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Hive Supercomputer Makes its Debut

With a $5.3 million supercomputer boasting over 100 trillion bytes of memory and 2.5 bytes of storage, Georgia Tech’s new high performance computing system is enabling data-driven discovery in data science, computational astrophysics, biology, chemistry, and materials science at the Institute.

Known as Hive, this supercomputer supports research for over 33 faculty members, 54 research scientists and postdocs, 195 graduate students, and 56 undergraduate students from the Colleges of Computing, Engineering, and Sciences.

Hive was acquired by the Institute for Data Engineering and Science (IDEaS) through a $3.7 million National Science Foundation Major Research and Instrumentation Program grant and a $1.6 million contribution by Georgia Tech.

IDEaS Director and School of Computational Science and Engineering Professor Srinivas Aluru is the primary investigator on the grant. According to Aluru, “Hive allows us to solve a large scale of data-intensive problems and will be an asset to Georgia Tech for the next five years or so.”


portrait of Ashok Goel

Ashok Goel

USG Honors Two Tech Faculty for Classroom Excellence

The University System of Georgia has recognized Tech’s Ashok Goel and Donald Webster for their dedication in the classroom. Goel, professor in the School of Interactive Computing, received a Regents Award for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. The award recognizes his groundbreaking contributions to the evolution of online learning.

Read more about Goel’s work.

Webster, the Karen and John Huff Chair of the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, was selected as the recipient of the 2020 Felton Jenkins Jr. Hall of Fame Faculty Award. The award recognizes faculty for strong commitment to teaching and student success. Webster is the only faculty member from a Georgia research university to receive this systemwide award.

Read more about why Webster was honored.

portrait of Donald Webster

Donald Webster


Google News Creator Endows New College of Computing Faculty Chair Position

Google News creator has endowed a new faculty chair position in computational journalism at Tech’s College of Computing. Krishna Bharat, distinguished research scientist at Google and Georgia Tech alumnus (M.S. CS 1993, Ph.D. CS 1996), announced his donation during a reception at the College, held Oct. 31, 2019.

The Krishna A. Bharat Chair in Computational Journalism recognizes the College’s contributions to the field, which Georgia Tech is credited with creating in 2006.

“Computing is now such a part of so many other fields that we cannot innovate, we cannot research, and we cannot teach in isolation. Journalism is central to informing and engaging citizens in a free society. It is a field that has both changed and been changed by computing,” said Dean of Computing Charles Isbell, who also holds the John P. Imlay Jr. Chair in Computing.

Krishna Bharat

Krishna Bharat


CODA exterior

During G.P. "Bud" Peterson's presidency, Georgia Tech underwent a massive physical transformation, which included the addition of Coda (above), the flagship building of Tech Square, a flourishing high-tech hub and significant driver in the state's economic development.

President Emeritus Peterson to Help Build on State’s Success in Growing High-Tech Businesses

Appointed co-chair of the Georgia Innovates Task Force by Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan in January 2020, Georgia Tech President Emeritus G.P. “Bud” Peterson is helping lead a group of business and technology leaders devising ways to boost tech and innovation in Georgia.

Charged with helping to realize Duncan’s vision of making the state the technology capital of the East Coast, the task force recommended the creation of the Partnership for Inclusive Innovation, a public-private partnership specifically developed to foster technology access, growth, entrepreneurship, and evolution across Georgia. The organization is the first of its kind — a statewide, public-private partnership built from the ground up entirely in a virtual environment. Peterson will now serve as board chair of this newly established organization, officially announced on Aug. 17, 2020.

In September 2019, the Board of Regents (BOR) of the University System of Georgia voted to name Peterson president emeritus as well as Regents Professor of Mechanical Engineering for the standard three-year term. The BOR also awarded him tenure.

Peterson served as Georgia Tech’s 11th president from April 2009 to September 2019. During his presidency, the campus landscape was reshaped with the construction of 21 new facilities and the major renovation of 25 facilities. The Institute experienced a 300% increase in admission applications, and raised $1.8 billion as part of Campaign Georgia Tech.


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Empower people of all backgrounds and stages of life to learn and contribute to technological and human progress.


