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.
The National Academy of Inventors is honoring two Georgia Tech faculty members for their contributions to technology and society: Deepakraj “Deepak” Divan and Arijit Raychowdhury. Both are in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
Raychowdhury is a semiconductor pioneer whose patented circuit and system-on-chip designs have advanced computing efficiency and commercialization. Divan is a global leader in power electronics and grid modernization, whose innovations and ventures have transformed how electricity is delivered and managed worldwide.
“Congratulations to Deepakraj and Arijit on earning one of the most esteemed accolades in technology and discovery. Their groundbreaking work, with nearly 100 patents between them, advances solutions to global challenges,” said Raghupathy “Siva” Sivakumar, chief commercialization officer at Georgia Tech. “Their success exemplifies how research commercialization drives real-world impact, and we’re proud to see them honored as academy fellows.”
Election to NAI is the highest professional distinction specifically awarded to inventors. With this recognition, Georgia Tech’s roster of NAI Fellows grows to 24. Divan and Raychowdhury join a 2025 class of 169 new fellows representing university, government, and nonprofit organizations worldwide. They will be inducted at the NAI 15th Annual Conference on June 4, 2026, in Los Angeles.
Professor Emeritus (2004-2025)
Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar
School of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Founder, Georgia Tech Center for Distributed Energy
Deepakraj “Deepak” Divan is a globally recognized innovator in power electronics and grid transformation. He was awarded the IEEE Medal in Power Engineering in 2024.
He holds over 85 U.S. and international patents and has authored 400 refereed publications. His pioneering work on soft‑switching converters—integral for efficient energy storage, EV charging, and industrial controls—has spurred a global $70 billion power electronics industry.
Divan laid the groundwork for grid‑forming inverter control, enabling high-renewables integration. He is the co-author of Energy 2040: Aligning Innovation, Economics and Decarbonization, named by Forbes as one of the “10 Essential Books and Podcasts Every Leader Needs in 2025”.
“Being named an NAI Fellow is a tremendous honor,” said Divan. “It reflects years of effort to rethink how electricity is delivered and managed to solve real problems and to drive practical innovations that matter.”
As the founder of Georgia Tech’s Center for Distributed Energy, he led research that transforms electricity delivery through analytics, monitoring, and optimization.
An entrepreneur, Divan co-founded Varentec (backed by Bill Gates and Khosla Ventures) and seeded ventures including GridBlock, Soft Switching Technologies, Innovolt, and Smart Wires—raising over $500 million. A National Academy of Engineering member and IEEE Fellow, he champions scalable energy-access solutions worldwide.
Professor and Steve W. Chaddick School Chair
School of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Director, Center for the Co-Design of Cognitive Systems
Arijit Raychowdhury has been the Steve W. Chaddick School Chair of ECE since 2021. He is a leading innovator in semiconductor technologies, holding more than 27 U.S. and international patents and authoring over 350 publications.
His work spans low-power circuits, specialized accelerators, and system-on-chip design, with breakthroughs widely adopted in industry.
“This recognition reflects the collective effort of students, colleagues, and partners who share a vision for advancing microelectronics,” said Raychowdhury. “I am honored that NAI champions the same mission to lead through research, education, and innovation."
At Texas Instruments, he developed the world’s first adaptive echo-cancellation network for integrated Digital Subscriber Lines (DSL)—a patented technology that enabled high-speed internet over traditional phone lines that received the EDN Innovation of the Year award. At Intel, he developed and incorporated foundational memory and logic technologies that shaped commercial products across global markets for more than a decade.
His research on fine-grain power management of systems-on-chip at Georgia Tech has been licensed and widely adopted by the semiconductor industry.
He directs Georgia Tech’s Center for the Co-Design of Cognitive Systems and leads initiatives to advance microelectronics design with applications to AI. Over the years, he has served as a founding advisor and board member to multiple startups in the areas of edge-computing and low power design.
Raychowdhury’s research bridges invention and real-world impact, earning him numerous honors, including IEEE Fellow, Semiconductor Research Corporation Technical Excellence Award, and multiple industry awards. Through pioneering designs and mentorship, he continues to drive innovation in computing systems, influencing both academic research and industrial commercialization.
Following a nationwide search, Georgia Tech President Ángel Cabrera has named Timothy Lieuwen the Executive Vice President for Research (EVPR). Lieuwen has served as interim EVPR since September 10, 2024.
“Tim’s ability to bridge academia, industry, and government has been instrumental in driving innovation and positioning Georgia Tech as a critical partner in tackling complex global challenges,” said Cabrera. “With his leadership, I am confident Georgia Tech will continue to expand its impact, strengthen its strategic collaborations, and further solidify its reputation as a world leader in research and innovation.”
A proud Georgia Tech alumnus (M.S. ME 1997, Ph.D. ME 1999), Lieuwen has spent more than 25 years at the Institute. He is a Regents’ Professor and holds the David S. Lewis, Jr. Chair in the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering. Prior to the interim EVPR role, Lieuwen served as executive director of the Strategic Energy Institute for 12 years. His expertise spans energy, propulsion, energy policy, and national security, and he has worked closely with industry and government to develop new knowledge and see its implementation in the field.
Lieuwen has been widely recognized for his contributions to research and innovation. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, as well as a fellow of multiple other professional organizations. Recently, he was elected an International Fellow of the U.K.’s Royal Academy of Engineering, one of only three U.S. engineers in 2024 to receive this prestigious commendation. The honor acknowledges Lieuwen’s contributions to engineering and his efforts to advance research, education initiatives, and industry collaborations.
He has authored or edited four books, published over 400 scientific articles, and holds nine patents — several of which are licensed to industry. He also founded TurbineLogic, an analytics firm working in the energy industry. Additionally, Lieuwen serves on governing and advisory boards for three Department of Energy national labs and was appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Energy to the National Petroleum Council.
The EVPR is the Institute’s chief research officer and directs Georgia Tech’s $1.37 billion portfolio of research, development, and sponsored activities. This includes leadership of the Georgia Tech Research Institute, the Enterprise Innovation Institute, nine Interdisciplinary Research Institutes and numerous associated research centers, and related research administrative support units: commercialization, corporate engagement, research development and operations, and research administration.
“I am honored to step into this role at a time when research and innovation have never been more critical,” Lieuwen said. “Georgia Tech’s research enterprise is built on collaboration — across disciplines, across industries, and across communities. Our strength lies not just in the breakthroughs we achieve, but in how we translate them into real-world impact.
