Walker has been a member of the Guggenheim School faculty since 2005 and has held several leadership positions, including associate chair for graduate studies. Prior to his appointment as chair, he served in the dean’s office as the College’s associate dean for academic affairs.
“Mitchell’s leadership and achievements reflect the excellence and innovation that define Georgia Tech,” said Raheem Beyah, provost and executive vice president for Academic Affairs. “As a longtime member of our faculty, he brings a deep understanding of the Institute’s values and aspirations to this new role. I am confident he will build on the College of Engineering’s extraordinary legacy and elevate its global impact.”
Walker is known for his ability to bring together expertise and partners across schools and colleges to develop high-impact programming, including the interdisciplinary Minor in Applications of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.
He played a pivotal role in advancing the sustained advocacy that led to Georgia Tech securing $88 million in state funding for a new Aerospace Engineering Building. Under his leadership, the nation’s top-ranked public aerospace program built a compelling case through years of coordinated effort among faculty, staff, alumni, advisory board members, and past leaders. This momentum reflects Walker’s contributions to aligning academic excellence with strategic institutional advocacy to achieve a landmark investment for the Institute.
“Georgia Tech’s College of Engineering represents the very best in innovation, impact, and collaboration,” Walker said. “I am honored to lead such an accomplished community of faculty, staff, and students and look forward to building on its strong foundation. Together, we will continue to advance research, education, and partnerships that address the world’s most pressing challenges and improve lives.”
Walker is a respected leader in advanced propulsion research, focusing on experimental and theoretical studies of plasma propulsion concepts for spacecraft, including Hall thrusters, gridded ion engines, and vacuum facility effects. He directs Georgia Tech’s High-Power-Electric Propulsion Laboratory and is principal investigator and director of the $15 million Joint Advanced Propulsion Institute (JANUS), a multi-university NASA Space Technology Research Institute. JANUS develops strategies to overcome limitations in ground testing of high-power electric propulsion systems, enabling and expanding their use in flight.
Walker is a fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and serves as a member of the organization’s Electric Propulsion Technical Committee. He is also an associate editor of the Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets and serves on the editorial boards of Frontiers in Physics and Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences – Plasma Physics. In addition, he has delivered expert witness testimony to the Space Subcommittee of the House of Representatives to help guide national investments in space propulsion technology.
His contributions have been recognized with numerous honors, including the Air Force Office of Scientific Research Young Investigator Program Award, the AIAA Lawrence Sperry Award, the AIAA Sustained Service Award, and the Georgia Power Professor of Excellence Award.
As dean, Walker will lead the College’s academic and research enterprise, which includes more than 21,000 students, 50 degree tracks, and nearly 500 faculty members. Its undergraduate program is ranked No. 3 in the nation by U.S. News & World Report, and the graduate program is No. 4. All 11 of its programs are consistently ranked in the top 10.
Walker succeeds Beyah, who began his term as provost last November.
“I would like to thank Doug Williams for his steady leadership and service as interim dean during this important transition,” Beyah said. “Since November, he has provided critical stability for the College, and we are deeply grateful for his support of our faculty, staff, and students. I would also like to thank the search committee and their chair, Dean Vivek Sarkar. Vivek and the committee brought world-class candidates forward during this process, and their work has resulted in an exceptional new dean.”
Writer: Brittany Aiello, Faculty Communications Program Manager, Executive Communications, Institute Communications
]]>For the third consecutive year, Georgia Tech has secured a spot on Forbes’ list of New Ivies, showcasing the Institute’s strong reputation among employers.
Receiving the highest C-suite rating of any university this year, Tech has been included on the list each year since it started in 2024. This year’s survey polled more than 100 C-suite and hiring executives, who were asked to rate schools and detail how artificial intelligence has changed their hiring of new graduates.
According to Forbes, each institution on the list is considered a leader in AI adoption, innovating and integrating the emerging technology into its curriculum.
AI fluency is a valued trait among employers, and one executive said that the ideal job candidate has completed an education that exemplifies “complex emotional intelligence, radical adaptability, and visionary creativity to orchestrate AI tools rather than compete with them.” Emphasizing the importance of equipping graduates with these skills, 60% of respondents say AI has changed their staffing needs, and nearly 25% say it has reduced their need for entry-level college graduates.
“At Georgia Tech, our students don’t just learn AI. They apply it in real-world contexts across fields like finance, medical innovation, and manufacturing,” said Raheem Beyah, provost and executive vice president for Academic Affairs. “They graduate with both technical depth and domain expertise, shaped through hands-on experience and close partnerships with industry, so they’re ready to step in and create value on day one.”
