Alenka Zajić

Alenka Zajić

Alenka Zajić

Ken Byers Professor, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Alenka Zajic is currently the Ken Byers Professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. She has received the B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees from the University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia, in 2001 and 2003, respectively, and the Ph.D. degree in electrical and computer engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, in 2008. Before joining Georgia Tech as an assistant professor, Zajic was a post-doctoral fellow in the Naval Research Laboratory and visiting faculty in the School of Computer Science at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Zajic is the recipient of the following awards: IEEE Atlanta Section Outstanding Engineer Award (2019), The Best Poster Award at the IEEE International Conference on RFID (2018), NSF CAREER Award (2017), Best Paper Award at the 49th Annual IEEE/ACM International Symposium on Microarchitecture (2016), the Best Student Paper Award at the IEEE International Conference on Communications and Electronics (2014), Neal Shepherd Memorial Best Propagation Paper Award (2012), the Best Paper Award at the International Conference on Telecommunications (2008), the Best Student Paper Award at the Wireless Communications and Networking Conference (2007), IEEE Outstanding Chapter Award as a Chair of the Atlanta Chapter of the AP/MTT Societies (2016), LexisNexis Dean's Excellence Award (2016), and Richard M. Bass/Eta Kappa Nu Outstanding Teacher Award (2016). She was an editor for IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications 2012-2017 and an executive editor for Wiley Transactions on Emerging Telecommunications Technologies 2011-2016 .

alenka.zajic@ece.gatech.edu

404.556.7149

Office Location:
TSRB 415

ECE Profile Page

  • Electromagnetic Measurements in Communications and Computing (EMC^2)
  • Google Scholar

    Research Focus Areas:
    • Autonomy
    • Cyber Technology
    • Miniaturization & Integration
    Additional Research:

    On-Chip and Off-Chip Interconnects and Communication in Computer Systems; Mobile-to-Mobile Wireless Channel Modeling and Measurements; Underwater Wireless Channel Modeling and Measurements; Electromagnetic Security and Compatibility; Applied Electromagnetics; Wireless Communications


    IRI Connections:

    Zsolt Kira

    Zsolt Kira

    Zsolt Kira

    Assistant Professor; School of Interactive Computing
    Research Faculty; Georgia Tech Research Institute
    Associate Director; Machine Learning @ GT
    Director; RobotIcs Perception and Learning (RIPL) Lab

    I am an Assistant Professor at the School of Interactive Computing in the College of Computing. I am also affiliated with the Georgia Tech Research Institute and serve as an Associate Director of ML@GT which is the machine learning center recently created at Georgia Tech. Previously I was a Research Scientist at SRI International Sarnoff in Princeton, and before that received my Ph.D. in 2010 with Professor Ron Arkin as my advisor. I lead the RobotIcs Perception and Learning (RIPL) lab. My areas of research specifically focus on the intersection of learning methods for sensor processing and robotics, developing novel machine learning algorithms and formulations towards solving some of the more difficult perception problems in these areas. I am especially interested in moving beyond supervised learning (un/semi/self-supervised and continual/lifelong learning) as well as distributed perception (multi-modal fusion, learning to incorporate information across a group of robots, etc.).

    zkira@gatech.edu

    Office Location:
    CODA room S1181B

    Robotics Perception & Learning Lab

    Google Scholar

    Research Focus Areas:
    • Autonomy
    Additional Research:

    Machine Learning; Perception; Robotics; Artificial Intelligence


    IRI Connections:

    Larry Heck

    Larry Heck

    Larry Heck

    Professor
    Rhesa Screven Farmer Jr., Advanced Computing Concepts Chair
    Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar

    Larry P. Heck is a Professor with a joint appointment in the Schools of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Interactive Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He holds the Rhesa S. Farmer Distinguished Chair of Advanced Computing Concepts and is a Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar. His received the BSEE from Texas Tech University (1986), and MSEE and PhD EE from the Georgia Institute of Technology (1989,1991). He is a Fellow of the IEEE, inducted into the Academy of Distinguished Engineering Alumni at Georgia Tech and received the Distinguished Engineer Award from the Texas Tech University. He was a Senior Research Engineer with SRI (1992-98), VP of R&D at Nuance (1998-2005), VP of Search and Advertising Sciences at Yahoo! (2005-2009), Chief Scientist of the Microsoft Speech products and Distinguished Engineer in Microsoft Research (2009-2014), Principal Scientist with Google Research (2014-2017), CEO of Viv Labs and SVP at Samsung (2017-2021).

    larryheck@gatech.edu

    College Website

    Google Scholar

    University, College, and School/Department
    Research Focus Areas:
    • Artificial Intelligence (AI)
    • Conversational systems
    • Machine Learning
    • Natural language processing (NLP)
    • Speech/speaker recognition

    IRI Connections:

    Irfan Essa

    Irfan Essa

    Irfan Essa

    Senior Associate Dean; College of Computing
    Professor; School of Interactive Computing

