Dr. Crittenden has received multiple awards for his research in the treatment and removal of hazardous materials from drinking and groundwater. He also has designed and received copyrights on computer software programs that analyze various pollution and absorption methods. The American Institute of Chemical Engineers' (AIChE) Centennial Celebration Committee recently named Crittenden as one of the leading 100 Chemical Engineers of the Modern Era. Crittenden joined Georgia Tech as a professor holding an appointment in Civil and Environmental Engineering. In this position, he will lead the creation of an integrated initiative in Sustainable Urban Systems and conduct research in related nanotechnology and computational science.

Currently, Crittenden is working with a group of academic institutions on developing an assessment tool for educational programs outlining the interconnected nature of social decision making, regional development, material flows, energy use and local, regional and global environmental impacts.

Crittenden is active in an array of national organizations. He serves on the Advisory Committee for Environmental Research and Education as well as the Engineering Advisory Board for the National Science Foundation, the Environmental Engineering Committee for the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Advisory Council for Environmental Policy and Technology. Crittenden is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and has received the AEESP Landmark Achievement Award and the ASCE Huber Research Prize. He also has authored more than 100 research papers garnering more than 2,300 citations.

Prior to coming to Georgia Tech, Crittenden was the Richard Snell Presidential Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Arizona State University. He received his Bachelor's and Ph.D. degrees in Chemical Engineering at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.