Glenn Lightsey

Glenn Lightsey

Glenn Lightsey

Interim Director, Space Research Initiative
John W. Young Chair Professor, Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering

E. Glenn Lightsey is the John W. Young Chair Professor in the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering at Georgia Tech. He currently serves as the interim director for the Space Research Initiative at Georgia Tech. Previously, he was the director of the Space Systems Design Lab from 2016-2023 and Center for Space Technology And Research at Georgia Tech from 2019-2023. 

Lightsey’s research program focuses on the technology of small satellites, including: guidance, navigation, and control systems; attitude determination and control; formation flying, satellite swarms, and cooperative control; proximity operations and unmanned spacecraft rendezvous; space based Global Positioning System receivers; radionavigation; propulsion; satellite operations; and space systems engineering. His group has built and operated several spacecraft for government sponsors. 

Lightsey has co-authored more than 180 technical articles and publications, including four book chapters. He is an AIAA Fellow and a Founding Member of the AIAA Small Satellite Technical Committee. He is Associate Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Small Satellites. In the past he served as Associate Editor of the AIAA Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics and Associate Editor of the AIAA Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets. Lightsey was previously employed at the University of Texas at Austin and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

glenn.lightsey@gatech.edu

404.385.4146

Office Location:
ESM 110A/B

AE Profile Page

  • Space Research Initiative
  • Google Scholar

    Research Focus Areas:
  • Aerospace
  • Autonomy
  • Additional Research:

    Small Satellites, Guidance and Control, and Spacecraft Technology.


    IRI Connections:

    Chen Zhou

    Chen Zhou

    Chen Zhou

    Associate Professor; School of Industrial and Systems Engineering
    Associate Chair for Undergraduate Studies; School of Industrial and Systems Engineering

    Chen Zhou is the associate chair for undergraduate studies and associate professor in the Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Georgia Tech.. Dr. Zhou's research focus includes sustainable supply chain, distribution system design and manufacturing systems. Dr. Chen is a member of the Institute of Industrial Engineers, Society of Manufacturing Engineers and American Society of Engineering Education. Dr. Zhou received a B.S. degree from Tianjin University (China) in 1982, an M.S. in mechanical engineering from Pennsylvania State University in 1984, and a Ph.D. in industrial engineering from Pennsylvania State University in 1988.

    chen.zhou@isye.gatech.edu

    404.894.2326

    Office Location:
    Groseclose 217

    Industrial and Systems Engineering Profile Page

    Research Focus Areas:
  • Collaborative Robotics
  • Additional Research:

    Warehousing design and analysis; Manufacturing Systems


    IRI Connections:
    IRI And Role

    Nancey Green Leigh

    Nancey Green Leigh

    Nancey Green Leigh

    Professor; School of City & Regional Planning
    Associate Dean for Research; College of Design

    Nancey Green Leigh is a Professor in the School of City and Regional Planning and adviser for the economic development planning, working with masters and doctoral students. Maintaining an active research program, Leigh is currently leading a project entitled "Workers, Firms and Industries in Robotic Regions," funded by the National Science Foundation's Robotics Initiative. She previously led a large scale research effort by three universities focused on sustainable industrial systems for urban regions. Both of these efforts as well as other funded research (brownfields, urban land and manufacturing, resilient infrastructure) contribute to Leigh's long term focus on advancing sustainable development for local and regional economies. As Associate Dean for Research, Leigh is focused on strengthening the research impact of the College of Design. She develops and administers competitive initiatives to support individual and collaborative research by college faculty and affiliated researchers. She oversees the college's seven major research units. She also is engaged in building research connections within Georgia Tech between the College of Design, other colleges and Interdisciplinary Research Institutes, as well as to external funders and collaborators in the public, private and nonprofit sectors. Leigh has published more than 60 articles and four books, Routledge Handbook of International Planning Education (2019 with S.P. French, S. Guhathakurta, and B. Stiftel), Planning Local Economic Development, 6th edition (2017 with E.J. Blakely) adopted for courses in a wide array of universities; Economic Revitalization: Cases and Strategies for City and Suburb (2002 with J. Fitzgerald); and Stemming Middle Class Decline: The Challenge to Economic Development Planning (1994). She was co-editor of the Journal of Planning Education and Research from 2012 to 2016, and was elected a Fellow of the American Institute of Certified Planners in 2008.

