Kelly Griendling
Dr. Kelly Griendling is the Director of the Clark and Dean Scholars Programs for the Georgia Tech College of Engineering and a Senior Lecturer in the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering. As Director, she provides strategic leadership for two of the College's premier student development programs, creating transformative opportunities that foster academic excellence, leadership, service, and professional growth among Georgia Tech's highest-achieving engineering students. As a faculty member, Dr. Griendling teaches a variety of undergraduate aerospace engineering courses and has received numerous awards recognizing her commitment to innovative teaching and student success. Her educational interests include entrepreneurial-minded learning, alternative assessment, exceptional learning practices, sustainability in engineering education, and the effective integration of artificial intelligence into engineering instruction. Dr. Griendling also serves as the K–12 Outreach Lead for the Georgia Space Grant Consortium. She founded and directs the Science, Technology, and Engineering Program (STEP), an initiative that provides accessible, hands-on engineering experiences for high school students across Georgia. She earned her Bachelor's, Master's, and Ph.D. degrees in Aerospace Engineering from Georgia Tech and was a Sam Nunn Security Fellow during her graduate studies. Before joining the faculty, she served as Chief of the Advanced Systems Engineering Division in Georgia Tech's Aerospace Systems Design Laboratory (ASDL), leading multidisciplinary aerospace and defense research programs, and later as Senior Project Manager for Georgia's Center of Innovation for Aerospace, where she provided technical and strategic support to the state's aerospace industry.
Dr. Griendling’s teaching interests center on undergraduate aerospace engineering, with a focus on helping students build a durable foundation in core aerospace principles while strengthening their analytical and problem-solving skills. Her teaching emphasizes connecting theory to practice so students can apply concepts in realistic, engineering-focused contexts rather than treating them as isolated equations. She is especially interested in active, hands-on, and collaborative approaches—using structured in-class activities, labs, and projects (including simulation- and design-focused experiences) to make abstract ideas tangible and engaging. Her instruction also deliberately reinforces the professional skills that underpin effective engineering practice, including communication, teamwork, ethics, and sustainability, so students leave her courses better prepared for the technical and human challenges of the field.
Dr. Griendling’s research interests bridge aerospace engineering practice and engineering education. She is particularly focused on developing and studying curricular and pedagogical approaches that help students become “whole engineers,” connecting technical learning to professional identity, ethical responsibility, and real-world value. Her work emphasizes experiential, hands-on learning and reflective practices that make abstract concepts tangible and support deeper student engagement. She is also interested in scalable course and program innovations—such as project-based outreach and alternative assessment structures—that strengthen learning, feedback, and student success across a wide range of educational settings.
Research
AE Multidisciplinary Research Areas:
- Engineering Curriculum Development and Learning Strategies
- K-12 STEM Education Practices
- Use of Robotics in Teaching and Learning
- System of Systems and Complex Systems Integration
Education
- B.S., Aerospace Engineering, 2006, Georgia Institute of Technology;
- M.S. Aerospace Engineering, 2008, Georgia Institute of Technology;
- Ph.D. Aerospace Engineering, 2011, Georgia Institute of Technology.
- Martinson Faculty Fellow AY 2026-27
- CTL Junior Faculty Teaching Excellence Award (2025)
- Student Recognition of Excellence in Teaching: CIOS Award (2023, 2024, 2025)
- Student Recognition of Excellence in Teaching: Class of 1934 CIOS Honor Roll (Spr. 2021, Spr. 2023, Spr 2024, Spr 2025, Fall 2025, Spr 2026)
- Undergraduate Sustainability Education Innovation Award ( AY 2023-24)
- Hesburgh Award Teaching Fellow (Fall 2023)
- Tech STEM Inclusive Teaching Fellow (2022)
- Women in Engineering Faculty Teaching Award (2022)
- KEEN Engineering Unleashed Faculty Fellow (AY 2021-22)
- Create-X Jim Pope Faculty Fellow (AY 2020-21)
- C. Virgil Smith Faculty Teaching Endowment (AY 2024-25, AY 2025-26)
- GTAE Class of 2023 Most Valuable Professor
- Di Leo, C. V., Griendling, K., Morgan, K., Patil, M., & Seitzman, J. (2023).
- Adapting the aerospace engineering curriculum to cultivate the whole engineer. Paper presented at the 2023 AIAA Aviation Forum, San Diego, CA.
- *Morgan, K., & Griendling, K., & Ruffin, S., & Kinney, J. (2022, August),
- Work-in-progress: Reflection & Projection: An Exploration of a Scavenger Hunt Assignment in an Introduction to Aerospace Engineering Course Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN. https://peer.asee.org/41817