Clough delivers State of Institute address

Institute President Wayne Clough gave his State of the Institute Address to students Oct. 12 in the Student Center Ballroom. The theme for the address was how Tech is progressing towards becoming the technological research university of the 21st century. He talked about how various aspects of Tech are allowing the institute to be on the cutting edge of a variety of fields. Clough also spoke about how collaboration is the way of the future and that Tech is leading the nation in collaborative efforts to create new fields and new possibilities in research and development.

"I would like to start off by thinking about the context of our times. If you look back through time, universities were often insulated from the affairs of the world and the nations that they were in, and faculty and students often focused on what might be considered things of little relevance," Clough said.

According to Clough, circumstances have changed and universities are expected to be engaged in current events.

"The mission statement from our 2002 strategic plan calls for us to define the technological research university of the 21st century. We have been working steadily towards this goal over the past few years," Clough said.

With that mission, is the responsibility that Tech has to society to develop solutions to the problems faced by the world today.

"Society is increasingly looking at us to help face the challenges and maintain a positive standard of living. So we undertake our mission within the context of high expectations and we owe it to all those who depend on us to achieve our mission," Clough said.

In President Bush's State of the Union address, Bush said that their should be a stronger initiative and more research towards new technologies. To comply with Bush's statement, federal agencies and institutions have made a push in a variety of fields.

"A range of federal agencies have placed strong emphasis on new research in areas such as energy, nanotechnology, nano-medicine, materials and disaster recovery," Clough said.

Tech is a leading institution in those fields, allowing the institute to be at the forefront of research and development of these new technologies.

"Our going strengths and areas of expertise are coming into alignment with the needs of our nation and the world," Clough said.

According to Clough, going forward involves the collaboration between schools in the institute. This collaboration has already begun on campus and created new fields of research.

"The opportunities for explorations at research institutions lie between the cracks of traditional academic disciplines. This happens to be a space where Tech excels. As new deals emerge from these spaces, Tech is able to run out on the cusp of these developments," Clough said.

Collaboration between schools within the institute is not enough, according to Clough. Tech must also get involved in collaborative efforts with other research institutions and form partnerships with those institutions.

"Being creative about forming partnerships is one of the keys to success in this new environment. One such partnership is that between Tech and Emory University. The partnership has become one of the leading bioengineering, bioscience and biomedical programs in the nation.

"Tech and Emory have also emerged as national leaders in the areas of nano-technology and medicine. We secured three national centers of excellence in nano-medicine," Clough said.

Clough then talked about how Tech is looking outside the nation for opportunities.

"Tech is also forming strong, well-rounded global partnerships," Clough said. He talked about Tech Lorraine, the Georgia Tech Research Institute's new facility in Ireland, and collaborative talks with universities in Asia.

Clough then discussed how Tech is making this new research and technologies practical and usable in the real world.

"The technological research university of the 21st century does not simply invent new technology simply for that purpose alone. A significant part of our entrepreneurial personality is our knack for putting technology to work and creating solutions to common problems," Clough said. A new part of the Institute was created specifically for that purpose.

"The Enterprise Innovation Institute strengthens our ability to commercialize technologies and become more innovative. The value of our approach is found in that we have spun out over 70 new companies in the last 10 years. It helps our economy enormously here in Atlanta," Clough said.

Clough talked about how when he was a student at Tech, the undergraduate education took a "cookie cutter" approach.

"Today, undergraduate education is broader, deeper and richer," Clough said. He then talked about the Honor's Program, the LEAD program, and the thread system created in the College of Computing that was given recognition by Thomas Friedman in his book The World is Flat.

With everything going on at Tech, the vision for the institute as the research university of the new century is coming into focus.

"The technological research university of the 21st century is a community of learners, all engaged in the process of discovery at some point on the spectrum," Clough said.