David G Nix

... is a technologist and serial entrepreneur in energy, real estate, and design.

Trained as an architect, Nix is a generalist with specialist tendencies for computation and applied science. His work focuses on the built world – optimizing, augmenting, curating, and crafting the places where we live, work, play, and dream.

Nix is continually working on new projects weaving together reality capture, generative AI, digital twins, architectural tooling, and novel human-computer interfaces to improve our understanding of homes and buildings and where we can optimize and enjoy them more fully.

Today, Nix is VP of Energy Intelligence at Palmetto, leading deep technology and applied science R&D across myriad fields including ray-tracing based daylighting and photovoltaic modeling, building energy modeling (BEM) with physics-based and statistical surrogate models, machine vision for semantic segmentation of aerial and satellite imagery, earth observation/reality capture for nation-scale on-demand 3D data retrieval, and geomatics data engines that powers hyperlocal contextual awareness for all business units.

Prior to joining Palmetto, Nix was co-founder and COO of Mapdwell, an MIT-spinoff data science startup that built robust, enterprise-grade energy data services and award-winning data visualizations delighting millions of end-user customers with accessible behind-the-meter clean energy opportunities like solar PV, energy efficiency, and battery storage. Mapdwell was acquired by Palmetto in 2021.

Previously, Nix designed and built buildings, architectural and computational tooling, and financial modeling and risk quantification at design innovation workshop and international real estate development boutique, MoDe Studio, led by design visionary Eduardo Berlin.

Nix has been invited to teach, critique, exhibit, and speak widely: from the University of Pennsylvania School of Design, to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD), the Exelon Corporation, Tohoku University, Wake Forest University, New York Institute of Technology, the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris (COP 21), and more.

Nix received his undergraduate degree from Wake Forest University as an interdisciplinary Open Curriculum scholar, Richter Fellow, and King Family Art scholar. He studied architecture and design at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design (CD) and received his Masters in Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania School of Design where he was an Irving Miller scholar and Prowler Fellow, and where he pursued studies in Real Estate at the Wharton School of Business.

Nix was also a Fulbright scholar at United Nations IPCC member Sustainable Environment Laboratory at Tohoku University Graduate School of Engineering in Sendai, Japan with significant support from Toyota.

Nix is a LEED Accredited Professional, an NAIOP Principal Developing Leader, and a ULI Young Leader.