The Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory has named Katherine (Kate) Evans as associate laboratory director for the Biological and Environmental Systems Science Directorate (BESSD). Evans will lead the directorate as it advances the science and technology needed to strengthen energy security, safeguard infrastructure and accelerate biotechnology innovation.
"Kate brings scientific depth, operational leadership and a strong sense of mission that will strengthen our work in biological and environmental systems science," said ORNL Director Stephen Streiffer. "She has led lab-wide strategy, advanced major initiatives and built teams connecting computation to real-world challenges - positioning her to expand our impact in biotechnology and energy resilience. I look forward to working with her in this new role."
For the past two years, Kate has served as the director of the Office of Institutional Strategic Planning (OISP), where she coordinated labwide science and technology strategic activities and the development of the Annual Lab Plan, Annual Report and Laboratory Agenda. During her time leading OISP, she was central to the creation of ORNL's Quantum Roadmap and oversight of the Laboratory Directed Research and Development program. She recently spearheaded the "Accelerating Southeast Resilience at ORNL" initiative and will continue to help shape that effort in her new role.
Kate brings scientific depth, operational leadership and a strong sense of mission that will strengthen our work in biological and environmental systems science. She has led lab-wide strategy, advanced major initiatives and built teams connecting computation to real-world challenges.
"I am excited and honored to step into the BESSD ALD role," Evans said. "There are urgent challenges in critical minerals, scaled biomanufacturing and abundant, resilient energy systems, and BESSD is equipped to meet them. Our world-class team will draw on exascale computing, AI, advanced analytics and autonomous research capabilities to translate scientific discoveries into innovative solutions for DOE and the nation."
Prior to OISP, Kate served as director of ORNL's Computational Sciences and Engineering Division for nearly six years, leading scalable computing efforts to address scientific challenges across the physical, engineering, health, and quantum information sciences. Kate joined ORNL in 2007 as a research and development staff member before becoming the group leader of Computational Earth Sciences in 2013. She has been an active member in the laboratory's community engagement efforts, serving as vice chair and then chairing the ORNL Gives campaign in 2022 and 2023.
In addition to her roles at ORNL, Kate is a faculty member in the Bredesen Center at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She is a member of the American Meteorological Society, American Geophysical Union and the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematicians. In 2024, she was awarded the SIAM Activity Group on Mathematics of Planet Earth Prize for her contributions to multidisciplinary algorithms and scientific computing, leadership in multidisciplinary team building and science communication between disciplines. Kate earned her doctorate and master's degree in earth and atmospheric sciences from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a bachelor's degree in physics from Haverford College.
UT-Battelle manages ORNL for the Department of Energy's Office of Science, the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States. The Office of Science is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit energy.gov/science .
