Nikitha Radhakrishnan is a research engineer at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and a technical advisor for the Building Technologies Office (BTO) at the US Department of Energy (DOE). She holds a PhD in electrical and electronics engineering from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore and was a graduate student researcher at Berkeley Education Alliance for Research in Singapore.

At PNNL, she works on projects that design and develop control systems, optimization, and machine learning techniques for energy-efficient and low-emission operations of grid-interactive efficient buildings and the power grid. She is also a STEM Ambassador at PNNL and regularly engages with students, parents, community organizations, educators, and government representatives to share her research and inspire the next generation of scientists.

At BTO, she leads the development of a roadmap for emerging building sensors and controls technology and assists in developing an research and development vision and strategy to achieve BTO and US Department of Energy missions. She is also the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Lead at BTO and helps with improving the diversity of BTO’s research partner base. She is a recipient of the DOE Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Assistant Secretary Outstanding Achievement award.