G.P. “Bud” Peterson

2016 Institute Address, Georgia Tech                                                                                          

August 25, 2016

(As written, not necessarily as delivered)

1980s: Focus on Research and Graduate Education

1990: College of Computing

1990-1996: Role in Securing and Hosting 1996 Summer Olympics

1999: Biomedical Engineering

Past decisions that still have an impact today

Here are just a few examples.

1980s: Focus on Research and Graduate Education

In the 1980s, Georgia Tech President Joseph Pettit was committed to advancing research, graduate education, and industrial development. Georgia Tech’s annual research expenditures now exceed $765 million. Our graduate program is strong. Including the Online Master of Science in Computer Science (OMS CS) program, this fall the number of graduate students will exceed 11,000 for the first time in history. And, our research programs continue to do some amazing things. Just this past year, Georgia Tech graduate student researchers were key figures in the announcement by NASA that liquid water had been discovered on Mars. Our researchers played a critical role in the analysis of data from LIGO that verified a portion of Einstein’s Theory of Relativity.

1990: College of Computing

In 1990, Georgia Tech established its College of Computing, becoming the nation’s second public university to raise the discipline to college status. Today, our College of Computing is one of the largest and most innovative, and one of the most widely recognized.
 

1990-1996: Role in Securing and Hosting 1996 Summer Olympics

Georgia Tech played a major role in securing and hosting the 1996 Summer Olympics. Our campus experts in computer video production, image processing, defense electronics, and management helped put together an interactive video that the Atlanta Organizing Committee believed was the difference between bringing the games here, or having them go to another city. Think of the difference that made not only to Georgia Tech, but helping to put Atlanta and Georgia on the map globally. The development that took place leading up to the Games changed the physical landscape of Tech’s campus in exciting ways. The Olympic pool for swimming and diving competition became part of the Campus Recreation Center. A lot of West Campus was built up specifically to house Olympic athletes. Olympic Village became dorms for Georgia State and then, later, Georgia Tech. The enhancements helped transform Georgia Tech to a residential campus. Today, the majority of our students live on campus.

1999: Biomedical Engineering

In 1999 Georgia Tech and Emory University began a joint program in Biomedical Engineering. The Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering is now among the nation’s top three.

2003: Tech Square

In 1995 the Georgia Tech Foundation started purchasing land east of campus, even though it was not exactly sure how we would develop it. Tech Square opened in 2003 with the Scheller College of Business, the Georgia Tech Hotel and Conference Center, and the Global Learning Center. The Department of Transportation completed renovations to the Fifth Street Bridge in 2006, tripling the width and creating a park-like setting for pedestrians as they walk between Tech Square and the main campus. Tech Square is now the Southeast’s leading innovation ecosystem.

2005: QEP Focus on Strengthening Global Competence and Undergraduate Research

Our 10-year reaccreditation with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) requires that we establish a Quality Enhancement Plan, or QEP. In 2005 Georgia Tech chose Strengthening Global Competence and an Undergraduate Research Option for its QEP. Today, 54 percent of our students have a study or work-abroad experience before graduating, and more than 40 percent have an undergraduate research experience. Also, 54 percent of our invention disclosures list at least one student. Our new QEP is Serve-Learn-Sustain, and we are anticipating that that effort will have a strong impact on our students. Serve-Learn-Sustain provides students with learning and co-curricular opportunities that combine their academic and career interests with a desire to improve the human condition.

Decisions we are making today that will have an impact in the future

Today, we are continuing to make decisions that will have a long-term impact. They may not be as impactful as some of the decisions in the past; time will tell. Our job today is to ensure that we continue to look to the future and position ourselves to take advantage of opportunities as they arise. For example, one of the outcomes of our focus on job creation was the Engineered Biosystems Building, which will help grow the bio industry in Georgia. Other examples include the development and growth of Tech Square, and our computer security focus, which has led to our international leadership position in cybersecurity.