Students at commencement, 2019

Students gather at McCamish Pavilion for the Fall 2019 Master's Commencement.

Economics and Design Degrees Get STEM Designation

In Fall 2019, degree programs in Tech’s Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts and College of Design were updated to reflect their emphasis on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).

In the School of Economics, the Bachelor of Science, Master of Science, and Ph.D. in Economics now count as STEM degrees, a classification that highlights the rigorous analytical nature of the School’s offerings. The change does not apply to joint degrees with other Schools.

The School of Architecture's Master of Science in Urban Design (MSUD) in the College of Design also recently received this designation.

"This designation helps capture the value of the integration of so many different technological, social, and ecological aspects of our urban design program," said Ellen Dunham-Jones, director of the MSUD program.

The new designation will not result in changes to the degree programs.


Tech's National Society of Black Engineers Chapter Wins Chapter of the Year Award

Tech’s chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) won the 2019-20 Large Chapter of the Year Award, marking the third consecutive year the Tech chapter has been the recipient of the award on the regional level and the first time in over a decade it has received the honor on the national level.

Nominated by NSBE’s regional executive boards, and selected by its scholarship and awards committee, high-achieving collegiate and NSBE junior groups were chosen as the Society’s “best exemplars and promoters of academic excellence, professional success, community service and cultural responsibility” during the 2019–20 programmatic year.

Georgia Tech Society of Black Engineers

GTSBE members pose with Georgia Tech President Ángel Cabrera.

Seed Grant Initiative Boosts Support for High-Risk Projects

In February 2020, Tech launched a new “Small Bets” Seed Grant Program to award research teams up to $75,000 apiece for a year’s work. The aim of the program is to catalyze new research collaborations and fuel high-risk, high-reward approaches to society’s most difficult challenges.

Unlike traditional competitive peer-reviewed grant processes, this initiative selects awardees randomly from among interdisciplinary proposals that meet basic qualifications. The effort will expand interdisciplinary collaboration between STEM faculty and those in the humanities, social sciences, design and business, while boosting interaction between researchers in the Georgia Tech Research Institute and professors in Georgia Tech schools and colleges.

“Small Bets is intended to seed the first steps of problem-solving that will change the world,” said Georgia Tech Vice President for Research Development and Operations Robert Butera. “Through this, we hope to foster new collaborations and new activities without institutional or implicit bias toward any specific programs or initiatives. This is intentionally independent of efforts we already have to support strategic efforts in emerging high-profile areas.”

As traditional federal funding has become more competitive, it has become more difficult for researchers to find support for high-risk projects even if they have a high return, he noted.

“This program is an experiment. Our bet is that Georgia Tech researchers can provide the key to addressing our biggest local, national, and global issues,” Butera said. “We want to challenge researchers to dream about what is possible and propose solutions that other funding sources might consider too risky.”

From more than 200 proposals, 23 were selected in areas ranging from health monitoring and food insecurity to emergency response and energy-efficient lighting.

Todd Michney showcasing the Community & Digital Archive Project at the 2019 DILAC Showcase.

Todd Michney shows off the Community & Digital Archive Project at the 2019 DILAC Showcase.

Ivan Allen College Archive Project Receives Nearly $100,000 from NEH

The Ivan Allen Archive Project at Georgia Tech has received a two-year $99,991 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to fund the integration of large-scale text processing and data visualization capabilities into the open-source Omeka platform.

Announced Jan. 14 by the NEH, the grant will fund further refinement of an existing suite of plug-ins developed by Georgia Tech faculty and students that enables machine-assisted data analysis and social network graphing. The eventual goal is to release the extended toolkit for use by academic and community researchers free of charge.

This archive tool has been under development since 2016, with the papers of former Atlanta Mayor Ivan Allen Jr. serving as a test case. The late Allen, a 1933 graduate of Georgia Tech, served as mayor of Atlanta from 1962 to 1970 — an era of dramatic social and economic change for the city. The Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts is named for Allen.