“My priority is to put people first — empowering our researchers, students, and partners to push boundaries, scale our efforts, and deepen our engagement across Georgia and beyond. Together, we will expand our reach, accelerate discovery, and ensure that Georgia Tech remains a driving force for progress and service.”
One year ago, Georgia Tech President Ángel Cabrera revealed the four ambitious “big bets” that would provide the framework for Tech’s refreshed strategic plan.
During his 2025 Institute Address in the Walter G. Ehmer Theater, the president revealed that record enrollment, campaign fundraising, and research expenditures have positioned Georgia Tech ahead of schedule on the plan that runs through 2030.
Calculating value takes into account the cost and time required to complete a degree. While in-state tuition has risen nationwide by an average of $2,200 since 2019, Georgia Tech has reduced its in-state tuition and fees by nearly 25% over the same period. Tech students continue to outpace the nation with a 93% graduation rate, 75% of whom finish in four years or less.
Striving to make a Georgia Tech education affordable to all is a key pillar of the strategic plan and the Transforming Tomorrow campaign. To create opportunities for students of all socioeconomic backgrounds, Tech had its most successful fundraising year in history, including the creation of a $100 million endowment for need-based scholarships.
The Institute's value to the state was reflected in a recent study published by the University System of Georgia, highlighting its $5.8 billion economic impact last year.
Despite a nationwide decline in high school graduates and students attending college, the Institute continued to grow and made significant strides toward doubling the number of degrees conferred.
Georgia Tech is now the largest university in the state, largely due to its online master’s programs enrolling 26,000 students. Undergraduate admission applicants reached a record high of 67,000 this year, and the class of 4,075 first-year students is the largest in the Institute's history, alongside 1,000 transfer students.
Research funding was put under a microscope in 2025, yet the president said that Tech remains on track to reach its 2030 goal.
“All this support is allowing us to advance areas of science and technology that are critical for our nation,” Cabrera said. "Think AI, space exploration, cybersecurity, and advanced defense systems. Surgical devices, new drugs and drug delivery systems, and technologies to assist people with brain injuries or disease. Whatever comes to mind when you think of human beings living better lives, chances are Georgia Tech researchers are working on and making contributions in that space.”
To keep pace with increasing enrollment and research expenditures, the Institute is addressing housing and creating new lab and creative spaces on campus.
Helping Atlanta toward its goal of becoming a top technology hub, Georgia Tech accounted for a record 143 startups, 464 invention disclosures, and 124 patents granted in the past fiscal year.
“These results were neither inevitable nor easy. We weren’t propelled by favorable winds; rather, in many cases, we sailed upwind and against the currents,” Cabrera said. “What is happening at Georgia Tech is not a case of a rising tide lifting all boats. We are beating the odds. This is the result of the hard work and determination of an extraordinary academic community committed to making a bigger difference, no matter the trends, the market forces, or the political context we face.”
During the address, Cabrera also announced the largest individual gift in Georgia Tech’s history. A $100 million bequest from the late John W. Durstine, a 1957 Tech graduate in mechanical engineering, will establish endowed chairs, professorships, and faculty awards in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering.
“From resilient communities and agriculture, to health and sustainable energy resources, Georgia's Tomorrow will focus on improving the lives of Georgians and their communities,” Dean Susan Lozier says.
An expansion of the College’s strategic plan, the initiative will serve as a statewide fulcrum, fostering research in direct service to Georgia cities, counties, and communities.
The center specifically addresses critical health and climate challenges throughout Georgia, and aims to pave the way for increased public-private partnerships. The initiative will also expand access — broadening participation opportunities for Georgia students and communities to engage with research.
The search for an inaugural faculty director has commenced, and will be followed by a dedicated cluster hire in 2025, funded by the Office of the Provost. Dean Lozier, who also serves as a professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, has reserved funds from the College of Sciences Betsy Middleton and John Clark Sutherland Dean’s Chair to initiate the center.
Selected from a pool of 17 faculty proposals, two dedicated faculty cluster hires will focus on improving the health of Georgians and Georgia’s communities — and the resilience of humans and ecosystems to current and anticipated climate change in the state. Appointments will be sought across the College’s six schools.
“These proposals address themes that are critically important right now for Georgia Tech research growth: sustainability and climate, along with health and well-being,” says Julia Kubanek, Vice President for Interdisciplinary Research at Georgia Tech and a professor in the School of Biological Sciences and the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry. “This is an opportunity for Georgia to be a model for the nation on how to solve health disparities.”
“These new cluster hires will strengthen the College’s existing research programs,” Lozier adds. “They will also facilitate large collaborations across campus, and educate the next generation of scientists who will tackle these problems in Georgia and beyond.”
An adjacent effort, the new College of Sciences Rising Tide Program, is selecting promising early-career scientists for a two-year virtual mentorship initiative.
The Rising Tide Program will work in tandem with the Georgia's Tomorrow cluster hire, complementing the strong culture of mentorship in the College, while providing a pathway to support local research at the Institute.
“Rising Tide aims to help the College recruit scientists with professional or lived experiences in the Southeast — or focused on research with particular relevance to the Southeast,” explains Rising Tide Director Alex Robel, associate professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. “One of our key goals is to bring more faculty to Georgia Tech who can contribute to research and teaching that’s particularly relevant to communities in Georgia.”
“The reach of Georgia Tech is global,” Lozier adds. “Our fingerprints are on discoveries and innovations that benefit people and their communities around the world. As researchers at a leading public university in the state of Georgia, we are also cognizant of the responsibility and opportunity to focus our efforts more intently here at home.”
The College has launched an internal leadership search for the Georgia’s Tomorrow center, with an expected appointment to be announced in February 2025. The inaugural director will have the opportunity to shape the direction of this new initiative by:
All faculty who hold a majority appointment within the College of Sciences are eligible and encouraged to apply. Learn more and apply via InfoReady.
Initial support for Georgia Tech for Georgia's Tomorrow is generously provided by the College of Sciences Betsy Middleton and John Clark Sutherland Dean's Chair fund. Cluster hire funding has been awarded by Provost Steven W. McLaughlin.
Georgia's Tomorrow will also seek funding from state, national and international organizations, private foundations, and government agencies to expand impact. Philanthropic support will also be sought in the form of professorships, programmatic support for the center, and seed funding.
2025 updates:
Professor Joel Kostka has been selected to serve the center's inaugural faculty director.
Note: Georgia Tech for Georgia's Tomorrow initially launched under the working title Science for Georgia's Tomorrow (Sci4GT).
