[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 107 (Tuesday, June 25, 2019)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E838]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           PRESIDENT GEORGE P. ``BUD'' PETERSON'S RETIREMENT

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. JOHN LEWIS

                               of georgia

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 25, 2019

  Mr. LEWIS. Madam Speaker, I rise to recognize Dr. George P. ``Bud'' 
Peterson, Ph.D. on his retirement.
  For the past 10 years, Dr. Peterson served as the 11th president of 
the Georgia Institute of Technology, a world-renowned higher education 
institution that is located in my district. Under Dr. Peterson's 
leadership, the Institute has consistently ranked among our nation's 
best institutions of higher education, and he managed to exceed 
benchmarks outlined in Georgia Tech's strategic plan.
  Madam Speaker, we are very fortunate to have an institution like 
Georgia Tech educating our young people in Atlanta. President Peterson 
worked tirelessly to open the doors of opportunity to young people from 
every corner of Georgia. During his tenure, undergraduate applications 
tripled, graduate applications doubled, and the student body increased 
by 69 percent to more than 32,000 students. In 2014, the Georgia Tech 
guaranteed admission and financial support to valedictorians and 
salutatorians from Atlanta Public Schools. In 2017, it extended these 
offerings statewide through the Georgia Tech Scholars Program. Access 
to a quality education changes the very trajectory of these young 
people's lives.
  For visitors to Metro Atlanta, Dr. Peterson's impact is arguably most 
visible in Tech Square in Midtown Atlanta. There is an important 
national conversation on how to create new livable-wage, manufacturing 
jobs and bolster United States' global competitiveness. In our region, 
Dr. Peterson ensured that Georgia Tech became the regional center for 
this discussion. For these reasons, former Department of Commerce 
Secretary Gary Locke appointed President Peterson to the National 
Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and President 
Barack Obama appointed him to the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership 
(AMP) steering committee and its 2.0 successor.
  President Peterson excels in connecting young minds with great ideas 
to emerging industries and opportunity. Since 2013, 30 corporations 
have set up innovation centers in the area, engaging students' 
creativity, growing our economy, and ensuring that Atlanta remain a 
center for talent and technology. In fact, Madam Speaker, last week Dr. 
Peterson welcomed my staff and me to Georgia Tech's new Coda building. 
This incredible facility, along with the rest of Tech Square, shows how 
the Institute will continue to shape Atlanta's future. Dr. Peterson was 
instrumental in making this vision a reality.
  Before coming to Georgia Tech, Dr. Peterson served as chancellor of 
the University of Colorado at Boulder and provost at the Rensselaer 
Polytechnic Institute in New York. Born in San Francisco, California, 
Dr. Peterson grew up in Kansas and earned degrees from Kansas State 
University and Texas A&M University. Throughout his career, Dr. 
Peterson focused on promoting research and scientific education and 
received national accolades for his work. For these reasons, President 
George W. Bush appointed him to serve on the National Science Board in 
2008, and President Obama re-appointed President Peterson for a second 
six-year term in 2014.
  Although Dr. Peterson is retiring this summer from the 
administration, he is staying in the Georgia Tech family and returning 
to the Institute's faculty. On behalf of the people of Atlanta, I thank 
President Peterson for his years of dedicated leadership to our 
community and to Georgia Tech. I wish him, his beloved wife Val, and 
their four children continued success and happiness in this next 
chapter of their lives.

                          ____________________