Sankar Nair
Nanomaterials; Biofuels; Carbon Capture; Catalysis; Separations Technology; Chemical Recovery; Energy & Water
- Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage
- Advanced Manufacturing for Energy
Nanomaterials; Biofuels; Carbon Capture; Catalysis; Separations Technology; Chemical Recovery; Energy & Water
Muhlstein has worked as an engineering consultant at Exponent, Inc. (Failure Analysis Associates). In September, 2002 he joined the faculty in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at The Pennsylvania State University and was tenured and promoted to associate professor in 2008.
Muhlstein’s research focuses on understanding the mechanisms of fracture and fatigue in bulk and thin film materials. Muhlstein is a member of Alpha Sigma Mu and Keramos honor societies and an NSF CAREER award recipient. In 2007 he was also named the Corning Research Faculty Fellow in Materials Science and Engineering at The Pennsylvania State University.
Fracture and Fatigue; Thin Films; Polymeric Composites; Advanced Characterization; Nanomaterials; Structural Materials; Paper & Board Mechanics; Biomaterials; Nanocellulose Applications; Biocomposites; New Materials
Carson Meredith is Professor and James Preston Harris Faculty Fellow in the School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at Georgia Tech and serves as Executive Director of the Renewable Bioproducts Institute (RBI).
His research focuses on sustainable materials and bioproducts, with particular emphasis on biomass-derived polymers such as cellulose and chitin nanomaterials. Representing the contributions of students and collaborators, this work addresses critical challenges in packaging, coatings, and recycling, and has been featured in Newsweek, NBC Nightly News, BBC, and NPR. Meredith’s research also includes innovations in polymer films, foams, composites and particle adhesion.
Meredith has published over 140 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, with more than 7,600 citations. His recent research includes the development of recyclable nanocellulose coatings and water vapor-resistant films using renewable materials. He has received multiple patents and has led over $30 million in federal and industry funded research.
Meredith has served in leadership roles across campus and nationally. At Georgia Tech, he has led RBI since 2020, one of eleven interdisciplinary research institutes, where he has built a community of over 70 faculty focused on circular materials, bio industrial manufacturing, and low-impact papermaking. He is also a member of advisory boards for the Bioproducts Institute (University of British Columbia) and the DOE Joint Bioenergy Institute (JBEI) and serves on the editorial board of Green Materials.
He teaches courses in forest product technology and sustainable materials, and co-founded GT-EQUAL, the first American Chemistry Society Bridge Program in chemical engineering. He also led the development of a graduate certificate in Data Science for the Chemical Industry and created a MOOC on High-Throughput Development of Materials, which has reached over 14,000 learners.
Meredith earned his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin and his B.Ch.E. from Georgia Tech.
Research
Meredith’s research centers on sustainable materials and bioproducts, with a focus on:
Cellulose and chitin nanomaterials
Renewable packaging and coatings
Polymer thin films and foams
Particle adhesion
Energy efficient drying in natural fiber manufacturing
His work integrates environmental sustainability into materials design and manufacturing, and he collaborates across disciplines to advance scalable climate solutions.
Awards and Distinctions
AIChE Fellow (2023)
Georgia Tech Outstanding Service Award (2023)
Georgia Tech Curriculum Innovation Award (2022)
Selected Publications
Hickmann, T., Tao, L., Stingelin, N., Meredith, J.C. (2024). Low-water-permeability foils based on bio-renewable cellulose-derivatives. RSC Sustainability, 2, 3451–3455.
Ji, Y., Shen, D.E., Lu, Y., Schueneman, G.T., Shofner, M.L., Meredith, J.C. (2023). Aqueous-based recycling of cellulose nanocrystal / chitin nanowhisker barrier coatings. ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering, 11, 10874–10883.
Shin, D., Choi, W.T., Lin, H., Qu, Z., Breedveld, V., Meredith, J.C. (2019). Humidity-Tolerant Capillary Viscous Adhesion of the Honey Bee Pollen Basket Fluid. Nature Communications, 10, 1379.
Satam, C., Irvin, C.W., Lang, A.W., Jallorina, J.C.R., Shofner, M.L., Reynolds, J.R., Meredith, J.C. (2018). Spray-Coated Multilayer Cellulose Nanocrystal—Chitin Nanofiber Films for Barrier Applications. ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering, 6, 10637–10644.
A full list of publications is available on Google Scholar.
Catalysis; Cellulosic Nanomaterials; Separation Technologies; Nanocellulose Applications; Aerogels & Hydrogels; Films & Coatings; Coatings & Barriers; Biomaterials
Electric Vehicles; Acoustics and Dynamics; computational mechanics; Multiscale Modeling; Nanostructured Materials; Metamaterials
Kimberly (Kim) E. Kurtis is a professor in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology. She has served as associate dean of faculty development and scholarship in the College of Engineering since 2014 and was interim chair of the School for the 2017-2018 academic year. Kurtis earned her BSE in civil engineering from Tulane University under a Deans Honor Scholarship and her Ph.D. in civil engineering from the University of California at Berkeley, where she was a Henry Hilp Fellow and a National Science Foundation (NSF) Fellow.
