Sotira Yiacoumi

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sotira.yiacoumi@ce.gatech.edu

Dr. Sotira Z. Yiacoumi is currently a Professor in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. She received a Diploma of Engineering degree from the Aristotle University, Greece, in 1985, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Syracuse University in 1987 and 1992, respectively. After receiving her Ph.D. degree, she joined the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology as an Assistant Professor and was promoted to the rank of Associate Professor in 1997. Her research interests include colloidal and interfacial phenomena in environmental and energy systems. Her research contributions span the following areas: sorption phenomena, colloidal phenomena, influence of sorption on colloidal behavior, molecular techniques, and novel environmental processes. She has co-authored the book "Kinetics of Metal Ion Adsorption from Aqueous Solutions: Models, Algorithms, and Applications." In 1997, she received a National Science Foundation Career Award, entitled "CAREER: Influence of Sorption Rates on Particle Flocculation Kinetics." She was the chair of the organizing committee for the 77th American Chemical Society Colloid and Surface Science Symposium, which was held at the Georgia Institute of Technology during June 15-18, 2003.

Research

Interfacial and colloidal phenomena in environmental systems, Sorption of metal ions from aqueous solutions, Sorption/desorption of organic compounds from aqueous solutions by natural particles, Colloidal particle interactions in aquatic systems, Bubble interactions in gas/liquid reactive systems, Influence of sorption rates on particle flocculation kinetics

Professor, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Phone
(404) 894-2639
Additional Research

Separations Technology; Water

Research Focus Areas
University, College, and School/Department

Miguel Granier

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mdgranier@gatech.edu

Miguel Granier served as a distinguished external fellow of the Strategic Energy Institute in 2024-2025, and is currently the managing director of Cox Cleantech Accelerator by gener8tor. He has nearly two decades of experience financing businesses from startup to growth stage. As the founder/managing director of Invested Development (ID) and the Impact Factoring Fund (IFF), and founding investment manager for First Light Ventures, he led investments in dozens of startups across nine countries and three continents. Miguel began his career in finance as a loan officer for the global micro-finance organization ACCION and has worked for the insurance giant Fidelity National Financial in New York and the Delter Business Institute in Beijing, China. 

Miguel holds or has held board positions at more than a dozen start-ups, including Growing Energy Labs, Inc (acquired by Hanwha/Q-Cells), Simpa Networks (acquired by Engie), OnFarm (acquired by SWIIM Systems), and iHub (acquired by ccHub). He has also served on the boards of several non-profit organizations, including Greentown Labs, Village Capital, and Global Growers Network. 

Miguel has earned two Masters’ degrees from Georgia Tech in City and Regional Planning and Sustainable Energy and Environmental Management. In addition, he has been an adjunct faculty at the Monterrey Institute of International Studies, Northeastern University, and Georgia Tech. 

Research Focus Areas
IRI And Role

Jerry Seitzman

Jerry Seitzman's profile picture
jerry.seitzman@aerospace.gatech.edu

Dr. Seitzman joined Georgia Tech in 1994. He has expertise in the fields of optical flow diagnostics and sensors, combustion and combustion control, high temperature gas dynamics, laser spectroscopy, flow-field imaging and solid propellant combustion. He has authored more than 150 papers on these subjects. His experience includes development of optical sensors and diagnostics based on planar laser-induced fluorescence, line-of-sight absorption, chemiluminescence, particle image velocimetry, Raman scattering and laser-induced incandescence of soot, and their application in systems ranging from laboratory flames to high pressure combustors. Dr. Seitzman helped pioneer the development of planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF) and laser-induced incandescence as quantitative measurement techniques, and optical sensing of flame emission for active combustion control. The applications for this work include aircraft and spacecraft propulsion, ground-based power production, and heating systems.

Teaching Interests

Professor Seitzman's teaching interests include core aerospace engineering subjects with emphasis on propulsion, thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, physical gas dynamics, combustion processes and technical communications at both undergraduate and graduate levels. His instruction integrates fundamental engineering principles and practical applications. He actively involves students in problem-solving and critical analysis to foster a deeper understanding of these subjects.

Research Interests

Professor Seitzman's research centers on  combustion, optical flow diagnostics and sensors, and high temperature gas dynamics, and involves both experimental and modeling approaches. His work aims to improve the robustness, reliability and emissions performance of combustion-based propulsion systems and energy conversion devices,  as well as improving experimental techniques used to measure reacting and compressible flow fields. Research efforts engage both graduate and undergraduate students in advancing knowledge and developing novel methods in these areas.

