Lisa Yaszek

Lisa Yaszek

Lisa Yaszek

Regents Professor of Science Fiction Studies

Lisa Yaszek is Regents’ Professor of Science Fiction Studies at Georgia Tech, where she explores science fiction as a global language crossing centuries, continents, and cultures. Recent examples of her award-winning books include Sisters of Tomorrow: The First Women of Science Fiction (2016); Literary Afrofuturism in the Twenty-First Century (2021); and The Future is Female! Classic Science Fiction Stories by Women series (2018-present). Yaszek’s ideas about how we represent space and space exploration in popular culture have been featured in venues including Time Magazine, The Washington Post, and Space.com, and she has been an expert commentator for CBS Sunday Morning, the BBC4, Turner Classic Movies, and the AMC miniseries James Cameron’s Story of Science Fiction. Additionally, Yaszek is a past president of the Science Fiction Research Association (SFRA) and a founding member of the Eugie Award for Short Speculative Fiction. In 2024, she received the SFRA Lifetime Achievement Award for her contributions to the study of science, technology, and science fiction across media.

lisa.yaszek@lmc.gatech.edu

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    Mariel Borowitz

    Mariel Borowitz

    Mariel Borowitz

    Associate Professor
    Director of the Georgia Tech Center for Space Policy and International Relations
    Head of the Nunn School Program on International Affairs, Science, and Technology

    Mariel Borowitz is an associate professor in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at the Georgia Institute of Technology, director of the Georgia Tech Center for Space Policy and International Relations, and head of the Nunn School Program on International Affairs, Science, and Technology. Her research deals with international space policy issues. She has published on issues of space sustainability, space security, and development and exploration of the Moon. Her work has also covered developments in the Earth observation and remote sensing sector. Her book, Open Space: The Global Effort for Open Access to Environmental Satellite Data, published by MIT Press, examines trends in the development of data sharing policies governing Earth observing satellites, as well as interactions with the growing commercial remote sensing sector. Her work has been published in ScienceStrategic Studies QuarterlySpace PolicyAstropolitics, and New Space. Her research has been supported by grants from the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Defense, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

    Borowitz is also currently detailed to the U.S. Office of Space Commerce in a half-time capacity as the director of International Space Situational Awareness (SSA) Engagement. In this role, she focuses on the development and implementation of an approach to international coordination on space situational awareness and space traffic coordination. She also works directly with the team developing the Traffic Coordination System for Space (TraCSS), which will provide space safety services to spacecraft operators around the world. Borowitz previously completed a detail as a policy analyst for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. from 2016 to 2018. In 2022, she testified to the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics in a hearing titled, "Space Situational Awareness: Guiding the Transition to a Civil Capability."

    Borowitz earned a Ph.D. in public policy at the University of Maryland and a Masters degree in international science and technology policy from the George Washington University. She has a Bachelor of Science degree in aerospace engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

    mariel.borowitz@inta.gatech.edu

    404.385.1494


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    Jonathan Goldman


    Jonathan Goldman

    Quadrant-i
    Director

    Jonathan Goldman is the director of Quadrant-i (Q-i) in the Office of Commercialization. Quadrant-i supports faculty, researchers, and students in translating research into startups. Under Goldman's leadership, Quadrant-i will offer a comprehensive suite of programs, resources, and services to enhance the commercialization journey for Georgia Tech’s innovations. His leadership will focus on fostering a collaborative environment that encourages innovation and accelerates the transition from idea to impact.

    A seasoned entrepreneur and commercialization expert, Goldman transitioned to Quadrant-i after a significant tenure with VentureLab, another key commercialization unit at Georgia Tech. During his initial years at VentureLab from 2002 to 2007, Goldman assisted in developing more than 10 companies that collectively attracted $300 million in funding. He was instrumental in forming the solar firm Suniva, later serving as its director of business development. After returning to VentureLab, he continued to foster entrepreneurial success among Georgia Tech researchers. Now at Quadrant-i, he is committed to advancing the Institute’s mission by transforming groundbreaking research into commercially successful enterprises. 

    jongoldman@gatech.edu

    Office Location:
    of Commercialization


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    Jennifer Glass

    Jennifer Glass

    Jennifer Glass

    Associate Professor

    The Glass research group studies the microbes that made Earth habitable, and, more specifically, the microbial mechanisms underpinning cryptic transformations of methane and nitrous oxide in oxygen-free ecosystems. Why focus on the microbial world? The Earth has been constantly inhabited for four billion years. For three-quarters of that time, life was solely microbial. Ancient microbes produced the gases that warmed the planet to clement temperatures when the sun was faint, and that invented the molecular machines that drive biogeochemical cycles. The co-evolution of Earth and life is woven into the fabric of our research group, which examines the interplay between microbes and the greenhouses gases that control planetary temperature. Our research informs the microbial metabolisms that (i) made the early Earth habitable for life, (ii) make the deep subsurface habitable for life, (iii) serve as biosignatures for life on exoplanets, and (iv) play crucial roles in regulating atmospheric fluxes of greenhouse gases on our warming planet.

    jennifer.glass@eas.gatech.edu

    404.894.3942

    Website

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    Research Focus Areas:
    • Molecular Evolution
    • Use & Conservation
    Additional Research:

    Anaerobic oxidation of methane, Environmental controls on greenhouse gas cycling, with afocus on methane and nitrous oxide, in terrestrial and marineecosystems Biogeochemical cycles of bioessential trace elements Marine microbiology, with a focus on anaerobic metabolisms Influence of trace metal bioavailability on microbial carbon and nitrogen cycling Integrating omic and geochemical datasets Co-evolution of microbial metabolisms and ocean chemistry over Earthhistory,


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    Morris Cohen

    Morris Cohen

    Morris Cohen

    Associate Professor

    Morris Cohen received his B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University in 2003 and 2010, respectively, and served as a research scientist until August 2013. From September 2012 until August 2013, Dr. Cohen was appointed as AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow at the National Science Foundation. 

