Principal Technical Advisor for Sustainable Federal Operations and Facility Resilience

Erika Sudderth, PhD serves as the principal technical advisor for sustainable federal operations and facility resilience at the U.S. DOT Volpe Center. Sudderth joined the U.S. DOT Volpe Center in 2014 with a focus on sustainability for federal operations, resilience of federal facilities, and statistical analysis. Her leadership ensures that U.S. DOT consistently meets federal sustainability requirements for U.S. DOT-owned and operated buildings, directly contributing to improved energy efficiency, enhanced facility resilience, and significant cost reductions across U.S. DOT operations.

Sudderth’s expertise in federal mandates, strategic project implementation, and best practices has shaped impactful programs that strengthen the sustainability and operational resilience of federal infrastructure. She led the successful development of two Assisting Federal Facilities with Energy Conversation Technologies (AFFECT) grant applications to Department of Energy’s Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP), securing critical funding for energy assurance solutions for U.S. DOT facilities. Through her collaborative efforts, Sudderth has propelled the growth of the U.S. DOT Volpe Center’s capabilities in sustainability, energy efficiency, natural hazard resilience, data science, and artificial intelligence.

Sudderth has earned numerous awards at U.S. DOT, including the 2024 Maritime Administration Bronze Medal Team Award for the AFFECT awards, a 2018 Director’s Recognition Team Award for a U.S. DOT Safety Data Initiative, the 2016 U.S. DOT Secretary’s Award for Transportation Safety, a 2015 U.S. DOT Office of the Secretary for Research and Technology best paper award for statistical contributions to acoustics research, and the 2015 U.S. DOT Volpe Center Innovation Challenge team award. Her research portfolio, spanning federal and academic work, has more than 550 citations since 2005. Sudderth holds a BS in Biochemistry and Cell Biology with a minor in Environmental Studies from University of California (UC), San Diego and a PhD in Plant Ecology from Harvard University. Before joining the U.S. DOT Volpe Center, she conducted post-doctoral research at UC Berkeley and Brown University and taught environmental statistics, bringing a strong analytical foundation to her impactful federal service.