Media contact: Jess Hunt-Ralston
]]>To help people beyond campus understand what AI tools are available and how to use them effectively, Riedl recently co-taught an online course by CNBC Make It titled How to Use AI to Be More Successful at Work.
“The running joke right now is that AI will not replace people, but people who use AI will replace people who do not use AI,” said Riedl, professor in the School of Interactive Computing.
The 90-minute course offers tips and hacks to users who are:
Riedl, whose research focuses on human-centered and explainable AI, taught sections of the course on the foundation of AI. One of the biggest sections of the course covers large-language models (LLMs).
“When large language models were put forward as chatbots, this was the first time that any person out in the world could naturally interact with an AI system without having to learn to program or write code,” Riedl said.
For less than $100, the on-demand course includes a detailed workbook that helps users consider each aspect of their jobs and daily lives and how AI can improve them.
The Big Picture
CNBC’s use of Riedl’s expertise is one of many examples of how College of Computing faculty are leading the way in teaching AI literacy.
David Joyner, executive director of online education, said Georgia Tech’s Online Master of Science in Computer Science (OMSCS) program continues to innovate with AI literacy in mind.
[RELATED: Experts Say Life-long Learning is a Must to Keep Pace with Generative AI]
He said companies and employees alike are learning to navigate AI. Companies are considering AI from a general perspective, focusing on how it can make their businesses more efficient, while employees are using it to become more versatile and valuable workers.
“It’s an interesting dichotomy,” Joyner said. “If companies are trying to figure out how to operate more efficiently, and you have people using these tools to be more productive, at what point does the company need to prioritize using these tools instead of letting their use be organic? We’re still in this experimental phase.”
In a conversation with former College of Computing interim dean Alex Orso, Joyner discusses how OMSCS is staying at the forefront in equipping students with the latest technology skills they need to be successful in a fluctuating industry.
“We must figure out what generative AI can do well and properly leverage it so we’re not cutting out the foundation of a building and replacing it with sticks,” Joyner said.
The complete conversation between Joyner and Orso is available on the College's Youtube channel.
]]>Georgia Tech School of Interactive Computing
nathan.deen@cc.gatech.edu
]]>Wang is a recipient of the 2025 Outstanding Dissertation Award from the Association for Computing Machinery Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction (ACM SIGCHI). The award recognizes Wang for his lifelong work on democratizing human-centered AI.
“Throughout my Ph.D. and industry internships, I observed a gap in existing research: there is a strong need for practical tools for applying human-centered approaches when designing AI systems,” said Wang, now a safety researcher at OpenAI.
“My work not only helps people understand AI and guide its behavior but also provides user-friendly tools that fit into existing workflows.”
[Related: Georgia Tech College of Computing Swarms to Yokohama, Japan, for CHI 2025]
Wang’s dissertation presented techniques in visual explanation and interactive guidance to align AI models with user knowledge and values. The work culminated from years of research, fellowship support, and internships.
Wang’s most influential projects formed the core of his dissertation. These included:
“I feel extremely honored and lucky to receive this award, and I am deeply grateful to many who have supported me along the way, including Polo, mentors, collaborators, and friends,” said Wang, who was advised by School of Computational Science and Engineering (CSE) Professor Polo Chau.
“This recognition also inspired me to continue striving to design and develop easy-to-use tools that help everyone to easily interact with AI systems.”
Like Wang, Chau advised Georgia Tech alumnus Fred Hohman (Ph.D. CSE 2020). Hohman won the ACM SIGCHI Outstanding Dissertation Award in 2022.
Chau’s group synthesizes machine learning (ML) and visualization techniques into scalable, interactive, and trustworthy tools. These tools increase understanding and interaction with large-scale data and ML models.
Chau is the associate director of corporate relations for the Machine Learning Center at Georgia Tech. Wang called the School of CSE his home unit while a student in the ML program under Chau.
Wang is one of five recipients of this year’s award to be presented at the 2025 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2025). The conference occurs April 25-May 1 in Yokohama, Japan.
SIGCHI is the world’s largest association of human-computer interaction professionals and practitioners. The group sponsors or co-sponsors 26 conferences, including CHI.
Wang’s outstanding dissertation award is the latest recognition of a career decorated with achievement.
Months after graduating from Georgia Tech, Forbes named Wang to its 30 Under 30 in Science for 2025 for his dissertation. Wang was one of 15 Yellow Jackets included in nine different 30 Under 30 lists and the only Georgia Tech-affiliated individual on the 30 Under 30 in Science list.
While a Georgia Tech student, Wang earned recognition from big names in business and technology. He received the Apple Scholars in AI/ML Ph.D. Fellowship in 2023 and was in the 2022 cohort of the J.P. Morgan AI Ph.D. Fellowships Program.
Along with the CHI award, Wang’s dissertation earned him awards this year at banquets across campus. The Georgia Tech chapter of Sigma Xi presented Wang with the Best Ph.D. Thesis Award. He also received the College of Computing’s Outstanding Dissertation Award.
“Georgia Tech attracts many great minds, and I’m glad that some, like Jay, chose to join our group,” Chau said. “It has been a joy to work alongside them and witness the many wonderful things they have accomplished, and with many more to come in their careers.”
]]>Wang is a recipient of the 2025 Outstanding Dissertation Award from the Association for Computing Machinery Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction (ACM SIGCHI). The award recognizes Wang for his lifelong work on democratizing human-centered AI.
]]>“At Georgia Tech, innovation isn’t just about discovery — it’s about solving real-world challenges,” said Executive Vice President for Research Tim Lieuwen. “Georgia Quick Start ensures that cutting-edge research in advanced manufacturing translates into practical training solutions. Together, we are equipping Georgia’s workforce with the skills needed to drive economic growth and industry advancement.”
As manufacturing technologies and artificial intelligence continue to evolve, U.S. manufacturers increasingly require skilled workers experienced in advanced manufacturing. For decades, Georgia Quick Start, administered by the Technical College System of Georgia, has been addressing this need and has been recognized as the country’s top workforce training program for 15 years.
Now, researchers at Georgia Tech will collaborate with Georgia Quick Start to enhance these efforts by developing Extended Reality (XR) training programs, providing a scalable and experiential solution to meet the growing demand for training.
“We have been so successful for so many years because we stay focused on relevance, flexibility, and responsiveness,” said Scott McMurray, deputy commissioner for Georgia Quick Start. “This partnership is an example of how Quick Start is able to develop and deliver effective training even for companies working on the leading edge of advanced manufacturing technologies.”