Research

Lab/Collaborations:

  • Ben T. Zinn Combustion Laboratory

Disciplines:

  • Propulsion & Combustion
  • Aerodynamics & Fluid Mechanics

AE Multidisciplinary Research Areas:

  • Sustainable Transportation and Energy Systems

Education

B.S., Mechanical Engineering, 1982, University of Texas at Austin; M.S., Mechanical Engineering, 1983, Stanford University; Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, 1991, Stanford University;

Distinctions & Awards

AIAA Associate Fellow; Associate Editor of AIAA Journal of Propulsion and Power; School of Aerospace Engineering Most Valuable Faculty Award (6 times in last 11 years); NASA/DoD UAPT Outstanding Researcher (2007); Billiee Pendleton-Parker Faculty Freshman Partner of the Year (2004); National Science Foundation CAREER Award (1995);

Recent Publications

  • R. K. Bompelly and J. Seitzman, “Lean Blowout Proximity Sensing in a Low Emission Liquid-Fueled Combustor, Combustion Science and Technology 1-27, https://doi.org/10.1080/00102202.2024.2372433.
  • M. L. Passarelli, S. E. Wonfor, A. X. Zheng, S. R. Manikandan, Y. C. Mazumdar, J. M. Seitzman, A. M. Steinberg, H. Bower, J. Hong, K. Venkatesan and M. Benjamin, “Experimental Characterization of a Lean Prevaporized Premixed Combustor for Supersonic Transport Applications,” AIAA 2022-2347, https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2022-2347.
  • E. Goh , T. Lieuwen and J. Seitzman, “Finite Entrainment Effects on Nitrogen Oxide (NOx) Emissions in Staged Combustors, Combustion and Flame 230, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.combustflame.2021.111434.
  • S. Adusumilli and J. Seitzman, “Laminar Flame Speed Measurements of Ethylene at High Preheat Temperatures and for Diluted Oxidizers,” Combustion and Flame 233, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.combustflame.2021.111564.
  • Y. Tang, M. Hassanaly, V. Raman, B. Sforzo, J. Seitzman, “Probabilistic Modeling of Forced Ignition of Alternative Jet Fuels,” Proc. Combust. Inst., 38, The Combustion Institute, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.proci.2020.06.309.
Professor, Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering
Phone
(404) 894-0013
Additional Research

Combustion

Manos Antonakakis

Manos Antonakakis's profile picture
manos@gatech.edu

Dr. Manos Antonakakis (PhD’12) is an Associate Professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) and an adjunct faculty member in the College of Computing (CoC), at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He is responsible for the Astrolavos Lab, where students conduct research in the areas of Attack Attribution, Network Security and Privacy, Intrusion Detection, and Data Mining. In May 2012, he received his Ph.D. in Computer Science from Georgia Tech.

Before joining the Georgia Tech ECE faculty ranks, Dr. Antonakakis held the Chief Scientist role at Damballa. He currently serves as the co-chair of the Academic Committee for the Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group (MAAWG). In his tenure at Georgia Tech ECE, Dr. Antonakakis has raised several tens of millions in research funding as Primary Investigator from government agencies and the private sector. He is the author of several U.S. patents and more than 20 academic publications in top academic conferences. He has served as a program committee member for all top tier security conferences.

Associate Professor, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Dean's Professorship
Phone
(404) 385-2534
Office
Klaus 3366
Additional Research

Cyber Technology

Sam Shelton

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sam.shelton@energy.gatech.edu

Dr. Sam Shelton is a nationally recognized expert in energy systems. He is the founding director of the Georgia Tech Strategic Energy Institute, an interdisciplinary technology development-based resource. The institute is actively engaged with industry to facilitate near-term, high-impact solutions to national and regional energy challenges. As a professor for 35 years, he developed in-class and web delivered undergraduate and graduate level energy technology courses. He taught 30,000 students enrolled in a MOOCs course, Energy 101, with a focus on energy supplies, independence, economics, and society’s demands. 

His primary research focus has been the development and commercialization of sustainable energy technology. He has received over $30 million in R&D funding for this work. Dr. Shelton holds eight patents in sustainable energy technologies and founded two companies developing, manufacturing and marketing energy-efficient products. Starting in the 1980s, he was among the pioneers developing commercial solar energy technologies and the assessment of offshore wind farms. His favorite hobby is flying experimental airplanes