Saumya Sharma

Saumya Sharma

Star Power

Celebrate the women Georgia Tech who are researching and exploring the universe. They have helped discover gravitational waves, and are working with the commercial space program, redefining science fiction, and developing better ways to power spacecraft.

Read the story.

New Transfer Pathway Broadens Admission Opportunities for Socioeconomically Challenged

Starting with Early Action decisions in January 2020, Tech created a new transfer pathway specifically for Pell Grant-eligible students. With this Talent Initiative Transfer Pathway, students attend another college for a year to complete 30 hours of required courses for their intended major. If they maintain the required GPA and meet all the application and document deadlines, they’re guaranteed a spot at Tech the following fall.

“We are a selective institution, and it is competitive to be admitted. There are a lot of students who we aren't able to enroll as first-year students,” said Rick Clark, director of Undergraduate Admission. “What we're saying to these [Pell-eligible] students is: We see your potential, and we would like you to be part of the Georgia Tech community; here's another road you can take.”

Clark also said that while the program is new, the focus on social and economic diversity is not. The program is part of Tech’s commitment to the American Talent Initiative, a collaboration with more than 100 other universities to substantially increase the number of talented students from low- and moderate-income families who complete college. Federally funded Pell Grants are typically awarded to students with significant financial need.

“The Talent Initiative Transfer Pathway speaks to the fact that we want to be a place that provides students of all socioeconomic backgrounds and family backgrounds with an opportunity to earn a Georgia Tech degree,” Clark said.

The new program is one of several different kinds of transfer entry points designed for first-generation students, veterans, and students pursuing specific majors, for example.


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Champion our leadership position as an engine of innovation and entrepreneurship and collaborate with other public and private actors to create economic opportunity and position Atlanta and Georgia as examples of inclusive innovation.


Student showcases project for CREATE-X.

Students discuss a project at the CREATE-X showcase.

CREATE-X Startup Program Receives $2.1 Million Gift

In October 2019, The Marcus Foundation granted $2.1 million to fund the CREATE-X startup program, providing program funding for the next three years to instill entrepreneurial confidence in Georgia Tech’s students across campus.

“The generous grant from The Marcus Foundation will enable us to scale CREATE-X and provide more resources to student, faculty, and alumni program participants who wish to attain entrepreneurial confidence,” said Raghupathy “Siva” Sivakumar, director and co-founder of CREATE-X and Wayne J. Holman Chair in Georgia Tech’s School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. “Our eventual goal is to have 100% of the student body participating in the program, and The Marcus Foundation grant plays an integral part in getting us there.”

CREATE-X at Georgia Tech is a visionary enterprise aimed at systematically nurturing entrepreneurial confidence as one of the signature attributes of Georgia Tech graduates.


Tech Launches Sports Innovation Initiative: SPRINT

SPRINT is centralizing and expanding the Institute’s sports-related research, with the vision of making Atlanta a global leader in sports innovation.

The initiative will focus on three components:

  • Athletic performance (athlete health and human performance, wearables, and analytics).
  • Fan engagement (in-game engagement, relationship management, segmentation, communications, sales, and customer marketing).
  • Operations (ticketing, game-day operations, parking, security, concessions, ingress/egress, and venue management).

“The Georgia Institute of Technology is a leading research university,” said Georgia Tech Athletic Director Todd Stansbury. “Applying our research innovation to sports is a huge opportunity for faculty and students, and gives our teams on and off the field a competitive advantage. Sports innovation creates opportunities for research, grants, corporate partnerships, industry collaboration, and student advancement.”

Georgia Tech football player

School of Public Policy Hosts Atlanta Conference on Science and Innovation Policy

Organized by Georgia Tech’s School of Public Policy, the Atlanta Conference on Science and Innovation Policy was held October 14-16, 2019. Policy experts presented research on topics including the scientific workforce, the ethics of science and adoption of innovation, and the impact of revolutionary forms of manufacturing on the future of work. 

International and interdisciplinary in scope, the biennial conference attracts more than 250 participants from 30 countries.

"In their 16 years organizing this biennial conference, public policy faculty have made this the world's leading conference in the field," said Marilyn Brown, Regents Professor and interim chair of the School of Public Policy.

