As the featured guest for the 10th installment of Cátedra Permanente — Futuros de la Educación Superior, Cabrera touches on his experience with higher education, the history of Georgia Tech, and its pillars of growth in innovation.

The New York Times recently called us out for our lackluster performance in attracting low-income students. They were right.

The industrial revolution helped us live longer, healthier, safer lives than any prior generation. Yet, it also created a complex set of challenges that threaten our way of life going forward.

We are a public university seeking excellence in everything we do, committed to building a welcoming academic community where people of all backgrounds have the opportunity to learn and grow, where diversity of perspectives and ideas, and the freedom to express those ideas, is nurtured in support of knowledge creation and innovation. While the tools we can work with may change from time to time, our mission and values remain the same.

The past three days have been a whirlwind of inspiring stories, new faces, and Yellow Jacket pride, but I’m now back home in Atlanta. All told, we traveled more than 850 miles to attend nearly 20 events in nine towns across our great state.

We are living in a watershed moment for cleantech manufacturing, and the state of Georgia has swiftly positioned itself to become the nation’s preeminent hub for electric vehicles.

Our mission to develop leaders who advance technology and improve the human condition relies on a set of core values, including — very importantly — our commitment to act ethically, to hold one another to the highest standards of professional and ethical conduct, to be transparent and accountable, and to earn and maintain the public trust. As stewards of precious public resources — taxpayer appropriations, family tuition dollars, sponsored research, and philanthropic contributions — we must…

On Sept. 29, Georgia Tech students, faculty, and staff gathered with alumni, friends, and donors to dedicate the new John Lewis Student Center. The newly renovated facility was more than 10 years in the making and was designed to meet the needs of our growing and diverse student population.

On Aug. 31, I had the pleasure of speaking alongside Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens and Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan at the grand opening of the Carbice Corporation’s new headquarters and manufacturing facility along the Beltine in Atlanta’s West End neighborhood.