Christopher Muhlstein has worked as an engineering consultant at Exponent, Inc. (Failure Analysis Associates). In September, 2002 he joined the faculty in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at The Pennsylvania State University and was tenured and promoted to associate professor in 2008.

Muhlstein’s research focuses on understanding the mechanisms of fracture and fatigue in bulk and thin film materials, including polymers, composites, metals, and ceramics. He is a Co-PI of the Composite Hybrid Materials Interfacing ( CHMI ) NSF-funded Industry-University Cooperative Research Center (IUCRC) and Associate Director of the Mechanical Properties Characterization Facility ( MPCF ). He currently serves as the Program Chair of the 15th International Conference on Fracture ( ICF15 ).

Education

• Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley (2002)
• M.S. in Metallurgy from the Georgia Institute of Technology (1996)
• B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley (1994)

Teaching Interests

Professor Muhlstein’s teaching interests center on undergraduate and graduate courses in materials science and engineering, with an emphasis on the mechanical behavior of materials, fracture mechanics, and materials characterization techniques. He is committed to providing students with a solid foundation in the principles governing material performance and failure, fostering analytical and experimental skills relevant to both academia and industry.

Research Interests

Professor Muhlstein’s research focuses on understanding the mechanical behavior and failure mechanisms of structural materials, including metals and ceramics. His work includes experimental and modeling approaches to characterize fracture, fatigue, and damage evolution under various environmental and loading conditions. This research aims to improve materials reliability and inform the design of advanced materials with enhanced performance in structural applications.

Awards

• ACS Petroleum Research Fund Doctoral New Investigator Award, 2018

• NIH Ruth L. Kirschtein Postdoctoral Fellowship, 2013

, • BSF Travel Grant for Young Scientists, 2013

, • BMS Graduate Fellowship in Organic Chemistry, 2013

, • Roche Excellence in Chemistry Award, 2012

, • NSF Predoctoral Fellowship, 2009

Education

B.S., University of Oklahoma, 2008; Ph.D., The Scripps Research Institute, 2013; NIH Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California Santa Barbara, 2013-2016

Research

The Gutekunst Lab is interested in pushing the limits of complexity in macromolecular systems using innovative concepts from synthetic organic chemistry. Specific projects in the lab will explore the design of novel monomers for the construction of functional polyamides, the development of small molecule reagents for the dynamic modulation of branched polymer architectures, and the investigation of new concepts for creating covalent bonds in challenging contexts. Each of these research projects will enable the generation of new functional materials with structures or assemblies that were previously inaccessible for study. Prospective students will obtain extensive training in synthetic organic chemistry, as well as polymer synthesis and characterization.

Research Keywords

Organic and Materials Chemistry; Polymer chemistry informed by modern organic synthesis; Dynamic control of polymer structure and function; New functional and recyclable materials.

Biography

Christos Athanasiou is an Assistant Professor at Georgia Tech’s Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering, where he leads the Daedalus Lab. The lab’s mission is to advance the fundamental understanding of the mechanics and physics of materials to address global challenges in energy access, resource efficiency, and sustainable development. His work integrates advanced experimental methods that capture material behavior under realistic operational conditions, rational mechanics-based design principles, and tailored AI- and physics-driven modeling. Together, these elements inform systems-level design and decision-making, enabling the development of a new generation of life-cycle-efficient, cost-effective plastic composites and structures for demanding applications ranging from low-cost sustainable packaging to unmanned vehicles and space construction.

Christos is the recipient of the NSF CAREER Award, the ASME Orr Early Career Award, the ASME Eshelby Mechanics Award for Young Faculty and was a Climate Tech Fellow at the New York Climate Exchange. His research has been featured by Forbes, The Weather Channel, WSB-TV, and other media outlets, and he has delivered a talk at TEDx Atlanta.

Christos holds a Ph.D. in Photonics from EPFL and conducted postdoctoral research at Brown University’s School of Engineering, and later jointly at Brown University and the MIT Media Lab.

Teaching Interests

Professor Athanasiou teaches solid mechanics and structures, from statics and experimental solid mechanics to fracture. His teaching emphasizes physical intuition, analytical clarity, and systems thinking, enabling students to see the whole before the parts and to lead in modern science and engineering.

Research Interests

The Christos Athanasiou Lab advances the fundamental mechanics and physics of materials, with these insights informing systems-level design and decision-making to address challenges in resource efficiency and sustainable development. His work integrates advanced experimental methods that capture material behavior under realistic operational conditions, rational mechanics-based design principles, and tailored AI- and physics-driven modeling. Together, these efforts enable the development of life-cycle-efficient, cost-effective materials and structures for demanding applications ranging from sustainable packaging to space construction.

