Bert Bras

Bert Bras

Bert Bras

Associate Chair for Administration
Brook Byers Professor
Professor of Mechanical Engineering

Dr. Bert Bras has been a Professor at the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology since September 1992. From 2001 to 2004, he served as the Director of Georgia Tech’s Institute for Sustainable Technology and Development. 

In 2014, he was named a Brook Byers Professor of Sustainability. He was named the Associate Chair for Administration for the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech in 2016 and briefly served as Interim School Chair in 2018. 

Dr. Bras’ 25-year career as a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology equips him with considerable expertise in sustainable design and manufacturing that has taken him through many areas of industry, from automotive to alternative energy.

He holds an MS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Twente (Netherlands) and a Ph.D. in Operations Research from the University of Houston. Prior to completing his Ph.D., he worked at the Maritime Research Institute Netherlands (MARIN).

bert.bras@me.gatech.edu

404.894.9667

Office Location:
MRDC, Room 3408

Website

University, College, and School/Department
Research Focus Areas:
  • Additive manufacturing
  • Advanced Manufacturing
  • Aerospace
  • Automotive
  • Energy
  • Use & Conservation
  • Additional Research:
    Electric Vehicles; Computer-Aided Engineering and Design and Manufacturing; Sustainable design; Design for recycling; Robust design

    IRI Connections:

    Vida Jamali

    Vida Jamali

    Vida Jamali

    Assistant Professor, School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

    Vida Jamali earned her Ph.D. in chemical and biomolecular engineering from Rice University under the guidance of Professor Matteo Pasquali and her B.S. in chemical engineering from Sharif University of Technology. Jamali was a postdoctoral researcher in Professor Paul Alivisato's lab at UC Berkeley and Kavli Energy Nanoscience Institute before joining Georgia Tech. The Jamali Research Group uses experimental, theoretical, and computational tools such as liquid phase transmission electron microscopy, rheology, statistical and colloidal thermodynamics, and machine learning to study the underlying physical principles that govern the dynamics, statistics, mechanics, and self-organization of nanostructured soft materials, in and out of thermal equilibrium, from both fundamental and technological aspects.

    vida@gatech.edu

    404.894.5134

    Office Location:
    ES&T 1222

    Jamali Lab

  • ChBE Profile Page
  • Research Focus Areas:
  • Machine Learning
  • Materials and Nanotechnology
  • Nanomaterials
  • Additional Research:

    Studying dynamics and self-assembly of nanoparticles and macromolecules in heterogeneous chemical and biological environmentsInvestigating individual to collective behavior of active nanomachinesHarnessing the power of machine learning to understand physical rules governing nanostructured-soft materials, design autonomous microscopy experimentation for inverse material design, and develop new statistical and thermodynamic models for multiscale phenomena


    IRI Connections:

    Ching-Hua Huang, Ph.D.

    Ching-Hua Huang, Ph.D.

    Ching-Hua Huang

    Turnipseed Family Chair and Professor

    Ching-Hua Huang, Ph.D., is the Turnipseed Family Chair and Professor in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology. Huang received her Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in environmental engineering from Johns Hopkins University. Huang’s expertise includes environmental chemistry, advanced water/wastewater treatment technology, contaminants of emerging concern, sustainable water reuse, waste remediation and resource recovery. Huang has supervised many research projects sponsored by various agencies, and has published more than 170 peer-reviewed journal papers, book chapters and conference proceeding papers. She is the Associate Editor of the American Chemical Society's Environmental Science & Technology Water and the Editorial Advisory Board member of Environmental Science & Technology. 

    ching-hua.huang@ce.gatech.edu

    404.893.7694

    Office Location:
    School of Civil and Environmental Engineering

    Departmental Bio

    Research Focus Areas:
  • Catalysis
  • Clean Water
  • Energy & Water
  • Energy Generation, Storage, and Distribution
  • Environmental Processes
  • FEWS
  • Food-Energy-Water-Transportation-Systems (FEWTS)
  • Fuels & Chemical Processing
  • Separation Technologies
  • Water

  • IRI Connections:

    C.P. Wong

    C.P. Wong

    C.P. Wong

    Regents' Professor, School of Materials Science and Engineering
    Smithgall Institute Endowed Chair

    Professor C. P. Wong is the Charles Smithgall Institute Endowed Chair and Regents’ Professor. After his doctoral study, he was awarded a two-year postdoctoral fellowship with Nobel Laureate Professor Henry Taube at Stanford University. Prior to joining Georgia Tech, he was with AT&T Bell Laboratories for many years and became an AT&T Bell Laboratories Fellow in 1992. 

    His research interests lie in the fields of polymeric materials, electronic packaging and interconnect, interfacial adhesions, nano-functional material syntheses and characterizations. nano-composites such as well-aligned carbon nanotubes, grahenes, lead-free alloys, flip chip underfill, ultra high k capacitor composites and novel lotus effect coating materials. 

    He received many awards, among those, the AT&T Bell Labs Fellow Award in 1992, the IEEE CPMT Society Outstanding Sustained Technical Contributions Award in 1995, the Georgia Tech Sigma Xi Faculty Best Research Paper Award in 1999, Best MS, PhD and undergraduate Thesis Awards in 2002 and 2004, respectively, the University Press (London) Award of Excellence, the IEEE Third Millennium Medal in 2000, the IEEE EAB Education Award in 2001, the IEEE CPMT Society Exceptional Technical Contributions Award in 2002, the Georgia Tech Class of 1934 Distinguished Professor Award in 2004, Outstanding Ph.D. Thesis Advisor Award in 2005, the IEEE Components, Packaging and Manufacturing Technology Field Award in 2006, the Sigma Xi’s Monie Ferst Award in 2007, the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME)’s TEEM Award in 2008, the 2009 IEEE -CPMT David Feldman Outstanding Contribution Award and the 2009 Penn State University Distinguished Alumni Award. The 2012 International Dresden Barkhausen Award (Germany). 

    He holds over 65 U.S. patents, numerous international patents, has published over 1000 technical papers, 12 books and a member of the National Academy of Engineering of the USA since 2000.

    cp.wong@mse.gatech.edu

    404-894-8391

    Office Location:
    Love 367

    Website

  • School of Materials Science and Engineering
  • Research Focus Areas:
  • Materials and Nanotechnology
  • Materials for Energy
  • Solar

  • IRI Connections:

    Devesh Ranjan

    Devesh Ranjan

    Devesh Ranjan

    Chair, Mechanical Engineering

    Devesh Ranjan was named the Eugene C. Gwaltney, Jr. School Chair in the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech and took over the role on January 1, 2022. He previously served as the Associate Chair for Research, and Ring Family Chair in the Woodruff School. He also holds a courtesy appointment in the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering and serves as a co-director of the $100M Department of Defense-funded University Consortium for Applied Hypersonics (UCAH). At Georgia Tech, Ranjan has held several leadership positions including chairing ME’s Fluid Mechanics Research Area Group (2017 - 2018), serving as ME’s Associate Chair for Research (2019-present), and as co-chair of the “Hypersonics as a System” task-force, and serving as Interim Vice-President for Interdisciplinary Research (Feb 2021-June 2021). 

    Ranjan joined the faculty at Georgia Tech in 2014. Before coming to Georgia Tech, he was a director’s research fellow at Los Alamos National Laboratory (2008) and Morris E. Foster Assistant Professor in the Mechanical Engineering department at Texas A&M University (2009-2014). He earned a bachelor's degree from the NIT-Trichy (India) in 2003, and master's and Ph.D. degrees from the UW-Madison in 2005 and 2007 respectively, all in mechanical engineering. 

