Georgia Tech has named the 2026 Institute Research Award recipients, recognizing faculty, staff, and research teams whose work advances innovation, mentorship, collaboration, and societal impact across the Institute’s research enterprise.

Researchers have visualized mosquito flight behavior for the first time — which could improve mosquito-control strategies.

When Mason Chilmonczyk, M.S. ME 2017, Ph.D. ME 2020, arrived at Georgia Tech to pursue graduate degrees in mechanical engineering, his goal was to become a professor. Instead, an unexpected turn in his research led him to entrepreneurship.

Georgia Tech researchers have developed a breakthrough system to manufacture valuable amino acids. It’s the most efficient system of its kind — and removes more carbon from the atmosphere than it emits.

The Sandia partnership will expand research impact, talent pipelines, and national security innovation.

To address this issue, researchers at Georgia Tech have developed a new, flexible, sensor-filled fabric to monitor areas at risk of PIs and alert hospital staff when a patient needs to be turned.

Housley and his team are developing self‑assembling nanohydrogels that deliver cancer drugs only when they reach tumor‑specific conditions, aiming to reduce side effects and make treatment more precise across multiple cancer types.

The project aims to move lymphatic disease out of the medical margins and toward patients who have had few meaningful treatment options.

In December 2025, he became the first Project ENGAGES alumnus to successfully defend his dissertation, and he is expected to graduate this spring.

GTRI and Georgia Tech have developed a smart bandage that could transform wound care for diabetic patients, battlefield soldiers, and others by enabling real-time insights and reducing invasive bandage changes for timely treatment.

It is the highest degree of membership awarded by the society.

The fellowship is one of the most competitive and prestigious awards available to early-career scholars.