Alexander Vlahos is an Assistant Professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University. Alexander received his B.S. in Biochemistry from McMaster University and his Ph.D. from the University of Toronto under the supervision of Professor Michael Sefton. His Ph.D. work focused on developing an injectable bioartificial pancreas that could be delivered underneath the skin. He then transitioned to mammalian synthetic biology, where he conducted his postdoctoral work as an HFSP long-term fellow at Stanford University with Professor Xiaojing Gao.

His research integrates principles from synthetic biology, protein engineering, and tissue engineering to develop synthetic protein circuits for mammalian cellular engineering. The Vlahos lab synergizes synthetic biology and tissue engineering to create programmable gene and cell therapies for biomedical applications in regenerative medicine, cancer, and autoimmune disease. His lab has three main research themes, including 1) generating protein sensors to sense changes in internal cell states or the external microenvironment, 2) programming engineered cells to model cell-to-cell communication and elucidate the dynamics and expression of key signals that govern fibrosis and immune rejection, and 3) applying synthetic protein circuits to modulate the immune system and improve cell transplantation.

Anthony Harding is an environmental economist with research interests at the intersection of innovative technologies and climate policy. He uses economic theory and applied econometrics to analyze the extent of socioeconomic risks from climate change, how policy and technologies can moderate these risks, and what impacts, intended or otherwise, policies may have. Before returning to Georgia Tech, Harding was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. He earned his Ph.D. in Economics from the School of Economics and a B.S. in Mathematics and Physics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Raghupathy "Siva" Sivakumar is the Vice President of Commercialization and Chief Commercialization Officer for Georgia Tech. As the Chief Commercialization Officer, Sivakumar leads the newly established Office of Commercialization that serves as the central engine that drives commercialization and entrepreneurship efforts on campus. The primary focus of the office is to inspire and support Georgia Tech faculty, students, and staff in their pursuit of commercialization activities. Thus, its functions range from evangelizing the commercialization and tech transfer pipeline, to filing invention disclosures, patent applications, licensing, prototyping, and launching startups. Comprised of the Office of Technology Licensing and VentureLab, the commercialization office also serves as the hub bringing together the various internal and external commercialization entities in the ecosystem.

Sivakumar holds the Wayne J. Holman Chair and is a professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Georgia Tech. He leads the Georgia Tech Networking and Mobile Computing (GNAN) Research Group, where he and his students do research in the areas of wireless networking and mobile computing. Previously, he served as the Founding Director of CREATE-X, a Georgia Tech initiative to instill entrepreneurial confidence in its students, as the Co-Founder and CTO for StarMobile, Inc. (now PowWow Mobile) between 2012 and 2016, as a Technologist for EMC Corporation between 2011 and 2012, as the Founder and CTO of Asankya, Inc. (now EMC), between 2004 and 2011, and as a Technologist for EG Technology, Inc. (now Arris), between 2001 and 2004.

Sivakumar received his Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in Computer Science from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2000 and 1998 respectively, and his B.E. degree in Computer Science from Anna University (Chennai) in 1996. He is a Fellow of the IEEE and recipient of the Georgia Tech Curriculum Innovation Award (co-recipient, 2019), the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering’s Distinguished Faculty Achievement Award (2016), and the Georgia Tech Research Innovation Award (2015). He is the recipient of several other teaching and research awards including five best-paper awards. He is also the recipient of several awards at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign including the David J. Kuck Best Doctoral Dissertation Award from the Department of Computer Science (2001), the Poppelbaum Award for Excellence in Creative Research and Academic Merit from the Department of Computer Science (2000), the Mavis Memorial Award Scholarship for Excellence in Teaching and Research from the College of Engineering (1999), and the David J. Kuck Best Masters Thesis Award from the Department of Computer Science (1998). He received the University Gold Medal from Anna University in 1996.