THE SCHOOL OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGN 

GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY 

Under the provisions of the regulations for the degree 

MASTER OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGN 

on Friday, December 10, 2021 

2:00 – 3:00 PM EST 

via https://bluejeans.com/7069053198 

will be held the 

PROJECT DEFENSE 

for 

EMILY HAYS 

“GTatrium for Georgia Tech” 

Advisor: 

Steve Harmon 

Committee: 

Florian Vollmer 

Kevin Shankwiler 

Faculty and students are invited to attend this presentation. 

Abstract: 250 words 

In 2018, The Commission for Creating the Next in Education (CNE) at Georgia Tech took a comprehensive look at what higher education might look like in 2040. The resulting document, “Deliberate Innovation, Lifetime Education,” uses strategic foresight to explore the future of education at Georgia Tech and outlines several initiatives for Georgia Tech to provide a more valuable experience to its stakeholders. 

One of these initiatives is the GTatrium, a scalable gathering place to real and virtual services for Georgia Tech to achieve a distributed global presence. Like the physical atrium of a building, the atrium is a flexible space located near learners. The GTatrium is designed to provide personalized education, career development, advising, and specialized learning experiences to current Georgia Tech students, and to alumni, prospective learners, and the community at large.   

This master’s project presentation will discuss the research, service design, and overarching strategy of the GTatrium, and aims to address, “How can Georgia Tech serve learners in their communities throughout their liftetimes?” A research goal was to define the GTatrium experience, identify user groups, core services, a conceptual service model, and draw with broad strokes what this could look like for Georgia Tech in the next decade of its development. The presentation will suggest next steps for the development and implementation of the atrium that can be deployed internationally. This project was undertaken in conjunction with the Center for 21st Century Universities, which will continue with the project after the completion of this master’s project.