    ngleigh@design.gatech.edu

    404.894.9839

    Office Location:
    Architecture-East Building, 209

    Website

    Google Scholar

    University, College, and School/Department
    Research Focus Areas:
  • Collaborative Robotics
  • Policy & Economics
  • Use & Conservation
  • Additional Research:

    economic development; robots & AI impact on workers; firms & regions; City and Regional Planning; System Design & Optimization; Design Sciences


    IRI Connections:

    Ellen Yi Chen Mazumdar

    Ellen Yi  Chen Mazumdar

    Ellen Mazumdar

    Assistant Professor; School of Mechanical Engineering
    Director; The Sensing Technologies Lab

    Dr. Mazumdar started at the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech in January of 2019 and currently has a courtesy appointment with the Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering. She graduated with her Ph.D. from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and completed a postdoctoral appointment at Sandia National Laboratories in the Diagnostic Science and Engineering group. Her research interests include the design of new diagnostic techniques and sensor systems for studying combustion, multiphase flows, hypersonic flows, and energetic materials. Her group utilizes new composite sensing materials, optical diagnostics, magnetostatics, and system identification methods to study these complex physical phenomena.

    ychen3161@gatech.edu

    404.894.3242

    Office Location:
    Love 229

    Sensing Technologies Laboratory Website

    Research Focus Areas:
  • Autonomy
  • Combustion
  • Energy Storage
  • Thermal Systems
  • Additional Research:

    new sensor systems diagnostic techniques; robotic; biomedical; hypersonics


    IRI Connections:

    Marilyn Smith

    Marilyn Smith

    Marilyn Smith

    Professor; School of Aerospace Engineering
    Director; Vertical Lift Research Center of Excellence

    Marilyn Smith is a Professor in the School of Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. She is director of Georgia Tech's Vertical Lift Research Center of Excellence (VLRCOE), where she leads a seven-university team of experts in vertical lift research for the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy and NASA. She has partnered with the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) to successfully win multiple research funding mechanisms for both organizations that total more than $200 million dollars. As the director of the AE School's Computational Nonlinear Computational Aeroelasticity Lab, Prof. Smith leads an internationally recognized and award-winning research team in the areas of unsteady aerodynamics and computational aeroelasticity using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) across rotary-wing, fixed wing and launch vehicles, as well as sustainable energy. As a member of the NASA FUN3D development team, Prof. Smith contributes to state-of-the-art unstructured algorithm development, in particular for overset, moving frames. As an affiliate of the Aerospace Systems Design Lab (ASDL), she helps to integrate high performance computing with the design process. Prof. Smith is the author or co-author of more than 200 technical publications, and her research products are in active use by the US Government and other organizations, including the Drone Racing League. She is active internationally on three NATO AVT Panels investigating nonlinear gusts behaviors on UAVs and collaboration of experimental/computational aerodynamics. She is on Board of Directors of the Vertical Lift Consortium (VLC) and the Vertical Flight Society (VFS). She is also the Deputy Technical Director for Aeromechanics for the VFS. Prof. Smith has demonstrated her leadership as ARO Dynamic Stall Workshop Chair (2019); 70th AHS Annual Forum Technical Chairperson (2014); 69th AHS Annual Forum Technical Deputy Chairperson (2013); and 2014 Overset Grid Symposium (OGS) Chairperson. She was a member on the first International Aeroelastic Prediction Workshop Organizing Committee and is a member of the OGS organizing committee. Prof. Smith has been a guest expert in aviation for National Geographic, PBS, and NPR, as well as local television and numerous publications.