Director Emeritus
Additional Research

Thermal Systems; Wind; System Design & Optimization; Biofuels

IRI And Role

Joe Oefelein

Joe Oefelein's profile picture
joseph.oefelein@ae.gatech.edu

Dr. Joseph Oefelein is a professor in the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He joined the faculty at Georgia Tech. in the fall of 2017, after a 17-year career at Sandia National Laboratories, Combustion Research Facility, where he served as a distinguished member of technical staff. Prior to this, he served as a research associate in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University. He is actively engaged in research on a broad range of topics in simulation and modeling of advanced propulsion, power, and related systems. His expertise is interdisciplinary, with focus on the theory and analysis of complex fluid flows where turbulence interacts with a multitude of strongly coupled fluid dynamic, thermodynamic, transport, chemical, multiphase, and/or heat transfer processes. He is an expert in the area of supercritical fluid phenomena and has extensive experience in the development and application of the Large Eddy Simulation (LES) technique, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), and high-performance massively-parallel computing. He is active in a number of professional societies including The Combustion Institute, American Physical Society (APS), American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), and Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). He is an associate editor for the Journal of Propulsion and Power, and a member and past chair of the AIAA Propellants and Combustion Technical Committee. He also serves on the editorial board of The Combustion Institute and as an associate editor for the Proceedings of The Combustion Institute. Dr. Oefelein has been a principal investigator for a broad range of sponsored research projects funded by the United States  Department of Energy, Department of Defense (e.g., AFOSR, AFRL, DARPA, SERDP), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (e.g., MSFC, LaRC), and National Science Foundation. He has also established significant collaborations with key industry leaders in the aerospace and transportation sectors. The portfolio of projects involves research across a broad range of topics while also providing a crucial link between basic and applied research.

Teaching Interests

Professor Oefelein’s teaching interests encompass fundamental and advanced topics in aerospace engineering with a focus on combustion, propulsion, and fluid dynamics. He is dedicated to instructing both undergraduate and graduate students, emphasizing the underlying physical principles and practical applications within energy conversion and propulsion systems. His teaching approach aims to integrate theory and experiment, fostering a comprehensive understanding of aerospace propulsion phenomena.

Research Interests

Professor Oefelein’s research centers on combustion and propulsion sciences, particularly involving reactive flow dynamics and multiphase flow physics. His work includes high-fidelity simulations and experimental investigations to understand turbulent combustion, thermochemical processes, and fluid-structure interactions relevant to aerospace propulsion systems. This research seeks to advance knowledge of energy conversion mechanisms and contribute to the development of efficient and clean propulsion technologies.

Research

Lab/Collaborations:

  • Ben T. Zinn Combustion Laboratory

Disciplines:

  • Propulsion & Combustion

AE Multidisciplinary Research Areas:

  • Large-Scale Computations, Data, and Analytics
  • Sustainable Transportation and Energy Systems

Education

  • Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, 1997
  • M.S. Mechanical Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, 1992
  • B.S. Mechanical Engineering (Highest Honors), Rutgers University, 1989

Recent Publications

  • Preethi V. Mysore, Joseph Oefelein, Evaluation of Wall Modeling Approaches for Transition of Hypersonic Boundary Layers, 2026
     DOI: 10.2514/6.2026-0944.
  • Dhruv Purushotham, Chang Hyeon Lim, Adam M. Steinberg, Devesh Ranjan, Joseph C. Oefelein, Joint numerical and experimental investigation of turbulent mixing in a supercritical CO2 shear layer, Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 2025 DOI: 10.1017/jfm.2025.71.
  • Kyle A. Schau, Joseph C. Oefelein. Numerical Analysis of Wave Characteristics in a Methane-Oxygen Rotating Detonation Engine. AIAA Journal, 2022.
  • Umesh Unnikrishnan, Joseph C. Oefelein, Vigor Yang. Subgrid modeling of the filtered equation of state with application to real-fluid turbulent mixing at supercritical pressures. Physics of Fluids, 2022.
  • Guilhem Lacaze, Thomas Schmitt, Anthony Ruiz, Joseph C. Oefelein. Comparison of energy-, pressure- and enthalpy-based approaches for modeling supercritical flows. Computers & Fluids, 2019.
Professor, Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering
Phone
(404) 894-0199
Additional Research

Conventional Energy

Research Focus Areas

Suresh Sharma

Suresh Sharma's profile picture
suresh1.sharma@gatech.edu

Over past three decades, Suresh has led a remarkably rich professional journey to unleash human potential through innovation, entrepreneurship, mentoring and leadership. Today, he applies his deep global business expertise to foster 21st century ecosystems to “industrialize innovation” for economic growth. Inspired by his hands-on experiences he authored “The 3rd American Dream” (2014); an insightful business book illustrating building blocks for growth that enable transformation at individual, societal and national level. A former GE-executive, he is a clear and pragmatic thought-leader. Starting his early career as a Naval Aviation Officer, his work experience includes industrial manufacturing, R&D and business operations in UK, USA, India and other countries. He has worked at British Aerospace, Rolls-Royce, MATRA, NASA, and General Electric. During 90s, he received international recognition for pioneering roles in globalization of GE while setting up global facilities in over 15 countries. Later, he co-authored his first best-seller book: ‘Global Outsourcing’ (2005) – still a reference work in many executive-MBA programs. 

