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Georgia Tech Students Help Illuminate Coffee County’s History

dgivens8 — Fri, 11 Jul 2025 21:07:46 +0000

Georgia Tech Students Help Illuminate Coffee County’s History dgivens8 Fri, 07/11/2025 - 17:07

Georgia Tech students played a pivotal role in the award-winning Coffee County Memory Project, an oral history initiative that preserves the stories of school desegregation in rural Georgia.

Launched in 2016, the project was supported by the Institute’s Sustainable Communities Summer Internship Program, run by the Center for Serve-Learn-Sustain (now the Center for Sustainable Communities Research and Education), in which students work full time with community partners across Atlanta and Georgia.

Beginning in 2017, trusted advisers contributed to the success of this work, including Vernon E. Jordan Jr., Christopher Lawton, Ann McCleary and G. Wayne Clough. Clough, who served as Georgia Tech’s president from 1994 to 2008, long advocated for public service, community-engaged research, and interdisciplinary teaching and learning.

In 2019, Georgia Tech students and participating interns Brice Minix and Nabil Patel combed through decades of local newspapers, digitized school board records, and conducted interviews with community members who lived in Coffee County during desegregation. In 2020, Kara Vaughan Adams and Bennett Bush transcribed countless interviews. Samina Patel’s contributions in 2020 and 2021 included graphic and web design.

All their work laid the foundation for two virtual museum exhibits: emergingVOICES of Coffee County and Overcoming Segregation: A Journey Through Coffee County’s Forgotten Stories. The latter received the 2023 Award of Excellence from the American Association of State and Local History. Further recognition came this year when the project earned the 2025 Georgia Association of Museums’ Special Project Award for the PLAYBACK & FASTFORWARD seminar series.

T. Cat Ford, Project Director said, “The Serve-Learn-Sustain interns we partnered with from Georgia Tech were all graduates of Coffee High School. Their efforts turbo-charged our work—not only because they worked tirelessly but also because, as they preserved their own history, they offered valuable insights into their lived experience of this legacy.

Click here to learn more about SCoRE’s Sustainable Communities Internship Program.

Summary sentence

Georgia Tech students received the 2023 Award of Excellence from the American Association of State and Local History for the Coffee County Memory Project

Summary

Georgia Tech students played a pivotal role in the award-winning Coffee County Memory Project, an oral history initiative that preserves the stories of school desegregation in rural Georgia. Launched in 2016, the project was supported by the Institute’s Sustainable Communities Summer Internship Program, run by the Center for Serve-Learn-Sustain (now the Center for Sustainable Communities Research and Education), in which students work full time with community partners across Atlanta and Georgia.

Dateline

Fri, 07/11/2025 - 12:00

jennifer.martin@research.gatech.edu

Contact

Jennifer Martin, Assistant Director of Research Communications Services

Associated importer

Keywords

go-bbiss

go-researchnews

Categories

State Impact

Student Honors and Achievements

Student Research

Mercury ID

683112

Source updated

Fri, 07/11/2025 - 17:07

College of Sciences Launches New Center: Georgia Tech for Georgia's Tomorrow

admin — Thu, 05 Dec 2024 14:11:37 +0000

College of Sciences Launches New Center: Georgia Tech for Georgia's Tomorrow admin Thu, 12/05/2024 - 09:11

The College of Sciences is proud to launch Georgia Tech for Georgia’s Tomorrow, a new center focused on research that aims to improve life across the state.

“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.

People and planet

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.”

Rising Tide Program

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.”

Georgia's Tomorrow: Director search

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:

Formulating a strategic plan for the center in partnership with interested parties across campus
Promoting synergies between faculty within the college, and elsewhere at Georgia Tech, whose work relates to the health of Georgia’s people, its ecosystems, and communities
Fostering collaborations with offices at Georgia Tech that focus on community, government, and industry engagement so as to develop meaningful external partnerships that will advance the work of this center

All faculty who hold a majority appointment within the College of Sciences are eligible and encouraged to apply. Learn more and apply via InfoReady.

Funding

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 update:
Georgia Tech for Georgia's Tomorrow initially launched under the working name Science for Georgia's Tomorrow (Sci4GT).
Professor Joel Kostka will serve as the center's inaugural faculty director.

Summary sentence

The College of Sciences has launched Georgia Tech for Georgia’s Tomorrow, a new center focused on improving the lives of Georgians and their communities.

Summary

The College of Sciences has launched Georgia Tech for Georgia’s Tomorrow, a new center focused on improving the lives of Georgians and their communities. The center will leverage research and teaching to address critical health and climate challenges across the state.

Dateline

Wed, 12/04/2024 - 12:00

Contact

Written by: Selena Langner

Media contact: Jess Hunt-Ralston

Associated importer

Keywords

cos-community

go-researchnews

go-bio

go-bbiss

cos-research

News room topics

Campus and Community

Categories

Community

Institute and Campus

Institute Leadership

Research

Student and Faculty

Mercury ID

678749

Source updated

Thu, 12/05/2024 - 09:10

Georgia Tech UrbanAg Project Presents to International Conference

dgivens8 — Thu, 07 Nov 2024 18:51:41 +0000

Georgia Tech UrbanAg Project Presents to International Conference dgivens8 Thu, 11/07/2024 - 13:51

- Written by Mandy Luong, BBISS Communications Student Assistant -

Georgia Tech’s Students Organizing for Sustainability (SOS) recently traveled across the world to Singapore for the 8th Global Botanic Garden Congress. They presented their research on the evaluation of various plants in student living accommodations. The independent research project was initially funded through the Micro Research Grants for Regenerative Built Environments sponsored by The Kendeda Building Advisory Board and the Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems. This feat is uncommon among Georgia Tech student organizations but can serve as a case study for future SOS trips as well as other clubs.

