked under the supervision of Dr. Marianthi Ierapetritou, on modeling and optimization of continuous pharmaceutical manufacturing. Her background on optimization and data-driven modeling was enhanced during her years as a postdoc with the late Christodoulos A. Floudas. Dr. Boukouvala is a proud 4th generation member of the academic family tree of the father of PSE, Roger Sargent.

fani.boukouvala@chbe.gatech.edu

(404) 385-5371

Website

University, College, and School/Department
Research Focus Areas:
  • Biobased Materials
  • Biochemicals
  • Biorefining
  • Biotechnology
  • Pulp Paper Packaging & Tissue
  • Sustainable Manufacturing
  • Use & Conservation
Additional Research:
System Design & Optimization; Energy; Sustainability

IRI Connections:

Ching-Hua Huang, Ph.D.

Ching-Hua Huang, Ph.D.

Ching-Hua Huang

Turnipseed Family Chair and Professor

Ching-Hua Huang, Ph.D., is the Turnipseed Family Chair and Professor in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology. Huang received her Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in environmental engineering from Johns Hopkins University. Huang’s expertise includes environmental chemistry, advanced water/wastewater treatment technology, contaminants of emerging concern, sustainable water reuse, waste remediation and resource recovery. Huang has supervised many research projects sponsored by various agencies, and has published more than 170 peer-reviewed journal papers, book chapters and conference proceeding papers. She is the Associate Editor of the American Chemical Society's Environmental Science & Technology Water and the Editorial Advisory Board member of Environmental Science & Technology. 

ching-hua.huang@ce.gatech.edu

404.893.7694

Office Location:
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Departmental Bio

Research Focus Areas:
  • Catalysis
  • Clean Water
  • Energy & Water
  • Energy Generation, Storage, and Distribution
  • Environmental Processes
  • FEWS
  • Food-Energy-Water-Transportation-Systems (FEWTS)
  • Fuels & Chemical Processing
  • Separation Technologies
  • Water

IRI Connections:

Bert Bras

Bert Bras

Bert Bras

Associate Chair for Administration
Brook Byers Professor
Professor of Mechanical Engineering

Dr. Bert Bras has been a Professor at the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology since September 1992. From 2001 to 2004, he served as the Director of Georgia Tech’s Institute for Sustainable Technology and Development. 

In 2014, he was named a Brook Byers Professor of Sustainability. He was named the Associate Chair for Administration for the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech in 2016 and briefly served as Interim School Chair in 2018. 

Dr. Bras’ 25-year career as a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology equips him with considerable expertise in sustainable design and manufacturing that has taken him through many areas of industry, from automotive to alternative energy.

He holds an MS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Twente (Netherlands) and a Ph.D. in Operations Research from the University of Houston. Prior to completing his Ph.D., he worked at the Maritime Research Institute Netherlands (MARIN).

bert.bras@me.gatech.edu

404.894.9667

Office Location:
MRDC, Room 3408

Website

University, College, and School/Department
Research Focus Areas:
  • Additive manufacturing
  • Advanced Manufacturing
  • Aerospace
  • Automotive
  • Energy
  • Use & Conservation
Additional Research:
Electric Vehicles; Computer-Aided Engineering and Design and Manufacturing; Sustainable design; Design for recycling; Robust design

IRI Connections:

Josiah Hester

Josiah Hester

Josiah Hester

Interim Associate Director for Community-Engaged Research
Catherine M. and James E. Allchin Early Career Professor
Professor
Director, Ka Moamoa – Ubiquitous and Mobile Computing Lab
BBISS Lead: Computational Sustainability

Josiah Hester works broadly in computer engineering, with a special focus on wearable devices, edge computing, and cyber-physical systems. His Ph.D. work focused on energy harvesting and battery-free devices that failed intermittentently. He now focuses on sustainable approaches to computing, via designing health wearables, interactive devices, and large-scale sensing for conservation. 
   
