Georgia Institute of Technology Office of the Provost | Georgia Institute of Technology | Atlanta, GA

This week marks the 50th anniversary of the most extraordinary engineering and technological feat that the world has ever seen. It was a day like today that Apollo 11 took off on its historic spaceflight to the moon. In my opinion, we have not surpassed that technological feat and will not until humans return to the moon, still some five years away. From a technological and scientific perspective, I believe that there is almost nothing we can’t achieve. The pace of new knowledge and new technology is breathtaking. Unfortunately, even over centuries, our mastery of human relations has not made that much progress.

On May 31 I was honored to receive an honorary doctorate in education from Universidad del Sagrado Corazón in Puerto Rico, where I was born and grew up.

Our alumni make us proud. Not only are they extremely well-educated entrepreneurs who create wealth for many, but they are great human beings and loyal Georgia Tech alumni who are also providing outstanding services to their alma mater.

I am not a spiritual or religious man. I try hard to be a good man, undoubtedly influenced by my Catholic upbringing and education. It is in that context that I find it particularly horrific to wake up to the news of a terrorist attack on Christian churches in Sri Lanka. 

In December 2016, Bloomberg Philanthropies convened the American Talent Initiative (ATI). Its goal could not have been loftier: to, by 2025, add 50,000 low- and moderate-income students to the ranks of universities or four-year colleges with a six-year bachelor’s graduation rate of at least 70%. Georgia Tech was among the first 30 ATI members. 

When I heard that Lin-Manuel Miranda was to resume the lead role and stage "Hamilton: an American Musical" in Puerto Rico for the benefit of his and my devastated island, my wife, Pat and I decided that we would find a way to attend no matter what it would take.