Wednesday, September 30, 2026 brought a busy day of academic news from The Flats, with Georgia Tech looking ahead to a month of sustainability programming, formalizing its approach to artificial intelligence in the classroom, and inviting students to explore the world. Here is your daily digest.
October Events Celebrate Campus Sustainability Month
October is Campus Sustainability Month, and Georgia Tech is marking the international celebration with a month-long lineup of events designed to engage students and the broader campus community. The schedule reflects the Institute’s commitment to responsible stewardship and spans everything from hands-on gardening to high-level policy conversations. Weekly staples include the Plant Library every Friday from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. in Room 357 of the Clough Undergraduate Learning Commons, where participants plant seeds, take cuttings, and nurture plants, and the Community Garden Workday every Saturday from 9 to 11 a.m. with Students Organized for Sustainability (SOS). No experience is needed for either.
Several one-time events stand out. The Black Civil and Environmental Engineering Student Beltline Cleanup runs Saturday, Oct. 3 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Beltline access point at 311 Bernina Ave. NE. On Tuesday, Oct. 6, Saving Georgia’s Archaeology and Historic Sites brings New South Associates to the Scholar’s Event Theater in Price Gilbert Memorial Library to discuss historic preservation as a UN Sustainable Development Goal and what it means for Atlanta. The Living Learning Campus Symposium on Wednesday, Oct. 7 gathers partners advancing applied campus research in the Marcus Nanotechnology Building, hosted by the Office of Sustainability with the Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems (BBISS) and the Student Government Association, and includes a pitch competition for SGA student sustainability funds. Georgia Tech Hydrogen Day follows on Oct. 7 and 8, convening senior leaders from industry, government, and academia around the commercial adoption of hydrogen.
Later in the month, The Future of Humanitarian Aid: Tackling Food Insecurity on Thursday, Oct. 8 features a fireside chat with Michele Taylor, professor of the practice and diplomat-in-residence in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs, and former South Carolina Gov. David Beasley, former executive director of the UN World Food Programme, who accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on the organization’s behalf in 2020. A Stream Cleanup at Peachtree Creek takes place Saturday, Oct. 10 alongside the Georgia Tech Archaeology Program, Chattahoochee Riverkeeper, and Devine GA. On Wednesday, Oct. 14, BBISS Insights: AI for Climate Resilience pairs Associate Vice President of Sustainability Jennifer Chirico with researchers Ali Sarhadi, Suhas Jain, Abigale Stangl, and Iris Tien, while the same day offers virtual Office Hours With a Sustainability Alum featuring Katherine Huded of The Recycling Partnership, a Georgia Tech MBA graduate, and a Fix-It-Fair at The Hive Makerspace for bikes, clothing, and broken electronics. Rounding out the month are the ASHRAE Region IV Student Summit on Oct. 16 and 17 at the Global Learning Center and a Flower Wire Sculpting and Paper-Mache Workshop on Oct. 23 with Georgia Tech Arts Fellow Nolana Charles, whose paper flowers will become part of a collaborative sculpture displayed in the Library this spring. Full details are in the Georgia Tech News announcement.
Academic AI Strategy Establishes a Shared Vision for Teaching and Learning
Georgia Tech introduced a new Academic AI Strategy and launched a companion Academic AI Playbook, the next step in the Institute’s work to prepare students for an AI-enabled future while supporting innovation across teaching and learning. Rooted in academic freedom, the strategy was led by Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Raheem Beyah and shaped by faculty, staff, students, and academic leaders from across campus. It focuses on three priorities: AI Fluency for Every Student, AI Innovation Across the Academic Enterprise, and Institutional Leadership and Engagement.
“Artificial intelligence is transforming nearly every industry and profession our graduates will enter,” Beyah said. “Georgia Tech has a responsibility to ensure our students are prepared not only to work with these technologies, but to understand their possibilities, limitations, and impacts.” The playbook, led by David Joyner, interim vice provost for AI in Education, began as a campus-wide effort to understand what faculty were already doing. As Joyner put it, “Georgia Tech faculty have turned hundreds of classes into micro-laboratories to explore how these technologies can support teaching and learning.” Its first edition collects 67 faculty-authored articles representing every College at Georgia Tech, plus 20 lessons drawn from classroom experience, offering practical and discipline-specific guidance instructors can adapt to their own courses. Read the full story on Georgia Tech News.
Professional French Speaker Series: “Etudier et travailler au Quebec”
The Professional French Speaker Series continues Wednesday, Oct. 7 from 9:30 to 10:45 a.m. in Room 129 of the Clough Undergraduate Commons with a presentation on studying and working in Quebec. The session features Anne-Marie Labbe, public and governmental affairs advisor at the Quebec Government Office in Atlanta, moderated by Sophie Landrieux Kartochian, and is hosted by the School of Modern Languages in the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts. Attendees will come away with insight into Quebec’s economy, workplace culture, and higher education pathways. Note that the event will be conducted entirely in French. Event details here.
2027 China Summer Program Information Sessions
Students interested in earning Georgia Tech credit abroad have several chances to learn about the 2027 Georgia Tech China Summer Program, which takes participants to Chengdu, Xi’an, and Shanghai. All courses are taught in English, and scholarship support is available. Online information sessions are scheduled across October and November, each hosted on Zoom:
- Wednesday, Oct. 21, 3 – 4 p.m.
- Thursday, Oct. 29, 2 – 3 p.m.
- Wednesday, Nov. 4, 3 – 4 p.m.
- Thursday, Nov. 12, 2 – 3 p.m.
- Wednesday, Nov. 18, 3 – 4 p.m.
Questions can go to jian.luo@ce.gatech.edu. Any one of the sessions covers the same ground, so pick whichever fits your schedule.
Stay Connected
From sustainability workdays in the community garden to a campus-wide framework for AI in the classroom, it was a day that showed off the breadth of what Georgia Tech is working on. Which of October’s events are you planning to attend, and what do you make of the Institute’s new approach to AI in teaching? Let us know in the comments, and check back tomorrow for the next academics and research digest from The Flats.
Checkout these Picks
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Discover more from GT Jackets
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.