His work in health is focused on increasing accessibility and lowering the burden of getting preventive and acute healthcare. In both situations, he designs low-burden, high-fidelity wearable devices that monitor aspects of physiology and behavior, and use machine learning techniques to suggest or deliver adaptive and in-situ interventions ranging from pharmacological to behavioral. 
   
His work is supported by multiple grants from the NSF, NIH, and DARPA. He was named a Sloan Fellow in Computer Science and won his NSF CAREER in 2022. He was named one of Popular Science's Brilliant Ten, won the American Indian Science and Engineering Society Most Promising Scientist/Engineer Award, and the 3M Non-tenured Faculty Award in 2021. His work has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Scientific American, BBC, Popular Science, Communications of the ACM, and the Guinness Book of World Records, among many others.

josiah@gatech.edu

Office Location:
TSRB 246

Personal Site

  • Ka Moamoa
  • BBISS Initiative Lead Project—Computational Sustainability
  • Research Focus Areas:
    • Climate & Environment
    • Computer Engineering
    • Cyber-Physical Systems
    • Energy Harvesting
    • Flexible Electronics
    • Lifelong Health and Well-Being
    • Medical Device Design, Development and Delivery
    • Micro and Nano Device Engineering
    • Mobile & Wireless Communications
    • Smart Cities and Inclusive Innovation
    • Social & Environmental Impacts
    • Sustainable Engineering

    IRI Connections:

    Ashok Goel

    Ashok Goel

    Ashok Goel

    Professor; School of Interactive Computing
    Director| Ph.D. program in Human-Centered Computing; College of Computing
    Co-Director; Center for Biologically Inspired Design
    Fellow; Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems

    Ashok Goel is a Professor of Computer Science in the School of Interactive Computing at Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, USA. He obtained his Ph.D. from The Ohio State University. At Georgia Tech, he is also the Director of the Ph.D. Program in Human-Centered Computing, a Co-Director of the Center for Biologically Inspired Design, and a Fellow of Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems. For more than thirty years, Ashok has conducted research into artificial intelligence, cognitive science and human-centered computing, with a focus on computational design, modeling and creativity. His recent work has explored design thinking, analogical thinking and systems thinking in biological inspired design (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiRDQ4hr9i8), and his research is now developing virtual research assistants for modeling biological systems. Ashok teaches a popular course on knowledge-based AI as part of Georgia Tech's program on Online Masters of Science in Computer Science. He has pioneered the development of virtual teaching assistants, such as Jill Watson, for answering questions in online discussion forums (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbCguICyfTA). Chronicle of Higher Education recently called virtual assistants exemplified by Jill Watson as one of the most transformative educational technologies in the digital era. Ashok is the Editor-in-Chief of AAAI's AI Magazine.

    ashok.goel@cc.gatech.edu

    Office Location:
    GVU/TSRB

    Design & Intelligence Laboratory

    Google Scholar

    Research Focus Areas:
    • Human Augmentation
    • Platforms and Services for Socio-Technical Frontier
    • Shaping the Human-Technology Frontier
    Additional Research:

    Artificial Intelligence; Cognitive Science; Computational Design; Computational Creativity; Educational Technology; Design Science; Learning Science and Technology; Human-Centered Computing


    IRI Connections:

    Danielle Willkens

    Danielle Willkens

    Danielle Willkens

    Associate Professor
    BBISS Co-lead: Sustainable Tourism

    She is an Associate Professor at Georgia Institute of Technology's School of Architecture and a practicing designer, researcher, and educator who is particularly interested in bringing architectural engagement to diverse audiences through interactive projects. Her experiences in practice and research include design/build projects, public installations, and on-site investigations as well as extensive archival work in several countries. As an avid photographer and illustrator, her work has been recognized in the American Institute of Architects National Photography Competition and she has contributed graphics to several exhibitions and publications. As an educator, she was recognized as one of two recipients of the 2017-2018 American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS)/ Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) New Faculty Teaching Award and a 2021 AIAS Educator Honor Award. 