XR technologies use a combination of virtual and augmented reality to create immersive, interactive experiences. By simulating real-world manufacturing environments and processes, XR has the potential to allow trainees to practice and refine their skills in a controlled, risk-free setting through standardized training experiences. This not only enhances the learning experience but also ensures consistency in training quality across a large workforce.
“Virtual reality scales training by gamifying complex tasks and removing the need for costly or hazardous physical equipment. Augmented reality scales on-the-job training by providing adaptive, context-aware guidance exactly when and where it’s needed, reducing the need for expert supervision,” said manufacturing XR researcher Mohsen Moghaddam, Gary C. Butler Family associate professor in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering and the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering. “Together, they make training more consistent, up-to-date, accessible, and safe, especially for workers who may hesitate to ask for assistance from peers or supervisors out of fear of judgment.”
The collaboration will leverage Moghaddam’s research and the AR/VR training space within the expanded Advanced Manufacturing Pilot Facility, providing a state-of-the-art environment for developing and deploying XR training technologies. Researchers from the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute (GTMI) and Georgia AIM(Artificial Intelligence in Manufacturing) will also play pivotal roles in the development of these training programs.
“Partnerships like these highlight the power of the integrated University of Georgia and Technical College System of Georgia’s workforce development ecosystem,” said Thomas Kurfess, Regents’ Professor and GTMI executive director. “Our country not only needs the creation of new jobs but also the skilled workforce to fill them. At Georgia Tech and GTMI, we are serving as an enabler of innovation in that workforce development.”
]]>Georgia Tech has again been recognized among Forbes’ New Ivies, highlighting its favorable standing among executives and hiring managers.
The survey of more than 380 C-suite leaders, vice presidents, and other managers revealed the 10 public and private colleges that "are attracting the best and the brightest” and graduating students who are “outpacing most Ivy Leaguers in the eyes of employers."
Employers are increasingly valuing students from the list of new Ivies, with 38% saying they are more likely to hire graduates from non-Ivy public colleges than five years ago. The percentage of respondents who say they are less likely to hire Ivy League graduates increased from 33% to 37% since last year.
Responses indicate a perception that public university graduates enter the workforce with a better ability to innovate, adapt, and master new skills because of more highly collaborative environments on their campuses.
To be considered, Forbes evaluated colleges based on three criteria: size, selectivity, and test scores. The survey was distributed to subscribers of Forbes' C-suite newsletters.
Georgia Tech recently received a record 67,000 applications and continues to be one of the fastest-growing universities in the country. It also maintains its status as a top-value college with a strong return on investment.
From an undisclosed location in her home country of Venezuela, María Corina Machado joined online to participate in the celebration held at the Biltmore Hotel in Tech Square, where she was awarded the Ivan Allen Jr. Prize for Social Courage.
The leader of the country's opposition party remains in hiding and unable to leave the country. Elected to the Venezuelan National Assembly in 2010, she became a vocal critic of Hugo Chávez and his successor, Nicolás Maduro. Machado became the opposition's presidential candidate for the Unity Democratic Platform in 2023 but was later disqualified from holding office by the regime-controlled National Electoral Council. Still, her efforts to inspire change did not stop.
Machado rallied support behind the opposition candidate, Edmundo González, and organized a million volunteers to monitor polling locations and collect data to support the party's claim of victory. While the Maduro regime remains in power despite data showing victory for the opposition, Machado is hopeful that democracy will prevail. Speaking via Zoom, Machado said the courage that earned her the award is a shared value among the Venezuelan people.
"Social courage is what Venezuelans have proven to have. Over 25 years, we've seen this tyranny oppress, divide, persecute, and deprive, and we've had many falls, but we've stood back up. Our strength is not in firearms. It is in effective organization, intelligence, courage, and love, and there is no more powerful force than love," she said.
Presenting the award, Georgia Tech President Ángel Cabrera reflected on Machado's early career as an industrial engineer and human rights activist through the founding of Sumate, a vote-monitoring group, in 2002.
"She understands systems and data, which allowed her to identify and document dysfunction in Venezuela's electoral process. She took it as a mission to bring forward solutions to address the challenges in her country. She has become a champion for her country and a beacon for fair and free elections around the world. Her story reminds us that data and technology alone do not drive change, but they are powerful tools in the hands of responsible leaders and can be used to make a difference," Cabrera said.
Her children, Ana Corina Sosa Machado and Ricardo Machado, accepted the award. Ana spoke of her mother's dedication to her cause and willingness to speak out for what she believes in despite the risks.
"If there is one thing I've learned from my mother, it's that courage, truth, and hope are our most powerful weapons in disarming evil. That courage is not a virtue to be used only when it is convenient, noncontroversial, or safe, but rather its true test lies in the darkest of times when standing for what is right might mean standing alone, alienating allies, and even risking your own life.," she said.
The prize was established in 2010 to honor the legacy of Ivan Allen Jr., former mayor of Atlanta and a Georgia Tech graduate, who was known for his courageous leadership during the Civil Rights Movement. Ana sees a parallel between the prize's namesake and her mother.
"Ivan Allen Jr. knew well what it meant to stand against the status quo, to fight for what is right despite the costs. Most importantly, he knew that moral courage in defense of truth and what is right is contagious. That is what my mother has ignited in Venezuela — an unstoppable force, not grounded in violence or strength but in the love of country."
The event featured a panel moderated by CNN national correspondent Rafael Romo and featuring Jennie Lincoln, a senior advisor for Latin America and the Caribbean at the Carter Center; Charles Shapiro, former U.S. Ambassador to Venezuela and former director of the World Affairs Council; and Eric Farnsworth, vice president of the America Society and Council of the Americas.
Each panelist was asked if there was hope for democracy in the country, and each expressed their opinion that Machado is the primary factor in keeping that hope alive, and Farnsworth said she should be awarded a Nobel Peace Prize for her work.
Thanks to a generous grant from the Wilbur and Hilda Glenn Foundation, the Allen Prize includes a monetary stipend of $100,000 to accompany the award. Past recipients include John Lewis, Andrew Young, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter, Dr. Anthony Fauci, and Christiane Amanpour.
"David Sherrill's leadership role in IDEaS as associate director, together with his interdisciplinary background in chemistry and computer science, makes him the right person to support this transition as interim executive director," said Julia Kubanek, professor and vice president for interdisciplinary research at Georgia Tech.
