In this work, signatures of plasma waves in GaN-based high electron mobility transistors were observed by direct electrical measurement at room temperature. Periodic grating-gate device structures were fabricated and characterized by on-wafer G-band (140-220 GHz) s-parameter measurements as a function of gate bias voltage and device geometry. A physics-based equivalent circuit model was used to assist in interpreting the measured s-parameters. The kinetic inductance extracted from the measurement data matches well with theoretical predictions, consistent with direct observation of plasma wave-related effects in GaN-channel devices at room temperature. This observation of electrically significant room-temperature plasma-wave effects in GaN-channel devices may have implications for future millimeter-wave and THz device concepts and designs.