- by Benjamin Wright -

Destination tourism has now matched or surpassed pre-Covid levels in many parts of the world. It’s leading to challenges as operators and local governments try to walk the line between inviting visitors and preserving the places tourists want to visit so they can be enjoyed and studied for years to come. The more people who visit a site, the greater the risk of damage from foot traffic and contact with walls and artifacts. Even human breath in enclosed spaces can inflict as much damage as pollution from vehicles.

Enter Associate Professor Danielle Willkens from Georgia Tech’s School of Architecture in the College of Design. Willkens, who is the Sustainable Tourism co-lead for the Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems (BBISS), is using technology to assess historic sites and develop strategies to mitigate damage caused by visitors and the development that frequently occurs when a site becomes popular.

“At a foundational level, a lot of what we do is related to survey work,” explains Willkens. “We are using LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), or lasers, to get very high-resolution, three-dimensional images. We end up with a digital record that serves as a snapshot of a building or space at one moment in time, and it becomes invaluable for preservation and rehabilitation planning.”

The advantage of using LiDAR is that it is what Willkens calls a “non-contact invasive” method. It doesn’t damage the structure but can reveal existing weaknesses and flaws that need attention. In a matter of a few days, their process can reveal what could take weeks or months of visual inspection to uncover.

In addition to traveling abroad to examine sites in the Dominican Republic and the famous site of Petra in Jordan, Willkens uses her tools to help protect and preserve places that have played an important role in American civil rights history: W.E.B. Du Bois’ office in Fountain Hall at Morris Brown College, the Penn Center on Saint Helena Island in South Carolina, and the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama. She is also working with the National Park Service to evaluate the MLK corridor in Atlanta and has projects in historic neighborhoods like Mechanicsville and Pittsburgh.

Where does Willkens’ passion for protecting these places come from?

“I'm the daughter of an educator and two generations of educators beyond that,” she says. “I come from a line of people who are invested in teaching and advocacy — people who love travel and museums and appreciate the power of place.”

One successful project that Willkens is particularly proud of is a scan of the USS Drum, a World War II submarine on display at the USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park in Mobile, Alabama. By recreating the interior of the submarine digitally, access has been granted to people who cannot visit the ship in person due to mobility limitations, claustrophobia, or distance. The project was launched on Veterans Day of 2024. Since then, 97-year-old Bill Lister, who is the last surviving member of the Drum’s crew, has visited the ship many times from the comfort of his home in Indiana.

A similar project is part of a partnership with Auburn University in which Willkens and her colleagues are developing a digital conflict map of the March 7, 1965, “Bloody Sunday” march in Selma, Alabama.

She sees tremendous value in people being able to visit these historic locations remotely.

“Significant anniversaries are coming up, like the 60th anniversary of the Selma march, and unfortunately, we still have regular reminders that voting access is an ongoing concern. Being able to visit these sites remotely can be very powerful.”

Through grants and her seminar class, Race, Space, and Architecture in the United States, Willkens is training the next generation of architects and preservationists to get involved with their local communities and protect valuable places through technology.

“We’ve been able to take three groups of students down to the Penn Center in South Carolina. We stay in the historic buildings, we do survey and research work on site, and we work with community members. St. Helena Island is at this somewhat precarious intersection of climate change and surrounding development in the Gullah Geechee corridor, and it’s a microcosm of what a lot of historical sites are facing. The community has been very welcoming to us, and we’re excited about the work we’re doing there.”

That work has been funded by a Sustainability Next Seed Grant. She strongly encourages other faculty and students to get involved with the BBISS and the Sustainability Next strategic plan initiative.

“BBISS is a great place to get to know people from across disciplines, and I'm grateful for that,” she explains. “In any discipline, it's easy within a university to stay in your silo. Being part of BBISS has been a great opportunity to meet people from different programs and different parts of Georgia Tech. I love the emphasis on community-engaged work that moves sustainability from an abstract systems level to something tangible that is making a difference locally.”

The College of Sciences at Georgia Tech is proud to launch Science for Georgia’s Tomorrow, a new center focused on research that aims to improve life across the state of Georgia. 

