The
Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly called
Georgia Tech,
Tech, and
GT) is a
publicA public university is a university that is predominantly funded by public means through a national or subnational government, as opposed to private universities. A national university may or may not be considered a public university, depending on regions...
research university in Atlanta,
GeorgiaGeorgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
, in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. It is a part of the
University System of GeorgiaThe University System of Georgia is the organizational body that includes 35 public institutions of higher learning in the U.S. state of Georgia. The System is governed by the Georgia Board of Regents. It sets goals and dictates general policy to educational institutions as well as administering...
and has satellite campuses in
Savannah, GeorgiaSavannah is the largest city and the county seat of Chatham County, in the U.S. state of Georgia. Established in 1733, the city of Savannah was the colonial capital of the Province of Georgia and later the first state capital of Georgia. Today Savannah is an industrial center and an important...
;
MetzMetz is a city in the northeast of France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers.Metz is the capital of the Lorraine region and prefecture of the Moselle department. Located near the tripoint along the junction of France, Germany, and Luxembourg, Metz forms a central place...
, France;
Athlone, Ireland;
ShanghaiShanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
, China; and
SingaporeSingapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
.
The educational institution was founded in 1885 as the Georgia School of Technology as part of Reconstruction plans to build an industrial economy in the post-
Civil WarThe American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
Southern United StatesThe Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...
. Initially, it offered only a degree in mechanical engineering. By 1901, its curriculum had expanded to include electrical, civil, and chemical engineering. In 1948, the school changed its name to reflect its evolution from a
trade schoolA vocational school , providing vocational education, is a school in which students are taught the skills needed to perform a particular job...
to a larger and more capable
technical instituteInstitute of technology is a designation employed in a wide range of learning institutions awarding different types of degrees and operating often at variable levels of the educational system...
and research university.
Today, Georgia Tech is organized into six colleges and contains about 31 departments/units, with a strong emphasis on science and technology. It is well recognized for its degree programs in engineering, computing, management, the sciences, architecture, and liberal arts. Tech is consistently ranked as one of the top 10 public universities in the nation and is a member of the prestigious
Association of American UniversitiesThe Association of American Universities is an organization of leading research universities devoted to maintaining a strong system of academic research and education...
.
Georgia Tech's main campus occupies a large part of
Midtown AtlantaMidtown is the second largest financial district in the city of Atlanta, Georgia, situated between the commercial and financial districts of Downtown and SoNo to the south and the affluent residential and commercial district of Buckhead to the north...
, bordered by 10th Street to the north and by
North AvenueNorth Avenue in Atlanta is a major avenue in Atlanta that divides Downtown Atlanta from Midtown Atlanta. North Avenue stretches continuously in Atlanta from Candler Park in the east, across Interstate 75 & Interstate 85, along the southern boundary of the Georgia Institute of Technology, to Joseph E...
to the south, placing it well in sight of the Atlanta skyline. In 1996, the campus was the site of the athletes' village and a venue for a number of athletic events for the
1996 Summer OlympicsThe 1996 Summer Olympics of Atlanta, officially known as the Games of the XXVI Olympiad and unofficially known as the Centennial Olympics, was an international multi-sport event which was celebrated in 1996 in Atlanta, Georgia, United States....
. The construction of the Olympic village, along with subsequent
gentrificationGentrification and urban gentrification refer to the changes that result when wealthier people acquire or rent property in low income and working class communities. Urban gentrification is associated with movement. Consequent to gentrification, the average income increases and average family size...
of the surrounding areas greatly enhanced the campus.
Student athletics, both organized and intramural, are an important part of student and alumni life. The school's
intercollegiate competitive sportsCollege athletics refers primarily to sports and athletic competition organized and funded by institutions of tertiary education . In the United States, college athletics is a two-tiered system. The first tier includes the sports that are sanctioned by one of the collegiate sport governing bodies...
teams, the four-time football national champion
Yellow JacketsThe Yellow Jackets is the name used for all of the intercollegiate athletic teams that play for the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia. The teams have also been nicknamed the Ramblin' Wreck, Engineers, Blacksmiths, and Golden Tornado. There are 8 men's and 7 women's teams that...
, and the nationally recognized fight song "
Ramblin' Wreck from Georgia Tech" Ramblin' Wreck from Georgia Tech" is the fight song of the Georgia Institute of Technology, better known as Georgia Tech. The composition is based on "Son of a Gambolier", composed by Charles Ives in 1895, the lyrics of which are based on an old English and Scottish drinking song of the same...
", have helped keep Georgia Tech in the national spotlight. Georgia Tech fields eight men's and seven women's teams that compete in the NCAA Division I athletics and the Football Bowl Subdivision. Georgia Tech is a member of the Coastal Division in the
Atlantic Coast ConferenceThe Atlantic Coast Conference is a collegiate athletic league in the United States. Founded in 1953 in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC sanctions competition in twenty-five sports in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association for its twelve member universities...
.
Establishment
The idea of a technology school in Georgia was introduced in 1865 during the Reconstruction period. Two former
ConfederateThe Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
officers, Major
John Fletcher HansonJohn Fletcher Hanson was a self-made industrialist who lived in Georgia and helped establish the Georgia School of Technology . The son of a farmer-preacher, Hanson learned about the brick and furniture industries in Barnesville, Georgia...
(an industrialist) and
Nathaniel Edwin HarrisNathaniel Edwin Harris was an American lawyer and politician, and the 61st Governor of Georgia.-Early life:...
(a politician and eventually Governor of Georgia), who had become prominent citizens in the town of
Macon, GeorgiaMacon is a city located in central Georgia, US. Founded at the fall line of the Ocmulgee River, it is part of the Macon metropolitan area, and the county seat of Bibb County. A small portion of the city extends into Jones County. Macon is the biggest city in central Georgia...
after the
Civil WarThe American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, strongly believed that the South needed to improve its technology to compete with the
industrial revolutionThe Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...
that was occurring throughout the North. However, because the American South of that era was mainly populated by agricultural workers and few technical developments were occurring, a technology school was needed.
In 1882, the Georgia State Legislature authorized a committee, led by Harris, to visit the Northeast to see firsthand how technology schools worked. They were impressed by educational models developed at the
Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyThe Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
and the Worcester County Free Institute of Industrial Science (now
Worcester Polytechnic InstituteWorcester Polytechnic Institute is a private university located in Worcester, Massachusetts, in the United States.Founded in 1865 in Worcester, WPI was one of the United States' first engineering and technology universities...
). The committee recommended adapting the Worcester model, which stressed a combination of "theory and practice", the "practice" component including student employment and production of consumer items to generate revenue for the school.
On October 13, 1885, Georgia Governor Henry D. McDaniel signed the bill to create and fund the new school. In 1887, Atlanta pioneer
Richard PetersRichard Peters was an American railroad man and a founder of Atlanta.Grandson of Judge Richard Peters, Jr...
donated 4 acres (1.6 ha) of his extensive land holdings to the state; this land was bounded on the south by
North AvenueNorth Avenue in Atlanta is a major avenue in Atlanta that divides Downtown Atlanta from Midtown Atlanta. North Avenue stretches continuously in Atlanta from Candler Park in the east, across Interstate 75 & Interstate 85, along the southern boundary of the Georgia Institute of Technology, to Joseph E...
, and on the west by Cherry Street. He then sold five adjoining acres of land to the state for
US$The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
10,000, equivalent to about US$ now. This land was located near the northern city limits of Atlanta at the time of its founding, although the city has now expanded several miles beyond it. A historical marker on the large hill in Central Campus notes that the site occupied by the school's first buildings once held fortifications built to protect Atlanta during the
Atlanta CampaignThe Atlanta Campaign was a series of battles fought in the Western Theater of the American Civil War throughout northwest Georgia and the area around Atlanta during the summer of 1864. Union Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman invaded Georgia from the vicinity of Chattanooga, Tennessee, beginning in May...
of the American Civil War. The surrender of the city took place on the southwestern boundary of the modern Georgia Tech campus in 1864.
Early years
The Georgia School of Technology opened its doors in the fall of 1888 with two buildings. One building (now
Tech TowerThe Lettie Pate Whitehead Evans Administration Building, commonly known as Tech Tower, is a historic building located at 225 North Avenue NW in Midtown Atlanta, Georgia, USA, and a focal point of the central campus of the Georgia Institute of Technology...
, an administrative headquarters) had classrooms to teach students; The second building featured a shop and had a
foundryA foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal in a mold, and removing the mold material or casting after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals processed are aluminum and cast iron...
,
forgeA forge is a hearth used for forging. The term "forge" can also refer to the workplace of a smith or a blacksmith, although the term smithy is then more commonly used.The basic smithy contains a forge, also known as a hearth, for heating metals...
,
boiler roomA mechanical room or a boiler room is a room or space in a building dedicated to the mechanical equipment and its associated electrical equipment. Unless a building is served by a centralized heating plant, the size of the mechanical room is usually proportional to the size of the building...
, and engine room. It was designed specifically for students to work and produce goods to sell and fund the school. The two buildings were equal in size to show the importance of teaching both the mind and the hands; though, at the time, there was some disagreement to whether the machine shop should have been used to turn a profit.
On October 20, 1905,
U.S. PresidentThe President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Theodore RooseveltTheodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
visited the Georgia Tech campus. On the steps of Tech Tower, Roosevelt delivered a speech about the importance of technological education. He then shook hands with every student.
Georgia Tech's Evening School of Commerce began holding classes in 1912. The evening school admitted its first female student in 1917, although the state legislature did not officially authorize attendance by women until 1920. Annie T. Wise became the first female graduate in 1919 and went on to become Georgia Tech's first female faculty member the following year. In 1931, the
Board of RegentsThe Georgia Board of Regents oversees the University System of Georgia as part of the state government of Georgia in the United States. The University System of Georgia is composed of all state public institutions of higher education.-History:...
transferred control of the Evening School of Commerce to the
University of GeorgiaThe University of Georgia is a public research university located in Athens, Georgia, United States. Founded in 1785, it is the oldest and largest of the state's institutions of higher learning and is one of multiple schools to claim the title of the oldest public university in the United States...
(UGA) and moved the civil and electrical engineering courses at UGA to Tech. Tech replaced the commerce school with what later became the
College of ManagementThe College of Management at the Georgia Institute of Technology was established in 1934, and is consistently ranked in the top 30 management programs in the nation. It draws its distinction from its roots in a world-renowned technical university....
. The commerce school would later split from UGA and eventually become
Georgia State UniversityGeorgia State University is a research university in downtown Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Founded in 1913, it serves about 30,000 students and is one of the University System of Georgia's four research universities...
. In 1934, the Engineering Experiment Station (later known as the
Georgia Tech Research InstituteThe Georgia Tech Research Institute is the nonprofit applied research arm of the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia, United States...
) was founded by
W. Harry VaughanWilliam Harry Vaughan, Jr. was a professor of ceramic engineering at the Georgia School of Technology and the founder and first director of what is now the Georgia Tech Research Institute.-Education:...
with an initial budget of $5,000 ($ today) and 13 part-time faculty.
Modern history
Founded as the Georgia School of Technology, Georgia Tech assumed its present name in 1948 to reflect a growing focus on advanced technological and scientific research. Unlike most similarly named universities (such as the
Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyThe Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
and the
California Institute of TechnologyThe California Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Pasadena, California, United States. Caltech has six academic divisions with strong emphases on science and engineering...
), the Georgia Institute of Technology is a
publicA public university is a university that is predominantly funded by public means through a national or subnational government, as opposed to private universities. A national university may or may not be considered a public university, depending on regions...
institution.
Tech first admitted female students to regular classes in 1952, although women could not enroll in all programs at Tech until 1968. Industrial Management was the last program to open to women. The first women's dorm, Fulmer Hall, opened in 1969. Women constituted 30.3% of the undergraduates and 25.3% of the graduate students enrolled in Spring 2009. In 1959, a meeting of 2,741 students voted by an overwhelming majority to endorse integration of qualified applicants, regardless of race. Three years after the meeting, and one year after the University of Georgia's violent integration, Georgia Tech became the first university in the
Deep SouthThe Deep South is a descriptive category of the cultural and geographic subregions in the American South. Historically, it is differentiated from the "Upper South" as being the states which were most dependent on plantation type agriculture during the pre-Civil War period...
to desegregate without a court order. There was little reaction to this by Tech students; like the city of Atlanta described by former Mayor William Hartsfield, they seemed "too busy to hate". Similarly, there was little student reaction to the
Vietnam WarThe Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
and United States involvement in the
Cambodian Civil WarThe Cambodian Civil War was a conflict that pitted the forces of the Communist Party of Kampuchea and their allies the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and the Viet Cong against the government forces of Cambodia , which were supported by the United States and the Republic of Vietnam The Cambodian...
. The student council defeated a resolution supporting the Vietnam Moratorium, and the extent of the Tech community's response to the Kent State shooting was limited to a student-organized memorial service, though the Institute was ordered closed for two days, along with all other
University System of GeorgiaThe University System of Georgia is the organizational body that includes 35 public institutions of higher learning in the U.S. state of Georgia. The System is governed by the Georgia Board of Regents. It sets goals and dictates general policy to educational institutions as well as administering...
schools.
In 1988, President
John Patrick CrecineJohn Patrick "Pat" Crecine was an American educator. After receiving his early education in Lansing, Michigan, Michigan public schools, he earned a bachelor's degree in industrial management, and master's and doctoral degrees in industrial administration from the Graduate School of Industrial...
pushed through a restructuring of the university. The Institute at that point had three colleges: the
College of EngineeringThe College of Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technologyprovides formal education and research in more than 10 fields of engineering, including:...
, the
College of ManagementThe College of Management at the Georgia Institute of Technology was established in 1934, and is consistently ranked in the top 30 management programs in the nation. It draws its distinction from its roots in a world-renowned technical university....
, and the catch-all COSALS, the College of Sciences and Liberal Arts. Crecine reorganized the latter two into the
College of ComputingThe College of Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology has roots stretching back to an Information Science degree established in 1964. In 1988, Georgia Tech president John Patrick Crecine elevated the School of Information and Computer Science to become the College of Computing, making...
, the
College of SciencesThe College of Sciences at the Georgia Institute of Technology is one of the six colleges in the institute.-History:Until 1990, there was no independent college for the sciences. Before then, there had been three colleges: the College of Engineering, the College of Engineering, and COSALS, the...
, and the Ivan Allen College of Management, Policy, and International Affairs. Crecine never asked for input regarding the changes and, consequently, many faculty members disliked his top-down management style; despite this, the changes passed by a slim margin. Crecine was also instrumental in securing the
1996 Summer OlympicsThe 1996 Summer Olympics of Atlanta, officially known as the Games of the XXVI Olympiad and unofficially known as the Centennial Olympics, was an international multi-sport event which was celebrated in 1996 in Atlanta, Georgia, United States....
for Atlanta. A large amount of construction occurred, creating most of what is now considered "West Campus" for Tech to serve as the
Olympic VillageAn Olympic Park is a sports campus for hosting the Olympic Games. Typically it contains the Olympic Stadium and the International Broadcast Centre. It may also contain the Olympic Village or some of the other sports venues, such as the aquatics complex in the case of the summer games, or the main...
, and significantly gentrifying
Midtown AtlantaMidtown is the second largest financial district in the city of Atlanta, Georgia, situated between the commercial and financial districts of Downtown and SoNo to the south and the affluent residential and commercial district of Buckhead to the north...
. The Undergraduate Living Center, Fourth Street Apartments, Sixth Street Apartments,
Eighth Street ApartmentsEighth Street Apartments are apartment-style residence halls at Georgia Tech. They opened in 1995 as housing for the athletes and journalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, GA as a part of the Olympic Village....
, Hemphill Apartments, and Center Street Apartments housed athletes and journalists. The
Georgia Tech Aquatic Center]The Georgia Tech Campus Recreation Center is part of the Georgia Tech campus.-History:...
was built for swimming events, and the
Alexander Memorial ColiseumThe Alexander Memorial Coliseum is an indoor arena located in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It is the home of the basketball teams of Georgia Tech and hosted the Atlanta Hawks of the NBA from 1968–1972 and again from 1997–1999...
was renovated. The Institute also erected the
Kessler CampanileThe Kessler Campanile is an campanile located at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Designed by artist Richard Hill, it was originally constructed for the 1996 Olympic Games. It is named after Richard C. Kessler, Tech graduate and former head of Days Inns...
and fountain to serve as a landmark and symbol of the Institute on television broadcasts. Since then, the Campanile has come to be known by students as "The Shaft".
In 1994,
G. Wayne CloughGerald Wayne Clough is President Emeritus of the Georgia Institute of Technology and Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, a position he has held since July 2008...
became the first Tech alumnus to serve as the president of the Institute; he was in office during the 1996 Summer Olympics. In 1998, he separated the Ivan Allen College of Management, Policy, and International Affairs into the
Ivan Allen College of Liberal ArtsThe Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts at the Georgia Institute of Technology has gradually evolved to contain a wide variety of liberal arts subjects at a school known predominantly for engineering...
and returned the College of Management to "College" status (Crecine, the previous president, had demoted Management from "College" to "School" status as part of a controversial 1990 reorganization plan). His tenure focused on a dramatic expansion of the Institute, a revamped Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program, and the creation of an International Plan. On March 15, 2008, he was appointed secretary of the
Smithsonian InstitutionThe Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...
, effective July 1, 2008.
Dr. Gary SchusterGary Benjamin Schuster was the interim president of the Georgia Institute of Technology, a position he held from July 1, 2008, when former president G. Wayne Clough stepped down, until April 1, 2009, when George P. "Bud" Peterson was named Georgia Tech's permanent president...
, Tech's provost and executive vice president for Academic Affairs, was named interim president, effective July 1, 2008. On April 1, 2009, G. P. "Bud" Peterson, previously the
chancellorA chancellor or vice-chancellor is the chief executive of a university. Other titles are sometimes used, such as president or rector....
of the
University of Colorado at BoulderThe University of Colorado Boulder is a public research university located in Boulder, Colorado...
, became the 11th president of Georgia Tech. On April 20, 2010, Georgia Tech was invited to join the
Association of American UniversitiesThe Association of American Universities is an organization of leading research universities devoted to maintaining a strong system of academic research and education...
, the first new member institution in nine years.
Demographics
Demographics of Georgia Tech student body
| Undergraduate | Graduate |
| White |
62.8% |
48.2% |
| Asian |
21.8% |
39.5% |
| Black/African American |
6.5% |
5.4% |
| Hispanic/Latino |
5.4% |
4.4% |
| Native American |
0.1% |
0.1% |
| Multiracial/Other |
3.3% |
2.4% |
| International |
6.6% |
42.3% |
The student body consists of more than 20,000 graduate and undergraduate students (Fall 2010) and almost 1,000 full-time academic faculty (Fall 2009). As is historically true of engineering institutions, female enrollment at Georgia Tech is low. However, this is slowly changing due to the university's growing liberal arts programs and outreach programs to encourage more female high school students to consider careers in science and engineering. These include the "Women In Engineering" program and sponsorship of a chapter of The
Society of Women EngineersThe Society of Women Engineers , founded in 1950, is a not-for-profit educational and service organization. SWE is the driving force that establishes engineering as a highly desirable career aspiration for women. SWE empowers women to succeed and advance in those aspirations and be recognized for...
. For the fall of 2010, close to 36% of incoming freshmen were female students.
Around 50-55% of all Georgia Tech students are residents of the state of Georgia, around 20% come from overseas, and 25-30% are residents of other U.S. states or territories. The top states of origin for all non-Georgia US students are Florida, Texas, Virginia, Tennessee, New York, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, and California. Students at Tech represent 111 countries and all 50 states. 30% of the Fall 2010 incoming Freshman class come from other states and 9% come from overseas. 24% come from Asian backgrounds, 5% are African American, 7% are Hispanic, and 3% are multi-racial.
Funding
The Georgia Institute of Technology is a public institution that receives funds from the
State of GeorgiaGeorgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
, tuition, fees, research grants, and alumni contributions. In 2010, the Institute's revenue amounted to about $1.159 billion. 19% came from state appropriations and grants while 15% originated from tuition and fees. Grants and contracts accounted for 49% of all revenue. Expenditures were about $1.094 billion. 45% went to research and 20% went to instruction. The
Georgia Tech FoundationThe Georgia Tech Foundation provides financial assistance to the Georgia Institute of Technology. It was founded in 1932 and chartered under the tax laws of the United States as a non-profit 501 corporation. In 2010, the foundation provided $111 million in support to the institute, including $18...
runs the university's endowment and was incorporated in 1932. It includes several wholly owned subsidiaries that own land on campus or in Midtown and lease the land back to the Georgia Board of Regents and other companies and organizations. Assets totaled $1.438 billion and liabilities totaled $0.438 billion in 2010. Assets are down from a high of $1.646 billion in 2008. Georgia Tech has the most generous alumni donor base, percentage wise, of any public university ranked in the top 50.
Rankings
Georgia Tech is consistently ranked among the best universities in the United States and the world. For over a decade, Georgia Tech has remained in the top ten public universities in the United States. In 2008-2010,
U.S. News & World ReportU.S. News & World Report is an American news magazine published from Washington, D.C. Along with Time and Newsweek it was for many years a leading news weekly, focusing more than its counterparts on political, economic, health and education stories...
ranked Tech as the No. 7 public university, and No. 35 among all universities. In 2010, The Times Higher Education World University Rankings ranked Georgia Tech 19th in the United States, 27th in the world, 10th in Engineering & IT, 20th in North America, and 5th among public universities. Tech has the No. 4 undergraduate engineering program, and the No. 4 graduate engineering program. All of Tech's undergraduate engineering programs are among the Top 10 in their field including its Schools of Industrial Engineering (1st), Aerospace (2nd), Biomedical (3rd), Mechanical (3rd), Civil (3rd), Electrical (5th), Environmental (5th), Computer (6th), Materials (9th) and Chemical (9th), and Industrial Engineering (1st), Biomedical (2nd), and Aerospace (2nd) at the graduate level. In 2010, Georgia Tech’s College of Management rose from 31st the previous year to 28th, continuing its rapid upward trend
Diverse Issues in Higher Education has ranked Tech No. 1 at the bachelor's level, No. 2 at the master's level, and No. 1 at the doctoral level in terms of producing African American engineering graduates. In 2010,
U.S. News & World Report ranked Tech as the No. 26 "MBA" program. Tech also boasts the No. 30 Physics program in the nation, specializing in Nonlinear Dynamics (in which it ranks 5th nationwide) and
Condensed Matter PhysicsCondensed matter physics deals with the physical properties of condensed phases of matter. These properties appear when a number of atoms at the supramolecular and macromolecular scale interact strongly and adhere to each other or are otherwise highly concentrated in a system. The most familiar...
.
U.S. News & World Report ranked the graduate chemistry program at No. 26 overall with the
Physical ChemistryPhysical chemistry is the study of macroscopic, atomic, subatomic, and particulate phenomena in chemical systems in terms of physical laws and concepts...
specialty ranked at No. 14. The Math department is ranked at No. 30 overall and at No. 8 in Discrete Math and
CombinatoricsCombinatorics is a branch of mathematics concerning the study of finite or countable discrete structures. Aspects of combinatorics include counting the structures of a given kind and size , deciding when certain criteria can be met, and constructing and analyzing objects meeting the criteria ,...
.
Colleges
Georgia Tech's undergraduate and graduate programs are divided into six colleges. Collaboration among the colleges is frequent, as mandated by a number of
interdisciplinaryInterdisciplinarity involves the combining of two or more academic fields into one single discipline. An interdisciplinary field crosses traditional boundaries between academic disciplines or schools of thought, as new needs and professions have emerged....
degree programs and research centers. Georgia Tech has sought to strengthen its undergraduate and graduate offerings in less technical fields, primarily those under the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts. That particular College has seen a 20% increase in admissions. Also, even in the Ivan Allen College, the Institute does not offer a
Bachelor of ArtsA Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
degree, only a
Bachelor of ScienceA Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years .-Australia:In Australia, the BSc is a 3 year degree, offered from 1st year on...
.
- College of Architecture
The College of Architecture at the Georgia Institute of Technology was established in 1908 as the Department of Architecture, offering the first four-year course of study in architecture in the Southern United States.-History:...