Kurtis’s innovative research on the multi-scale structure and performance of cement-based materials has resulted in more than 100 technical publications and two US patents. In addition to her technical and educational service contributions at the American Concrete Institute (ACI), American Ceramics Society (ACerS), Portland Cement Association (PCA), Transportation Research Board (TRB), American Association of State and Highway Transportation Officials (AASHTO), and Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), she has held two leadership positions – Chairman of ACI Committee 236: Materials Science of Concrete (2006-2012) and Chair of American Ceramic Society’s Cements Division (2008-2009) – central to advancing science-based research on cement-based materials. Dr. Kurtis has served as Associate Editor of ASCE Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering and as an Editorial Board member of Cement and Concrete Composites. Having previously served six years on ACI's Educational Activities Committee (EAC), she is currently appointed to ACI's 12-member Technical Activities Committee, which oversees development of ACI standards, technical committee activities, and technical content presented at ACI conventions and in archival publications. Since 2018, she has been Trustee at the ASCE Foundation, representing District 5.
She has been honored with ACI ’s Walter P. Moore, Jr. Faculty Achievement Award (2005), ACI’s Del Bloem Award for Service (2013), Outstanding Senior Undergraduate Research Mentor Award at Georgia Institute of Technology (2013), the ACI James Instruments Award for Research on NDE of Concrete (2008), Award for Outstanding Article in ASTM’s Journal of Testing and Evaluation (2010), and ASCE’s Huber Civil Engineering Research Prize (2013). Kurtis is a Fellow of the American Concrete Institute and the American Ceramics Society.
Structural Materials; Sustainable Communities; Composites; Structural Health Monitoring
Mijin Kim is an assistant professor in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Georgia Tech. Her research program is focused on the development and implementation of novel nanosensor technology to improve cancer research and diagnosis. The Kim Lab combines nanoscale engineering, fluorescence spectroscopy, machine learning approaches, and biochemical tools (1) to understand the exciton photophysics in low-dimensional nanomaterials, (2) to develop diagnostic/nano-omics sensor technology for early disease detection, and (3) to investigate biological processes with focusing problems in lysosome biology and autophagy. For her scientific innovation, Kim has received multiple recognitions, including being named as one of the STAT Wunderkinds and the MIT Technology Review Innovators Under 35 List.
Kardomateas has twenty five years of research experience in the mechanics of structures and materials, both advanced (composite) and conventional (metallic). He is the author (together with R.L. Carlson) of the book: An Introduction to Fatigue in Metals and Composites, published by Chapman and Hall, 1996, the editor of three volumes published by the Applied Mechanics Division of the ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers) as well as the author of about one hundred refereed journal papers, about one hundred conference proceedings papers and over twenty articles published as parts of books. He has served as the elected chairman of the Applied Mechanics Division Composites Committee of ASME and the Program Representative of the Aerospace Division Structures and Materials Committee of the ASME. Kardomateas has served as an Associate Editor of the AIAA Journal, has also served in the AIAA Technical Committee on Structures and as a Contributing Editor of the International Journal of Non-Linear Mechanics. Following his Ph.D. studies, he assumed the position of Senior Research Engineer in the General Motors Research Laboratories, conducting industrial research in the emerging at that time field of advanced composites. In January 1989, Kardomateas joined the academic faculty at the Georgia Institute of Technology as an Assistant Professor and was promoted to the rank of Associate Professor in 1992 and to the rank of Professor in 1997. Over the last seventeen years, Kardomateas has been the principal investigator and project director of Academic Grants sponsored by the Office of Naval Research, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the Army Research Office, the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Rotorcraft Technology Center as well as of Research Contracts sponsored by the US Air Force Warner Robins Air Logistics Center, Sikorsky Aircraft and General Motors Corp. in the field of fracture/fatigue/structural behavior in both advanced composite and conventional metallic materials and structures. Kardomateas' research has been published in highly respected journals in the Mechanics area, such as the Journal of Applied Mechanics, the Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids, the AIAA Journal, the International Journal of Fracture, the International Journal of Solids and Structures, the Philosophical Magazine, etc.
Composites; fracture and fatigue; micro and nanomechanics
Kalaitzidou joined Georgia Tech as an assistant professor in the G.W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering in November of 2007. She also holds an adjunct appointment in the School of Materials Science and Engineering. She obtained her Ph.D. in manufacturing and characterization of polymer nanocomposites (PNCs) from Michigan State University and worked as a post-doctoral researcher on mechanics of soft materials in the Polymer Science and Engineering Department at University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She was promoted to professor in 2019 and was also named a Rae S. and Frank H. Neely Professor in the same year. In November 2019 Kalaitzidou was named the Associate Chair for Faculty Development.
Additive/Advanced Manufacturing; multifunctional materials; Nanocomposites; Polymers; Surfaces and Interfaces; Manufacturing; Mechanics of Materials; Biomaterials
Josh Kacher joined Georgia Tech’s Materials Science and Engineering department as an assistant professor in Fall of 2015. Prior to his appointment, he was a postdoctoral scholar at the University of California, Berkeley. There, he worked in collaboration with General Motors to understand the Portevin-le Chatelier effect in Al-Mg and with the navy to develop novel rhenium-replacement alloys. His research approach centered on applying in situ TEM deformation to understand the influence of local chemistry on the behavior of defects such as dislocations and twins. This was coupled with mesoscale characterization of the defect state using EBSD for multiscale characterization of the deformation processes.
His Ph.D. and Masters work similarly focused on applying multiscale electron microscopy techniques to understanding defect behavior in a variety of systems such as ion-irradiated stainless steels, materials at elevated temperatures, and Mg alloys for light-weight alloy development.
Materials In Extreme Environments; corrosion; deformation and degradation; Advanced Characterization; micro and nanomechanics; fracture and fatigue