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2016: A Year in Review

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2016: A Year in Review

2016: A Year in Review

2016: A Year in Review

It's been another incredible year at Georgia Tech. Take a look back at some of our most notable stories and videos from 2016.

J A N U A R Y

Above: Krishnendu Roy, director of the Marcus Center for Therapeutic Cell Characterization and Manufacturing

Grant Launches New Center for Manufacturing Therapeutic Cells

The Marcus Center for Therapeutic Cell Characterization and Manufacturing is established to support research to develop processes for the low-cost manufacture of living cells used in cell-based therapies for cancer and other disorders. In June at the White House, Georgia Tech and the Georgia Research Alliance announced a national roadmap for advanced cell manufacturing.

Hidden Georgia Tech goes inside the most identifiable building on campus, Tech Tower, which is marked with signature letters that are under surveillance 24 hours a day.

F E B R U A R Y

Gravitational Waves Observed, Proving Einstein Right Again

A dozen Tech professors and students play a role in one of the century’s biggest science stories: confirmation of gravitational waves.

A drummer wearing a robotic arm plays with Professor Gil Weinberg

A smart, wearable robotic device turns drummers into three-armed cyborgs.

Nancy Parrish speaking to a crowd at a reception

The 2016 Ivan Allen Jr. Prize for Social Courage is awarded to Nancy Parrish, who launched a national movement to reform how the military prosecutes sexual violence.

M A R C H

Sharing the Road, Guiding the Future

Eighteen months of feedback and research leads to Tech’s first Bicycle Master Plan, which now serves as a reference and guide to inform all future campus projects.

Professor Kim Cobb returns to the middle of the Pacific Ocean, where she ventured in 2015 to see how healthy coral reefs were fairing during a record-breaking El Niño. Nearly everything is dead.

Portrait of three researchers standing in front of racks of computer equipment with two large monitors showing code and data visualization

Georgia Tech researchers introduce a device fingerprinting technique that could improve the security of electrical grids and other industrial systems.

A P R I L

20,000th Student Heads Overseas to Study Abroad

The Office of International Education recognizes Tech’s 20,000th study abroad student with a free plane ticket to South Korea. More than 50 percent of Yellow Jackets participate in some type of international experience while at Tech. The national average is about 10 percent.

Two inventors on stage at the ACC Inventure Prize ceremony holding a trophy for the People's Choice award.

A month after winning Georgia Tech’s InVenture Prize, FireHud takes the People’s Choice Award at the inaugural ACC InVenture Prize at the Ferst Center. The device tracks firefighters’ vital signs.

M A Y

The Snap, Crackle, and Pop of a Healthy Knee

Researchers reveal how acoustic engineering can transcribe crackling knee sounds to determine the health of a knee.

Professor with student in classroom where an artificial intelligence served as a teaching assistant

Students enrolled in an online course about artificial intelligence learn at the end of the semester that one of their teaching assistants was a computer — not a human.

President Peterson speaking at a podium with a GT slideshow and balloons in the background. Yves Berthelot is sitting at the side of the stage.

President G.P. “Bud” Peterson and other Institute leaders travel to France to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Georgia Tech-Lorraine.

J U N E

Biltmore Purchased

Georgia Tech’s footprint in Tech Square increases yet again, with the purchase of the historic Biltmore. The 270,000-square-foot building will house additional innovation centers and startups.

Chester Gryzbowski wearing a RAT cap and a U.S. Army sweatshirt, sitting in a wheelchair, surrounded by family members

World War II veteran Chester Gryzbowski is welcomed as an honorary member of the freshman class, at the age of 104.

Researchers solve a 40-year-old math mystery: the Kelmans-Seymour Conjecture.

J U L Y

Olympians Return to Campus 20 Years after Atlanta Games

Twenty years after hosting the Olympics, Georgia Tech serves as the final training stop for Michael Phelps and the 2016 U.S. Olympic Swimming and Diving Teams.

GTRI researcher Stephan Turano shows an optical microscope image of one of the carbon nanotube array patterns on a solar cell shown on a computer screen. The solar cell will be tested on the International Space Station.

A three-dimensional solar cell design becomes the first Georgia Tech project launched into space.

A closeup of a robot made to mimic the movements of a mudskipper

A College of Sciences study explores how animals first moved onto land 360 million years ago.

A U G U S T

Creating More Opportunities and Support

The Black Student Experience Task Force presents recommendations to promote a welcoming, inclusive campus. All 11 initiatives will be implemented within the next three academic years.

Inside the Amazon pickup location at Georgia Tech, a student removes an item from a locker while an Amazon employee looks on

Amazon opens its first pickup center in Georgia at Tech Square.

Georgia Tech Assistant Professor Alenka Zajic and graduate student Derrick Chu discuss a device used to systematically measure side-channel outputs from electronic devices

A $9.4 million DARPA grant facilitates the exploration of a new technique for wirelessly monitoring Internet-of-Things devices for malicious software — without affecting the operation of the ubiquitous, but low-power, equipment.

S E P T E M B E R

Welcome Home

Former Yellow Jacket football player Todd Stansbury is named athletics director during a month that begins with a season-opening win in Dublin, Ireland.

A person's hand with fabric tied around it. The fabric can absorb both solar power and motion for energy.

Research is published on a new fabric that can simultaneously harvest energy from both sunshine and motion. Soon, there could be garments that provide their own sources of energy to power smartphones.

Tech students create computer-coded LED shoes for alumna and Miss Georgia Patricia Ford, who wore them during a Miss America parade.

O C T O B E R

Four Months in Space

Alumnus Shane Kimbrough begins a four-month mission aboard the International Space Station. He’s the second Yellow Jacket to command the station in 2016.

Researchers in lab holding equipment

Eccentric enzyme does “wacko” chemical reaction and may exist in only one, possibly two, bacteria strains on Earth, an extreme rarity.

N O V E M B E R

$17 Million Contract Will Help Identify Cyber Hackers

Tech receives a U.S. Department of Defense award that will help establish new science around the ability to quickly, objectively, and positively identify the virtual actors responsible for cyberattacks, a technique known as “attribution.”

Qua Searcy carrying the ball during a play with a Georgia defender leaping toward him

The Yellow Jacket football team beats Georgia for the second consecutive time in Athens when sophomore Qua Searcy leaps into the end zone with 30 seconds remaining in the game.

D E C E M B E R

Institute Announces New Campus in China

Georgia Tech signs an agreement to collaborate with the city of Shenzhen and Tianjin University to create a full international campus in the city of Shenzhen, China. It will offer majors in electrical and computer engineering, computer science, industrial design, environmental engineering, and analytics.

Rendering of Coda building - Image courtesy of Portman & Associates

Construction begins on Coda, a 750,000-square-foot, mixed-use building in Tech Square. The project, which will promote collaboration among higher education and industry innovators, is scheduled for completion in 2019.

CREDITS

Digital Designers: Erica Endicott and Brett Lorber