Eight Georgia Tech Engineering Researchers Receive NSF CAREER Awards
Eight faculty members from the Georgia Institute of Technology's College of Engineering have received 2026 National Science Foundation (NSF) Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Awards, supporting research across computing, advanced materials, engineering, and biotechnology. The highly competitive five-year awards recognize early-career faculty who demonstrate exceptional potential for leadership in research and education.
The recipients are John Blazeck, Lauren Garten, Suhas Jain, Aditya Kumar, Divya Mahajan, Da Pan, Sung Jin Park, and Emily Sanders. Their projects address a broad range of scientific and engineering challenges, from developing new biomedical technologies to improving computational modeling and the design of advanced materials.
Several projects have particular relevance to the cyber-physical systems research community. Divya Mahajan, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, is developing energy-efficient, adaptive AI data centers using a cyber-physical approach that integrates software, computing hardware, and physical operating conditions. Her research aims to improve the efficiency and resilience of increasingly resource-intensive AI infrastructure.
Da Pan, an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering, is developing a monitoring framework that combines machine learning, satellite observations, atmospheric models, and sensor measurements to better understand nitrogen movement across large geographic regions.
Other recipients are advancing computational methods for predicting physical behavior. Suhas Jain is using high-performance simulations to study complex interactions between liquids and gases, while Aditya Kumar is developing mathematical models to predict how composite materials respond to stress and fracture. Emily Sanders is investigating adaptable materials whose mechanical properties change under deformation, with potential applications in soft robotics and advanced manufacturing.
The remaining recipients are pursuing innovations in antibody engineering (John Blazeck), semiconducting ferroelectric materials (Lauren Garten), and tissue engineering (Sung Jin Park).
Together, these projects demonstrate the breadth of NSF-supported foundational engineering research and its potential to advance intelligent infrastructure, computational modeling, sensing, and next-generation cyber-physical technologies.
Read the original article: https://coe.gatech.edu/news/2026/09/nsf-recognizes-8-engineering-researchers-career-awards