Executive Vice President for Research Chaouki T. Abdallah and the Commission on Research Next (CRN) invite you to a town hall discussion of the launch of the CRN Phase 1 report. With Phase 1, the 50-member commission conducted a landscape analysis for the future of university research and asked ‘if we were to develop the university research enterprise from scratch, what would it look like?’
In alignment with the Institute’s strategic plan, CRN strives to position Georgia Tech to respond to the challenges of the future with innovation, expertise, creativity, and a dedication to improving human lives and the world-at-large.
Commission co-chairs:
- Wen Masters, Deputy Director for Research, Georgia Tech Research Institute
- Tim Lieuwen, Regents Professor, David S. Lewis Jr. Chair in the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering, and Executive Director of the Strategic Energy Institute
Event Details
The Atlanta Science Festival, co-sponsored by Georgia Tech, returns March 13-27, 2021 with 80+ virtual, self-guided, and outdoor events for curious kids and adults. ASF celebrates the world-class learning and STEM career opportunities in metro Atlanta, reaching 60,000 people annually.
New! Customize your schedule with this interactive guide, coded by Joshua Preston.
Here is a list of Atlanta Science Festival in-person and virtual events featuring College of Sciences researchers and students, along with other event hosts from across Georgia Tech:
Saturday, March 13, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
STEM@GTRI presents The Art of Science
Saturday, March 13, 10 a.m-12 p.m.
Discovery Walks Cascade Springs
2852 Cascade Road SW, Atlanta, GA
Saturday, March 13, 10 a.m.-12 p.m.
Discovery Walks Decatur
125 West Trinity Place, Decatur, GA, 30030
Saturday, March 13, 11:45 a.m.-1:15 p.m
STEM Star Day with K.I.D.S. Club - Elementary/Middle
Saturday, March 13, 12 p.m.-1:30 p.m.
STEM Star Day with K.I.D.S. Club - High School
Saturday, March 13, 1-3 p.m.
Guthman Musical Instrument Fair
Saturday, March 13, 4-6 p.m.
City Science Quest app-based scavenger hunt
Sunday, March 14, 1-3 p.m.
Discovery Walks Cascade Springs
2852 Cascade Road SW, Atlanta GA 30311
Sunday, March 14, 1-3 p.m.
Discovery Walks Decatur
125 West Trinity Place, Decatur, GA 30030
Sunday, March 14, 7:30-10 p.m.
Completeness, a science-based theatrical production
Monday, March 15, 7:30-8:30 p.m.
Science Improv Comedy
Tuesday, March 16, 7:30-8:30 p.m.
Women in STEM: Learning from Monumental Leaders
Wednesday, March 17, 9 a.m.-8 p.m.
Latino College and STEM Fair
Wednesday, March 17, 7:30-10 p.m.
Completeness, a science-based theatrical production
Thursday, March 18, 6:30-7:30 p.m.
Spill the Tea: Kitchen Science in Action
Friday, March 19, 1 p.m.-2:15 p.m.
The Size of Science!, exploring the largest and smallest objects in the universe
Saturday, March 20, 10 a.m.-12 p.m.
Discovery Walks Beltine and Piedmont Park
675 Ponce de Leon Ave. NE, Atlanta, GA 30308
Saturday, March 20, 10 a.m.-12 p.m.
Discovery Walks Sweet Auburn
423 John Wesley Dobbs Avenue NE, Atlanta, GA 30312
Sunday, March 21, 1 p.m.-3 p.m.
Discovery Walks Sweet Auburn
423 John Wesley Dobbs Avenue NE, Atlanta, GA 30312
Sunday, March 21, 1 p.m.-3 p.m.
Discovery Walks Beltline and Piedmont Park
675 Ponce de Leon Ave. NE, Atlanta, GA 30308
Sunday, March 21, 4-6 p.m.
City Science Quest app-based scavenger hunt
Tuesday, March 23, 7:30-8:30 p.m.
It's Getting Hot in Here: Urban Heat Islands
Tuesday, March 23, 8-10 p.m.
Science Jazz Hands science comedy
Wednesday, March 24, 7:30-10 p.m.
Completeness, a science-based theatrical production
Saturday, March 27, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.
Catalyst STE(A)M education workshops
Saturday, March 27, 9 a.m.-11 a.m.
City Science Quest
See the complete 2021 Atlanta Science Festival schedule here.
Event Details
Sam Brown, professor in the School of Biological Sciences, is one of 65 new fellows elected to the American Academy of Microbiology's class of 2021.
"I’m thrilled to join the American Academy of Microbiology," Brown says. "I want to offer a huge thanks to my lab, past and present, and colleagues around the world who made this recognition possible, and who make science so much fun. Looking forward, I’m excited to continue building microbiology research on campus, through our Center for Microbial Dynamics and Infection (CMDI)."