Today’s Decisions: The Strategic Plan

We launched the 25-year strategic plan six years ago, which means that we’re almost one-fourth of the way through. Much has changed since we launched Designing the Future. Colleges, departments, and programs continue to bring to life their components of the plan, working collaboratively to anticipate and respond to changes in education, technology, and society. The Strategic Plan Advisory Group (SPAG) was formed to provide advice and recommendations to Institute leadership. The group includes faculty, staff, and students from throughout the campus. We are very grateful for the ongoing work of SPAG in helping to evaluate and move forward innovative proposals. This past spring it reviewed 75 pre-proposals and 20 full proposals. Eight initiatives were selected for SPAG funding as a result of the 2015-16 RFP process. The projects are innovative and forward-thinking, and that is just what the Strategic Plan was designed to do.

Today’s Decisions: Globalization

We are broadening our reach and influence on national and global scales. This year, Georgia Tech-Lorraine celebrated its 25th anniversary. In addition, Georgia Tech has global centers in China, Costa Rica, France, Mexico, Panama, and Singapore. Georgia Tech faculty are engaged in research collaborations in more than 100 countries. Given the recent work on space initiatives including water on Mars, the LIGO project I mentioned earlier, and the testing of solar panels on Jupiter, at some point we may quit talking about globalization and start talking about intergalactic!

Today’s Decisions: Facilities

Through a combination of state support, philanthropy, and business investment, we have been fortunate to add several buildings that are transforming our campus and providing state-of-the-art facilities for teaching, research, and student activities. Recent examples include the Marcus Nanotechnology Center, Clough Undergraduate Learning Commons, Engineered Biosystems Building, and the high-performance computing center, or Coda. Our athletics facilities include the Shirley Mewborn Softball Field, the John and Mary Brock Football Facility, McCamish Pavilion, the Ken Byers Tennis Complex, the Noonan Golf Facility, and the Chandler Stadium locker rooms. A West Campus dining facility is expected to open in fall 2017.

This past spring, students voted in a campus referendum to expand and renovate the Student Center.

We’re renewing our facilities to be resources for learning for today’s students. A great example is our library renewal project. The ways students use the Georgia Tech Library and its collection have changed over time. Visits to the library and usage of electronic resources are at an all-time high. Last spring, we opened the Joint Library Service Center with Emory University to house a shared collection of materials on the Emory campus.

The Dorothy M. Crosland Tower is undergoing extensive renovations to transform the building, and Price Gilbert is slated next. We’re bringing together spaces, curated content, expert guidance, and scholarly communities — a space for books will become a space for people. The renovation will double current seating capacity and will include new user-centric features for students and faculty, allowing for more collaboration.

We recently completed renovation of the Boggs Chemistry Building, the Mason Building, and the Caddell Building. We’re also renovating The Hill, including the NJROTC Building, Chapin, Harrison, Tech Tower, and Carnegie.

Research Video: Creating the Next

Our groundbreaking research spans cell manufacturing to robotics applications. To give you a high-level overview of some of the exciting things we’re doing at Georgia Tech, again this year we have created a short video. Let’s view it now.

Commitment to Academic and Research Excellence and Innovation

Educating the next generation of researchers, entrepreneurs, and leaders starts in the classroom. But as the landscape of higher education evolves, we know that the idea of the classroom is also evolving, and our vision is to be a leader among our peers.

Our education innovation ecosystem is a coordinated effort of Institute units that are dedicated to the adoption of innovative educational methodologies and the Institute’s efforts pertaining to lifelong learning initiatives for traditional and nontraditional learners. Together, the Center for 21st Universities (C21U), the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL), Georgia Tech Professional Education (GTPE), and the Office of Information Technology (OIT) grow, support, and expand the educational experience at Georgia Tech. The ecosystem drives the educational mission for the Institute and determines how the educational experience is delivered to the Georgia Tech student — either residential or digital, undergraduate, graduate, or professional.

One component of the education innovation ecosystem is the Commission on Creating the Next in Education. The commission has a broad charter to imagine all the ways that a Georgia Tech education might be more effective, accessible, and affordable, and to take into account the changing demographics of students who will benefit, new ways of organizing undergraduate and graduate learning, and potential scientific and technical advances that will transform lives around the world. The commission’s goal is to design bold and potentially transformative projects that build on our legacy of academic excellence. The commission will be hosting town halls, workshops, and focus groups throughout the next few months — and wants your feedback. Be on the lookout for invitations and ways you can participate.

Traditional higher education is no longer meeting a lifetime of learning needs, especially in the STEM sector. Higher education must prepare learners not just for their first job after graduation, but also for their third or fourth. Reaching traditional learners, as well as early- and mid-career professionals, in new and novel ways ensures Georgia Tech is creating lifelong learning opportunities.

Technology-Enhanced Innovation

We continue to implement technology-enhanced education, including Massive Open Online Courses, or MOOCs. Enrollment continues to grow. Through GTPE, we offer 29 unique courses, with a total enrollment of 1 million students.

Our Online Master of Science in Computer Science, or OMS CS, has almost 4,100 students as of fall semester. Started in collaboration with AT&T three years ago, the program is helping address the nation’s growing shortage of qualified workers in STEM fields. We’re now looking at online options for data analytics.

We’re taking things we’ve learned from our online format and implementing them in our on-campus classes. Sometimes we have flipped classrooms, with students watching the lecture online and coming to class for discussion. We’re also implementing technology in numerous other ways.

This past spring, Professor Ashok Goel’s artificial intelligence class had nine teaching assistants. Jill Watson was one of them — she is a computer created by a team of graduate students. You may have read the coverage in The Wall Street Journal or The Washington Post. It was an experiment in the College of Computing as part of the OMS CS program. Every time Professor Goel offers the class, he estimates his 300 students post about 10,000 messages in online discussion forums, too many for him and his eight teaching assistants to handle. While the number of questions increases as the number of students goes up, the number of different questions does not.

He added Jill Watson to provide faster answers and feedback, implemented in part using technologies from IBM’s Watson platform. She had 97 percent confidence in her answers and received good reviews from the students. In fact, she was nominated for best TA. Students didn’t find out she was a computer until the semester’s end. She, or the Watson platform, will return with a different name in fall semester. The goal is to have the virtual teaching assistant answer 40 percent of all questions by the year’s end. We plan to take that technology and use it for other classes such as the introductory computer science class.

Today’s Decisions: Partnerships and Collaborations
It is through intelligent exchange and working collaboratively across disciplines, programs, and organizations that innovation is realized. For example, Georgia Tech is a leader in cybersecurity, with research being conducted in nine labs engaging GTRI, the College of Computing, Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts, Georgia Tech Professional Education, and the Office of Information Technology. More than 460 researchers are involved. A multidisciplinary team from the College of Computing and GTRI’s Information & Cyber Sciences Directorate received $2.9 million to mitigate low-volume distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks.

In July this year, Professional Education hosted Georgia Tech’s first Cybersecurity Leadership Program. Developed for senior executive leaders, the invitation-only event addressed all aspects of cybersecurity including human, legal, and policy issues. A first of its kind in Atlanta, the program is the result of Institute-wide collaboration among several units: Georgia Tech Professional Education, Georgia Tech Research Institute, the School of Public Policy, the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs, and the Institute for Information Security and Privacy.

Within the Engineered Biosystems Building, which opened last fall, is the Pediatric Technology Center. That center is the home of Georgia Tech’s partnership with Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, with M.G. Finn as the chief scientific officer.

Today, we continue to focus on partnerships, including expanding the Emory relationship, partnering with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Dental School at Augusta University, to name a few.

