Executive Vice President for Research Steve Cross to Step Down

Georgia Tech’s Executive Vice President for Research (EVPR), Steve Cross, has announced plans to step down from that post at the end of June 2018. Cross, who has served as EVPR since that position was created in 2010, will then resume his research faculty position in the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), where he has twice served in leadership positions.

Cross joined GTRI in 2003 as director and vice president, positions he held until he was appointed to the EVPR role. Cross also served as GTRI’s acting director, concurrent with his EVPR role, for a period of time in 2014 and 2015.

Cross also holds a joint faculty appointment as professor in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, and is an adjunct professor in the College of Computing’s School of Interactive Computing, and the Scheller College of Business. He serves as the president of the Georgia Tech Research Corporation (and its subsidiary, the Georgia Tech Applied Research Corporation), and the Georgia Advanced Technology Ventures. 

In 2009, he agreed to assume a significant leadership role in the development of Georgia Tech’s 25-year strategic plan, Designing the Future. In 2011, he was the University System of Georgia representative to a state of Georgia strategic planning task force on science, technology, and innovation. He has represented Georgia Tech in the state, and across the nation and world, while also supporting studies by the National Research Council, testifying before Congress, and serving as an adviser to government and industry. He has served as a member of the Defense Science Board and the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board.  Currently, he serves on the executive committee of the Government-University-Research Roundtable, an organization sponsored by the National Academies, and as vice chair of the Air Force Institute Board of Visitors.

During his time as EVPR, Georgia Tech’s research and economic development programs have grown dramatically. Georgia Tech now reports $824.8 million in annual research and other sponsored program expenditures, including more than $100 million in industry research, a record for the Institute. Cross has helped bring together GTRI, the Enterprise Innovation Institute (EI²), interdisciplinary research institutes (IRIs), and other research-active and support units to focus on measures that emphasize quality, along with diversification of the revenue base and innovative ways to make it easier for government, business, and industry to partner with Georgia Tech. 

“Steve’s leadership has helped to make the tagline ‘what does Georgia Tech think’ truly relevant,” said Georgia Tech President G.P. “Bud” Peterson. “Under his leadership, Georgia Tech’s colleges and schools and GTRI are collaborating as never before with significant joint work in cybersecurity, health analytics, robotics, and many other areas. For the first time in two decades, this fall we were awarded the leading role in a NSF Engineering Research Center (ERC), the focus of which is in an area Georgia Tech created: the manufacture of living cells to be used in a broad range of therapeutic applications. Winning the ERC was made possible through vision and collaboration within Georgia Tech, with other universities and industry, and philanthropic partnerships.”

Peterson also credited Cross with increasing national awareness of Georgia Tech’s impact in economic development, as evidenced by the recent Brookings Institution report that highlighted Tech’s role in economic development. Today, he noted, almost two dozen Fortune 500 companies have established innovation centers in and around Tech Square, and company startup activity is at an all-time high. Other emerging and growing innovation neighborhoods include Technology Enterprise Park, the North Avenue Research Area, the area around the intersection of 14th Street and Northside Drive, and the Cobb County Research Facility, each with a specific market focus.

• A note of appreciation from President Peterson

“While Steve always credits the faculty, students and staff who make great things happen here, his tireless and enthusiastic leadership deserves significant recognition for these and many other accomplishments,” Peterson added.

Before joining Georgia Tech, Cross was a research faculty member at Carnegie Mellon University, where he served as director and CEO of the Software Engineering Institute. Before that, he was a program manager at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and a faculty member at the Air Force Institute of Technology. A retired military officer, he received the Defense Superior Service Medal and the Air Force Research Award.

Cross received a B.S.E.E. from the University of Cincinnati, an M.S.E.E. from the Air Force Institute of Technology, and a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  He is a Life Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (IEEE) and the president-elect of the IEEE Technology and Engineering Management Society. Cross is also a distinguished alumnus of the University of Cincinnati’s College of Engineering and the Air Force Institute of Technology.

A search committee will be established to fill the position of EVPR.

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Media Relations Contact: John Toon (404-894-6986) (jtoon@gatech.edu).