Georgia Tech Daily Digest: August 10, 2026 – Compliance Training, Campus Utilities, and Community Resilience

Compliance Training Launches August 31 for All Georgia Tech Employees

Georgia Tech is preparing for the 2026 Fall Biannual Compliance Training, which will open to all faculty, staff, and students employed as of August 21. The training becomes mandatory by September 21, 2026, and covers critical areas including ethics, discrimination and harassment prevention, controlled unclassified information, responsible research conduct, and sensitive data protection. A significant component of the training focuses on cybersecurity awareness, featuring modules on social engineering tactics and AI-enabled threats. Joshua B. Toas, chief ethics and compliance officer, emphasizes that “Institute-wide learning and development are essential to helping employees understand their responsibilities and respond consistently to compliance obligations.” The training, available at b.gatech.edu/genius, will require approximately 120 minutes and can be completed flexibly across multiple sessions. Read more about the compliance training initiative.

Meet Jermaine Clonts: The Utilities Manager Keeping Campus Running 24/7

Behind every comfortable classroom, functioning laboratory, and powered residence hall is an intricate network of infrastructure managed by Jermaine Clonts, associate director of Utilities Management in Infrastructure and Operations. Clonts oversees Georgia Tech’s district energy systems, utility relationships, and conservation initiatives—work that is essential but often invisible to the campus community. His team manages two central energy plants and an extensive underground network of pipes distributing chilled water and steam across campus, while tracking energy consumption and supporting the Institute’s Climate Action Plan. Clonts is particularly excited about the transition to renewable heating systems, including heat-recovery chillers and electrified transportation, which reduce reliance on fossil fuels while improving efficiency. He also highlights the importance of water conservation, noting that student actions like shorter showers and reporting leaks can significantly impact campus sustainability when multiplied across thousands of residents. Discover the full story of Georgia Tech’s utilities operations.

Georgia Tech Engineer Builds Regional Network for Community Resilience

Assistant Professor Sofía Pérez-Guzmán of the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering is transforming how communities prepare for and respond to extreme weather events through innovative supply chain and resilience hub research. Working with the Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems, Pérez-Guzmán co-leads a network of approximately 40 to 50 practitioners and researchers building community-led resilience hubs across Georgia and South Carolina, with plans to expand across the Southeast. Her work began with Community Church Atlanta, which now operates as a resilience hub equipped with solar panels and battery storage, and has expanded into the Westside Resilience Corridor—a partnership of four churches working to serve as neighborhood resilience centers. Pérez-Guzmán also leads parallel projects on food access and urban logistics, using data-driven approaches to connect residents with local food producers and distribution networks. Her research demonstrates that successful resilience requires not just technology, but deep partnerships between researchers, community leaders, and practitioners. Learn more about the community resilience network and Pérez-Guzmán’s work.

What’s Next for the Georgia Tech Community?

From mandatory compliance training to groundbreaking sustainability research, Georgia Tech continues to demonstrate excellence across every dimension of campus life and academic impact. Whether it’s the infrastructure that powers our daily operations, the engineering innovations that strengthen our communities, or the institutional commitments that keep us accountable, the Institute’s work touches every member of our community. Stay tuned to GTJackets.com for more updates on Georgia Tech academics, research, and campus news. Have a story to share? Connect with us and be part of the Yellow Jacket conversation.