Salt marshes cover much of Georgia’s coast and perform key "ecosystem services” for people. They clean the water, protect coastlines against storm surges, and provide a habitat for fish and shellfish. A new study by researchers in the Georgia Tech College of Sciences finds that a species of grass that dominates those marshes has bacteria in its roots and surrounding soil that affects productivity by providing nutrients, highlighting the importance of soil microorganisms in the entire ecosystem. The study was conducted at salt marshes near Sapelo and Skidaway Islands on the Georgia coast in 2018 and 2019.

Undergraduate enrollment at Georgia increased almost 2,000 students over the past five years, expanding access to students from all backgrounds. This includes rural Georgia, as well as students in the Black and Hispanic communities. Incoming first-generation students (those who come from families where neither parent graduated from college) also increased by 80%. And for the first time in Institute history, women comprise 40% of the total undergraduate population. 

Biomedical engineering student Mario Lopez of East Dublin, Georgia is among the first-generation students who joined Tech this fall. Read Mario's story.

Six teens from Clarkston, Georgia spent four weeks of their summer in the Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) institute, a Georgia Tech program created to help young people learn how to conduct research and develop solutions for their community. Assistant Professor Allen Hyde in the School of History and Sociology spent three weeks training the Clarkston students in research methods. With support from Serve-Learn-Sustain initiative director Jennifer Hirsch, summer intern Hudson McGaughey, and Associate Professor AJ Kim at San Diego State University, the students collected and analyzed data to discover how to make it easier and safer for young people to get to after-school sports, activities, and jobs in Clarkston. 

The Georgia Institute of Technology, along with 11 partner universities and 17 researchers, will receive $15 million over five years to fund the Joint Advanced Propulsion Institute (JANUS) – a new STRI to develop strategies and methodologies to surmount limitations in ground testing of high-power electric propulsion systems.

Last year at the height of the pandemic, students of all ages were learning virtually from home, many struggling to stay engaged. With this in mind, as well as Georgia Tech’s mission to expand access to STEM education, leadership from the School of Aerospace Engineering met with Atlanta Public Schools officials and asked, “How can we help?”

Georgia Tech is invested in the students, teachers, and families of the Atlanta Public Schools (APS) system through a variety of outreach, tutoring, and other support programs. In an effort to help as many local students as possible earn a Georgia Tech degree, beginning Spring 2021 any first-year applicant not admitted to Tech will have a guaranteed transfer offer via the newly launched APS Pathway Program.