Maegan received her Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering (ME) from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in May 2023. Prior, she also received a M.S. in ME from Caltech in 2019 and a B.S. in ME from Georgia Tech in 2017. After graduating with her Ph.D., Maegan conducted a brief postdoc at Caltech (May–August 2023), followed by a brief research position at Disney Research (September–December 2023). Generally speaking, her research interests lie at the intersection of control theory and human-robot interaction, with specific applications towards lower-limb assistive devices. Much of her research is centered around the question: “What is the right way to walk?”. In her free time, Maegan enjoys puzzles, playing video games, and the piano.

Maegan Tucker joined Georgia Tech as an assistant professor with joint appointments in the School of Electrical & Computer Engineering and the School of Mechanical Engineering in January 2024.

Dr. Emily D. Sanders is an Assistant Professor in the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech. She obtained her Ph.D. at Georgia Tech in 2021, where she developed new topology optimization methods for design of tension-only cable nets, elastostatic cloaking devices, and multiscale structures and components. Dr. Sanders hold a bachelor’s degree from Bucknell University and a master’s degree from Stanford University.

Shreyas Kousik is an assistant professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering. Previously, Shreyas was a postdoctoral scholar at Stanford University, working in the ASL under Prof. Marco. Kousik completed a postdoc with Prof. Grace Gao in the NAV Lab. He received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Michigan, advised by Prof. Ram Vasudevan in the ROAHM Lab and received his undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech, advised by Prof. Antonia Antoniou.

Kousik’s research is focused on guaranteeing safety in autonomy via collision avoidance methods for robots. His lab’s goal is to translate safety in math to safety on real robots by exploring ways to model uncertainty from autonomous perception and estimation systems and ensure that these models are practical for downstream planning and control tasks

Shaheen Azim Dewji, Ph.D., (she/her/hers) is an Assistant Professor in the Nuclear & Radiological Engineering and Medical Physics Programs at the Georgia Institute of Technology, where she leads the Radiological Engineering, Detection, and Dosimetry (RED²) research group. Dewji joined Georgia Tech following three years as faculty at Texas A&M University in the Department of Nuclear Engineering, and as a Faculty Fellow of the Center for Nuclear Security Science and Policy Initiatives (NSSPI). In her prior role at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, where she remained for almost 9 years, Dewji was Radiological Scientist in the Center for Radiation Protection Knowledge. Her research interests include development of dose coefficients, shielding design, and nuclear material detection assay using gamma-ray spectroscopy. Her recent work has focused on associated challenges in uncertainty quantification in dose estimation/reconstruction associated with the external exposure and internal uptake of radionuclides associated with applications of emergency response, defense, nuclear medicine, and occupational/public safety using Monte Carlo radiation transport codes and internal dose modeling. Dewji completed her Masters and Ph.D. degrees in Nuclear and Radiological Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, GA and was a fellow of the Sam Nunn Security Program. She received her Bachelor of Science in Physics from the University of British Columbia. Dewji currently serves on the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine – Nuclear and Radiation Studies Board and is a member of the Board of Directors for both the American Nuclear Society and Health Physics Society.
   

Jun Ueda received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees from Kyoto University, Japan, in 1994, 1996, and 2002 all in Mechanical Engineering. From 1996 to 2000, he was a Research Engineer at the Advanced Technology Research and Development Center, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Japan. He was an Assistant Professor of Nara Institute of Science and Technology, Japan, from 2002 to 2008. During 2005-2008, he was a visiting scholar and lecturer in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He joined the G. W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology as an Assistant Professor in 2008 where he is currently a Professor. He received Fanuc FA Robot Foundation Best Paper Award in 2005, IEEE Robotics and Automation Society Early Academic Career Award in 2009, Advanced Robotics Best Paper Award in 2015, and Nagamori Award in 2021. 

Professor Kurfess began his academic career at Carnegie Mellon University where he rose to the rank of Associate Professor. In 1994, he moved to the Georgia Institute of Technology where he rose to the rank of Professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering. In 2005, he was named Professor and BMW Chair of Manufacturing in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Clemson University’s International Center for Automotive Research. In 2012, he returned to Georgia Tech as a Professor of Mechanical Engineering and the HUSCO/Ramirez Distinguished Chair in Fluid Power and Motion Control.

During 2012-2013, Dr. Kurfess was on leave serving as the Assistant Director for Advanced Manufacturing at the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Executive Office of the President of the United States of America. In this position he had responsibility for engaging the Federal sector and the greater scientific community to identify possible areas for policy actions related to manufacturing. He was responsible for coordinating Federal advanced manufacturing R&D, addressing issues related to technology commercialization, identifying gaps in current Federal R&D in advanced manufacturing, and developing strategies to address these gaps. During  2019-2021 he was on leave serving as the Chief Manufacturing Officer and the Founding Director for the Manufacturing Science Division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, where he was responsible for strategic planning in advanced manufacturing.

