SANDIA WORKERS GET HIGH HONOR
IEEE recognizes pair’s contributions
A manager and an engineer are now fellows of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
Two Sandia National Laboratories researchers have been named fellows — the highest and most prestigious level of membership — of the international Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
Bryan Oliver, senior manager of the Radiation Effects Sciences and Applications Department at the labs, was named for contributions to the theory and simulation of intense particle beams and plasmas, and electrical engineer Ray Byrne was honored for his work on miniature robotics and grid integration of energy storage, Sandia said in a news release.
An IEEE fellow is conferred by the board of directors to individuals with outstanding records of accomplishments in any of the IEEE fields of interest. The number selected in any one year cannot exceed one-tenth of 1 percent of the total voting membership, organizers said.
Oliver has authored or coauthored more than 100 publications, received eight National Nuclear Security Administration Defense Programs Awards of Excellence, and is a recipient of the Department of Energy Secretary’s Achievement Award.
Byrne joined Sandia in May 1989, starting his career in robotics, working on telerobotic vehicles and miniature mobile robots. In the late 1990s his team demonstrated large numbers of cooperative miniature mobile robots as part of a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, effort. He was recognized by Time magazine with one of the “Best Inventions of 2001” as part of a team that developed a miniature mobile robot.
Several of the miniature robots were inducted into the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in April 2011 to “reflect the historical record of robot development” through American history. From 20012008 he developed fiber optic links for space applications.
More recently he has focused on optimal control of energy storage to maximize benefit to the electric grid, as well as the grid integration of renewable generation.