Lucy Pao facts for kids
Lucy Ya Pao is an American electrical engineer and control theorist. This means she is an expert who designs and works with electricity and computers. She also studies how to make systems work smoothly and efficiently. She is well-known for her work on wind turbines. She helps make sure they can capture the most energy from the wind. She also works on controlling things that can bend or move, like parts of a wind turbine.
Lucy Pao is a special professor at the University of Colorado Boulder. She teaches about electrical, computer, and energy engineering. She is also a key member of the Renewable and Sustainable Energy Institute. This institute studies clean energy.
Her Journey in Engineering
Lucy Pao went to Stanford University. She earned three degrees there in electrical engineering. She got her first degree in 1987, her master's in 1988, and her Ph.D. in 1992. Her main teacher for her Ph.D. was Gene F. Franklin.
After finishing her studies, she worked for two years at a company called the Mitre Corporation. In 1993, she became a professor at Northwestern University. Then, in 1995, she moved to the University of Colorado Boulder, where she still teaches today.
Awards and Honors
Lucy Pao has received many awards for her important work.
- In 2009, she was given the Richard and Joy Dorf Professorship. This is a special title for professors.
- In 2012, she became an IEEE Fellow. This is a high honor from a group called the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. She was recognized for her work on control systems.
- In 2014, she was named a fellow of the International Federation of Automatic Control. This group focuses on how to control different systems.
- In 2017, she received the Control Engineering Practice Award. This award came from the American Automatic Control Council. She got it for her amazing work on controlling wind turbines and large groups of wind turbines called wind farms. Her ideas helped make them work better.
About Her Family
Lucy Pao is married to Leo Radzihovsky. He is a physicist who studies how materials behave. They have two children together.
