NC State Names Krista S. Walton Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation

Krista S. Walton, associate vice president for research operations and infrastructure at the Georgia Institute of Technology, has been named vice chancellor for research and innovation at North Carolina State University, effective June 30, 2025. Chancellor Randy Woodson made the announcement today.

Walton replaces Mladen Vouk, who retired in July 2024. Alyson Wilson is currently serving as interim vice chancellor.

“Krista Walton has a successful track record as a researcher, innovator and administrator,” Woodson said. “NC State looks forward to her leadership as we continue to grow the research enterprise and the translation of this work into solutions and economic prosperity for our state and nation.”

Walton, who also serves as professor and Robert “Bud” Moeller Faculty Fellow in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Georgia Tech, is a chemical engineer with expertise in the design and application of porous nanomaterials for carbon capture, air purification, and atmospheric water harvesting.

“I am honored to step into this role at NC State,” Walton said. “The research enterprise at NC State is among the best in the nation, known for its fundamental scholarship and solution-driven research. I am excited to work with our talented faculty, staff and students to cultivate impactful discoveries and foster a vibrant research community. Together, I am confident we will continue to push the boundaries of knowledge, drive innovation, and grow our societal and economic impact on North Carolina, the United States, and the world.”

A leader in big data, biomedical engineering, materials science, food safety, translational medicine and more, NC State’s research enterprise received $517 million in new sponsored research awards in the 2023-24 fiscal year. It was sixth in industry expenditures among public institutions without a medical school and sixth in all expenditures among public institutions without a medical school in the 2022-23 fiscal year.

More than 200 startup and spinoff companies have been based on NC State research, and NC State startup companies have raised more than $1.7 billion in financing.

More than 1,500 patents have been issued to NC State and its inventors, while more than 600 products have been brought to market.

NC State’s Centennial Campus is the pre-eminent university research campus in the country, with more than 70 partners working alongside NC State centers, institutes, laboratories and department units.

As associate vice president for research operations and infrastructure at Georgia Tech, Walton helps lead the office responsible for the facilitation and support of Georgia Tech’s $1.4 billion research enterprise.

Walton has also managed $300 million in annual sponsored research awards as associate dean for research and innovation in Georgia Tech’s College of Engineering from 2019 to 2023. She began her career at Georgia Tech in 2009 and prior to that was an assistant professor at Kansas State University. She completed an American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund Postdoctoral Fellowship at Northwestern University in 2006.

She has raised over $36 million in external research funding as a principal investigator during her career. She was the founding director and lead PI of Georgia Tech’s DOE Energy Frontier Research Center, UNCAGE-ME. She recently served as a member of the 2022-2024 cohort of DARPA’s prestigious Defense Science Study Group.

Walton co-founded three spin-off companies from her research over the past decade and currently serves as an associate editor for AIChE Journal.

Walton has published over 140 peer-reviewed articles and presented dozens of plenary lectures, keynotes and invited seminars. She has mentored 27 Ph.D. graduates from her group and currently advises 7 Ph.D. students and 3 senior researchers.

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).

Walton received her bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Alabama-Huntsville in 2000 and earned her Ph.D. in chemical engineering from Vanderbilt University in 2005.

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This post was originally published in NC State News.