    Ranjan’s research focuses on the interdisciplinary area of power conversion, complex fluid flows involving shock and hydrodynamic instabilities, and the turbulent mixing of materials in extreme conditions, such as supersonic and hypersonic flows. Ranjan is a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), and has received numerous awards for his scientific contributions, including the DOE-Early Career Award (first GT recipient), the NSF CAREER Award, and the US AFOSR Young Investigator award. He was also named the J. Erskine Love Jr. Faculty Fellow in 2015. He was invited to participate in the National Academy of Engineering’s 2016 US Frontiers in Engineering Symposium. For his educational efforts and mentorship activity, he has received CATERPILLAR Teaching Excellence Award from College of Engineering at Texas A&M, as well as 2013 TAMU ASME Professor Mentorship Award from TAMU student chapter of the ASME. At Georgia Tech, Ranjan served as a Provost’s Teaching and Learning Fellow (PTLF) from 2018-2020, and was named 2021 Governor’s Teaching Fellow. He was also named Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Fellow for 2020-21. 

    Ranjan is currently part of a 10-member Technical Screening Committee of the NAE’s COVID-19 Call for Engineering Action taskforce, an initiative to help fight the coronavirus pandemic. He currently serves on the Editorial Board of Shock Waves and was a former Associate Editor for the ASME Journal of Fluids Engineering.

    devesh.ranjan@me.gatech.edu

    (404) 385-2922

    Website

    Research Focus Areas:
  • Energy Generation, Storage, and Distribution
  • Nuclear
  • Thermal Systems
  • Additional Research:
    Nuclear; Thermal Systems

    IRI Connections:

    Sheng Dai

    Sheng Dai

    Sheng Dai

    Assistant Professor

    Sheng Dai, Ph.D., P.E., earned his degrees from Tongji University and Georgia Tech. He worked as an ORISE postdoc at the National Energy Technology Laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy, and returned to Georgia Tech as a faculty member in 2015. He is currently an associate professor in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Ocean Science and Engineering. and holds a courtesy appointment at the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Georgia Tech.

    Dr. Dai's group addresses emerging energy and environment challenges through studying subsurface geomechanics, geomaterials characterization, energy geotechnics, bio-inspired geotechnics, flow in porous media, and granular dynamics. His research has been funded by federal funding agencies (DOE, NSF, NASA, DOT), national labs (INL, NETL), and industry (AECOM, GTI, Leidos).  Dr. Dai has been recognized for his research and teaching, including being a recipient of the NSF CAREER award, the ORISE Fellowship, the Bill Schutz Junior Faculty Teaching Award, and the Class of 1969 Teaching Fellows at Georgia Tech.

    He is an associated editor of the Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth and Advances in Geo-Energy Research, an editorial advisor of Geomechanics for Energy and Environment, and serves on the Pressure Core Advisory Board for U.S. Geological Survey, the GOM2 Marine Test Technical Advisory Committee for UT/DOE, the National Gas Hydrate Program for NETL, and the Task Force Leader of TC308 Energy Geotechnics of ISSMGE. 

    sheng.dai@ce.gatech.edu

    (404)385-4757

    Website

    University, College, and School/Department
    Research Focus Areas:
  • Energy Generation, Storage, and Distribution
  • Hydrogen Storage & Transport
  • Additional Research:
    Oil/Gas; Combustion; Electronics; Energy Harvesting; Energy Storage; Thermal Systems

    IRI Connections:

    Nick Sahinidis

    Nick Sahinidis

    Nick Sahinidis

    Gary C. Butler Family Chair
    Professor

    Nick Sahinidis is the Butler Family Chair and Professor in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering and the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Georgia Tech. His current research activities are at the interface between computer science and operations research, with applications in various engineering and scientific areas, including: global optimization of mixed-integer nonlinear programs: theory, algorithms, and software; informatics problems in chemistry and biology; process and energy systems engineering. Sahinidis has served on the editorial boards of many leading journals and in various positions within AIChE (American Institute of Chemical Engineers). He has also served on numerous positions within INFORMS (Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences), including Chair of the INFORMS Optimization Society. He received an NSF CAREER award, the INFORMS Computing Society Prize, the MOS Beale-Orchard-Hays Prize, the Computing in Chemical Engineering Award, the Constantin Carathéodory Prize, and the National Award and Gold Medal from the Hellenic Operational Research Society. Sahinidis is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering and a fellow of AIChE and INFORMS.

