Krista Walton

Krista S. Walton is the Associate Vice President for Research Operations and Infrastructure and Professor and Robert “Bud” Moeller Faculty Fellow in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Georgia Tech.

She 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. Prof. Walton completed an ACS PRF Postdoctoral Fellowship at Northwestern University in 2006. Her research program focuses on the design, synthesis, and characterization of functional porous materials for use in adsorption applications including CO₂ capture, atmospheric water extraction, and air purification. She has raised over $35M in external research funding as PI during her career.

She has published over 130 peer-reviewed articles and presented dozens of plenary lectures, keynotes, and invited seminars. Walton has mentored 25 PhD graduates from her group and currently advises 8 PhD students and 4 senior researchers. Prof. Walton co-founded three spin-off companies from her research over the past decade and currently serves as an Associate Editor for the ACS Journal Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research.

She was the founding Director and Lead PI of Georgia Tech’s DOE Energy Frontier Research Center, UNCAGE-ME. She is currently serving as a member of the 2022-2024 cohort of DARPA’s prestigious Defense Science Study Group. Prof. Walton’s accomplishments have been recognized by many national and international awards including the Department of Energy Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award for Atomic, Molecular, and Chemical Sciences (2020), the AIChE FRI/John G. Kunesh Award for Excellence in Separations Research (2016), 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 (2007).

Executive Assistant: Bob Shackleford
bob.shackleford@gatech.edu