Outside of the classroom, providing students access to an AI supercomputer, the launch of Tech AI, and researchers leading multiple National Science Foundation AI institutes have cemented Tech’s status as a leader in AI innovation.
Return on investment remains a critical factor in today’s conversations about higher education as well, and Tech continues to rank highly in that area. In 2025, the Institute was named the best-value public college by The Princeton Review, and the Department of Education’s College Scorecard ranked Georgia Tech first among public universities in measuring ROI 15, 20, and 30 years after graduation.
On April 2, Georgia Tech launched its new Institute for Technology and Civic Leadership with a symposium built around a simple idea. Society benefits when people are willing to listen, especially to those who disagree with them.
“The Institute will serve as a space to share ideas, learn from one another, and discover common ground,” said Amanda Murdie, dean of the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.
“This is especially important in a moment when technology is rapidly altering how we encounter information, form beliefs, and relate to one another.”
“The Institute creates opportunities for students to examine the civic and social implications of technological innovation,” said Aaron Levine, associate dean for research and outreach in the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts and interim executive director of the Institute for Technology and Civic Leadership.
“It will support leaders who can approach difficult questions thoughtfully, drawing on evidence, expertise, and an understanding of diverse perspectives.”
That focus was reflected in the symposium’s keynote dialogue between Robert George and Cornel West, eminent scholars, longtime friends, and coauthors of Truth Matters: A Dialogue on Fruitful Disagreement in an Age of Division.
The keynote conversation modeled the kind of thoughtful dialogue across deep differences that the new Institute aims to cultivate. George and West do not expect to change each other’s minds.For them, persuasion isn’t the point.
“We don’t often completely change each other’s minds about things, but that’s not the goal,” said George, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University.
“You can have 100% agreement and be wrong. My goal isn’t to persuade him, but to learn what I can from him.”
Listening with care and humility to someone who is coming from a very different place, George added, can offer new ways of seeing an issue.
For West, that process begins with resisting easy labels.
“We don’t look at the world through the lens of -isms,” said West, who is the Dietrich Bonhoeffer Chair at Union Theological Seminary.
“You try to listen to a particular argument, put forward by a specific person, and to stay in contact with their humanity. Embrace their humanity.”
The two-day event also included panel discussions featuring insights from peer institutions and breakout sessions inviting the campus community to contribute feedback and ideas about the new institute.
The new Institute aims to give students the chance to explore a broad range of ideas about how innovation shapes communities, the economy, and public life. It aims to be a place where people can exchange ideas freely, learn from one another and find common ground — all anchored in open debate, scientific inquiry and evidence-based problem-solving.
It will also serve as a hub for bringing together leaders from government, industry, academia and other sectors to tackle pressing challenges and pursue science- and data-driven solutions.
As vice provost for Enrollment Management, Rick Clark develops strategies to expand access to Georgia Tech and help students find their path here. As an ultra trail runner, Clark understands that, while there may be twists and turns along the way, perseverance and a steady approach are vital when the path ahead seems daunting.
He started running as conditioning for soccer, but as he looked for new challenges, he discovered ultra trail running — any course longer than a traditional marathon. The longest race he’s completed was a 60-mile trek in Cumberland Gap, Tennessee, in a torrential downpour. Not concerned with the leaderboards, Clark says he runs to test his limits and reach new personal highs.
“Sometimes you find yourself far from the finish line, wondering if you can keep going, but that’s when you know you really have to dig deep. In those moments, I put my hands on my knees, look at the ground, count to three, and go again. Eventually, you’ll have this moment where one second you’re wondering ‘Why am I doing this?’ or thinking you won’t do it again, and then a day later you’re looking at what races are coming up and asking yourself, ‘What can I do next?’”
Whether it’s training for his next race or working toward Institute-wide goals — becoming a top university for return on investment, enrolling students from all 159 Georgia counties, or expanding access through need-based scholarships — Clark is energized by the work that precedes the payoff and sees that mindset on the trail and at Tech.
“What I love about being at Georgia Tech is that nobody’s satisfied with the status quo. Nobody is satisfied with what we’ve done. There’s always this ambition among our students, faculty, staff, and alumni to ask how we can get better.”
Clark has worked in various roles during his 25 years in higher education, including more than 20 years at Tech. Noting the parallel between his work and his hobby, Clark says that neither running 60 miles nor paying off a ‘big bet’ happens all at once, and that it’s important to celebrate small victories along the way.
