Kurtis joined the civil engineering faculty in 1999 and is currently serving as the College of Engineering’s ADVANCE Professor, a program originally funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and since institutionalized at Georgia Tech to increase the participation of women in the scientific and engineering workforce. As associate dean, she will focus on the development of engineering faculty to achieve their full potential as scholars. Kurtis will oversee the promotion and tenure process for the College and will lead college-wide faculty development initiatives. “We look forward to having Kim join the Dean’s Office in the College of Engineering,” said Dean Gary May. “Through her work as the NSF ADVANCE professor, Kim has already shown leadership in developing programs that promote equity, diversity, excellence and advancement of faculty.”
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. “I look forward to working with Dean May and serving my colleagues in the College in this role,” said Kurtis.
Kurtis earned her BSE (1994) in civil engineering from Tulane University and her Ph.D. (1998) in civil engineering from the University of California at Berkeley, where she was a Henry Hilp Fellow and an 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. Kurtis is a Fellow of the American Concrete Institute and the American Ceramics Society.
The College of Engineering at Georgia Tech is the largest of its kind in the country, with more than 13,000 undergraduate and graduate students enrolled. The college ranks in the top five in undergraduate engineering education by U.S. News & World Report.
