Alexander Oettl

Alexander Oettl's profile picture
alex.oettl@scheller.gatech.edu

Alex Oettl joined Scheller in 2009.  His research interests include the economics of innovation, knowledge spillovers, labor mobility, and economic geography.  His current work focuses on the production and diffusion of ideas at the individual, firm, and regional level.

Professor Oettl's research has been published in Management Science, Organization Science, Nature, Journal of Financial Economics, Review of Economics and Statistics, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), Journal of Urban Economics, Research Policy, Journal of International Business Studies, profiled in multiple media outlets, and presented at business schools around the world. He is a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research and a recipient of the Kauffman Junior Faculty Fellowship in Entrepreneurship Research.

PhD Coordinator, Strategy & Innovation
Co-Site Lead, CDL-Atlanta
Associate Professor
Phone
404-385-4570
Additional Research

Economics of InnovationProduction and Diffusion of Ideas

University, College, and School/Department

Michael Helms

Michael Helms's profile picture
mhelms3@gatech.edu

Michael Helms is a versatile professional with backgrounds in cognitive science, design theory, technology consulting, computer programming and financial services. He completed a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Georgia Institute of Technology in 2013, and recently completed NSF's entrepreneurial I-CORPS program as an entrepreneurial lead. Prior to receiving his Ph.D., he worked as a technology consultant building business cases for the development of large data infrastructure projects. In conjunction with with the Center for Biologically Inspired Design he provides design consulting services focused on product innovation by leveraging insight gleaned from 3.8 billion years of evolution. Most recently, Helms began research with the Center for Education (CEISMC), working on modeling school interventions as complex social systems.

Co-Director, Center for Biologically Inspired Design
Senior Research Scientist
Research Focus Areas

Hailong Chen

Hailong Chen
hailong.chen@me.gatech.edu

Hailong Chen received his B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering from Tsinghua University in 1999, his M.S. in Chemistry from Tsinghua University in 2002, and his Ph.D. in Chemistry from Stony Brook University in 2009. Following his doctoral studies, he conducted postdoctoral research in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering (DMSE) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Chen joined the faculty of Georgia Tech in November 2013, was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 2020, and to Professor in 2026.
 

Professor, George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering
Courtesy faculty appointment, School of Materials Science and Engineering
Courtesy faculty appointment, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Phone
404.385.5598
Office
Love 329
Additional Research

Chen’s research lies at the intersection of materials science, chemistry, and engineering, with a focus on the design, synthesis, and characterization of materials for electrochemical energy storage, functional and structural metals and alloys, and emerging quantum materials. His group combines solid-state chemistry, electrochemistry, and materials synthesis with advanced in situ and operando characterization, including X-ray diffraction and synchrotron-based techniques, to understand and control relationships among materials synthesis, structure, properties, and performance. A major emphasis of his research is the development of high-throughput and autonomous approaches for materials discovery and synthesis, integrating advanced characterization with AI- and machine-learning-driven materials design. An emerging research direction focuses on high-throughput synthesis and operando mapping of quantum materials phase space, with the goal of accelerating the discovery of synthesis–structure–property relationships in quantum and quantum-enabling materials. His group also develops novel synthesis strategies for nanostructured and functional materials, with broader interests in energy storage, sustainability, and emerging materials technologies.
 

Google Scholar
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=M0ZEwtEAAAAJ&hl=en

Neha Kumar

Neha Kumar's profile picture
neha.kumar@gatech.edu

Neha Kumar is an Associate Professor jointly appointed at the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs and the School of Interactive Computing at Georgia Tech. Her research lies at the intersection of human-computer interaction and global sustainable development, with a focus on global health and community informatics. Her work contributes feminist perspectives to the design and integration of emerging technologies across marginalized contexts in the Global South. 

Her research has been recognized by multiple ACM Best Paper and Honorable Mention awards. Neha received the College of Computing's Lockheed Inspirational Young Faculty Award (2017) and the Lockheed Excellence in Teaching Award (2019). She currently serves as the President of ACM SIGCHI. She earned her Ph.D. in Information Management Systems from UC Berkeley, Master’s degrees in Computer Science and Education from Stanford University, and Bachelor’s in Computer Science and Applied Math from UC Berkeley.

Associate Professor
Additional Research

Human-Computer Interaction for Global Development