IMS Initiative Lead Q and A: Margaret E. Kosal

Posted November 18, 2024

Margaret E. Kosal leads the "Investigating the Future of Metamaterials for National Security and To Avoid Technological Surprise" research initiative for the Institute for Matter and Systems at Georgia Tech. In this role, her research focuses on investigating technical aspects of cutting-edge metamaterials design, synthesis, and development to understand the potential impacts of this type of emerging technology on national security and geopolitics. Kosal is also a professor in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs.

In this brief Q&A, Kosal discusses her research focus, how it relates to Matter and System’s core research focuses, and the national impact of this initiative.

What is your field of expertise and at what point in your life did you first become interested in this area?
My formal education and background are in the physical sciences (PhD Chemistry); my scholarship, research, teaching, external engagement, and impact are intrinsically interdisciplinary; and I have found a scholarly home and community in the international relations discipline, primarily working in the areas of security and science and technology (S&T) policy.

What questions or challenges sparked your current research? 
With one of my PhD students, I’d previously done research on potential disruptive potential of metamaterials, finding them to potentially be a potentially revolutionary innovation to the power of global and regional hegemons. That work found that revisionist actors, primarily non-state actors, likely will benefit disproportionately from acquiring a metamaterial adaptive camouflage (MMAC) capability but will struggle to do so due to the technical challenge of advanced R&D, particularly in the near and mid-term. The implication found was that status quo powers – who are likely to be the first to develop a viable capability – must emphasize parallel development of countermeasures and limit the negative potential of the technology’s proliferation. With this project, I want to dive deeper into the technical aspects of cutting-edge metamaterials design, synthesis, and development to understand the potential impacts of this type of emerging technology on national security and geopolitics.

Matter and systems refer to the transformational technological and societal systems that arise from the convergence of innovative materials, devices, and processes. Why is your initiative important to the development of the IMS research strategy? 
In November 2016, US Army Lieutenant General HR McMaster, then-Deputy Commanding General for Army Futures and Director of the Army Capability Integration Center (ARCIC) invoked the concept of invisible tanks at meeting on Ground Combat Platforms at the Institute of Land Warfare. I was speaking at the same meeting and commented in my remarks on the need for new capabilities that shift the approach to survivability from protection via mass (which is limiting) to capabilities for active defense and adaptive responses such as via meta-materials. 

Over the last century, the dominant mechanism to achieve parity or asymmetric advantages in land warfare (e.g., maneuver warfare using tanks and other vehicles) has relied on armor and other materials that more effectively absorb kinetic impacts. In the mid-20th Century, the US Air Force shifted to relying on speed and stealth for asymmetric advantage. New conceptual approaches are needed and will have significant implications for conflict, cooperation, and the nature of land warfare. In the case of land warfare (as with air power), materials and systems are fundamental to being able to achieve those asymmetric advantages. The convergence of these innovative materials into existing and new capabilities (vehicles) is likely to result in revolutionary changes to societal systems.

What are the broader global and social benefits of the research you and your team conduct? 
My scholarship significantly contributes to a better and more nuanced understanding of the relationships among science, technology, and security, emphasizing the complex interactions among science, technology, geopolitics, knowledge, innovation, governance (laws and treaties), diplomacy, and institutions. My work explains how these phenomena intersect and impact geopolitics by developing and testing novel analytical frameworks.

What are your plans for engaging a wider Georgia Tech faculty pool with the Institute for Matter and Systems research? 
I’m going to be reaching out directly to GT faculty and GTRI researchers in Engineering and the Sciences. I am also interested in exploring how my research integrates and might further other IMS Research Initiatives (e.g. “Mechanical Metamaterials” (Rocklin/PHYS) and Research Centers (e.g., the Center for Organic Photonics and Electronics).