ATLANTA – Georgia Tech, already a leader in undergraduate cybersecurity education, is launching a School of Cybersecurity and Privacy.
The new school will be the first of its kind among top research universities. It will weave together Georgia Tech’s three existing cybersecurity degree programs with other interdisciplinary course offerings.
“The new School of Cybersecurity is a reflection of Georgia Tech’s strengths and commitment to serving the needs of our society and our state,” Georgia Tech President Angel Cabrera said Tuesday.
“[It] will focus on applied research collaborations with the fast-growing cybersecurity industry in Georgia and meeting a critical workforce need.”
There is a plentiful supply of cybersecurity jobs in Georgia. Besides the cybersecurity needs of the state’s rapidly growing fintech sector centered around Atlanta, Fort Gordon near Augusta is home to the U.S. Army’s Cyber Command Headquarters.
The Georgia Cyber Center in downtown Augusta opened two years ago and is considering constructing a third building at the complex to keep up with demand for space.
There are more than 500 cybersecurity researchers spread across Georgia Tech’s Midtown Atlanta campus, who bring in more than $180 million in research awards annually.
“Our excellence in the field is well established,” said Rafael L. Bras, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at Georgia Tech. “The school will create the necessary synergy to multiply our impact and make our national security – and the personal security of individuals – safer from the threat of cyberattacks.”
Gov. Brian Kemp is easing restrictions on elderly long-term care facilities imposed at the start of the coronavirus pandemic six months ago. (Photo by Beau Evans)
ATLANTA – Gov. Brian Kemp late Tuesday lifted restrictions on elderly long-term care facilities that have been in effect in Georgia since the coronavirus pandemic hit the state in March.
Effective at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, nursing homes, personal-care homes, assisted-living communities, hospices and other elderly-care facilities were allowed to reopen subject to continuing measures aimed at reducing the spread of COVID-19.
“The state has collaborated with appropriate agencies, long-term care associations and other stakeholders on how to responsibly ease restrictions in long-term care facilities while COVID-19 remains in communities across the state,” Kemp wrote in an executive order.
Under Kemp’s order, elderly-care facilities will be allowed to reopen by progressing through three phases, the third phase being the least restrictive.
Decisions on which phase to implement at any given time must be based on considerations including the number of coronavirus cases in the local community or inside the facility, access to personal protective equipment (PPE), whether a facility’s staffing is adequate and hospital capacity in the local community.
The governor issued a statewide shelter-in-place order in March with the coronavirus pandemic taking hold across Georgia. He has since lifted the order as it applied to most residents and businesses but left it in place for elderly-care facilities, as they were being hit particularly hard by the virus.
The governor emphasized in his order that the number of COVID-19 cases in Georgia continues to grow and that the virus remains “a severe threat to public health.”
Under the Phase I restrictions, visitation to an elderly-care facility will not be allowed in most instances. Non-medically necessary trips should be avoided, while screening of residents and staff will be conducted three times daily under both phases 1 and 2.
Visitation will be allowed under phases 2 and 3, with outside visits preferred. Limited non-medically necessary trips also will be permitted under the second and third phases. Screening of residents and staff will only be required once a day under Phase 3.
The elderly-care facilities order will remain in effect until the conclusion of the public health state of emergency Kemp declared in Georgia back in mid-March.
ATLANTA – A lack of places for big rigs to park in Georgia is threatening the safety of both truckers and the rest of the motoring public, transportation experts said Tuesday.
Truck drivers who have driven the maximum number of hours allowed under industry regulations frequently find truck stops and highway rest areas full and are forced to park along roadsides, Daniel Studdard, manager of freight planning for the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC), told members of the Georgia Freight & Logistics Commission during a hearing at the state Capitol.
“When a truck is parked in an unauthorized location, it really creates a crash risk,” Studdard said. “This is personal for [truck drivers]. They need somewhere safe to park.”
The shortage of truck parking was among the findings in a report the Georgia Freight & Logistics Commission released last January. The General Assembly formed the panel of lawmakers and logistics industry executives last year to look for ways to expedite the movement of freight across the state.
Jannine Miller, director of planning for the Georgia Department of Transportation, said the demand for truck parking has increased during the coronavirus pandemic, which has sparked huge growth in e-commerce.
“We’ve all benefited from at-home deliveries during the pandemic,” she said. “[E-commerce] has been growing several-fold.”
Miller said another factor driving demand for truck parking is the industrial growth taking place in Georgia despite COVID-19.
The state Department of Economic Development reported $7.4 billion in private investment took place in Georgia during the last fiscal year, even though the economic lockdown resulting from the pandemic crippled business activity during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020 last spring.
“Eighty-four percent of that investment was in companies that require logistics to move their goods,” Miller said.
