Dr. Realff’s broad research interests are in the areas of process design, simulation, and scheduling. His current research is focused on the design and operation of processes that minimize waste production by recovery of useful products from waste streams, and the design of processes based on biomass inputs. In particular, he is interested in carbon capture processes both from flue gas and dilute capture from air as well as the analysis and design of processes that use biomass.

Matthew McDowell joined Georgia Tech in the fall of 2015 as an assistant professor with a joint appointment in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and the School of Materials Science and Engineering. Prior to this appointment, he was a postdoctoral scholar in the Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at the California Institute of Technology. McDowell received his Ph.D. in 2013 from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Stanford University.

McDowell’s research group focuses on understanding how materials for energy and electronic devices change and transform during operation, and how these transformations impact properties. The group uses in situ experimental techniques to probe materials transformations under realistic conditions. The fundamental scientific advances made by the group guide the engineering of materials for breakthrough new devices. Current projects in the group are focused on i) electrode materials for alkali ion batteries, ii) materials for solid-state batteries, iii) interfaces in chalcogenide materials for electronics and catalysis, and iv) new methods for creating nanostructured metals.

Tequila A. L. Harris is a Professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, and is the director of the Polymer Thin Film Processing Laboratory (tharris@gatech.edu). Her research focuses on investigating the fundamental science associated with manufacture of polymer thin films from fluids (e.g., solutions, dispersions, slurries, etc.) as they are coated onto permeable or impermeable surfaces to make components or devices. She explores the connectivity between thin film functionality, based on their manufacture or structure, and their life expectancy, to elucidate mechanisms by which performance or durability can be predicted. In addition to conducting computational analysis, developing analytical models and running experiments, Harris also develops new manufacturing technologies to fabricate thin films, in wide area or discrete patterns. Target applications are well-suited for a variety of industries including food, energy, electronic, and environmental systems to name a few. In conjunction with her research activities, she is committed to the education, mentoring, and advisement of students towards scholarly achievements. She has published over fifty peer-reviewed articles. Harris has several awards including the National Science Foundation's young investigator CAREER Award and the Lockheed Inspirational Young Faculty Award.

The Strategic Energy Institute and EPICenter are excited to welcome Andrea Pinabell as a 2023 External Fellow. Andrea will be working primarily with our EPICenter Director, Joe Hagerman, on the expansion of publicly-facing energy related knowledge and information, including hydrogen (with GTRI) and direct air capture of carbon dioxide (with the College of Chemical Engineering). This is primarily intended to expand the reach and opportunities across the HBCU and technical college network system (in close coordination with the EVPR’s office).

In addition, Andrea will work to explore the development and implementation of an urban design center focused on net zero low-income housing first within the English Ave corridor on Atlanta’s westside which is in early discussions with the College of Design, the award-winning GT solar decathlon team, and westside neighborhood partners including the Westside Future Fund and ANDP. All external fellows will help SEI and EPICenter bridge industry and academia in both a strategic and tactical manner to help GT have outsized impact. 

Andrea is well known on the Georgia Tech campus and has been involved in multiple activities across campus. A few highlights include:

• A member of the Strategic Energy Institute’s External Advisory Board for three years
• A member of the Ray C Anderson Center for Sustainable Business Advisory Board for four years
• Led the Swarm outreach and learnings from the Kendeda Building construction and launch highlighting the innovation coming from the construction sub partners.
• Participated in the founding and launch of the RCE Greater Atlanta
• Partner in Drawdown GA research and subsequent launch of Drawdown GA Business Compact
• Frequent speaker across campus on sustainability-related topics

Dr. Stulberg is the Sam Nunn School Chair and Professor in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs. He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on international security, Russia/Eurasian politics and security affairs, nuclear (non)proliferation, and energy and international security, as well as inter-disciplinary courses on science, technology, and international security policy. His current research focuses on the geopolitics of oil and gas networks, energy security dilemmas and statecraft in Eurasia, Russia and "gray zone" conflicts, new approaches to strategic stability, internationalization of the nuclear fuel cycle, and implications of emerging technologies for strategic stability and international security.