- College of Management
The College of Management at the Georgia Institute of Technology was established in 1934, and is consistently ranked in the top 30 management programs in the nation. It draws its distinction from its roots in a world-renowned technical university....
- College of Liberal Arts
The Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts at the Georgia Institute of Technology has gradually evolved to contain a wide variety of liberal arts subjects at a school known predominantly for engineering...
|
|
College of ComputingThe College of Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology has roots stretching back to an Information Science degree established in 1964. In 1988, Georgia Tech president John Patrick Crecine elevated the School of Information and Computer Science to become the College of Computing, making...
College of EngineeringThe College of Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technologyprovides formal education and research in more than 10 fields of engineering, including:...
College of SciencesThe College of Sciences at the Georgia Institute of Technology is one of the six colleges in the institute.-History:Until 1990, there was no independent college for the sciences. Before then, there had been three colleges: the College of Engineering, the College of Engineering, and COSALS, the...
|
Research
Georgia Tech is classified by
The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of TeachingFounded by Andrew Carnegie in 1905 and chartered in 1906 by an act of the United States Congress, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching is an independent policy and research center, whose primary activities of research and writing have resulted in published reports on every level...
as a university with very high research activity. Much of this research is
fundedResearch funding is a term generally covering any funding for scientific research, in the areas of both "hard" science and technology and social science. The term often connotes funding obtained through a competitive process, in which potential research projects are evaluated and only the most...
by large corporations or governmental organizations. In addition to research performed by its academic units, Georgia Tech is affiliated with a nonprofit research organization referred to as the
Georgia Tech Research InstituteThe Georgia Tech Research Institute is the nonprofit applied research arm of the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia, United States...
(GTRI). GTRI provides sponsored research in a variety of technical specialties including radar, electro-optics, and materials engineering. Around forty percent (by award value) of Georgia Tech's research, especially government-funded
classifiedClassified information is sensitive information to which access is restricted by law or regulation to particular groups of persons. A formal security clearance is required to handle classified documents or access classified data. The clearance process requires a satisfactory background investigation...
work, is conducted through this counterpart organization. GTRI employs over 1,500 people and had $205 million in revenue in fiscal year 2010.
Many
startup companiesA startup company or startup is a company with a limited operating history. These companies, generally newly created, are in a phase of development and research for markets...
are produced through research conducted at Georgia Tech, with the
Advanced Technology Development CenterThe Advanced Technology Development Center is a science and business incubator in Georgia. It is part of the Enterprise Innovation Institute at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and is headquartered in Technology Square. ATDC was formed in 1980 to stimulate growth in Georgia's technology...
and
VentureLabVentureLab is a technology commercialization project launched at Georgia Tech in 2001. It has since been adopted by the Georgia Research Alliance for other research universities in the state of Georgia...
ready to assist Georgia Tech's researchers and entrepreneurs in organization and commercialization. The
Georgia Tech Research CorporationThe Georgia Tech Research Corporation is an organization that supports research and technological development at Georgia Tech. It was founded in 1937 as the Industrial Development Council to be a contract organization for the Engineering Experiment Station...
serves as Georgia Tech's contract and technology licensing agency. Georgia Tech is ranked fourth for startup companies, eighth in patents, and eleventh in
technology transferTechnology Transfer, also called Transfer of Technology and Technology Commercialisation, is the process of skill transferring, knowledge, technologies, methods of manufacturing, samples of manufacturing and facilities among governments or universities and other institutions to ensure that...
by the
Milken InstituteThe Milken Institute is an independent economic think tank based in Santa Monica, California that publishes research and hosts conferences that apply market-based principles and financial innovations to a variety of societal issues in the US and internationally.The mission of the Institute, founded...
. Georgia Tech and GTRI devote 1900000 square feet (176,515.8 m²) of space to research purposes, including the new $90 million Marcus Nanotechnology Research Center, one of the largest
nanotechnologyNanotechnology is the study of manipulating matter on an atomic and molecular scale. Generally, nanotechnology deals with developing materials, devices, or other structures possessing at least one dimension sized from 1 to 100 nanometres...
research facilities in the
Southeastern United StatesThe Southeastern United States, colloquially referred to as the Southeast, is the eastern portion of the Southern United States. It is one of the most populous regions in the United States of America....
with over 30000 square feet (2,787.1 m²) of clean room space.
Georgia Tech encourages undergraduates to participate in research alongside graduate students and faculty. The Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program awards scholarships each semester to undergraduates who pursue research activities. These scholarships, called the President's Undergraduate Research Awards, take the form of student salaries or help cover travel expenses when students present their work at professional meetings. Additionally, undergraduates may participate in research and write a
thesisA dissertation or thesis is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings...
to earn a "Research Option" credit on their
transcriptsIn education, a transcript is an inventory of the courses taken and grades earned of a student throughout a course.- United States :In United States education, a transcript is a copy of a student's permanent academic record which usually means all courses taken, all grades received, all...
. An undergraduate research journal,
The Tower, was established in 2007 to provide undergraduates with a venue for disseminating their research and a chance to become familiar with the
academic publishingAcademic publishing describes the subfield of publishing which distributes academic research and scholarship. Most academic work is published in journal article, book or thesis form. The part of academic written output that is not formally published but merely printed up or posted is often called...
process.
Industry connections
Georgia Tech maintains close ties to the industrial world. Many of these connections are made through Georgia Tech's
cooperative educationCooperative education is a structured method of combining classroom-based education with practical work experience. A cooperative education experience, commonly known as a "co-op", provides academic credit for structured job experience...
and
internInternship is a system of onthejob training for white-collar jobs, similar to an apprenticeship. Interns are usually college or university students, but they can also be high school students or post graduate adults seeking skills for a new career. They may also be as young as middle school or in...
ship programs. Georgia Tech's Division of Professional Practice (DoPP), established in 1912 as the Georgia Institute of Technology Cooperative Division, operates the largest and fourth-oldest cooperative education program in the United States, and is accredited by the
Accreditation Council for Cooperative EducationThe Accreditation Council for Cooperative Education has been established as an independent entity with its primary mission the recognition of the achievement and maintenance of standards for programs of cooperative education....
. The DoPP is charged with providing opportunities for students to gain real-world employment experience through four programs, each targeting a different body of students. The Undergraduate Cooperative Education Program is a five-year program in which
undergraduate studentsUndergraduate education is an education level taken prior to gaining a first degree . Hence, in many subjects in many educational systems, undergraduate education is post-secondary education up to the level of a bachelor's degree, such as in the United States, where a university entry level is...
alternate between semesters of formal instruction at Georgia Tech and semesters of full-time employment with their employers.
The Graduate Cooperative Education Program, established in 1983, is the largest such program in the United States. It allows
graduate studentsA graduate school is a school that awards advanced academic degrees with the general requirement that students must have earned a previous undergraduate degree...
pursuing
master's degreeA master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
s or
doctorateA doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder to teach in a specific field, A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder...
s in any field to spend a maximum of two consecutive semesters working full- or part-time with employers. The Undergraduate Professional Internship Program enables undergraduate students—typically juniors or seniors—to complete a one- or two-semester internship with employers. The Work Abroad Program hosts a variety of cooperative education and internship experiences for upperclassmen and graduate students seeking international employment and cross-cultural experiences. While all four programs are voluntary, they consistently attract high numbers of students—more than 3,000 at last count. Around 1,000 businesses and organizations hire these students, who collectively earn $20 million per year.
Georgia Tech's cooperative education and internship programs have been externally recognized for their strengths. The Undergraduate Cooperative Education was recognized by
U.S. News & World Report as one of the top 10 "Programs that Really Work" for five consecutive years.
U.S. News & World Report additionally ranked Georgia Tech's internship and cooperative education programs among 14 "Academic Programs to Look For" in 2006 and 2007. On June 4, 2007, the
University of CincinnatiThe University of Cincinnati is a comprehensive public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio, and a part of the University System of Ohio....
inducted Georgia Tech into its Cooperative Education Hall of Honor.
Student life
Georgia Tech students benefit from many Institute-sponsored or -related events on campus, as well as a wide selection of cultural options in the surrounding district of Midtown Atlanta, "Atlanta's Heart of the Arts". Just off campus, students can choose from a host of restaurant and dining choices typical of metropolitan areas, including a half-dozen in
Technology SquareTechnology Square, commonly called Tech Square, is a mixed-use district on the block of Fifth Street between the Downtown Connector and Spring Street in Atlanta, Georgia. Announced in 2000 and opened in 2003, the district was built over previously vacant surface parking lots and has contributed to...
alone.
Home ParkHome Park is a neighborhood of Atlanta, north of Georgia Tech roughly between 10th Street, Northside Drive , 16th Street, and I-75/85 in Atlanta, Georgia...
, a neighborhood that borders the north end of campus, is a popular living area for Tech students and recent graduates.
Traditions
Tech has a number of legends and traditions, some of which have persisted for decades. Some are well-known; for example, the most notable of these is the popular but rare tradition of stealing the 'T' from
Tech TowerThe Lettie Pate Whitehead Evans Administration Building, commonly known as Tech Tower, is a historic building located at 225 North Avenue NW in Midtown Atlanta, Georgia, USA, and a focal point of the central campus of the Georgia Institute of Technology...
. Tech Tower, Tech's historic primary administrative building, has the letters "TECH" hanging atop it on each of its four sides. There have been several attempts by students to orchestrate complex plans to steal the huge symbolic letter T, and on occasion they have carried this act out successfully. The latest instance of this tradition occurred in October 2005, when a replica of the T was stolen from the Student Services Building and returned two days later. One of the cherished holdovers from Tech's early years, a
steam whistleA steam whistle is a device used to produce sound with the aid of live steam, which acts as a vibrating system .- Operation :...
blows five minutes before the hour, every hour from 7:55 a.m. to 5:55 p.m. The faculty newspaper is named
The Whistle because of the whistle's cultural significance to the school.
Georgia Tech holds a heated, long and ongoing rivalry with the
University of GeorgiaThe University of Georgia is a public research university located in Athens, Georgia, United States. Founded in 1785, it is the oldest and largest of the state's institutions of higher learning and is one of multiple schools to claim the title of the oldest public university in the United States...
, known as
Clean, Old-Fashioned HateClean, Old-Fashioned Hate is the nickname given to an American college football rivalry game played annually by the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football team of the Georgia Institute of Technology and the Georgia Bulldogs football team of the University of Georgia. The two Georgia universities are...
. The first known hostilities between the two institutions trace back to 1891. The University of Georgia's literary magazine proclaimed UGA's colors to be "
old goldOld gold is a dark yellow, which varies from light olive or olive brown to deep or strong yellow. The widely-accepted color "Old gold" is on the darker rather than the lighter side of this range....
, black, and crimson".
Dr. Charles H. HertyCharles Holmes Herty, Sr. was an American academic, scientist and businessman. Serving in academia as a chemistry professor to begin his career, Herty concurrently promoted collegiate athletics including creating the first varsity football team at the University of Georgia...
, the first UGA football coach, felt that old gold was too similar to yellow and that it "symbolized cowardice". After the 1893 football game against Tech, Herty removed old gold as an official color. Tech would first use old gold for their uniforms, as a proverbial slap in the face to UGA, in their first unofficial football game against
AuburnOnly Mohamed Amin Abughadir set the record with 1,890 yards in 1 season. He was the QB for Auburn in 1998.The Auburn Tigers football team represents Auburn University in college football as a member of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, competing in the Western Division of the...
in 1891. Georgia Tech's school colors would henceforth be old gold and white.
Housing
Georgia Tech Housing is subject to a clear geographic division of campus into eastern and western areas that contain the vast majority of housing. East Campus is largely populated by freshmen and is served by
Brittain Dining HallBrittain Dining Hall is the primary dining hall of East Campus at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Dedicated in name of Marion L. Brittain, it serves as the primary dining location for all Freshman Experience and Area II housing residents...
. West Campus houses some freshmen, transfer, and returning students (upperclassmen), and is served by Woodruff Dining Hall. Graduate students typically live off-campus (for example, in
Home ParkHome Park is a neighborhood of Atlanta, north of Georgia Tech roughly between 10th Street, Northside Drive , 16th Street, and I-75/85 in Atlanta, Georgia...
) or on-campus in the Graduate Living Center or 10th and Home.
