For more information contact:
Barbara Christopher, Industrial and Systems Engineering
Contact Barbara Christopher bchristopher@isye.gatech.edu
404.385.3102
SCL & ISyE Commended for Grooming Internationally Savvy Engineers
Atlanta (July 18, 2008) — In the 2007 edition of Internationalizing the Campus, NAFSA: Association of International Educators recognized Georgia Tech for its ongoing commitment to grooming internationally savvy engineers and maintaining a world-wide presence with satellite campuses. The publication, which features six to eight institutions each year, highlighted Georgia Tech in a section titled, "Tech's Well-Engineered Engagement with the World." Each year, Tech garners plenty of international exposure. Study and work abroad programs, the International Plan, foreign satellite campuses such as GT-Lorraine France, and undergraduate and graduate international affairs (INTA) degrees all contribute to Tech's reputation as a global institution.
- Internationalizing the Campus
NAFSA specifically commended the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering for its Supply Chain & Logistics Institute (SCL). An alliance with the National University of Singapore (NUS) allowed SCL to create the Logistics Institute-Asia Pacific program which offers master's degrees, conducts research, and hosts conferences.
The report also recognized ISyE's Dr. Chen Zhou, Associate Chair for Undergraduate Studies and Associate Professor, for his summer study abroad program which takes undergraduates to Singapore and Beijing. Along with students from NUS and Tsinghua University in Beijing, Georgia Tech students study manufacturing, logistics, and modern Asian history.
At the time of the report, 80 percent of Tech undergraduates were in the fields of engineering and science. "Given the kind of university Georgia Tech is, it's remarkable that we have 34 percent of our students studying abroad," Howard A. Rollins, Jr., a psychology professor and former associate vice provost of International Programs, told NAFSA. Study abroad opportunities are available to all majors and according to the report, nearly 1,000 Tech students participate in study abroad each year.
An international perspective is imperative to the modern engineer's success, according to former Institute president Wayne Clough. "Even if they stay in this country —which is unlikely—during their careers, they are going to be impacted by this global economy," Clough told NAFSA.
NAFSA: Association of International Educators is a member organization that advocates international education and serves the field by awarding grants and providing professional development opportunities. NAFSA offers networking opportunities and sets standards of good practice for international educators and their institutions.
The Georgia Institute of Technology is one of the nation's premier research universities. Ranked seventh among U.S. News & World Report's top public universities, Georgia Tech's more than 19,000 students are enrolled in its Colleges of Architecture, Computing, Engineering, Liberal Arts, Management and Sciences. Tech is among the nation's top producers of women and African-American engineers. The Institute offers research opportunities to both undergraduate and graduate students and is home to more than 100 interdisciplinary units plus the Georgia Tech Research Institute.