Sherrill succeeds Srinivas Aluru who will be taking a new position as Senior Associate Dean in the College of Computing. Aluru, a Regents' Professor in the School of Computational Science and Engineering, co-founded IDEaS and served as its co-executive director (2016-2019) and then as executive director (2019-date), spanning eight and a half years. Under his leadership IDEaS grew to more than 200 affiliate faculty spanning all colleges, encompassing multiple state, federal, and industry funded centers. Notable among these is the South Big Data Hub, catalyzing the Southern data science community to collectively accelerate scientific discovery and innovation, spur economic development in the region, broaden participation and diversity in data science, and the CloudHub, a Microsoft funded center that provides research funding and cloud resources for innovative applications in Generative Artificial Intelligence. More recently, Aluru established the Center for Artificial Intelligence in Science and Engineering (ARTISAN), and expanded the Institute’s research staff to provide needed cyberinfrastructure, software resources, and expertise to support faculty projects with large data sets and AI-driven discovery. "I've had the pleasure of serving as Associate Director of IDEaS since it was founded by Srinivas Aluru and Dana Randall, and I'm excited to step into this interim role.” said Sherrill. “IDEaS has an important mission to serve the many faculty doing interdisciplinary research involving data science and high performance computing."
Sherrill’s research group focuses on the development of ab initio electronic structure theory and its application to problems of broad chemical interest, including the influence of non-covalent interactions in drug binding, biomolecular structure, organic crystals, and organocatalytic transition states. The group seeks to apply the most accurate quantum models possible for a given problem and specializes in generating high-quality datasets for testing new methods or machine-learning purposes.
Sherrill earned a B.S. in chemistry from MIT in 1992 and a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Georgia in 1996. From 1996-1999 Sherril was an NSF Postdoctoral Fellow, working under M. Head-Gordon, at the University of California, Berkeley.
Sherrill is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the American Chemical Society, and the American Physical Society, and he has been Associate Editor of the Journal of Chemical Physics since 2009. Sherrill has received a Camille and Henry Dreyfus New Faculty Award, the International Journal of Quantum Chemistry Young Investigator Award, an NSF CAREER Award, and Georgia Tech's W. Howard Ector Outstanding Teacher Award. In 2023, he received the Herty Medal from the Georgia Section of the American Chemical Society, and in 2024, he was elected to the International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science.
--Christa M. Ernst
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Research Communications Program Manager,
Topic Expertise: Robotics | Data Sciences| Semiconductor Design & Fab
Georgia Tech’s Executive Vice President for Research search committee has selected three finalists. Each candidate will visit campus and present a seminar sharing their broad vision for the Institute's research enterprise.
The seminars are open to all faculty, students, and staff across the campus community. Interested individuals can attend in person or register to participate via Zoom (pre-registration is required).
All seminars will take place at 11 a.m. on the following dates:
Each candidate’s bio and curriculum vitae, along with further details, will be accessible through the EVPR search site 48 hours prior to each visit. Georgia Tech credentials are required to access all materials. Information is being made available in this manner to protect the confidentiality of the finalists. Following each candidate’s visit, is the campus community is invited to share their comments via a survey that will be posted on the candidate’s webpage
The search committee is chaired by Susan Lozier, dean of the College of Sciences. Search committee members include a mix of faculty and staff representing colleges and units across campus. Georgia Tech has retained the services of the executive search firm WittKieffer for the search.
The inaugural Rising Tide cohort is set to include seven fellows from several institutions — with research interests across nuclear physics, urban climate, resource recovery, machine learning, bioinformatics, and ecology.
Rising Tide is spearheaded by Alex Robel, an associate professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences who serves as the Program’s inaugural director.
The Program has three primary goals. “We aim to improve our ability to recruit the most promising young scientists and mathematicians to careers at Georgia Tech, to raise the profile of Tech as an institution that develops academic careers in the sciences, and to better align the range of perspectives and lived experiences of faculty with Georgia Tech students,” Robel shares.
Robel adds that the program leverages the strong culture of mentorship in the College.
“Since I have been at Georgia Tech, I have been inspired by the many individual faculty in the College of Sciences who have achieved consistent success in mentoring students and postdocs to gratifying academic careers,” he says. “In designing the Rising Tide Program, my aim was to organize these successful faculty within a program that supports their existing efforts and complements those efforts with professional career development activities.”
The Rising Tide Program is supported by a generous gift from Nathan Meehan (PHYS 1975) and matching funds from the Office of the Provost.
Rising Tide is part of the just-launched Science for Georgia’s Tomorrow Center, which prioritizes research and teaching aligned with Georgia-specific issues — while connecting Georgia communities with that research and teaching. Robel hopes the Program will help provide a pathway to foster this type of local research at the Institute.
“Part of Rising Tide is to bring more faculty to the Institute who can contribute to research and teaching particularly relevant to communities in Georgia,” Robel explains. “We aim to improve the ability of the College to recruit scientists with professional or lived experience in the Southeast — or focused on research with particular relevance to the Southeast.”
Early career scientists at any institution can be nominated by College of Sciences faculty to participate in Rising Tide. Selected Fellows take part in the two-year program, where they are welcomed into the Georgia Tech community — then mentored virtually by College faculty and supported with ongoing opportunities to develop skills for applying to competitive faculty positions.
Robel emphasizes that, for the College and new Rising Tide Fellows, it’s a win-win.
“I am most excited to see how this first cohort of fellows interact and learn from each other,” Robel says. “I am also looking forward to seeing what new and exciting ideas and perspectives they can bring to the research and teaching mission of the College of Sciences.”
]]>Contact: Jess Hunt-Ralston
]]>Whether it is the sound of music through your headphones or the precise control of a robotic arm, analog circuits play a crucial role in both established and future technologies.
Analog does a lot of things, but in general, it functions as the interpreter between the real world and digital devices. It transforms signals — like sound waves, voltage levels, temperature, pressure, and light intensity — into information that digital systems can understand.
As the semiconductor industry evolves, the demand for skilled analog engineers continues to grow even in this digital world.
“Analog circuits remain vital because they enable the initial data acquisition from the environment,” said Assistant Professor Shaolan Li. “That’s just the application perspective, but they are also structurally very different than digital circuits. Students need hands-on experience with real-world measurements, which are crucial for mastering analog circuits.”
To meet this demand, the Georgia Tech School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) is collaborating with Texas Instruments (TI) to launch strategic educational opportunities aimed at providing students access to industry-grade analog chip design, fabrication, and testing processes. TI is a global semiconductor company that designs, manufactures, and sells analog and embedded processing chips.
