Georgia Tech Research Podcast

This episode features Chris Olinde, co-lead for the Sparking Technology Innovation and Growth (STING) professional development program. In this episode, podcast host Chelsea Selby interviews Chris about the STING program. She then talks with two STING sponsors from Cohort 3, 1LT Chris Aliperti and SFC Bill Wilder, both with the U.S. Army 3rdInfantry Division (3ID) at Ft. Stewart, Ga. Chelsea discusses their sponsorship of a STING problem and the result of working with their STING team. Finally, Chelsea interviews Elise Young and DJ Akers, two members from the STING team who worked on the 3ID problem in spring of 2022. They describe their experience with STING and how they arrived at the potential solution recommended to 3ID.

In this episode of the Georgia Tech Research Podcast, host Chelsea Selby talks to GTRI's Mark S. Whorton, Ph.D., GTRI's Chief Technology Officer, about GTRI's Independent Research and Development (IRAD) program. They discuss what the program entails; what makes a good IRAD project; and IRADs' impact on GTRI and the larger society. This episode is in anticipation of GTRI's June 17 IRAD Extravaganza.

Talking Points:

• The IRAD program funds discretionary research within Georgia Tech.
• The eight GTRI labs know the sponsors' needs and interests best. The IRAD program focuses on enabling those developments within the labs that are needed by the sponsors.
• Georgia Tech and GTRI have a broad range of funding categories we invest in, tailored either towards lab strategies or Institute-level strategies.
• Working across the different organizations is a very important aspect of the research we do.

In this episode of the Georgia Tech Research Podcast, host Scott McAtee talks to Glenn Lightsey, Ph.D., of Georgia Tech, and GTRI's Jud Ready, Ph.D., about their collaboration efforts on the Lunar Flashlight, a CubeSat that will be launched into space with a mission to map water and ice deposits on the moon's surface.

Talking Points:

• Lunar Flashlight was developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Georgia Tech, and NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC).
• Researchers in Georgia Tech's School of Aerospace Engineering worked with MSFC to develop the spacecraft's propulsion system – a new technology that uses an improved environmentally-friendly propellant.
• The team collaborated with GTRI to assemble and test the Lunar Flashlight in a set of unique facilities in Atlanta.

In this episode of the Georgia Tech Research podcast, host Scott McAtee talks to Dr. Michael Hunter from the Georgia Tech civil engineering department and Dr. Sean Wilson from the Georgia Tech Research Institute's Aerospace Transportation and Advanced Systems Laboratory (ATAS). They discuss the benefits and problems of automated vehicles (AVs), as well as what is actually possible in AV development and what needs future research.

Talking Points:

• Dr. Hunter is a professor in the Georgia Tech Civil Engineering department and has been delivering presentations on Autonomous Vehicles for years, including a 2016 Friday Morning Seminar at Georgia Tech Research Institute. His insight is centered around the application and support infrastructure for AV.
• Dr. Sean Wilson is a Senior Research Engineer in the GTRI Aerospace, Transportation & Advanced Systems Laboratory. His insight is centered around the technology needed to implement AV systems, with a focus on Department of Defense projects.
• The podcast questions focused on:
  • Each guest's background in AV and what they are currently doing in the field.
  • What the definition of an AV is from their perspective.
  • What are the principal drivers of AV systems (Safety? Economics? Cost-Benefit? Other?).
  • Where would each guest place the progress of AV systems across the country, by percent AV converted.
  • What are the immediate, near term, and long-term challenges in the AV technology development and application spaces.

Links:

Georgia Tech news article: Will driverless cars make our traffic problems worse?

Projects funded through Georgia Tech's "Autonomous Transportation and Connected Roads" Seed Grant Program

In this episode, podcast host Matthew Habib talks to Ai-Ping Hu, Ph.D., about a peachlet-picking robot developed to automate the normally labor-intensive spring "thinning" process. Dr. Hu shares details on the development of the robot, as well as its potential impact on the peach growing industry.

In this episode, podcast host Scott McAtee talks to Chelsea Selby and Matthew Selleck about their military careers, how their military careers help them in their current professional fields, and resources they currently find helpful as military Veterans. This episode is dedicated to our talented veterans at Georgia Tech and GTRI.

In this episode, we hear from Carlos Davila, Ph.D., principal research engineer with the Sensors and Electromagnetic Applications Laboratory (SEAL) at GTRI and Julian Rimoli, Ph.D., the Pratt & Whitney professor in the Aerospace Engineering department at the Georgia Institute of Technology. They share their experiences in mentorship, serving their communities, and using their unique backgrounds. This episode is devoted to recognizing our talented Hispanic and Latinx employees at Georgia Tech in honor of National Hispanic Heritage Month.

In this episode we hear from Lavonda Brown, Ph.D., founder and CEO of EyeGageTM, as she shares about creating her start-up. Brown is a Georgia Institute of Technology graduate (PHD-Electrical Engineering, MBA), and was formerly a researcher in the GTRI Aerospace, Transportation and Advanced Systems (ATAS) Laboratory.

In this episode we hear stories from Sally Ng, Ph.D., associate professor, Tanner Faculty Fellow at Georgia Tech in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, and Raj Vuchatu, GTRI chief information 0fficer (CIO). They share stories about the value of mentorship and community in building their careers.

In this episode we share stories from Juanita Slayton of Georgia Tech, and John Q. Jones & Miles Paca of GTRI, some of our unsung heroes who battled the pandemic in support of GT and GTRI. Hear some of their experiences in the latest episode of the Georgia Tech Research podcast.