Michelle’s research is themed around designing and characterizing the surface chemical properties of synthetic and natural polymer systems. They will be used to develop multifunctional biomaterial substrates for regenerative medicine, cancer treatment, and personal care products. The goals of the Gaines Lab are achieved by marrying Polymer Synthesis, Materials Science, Cell Biology & Spectroscopy.

Dr. Noel is a Research Engineer II with the Aerospace and Acoustics Technologies Division in GTRI’s Aerospace, Transportation, and Advanced Systems Laboratory (ATAS). She received her B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Tech in 2009 and 2018, respectively. In her doctoral work, Dr. Noel specialized in biomechanics, with a particular focus on biological adhesive mechanisms. Her work has been highlighted in media outlets like NPR, The New York Times, Science Magazine, and the Discovery Channel. Dr.

Zhu's research focuses on the modeling and simulation of mechanical behavior of materials at the nano- to macroscale. Some of the scientific questions he is working to answer include understanding how materials fail due to the combined mechanical and chemical effects, what are the atomistic mechanisms governing the brittle to ductile transition in crystals, why the introduction of nano-sized twins can significantly increase the rate sensitivity of nano-crystals, and how domain structures affect the reliability of ferroelectric ceramics and thin films.

Billyde Brown is a Senior Research Faculty and Education and Workforce Development (EWD) Director at the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute (GTMI), one of eleven interdisciplinary research institutes at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Dr. Brown also serves as a Manufacturing Advisor at the Georgia MBDA (Minority Business Development Agency) Business Center where he connects minority-owned business clients with resources and expertise at Georgia Tech and provides assistance with prototyping and engineering services.

Muhannad S. Bakir is the Dan Fielder Professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Georgia Tech. He and his research group have received more than thirty paper and presentation awards including six from the IEEE Electronic Components and Technology Conference (ECTC), four from the IEEE International Interconnect Technology Conference (IITC), and one from the IEEE Custom Integrated Circuits Conference (CICC). Bakir’s group was awarded 2014 and 2017 Best Papers of the IEEE Transactions on Components Packaging and Manufacturing Technology (TCPMT).

Raghu Pucha obtained his Ph.D. in 1995 from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. He held post-doctoral research positions at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore and Purdue University, West Lafayette before coming to Georgia Tech in 2000. 

Colton's research interests are in the areas of design and manufacturing, focusing on polymers and polymer composites. Processing techniques, such as micro-molding, injection molding, filament winding, resin transfer molding and the like, are studied and used to fabricate these devices and products, such as smart composite structures.