Information on one of Brown's recent research studies can be found here.
BlueJeans Link: http://bit.ly/NOVID-Talk
Title: Fighting Infectious Disease, Using Game Theory and Network Theory
Abstract: The COVID pandemic has catalyzed the invention and development of many ways to control disease. The speaker, Carnegie Mellon professor Po-Shen Loh, will talk about the fundamentally different approach behind the NOVID app, which explores the potential of a categorically new way to control disease.
Its origins come from math, game theory, and computer science. It hopes to resolve deep flaws in “contact tracing apps”, and hopes to work flexibly against COVID variants. Functionally, it gives you an anonymous radar that estimates how “far” away COVID has just struck. “Far” is measured by counting the number of physical relationships.
Bio: Po-Shen Loh is a math professor at Carnegie Mellon University, and the national coach of the USA International Mathematical Olympiad team. He also dabbles in social entrepreneurship, previously founding the free math and science education platform expii.com which sees 500,000 visitors each month, and he has featured in or co-created videos totaling 10 million YouTube views. Upon the outbreak of COVID, he turned his mathematical attention to create NOVID.
Related:
- NOVID Exposure Notification App Enlists Smartphones in Coronavirus Battle
- Georgia Tech Surveillance Testing Update and Early Interpretations, NOVID App, and Your Questions — Answered
- The Tension Between Awareness and Fatigue Shapes Covid-19 Spread
- Testing Success Depends on Participation
- Tech Campus Surpasses 200,000 Covid-19 Tests
- Protect Yourself from Covid-19 with NOVID
- Georgia Tech Stamps Health Services: Contact Tracing with NOVID
Event Details
The Center for Space Technology and Research (C-STAR), along with the ExplOrigins Group representing the Georgia Tech Astrobiology community, presents Space Science Week at Tech, a week's worth of lectures and presentations celebrating the latest information from space exploration activities.
Friday, Feb. 12
11 a.m. The World In A Grain of Sand: What the Perseverance Rover Can Tell Us About the Geology of Mars
Speaker: Aileen Yingst, Senior Scientist, Planetary Space Institute; Co-Investigator, SHERLOC/WATSON, Perseverance Rover; Deputy Primary Investigator, MAHLI Camera, Curiosity Rover
Registration: https://primetime.bluejeans.com/a2m/register/gpddbxfs
Wednesday/Thursday, Feb. 17-18
ExplOrigins Colloquium
5 p.m. Feb. 17 - Poster Session
10 a.m.-2 p.m. Feb. 18 - Colloquium
Registration: https://bit.ly/3cXu6Bh
Thursday, Feb. 18
2:15 p.m. NASA Mars Perseverance Landing Watch Party
Registration: https://primetime.bluejeans.com/a2m/register/xecvbzja
Friday, Feb. 19
11 a.m. Mars+Landing Panel
- Glenn Lightsey, Professor, Aeronautics Engineering
- Frances Rivera-Hernandez, Assistant Professor, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
- James Wray, Associate Professor, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences; Co-Investigator, HiRISE & CRISM, MRO
- Angela Dapremont, PhD Candidate, Planetary Science
Registration: https://primetime.bluejeans.com/a2m/register/buzhyshh
Event Details
The 2021 Ivan Allen Jr. Prize for Social Courage is awarded to Anthony S. Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Georgia Tech is proud to honor the legacy of a great alumnus and civic leader, former Atlanta Mayor Ivan Allen Jr. The Ivan Allen Jr. Prize for Social Courage shines a light on those around the world who bravely act to improve the human condition, often in the face of seemingly insurmountable challenges.
The Ivan Allen Jr. Prize for Social Courage was first awarded in 2011 and is funded in perpetuity by a grant from the Wilbur and Hilda Glenn Family Foundation. It provides a stipend of $100,000 to the awardee or a charitable contribution to a non-profit in honor of the awardee.
Georgia Tech invites you to virtually attend our events surrounding the award celebration.
3 - 4 p.m. - Award presentation and recipient's remarks
4 - 5 p.m. - Panel discussion
Viewers can submit questions prior to the event by emailing events@comm.gatech.edu.
Event Details
Yann Hautier, Ph.D.
Department of Biology
Utrecht University
ABSTRACT
Syntheses of many experiments manipulating biodiversity have widely established that the loss of local species diversity impairs the stable provisioning of ecosystem services mankind relies on. Criticisms of these highly controlled and small scale studies have questioned their relevance to naturally assembled ecosystems and larger spatial scale at which policy, management and service provisioning takes place. In response, an increasing number of studies investigating biodiversity-stability relationships in non-manipulated communities have emerged, but syntheses are missing. Concurrently, theoretical developments have clarified the mechanisms by which biodiversity can stabilize functioning at different spatial scales. I will present results of a review of the literature assessing the balance of evidence regarding the direction of biodiversity-stability relationships and underlying mechanisms in (semi-)naturally assembled communities at the local and larger spatial scales. I will discuss the contribution of dominant and rare species to functional stability and identify knowledge gaps and opportunities for future research.
