Since it was established, GTRI has expanded its engineering focus to include science, economics, policy, and other areas that leverage GTRI's partnership with Georgia Tech. Overall, contracts and grants from Department of Defense agencies account for approximately 84% of GTRI's total research funding. Major customers for GTRI research include United States Department of Defense agencies, the state of Georgia, non-defense federal agencies, and private industry. GTRI's research spans a variety of disciplines, including national defense, homeland security, public health, education, mobile and wireless technologies, and economic development. To boost the state's struggling economy in the midst of the Great Depression, funds were found, and the station was finally established with US$5,000 (equivalent to $80,000 in 2019) in April 1934. Harry Vaughan as an analog to the agricultural experiment stations the Georgia General Assembly passed a law that year creating the organization on paper but did not allocate funds to start it. Initially known as the Engineering Experiment Station, ( EES) the organization was proposed in 1929 by W.
GTRI employs around 2,400 people, and is involved in approximately $600 million in research annually for more than 200 clients in industry and government. The Georgia Tech Research Institute ( GTRI) is the nonprofit applied research arm of the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia, United States.