    marilyn.smith@ae.gatech.edu

    404.894.3065

    Office Location:
    Weber 202

    AE Profile Page

  • Vertical Lift Research Center of Excellence
  • Google Scholar

    Research Focus Areas:
  • Autonomy
  • Wind
  • Additional Research:

    aeroelasticity; aerodynamics; computational fluid dynamics


    IRI Connections:

    Alenka Zajić

    Alenka Zajić

    Alenka Zajić

    Ken Byers Professor, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering

    Alenka Zajic is currently the Ken Byers Professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. She has received the B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees from the University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia, in 2001 and 2003, respectively, and the Ph.D. degree in electrical and computer engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, in 2008. Before joining Georgia Tech as an assistant professor, Zajic was a post-doctoral fellow in the Naval Research Laboratory and visiting faculty in the School of Computer Science at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Zajic is the recipient of the following awards: IEEE Atlanta Section Outstanding Engineer Award (2019), The Best Poster Award at the IEEE International Conference on RFID (2018), NSF CAREER Award (2017), Best Paper Award at the 49th Annual IEEE/ACM International Symposium on Microarchitecture (2016), the Best Student Paper Award at the IEEE International Conference on Communications and Electronics (2014), Neal Shepherd Memorial Best Propagation Paper Award (2012), the Best Paper Award at the International Conference on Telecommunications (2008), the Best Student Paper Award at the Wireless Communications and Networking Conference (2007), IEEE Outstanding Chapter Award as a Chair of the Atlanta Chapter of the AP/MTT Societies (2016), LexisNexis Dean's Excellence Award (2016), and Richard M. Bass/Eta Kappa Nu Outstanding Teacher Award (2016). She was an editor for IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications 2012-2017 and an executive editor for Wiley Transactions on Emerging Telecommunications Technologies 2011-2016 .

    alenka.zajic@ece.gatech.edu

    404.556.7149

    Office Location:
    TSRB 415

    ECE Profile Page

  • Electromagnetic Measurements in Communications and Computing (EMC^2)
  • Google Scholar

    Research Focus Areas:
  • Autonomy
  • Cyber Technology
  • Miniaturization & Integration
  • Additional Research:

    On-Chip and Off-Chip Interconnects and Communication in Computer Systems; Mobile-to-Mobile Wireless Channel Modeling and Measurements; Underwater Wireless Channel Modeling and Measurements; Electromagnetic Security and Compatibility; Applied Electromagnetics; Wireless Communications


    IRI Connections:

    Zsolt Kira

    Zsolt Kira

    Zsolt Kira

    Assistant Professor; School of Interactive Computing
    Research Faculty; Georgia Tech Research Institute
    Associate Director; Machine Learning @ GT
    Director; RobotIcs Perception and Learning (RIPL) Lab

    I am an Assistant Professor at the School of Interactive Computing in the College of Computing. I am also affiliated with the Georgia Tech Research Institute and serve as an Associate Director of ML@GT which is the machine learning center recently created at Georgia Tech. Previously I was a Research Scientist at SRI International Sarnoff in Princeton, and before that received my Ph.D. in 2010 with Professor Ron Arkin as my advisor. I lead the RobotIcs Perception and Learning (RIPL) lab. My areas of research specifically focus on the intersection of learning methods for sensor processing and robotics, developing novel machine learning algorithms and formulations towards solving some of the more difficult perception problems in these areas. I am especially interested in moving beyond supervised learning (un/semi/self-supervised and continual/lifelong learning) as well as distributed perception (multi-modal fusion, learning to incorporate information across a group of robots, etc.).

    zkira@gatech.edu

    Office Location:
    CODA room S1181B

    Robotics Perception & Learning Lab

    Google Scholar

    Research Focus Areas:
  • Autonomy
  • Additional Research:

    Machine Learning; Perception; Robotics; Artificial Intelligence


    IRI Connections:

