Vicki L. Birchfield is a Professor in The Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at Georgia Tech, Co-Director of the Center for European and Transatlantic Studies and Director of the study abroad program on the European Union and Transatlantic Relations. Dr. Birchfield received a DES from the Graduate Institute of International Studies from the University of Geneva, Switzerland (1993) and a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Georgia (2000). She is the author of Income Inequality in Capitalist Democracies: The Interplay of Values and Institutions(Penn State University Press 2008), Triangular Diplomacy among the United States, The European Union, and The Russian Federation: Responses to the Crisis in Ukraine (Palgrave Macmillan 2017) co-edited with Alsadair Young, Reporting at the Southern Borders: Journalism and Public Debates in the US and the EU co-edited with Giovanna Dell'Orto (Routledge 2014) and Toward a Common EU Energy Policy: Problems, Progress, and Prospects(Palgrave Macmillan 2011) co-edited with John S. Duffield. She has published articles in International Studies Quarterly, European Journal of Political Research, the Review of International Studies, Journal of European Public Policy, British Journal of Politics and International Relations, Globalizations, and the Review of International Political Economy. Her research and teaching specializations are European politics, the European Union, comparative politics, and international political economy. Other research and intellectual interests include the interplay of capitalism and democracy, social movements and the politics of globalization, and transatlantic relations. She has been a visiting scholar at Sciences Po, Paris and the University of Bordeaux and in 2012 was bestowed the honor of “Chevalier dans l’Ordre National du Mérite” (Knight in the National Order of Merit) by the French government.

Dr. Belton is an Associate Professor and Director of Undergraduate Programs in the School of Economics. Professor Belton’s initial training and research focus was on issues of monetary policy and how policy design and implementation impacts the cyclical behavior of the macro-economy. Currently, Professor Belton is involved in multidisciplinary analysis which examines the impact of political, cultural, and economic institutions on downstream outcomes of income distribution, business development, and social behavior. This research brings together issues of public policy, international affairs and economics to examine and developed much more broad theories of economic, political, and social development across ethnic groups and nation-states.

Professor Paul W. Mayne is an international researcher with a focus on in-situ testing, geotechnical site characterization, foundation systems, and the evaluation of soil & rock properties. Particular interests include the use, conduct, and interpretation of the cone penetrometer, seismic piezocone, and flat dilatometer, evaluation of shallow and deep foundation systems, and ground modification techniques. From 1977-1987, Paul served in geotechnical consulting practice in the Washington DC-Virginia-Maryland region. After receiving a doctorate from Cornell University, he joined the civil & environmental engineering faculty at Georgia Tech in 1990. He served as the Geosystems Engineering Team Leader from 2000 to 2010, 2012-2014, and 2016. During his residency at GT, Paul served as the chair (2001-2013) of the ISSMGE Technical Committee TC 102 (formerly TC16): Ground Property Characterization by In-Situ Tests (http://www.webforum.com/tc102) and later served as ISSMGE Vice President for North America (www.issmge.org). With Dr. Peter Robertson, Dr. Mayne hosted and co-edited the two-volume proceedings entitled Geotechnical Site Characterization (ISC-1, 1998) held in Atlanta. In 2000, he co-edited the ASCE GSP No. 97 entitled Innovations & Applications in Geotechnical Site Characterization for the Geo-Institute conference held in Denver. He is the senior author of the National Highway Institute manual on Subsurface Investigations: Geotechnical Site Characterization (2002) and a co-author on the FHWA Geotechnical Engineering Circular (2002) on Evaluation of Soil & Rock Properties and GSP 124 GeoSupport 2004 on foundations. In September 2004, the 2nd Intl. Conf. on Site Characterization (ISC) held in Portugal resulted in the two-volume proceedings: Geotechnical & Geophysical Site Characterization, for which he was a co-editor. Paul served as senior editor for GSP 138 on Site Characterization & Modeling at the 2005 ASCE GeoFrontiers Conference in Austin. Dr. Mayne was selected by the National Academies to prepare the NCHRP Synthesis 368 on the Cone Penetration Test (2007) which is available at:www.trb.org.  He co-edited the proceedings Geotechnical & Geophysical Site Characterization 2008 (ISC-3, Taipei, 2008) and served as host chair and co-editor for two volumes entitled:  Deformational Characteristics of Geomaterials (2008).  In 2009, he prepared GeoEngineering Design Using the CPT for ConeTec. Together with Dr. Peter K. Robertson, Paul co-edited the 3-volume proceedings for the Second International Symposium on Cone Penetration Testing (CPT’10) that was held in Huntington Beach/CA (www.usucger.org).  He also co-edited the proceedings for the 4th International Conference on Site Characterization (ISC-4) held in Pernambuco, Brazil (2012). Most recently, Paul contributed 4 of the 11 chapters to the new NCHRP 258 Document Subsurface Investigations Manual (2019) published by the National Academies Press for the Transportation Research Board (www.trb.org). Dr. Mayne has delivered international lectures, including a number of invited keynotes presentations, and participated in over 125 continuing education courses.  Paul Mayne is an active member of ASCE, ASTM, TRB, USUCGER, DFI, ADSC, CGS, and ISSMGE and has served as a recent consultant on projects located in the USA, Canada, Australia, Europe, and Asia. He is licensed as a professional registered engineering in Virginia. He is married, has one daughter, and plays bass guitar. 

