Dr. Brian Walker has worked for more than 15 years advancing sustainability through technology and policy. He is the program manager for emerging technologies in the U.S.. Department of Energy’s Building Technologies Office.

Prior to this role, Brian managed a portfolio of strategic analysis projects. Along with partners, he examined industrial energy use, global supply chains, and factors driving asset valuation. He was an author of the Fourth National Climate Assessment, and he served as the U.S. representative to the Energy Efficiency Working Party at the International Energy Agency.

Most immediately, Brian was the technology manager for building controls and grid-edge decarbonization. As manager for solid-state lighting he helped develop the recent L-Prize, which has drawn new entrants and approaches to lighting, from concepts to prototypes to manufacturing and deployment.

Before joining DOE, Brian invented new materials, built devices, and studied the physics of sustainable energy at the University of Cambridge. He has a B.A. from Cornell University and a Ph.D. from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where his advisor won the 2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Brian lives with his wife and children in Virginia.