Sankar Nair

Sankar Nair

Sankar Nair

Professor, School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
James F. Simmons Faculty Fellow, School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Associate Chair for Industry Outreach, School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

sankar.nair@chbe.gatech.edu

404.894.4826

Office Location:
ES&T 2224

ChBE Profile Page

  • Nair Research Group
  • Google Scholar

    Research Focus Areas:
    • Biobased Materials
    • Biochemicals
    • Biorefining
    • Biotechnology
    • Fuels & Chemical Processing
    • Hydrogen Production
    • Materials and Nanotechnology
    • Pulp Paper Packaging & Tissue
    • Renewable Energy
    • Sustainable Manufacturing
    Additional Research:

    Nanomaterials; Biofuels; Carbon Capture; Catalysis; Separations Technology; Chemical Recovery; Energy & Water


    IRI Connections:

    Todd Sulchek

    Todd Sulchek

    Todd Sulchek

    Professor, Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering
    Appointments in Bioengineering, Biomedical Engineering, and Biology

    Todd Sulchek is an associate professor in Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech where he conducts fundamental and applied research in the field of biophysics. His research program focuses on the mechanical and adhesive properties of cell and biological systems and the development of microsystems to aid in their study. His research employs tools, including, MEMS, microfluidics, imaging, and patterning to understand or enable biological systems. His interests include cancer diagnostics, stem cell biomanufacturing, novel therapeutics, and ultracheap engineering tools. He is a member of the interdisciplinary Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience. Dr. Sulchek also holds program faculty positions in Bioengineering and Biomedical Engineering and has a courtesy appointment in the School of Biology. He received his Ph.D. from Stanford in Applied Physics under Calvin Quate and received a bachelors in math and physics from Johns Hopkins. He was a postdoc and staff scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Lab. He joined Georgia Tech in 2008 as an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering. He is a recipient of the NSF CAREER award, the BP Junior Faculty Teaching Excellence Award, the Lockheed Inspirational Young Faculty award, and the 2012 Petit Institute Above and Beyond Award. To date he has published 42 journal papers and has filed or been issued 7 patents. Prof. Sulchek is a strong supporter of undergraduate research, and he participates in a variety of undergraduate education activities including the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) and includes over 8 undergraduate authors in the past year.

    todd.sulchek@me.gatech.edu

    404.385.1887

    Office Location:
    Petit 2309

    Sulchek Lab

  • ME Profile Page
  • Google Scholar

    Research Focus Areas:
    • Drug Design, Development and Delivery
    • Micro and Nano Device Engineering
    • Miniaturization & Integration
    • Molecular, Cellular and Tissue Biomechanics
    • Nanomaterials
    Additional Research:

    Biomedical Devices; bio-MEMS; biosensors; Drug Delivery; Advanced Characterization. Dr. Sulchek's research focuses primarily on the measurement and prediction of how multiple individual biological bonds produce a coordinated function within molecular and cellular systems. There are two complementary goals. The first is to understand the kinetics of multivalent pharmaceuticals during their targeting of disease markers; the second is to quantify the host cell signal transduction resulting from pathogen invasion. Several tools are developed and employed to accomplish these goals. The primary platform for study is the atomic force microscope (AFM), which controls the 3-D positioning of biologically functionalized micro- and nanoscale mechanical probes. Interactions between biological molecules are quantified in a technique called force spectroscopy. Membrane protein solubilized nanolipoprotein particles (NLPs) are also used to functionalize micro/nano-scale probes with relevant biological mediators. This scientific program requires the development of enabling instrumentation and techniques, which include the following: Advanced microscopy and MEMs; Nanomechanical linkers, which provide a convenient platform to control biomolecular interactions and study multivalent molecular kinetics; Biological mimetics, which provide a simple system to study cell membranes and pathogens. UltIMaTely, this work is used to optimize molecular drug targeting, improve chem/bio sensors, and develop more efficient pathogen countermeasures.


    IRI Connections:

    H. Jerry Qi

    H. Jerry Qi

    H. Jerry Qi

    Professor, Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering
    Woodruff Faculty Fellow, Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering

    H. Jerry Qi is a professor and the Woodruff Faculty Fellow in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology. He received his bachelor degrees (dual degree), master and Ph.D. degree from Tsinghua University (Beijing, China) and a ScD degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Boston, MA, USA). After one year postdoc at MIT, he joined University of Colorado Boulder as an assistant professor in 2004, and was promoted to associate professor with tenure in 2010. He joined Georgia Tech in 2014 as an associate professor with tenure and was promoted to a full professor in 2016. Qi is a recipient of NSF CAREER award (2007). He is a member of Board of Directors for the Society of Engineering Science. In 2015, he was elected to an ASME Fellow. The research in Qi's group is in the general area of soft active materials, with a focus on 1) 3D printing of soft active materials to enable 4D printing methods; and 2) recycling of thermosetting polymers. The material systems include: shape memory polymers, light activated polymers, vitrimers. On 3D printing, they developed a wide spectrum of 3D printing capability, including: multIMaTerial inkjet 3D printing, digit light process (DLP) 3D printing, direct ink write (DIW) 3D printing, and fused deposition modeling (FDM) 3D printing. These printers allow his group to develop new 3D printing materials to meet the different challenging requirements. For thermosetting polymer recycling, his group developed methods that allow 100% recycling carbon fiber reinforced composites and electronic packaging materials. Although his group develops different novel applications, his work also relies on the understanding and modeling of material structure and properties under environmental stimuli, such as temperature, light, etc, and during material processing, such as 3D printing. Constitutive model developments are typically based on the observations from experiments and are then integrated with finite element through user material subroutines so that these models can be used to solve complicated 3D multiphysics problems involving nonlinear mechanics. A notable example is their recent pioneer work on 4D printing, where soft active materials is integrated with 3D printing to enable shape change (or time in shape forming process). Recently, his developed a state-of-the-art hybrid 3D printing station, which allows his group to integrate different polymers and conduct inks into one system. Currently, his group is working on using this printing station for a variety of applications, including printed 3D electronics, printed soft robots, etc.

    qih@me.gatech.edu

    404.385.2457

    Office Location:
    MRDC 4104

    Active Materials & Additive Manufacturing Lab

  • ME Profile Page
  • Google Scholar

    Research Focus Areas:
    • Biobased Materials
    • Biochemicals
    • Biorefining
    • Biotechnology
    • Materials and Nanotechnology
    • Molecular, Cellular and Tissue Biomechanics
    • Pulp Paper Packaging & Tissue
    • Sustainable Manufacturing
    Additional Research:

    Additive/Advanced Manufacturing; micro and nanomechanics; Recycling; Soft Materials; Conducting Polymers


    IRI Connections: