Dr. Todd Combs helps advance the nation’s clean energy and national security goals at Idaho National Laboratory in his roles as deputy laboratory director for Science and Technology and chief research officer. His leadership focuses on moving INL toward designing and demonstrating a new class of advanced nuclear technologies, building out the proving ground, and increasing the resiliency of the nation’s critical infrastructure. This will further elevate INL’s research eminence and continue to strengthen its recognition and position within the DOE complex and broader scientific communities.
Combs joined INL in 2017, and he previously served as associate laboratory director for INL’s Energy and Environment Science & Technology Directorate. In this role, he managed 350+ research staff focused on advanced transportation, clean energy integration, advanced manufacturing and environmental issues.
Before joining INL, Combs served as the director of the Global Security Sciences Division at Argonne National Laboratory, where he led a multidisciplinary research team of over 200 that found solutions to protect against, mitigate, respond to, and recover from a wide spectrum of national and global security threats. He also served nearly 14 months as Argonne’s interim associate laboratory director for Energy and Global Security. He led the applied R&D organization of over 800 people, addressing domestic and global sustainable energy and security issues. In this role, he oversaw research and operational activities of the energy systems, nuclear engineering, and global security sciences division.
Combs began his DOE laboratory career in 2008 at Oak Ridge National Laboratory as an operations research scientist. He left for Argonne in 2012 while serving as group leader for Transportation Planning and Decision Science. His research has included energy systems modeling and analysis for DOE, most recently related to critical materials supply chains, as well as the application of modeling and simulation to national and homeland security issues for the departments of Defense and Homeland Security.
Combs serves as chair of the Idaho Strategic Energy Alliance, a board that informs the governor and other leadership on state energy issues. He is a member of the Boise State University College of Engineering’s Industrial Advisory Board and has previously served as a member of Idaho’s Higher Education Research Council committee and its Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research committee. He also serves on the National Academies of Sciences’ Action Collaborative on Transforming Trajectories for Women of Color in Tech. He also serves on the Idaho Falls Symphony Board of Directors.
Combs earned his doctorate in operations research and master’s degree in operations analysis from the Air Force Institute of Technology, and is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. A retired colonel in the U.S. Air Force Reserve, his military experience includes assignments at the Air Force Research Laboratory, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, and the Air Force Studies and Analyses Agency. He is a member of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) and the Military Operations Research Society (MORS).