Entrepreneur in Residence
Phone
(404) 385-5387
Additional Research

Electrical Grid

University, College, and School/Department

Lukas Graber

Lukas Graber's profile picture
lukas.graber@ece.gatech.edu

Lukas Graber received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from ETH Zurich in 2002 and 2009 respectively. He conducted the experimental part of his M.S. research project on transient recovery voltage in the high voltage laboratories of Bonneville Power Administration, Portland, Oregon. His Ph.D. research focused on SF6 leakage detection in gas insulated switchgear and was awarded with the ETG Innovation Prize. Before he joined Georgia Tech in 2015, he worked several years at the Center for Advanced Power System, Florida State University - initially as a post-doctoral research associate and later as a research faculty member. His focus was on superconducting power cables and fault current limiters, ultra-fast mechanical switchgear, short circuit forces in substations, and grounding aspects of power distribution on future all-electric Navy ships. He authored and coauthored 40+ publications in journals and conference proceedings and holds several patents. Besides fundamental and applied research projects, he is also interested in commercialization aspects of new technologies. He is a guest technical editor for special issues of the IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity. In his free time, he likes to tinker with audio electronics, play the trumpet, scuba dive in Floridian waters, and paraglide in mountain ranges around the world.

Education

  • Dr. sc., Electrical Engineering, ETH Zürich, 2009
  • Dipl. El.-Ing., Electrical Engineering, ETH Zürich, 2002

Research Interests

Graber's research focuses on advanced computer architecture and embedded systems, examining efficient hardware-software co-design and heterogeneous computing platforms. His work explores performance optimization, system reliability, and scalability in modern computing devices. The research program actively engages graduate and undergraduate students in developing novel methodologies to address challenges in high-performance and low-power computing environments.

Gas insulated switchgear High-speed vacuum switchgear High temperature superconductivity: Power systems applications Cryogenic dielectrics

Teaching Interests

Graber's teaching interests include foundational and advanced courses in electrical and computer engineering, with an emphasis on digital design, computer architecture, and systems integration. He is committed to providing rigorous undergraduate and graduate instruction that bridges theoretical concepts with practical applications. His teaching approach fosters critical thinking and problem-solving skills essential for innovation in engineering disciplines.

Distinctions & Awards

ETG Innovation Prize 2010, Electrosuisse Best Paper Award 2009 , 2nd prize, SEV Bulletin Member, Electrosuisse Member, Cryogenics Society of America Senior Member, IEEE

Publications

  • KY Chuong, Y Liu, T Forbes, MB Frye, L Graber, LM Garten, Determining the effect of bismuth oxide on the microstructure and electrical response of cold-sintered ZnO varistors, Journal of the American Ceramic Society 109(1), e70406, 2026
  • Z Jin, AJC Feliciano, SM Neall, Y Liu, MS Al Hossain, M Pothuri, C Park, ..., Development of a Hydropneumatic Actuator for Supercritical Fluid Circuit Breakers, IEEE 70th Holm Conference on Electrical Contacts (HLM), 1-4, 2025
  • Q Yang, A Llanos, K Schoder, L Graber, A Nonlinear Inductor-Based Near-Zero Current Sensing Method and Active Commutation Strategy for a Hybrid dc Circuit Breaker, ECCE 2025, 1-5, 2025
  • Y Mo, AJC Feliciano, Z Jin, L Graber, B Ge, High Voltage-Rated, Supercritical CO2-Insulated Electrostatic Machine Concept, ECCE 2025, 1-8, 2025
  • L Graber, S GHOSH, GJ Langston, T Uhrik, K Kalaitzidou, N STINGELIN, ..., Metal-organic thermoset polymers, US Patent App. 19/225,325, 2025
Assistant Professor, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Phone
(404) 894-2726
Additional Research

Electrical Grid; Electronics

James Mulholland

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james.mulholland@ce.gatech.edu

Jim Mulholland is a Professor in the School of Civil & Environmental Engineering at Georgia Tech. He received a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Cornell in 1979, M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford in 1981, and Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from M.I.T. in 1992. Between M.S. and Ph.D., he worked for an energy R&D firm and as a research engineer at EPA's air research center. He has been on the faculty in the Environmental Engineering Program at Georgia Tech since 1993. His research includes study of the formation and control of air pollutants, in particular organic combustion byproducts, and air quality data analysis for use in epidemiologic studies.

Research

Combustion byproduct formation and control, Incineration, Thermochemistry of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and chlorinated aromatic species, Molecular modeling, Spatio-temporal analysis of ambient air pollutants

Associate Chair for Graduate Programs and Research Innovation
Professor, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Phone
(404) 894-1695
Additional Research

Climate/Environment; Combustion

University, College, and School/Department