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Timely and thought-provoking themes will guide the 2023 Atlanta Talks Series, revisiting projects that range from regional to urban to architectural scales. The series, hosted by Professor Dr. Ingeborg Rocker, invites professionals from Atlanta and beyond to hear about fresh trends, inquire into pressing topics and imagine solutions for a more circular, sustainable, and just economy.

Architect Greg Walker and Mechanical Engineer Stanton Stafford will jointly present their ASHRAE project exemplifying the role of retrofits in a more circular economy. Liz York, Chief Sustainability Officer for the CDC, provides thought leadership and architectural expertise within the Federal community of health experts and is a key liaison between the fields of design and health. She will present state opportunities to initiate a more circular and just economy. James Marlow, president of SouthFace Institute and a digital transformation leader in computing and clean energy, will discuss the circular economy of living buildings.

• Circular Economy | Re-set the Mind-set || Ingeborg Rocker, Georgia Institute of Technology
• Circular Economy | Living Building || James Marlow, Southface Institute
• Circular Economy | Retrofit || Greg Walker, Houser Walker Architecture & Stanton Stafford, BURO HAPPOLD
• Circular Economy | State Opportunities || Liz York, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• Roundtable | Q&A

This lecture was made possible by the School of Architecture & the Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems

Professor Benoit Montreuil ISyE, Georgia Tech: Executive Director Supply Chain & Logistics Institute, Director Physical Internet Center, Coca-Cola Chair Material Handling & Distribution, was invited by Professor Dr. Rocker (link to faculty profiles) to a first-of-its kind. Co-teaching between System Engineering & Architecture.  10 Students from System Engineering joined 10 Students in Professor Rocker’s Design and Research Studio “Suspended Land – Between the Waters: 2 Port Andros Island in The Bahamas.” some excerpts of the work can be found here. 

Timely and thought-provoking themes will guide the 2023 Atlanta Talks Series, revisiting projects that range from regional to urban to architectural scales. The series, hosted by Professor Dr. Ingeborg M. Rocker, PhD., invites professionals from Atlanta and beyond to hear about fresh trends, inquire into pressing topics and imagine solutions for a more circular, sustainable, and just economy.

Our guests will explore potent approaches across disciplines and industries significantly informing the transformation towards a circular and more just future economy.

I think the big question comes before you start a PhD: what is the subject matter you’ll work on? This choice has a tremendous impact on what you can possibly do afterwards. I would advise graduate students to develop a larger vision of where they want to go. This should be a vision that you believe in. The path to your vision is not likely to be linear: in fact, it’s likely to be more of a zigzag. But if you pursue your own vision, I strongly believe you can get there. This is a basic groundwork to success in almost anything: trust in yourself and do the hard work.

Look at others who have already transitioned to an industry and examine what they did in their career. Create a network, get exposed, and test your assumptions before you make a major move. See if the corporate world is something for you, because frankly, not every brilliant mind is captivated in that world.

Be fast with your PhD, be effective. Whenever possible, publish your research and utilize it as a springboard for the future. I think we should contribute wherever we can, as PhDs are such a group of intelligent, powerful people.

Take full advantage of all Princeton has to offer. Princeton has resources and content that never came as easy to me anywhere else. And while graduate school is a busy time, you will likely have ample time during your studies to connect yourself with the key stakeholders of the worlds that you want to enter.

Steve Jobs once said: “We’re here to put a dent in the universe. Otherwise, why else even be here?” Can a PhD make such a dent in the universe – or at least in one’s own life? Certainly as numerous PhDs have created such a dent as Curie’s “Research on Radioactive Substances” (1903) awarded a Nobel Prize in Physics; Shannon’s PhD titled “A Symbolic Analysis of Relay and Switching Circuits” (1937), the groundwork for digital technology, or Sutherland’s “Sketchpad: A Man-Machine Graphical Communication System” (1963), which led to the first graphical user interface program.

Regardless, whether the PhD leaves a dent in the universe, or simply in one’s own trajectory, all PhDs have in common to be original innovative thought leaders, unique research discoverers and/or even successful industrial implementors. It is the depth of a PhD research, the intense and unique encounter with a subject matter, the determination to finish against all possible odds the project, that makes a PhD an academic, personal and – if applied – perhaps even a commercial success. 

Don’t take the back seat in your career path, take the front seat. Make a name for yourself and amplify the social causes you care about – this way you make YOUR dent!

Established in 2022, the Undergraduate Sustainability Education Committee works to implement the educational goals of the Sustainability Next initiative of the Georgia Tech Institute Strategic Plan. In Fall 2023, the USEC launched the comprehensive overview of all courses taught in the Georgia Tech Colleges that directly and indirectly teach social, environmental, and economic sustainability. 

“I am proud to serve as the Chair of the USEC team in close collaboration with the Associate Chair and Professor Chen Zhou (https://lnkd.in/erisKQr4) paving the way for a Cross-Disciplinary Sustainability Education. We are looking forward to your thoughts, inspirations and insights from industry and government use cases.” – Ingeborg Rocker