As Vice President of Innovation, Dr. Dowling oversees many programs and initiatives designed to keep Philips Solid-State Lighting Solutions, the new entity formed by Philips’ acquisition of Color Kinetics, at the forefront of LED lighting. He joined Color Kinetics in early 1999 as Director of Engineering, and was integral to the research and development fueling many of Color Kinetics’ successful products, technologies and market applications. He is an inventor and co-inventor on many Color Kinetics patents, which later became a key influence in Philips’ acquisition of the company. He also leads the company’s government programs.

Beyond his work at Philips, Dr. Dowling actively engages with many industry organizations to advance adoption of LED lighting, including the creation of much-needed industry standards. He currently serves as Chairman of the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) Solid-State Lighting Section, and formerly served as Chairman of the Next Generation Lighting Industry Alliance (NGLIA). He was instrumental in the formation of the Solid-State sub-committee within the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) Testing Procedures Committee (TPC). Dr. Dowling is also active within the education community, teaching lighting at the New England Institute of Art and lecturing at many lighting and design programs. He is a well-known industry advocate with numerous published articles and speaking engagements to his credit.

Prior to Color Kinetics, Philips, Dr. Dowling was Chief Robotics Engineer for PRI Automation, the leader in advanced factory automation systems and software for the semiconductor industry. He has over 15 years of experience in advanced robotics engineering at the Field Robotics Center of Carnegie Mellon University, where, as a scientist, he led a number of projects including a Lunar Rover demo, robots for Space Shuttle Inspection and Shuttle ground operations at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, and the Mars Rover Project. Dr. Dowling has also consulted for many companies, including Shell Oil and Apple Computer, and was a founding principal of a medical robotics company.

Dr. Dowling received his undergraduate degree in Mathematics and masters and Ph.D. degrees in Robotics from Carnegie Mellon University.