Kimberly (Kim) Kurtis is a professor in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology. She has served as Associate Dean of Faculty Development and Scholarship in the College of Engineering since 2014 and was interim chair of the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering for the 2017-2018 academic year. Kurtis earned her BSE in civil engineering from Tulane University under a Deans Honor Scholarship and her Ph.D. in civil engineering from the University of California at Berkeley, where she was a Henry Hilp Fellow and a National Science Foundation (NSF) Fellow.
Kurtis’s innovative research on the multi-scale structure and performance of cement-based materials has resulted in more than 100 technical publications and two U.S. patents. In addition to her technical and educational service contributions at the American Concrete Institute (ACI), American Ceramics Society (ACerS), Portland Cement Association (PCA), Transportation Research Board (TRB), American Association of State and Highway Transportation Officials (AASHTO), and Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), she has held two leadership positions – Chairman of ACI Committee 236: Materials Science of Concrete (2006-2012) and Chair of American Ceramic Society’s Cements Division (2008-2009) – central to advancing science-based research on cement-based materials.
Kurtis will oversee the implementation of college-wide programs that help faculty advance in their professional careers. She also will oversee initiatives to enhance diversity of college faculty, and implement orientation, educational, mentoring, and recognition programs that aim to improve faculty satisfaction, well-being and performance.