Saturday, February 09, 2019

Super Drones

See below: typical brag letter from Tech’s president. But some interesting stuff. Particularly about the drones used during the Super Bowl halftime. Graduates who are active in the alumni association love updates like this.
 
To celebrate its 150th anniversary, 2019 has been declared the international year of the Periodic Table of Elements. Looking forward to the GT marching band’s halftime show giving tribute. I don’t see UGA keeping pace on this one.  

While its great that Tech has finally upped its game on social media, what I don’t like is when reality is stretched beyond recognition. Last week I saw a picture of “Tech legend” Keith Brooking. Legend? OK, he was the leading tackler in Tech history, though he played in an era when teams played more games, and ran more plays per game than they had in the past. As a senior he “led the team” to the CarQuest Bowl. Brooking made second team all-ACC one year. George Morris he was not.
Since the new head coach was hired Tech has been doing a better job getting seen on social media, which is crucial for recruits and fans and therefore ticket sales. Lots of info about this week’s national signing day, including putting the recruits’ pictures on billboards around the city. Auburn and Georgia have been using billboards in Atlanta for at least five years, so its about time Tech got on board. Oldies like us may be set in our ways, but Tech needs the younger generation to get on board and buy tickets.
Ellie Kemper sported at half-Ram/half-Patriot jersey. Other Super Bowl leftovers, including two videos of me besting Will in an obstacle course. Also me missing a field goal. Forty years ago I would've made that one. Will got more air under his kick. Passed a marching band on our way out.
My company’s metal was used to make the huge Lombardi Trophy that stood guard in Centennial Park during Super Bowl week. In addition to the aluminum handrails in SunTrust Park, Mercedes Benz Stadium, the Hawk’s State Farm Arena, and UGA’s Sanford Stadium, we’re working on the Los Angeles Rams new stadium, the Oakland Raiders new stadium in Las Vegas, and Clemson’s Memorial Stadium expansion projects.
 
 
Update from Georgia Tech President G.P. "Bud" Peterson
February 2019
 
 
 
 
Along with Georgia Tech football coach Geoff Collins (far right), serving on one of the panels of judges Feb. 2 for the NFL's fourth annual 1st & Future competition were (from left) former NFL player Shawn Springs, Windpact CEO; Arrow Electronics VP and General Manager Allison Sabia; Arrow Chief Marketing Officer Victor Gao; BIP Capital Vice President Sarath Degala; and Dr. Leigh Ann Curl, Baltimore Ravens head orthopedic surgeon and NFL Physicians Society president.

 
 
Dear Georgia Tech Friends and Supporters,

For a week, the eyes of the sporting world turned toward Atlanta as Super Bowl LIII drew tens of thousands to our city for the Feb. 3 game between the Los Angeles Rams and the New England Patriots and its companion events. From Super Bowl Week's opening-night festivities at State Farm Arena to the Patriots' hard-fought 13-3 victory in Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the Georgia Institute of Technology's fingerprints were all over the occasion.
 
The Patriots used Georgia Tech's athletic facilities to train in the run-up to the game, which meant that former Georgia Tech All-America offensive lineman Shaq Mason returned to The Flats, where he helped make the Yellow Jackets one of the nation's top rushing teams during his time here (2011-14). This was his third Super Bowl, and he's one of the main reasons Patriots quarterback Tom Brady's uniform rarely gets dirty! Our Georgia Tech sports information team put together an entertaining collection of videos and images from opening night, including an interview with Shaq by Voice of the Yellow Jackets Andy Demetra and new Tech head football coach Geoff Collins.
 
Just a short distance from our campus, Mercedes-Benz Stadium got a closeup look by the nation and the world. It has been called "the greenest sports arena in the world," thanks in part to technology developed by Atlanta-based Quest Renewables, which got its start in 2011 in the Georgia Tech Research Institute. Georgia Tech alumni were deeply involved in the state-of-the-art facility's construction, an accomplishment of which all Yellow Jackets can be proud.
 
The Georgia Tech Pep Band also got in its licks, dividing into two groups to perform the day before the game at the NFL Honors red-carpet event at the Fox Theater in Midtown Atlanta and pep rallies for the two teams in Centennial Olympic Park.
 
Also in a musical vein, about 50 Georgia Tech School of Music students helped place the Intel drones that were used during the Super Bowl halftime show. Representing all four student choirs, the orchestra, and the band, they were sworn to secrecy until after the game. Video accounts of their experience can be found on our Facebook page and the Georgia Tech YouTube Channel.
 
And in an event we shared with the Georgia Tech community beforehand, the Institute hosted the fourth annual NFL 1st & Future competition in our Ferst Center for the Arts the day before the game. Designed to spur innovations in athletic safety and performance, it featured a Shark Tank-style format — very similar to our own InVenture Prize competition — in which entrants presented their concepts before panels of judges that included Coach Geoff Collins and Scheller College Business Analytics Center Managing Director Keith Werle. TendoNova, co-founded by four Georgia Tech graduates, was a finalist in 1st & Future's Athlete Health and Safety category.
 
As a bookend to the eventful week, Patriots coach Bill Belichick, speaking in a Super Bowl farewell press conference, had some kind words for Georgia Tech and the Southern hospitality our city provided.
 
It was a Super week, and Georgia Tech is proud to have played a part in it!
 
 
Regards,
 
G.P. "Bud" Peterson
President, Georgia Institute of Technology
 
 
ELEMENTARY, GEORGIA TECH!
 
Born 150 years ago, the periodic table is one of science's most important and recognizable tools. To celebrate the table’s staying power, the United Nations proclaimed 2019 as the International Year of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements — and Georgia Tech is joining the celebration. The College of Sciences is leading a year-round celebration, #IYPT2019GT. It will partner with other units to engage students, faculty, and staff with the table through athletics, art, and academics. Events, which began at a January men's basketball game against Notre Dame, will take place every month.

 
 
YES, GT HAS A HOCKEY TEAM
 
Hockey in the Deep South? You’d better believe it. “‘I didn’t even know Georgia Tech had a hockey team.’ We hear that a lot,” explains Caleb Rudnicki, Georgia Tech ice hockey president. Not only does Tech have one, but the Insitutute is home to the longest continuously organized collegiate club hockey team in the Southeast. Students have been lacing up their skates and hitting the ice for the Yellow Jackets since 1973. The team has seen ebbs and flows — with some success in the late 1990s — but saw dwindling participation in the new millennium. For the past couple of years, things have been on an upswing.


 
 

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