Azadeh Ansari received the B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Sharif University of Technology, Iran in 2010. She earned the M.S and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from University of Michigan, Ann Arbor in 2013 and 2016 respectively, focusing upon III-V piezoelectric semiconductor materials and MEMS devices and microsystems for RF applications. Prior to joining the ECE faculty at Georgia Tech, she was a postdoctoral scholar in the Physics Department at Caltech from 2016 to 2017. Ansari is the recipient of a 2017 ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Award from the University of Michigan for her research on "Gallium Nitride integrated microsystems for RF applications." She received the University of Michigan Richard and Eleanor Towner Prize for outstanding Ph.D. research in 2016. She is a member of IEEE, IEEE Sensor's young professional committee and serves as a technical program committee member of IEEE IFCS 2018.

David V. Anderson received the B.S and M.S. degrees from Brigham Young University and the Ph.D. degree from Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) in 1993, 1994, and 1999, respectively. He is currently a professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Georgia Tech. Anderson's research interests include audio and psycho-acoustics, machine learning and signal processing in the context of human auditory characteristics, and the real-time application of such techniques. His research has included the development of a digital hearing aid algorithm that has now been made into a successful commercial product. Anderson was awarded the National Science Foundation CAREER Award for excellence as a young educator and researcher in 2004 and the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers in the same year. He has over 150 technical publications and 8 patents/patents pending. Anderson is a senior member of the IEEE, and a member the Acoustical Society of America, and Tau Beta Pi. He has been actively involved in the

Usha Nair-Reichert is an Associate Professor in the School of Economics. Her current research interests include (i) innovation ecosystems (ii) firm strategies related to innovation, globalization of R&D, trade, foreign direct investment, technology licensing and acquisition, and sustainability (iii) environmental regulations and their impact on firm strategy, innovation, trade and foreign direct investment (iv) partnerships, policies and collaborations for economic development, with specific focus on education, infrastructure, and health care.

Nair-Reichert worked on funded projects related to supply chains, innovation and efficiency gains in the pulp and paper industry, biotechnology, telecommunications, energy, affirmative action, and educational outcomes.  She has received funding from sources such as the Center for Paper Business and Industry Studies, Center for International Business Education and Research, and Power4Georgians. She recently received a Fulbright Specialist’s award for a project in Poland.

Nair-Reichert has published in peer reviewed journals including the Journal of International Economics, Review of Economics and Statistics, Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Research Policy, International Organization, World Development and Review of International Economics. She is a member of the American Economic Association, International Economics and Finance Society, the European Economics and Finance Society, and the Association of Indian Economic and Financial Studies. She also serves on the Advisory Board of the European Economics and Finance Society. 

Nair-Reichert obtained her Ph.D. in Economics from the Krannert School of Management at Purdue University specializing in international trade, international business, econometrics and economic development. She joined the faculty at the School of Economics at Georgia Institute of Technology in 1995.  She served as interim School Chair during the academic year 2011-12.  As part of a select leadership program of the University System of Georgia, she was also an Executive Leadership Institute Scholar from Georgia Tech during 2011-2012.  She is a faculty associate with the Science, Technology and Innovation Policy Program at Georgia Tech and a core faculty member at the Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER) at Georgia Tech. 

Prior to her graduate work at Purdue, she was employed in the banking sector in India where she has worked in areas related to trade and foreign exchange regulations, imports and exports, multinational investment, technology transfer, and introduction and integration of computerized check processing technologies.

Nair-Reichert has served as a trustee at The Westminster Schools,  the Trinity School  and the Georgia Tech Athletics Association Board. She is also a member of SHECON, a nonprofit group working with micro finance lending and economic development projects in Haiti. She enjoys reading, traveling, and experiencing new cultures. She is an ardent believer in the power of education to inspire people, change lives, and transform society.

Florian Schäfer is an assistant professor in the School of Computational Science and Engineering at Georgia Tech. Prior to joining Georgia Tech, he received his Ph.D. in applied and computational mathematics at Caltech, working with Houman Owhadi. Before that, he received Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Mathematics at the University of Bonn. His research interests lie at the interface of numerical computation, statistical inference, and competitive games.

Fanijo’s research centres around sustainable and smart-resilient buildings/civil infrastructure with a particular interest in decarbonizing infrastructure using novel low-carbon construction materials and alternative energy sources. Buildings contribute to more than one-third (39%) of the global energy-related CO2 emissions and 35% of global energy consumption, mainly from manufacturing, building materials and transportation. As such, advanced research on developing innovative construction materials is urgently required to address the carbon emissions from materials and construction processes of buildings' life cycle. His research approach includes examining the fresh properties and rheology, early-age cracking, microstructure evaluation, mechanical and durability performance, and life cycle assessment of building systems (particularly cementitious composites) made with these sustainable construction materials. 