    In Fall 2013, he joined the faculty in the School of ECE. He is a winner of the NSF CAREER Award in 2017, the ONR Young Investigator Award in 2015, and was chosen for the Santimay Basu Prize in 2014, an award given once per 3 years to an under-35 scientist by the International Union of Radio Science (URSI). 

    Dr. Cohen is interested in the natural electricity of the Earth, including lightning, the electrically charged upper atmosphere, and the radiation-filled space environment. He uses radio waves at low frequencies measured all around the world to understand them, and develops resulting practical applications. His group also works on novel techniques to generate low frequency waves with nonconventional electrically-short antennas. He is an author of more than 60 journal publications. He employs a “flipped classroom” model in some of his courses to make the experience more active and engaging. 

    He enjoys hiking, cooking, and traveling the world for work and play with his family.

    mcohen@gatech.edu

    (404) 894-8415

    Office Location:
    VL W511

    Website

    Research Focus Areas:
    • Energy Utilization and Conservation
    Additional Research:

    Electronics


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    W. Jud Ready

    Jud Ready

    W. Jud Ready

    Executive Director, Space Research Institute
    Principal Research Engineer, Georgia Tech Research Institute

    W. Jud Ready is the executive director of the Space Research Institute. Prior to this role, he served as associate director of external engagement for the Georgia Tech Institute for Matter and Systems and director of the Georgia Tech Center for Space Technology and Research. He has also been an adjunct professor in the School of Materials Science and Engineering at Georgia Tech and a principal research engineer on the research faculty of Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) for over a dozen years. Prior to joining the Georgia Tech faculty, he worked for a major military contractor (General Dynamics) as well as in small business (MicroCoating Technologies). He has served as PI or co-PI for grants totaling ~$17M awarded by the Army, Navy, Air Force, DARPA, NASA, NSF, NIST, industry, charitable foundations and the States of Georgia and Florida. His current research focuses primarily on energy, aerospace, nanomaterial applications, and electronics reliability.

    jud.ready@gtri.gatech.edu

    404.407.6036

    MSE Profile Page

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    Research Focus Areas:
    • Materials and Nanotechnology
    • Nanomaterials
    • Renewable Energy
    Additional Research:

    Materials Failure and Reliability; Carbon Nanotubes; Integrated photonics; Photovoltaics; Solar


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    Glenn Lightsey

    Glenn Lightsey

    Glenn Lightsey

    John W. Young Chair Professor, Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering
    Member, Space Research Initiative Steering Committee

    E. Glenn Lightsey is the John W. Young Chair Professor in the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering at Georgia Tech. He currently serves on the executive committee for the Space Research Initiative at Georgia Tech. Previously, he was the director of the Space Systems Design Lab from 2016-2023 and Center for Space Technology And Research at Georgia Tech from 2019-2023. 

    Lightsey’s research program focuses on the technology of small satellites, including: guidance, navigation, and control systems; attitude determination and control; formation flying, satellite swarms, and cooperative control; proximity operations and unmanned spacecraft rendezvous; space based Global Positioning System receivers; radionavigation; propulsion; satellite operations; and space systems engineering. His group has built and operated several spacecraft for government sponsors. 

    Lightsey has co-authored more than 180 technical articles and publications, including four book chapters. He is an AIAA Fellow and a Founding Member of the AIAA Small Satellite Technical Committee. He is Associate Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Small Satellites. In the past he served as Associate Editor of the AIAA Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics and Associate Editor of the AIAA Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets. Lightsey was previously employed at the University of Texas at Austin and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

    glenn.lightsey@gatech.edu

    404.385.4146

    Office Location:
    ESM 110A/B

    AE Profile Page

  • Space Research Initiative
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    Research Focus Areas:
    • Aerospace
    • Autonomy
    Additional Research:

    Small Satellites, Guidance and Control, and Spacecraft Technology.


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    Thomas Orlando

    Thomas Orlando

    Thomas Orlando

    Professor, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry
    SEI Senior Advisor: Energy Minor

    Our group is primarily a surface chemistry and physics group which focuses on the use of high-powered pulsed lasers, low-energy electron scattering, micro-plasmas, mass spectrometry and ultrahigh vacuum surface science techniques. We use this "tool-set" as well as some scattering theory to unravel the details of non-thermal processes occurring under a variety of non-equilibrium conditions. Our group is based upon an interdisciplinary approach and thus our research programs span the realm of fundamental investigations in molecular physics, surface physics and chemistry, bio-physics, bio-polymer formation under pre-biotic conditions as well as working in applied areas of relevance to analytical technique developments, atmospheric chemistry, catalysis and molecular hydrogen generation.

    thomas.orlando@chemistry.gatech.edu

    404.894.4012

    Office Location:
    MoSE G209C

    Chem & BioChem Profile Page

  • Electron and Photon Induced Chemistry on Surfaces Lab
  • Google Scholar

    Research Focus Areas:
    • Conventional Energy
    • Materials and Nanotechnology
    • Molecular, Cellular and Tissue Biomechanics
    Additional Research:

    Surfaces and Interfaces; Catalysis; Advanced Characterization; Hydrogen; Nuclear


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    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

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

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


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