When fire ants studied by David Hu escaped his Georgia Tech lab and invaded a nearby professor's office, their method of breaking out – building an Eiffel Tower-shaped structure out of their own bodies – became part of Hu's research. That's how this New York Times story begins regarding Hu's new study of ant tower-building abilities. (Here's a New York Times video on Hu's research.) Quartz also covered the study; its story describes how speeding up the research video of the ants provided a better look at how the insects cycled themselves through the tower-building process. Hu is an associate professor in the School of Biological Sciences and the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering. He is also an adjunct associate professor in the School of Physics.
