Walter J. Sarjeant
James Clerk Maxwell Professor of Power Technology (full-time)

Degrees

B.Sc.(honors) Mathematics and Physics, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada, May 1966
M.Sc., Physics, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada, November 1967
Ph.D., Physics, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada, May 1971

Years of Service on this faculty:

Service: 19 years; Original appointment: September 1981
Professor: September 1981 - present

Other related experiences:

Directly responsible for the funding, planning, staffing and recruitment of students, as well as direct management of all research activities of the SUNY/AB Power and Power Conditioning Institute. This includes research on enabling factors in insulation life of materials and systems (energy storage, filter, and high-frequency capacitors; polymer laminates; impregnating fluids; and pulse transformers/magnetics). Supervises a team of 2 engineers, 1 post- doctoral fellow and 18 Mastes and Doctoral students, in conjunction with visiting scientists and industrial technology-transfer participants. The Institute has seven programs totaling over $2.8 million, and has served to establish an integrated graduate and undergraduate program in High Voltage Engineering, electrical insualtion, power conditioning and related high power electronics. This new program contains project and course elements developed by several faculty to produce a coordinated high voltage engineering curiculum, with a specific emphasis on rep-rate systems and materials effects.
"SUNY/AB Power and Power Conditioning Institute," contract with the Defense Nuclear Agency, Principal Investigator, 1985 - present.

Consulting, patents, etc.:

Technical Advisor to the Federal Government on:
Chairman of the Space Experiment Aboard Rocket program review committee, reporing to the Director, Innovative Science and Technology Office of the Stragetic Defense Initiative (SDI) (renamed in 1995 to the Ballistic Missile Defense Office)
Advanced Nuclear Weapons Effect Simulator Development program of the Defense Nuclear Agency.
Superconducting Magnetic Energy storage program of DOE, DOD and EPRI.
Advanced energy storage DoD and DOE programs.
Power and power systems for DARPA, DNA, SDI, LASL, SNL, NRL and NSWC.
National Academy of Science: Member of the Committee on "Advanced Space-Based High Power Technologies," February 1987 - May 1989.
National Academy of Science: Member of "Strategic Technologies for the Army" (STAR) Committee, July 1989 - 1994.
National Academy of Science: Member of the "Future Carrier Technology" Committee, May 1990 - 1995. National Academy of Science: Member of the "Committee on Space Station" Committee, May 1992 - present.

Principal publications of the last five years:

"Capacitors," W.J. Sarjeant, Invited Review Paper, IEEE Transactions on Electrical Insulation, Digest of Literature on Dielectrics, Vol. 25, No. 5, pp. 861-922, October 1990.
"Capacitors: Aging and Failure - A Review," W.J. Sarjeant, Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Space Charge in Solid Dielectrics, Antibes-Juan-Les-Pins, France, 2-7 April, 1995, pp. 84-93.
"A Report on Capacitors," W.J. Sarjeant and D.T. Staffiere, Proceedings of the 1996 Applied Power Electronics Conference, Fairmont Hotel, San Jose, California, 03-08 March 1996, pp. 12-17 (Plenary Paper-reviewed)
"Power Sources Manufacturers Association R&D Subcommittee Report on Capacitors - 1995," W.J. Sarjeant, Proceedings of the 16th Capacitor and Resistor Technology Symposium, The Monteleone, New Orleans, Louisiana, 11-14 March 1996, pp. 5-18.
"Energy Storage Capacitors: Aging and Diagnostic Approaches for Life Validation," W.J. Sarjeant, F.W. MacDougall, D.W. Larson, and I. Kohlberg, accepted on 13 March 1996 for publication in the IEEE Transactions on Magnetics.

Scientific and professional societies of which a member:

Member, Electrostatics Society of America.
Member, Eta Kappa Nu.
Member, American Society Engineering Education.
Scientific Advisor, Institute for Defense Analysis.
Member, National Academy of Sciences, National Research Council, Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board, Standing Committee on Space Station.
Chairman, DoD Space Experiments Aboard Rockets Review Committee.
Member, DoD Capacitor Technical Advisory Board.
Member, New York Academy of Sciences.
Session Chairman, Gordon Research Conference on Dielectric Phenomena, 1986,1988; vice-chairman, 1994.
Member, Presidents' Associates Organization, SUNY/AB.
Member, Editorial Board, Journal of Applied Physics Applications.
Member, New York Academy of Sciences.
Member, Electromagnetics Academy.
Member, American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
Member, Board of Directors, Power Sources Manufacturer's Association of America.
Member, Research and Development Committee, Power Sources Manufacturer's Association of America.
Chairman, Capacitor Research and Development Committee, Power Sources Manufacturer's Association of America.
Secretary and Member, US Army ARDEC Blue Ribbon Multifunction Fuze Review Committee, 1994.
Technical Advisor, US DOE, Transportation Division, 1993-present.
Member, White House Commission on Space Technologies for Advanced Power Sources, 1993.
Liason member from the NAS/NAE/IOM Committee on Space Station to the NAS/NAE/IOM NRC Committee on Space Debris, under the ASEB Board, 1995-present.

Honors and Awards:

Elected to Fellow Grade in IEEE "For Contributions in high-voltage pulsed-power systems and devices."
National Research Council of Canada Postgraduate Scholarship, 1966-1971.
University of Illinois Presidential Postgraduate Scholarship, 1967-1968.
National Research Council of Canada Industrial Postdoctoral Fellowship, 1971-1973.

Subjects or courses taught during the most recent semester:

Fall 2000:

EAS140 Engineering Solutions (Undergraduate)
EE605 Advanced Energy Systems (Graduate)

Other assigned duties:

Undergraduate student advisement

Programs to improve teaching and professional competence:

"SUNY/AB Space Power and Power Conditioning Institute", Agency: Defense Nuclear Agency, Investigators: W. J. Sarjeant and G. C. Lee.
"Doctoral Fellow", Agency: Hughes Aircraft Company, Investigators: W. J. Sarjeant and R. Dollinger.
"Master of Science Fellowship", Agency: Hughes Aircraft Company, Investigators: W. J. Sarjeant and R. Dollinger.
"SUNY/AB HIgh Power Electronics Institute", Agency: Office of Naval Research, Investigators: W. J. Sarjeant and G. C. Lee.

Phone number and e-mail address:

(716) 645-2422 ext. 1208
jsarjean@acsu.buffalo.edu