Yuanzhi Tang

Yuanzhi Tang
yuanzhi.tang@eas.gatech.edu

Yuanzhi Tang holds undergraduate degrees in Geology and Economics from Peking University, China. She earned a Ph.D. degree in Environmental Geochemistry at Stony Brook University and then continued working in the microbiology group of Prof. Colleen Hansel.

Tang joined the Georgia Tech faculty in 2013 as an assistant professor and is now an associate professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences.

Associate Co-Director for Interdisciplinary Research
Professor
SEI Lead; BBISS Co-lead: Sustainable Resources
Phone
404-894-3814
Office
ES&T 1232
IRI/Group and Role
Sustainable Systems > Initiative Lead
Sustainable Systems > Staff
Energy > Fellow
Energy > Research Community
Sustainable Systems
Energy
University, College, and School/Department
Georgia Institute of Technology > College of Sciences > School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
Research Areas
Sustainable Systems
  • Resource and Materials Use

Adam Stulberg

Adam Stulberg
adam.stulberg@inta.gatech.edu

Dr. Stulberg is the Sam Nunn School Chair and Professor in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs. He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on international security, Russia/Eurasian politics and security affairs, nuclear (non)proliferation, and energy and international security, as well as inter-disciplinary courses on science, technology, and international security policy. His current research focuses on the geopolitics of oil and gas networks, energy security dilemmas and statecraft in Eurasia, Russia and "gray zone" conflicts, new approaches to strategic stability, internationalization of the nuclear fuel cycle, and implications of emerging technologies for strategic stability and international security.

Dr. Stulberg earned his Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), as well as holds an M.A. in International Affairs from Columbia University, an M.A. in Political Science from UCLA, and a B.A. in History from the University of Michigan. He served as a Political Consultant at RAND from 1987-1997, and as a Senior Research Associate at the Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS), Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey (1997-1998). He has worked closely with former Senator Sam Nunn drafting policy recommendations and background studies on future directions for the U.S. Cooperative Threat Reduction Program, building regional and energy security regimes in Central Asia and the South Caucasus, and engaging Russia’s regional power centers. Dr. Stulberg was a post-doctoral fellow at CNS; policy scholar at the EastWest Institute; and has been a consultant to the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Office of Net Assessment, Office of the U.S. Secretary of Defense. Dr. Stulberg has authored and edited five books, and has published widely in leading academic and policy journals.  In addition, he served on the Executive Committee of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Technical Group, American Nuclear Society (2012-14).

Dr. Stulberg maintains a conspicuous presence both inside and outside of the classroom at Georgia Tech. He is a two-time recipient of the INTA Graduate Student Association’s “Professor of the Year,” and has received the same honor from Sigma Iota Rho, the international affairs undergraduate honor society. Dr. Stulberg was a CETL teaching fellow, and a Hesburgh Teaching Fellow.  He also was the recipient of the 2010 Ivan Allen Jr. Legacy Faculty Award in recognition for his scholarship, as well as a “demonstrated commitment to serving students at the College, the Institute, and in the Community.”  Dr. Stulberg has served on numerous school, college, and campus-wide committees, including as Chair of the Sam Nunn-Bank of America Policy Forum (2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2020-21).  He was previously on the Faculty Advisory Board and is currently an Associate Director of the Strategic Energy Institute (a GT Institute-wide Center). In 2016, the Neal Family Endowed Chair was bestowed upon Dr. Stulberg; he was appointed Chair of the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs in July 2019.

Chair
Co-Director, Center for International Strategy, Technology, & Policy
Neal Family Chair
Sam Nunn Professor
SEI Senior Advisor: Social Sciences Liaison
Phone
(404) 385-0090
Additional Research
Nuclear; Policy/Economics
IRI/Group and Role
Energy > Fellow
Energy > Research Community
Energy
University, College, and School/Department
Georgia Institute of Technology > Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts > Sam Nunn School of International Affairs

Greg Spiro

Greg Spiro
greg.spiro@facilities.gatech.edu

 

Greg Spiro is currently serving as Executive Director of Infrastructure, overseeing operational teams in utilities, buildings and grounds. He is a licensed engineer, LEED AP and CEM with more than 30 years of mechanical systems experience and has worked at Georgia Tech for over 25 years. He leads the Energy and Infrastructure initiative at the Georgia Tech Strategic Energy Institute

Throughout his time at Georgia Tech, Spiro has taken an active role in promoting and enforcing Georgia Tech's standards and sustainability initiatives. His past work includes the planning, development and tracking of the Kendeda building (built to meet all imperatives of the Living Building Challenge), implementation of Guaranteed Energy Savings Performance contracts, management of Georgia Tech’s Utility Analytics team, project management team member for Georgia Tech’s Comprehensive Campus and Climate Action Plans and most recently management of Georgia Tech’s Utility Masterplan, that defines utility needs and improvements that align with Georgia Tech’s emission reduction goals as well as support campus construction prioritized for the next decade. Spiro has also served as a voting member on the ASHRAE BACnet committee. 