Research

Disciplines:

• Structural Mechanics & Materials

AE Multidisciplinary Research Areas:

• Large-Scale Computations, Data, and Analytics
• Mechanics of Multifunctional Structures and Materials
• Space Exploration and Earth Monitoring
• Sustainable Transportation and Energy Systems

Education

• Postdoc, Brown University & Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT);
• PhD, Photonics, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), 2018;
• Diploma, Applied Physics, National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), 2012

Recent Publications

• D. Georgiou, D. Sun, X. Liu, C. E. Athanasiou* “Suppressing Mechanical Property Variability in Recycled Plastics via Bio-inspired Design”, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2025)
• D. Georgiou, D. Okegbu, Z. Yang, T. Wang, M. R. Snowdon, A. Mohanty, N. Gershenfeld, W. Yan, C. E. Athanasiou*, “Eco-voxels: Building Blocks for Sustainable Load-Bearing Structures” Matter (2025)
• R. Yi, D. Georgiou, X. Liu, C. E. Athanasiou* “Symbolic Regression-based, Model Free, Method for Fracture Investigations”, Journal of Mechanics & Physics of Solids (2025)
• P. M. Stathatou, C. E. Athanasiou, M. Realff, “From Circularity to Spirality: An Integrated, Systems-Level Approach to Address the Plastics Problem”, Journal of the American Chemical Society (2025)
• D. Gokhale, P. M. Stathatou, C. E. Athanasiou, P. S. Doyle, “Yeast-laden Hydrogel Capsules for Scalable Trace Lead Removal from Water”, RSC Sustainability (2024)

Dr. Aidun joined the Woodruff School as a Professor in 2003 after completion of a two-year period as program director at the National Science Foundation. He began at Tech in 1988 as an Assistant Professor at the Institute of Paper Science and Technology. Prior, he was a research Scientist at Battelle Research Laboratories, Postdoctoral Associate at Cornell University and Senior Research Consultant at the National Science Foundation's Supercomputer Center at Cornell. 

Dr. Aidun's research is at the intersection between fundamentals of the physics of complex fluids/thermal transport and applications to engineering and biotransport. He has a diverse research portfolio in fluid mechanics, bioengineering, renewable bioproducts and decarbonization of industrial processes. 

A major focus has been to understand the physics of blood cell transport and interaction with glycoproteins (e.g., vWF) with applications to cardiovascular diseases.

Chen has an extensive research interests in environmental science and engineering. More specifically, he is a leading researcher in the environmental applications of nanomaterials and their potential fate, transport, transformation, bioaccumulation and toxicity in the environment. His interests in environmental nanomaterials dated back in his graduate research in 1992. He has also been active on algae based bio-renewable energy and sustainable urban development. Chen has been principle and co-principal investigators for 28 research projects (by June 2010) funded by the National Science Foundation, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, NASA, Boeing and other organizations. The total funds are $7 million. He has also served as a review member or panel review member in the U.S. National Science Foundation, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Energy evaluation committee. He has also been invited to serve as an abroad review expert for the China Changjiang Scholars Program (which is to awarded to the top researchers in China). He has published more than 40 papers and two book chapters in this field.

Chen received his Ph.D in Nankai University, China. He joined the Georgia Tech School of Civil and Environmental Engineering in May 2009.

Blair Brettmann received her B.S. in chemical engineering at the University of Texas at Austin in 2007. She received her Master’s in chemical engineering practice from MIT in 2009 following internships at GlaxoSmithKline (Upper Merion, PA) and Mawana Sugar Works (Mawana, India). Blair received her Ph.D. in chemical engineering at MIT in 2012 working with the Novartis-MIT Center for Continuous Manufacturing under Professor Bernhardt Trout. Her research focused on solid-state characterization and application of pharmaceutical formulations prepared by electrospinning. Following her Ph.D., Brettmann worked as a research engineer for Saint-Gobain Ceramics and Plastics for two years. While at Saint-Gobain she worked on polymer-based wet coatings and dispersions for various applications, including window films, glass fiber mats and architectural fabrics. Later, Brettmann served as a postdoctoral researcher in the Institute for Molecular Engineering at the University of Chicago with Professor Matthew Tirrell. Currently, Brettmann is an assistant professor with joint appointments in chemical and biomolecular engineering and Materials Science and Engineering at Georgia Tech.

Dr. Boukouvala is originally from Piraeus, which is the port of Athens in Greece. As the daughter of an airforce pilot, she travelled a lot with her family. Her first international move was actually to the USA, where she spent one year in Montgomery, Alabama. She later on lived in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and Crete, Greece, before returning to Athens to get her B.S Degree in Chemical Engineering from the National Technical University in Athens. In 2008, she moved back to the US to obtain a PhD in Chemical Engineering at Rutgers University in NJ. She then worked as a Postdoctoral Associate in both Princeton University and Texas A&M University. In August 2016, Dr. Boukouvala returned to the South East US, as an Assistant Professor in the School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at Georgia Tech. 

Her research interest in Process Systems Engineering (PSE) started during her PhD years, where she worked under the supervision of Dr. Marianthi Ierapetritou, on modeling and optimization of continuous pharmaceutical manufacturing. Her background on optimization and data-driven modeling was enhanced during her years as a postdoc with the late Christodoulos A. Floudas. Dr. Boukouvala is a proud 4th generation member of the academic family tree of the father of PSE, Roger Sargent.