The Student Innovation program fosters growth by giving students the opportunity to engage with one another, faculty, and members of the wider global community involved in innovation. This program also coordinates the InVenture Prize. 

The program is committed to being deliberatively innovative by helping to Create the Next in Education (CNE) and is designed to support the following Georgia Tech Strategic Plan Goals:

  • Goal 1: Be among the most highly respected technology focused learning institutions in the world
  • Goal 3: Ensure that innovation, entrepreneurship, and public service are fundamental characteristics of our graduates

The program is also designed to support the following Georgia Tech Institute-wide Objectives:

  • 1: Be the “Innovation Institute”
  • 4: Pursue globally significant grand challenges using our campus and region as a test bed for research and application
  • 8: Explore collaborative partnerships

The Student Innovation program has meaningful interactions with all major campus units, including, but not limited to: all six colleges, programs across campus focused on entrepreneurship and innovation, Student Life, and Campus Services. These connections include campus-wide events/competitions, course instructors, targeted in-class presentations, incoming student and family presentations, and curriculum development.

Chris Reaves, Ph.D.

Chris Reaves, Ph.D.

Executive Director for Experiential and Engaged Learning

Director, Undergraduate Research & Student Innovation

chris.reaves@gatech.edu

404.385.7325

Dr. Reaves joined Georgia Tech in January 2011 as the director of undergraduate research and student innovation. He oversees and supports undergraduate research programs, provides support for student symposia, conferences and competitions related to undergraduate research and student innovation and campus communications related to both efforts. Prior to coming to Tech, Dr. Reaves was the founding director of the Office for Undergraduate Research at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He earned a B.S. in Education and a M.P.A. from Jacksonville State University (AL) and a Ph.D. in Urban and Public Affairs with a concentration in Urban Planning and Development from the University of Louisville.