Student volunteers from units across the Ivan Allen College — in addition to the School of Public Policy — such as the School of Economics and the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs, assist with the conference, as well as students from other areas across campus including the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, and the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering.


Tarek Rakha, Yasser El Masri, and Eleanna Panagoulia with drone

School of Architecture Assistant Professor Tarek Rakha (center) and doctoral students Yasser El Masri (left) and Eleanna Panagoulia fly a drone in Tech's Hinman Courtyard.

Department of Energy Awards $1.4 Million for School of Architecture Research

A research team, led by Tarek Rakha, assistant professor and director of the High Performance Building Lab at Tech’s School of Architecture, has been awarded $1.4 million in research funding by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, and Building Technologies Office.

More than half of all U.S. commercial buildings were built before 1970 and lack in energy efficiency, relative to newer buildings. To address the inefficiency of this older stock, retrofit programs rely on on-site auditing to collect information about buildings’ envelope, lighting, and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems. Envelopes and windows account for over 50% of energy loads in buildings, but collecting detailed and actionable information about them is challenging. A primary challenge is the difficulty in accessing building exteriors above the first or second story. Using humans to perform this inspection is time-consuming, costly, dangerous, and error-prone.

The research team is addressing this challenge in a three-year project called Aerial Intelligence for Retrofit Building Energy Modeling (AirBEM). AirBEM will complement human auditing of building interiors with the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs or drones) equipped with infrared sensors and onboard processors to audit the exterior envelope. The drones will use computer vision techniques to detect both materials and heat transfer anomalies, which suggest construction defects such as air leaks.

As the primary recipient, Georgia Tech leads research, development, and demonstration alongside academic partners including Syracuse University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and industry partner Pattern r+d.


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Strengthen our culture of well-being and create an environment of holistic learning where all members of our community can grow and learn to lead healthy, purposeful, impactful lives.


MOMIX

Use of the three-year grant began with a March 2020 performance by MOMIX (pictured above). Photo by Max Pucciariello.

Georgia Tech Arts Receives $150,000 Grant

Charles Loridans Foundation, a supporter of local educational and cultural institutions, has granted Georgia Tech Arts $150,000 to bring professional contemporary dance companies, from around the globe and Atlanta, to the Tech campus. These groups will further the mission of Georgia Tech Arts by integrating performing arts into the lives and work of students, faculty, and the surrounding community, ultimately raising the profile of contemporary dance across Atlanta and Georgia Tech.

“The cultivation of contemporary dance at Georgia Tech can make a uniquely strong contribution to the field in terms of both audience and artistic development. Contemporary dance companies and choreographers are also on the forefront of pressing issues that face the lives of students and many members of the community. These include the deep collaboration inherent to their creative process, the exploration of social issues, reconsideration of physicality, and abstract thinking,” said Georgia Tech Arts Director Aaron Shackelford. “Given that these topics are not easily taught or established in the classroom, Georgia Tech Arts, along with the selected dance companies, is committed to providing meaningful engagement experiences for students and beyond.”


Georgia Tech Bike Challenge

Members of GTRI’s Thighs team (L-R): Jett Marks, Kit Plummer, Jason Bryan, Joshua Forester, Abby Perry, Josh Wells, and John Rose. Photo courtesy of Joshua Forester.

Georgia Tech Wins Atlanta Bike Challenge

Each October, Georgia Commute Options sponsors the Atlanta Bike Challenge, which requires riders to form teams and compete against other workplaces for who can log the most miles and get new cyclists to join.

In 2019, Tech placed first out of 67 organizations with more than 500 employees, and first overall out of nearly 300 organizations that participated.

In total, Tech employees biked 22,300 miles, with more than 9,300 of them serving as part of a commute. The collective efforts prevented more than 7,400 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions.


Atlanta Science Festival Kicks Off at Ferst Center for the Arts

The 2020 launch of the Atlanta Science Festival (ASF), “2100: A Climate Odyssey,” at Georgia Tech’s Ferst Center for the Arts, took place March 6, 2020, and was designed as an "immersive theatrical experience that transports audience members to a possible future that looks at life after a century of climate change."