    Larry Heck

    Larry Heck

    Larry Heck

    Professor
    Rhesa Screven Farmer Jr., Advanced Computing Concepts Chair
    Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar

    Larry P. Heck is a Professor with a joint appointment in the Schools of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Interactive Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He holds the Rhesa S. Farmer Distinguished Chair of Advanced Computing Concepts and is a Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar. His received the BSEE from Texas Tech University (1986), and MSEE and PhD EE from the Georgia Institute of Technology (1989,1991). He is a Fellow of the IEEE, inducted into the Academy of Distinguished Engineering Alumni at Georgia Tech and received the Distinguished Engineer Award from the Texas Tech University. He was a Senior Research Engineer with SRI (1992-98), VP of R&D at Nuance (1998-2005), VP of Search and Advertising Sciences at Yahoo! (2005-2009), Chief Scientist of the Microsoft Speech products and Distinguished Engineer in Microsoft Research (2009-2014), Principal Scientist with Google Research (2014-2017), CEO of Viv Labs and SVP at Samsung (2017-2021).

    larryheck@gatech.edu

    College Website

    Google Scholar

    University, College, and School/Department
    Research Focus Areas:
  • Artificial Intelligence (AI)
  • Conversational systems
  • Machine Learning
  • Natural language processing (NLP)
  • Speech/speaker recognition

  • IRI Connections:

    Shreyas Kousik

    Shreyas Kousik

    Shreyas Kousik

    Assistant Professor

    Shreyas Kousik is an assistant professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering. Previously, Shreyas was a postdoctoral scholar at Stanford University, working in the ASL under Prof. Marco. Kousik completed a postdoc with Prof. Grace Gao in the NAV Lab. He received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Michigan, advised by Prof. Ram Vasudevan in the ROAHM Lab and received his undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech, advised by Prof. Antonia Antoniou.

    Kousik’s research is focused on guaranteeing safety in autonomy via collision avoidance methods for robots. His lab’s goal is to translate safety in math to safety on real robots by exploring ways to model uncertainty from autonomous perception and estimation systems and ensure that these models are practical for downstream planning and control tasks

    shreyas.kousik@me.gatech.edu

    Lab Webpage

  • Github
  • Google Scholar

    Research Focus Areas:
  • Autonomy
  • Collaborative Robotics
  • Human-Centered Robotics
  • Robotics

  • IRI Connections:

    Irfan Essa

    Irfan Essa

    Irfan Essa

    Senior Associate Dean; College of Computing
    Professor; School of Interactive Computing

    Irfan Essa is a Professor in the School of Interactive Computing and Senior Associate Dean in the College of Computing (CoC), at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Professor Essa works in the areas of Computer Vision, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Robotics, Computer Graphics, and Social Computing, with potential impact on Content Creation, Analysis and Production (e.g., Computational Photography & Video, Image-based Modeling and Rendering, etc.) Human Computer Interaction, Artificial Intelligence, Computational Behavioral/Social Sciences, and Computational Journalism research.He has published over 150 scholarly articles in leading journals and conference venues on these topics and several of his papers have also won best paper awards. He has been awarded the National Science Foundation CAREER Award and was elected an IEEE Fellow. He has held extended research consulting positions with Disney Research and Google Research and also was an Adjunct Faculty Member at Carnegie Mellon's Robotics Institute. He joined Georgia Tech in 1996 after his earning his Master's (1990), Ph.D. (1994), and holding a research faculty position at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab (1988-1996).

    irfan@cc.gatech.edu

    404.894.6856

    Website

    Research Focus Areas:
  • AI
  • Machine Learning
  • Robotics
  • Additional Research:

    Healthcare Security; Machine Learning; Mobile & Wireless Communications; Computer Vision and Robotics; Computer Graphics and Animation; Computational Photography and Video; Intelligent and Aware Environments; Digital Special Effects; Computational Journalism; Social Computing


    IRI Connections: