Jenny became an Assistant Professor at Georgia Tech in August 2017. She uses both modern and paleontological specimens to identify how populations, species, and communities have responded to past climate change. Her goal is to identify strategies to conserve as much biodiversity as possible given rapidly shifting climates. She received her PhD from the Dept. of Integrative Biology at UC-Berkeley, and did postdoctoral research at the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center and at the University of Washington.

Yuanzhi Tang is the executive director of the Strategic Energy Institute and the Georgia Power professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences and the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. She is the founding director of the Center for Critical Mineral Solutions.

Tang received her bachelor’s degrees in geology and economics from Peking University, Ph.D. in geosciences from Stony Brook University, and completed her postdoctoral research in environmental chemistry at Harvard University. She has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed articles, holds three patents, and serves as co-editor in chief of Chemical Geology. She has held multiple professional leadership roles, including chair of the American Chemical Society Geochemistry Division.

Her research and leadership integrate earth, environmental, biological, materials, and sustainability sciences and innovations to advance secure, circular, and sustainable energy systems. At Georgia Tech, she leads interdisciplinary and multi-institutional collaborations with universities, national labs, industry, and state agencies to drive regional resource innovation and economic development. Her leadership emphasizes ecosystem building, workforce development, and translating research into tangible societal and economic impacts.

Tang joined the Georgia Tech faculty in 2013 as an assistant professor and is now a professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences and the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Dr. Jennifer Hirsch is an applied cultural anthropologist recognized internationally for fostering university and community engagement in sustainability and climate action. At the Georgia Institute of Technology, she is the inaugural Director of the Center for Sustainable Communities Research & Education (SCoRE), creating a culture of collaboration in which students, faculty, and staff engage in long-term relationships with community, government, and industry partners to build sustainable communities.

Dr. Hirsch’s research and teaching interests focus on: 1) equity in the sustainable built environment; 2) grassroots sustainability innovation; and 3) community leadership in energy equity.

Dr. Hirsch is also a co-founder and lead coordinator of RCE Greater Atlanta – a Regional Centre of Expertise on Education for Sustainable Development - officially acknowledged in 2017 by the United Nations University. She is also Adjunct Associate Professor at Georgia Tech’s School of City and Regional Planning. She serves on the faculty of The Asset-Based Community Development Institute hosted by DePaul University and on the Board of Directors of AASHE (Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education).

Before coming to Georgia Tech, Dr. Hirsch worked in Chicago as Associate Director of Study Abroad at Northwestern University; as Urban Anthropology Director at The Field Museum of Natural History; and as an independent consultant with clients such as the City of Cleveland, Enterprise Community Partners, the U.S. Green Building Council, The Institute of Cultural Affairs, University of Illinois at Chicago, and Joliet Junior College. Dr. Hirsch received a Bachelor’s degree in American Culture from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois and a Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology from Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.

Tarek Rakha is a researcher, educator, and entrepreneur who integrates building design technology and environmental sustainability with the needs of underserved communities. He is Associate Professor of Architecture and Director of the High Performance Building Lab (HPBL) at Georgia Tech, and Co-founder and CEO of Lamarr.AI, a startup that commercializes technology developed through his funded academic research. Tarek is an architect by training, and before joining Georgia Tech in 2019 he was Assistant Professor at Syracuse University, after earning a Ph.D. in Building Technology from MIT in 2015.

Tarek develops novel areas of scholarship focusing on aerial data and robotics for building envelope diagnostics using computer-vision drones, urban energy sensing and computational informatics, as well as heat vulnerability and outdoor thermal comfort modeling at the building and neighborhood scales. His research received support worth over $4M (total project volume ~$7M) from federal agencies such as the US DOE, ARPA-E, and the NSF. His work was also funded by state authorities such as NYSERDA and both NYSDOT and GDOT, philanthropies such as the Sloan Foundation, as well as corporate sponsors including the Coca-Cola Company. He has published his work as author and co-author in more than 70 peer-reviewed journal and conference papers and two have won best paper awards in conferences. He was recently nationally recognized by the Emerging Contributor Award from IBPSA-USA.

As an educator, Tarek connects design, technology, and climate change-centered studios and courses with social justice and the needs of marginalized communities. He was awarded the Georgia Tech Student Recognition of Excellence in Teaching: Class of 1934 Award based on exceptional student evaluation surveys. In 2022, He mentored the DOE’s Solar Decathlon Design Challenge Residential Division Grand Winner team. The team also took home first place in the contest's new Retrofit Housing division. In addition, student groups in his co-taught design studio competed against 400+ submissions in the AIA and ACSA’s 2019 International Design Competition: Here+Now, and won 1st Place and an Honorable Mention (2/6 awards). Furthermore, he coalesces service with his scholarship. He was invited to the Symposium on Simulation for Architecture and Urban Design’s board (SimAUD), and co-edited two conference proceedings as the 2018 General Chair in TU Delft and as the 2019 Program Chair and host of the 10-year anniversary at Georgia Tech.

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Andrea Pinabell joins the Strategic Energy Institute as a Distinguished External Fellow beginning in September 2026. A member of SEI’s External Advisory Board and a former External Fellow (2023-24), Pinabell brings decades of experience at the intersection of sustainability, industry engagement, and community partnership. As an External Fellow, she will help SEI and EPICenter strategically connect academic expertise with industry needs, advancing opportunities for collaboration and impact.

Pinabell is well known throughout the Georgia Tech community for her leadership and engagement across a range of energy and sustainability initiatives, including:

• Membership on SEI’s External Advisory Board.
• Four years of service on the Ray C. Anderson Center for Sustainable Business Advisory Board.
• Leadership of outreach and knowledge-sharing efforts related to the Kendeda Building’s construction and launch, showcasing innovative practices developed by project partners.
• Participation in the founding and launch of RCE Greater Atlanta.
• Collaboration on Drawdown Georgia research and the subsequent launch of the Drawdown Georgia Business Compact.
• Frequent speaking engagements on sustainability and related topics across campus.