    Her research and practice experiences span design/build, early intervention design education, transatlantic studies, and historic site documentation and visualization. She was an inaugural Mellon History Teaching Fellow at Dumbarton Oaks in fall 2021 for the project "From Plantation to Protest: Visualizing Cultural Landscapes of Conflict in the American South," supporting research and development of the Race, Space, and Architecture in the United States seminar at Georgia Tech. 

    Expanding experiences abroad to enrich both teaching and research agendas , she was the 2015 Society of Architectural Historians’ H. Allen Brooks Travelling Fellow. Between June 2016 and May 2017, she traveled to Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Cuba, and Japan to research the impact of tourism on cultural heritage sites; research blog posts can be found here. 

    Currently, she is working with Auburn University Associate Professor Liu and an interdisciplinary team from the McWhorter School of Building Science, the Department of History, and the Media Production Group on “Walking in the Footsteps of History”, an experimental survey and modeling project to digitally reconstruct the area south of the Edmund Pettus Bridge during the 'Bloody Sunday' events of March 7, 1965. This project is working to record and represent the built environment through the use of 3D LiDAR scans, UAV photogrammetry, and digital modeling. The team was awarded a $50,000 grant 2019 National Park Service African American Civil Rights Grant Program to compile a Historic Structures Report on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama.

    Willkens serves as a Georgia Tech Institute for People and Technology initiative lead for research activities related to just, resilient, and informed communities.

    danielle.willkens@design.gatech.edu

    Departmental Bio

  • BBISS Initiative Lead Project - Sustainable Tourism, Petra
  • Personal Website
  • University, College, and School/Department
    Research Focus Areas:
    • Architecture & Design

    IRI Connections:

    Brian Gunter

    Brian Gunter

    Brian Gunter

    Associate Professor

    Dr. Gunter is an Assistant Professor in Aerospace Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He received his B.S. in mechanical engineering from Rice University, and later his M.S. and Ph.D. in aerospace engineering from the University of Texas at Austin, specializing in orbital mechanics. Prior to joining Georgia Tech, Dr. Gunter was on the faculty of the Delft University of Technology (TU-Delft) in the Netherlands, as a member of the Physical and Space Geodesy section. His research activities involve various aspects of spacecraft missions and their applications, such as investigations into current and future laser altimetry missions, monitoring changes in the polar ice sheets using satellite data, applications of satellite constellations/formations, and topics surrounding kinematic orbit determination. He has been responsible for both undergraduate and graduate courses on topics such as satellite orbit determination, Earth and planetary observation, scientific applications of GPS, and space systems design. He is currently a member of the AIAA Astrodynamics Technical Committee, and also serves as the Geodesy chair for the Fall AGU Meeting Program Committee. He has received a NASA group achievement award for his work on the GRACE mission, and he is also a former recipient of a NASA Earth System Science Graduate Fellowship. He is a member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), the American Geophysical Union (AGU), and the International Association of Geodesy (IAG).

    brian.gunter@ae.gatech.edu

    404.385.2345

    Office Location:
    ESM 205

    Reaearch Website

    Google Scholar

    Research Focus Areas:
    • Autonomy
    Additional Research:

    satellite geodesy; space systems; orbital mechanics; Earth and planetary observation; remote sensing


    IRI Connections:

    Ellen Dunham-Jones

    Ellen Dunham-Jones

    Ellen Dunham-Jones

    Professor
    Coordinator, MS Urban Design

    Ellen is Director of the Master of Science in Urban Design degree, an authority on sustainable suburban redevelopment, and a leading urbanist. Author of over 100 articles, she is co-author with June Williamson of the retrofitting suburbia book series documenting successful retrofits of aging big box stores, malls, and office parks into healthier and more sustainable places. Retrofitting Suburbia: Urban Design Solutions for Redesigning Suburbs, (Wiley, 2009, 2011) received a PROSE award as the best architecture and urban planning book of 2009 and has been featured in The New York Times, Time Magazine, Harvard Business Review, NPR, PBS, TED and other prominent venues. Case Studies in Retrofitting Suburbia: Urban Design Strategies for Urgent Challenges (Wiley, 2020) expands on the first book examining how new retrofits are helping communities disrupt automobile dependence, improve public health, support an aging population, leverage social capital for equity, compete for jobs, and add water and energy resilience. 

