The Strategic Energy Institute and the Energy, Policy, and Innovation Center at Georgia Tech are proud to announce the winners of the James G. Campbell Fellowship and Spark Awards for 2024. 

Michael Biehler, a fifth-year Ph.D. student in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, has been selected as the recipient of the 2024 James G. Campbell Fellowship. The Fellowship is an annual award given to a Georgia Tech graduate student studying renewable energy systems. Candidates are nominated by their advisors in recognition of their exceptional academic achievements in the field of renewable energy.

Biehler’s research leverages multi-modal machine learning to tackle critical challenges in manufacturing, such as enhancing energy efficiency in manufacturing processes. He is advised by Jianjun (Jan) Shi, Carolyn J. Stewart Chair and Professor in the School of Industrial and Systems Engineering. 

“I consider this award an incredible honor, and the support means a lot to me, especially with the recent arrival of our second daughter—it will make a significant difference for us,” says Biehler. 

The Annual Spark Award recognizes current graduate students who have exhibited outstanding leadership in promoting student engagement with energy research at Georgia Tech, with evidence of broader impacts and service/leadership. The Spark Award recipients for 2024 include Georgia Tech graduate students Richard Asiamah, Erik Barbosa, Keun Hee Kim, Sanggyun Kim, and Erin Phillips. 

Richard Asiamah is a third-year Ph.D. student in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE). His research focuses on power systems optimization, emphasizing the efficient integration of renewable energy resources into the electricity grid. Asiamah has recently worked as a graduate electrical engineering intern at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado, and is currently serving as the president of the ECE Graduate Students’ Organization. 

Erik Barbosa is pursuing a doctorate in mechanical engineering and works under Akanksha Menon, assistant professor in the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering. His work in the Water Energy Research Lab focuses on utilizing inorganic salt hydrates to develop thermochemical energy storage, ranging from the material level to system scale, to decarbonize heat for building applications. Barbosa has been actively engaged with mentoring undergraduate students and high schoolers by exposing them to innovative technologies that decarbonize energy. 

Keun Hee Kim is a Ph.D. candidate in the Woodruff School. Kim’s research focuses on developing solid polymer electrolytes and artificial interlayers for lithium metal batteries, and synthesizing oxygen evolution reaction and oxygen reduction reaction catalyst materials for proton exchange membrane fuel cells and water electrolyzers.

Sanggyun Kim​ is a fourth-year Ph.D. student in materials science and engineering, advised by Juan-Pablo Correa-Baena, assistant professor in the School of Materials Science and Engineering. Kim’s research focuses on understanding the complex interfacial interactions between hybrid organic-inorganic halide perovskite films and newly designed charge transport layers in perovskite solar cells (PSCs). His goal is to drive progress in solar energy technology by integrating novel polymer- and molecule-based interlayers, improving the efficiency and stability of PSCs to support more sustainable photovoltaic solutions.

Erin Phillips is a doctoral student in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry. Her research addresses difficulties associated with lignin valorization, which includes controlling the isolation of lignin from the original irregular lignocellulose structure and depolymerizing lignin into aromatic monomer units via mechanocatalysis. These aromatics can further be valorized as renewable sources for the creation of biofuels and other green chemicals. Phillips is currently serving as the president of the Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry (TAPPI) student chapter at Georgia Tech.