Dean's Dispatch – Oct. 1, 2026
Dear GT Computing community,
I hope everyone is having a great semester, enjoying the arrival of fall weather, and looking forward to a well-deserved Fall Break next week! I would also like to thank everyone who attended David White’s Retirement Celebration yesterday. It was a heartwarming event, filled with humor, fond memories, and wonderful reminiscences.
Rankings
The latest U.S. News & World Report rankings were released last week, and I am proud to share that we are ranked #5 nationally among undergraduate computer science programs for the second year in a row. Our specialty rankings also remain strong:
- Artificial Intelligence: #5
- Computer Systems: #6
- Cybersecurity: #2
- Data Analytics: #5
- Programming Languages: #13
- Software Engineering: #3
- Theory: #10
Everyone in our community has contributed to this achievement, and we should all take pride in it. Some of our alumni and advisory board members have shared with me that reaching #5 nationally was an aspirational goal in years past–one that, at the time, may even have seemed out of reach. Maintaining our #5 ranking for two consecutive years reflects the sustained excellence, dedication, and teamwork across our College and further strengthens our standing as a leading College of Computing. This standing contributes broadly to Georgia Tech’s overall strength, including its #5 ranking in computer engineering. A major highlight this year was Georgia Tech Engineering rising to #2 for the first time, tied with Berkeley and Stanford. This is a source of pride for all of us—and a reminder of the mutually reinforcing strengths across our Institute. Computing benefits tremendously from being part of an institution with world-class engineering programs, just as Engineering benefits from Georgia Tech’s strength in Computing.
Another source of pride is the exceptional value of a Georgia Tech education. Our tuition continues to be significantly lower than that of many of the other top-10 computer science programs, while our students receive an education and opportunities that rank among the very best. That combination of excellence and affordability is also reflected in Georgia Tech once again receiving The Princeton Review’s highest recognition for return on investment (ROI).
Career Fair
Career Placement is another Princeton Review ranking in which Georgia Tech is #1, and it is especially gratifying to see our College leading in this area as well. A couple of weeks ago, we hosted our largest-ever Career Fair, with more than 120 companies and over 2,660 students participating. Both the upper and lower levels of McCamish Pavilion were filled and buzzing with energy as students engaged with potential employers.
The tremendous participation in our Career Fair is further evidence that the prevailing narrative that there are no jobs for CS majors is misplaced. I have attached a PDF with the list of participating companies and their industry areas. Particularly noteworthy is the continued growth in interest in our students from companies outside the traditional Tech industry. This further reinforces the X^Computing message that I have been sharing with our students: computing skills are increasingly valuable across every sector of the economy.
Special thanks to Paul Fowler, director of GT Computing Career Services, and the Career Services team for making our Career Fair such an outstanding success, as well as for their ongoing work with our students to prepare them for rewarding careers. Another highlight for our College is that our Career Fairs are open to all Georgia Tech students. Approximately 10% of this year’s student attendees came from outside our College, and it was wonderful to see them benefit from the opportunities and support provided by our Career Services team as well. In addition, this team is hosting over 50 unique company visits to the College this semester, conducting over 80 info sessions, coffee chats, professional development workshops, and tech talks. Together, these efforts help ensure that Georgia Tech students continue to have a strong competitive edge in both career readiness and job placement.
Strategic Planning
I would like to announce that we will be launching a new strategic planning effort for our College during this academic year. It has been approximately 10 years since our College last developed a strategic plan, and much has changed—both within Georgia Tech and in the world around us—since then.
As with recent strategic planning efforts at the Institute level, including the Provost’s AI and Education strategy and the EVPR’s AI and Research strategy, we will be working with Georgia Tech Strategic Consulting (GTSC) to support this effort. We plan to develop the strategic plan in two phases:
Phase 1 — Second Half of Fall 2026: Data collection and development of our mission, vision, and core values.
Phase 2 — Spring 2027: Goal setting and development of implementation plans.
