Krista Walton
North Carolina State University · Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Active 2002–2024
About
Krista Walton is the vice chancellor for research and innovation at NC State University, appointed in June 2025. She is a distinguished university professor with a background in chemical engineering. Walton earned her B.S.E. from the University of Alabama-Huntsville and her Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University. Her academic career has focused on building and sustaining active research groups dedicated to the design, synthesis, and characterization of functional porous materials for adsorption applications, including CO2 capture, atmospheric water extraction, and air purification. Throughout her career, Walton has raised over $36 million in external research funding as principal investigator. She has published more than 140 peer-reviewed articles and has presented numerous plenary lectures, keynotes, and invited seminars. She has mentored over 30 PhD graduates, along with many postdoctoral researchers and senior scientists. Walton co-founded three spin-off companies based on her research. Her leadership roles include serving as the founding director and lead PI of Georgia Tech’s DOE Energy Frontier Research Center, and she has held positions such as Associate Vice President for Research Operations and Infrastructure and Associate Dean for Research at Georgia Tech. Walton is recognized as a Fellow of both the International Adsorption Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Her research focuses on the design and development of selective adsorbents for carbon dioxide capture, novel porous structures for air purification, and the modulation of adsorption properties of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) through post-synthetic modification.
Awards & honors
- American Institute of Chemical Engineers Institute Award for…
- Department of Energy Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award for Atomi…
- International Adsorption Society Award for Excellence in Pub…
- Army Research Office Young Investigator Award (2007)
- Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers…
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