Studdard said most of the current supply of truck parking spaces in the Atlanta region is limited to Fulton County and edge counties including Coweta, Henry, Jackson and Hall. Other counties in the region have few available spaces, and Gwinnett County has none, he said.
More than 90% of truckers traveling through the region reported it typically takes them at least a half hour to find parking, according to a study the ARC completed in 2018.
“That’s a waste of their time and fuel,” Studdard said. “If they’re driving around looking for somewhere to park, that also affects our traffic congestion.”
Potential solutions to the problem other states have been exploring include converting large highway medians or undeveloped parcels in areas zoned for commercial use into truck parking, or simply building no-frills truck parking lots equipped only with restrooms, lighting and some form of security.
Miller said the current supply of truck parking in Georgia is too concentrated in metro Atlanta. Savannah, in particular, has a need for more truck parking to accommodate the growth of the containerized cargo traffic in and out of the Port of Savannah, she said.
“We need to have more truck parking areas scattered around the state,” she said.
The Georgia Freight & Logistics Commission will continue to meet this fall and expects to deliver recommendations by early December.
ATLANTA – Georgia State University President Mark Becker will leave next June after 12 years in the post, Becker announced Tuesday.
Becker said he plans to take an educational leave to conduct research and write. The University System of Georgia will conduct a national search for a successor to take over next July.
Under Becker’s leadership, Georgia State has set records for enrollment, graduation rate and total graduates. Its consolidation with Georgia Perimeter College in 2016 made Georgia State the state’s largest university with 54,000 students as of this semester and one of the largest in the nation.
“President Mark Becker’s outstanding leadership has helped Georgia State University set the national standard for innovation in student success, resulting in dramatic increases in graduation rates for students of all backgrounds,” said Steve Wrigley, chancellor of the University System of Georgia.
“Georgia State has gained in quality and stature during Mark’s tenure, from record-setting research productivity to strong financial management.”
Georgia State also gained in stature on Becker’s watch with the arrival of Division I college football. The Panthers launched football a decade ago playing in the since-demolished Georgia Dome before moving to the former home of the Atlanta Braves at Turner Field, which was converted into a football stadium.
Becker was named one of America’s 10 most innovative university presidents by Washington Monthly in 2015. The university been ranked as one of the most innovative in the country by U.S. News & World Report ever since the innovation category was created.
Becker also has won accolades for promoting diversity. He won the Academic Leadership Award from the Carnegie Corporation three years ago for Georgia State’s achievements in “eliminating disparities in graduation rates based on race, ethnicity and first-generation status.”
As one of the most diverse universities in the nation, Georgia State is first in the country among nonprofit institutions in graduating African American students.
Becker also led a major building expansion of the university campus, becoming a major contributor to the redevelopment of the southern portion of downtown Atlanta.
University System of Georgia Chancellor Steve Wrigley
ATLANTA – University System of Georgia Chancellor Steve Wrigley Tuesday defended his decision to bring students back to the system’s 26 campuses this semester for in-person classes.
While some campuses – notably the University of Georgia – have reported large numbers of new coronavirus cases, most were mild or without symptoms, Wrigley told members of the system’s Board of Regents. Those new cases have started to come down in recent days, he said.
“We said all summer this would be different,” Wrigley said of reopening public university campuses across Georgia. “It is challenging … [but] we have become fluent in the language of the pandemic.”
Wrigley blamed the increase in new COVID-19 cases on large off-campus gatherings of students. A video of a packed gathering of University of North Georgia students in Dahlonega last month at a party the day before school started went viral.
Since the early days of the semester, students have shown great leadership tamping down those kinds of gatherings and following other safety guidelines including wearing masks, the chancellor said.
“We need to remain vigilant,” Wrigley said. “It’s a long semester. COVID-19 thrives on concentration and carelessness.”
Like the state’s K-12 school system, the university system shut down classrooms last March as the coronavirus pandemic took hold in Georgia. The schools completed the spring semester online.
The decision over the summer to resume in-person instruction drew widespread criticism from students and teachers worried about spreading COVID-19.
Wrigley reiterated Tuesday that the decision was based on the inherent advantages of the on-campus experience compared to virtual learning.
“We believe strongly in the richness it adds to education and overall student enrichment,” Wrigley said. “We will stay the course.”
In other business Tuesday, the regents adopted a request for $2.4 billion in state funding for the next fiscal year, which starts next July.
The Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget told state agencies not to ask for more money next year, citing the pandemic’s impact on the state’s economy, said Tracey Cook, the system’s executive vice chancellor for strategy and fiscal affairs.
However, the university system was permitted to seek a net increase of $61.5 million, primarily to cover projected student enrollment growth, Cook said.