We will share a broader announcement with additional details about the goals, team structure, and anticipated timeline for the process. A critical part of our work this semester will be gathering input from across our community, including faculty, staff, students, alumni, advisory board members, and our internal and external partners. There will be many opportunities and channels for providing input, beginning with kickoff offsite meetings for staff and faculty on October 15 and October 16, respectively. Stay tuned for details.
On a personal note, I deliberately waited a couple of years before launching this strategic planning effort. I wanted our College to first establish a strong foundation—financially, organizationally, and culturally—from which we could think ambitiously and audaciously about our future. I have often thought of the well-known saying, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” I believe we are now at the right moment to undertake this work together.
And it is truly an exciting moment. With our College now ranked #5 nationally, our strategic planning process is not simply about how we sustain what we have achieved. It is an opportunity to ask what we want the next five years of our College to look like, where we can lead, and how we can have even greater impact at Georgia Tech and beyond. I look forward to all of us envisioning that future together.
Kudos
Finally, and as always, I have good news from our community:
- First, I have a great staff profile to share: Nancy Baker, the academic and program manager for SCP. She supports 140 graduate students and serves as a representative on the Institute’s Staff Council. Thank you for your commitment to our students and to our larger community, Nancy!
- Munmun De Choudhury (IC) has been selected to serve on the Global Advisory Committee for the World Bank's Bridging Gaps in Mental Health Care initiative. She joins an international group of experts advising the project on advancing research and innovation to expand access to mental health care worldwide, especially in fragile and conflict-affected settings. Munmun has also received the 2026 ICWSM Test of Time Award for her paper, Social Media Participation in an Activist Movement for Racial Equality. This is her third test of time award, recognizing the sustained influence of her scholarship on computational social science and social computing for more than a decade. Congratulations, Munmun, and thanks for your leadership in these important areas for our society!
- Michael Best and Tim Trent (IPaT) were featured by CBS News and WSB-TV for their new Trash Lab, where they grind plastic waste and reform it into new, useful items. Congratulations, Michael and Tim, and thank you for your commitment to sustainability!
- Engadget published an article citing work by Hanqing Zhao (Ph.D. student, SCP), who found that vibe-coders are releasing batches of code that are rife with security vulnerabilities. The same work has also been covered by Infosecurity Magazine. Congratulations, Hanqing, and thank you for your timely and impactful research!
- Peter Swire (SCP) was interviewed by 11Alive about Atlanta’s new proposals to regulate Flock cameras and other license plate readers. Thank you for sharing your expertise on this hot-button topic, Peter!
- Tech Briefs wrote about the work Bruce Walker and Sehoon Ha (IC) and their team are doing to build a robotic guide dog. Thank you for your work supporting the independence of people with disabilities, Bruce and Sehoon!
- Michael Specter (SCP) was quoted by WABE in a story on election security. Thank you for addressing such a vital issue, Michael!
- Josiah Hester (IC, SCS) published an opinion piece, with an accompanying video, in the Communications of the ACM. The article is titled Who Owns the Wai (Water)? AI, Power, and the Public Trust. Thank you for your thought leadership on the environmental impact of AI, Josiah!
The CMD-IT/ACM Richard Tapia Celebration of Diversity in Computing Conference was held in Atlanta a couple of weeks ago. While we typically cover expenses for around 8 students to attend the conference, having it here in Atlanta enabled us to support 35 students this year.
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It is always a wonderful event, and I was especially pleased to see so many Georgia Tech faces there welcoming colleagues and students from across the country. Our College also had a strong presence in the conference program. As just one example, two of the three participants in the panel on Effective Teaching were from our College—Mark Moss and Fisayo Omojokun. Finally, special thanks to Dana Randall, our College’s Associate Dean for Access and Advancement, for leading Georgia Tech’s participation in this important conference and helping make it possible for so many of our students to attend this year. 📷 ↓
That’s all for now. Have a good rest of the week, and a wonderful Fall Break!
Best regards,
Vivek
Email address for all matters related to the College: coc-dean-team@cc.gatech.edu