Andreas (Andy) S. Bommarius is a professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering as well of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, GA.  He received his diploma in Chemistry in 1984 at the Technical University of Munich, Germany and his Chemical Engineering B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in 1982 and 1989 at MIT, Cambridge, MA.

From 1990-2000, he led the Laboratory of Enzyme Catalysis at Degussa (now Evonik) in Wolfgang, Germany, where his work ranged from immobilizing homogenous catalysts in membrane reactors to large-scale cofactor-regenerated redox reactions to pharma intermediates.

At Georgia Tech since 2000, his research interests cover green chemistry and biomolecular engineering, specifically biocatalyst development and protein stability studies.  His lab applies data-driven protein engineering to improve protein properties on catalysts ranging from ene and nitro reductases to cellobiohydrolases.  Bommarius has guided the repositioning of the curriculum towards Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering by developing new courses in Process Design, Biocatalysis and Metabolic Engineering, as well as Drug Design, Development, and Delivery (D4), an interdisciplinary course with Mark Prausnitz.

Andy Bommarius in 2008 became a Fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering.  Since 2010, he is Director of the NSF-I/UCR Center for Pharmaceutical Development (CPD), a Center focusing on process development, drug substance and product stability, and novel analytical methods for the characterization of drug substances and excipients.

Satish Kumar is currently an Associate professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech. He joined Georgia Tech in 2009 as an Assistant Professor. Prior, he worked at IBM Corporation where he was responsible for the thermal management of electronic devices. Kumar received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering and M.S. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Purdue University, West Lafayette in 2007. He received his M.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge in 2003 and B.Tech. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati in 2001. His research interests are in electro-thermal transport in carbon nanotube, graphene, and 2D materials based electronic devices, AlGaN/GaN transistors, thermal management, and thermo-electric coolers. He is author or co-author of over 70 journal or conference publications. His contributions to his research field have been recognized by Purdue Research Foundation Fellowship in 2005, 1969 Teaching Fellow from Center for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning Center at Georgia Tech, 2012 Summer Faculty Fellow from Air Force Research Lab, 2014 Sigma Xi Young Faculty Award, and 2014 DARPA Young Faculty Award.

Dr. Spyros G. Pavlostathis is Professor Emeritus of Environmental Engineering at the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA. A recipient of the Fulbright Scholarship, Dr. Pavlostathis completed his MS and Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering at Cornell University after obtaining his Diploma in Agricultural Engineering at the Agricultural University of Athens, Greece. He is also the recipient of an Honorary Doctorate Degree from the Hellenic Open University, Greece. Dr. Pavlostathis is a Board Certified Environmental Engineer Member of the American Academy of Environmental Engineers and Scientists (AAEES), and a Fellow of International Water Association (IWA), Water Environment Federation (WEF), and American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).

Dr. Pavlostathis is internationally recognized for his research and expertise in the areas of environmental biotechnology and bioprocess engineering. His recent research focused on bioenergy production via co-digestion of high-strength waste and municipal sludge, as well as bioelectrochemical systems for hydrogen production and the upgrade of anaerobic digestion biogas. His research was funded by NSF, EPA, USDA, DOE, USGS, DOD, SERDP, EPRI, NY State ERDA, State of Georgia TIP, as well as numerous industrial foundations, municipalities and companies. Dr. Pavlostathis has published over 200 peer-reviewed papers and authored over 250 publications including books or book chapters. Dr. Pavlostathis has organized or chaired over 50 conferences and conference sessions and frequently serves as a consultant, invited speaker and panelist on behalf of city, county, state and federal agencies in the US and abroad. An active member of several professional organizations, Dr. Pavlostathis has served on the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Environmental Engineering, Water Science & Technology, Biotechnology Letters, Journal of Hazardous Materials, Water Environment Research, Water Quality Research Journal, and Environment International.

Dr. Pavlostathis is the recipient of numerous fellowships, awards and distinctions. Throughout his academic career, Dr. Pavlostathis has been a dedicated educator of future environmental engineers, teaching at both the undergraduate and graduate level. Committed to the mission of teaching, he was actively engaged in the development of curriculum and was involved in the advisement of both graduate and undergraduate engineering students. In recognition of his experience and high standing in the education of aspiring engineers he has been invited to give over 50 short courses and lectures both nationally and worldwide. He has served abroad as an evaluator of engineering curricula and programs, as well as an external thesis reviewer. Through his research activities, he has mentored 23 post-doctoral fellows and visiting scholars, 17 Ph.D. and 25 MS students, who have gone on to work in consulting, state and federal regulatory agencies, as well as academia, and provided many research opportunities for undergraduate students.

Research

• Environmental biotechnology and bioprocess engineering for the bioremediation of contaminated natural systems and the treatment of industrial and municipal wastewater
• Fate and biotransformation of recalcitrant organic compounds and emerging environmental contaminants
• Disinfectant-induced antibiotic resistance
• Bioenergy and biofuels from biomass and waste streams
• Microbial fuel cell and bioelectrochemical technology
• Kinetics, modeling and simulation of biotransformation and biotreatment processes

Education

• Ph.D.: Environmental Engineering (Major)/Biochemical Engineering (Minor), Cornell University, 1985
• M.S.:  Environmental Engineering (Major)/Agricultural Waste Management (Minor), Cornell University, 1982
• Diploma: Agricultural Engineering, Agricultural University of Athens, Greece, 1974

Distinctions & Awards

(2013 onwards)

• Georgia Institute of Technology/School of Civil & Environmental Engineering – Sustained Research Award (2013)
• Association of Environmental Engineers and Scientists (AEES), Georgia Institute of Technology – Outstanding Faculty Award (2014)
• Co-advisor, Georgia Institute of Technology/AEES Best Ph.D. Thesis Award (P. Sun; 2014)
• Co-advisor, ACS/Division of Environmental Chemistry – Graduate Student Best Paper Award (P. Sun; 2014)
• Honorary Professorship in Innovative Pollution Control and Resources Reuse, Chinese Ministry of Education (111 Program); Tongji University, College of Environmental Science & Engineering, Shanghai, P. R. China (2014 – 2017)

As Director of Activities for three of Tech's Interdisciplinary Research Institutes: the Strategic Energy Institute, the Renewable Bioproducts Institute, and the Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems, I'll help bring together researchers from different disciplines to address topics of strategic importance. Each interdisciplinary research group mobilizes faculty to address the needs of external stakeholders (federal, state, and local entities, corporations, foundations, and communities) by fostering an Institute-wide innovation ecosystem around a specific focus.