Dear BBISS Community,

This past year has brought new challenges and opportunities - and I’ve been proud to see how the BBISS community has responded with collaboration, resilience, and lasting research contributions improving real lives.

A highlight of the year was the Sustainability Next Research Seed Grant program, which awarded funding to 17 transdisciplinary teams comprising 51 collaborators from 21 units across six Georgia Tech colleges. In a challenging funding climate, the Georgia Tech community came together. Contributions from multiple interdisciplinary research institutes, centers and schools helped keep the program strong. Funded initiatives translating research to everyday impact included building a sustainable electric vehicle workforce, developing community-based food system resilience, strengthening coral reef health, and advancing water reuse in Atlanta.

Past seed grants incubated new centers and initiatives such as the Center for Critical Energy Mineral Solutions, the Center for Climate Communications, and the Initiative to Preserve Georgia’s Biodiversity - collaborative work that continues to evolve and grow in impact.

Valuing strong networks and partnerships helps scale our work. These include a campus-wide BBISS Faculty Fellows network, a partnership with Oak Ridge National Labs on southeastern resilience, and community and regional academic partnerships through the Center for Sustainable Communities Research and Education (SCoRE). A national partnership with The New York Climate Exchange brought Georgia Tech's innovations to a global stage at Climate Week NYC.

Engaging local communities as equal partners, SCoRE has made impressive strides in national thought leadership, community carbon management programs, and faculty programming to advance community-engaged research at Georgia Tech.

The BBISS Graduate Fellows Program exemplifies our dedication to interdisciplinary training of early-stage researchers. The SCoRE Sustainable Communities Internship Program places undergraduates in community-based organizations where they contribute to and learn from civic sustainability work.

I am deeply grateful to all BBISS-affiliated faculty and students for their dedication and vision. It is the privilege of the BBISS team to do everything we can to catalyze, resource, and amplify your work.

I am also deeply grateful to our present and future collaborators and alumni for their partnership and support - your contributions help fuel our work. If you’d like to be part of what comes next, I’d welcome you to reach out to us.

L. Beril Toktay
Regents’ Professor and Brady Family Chairholder, Scheller College of Business
Executive Director, Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems