Rudolph (Rudy) L. Gleason began at Tech in Fall 2005 as an assistant professor. Prior, he was a postdoctoral fellow at Texas A&M University. He is currently a professor in the School of Mechanical Engineering and the School of Biomedical Engineering in the College of Engineering. Gleason’s research program has two key and distinct research aims. The first research aim is to quantify the link between biomechanics, mechanobiology, and tissue growth and remodeling in diseases of the vasculature and other soft tissues. The second research aim is to translate engineering innovation to combat global health disparities and foster sustainable development in low-resource settings around the world. Gleason serves as a Georgia Tech Institute for People and Technology initiative lead for research activities related to global health equity and wellbeing.

Julien Meaud joined Georgia Tech as an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering in August 2013. Before joining Georgia Tech, he worked as a research fellow in the Vibrations and Acoustics Laboratory and in the Computational Mechanics Laboratory at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. 

Dr. Meaud investigates the mechanics and physics of complex biological systems and the mechanics and design of engineering materials using theoretical and computational tools. 

One of his research interests is auditory mechanics. In this research, he develops computational multiphysics models of the mammalian ear based on the finite element method. The mammalian ear is a nonlinear transducer with excellent frequency selectivity, high sensitivity, and good transient capture. The goal of this basic scientific research is to better understand how the mammalian ear achieves these characteristics. This research could have important clinical applications as it could help in the development of better treatment and the improvement of diagnostic tools for hearing loss. It could also have engineering applications, such as the design of biometic sensors. This research is truly interdisciplinary as it includes aspects of computational mechanics, structural acoustics, nonlinear dynamics, biomechanics and biophysics. 

Dr. Meaud is also interested in the mechanics, design and optimization of composite materials, particularly of their response to cyclic loads. Tradtional engineering and natural materials with high damping (such as rubber) tends to have low stiffness. However, the microarchitecture of composite materials that consist of a lossy polymer and a stiff constituent can be designed to simultaneously obtain high stiffness and high damping. Using computational tools such as finite element methods and topology optimization, the goal of Dr. Meaud's research is to design composite materials with these unconventional properties. One of his future goal is to extend the design of these materials to the finite strain regime and high frequency ranges, in order to obtained materials tailored for the targetted application. This research includes aspects of mechanics of materials, computational mechanics and structural dynamics. 

In Dr. Meaud's research group, students will learn theoretical and computational techniques that are used extensively to solve engineering problems in academic research and industry. Students will develop knowledge and expertise in a broad array of mechanical engineering areas. The knowledge that students will gain in computational mechanics, nonlinear and structural dynamics, structural acoustics, dynamics and composite materials could be applied to many domains in their future career.

Having retired as Vice Provost, Dr. Vito is a Professor Emeritus of Mechanical Engineering and currently works part-time. He was one of the founders of The InVenture Prize and has been pivotal in the creation, development, evolution and delivery of the CREATE-X program. His startup expertise is in the area of medical devices, an area where he has conducted research and holds several patents.

Dr. Vito began his research career in nonlinear vibrations but switched within two years of receiving his Ph.D. to biomechanics, especially soft tissue mechanics. He began at Tech in 1974 as an Assistant Professor. Prior, he was a Postdoctoral Fellow at McMaster University, Canada.

Dr. Dixon began at Georgia Tech in August 2009 as an Assistant Professor. Prior to his current appointment, he was a staff scientist at Ecole Polytechnique Federal de Lausanne (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology - Lausanne) doing research on tissue-engineered models of the lymphatic system. Dr. Dixon received his Ph.D. in biomedical engineering while working in the Optical Biosensing Laboratory, where he developed an imaging system for measuring lymphatic flow and estimating wall shear stress in contracting lymphatic vessels. 

Dr. Dixon's research focuses on elucidating and quantifying the molecular aspects that control lymphatic function as they respond to the dynamically changing mechanical environment they encounter in the body. Through the use of tissue-engineered model systems and animal models, our research is shedding light on key functions of lymphatic transport, and the consequence of disease on these functions. One such function is the lymphatic transport of dietary lipid from the intestine to the circulation. Recent evidence from our lab suggests that this process involves active uptake into lymphatics by the lymphatic endothelial cells. There are currently no efficacious cures for people suffering from lymphedema, and the molecular details connecting lymphedema severity with clinically observed obesity and lipid accumulation are unknown. Knowledge of these mechanisms will provide insight for planning treatment and prevention strategies for people facing lipid-lymphatic related diseases. 

