Julien Meaud joined Georgia Tech as an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering in August 2013. Before joining Georgia Tech, he worked as a research fellow in the Vibrations and Acoustics Laboratory and in the Computational Mechanics Laboratory at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. 

Dr. Meaud investigates the mechanics and physics of complex biological systems and the mechanics and design of engineering materials using theoretical and computational tools. 

One of his research interests is auditory mechanics. In this research, he develops computational multiphysics models of the mammalian ear based on the finite element method. The mammalian ear is a nonlinear transducer with excellent frequency selectivity, high sensitivity, and good transient capture. The goal of this basic scientific research is to better understand how the mammalian ear achieves these characteristics. This research could have important clinical applications as it could help in the development of better treatment and the improvement of diagnostic tools for hearing loss. It could also have engineering applications, such as the design of biometic sensors. This research is truly interdisciplinary as it includes aspects of computational mechanics, structural acoustics, nonlinear dynamics, biomechanics and biophysics. 

Dr. Meaud is also interested in the mechanics, design and optimization of composite materials, particularly of their response to cyclic loads. Tradtional engineering and natural materials with high damping (such as rubber) tends to have low stiffness. However, the microarchitecture of composite materials that consist of a lossy polymer and a stiff constituent can be designed to simultaneously obtain high stiffness and high damping. Using computational tools such as finite element methods and topology optimization, the goal of Dr. Meaud's research is to design composite materials with these unconventional properties. One of his future goal is to extend the design of these materials to the finite strain regime and high frequency ranges, in order to obtained materials tailored for the targetted application. This research includes aspects of mechanics of materials, computational mechanics and structural dynamics. 

In Dr. Meaud's research group, students will learn theoretical and computational techniques that are used extensively to solve engineering problems in academic research and industry. Students will develop knowledge and expertise in a broad array of mechanical engineering areas. The knowledge that students will gain in computational mechanics, nonlinear and structural dynamics, structural acoustics, dynamics and composite materials could be applied to many domains in their future career.

Dr. Arvanitis joined Georgia Institute of Technology as a joint Assistant Professor at the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering in August 2016. Before joining Georgia Institute of Technology he was Instructor (Research Faculty) at Harvard Medical Scholl and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Dr. Arvanitis has also worked as a research fellow in the Biomedical Ultrasonics, Biotherapy and Biopharmaceuticals Laboratory at the Institute of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Oxford.

I am a rehabilitation neuroscientist keenly interested in the brain's capacity for change in response to rehabilitation after injury or in the context of disease. My work incorporates multimodal neuroimaging and neurostimulation approaches to investigate brain structure and function. The overarching aim of this work is to uncover the key neural substrates supporting motor control and motor learning to enable the design of optimal rehabilitation strategies to maximize recovery of function following neurologic injury.

Candace C. Fleischer, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences at the Emory University School of Medicine. Dr. Fleischer also holds a faculty appointment at the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University. She serves as the director of the Biomedical Spectroscopy and Imaging Laboratory.

Dr. Fleischer is a spectroscopist with formal training in physical chemistry and biomedical engineering. Her research group is highly collaborative and focused on the development of new MR spectroscopy and imaging technologies for biomedical and translational applications. 

Current projects include the development of magnetic resonance-based methods for identifying inflammatory biomarkers in malignant brain tumors; and creating new tools for non-invasively measuring brain temperature with applications in cerebrovascular and cardiovascular injury. Her laboratory is also committed to community outreach and increasing scientific literacy.

Dr. Nicholas M. Boulis is a neurosurgeon in Atlanta, Georgia and is affiliated with multiple hospitals in the area, including Emory University Hospital Midtown and Grady Memorial Hospital. He received his medical degree from Harvard Medical School and has been in practice for more than 20 years.

Dr. Gross’s research interests include: restorative approaches (including cell and gene therapy) for Parkinson's disease and other neurodegenerative disorders; physiology of movement disorders (Parkinson's disease, tremor, dystonia); novel surgical techniques for epilepsy (e.g. deep brain stimulation, cell and gene therapy). In particular, he has been elucidating the role of axon guidance molecules in the development and reconstruction of the nigrostriatal pathway, which degenerates in P.D. This approach, which encompasses molecular and cellular engineering in combination with neurotransplantation, may be generally useful in reconstructive approaches for many types of nervous system degeneration and injury. 

In July of 2007, Dr. Gross, along with Steve M. Potter, Ph.D. of the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University, was the recipient of a prestigious grant from The Epilepsy Research Foundation (ERF) for translational research funding awards supporting innovative epilepsy products. The grant supports the development of a novel electrical stimulation approach that directly controls the activity of the brain to attain a more stable state from which seizures will not arise.

Gary J. Bassell, Ph.D. joined the faculty at Emory University School of Medicine in 2005, where he is currently Professor and Chair of the Department of Cell Biology. His personal lab’s main interest is in understanding the mechanisms and functions of mRNA transport and local protein synthesis in neurons of the central and peripheral nervous system. The lab utilizes in vitro and in vivo mouse models and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) to study the basic mechanism, regulation and function of mRNA localization and local translation in axonal growth cones and dendritic spines. Prior to moving Emory, Dr. Bassell was a member of the faculty at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, in the Department of Anatomy and Structural Biology (1995-1998) and subsequently in the Department of Neuroscience and Rose Kennedy Center for Mental Retardation (1998-2005). 

Physiological and biomechanical mechanisms underlying fine motor skills and their adjustments and adaptations to heightened sympathetic nerve activity, aging or inactivity, space flight or microgravity, neuromuscular fatigue, divided attention, and practice in humans. He uses state-of-the-art techniques in neuroscience, physiology, and biomechanics (e.g., TMS, EEG, fMRI, single motor unit recordings, microneurography, mechanomyography, ultrasound elastography, and exoskeleton robot) in identifying these mechanisms.

Kim joined the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering as an Assistant Professor in July 2013. Prior to his current appointment, he was a Postdoctoral Associate in the David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT, where he developed biomimetic microsystems for probing nanoparticle behaviors in the inflamed endothelium and for synthesizing therapeutic and diagnostic nanomaterials. His doctorate research at CMU focused on closed-loop microfluidic control systems for lab-on-a-chip applications to biochemistry and developmental biology. Prior to his Ph.D., he was a researcher in areas of dynamics, controls, and robotics at R&D Divisions of Hyundai-Kia Motors and Samsung Electronics for six years.