Speaker Bio

Robert Wagner is the Director of the Buildings and Transportation Science Division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Within this role, he stewards two DOE user facilities — the National Transportation Research Center and the Building Technologies Research and Integration Center. He has led transportation research and initiatives for more than 20 years and is well regarded as a scientific leader, strategic planner, mentor, and collaborator and works closely with the Department of Energy, other national laboratories, academia, and industry partners. For 10 years, Wagner served as the DOE laboratory relationship manager for advanced combustion, emissions and fuels and was a founding member of the DOE initiative on the Co-Optimization of Fuels and Engines.

Robert has organized more than 30 significant technical conferences and symposiums, has authored more than 150 technical publications, and has more than 60 invited presentations in 10 countries. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the SAE International, and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). He has also received numerous awards for research, leadership, and service including the SAE Medal of Honor.

A native of Missouri and first-generation college graduate, Robert earned his doctoral degree in mechanical engineering from the Missouri University of Science & Technology, where he delivered the commencement address to Ph.D. graduates in December 2022.