    nikos@gatech.edu

    (404) 894-3036

    Website

    Research Focus Areas:
  • Artificial Intelligence (AI)

  • IRI Connections:

    Nagi Gebraeel

    Nagi Gebraeel

    Nagi Gebraeel

    Georgia Power Associate Professor

    Professor Nagi Gebraeel is the Georgia Power Early Career Professor and Professor in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Georgia Tech. He received his MS and PhD from Purdue University in 1998 and 2003, respectively.

    Dr. Gebraeel's research interests lie at the intersection of Predictive Analytics and Machine Learning in IoT enabled maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) and service logistics. His key focus is on developing fundamental statistical learning algorithms specifically tailored for real-time equipment diagnostics and prognostics, and optimization models for subsequent operational and logistical decision-making in IoT ecosystems. Dr. Gebraeel also develops cyber-security algorithms intended to protect IoT-enabled critical assets from ICS-type cyberattacks (cyberattacks that target Industrial Control Systems). From the standpoint of application domains, Dr. Gebraeel has general interests in manufacturing, power generation, and service-type industries. Applications in Deep Space missions are a recent addition to his research interests, specifically, developing Self-Aware Deep Space Habitats through NASA's HOME Space Technology Research Institute.

    Dr. Gebraeel leads Predictive Analytics and Intelligent Systems (PAIS) research group at Georgia Tech's Supply Chain and Logistics Institute. He also directs activities and testing at the Analytics and Prognostics Systems laboratory at Georgia Tech's Manufacturing Institute. Formerly, Dr. Gebraeel served as an associate director at Georgia Tech's Strategic Energy Institute (from 2014 until 2019) where he was responsible for identifying and promoting research initiatives and thought-leadership at the intersection of Data Science and Energy applications. He was also the former president of the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE) Quality and Reliability Engineering Division, and is currently a member of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS), and IISE (since 2005).

    nagi.gebraeel@isye.gatech.edu

    404.894.0054

    Office Location:
    Groseclose Building, Room 327

    Website

    Research Focus Areas:
  • Diagnostics
  • Energy
  • Machine Learning
  • Additional Research:

    Data Mining; Sensor-based prognostics and degradation modeling; reliability engineering; maintenance operations and logistics; System Design & Optimization; Utilities; Cyber/ Information Technology; Oil/Gas


    IRI Connections:

    Martha Grover

    Martha Grover

    Martha Grover

    Professor, School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
    Associate Chair for Graduate Studies, School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
    James Harris Faculty Fellow, School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
    Member, NSF/NASA Center for Chemical Evolution

    Grover’s research activities in process systems engineering focus on understanding macromolecular organization and the emergence of biological function. Discrete atoms and molecules interact to form macromolecules and even larger mesoscale assemblies, ultimately yielding macroscopic structures and properties. A quantitative relationship between the nanoscale discrete interactions and the macroscale properties is required to design, optimize, and control such systems; yet in many applications, predictive models do not exist or are computationally intractable.

