Dr. Scott Duncan is part of the Research Faculty within the School of Aerospace Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he is a member of ASDL’s Digital Engineering Division. In his current position, Dr. Duncan leads and manages multi-disciplinary research teams in projects relating to terrestrial infrastructure systems, including community energy systems comprising grid-interactive efficient buildings, district thermal systems, distributed energy resources (DERs), and microgrids. These teams assess and support the design of these systems by applying techniques from systems engineering, data analysis, modeling and simulation, visualization, optimization, digital twinning, and model-based systems engineering. Dr. Duncan co-manages, with Dr. Jung-Ho Lewe, the Energy Infrastructure and Data Engineering group (EIDE details here), which is part of the long-running Smart Campus Initiative between ASDL and GT Infrastructure & Facilities. Dr. Duncan is a Member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), serving on its the Terrestrial Energy Systems (TES) Technical Committee. He is also the Initiative Lead for GT’s Strategic Energy Institute (SEI) overseeing research operations for the Tech Square Microgrid.

  • Doctor of Philosophy, Mechanical Engineering, 2008, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA
  • Master of Science, Mechanical Engineering, 2003, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA
  • Bachelor of Science, Engineering Science and Mechanics, 1998, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksbur, VA

Ongoing Sponsored Research

  • GT Smart Campus Initiative - Program co-manager for an ASDL team working with Georgia Tech’s Infrastructure and Sustainability (I&S) Unit. The team is helping to organize and vet campus infrastructure data and use it in the development of analytics and model-driven assessments to identify inefficiencies, discover operational faults, and evaluate scenarios and upgrade options for utility systems (energy and water).
  • Campus Energy Flexibility Estimation & Demonstration (Sponsor: Southern Company Services, Buildings Group) - Program co-manager for an ASDL team exploring the capacity of buildings to shape their energy load profiles to react to requests for flexibility from a Utility-operated distribution grid.
  • Buildings and Sustainable Infrastructure (Sponsor: Siemens) - Technical Advisor for “Grand Challenge” student team projects to create model-driven analyses of “systems-of-systems” comprising commercial buildings, distributed energy resources, electric vehicle charging, and dynamically priced grid-supplied energy.
  • Tech Square Microgrid (Under a Partnership between GT, Southern Company Services, and Georgia Power Company) - Programmatic coordinator around the use of an urban microgrid, operated by Georgia Power, as a Living Learning Test Bed, provoiding data for use by GT campus researchers and students. In this role, Dr. Duncan was appointed an Initiative Lead for Microgrids in GT’s Strategic Energy Institute (SEI).

Recently Completed

  • Model‑Based Enterprise Architecture for Institutional Management Digital Twins (NASA STTR Phase 1)

Journal Papers

  1. Pinon Fischer, O., Matlik, J., Schindel, W., French, M., Kabir, M.H., Ganguli, J.S., Hardwick, M., Arnold, S.M., Byar, A.D., Lewe, J.-H., Mahadevan, S., Duncan, S., Dong, J. J., Kinard, D. A., Maiaru, A., Digital Twin: Reference Model, Realizations and Recommendations, INCOSE INSIGHT Magazine, 2022.
  2. Kampezidou, S., Tikayat Ray, A., Duncan, S., Balchanos, M., Mavris, D. “Real-time occupancy detection with physics-informed pattern-recognition machines based on limited CO2 and temperature sensors” Energy and Buildings, Volume 242, 2021.
  3. Reap, J.; Roman, F.; Duncan, S.; Bras, B. (2008) “A Survey of Unresolved Problems in Life Cycle Assessment - Part 1: Goal & Scope and Inventory Analysis” International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment. Vol. 13, No. 4, pp. 290-300. Part 1 of 2.
  4. Reap, J.; Roman, F.; Duncan, S.; and Bras, B. (2008) “A Survey of Unresolved Problems in Life Cycle Assessment - Part 2: Impact Assessment & Interpretation”. International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment. Vol. 13, No. 5, pp. 374-388. Part 2 of 2.
  5. Duncan, S., Paredis, C. J. J., and Bras, B. (2006). “Applying Information-Gap Decision Theory to a Design Problem having Severe Uncertainty” SAE 2006 Transactions Journal of Materials and Manufacturing (Paper 2006-01-0273).

Conference Papers

  1. Lewe, J.-H., Oh, S., Efe, Y., Kim, H., Brooks, J., Duncan, S., Hong, S., Jung, Y., Koti, R., Operating and Certifying a Net Positive Energy Building During a Pandemic. 2022 Building Performance Analysis Conference and SimBuild Conference Proceedings. 2022.
  2. Charan, T., Meyer, R., Lewe, J.-H., Woldekidan, K., Duncan, S., Calibration of Building Energy Model to Determine Load Flexibility Potential, 2022 Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings. 2022.
  3. Oh, S., Lewe, J., Yarbasi, E., Brooks, J., Duncan, S., Mavris, D. “A Scalable Intra-Network Building Heat Exchange Model for District Cooling Systems” AIAA 2020 Propulsion & Energy Conference, August 2020, held virtually.
  4. Lewe, J.-H., Duncan, S., Song, K., Oh, S., Solano, D., Yarbasi, E., Ahuja, J., Johnston, H., Mavris, D.. “A Comprehensive Energy Monitoring Environment for District Energy Grid Systems,” AIAA 2017 Propulsion & Energy Conference, July 2017, Atlanta, GA.
  5. Kim, J., Sung, W., Balchanos, M., Duncan, S., Mavris, D.. “Modeling the Impact of Thermal Demand Response on a Campus Chilled Water Plant and Assessment of Campus-wide Load Shift Potential,” AIAA 2017 Propulsion & Energy, July 2017, Atlanta, GA.
  6. Valenzuela del Río, J., Issac, Y., Coulon, A., Duncan, S., Mavris, D.. “Chilled Water System Abnormality Detection with Machine Learning Algorithms,” ASHRAE 2016 Winter Conference, January 2016, Orlando, FL.
  7. Balchanos, M., Kim, J., Duncan, S., Mavris, D.N., (2015) “Modeling and Simulation-based Analysis for Large Scale Campus Chilled Water Networks” AIAA Propulsion & Energy Forum 2015 - 13th International Energy Conversion Engineering Conference, Orlando, FL.
  8. Zhang, L., Duncan, S., Oh, S., Mavris, D.N., (2015) “Techniques Utilizing Meter Data to Achieve Energy Savings in District Cooling System Operations” AIAA Propulsion & Energy Forum 2015 - 13th International Energy Conversion Engineering Conference, Orlando, FL.
  9. Jalaleddine, M., Duncan, S., Mavris, D.N., (2015) “Model-based Analysis of the Impact of Adding Chilled Water Thermal Storage to a District Cooling System” AIAA Propulsion & Energy Forum 2015 - 13th International Energy Conversion Engineering Conference, Orlando, FL.
  10. Duncan, S., Balchanos, M., Sung, W., Mavris, D.N., (2014) “Towards a Data Calibrated, Simulation-Based Campus Energy Analysis Environment for Situational Awareness and Future Energy System Planning” ASME 2014 8th International Conference on Energy Sustainability, Boston, MA.
  11. Zhang, L, Li, Y., Duncan, S., Mavris, D., (2014) “Development of a Building-Specific, Multi-Criteria Energy Technology Portfolio Evaluation Approach” ASME 2014 8th International Conference on Energy Sustainability, Boston, MA.
  12. Corrand, M., Duncan, S., Mavris, D.. “Incorporating Electrical Distribution Network Structure into Energy Portfolio Optimization for an Isolated Grid,” Conference on Systems Engineering Research (CSER'13), March 2013.
  13. Kang, J., Duncan, S., Mavris, D. “Real-time Scheduling Techniques for Electric Vehicle Charging in Support of Frequency Regulation,” Conference on Systems Engineering Research (CSER'13), March 2013.
  14. Kim, J., Duncan, S., Mavris, D.N., (2012) “Deterioration Process Modeling of a Multi-Component Complex System for Condition Based Maintenance" 10th AIAA International Energy Conversion Engineering Conference Atlanta, GA.
  15. Blanquet, A., Duncan, S., Mavris, D.N., (2012) “System Dynamics Model of a Balancing Authority Using Demand Response as Contingent Energy Reserve” 10th AIAA International Energy Conversion Engineering Conference Atlanta, GA.
  16. Duncan, S., Griendling, K., Mavris, D.N., (2011) “An Assessment of ROSETTA for Smart Electricity Grid System-of-Systems Design” 2011 6th Annual IEEE SoSE Conference, Albuquerque, NM.
  17. Griendling, K., Duncan, S., Mavris, D.N. (2011) “Combining Policy with Technology Research and Development to Enable Wind Energy Proliferation in the United States” Proceedings of the 2011 International Association of Management of Technology (IAMOT), Miami, FL
  18. Prior, M.A., Stults, I.C., Daskilewicz, M.J., Duncan, S., German, B.J., Mavris, D.N. (2009) “A Design Methodology Enabling the Efficient High-Fidelity Design of Combined Cycle Power Plants,” 2009 ASME Energy Sustainability Conference. Paper #: ES2009-90291
  19. Duncan, S., Paredis, C. J. J., and Bras, B. (2007). “Applying Info-Gap Theory To Remanufacturing Process Selection Affected By Severe Uncertainty.” 2007 ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition (IMECE). November 11-15, 2007, Seattle, WA, USA. Paper#: DETC2007-43608
  20. Duncan, S., Aughenbaugh, J. M., Paredis, C. J. J., and Bras, B. (2006). “Considering the Info-Gap Approach to Robust Decisions Under Severe Uncertainty in the Context of Environmentally Benign Design” Presented at the ASME International Design Engineering and Technical Conferences, Design for Manufacturing and Life Cycle Conference. September 10-13, 2006, Philadelphia, PA, USA. Paper#: DETC2006-99486