“From resilient communities and agriculture, to health and sustainable energy resources, Science for Georgia's Tomorrow will focus on improving the lives of Georgians and their communities,” Dean Susan Lozier says.

An expansion of the College’s strategic plan, Science for Georgia's Tomorrow — Sci4GT, for short — will serve as a statewide fulcrum, fostering research in direct service to Georgia cities, counties, and communities.

The center specifically addresses critical health and climate challenges throughout Georgia, and aims to pave the way for increased public-private partnerships. The initiative will also expand access — broadening participation opportunities for Georgia students and communities to engage with research. 

The search for an inaugural faculty director has commenced, and will be followed by a dedicated cluster hire in 2025, funded by the Office of the Provost. Dean Lozier, who also serves as a professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, has reserved funds from the College of Sciences Betsy Middleton and John Clark Sutherland Dean’s Chair to initiate the center. 

People and planet

Selected from a pool of 17 faculty proposals, two dedicated faculty cluster hires will focus on improving the health of Georgians and Georgia’s communities — and the resilience of humans and ecosystems to current and anticipated climate change in the state. Appointments will be sought across the College’s six schools.

“These proposals address themes that are critically important right now for Georgia Tech research growth: sustainability and climate, along with health and well-being,” says Julia Kubanek, Vice President for Interdisciplinary Research at Georgia Tech and a professor in the School of Biological Sciences and the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry. “This is an opportunity for Georgia to be a model for the nation on how to solve health disparities.”

“These new cluster hires will strengthen the College’s existing research programs,” Lozier adds. “They will also facilitate large collaborations across campus, and educate the next generation of scientists who will tackle these problems in Georgia and beyond.”

Rising Tide Program

An adjacent effort, the new College of Sciences Rising Tide Program, is selecting promising early-career scientists for a two-year virtual mentorship initiative.

The Rising Tide Program will work in tandem with the Sci4GT cluster hire, complementing the strong culture of mentorship in the College, while providing a pathway to support local research at the Institute. 

“Rising Tide aims to help the College recruit scientists with professional or lived experiences in the Southeast — or focused on research with particular relevance to the Southeast,” explains Rising Tide Director Alex Robel, associate professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. “One of our key goals is to bring more faculty to Georgia Tech who can contribute to research and teaching that’s particularly relevant to communities in Georgia.”

“The reach of Georgia Tech is global,” Lozier adds. “Our fingerprints are on discoveries and innovations that benefit people and their communities around the world. As researchers at a leading public university in the state of Georgia, we are also cognizant of the responsibility and opportunity to focus our efforts more intently here at home.”

Sci4GT: Director search

The College has launched an internal leadership search for the Science for Georgia’s Tomorrow center, with an expected appointment to be announced in February 2025. The inaugural director will have the opportunity to shape the direction of this new initiative by:   

• Formulating a strategic plan for the center in partnership with interested parties across campus 
• Promoting synergies between faculty within the college, and elsewhere at Georgia Tech, whose work relates to the health of Georgia’s people, its ecosystems, and communities  
• Fostering collaborations with offices at Georgia Tech that focus on community, government, and industry engagement so as to develop meaningful external partnerships that will advance the work of this center  

All faculty who hold a majority appointment within the College of Sciences are eligible and encouraged to apply. Learn more and apply via InfoReady. 

Funding

Initial support for Sci4GT is generously provided by the College of Sciences Betsy Middleton and John Clark Sutherland Dean's Chair fund. Cluster hire funding has been awarded by Provost Steven W. McLaughlin. 

Sci4GT will also seek funding from state, national and international organizations, private foundations, and government agencies to expand impact. Philanthropic support will also be sought in the form of professorships, programmatic support for the center, and seed funding.

- Written by Mandy Luong, BBISS Communications Student Assistant -

Georgia Tech’s Students Organizing for Sustainability (SOS) recently traveled across the world to Singapore for the 8th Global Botanic Garden Congress. They presented their research on the evaluation of various plants in student living accommodations. The independent research project was initially funded through the Micro Research Grants for Regenerative Built Environments sponsored by The Kendeda Building Advisory Board and the Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems. This feat is uncommon among Georgia Tech student organizations but can serve as a case study for future SOS trips as well as other clubs.

