Don P. Giddens, PhD
Dean - College of Engineering
Lawrence L. Gellerstedt, Jr. Chair in Bioengineering
Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar
Don P. Giddens is Dean of the College of Engineering, the Lawrence L. Gellerstedt, Jr. Chair in Bioengineering, and Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Dean Giddens received all three of his degrees (BAE 1963, MSAE 1965, and Ph.D. 1966) from Georgia Tech and joined the Tech faculty in 1968, after two years in the aerospace industry. In 1992 he left his position as the Chair of Aerospace Engineering to serve as the Dean of the Whiting School of Engineering and Professor of Mechanical Engineering at The Johns Hopkins University until 1997. In 1997, Giddens rejoined Georgia Tech to establish the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, a joint department between Georgia Tech’s College of Engineering and Emory University’s School of Medicine. He served as the founding Chair until July 2002, when he became the Dean of the College of Engineering.
Dr. Giddens is a member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE), ASEE, Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES), Big 10+ Deans Council, a founding Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), and Fellow of the American Heart Association (AHA) and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). He received the H.R. Lissner Award from ASME in 1993 and was the ASME Thurston Lecturer in 1996. Giddens has served in a variety of professional activities involving engineering education and biomedical research. He is currently on the Scientific Advisory Council of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering of NIH, the ASEE Engineering Deans Institute and Council, and the Georgia Tech Research Corporation (GTRC) Board of Directors. He is the author of over 300 publications, book chapters and presentations. Dean Giddens is currently Chair of the NAE Committee on Developing Effective Messages for Improving Public Understanding of Engineering. Dean Giddens was elected to a 2-year term on the Engineering Deans Council Executive Board in 2004. In 2006 he was appointed EDC Vice Chair to complete the unexpired term of Linda Katehi when she became a provost. He chairs the EDC Data Collection Committee and chaired the EDC University-Industry Task Force, which led to the first Intellectual Property Workshop in February 2006. In his role as dean, Giddens continues to be active in various issues associated with engineering education and diversity in engineering.