Battelle Savannah River Alliance, LLC. Names Dr. Johney Green Jr. As Director Of Savannah River National Lab

Dr. Johney Green Jr. has been appointed as the new Laboratory Director at Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL). He is currently the Associate Laboratory Director for mechanical and thermal engineering sciences at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). SRNL is a key national research facility with an annual budget of approximately $400 million. It plays a significant role in supporting the U.S. Department of Energy’s Environmental Management and Legacy Management offices, as well as the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Weapons and Nonproliferation programs.

Juan Alvarez, Battelle’s Executive Vice President for National Laboratory Management and Operations and Chair of the Board of Directors at Battelle Savannah River Alliance, LLC (BSRA), stated, “We are thrilled to have Johney become the new leader of SRNL. We are confident that he is the right person to lead this exceptional national asset with a legacy of delivering impactful solutions for environmental, energy, and security challenges.”

Green mentioned, “I am honored and humbled by the opportunity to join the SRNL community and work alongside our dedicated staff and regional university partners. Together, we will drive innovation, enhance the laboratory’s capabilities, and expand its contributions to national security, environmental sustainability, and energy resilience for the benefit of the nation.”

At NREL, Dr. Green leads a wide range of research programs, including transportation, buildings, wind, water, geothermal, advanced manufacturing, concentrating solar power, and Arctic research. These programs have a combined portfolio worth over $300 million and a team of around 750 staff members. The staff at NREL focuses on developing technologies for energy efficiency, sustainable transportation, and renewable energy. One of Dr. Green’s notable achievements was transforming NREL’s wind site into the Flatirons Campus, expanding it from a single-program wind research facility into a multi-program research hub. This campus now serves as a key experimental platform for the Department of Energy’s Advanced Research on Integrated Energy Systems (ARIES) initiative.

Before joining NREL, Dr. Green held several leadership positions at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). He was the director of the Energy and Transportation Science Division and the group leader for fuels, engines, and emissions research. In these roles, he managed a diverse science and technology portfolio and user facilities, driving advancements in building technologies, sustainable manufacturing processes, fuels, engines, emissions, transportation analysis, and vehicle systems integration. One of his key achievements at ORNL was overseeing the development of the Additive Manufacturing Integrated Energy (AMIE) demonstration project, which showcased innovative vehicle-to-grid integration technologies and next-generation manufacturing processes.

In the early stages of his career, Dr. Green focused on combustion research to improve the stability of gasoline engine operation under extreme conditions. During this research, he collaborated with Ford Motor Co. to find ways to extend exhaust gas recirculation limits in diesel engines while reducing nitrogen oxide and particulate matter emissions. He continued this work as a visiting scientist at Ford’s Scientific Research Laboratory, where he conducted modeling and experimental research on advanced diesel engines for light-duty vehicles. Dr. Green also worked at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Vehicle Technologies Office, serving as the technical coordinator for the 21st Century Truck Partnership. Additionally, he contributed to more than a dozen of Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s (ORNL) 150-plus top scientific discoveries.

Dr. Green is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and SAE International. He serves on the Defense Science Board and several advisory boards, including those at the Georgia Institute of Technology and the University of Memphis. He is also the former chairman of the National GEM Consortium and has participated in several National Academy of Engineering programs.

Throughout his career, Dr. Green has received numerous awards and holds two U.S. patents in combustion science. He has an h-index of 34, with more than 4,500 citations, and is the lead or co-author of several technical publications. He has delivered many invited, keynote, and plenary presentations. Dr. Green earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Memphis and both a master’s and doctorate in mechanical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.