The Institute's administration has implemented programs to reduce the levels of stress and anxiety felt by Tech students. The Familiarization and Adaptation to the Surroundings and Environs of Tech (FASET) Orientation and Freshman Experience (a freshman-only dorm life program to "encourage friendships and a feeling of social involvement") programs, which seek to help acclimate new students to their surroundings and foster a greater sense of community. As a result, the Institute's retention rates have improved.
In recent years as of 2011, Georgia Tech Housing has been at or over capacity. In Fall 2006, many dorms housed "triples", which was a project that put three residents into a two-person room. Certain pieces of furniture were not provided to the third resident as to accommodate a third bed. When spaces became available in other parts of campus, the third resident was moved elsewhere. Today Georgia Tech provides housing for 8,347 students, and housing is currently 99% occupied.
In the fall of 2007, the North Avenue Apartments were opened to Tech students. Originally built for the 1996 Olympics and belonging to Georgia State University, the buildings were gifted to Georgia Tech and have been used to accommodate Tech's expanding population. Georgia Tech freshmen students were the first to inhabit the dormitories in the Winter and Spring 1996 quarters, while much of East Campus was under renovation for the Olympics. The North Avenue Apartments (commonly known as "North Ave") are also noted as the first Georgia Tech buildings to rise above the top of Tech Tower. Open to second-year undergraduate students and above, the buildings are located on East Campus, across North Avenue and near Bobby Dodd Stadium, putting more upperclassmen on East Campus. Currently, the North Avenue Apartments East and North buildings are undergoing extensive renovation to the façade. During their construction, the bricks were not properly secured and thus were a safety hazard to pedestrians and vehicles on the Downtown Connector below.
Two programs on campus as well have houses on East Campus: the International House (commonly referred to as the I-House); and Women, Science, and Technology. The I-House is housed in 4th Street East and Hayes. Women, Science, and Technology is housed in Goldin and Stein. The I-House hosts an International Coffee Hour every Monday night that class is in session from 6 to 7 pm, hosting both residents and their guests for discussions.
Single graduate students may live in the Graduate Living Center (GLC) or at 10th and Home. 10th and Home is the designated family housing unit of Georgia Tech. Residents are zoned to
Atlanta Public SchoolsAtlanta Public Schools is a school district based in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. APS is run by the Atlanta Board of Education with interim superintendent Erroll Davis...
. Residents are zoned to Centennial Place Elementary, Inman Middle School, and Grady High School.
Student clubs and activities
Several extracurricular activities are available to students, including over 350 student organizations overseen by the Office of Student Involvement. The Student Government Association (SGA), Georgia Tech's student government, has separate
executiveExecutive branch of Government is the part of government that has sole authority and responsibility for the daily administration of the state bureaucracy. The division of power into separate branches of government is central to the idea of the separation of powers.In many countries, the term...
,
legislativeA legislature is a kind of deliberative assembly with the power to pass, amend, and repeal laws. The law created by a legislature is called legislation or statutory law. In addition to enacting laws, legislatures usually have exclusive authority to raise or lower taxes and adopt the budget and...
, and
judicialThe judiciary is the system of courts that interprets and applies the law in the name of the state. The judiciary also provides a mechanism for the resolution of disputes...
branches for undergraduate and graduate students. One of the SGA's primary duties is the disbursement of funds to student organizations in need of financial assistance. These funds are derived from the Student Activity Fee that all Georgia Tech students must pay, currently $123 per semester. The
ANAK SocietyThe ANAK Society is the oldest known secret society and honor society at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Founded in 1908, ANAK's purpose is "to honor outstanding juniors and seniors who have shown both exemplary leadership and a true love for Georgia Tech"...
, a
secret societyA secret society is a club or organization whose activities and inner functioning are concealed from non-members. The society may or may not attempt to conceal its existence. The term usually excludes covert groups, such as intelligence agencies or guerrilla insurgencies, which hide their...
and
honor societyIn the United States, an honor society is a rank organization that recognizes excellence among peers. Numerous societies recognize various fields and circumstances. The Order of the Arrow, for example, is the national honor society of the Boy Scouts of America...
established at Georgia Tech in 1908, claims responsibility for founding many of Georgia Tech's earliest traditions and oldest student organizations, including the SGA.
Arts
Georgia Tech's Music Department was established as part of the school's General College in 1963 under the leadership of Ben Logan Sisk. In 1976, the Music Department was assigned to the College of Sciences & Liberal Studies, and in 1991 it was relocated to its current home in the College of Architecture. In 2009, it was reorganized into the School of Music. The
Georgia Tech Glee ClubThe Georgia Tech Glee Club is an all-male a capella singing group founded in 1906 at the Georgia Institute of Technology. It is a student-run glee club currently directed by Dr. Jerry Ulrich. The Glee Club sings all original arrangements and compositions arranged by Dr...
, founded in 1906, is one of the oldest student organizations on campus, and still operates today as part of the School of Music. The Glee Club was among the first collegiate choral groups to release a recording of their songs. The group has toured extensively and appeared on
The Ed Sullivan ShowThe Ed Sullivan Show is an American TV variety show that originally ran on CBS from Sunday June 20, 1948 to Sunday June 6, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan....
twice, providing worldwide exposure to "
Ramblin' Wreck from Georgia Tech" Ramblin' Wreck from Georgia Tech" is the fight song of the Georgia Institute of Technology, better known as Georgia Tech. The composition is based on "Son of a Gambolier", composed by Charles Ives in 1895, the lyrics of which are based on an old English and Scottish drinking song of the same...
". Today, the modern Glee Club performs dozens of times each semester for many different events, including official Georgia Tech ceremonies, banquets, and sporting events. It consists of 50 to 70 members and requires no audition or previous choral experience.
The
Georgia Tech Band ProgramThe Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket Marching Band is the official marching band of the Georgia Institute of Technology...
, also in the School of Music, represents Georgia Tech at athletic events and provides Tech students with a musical outlet. It was founded in 1908 by 14 students and Robert "Biddy" Bidez. The marching band consistently fields over 300 members and invites students from other Atlanta universities who do not have football programs (
EmoryEmory University is a private research university in metropolitan Atlanta, located in the Druid Hills section of unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia, United States. The university was founded as Emory College in 1836 in Oxford, Georgia by a small group of Methodists and was named in honor of...
, Agnes Scott,
Kennesaw StateKennesaw State University, also referred to as KSU, Kennesaw, or Kennesaw State, is a public, coeducational, comprehensive university that is part of the University System of Georgia. The university's main campus is located in Kennesaw, Georgia, United States, approximately north of Atlanta...
, etc.) to participate. Members of the marching band travel to every football game.
The School of Music is also home to a number of successful and flourishing ensembles, such as the 80-to-90-member Symphony Orchestra, Jazz Ensemble, Concert Band, and Percussion and MIDI Ensembles. Students also can opt to form their own small Chamber Ensembles, either for course credit or independently. The contemporary Sonic Generator group, backed by the GVU and in collaboration with the Center for Music Technology, performs a diverse lineup of music featuring new technologies and recent composers.
Georgia Tech also has a music scene that is made up of groups that operate independently from the Music Department. These groups include three student-led
a cappellaA cappella music is specifically solo or group singing without instrumental sound, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. It is the opposite of cantata, which is accompanied singing. A cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato...
groups: Nothin' but Treble, Sympathetic Vibrations, and Infinite Harmony. Musician's Network, another student-led group, operates
Under the Couch]Under the Couch is a live music venue located at Georgia Tech, USA, in the Student Center; however, it was previously located underneath the Couch building on West Campus. It is run by the Musician's Network , a Georgia Tech student organization. UTC was established by the Musician's Network in...
, a live music venue and recording facility that was formerly located beneath the Couch Building on West Campus and is now located in the Student Center.
Many music, theatre, dance, and opera performances are held in the
Ferst Center for the ArtsThe Robert Ferst Center for the Arts, located in Atlanta, Georgia, is Georgia Tech's theater and arts center and is adjacent to DramaTech, the student run theater...
.
DramaTechDramaTech is Georgia Tech's student run theater. They are also home to Let's Try This! and VarietyTech .-Early history:...
is the campus' student-run theater. The theater has been entertaining Georgia Tech and the surrounding community since 1947. They are also home to Let's Try This! (the campus
improvImprovisational theatre takes many forms. It is best known as improv or impro, which is often comedic, and sometimes poignant or dramatic. In this popular, often topical art form improvisational actors/improvisers use improvisational acting techniques to perform spontaneously...
troupe) and VarietyTech (a song and dance troupe).
MomoconMomoCon, is a fan convention in held in March in Atlanta, Georgia. From its beginning through 2011, it was held on the campus of the Georgia Institute of Technology; in its first year, MomoCon was held in the Georgia Tech Student Center. In 2006 it expanded to include several events, mostly video...
is an annual
animeis the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
/gaming/
comicsComics denotes a hybrid medium having verbal side of its vocabulary tightly tied to its visual side in order to convey narrative or information only, the latter in case of non-fiction comics, seeking synergy by using both visual and verbal side in...
convention held on campus in March hosted by
Anime O-TekkuAnime O-Tekku has been Georgia Tech's anime club since 1995. A group of fans put together a student organization that provided a venue in which to watch anime from Japan once a month for a period of time . The club grew through a huge mailing list, word-of-mouth, and Georgia Tech community support...
, the Georgia Tech anime club. The convention has free admission and was held in the Student Center, Instructional Center, and surrounding outdoor areas until 2010. Beginning in 2011, the convention moved its venue to locations in Technology Square.
Student media
WREKWREK is the radio station staffed by the students of the Georgia Institute of Technology. It is located at 91.1 MHz and on channel 17 on the Georgia Tech cable TV network, GTCN...
, 91.1 MHz is known as "Wreck Radio". The studio is on the second floor of the Student Center Commons. Broadcasting with 40 kW
ERPIn radio telecommunications, effective radiated power or equivalent radiated power is a standardized theoretical measurement of radio frequency energy using the SI unit watts, and is determined by subtracting system losses and adding system gains...
and recently approved for an increase to 100 kW, WREK is among the nation's most powerful college radio stations. WREK is a student operated and run radio station. In April 2007, a debate was held regarding the future of the radio station. The prospective purchasers were
GPBGeorgia Public Broadcasting is the public broadcasting radio and television state network in the U.S. state of Georgia. It is operated by the Georgia Public Telecommunications Commission....
and NPR. WREK maintained its independence after dismissing the notion with approval from the Radio Communications Board of Georgia Tech.
The TechniqueThe Technique, also known as the "Nique," is the official student newspaper of the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia and has referred to itself as "the South's liveliest college newspaper" since 1945...
, also known as the "
Nique", is Tech's official
student newspaperA student newspaper is a newspaper run by students of a university, high school, middle school, or other school. These papers traditionally cover local and, primarily, school or university news....
. It is distributed weekly during the Fall and Spring semesters (on Fridays), and biweekly during the Summer semester (with certain exceptions). It was established on November 17, 1911.
BlueprintBlueprint is Georgia Tech's official student yearbook. It was established in 1908 and is the second oldest student organization on campus. Their staff meets Thursday nights at 7 pm in Room 137 of the Student Services Building.-History:...
is Tech's yearbook, established in 1908. Other student publications include
The North Avenue Review, Tech's "free-speech magazine",
Erato, Tech's
literary magazineA literary magazine is a periodical devoted to literature in a broad sense. Literary magazines usually publish short stories, poetry and essays along with literary criticism, book reviews, biographical profiles of authors, interviews and letters...
,
The Tower, Tech's undergraduate research journal and
T-Book, the student handbook detailing Tech traditions. The offices of all student publications are located in the Student Services Building.
Greek life
Greek life at Georgia Tech includes 48 active chapters of social
fraternities and sororitiesFraternities and sororities are fraternal social organizations for undergraduate students. In Latin, the term refers mainly to such organizations at colleges and universities in the United States, although it is also applied to analogous European groups also known as corporations...
. All of the groups are chapters of national organizations, including members of the
North-American Interfraternity ConferenceThe North-American Interfraternity Conference , is an association of collegiate men's fraternities that was formally organized in 1910, although it began on November 27, 1909. The power of the organization rests in a House of Delegates where each member fraternity is represented by a single delegate...
