Georgia Institute of Technology VIP Program

North Ave NW
Atlanta, Georgia 30332, United States
Website

Georgia Institute of Technology

North Ave NW
AtlantaGeorgia 30332
United States
Latitude: 33.775618
Longitude: -84.396285

The Institution


Georgia Institute of Technology is committed to improving the human condition through advanced science and technology. With more than 100 centers focused on interdisciplinary research, Georgia Tech consistently contributes vital research and innovation to American government, industry, and business. Georgia Tech provides a focused, technologically based education to both undergraduate and graduate students.

The Program


The VIP Program at Georgia Tech builds upon multidisciplinary and vertically integrated teams. The site has achieved high team longevity through the integration of VIP teams into instructors’ research, with teams making meaningful contributions to instructors’ research efforts. Program-level initiatives include retrospective analysis of peer evaluations to understand team dynamics, and to identify patterns across the program and areas for improvement; and development, documentation and dissemination of faculty professional development tools, workshops and resources. Georgia Tech spearheaded the establishment of the VIP Consortium, with the ultimate goal of transforming undergraduate education. As the lead organization, Georgia Tech seeks to continue expanding the consortium, to establish the organization as an independent body with active engagement between member institutions, and to cultivate a community of collaboration. As contributing members, Georgia Tech has developed the consortium webpage, is working to disseminate peer-evaluation tools, developing professional development tools, workshops and resources, and developing an online sharing portal for Consortium members.

Directors


Coordinators


Julie Sonnenberg-Klein

VIP Teams

  • To develop a system that will be able to drive like an expert human driver. In order to achieve this, we will initially monitor the driving styles of several drivers using a high-fidelity driving simulator. Based on the measurements, we will be able to classify drivers according to their skill using graphical inference models. We will then develop suitable models for drivers’ actions and...
  • For students to learn the theory and gain the skills necessary to fabricate next-gen batteries for EVs, spacecraft, and Smart Cities infrastructure.
  • The VIP Team will look at the challenging domain of Maritime Robotics. The oceans cover over 70% of our planet’s surface and constitute a critical element in our quality of life, including the climate and the resources and food that we obtain from the sea.  The goal of this team will be to address new research in maritime robotics including navigation of underwater and surface vehicles, mapping...
  • To develop a framework that fundamentally alters the development of algorithms. We desire to create an automated method that starts with the best human algorithms and then dispassionately develops hybrid algorithms that outperform existing methods. And then prove that these algorithms can also be studied by humans for inspiration in development of new algorithm and optimization methods....
  • This project aims to design, build, and test a team of air, sea, and underwater robots that will autonomously collaborate to complete tasks in the water.  Currently, the team has designed and built several vehicles (small surface boat, underwater vehicle, and quadcopter), and more will be created as the project grows. One goal is to use these robots to collectively complete obstacle...

  • To create, design, and test build jetpacks, robotic landing systems, exoskeletons, and autonomous vehicles to support exploration of extreme environments on Earth, the Moon, and Mars, with multi-disciplinary professionals, DARPA, and NASA scientists and engineers.
  • At Georgia Tech, we live in an incubator for problem solving, scientific inquiry, and technological innovation, but the public at large is surprisingly ignorant about the STEM disciplines. We will build the Georgia Tech Mobile STEM Laboratory – a sustainable and continually growing infrastructure we’ll use to measurably impact this ignorance regionally and nationally. Ultimately, we’ll have a...
  • To design, build, defend and race an open-wheel formula-style vehicle in the annual Formula SAE competition.
  • To design and build a solar powered vehicle to compete in the Formula Sun Grand Prix, an endurance based track race, and the American Solar Challenge, a cross-country road race.
  • To challenge university-level students to design, build and launch a reusable rocket with a scientific or engineering payload to one mile above ground level, or AGL. The project engages students in scientific research and real-world engineering processes with NASA engineers.
  • Robotics has the potential to revolutionize inspection and harvesting tasks on commodity farms, i.e. corn, soybeans, and high-value specialty farms, i.e. fruits, nuts.  This is true from the standpoints of: labor, economics, early disease detection, and crop assessment. Specialty farms stand to benefit the most because their crops presently require a lot of manual labor to tend and to ensure...
  • Develop a set of small, portable, and inexpensive experimental platforms and simple projects for teaching students fundamental engineering concepts and design principles.  These mini-systems would be used in classes as well as to enhance learning outside of the classroom, such as in the Invention Studio or with the IEEE Innovation Team. Typical courses supported include some from AE and ME such...
  • Internet of things (IOT) has the potential to revolutionize the healthcare industry. Thus far, most IOT applications focus on improving monitoring and physiological sensing of healthcare and patient care, however, the next generation of healthcare technologies will focus on multiplexed points of care testing, diagnostics, and treatment. The goal of this course is to engage students to...

  • To build airborne observation platforms equipped with cameras and electromagnetic sensors, to observe lightning and other electrical activity in the atmosphere from high altitude (100,000 ft). We have already launched and retrieved a balloon with camera payload (see picture) in our first year. See pictures of the launch and one taken mid-flight, from above 100,000 ft you are above the sky and...
  • To discover physical principles of how animals move in complex, challenging environments. Use tools from physics, neuroscience, biomechanics and robotics to extract mechanism of how animal and engineered systems move especially with respect to stability, agility, and robustness.
  • NASA, Georgia Tech and GTRI are developing energy technologies to support future missions to Mars. The VIP M.A.R.S. Team will research, develop and test renewable energy systems in collaboration with scientists and engineers at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Moon and Mars offer difficult challenges to NASA’s ambitious plan for exploration, including acquisition of reliable and...