The team found out about the conference by researching various conferences related to urban agriculture initiatives around the world. They specifically sought out conferences that could give them an international experience in a city deemed cutting-edge for urban green spaces, and that would allow them to talk about their research project. After being accepted into the Global Botanic Garden Congress, they needed to find funding to support their travel.

SOS members applied for numerous grants that are available to students around campus, including the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering's International Travel Funding through the Global Engineering Leadership Minor, the President’s Undergraduate Research Travel Award, and the Student Government Association (SGA) Conference Fund. In total, they were able to obtain multiple research and travel grants for over $16,000 to cover the travel expenses of seven members. The students are confident that, had more people been available, they could have received more funding to cover the additional travel expenses.

“There are a lot of opportunities on campus to get funding for a project, travel, or attend conferences, but students just need to know where to look,” says Elaina Render, fourth-year civil and environmental engineering major and SOS project lead for the UrbanAg group.

The group’s itinerary consisted of attending all four days of the conference, the last of which coincided with Singapore’s National Day. At the conference, students presented their research findings to an international audience and made personal connections. They talked with people from across the globe, including botanic garden representatives from Naples, Chicago, and San Diego. Making these connections has introduced them to opportunities for more interactive trips, such as visiting the Naples Botanical Garden to learn about beach plant management. They also hope to attend the 9th Global Botanical Garden Congress in Chicago next year.

“The conference is a great resource for students as they approach graduation because you can network for next career steps, find possible research advisors for graduate school, and be exposed to a range of career possibilities,” says Nicole Allen, fourth-year biomedical engineering major and SOS’s vice president of Finance.

In addition to the conference, they were able to explore the city of Singapore. On their first day, they toured Gardens by the Bay, where they saw famous attractions like the Golden Bay and the Flower Dome. The following day, they visited Singapore University of Technology and Design and met Greenprint, a student group similar to SOS, and talked with students and faculty about their campus sustainability initiatives. On the third day, they traveled to the Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, a beautiful mangrove forest. Allen notes that on a hike along the coastal trail, they decided to take a bus across the bridge to Malaysia and have brunch. On the last day of the conference, they visited Singapore’s Botanic Garden, which also houses the National Orchid Garden.

The SOS students report many successes from this experience, both personal and related to their SOS activities. Younger members of SOS, Rachel Bohl and Nikita Takalkar, both second-years, were able to attend the conference. This has inspired younger members to get more involved with on-campus sustainability initiatives. In particular, Takalkar is starting a new SOS project to decrease medical waste at Stamps Health Services. They have also seen an increase in attendance at their meetings and many questions about their trip. They hope the conference will serve as a model for future trips where students can promote their research, network, learn about what new research is happening in the world, and bring this knowledge back to Georgia Tech to inspire their own projects on campus.

“We hope that our project and trip to Singapore can serve as an inspiration to other students and campus organizations. It's possible to start an independent research project and get funding to present at international conferences,” says Render.

Allen adds, “We are implementing some of the ideas our trip inspired as new, student-led sustainability initiatives here at Georgia Tech.”

Summary sentence

Georgia Tech’s Students Organizing for Sustainability (SOS) recently traveled across the world to Singapore for the 8th Global Botanic Garden Congress.

Summary

The student group presented their research on the evaluation of various plants in student living accommodations. The independent research project was initially funded through the Micro Research Grants for Regenerative Built Environments sponsored by The Kendeda Building Advisory Board and the Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems. This feat is uncommon among Georgia Tech student organizations but can serve as a case study for future SOS trips as well as other clubs.

Dateline

Thu, 11/07/2024 - 12:00

brent.verrill@research.gatech.edu

Contact

Brent Verrill, Research Communications Program Manager, BBISS

Keywords

go-bbiss

Students Organizing for Sustainability

student research

Categories

Environment

Student Honors and Achievements

Student Research

Mercury ID

678258

Source updated

Thu, 11/07/2024 - 13:51

Nature’s Ingenuity Inspires Civil Engineer to Design Efficient and Effective Solutions

admin — Mon, 21 Oct 2024 15:21:39 +0000

Nature’s Ingenuity Inspires Civil Engineer to Design Efficient and Effective Solutions admin Mon, 10/21/2024 - 11:21

- Written by Benjamin Wright -

Nature doesn’t waste energy, and nature finds ways to adapt to a changing world. Understanding those two principles led David Frost to his interest in bio-inspired design. Frost, the Elizabeth and Bill Higginbotham Professor in Georgia Tech’s School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, has spent the last dozen years searching for ways to use nature’s efficiency and ingenuity to improve the civil engineering field. His efforts are paying off. In the last year alone, research from his lab has resulted in multiple patent filings, licensing agreements, and product launches — all of which take their inspiration from the biological world.

Many of those research projects have been the subjects of doctoral research by Frost’s students, with support and advisement from Michael Helms, co-director of Georgia Tech’s Center for Biologically Inspired Design (CBID) and the Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems lead for biologically inspired design. The CBID mandate is to encourage researchers to find inspiration in the biological world, where design solutions have been in development for three-and-a-half billion years as life has on Earth has evolved. Building on the concept that nature isn’t wasteful, one of the goals of bio-inspired design is to develop products that are both energy and materially efficient, and therefore more sustainable.

As the subsurface exploration and excavation thrust leader for the National Science Foundation (NSF) Center for Bio-mediated and Bio-inspired Geotechnics (CBBG), Frost focuses on what’s going on below the planet’s surface. His inspiration comes from things like tree roots, earthworms, spider webs, and ant colonies. In fact, ants are what first got him interested in bio-inspired design.

“There are many organism systems that have not been thought of as necessarily the most intelligent systems. But in fact, they are following a set of rules, approaches, or guidelines and are producing things that, in the end, are both energy- and resource-efficient and adaptive,” said Frost. “One of these is ant colonies. We see the hills above ground, but what’s going on below the ground, with the tunnels and chambers, is fascinating.”

Early in his time with CBBG, Frost came across a Florida artist who made metal castings of ant colony structures. Frost acquired some, made more castings of his own, and then built digital models of ant colonies to understand how the structures maintain their strength. He also studied exactly how ants build such complex structures so efficiently.

“They take advantage of capillarity, arching effects, and the strength of spirals,” explained Frost.

Ants dig by carefully and quickly probing each grain of sand or dirt, in the same way a human might test a Jenga piece, before deciding whether it can be safely removed without damaging the tunnel. As a result, ants are extremely energy efficient as they dig, continually removing the least encumbered pieces of material. Based on this information, Frost and his team are exploring ways to improve the effectiveness and energy usage of tunnel-boring machines.

Other bio-inspired projects from Frost’s research that are further along in the development process include building anchors inspired by tree roots, a ground heat-exchange system based on spirals and plant xylem, a geogrid (or stabilization mesh) design based on spiderwebs, a worm-inspired soil probe, and another probe design influenced by a vortex and centipedes that would displace a minimum amount of soil.

“I'm convinced that just about any system in nature we look at will help us think about analogs for things that, as human engineers, we’d like to do — and do better,” said Frost. “The opportunities for inspiration and improvement are endless.”

Take the Root-Inspired Ground Anchor (RIGA), for example. Anchors are an essential element in construction, stabilizing retaining walls and other foundation structures. Traditionally, anchors are straight poles inserted into the ground. Looking at tree roots, Frost wondered if there was a better way. That thought led him to inventing an anchor that can be driven into the ground and then expanded under the surface, similar to the structure of tree roots. The expandable anchor improves load capacity by up to 75% and is about two-thirds as long as a conventional anchor. After years of refinement, the device has been patented, licensed, and is the basis of a startup founded by Ph.D. student John Huntoon.

Frost takes the most pride in the real-world impact of his bio-inspired designs. Since 2023, Georgia Tech has filed, or is in the process of filing, utility patents for five of them. Like the RIGA system, those patents will be available for licensing for commercial use. Companies have already contacted Frost about his heat-exchange and geogrid concepts.

“Civil engineering doesn’t traditionally have a culture of patent-producing research,” noted Frost. “It’s exciting to see these filings and how they can generate energy and enthusiasm for studying natural systems and using what we learn to improve the world. Practical application has always been very important to me.”

Frost is finding that practical application also appeals to the next generation of civil engineers — specifically K-12 students interested in the profession who tour the CBID affiliated labs on campus. The students study nature’s designs and figure out how to apply them, rather than learn traditional construction methods.

“Ants, spiders, and worms are immediately relatable for middle- and high-school students,” Frost said. “They think engineering is all math and science, and that doesn’t sound fun to them. Instead, we show them they can be inspired by anything and then use that to make it about conservation and adaptation and energy minimization. Those are things they are interested in.”

Frost is hopeful that the students of today and tomorrow will continue to take inspiration from nature, enabling humans to adapt to a changing world as effectively as nature has.

Summary sentence

David Frost sees endless innovation in natural systems to solve real-world civil engineering problems.

Summary

Dateline

Tue, 10/15/2024 - 12:00

brent.verrill@research.gatech.edu

Contact

Brent Verrill, Research Communications Program Manager, BBISS

Keywords

go-bbiss

go-researchnews

J. David Frost

The Center for Biologically Inspired Design

News room topics

Science and Technology

Categories

Engineering

Environment

Research

Mercury ID

677589

Source updated

Mon, 10/21/2024 - 11:19

Georgia Tech EVPR Chaouki Abdallah Named President of Lebanese American University

admin — Tue, 25 Jun 2024 19:45:41 +0000

Georgia Tech EVPR Chaouki Abdallah Named President of Lebanese American University admin Tue, 06/25/2024 - 15:45

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.

Summary sentence

Abdallah will serve as LAU's 10th president.

Summary

Abdallah will serve as LAU's 10th president.

Dateline

Tue, 06/25/2024 - 12:00

Contact

Shelley Wunder-Smith

Associated importer

Keywords

go-researchnews

go-ien

go-imat

go-sei

go-rbi

go-bbiss

go-ipat

go-bio

go-irim

go-ideas

go-gtmi

go-ai

News room topics

Campus and Community

Categories

Institute and Campus

Institute Leadership

Research

Mercury ID

675234

Source updated

Tue, 06/25/2024 - 15:44

BBISS Graduate Fellows Publish Article on Educating for Academic Leadership in Sustainability

dgivens8 — Fri, 22 Mar 2024 14:56:41 +0000

BBISS Graduate Fellows Publish Article on Educating for Academic Leadership in Sustainability dgivens8 Fri, 03/22/2024 - 10:56

The first cohort of the Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems (BBISS) Graduate Fellows published an article in the open-access, peer-reviewed journal, Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene. The seven Ph.D. students reflected on their two years of working, studying, and training together as an interdisciplinary sustainability research team. In the article, they give their insights into how they benefited from this approach and what steps might be taken to improve graduate level, sustainability-related programs. Further, their paper offers researchers and educators a rare perspective into interdisciplinary research and education from the standpoint of students who are still pursuing their degrees and actively engaged in research for their chosen disciplines.

Citation: McSorley, M, Arkhurst, BK, Hall, M, Zha, Y, Spyrou, IM, Duchesneau, K, Ringania, U, Chang, M. 2023. For graduate students to become leaders in sustainability, we must transcend disciplinary boundaries. Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene 11(1). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/elementa.2023.00012

For more information about the Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems Graduate Fellows program, please visit this webpage.

Summary sentence

The first cohort of the BBISS Graduate Fellows published an article in the open-access, peer-reviewed journal, Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene.

Summary

The first cohort of the Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems (BBISS) Graduate Fellows published an article in the open-access, peer-reviewed journal, Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene.

Dateline

Mon, 12/04/2023 - 12:00

brent.verrill@research.gatech.edu

Contact

Brent Verrill, Research Communications Program Manager, BBISS

Associated importer

Keywords

go-bbiss

BBISS Graduate Fellows

graduate student research

Categories

Research

Student Honors and Achievements

Student Research

Mercury ID

671402

Source updated

Fri, 03/22/2024 - 09:59

October Events Celebrate Campus Sustainability Month

admin — Fri, 29 Sep 2023 00:45:38 +0000

October Events Celebrate Campus Sustainability Month admin Thu, 09/28/2023 - 20:45

October is Campus Sustainability Month, an international celebration of sustainability on college and university campuses. Georgia Tech will host sustainability-focused events all month. With the recent release of the Institute’s Sustainability Next plan, these campus opportunities underscore our commitment to the objectives outlined in the plan. There are numerous options centered on climate and social sustainability topics in addition to trips to explore nature around Atlanta. The programming is hosted by diverse campus groups and offers a glimpse into the wide-ranging commitment to sustainability at Tech.

Event Lineup

Climate Action Plan Student Engagement Workshop
Monday, Oct. 2
5 – 6 p.m.
The Kendeda Building for Innovative Sustainable Design, Room 210

As a deliverable of the Sustainability Next Plan, the Georgia Tech Climate Action Plan is a roadmap for integrating climate action strategies across operations, research, and education focusing on climate justice and reducing emissions. Students are invited to join the Office of Sustainability for an interactive, in-person event to learn about the climate action strategies in the plan, share input, and enjoy free pizza.

For registration and additional information, click here. RSVP required.

Climate Action Plan Campus Town Hall (Virtual)
Wednesday, Oct. 4
11 a.m. – noon
Virtual via Zoom (RSVP Required)

The entire Georgia Tech community can learn more about the Georgia Tech Climate Action Plan and share input during a virtual campus town hall hosted by the Office of Sustainability.

For registration and additional information, click here.

Approaching the Limits of Climate Viability: Urban Heat Vulnerability in Atlanta and How to Adapt
Wednesday, Oct. 4
Noon – 1:30 p.m.
Scholar’s Event Theater, First Floor, Price Gilbert Library

As part of Georgia Tech Library’s initiative to highlight research that makes data accessible and meaningful to the public, Brian Stone Jr., a professor in the School of City and Regional Planning, will present a lecture on the urban heat island effect and its context for Atlanta.

Find more details and registration information here.

Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems Seminar Series, Baabak Ashuri — Valuation of Investment in Sustainable Buildings and Renewable Energy Infrastructure
Thursday, Oct. 5
3 – 4 p.m.
Hybrid Event: BBISS Offices, 760 Spring St., Suite 118, and on Teams

Baabak Ashuri, a professor in the School of Building Construction and the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and a Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems Fellow, will speak about how a new set of tools for the valuation and appraisal of renewable energy projects can enhance investment decision-making.

Liam's Legacy Symposium 2023: Humanitarian Engineering with Juan Lucena
Thursday, Oct. 5
4 – 6 p.m.
Coda Building, Ninth Floor Atrium

Juan Lucena, director of the Humanitarian Engineering Undergraduate Program and professor of engineering, design, and society at the Colorado School of Mines will visit Georgia Tech for the annual Liam’s Legacy Symposium. Lucena will explore the relationship between engineers, engineering, and the well-being of communities, social justice, and sustainability.

This event is presented by the Center for Sustainable Communities Research and Education in partnership with the School of History and Sociology, through a grant from the Gertrude and William C. Wardlaw Fund in support of the Conference on Human Rights, Changes, and Challenges.

Sustainable Careers and Shared Value Panel
Thursday, Oct. 12
2 – 3:15 p.m.
Scheller College of Business, Room 221

Join the Ray C. Anderson Center for Sustainable Business to hear from three panelists at various stages in their careers and diverse types of corporations about how sustainability is incorporated and how it has shaped their roles.

More information and registration here.

Lullwater Preserve (Emory) Bird Walk
Friday, Oct. 13
7 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Meet at Cherry Emerson

Ride the GT/Emory bus with Birdwatchers @ GT to Lullwater Preserve, a beautiful, forested park on Emory’s Druid Hills campus. Open to beginner and expert birders alike — make sure to RSVP if you need binoculars.

