Our Forebearers

Leading our standards of excellence

Since its inception, the Georgia Tech Research Institute and its predecessor, the State Engineering Experiment Station, have attracted our nation’s foremost innovators. Their accomplishments have enabled GTRI to do everything that it does today.

Up until Director Donald Grace, 1976-1992, all the directors listed below were directors of the Engineering Experiment Station. Our name changed during Donald Grace's tenure, so he was director of EES / GTRI. He was also the first to also retain the title Vice President of the Georgia Institute of Technology. The directors who followed him were directors of GTRI and Georgia Tech Vice Presidents. Continue reading to learn more.

GTRI was instrumental in founding the technology organization, Scientific-Atlanta. Today, at least 100 high-tech Atlanta companies can trace their roots to ScientificAtlanta. To learn more, select the following link:

The Georgia Tech Living History Program has also captured the stories of a number of influential GTRI researchers and administrators who retired after long and successful careers. Through the following video clips, these individuals share some of their most memorable EES/GTRI stories.

W. Harry Vaughan >