Earlier this month, I had the pleasure of going back on tour to see the Institute’s impact in action throughout Georgia and the greater region. Over the course of three days, I joined fellow Institute leaders on a journey that took us across 775 miles to attend 13 events in seven towns. 

We started our tour in Florida — a first for our summer tours — with stops in Ponte Vedra and Jacksonville. We then made our way up the coast to Savannah, and thence to Hyundai Motor Group’s Metaplant America in Bryan County and Georgia Power’s Vogtle Electric Generating Plant in Burke County before rounding out the trip with visits to Augusta and Covington.

From stop to stop, we greeted alumni and incoming students, met with government and community leaders, spoke with business owners, and toured manufacturing centers. As we wound our way through the region — from the Coastal Plain to metro Atlanta, and from town centers to industrial sites — our trip highlighted the Institute’s outsized impact on Georgia’s communities and economy. More importantly, it allowed us to hear more about our state’s needs and learn more about how to continue supporting innovation, prosperity, and resilience in Georgia.

Some of our trip’s many highlights included harvesting oysters with the alumni-run Tybee Oyster Company in Savannah; touring the factory at Augusta’s Textron Specialized Vehicles, the leading global manufacturer of recreational and utility vehicles; and visiting the clean rooms at Absolics Inc., a leading semiconductor company in Covington that produces the world’s first glass substrate for advanced packaging, which is critical for building high-performance supercomputers.

Everywhere we went, the impact of Georgia Tech alumni, students, and researchers on transforming and improving the state was on full display. Check out the highlight reel below to see some of our state’s, and our Institute’s, great work in action!