Dr. Milad Navaei is a principle research scientist at the Cybersecurity, Information Protection, and Hardware Evaluation Research Laboratory (CIPHER) at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI). Dr. Navaei received his PhD and MS degrees from Georgia Tech in 2015 and 2011 respectively.  His research group specializes in micro/nanofabrication techniques, Quantum and chemical sensors, miniature gas chromatography systems, synthetic biology, drug delivery, and sensors for detection of microbial contamination. He has successfully secured and managed over $20 million in federal and state grants as the principal investigator on IARPA project and co-PI on DoD-funded projects (ONR, DARPA, and OSD). His work so far has led to numerous journal publications, conference presentations and US patents. Dr. Navaei has served as a reviewer for several peer reviewed journal publications including the Journal of Microsystems and Nanoengineering (Nature) and Journal of Electrochemical Society

Alexandra (Alex) Rodríguez Dalmau is the Community-Engaged Sustainability Project Manager at the Center for Sustainable Communities Research and Education (SCoRE) at Georgia Tech. In this role, she manages collaborative projects with community-based partners, builds relationships across the Southeast, contributes to national networks focused on sustainability and equity, and supports efforts to secure funding for community-driven climate initiatives.

Prior to this role, Alex served as a Graduate Research Assistant at SCoRE, supporting the Community Carbon Management Education and Innovation Program. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Environmental Engineering and a Master’s degree in Sustainable Energy and Environmental Management, both from Georgia Tech. She is passionate about community-engaged research that advances just, place-based solutions.

Judy is a postdoctoral fellow in the Ziegler Research Group working on Direct Air Capture (DAC) technology change and equitable deployment. She holds a Ph.D. in Climate and Energy Policy from Imperial College London in the UK (2024) and a B.S. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering from Georgia Tech (2019). Her Ph.D. research focused on quantitative insights into different justice considerations in the energy transition and was supervised by Prof. Joeri Rogelj and Dr. Iain Staffell. She has previously worked on heterogeneous catalysis as an undergrad with Prof. Chris Jones at Tech, biomass conversion at the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland, and DAC sorbent degradation at Global Thermostat (a DAC startup that used to be in the ATDC program). Judy’s current hobbies are painting, film photography, and kickboxing.

Andrew brings more than four years of experience in project management, operations, communications, compliance oversight, and organizational improvement in higher education and nonprofit settings. Most recently, he served as project intake and communications specialist at Kennesaw State University. Before that, Lindsey spent nearly four years with the Southern States Police Benevolent Association, first as project coordinator and later as project manager.

Lindsey’s background also includes experience in higher education instruction and mentoring. As a teaching assistant with Georgia Tech’s Grand Challenges program, he worked directly with student teams tackling complex societal issues, providing guidance on research development, collaborative problem-solving, and project execution. 

He earned a B.A. in history, graduating magna cum laude from the University of Georgia in 2021, and completed a Master of Public Administration in 2025. 

Bruce brings more than two decades of senior executive experience at the intersection of global partnerships, institutional growth, and cross-sector collaboration spanning academia, philanthropy, government, and industry. Most recently, he served as senior expert and strategic advisor to the C-Suite at Conservation International on AI-enabled sustainability innovation. Before Conservation International, Weinelt served as Vice President of Global Growth at Schmidt Futures, where he founded the Global Growth function and served as chair of the Quad Fellowship.

Earlier, Weinelt spent a decade at the World Economic Forum, most recently as co-head of Partner Development for North America and Europe and a member of the North America Executive Team. He also led the Forum's multiyear Digital Transformation initiative, advising six national governments on digital readiness. In addition, he served as head of the Global Future Council on Space, shaping global space governance through frameworks such as the Space Sustainability Rating. He is a regular speaker and contributor to global media and convenings and has contributed to publications including Klaus Schwab's The Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Weinelt holds MBAs from the Mason School of Business at the College of William & Mary and IESE Universidad de Navarra. He completed an Executive Education in Global Leadership program offered by Columbia University, Wharton, INSEAD, and the China Europe International Business School, tailored to World Economic Forum Leadership.

Biography

Dr. Kim’s research interest is broadly described as applied mathematics applications to modeling and experimental characterization of material behaviors. His current research focuses on the development of measurement techniques and mathematical models for the quantitative nondestructive evaluation (NDE) of nuclear, aerospace, and civil engineering materials. He has over 20 years of experience in the ultrasonic NDE and related research areas including ultrasonic wave propagation, micromechanics, and fatigue fracture analysis. His past research in aerospace material NDE, attracting more than $3 million research projects, has addressed the most important NDE issues in the safety of aging aircraft structure and the remaining life-time prediction. Dr. Kim has authored and co-authored over 140 technical papers and book chapters in these areas. His research has been supported by FAA, DARPA, DOE, USAF, NASA, FHWA, NSF, Corning Co., etc. Dr. Kim earned his PhD and MS degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST).