ATLANTA—New Georgia Tech President G.P. “Bud” Peterson wants his students to learn more than math and science.
Peterson, who starts his job Wednesday at the Atlanta university, hopes to expand offerings in non-engineering courses like public policy and fine art, something he sees as key to producing well-rounded students who have a better chance at success after graduation.
“I took gas dynamics as a social science elective in undergraduate and have regretted it for a long time,” Peterson said in an interview Tuesday with The Associated Press. “I wish I had taken more courses in arts, humanities and social sciences. It’s very important to prepare students for a career, not just for a job.”
As one of the nation’s top engineering schools, the Georgia Institute of Technology must also look for innovative ways to help solve problems the country is facing, Peterson said. He said he wants to develop green technologies, a major focus of the Obama administration.
“The whole issue of climate change, the energy issues, the rapid advances being made in biotechnology—those are key areas where Georgia Tech has great strength and can have a lasting impact on the economic well-being of this country,” said Peterson, wearing a gold tie in honor of the colors of his new university.
Peterson also wants to expand on Tech’s work in music technology, a program that has become a leader in fusing cutting-edge engineering with instruments. For example, Georgia Tech researchers are developing a glove that helps students learn to play piano by using vibration to cue which finger they should use on each key.
By all accounts, Peterson has big shoes to fill.
The university already is among the top colleges in the country, thanks to Peterson’s predecessor, G. Wayne Clough. Clough was president of the Atlanta campus for more than a decade before leaving last year to run the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. Georgia Tech has the national and international reputation most administrators dream of, particularly when it comes to wooing donors and federal research dollars.
Peterson will spend his first morning as the new Georgia Tech president at the Georgia Capitol meeting state lawmakers.
Peterson, 56, was chancellor at the University of Colorado at Boulder since 2006 before being named to the Georgia Tech post in February. Peterson, who has a doctorate in mechanical engineering, is a former NASA researcher who has worked in academia and the private sector.
He served a short stint as a high school math and science teacher in Kansas. Peterson received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering from Kansas State University and his Ph.D. from Texas A&M.
He’s also worked at the National Science Foundation, Texas A&M and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y.
At CU-Boulder, he helped calm rough waters after a spate of national scandals, including sexual assault accusations against football players and a professor, Ward Churchill, who ignited a national firestorm by likening some Sept. 11 victims to a Nazi.
At Georgia Tech, Peterson will make $440,000 a year, with $150,000 in deferred compensation and a $12,000 car allowance.
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