Today’s Decisions: Innovation and Economic Development

We are focusing on innovation and economic development in the areas surrounding campus. At our North Avenue Research Area, we are engaged in structure, food-processing technology, combustion, and energy research. Atlantic Station has a concentration of FinTech companies. Technology Enterprise Park (TEP) has become Atlanta’s premier biotech research hub. Georgia Tech facilities and experts work in partnership with TEP firms in fields from nanotechnology to bioengineering. These relationships are further extended through Georgia Tech to other Atlanta universities and research hospitals.

In Cobb County, Georgia Tech has signed a contract to purchase four buildings and 52 acres from Lockheed Martin, which has been a longtime corporate partner of the Institute. We already had five buildings occupied by the Georgia Tech Research Institute, so this will be an expansion of our existing operation. With the additional space for conducting and administering applied research, we will relieve crowding in Georgia Tech’s rapidly expanding research enterprise.

Tech Square is gaining national attention. In April, we announced our partnership with Portman Holdings to develop the Coda building, a 750,000-square-foot mixed-use project that represents a $375 million investment into the innovation district. Georgia Tech will be Coda’s anchor tenant, and our high-performance computing center will be located there. Coda’s expected economic impact will be $813.8 million.

In June, we announced that the Georgia Tech Foundation has reached an agreement to purchase the historic Biltmore on West Peachtree Street. We now look forward to integrating this iconic structure into our growing entrepreneurial ecosystem. It has about 290,000 square feet of loft office, retail, and ballroom space. It is occupied mostly by engineering firms, energy companies, and late-stage technology startups, so it’s a great natural fit for Georgia Tech.

The momentum in Tech Square continues, including corporations setting up innovation centers. Just in the past several months Anthem, Stanley Black & Decker, and the Emerson Innovation Center opened. Keysight Technologies announced a center that will grow to house 200 software developers.

CREATE-X, a program designed to give students tools to establish startups, was moved to Tech Square. More than 400 undergraduate students from all six colleges have participated in the program during the past two years. The students have generated 40 startups. 

Today’s Decisions: Focus on Students
Our students are incredible. For the eighth consecutive year, we will welcome the best-prepared and one of the most diverse first-year classes in our history. There were 30,500 applicants this year, up 12 percent from last year, and double that of four years ago. Every year Val and I participate in a summer tour throughout the state where we meet with alumni, government, and business leaders as well as students. This summer one alumnus commented, “It used to be hard to get out of Georgia Tech. Now, I think it is harder to get in than it is to get out.”

Students who have earned that spot have worked incredibly hard to get here, and their journey is now in our hands. They are truly an impressive bunch:

In three traditionally underrepresented groups, we’ve seen double-digit percentage increases when comparing 2016 to 2011: 15 percent rise in African-American students, 34 percent rise in Hispanic students, and 19 percent rise in women. Our fall 2016 class includes almost 42 percent women.

More than 19,000 applications for graduate programs were received for fall semester 2016, an increase of 12 percent over the previous year. Of those applicants, 3,700 new graduate students are coming to Georgia Tech this fall, a new record. The Master of Science in Analytics saw almost 800 applications to fill only 60-70 seats. Georgia Tech graduate students are engaged in everything from discovering liquid water on Mars to gravitational waves, and driverless car technology.

Today’s Decisions: Institutional Effectiveness

Our Strategic Plan has as one of its five main goals to “Relentlessly Pursue Institutional Effectiveness.” We’re working to maximize resources and capitalize on our sound fiscal planning to take advantage of strategic opportunities as they arise. In the spirit of being a technologically advanced institution, we are exploring cloud-based solutions for our administrative systems.

We are using Georgia Tech as a living laboratory as part of the Smart Energy Campus Program. Plans are underway for a living building, thanks to a $30,000 gift from The Kendeda Fund. It is expected to become the first Living Building Challenge 3.0 certified facility of its size and function in the Southeast. The Living Building at Georgia Tech provides a unique opportunity to physically demonstrate how Tech practices regenerative design and thoughtful stewardship of its resources — disciplines the Institute has proudly instilled in its campus master planning as well as its academic, research, and community outreach efforts.

Today’s Decisions: Athletics

Students enrich their Georgia Tech education by participating in more than 400 organizations, the arts, athletics, and the community.

About 400 Georgia Tech student-athletes compete in 17 intercollegiate sports. As they balance challenging academics and a demanding athletic schedule, they are learning time-management and leadership skills for life. We are particularly proud of their Academic Progress Report, or APR scores. All 17 of Georgia Tech's athletic programs are in good standing. Three of our teams (golf, men’s swimming and diving, volleyball) lead the Atlantic Coast Conference, according to the latest NCAA APR statistics. Football has the second-highest APR among ACC football programs. Fifty-nine percent of our student-athletes earned a 3.0 or higher in the spring, an all-time high. Forty-nine percent earned Dean’s List and Faculty Honors. Their graduation success rate is 84 percent, up 8 percent from four years ago.

Athletics affords them opportunities that help make their college experience memorable. For example, 111 football players will leave next week for our opening game in Dublin, Ireland — 79 of whom secured passports for the trip.

Looking Ahead: Center for Community Health and Well-being

Georgia Tech students deserve a place that:

• Challenges them in the classroom and nurtures their creativity and ideas;
• Enriches their experience through research, service, leadership, and study abroad; and
• Respects their individuality and creates an environment where they feel safe and part of a greater community, and where they are respected by their peers, professors, and leaders. 

Last year we announced our initiative to develop a holistic and inclusive approach to campus wellness. The Center for Community Health and Well-being brings together the Campus Recreation Center, Health Promotion, and Stamps Health Services. Dr. Suzy Harrington, the center’s new executive director, is in the process of exploring the alignment opportunities for wellness, mental health, alcohol and drug education, along with the many issues surrounding sexual-assault prevention. Dr. Harrington has developed a strategic framework and a plan for a campuswide wellness initiative, which I have both endorsed and approved.

The plan is a comprehensive, science-driven health and well-being strategy designed to create an environment where all our students and employees can flourish and be fulfilled. The framework involves a harmonization of the professional, physical, emotional, and social dimensions of health and well-being. A campus advisory committee is being formed, including senior leadership. The center is not just for students. It is a resource available to faculty and staff as well. 

Georgia Tech can be a stressful place. We all know that, and Georgia Tech leadership takes it very seriously. In collaboration with the Center for Community Health and Well-Being, the Division of Student Life is leading a new campus initiative that it is launching today. It is based on a global model of suicide prevention called “Zero Suicide.” This community approach to mental health and well-being is a campuswide commitment to preventing suicide, so all students, faculty, and staff have important roles to play. It will be called “Tech Ends Suicide Together.” The more engaged and informed we are, the more effective we will be in creating a healthy and safe community for everyone.

Black Student Experience

Last fall we created the Black Student Experience Task Force, co-chaired by Institute Diversity Vice President Archie Ervin and Student Life Vice President and Dean of Students John Stein. I would like to take this opportunity to recognize the task force members who are here today. During spring semester 2016, the Task Force also partnered with an independent consultant to conduct more than 130 interviews with undergraduate and graduate students as well as select faculty and staff.

Based on the collective research findings, the Black Student Experience Task Force presented 11 recommendations to me to ensure the campus is welcoming, inclusive, and supportive. I have approved all recommendations to implement during the next three academic years.

These recommendations are grouped into three categories: programs and trainings, physical spaces, and planning and assessments. They include expanding OMED’s Challenge enrollment for diverse freshmen. We will implement community orientation and culture inclusivity leadership training, Greek education, and intercultural student programs. We have committed to creating a data infrastructure or submission tool that allows students to submit information detailing any experienced discrimination on campus. We will create safe spaces, such as a multicultural center where black students feel safe and welcome on campus, which is important to students’ overall adjustment and well-being. We will examine how student diversity is operationalized through Georgia Tech’s Strategic Plan, and prioritize and fund proposals that enhance diversity, equity, and inclusion experiences for students. We will conduct a broad-based campus climate assessment by an independent entity to obtain a deeper understanding of the concerns and experiences of all students at Georgia Tech. Finally, we will constitute a joint student advisory group to advise and recommend actions that enhance diversity and inclusion experiences among Tech students. Moving forward, Institute Diversity, Student Life, and other units as appropriate will meet regularly to monitor progress on these recommendations.

This initiative will build on our existing efforts, which include the Center for Student Diversity and Inclusion. It’s actually been operational since January 2015, but it officially launched this month. We will centralize current programs and expand our reach with new ones within the Center.

Looking Ahead: Gender Equity
The issues we face aren’t limited to our students. They also include faculty and staff. In higher education, there are gender equity challenges at technology-focused learning institutions. At Georgia Tech, for instance, only 28 percent of staff positions above director level are held by women. Only 22 percent of tenure or tenure track faculty are women. Last fall, we conducted seven listening sessions with academic faculty, research faculty, staff, and students. Two themes emerged that will guide the Institute’s action plan as overarching goals toward advancing a culture of gender equity and inclusive excellence: promote gender equity policies and processes relating to recruitment, hiring, retention, and promotion; and celebrate and recognize the contributions of women in the Georgia Tech community. Tied to these overarching goals, Georgia Tech solidified 11 gender equity initiatives that will be implemented during the next two academic years. They are grouped in four impact areas: hiring, promotion, and tenure; professional and leadership development; leadership appointments; and increased visibility.

Our Office of Institute Diversity will meet quarterly with unit representatives from Human Resources, Faculty Affairs, Institute Communications, and other units to prioritize and track progress on these initiatives. 

Both the Black Student Experience and the gender equity initiatives are launching today. For more information, go to the Georgia Tech diversity website

People want to be heard, and they want to be treated with dignity and respect. And, they want to be given equal opportunities. That is true on our campus, in our community, and in our nation.

The Impact of Campaign Georgia Tech

Today we’ve talked about ways decisions that have been made in the past impact us now, and how our decisions today will impact the future. In December 2015 we completed Campaign Georgia Tech, the most successful campaign in Georgia Tech history. More than 91,000 donors, including many of you, contributed to our ability to exceed our goal and meet all of our campaign objectives. Resources have been invested strategically and, in concert with support from the state of Georgia, are working to strengthen and enrich Tech’s student body, faculty, and facilities.

We reached all our campaign objectives, and the resources are at work helping us attract and retain the best faculty, provide undergraduate and graduate student support, and build and renovate more than 20 facilities throughout the campus. We’re funding 140 G. Wayne Clough Tech Promise scholarships, 82 Stamps President’s Scholarships, and 104 endowed chairs and professorships. The deans in all six colleges and every school chair in Engineering now sit in dedicated endowed chairs. We raised $354 million for student support. Much of the total given is in endowments, and will benefit Georgia Tech for generations to come.

A Time of Positive Momentum

This is a time of strong positive momentum.

• We have a rapidly growing global reputation.
• Our students, faculty, and staff are among the best in the world. 
• We are collaborating with business, industry, and government on breakthrough research.
• We are developing innovation neighborhoods that are strengthening the economy and equipping startups for success. Many are student led.
• We have many faculty and staff who are national opinion leaders in their areas of expertise.
• We continue to expand our campus footprint to meet changing needs in higher education. We have 122,000 square feet under construction and more than 476,000 in the design stage.

While we’re experiencing many good things, these are also challenging times for our nation. Higher education should, and does, provide a leadership role in helping to shape our society, today and for future generations.

Through the years, Georgia Tech has been a leader in numerous areas. We saw it in 1952 with the admission of women and again in 1961 with the first peaceful integration of African-American students in the South.

Working together, we can continue to do so, living up to our potential as an institution and helping individuals in the Georgia Tech community to live up to theirs. Our Institute is a continuum. The innovations, support, and planning that we start today, and the Georgia Tech community we continue to build, will bear fruit in the future.

Thank you.