ClimateEnvironment
Professor Zhang’s teaching interests include core mechanical engineering subjects with an emphasis on thermal sciences, energy conversion, and heat transfer. His instruction spans undergraduate and graduate levels, aiming to build foundational knowledge and practical skills. Professor Zhang integrates current research insights into his teaching to enhance student learning and engagement in topics related to thermal management and energy systems.
Professor Zhang’s research focuses on thermal sciences with an emphasis on heat transfer, energy conversion, and sustainable energy technologies. His work explores microscale and nanoscale heat transfer phenomena, thermal management in energy systems, and the development of materials and methods for improved energy efficiency. The research program actively involves both graduate and undergraduate students, fostering multidisciplinary approaches to address challenges in thermal engineering.
Thermal Systems
Dr. Terry W. Sturm received B.S. and M.S. degrees in civil engineering from the University of Illinois and a Ph.D. in mechanics and hydraulics from the University of Iowa at the Iowa Institute of Hydraulic Research. A licensed professional engineer (PE), he holds the rank of professor in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology where he teaches a graduate course sequence in open channel hydraulics and sediment transport. In addition, he has taught continuing education courses on river hydraulics, culvert design, and bridge scour. His most recent experimental research centers around the sediment-water interface in natural watercourses and the hydrodynamic processes that occur there such as flow resistance, cohesive sediment resuspension, and local bridge and spillway scour. He is the author of numerous research publications on thermal hydraulics, open channel flow resistance, compound channel hydraulics, bridge abutment scour, and resuspension of cohesive sediments, and he has written a textbook on open channel hydraulics published by McGraw-Hill which is in its second edition. Dr. Sturm's research has been supported by agencies such as the National Academy of Sciences, National Science Foundation, U.S. Geological Survey, Georgia Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, Environmental Protection Agency, and the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers. In 2008, Dr. Sturm was named the Georgia Engineer of the Year in Education by the Georgia Engineering Alliance. He is a Life Member of ASCE, and he served from 2010 to 2014 as Chief Editor of the ASCE Journal of Hydraulic Engineering. In 2013, Dr. Sturm received the ASCE-EWRI Hunter Rouse Hydraulic Engineering Award.
Research
Hydraulic structures, Open channel flow resistance, Compound channel hydraulics, Sediment transport, Erosion control at construction sites, Scour around bridge foundations, Cohesive sediment re-suspension
Smart Infrastructure; Climate/Environment
Biography
Dr. Hermann Fritz is a professor of civil engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech). He is an expert on coastal hazards, such as tsunamis, hurricane storm surge and storm waves, landslides and submarine volcanic eruptions. Dr. Fritz has led or participated in more than a dozen post-disaster reconnaissance campaigns encompassing tsunami, hurricane, landslide, and earthquake events. Tsunami Surveys: 2004 Indian Ocean (Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Somalia, Madagascar, Oman, Yemen, Comoros), 2006 Java, 2007 Solomon Islands and Peru, 2009 Samoa, American Samoa, and Tonga, 2010 Solomon Islands, Haiti, Chile, and Mentawai Islands, 2011 Japan, 2012 El Salvador, 2013 Solomon Islands, 2014 and 2015 Chile, 2017 Greenland, 2018 Sulawesi and Krakatau. Hurricane Surveys: 2005 Hurricane Katrina, 2007 Tropical Cyclone Gonu (Oman), 2008 Tropical Cyclone Nargis (Myanmar), 2013 Typhoon Haiyan (Philippines), 2015 Tropical Cyclone Pam (Vanuatu), 2017 Hurricane Nate. Dr. Fritz's research centers on fluid dynamic aspects of natural hazards as well as their mitigation and coastal protection. Dr. Fritz obtained his Doctorate degree (Dr. sc. ETH Zurich) in 2002 from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (Switzerland).
Research
Dr. Fritz has developed a strong research effort covering experimental (both field and laboratory) and computational methods in fluid dynamics, hydraulics and geophysics. His research focuses on coastal hazards such as tsunamis, hurricanes, landslides, and volcanoes. Dr. Fritz’s work encompasses non-linear and breaking water waves; subaerial and submarine mass flows such as landslides, avalanches, island collapses, and submarine volcanic eruptions; floods, river engineering and morphologic processes; hydraulic and coastal structures such as seawalls, breakwaters, levees and dams along with their failure and breaching mechanisms; hydropower, wave, tidal and ocean current energy. His research is significantly enhancing the hazard prevention, mitigation and protection of coastal and mountainous areas on a truly global scale.
