CREATE-X - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Marketing Strategist
- Marketing Strategist for CREATE - X. Breanna Has Worked for the University System of Georgia
Breanna Durham is the marketing strategist for CREATE-X. Breanna has worked for the University System of Georgia for over three years, beginning at the System Office as an internal communications professional, where she worked on a variety of projects such as the USG Mental Health Initiative. Breanna is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, a Fulbright grantee, and a former reporter. Her goal is to increase access to and awareness of opportunities and encourage students to believe they can.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership and Executive Team
- CEO / Founder, Kaneva
Christopher Klaus is a successful entrepreneur, delivering 3D virtual worlds as the founder and CEO of Kaneva. He is a founder and partner in the CyberLaunch, a startup accelerator focused on helping grow both security and machine learning startups.
He also has a long relationship with Georgia Tech. Today Klaus invigorates the future of technology at Georgia Tech by supporting CREATE-X, a program that gives students a platform to connect with industry leaders and receive the guidance, support-and capital-to launch their own startups. In 2000, Klaus responded to the need to help sustain the technology revolution, and with his pledged donation, Georgia Tech constructed the Christopher W. Klaus Advanced Computing Building, a three-story academic building (over 400,000 square feet of space) that houses a portion of its College of Computing, College of Engineering, and related programs.
Prior to founding Kaneva, Klaus founded and served as CTO of Internet Security Systems Inc. (ISS), a company he created in 1994, took public in 1998, and was acquired by IBM in 2006 for over $1.2 billion. He sits on the state's Film, Video, and Music Advisory Commission. Klaus serves on the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) Board of Visitors, the Georgia Game Developers Association (GGDA), the Georgia Tech Foundation, and the Georgia Tech College of Computing.
Job Titles:
- Member of the CREATE - X Team
- Associate Director, MAKE
- Professor
Craig Forest is a Professor and Woodruff Faculty Fellow in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech where he also holds program faculty positions in Bioengineering and Biomedical Engineering. He conducts research on miniaturized, high-throughput robotic instrumentation to advance neuroscience and genetic science, working at the intersection of bioMEMS, precision machine design, optics, and microfabrication. Prior to Georgia Tech, he was a research fellow in Genetics at Harvard Medical School. He obtained a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from MIT in June 2007, M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from MIT in 2003, and B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Tech in 2001. He is cofounder/organizer of one of the largest undergraduate invention competitions in the US-The InVenture Prize, and founder/organizer of one of the largest student-run makerspaces in the US-The Invention Studio. He was a recently a Fellow in residence at the Allen Insitutte for Brain Science in Seattle WA; he was awarded the Georgia Tech Institute for BioEngineering and BioSciences Junior Faculty Award (2010) and was named Engineer of the Year in Education for the state of Georgia (2013). He is one of the inaugural recipients of the NIH BRAIN Initiative Grants, a national effort to invent the next generation of neuroscience and neuroengineering tools. In 2007, he was a finalist on the ABC reality TV show "American Inventor."
Job Titles:
- Member of the CREATE - X Team
- Program Manager
David V. Anderson received the B.S and M.S. degrees from Brigham Young University and the Ph.D. degree from Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) in 1993, 1994, and 1999, respectively.
He is currently a professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Georgia Tech. Dr. Anderson's research interests include audio and psycho-acoustics, machine learning and signal processing in the context of human auditory characteristics, and the real-time application of such techniques. His research has included the development of a digital hearing aid algorithm that has now been made into a successful commercial product.
Dr. Anderson was awarded the National Science Foundation CAREER Award for excellence as a young educator and researcher in 2004 and the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers in the same year. He has over 150 technical publications and 8 patents/patents pending. Dr. Anderson is a senior member of the IEEE, and a member the Acoustical Society of America, and Tau Beta Pi. He has been actively involved in the development and promotion of computer enhanced education and other education programs.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Faculty Committee
- Professor, Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering
Job Titles:
- Member of the Faculty Committee
- Associate Dean and Professor, College of Computing
Job Titles:
- Member of the Faculty Committee
- Associate Professor, Scheller College of Business
Job Titles:
- Member of the Faculty Committee
- Director, Venture Lab, Professor of the Practice, Interactive Computing
Job Titles:
- Member of the Faculty Committee
- Associate Professor, Scheller College of Business
Job Titles:
- Member of the Faculty Committee
- Chairman, School of Computing Instruction, College of Computing
Job Titles:
- Member of the Faculty Committee
- Associate Professor, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor
- Member of the Faculty Committee
Job Titles:
- Member of the Faculty Committee
- Associate Professor, Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering
Job Titles:
- Member of the Faculty Committee
- Professor of the Practice, Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering
Job Titles:
- Startup Launch Program Manager
Job Titles:
- Admin Professional
- Administrative Assistant for the CREATE - X
Latasha is the administrative assistant for the CREATE-X team. She has a Bachelor of Science degree in Health Sciences from Florida A&M University. She has over ten years in the administrative and customer service realm. Latasha has a passion for making those around her smile.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership and Executive Team
- Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor
- Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in the College
- Professor
Laurence J. Jacobs is Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in the College of Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Professor of Mechanical Engineering. Dr. Jacobs received his PhD in Engineering Mechanics from Columbia University and joined the faculty of Georgia Tech in 1988. Prior to receiving his PhD, he worked for two years in the aerospace industry and for one year as a structural engineer.