Tzu-Han Wang working on a circuit board with an analog chip connected to pattern generator instruments used to create continuous waveforms to test and analyze the performance of the chip.
]]>At the start of the academic year, new leaders take the reins of the undergraduate Student Government Association, looking to promote student voices amid Georgia Tech’s continuing growth.
President Shivani Virani, a fourth-year neuroscience major, and Vice President Julia Haley, a fourth-year public policy major, campaigned on a four-pillar platform to better connect SGA to the expanding student body. Developed from student feedback, the four pillars include:
Virani and Haley have nearly 20 goals within the four pillars. Achieving the goals outlined in their plan will take cooperation with Institute leadership, and the SGA leaders have embraced the opportunity to sit at the table.
“We’ve met with every member of the administration, and they’ve been receptive to our ideas and are always looking for student input. It’s so nice to be in these meetings to share the student perspective on the issues facing our campus and having leaders seeking our opinion on how to approach them,” Haley said.
The Georgia natives acknowledge that while solving long-term issues on campus, like the availability of housing for a growing student population, will extend beyond their term, they hope to leave a legacy of fostering discussions and creating a welcoming environment.
“I want to leave a legacy of kindness and be able to look back knowing that I at least affected one person positively on this campus and that I met as many people as I could, built as many relationships as I could, and helped people that way,” Virani said.
Virani, who is also a member of the Georgia Tech women’s lacrosse club team, joined SGA in her first year at Georgia Tech through the FreShGA committee. She says that participating in activities and traditions instantly made her feel at home on campus.
“Your experience at Georgia Tech is what you make it. I feel like I’ve been embraced with open arms ever since I got to campus, and it’s amazing to meet so many people from different cultures and share experiences with them,” she said.
That sentiment was echoed by Haley, who enjoys sharing the unique student experience with prospective Yellow Jackets as a tour guide.
“Everyone here cares about something, and that creates a special campus community and a dynamic learning environment because of the diversity that exists within the student body,” she said.
Virani and Haley are renewing SGA’s efforts to initiate conversations with students from around campus and encouraging all students — regardless of year — to join one of the 25 SGA committees to share their opinions.
Professor Tim Lieuwen has been elected to the status of International Fellow by the U.K.’s Royal Academy of Engineering. He is one of three other US engineers to receive this prestigious fellowship, which emphasizes enhancing the role of engineering in society and developing an inclusive future through research, education initiatives, and industry collaborations.
Lieuwen is a Regents’ Professor, the David S. Lewis, Jr. Chair in the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering (AE), a member of the National Academy of Engineering, and a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, among several others. For 12 years, he served as executive director of the Strategic Energy Institute; he is currently serving as Georgia Tech’s interim executive vice president for Research.
“Tim Lieuwen’s groundbreaking research and leadership have been instrumental in advancing the AE School’s mission,” said Mitchell Walker, AE chair. “His work in combustion dynamics, propulsion, and clean energy systems not only enhances our academic reputation but also drives significant, real-world impact, as recognized by the Academy.”
Lieuwen’s research focuses on developing clean combustion technologies for power generation and propulsion. He works closely with industry and government professionals to address energy concerns and set the standard for clean tech manufacturing. The Georgia Tech alumnus will formally be admitted to the Academy at a special ceremony in London on November 27, 2024.
The 2024 class includes 60 Fellows, six International Fellows, and five Honorary Fellows, each of whom has made exceptional contributions to their own field, pioneering new innovations, leading progress in business or academia, providing high-level advice to government, or promoting wider understanding of engineering and technology.
Unveiled in 2020, Georgia Tech’s strategic plan mapped out a vision to expand the Institute’s impact worldwide in the coming decade. At this year’s annual address, President Ángel Cabrera discussed the progress made and outlined a refined approach to meeting the plan’s original goals.
In February, Rockefeller Foundation President Rajiv Shah visited campus and shared the framework of a “big bet” — an idea that identifies innovative approaches to large-scale change. Four big bets were the central theme of the 2024 Institute Address:
The Institute recently welcomed the largest incoming class in its history, with 5,300 students, and remains the nation’s fastest-growing public university. It contributed a record $5.3 billion to the state economy in the last fiscal year — the most of any institution in the University System of Georgia. “Our growth in scale and impact hasn’t just happened,” Cabrera said. “It is the result of intentional work and decisions we have made.”
He then identified the steps forward for the Institute as it enters the critical second half of the plan’s implementation.
Georgia Tech consistently ranks among the top-value colleges in the nation for its return on investment. To ensure this remains the case, insulating students from the inflationary trends of higher education will be important. At Tech, when adjusted for inflation, in-state tuition and fees are 23% lower than five years ago, out-of-state tuition is 17% lower, and international tuition is 16% lower. Reaffirming a commitment to affordability, Cabrera stressed the importance of increasing access to financial aid for low-income students.
“No talented student should have to give up on their dream of a Georgia Tech degree” for lack of money. “We need to keep working to convince these talented students that Georgia Tech is for them, and then make sure they have the resources to succeed here,” he said.
Tech’s graduation rate for Pell Grant recipients ranks eighth in the nation at 86% but remains 8 percentage points below other students. The goal is to eliminate that gap in the next five years.
The Institute has launched a new College — the College of Lifetime Learning, which will offer programs that elevate the academic study of learning and transform the future of education, from K-12 to post-retirement, ensuring that education is accessible at every stage of life.
The Institute conferred 12,000 degrees this past academic year, and using 2019 as a baseline (7,500 degrees), the goal is to reach 15,000 by 2030. “Our focus on degrees awarded instead of enrollments is intentional,” Cabrera said. “We’re focusing not on how big we are but on how much impact we have. Graduates with degrees get good jobs, make money, grow families, pay taxes, and strengthen our communities. They help businesses grow or build their own business and that creates economic opportunity for others.”
Tech has added 149 permanent academic faculty in the past year to accommodate a growing student body. Physical expansion continues on campus, with the progression of Tech Square Phase 3 and a new 860-bed residence hall set to open in 2026. The president also announced a “complete makeover” planned for the D.M. Smith Building and the Skiles Classroom Building.
The Institute’s research expenditures reached $1.34 billion last year. The president said Georgia Tech will expand its applied research efforts and build a think tank to “convene leaders across sectors and infuse technology and science considerations into policy and business decisions.”
