The Georgia Institute of Technology has named James J. Hudgens to be the new director of the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), Georgia Tech’s applied research division. Currently director of the Threat Intelligence Center (TIC) at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Hudgens will become a Georgia Tech senior vice president and GTRI’s director effective September 2, 2019.
Hudgens holds a Ph.D. in ceramic engineering from Iowa State University. He has led research and development programs in national security, cybersecurity, quantum information science, and photonic microsystems. He also led programs in data analytics, synthetic aperture radar, and airborne intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) systems before becoming director of the $265 million-per-year TIC, which has a staff of 550 professionals working in six states and 136 different laboratories.
A senior technology executive with 23 years of experience in national security research, Hudgens has also held positions at optical networking firm Mahi Networks, defense contractor Raytheon Electronic Systems, and semiconductor company Texas Instruments. In 2013, he won the Department of Energy Secretary’s Honor Award for Achievement for leading the Copperhead counter-IED program.
“Jim Hudgens has extensive experience building and leading federally sponsored programs that are at the center of GTRI’s core research areas,” said Chaouki Abdallah, Georgia Tech’s Executive Vice President for Research. “His experience developing and managing programs at Sandia National Laboratories and major private-sector defense contractors will support GTRI’s continued growth in service to our nation’s defense agencies and other important state and federal sponsors.”
Continue reading at: Georgia Tech News Center