My primary interest is floating ice systems - Jupiter's moon Europa and Earth's ice shelves. I am interested in how these environments work and how they may become habitable. I have chosen to focus on Europa because of its potential to have what other places may not have: a stable source of energy from tides that can power geological cycles over the lifetime of the solar system. At its most basic form, life is like a battery, depending upon redox reactions to move electrons. A planetary proxy for this is activity, whereby a planet recycles through geologic processes, and maintains chemical gradients of which life can take advantage. Without recycling, it is possible that even once habitable environments can become inhospitable. This is where terrestrial process analogs come into the picture - by studying how ice and water interact in environments on Earth we can better understand the surface indications of such on Europa (and other icy worlds). My work provides a framework by which to remotely understand planetary cryospheres and test hypotheses, until such time as subsurface characterization becomes possible by radar sounding, landed seismology, or one day, roving submersibles. Much work remains to correlate observations and models of terrestrial icy environments - excellent process analogs for the icy satellites - with planetary observations. I think about how to incorporate melting, hydrofracture, hydraulic flow, and now brine infiltration as process analogs into constructing models for the formation of Europa's geologic terrain and to study the implications for ice shell recycling and ice-ocean interactions. The inclusion of realistic analogs in our backyard-Earth's poles -using imaging and geophysical techniques is a common thread of this work, giving tangible ways to generate and test hypotheses relevant to environments on Earth and Europa. In the long term, I envision constructing systems-science level models of the Europan environment to understand its habitability and enable future exploration. I'm lucky to work with a talented group of students, post docs, and collaborators who share this vision and continue to make my life's passion, understanding the worlds around us, tenable.

Ronald C. Arkin received the B.S. Degree from the University of Michigan, the M.S. Degree from Stevens Institute of Technology, and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst in 1987. He then assumed the position of Assistant Professor in the College of Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology where he now holds the rank of Regents' Professor and is the Director of the Mobile Robot Laboratory. He also serves as the Associate Dean for Research in the College of Computing at Georgia Tech since October 2008. During 1997-98, Professor Arkin served as STINT visiting Professor at the Centre for Autonomous Systems at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm, Sweden. From June-September 2005, Prof. Arkin held a Sabbatical Chair at the Sony Intelligence Dynamics Laboratory in Tokyo, Japan and then served as a member of the Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Group at LAAS/CNRS in Toulouse, France from October 2005-August 2006.

Rusty Roberts is the Director of the Aerospace, Transportation and Advanced Systems (ATAS) Laboratory at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI). ATAS develops advanced systems concepts, builds system prototypes, and performs research on technologies related to aerospace, transportation, power and energy, threat systems, and food processing. A nationally recognized expert in test and evaluation, Roberts has held the position of the President of the International Test and Evaluation Association (ITEA). He also started and presently leads a GTRI-wide test and evaluation initiative that brought together the resources to provide Science & Technology support to the Office of the Secretary of Defense Test Resource Management Center. Mr. Roberts has also worked with U.S. government officials to establish key requirements for the testing of U.S. electronic countermeasures against surface-to-air missile threats and has been able to provide solutions developed by GTRI. Solutions included the threat replica of a medium range surface-to-air missile (SAM) acquisition radar for the U.S. Army and the Advanced Airborne Interceptor Simulator (AAIS) for the U.S. Air Force. He also led the efforts that developed the Missle-on-a-Mountain program at the Electronic Combat Range in China Lake, California. This one-of-a-kind simulation facility has been called a key national asset in testing electronic countermeasures against surface-to-air missle systems. The facility is in high demand by the U.S. Navy, U.S. Air Force, and allied air forces. Prior to joining GTRI, Mr. Roberts served as an active duty U.S. Army Signal Corps officer for ten years, with assignments at Fort Gordon, GA and Kaiserslautern, Germany. His last assignment was at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering teaching Electronic Circuit Design. During his tour at West Point he became the Course Director for the Senior-level, two-semester electronics course for the Department. Mr. Roberts continued to serve in the Army Reserve after leaving Active Duty while at GTRI. Roberts holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from West Point, a Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and a Maste

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 .

Carl DiSalvo is an Associate Professor in the Digital Media Program in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication at the Georgia Institute of Technology. At Georgia Tech he directs the Public Design Workshop: a design research studio that explores socially engaged design and civic media. 

DiSalvo is also co-director of the Digital Interdisciplinary Liberal Arts Center and its Digital Civics initiative, funded by the Mellon Foundation, and he leads the Serve-Learn-Sustain Fellows program, which brings together faculty, staff, students, and community partners to explore pressing social research themes (the 2016-2017 themes are Smart Cities and Food, Energy, Water, Systems). He has a courtesy appointment in the School of Interactive Computing and is an affiliate of the GVU Center and the Center for Urban Innovation.  DiSalvo also coordinates the Digital Media track of the interdisciplinary M.S. in Human-Computer Interaction. 

DiSalvo’s scholarship draws together theories and methods from design research and design studies, the social sciences, and the humanities, to analyze the social and political qualities of design, and to prototype experimental systems and services. Current research domains include civics, smart cities, the Internet of Things, food systems, and environmental monitoring. Across these domains, DiSalvo is interested in how practices of participatory and public design work to articulate issues and provide resources for new forms of collective action.  

Areas of Expertise:

• Civic Media
• Design
• Design Studies
• Digital Civics
• Food Systems
• Public And Civic IoT
• Smart Cities

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

Dr. Koki Ho is the Dutton-Ducoffe Professor, an Associate Professor, and the director of the Space Systems Optimization Group in the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering at Georgia Tech. His research focuses on developing modeling and optimization methods for rigorous space mission analysis and design. Some of his specific research interests include (1) network modeling for campaign-level space mission design; (2) optimization and probabilistic modeling for in-space logistics infrastructure design and operations; (3) design, deployment, and maintenance of mega-scale satellite constellations; and (4) sensor management for space domain awareness. His unique research connecting logistics-based modeling, optimization, systems engineering, and space applications has provided a substantial impact on modern and future space missions that involve multiple missions, multiple vehicles, and reusable infrastructure elements. Dr. Ho earned his Ph.D. at MIT and his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the University of Tokyo. He is the recipient of the NSF CAREER Award (2020), the NASA Early Career Faculty Award (2019), the DARPA Young Faculty Award (2019), and the Luigi Napolitano Award (2015), and he is a co-author of one of the most downloaded Acta Astronautica articles. Dr. Ho served as the Chair of the AIAA Space Logistics Technical Committee in 2017-2024 and currently serves on the Steering Committee for the NASA-funded Consortium for Space Mobility and In-Space Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing Capabilities (COSMIC).

Wei Xu is an associate professor in the School of Interactive Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Xu received her Ph.D. in Computer Science from New York University, and her B.S. and M.S. from Tsinghua University. Her research interests are in natural language processing, machine learning, and social media. Her recent work focuses on text generation, stylistics, information extraction, robustness and controllability of machine learning models, and reading and writing assistive technology. She is a recipient of the NSF CAREER Award, CrowdFlower AI for Everyone Award, Criteo Faculty Research Award, and Best Paper Award at COLING'18. She has also received funds from DARPA and IARPA and is part of the Machine Learning Center and NSF AI CARING Institute at Georgia Tech.