Georgia Institute of Technology

Recognizing that Mr. Coulter attended Georgia Tech, the Foundation became acquainted with the unique department of biomedical engineering that was a joint program between Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University in Atlanta. Wallace Coulter attributed his engineering discipline to his time spent at Georgia Tech. It soon became evident that this program was worthy of funding based on the close collaboration between the engineers at Georgia Tech and the clinicians at Emory. In 2001, the Foundation made a $25,000,000 landmark grant to the program. In recognition of this grant, the combined department is now known as the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory.

Included within this grant are both endowment and operating funds to purchase laboratory equipment and fund department chairs. In addition, this grant contained a unique $8,000,000 endowment to provide ongoing funding for translational research. Each year, co-investigators comprised of engineering faculty from Georgia Tech and medical staff from Emory apply for annual grants to fund research that may ultimately lead to improvements in patient care. This program was the template for the Foundation’s Translational Research Partnership Program that began in earnest in 2006.