    Ellen serves on several national boards and committees, is former Chair of the Board of the Congress for the New Urbanism, lectures widely and conducts community workshops. In both her teaching and research she focuses on helping communities address new challenges that they were never designed for – whether that’s through her unique database of successful suburban retrofits or studio classes on anticipating autonomous vehicles, coping with climate change or suburban blight. She taught at UVA and MIT before joining Georgia Tech as Architecture Program Director from 2000-2009.

    ellen.dunham-jones@coa.gatech.edu

    (404) 894-0648

    Departmental Bio

    Research Focus Areas:
    • Policy & Economics
    Additional Research:
    City and Regional Planning

    IRI Connections:

    Omar Asensio

    Omar Asensio

    Omar Asensio

    Associate Professor

    Dr. Omar I. Asensio is an Assistant Professor in the School of Public Policy at the Georgia Institute of Technology. His research focuses on the intersection of big data and public policy, with applications to energy systems and consumer behavior, smart cities, and machine learning in transportation and electric mobility. He directs the Data Science and Policy Lab at Georgia Tech, where he collaborates with the private sector and city governments on data innovations in policy analysis and research evaluation. He is a faculty affiliate at the Institute for Data Engineering and Science (IDEaS), the Machine Learning Center, and the Strategic Energy Institute. Dr. Asensio’s research has been published in leading journals such as Nature Energy, Nature Sustainability, and PNAS. His work uses statistical and computational tools to advance our understanding of how large-scale civic data and experiments can be used to increase participation in civic processes, while addressing resource conservation and environmental sustainability. Dr. Asensio’s research also has been featured in policy advisory communications by the European Commission, NSF Public Affairs, the World Bank, and national governments — including the U.K., and the IndiaAI initiative.

    Dr. Asensio is a member of the New Voices 2021-2023 cohort of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. He is a recipient of the National Science Foundation CAREER award, the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management (APPAM) 40-for-40 fellowship, and the ONE-NBS Research Impact on Practice award by the Organizations and the Natural Environment (ONE) Division of the Academy of Management. Dr. Asensio serves as Associate Editor of Data and Policy journal published by Cambridge University Press. He holds a doctorate in environmental science and engineering from UCLA with field specialties in economics. He is a faculty participant in the Research University Alliance (RUA) Research Exchange and is engaged in multiple activities to increase the representation of women and under-represented students and professionals in STEM fields. 

    asensio@pubpolicy.gatech.edu

    Website

  • Data Science and Policy Lab
  • Research Focus Areas:
    • Energy Infrastructure
    • Energy Utilization and Conservation
    • Policy & Economics
    Additional Research:
    Cyber/ Information Technology; Strategic Planning; Building Technologies; Electric Vehicles; Policy/Economics; Public Policy; Energy Efficiency and Conservation

    IRI Connections:

    Anjali Thomas

    Anjali Thomas

    Anjali Thomas

    Associate Professor
    BBISS Co-lead: SEEDS (Southeast Exchange of Development Studies)

    Anjali Thomas is an Associate Professor in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs and Director of the Nunn School Program in Global Development. Her research focuses on the political economy of development, and employs quantitative analyses of data derived from India and other developing country contexts. Her specific substantive interests include the politics of service provision, democratic institutions and the link between climate change and local level politics. Prior to joining the faculty at Georgia Tech, Anjali was a faculty member in the Department of Political Science at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. She obtained her Ph.D. from New York University in 2010.

    anjalitb3@gatech.edu

    Website

  • BBISS Initiative Leeds Project - SEEDS (Southeast Exchange of Development Studi…
  • Research Focus Areas:
    • Policy & Economics

    IRI Connections: