Dr. Roderick Jackson is the laboratory program manager for buildings research at NREL. He sets the strategic agenda for NREL's buildings portfolio, while 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. He helps identify industry partnership opportunities to advance building envelope and equipment technologies.

At NREL, Dr. Jackson was recognized as a Distinguished Member of Research Staff. In 2022, he received a Black Engineer of the Year Award (BEYA), recognized with a BEYA Professional Achievement in Government Award.

He is serving a three-year appointment to the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) Research Advisory Board, which began in 2021. He has been a member of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers and has received several awards in his career, including the National GEM Consortium Alumni of the Year and Greater Knoxville Business Journal's 40 under 40. In 2022, he joined the board of directors for the Southwest Energy Efficiency Project (SWEEP).

Dr. Jackson came to NREL from Oak Ridge National Laboratory, where he was the group manager for Building Envelope Systems Research. 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.  

Another of Dr. Jackson's notable industry accomplishments is a result of his role as the technical lead for the Additive Manufacturing Integrated Energy (AMIE) demonstration project at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. With his leadership, 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.

Research Interests

Energy transfer and storage in building materials and systems

Building, renewables, and grid integrated energy systems

Education

Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology

M.S. Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology

B.S., Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology

Featured Work

Biswas, Kaushik; Rose, James; Eikevik, Leif; Guerguis, Maged; Enquist, Philip; Lee, Brian; Love, Lonnie; Green, Johney; Jackson, Roderick. (2017). “Additive Manufacturing Integrated Energy—Enabling Innovative Solutions for Buildings of the Future.” Journal of Solar Energy Engineering (139:1); p. 15001.

Sharma, Isha; Dong, Jin; Malikopoulos, Andreas A.; Street, Michael; Ostrowski, Jim; Kuruganti, Teja; Jackson, Roderick. (2016). “A Modeling Framework for Optimal Energy Management of a Residential Building.” Energy and Buildings (Vol. 130); pp. 55-63.

Johnson, Brandon J.; Starke, Michael R.; Abdelaziz, Omar A.; Jackson, Roderick K.; Tolbert, Leon M. (January 2014). “A Method for Modeling Household Occupant Behavior to Simulate Residential Energy Consumption.” Presented at the Innovative Smart Grid Technologies Conference (ISGT).

Jackson, Roderick; Domercq, Benoit; Jain, Rishabh; Kippelen, Bernard; Graham, Samuel. (2008). “Stability of Doped Transparent Carbon Nanotube Electrodes.” Advanced Functional Materials (18:17); pp. 2548-2554.