Mechanical Engineer Senior
SEI Lead: Energy and Infrastructure
IRI/Group and Role
Energy > Research Community
Energy > Fellow
University, College, and School/Department
Georgia Institute of Technology

Matthew Realff

Matthew Realff
matthew.realff@chbe.gatech.edu

Dr. Realff’s broad research interests are in the areas of process design, simulation, and scheduling. His current research is focused on the design and operation of processes that minimize waste production by recovery of useful products from waste streams, and the design of processes based on biomass inputs. In particular, he is interested in carbon capture processes both from flue gas and dilute capture from air as well as the analysis and design of processes that use biomass.

Professor
David Wang Sr. Fellow
Associate Director, RBI
SEI Lead: Circular Carbon Economy; RBI Lead: Next Generation Refinery
Phone
(404) 894-1834
Additional Research
Biofuels; Carbon Capture; Separations Technology; System Design & Optimization; SMART Manufacturing; Energy & Water; Separation Technologies; Biochemicals; Chemical Feedstocks; Sugars; Lignin & Hemicellulose; Biofuels
IRI/Group and Role
Renewable Bioproducts > Faculty
Renewable Bioproducts > Leadership
Energy > Fellow
Energy > Research Community
Renewable Bioproducts
Energy
University, College, and School/Department
Georgia Institute of Technology > College of Engineering > School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

Thomas Orlando

Thomas Orlando
thomas.orlando@chemistry.gatech.edu

Our group is primarily a surface chemistry and physics group which focuses on the use of high-powered pulsed lasers, low-energy electron scattering, micro-plasmas, mass spectrometry and ultrahigh vacuum surface science techniques. We use this "tool-set" as well as some scattering theory to unravel the details of non-thermal processes occurring under a variety of non-equilibrium conditions. Our group is based upon an interdisciplinary approach and thus our research programs span the realm of fundamental investigations in molecular physics, surface physics and chemistry, bio-physics, bio-polymer formation under pre-biotic conditions as well as working in applied areas of relevance to analytical technique developments, atmospheric chemistry, catalysis and molecular hydrogen generation.

Professor, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry
SEI Senior Advisor: Energy Minor
Phone
404.894.4012
Office
MoSE G209C
Additional Research

Surfaces and Interfaces; Catalysis; Advanced Characterization; Hydrogen; Nuclear

IRI/Group and Role
Bioengineering and Bioscience > Faculty
Energy > Fellow
Energy > Research Community
Space > Faculty
Energy
University, College, and School/Department
Georgia Institute of Technology > College of Sciences > School of Chemistry & Biochemistry

Nga Lee (Sally) Ng

Nga Lee (Sally) Ng
ng@chbe.gatech.edu

Dr. Ng is the Love Family Professor in the School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering and the School of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences at the Georgia Institute of Technology. She earned her Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology and was a postdoctoral scientist at Aerodyne Research Inc.

Dr. Ng’s research focuses on the understanding of the chemical mechanisms of aerosol formation and composition, as well as their health effects. Her group combines laboratory chamber studies and ambient field measurements to study aerosols and air quality using advanced mass spectrometry techniques. Dr. Ng leads the establishment of the first, high time-resolution, long-term aerosol measurement network in the U.S.: Atmospheric Science and Chemistry mEasurement NeTwork (ASCENT), for characterization of aerosol chemical composition and physical properties, and their impacts on climate, human health, and ecosystems.

Love Family Professor
SEI Senior Advisor: Energy & Health
Phone
(404) 385-2148
Office
ES&T 2222
Additional Research
Climate/Environment
IRI/Group and Role
Energy > Fellow
Energy > Research Community
Energy
University, College, and School/Department
Georgia Institute of Technology > College of Engineering

Dan Molzahn

Dan Molzahn
molzahn@gatech.edu

Daniel Molzahn joined the faculty of the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Georgia Tech in Spring 2019. Prior to this position, Dr. Molzahn was a computational engineer at Argonne National Laboratory in the Center for Energy, Environmental, and Economic Systems Analysis (CEEESA), where he currently holds an affiliate position. He was a Dow Postdoctoral Fellow in Sustainability in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department at the University of Michigan. He received the B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering and the Master’s of Public Affairs degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he was a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow. In his spare time, Dr. Molzahn enjoys hiking, waterskiing, and climbing. Also, as a shareholder of the world's greatest sporting franchise, he keeps an eye on his investment by watching and attending football games of the 13-time-champion Green Bay Packers football team.

