The IPaT Way: Things happening at the Institute for People and Technology

Speaker: Michael Best, Executive Director, Institute for People and Technology

August 28, 2025
12:00 p.m. Lunch; 12:30 p.m. talk starts
Location: Hodges Room, 3rd floor, Centergy One building in Technology Square

Abstract: For the first IPaT: GVU Lunch Lecture of the academic year, and per tradition, Michael Best, executive director of the Institute for People and Technology (IPaT), will present an overview of IPaT's activities, offerings, and partners. He’ll introduce The IPaT Way, our new, signature workshop that develops participants' awareness and capacity for people centered technical innovation. The IPaT Way is an amalgamation of methods and mindsets that starts with people, communities, societies; develops a shared understanding of their passions, pain points, and problems; and only then considers potential technical solutions and innovations. Best will also foreshadow some of this term's events, including a stellar line-up for the Lunch Lecture series itself, a second annual Wearable Innovations for Health Workshop, the Fall Town Hall, and other programs. He will announce this Fall's IPaT/GTRI Research & Engagement Grant recipients. Finally, he will announce Conversations@TechSquare, a new jam centered on novel ideas and exchange. The lecture will end with an opportunity for dialogue, input, and interaction.

Bio: Dr. Michael L. Best is Executive Director of the Institute for People and Technology (IPaT) and Professor with the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs and the School of Interactive Computing at Georgia Institute of Technology where he directs the Technologies and International Development Lab. He was founding director of the United Nations University Institute on Computing and Society (UNU-CS) in Macau SAR, China. He holds a Ph.D. from MIT and has served as director of Media Lab Asia in India and head of the eDevelopment group at the MIT Media Lab.

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IPaT: GVU Lunch Lecture Series