Peralta-Yahya has been part of Georgia Tech since 2012. Her diverse research group composed of chemists, biologists, and chemical engineers works in the area of engineering biology, drawing from principles of biochemistry and engineering to build systems for chemical detection and production. Specifically, her group focuses on the development of G protein-coupled receptors for biotechnology and biomedical applications, and the engineering of biological systems for the production of fuels and functionalized plant natural products. Early on, her work was recognized with several awards including a DARPA Young Faculty Award, a DuPont Young Professor Award, a Kavli Fellowship by the US Academy of Science, and an NIH MIRA award. Her group’s key accomplishments are 1) the standardization of GPCR-based sensors in yeast to reduce the cost and accelerate the pace of drug discovery for these receptors, which are the target of over 30% of FDA approved drugs, and 2) the development of advanced biofuels, including pinene, which, when dimerized, has sufficient energy content to power rockets and missiles.  Today, her group is funded to work on these and other cutting edge areas – including how to power a rocket returning from Mars and how to make synthetic cells learn without evolution – by the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, and NASA.

Kamran Paynabar is the Fouts Family Early Career Professor and Associate Professor in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Georgia Tech. He received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Industrial Engineering from Iran in 2002 and 2004, respectively, and his Ph.D. in Industrial and Operations Engineering from The University of Michigan in 2012. He also holds an M.A. in Statistics from The University of Michigan. His research interests comprise both applied and methodological aspects of machine-learning and statistical modeling integrated with engineering principles. He is a recipient of the INFORMS Data Mining Best Student Paper Award, the Best Application Paper Award from IIE Transactions, the Best QSR refereed paper from INFORMS, and the Best Paper Award from POMS. He has been recognized with the Georgia Tech campus level 2014 CETL/BP Junior Faculty Teaching Excellence Award and the Provost Teaching and Learning Fellowship. He served as the chair of QSR of INFORMS, and the president of QCRE of IISE.

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 Andrew Chase Award (2024) 

• AIChE David Himmelblau Award (2024) 

• 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. 

Dr. Medford is interested in leveraging materials informatics, statistics, and machine learning to maximize the practical impact of fundamental atomic-scale simulations in the field of surface science and catalysis. His research areas include heterogeneous catalysis, oxide surface chemistry, density functional theory, kinetic models, uncertainty quantification, and Bayesian optimization and inference.

Sabetta Matsumoto received her B.A., M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. She was a postdoctoral fellow at the Princeton Center for Theoretical Sciences and in the Applied Mathematics group and Harvard University. She is a professor in the School of Physics at the Georgia Institute of Technology. She uses differential geometry, knot theory, and geometric topology to understand the geometry of materials and their mechanical properties. She is passionate about using textiles, 3D printing, and virtual reality to teach geometry and topology to the public.

Jamshad Mahmood has over 23 years of experience in corrosion testing and manufacturing of recovery boilers and pressure vessels. He is a Mechanical/Research Engineer with expertise in the design, manufacturing of industrial equipments and conducting lab corrosion testing e.g., slow strain rate corrosion testing, electrochemical corrosion testing, high-temperature aqueous corrosion testing and molten salts corrosion testing. In addition to laboratory experimentation, Jamshad conducted several field studies evaluating in-situ corrosion of pulp mill equipments e.g., digesters, paper machines, storage tanks and recovery boiler tubes. He manages the corrosion laboratories and chemical inventories for the corrosion group. Prior to joining the Institute of Paper Science and Technology in 1997, he worked as Manager Production for 8 years with Descon Engineering Works – one of the large boiler manufactures.

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Professor of the Practice                       
School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
College of Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology

Associate Director, Pulp, Paper, Packaging and Tissue, Renewable Bioproducts Institute, an Interdisciplinary Research Institute at GT

Director, GT Pulp and Paper Engineering Undergraduate Certificate Program and Foundation
 

Brief Biography:  
Luettgen has 25 plus years of industry experience, with Scott Paper and Kimberly-Clark Corp., where he most recently served as head of North American Innovation the Kimberly-Clark Professional business sector. He has held positions in product development and innovation as well as in capital project management and manufacturing facility leadership.

For several years, Luettgen has served on the Georgia Tech Renewable Bioproducts Institute Industry Board of Advisors, and as the Chairman of the Board of the Technical Association of the Pulp & Paper Industry (TAPPI).  He earned his bachelor's degree in Paper Engineering at Western Michigan University (’85), his master’s degree at the Institute of Paper Chemistry, Appleton, WI (’87), and his Ph.D. in Surface Chemistry at the Institute of Paper Science and Technology - now the Renewable Bioproducts Institute at Georgia Tech (’91).

He rejoined Georgia Tech in November 2014 as a Professor of the Practice in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, and Associate Director of Pulp, Paper, Tissue and Packaging at RBI. He also serves as the Director of the undergraduate Pulp and Paper Certificate Program and its Foundation.

Areas of research interest include:  Recycling; renewable cellulosic feedstocks; replacing fossil-based products with bio-based materials; commercialization of nanocellulosic materials in consumer and packaging products; Smart Manufacturing and Industry 4.0; tissue/towel manufacturing and converting; and manufacturing leadership / operational excellence.