,
National Panhellenic ConferenceThe National Panhellenic Conference , founded in 1902, is an umbrella organization for 26 national women's sororities.Each member group is autonomous as a social, Greek-letter society of college women and alumnae...
, and
National Pan-Hellenic CouncilThe National Pan-Hellenic Council is a collaborative organization of nine historically African American, international Greek lettered fraternities and sororities. The nine NPHC organizations are sometimes collectively referred to as the "Divine Nine"...
. The first Greek letter fraternities to establish chapters at the Institute were
Alpha Tau OmegaAlpha Tau Omega is a secret American leadership and social fraternity.The Fraternity has more than 250 active and inactive chapters, more than 200,000 initiates, and over 7,000 active undergraduate members. The 200,000th member was initiated in early 2009...
in 1888,
Sigma Alpha EpsilonSigma Alpha Epsilon is a North American Greek-letter social college fraternity founded at the University of Alabama on March 9, 1856. Of all existing national social fraternities today, Sigma Alpha Epsilon is the only one founded in the Antebellum South...
in 1890, and
Kappa SigmaKappa Sigma , commonly nicknamed Kappa Sig, is an international fraternity with currently 282 active chapters and colonies in North America. Kappa Sigma has initiated more than 240,000 men on college campuses throughout the United States and Canada. Today, the Fraternity has over 175,000 living...
in 1895. The first sorority to establish a chapter was
Alpha Xi DeltaAlpha Xi Delta is a women's fraternity founded on April 17, 1893 at Lombard College, Galesburg, Illinois. Alpha Xi Delta is one of the oldest women's fraternities as well as one of the ten founding fraternities of the National Panhellenic Conference...
in 1954. Students with Greek affiliation make up around 21 percent of the undergraduate student body.
Student stress
Georgia Tech carries a strong reputation for being stressful. In 2001,
The Princeton ReviewThe Princeton Review is an American-based standardized test preparation and admissions consulting company. The Princeton Review operates in 41 states and 22 countries across the globe. It offers test preparation for standardized aptitude tests such as the SAT and advice regarding college...
placed Tech among the 10 toughest colleges and universities in the United States and later reported that Tech's heavy workload led to "overly stressed" students with "minimal time for social functions". In 2002, the
Review ranked Tech No. 2 on its list of colleges and universities with the "least happy students", prompting Institute officials to publish a report the following year responding to the negative publicity. The report criticized the
Review for the lack of scientific rigor in its methods and referred to data from internal opinion surveys demonstrating increased student satisfaction in several areas. In 2010,
The Daily BeastThe Daily Beast is an American news reporting and opinion website founded and published by Tina Brown, former editor of Vanity Fair and The New Yorker as well as the short-lived Talk Magazine. The Daily Beast was launched on October 6, 2008, and is owned by IAC...
included Tech on its list of the 50 most stressful colleges and universities in the U.S. However, in 2010, the Daily Beast also listed Tech among the 100 happiest colleges indicating that student stress does not necessarily prevent student happiness. Among students, it is widely believed that a sacrifice of sleep, studying, or a social life defines "the Tech lifestyle". For these reasons, students commonly refer to graduation from Tech as "getting out".
Campuses
The Georgia Tech campus is located in Midtown, an area north of downtown Atlanta. Although a number of skyscrapers—most visibly the headquarters of AT&T,
The Coca-Cola CompanyThe Coca-Cola Headquarters is a campus in Midtown Atlanta, Georgia that is home to The Coca-Cola Company. The most visible building on the site is a 29-story, 403–foot high One Coca-Cola Plaza. Located on the corner of North Avenue and Luckie Street, the building was completed in 1979...
, and
Bank of AmericaBank of America Plaza is a skyscraper located in the SoNo district of Atlanta, Georgia. At the tower is the 53rd-tallest building in the world. When it first opened, it was the 9th tallest building in the world, and 6th tallest building in the United States...
—are visible from all points on campus, the campus itself has few buildings over four stories and has a great deal of greenery. This gives it a distinctly
suburbThe word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...
an atmosphere quite different from other Atlanta campuses such as that of Georgia State University.
The campus is organized into four main parts: West Campus, East Campus, Central Campus, and Technology Square. West Campus and East Campus are both occupied primarily by student living complexes, while Central Campus is reserved primarily for teaching and research buildings.
West Campus
West Campus is occupied primarily by apartments and coed undergraduate dormitories. Apartments include
CrecineCrecine Apartments is an apartment-style residence hall at Georgia Tech. It opened in 1995 as housing for the athletes and journalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, GA as a part of the Olympic Village....
,
Center StreetCenter Street Apartments are apartment-style residence halls at Georgia Tech. They opened in 1995 as housing for the athletes and journalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, GA as a part of the Olympic Village....
, 6th Street, Maulding, Undergraduate Living Center (ULC), and Eighth Street Apartments, while dorms include
FreemanFreeman Residence Hall is a residence hall in the Georgia Tech Freshman Experience.Freeman is coed by floor and part of Fitten, Freeman, and Montag group often abbreviated "FFM." Freeman was originally built for $580,000 and was designed by the architects Bradbury & Associates.The dorm is named...
,
MontagMontag Residence Hall is a residence hall in the Georgia Tech Freshman Experience.Montag is coed by floor and part of Fitten, Freeman, and Montag group often abbreviated "FFM." The building is named after Harold E. Montag, a 1918 Tech alum....
,
FittenFitten Residence Hall is a residence hall in the Georgia Tech Freshman Experience.Fitten is coed by floor and part of Fitten, Freeman, and Montag group often abbreviated "FFM."...
,
FolkFolk Residence Hall is a residence hall in the Georgia Tech Freshman Experience. Folk originally cost $478,000 to construct and was designed by the architects Bull & Kenney.Folk is a coed by floor...
,
CaldwellCaldwell Residence Hall is a coed residence hall in the Georgia Tech Freshman Experience.Caldwell is a coed by floor and is the sibling dorm of Folk.-Dedication:...
, Armstrong, Hefner,
FulmerFulmer Residence Hall is a traditional-style female residence hall at Georgia Tech. It opened in 1969 as the first female dormitory on the campus. It is dedicated to Herman K. Fulmer, who was an associate professor of Mathematics at Georgia Tech....
, and Woodruff Suites. The Campus Recreation Center (formerly the Student Athletic Complex); a
volleyballVolleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...
court; a large, low natural green area known as the
Burger BowlBurger Bowl is an athletic field on the West Campus of the Georgia Institute of Technology, at the intersection of Hemphill Avenue and Ferst Street. It is located behind the Fitten, Freeman, and Montag dorms....
; and a flat artificial green area known as the CRC (formerly SAC) Fields are all located on the western side of the campus.
West Campus was formerly home to
Under the Couch]Under the Couch is a live music venue located at Georgia Tech, USA, in the Student Center; however, it was previously located underneath the Couch building on West Campus. It is run by the Musician's Network , a Georgia Tech student organization. UTC was established by the Musician's Network in...
, which relocated to the Student Center in the fall of 2010. Also within walking distance of West Campus are several late-night eateries and Engineer's Bookstore, an alternative to Georgia Tech's official bookstore. West campus is home to a convenience store, West Side Market. Due to limited space, all auto travel proceeds via a network of one-way streets which connects West Campus to Ferst Drive, the main road of the campus. Woodruff Dining Hall, or "Woody's", is the West Campus Dining Hall. It connects the Woodruff North and Woodruff South undergraduate dorms.
East Campus
East Campus houses all of the fraternities and sororities as well as most of the undergraduate freshman dormitories. Although the residences are similar, East Campus is more urban than West Campus. East Campus abuts the
Downtown ConnectorIn Atlanta, Georgia, the Downtown Connector or 75/85 is the concurrent section of Interstate 75 and Interstate 85 through the core of the city. Beginning at the I-85/Langford Parkway interchange, the Downtown Connector runs generally due north, meeting the east-west Interstate 20 in the middle....
, granting residences quick access to Midtown and its businesses (for example,
The VarsityThe Varsity is a restaurant chain, iconic in the modern culture of Atlanta, Georgia. The main branch of the chain is the largest drive-in fast food restaurant in the world...
) via a number of bridges over the highway as well as a tunnel beneath it. Georgia Tech football's home,
Bobby Dodd StadiumBobby Dodd Stadium at Historic Grant Field is the football stadium located at the corner of North Avenue at Techwood Drive on the campus of Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia, who completed the 2011 season with a loss to rival UGA...
is located on East Campus, as well as Georgia Tech basketball's home Alexander Memorial Coliseum.
Brittain Dining Hall is the main dining hall for East Campus. It is modeled after a
medieval churchGothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
, complete with carved columns and stained glass windows showing symbolic figures. The main road leading from East Campus to Central Campus is an ascending incline commonly known as "Freshman Hill" (in reference to the large number of freshman dorms near its foot) or simply "The Hill". On March 8, 2007, the former Georgia State University Village apartments were transferred to Georgia Tech. Renamed North Avenue Apartments by the institute, they began housing students in the fall semester of 2007.
Central Campus
Central Campus is home to the majority of the academic, research, and administrative buildings. The Central Campus includes, among others: the Howey Physics Building; the Boggs Chemistry Building; the College of Computing Building; the
Klaus Advanced Computing BuildingThe Christopher W. Klaus Advanced Computing Building is a three-story academic building at the Georgia Institute of Technology that houses a portion of its College of Computing, College of Engineering, and related programs.-Financing:...
; the College of Architecture Building; the Skiles Classroom Building, which houses the School of Mathematics and the School of Literature, Communication and Culture; the
D. M. SmithDavid Melville "Doc" Smith was a renowned professor and mathematician at the Georgia Institute of Technology . During his more than forty years at the school, he was particularly known for his teaching style and personality. Georgia Tech's D. M...
Building, which houses the School of Public Policy; and the Ford Environmental Science & Technology Building. In 2005, the School of Modern Languages returned to the Swann Building, a 100-year-old former dormitory that now houses some of the most technology-equipped classrooms on campus. Intermingled with these are a variety of research facilities, such as the Centennial Research Building, the Microelectronics Research Center, the
Neely Nuclear Research CenterThe Frank H. Neely Nuclear Research Center, also known as the Neely Research Reactor and the Georgia Tech Research Reactor is a nuclear engineering research center on the Georgia Institute of Technology campus, which had a live, 5 megawatt heavy-water-cooled research reactor from 1961 until 1996....
, the
Nanotechnology Research CenterThe Marcus Nanotechnology Research Center is a nanotechnology research center located in the Marcus Nanotechnology Building on the Georgia Institute of Technology campus. Formally opened on April 24, 2009, the NRC was constructed on the site of the Electronics Research Building, the former home of...
, and the Petit Biotechnology Building.
Tech's administrative buildings, such as Tech Tower, and the Bursar's Office, are also located on the Central Campus, in the recently renovated Georgia Tech Historic District. The
campus libraryThe Georgia Tech Library and Information Center is an academic library that serves the needs of students, faculty, and staff at the Georgia Institute of Technology. The library consists of three buildings- the S. Price Gilbert Library, the Dorothy M...
, plus a small traditional eatery called
Junior's GrillJunior's Grill is a restaurant in Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States. It is located on the Georgia Tech campus in the Bradley Building near Tech Tower. It closed on April 21, 2011 due to declining business.- History :...
, the Fred B. Wenn Student Center, and the Student Services Building ("Flag Building") are also located on Central Campus. The Student Center provides a variety of recreational and social functions for students including: a computer lab, a game room ("Tech Rec"), the Student Post Office, a music venue, a
movie theaterA movie theater, cinema, movie house, picture theater, film theater is a venue, usually a building, for viewing motion pictures ....
, the Food Court, plus meeting rooms for various clubs and organizations. Adjacent to the eastern entrance of the Student Center is the
Kessler CampanileThe Kessler Campanile is an campanile located at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Designed by artist Richard Hill, it was originally constructed for the 1996 Olympic Games. It is named after Richard C. Kessler, Tech graduate and former head of Days Inns...
(which is referred to by students as "The Shaft"). The former Hightower Textile Engineering building was demolished in 2002 to create Yellow Jacket Park. More greenspace now occupies the area around the Kessler Campanile for a more aesthetically pleasing look, in accordance with the official Campus Master Plan. In 2008, construction began on the
G. Wayne Clough Undergraduate Learning CommonsThe G. Wayne Clough Undergraduate Learning Commons is an academic building on the campus of the Georgia Institute of Technology. The five-story, building houses classrooms, science laboratories, academic services, commons areas, and is connected to the Georgia Tech Library. Named in honor of...
, which will be located next to the library and occupy at least part of the Yellow Jacket Park area.
Technology Square
Technology SquareTechnology Square, commonly called Tech Square, is a mixed-use district on the block of Fifth Street between the Downtown Connector and Spring Street in Atlanta, Georgia. Announced in 2000 and opened in 2003, the district was built over previously vacant surface parking lots and has contributed to...
, also known as "Tech Square", is located across the Downtown Connector and embedded in the city east of East Campus. Opened in August 2003 at a cost of $179 million, the district was built over run-down neighborhoods and has sparked a revitalization of the entire Midtown area. Connected by the recently renovated Fifth Street Bridge, it is a pedestrian-friendly area comprising Georgia Tech facilities and retail locations. One complex contains the College of Management Building, holding classrooms and office space for the College of Management, as well as the Georgia Tech Hotel and Conference Center and the Georgia Tech Global Learning Center. Another part of Tech Square, the privately owned Centergy One complex, contains the Technology Square Research Building (TSRB), holding faculty and graduate student offices for the College of Computing and the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, as well as the
GVU CenterThe GVU Center at Georgia Tech is an interdisciplinary research center located near Technology Square in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, and affiliated with the Georgia Institute of Technology. It was founded by James D. Foley, the Center's first director, on October 15, 1992. According to U.S....
, a multidisciplinary technology research center. The
Advanced Technology Development CenterThe Advanced Technology Development Center is a science and business incubator in Georgia. It is part of the Enterprise Innovation Institute at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and is headquartered in Technology Square. ATDC was formed in 1980 to stimulate growth in Georgia's technology...
(ATDC) is a science and
business incubatorBusiness incubators are programs designed to accelerate the successful development of entrepreneurial companies through an array of business support resources and services, developed and orchestrated by incubator management and offered both in the incubator and through its network of contacts...
, run by the Georgia Institute of Technology, and is also headquartered in
Technology SquareTechnology Square, commonly called Tech Square, is a mixed-use district on the block of Fifth Street between the Downtown Connector and Spring Street in Atlanta, Georgia. Announced in 2000 and opened in 2003, the district was built over previously vacant surface parking lots and has contributed to...
's Centergy One complex.
Other Georgia Tech-affiliated buildings in the area host the Center for Quality Growth and Regional Development, the Georgia Tech Enterprise Innovation Institute, the Advanced Technology Development Center, VentureLab, and the Georgia Electronics Design Center. Technology Square also hosts a variety of restaurants and businesses, including the headquarters of notable consulting companies like Accenture and also including the official Institute bookstore, a
Barnes & NobleBarnes & Noble College Booksellers, Inc. operates bookstores at more than 600 U.S. colleges and universities. Barnes & Noble College Booksellers is a subsidiary of Barnes & Noble, Inc., which acquired it in 2009. It was formerly a separate company, and Barnes & Noble chairman Leonard S. Riggio...
bookstore, and a Georgia Tech-themed
Waffle HouseWaffle House is a restaurant chain with over 1600 locations found in 25 states in the United States. Most of the locations are in the Southern United States, where the chain remains a regional cultural icon...
.
Satellite campuses
In 1999, Georgia Tech began offering local degree programs to engineering students in Southeast Georgia, and in 2003 established a physical campus in
Savannah, GeorgiaSavannah is the largest city and the county seat of Chatham County, in the U.S. state of Georgia. Established in 1733, the city of Savannah was the colonial capital of the Province of Georgia and later the first state capital of Georgia. Today Savannah is an industrial center and an important...
.
Georgia Tech SavannahGeorgia Tech Savannah is a satellite campus of the Atlanta-based Georgia Institute of Technology. It is located in Savannah, Georgia, near Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport. The Savannah campus offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in four engineering majors: Civil, Computer,...
offers undergraduate and graduate programs in engineering, and boasts a robust research program with many activities centered on coastal concerns. It is also home to the regional offices of the Georgia Tech Economic Development Institute and the Advanced Technology Development Center. The Georgia Tech Savannah campus offers engineering programs in conjunction with
Georgia Southern UniversityGeorgia Southern University is a national public university located on a campus in Statesboro, Georgia, USA. Founded in 1906, it is part of the University System of Georgia and is the largest center of higher education in the southern half of Georgia offering 117 academic majors in a comprehensive...
,
South Georgia CollegeSouth Georgia College is a two-year, state-supported, residential junior college located in Douglas, Georgia, United States.-Affiliation/Accreditation:...
,
Armstrong Atlantic State UniversityArmstrong Atlantic State University, also referred to as Armstrong Atlantic, Armstrong, or simply AASU, is a four-year public university part of the University System of Georgia. It is located on a campus in suburban Savannah, Georgia, United States...
, and
Savannah State UniversitySavannah State University is a four-year, state-supported, historically black university located in Savannah, Georgia. Savannah State holds the distinction as the oldest public historically black university in Georgia...
. The university further collaborated with the
National University of SingaporeThe National University of Singapore is Singapore's oldest university. It is the largest university in the country in terms of student enrollment and curriculum offered....
to set up The Logistics Institute – Asia Pacific in
SingaporeSingapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
.
Georgia Tech also operates a campus in Metz, in northeastern France, known as
Georgia Tech LorraineGeorgia Tech Lorraine is a campus of the Georgia Institute of Technology in Metz, France and plays a pivotal role in Georgia Tech's International Plan.-History:...
. Opened in October 1990, it offers master's-level courses in
ElectricalElectrical engineering is a field of engineering that generally deals with the study and application of electricity, electronics and electromagnetism. The field first became an identifiable occupation in the late nineteenth century after commercialization of the electric telegraph and electrical...
and
Computer EngineeringComputer engineering, also called computer systems engineering, is a discipline that integrates several fields of electrical engineering and computer science required to develop computer systems. Computer engineers usually have training in electronic engineering, software design, and...
,
Computer ScienceComputer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...
and
Mechanical EngineeringMechanical engineering is a discipline of engineering that applies the principles of physics and materials science for analysis, design, manufacturing, and maintenance of mechanical systems. It is the branch of engineering that involves the production and usage of heat and mechanical power for the...
and Ph.D. coursework in Electrical and Computer Engineering and Mechanical Engineering. Georgia Tech Lorraine is known for a much-publicized lawsuit pertaining to the language used in advertisements;
see Toubon Law.
The College of Architecture maintains a small permanent presence in Paris, France in affiliation with the
École d'architecture de Paris-La VilletteThe École nationale supérieure d'architecture de Paris-La Villette is a public tertiary school located in Paris, France. It is placed under the supervision of the ministry for the Culture and the Communication...
and the College of Computing has a similar program with the
Barcelona School of InformaticsThe Barcelona School of Informatics is one of the schools of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya , Spain. It was created in 1976, four years after the establishment of the University....
at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia in Barcelona, Spain. There are additional programs in Athlone, Ireland, Shanghai, China, and
SingaporeSingapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
. Georgia Tech will set up two campuses for research and graduate education in the cities of
VisakhapatnamVisakhapatnam is a major sea port on the south east coast of India. With a population of approximately 1.7 million, it is the second largest city in the state of Andhra Pradesh and the third largest city on the east coast of India after Kolkata and Chennai. According to the history, the city was...
and Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh,
IndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
by the year 2010.
Campus services
Georgia Tech Cable NetworkThe Georgia Tech Cable Network is the on-campus television provider of the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1995, GTCN serves the on-campus buildings, especially Georgia Tech Housing.-Content:...
, or GTCN, is the college's branded cable source. GTCN used to broadcast WREK-FM, Georgia Tech's student-run radio station, on channel 17 from 2003 to early 2009. According to then general manager, Trey Rhodes, the station was “never really notified about [GTCN taking us off the channel], no warning beforehand at all." The station management had an agreement with GTCN that they would be receiving another channel for their new HD content, but instead were demoted to background music for the channel guide. Carol Pulliam, the general manager of GTCN, defended this decision by stating that demoting WREK-FM would allow for the creation of three more HD channels on the network.. Most non-original programming is obtained from
Dish NetworkDish Network Corporation is the second largest pay TV provider in the United States, providing direct broadcast satellite service—including satellite television, audio programming, and interactive television services—to 14.337 million commercial and residential customers in the United States. Dish...
. GTCN currently has 100
standard-definitionSorete-definition television is a television system that uses a resolution that is not considered to be either enhanced-definition television or high-definition television . The term is usually used in reference to digital television, in particular when broadcasting at the same resolution as...
channels and 23
high-definitionHigh-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...
channels.
The Office of Information Technology, or OIT, manages most of the Institute's computing resources (and some related services such as campus telephones). With the exception of a few computer labs maintained by individual colleges, OIT is responsible for most of the computing facilities on campus. Student, faculty, and staff e-mail accounts are among its services. Georgia Tech's
ResNetA ResNet , which stands for residential network , is a relatively large local area network or a metropolitan area network provided by a university that serves the personal computers of students in their residence halls or dormitory buildings...
provides free technical support to all students and guests living in Georgia Tech's on-campus housing (excluding fraternities and sororities). ResNet is responsible for network, telephone, and television service, and most support is provided by part-time student employees.
Crime
Minor crimes around Georgia Tech are commonplace, a reflection of the Institute's densely populated urban surroundings. The campus is patrolled by the Georgia Tech Police Department, whose Patrol Division comprises 76 officers. The most common crime reported over the last few years, by a large margin, is
larcenyLarceny is a crime involving the wrongful acquisition of the personal property of another person. It was an offence under the common law of England and became an offence in jurisdictions which incorporated the common law of England into their own law. It has been abolished in England and Wales,...
. Between 2004 and 2006, there were only 32
violent crimeA violent crime or crime of violence is a crime in which the offender uses or threatens to use violent force upon the victim. This entails both crimes in which the violent act is the objective, such as murder, as well as crimes in which violence is the means to an end, such as robbery. Violent...
s reported, most of them robberies. Although the crime rate in Atlanta during the late 1980s and 1990s was the highest in the nation, it has been declining since the late 1960s and the city now is the seventeenth most-dangerous city in the U.S. The construction of large projects such as the
Olympic VillageAn Olympic Village is an accommodation centre built for an Olympic Games, usually within an Olympic Park or elsewhere in a host city. Olympic Villages are built to house all participating athletes, as well as officials, athletic trainers, and other staff. Since the Munich Massacre at the 1972...
and Technology Square have contributed to reduced crime rates by gentrifying the surrounding area.
Athletics
Georgia Tech's
sports teamsThe Yellow Jackets is the name used for all of the intercollegiate athletic teams that play for the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia. The teams have also been nicknamed the Ramblin' Wreck, Engineers, Blacksmiths, and Golden Tornado. There are 8 men's and 7 women's teams that...
are variously called the
Yellow JacketsThe Yellow Jackets is the name used for all of the intercollegiate athletic teams that play for the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia. The teams have also been nicknamed the Ramblin' Wreck, Engineers, Blacksmiths, and Golden Tornado. There are 8 men's and 7 women's teams that...
, the
Ramblin' Wreck, and the
EngineerAn engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...
s, but the official nickname is
Yellow Jackets. They participate in
National Collegiate Athletic AssociationThe National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...
(NCAA) Division I within the
Atlantic Coast ConferenceThe Atlantic Coast Conference is a collegiate athletic league in the United States. Founded in 1953 in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC sanctions competition in twenty-five sports in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association for its twelve member universities...
. The college was a charter member of the
Southeastern ConferenceThe Southeastern Conference is an American college athletic conference that operates in the southeastern part of the United States. It is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama...
, and played in that league until 1964. The Institute mascots are
BuzzBuzz is one of the two official mascots of the Georgia Institute of Technology. Buzz is usually represented as a stylized yellowjacket with yellow-and-black fur, white wings, a yellow head, and antennae. He is almost never drawn with six legs, but rather with arms, legs, hands and feet , like a...
and the
Ramblin' WreckThe Ramblin' Wreck from Georgia Tech is the 1930 Ford Model A Sport coupe that serves as the official mascot of the student body at the Georgia Institute of Technology. The Wreck is present at all major sporting events and student body functions...
. The Institute's traditional
footballAmerican football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
rivalPairs of schools, colleges and universities, especially when they are close to each other either geographically or in their areas of specialization, often establish a college rivalry with each other over the years. This rivalry can extend to both academics and athletics, the latter being typically...
is the
University of GeorgiaThe University of Georgia is a public research university located in Athens, Georgia, United States. Founded in 1785, it is the oldest and largest of the state's institutions of higher learning and is one of multiple schools to claim the title of the oldest public university in the United States...
; the rivalry was, at one time, considered one of the fiercest in college football. The rivalry is commonly referred to as
Clean, Old-Fashioned HateClean, Old-Fashioned Hate is the nickname given to an American college football rivalry game played annually by the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football team of the Georgia Institute of Technology and the Georgia Bulldogs football team of the University of Georgia. The two Georgia universities are...
, which is also the title of a book about the subject. Tech has seventeen varsity sports:
footballThe Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football team represents the Georgia Institute of Technology in collegiate level football. While the team is officially designated as the Yellow Jackets, it is also referred to as the Ramblin' Wreck. The Yellow Jackets are a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference...
,
women'sThe Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets women's basketball team represents the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in NCAA Division I basketball. The team plays its home games in Alexander Memorial Coliseum.-Players:...
and
men's basketballThe Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets men's basketball team represents the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in NCAA Division I basketball. The team plays its home games in Alexander Memorial Coliseum. Under the tenure of Bobby Cremins, Georgia Tech established itself as a national force in basketball...
,
baseballThe Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets baseball team represents the Georgia Institute of Technology in NCAA Division I college baseball. Along with most other Georgia Tech athletic teams, the baseball team participates in the Atlantic Coast Conference...
, softball, volleyball, golf, men's and women's tennis, men's and women's swimming and diving, men's and women's track and field, and men's and women's cross country. Four Georgia Tech football teams were selected as
national championsA college football national championship in the highest level of collegiate play in the United States, currently the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I Football Bowl Subdivision , is a designation awarded annually by various third-party organizations to their selection of the best...
in news polls: 1917, 1928, 1952, and 1990. In May 2007, the
women's tennis teamThe 2006-07 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets tennis team represented the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in the college tennis season of 2006-07. This season netted them their third straight ACC Championship, and their win in the NCAA tournament earned Georgia Tech its first-ever NCAA-recognized...
won the
NCAA National ChampionshipThe NCAA Women's Tennis Championship is the National Collegiate Athletic Association's tennis tournament to determine the Team Championships, Singles Championships, and Doubles Championships in Women's Tennis. It was started in 1982.-2009 Division tournament:...
with a 4–2 victory over UCLA, the first ever national title granted by the NCAA to Tech.
Fight songs
Tech's
fight songA fight song is primarily an American and Canadian sports term, referring to a song associated with a team. In both professional and amateur sports, fight songs are a popular way for fans to cheer for their team...
"I'm a Ramblin' Wreck from Georgia Tech"" Ramblin' Wreck from Georgia Tech" is the fight song of the Georgia Institute of Technology, better known as Georgia Tech. The composition is based on "Son of a Gambolier", composed by Charles Ives in 1895, the lyrics of which are based on an old English and Scottish drinking song of the same...
is known worldwide. First published in the 1908
Blue PrintBlueprint is Georgia Tech's official student yearbook. It was established in 1908 and is the second oldest student organization on campus. Their staff meets Thursday nights at 7 pm in Room 137 of the Student Services Building.-History:...
, it was adapted from an old drinking song ("Son of a Gambolier") and embellished with trumpet flourishes by Frank Roman. Then-
Vice PresidentThe Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the United States, is indirectly elected by the people, through the Electoral College, to a four-year term...
Richard NixonRichard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
and
Soviet PremierThe office of Premier of the Soviet Union was synonymous with head of government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics . Twelve individuals have been premier...
Nikita KhrushchevNikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev led the Soviet Union during part of the Cold War. He served as First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, and as Chairman of the Council of Ministers, or Premier, from 1958 to 1964...
sang the song together when they met in Moscow in 1958 to reduce the tension between them. As the story goes, Nixon did not know any Russian songs, but Khrushchev knew that one American one as it had been sung on
The Ed Sullivan ShowThe Ed Sullivan Show is an American TV variety show that originally ran on CBS from Sunday June 20, 1948 to Sunday June 6, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan....
.
"I'm a Ramblin' Wreck" has had many other notable moments in its history. It is reportedly the first school song to have been played in
spaceSpace is the boundless, three-dimensional extent in which objects and events occur and have relative position and direction. Physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of a boundless four-dimensional continuum...
.
Gregory PeckEldred Gregory Peck was an American actor.One of 20th Century Fox's most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1960s, Peck continued to play important roles well into the 1980s. His notable performances include that of Atticus Finch in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird, for which he won an...
sang the song while strumming a
ukuleleThe ukulele, ; from ; it is a subset of the guitar family of instruments, generally with four nylon or gut strings or four courses of strings....
in the movie
The Man in the Gray Flannel SuitThe Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, by Sloan Wilson, is a 1955 novel about the American search for purpose in a world dominated by business. Tom and Betsy Rath share a struggle to find contentment in their hectic and material culture while several other characters fight essentially the same battle,...
.
John WayneMarion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...
whistled it in
The High and the MightyThe High and the Mighty is a 1954 American "disaster" film directed by William A. Wellman and written by Ernest K. Gann who also wrote the novel on which his screenplay was based. The film's cast was headlined by John Wayne, who was also the project's co-producer...
. Tim Holt's character sings a few bars of it in the movie
His Kind of WomanHis Kind of Woman is a black-and-white 1951 film noir starring Robert Mitchum and Jane Russell. The film features supporting roles by Vincent Price, Raymond Burr, and Charles McGraw...
. There are numerous stories of commanding officers in Higgins boats crossing the
English ChannelThe English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
on the morning of
D-DayD-Day is a term often used in military parlance to denote the day on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. "D-Day" often represents a variable, designating the day upon which some significant event will occur or has occurred; see Military designation of days and hours for similar...
leading their men in the song to calm their nerves. It is played after every Georgia Tech score in a football game.
Another popular fight song is "Up with the White and Gold", which is usually played by the band preceding "Ramblin' Wreck". First published in 1919, "Up with the White and Gold" was also written by Frank Roman. The song's title refers to Georgia Tech's
school colorsSchool colors are the colors chosen by a school to represent it on uniforms and other items of identification. Most schools have two colors, which are usually chosen to avoid conflicts with other schools with which the school competes in sports and other activities...
and its lyrics contain the phrase, "Down with the Red and Black", an explicit reference to the school colors of the University of Georgia and the then-budding
Georgia Tech–UGA rivalryClean, Old-Fashioned Hate is the nickname given to an American college football rivalry game played annually by the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football team of the Georgia Institute of Technology and the Georgia Bulldogs football team of the University of Georgia. The two Georgia universities are...
.
Club sports
Georgia Tech participates in many non-NCAA sanctioned club sports, including
crewRowing is a sport in which athletes race against each other on rivers, on lakes or on the ocean, depending upon the type of race and the discipline. The boats are propelled by the reaction forces on the oar blades as they are pushed against the water...
,
cricketCricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
,
cyclingCycling, also called bicycling or biking, is the use of bicycles for transport, recreation, or for sport. Persons engaged in cycling are cyclists or bicyclists...
(winning three consecutive Dirty South Collegiate Cycling Conference mountain bike championships),
disc golfDisc golf is a disc game in which individual players throw a flying disc into a basket or at a target. According to the Professional Disc Golf Association, "The object of the game is to traverse a course from beginning to end in the fewest number of throws of the disc." Of the more than 3000...
, equestrian, fencing,
field hockeyField Hockey, or Hockey, is a team sport in which a team of players attempts to score goals by hitting, pushing or flicking a ball into an opposing team's goal using sticks...
,
gymnasticsGymnastics is a sport involving performance of exercises requiring physical strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, and balance. Internationally, all of the gymnastic sports are governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique with each country having its own national governing body...
,
ice hockeyIce hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
,
kayakingKayaking is the use of a kayak for moving across water. Kayaking and canoeing are also known as paddling. Kayaking is distinguished from canoeing by the sitting position of the paddler and the number of blades on the paddle...
,
lacrosseLacrosse is a team sport of Native American origin played using a small rubber ball and a long-handled stick called a crosse or lacrosse stick, mainly played in the United States and Canada. It is a contact sport which requires padding. The head of the lacrosse stick is strung with loose mesh...
,
paintballPaintball is a sport in which players compete, in teams or individually, to eliminate opponents by tagging them with capsules containing water soluble dye and gelatin shell outside propelled from a device called a paintball marker . Paintballs have a non-toxic, biodegradable, water soluble...
,
roller hockeyRoller Hockey is a form of hockey played on a dry surface using skates with wheels. The term "Roller Hockey" is often used interchangeably to refer to two variant forms chiefly differentiated by the type of skate used. There is traditional "Roller Hockey," played with quad roller skates, and...
, soccer,
rugby unionRugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
,
sailingSailing is the propulsion of a vehicle and the control of its movement with large foils called sails. By changing the rigging, rudder, and sometimes the keel or centre board, a sailor manages the force of the wind on the sails in order to move the boat relative to its surrounding medium and...
, skydiving,
table tennisTable tennis, also known as ping-pong, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight, hollow ball back and forth using table tennis rackets. The game takes place on a hard table divided by a net...
,
triathlonA triathlon is a multi-sport event involving the completion of three continuous and sequential endurance events. While many variations of the sport exist, triathlon, in its most popular form, involves swimming, cycling, and running in immediate succession over various distances...
,
ultimateUltimate is a sport played with a 175 gram flying disc. The object of the game is to score points by passing the disc to a player in the opposing end zone, similar to an end zone in American football or rugby...
,
water poloWater polo is a team water sport. The playing team consists of six field players and one goalkeeper. The winner of the game is the team that scores more goals. Game play involves swimming, treading water , players passing the ball while being defended by opponents, and scoring by throwing into a...
, water ski, and
wrestlingWrestling is a form of grappling type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. A wrestling bout is a physical competition, between two competitors or sparring partners, who attempt to gain and maintain a superior position...
. Many club sports take place at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center, where swimming, diving, water polo, and the swimming portion of the
modern pentathlonThe modern pentathlon is a sports contest that includes five events: pistol shooting, épée fencing, 200 m freestyle swimming, show jumping, and a 3 km cross-country run...
competitions for the 1996 Summer Olympics were held.
Alumni
There are many notable graduates, non-graduate former students and current students of Georgia Tech. Georgia Tech alumni are generally known as Yellow Jackets. According to the Georgia Tech
Alumni AssociationAn alumni association is an association of graduates or, more broadly, of former students. In the United Kingdom and the United States, alumni of universities, colleges, schools , fraternities, and sororities often form groups with alumni from the same organisation...
:
The first class of 95 students entered Georgia Tech in 1888, and the first two graduates received their degrees in 1890. Since then, the institute has greatly expanded, with an enrollment of 13,672 undergraduates and 6,815 postgraduate students .
Many distinguished individuals once called Georgia Tech home, the most notable being
Jimmy CarterJames Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
, former President of the United States and
Nobel Peace PrizeThe Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel.-Background:According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize shall be awarded to the person who...
winner, who briefly attended Georgia Tech in the early 1940s before matriculating at and graduating from the
United States Naval AcademyThe United States Naval Academy is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located in Annapolis, Maryland, United States...
. Another Georgia Tech graduate and
Nobel PrizeThe Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
winner,
Kary MullisKary Banks Mullis is a Nobel Prize winning American biochemist, author, and lecturer. In recognition of his improvement of the polymerase chain reaction technique, he shared the 1993 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Michael Smith and earned the Japan Prize in the same year. The process was first...
, received the
Nobel Prize in ChemistryThe Nobel Prize in Chemistry is awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to scientists in the various fields of chemistry. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895, awarded for outstanding contributions in chemistry, physics, literature,...
in 1993. A large number of businesspeople (including but not limited to prominent CEOs and directors) began their careers at Georgia Tech. Some of the most successful of these are
Charles "Garry" BettyCharles Garrett "Garry" Betty was President and CEO of EarthLink, a large American Internet service provider, from 1996 until his death. During his leadership of EarthLink, Betty grew the customer base from just under 100,000 members to over 5 million.Betty was born in Huntsville, Alabama and grew...