Research areas critical to this effort include artificial intelligence, biotechnology, cybersecurity, electronics, energy, nanotechnology, space exploration, and sustainability. The recent launch of the AI Makerspace and the AI hub indicates Georgia Tech’s leadership in emerging technology, along with the awarding of grants totaling $119 million for technologies to improve the detection and treatment of cancer. Cabrera also celebrated the launch of the Space Research Initiative, the groundbreaking of a 10,000-square-foot aircraft hangar in the North Avenue Research Area, and plans for a new home for the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering as well as a medical innovation facility next to the Krone Engineered Biosystems Building.
Reflecting on his time as a graduate student at Georgia Tech in the 1990s, Cabrera shared memories of campus and the transformational role of Tech Square as construction continues on its third and final phase.
“Back in the 1990s, what we now call Tech Square was a brownfield of chain-link fences, broken windows, and abandoned buildings. When construction crews drive the final nail in 2026, Tech Square will have the infrastructure necessary to support programs, talent, culture, connections, and partnerships to become a premier hotbed for technological entrepreneurship in the country,” he said.
Atlanta is among the top emerging tech cities in the nation, and with the continued development of Tech Square and the opening of the 370,000-square-foot Science Square this year, Georgia Tech is positioned to attract and develop even more startups.
The president touted plans for the former Randall Brothers property at the corner of Marietta Street and North Avenue, which will support cutting-edge creative work at the intersection of technology, art, design, and business.
To achieve these goals and continue to strengthen Georgia Tech, four foundational priorities will be key:
Georgia Tech president Ángel Cabrera outlined four “big bets” that will help the Institute reach the goals of the 2020 – 2030 strategic plan.
]]>President Ángel Cabrera has convened a search committee, chaired by College of Sciences Dean Susan Lozier, charged with selecting Georgia Tech’s next executive vice president for research (EVPR). To assist with the process, the Institute has retained the services of executive search firm WittKieffer.
“I thank all the members of the search committee and committee chair Dean Lozier, for conducting a thorough search to identify our next executive vice president for research,” said President Cabrera. “As one of the nation’s foremost academic research institutions, Georgia Tech is looking for a leader who can sustain the growth of our research enterprise, build the infrastructure necessary to support it, and deliver on our mission to advance technology and improve the human condition.”
WittKieffer will host several town halls to gather input from the Georgia Tech community on the preferred qualifications of the next EVPR.
Community Engagement Schedule
Georgia Tech Staff Town Hall
Tuesday, September 10 at 10:00 a.m.
Hybrid: Marcus Nanotechnology Building, 345 Ferst Drive, Room 1116 / Register for virtual attendance)
GTRI Town Hall
Tuesday, September 10 at 12:00 p.m.
Virtual only (Details forthcoming for GTRI faculty and staff)
Georgia Tech Faculty Town Hall
Tuesday, September 10 at 2:00 p.m.
Hybrid: Howey Physics L3 Classroom / (Register for virtual attendance)
Open Georgia Tech and GTRI Town Hall
Wednesday, September 11 at 11:00 a.m.
Virtual only (Register online)
Additional Information
Both internal and external candidates are invited to apply. For more details, including the position description and the application process, a list of the search committee members, and the key dates, visit the EVPR search webpage.
Regents’ Professor Tim Lieuwen has been appointed interim EVPR and will serve until the new EVPR is in place.
For the second year in a row, Georgia Tech has earned the top spot on the Princeton Review's Best Value Colleges list.
The educational services company evaluated 650 public and private schools to determine the "most exceptional in the nation at delivering great academics, affordable cost, and great career foundations."
The Institute leads all public colleges based on the formula, which considers return on investment, academics, financial aid, quality of life, and overall costs, among other factors.
Additionally, Georgia Tech ranked No. 1 among public universities in career placement, No. 5 for its alumni network, and No. 5 on the list of Best Schools for Making an Impact — which gauges community service opportunities, sustainability efforts, and on-campus student engagement.
Georgia Tech has also retained its standing as a five-star institution according to Money magazine’s formula highlighting quality, affordability, and outcomes. Naming the Institute among America’s Best Colleges, the publication praised its diverse research opportunities for students and lofty median salaries upon graduation.
Tech has recently received similar accolades — from being named to Forbes Magazine's list of “new Ivies” to Bloomberg's recognition of its high ROI.
CALEA accreditation allows public safety agencies to voluntarily meet a comprehensive set of professional standards, which include:
In 2022, GTPD’s Emergency Communications Center made history by receiving CALEA accreditation. It became the first university communications center/dispatch in the state of Georgia to achieve national accreditation. This milestone highlighted GTPD's leadership in public safety and its dedication to setting new standards of excellence.
GTPD remains committed to continuous improvement and excellence in public safety. The fourth CALEA accreditation is a testament to the department's unwavering dedication to serving and protecting the Georgia Tech community.
For more information about GTPD and its initiatives, please visit police.gatech.edu
]]>Lieuwen is a Regents’ Professor, the David S. Lewis, Jr. Chair in the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering, and executive director of the Strategic Energy Institute. His research interests range from clean energy and propulsion systems to energy policy, national security, and regional economic development. He works closely with industry and government to address fundamental problems and identify solutions in the development of clean energy systems and alternative fuels.
A proud Georgia Tech alumnus, Lieuwen (M.S. ME 1997, Ph.D. ME 1999) has had a remarkable academic career. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and is a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the American Physical Society, the Combustion Institute, and the Indian National Academy of Engineering (foreign fellow). He has received numerous awards, including the ASME George Westinghouse Gold Medal and the AIAA Pendray Award. He serves on governing or advisory boards of three Department of Energy national labs: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and was appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Energy to the National Petroleum Council.
Lieuwen has authored or edited four books on combustion and over 400 scientific publications. He also holds nine patents, several of which are licensed to industry, and is founder of an energy analytics company, Turbine Logic, where he acts as chief technology officer.
In Lieuwen’s appointment announcement, President Cabrera said, “Tim’s extensive experience and knowledge of Georgia Tech makes him uniquely suited to lead our research enterprise as we search for a permanent EVPR. I am grateful for his willingness to serve the Institute during this period of remarkable growth, and I look forward to working with him and the rest of the team.”
]]>Since its creation in 1976, the annual open-water race has become one of the premier aquatic events in the country. At the invitation of Georgia Tech alumnus Dick Bergmark, Cabrera was among the team of six swimmers completing the 11.4-mile relay race.
Other team members included swimming and diving head coach and two-time Olympic gold medalist Courtney Shealy Hart and former Yellow Jacket swimmers Mike Wise, Jing Li, and Rodrigo Correia. Each swam for 30 minutes before switching off every 10 minutes for the remainder of the race. The “GT Fun Team” crossed the finish line with a time of 4:23:57.
