Kenneth was an outstanding student while attending the public schools in Syracuse. He graduated high school and attended Syracuse University. In 1937, while attending Syracuse University, Mr Kesselring won a scholarship to the School of Electrical Engineering at Cornell University. Cornell awarded him a bachelor of Electrical Engineering degree, with distinction, in 1941. He then entered the US Army, where he was assigned Abberdeen Proving Ground for five years, rising to the rank of Major, then went with the General Electric Co about 1947. He has been responsible for the design of the nuclear reactor and electrical equipment at the Knolls Atomic Laboratory since the project opened in 1950. He became General Manager of the Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory (KAPL) which is operated by the General Electric Company for the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. The laboratory is engaged in design and development of advanced nuclear power plants for Navy vessels.
Mr Kesselring received honorable mention from Eta Kappa Nu, a national electrical engineering fraternity, as one of the nation's outstanding electrical engineers of 1950. He is credited with several important inventions in development of nuclear power plants, and is a member of the Society of Naval Architects, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and the American Nuclear Society.
In August 1962 Kenneth A Kesselring, was appointed a member of the Cornell University Engineering College Council, and earlier that year, NYS Governor Nelson A Rockefeller appointed him member of the New York Advisory Council for the Advancement of Industrial Research and Development.
Kenneth Kesselring remained general manager of General Electric's Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory (KAPL) until near his death in 1967 at the age of 50.  Work on nuclear marine propulsion started in the 1940s at KAPL, and the first test reactor started up in USA in 1953. The first nuclear-powered submarine, USS Nautilus, put to sea in 1955. This marked the transition of submarines from slow underwater vessels to warships capable of sustaining 20-25 knots submerged for weeks on end. The submarine had come into its own. Nautilus led to the parallel development of further (Skate-class) submarines, powered by single pressurized water reactors, and an aircraft carrier, USS Enterprise, powered by eight Westinghouse reactor units in 1960. A cruiser, USS Long Beach, followed in 1961 and was powered by two of these early units. Remarkably, the Enterprise remained in service to the end of 2012. By 1962 the US Navy had 26 nuclear submarines operational and 30 under construction. Nuclear power had revolutionized the Navy, and Kenneth Kesselring helped design and supervised production of all of their power plants. The US Navy Nuclear Power Training site was named after him.  It remains in use today.  He counted US Navy Admiral Hyman G. Rickover, the "father of the Nuclear Navy" as a close friend. 
Kenneth Kesselring is the only son of Peter Nochols Kesselring 1891-1953 and wife Maria Magdelina Vinnai 1891-1981. Originally from Syracuse, Mr Kesselring and his wife, the former Jane Pearson, also of Syracuse, have two daughters, Pamela and Deborah, and a son Kenneth R. Kesselring, all of Niskayuna.

Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory operates two sites, the Knolls site in Niskayuna, New York and the Kenneth A. Kesselring site in West Milton, New York.