Nelson C. Baker, Ph.D.

  • Dean, Professional Education
  • Professor, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
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Biography

Nelson C. Baker, Ph.D., is the dean of Professional Education at the Georgia Institute of Technology and a professor in the university’s School of Civil and Environmental Engineering. As dean, Dr. Baker leads a multifaceted operation including the Global Learning Center, Georgia Tech-Savannah, the Language Institute, and Georgia Tech’s extensive professional education programs. As the global campus and lifetime education arm of the Institute GTPE offers professional development courses, certificate programs, and online master’s degrees in a variety of formats to meet the needs of working professionals and industry partners in STEM and business fields worldwide.  Dr. Baker also oversees educational outreach programs and serves as the interface between Georgia Tech’s professional education activities and the industries, corporations, government agencies and professional societies that benefit from them. Under Dr. Baker’s leadership, Georgia Tech Professional Education has steadily expanded, and on an annual basis, GTPE now serves and supports more than 90,000 learners — the students who don't live on campus but outnumber those who are physically here, representing industries such as data science and analytics, safety and health, cybersecurity, and project management. 

Dr. Baker’s award-winning work on the impact of technology on engineering students’ learning has generated projects such as multilingual web-based intelligent simulations for problem-solving, among others.

Leading Dr. Baker’s list of honors are the W.M. Keck Foundation Award for Engineering Teaching Excellence and the University Professional Continuing Education Association (UPCEA) Julius M. Nolte Award for Extraordinary Leadership. He has also been named an ENR Educator for Construction’s Next Generation and NSF National Young Investigator. He is also the recipient of the Best Paper Award from the ASCE Journal of Computing. Within Georgia Tech, he has received the Outstanding Innovative Use of Education Technology Award and the W. Roane Beard Outstanding Teacher Award.  

Currently, Dr. Baker serves as the Secretary General of the International Association of Continuing Engineering Education (IACEE) and is also a Past President of the University Professional Continuing Education Association (UPCEA). He is the Past-Chair of the Georgia Board of Regents Administrative Committee on Public Service and Continuing Education, and he is an active member of ASEE and ASCE.  

Dr. Baker graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology with a B.C.E. in Civil Engineering. He earned his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Civil Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University. 

Dr. Baker graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1980 with a B.C.E. in Civil Engineering. He earned his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Civil Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University in 1985 and 1989 respectively.

Research Interests

  • Intelligent learning environments for engineering
  • Applications of artificial intelligence and other computer-based techniques to solve engineering problems
  • Robotic applications to civil engineering

Education

  • Ph.D., Civil Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, 1989
  • M.S., Civil Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, 1985
  • B.C.E., Civil Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 1980

Honors and Awards

  • Julius M. Nolte Award for Extraordinary Leadership, University Professional Continuing Education Association (UPCEA), 2023
  • National Science Foundation National Young Investigator, 1992-1998
  • Outstanding Innovative Use of Education Technology Award, Georgia Institute of Technology, 1997
  • Nominated for the American Society of Engineering Education George Westinghouse National Award, 1997
  • Recipient of ENR Educator for Construction's Next Generation, 1996
  • Department of the Navy, Instructional Recognition Letter, January 1996
  • W. Roane Beard Georgia Institute of Technology Outstanding Teacher Award, 1994
  • W.M. Keck Foundation Award for Engineering Teaching Excellence, 1994
  • Outstanding Faculty Member Award 1993 - 1994 as determined by the Georgia Tech Student Chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers
  • Lilly Teaching Fellow, 1991 - 1992
  • ASCE Journal of Computing Best Paper, 1990
  • Outstanding Faculty Member Award 1989 - 1990 as determined by the Georgia Tech Student Chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers