In recognizing that Wallace H. Coulter attended Georgia Tech, the Foundation was instrumental in the creation of the department of biomedical engineering which is a joint program between Georgia Tech and Emory University in Atlanta. Wallace Coulter attributed his engineering discipline to his time spent at GeorgiaTech.

In 2001, the Foundation made a $25 million landmark grant to the combined program. In recognition of this grant, the joint department was named the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory. Included within this grant were both endowment and operating funds to purchase laboratory equipment and fund faculty chairs. In addition, the grant contained a unique $8 million endowment to provide ongoing funding for translational research. According to the Coulter Foundation, "each year, co-investigators comprised of engineering faculty from Georgia Tech and medical staffs from Emory apply for annual grants to fund research that may ultimately lead to improvements in patient care. The results of this program have been so promising, that it has become the template for the Foundation in designing its Translational Research Partnership Program."