Walton to bring strategic research leadership to Georgia Tech’s College of Engineering.
Krista Walton, Ph.D., has been appointed as the new associate dean for Research and Innovation in the Dean’s Office of the College of Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology effective November 1, 2019.
Walton is currently professor and Robert "Bud" Moeller faculty fellow in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Georgia Tech. She serves as the academic program director for the Professional Master’s in Manufacturing Leadership. Walton received her B.S.E. in chemical engineering from the University of Alabama-Huntsville in 2000 and obtained her Ph.D. in chemical engineering from Vanderbilt University in 2005. She also completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Northwestern University in 2006.
As associate dean, she will focus on enabling engineering faculty members to develop and sustain excellence in scholarship and research, as well as creating an environment in which innovation, entrepreneurship, and public service are fundamental characteristics of graduates of the College.
“We look forward to having Krista join the dean’s office. She will help stimulate cutting-edge, transformative research and facilitate its translation into practice, as well as implement the research components of our strategic direction. Krista’s breadth of experience in developing and driving initiatives and refining existing programs and processes will be extremely valuable to the College.”
Steve McLaughlin, dean and Southern Company chair, Georgia Tech’s College of Engineering
Walton will coordinate a research agenda for the College and its stakeholders, as well as act as a focal point to establish and maintain the College’s leadership in research commercialization. She will focus on identifying new research opportunities, encouraging research collaborations, and facilitating partnerships among faculty both within and outside of the university.
Currently, her research program focuses on the design, synthesis, and characterization of functional porous materials for use in adsorption applications including carbon dioxide capture and air purification. She has published more than 80 peer-reviewed articles and presented dozens of plenary lectures and invited seminars. Walton currently serves as an associate editor for the American Chemical Society (ACS) Journal Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, and is the Director and lead principal investigator of Georgia Tech’s DOE Energy Frontier Research Center, UNCAGE-ME. Walton’s accomplishments have been recognized by many prestigious awards including the inaugural International Adsorption Society Award for Excellence in Publications by a Young Member of the Society (2013) and the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (2008).
“I am passionate about the research mission of Georgia Tech’s College of Engineering and am looking forward to working with our talented faculty and students to facilitate and support the collaborative and innovative research that helps define our Institute.”
Krista Walton, Ph.D.
About Georgia Tech’s College of Engineering
Georgia Tech’s College of Engineering offers the resources of a major technological university and a location in the heart of cosmopolitan Atlanta. The College is the largest of the Institute’s six colleges, enrolling more than 60 percent of the students at Georgia Tech and about half of all tenured and tenure track faculty at the Institute. U.S. News and World Report ranks the College in the top four of engineering programs in the country. The College offers more than 50 different degree programs at the bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral levels through its main Atlanta campus and satellite campuses around the world. As a leader in engineering education, the College graduates the largest number of women and minority engineers in the country.
