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Georgia Tech and Morehouse announce collaborative effort

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The Georgia Institute of Technology and Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM) today announced the launch of a new initiative that will support MSM’s commercialization efforts to create health technology (HealthTech) startups.

The effort brings the Institute’s globally recognized technology incubator — the Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC) — to the MSM campus, ranked the No. 1 medical school in the nation in fulfilling its social mission and the top ranking historically black college or university for producing patents (2009-2019).

“We’re excited to forge this effort between our two schools that will help translate ideas that may start in the lab to real-world solutions for minority and rural populations in healthcare,” said James W. Lillard, Ph.D., MSM’s associate dean for research and director of the Office of Translational Technologies.  “This initiative leverages the research rigor and innovations developing at Morehouse School of Medicine with Georgia Tech’s proven ATDC model of helping technology entrepreneurs create viable, scalable companies.”

The collaboration with MSM, the eighth for ATDC through its ATDC @program, continues the incubator’s mission of working with technology startups across Georgia.  The catalyst for this initiative was an i6 Challenge grant the U.S. Department of Commerce awarded to Georgia Tech in 2015.

That $500,000 grant, secured by Tech’s Innovation Ecosystems group, supported wide-ranging innovation and entrepreneurship initiatives across the state.  In Atlanta, it called for the Institute to collaborate with Georgia State and Clark Atlanta universities, Morehouse College, the Morehouse School of Medicine, and Spelman College to develop entrepreneurship programs that supported their unique visions.

The ATDC @ MSM will provide the medical school with a full suite of services and educational programming to support entrepreneurship in the HealthTech arena among faculty, staff, and students on the MSM campus.  The core goal is to help entrepreneurs gain insight into successful HealthTech commercialization, through the program, which includes curriculum, connections, and coaching.

Continue reading at:  Georgia Tech News Center

Karen Fite to lead Enterprise Innovation Institute as Interim Vice President

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The Georgia Institute of Technology has named Karen Fite interim vice president of its economic development unit, the Enterprise Innovation Institute (EI2).

Fite, who is EI²’s associate vice president, will lead the 12-program organization while Georgia Tech conducts a national search for a permanent vice president to succeed Chris Downing, who retired in June after 31 years of service.

EI2 is the nation’s largest and most comprehensive university-based program of business and industry assistance, technology commercialization, and economic development.

Fite, who also is director of EI2’s Business & Industry Services group of programs, has more than 26 years of economic development experience at Tech.

Continue reading at:  Georgia Tech News Center

Georgia Tech names Director for Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI)

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The Georgia Institute of Technology has named James J. Hudgens to be the new director of the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), Georgia Tech’s applied research division.  Currently director of the Threat Intelligence Center (TIC) at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Hudgens will become a Georgia Tech senior vice president and GTRI’s director effective September 2, 2019.

Hudgens holds a Ph.D. in ceramic engineering from Iowa State University.  He has led research and development programs in national security, cybersecurity, quantum information science, and photonic microsystems.  He also led programs in data analytics, synthetic aperture radar, and airborne intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) systems before becoming director of the $265 million-per-year TIC, which has a staff of 550 professionals working in six states and 136 different laboratories. 

A senior technology executive with 23 years of experience in national security research, Hudgens has also held positions at optical networking firm Mahi Networks, defense contractor Raytheon Electronic Systems, and semiconductor company Texas Instruments.  In 2013, he won the Department of Energy Secretary’s Honor Award for Achievement for leading the Copperhead counter-IED program.

“Jim Hudgens has extensive experience building and leading federally sponsored programs that are at the center of GTRI’s core research areas,” said Chaouki Abdallah, Georgia Tech’s Executive Vice President for Research.  “His experience developing and managing programs at Sandia National Laboratories and major private-sector defense contractors will support GTRI’s continued growth in service to our nation’s defense agencies and other important state and federal sponsors.”

Continue reading at:  Georgia Tech News Center

Georgia smart communities challenge selects four new community projects

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After a successful launch in 2018, Georgia Tech’s Georgia Smart Communities Challenge named four new grant recipients at a special event at the government center in Macon June 18.

The 2019 winning proposals are Columbus Smart Uptown, Macon Smart Neighborhoods, Milton Smarter Safer Routes to School, and Woodstock Smart Master Plan and Corridor Study.

This is the second round of Georgia Smart Communities Challenge, a funding and technical assistance program for local governments in the state of Georgia.  Recipients are to develop a pilot project around mobility and equity and smart resilience with assistance from a Georgia Tech researcher.  The projects utilize smart technology such as intelligent infrastructures, information, and communication technologies; Internet-of-Things devices; and other computational or digital technologies such as data centers and portals, web and smartphone applications, and automated digital services.

“Georgia Tech is very proud to have played a leadership role in the Georgia Smart program, which we believe will improve the quality of life in the participating communities and also provide models for other communities throughout Georgia to consider as they strive to make life better for their citizens,” said Georgia Tech President G.P. “Bud” Peterson.

Continue reading at:  Georgia Tech News Center

Cabrera named President of the Georgia Institute of Technology

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The Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia (USG) recently named Dr. Ángel Cabrera president of the Georgia Institute of Technology.  He will assume the position before September 15, 2019.

“Georgia Tech will continue to excel under the leadership of Dr. Cabrera,” said USG Chancellor Steve Wrigley.  “His experience, skillset and deep ties to his alma mater will serve the campus community well, and his vision for the future will help lead Georgia Tech to new heights.  I am grateful to the Board of Regents and the search committee for their time and effort in this selection process, and I congratulate Dr. Cabrera on his new role.”

Cabrera has served as president of George Mason University (GMU), a top-tier research institution and the largest public university in Virginia, since 2012.

“Dr. Cabrera is an excellent choice to lead Georgia Tech as its next president,” said Board of Regents Chairman Don Waters.  “I am confident that he will work diligently on behalf of students while advancing Georgia Tech’s growth, priorities and world-class reputation.  On behalf of the Board of Regents, I welcome Dr. Cabrera back to Georgia Tech and look forward to working with him.”

Continue Reading at:  University System of Georgia website

Georgia Tech marks $42 million expanded research presence in Cobb County

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A Cobb County facility expanded to the tune of $42 million is expected to play a larger role in the state’s aerospace industry and the country’s defense efforts.

Officials with Georgia Tech Research Institute — a nonprofit, applied research division of the Georgia Institute of Technology — cut the ribbon Wednesday, May 8th on its expanded Cobb County Research Facility off Atlanta Road and adjacent to both Dobbins Air Reserve Base and Lockheed Martin.

Wednesday’s ceremony unveiled the redeveloped 350,000 square feet of space, which came to GTRI after it purchased for $21 million four buildings on an unused, 52-acre Lockheed Martin site in December 2017, the MDJ previously reported.  The additional space will give the university entity more room to support its research goals, which its interim director, Lora Weiss, said is of “incredible importance” to national security.

Continue reading at:  Marietta Daily Journal

Georgia Tech to host international conference on Internet of Things and sustainability

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The Georgia Institute of Technology’s Center for the Development and Application of Internet of Things Technologies (CDAIT) will host an international conference on the Internet of Things (IoT) and sustainability July 18, 2019, at the Georgia Tech Research Institute in Atlanta.

Titled “The Internet of Things for Sustainability is Smart Business,” the conference will explore catalysts and use cases to examine some of the key promises and challenges that relate to the application of IoT technologies toward building a sustainable world.  Secondarily, the conference aims to highlight the business opportunities that exist at the intersection of IoT and sustainability.

Continue reading at:  Georgia Tech News Center

Georgia Tech symposium offers vision of Atlanta as global higher education hub

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More than three hundred representatives of non-profits, community organizations, K-12 educators, and university faculty members from around Atlanta and the nation gathered on the Georgia Institute of Technology campus in April for the inaugural Atlanta Global Studies Symposium.

The April 25–27 symposium focused on global education, advanced language learning, international studies, and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

The symposium and other initiatives of the Atlanta Global Studies Center —a partnership of Georgia Tech and Georgia State University — have helped to highlight the city’s growing role as a global hub for higher education, said President G.P. “Bud” Peterson.