    The Grover group is dedicated to the development of tractable and practical approaches for the engineering of macroscale behavior via explicit consideration of molecular and atomic scale interactions. We focus on applications involving the kinetics of self-assembly, specifically those in which methods from non-equilibrium statistical mechanics do not provide closed form solutions. General approaches employed include stochastic modeling, model reduction, machine learning, experimental design, robust parameter design, and estimation.

    martha.grover@chbe.gatech.edu

    404.894.2878

    Office Location:
    ES&T 1228

    Grover Group

  • ChBE Profile Page
  • Google Scholar

    Research Focus Areas:
  • Electronic Materials
  • Molecular Evolution
  • Nuclear
  • Additional Research:
    Colloids; Crystallization; Organic and Inorganic Photonics and Electronics; Polymers; Discrete atoms and molecules interact to form macromolecules and even larger mesoscale assemblies, ultIMaTely yielding macroscopic structures and properties. A quantitative relationship between the nanoscale discrete interactions and the macroscale properties is required to design, optimize, and control such systems; yet in many applications, predictive models do not exist or are computationally intractable. The Grover group is dedicated to the development of tractable and practical approaches for the engineering of macroscale behavior via explicit consideration of molecular and atomic scale interactions. We focus on applications involving the kinetics of self-assembly, specific those in which methods from non-equilibrium statistical mechanics do not provide closed form solutions. General approaches employed include stochastic modeling, model reduction, machine learning, experimental design, robust parameter design, estIMaTion, and optimal control, monitoring and control for nuclear waste processing and polymer organic electronics

    IRI Connections:

    Andrei Fedorov

    Andrei Fedorov

    Andrei Fedorov

    Professor and Rae S. and Frank H. Neely Chair, Woodruff School Mechanical Engineering
    Associate Chair for Graduate Studies, School Mechanical Engineering
    Director, Fedorov Lab

    Fedorov's background is in thermal/fluid sciences, chemical reaction engineering as well as in applied mathematics. His laboratory works at the intersection between mechanical and chemical engineering and solid state physics and analytical chemistry with the focus on portable/ distributed power generation with synergetic CO2 capture; thermal management of high power dissipation devices and electronics cooling; special surfaces and nanostructured interfaces for catalysis, heat and moisture management; and development of novel bioanalytical instrumentation and chemical sensors. Fedorov joined Georgia Tech in 2000 as an assistant professor after finishing his postdoctoral work at Purdue University.

    AGF@gatech.edu

    404.385.1356

    Office Location:
    Love 307

    Fedorov Lab

  • ME Profile Page
  • Google Scholar

    Research Focus Areas:
  • Cancer Biology
  • Conventional Energy
  • Drug Design, Development and Delivery
  • Electronic Materials
  • Fuels & Chemical Processing
  • Hydrogen Production
  • Hydrogen Storage & Transport
  • Hydrogen Utilization
  • Materials for Energy
  • Miniaturization & Integration
  • Nuclear
  • Regenerative Medicine
  • Systems Biology
  • Use & Conservation
  • Additional Research:
    Heat Transfer; power generation; CO2 Capture; Catalysis; fuel cells; "Fedorov's research is at the interface of basic sciences and engineering. His research portfolio is diverse, covering the areas of portable/ distributed power generation with synergetic carbon dioxide management, including hydrogen/CO2 separation/capture and energy storage, novel approaches to nanomanufacturing (see Figure), microdevices (MEMS) and instrumentation for biomedical research, and thermal management of high performance electronics. Fedorov's research includes experimental and theoretical components, as he seeks to develop innovative design solutions for the engineering systems whose optimal operation and enhanced functionality require fundamental understanding of thermal/fluid sciences. Applications of Fedorov's research range from fuel reformation and hydrogen generation for fuel cells to cooling of computer chips, from lab-on-a-chip microarrays for high throughput biomedical analysis to mechanosensing and biochemical imaging of biological membranes on nanoscale. The graduate and undergraduate students working with Fedorov's lab have a unique opportunity to develop skills in a number of disciplines in addition to traditional thermal/fluid sciences because of the highly interdisciplinary nature of their thesis research. Most students take courses and perform experimental and theoretical research in chemical engineering and applied physics. Acquired knowledge and skills are essential to starting and developing a successful career in academia as well as in many industries ranging from automotive, petrochemical and manufacturing to electronics to bioanalytical instrumentation and MEMS."

    IRI Connections: