Nelson C. Baker, Ph.D., is the inaugural interim dean of the Lifetime Learning Division and professor in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. As dean, Dr. Baker leads a multifaceted enterprise comprising Georgia Tech's research, educational programs, activities, and services for the ongoing educational needs of individuals and the workforce throughout a lifetime, from the early stages of one’s life to the later stages of their career. Working with faculty at the Institute and within, the division seeks to meet the needs of individuals at any time and place throughout their lifetime.

The Division consists of three organizations, each internationally recognized, including the Center for 21st Century Universities (C21U), a living laboratory for fundamental change in higher education; the Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics and Computing (CEISMC), the university’s primary connection point between Georgia Tech faculty and the preK-12 education community; and Georgia Tech Professional Education (GTPE), Georgia Tech’s global campus and workforce education arm issuing online degrees and professional development in the form of certificates, courses, conferences and workshops. This new Division, formed in 2023 under Dr. Baker’s leadership, now touches over 250,000 K-12 teachers, students, and working professionals from nearly half the world’s countries last year.  Before this role, Dr. Baker served as the dean of professional education.   

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 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 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. in Civil Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University.