He has also conducted research across different disciplines, including cementitious and concrete composites; corrosion monitoring and mitigation; concrete durability; green concrete technology using recycled and by-product materials; 3D printing of cementitious materials; highway pavement; geopolymers; fibre-reinforced concrete; advanced sensing technologies and automation; and non-destructive structural monitoring and evaluation. 

Fanijo received his B.S. in Building Construction with first-class honours from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria. In 2019, He earned an M.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of Idaho. Subsequently, he got his PhD in Civil Engineering (with a simultaneous Master’s degree – MEng in Material Science and Engineering) from Virginia Tech in 2022. He has worked on numerous funded research projects and published in various peer-reviewed journals and proceedings. Fanijo has also received numerous national and international awards for his excellence in research, with his recent NSBE Golden Torch Award recognized as the graduate student of the year 2022. 

At Georgia Tech, he is passionate about teaching construction materials and methods and their critical role in the design and construction of buildings. Fanijo developed and currently teaching the Construction Materials and Methods Course so that Building Construction students can have in-depth knowledge of building materials and systems, their properties, and their intrinsic relationship to structural systems and environmental performance. He also develops and teaches courses on Green Construction Technology, Concrete Durability and Sustainable Construction Materials and Techniques. 

Fanijo is a Professional Engineer (P.E.) and LEED Green Associate with more than five years of working experience in the construction sector.

Richard Barke is an Associate Professor in the School of Public Policy. He received his BS in Physics from the Georgia Institute of Technology with a minor in geophysics, launching an interest in the many intersections between science and public policy. He obtained his MA and PhD in Political Science from the University of Rochester. He taught at the University of Houston before returning to Georgia Tech where he chaired the creation of the Ivan Allen College and the School of Public Policy and has served as school chair and as Associate Dean of IAC. He was a consultant to the Carnegie Commission on Science, Technology, and Government on reforming the congressional science budget process and the processes by which Congress receives scientific and technology advice and was a visiting scholar on similar matters at the University of Ghent, Belgium. His consulting and sponsored research has included companies subject to federal and state regulations; the Houston Area Research Center; the US Departments of Commerce, Energy, and the Army; the Belgian National Fund for Scientific Research; the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation; and seven National Science Foundation grants. 

His research interests focus on the regulation of risk, the roles of politics within science, and of science within politics. He has presented his work at more than one hundred scholarly panels and conferences. In addition to a dozen book chapters Dr. Barke has published in Risk Analysis; Minerva; Social Science Quarterly; Policy Studies Journal; Science, Technology, and Human Values; and Public Choice and is the author of Science, Technology, and Public Policy (CQ Press) and co-author of Governing the American Republic (St. Martin's). Among his awards are Georgia Tech's Outstanding Service Award, the IAC Faculty Legacy Award, ANAK Faculty of the Year, and the Georgia Tech Student Government Association Faculty of the Year Award (twice). He teaches courses on political processes, intergenerational policy, ethics and risk, and regulatory policy, and has team-taught courses with faculty from all six colleges at Georgia Tech. His current work is on long-term policy-making.

Erin L. Ratcliff is a Full Professor in the School of Materials Science and Engineering and the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the Georgia Institute of Technology and holds a joint appointment at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.  Prof. Ratliff is also the Associate Director of Scientific Continuity for Director of the currently funded Energy Frontier Research Center (EFRC) entitled “Center for Soft PhotoElectroChemical Systems (SPECS)”, a center which she directed at her prior appointment at University of Arizona.  

Her group “Laboratory for Interface Science for Printable Electronic Materials” uses a combination of applications and devices with electrochemistry, spectroscopies, microscopies, and synchrotron-based techniques to understand fundamental structure-property relationships of next-generation materials for energy conversion and storage and biosensing. Materials of interest include metal halide perovskites, π-conjugated materials, colloidal quantum dots, and metal oxides. Current research is focused on mechanisms of electron transfer and transport across interfaces, including semiconductor/electrolyte interfaces and durability of printable electronic materials.

Her research program has been funded by the Department of Energy Basic Energy Sciences, the Solar Energy Technology Office, Office of Naval Research, National Science Foundation, and the Nano Bio Materials Consortium.

Dr. Deo came to Georgia Tech in August 2007 as an Assistant Professor of Nuclear and Radiological Engineering. Prior, he was a postdoctoral research associate in the Materials Science and Technology Division of the Los Alamos National Laboratory. He studied radiation effects in structural materials (iron and ferritic steels) and nuclear fuels (uranium dioxide). He also obtained research experience at Princeton University (Mechanical Engineering), Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and Sandia National Laboratories.