Associate Professor
SEI Lead: Energy Club
Phone
(404) 894-1876
Additional Research

Building Technologies; Nuclear

IRI/Group and Role
Energy > Fellow
Energy > Research Community
Energy
University, College, and School/Department
Georgia Institute of Technology > College of Engineering > School of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Matthew McDowell

Matthew McDowell
mattmcdowell@gatech.edu

Matthew McDowell joined Georgia Tech in the fall of 2015 as an assistant professor with a joint appointment in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and the School of Materials Science and Engineering. Prior to this appointment, he was a postdoctoral scholar in the Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at the California Institute of Technology. McDowell received his Ph.D. in 2013 from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Stanford University.

McDowell’s research group focuses on understanding how materials for energy and electronic devices change and transform during operation, and how these transformations impact properties. The group uses in situ experimental techniques to probe materials transformations under realistic conditions. The fundamental scientific advances made by the group guide the engineering of materials for breakthrough new devices. Current projects in the group are focused on i) electrode materials for alkali ion batteries, ii) materials for solid-state batteries, iii) interfaces in chalcogenide materials for electronics and catalysis, and iv) new methods for creating nanostructured metals.

Professor, Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering
Woodruff Faculty Fellow
IMat Initiative Lead | Materials for Energy Storage
SEI Lead: Energy Storage
Phone
404.894.8341
Office
MRDC 4408
Additional Research

Batteries; Nanostructured Materials; Composites; Fabrication; Energy Storage; Thermal Systems

IRI/Group and Role
Renewable Bioproducts > Faculty
Energy > Fellow
Energy > Hydrogen Group
Energy > Research Community
Matter and Systems > Affiliated Faculty
Renewable Bioproducts
Energy
University, College, and School/Department
Georgia Institute of Technology > College of Engineering > Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering
Research Areas
Matter and Systems
  • Built Environment Technologies

Debra Lam

Debra Lam
debra.lam@gatech.edu

Debra Lam is the Founding Director of the Partnership for Inclusive Innovation, a statewide public-private partnership committed to investing in innovative solutions for shared economic prosperity. She continues to lead smart communities and urban innovation work at Georgia Tech. Prior to this, she served as Pittsburgh’s inaugural Chief of Innovation & Performance where she oversaw all technology, sustainability, performance, and innovation functions of city government. Before that, she was a management consultant at a global engineering and design firm, Arup. She has received various awards, including being named one of the top 100 most influential people in digital government by Apolitcal.

She has worked and lived in the United Kingdom, China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. A graduate of Georgetown University and the University of California, Berkeley, Debra serves on the board of the Community Foundation of Greater Atlanta and was most recently appointed by the U.S Department of Commerce to the Internet of Things Advisory Board.

Founding Director, Partnership for Inclusive Innovation
Principal Researcher
Phone
(404) 894-4728
Additional Research

System Design & Optimization

IRI/Group and Role
People and Technology > Affiliated Faculty
Energy > Fellow
Energy > Research Community
People and Technology
Energy
University, College, and School/Department
Georgia Institute of Technology

Jennifer Hirsch

Jennifer Hirsch
jennifer.hirsch@gatech.edu

Dr. Jennifer Hirsch is an applied cultural anthropologist recognized internationally for fostering university and community engagement in sustainability and climate action. At the Georgia Institute of Technology, she is the inaugural Director of the Center for Sustainable Communities Research & Education (SCoRE), creating a culture of collaboration in which students, faculty, and staff engage in long-term relationships with community, government, and industry partners to build sustainable communities.

Dr. Hirsch’s research and teaching interests focus on: 1) equity in the sustainable built environment; 2) grassroots sustainability innovation; and 3) community leadership in energy equity.

Dr. Hirsch is also a co-founder and lead coordinator of RCE Greater Atlanta – a Regional Centre of Expertise on Education for Sustainable Development - officially acknowledged in 2017 by the United Nations University. She is also Adjunct Associate Professor at Georgia Tech’s School of City and Regional Planning. She serves on the faculty of The Asset-Based Community Development Institute hosted by DePaul University and on the Board of Directors of AASHE (Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education).

Before coming to Georgia Tech, Dr. Hirsch worked in Chicago as Associate Director of Study Abroad at Northwestern University; as Urban Anthropology Director at The Field Museum of Natural History; and as an independent consultant with clients such as the City of Cleveland, Enterprise Community Partners, the U.S. Green Building Council, The Institute of Cultural Affairs, University of Illinois at Chicago, and Joliet Junior College. Dr. Hirsch received a Bachelor’s degree in American Culture from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois and a Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology from Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.

Senior Director, SCoRE
Senior Academic Professional
SEI Lead: Sustainable Communities
Additional Research
Sustainability PedagogyEquity in the Sustainable Built EnvironmentGrassroots Sustainability InnovationSustainability in Cross-cultural Perspective 
IRI/Group and Role
Energy > Faculty Council
Energy > Fellow
Energy > Research Community
Energy
Sustainable Systems > Core Partners