Bio

Dr. Vivek Sujan is a Distinguished R&D Scientist at the National Transportation Research Center, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, with more than 23 years of experience developing and commercializing advanced powertrain, vehicle systems, and system-of-systems technologies for commercial transportation and large-scale stationary power applications. His work focuses on alternative energy, electrified, and hydrogen power systems for on-/off-highway and intermodal applications, with expertise spanning systems engineering and integration, electromechanical controls, electrified components, automation, and energy ecosystem architectures. His current research emphasizes transportation efficiency, energy resiliency, large-scale infrastructure integration, and stationary power systems for emerging high-demand applications, including data centers. Prior to joining ORNL, Dr. Sujan spent nearly 18 years at Cummins Inc., where he served as Senior Technical Director for Advanced Technology Planning and Development within the New Power Business Unit, leading global cross-functional technology initiatives. Earlier in his career, he worked as a Postdoctoral Research Engineer at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory on advanced robotic control architectures for terrestrial and extraterrestrial systems. Dr. Sujan earned B.S. degrees in Physics, Mathematics, and Mechanical Engineering from California Institute of Technology, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from MIT. He has authored more than 90 internationally published papers and holds over 260 patents. His recent honors include the Cummins Julius Perr Innovation Award (2022), election as a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (2024), and the ORNL/Battelle Inventor of the Year Award (2026).