Westside Innovation, Accessibility, and HPC

Thursday, September 17, 2026 brought a fresh round of announcements from around campus, and the through-line is a familiar one for anyone who knows Georgia Tech: research and learning that reach well beyond the walls of the Institute. Here is what landed today.

Innovation Meets Community on Atlanta’s Westside

Georgia Tech’s westward growth takes center stage in Georgia Tech, Science Square, and the Transformation of Atlanta’s Westside, a program set for Thursday, September 24 at Science Square Labs (101 Nerem St NW). The hour-long session opens with a fireside chat featuring Georgia Tech President Ángel Cabrera alongside John Ahmann and Dallas Smith, followed by a panel on the future of the Westside with Katherine Lynch of Trammell Crow Company and representatives from Lincoln Property Company and the PATH Foundation. Chris Burke of Georgia Tech Institute Relations moderates. Registration runs $25-50 and the event is open to alumni, faculty, staff, postdocs, students, and the public.

Making Documents Accessible with CommonLook EDU

The Fall 2026 Digital Accessibility Training Series continues with Document Accessibility Through CommonLook EDU on Monday, September 28 from 1:00 to 2:30 p.m. Representatives from Allyant will demonstrate how to use CommonLook software to remediate and produce accessible PDF documents, walking through key features and best practices for building accessibility into the content creation process from the start. Hosted by OIT and aimed at faculty and staff, the session will be recorded for anyone who cannot attend live.

PACE Brings Machine Learning and Big Data to Coda

Georgia Tech’s high-performance computing group, PACE, is partnering with the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center to host an HPC Machine Learning and Big Data Workshop on October 13-14, 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. in Conference Room 232 of the Coda Building. The two-day program covers big data analytics and machine learning with Spark plus deep learning with TensorFlow, including hands-on work on PSC’s Bridges-2 platform. Georgia Tech is one of several in-person satellite sites, and best of all, the workshop is free. A few logistics worth noting: registration goes through PSC, requires an ACCESS ID, closes October 12 at 11 a.m., and capacity may fill before then. Questions can go to Michael Weiner (mweiner3@gatech.edu) or Jeff Valdez (valdez@gatech.edu).

Looking Ahead

Three items, three very different corners of the Institute, and all three open to a broad slice of the Georgia Tech community. If you are planning to attend any of these, or if there is campus research you think deserves a spotlight in a future digest, let us know in the comments. Go Jackets!