Director, Electricity Infrastructure and Buildings Division
Director, Electricity Infrastructure and Buildings Division

Biography

Dr. Karma Sawyer is the Director of the Electricity Infrastructure and Buildings (EI&B) Division, responsible for shaping and managing a vision and strategy to assure that PNNL addresses DOE's most important energy efficiency, clean energy and electricity infrastructure challenges. The EI&B Division consists of more than 400 staff members in six technical groups. 

Prior to joining PNNL, Karma served as the Program Manager for Emerging Technologies at DOE's Building Technologies Office. In this role, she developed and executed multi-year R&D strategies across a range of building technologies. She also worked collaboratively with the national labs and external stakeholders to advance cross-cutting initiative, such as the Grid-interactive Efficient Buildings, Advanced Building Construction and Grid Modernization Initiatives. From 2010-2013, Karma served as an Assistant Program Director and Fellow at ARPA-E, focusing on carbon capture and thermal storage technologies.

Dr. Sawyer earned a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley in 2008. She also holds a B.S. in Chemistry from Syracuse University.