Development Studies @ Georgia Tech
Georgia Tech’s mission to harness technological change in service of human well-being requires deep engagement with the social, political, and economic dimensions of development. The challenges of social transformation — including inequality, climate stress, conflict, and governance — are complex, urgent, and inherently interdisciplinary. Development studies at Georgia Tech brings together scholars whose work addresses these challenges across regions, scales, and disciplines.
The Development Studies program examines the processes, conditions, and consequences of human development from local and community-based contexts to national and global systems. Faculty draw on perspectives from economics, political science, sociology, geography, history, public policy, and related fields to study development as a dynamic social transformation shaped by historical legacies and contemporary change.
Research in Development Studies within the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts reflects a distinctive blend of theory, empirical analysis, and applied engagement. Faculty and students investigate a wide range of topics — including conflict, democratization, education, globalization, food insecurity, health, inequality, migration, poverty, and social justice — using diverse methods. These include large-scale datasets from sources such as the World Bank and U.S. Census Bureau, field research in Latin America, Africa, and Asia, and community-based development work in Atlanta. Together, this work advances understanding of development across global, national, regional, and local scales.
