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.

Recha Reid

Recha Reid

Assistant Director

Student Innovation and Undergraduate Research

recha.reid@gatech.edu

404.385.5379

Recha Reid is the Assistant Director for Student Innovation and Undergraduate Research for the Office of Undergraduate Education (OUE) at the Georgia Institute of Technology. As part of her responsibilities, she plans, manages, and coordinates new and existing innovation programs and competitions. Collaborate with faculty leaders and senior administrators to direct, develop, and implement programming specific to undergraduate research. She also establishes partnerships, constructs synergies, and creates opportunities that lead to greater faculty & student involvement in undergraduate research and student innovation, discovery, and entrepreneurship while bridging existing knowledge gaps. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in International Relations and Spanish from Wesleyan College, Georgia, and her Master of Arts degree in International Studies from the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom.

Chris Reaves, Ph.D.

Chris Reaves, Ph.D.

Executive Director for Academic Engagement Programs

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.