Wes McRae | November 20, 2023 – Atlanta, GA

Georgia Tech is a core partner in the development of the New York Climate Exchange (NYCX) project, a campus devoted to bringing interdisciplinary climate change work to students from around the world.

"This project is deeply connected to the strategic plan of the Institute," said Michael Gamble, chair of the Academic and Research Council, Kendeda Building for Innovative Sustainable Design.

"The NYCX will be like the Kendeda Building times ten," Gamble said. "The project will include wet labs and dry labs, maker spaces, course classrooms, and demonstration areas. It will also include a theater, student dormitories, and faculty residences by adaptive reuse of the existing buildings on Governors Island."

"The plan is for everything to be Living Building certified, which is really ambitious."

Beyond Tech's reputation as tier one research institute, Gamble particularly credits three projects with helping draw this type of opportunity to Georgia Tech. "CREATE-X, which empowers students to launch successful startups; the Generation 2 Reinvented Toilet project, led by Shannon Yee; and the Kendeda Building and EcoCommons have really been the face of the project from Georgia Tech right now." 

Yee also serves as a Georgia Tech representative on the NYCX Program Steering Committee.

"The NYCX is looking to build on what Kendeda has delivered and learn from our experience," Gamble said. "Like the Kendeda building, landscape, and infrastructure, NYCX will be a didactic project. Essentially, it's a building that teaches."

"The goal is to have around 250 students per semester who will reside on the island, and they will learn from leaders from other institutions for credit."

As a core partner, Tech will be one of a handful of universities driving the programming and the curriculum development, Gamble said. "At the outset, we will be providing scholars and residents, students, etc., because it takes about five years of sustained effort to generate demand, generate curiosity, and offer courses that may be quite unexpected."

"Would a first-year student have the opportunity to take an English class on Governors Island? I hope so. Would a third-year have the opportunity to take a calculus class there? That's my hope," Gamble said.

"You expand your audience by a big factor if you deliver a core non-environmentally focused course in a building or a project that is on the cutting edge of climate adaptation."