The appointments for Manos Antonakakis, F. Levent Degertekin, Paul Kohl, and Steven Liang are the system’s highest distinction.
Four Georgia Tech engineers have been appointed to Regents’ positions by the University System of Georgia Board of Regents, the highest distinction from the system.
At the board’s April and May meetings, the Regents elevated Manos Antonakakis to Regents’ Innovator, F. Levent Degertekin and Paul Kohl to Regents’ Entrepreneurs, and Steven Liang to Regents’ Professor.
The titles recognize faculty members for academic, innovation, and entrepreneurial excellence. Altogether, the Regents honored 10 Georgia Tech faculty members and reaffirmed the appointments of five others.
Manos Antonakakis
Regents’ Innovator
Dean’s Professor
School of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Antonakakis is focused on defending computers and computer networks from attacks, protecting network privacy, and detecting intrusions. His research uses advanced machine learning and data mining techniques to develop defensive technologies against cyber threats.
He is cofounder and codirector of the Center for Cyber Operations Enquiry and Unconventional Sensing. The center convenes leaders from industry, government, and academia to address the security of emerging technologies that are critical to national security.
Antonakakis holds four U.S. patents and has several pending applications for technologies he developed.
F. Levent Degertekin
Regents’ Entrepreneur
George W. Woodruff Chair in Mechanical Systems and Professor
George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering
Degertekin’s research group uses acoustics and optics concepts to creatively address a wide variety of engineering problems, such as acoustic and seismic measurements, medical ultrasound imaging, and sensors for magnetic resonance imaging.
Degertekin is an inventor or coinventor on 65 U.S. patents and six international patents, including more than 50 granted for his work at Georgia Tech with his students and collaborators. His compact, micromachined optical interferometers form the basis of seismometers used by major oil companies and the technology is part of a NASA project that will someday explore Europa, an icy moon of Jupiter.
His research on capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducers led to the first low-cost, commercial, handheld full-body ultrasound imaging probe. Several other technologies have been commercialized by Silicon Audio and OpenCell Technologies. He is an IEEE Fellow.
Paul Kohl
Regents’ Entrepreneur
Regents' Professor and Thomas L. Gossage Chair
School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Kohl’s research focuses on new materials and processes for electronic and electrochemical devices. He holds 67 U.S. patents, including 46 owned by Georgia Tech.
His inventions include new electrochemical processes, such as depositing metals and photoetching semiconductors, as well as fuel cells, electrolyzers, batteries, and other electrochemical devices. He has created self-immolative polymers for large and small “disappearing” devices. Current work in his lab includes solid-state lithium batteries with solid polymer electrodes.
Kohl is deputy director of a National Science Foundation-supported research center working to create new technologies for capturing, recycling, and producing nitrogen-based fertilizers. He won the College’s Outstanding Achievement as an Inventor Award in 2023 and is a fellow of the Electrochemical Society and AIChE, the professional society for chemical engineers.
Steven Liang
Regents’ Professor
Morris M. Bryan, Jr. Professor in Mechanical Engineering for Advanced Manufacturing Systems
George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering
Liang connects materials science and mechanical manufacturing to more clearly link the manufacturing process and material microstructures to the properties and performance of the parts produced by those processes. He has devoted specific attention to metal machining and additive manufacturing.
His work offers deeper insight into the physics of the manufacturing process, providing a scientific foundation for process planning and optimization for effectiveness and productivity.
Liang has been a leader in the manufacturing research community nationwide, including serving as chair of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Manufacturing Engineering Division and president of the North American Manufacturing Research Institution. He was President of Walsin-Lihwa Corporation from 2008 to 2010, leading a multinational manufacturing enterprise with more than $6 billion in annual revenue and 35,000 employees.
Liang is a fellow of ASME, the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, and the Academy of Engineering and Technology.
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