The award honors alumni who have provided outstanding support of the Institute and the Alumni Association throughout their lives and who have provided leadership in their chosen professions and local communities.

“Being a graduate of Georgia Tech has been a powerful force in my life,” Barnes says. “Giving back to ‘Mother Tech’ always feels great because of what I have received from Tech.”

Barnes is a member of the advisory boards of the College of Sciences and of the School of Biological Sciences.

“We are delighted by this well-deserved recognition of Wade,” College of Sciences Dean Paul M. Goldbart says. “We have been beneficiaries of Wade’s untiring support of his alma mater, especially in creating research opportunities for our undergraduate students, and we are privileged to have been associated with him for all these years.”

Barnes received the award at the Georgia Tech Alumni Association 2017 Gold & White Honors Gala, held on Jan. 26, 2017, at the Ritz-Carlton Buckhead, in Atlanta, Georgia.