Cabrera and his teammates weren’t the only Yellow Jackets in the competition. Three other teams with Georgia Tech affiliations finished in the top 10.
A solo 15.5-kilometer race is held concurrently to the famed relay race, and with a 4:11:23 final time, former Yellow Jacket swimmer and Olympian Vesna Shelnutt (pictured below) took first place.
The race began as a two-team competition between Olympic Club members. The event now welcomes 250 teams to Lake Tahoe and promotes teamwork and conservation.
]]>Chaouki Abdallah, Georgia Tech’s executive vice president for Research (EVPR), has been named the new president of the Lebanese American University in Beirut.
Abdallah, MSECE 1982, Ph.D. ECE 1988, has served as EVPR since 2018; in this role, he led extraordinary growth in Georgia Tech’s research enterprise. Through the work of the Georgia Tech Research Institute, 10 interdisciplinary research institutes (IRIs) and a broad portfolio of faculty research, Georgia Tech now stands at No. 17 in the nation in research expenditures — and No. 1 among institutions without a medical school.
Additionally, Abdallah has also overseen Tech’s economic development activities through the Enterprise Innovation Institute and such groundbreaking entrepreneurship programs as CREATE-X, VentureLab, and the Advanced Technology Development Center.
Under Abdallah's strategic, thoughtful leadership, Georgia Tech strengthened its research partnerships with historically Black colleges and universities, launched the New York Climate Exchange with a focus on accelerating climate change solutions, established an AI Hub to boost research and commercialization in artificial intelligence, advanced biomedical research (including three research awards from ARPA-H), and elevated the Institute’s annual impact on Georgia’s economy to a record $4.5 billion.
Prior to Georgia Tech, Abdallah served as the 22nd president of the University of New Mexico (UNM), where he also had been provost, executive vice president of academic affairs, and chair of the electrical and computer engineering department. At UNM, he oversaw long-range academic planning, student success initiatives, and improvements in retention and graduation rates.
A national search will be conducted for Abdallah’s replacement. In the coming weeks, President Ángel Cabrera will name an interim EVPR.
In a survey of nearly 300 Future of Work newsletter subscribers with direct hiring authority, 33% said they are less likely to hire Ivy League graduates than they were five years ago. Conversely, 42% of respondents indicated they are more likely to hire public university graduates than five years ago.
Hiring managers are increasingly turning to these 20 public and private institutions for graduates who are better prepared to enter the workforce. The survey showed that, over the past five years, employers see the New Ivies as the institutions doing the most to improve their students’ readiness.
"We have made a strategic effort to promote entrepreneurial experiences and experiential learning in our students,” said Georgia Tech President Ángel Cabrera. “It shows in our graduates. They are not just technically skilled, but ready to innovate, to craft new solutions, to lead and to collaborate in solving complex problems."
To compile the lists, Forbes analyzed 2022 admissions data for 1,743 colleges with at least 4,000 students and an admission rate of 50% or below. The publication then surveyed the respondents about each institution.
A recent Bloomberg analysis recently revealed that Georgia Tech offers graduates the second-highest return on investment among public colleges. In 2023, the Princeton Review named the Institute the No. 1 best-value public university in the country.
]]>The University System of Georgia's Board of Regents has honored 19 Georgia Tech faculty members with 2024 Regents' Distinctions. These accolades recognize the recipients’ outstanding contributions and excellence in education, research, and innovation.
“These amazing colleagues exemplify the spirit of excellence and dedication that defines Georgia Tech's faculty,” said Steve McLaughlin, provost and executive vice president for Academic Affairs. “Their contributions not only advance knowledge within their respective fields but also positively impact our community at large. Working alongside these faculty members is an honor and inspires me every day.”
Georgia Tech faculty named as Regents’ Professors include:
Amy Bruckman (renewal), Senior Associate Chair, School of Interactive Computing, College of Computing
John Cressler (renewal), Schlumberger Chair in Electronics, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, College of Engineering
Greg Gibson (renewal), Tom and Marie Patton Chair in Biological Sciences and Director of the Center for Integrative Genomics, School of Biological Sciences, College of Sciences
Thomas Kurfess, Professor and HUSCO/Ramirez Distinguished Chair in Fluid Power and Motion Control, George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering
Wenke Lee, Professor and John P. Imlay Jr. Chair in Software, School of Computer Science and School of Cybersecurity and Privacy, College of Computing
Brian Magerko, Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in Digital Media, Head of the Expressive Machinery Lab, School of Literature, Media, and Communication, Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts
Patricia Mokhtarian, Clifford and William Greene Jr. Professor, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering
Charles David Sherrill (renewal), Professor, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, College of Sciences and Associate Director for Research and Education, Institute for Data Engineering and Science
Georgia Tech faculty named as Regents’ Researchers include:
David Gottfried (renewal), Senior Assistant Director and Principal Research Scientist, Institute for Electronics and Nanotechnology, College of Engineering
Gregory Showman (renewal), Fellow and Principal Research Engineer, Sensors and Electromagnetic Applications Laboratory, GTRI
Jeffrey Sitterle, Principal Research Scientist and Chief Innovation Officer, Information and Cyber Sciences Directorate, GTRI
Leanne West, Chief Engineer of Pediatric Technology and Principal Research Scientist, Georgia Tech Pediatric Innovation Network
Jie Xu, Head of Chemical and Biological Systems Branch and Principal Research Scientist, GTRI
David Zurn, Test Engineering Division Chief and Principal Research Scientist, GTRI
Georgia Tech faculty named as Regents’ Entrepreneurs include:
Mustaque Ahamad, Professor, School of Computer Science and School of Cybersecurity and Privacy, College of Computing
Omer Inan, Professor and Linda J. and Mark C. Smith Chair, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, College of Engineering
Rampi Ramprasad, Professor and Michael E. Tennenbaum Family Chair, Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar in Energy Sustainability, School of Materials Science and Engineering, College of Engineering
Georgia Tech faculty named as Regents’ Innovators include:
Alexander Alexeev, Professor and Joseph Anderer Faculty Fellow, George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering
Georgia Tech faculty named to the Georgia Mining Association Early Career Professorship:
Sheng Dai, Associate Professor and Group Coordinator in Geosystems Engineering, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering
Writer: Brittany Aiello, Faculty Communications Program Manager, Organizational and Academic Communications, Institute Communications