Neha Kumar is an Associate Professor jointly appointed at the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs and the School of Interactive Computing at Georgia Tech. Her research lies at the intersection of human-computer interaction and global sustainable development, with a focus on global health and community informatics. Her work contributes feminist perspectives to the design and integration of emerging technologies across marginalized contexts in the Global South. 

Her research has been recognized by multiple ACM Best Paper and Honorable Mention awards. Neha received the College of Computing's Lockheed Inspirational Young Faculty Award (2017) and the Lockheed Excellence in Teaching Award (2019). She currently serves as the President of ACM SIGCHI. She earned her Ph.D. in Information Management Systems from UC Berkeley, Master’s degrees in Computer Science and Education from Stanford University, and Bachelor’s in Computer Science and Applied Math from UC Berkeley.

Debra Lam is the Founding Director of the Partnership for Inclusive Innovation, a statewide public-private partnership committed to investing in innovative solutions for shared economic prosperity. She continues to lead smart communities and urban innovation work at Georgia Tech. Prior to this, she served as Pittsburgh’s inaugural Chief of Innovation & Performance where she oversaw all technology, sustainability, performance, and innovation functions of city government. Before that, she was a management consultant at a global engineering and design firm, Arup. She has received various awards, including being named one of the top 100 most influential people in digital government by Apolitcal.

She has worked and lived in the United Kingdom, China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. A graduate of Georgetown University and the University of California, Berkeley, Debra serves on the board of the Community Foundation of Greater Atlanta and was most recently appointed by the U.S Department of Commerce to the Internet of Things Advisory Board.

Jeff Evans is a researcher with the Information Communication Laboratory (ICL) at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), where researchers work to solve complex problems in computer science, information technology, communications, networking and sociotechnical systems. Customers have included those in the Department of Defense (DoD), emergency response and health care systems spaces. Evans’ research has focused primarily on modes of communications in emerging technologies, particularly wireless systems, and he is involved as a project director for several advanced network and multimedia communications programs. One of his main research foci involves ensuring applications’ performance as they migrate across different networks for legacy systems and emerging, high-bandwidth access technologies. His early work developed into the Network Applications Integration Lab (NAIL) research testbed, which led to his working with campus and other labs across GTRI. After running some of ICL’s research programs in both the DoD and commercial spaces, he was asked to help launch up the first multi-disciplinary unit, the Institute for People and Technology (IPaT) at Georgia Tech in order to integrate theoretical research, basic research and to conduct applied science about the emerging technologies that directly impact people: health care, education, humanitarian systems and media. He has helped build numerous international and industry partnerships, as well as multidisciplinary “living lab” test beds. Evans helped co-found GTRI’s Foundations for the Future (F3) program, which helps to bring Georgia Tech’s expertise into the state’s K-12 classrooms. ICL also has nationally recognized initiatives that includes the FalconView™ Program, the National Information Exchange Model (NIEM) information exchange standards; communications research and antenna networks, both for troops and for evaluating IED countermeasures; emergency management technologies; and are developing a comprehensive approach to the Internet of Things.

Dr. Matthew Gombolay is the Anne and Alan Taetle Assistant Professor of Interactive Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He received a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the Johns Hopkins University in 2011, a S.M. in Aeronautics and Astronautics from MIT in 2013, and a Ph.D. in Autonomous Systems from MIT in 2017. Gombolay's research interests span robotics, AI/ML, human-robot interaction, and operations research. Between defending his dissertation and joining the faculty at Georgia Tech, Gombolay served as a technical staff member at MIT's Lincoln Laboratory transitioning his research for the U.S. Navy, earning him an R&D 100 Award for his development of "Human-Machine Collaborative Optimization via Apprenticeship Scheduling" (COVAS). His publication record includes a best paper award from American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics, and he was selected as a DARPA Riser in 2018. Dr. Gombolay's research has been highlighted in media outlets such as CNN, PBS, NBC, CBS, Harvard Business Review, Gizmodo, and national public radio

Brian D. Jones is a senior research engineer at Georgia Tech, where since 1993, he has developed interactive applications for use in informal learning environments, on smartphones, and in the home. In 2008, Mr. Jones was named director of the Aware Home Research Initiative (AHRI), a group of Georgia Tech faculty and students researching the next generation of technologies and applications to support residents in their homes. In this capacity, Mr. Jones is working to build new research and industry partnerships as well as enable faculty and students to innovate new technologies for the home that will improve the lives of residents. As part of this effort, he oversees the Aware Home Living Lab, a facility on campus designed to provide an authentic home environment and supporting technology infrastructure for Georgia Tech faculty and students interested in researching a variety of applications in the home.  

Mr. Jones’ primary research interests are in the area of design and development of technologies to improve health and well-being and enable healthy aging and increased independence. His current research projects are considering the role of the connected home as a support in the lives of older adults and people with disabilities; exploring options for measuring gait speed in various clinic and home settings as a proxy for frailty, and designing a SmartBathroom for understanding bathroom transfers of people with lower-body functional limitations.

As a logical extension of the Aware Home as a resource for technology development, Mr. Jones collaborated with researchers in the Georgia Tech Research Institute, to establish Georgia Tech HomeLab to provide a pool of over 600 individuals age 50 and older willing to participate in research projects and evaluate industry products in their homes.

In 2007, Mr. Jones joined with other research faculty at Georgia Tech to form the Design and Technology for Healthy Aging (DATHA) initiative. This effort is aimed at bringing together researchers, students, state and local organizations, and industry with a common interest of providing our older adult population with the communities and technologies they need to successfully age in place.

Mr. Jones serves on the staff of the Institute for People and Technology (IPaT) at Georgia Tech, strategizing how Georgia Tech research in empowered personal health can align with industry interests to provide more significant societal impact.

Mr. Jones holds both a Bachelor's degree (BEE `93) and a Master's of Science degree (MSEE `96) from Georgia Tech in Electrical Engineering.