Education
Ph.D. in Civil Engineering (Dr. sc. techn. ETH)
ETH (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology) 2002
M.S. in Civil Engineering (Dipl.-Ing. ETH)
ETH (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology) 1997
Teaching
Professor Fritz’ teaching focuses on civil and environmental engineering at undergraduate and graduate levels, emphasizing dynamics, fluid mechanics, hydraulic engineering, coastal hazards, coastal structures, and experimental methods. His instruction integrates fundamental principles with practical applications to prepare students for research and professional practice. Professor Fritz is committed to fostering student engagement through hands-on learning and critical thinking in courses related to hydraulic and coastal engineering.
Distinctions & Awards
Water; Wind
Brian Stone is a key expert in energy utilization, conservation, climate change, and social and environmental impacts.
Brian Stone Jr. is a Professor in the School of City and Regional Planning at the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he teaches urban environmental planning and directs the Urban Climate Lab. Stone’s program of research is focused on urban scale drivers of climate change and has been supported by the National Science Foundation, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and US Environmental Protection Agency. His work on urbanization and climate change is regularly featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and on National Public Radio. He is author of The City and the Coming Climate: Climate Change in the Places We Live, which received a Choice Outstanding Academic Title Award, and the recently published Radical Adaptation: Transforming Cities for a Climate Changed World (Cambridge University Press). Stone holds degrees in environmental management and urban planning from Duke University and the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Brian Stone Jr., Ph.D., is a Professor in the School of City and Regional Planning at the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he teaches in the area of urban environmental planning and design. Stone's program of research is focused on the spatial drivers of urban environmental phenomena, with an emphasis on urban scale climate change, and is supported by the National Science Foundation, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
He is Director of the Urban Climate Lab at Georgia Tech. Stone's work on urbanization and climate change has been featured on CNN and National Public Radio, and in print media outlets such as The New York Times and The Washington Post.
He is author of Radical Adaptation: Transforming Cities for a Climate Changed World (Cambridge University Press, 2024) and The City and the Coming Climate: Climate Change in the Places We Live (Cambridge University Press), which received a Choice Outstanding Academic Title Award for 2012. Stone holds degrees in environmental management and planning from Duke University and the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Professor Stone's teaching interests focus on the role of the built environment in amplifying or moderating environmental impacts such as extreme heat, flooding, and associated health effects. He regularly teaches classes on environmental planning, climate change management, and planning theory.
Professor Stone's research focuses on the spatial drivers of urban environmental phenomena, with a particular emphasis on urban-scale climate change. He is Director of the Georgia Tech Urban Climate Lab.
Gronlund, Carina, Hondula, David, Mallen, Evan, O’Neill, Marie, Rajput, Mayuri, Krayenhoff, Scott, Broadbent, Ashley, Grijalva, Santiago, Larsen, Larissa, Harlan, Sharon, Stone, Brian. 2025. Advancing extreme heat risk assessments to better capture individually-experienced temperatures: A new approach to describe individual and subgroup vulnerabilities. Environmental Health Perspectives, in press.
Huang, Kangning, Stone, Brian, Guan, Cheng, Liang, Jiayong. 2025. “Declining urban density attenuates rising population-weighted exposure to surface heat extremes.” Nature Scientific Reports, 15: 13860.
Jiang, Timothy, Krayenhoff, Scott, Martilli, Alberto, Nazarian, Negin, Stone, Brian, Voogt, James 2025. “Prioritizing urban heat adaptation infrastructure based on multiple outcomes: Comfort, health and energy.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 122: e2411144122.
Stone, Brian. 2024. Radical Adaptation: Transforming Cities for a Climate Changed World. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Dey, Shuv, Mallen, Evan, Stone, Brian, Joshi, Yogendra. 2024. “Using Multiscale Atmospheric Modeling to Explore the Impact of Surface Albedo on Anthropogenic Heat Release.” Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 146: 052901-1-052901-12.
Stone, Brian, Mallen, Evan, Gronlund, Carina, Hondula, David, O’Neil, Marie, Rajput, Mayuri, Grijalva, Santiago, Lanza, Kevin, Harlon, Sharon, Larsen, Larissa, Augenbroe, Godfried, Krayenhoff, Scott, Broadbent, Ashley, Georgescu, Matei. 2023. “How Blackouts During Heat Waves Amplify Climate Risk.” Environmental Science & Technology, 57: 8245-8255.