Professor Kurfess has served as a special consultant of the United Nations to the Government of Malaysia in the area of applied mechatronics and manufacturing, and as a participating guest at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in their Precision Engineering Program. He has testified in a number of patent cases, including testifying at the International Trade Commission (ITC). He is currently the President of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and also serves on the Board of Governors of ASME. He is the CTO of the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences (NCMS) and serves on its Board of Directors. He also serves on the Board of Directors for the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM), and on the Board of Trustees of the MT Connect Institute. He served on the Board of Directors for the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) and was the President of SME in 2018. He is an appointed member of the Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration, Advisory Committee for Nuclear Security, and an appointed member of the Department of the Navy Science and Technology Board.

His research focuses on the design and development of advanced systems targeting the automotive sector (OEM and supplier) including vehicle and production systems. He has significant experience in high precision manufacturing and metrology systems. He has received numerous awards including a National Science Foundation (NSF) Young Investigator Award, an NSF Presidential Faculty Fellowship Award, the ASME Pi Tau Sigma Award, SME Young Manufacturing Engineer of the Year Award, the ASME Blackall Machine Tool and Gage Award, the ASME Gustus L. Larson Award, an ASME Swanson Federal Award, and the SME Education Award. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Engineering, and a Fellow of the AAAS, the SME and the ASME.

Dr. Fan Zhang received her Ph.D. in Nuclear Engineering and M.S. in Statistics from UTK in 2019. She is the recipient of the 2021 Ted Quinn Early Career Award from the American Nuclear Society and joined the Woodruff School in July, 2021. She is actively involved with multiple international collaborations on improving nuclear cybersecurity through the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the DOE Office of International Nuclear Security (INS). Dr. Zhang’s research primarily focuses on the cybersecurity of nuclear facilities, online monitoring & fault detection using data analytics methods, instrumentation & control, and nuclear systems modeling & simulation. She has developed multiple testbeds using both simulators and physical components to investigate different aspects of cybersecurity as well as process health management.

Aarn Stebner works at the intersection of manufacturing, machine learning, materials, and mechanics. He joined the Georgia Tech faculty as an associate professor of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering in 2020.

Previously, he was the Rowlinson Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science at the Colorado School of Mines (2013 – 2020), a postdoctoral scholar at the Graduate Aerospace Laboratories of the California Institute of Technology (2012 – 2013), a Lecturer in the Segal Design Institute at Northwestern University (2009 – 2012), a Research Scientist at Telezygology Inc. establishing manufacturing and “internet of things” technologies for shape memory alloy-secured latching devices (2008-2009), a Research Fellow at the NASA Glenn Research Center developing smart materials technologies for morphing aircraft structures (2006 – 2008), and a Mechanical Engineer at the Electric Device Corporation in Canfield, OH developing manufacturing and automation technologies for the circuit breaker industry (1995 – 2000).

Dr. Book began at Tech in 1974 as an assistant professor. He has maintained a longstanding interest in robotics, automatic controls, and in the special topic of his Ph.D. thesis, the control of flexible motion systems. 

He was instrumental in the formation of the Computer Integrated Manufacturing Systems (CIMS) Program at Georgia Tech, serving as its founding director from 1983 to 1988. In 2001, he was appointed to the HUSCO/Ramirez Distinguished Chair in Fluid Power and Motion Control. Shortly thereafter he established the Georgia Tech Fluid Power and Motion Control Center. 

He retired from Georgia Tech in June of 2011 and was granted emeritus status and continues to be active in that capacity.

Dr. Christopher Saldaña began working at Georgia Tech in 2014. Prior, Dr. Saldaña previously held the Harold and Inge Marcus Career Professorship at the Pennsylvania State University and worked as a research engineer at M4 Sciences Corporation. Dr. Saldaña has also previously held visiting affiliations/positions with the US Air Force Research Laboratory, the Indian Institute of Science (Bangalore, India), Technische Universität Dortmund (Dortmund, Germany), Autodesk, and Sandia National Laboratories. He has received several awards, including an NSF CAREER award, the Robert J. Hocken SME Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer award and an R&D100 Technology Award. He serves as an Associate Editor for IISE Transactions (Design and Manufacturing) and serves on the Editorial Boards of Manufacturing Letters, Computer Aided Design and Applications, and the ASTM Journal of Smart and Sustainable Manufacturing.