Wayne Clough was born in the rural town of Douglas Georgia, the seat of Coffee County, in 1941.  His family has deep roots in South Georgia having lived there for five generations.  Growing up in Douglas as a boy he developed a love of nature and reading, and learned to build things using his hands.   He attended Georgia Tech earning two degrees in civil engineering, and obtained a PhD in civil engineering at the University of California at Berkeley.  Clough served on the faculties of Stanford University, Duke University, Virginia Tech and the University of Washington.  He became the first alumnus to serve as president of Georgia Tech 1994.   Upon retirement from Georgia Tech in 2008, he served as secretary of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC until 2014.  

During his career he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1990, and in 2010, he was elected to the National Academy of Arts and Sciences.  He received honorary doctorates from twelve universities.  Clough was recently named the 2019 Conservationist of the Year by the Satilla River Keepers.  Today he is a part time faculty member at Georgia Tech focusing on climate change, supporting financially disadvantaged students, and writing.

In his latest book, Things New and Strange: A Southerner’s Journey Through the Smithsonian Collections, he examines how his home of South Georgia became what it is today, showing when the surface is scratched, what might seem immutable, actually hides a history of change.   The book uses the vast Smithsonian collections to reveal how unforeseen consequences of even seemingly small events, can change a place forever.