The ASF opening weekend at Georgia Tech also included one of the most unique experiences in music performance: The Guthman Musical Instrument Competition showcased nine global finalists playing unique instruments created for the competition. New for 2020, as part of the Guthman event, was the Music, Art, and Technology Fair, hosted by the Georgia Tech School of Music and Cycling ’74 — a unique opportunity to share projects at the intersection of art and technology in a hands-on, interactive, science-fair format.

The GVU Center at Georgia Tech created interactive graphics to explore the two-week festival and find specific events connected to Georgia Tech.

Georgia Tech is one of the founding members of ASF.

Krzysztof Cybulski's MEMO/MOVE performance on stage

Krzysztof Cybulski's MEMO/MOVE won second place in the 2020 Guthman Musical Instrument Competition.

Georgia Tech Wins in RecycleMania Zero-Waste Building Challenge

Tech won in the Race to Zero Waste category of the 2020 Recyclemania competition for the efforts to significantly reduce the waste stream in The Kendeda Building for Innovative Sustainable Design over a one-month period.

Beyond that win, Georgia Tech also placed in the following categories:

Top 5

most cardboard recycled

Top 7

most recycling overall

Top 40

most bottles and cans recycled

Tech was among more than 100 colleges and universities to participate in the recycling competition.

Tech Continues to Enhance Security Measures in Response to Student Data Disclosure Issue

Georgia Tech’s data security task force continues to make progress in improving the Institute’s data governance, policies, and practices. Under the leadership of Professor Raheem Beyah, the team has established controls organized into the three-pronged strategy: Know, Protect, and Govern.

The following are examples of the enhanced measures:

  • Georgia Tech’s Data Management Security Fundamentals training campaign ended Monday, April 20, 2020. Moving forward, this compliance training will be required on an annual basis for all employees.
  • New data loss prevention rules will restrict sharing protected data such as employee records, student information, financial data, and regulated research data via email, and require employees to use Institute-supported file storage solutions such as OneDrive or Dropbox for sharing this type of information.
  • The new standards also establish safeguards that restrict removing data tags or manipulating files that contain data tags. These policy revisions standardize business practices across the Institute and lower the risk of accidental data exposure.
  • To ensure the security of protected data, full adoption of endpoint management and protection solutions will be required for all Institute-owned devices by Nov. 1, 2020.

Connect Globally

Strengthen our role as a convener of worldwide collaboration and build a global learning platform to expand our reach and amplify our impact.


Guide for Responsible International Activities

International Initiatives Launches Online Guide for Responsible Global Activities

In Fall 2019, the Office of International Initiatives launched the Georgia Tech Guide for Responsible International Activities, a new online resource regarding guidelines, policies, and procedures around the Institute’s global activities and partnerships.

“Georgia Tech is proud to engage with researchers, scholars, and institutions all over the world as an expression of the Institute’s motto of Progress and Service,” said Chaouki T. Abdallah, Georgia Tech’s executive vice president for Research. “We remain wholeheartedly committed to those important global collaborations, but we must safeguard the Institute, and ensure all activities are fully transparent and in compliance with Georgia Tech policies, as well as applicable government laws and regulations.”

Site users can find direct links to Georgia Tech resources, policies, and relevant campus contacts for offices and units that manage a variety of issues, including export control; managing conflicts of interest; appointments at other institutions; intellectual property; materials, data, and confidential information; the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA); international agreements; disclosing foreign relationships; lab tours; hosting foreign visitors; and international travel.


Robotic Submarine Snaps First-Ever Images at Foundation of Notorious Antarctic Glacier

On an unprecedented scientific expedition to an Antarctic glacier notorious for contributions to sea level rise, a research team, that included Georgia Tech, took first-ever images at the glacier’s foundations. The area at the ocean floor is key to Thwaites Glacier’s potential to cause catastrophic global coastal flooding.

An underwater robot called Icefin recorded the video, photos, and data. It was built and remotely controlled by a team led by Britney Schmidt, an associate professor in Georgia Tech’s School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. Schmidt’s team was part of the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration (ITGC), which officially completed the expedition on Thwaites on the 200-year anniversary of the discovery of Antarctica in 1820.

portrait of Blair MacIntyre

Blair MacIntyre is a professor in the School of Interactive Computing and the IEEE VR conference co-chair.

