Robert Lawrence
- Birthdate
- 1921/05/02
- Awards
- IEEE Herman Halperin Electric Transmission and Distribution Award
Biography
Rober tF. Lawrence was born in Watertown, NY on May 2, 1921. He received a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from the Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY in 1943.
Following graduation, he joined the Westinghouse Electric Corporation and remained in their employ until March 1, 1985, when he retired as Manager, Transmission and Distribution Systems Engineering. He has provided power systems engineering consulting for Westinghouse in the United States and Canada, South America, Europe, Egypt, and the People's Republic of China. Bob was a Graduate Instructor for the University of Pittsburgh for five years. He has produced guidelines on electric utility supply for large electric arc furnaces; designed a-c secondary network systems in downtown commercial areas; pioneered utilization of higher secondary voltages in commercial areas; distribution planning through optimized design; transformer-secondary economics; underground residential distribution; on-site generation; economics of EHV and UHV A-C transmission and HVDC transmission.
Bob Lawrence was author and co-author of 81 technical papers and articles, has received a Prize Paper Award on Electronic Exciters for A-C Generators, and is a chapter author in the Westinghouse Transmission and Distribution Reference, and the Distribution Systems Reference Books. He was decorated with the Order of the Yugoslav Flag with Gold Wreath for "promoting the name and works of Nikola Tesla, and development of peaceful cooperation and friendly relations between the SFR of Yugoslavia and the United States." He is a recipient of the IEEE Centennial Medal. He was awarded grade of IEEE Fellow in 1964, and was a Life Member.
He has been active in the IEEE and the Power Engineering Society having served on some 20 technical committees, 15 administrative committees over the years, and served as Director, Division VII, 1983-1985. He was active on the Strategic Planning, Employee Benefits and Life Member Committees. He has also participated in IEEE standards activities, ANSI C84 and C92, NEMA representative, served as Chairman of NEMA Codes and Standards Committee, and was Vice-President of the U.S. National Committee of the International Electrotechnical Commission. He is a member of CIGRE and a Registered Professional Engineer in the state of Pennsylvania . Bob and his wife, Grace, reside in Forest Hills, a suburb of Pittsburgh, PA. He was much involved in local church and civic activities, and had two sons and two grandchildren. Hobbies and other fun things besides family included photography, travel, personal computer (can still use his slide rule), boating, and a small cottage on Lake Ontario near his old home town.
