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Raymond S. Larsen |
The 1999 Richard F. Shea award went to Ray Larsen of SLAC, with the citation,
“For many innovative and long-lasting contributions to the success of the IEEE Nuclear and Plasma Sciences Society and for sustained concern and action regarding the ethical issues facing the electrical engineering profession.”
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Raymond S. Larsen |
Ray became a member of the IRE and AIEE in 1955 while a student in Electrical Engineering at the University of British Columbia . He graduated from UBC with Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Applied Science, EE, in 1956 and 1958, and was awarded the Degree of Engineer, EE, from Stanford in 1966. His services to IEEE began in the Quebec Section as Secretary and Vice President from 1959-62, and later as an elected member of the NPSS AdCom where he proposed the first plan for Continuing Education that was later implemented as the Short Course programs that now are a regular feature of most NPSS conferences. The first of these courses were run at the chapter level, primarily in the San Francisco Chapter, and some were presented nationally through the cooperation of the Education Society. At SLAC Ray also was instrumental in forming a unique Skills Training program for minorities, in cooperation with Foothill College, in which on-the-job tutoring plus formal classwork enabled participants to earn degrees as technologists. Among other innovations, Ray introduced the first wide use of Poster Sessions to NPSS conferences, experimented with tutorial and workshop sessions, and put on the first really good conference party with the help of some dedicated SLAC party animals.
The second aspect of the award is for work in the field of Engineering Ethics, which is more recent. A new IEEE Ethics Committee was formed in 1996 with six members, three from the US and three internationals. This group did some innovative work to bring ethics to the forefront of IEEE consciousness. Ray was given the opportunity to give a presentation to Ethics students at NC State that was videotaped and is now a part of a series on Professionalism offered by the IEEE Foundation.
Professionally Ray has worked in defence research in Canada, followed by 25 years with SLAC from 1962-1988 where he became Head of the Electronics Department, followed by seven years in private industry nursing a new start-up high speed instrument company called Analytek Ltd., and finally full circle back to SLAC to help complete the PEP-II Controls and Fast Feedback Systems. He is currently Assistant Director, Technical Division, overseeing Controls and Power Conversion Departments, and Deputy Head, NLC Project, in charge of Electrical Systems.
Ray says he is very honored to receive the Shea award, and hopes that he can emulate the example set by Richard Shea in service to the profession, and especially in Richard’s care for young engineers.
Ray Larsen can be reached at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, MS 66, Stanford University, P.O. Box 4349, Stanford, CA 94309; Phone (650) 926-4907; Fax: (650) 926-5124; E-mail: larsen@slac.stanford.edu.