Josh A Pihl

Bio

Josh Pihl is the Director of the Buildings and Transportation Science Division (BTSD) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.  He leads a team of over 150 staff working to develop technologies and strategies to increase energy efficiency and reduce environmental impacts from transportation and commercial and residential buildings. BTSD stewards two DOE national user facilities: the Building Technologies Research and Integration Center (BTRIC) and the National Transportation Research Center (NTRC). BTSD researchers collaborate with industry partners to translate fundamental scientific discoveries into commercial products. 

Josh came to ORNL in 2004 as a graduate student researcher, returned in 2005 as a postgraduate researcher, and converted to a staff member in 2007. Prior to becoming a division director in 2024, Josh was the Group Leader for Applied Catalysis and Emissions Research. He previously served as the ORNL relationship manager for the Decarbonization of Off-road, Rail, Marine, and Aviation Program and the Batteries for Advanced Transportation Technologies Program, both in the Department of Energy Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO).  He also led the DOE VTO Crosscut Lean Exhaust Emissions Reduction Simulations (CLEERS) Initiative and was a member of the extended leadership team for the DOE Co-optimization of Fuels and Engines Initiative. He was a member of the 21st Century Truck Partnership IC Engine Powertrain Technology Development Team and the U.S. DRIVE Advanced Combustion and Emissions Control Technology Development Team and he coordinated the DOE Advanced Engine Crosscut Team. His research focused on catalytic technologies for control of emissions from high efficiency internal combustion engines and fuel reforming.

Awards

External Awards:

• 2023 DOE Vehicle Technologies Office Team Award recognizing members of the Volvo SuperTruck 2 research team
• 2022 R&D100 Award for “Ultraclean Condensing Gas Furnace”
• 2022 SAE Forest R. McFarland Award for contributions toward the dissemination of technical information through SAE technical meetings, conferences, and professional development programs
• 2021 DOE Vehicle Technologies Office Team Award recognizing researchers in the Co-Optimization of Fuels & Engines Initiative 
• 2019 United States Council for Automotive Research (USCAR) Research Partner Award for work supporting the U.S. DRIVE ACEC Low Temperature Aftertreatment project
• 2017 DOE Vehicle Technologies Office Distinguished Achievement Award “for technical leadership in conducting the CLEERS initiative to develop computational tools and disseminate data that greatly benefit the emissions control research community”
• 2016 USCAR Team Award for work with the U.S. DRIVE ACEC Low-Temperature Aftertreatment Sub-team
• 2004 EPA STAR GRANT Fellow

 Internal Awards:

• 2023 ORNL Leading with Integrity Award for “demonstrating integrity in work and leadership”
• 2023 BTSD Team Science Award “for successfully developing a novel clean condensing furnace to incorporate monolithic acidic gas reduction...”
• 2022 BTSD Mentoring Award “for outstanding mentoring at all levels of career development, from students and postdocs to distinguished R&D staff members.”

Education

M.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. 

B.S. in Chemistry from the University of California, San Diego 

Publications