Dr. Stulberg earned his Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), as well as holds an M.A. in International Affairs from Columbia University, an M.A. in Political Science from UCLA, and a B.A. in History from the University of Michigan. He served as a Political Consultant at RAND from 1987-1997, and as a Senior Research Associate at the Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS), Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey (1997-1998). He has worked closely with former Senator Sam Nunn drafting policy recommendations and background studies on future directions for the U.S. Cooperative Threat Reduction Program, building regional and energy security regimes in Central Asia and the South Caucasus, and engaging Russia’s regional power centers. Dr. Stulberg was a post-doctoral fellow at CNS; policy scholar at the EastWest Institute; and has been a consultant to the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Office of Net Assessment, Office of the U.S. Secretary of Defense. Dr. Stulberg has authored and edited five books, and has published widely in leading academic and policy journals.  In addition, he served on the Executive Committee of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Technical Group, American Nuclear Society (2012-14).

Dr. Stulberg maintains a conspicuous presence both inside and outside of the classroom at Georgia Tech. He is a two-time recipient of the INTA Graduate Student Association’s “Professor of the Year,” and has received the same honor from Sigma Iota Rho, the international affairs undergraduate honor society. Dr. Stulberg was a CETL teaching fellow, and a Hesburgh Teaching Fellow.  He also was the recipient of the 2010 Ivan Allen Jr. Legacy Faculty Award in recognition for his scholarship, as well as a “demonstrated commitment to serving students at the College, the Institute, and in the Community.”  Dr. Stulberg has served on numerous school, college, and campus-wide committees, including as Chair of the Sam Nunn-Bank of America Policy Forum (2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2020-21).  He was previously on the Faculty Advisory Board and is currently an Associate Director of the Strategic Energy Institute (a GT Institute-wide Center). In 2016, the Neal Family Endowed Chair was bestowed upon Dr. Stulberg; he was appointed Chair of the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs in July 2019.

Dr. Scott Duncan is part of the Research Faculty within the School of Aerospace Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he is a member of ASDL’s Digital Engineering Division. In his current position, Dr. Duncan leads and manages multi-disciplinary research teams in projects relating to terrestrial infrastructure systems, including community energy systems comprising grid-interactive efficient buildings, district thermal systems, distributed energy resources (DERs), and microgrids. These teams assess and support the design of these systems by applying techniques from systems engineering, data analysis, modeling and simulation, visualization, optimization, digital twinning, and model-based systems engineering. Dr. Duncan co-manages, with Dr. Jung-Ho Lewe, the Energy Infrastructure and Data Engineering group, which is part of the long-running Smart Campus Initiative between ASDL and GT Infrastructure & Facilities. Dr. Duncan is a Member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), serving on its the Terrestrial Energy Systems (TES) Technical Committee. He is also the Initiative Lead for GT’s Strategic Energy Institute (SEI) overseeing research operations for the Tech Square Microgrid.

Daniel Molzahn joined the faculty of the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Georgia Tech in Spring 2019. Prior to this position, Dr. Molzahn was a computational engineer at Argonne National Laboratory in the Center for Energy, Environmental, and Economic Systems Analysis (CEEESA), where he currently holds an affiliate position. He was a Dow Postdoctoral Fellow in Sustainability in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department at the University of Michigan. He received the B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering and the Master’s of Public Affairs degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he was a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow. In his spare time, Dr. Molzahn enjoys hiking, waterskiing, and climbing. Also, as a shareholder of the world's greatest sporting franchise, he keeps an eye on his investment by watching and attending football games of the 13-time-champion Green Bay Packers football team.

Marta Hatzell is an associate professor of mechanical engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology. Prior to starting at Georgia Tech in August of 2015, she was a post-doctoral researcher in the Department of Material Science and Engineering at the University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign. During her post doc, she worked in the Braun Research Group on research at the interface between colloid science and electrochemistry. She completed her Ph.D. at Penn state University in the Logan Research Group. Her Ph.D. explored environmental technology for energy generation and water treatment. During graduate school she was an NSF and PEO Graduate Research Fellow. 

Currently her research group focuses on exploring the sustainable catalysis and separations, with applications spanning from solar energy conversion to desalination. She is an active member of the American Chemical Society, the Electrochemical Society, ASEEP, and ASME. Hatzell was awarded the NSF Early CAREER award in 2019 for her work on distributed solar-fertilizers, attended the 2019 US Frontiers of Engineering Symposium through the National Academy of Engineering, and was awarded the 2020 Sloan Research Fellowships in Chemistry.