Dr. Roderick Jackson is the laboratory program manager for buildings research at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). He sets the strategic agenda for NREL's building technologies portfolio, working closely with senior laboratory management. The portfolio includes all research, development, and market implementation activities which aim to improve the energy efficiency of building materials and practices. He also guides discussions with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Building Technologies Office to expand research ranging from grid-interactive efficient buildings to mechanical and thermal properties of building materials.
At Oak Ridge National Laboratory, he was the manager for research on building envelope systems. He was on the forefront of connected communities research, leading an effort that established Alabama Power’s Smart Neighborhood. Working with Southern Company and DOE, it was the first project in the southeastern United States to connect high-performance homes with a community microgrid, deploying a transactive microgrid approach.
In his role as the technical lead for the Additive Manufacturing Integrated Energy (AMIE) demonstration project, AMIE brought together experts from multiple research teams across the lab, 20 partners from industry, and DOE scientists to design, develop, and demonstrate a 3D-printed house that shares power wirelessly with a 3D-printed electric vehicle. The first-of-its-kind research was completed in just nine months.
Dr. Jackson holds bachelor's, master's, and doctorate degrees in mechanical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.