    Irfan Essa is a Professor in the School of Interactive Computing and Senior Associate Dean in the College of Computing (CoC), at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Professor Essa works in the areas of Computer Vision, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Robotics, Computer Graphics, and Social Computing, with potential impact on Content Creation, Analysis and Production (e.g., Computational Photography & Video, Image-based Modeling and Rendering, etc.) Human Computer Interaction, Artificial Intelligence, Computational Behavioral/Social Sciences, and Computational Journalism research.He has published over 150 scholarly articles in leading journals and conference venues on these topics and several of his papers have also won best paper awards. He has been awarded the National Science Foundation CAREER Award and was elected an IEEE Fellow. He has held extended research consulting positions with Disney Research and Google Research and also was an Adjunct Faculty Member at Carnegie Mellon's Robotics Institute. He joined Georgia Tech in 1996 after his earning his Master's (1990), Ph.D. (1994), and holding a research faculty position at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab (1988-1996).

    irfan@cc.gatech.edu

    404.894.6856

    Website

    Research Focus Areas:
    • AI
    • Machine Learning
    • Robotics
    Additional Research:

    Healthcare Security; Machine Learning; Mobile & Wireless Communications; Computer Vision and Robotics; Computer Graphics and Animation; Computational Photography and Video; Intelligent and Aware Environments; Digital Special Effects; Computational Journalism; Social Computing


    IRI Connections:

    Gil Weinberg

    Gil Weinberg

    Gil Weinberg

    Professor; School of Music
    Coordinator | M.S. & Ph.D. Programs; School of Music
    Director; Center for Music Technology

    Gil Weinberg is a professor and the founding director of Georgia Tech Center for Music Technology, where he leads the Robotic Musicianship group. His research focuses on developing artificial creativity and musical expression for robots and augmented humans. Among his projects are a marimba playing robotic musician called Shimon that uses machine learning for Jazz improvisation, and a prosthetic robotic arm for amputees that restores and enhances human drumming abilities. Weinberg presented his work worldwide in venues such as The Kennedy Center, The World Economic Forum, Ars Electronica, Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt Museum, SIGGRAPH, TED-Ed, DLD and others. His music was performed with Orchestras such as Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the National Irish Symphony Orchestra, and the Scottish BBC Symphony while his research has been disseminated through numerous journal articles and patents. Dr. Weinberg received his MS and Ph.D. degrees in Media Arts and Sciences from MIT and his BA from the interdisciplinary program for fostering excellence in Tel Aviv University.

    gilw@gatech.edu

    404.894.8939

    School of Music Profile Page

  • Georgia Tech Center for Music Technology
  • Google Scholar

    University, College, and School/Department
    Research Focus Areas:
    • Human Augmentation
    • Shaping the Human-Technology Frontier
    Additional Research:

    Music Technology; Computer Music; Robotics; Developing Artificial Creativity and Musical Expression for Robots and Augmented Humans


    IRI Connections:

    James Rehg

    James Rehg

    James Rehg

    Adjunct Professor; School of Interactive Computing

    Dr. Rehg's research interests include computer vision, computer graphics, machine learning, robotics, and distributed computing. He co-directs the Computational Perception Laboratory (CPL) and is affiliated with the GVU Center, Aware Home Research Institute, and the Center for Experimental Research in Computer Science. In past years he has taught "Computer Vision" (CS 4495/7495) and "Introduction to Probabilistic Graphical Models" (CS 8803). He is currently teaching "Pattern Recognition" (CS 4803) and "Computer Graphics" (CS 4451). Dr. Rehg received the 2005 Raytheon Faculty Fellowship Award from the College of Computing. His paper with Ph.D. student Yushi Jing and collaborator Vladimir Pavlovic was the recipient of a Distinguished Student Paper Award at the 2005 International Conference on Machine Learning. Dr. Rehg currently serves on the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Computer Vision. He was the Short Courses Chair for the International Conference on Computer Vision (ICCV) in 2005 and the Workshops Chair for ICCV 2003. Dr. Rehg consults for several companies and has served as an expert witness. His research is funded by the NSF, DARPA, Intel Research, Microsoft Research, and the Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories.

    Note: Rehg recently moved to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign as the Founder Professor of Computer Science and Industrial and Enterprise Systems Engineering.

    james.rehg@cc.gatech.edu

    404.894.9105

    Office Location:
    TSRB 221A

    Rehg Lab

  • College of Computing Profile
  • Center for Health Analytics and Informatics (CHAI)
  • Google Scholar

    Research Focus Areas:
    • Autonomy
    • Shaping the Human-Technology Frontier
    Additional Research:

    Computer Vision; Computer Graphics; Machine Learning; Robotics; and Distributed Computing


    IRI Connections:

    Lu Gan

    Lu Gan

    Lu Gan

    Assistant Professor - School of Aerospace Engineering

    Lu Gan joined the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology as an Assistant Professor in January 2024. She leads the Lu's Navigation and Autonomous Robotics (Lunar) Lab at Georgia Tech, and is on the core faculty of the Institute for Robotics and Intelligent Machines. Her research interests include robot perception, robot learning, and autonomous navigation. Her group explores the use of computer vision, machine learning, estimation, probabilistic inference, kinematics and dynamics to develop autonomous systems in ground, air, and space applications.