“Our city is building a rich ecosystem and infrastructure of research, development, and education that is bringing the world to the Southeast and Georgia to the world,” Peterson told the symposium.  “Leveraging this richness in partnership with the public and private sector is one of the most exciting prospects of this new center — and this symposium.  It has the potential to connect people to issues that are critically significant to longer-term sustainable development.”

Read more at the: Georgia Tech News Center

SBA and Atlanta MBDA to host 8(a) training event May 13th

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The SBA Georgia District Office and Atlanta MBDA Business and Advanced Manufacturing Centers will be jointly hosting a half-day event related to the SBA’s 8(a) Business Development Program.  The purpose of the event is to foster new 8(a) applicants and to provide instruction to current 8(a) participants on how to maximize the impact of their 8(a) program experience.  The event will also provide training on how 8(a) participants can prepare for transitioning out of the program successfully at the end of their program term.

Topics Include:

  • The Federal Contracting Market and the 8(a) Program
  • 8(a) Program Best Practices
  • 8(a) Program Eligibility and Application Process
  • Effective Marketing to Federal Agencies
  • Capacity Building Tools / Resources for Current 8(a) Participants

There is no fee to attend.  But seats are limited, so registration is required.

Date:  Monday, May 13, 2019

Time:  9:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. ET

Location:  Georgia Tech Research Institute Conference Center, 250 14th Street NW, Atlanta, GA 30318

Register here:  https://www.sba.gov/event/1640787

Chris Downing, vice president and director of Enterprise Innovation Institute, announces retirement

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Chris Downing, VP of EI2

Chris Downing, who has led the Georgia Institute of Technology’s economic development efforts as vice president and director of the Enterprise Innovation Institute (EI2), is retiring after 31 years of service.

Downing, who has led EI2 since 2016, leaves behind a decades-long legacy of leadership experience at Georgia Tech in technology-based economic development, university outreach and technical assistance, entrepreneurship and start-up support, and program management.

His retirement is effective June 1, 2019.

“I feel very fortunate for such a diverse and challenging career and to have shared so many good years with the Georgia Tech family, and I am very appreciative of the many faculty, staff, and students who have made my time at Georgia Tech so interesting and inspiring,” Downing said. “Although I am leaving my full-time duties, I look forward to staying connected to Georgia Tech and supporting its mission of progress and service.”

After leaving IBM where he was a mechanical facilities engineer, Downing joined Georgia Tech in 1988 as a senior research engineer with the Georgia Tech Research Institute.

In 1996, he joined EI2 — then called the Economic Development Institute (EDI) — as the Griffin regional office manager and provided industrial extension and economic development services to the south metro Atlanta region.

Two years later, he was named group manager of technology services for the Economic Development Institute, where he was charged with overall management of technology deployment and information technology services to more than 200 EDI staff and associates located both on campus and in 12 regional offices across the state. In addition, this group provided technical research services for EDI clients in industry, business, and community economic development organizations.

In 2005, he was tapped to lead EI2’s Industry Services group, which included several key outreach programs: the Georgia Manufacturing Extension Partnership (GaMEP), the Energy and Environmental Management Center, the Georgia Tech Procurement Assistance Center (GTPAC), the Southeast Trade Adjustment Assistance Center (SETAAC), and the Georgia Tech Regional Office Network.

Downing was named EI2’s associate vice president in 2013 and vice president in 2016.

In that time, he spearheaded the three-fold expansion of the Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC) and created the Venture Center space that has helped to attract several Fortune 100 corporate innovation centers to Technology Square.

His technology-based economic development efforts helped Georgia Tech and the EI2 win the prestigious “2014 Innovation Award” from the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, and the “2014 Outstanding Research Park Award” from the Association of Research Parks.

Most recently, Downing led the feasibility study for the expansion of Georgia Tech’s second research park, Technology Enterprise Park, into a broader life sciences and technology innovation district.

“Chris has been a tireless champion and supporter of our economic development initiatives, working to maintain strong partnerships across the state while creating new collaborations,” said Georgia Tech President G. P. “Bud” Peterson. “We appreciate his leadership role as Georgia Tech partners with the state to strengthen Georgia’s economy.”

Downing is a graduate of the University of Florida, where he earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering.

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