Professor Jacobs' research focuses on the development of quantitative methodologies for the nondestructive evaluation and life prediction of structural materials. This includes the application of nonlinear ultrasound for the characterization of fatigue, creep, stress-corrosion, thermal embrittlement and radiation damage in metals. His work in cement-based materials includes the application of linear and nonlinear ultrasonic techniques to quantify microstructure and progressive micro-cracking in concrete.
Dr. Jacobs' publications have been cited more than 4900 times with an h-index of 39 (Google Scholar), 31 (Scopus) or 28 (Web of Science) and he is a Fellow of the ASME. Professor Jacobs' research has been funded by DOE, NSF, ONR, AFOSR, DARPA, NASA, US DOT, Georgia DOT, Exxon-Mobil, EPRI, Sandia National Lab and GE. He has been the PI or co-PI on over $8M worth of contracts since 1990. Dr. Jacobs has graduated 16 Ph.D. students (5 women and 2 African Americans) and 65 M.S. thesis students.
Job Titles:
- Co - Director, Female Founders
- Program Director for Georgia Tech 's Venture
Melissa Heffner is the program director for Georgia Tech's VentureLab and a co-director of the CREATE-X Female Founders program. As coach for CREATE-X Startup Launch, an adjunct instructor for the National Science Foundation's Innovation Corps program, and a lead instructor for Georgia Tech's I-Corps South Node, she has taught the lean methodology to over 400 startup teams. In 2020, Melissa co-developed and co-founded the Female Founders program to provide a space for women-led entrepreneurial teams to explore a first business model, engage with an all-female coaching team, interact with successful female entrepreneurs, and receive non-diluted funding. The Female Founders initiative is in response to the need for more equitable opportunities for women entrepreneurs on campus.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Faculty Committee
- Lecturer, Scheller College of Business
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership and Executive Team
- Founding Director, CREATE - X and Vice President of Commercialization
Job Titles:
- Member of the CREATE - X Team
- Director for CREATE
- Director, CREATE - X
Rahul Saxena is the Director for CREATE-X and the Associate Director for LAUNCH. Leading up to this role, Saxena had a career as a Venture Capitalist, startup CEO, entrepreneur, mechatronic design engineer, and published academic researcher. Saxena is a mechanical engineering Georgia Tech alumnus, earned his European Master's degree in Fluid Mechanics from the Von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics, and earned his MBA from Emory University. Saxena worked for Seraph Group, a venture capital firm, for 10 years evaluating and investing in companies while also holding the role of CEO in a company and serving on several boards of companies that went on to be acquired.
Job Titles:
- Professor Emeritus of Mechanical Engineering
- Special Advisor
Job Titles:
- Member of the CREATE - X Team
- Associate Director, LEARN
Job Titles:
- Co - Founder and Co - Director of the CREATE - X Female Founders
- Female Founders Co - Director
Sara Martin Henderson is the co-founder and co-director of the CREATE-X Female Founders program, a leader at Georgia Tech's VentureLab, and a lead instructor for the NSF I-Corps Southeast Hub. She specializes in human-centered innovation and entrepreneurship education, with deep expertise in Design Thinking, Lean Startup, Service Design, and Strategic Foresight. During her time at Georgia Tech, she has secured major grant funding and led the development and delivery of multiple training programs for entrepreneurial teams, mentors, and instructors.
Sara has taught hundreds of early-stage, research-based startup teams and has advised Fortune 500 companies across industries on innovation strategy, culture transformation, and new product and service development. She co-developed key programs including the GTRI STING program, the I-Corps Southeast Hub Mentor Academy, the Science Foundation of Ireland I-Corps Program, and MTU Cyber Innovate Program. In addition to her teaching and coaching work, she builds strategic partnerships to expand entrepreneurship support in Atlanta and in emerging ecosystems abroad.
Job Titles:
- Project Support Specialist Sr., VentureLab
Job Titles:
- Member of the Faculty Committee
- Professor of the Practice, School of Industrial Design
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership and Executive Team
- Provost / Executive Vice President - Academic Affairs
- Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs at the Georgia Institute of Technology
Steven W. McLaughlin is the provost and executive vice president for Academic Affairs at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He is a professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
McLaughlin first joined Georgia Tech as a member of the faculty in 1996. From 2017-2020, he served as the dean and Southern Company Chair of Georgia Tech's College of Engineering, the largest engineering college in the country. Prior roles include the Steve Chaddick School Chair in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering from 2012-2017, and the vice provost for International Initiatives and Steven A. Denning Chair in Global Engagement from 2007-2012.
In 2014 he co-founded CREATE-X, a campus-wide effort to instill entrepreneurial confidence in students and help them launch companies. The program has successfully launched 225 student-led companies and engaged more than 4,000 students in the principles and practice of evidence-based entrepreneurship.
In 2011 he was awarded the honor Chevalier dans l`Ordre Nationale de Merite, (Knight of the French National Order of Merit), the second highest civilian award given by Republic of France. He was the first Georgia Tech recipient of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) where he was cited by President Clinton "for leadership in the development of high-capacity, nonbinary optical recording formats." He is a past president of the IEEE Information Theory Society and is a Fellow of the IEEE.
His research interests are in the general area of communications and information theory. His research group has published in the areas of forward error correction and equalization in wireless communications, magnetic/optical data storage, data security, and privacy. He has advised more than 50 students and postdocs. His group has published more than 250 papers in journals and conferences and holds 36 U.S. patents.
He received the B.S.E.E. degree from Northwestern University, the M.S.E. degree from Princeton University, and the Ph.D. degree from the University of Michigan.