PNNL

Kate Hickcox joined Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in 2020 and focuses on advancing research in energy, buildings, industry, manufacturing, and communities, blending creative and practical approaches to uncover effective design solutions and strategies.

Hickcox has worked in buildings and community-focused research and design since 2004, with experience in business development, research, project and team management, and design. Her work emphasizes the triple bottom line, balancing aesthetic and technical needs alongside economic, societal, and ecological considerations.

She has contributed to numerous technical committees and authored several publications, sharing her insights at LightFair International, Northeast Sustainable Energy Association, Passive House Institute U.S., and LEDucation. Her presentations cover topics, such as design for disassembly, data-driven decision-making, and lighting quality metrics. She has also served as a guest critic and speaker at institutions like Rhode Island School of Design, The New School – Parsons School of Design, and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and has taught at the Parsons School of Constructed Environments. As a Lighting Fellow for the Design Trust for Public Space, in partnership with NYC Housing Authority, Hickcox remains committed to collaborative efforts that make impactful contributions to her field.

• Advancing data-driven decision-making tools and methodologies
• Conducting research on energy efficiency and resilience
• Exploring the integration of design for disassembly and circular economy principles
• Investigating lighting quality metrics, including glare and brightness perception
• Studying the impact of lighting design on human health and well-being, including designing for darkness

• MS in Lighting, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
• BFA in Furniture, Rhode Island School of Design

• Technical Committee, ASHRAE, 2024–Present
• Member, IES Standards Committee, 2021–Present
• Member, Illuminating Engineering Society (IES), 2011–Present
• Secretary, IES Discomfort Glare in Outdoor Nighttime Environments Committee, 2020–2023
• Treasurer, IES Maine Section, 2020–2023

• IES Standards & Research Award, 2021
• IALD goes WILD Featured Project, Electric Garden Recording Studio, 2019
• Lighting Fellow for the Design Trust for Public Space, Opening the Edge, 2016
• Shemitz Scholarship Winner, the Lighting Quotient, 2011

2025

• McCord, K., Bixler, T. S., Johnston, K., Gupta, T., Poplawski, M., and Hickcox, K. (2025). Lighting systems integration with whole-building life cycle assessment. Energy and Buildings, 115540. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2025.115540 

2024

• Puig-Santana, E., K. Johnston, and K. S. Hickcox. 2024. “Guidance for Integrating Energy Justice and Equity in Building Technology Deployment Programs: Tracking, Reporting, and Maximizing the Flow of Benefits from Building System Technology Deployment Activities to Disadvantaged Communities and Target Sectors.” Pacific Northwest National Laboratory PNNL-35548. Richland, Washington. https://doi.org/10.2172/2305374.

2022

• Hickcox K. S., S. Fotios, B. K. Abboushi, and N. J. Miller. 2022. "Correspondence: A new two-step approach for evaluating discomfort from glare." Lighting Research & Technology 54, no. 1:91–92. PNNL-SA-167574. https://doi.org/10.1177/14771535211071133.
• Hickcox K.S. and A. Smith. 2022. "Strategies for achieving circular economy goals in the lighting industry through design for disassembly-based methodologies." In IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, The 8th International Light Symposium: Re-thinking Lighting Design in a Sustainable Future (Light Symposium 2022) September 21-23, 2022, Copenhagen, Denmark, 1099, Art. No. 012004. London: Institute of Physics. PNNL-SA-172377. https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/1099/1/012004.
• Hickcox, K. S., M. Myer, P. A. Torcellini, R. Langner, J. Shackelford, A. Robinson, and C. Regnier. 2022. “Challenges and Lessons Learned from an Analysis of Three Zero Energy Buildings.” In 2022 ACEEE Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings, August 2022.