{"681263":{"#nid":"681263","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Sustainability Showcase Recap","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EIn late February, the Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems (BBISS) hosted the Sustainability Showcase in the Scholars Event Theater in Georgia Tech\u2019s Price Gilbert Library. The two days of panel discussions, keynote speeches, and lightning talks were themed around community, ecosystem, and infrastructure resilience. Researchers, faculty, students, staff, and partners demonstrated how they are innovating and collaborating to build a more resilient future as the world rapidly changes.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe first day\u0027s morning session\u0026nbsp;framed the discussion with three panels. The first focused on Georgia Tech\u2019s resilience plan, discussing institutional strategies to ensure campus operations and support for the Georgia Tech community in the face of external disruptions. The second panel broadened the discussion to explore resilience strategies for the city of Atlanta. The third panel further expanded the scope to consider the resilience of the southeastern United States.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOne of the highlights of the showcase was the alumni keynote address by Laura Solomon, ISyE 2000, co-founder of Tybee Oyster Company. Solomon told her inspiring story about the recent origins of the ocean aquaculture industry in Georgia and the connection between oyster aquaculture, local community engagement, education, and bolstering a thriving and resilient coastal ecosystem. She emphasized the importance of her company\u2019s sustainable practices and shared her experiences in pioneering Georgia\u0027s first floating oyster farm. Solomon also underscored the importance of oysters in helping Georgia\u2019s coasts become more resilient against storms, sea level rise, erosion, and poor water quality.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EA mainstay of the Sustainability Showcase are the lightning talks, where students, campus organizations, and researchers can bring attention to their sustainability initiatives and research. \u0026nbsp;Lightning talk sessions were interspersed throughout both days of the event and helped to bring a broader contingent of the sustainability community together to learn about each other\u2019s work and make valuable connections.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe last panel discussion of the day, on ecosystem resilience, was moderated by Jenny McGuire, associate professor in the School of Biological Sciences. \u201cA better understanding of ecosystem resilience not only helps us to preserve species for future generations,\u201d she said, \u201cbut gives us perspective on how we can better inhabit the ecosystems we rely on for our own well-being.\u201d The day concluded with a networking reception.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe second day began with a panel on infrastructure resilience, which explored the links between infrastructure elements in the built environment, how they interact with each other, and how our communities can recover from disruptions to infrastructure functions.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe event wrapped up with a visioning \u201cunconference\u201d session, where members of the Georgia Tech sustainability community gathered to share their thoughts on how the concept of resilience blends with sustainability, and how Georgia Tech can advance research and education to prepare our communities for the upcoming challenges facing us. It is anticipated that the participants in the unconference will collaborate on a white paper to document what was learned and shared at this final session.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022The Sustainability Showcase exemplified Georgia Tech\u0027s commitment to resilience at every level,\u201d said BBISS Interim Director Beril Toktay. \u201cBy bringing together diverse perspectives from our campus, city, and region, we created a space for both innovative thinking and practical collaboration. As we navigate increasingly complex sustainability challenges, this collective approach will be essential in building the resilient communities and systems our future requires.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EIn late February, the Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems (BBISS) hosted the Sustainability Showcase in the Scholars Event Theater in Georgia Tech\u2019s Price Gilbert Library. The two days of panel discussions, keynote speeches, and lightning talks were themed around community, ecosystem, and infrastructure resilience. Researchers, faculty, students, staff, and partners demonstrated how they are innovating and collaborating to build a more resilient future as the world rapidly changes.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"The two days of panel discussions, keynote speeches, and lightning talks were themed around community, ecosystem, and infrastructure resilience."}],"uid":"27338","created_gmt":"2025-03-20 17:58:56","changed_gmt":"2025-06-12 15:46:45","author":"Brent Verrill","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2025-03-20T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2025-03-20T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"676623":{"id":"676623","type":"image","title":"Sust_Showcase_Panel.jpg","body":"\u003Cp\u003ESustainability Showcase panel discussion, L to R - Iris Tien, Donn Digamon, Ria Aiken, Tejas Kotak, and Jason Stott (not pictured).\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1742493677","gmt_created":"2025-03-20 18:01:17","changed":"1742493677","gmt_changed":"2025-03-20 18:01:17","alt":"Sustainability Showcase panel discussion, L to R - Iris Tien, Donn Digamon, Ria Aiken, Tejas Kotak, and Jason Stott (not pictured)","file":{"fid":"260429","name":"Sust_Showcase_Panel.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/03\/20\/Sust_Showcase_Panel.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/03\/20\/Sust_Showcase_Panel.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":136271,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/03\/20\/Sust_Showcase_Panel.jpg?itok=19-NtJb_"}}},"media_ids":["676623"],"groups":[{"id":"244191","name":"Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"188360","name":"go-bbiss"},{"id":"182658","name":"Sustainability Showcase"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"194566","name":"Sustainable Systems"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:brent.verrill@research.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EBrent Verrill\u003C\/a\u003E, Research Communications Program Manager, BBISS\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["brent.verrill@research.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}