The team found out about the conference by researching various conferences related to urban agriculture initiatives around the world. They specifically sought out conferences that could give them an international experience in a city deemed cutting-edge for urban green spaces, and that would allow them to talk about their research project. After being accepted into the Global Botanic Garden Congress, they needed to find funding to support their travel.

SOS members applied for numerous grants that are available to students around campus, including the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering's International Travel Funding through the Global Engineering Leadership Minor, the President’s Undergraduate Research Travel Award, and the Student Government Association (SGA) Conference Fund. In total, they were able to obtain multiple research and travel grants for over $16,000 to cover the travel expenses of seven members. The students are confident that, had more people been available, they could have received more funding to cover the additional travel expenses.

“There are a lot of opportunities on campus to get funding for a project, travel, or attend conferences, but students just need to know where to look,” says Elaina Render, fourth-year civil and environmental engineering major and SOS project lead for the UrbanAg group.

The group’s itinerary consisted of attending all four days of the conference, the last of which coincided with Singapore’s National Day. At the conference, students presented their research findings to an international audience and made personal connections. They talked with people from across the globe, including botanic garden representatives from Naples, Chicago, and San Diego. Making these connections has introduced them to opportunities for more interactive trips, such as visiting the Naples Botanical Garden to learn about beach plant management. They also hope to attend the 9th Global Botanical Garden Congress in Chicago next year.

“The conference is a great resource for students as they approach graduation because you can network for next career steps, find possible research advisors for graduate school, and be exposed to a range of career possibilities,” says Nicole Allen, fourth-year biomedical engineering major and SOS’s vice president of Finance.

In addition to the conference, they were able to explore the city of Singapore. On their first day, they toured Gardens by the Bay, where they saw famous attractions like the Golden Bay and the Flower Dome. The following day, they visited Singapore University of Technology and Design and met Greenprint, a student group similar to SOS, and talked with students and faculty about their campus sustainability initiatives. On the third day, they traveled to the Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, a beautiful mangrove forest. Allen notes that on a hike along the coastal trail, they decided to take a bus across the bridge to Malaysia and have brunch. On the last day of the conference, they visited Singapore’s Botanic Garden, which also houses the National Orchid Garden.

The SOS students report many successes from this experience, both personal and related to their SOS activities. Younger members of SOS, Rachel Bohl and Nikita Takalkar, both second-years, were able to attend the conference. This has inspired younger members to get more involved with on-campus sustainability initiatives. In particular, Takalkar is starting a new SOS project to decrease medical waste at Stamps Health Services. They have also seen an increase in attendance at their meetings and many questions about their trip. They hope the conference will serve as a model for future trips where students can promote their research, network, learn about what new research is happening in the world, and bring this knowledge back to Georgia Tech to inspire their own projects on campus.

“We hope that our project and trip to Singapore can serve as an inspiration to other students and campus organizations. It's possible to start an independent research project and get funding to present at international conferences,” says Render.

Allen adds, “We are implementing some of the ideas our trip inspired as new, student-led sustainability initiatives here at Georgia Tech.”

Coral reefs are home to about a quarter of all marine life. They support millions of jobs around the world and protect coastal communities from storms. Scientists report they’re also in the midst of a crisis, with a fourth mass bleaching event spreading around the world.

Bleaching happens when ocean waters heat up, causing corals to expel the colorful algae that live in their tissues. It can lead to disease and death for coral, wiping out critical and complex marine ecosystems.

Four Georgia Tech ocean science and engineering (OSE) Ph.D. students have spent the last few months working on creative ways to prevent bleaching by cooling the water around coral reefs. They presented their ideas in late October to marine biologists and conservations in the Florida Keys as part of the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation’s Coral Reef Thermal Stress Design Thinking Challenge & Workshop.

Read about the team's coral-cooling solution on the College of Engineering website.

Georgia Tech researchers representing 25 research projects that received Sustainability Next seed grants, presented their work during two lightning talk sessions on August 27 and September 5, 2024, at the invitation of Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems (BBISS). Participants were also offered the opportunity to network, discuss connections to resources and opportunities for collaboration, and engaging with community stakeholders.

Three themes emerged from these sessions:

• Many research teams need access to data sets that are difficult to acquire for logistical or financial reasons.
• Some available data sets are not very extensive, or do not accurately represent the diversity of people and perspectives present within the group or geographical area studied.
• Many research teams engaged with community groups as part of their project, or were looking for community partners to complete or enhance their project.

The networking sessions facilitated numerous connections. Eunhwa Yang’s team studies how environmental factors and building construction methods can impact the sleep quality of people with mild cognitive impairment who live in under-resourced communities. Yang expressed a need for more reliable data collection and transmission systems, given that internet access in the homes of study participants can be unreliable. She connected with Jung-Ho Lewe, whose work often revolves around IoT (internet of things) devices that use free or low-cost low-bandwidth cellular data networks. Yang also connected with the Center for Sustainable Communities Research and Education to look for additional opportunities for community engagement.

The participants also discussed the promise and the hurdles of engaging directly with community partners. Ameet Pinto, BBISS associate co-director for interdisciplinary research and associate professor in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, said, “If available datasets are not representative of the communities being served, then community-engaged research can fill those gaps. Such research requires that trust-based relationships be cultivated, and this takes time and resources to foster trust and find common ground.”

Attendees seemed to appreciate the opportunity to talk with their colleagues, not only about their projects, but also about engaging directly with communities. The events were well attended with several people coming to both sessions. Pinto adds, “The Sustainability Next seed grants are not just about helping brilliant ideas get off the ground; they are also about bringing together a community that can coalesce around thematic challenges and make a transformative and lasting societal impact. By hosting these lightning-talk sessions, BBISS helps to bolster such a community.”

Russell Clark, lead principal investigator of the CEAR Hub and senior research scientist at the Institute for People and Technology (IPaT), has been named the interim director of sustainability for IPaT where he can help drive the practice and culture of sustainability related to IPaT’s research projects.

“Sustainability has been an important and growing theme for Georgia Tech during the last several years as evidenced by Georgia Tech’s Sustainability Next plan,” said Clark. “I’m looking forward to this new role which aligns with the Institute’s strategic vision and goals.”

Clark has been supporting IPaT in various roles for many years and continues with a joint appointment as faculty in the School of Computer Science. He earned his doctoral degree from the College of Computing at Georgia Tech and was the co-director of the Georgia Tech Research Network Operations Center which supported a variety of research projects across campus.

He was also part of the leadership team creating the Smart Sea Level Sensors project that installed internet-enabled water level sensors across flood-vulnerable Chatham County via a working partnership between officials from the Chatham [County] Emergency Management Agency (CEMA), the City of Savannah, and Georgia Tech scientists.

In addition to IPaT’s research, Clark is working to incorporate educational opportunities for Georgia K-12 students to learn more about resiliency, sustainability, and emergency preparedness. Sharing the latest environmental, economic, and social sustainability research topics are part of his community engagement vision which he has already done by working with Georgia Tech’s Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics, and Computing (CEISMC) which enhances PreK-12 and post-secondary STEM education in the state.

At the college level, Clark, through CEAR Hub, is establishing a new Vertically Integrated Projects Program team which engages undergraduate and graduate students in ambitious, long-term, large-scale, multidisciplinary projects. His resilience and sustainable knowledge expertise has been utilized to teach and co-advise students across campus in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, and Georgia Tech’s Lorraine campus in France.

“My long and deep involvement with the Georgia coastal community where I live today has created a passion for pursuing research focused on resilience and sustainability,” said Clark. “I hope to build on Georgia Tech’s rich history of sustainability to forge innovative relationships, elevate research and education, and improve the long-term economic and commercialization potential for the state of Georgia with our current and future research projects.”