City and Regional Planning; Climate/Environment; System Design & Optimization
Dr. Farzad Rahnema is a Georgia Power Company Distinguished Professor of Nuclear Engineering and Director of the Computational Reactor and Medical Physics (CRMP) Laboratory at Georgia Institute of Technology. Prior to joining Georgia Tech, he was at General Electric Nuclear Energy for 11 years. His responsibilities included GE’s 3-D Core Simulator PANACEA used for reactor core design and as the engine for the 3D MONICORE system for monitoring operating Boiling Water Reactors. He led the development of 3 versions (v.8-10) of the simulator. He has published over 240 peer reviewed technical articles.
He is a Fellow of the American Nuclear Society (ANS), Editor-Designate of the Nuclear Science and Engineering journal, a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of Annals of Nuclear Energy and Nuclear Technology, and a member of the External Advisory Board of the Ohio State University Nuclear Engineering Program.
He was the recipient of the 2019 ANS Gerald C. Pomraning Memorial Award for outstanding contributions toward the advancement of the fields of mathematics and computation in support of advancing the understanding of these topics of interest to the American Nuclear Society (ANS) membership.
He served as the Chair of the Georgia Tech Nuclear & Radiological Engineering and Medical Physics (NRE/MP) Programs (7/2002-6/2016) and Chair of the Honors and Award Committee of the ANS Mathematics and Computation Division (MCD). He also served as the Chair of the MCD (twice) and the Reactor Physics Division (RPD). His principal research interest is in the areas of theoretical and computational radiation transport and reactor physics with an emphasis on resolving the grand challenges and current major issues in high fidelity modeling and simulation (M&S) of nuclear systems.
Nuclear
Professor Ghiaasiaan’s teaching interests include undergraduate and graduate courses in thermodynamics, heat transfer, fluid mechanics, and multiphase flow. He emphasizes fundamental principles and their applications to energy systems, aiming to develop students’ analytical and problem-solving skills. His instruction integrates experimental, computational, and theoretical approaches, involving both undergraduate and graduate students in research-related activities.
Professor Ghiaasiaan’s research focuses on multiphase flow and heat transfer phenomena in energy systems and thermal management. His work addresses experimental and theoretical studies of cryogenics and cryocoolers, two-phase flows, boiling, condensation, and miniature scale transport processes, with applications in power generation, refrigeration, and thermal systems design. He actively involves students in advancing understanding of complex flow and heat transfer mechanisms through innovative experimental methods and modeling.
Nuclear; Thermal Systems
Martin Maldovan is an associate professor in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and the School of Physics at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He received his Ph.D. at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. He was also a postdoctoral associate and research scientist at MIT. Maldovan’s group is developing novel heat and mass transport processes as an enabling technology for energy converter materials and devices, micro and nanoelectronics, chemical and biological separations, and catalysis. His group focuses on designing, predicting, and controlling heat and mass transfer in rationally engineered systems with length scales ranging from macro to nano, to advance new paradigms for energy saving materials and devices.
Thermal Management; Energy Storage; Energy Conversion; Thermal Systems
Morris Cohen received his B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University in 2003 and 2010, respectively, and served as a research scientist until August 2013. From September 2012 until August 2013, Dr. Cohen was appointed as AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow at the National Science Foundation.
In Fall 2013, he joined the faculty in the School of ECE. He is a winner of the NSF CAREER Award in 2017, the ONR Young Investigator Award in 2015, and was chosen for the Santimay Basu Prize in 2014, an award given once per 3 years to an under-35 scientist by the International Union of Radio Science (URSI).
Dr. Cohen is interested in the natural electricity of the Earth, including lightning, the electrically charged upper atmosphere, and the radiation-filled space environment. He uses radio waves at low frequencies measured all around the world to understand them, and develops resulting practical applications. His group also works on novel techniques to generate low frequency waves with nonconventional electrically-short antennas. He is an author of more than 60 journal publications. He employs a “flipped classroom” model in some of his courses to make the experience more active and engaging.
He enjoys hiking, cooking, and traveling the world for work and play with his family.
Electronics
Xing Xie is the Carlton S. Wilder Assistant Professor in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology. Prior to joining Georgia Tech, he was a post-doctoral scholar at California Institute of Technology. He received his B.S. (2006) and M.S. (2008) degrees in Environmental Science & Engineering from Tsinghua University, and a second M.S. degree (2012) in Materials Science & Engineering and a Ph.D. degree (2014) in Civil & Environmental Engineering from Stanford University. His research focuses on the applications of innovative materials for sustainable and reliable water and energy. He has worked on many projects related to water treatment and reuse, microbial detection and quantification, energy and resource recovery, energy storage, etc. He has published more than 60 peer-reviewed articles with more than 6,000 citations
Water & wastewater treatment; Energy & resources recovery; Energy storage; Salinity energy & desalination; self-sustained sanitation; Oil-water separation; Environmental monitoring