On May 13, 2026, ARCS Atlanta members and guests went on one of the most fascinating and inspiring field trips ever! Organized and arranged by Mary Watson’s husband, Tom, we toured the new Atlanta Public Safety Training Center and heard from Atlanta Police Department experts on the new technology at the center. We watched in real time as a drone was dispatched to an active 911 call and arrived at the scene in just over one minute. With the help of a bus to cover the massive campus, we toured the beautiful new horse barn, the shooting range, the Emergency Vehicle Operations Course, the skid pad and the vehicle skills pad. We saw the Class A burn building, the training fire station, complete with a moving ambulance and human dummies, and the Real-World Training Center with its hotel, convenience store, house, and bar which provide life-like practice for emergency situations.
We learned about the exemplary work of the Atlanta Police Foundation which brings together private sector leaders from the business and philanthropic communities to support public safety initiatives designed to make Atlanta the safest large city in the nation. Its unique public sector/private sector partnership is focused on reducing crime and ensuring that Atlanta’s law enforcement professionals have the best resources, incentives, and training to sustain a highly motivated police force that meets the demands of 21st-century policing.
Many thanks to all the experts at the Public Safety Training Center and to Tom Watson for his invaluable help in coordinating this memorable event.
Thanks from Alum Alejandro Toriella, PhD, Assistant Professor, Industrial Engineering, Georgia Tech
Thank you very much for your support. It meant a lot. I had the opportunity to return to Tech as a faculty member last year. I’m very happy to be back and hope I can advise a future ARCS scholar soon!
Thanks from Alum Collette Miller, Postdoctoral Fellow at US Environmental Protection Agency
"Thank you all for reaching out and the support over the years. It's been a rocky few years following the passing of my doctoral research mentor a few weeks prior to my dissertation defense. Trying to rebound from his loss, finishing my dissertation, and figuring out where to go from there was challenging to say the least ... Thank you again for your support. Honestly I did not know how much I would have ended up relying on the generous gift that the Atlanta Chapter of ARCS Foundation provided when it was first received. However, it was vital in helping me launch a new chapter in my career when I found my plans collapse when my mentor passed. Again, THANK YOU!"
Thanks from Alum Eliot Quon, Postdoctoral Researcher at National Renewable Energy Laboratory
ARCS Foundation has been a highlight of my academic career thus far, thank you for the support!