Georgia Tech Professor Uses Virtual Reality to Move Major Conference Online

In March 2020, 1,800 scientists, engineers, designers, and other experts gathered for the IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces (IEEE VR). The event brought together people from around the world to examine the latest research and advancements in the area of virtual reality (VR).

Blair MacIntyre, a professor in Georgia Tech’s School of Interactive Computing and IEEE VR conference co-chair, proposed transitioning to an all-virtual event to support social distancing recommendations related to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The entire five-day event convened in Mozilla Hubs, an online platform for remote virtual experiences. IEEE VR marked the first time that a major academic conference of this scale moved online and depended solely on a virtual environment platform, including the social networking sessions that are an essential part of conferences.

With recent global challenges related to the coronavirus, technology is once again at the forefront of shaping our society. Whether it’s attending a virtual reality conference, working remotely, or taking a class online, “technology has the opportunity to help people connect,” MacIntyre said.

VR conference

VR conference alternative display

The IEEE virtual reality conference scheduled for Atlanta had to shift to an online format in 2020 as a result of the pandemic.


Friends and family event at The Kendeda Building for Innovative Sustainable Design

Visitors tour the newly opened Kendeda Building for Innovative Sustainable Design. Photo by Justin Chan Photography.

Global Climate Action Symposium Is First Major Event at Kendeda Building

Scientists, engineers, business and policy experts, artists, and student activists gathered at Georgia Tech Friday, Sept. 27, 2019, for the Global Climate Action Symposium, hosted by Georgia Tech and six European consulates.

The event coincided with European Climate Diplomacy Week and, fittingly, was the first major event to take place in Tech’s new Kendeda Building for Innovative Sustainable Design.

The public symposium featured panel discussions with faculty and students from Georgia Tech and Emory University, as well as industry representatives and government delegates.

The event was organized by Tech’s Global Change Program, which was launched in 2018. A central component of the program’s mission is to build new partnerships across Georgia Tech, as well as between the Georgia Tech community and outside partners, both private and public.

The event came on the heels of Georgia Tech’s participation in the University Global Compact’s 17 Rooms-U, hosted earlier in September in partnership with the United Nations in pursuit of its Sustainable Development Goals.


 

Professional Swimmers From Around the World Gather at McAuley Aquatic Center

In December 2019, Georgia Tech’s McAuley Aquatic Center hosted one of the biggest swimming events of the year — the Toyota U.S. Open Championships — drawing as many as 70 U.S. teams, as well as international teams from Australia, Canada, Japan, and other countries.

This was no small coup for the facility, noted Michael Edwards, senior director of Georgia Tech’s Campus Recreation Department. “The event will be televised,” he said at the time, “so there will be national and international visibility, which is extremely important. It puts Georgia Tech in front of a different audience — people who are interested in swimming, but also those who are interested in our academic reputation.”

Also, Edwards said, “It is one of the fastest swimming pools in the country, if not the world — many American and world records have been set here."


Lead by Example

Lead and inspire by example by creating a culture of deliberate innovation in our own practices and being an example of efficiency, sustainability, ethics, and inclusion.



portrait of Kaye Husbands Fealing

Kaye Husbands Fealing

Husbands Fealing Becomes New Ivan Allen College Dean

Effective June 1, 2020, Kaye Husbands Fealing, professor and chair of the School of Public Policy, became dean and Ivan Allen Jr. Chair of the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts at Georgia Tech.

Rafael L. Bras, provost and executive vice president for Academic Affairs, said, “In her time as school chair, she has proven herself time and time again to be a trusted and accomplished leader, administrator, and scholar. Her wealth of experience will be instrumental in ushering in what I know will be an exciting next chapter for the College.”