(CEO
EarthlinkEarthLink , is an Internet service provider headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. It claims 1.94 million subscribers.- Business :EarthLink provides a variety of Internet connection types, including dial-up, DSL, satellite, and cable. Both dial-up and high speed Internet access are available...
),
David DormanDavid W. Dorman is an American Telecommunications executive and is currently the non-executive chairman of Motorola....
(CEO
AT&T CorporationAT&T Corp., originally American Telephone and Telegraph Company, is an American telecommunications company that provides voice, video, data, and Internet telecommunications and professional services to businesses, consumers, and government agencies. AT&T is the oldest telecommunications company...
),
Mike DukeMichael Terry Duke is an American businessman, and currently the fourth chief executive officer of Wal-Mart. Duke joined Wal-Mart in 1995, and most recently served as the executive in charge of the company's international operations...
(CEO
Wal-MartWal-Mart Stores, Inc. , branded as Walmart since 2008 and Wal-Mart before then, is an American public multinational corporation that runs chains of large discount department stores and warehouse stores. The company is the world's 18th largest public corporation, according to the Forbes Global 2000...
), and
James D. Robinson IIIJames Dixon Robinson III was the chief executive officer of American Express Co. from 1977 until his retirement in 1993.-Education:...
(CEO
American ExpressAmerican Express Company or AmEx, is an American multinational financial services corporation headquartered in Three World Financial Center, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States. Founded in 1850, it is one of the 30 components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company is best...
and later director of
The Coca-Cola CompanyThe Coca-Cola Company is an American multinational beverage corporation and manufacturer, retailer and marketer of non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups. The company is best known for its flagship product Coca-Cola, invented in 1886 by pharmacist John Stith Pemberton in Columbus, Georgia...
).
Tech graduates have been deeply influential in politics, military service, and activism. Atlanta mayor
Ivan Allen, Jr.Ivan Allen, Jr., was a U.S. businessman and Democratic political figure most notable for serving two terms as the 52nd Mayor of Atlanta, Georgia during the turbulent civil rights era of the 1960s.-Biography:...
and former
United States SenatorThe United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
Sam NunnSamuel Augustus Nunn, Jr. is an American lawyer and politician. Currently the co-chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Nuclear Threat Initiative , a charitable organization working to reduce the global threats from nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, Nunn served for 24 years as a...
have both made significant changes from within their elected offices. Former Georgia Tech president G. Wayne Clough was also a Tech graduate, the first Tech alumnus to serve in that position. Many notable military commanders are alumni;
William L. BallWilliam L. Ball III is an American former government service worker and political appointee. He held senior posts in the Reagan Administration, beginning as an Assistant Secretary of State under George Shultz in 1985 . He moved to the White House staff in 1986 as President Reagan’s chief lobbyist...
was the 67th
Secretary of the NavyThe Secretary of the Navy of the United States of America is the head of the Department of the Navy, a component organization of the Department of Defense...
,
John M. Brown IIIJohn M. Brown III is Commander of United States Army Pacific Command, headquartered at Fort Shafter, Hawaii. He assumed his present position August 25, 2004...
is the Commander of the
United States Army Pacific CommandUnited States Army Pacific is an Army Service Component Command of the United States Army and is the army component unit of the United States Pacific Command, except for units in Korea. The main areas that this command has jurisdiction in include Hawaii, Alaska, the Pacific Ocean, and Japan...
, and
Leonard WoodLeonard Wood was a physician who served as the Chief of Staff of the United States Army, Military Governor of Cuba and Governor General of the Philippines. Early in his military career, he received the Medal of Honor. Wood also holds officer service #2 in the Regular Army...
was Chief of Staff of the Army and a
Medal of HonorThe Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration awarded by the United States government. It is bestowed by the President, in the name of Congress, upon members of the United States Armed Forces who distinguish themselves through "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his or her...
recipient for helping capture of the Apache chief
GeronimoGeronimo was a prominent Native American leader of the Chiricahua Apache who fought against Mexico and the United States for their expansion into Apache tribal lands for several decades during the Apache Wars. Allegedly, "Geronimo" was the name given to him during a Mexican incident...
. Wood was also Tech's first football coach and (simultaneously) the team captain, and was instrumental in Tech's first-ever football victory in a game against the University of Georgia.
Thomas McGuireThomas Buchanan McGuire Jr. was the second highest scoring American ace during World War II, whose memory was preserved by the naming of McGuire Air Force Base in Burlington County, New Jersey.-Early years:...
was the second-highest scoring American ace during World War II and a Medal of Honor recipient.
Numerous astronauts and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) administrators spent time at Tech; most notably, Retired Vice Admiral
Richard H. TrulyRichard Harrison Truly is a retired Vice Admiral in the United States Navy, Naval Aviator, former astronaut, and was the eighth Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration from 1989 to 1992...
was the eighth administrator of NASA, and later served as the president of the Georgia Tech Research Institute. John Young was the first commander of the space shuttle and is the only person to have piloted four different classes of spacecraft. Georgia Tech has its fair share of noteworthy engineers, scientists, and inventors. Nobel Laureate Kary Mullis developed the
polymerase chain reactionThe polymerase chain reaction is a scientific technique in molecular biology to amplify a single or a few copies of a piece of DNA across several orders of magnitude, generating thousands to millions of copies of a particular DNA sequence....
,
Herbert SaffirHerbert Seymour Saffir was the developer of the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale, for measuring the intensity of hurricanes. As recently as 2005, Saffir was the principal of Saffir Engineering in Coral Gables, Florida...
developed the
Saffir-Simpson Hurricane ScaleThe Saffir–Simpson Hurricane Scale , or the Saffir–Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale , classifies hurricanes — Western Hemisphere tropical cyclones that exceed the intensities of tropical depressions and tropical storms — into five categories distinguished by the intensities of their sustained winds...
, and
W. Jason MorganWilliam Jason Morgan is an American geophysicist who has made seminal contributions to the theory of plate tectonics and geodynamics...
made significant contributions to the theory of plate tectonics and geodynamics. In computer science, Krishna Bharat developed
Google NewsGoogle News is a free news aggregator provided by Google Inc, selecting recent items from thousands of publications by an automatic aggregation algorithm....
, and
D. Richard HippDwayne Richard Hipp is the architect and primary author of SQLite as well as Fossil SCM. He and his wife, Ginger G. Wyrick, currently live and work in Charlotte, North Carolina. He also authored the Lemon Parser Generator and CVSTrac. CVSTrac became the inspiration for Trac. He is also a member of...
developed
SQLiteSQLite is an ACID-compliant embedded relational database management system contained in a relatively small C programming library. The source code for SQLite is in the public domain and implements most of the SQL standard...
. Architect
Michael AradMichael Arad is an Israeli-American architect who best known for being the designer of the World Trade Center Memorial. He won the competition to design the memorial in 2004.-Early life and education:...
designed the
World Trade Center Memorial- Fundraising :The Foundation has fundraising responsibilities because of the tasks assigned to it by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation...
in New York City.
Despite their highly technical backgrounds, Tech graduates are no strangers to the arts or athletic competition. Among them, comedian/actor
Jeff FoxworthyJeffrey Marshall "Jeff" Foxworthy is an American comedian, television and radio personality and author. He is a member of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour, a comedy troupe which also comprises Larry the Cable Guy, Bill Engvall and Ron White. Known for his "you might be a redneck" one-liners, Foxworthy...
of
Blue Collar Comedy TourThe Blue Collar Comedy Tour was a comedy troupe featuring Jeff Foxworthy with three of his comedian friends, Bill Engvall, Ron White, and Larry the Cable Guy, who had replaced fellow comedian Craig Hawksley, who performed in the first twenty shows on the tour...
fame and
Randolph ScottRandolph Scott was an American film actor whose career spanned from 1928 to 1962. As a leading man for all but the first three years of his cinematic career, Scott appeared in a variety of genres, including social dramas, crime dramas, comedies, musicals , adventure tales, war films, and even a few...
both called Tech home. Several famous athletes have, as well; about 150 Tech students have gone into the
National Football LeagueThe National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
(NFL), with many others going into the
National Basketball AssociationThe National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...
(NBA) or
Major League BaseballMajor League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
(MLB). Well-known American football athletes include all-time greats such as
Joe HamiltonJoe Hamilton is a former American football player who now serves as running backs coach at Georgia State University. Before joining the Georgia State football staff in 2010, he had played professionally as a quarterback, most recently for the Orlando Predators of the Arena Football League...
,
Pat SwillingPatrick Travis Swilling is a former American football linebacker in the NFL for the New Orleans Saints and a delegate in the Louisiana House of Representatives. He earned five Pro Bowl appearances.-College career:...
,
Billy ShawWilliam Lewis "Billy" Shaw is an American former college and professional football player.Drafted in 1961 by the American Football League's Buffalo Bills, Billy Shaw of Georgia Tech was the prototypical "pulling guard" who despite his size held his own against much bigger defensive linemen like...
, and
Joe GuyonJoseph Napoleon Guyon was a professional American football player in the National Football League...
, former Tech head football coaches
Pepper RodgersFranklin C. "Pepper" Rodgers is a former American football player and coach in the United States. He served as the head coach at the University of Kansas , University of California, Los Angeles , and the Georgia Institute of Technology , compiling a career college football record of...
and
Bill Fulcher-External links:*...
, and recent students such as
Calvin JohnsonCalvin Johnson, Jr. is an American football wide receiver for the Detroit Lions of the National Football League . He was drafted by the Lions second overall in the 2007 NFL Draft. He played college football at Georgia Tech....
and
Tashard ChoiceTashard J. Choice , is an American football running back for the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League. He played collegiately at Georgia Tech. He was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys in the fourth round of the 2008 NFL Draft.Choice began his collegiate career at The University of Oklahoma but...
. Some of Tech's recent entrants into the NBA include
Chris BoshChristopher Wesson Bosh is an American professional basketball player who plays power forward for the Miami Heat in the National Basketball Association ....
,
Derrick FavorsDerrick Bernard Favors is an American basketball player for the Utah Jazz. He is a power forward who played for Georgia Tech. On June 24, 2010, he was drafted 3rd overall by the New Jersey Nets of the NBA....
,
Thaddeus YoungThaddeus Charles Young is an American professional basketball player. Young is a small forward for the Philadelphia 76ers of the NBA. Prior to his professional career, he attended Georgia Tech, where he studied management. He is tall and weighs...
,
Jarrett JackJarrett Matthew Jack is an American professional basketball player for the New Orleans Hornets of the NBA. At 6' 3" tall and weighing 197 lbs , he primarily plays at the guard position...
, and
Iman ShumpertIman Asante Shumpert was a junior at Georgia Tech and played guard for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets men's basketball team. He was selected by the New York Knicks as the 17th pick in the 2011 NBA Draft.-High school career:...
. Award-winning baseball stars include Kevin Brown,
Mark TeixeiraMark Charles Teixeira , nicknamed "Tex" is an American Major League Baseball player for the New York Yankees. Mostly a first baseman, he has also played third base and in the outfield...
,
Nomar GarciaparraAnthony Nomar Garciaparra is a former Major League Baseball player. After playing parts of 9 seasons as an All-Star shortstop for the Boston Red Sox, he played third base, first base, and designated hitter for the Oakland Athletics, first base and third base for the Los Angeles Dodgers, and...
, and
Jason VaritekJason Andrew Varitek is an American professional baseball catcher who is a free agent. After being traded as a minor league prospect by the Seattle Mariners, Varitek has played his entire major league career for the Boston Red Sox...
. In golf, Tech alumni include the legendary
Bobby JonesRobert Tyre "Bobby" Jones Jr. was an American amateur golfer, and a lawyer by profession. Jones was the most successful amateur golfer ever to compete on a national and international level...
, who founded The Masters, and
David DuvalDavid Robert Duval is an American professional golfer and former World No. 1 who competes on the PGA Tour.-Early years:...
, who was ranked the No. 1 golfer in the world in 1999.
External links