“Higher education is an ultramarathon,” he said. “In trail running, there are aid stations along the course. You might go miles between them, but when you reach an intersection, and there’s a group willing to share a snack and a drink by the fire, that’s a point to celebrate that you’ve made it that far. And that’s higher education, too. We keep the end goals in mind, but it’s a long course, and you’re never going to just sprint to the end.”
Clark also stresses that both on the trail and on campus, nothing is achieved alone. He says that his support system — family, friends, and fellow trail runners — is with him every step of the way during races, and that same level of support and collaboration is also critical to shared success at Tech.
Finding time to train can be challenging, but having learned from his experience co-authoring a book — The Truth About College Admission: A Family Guide to Getting In and Staying Together — Clark takes any opportunity to fit a “therapeutic” run into his daily schedule, even if it’s at 4 a.m. or 11 p.m. Training and planning for any hurdle that may arise are what Clark says keeps him calm, even when adversity hits.
“Even success can create new challenges, and with that comes some long days and tough decisions where you don’t know if you’re taking the right path. With trail running, you may end up a mile off course sometimes, and while that can be discouraging, you know it’s a chance to trust your training, not lose your composure, stay resilient, and keep going until the end,” Clark said.
Acceptance to Georgia Tech can feel like the beginning of a race, and Clark and the enrollment management team want to ensure that every student has the opportunity to run it.
“We believe strongly in the idea that talent is equally distributed, but opportunity is not, and that's what we're focused on: expanding that opportunity. For a student who has the ability, we need to be a place that gives them the chance to come here, and then support them when they are here, to ensure they can take advantage of all the resources Tech has to offer.”
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]]>For their leadership across various industries and positive contributions to their communities, 12 Georgia Tech alumni are among Georgia Trend’s 100 Most Influential Georgians for 2026.
Guided by his BluePrint to 2033, Blake recently announced that 16 of the plan’s 20 initiatives are underway, including work on the new Panther Quad and Campus Greenway expansion on the Atlanta campus. Georgia State recently received an $80 million donation from the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation — the largest in the university’s history.
Under Cabrera’s leadership, Georgia Tech has become the state's largest university. With record enrollment, campaign fundraising, and research expenditures, Tech is delivering on the president’s Big Bets strategy. A $100 million bequest from alumnus John Durstine in September 2025 is the largest in Tech history and will transform the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering.
First elected in 2020, the second-term chair of the Cobb County Board of Commissioners declared her “unwavering commitment to forward motion” in a 2025 address that highlighted economic growth, improving equity, and the expansion of critical resources in Cobb County.
Reelected to a second term as Atlanta’s mayor, Dickens has led the city since 2021, establishing positive working relationships with state leadership, reducing violent crime rates, and building affordable housing. Under his leadership, the city achieved an AAA bond rating, the highest in the city’s history.
McLean is the vice president of Lockheed Martin’s Air Mobility and Maritime Missions division and site general manager of the company’s 5,000-employee Marietta facility. The C-130J Super Hercules aircraft, built at the facility, was named the winner of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce’s inaugural Coolest Thing Made in Georgia competition.
Since 2023, Miller has led the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority, the Atlanta-Region Transit Link Authority, and the State Road and Tollway Authority. Her team continues to work toward easing congestion around metro Atlanta, including 16 miles of planned express lanes on GA 400, expected to be completed in 2031.
Rice has led the Morehouse School of Medicine since 2014, and under her leadership, the number of Morehouse's M.D. candidates has doubled. She has also worked to expand access to education with regional medical campuses in Albany and Columbus. In 2025, Rice was elected to the Georgia Power board of directors.
As the CEO of metro Atlanta’s largest private employer, Bastian was named the 2025 Tony Jannus Award recipient by the Tony Jannus Distinguished Aviation Society. The award is given annually to individuals who have made major and lasting contributions to the commercial aviation industry.
As president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta since 2017, Bostic has beenresponsible for overseeing monetary policy, bank supervision, and payment services. He will retire at the end of his term in February. He also serves on the Federal Open Market Committee, the monetary policymaking body of the Federal Reserve System.
After serving as Coca-Cola’s CEO since 2017, Quincey announced his intention to step down in December. He will remain with the beverage giant as its executive chairman after reshaping the company’s strategy and adding more than 10 billion-dollar brands during his tenure as CEO.
In 2025, Tomé began leading the company through what she called the “most significant strategic shift in the company’s history,” while helping customers navigate the most“profound shift in trade policy in a century.”
Womack leads the energy provider that serves over 9 million customers. In 2025, he was awarded the title of Georgia Trustee by the Georgia Historical Society — the highest honor the state can confer.