Husbands Fealing brings to the position decades of research expertise in the automative industry, science and innovation policy, the public value of research expenditures, and underrepresentation among underserved groups in STEM fields and jobs. She also brings decades of service, and is currently a member of the National Science Foundation’s Committee on Equal Opportunities in Science and Engineering and its Education and Human Resources Advisory Committee, as well as committees within the National Institutes of Health, the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). She is a fellow with AAAS and the National Academy of Public Administration.

“I am grateful to be appointed dean of the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts, and I look forward to working with students, staff, and faculty as we continue to position ourselves at the forefront of humanities and social sciences in a technology-driven world,” said Husbands Fealing. “The changing face of the world that we live in means that to remain relevant, the university must have a broad strategic vision that addresses the needs of all the communities that we serve from the local level to the national and then more broadly to our global footprint. Ivan Allen College stands ready to put our talents and treasure to work for the public good.”


Yellow Jacket Majoring in Three Disciplines Receives Highest Honor for Graduating Students

After four years at Tech, Daniel Gurevich graduated in May 2020 with bachelor’s degrees in industrial engineering, physics, and math.

As a result of his academic excellence, he was honored with the Love Family Foundation Scholarship, the highest honor Georgia Tech can bestow on a graduating student. Gurevich was nominated for the $10,000 award by both the College of Sciences and the College of Engineering.

The commonality between Gurevich’s majors — math, physics, and industrial engineering — is applied mathematics.

“The ability to explain how things work is something that really attracts me about math,” he explained.

He also hopes to continue the research on cardiac arrhythmias he began at Georgia Tech. He was first attracted by the field's importance to society — arrhythmias are a leading cause of death worldwide — as well as its rich mathematical background.

portrait of Daniel Gurevich

Daniel Gurevich


Chaouki T. Abdallah

Chaouki T. Abdallah

Tech’s Executive Vice President for Research Testifies at Congressional Hearing

Chaouki T. Abdallah testified Jan. 29, 2020, before a U.S. House Committee about the cooperative United States research enterprise and the threat of falling behind other nations in critical technologies.

Abdallah, Georgia Tech’s executive vice president for Research, spoke to lawmakers on the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology in a hearing titled “Losing Ground: U.S. Competitiveness in Critical Technologies.” The hearing brought together expert testimony from individuals representing federal, industry, and academic perspectives about topics such as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, next generation wireless, quantum information systems, advanced manufacturing and materials, and bioscience and engineering.

“I am proud to represent Georgia Tech and be the voice of universities in these important discussions about the economic and security issues that affect the future of research and development in the United States,” said Abdallah.


7 Georgia Tech Faculty Members Receive Regents Recognition

In May 2020, seven Tech faculty members received the highest academic recognition bestowed by the University System of Georgia; the following were appointed Regents Professors:

Marilyn Brown, Brook Byers Professor in Sustainable Systems in the School of Public Policy

Suresh Sitaraman, Morris M. Bryan Jr. Professor in Mechanical Engineering in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering

Jeffrey Skolnick, Mary and Maisie Gibson Chair in Computational Systems Biology and GRA Eminent Scholar in the School of Biological Sciences

Prasad Tetali, professor in the School of Mathematics and the School of Computer Science

Vigor Yang, professor in the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering

Lisa Yaszek, professor in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication

Ellen Zegura, Stephen Fleming Chair in the School of Computer Science


Nell Fortner

Coach Fortner at the 2019-20 game against Lousiville.

Women's Basketball Head Coach Named Coach of the Year

After leading the Yellow Jackets to a triumphant 20-11 overall record — the best record by a first-year head coach in Georgia Tech’s women’s basketball history — Nell Fortner was named the 2020 Whack Hyder Georgia Women’s College Coach of the Year by the Atlanta Tipoff Club in March.

Under Fortner’s guidance, the team capped its winning season by reaching the ACC Tournament quarterfinals for the first time since 2016. Another season highlight was Tech’s first-ever win in Athens, where the Yellow Jackets defeated the Lady Bulldogs, 73-40, in November 2019.

Fortner is no stranger to accolades, having been named USA Basketball Coach of the Year in 2000, inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame in 2001, and inducted into the San Antonio Sports Hall of Fame in 2013, among many other honors. She also served as an analyst for ESPN for almost 10 years.