Intrinsic to the lymphatic system are the varying mechanical forces (i.e., stretch, fluid shear stress) that the vessels encounter as they seek to maintain interstitial fluid balance and promote crucial transport functions, such as lipid transport and immune cell trafficking. Thus, we are also interested in understanding the nature of these forces in both healthy and disease states, such as lymphedema, in order to probe the biological response of the lymphatic system to mechanical forces. The complexity of these questions requires the development of new tools and technologies in tissue engineering and imaging. In the context of exploring lymphatic physiology, students in Dr. Dixon's laboratory learn to weave together techniques in molecular and cell biology, biomechanics, imaging, computer programming, and image and signal processing to provide insight into the regulation of lymphatic physiology. Students in the lab also have the opportunity to work in an interdisciplinary environment, as we collaborate with clinicians, life scientists, and other engineers, thus preparing the student for a career in academia and basic science research, or a career in industry.

Susan Napier Thomas holds the Woodruff Professorship and is a Professor (full) with tenure of Mechanical Engineering in the Parker H. Petit Institute of Bioengineering and Bioscience at the Georgia Institute of Technology where she holds adjunct appointments in Biomedical Engineering and Biological Science and is a member of the Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University. Prior to this appointment, she was a Whitaker postdoctoral scholar at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (one of the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology) and received her B.S. in Chemical Engineering with an emphasis in Bioengineering cum laude from the University of California Los Angeles and her Ph.D. in Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering Department as a NSF Graduate Research Fellow from The Johns Hopkins University. For her contributions to the emerging field of immunoengineering, she has been honored with the 2022 Award for Young Investigator from Elsevier's journal Biomaterials for "outstanding contributions to the field" of biomaterials science, the 2018 Young Investigator Award from the Society for Biomaterials for "outstanding achievements in the field of biomaterials research" and the 2013 Rita Schaffer Young Investigator Award from the Biomedical Engineering Society "in recognition of high level of originality and ingenuity in a scientific work in biomedical engineering." Her interdisciplinary research program is supported by multiple awards on which she serves as PI from the National Cancer Institute, the Department of Defense, the National Science Foundation, and the Susan G. Komen Foundation, amongst others.

Dr. Arvanitis joined Georgia Institute of Technology as a joint Assistant Professor at the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering in August 2016. Before joining Georgia Institute of Technology he was Instructor (Research Faculty) at Harvard Medical Scholl and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Dr. Arvanitis has also worked as a research fellow in the Biomedical Ultrasonics, Biotherapy and Biopharmaceuticals Laboratory at the Institute of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Oxford.

Dr. Varenberg’s research area is Tribology – the science and technology of interacting surfaces that allow for game-changing advancements ranging from making fire and inventing wheel in the past, to enabling human joint replacement in the present. Dr. Varenberg’s main focus is on bionic tribology and green tribology, but, to enhance the public’s interest in tribology science, he also seeks to uncover tribology from daily life, with examples of works on safety razors and table tennis paddles.

Dr. Yuhang Hu Joined the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology as an assistant professor in August 2018. Prior to that, Dr. Hu was an assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign from 2015 to 2018. She received her Ph.D. from Harvard University in the area of Solid Mechanics. She worked in the area of Materials Chemistry as a post-doctoral fellow at Harvard from 2011 to 2014.

In the McCarty lab, we focus on the molecular physiology of ion channels and receptors, with emphasis on epithelial chloride channels. Our specific focus is the pathophysiology of Cystic Fibrosis, including the structure/function of CFTR and its many roles in the airway. We pioneered the use of peptide toxins as probes of chloride channels. We also have projects that study the functional consequences of heterodimerization among GPCRs, the role of CFTR in regulation of sweat composition, and the molecular ecology of predator-prey interactions in the marine environment. Our translational research in CF targets: (a) the mechanism by which the expression of mutant CFTR in airway epithelial cells impacts the development of CF-related diabetes; and (b) identification of biomarkers of acute pulmonary exacerbations in CF along with development of a novel device for their detection in the home. 

The goal of the Center for Cystic Fibrosis Research is to engage Atlanta researchers in basic and translational research that will lead to a better understanding of the pathophysiology of this disease and/or generate new devices and treatments to increase the length and quality of life for CF patients. The novel theme for these research activities is 'The Systems Biology of the CF Lung'.

Chunhui Xu, PhD, is a Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at Emory University School of Medicine and a member of the Cell and Molecular Biology Research Program at Winship Cancer Institute. 

Research in Dr. Xu's laboratory is focused on human cardiomyocytes derived from human pluripotent stem cells, which hold promise for cardiac cell therapy, disease modeling, drug discovery, and the study of developmental biology. They are also collaborating with investigators at Georgia Tech, Emory University, and Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, to explore the application of nanotechnology and tissue engineering in stem cell research.