C.E. Athanasiou

Christos E. Athanasiou is a physicist, material scientist, educator, and inventor who envisions the massive production and wide-spread adoption of sustainable materials & structures. He and his students love making, shaping, and breaking materials that exhibit end-of-life value for applications ranging from energy storage to environmental remediation to (aero)space.

Christos was born in Athens, Greece, was educated and scientifically-shaped in Greece, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and the United States. His life experiences have taught him that education and technical innovation can be huge catalysts for driving positive social change. He is the founder of the M&M Science mentorship initiative, whose goal is to empower young high school and undergraduate students from underrepresented communities to explore STEM careers.

Cuurently he is a tenure track assistant professor at Georgia Tech directing the Daedalus Lab. Prior to launching his independent research career, he conducted postdoctoral research at Brown University with Profs. Nitin Padture, Prof. Brian Sheldon, and Prof. Huajian Gao and then jointly at Brown University and MIT Media Lab. He holds a PhD in Photonics from Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland, and a MSc in Applied Physics at the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA).

Christos is an avid water polo player and has competed with many professional, and amateur teams across Europe and the US.