Primary Job Title Founder & CEO Primary Organization 
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Location Knoxville, Tennessee, United States Regions Southern US Gender Male
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Dr. Earl has over 20 years of experience developing optical technologies for both private businesses and government organizations. As a former staff member at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Dr. Earl was a researcher with ORNL’s Cyber Warfare group and Quantum Information Sciences team.
During his 18 years with
ORNL, Dr. Earl’s research focused on quantum encryption solutions and the integration of this technology with the emerging smart grid.
He holds numerous patents and research publications and is the inventor of GridCOM’s principle IP. Dr. Earl is also the former founder and CEO of Sunlight Direct, Inc., an ORNL spin-off that commercialized a passive, fiber optic solution for delivering sunlight to the interior of commercial buildings to reduce energy consumption.
Dr. Earl invented the technology, founded the company in 2004 and secured $1M in federal funding and $1.2M in private seed investment from the California-based Tech Coast Angels. He oversaw the evolution of the product from a laboratory prototype to a commercial product with over 80 installation sites before returning to ORNL in 2009.
