The Uncommon Engineer podcast covers topics ranging from healthcare to the environment to data privacy in our digital world. Each episode explores engineering research and how it impacts our daily lives.

What sets The Uncommon Engineer apart is impact. It’s not just about the research, inventions and accolades. It’s about how engineering makes a difference in our world and in our daily lives. It’s about the why – why it matters to you.

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Commercializing AI with Seth Radman

AI, machine learning, Big Data.... It's everywhere. So, how do we monetize it? And how is it helping big businesses become even bigger?

Our guest is Seth Radman, a Georgia Tech graduate who has started and grown multiple successful startups, a number of which leverage AI.

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Bias in Algorithms with Swati Gupta

Employers today are eager to harness the artificial intelligence (AI) and big data captured by the algorithms to speed up the hiring process. But depending on the data used, automated hiring decisions can be very biased.

Our guest is Swati Gupta, a professor and researcher in the School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Georgia Tech. She’s an expert in all things AI.

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The Roaring 20’s: What’s New for our New Decade

It’s hard not to be really enthusiastic about the next decade. And many of the technological advances are happening right now here on Tech’s campus. What does that next decade look like? Will we send a man to mars or prevent AIDS? No one really knows, but today we have three engineering professors here to weigh in on a few predictions and forecast for the future. 

Glenn Lightsey is a professor in the School of Aerospace Engineering. James Rains is professor of the practice and director of the Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering’s Capstone program. And Magnus Egerstedt is the chair and professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

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What is AI? An Algorithmic Primer with Justin Romberg

AI, machine learning, Big Data.... It’s everywhere. But what’s the difference between it all? And further, what does it mean in our world today?

Part one of our AI series introduces Justin Romberg, here to provide a primer on artificial intelligence (AI). He’s a professor and researcher in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. And, he’s published eight papers in 2019, alone.

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HIV Preventatives with RNA with Phil Santangelo

Women continue to be disproportionally affected by HIV around the world, but particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, where three in four new HIV infections are among young girls. But what can be done in these communities where access to once-a-day pill preventatives are non-existent?

Dr. Phil Santangelo is professor in Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering. His research is focused on treating diseases like HIV through RNA-based therapies, and he’s getting close to delivering an HIV preventative for women.

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Flushing Old Ideas Down the Drain with Shannon Yee

In many developing nations across the world, drinking water and sewage system infrastructures are non-existent. This leads to unsafe sanitation issues causing public health concerns. To help fix this, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation challenged top scientists and engineers to build a better toilet that doesn’t require running water. 

Dr. Shannon Yee is an associate professor in the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering. His research is focused around thermodynamics and energy transfer. He is taking that knowledge and trying to develop a toilet that uses heat transfer to break down wastes instead of water.

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Re-Engineering Big Rigs with Team Aerodyme

At Georgia Tech, entrepreneurship is in our blood. It’s in our maker spaces, innovation classes and startup programs. In this episode, we are taking a pause from faculty interviews about research, and talking to our students. Team Aerodyme are recent graduates from Georgia Tech's School of Mechanical Engineering. They have invented a product that helps semitrucks save on fuel costs.

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Nuclear Proliferation and Detection with Anna Erickson

The 2019 award-winning HBO miniseries Chernobyl tells the story of the 1986 nuclear plant explosion which took the lives of 28 workers and inflicted radiation symptoms on approximately 3.5 million people.  Nuclear energy is a powerful proposition that can create clean energy for our planet, but disasters at plants such as Chernobyl and Fukushima and the threat of nuclear warfare keep the public wary.

Our guest is Dr. Anna Erickson. She’s an associate professor of Nuclear & Radiological Engineering and Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech and an expert on nuclear security.

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Heating Up the Energy Sector with Baratunde Cola

We’ve all experienced our cellphones getting too hot or our laptops becoming noisy as they try to cool off. In fact, computer centers across the nation do the same thing, consuming almost 10 percent of the total amount of electricity generated in the US just to cover the air conditioning costs.

Dr. Baratunde Cola is an associate professor in the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and focused on developing materials that can regulate heat flow, potentially having a significant impact on the energy sector.

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Frugal Science with Saad Bhamla

Without insurance, our medical bills could be thousands of dollars with each routine trip to the doctor. And some of the care we need isn’t even covered by insurance - like hearing aids. Much of that high cost comes from the astronomical prices of medical equipment. Just one pair of hearing aids costs around $5,000. 

Saad Bhamla talks about his work in frugal science and the impact it’s having on the medical field.

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