For more information and registration, click here.

Campus Energy Challenge
Oct. 16 – 22
Residence Halls Across Campus

Housing and Residence Life’s annual Energy Competition takes place the week of Oct. 16. The competition will give all campus residents a chance to see the daily energy use of their residence halls, along with tips on how to reduce their individual use. The residence hall that reduces its use the most will win a prize.

Contact Malte Weiland, senior sustainability project manager, Auxiliary Services, for more information.

A Conversation With Victor Luckerson, Author of ‘Built From the Fire’
Tuesday, Oct. 17
7 – 8:30 p.m.
Scheller College of Business, Room 100

A panel discussion with Victor Luckerson, author of Built From the Fire, moderated by Todd Michney, associate professor in the School of History and Sociology. The book follows a multigenerational saga of a family and a community in Tulsa’s Greenwood district, known as “Black Wall Street,” that in one century survived the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, urban renewal, and gentrification.

Staff Council Drive-Thru Recycling Event
Wednesday, Oct. 18
2 – 4 p.m.
O’Keefe Building Parking Lot, 151 Sixth St. NW

The Georgia Tech Staff Council and CPEC subcommittee are hosting a recycling collection event for faculty and staff. Drop off items such as plastic bottles, mixed paper, household batteries, electronics, and glass.

Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems Seminar Series – Dylan Brewer: Who Heeds the Call in an Energy Emergency? Evidence from Smart Thermostat Data
Thursday, Oct. 19
3 – 4 p.m.
Hybrid Event: BBISS Offices, 760 Spring St., Suite 118, and on Teams

Dylan Brewer, an assistant professor in the School of Economics and BBISS Fellow, will present research exploring the relationship between compliance with calls to conserve energy during a shortage situation and in an environment of political polarization.

Climate and Innovation Business Forum
Friday, Oct. 20
1 – 5:30 p.m.
Global Learning Center

The Climate and Innovation Business Forum will convene stakeholders from various sectors to explore strategies for driving innovative climate solutions. Attendees are invited to participate in discussions on harnessing the potential of climate technology, forging innovative collaborations, and mobilizing capital for environmental and social impact.

Administration and Finance Virtual Town Hall
Friday, Oct. 20
2 – 3 p.m.
Virtual via Zoom gatech.zoom.us/j/95142941085

Celebrate Sustainability Month at the A&F virtual town hall and learn about activities designed to promote sustainability across the Institute. We will share highlights from the recently published Sustainability Next plan, developing strategies from the Climate Action Plan, and how Georgia Tech is harnessing the power of data throughout our utility management efforts to foster a living campus for all.

Georgia Tech Undergraduate Sustainability Education Panel
Tuesday, Oct. 24
11 a.m. – noon
The Kendeda Building for Innovative Sustainable Design, Room 210

Learn more about sustainability-focused campus educational opportunities at this panel discussion and hear from affiliated faculty, staff, and students. Snacks will be provided.

Surviving the “Zombie Apocalypse” at Kendeda 2023
Friday, Oct. 27
4 – 7:30 p.m.
The Kendeda Building for Innovative Sustainable Design

The Kendeda Building is an example of resilient infrastructure, with its potable water storage, solar power system, composting toilets, and ability to grow food on its rooftop garden. This Office of Sustainability event will focus on the lessons that The Kendeda Building has taught us about sustainability, regenerative design, and the benefits of being more self-sufficient. Join us for a spooky Kendeda Building tour, snacks, and lessons in sewing and food pickling.

Get tickets here.

Extension of Community: What It Means to Be Sustainable in a Digital World
Throughout October

Locations include The Kendeda Building, the Library, and the Georgia Tech Media Bridge

Experience an interactive art exhibit at the intersection of science and technology addressing sustainability and the climate crisis.

How have our technological and digital developments helped and harmed us?
How can we be more digitally sustainable?
What are the limits of technology and how can we shift our behaviors to help heal the planet?

Fourteen artists and scientists reflect on community and sustainability within their practice and question the impact of technology on the environment and society. The exhibit, curated by Birney Robert, addresses themes of plastics and waste, social and environmental justice, and imagined futures.

For more information, click here.

Explore the Campus Sustainability Month 2023 Calendar for a comprehensive list of events and updates. Campus groups, departments, and organizations interested in adding their sustainability-focused event to the calendar can email sustain.gatech.edu.

Summary sentence

Events throughout the month of October offer a glimpse into the wide-ranging commitment to sustainability at Georgia Tech.

Summary

October is Campus Sustainability Month, an international celebration of sustainability on college and university campuses. Georgia Tech has a vast line-up of events open to the entire campus community.

Dateline

Thu, 09/28/2023 - 12:00

abby.bower@sustain.gatech.edu

Contact

Abby Bower
Program Support Coordinator
Office of Sustainability

Keywords

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Campus Sustainability Month

sustainability

Facilities Management

office of sustainability

Sustainability Next Plan

Georgia Tech Climate Action Plan

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Campus and Community

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Institute and Campus

Mercury ID

670025

Source updated

Thu, 09/28/2023 - 20:44

Serve-Learn-Sustain to Launch New Center

admin — Mon, 12 Jun 2023 23:23:17 +0000

Serve-Learn-Sustain to Launch New Center admin Mon, 06/12/2023 - 19:23

The Vice President for Interdisciplinary Research (VPIR) and the Office of Undergraduate Education (OUE) are excited to announce an institutionalization plan for Serve-Learn-Sustain (SLS) that will advance two of Georgia Tech’s Institute Strategic Plan (ISP) initiatives - Sustainability Next and Transformative Teaching and Learning (TTL) - and strengthen our service learning, community engagement, and sustainability ecosystems at Georgia Tech. Established as Georgia Tech’s last Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP), SLS launched in 2016 as a unit in OUE and concluded its official QEP work in 2021. Its work on the QEP earned Georgia Tech a commendation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges and established a strong foundation to build on moving forward.

Effective July 1, 2023, the current SLS team will establish a new center, the Center for Sustainable Communities Research and Education (CSCRE), under the VPIR. The Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems (BBISS), which is serving as a hub for coordinating Georgia Tech’s Sustainability Next Strategic Plan initiative, will serve as the administrative home for the new center.

CSCRE will collaborate with the sustainability cluster of the Interdisciplinary Research Institutes (IRIs), including BBISS, the Strategic Energy Institute (SEI), and the Renewable Bioproducts Institute (RBI), as well as Infrastructure and Sustainability, another key Sustainability Next hub, to enhance Georgia Tech’s competitiveness in applying for grants that require meaningful community partnerships as a key component of their research and education plans. It will also continue to support sustainable communities education, in close collaboration with the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL), OUE, and Education and Learning, to assure the continuity of SLS’s signature programs.

Established as Georgia Tech’s last QEP, Serve-Learn-Sustain launched in 2016 as a unit in OUE and concluded its official QEP work in 2021. Georgia Tech earned a commendation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges in 2021 for the “exceptional execution” of the 2016 QEP, citing, among other things, that the program “inspired a closer dialogue among faculty regarding research and instructional practices, and thus serves as a model of how a QEP can transform an academic culture.”

To continue advancing and scaling undergraduate service learning and community engagement as a high-impact practice, OUE will establish a new service learning team, as a priority that supports the Transformative Teaching and Learning ISP initiative. Institutionalizing the service-learning functions of SLS within OUE and aligning it with other high impact practices - such as undergraduate research, student innovation programs, first-year seminars, co-op and internships, and learning communities - will position these programs to work collectively in support of the development of Georgia Tech’s next QEP, which will begin in 2025.

Thank you to the SLS staff and to everyone who has collaborated with and supported the work that SLS has spearheaded to make Georgia Tech a better place for our students, our faculty and staff, and our surrounding communities. We look forward to continuing to advance this work, together.

Subtitle

On July 1, SLS will launch the Center for Sustainable Communities Research and Education.

Summary sentence

On July 1, SLS will launch the Center for Sustainable Communities Research and Education.

Summary

On July 1, SLS will launch the Center for Sustainable Communities Research and Education.

Dateline

Mon, 06/12/2023 - 12:00

brent.verrill@research.gatech.edu

Contact

Brent Verrill, Research Communications Program Manager, BBISS

Associated importer

Keywords

go-bbiss

serve-learn-sustain

service learning

Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems

VPIR

oue

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cos-community

cos-climate

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Campus and Community

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Community

Education

Institute and Campus

Institute Leadership

Student Research

Mercury ID

668068

Source updated

Mon, 06/12/2023 - 13:44

Student Team Wins Department of Energy EcoCAR Mobility Challenge

bwaye3 — Thu, 26 May 2022 18:12:20 +0000

Student Team Wins Department of Energy EcoCAR Mobility Challenge bwaye3 Thu, 05/26/2022 - 14:12

A team of Georgia Tech students and faculty members has won the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) EcoCAR Mobility Challenge. The four-year competition tasked 11 universities with transforming a 2019 Chevrolet Blazer by adding advanced propulsion systems and automated vehicle technology. The goal was to improve the car’s energy efficiency while balancing emissions, safety, and consumer acceptability factors.

Originally a six-cylinder, the Georgia Tech team converted its Blazer to a four-cylinder hybrid vehicle with adaptive cruise control. Its vehicle-to infrastructure communication technology allows it to “talk” to stoplights and adjust its speed for optimization.

The team of approximately 60 graduate and undergraduate students represent six of the College of Engineering’s eight schools. The group also includes students from the College of Computing, Scheller College of Business, and Georgia State University.

Read the entire story on the College of Engineering website.

Subtitle

Interdisciplinary team bests 10 other universities, transforming a 2019 Chevy Blazer into connected, hybrid vehicle

Summary sentence

A team of Georgia Tech students and faculty members has won the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) EcoCAR Mobility Challenge.

Summary

Dateline

Thu, 05/26/2022 - 12:00

maderer@gatech.edu

Contact

Jason Maderer
College of Engineering
maderer@gatech.edu

Location

Atlanta, GA

Associated importer

Keywords

go-researchnews

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go-bbiss

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Science and Technology

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People and Technology

Systems

Mercury ID

658528

Source updated

Thu, 05/26/2022 - 12:03

Marilyn Brown Tapped as First Woman to Receive Class of 1934 Distinguished Professor Award

bwaye3 — Fri, 29 Apr 2022 16:39:17 +0000

Marilyn Brown Tapped as First Woman to Receive Class of 1934 Distinguished Professor Award bwaye3 Fri, 04/29/2022 - 12:39

Marilyn Brown is a world-leading expert on renewable energy and energy efficiency, a transformative intellectual thinker, and one of the founders of the field of energy and climate policy.

Her research has shaped energy policy in the U.S. and globally. Over the past two years, she has been tapped for several prestigious honors, including being elected to both the U.S. National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Sciences, and receiving the 2021 World Citizen Prize in Environmental Performance. Now, she is the first woman to receive the Georgia Tech Class of 1934 Distinguished Professor Award in the 38 years of its existence. It is the highest honor given to a Georgia Tech professor. The award is presented to a professor who has made significant, long-term contributions to teaching, research, and public service.

Brown is the Regents and Brook Byers Professor of Sustainable Systems in the School of Public Policy. She joined Georgia Tech after 22 years at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, where she directed several national climate change mitigation studies and became a leader in the analysis and interpretation of energy futures.

At Oak Ridge National Laboratory, she was the joint highest-ranking female manager. Brown was attracted to Georgia Tech after working with a high-level group of scientists from Oak Ridge, the Imperial College of London, and Georgia Tech on a project involving next-generation energy, including advanced broadband. “I really liked the people from Tech who I worked with on the project,” said Brown. “They had a can-do attitude. At other universities, they might say, ‘That can’t be done.’ The people from Georgia Tech said, ‘We’ll find a way.’” In 2006, she was encouraged to apply for the position of — and was chosen as — a full professor in the School of Public Policy in Georgia Tech’s Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.

Throughout her career, Brown has been known for her transdisciplinary, action-based research and linking behavior to policy. “I started my career in the physical sciences at Rutgers. “From the beginning, I brought sciences into my work and have been quantitative. It has given me the ability to span sciences and related fields,” said Brown. “I tell my students they have to be quantitative in math and the physical sciences to be effective in energy.”

The focus of her research has been on the clean energy transition — bridging engineering, social and behavioral sciences, and policy studies to advance the design, adoption, and diffusion of clean energy technologies and policies. She is particularly interested in energy disparities and work to strengthen energy infrastructure, especially in areas of financial need. “It is all about the diffusion of innovation to the benefit of all,” she said.

Drawdown Georgia

Brown also leads the research program Drawdown Georgia, which she helped to create with the inspiration and funding of the Ray C. Anderson Foundation. Georgia Tech alumnus Ray C. Anderson was founder and chair of Interface Inc., and a pioneer in sustainability.

Drawdown Georgia was created and is being conducted in partnership with Emory University, the University of Georgia, and Georgia State University, as well as the Southface Institute, the Partnership for Southern Equity, and Greenlink Analytics.

Drawdown Georgia has identified a roadmap to significantly cut Georgia’s greenhouse gas emissions and achieve carbon neutrality. The Drawdown Georgia study, localized for Georgia’s urban and rural areas, was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in 2021. The plan identified technology and practices that could resonate with individuals, towns, and corporations throughout the state, including ways to bring more clean energy resources and technologies to rural Georgia and help people use limited resources more efficiently.

Through collaboration with the Scheller College of Business, 25 Georgia CEOs from throughout the state agreed to join Drawdown Georgia. The project includes a dashboard of emissions by Georgia’s 159 counties, tracked monthly. The next step will be to track implementation of the 20 solutions in the plan, measuring investments by counties, and the use of electric vehicles, rooftop solar systems, alternative transportation, recycling, composting, afforestation, and silvopasture — the integration of trees and livestock operations on the same land.

Sustainability as a Way of Life

When asked what she wishes people knew about sustainability, Brown said, “Sustainable technologies and behaviors are not costly. They can be good for your pocketbook. Consider the home refrigerator. Twenty-five years ago, it consumed 2,000 kilowatt hours a year. Today it requires less than 600 kWh, and they don’t cost any more than they used to. People just have to be smart about what they choose and pay attention to cradle-to-grave resource issues.”

Brown also lives her values. At her home, she grows vegetables and composts, has rooftop solar, a Tesla Powerwall battery, and uses heat pumps for water heating, air conditioning, and heat. Her family has an energy focus. Her husband, Frank Southworth, is an adjunct professor in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Tech, and an accomplished transportation planner. Their daughter, Katie Southworth, is an attorney with Southface Energy Institute.

Working with Students

Brown created and co-leads the Climate and Energy Policy Lab in the School of Public Policy at Tech. She developed the Master of Sustainable Energy and Environmental Management degree. She has advised 19 Ph.D. students, many of whom have gone on to leading roles in government agencies, academia, and industry.

She is known as an excellent mentor, communicator, and educator, inside and outside of the classroom. She challenges students to expand their knowledge and excel in their project work while developing their confidence and leadership skills. She has been described as generous with her time in providing students with guidance on professional development. As she was one of very few women in her field when she began her career, she has been purposeful about mentoring women.

Background

Brown earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Rutgers University, and a Master of Regional Planning degree from the University of Massachusetts. She holds a Ph.D. from The Ohio State University in geography, with a minor in quantitative methods. Before joining Oak Ridge National Laboratory, she was an associate professor of geography at the University of Illinois, the first woman to earn tenure in geography there. Previously, she was a lecturer in the Department of Geography and Geology at Ohio Wesleyan University.

She has authored six books and more than 250 publications, and contributed to the United Nations 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a joint winner of the Nobel Peace Prize that year. Her work has had significant influence and visibility in the policy arena as evidenced by her impact on policies and programs, such as the Kyoto Protocol and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Weatherization Assistance Program, and briefings and testimonies before state legislative and regulatory bodies, committees of both the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate, and numerous international organizations.

Brown served two terms (2010-2017) as a presidential appointee and U.S. Senate-confirmed regulator on the board of directors of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), the nation’s largest public power provider. At TVA, she contributed to reducing TVA’s CO₂ emissions by 60% over a 15-year period. She also chaired for eight years the Nuclear Oversight Committee, which was responsible for bringing the most recent nuclear unit into commercial operation in the U.S., in 2016 at Watts Bar in Tennessee.

Reflecting her commitment to the role of demand-side management, Brown co-founded the Southeast Energy Efficiency Alliance (SEEA), chaired its board of directors for several years, hired its first executive director, and provided SEEA’s first office space at Georgia Tech.

Quotes from Colleagues and Former Students

“In her work, she conceptualizes the coevolution of technology and society, with an emphasis on how to change unsustainable systems for the provision of energy, food, mobility, water and other areas. Rather than adhering to a narrow interpretation and application of geography and economics, her disciplinary background, she uses sociotechnical insights to inform her research and sheds light on the complex processes of societal transformation needed for addressing the climate and biodiversity crises as well as steep inequalities. In short, she draws on science to make extremely compelling, insightful, and even beautiful contributions to addressing contemporary challenges.”

Benjamin Sovacool
University Distinguished Professor of Business and Social Sciences – Aarhus University, Denmark
Professor of Energy Policy, Science Policy Research Unit – University of Sussex Business School, United Kingdom
Professor of Earth and Environment – Boston University, United States

“Dr. Brown’s contributions to the school and Institute extend beyond her own record to also include those of her students, who are excelling and driving important work both in and out of academia. Her students have founded startups in the explosive new climate tech field, lead energy and climate policy for major corporations like Google, work at multiple energy commissions at the state and federal level in regulatory staff roles, lead new areas of research in economics and policy in research centers across the world, and recently, one of her students was appointed as a deputy assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Energy. I don’t believe that it is a coincidence that this group of exceptional people all happened to emerge from the same lab at Georgia Tech. Dr. Brown played a formative role in helping develop the attitudes and thought processes that have enabled her students’ success and grown the influence of Georgia Tech around the globe.”

Matt Cox
CEO and Founder, Greenlink Analytics

“Marilyn challenges students to reflect on what can be done to show impact and relevance. She challenges students and collaborators to identify gaps in research that need to be addressed to advance science and discovery. Marilyn has had an exemplary career in teaching, research, and service, and her impact is significantly amplified by the hundreds of students and collaborators she has developed into the current and future generation of research and policy leaders and mentors.”

Melissa V. Lapsa
Building Technologies Program Manager
Energy Science and Technology Directorate
Oak Ridge National Laboratory

“Marilyn led by example as a Clean Energy and Education Empowerment (C3E) ambassador who sought to inspire the next generation of clean energy practitioners and researchers. I have always been impressed by the way Marilyn brought her intellectual acumen, strong moral compass, and sound judgement to bear on the deliberations and decision making with the wide range of different stakeholders involved in C3E. Moreover, Marilyn always made it a point to recognize the work of women researchers in academia and national laboratories in terms of the impact and importance of their contributions.”

Ellen Morris
Director, University Partnerships
NREL (a national laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy)

“The regularly scheduled Friday meetings of students and faculty at Dr. Brown’s direction were among the most innovative and rigorous discussions of clean energy policy and economic analysis anywhere.”

“Through both her body of work and numerous former students who work at or with the [Georgia Public Service Commission], she has a major indirect influence on the direction of utility regulation in this state and around the country.”

Benjamin H. Deitchman
Utility Analyst, Georgia Public Service Commission
Georgia Tech, Ph.D. in Public Policy, 2014

Summary sentence

Marilyn Brown is the 2022 recipient of the highest honor given to a Georgia Tech professor, the Class of 1934 Distinguished Professor Award.

Summary

Marilyn Brown, Regents and Brook Byers Professor of Sustainable Systems in the School of Public Policy, is a world-leading expert on renewable energy and energy efficiency, a transformative intellectual thinker, and one of the founders of the field of energy and climate policy. Now, she is the first woman to receive the Georgia Tech Class of 1934 Distinguished Professor Award in the 38 years of its existence. It is the highest honor given to a Georgia Tech professor.

Dateline

Fri, 04/29/2022 - 12:00

Contact

Patti Futrell
Faculty Communications Program Manager

Location

Atlanta, GA

Associated importer

Keywords

Marilyn Brown

Class of 1934 Distinguished Professor Award

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Campus and Community

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Mercury ID

657799

Source updated

Fri, 04/29/2022 - 10:32

go-bbiss

Georgia Tech Students Help Illuminate Coffee County’s History

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College of Sciences Launches New Center: Georgia Tech for Georgia's Tomorrow

People and planet

Rising Tide Program

Georgia's Tomorrow: Director search

Funding

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Georgia Tech UrbanAg Project Presents to International Conference

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Nature’s Ingenuity Inspires Civil Engineer to Design Efficient and Effective Solutions

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Georgia Tech EVPR Chaouki Abdallah Named President of Lebanese American University

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BBISS Graduate Fellows Publish Article on Educating for Academic Leadership in Sustainability

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October Events Celebrate Campus Sustainability Month

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Serve-Learn-Sustain to Launch New Center

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Student Team Wins Department of Energy EcoCAR Mobility Challenge

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Marilyn Brown Tapped as First Woman to Receive Class of 1934 Distinguished Professor Award

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