    She holds a B.S. in Automation from the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, an M.S. in Control Engineering from Beihang University, and received her M.S. and Ph.D. in Robotics from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Before joining Georgia Tech, she had a two-year appointment as a Postdoctoral Scholar at the Graduate Aerospace Laboratories of the California Institute of Technology and the Center for Autonomous Systems and Technologies at Caltech.

    lgan@gatech.edu

    Office Location:
    Guggenheim 448A

    Lunar Lab @ GT

  • AE Profile Page
  • Personal Website
  • Google Scholar

    Research Focus Areas:
    • Aerospace
    • Autonomy
    • Machine Learning
    • Robotics
    Additional Research:

    Computer VisionPerception & NavigationRobot AutonomyFlight Mechanics & ControlsHuman-Robot Interaction


    IRI Connections:

    Beki Grinter

    Beki Grinter

    Beki Grinter

    Professor; School of Interactive Computing
    Associate Dean for Academic Affairs
    Interim Associate Dean for Faculty Development

    Rebecca "Beki" Grinter is a Professor of Interactive Computing in the College of Computing & (by courtesy) the Scheller College of Business at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Her research focuses on improving the experience of computing by understanding the human experience in the building and using of technologies. Her work contributes to the fields of human-computer interaction, ubiquitous computing, and computer supported cooperative work. She has also worked in the areas of robotics, networking, security, and software engineering. She has published over 80 scholarly articles, served as Papers Chair (2006) & Best Papers Chair (2010) for the ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI), the premier conference for human-computer interaction. In 2013 she was elected to the CHI Academy. In 2010 she was recognized as a Distinguished Alumna of the University of California, Irvine. Before joining the faculty at Georgia Tech, she was a Member of Research Staff in the Computer Science Laboratory of Xerox PARC and a Member of Technical Staff in the Software Production Research Department of Bell Laboratories. She was also a visiting scholar at Rank Xerox EuroPARC. She holds a Ph.D. and M.S. in Information and Computer Science both from the University of California, Irvine, and a B.Sc. (Hons) in Computer Science from the University of Leeds. Affiliations GVU Center

    beki@cc.gatech.edu

    Office Location:
    GVU Center

    College of Computing Profile Page

    Google Scholar

    Research Focus Areas:
    • Collaborative Robotics
    • Shaping the Human-Technology Frontier
    Additional Research:

    Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW); Human Computer Interaction (HCI); Ubiquitous Computing


    IRI Connections:

    Matthew Gombolay

    Matthew Gombolay

    Matthew Gombolay

    Anne & Alan Taetle Assistant Professor; School of Interactive Computing

    Dr. Matthew Gombolay is the Anne and Alan Taetle Assistant Professor of Interactive Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He received a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the Johns Hopkins University in 2011, a S.M. in Aeronautics and Astronautics from MIT in 2013, and a Ph.D. in Autonomous Systems from MIT in 2017. Gombolay's research interests span robotics, AI/ML, human-robot interaction, and operations research. Between defending his dissertation and joining the faculty at Georgia Tech, Gombolay served as a technical staff member at MIT's Lincoln Laboratory transitioning his research for the U.S. Navy, earning him an R&D 100 Award for his development of "Human-Machine Collaborative Optimization via Apprenticeship Scheduling" (COVAS). His publication record includes a best paper award from American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics, and he was selected as a DARPA Riser in 2018. Dr. Gombolay's research has been highlighted in media outlets such as CNN, PBS, NBC, CBS, Harvard Business Review, Gizmodo, and national public radio

    matthew.gombolay@cc.gatech.edu

    IC Page

    Google Scholar

    Research Focus Areas:
    • Collaborative Robotics
    • Shaping the Human-Technology Frontier
    Additional Research:

    Robotics; Artificial Intelligence; Machine Learning; Human-Robot Interaction


    IRI Connections:

    Yongxin Chen

    Yongxin  Chen

    Yongxin Chen

    Assistant Professor; School of Aerospace Engineering

    Yongxin Chen was born in Ganzhou, Jiangxi, China. He received his BSc in Mechanical Engineering from Shanghai Jiao Tong university, China, in 2011, and a Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering, under the supervision of Tryphon Georgiou, from University of Minnesota in 2016. He is currently an Assistant Professor in the School of Aerospace Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology. Before joining Georgia Tech, he had a one-year Research Fellowship in the Department of Medical Physics at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center with Allen Tannenbaum from 2016.8 to 2017.8 and was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Iowa State University from 2017.8 to 2018.8. He received the George S. Axelby Best Paper Award (IEEE Transaction on Automatic Control) in 2017 for his joint work "Optimal steering of a linear stochastic system to a final probability distribution, Part I" with Tryphon Georgiou and Michele Pavon.

    yongchen@gatech.edu

    404.894.2765

    Office Location:
    Guggenheim 448B

    Personal Page

    Google Scholar

    Research Focus Areas:
    • Autonomy
    Additional Research:

    control theory; optimal mass transport; machine learning; robotics; optimization


    IRI Connections:
    IRI And Role