Research

In-situ testing, Site characterization, Geotechnical parameter identification, Foundation systems, Soil properties determination, Geostatic stress state, Ground improvement by dynamic compaction and plasma arc vitrification

Ellen is Director of the Master of Science in Urban Design degree, an authority on sustainable suburban redevelopment, and a leading urbanist. Author of over 100 articles, she is co-author with June Williamson of the retrofitting suburbia book series documenting successful retrofits of aging big box stores, malls, and office parks into healthier and more sustainable places. Retrofitting Suburbia: Urban Design Solutions for Redesigning Suburbs, (Wiley, 2009, 2011) received a PROSE award as the best architecture and urban planning book of 2009 and has been featured in The New York Times, Time Magazine, Harvard Business Review, NPR, PBS, TED and other prominent venues. Case Studies in Retrofitting Suburbia: Urban Design Strategies for Urgent Challenges (Wiley, 2020) expands on the first book examining how new retrofits are helping communities disrupt automobile dependence, improve public health, support an aging population, leverage social capital for equity, compete for jobs, and add water and energy resilience. 

Ellen serves on several national boards and committees, is former Chair of the Board of the Congress for the New Urbanism, lectures widely and conducts community workshops. In both her teaching and research she focuses on helping communities address new challenges that they were never designed for – whether that’s through her unique database of successful suburban retrofits or studio classes on anticipating autonomous vehicles, coping with climate change or suburban blight. She taught at UVA and MIT before joining Georgia Tech as Architecture Program Director from 2000-2009.

Professor Sankar is a Regents Professor and Sikorsky Professor in the Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. As Director of the School's Computational Fluid Dynamics Lab, he leads a research and education program focused on the modeling and simulation of unsteady viscous flow around aircraft, helicopters, horizontal axis wind turbines, and turbo-machinery components. He teaches undergraduate and graduate level courses in the areas of aerodynamics, helicopter theory, wind energy, aerodynamic design, and computational aerodynamics. Prior to joining the Georgia Tech faculty in 1982, Dr. Sankar worked at Lockheed Martin in Marietta, GA. While at Lockheed, he contributed to the development of 2-D and 3-D flow analyses that solve 3-D unsteady transonic flow over airfoils, wing-alone, wing-body, and complete aircraft configurations. He also extended 2-D transonic design methodologies to 3-D transonic wing and wing-body configurations. He also worked closely with researchers at Ford Motor Co on 3-D Navier-Stokes simulations of next generation automobile configurations. Dr. Sankar is the author or co-author of more than 400 technical publications in the fields of spatially and temporally high-order algorithm development, 3-D unsteady transonic flow over aircraft configurations, helicopter aerodynamics, compressor stall and surge, and aerodynamic design. He is an AIAA Fellow, a Technical Fellow of the American Helicopter Society, and a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.

Teaching Interests

Professor Sankar's teaching interests encompass fundamental aerospace engineering and mechanical engineering topics at both undergraduate and graduate levels. These include solid mechanics, structural analysis, composite materials, and fracture mechanics. His instruction emphasizes the integration of theoretical principles with practical applications to prepare students for advanced study and professional practice. He is committed to engaging students through research-informed teaching and fostering critical thinking skills in engineering mechanics and materials behavior.

Research Interests

Professor Sankar's research focuses on the mechanics of materials and structures with particular emphasis on the behavior and failure of advanced composites and multifunctional materials. His work includes the development of micromechanical models, characterization of damage and fracture processes, and the study of multifunctional materials under mechanical and environmental loading. He applies computational and experimental methods to understand material response and to inform the design of lightweight, durable aerospace structures.

Research

Lab/Collaborations:

• Vertical Lift Research Center of Excellence (VLRCOE)
• Computational Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (CFD)
• Center for 21st Century Universities

Disciplines:

• Aerodynamics & Fluid Mechanics

AE Multidisciplinary Research Areas:

• Large-Scale Computations, Data, and Analytics

Education

• Education Ph.D., Aerospace Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 1977.
• MSAE, Aerospace Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 1975.
• B. Tech., Aeronautical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, India, 1973.

Distinctions & Awards

o Fellow, AIAA

o Technical Fellow, AHS 

o Georgia Tech Award for Development of Graduate Research Assistants, 1997 

o Sigma Gamma Tau Most valuable Professor Award 2005, 2006, 2007, 2015 

o NASA Group Achievement Award, UH60 Airloads Workshop, June 2007 

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

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.

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.