Dr. Krystel Castillo is a Fellow of Science and Technology Policy in the Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office at the Department of Energy. In this role, Krystel supports the office’s vision and strategy in cybersecurity for smart manufacturing.
As an AMTO fellows, Dr. Castillo is currently on detail from The University of Texas at San Antonio where she has served as the Lutcher Brown Chair in the Department of Mechanical. Aerospace and Industrial Engineering, VP of Energy Efficiency at the Cybersecurity Manufacturing Innovation Institute, and Director of the Texas Sustainable Energy Research Institute. Her work has significantly advanced the modeling and optimization of complex smart manufacturing supply chains, integrating both energy efficiency and cybersecurity. Dr. Castillo spearheaded the development of the Cybersecure Energy & Emissions Quantification (CEEQ) scheme. This framework captures embodied energy and emissions at the product level throughout the digital supply chain, optimizing energy consumption and emissions, and contributing to savings of up to 1 quadrillion BTUs. These innovations have the potential to support clean-energy manufacturing and facilitate Net-Zero initiatives.
Dr. Castillo has been instrumental in securing 46 grants funded by a diverse array of agencies, including the DOE, NSF, USDA, EPA, Air Force Research Lab, and CPS Energy. Her outstanding research contributions to manufacturing security earned her induction into the UTSA Academy of Distinguished Researchers in 2021. Additionally, she is a member of the National Academy of Engineering’s Frontiers of Engineering Alumni and has served on the committee for the National Academies’ Options for a National Smart Manufacturing Plan Study.
Dr. Castillo holds a Ph.D. from Texas Tech University and a Sc.D. in Engineering Sciences from Monterrey Tech.