Host: Lin Jiang, Ph.D.
Event Details
Last week, College of Sciences faculty, staff, graduate students, and postdocs received a calendar invitation for this Wednesday’s virtual CoS Spring Plenary. Check your inbox for the BlueJeans Events link (search "CoS Spring 2021 Plenary"). The virtual event's agenda includes announcements and updates on our councils, searches, Task Force on Racial Equity, new strategic plan, and finances — plus a recap of our first staff engagement day. An open Q&A will follow plenary presentations. Please join us!
Event Details
Chronic itch is defined as itch persisting for more than six weeks. Because chronic itch is associated with most skin diseases, it is the most common reason for visiting a dermatologist. In addition to being uncomfortable, repeated scratching may result in infection and scarring, making chronic itch socially and occupationally debilitating.
Until recently researchers have experienced difficulty in visualizing the itch-sensing neurons that innervate the skin and are responsible for sensing itch sensation. However, a team of Georgia Tech researchers from the School of Biological Science has combined different cutting-edge techniques to solve this problem.
“We created a new transgenic mouse line that allowed us to, for the first time, see individual itch neurons in the skin,” says Yanyan Xing, a postdoctoral fellow in the Han laboratory. “This is very exciting!” she continued, “Because there are so many neurons in the skin, they often overlap on top of one another. This makes it impossible to determine the size, frequency, or distribution of the neurons.”
Such a state makes it impossible for researchers to perform any sort of detailed analysis on the neurons. For instance, the researchers cannot tell the number of axons per neuron, look for patterns in the spatial density of neurons, or see if the neurons are attached to any specific structures. “In contrast,” Xing explained, “our transgenic mouse line allows us to perform ‘sparse-labeling’ so that only a few neurons, less than 1%, are visible. Now, we can visualize individual neurons!”
Xing completed this work with a graduate student, Haley Steele, and four other fellow School of Biological Sciences researchers under the direction of Dr. Liang Han. The team published their results, “Visualizing the Itch-Sensing Skin Arbors,” in The Journal of Investigative Dermatology. Specifically, the team looked at a group of itch sensing neurons that are identified by the presence of a single protein, MrgprC11. They, therefore, call this group of neurons MrgprC11+ itch-sensing neurons.
To visualize these MrgprC11+ neurons, the team used a histological staining technique known as PLAP. This technique turns the individual axons of the neurons a dark blue which is visible to the naked eye, even without the use of a microscope.
By visualizing the individual neurons, the team discovered that itch-sensing neurons have large receptive fields. “Receptive fields are the area on the skin that each neuron is responsible for sensing,” Xing explains. “So, if the receptive field is small, such as for touch, you can sense very precisely that something is touching you at this very particular spot. But for the MrgprC11+ itch neurons, we found that they had large receptive fields, three times bigger than for the other neurons we looked at. So that means that when we sense itch, it isn’t confined to a very particular spot. We feel it much more diffusely over a larger area.”
In addition to allowing for the visualization of the itch neurons in the skin, this team’s novel transgenic mouse line also allowed them to learn more about MrgprC11+ neurons in general. For example, they discovered that MrgprC11+ neurons have multiple itch receptors. This is a critical finding according to Xing because “previously nobody was really looking too closely at the MrgprC11+ neurons. Now, that we know that MrgprC11+ neurons are an important itch sensing neuronal population, future researchers may focus significantly more effort on studying MrgprC11+ neurons.”
Carey Nadell, Ph.D.
Department of Biological Sciences
Darmouth College
ABSTRACT
Bacteria and other microbes commonly live in spatially constrained collectives, termed biofilms, which are ubiquitous in the environment and play a central role in microbial ecology. My group combines perspectives from ecological and evolutionary theory with molecular genetics and microscopy techniques to understand the spatial ecology of microbial biofilms at single-cell resolution. In the process of producing biofilms, bacteria engage in complex interactions that range from outright antagonism, to basic forms of resource competition, to highly cooperative behaviors. Understanding the net results of these many interactions is a major challenge in modern microbiology and a primary focus of my research group. Here I will talk about our groups research on the dynamics of predation by viral and bacterial attackers against biofilm populations. This work highlights how predation causes many unexpected downstream effects on biofilm spatial structure, population dynamics, and community assembly.
Host: Brian Hammer, Ph.D.
Event Details
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