Billyde Brown is a Senior Research Faculty and Education and Workforce Development (EWD) Director at the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute (GTMI), one of eleven interdisciplinary research institutes at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Dr. Brown also serves as a Manufacturing Advisor at the Georgia MBDA (Minority Business Development Agency) Business Center where he connects minority-owned business clients with resources and expertise at Georgia Tech and provides assistance with prototyping and engineering services.

Brown’s overall role at GTMI is to create strong partnerships among industry, government, and academia in the area of manufacturing research, development, and deployment, while acquiring and managing sponsored research programs. Brown is currently the Principal Investigator of an Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute (ARMI BioFabUSA) funded project to develop a wireless sensor system for real-time in-situ monitoring of critical quality attributes including pH, glucose, lactate, and protein biomarkers in human mesenchymal stem cell expansion bioreactors.

In regard to EWD, Brown manages a Manufacturing Certificate program and proctors a Manufacturing Seminar Course for the Georgia Tech College of Engineering while hosting a 10-week GTMI Lunch and Learn Lecture Series each semester with high profile industry, government, and academic speakers to share advanced manufacturing knowledge within a global community. Brown also coordinates an annual 10-week Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) summer program called REVAMP (Research Experiences for student Veterans in Advanced Manufacturing and entrePreneurship) sponsored by the National Science Foundation that maintains target demographics of 50% student veterans and 40% underrepresented minorities with STEM majors.

Brown has strong expertise in several technical areas including electrochemical biosensors for bioprocess monitoring, thin-film manufacturing (CVD, PVD, ALD, AJP), nanomaterial synthesis and characterization, and electrochemical energy storage. Brown has over 20 peer-reviewed publications and is a regular reviewer of high impact factor peer reviewed journals. He earned his B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from NC State University and Duke University, respectively.