A Look Back at 2024
As the year draws to a close, Georgia Tech reflects on a year marked by bests, firsts, and breakthroughs. From research to athletics to academics, the Institute is closing out a year filled with highlights and milestones to remember. Take a look back at some of the most widely read and exciting stories from the past year on campus.
Rising in Rankings
Georgia Tech was once again recognized among the nation’s top public universities in the U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges Rankings, including its highest-ever innovation rating. The Institute also earned high marks throughout the year for its engineering and business programs, its return on investment, its prestige, its value, and its research expenditures.
Yellow Jackets in Paris
Nine Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets took part in the 2024 Olympics in Paris. As the world watched, Georgia Tech experts weighed in on how the track was designed to break records, engineering a fast pool, and how compensation models are changing the Games. Nic Fink won a gold medal in swimming for the U.S., and Julia Bergmann won a bronze in volleyball with the Brazilian national team. Associate Professor Cassie Mitchell also competed in her fourth Paralympic Games.
A Seventh College
The College of Lifetime Learning is a cornerstone initiative in Georgia Tech's commitment to doubling the number of degrees granted and non-degree learners reached by 2030. The announcement came as part of a refresh of Georgia Tech's strategic plan, focusing on four Big Bets.
Connecting With Community
The expansion of the campus Green Goodbyes thrift store to Tech Square has transformed a one-day experience to a year-round opportunity for students to donate and shop for items for free. Meanwhile, industrial design students partnered with a local nonprofit to create a mobile laundry bus that serves people experiencing homelessness around Atlanta.
Opening an AI Makerspace
A collaboration with NVIDIA brought an artificial intelligence supercomputer hub to campus dedicated exclusively to teaching students. College leaders call it a digital sandbox for students to understand and use AI in the classroom. The makerspace will also better position students after graduation as they work with AI professionals and help shape the technology’s future applications.
Science Square Opens
The first-phase opening of Science Square is already transforming Atlanta’s skyline. The mixed-use development is dedicated to biological sciences and medical research and the technology to advance those fields. This year also brought the opening of the Veterans Walk of Honor, the Lt. Tyler Brown Fitness Facility, and construction of the Pathway of Progress.
Advancing AI Climate Solutions
Georgia Tech and Meta collaborated to produce a massive database, potentially making it easier and faster to design and implement direct air capture technologies. The open-source database enabled the team to train an AI model that is faster than existing chemistry simulations.
Reaching Academic Milestones
In the past academic year, Georgia Tech conferred 12,000 degrees, a major step toward its goal of 15,000 annual graduates by 2030. The four-year graduation rate reached an all-time high of 70%, and the six-year graduation rate is at a high of 94%.
90 Years of the Georgia Tech Research Institute
Ninety years since its establishment, the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) has stayed true to its core mission: applying science and engineering to create practical solutions for the challenging problems of government and industry. Launched in 1934 as the Engineering Experiment Station, GTRI has grown to nearly 3,000 employees supporting eight laboratories, with researchers in multiple locations around the country.
Home Sweet Home
The Yellow Jackets were undefeated in their games at Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field this season. The team capped the successful season with a bid to the Birmingham Bowl.