Dr. B. Don Russell, professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Texas A&M University, has been named chair of the committee on membership of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) in Washington, D.C.
In this capacity, Russell will be responsible for the election of new members of the most prestigious engineering organization in the United States.
The Academies serve and provide advice to the President, Congress and government agencies on matters of science and engineering. Russell, Regents Professor and Distinguished Professor in the department, is a long-term member of NAE, having been elected to the academy in 1999 for his seminal work characterizing power system faults and his development of new protection and diagnostic tools.
During his time with the academy he served in several other positions, including vice chair for membership, chair of the Electric Power and Energy Engineering section and liaison to the National Research Council.
Russell, who also is the Harry E. Bovay, Jr. Chair Professor in the department, is director of the Power System Automation Laboratory and has been on the faculty of the department for 40 years. He is a fellow of six technical societies and past president of the IEEE Power and Energy Society. Russell is internationally recognized for his development of automated techniques for detecting arcing faults and failures on electric power systems.