Maynard Holliday facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Maynard Ansley Holliday
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Holliday in 2012
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Maynard Ansley Holliday is a very important person who helps the United States government with new technologies for defense. He works as the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Critical Technologies. Before this, he worked for President Barack Obama. During that time, he started a group called the Defense Innovation Unit, which helps the government use new technologies.
Mr. Holliday also led a project for a robot named Pioneer. This robot helped explore inside the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant after a big accident.
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Early Life and Learning
Maynard Holliday was born in Providence, Rhode Island. When he was a kid, he loved watching Star Trek and dreamed of becoming an astronaut. He grew up in Scarsdale, New York.
He went to Carnegie Mellon University to study mechanical engineering. He was one of only a few African American engineers in his class. While studying, he became very interested in robots. This happened after the Three Mile Island accident, which led to a company called RedZone Robotics being started. This company designed robots to explore dangerous places.
Mr. Holliday worked with a scientist named Red Whittaker. Together, they designed robots to go inside a damaged nuclear reactor. Later, Mr. Holliday attended the International Space University in 1991. He even made it to the final stages of becoming a NASA astronaut in 1994 and 1996. However, he decided not to continue after the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster.
Amazing Work with Robots
Mr. Holliday started his career as a robotics engineer at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. He then received a special scholarship to study robots and international safety at Stanford University. There, he began a graduate program in mechanical engineering design. He worked on systems that helped position targets for the National Ignition Facility, a big science project.
In 1995, Mr. Holliday received a fellowship to work on science and technology policy. He worked at the United States Agency for International Development. During this time, he pushed for money to develop robots internationally. This was in response to the Chernobyl disaster.
After his fellowship, Mr. Holliday worked for the United States Department of Energy. He helped make sure nuclear materials in Russian cities were safe. He also worked with a group in Ukraine on the Pioneer robot. This robot was designed to explore dangerous areas. Mr. Holliday's hard work in keeping nuclear materials safe earned him the Meritorious Service Medal. This is a very high award for civilians from the Department of Energy.
The Pioneer Robot
Mr. Holliday was the project manager for the Pioneer robot. This robot was designed to help map the inside of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. He worked with RedZone Robotics to finish the robot in 1999.
The Pioneer robot cost $3 million. It was built to handle much more radiation than humans can. It could stay inside the nuclear reactor for up to two years. The robot used a special camera system to identify and record details about materials inside the plant. This system later became a test model for the Mars Pathfinder mission!
After leaving the Energy Department, Mr. Holliday helped develop technology for recognizing patterns at Evolution Robotics. He also helped design high-definition (HD) camera systems for a robot used in surgery called the da Vinci telerobotic surgery robot. In 2011, he joined Sandia National Laboratories, where he worked in a group that analyzes systems.
Government Service
During Barack Obama's second term as president, Mr. Holliday became a Senior Technical Advisor. He helped create the Defense Innovation Unit Experimental (DIUx). This is a part of the Department of Defense that helps the government quickly use new technologies from businesses. He also advised the Defense Science Board in 2015. For his excellent work, Mr. Holliday received the Defense Medal for Exceptional Public Service.
In 2017, Mr. Holliday left the Defense Department to work at RAND Corporation. There, he researched self-driving vehicles. He returned to the Defense Department in 2021. Now, he helps decide where to invest in new technologies for national defense. He focuses on important areas like 5G, hypersonics (super-fast travel), and quantum science.
Helping Young People
Mr. Holliday is very involved in projects that teach young people about science and engineering. His motto is, "You learn it, earn it, and return it." This means he believes in learning, succeeding, and then giving back to others.
He was part of Barack Obama's My Brother's Keeper Challenge. This program encouraged community leaders to help young men of color. Mr. Holliday also helped start Robot Garden, which is a community makerspace in Livermore, California. A makerspace is a place where people can go to create and build things. He is still on its advisory board.
In 2012, an organization called Citizen Schools named Mr. Holliday their Volunteer of the Year. This was for his efforts at Elmhurst Community Prep school. He has also taught advanced robotics classes at San Ramon Valley High School. Mr. Holliday is very dedicated to encouraging more diversity in science and engineering. He believes it's important for different voices to be heard in organizations that affect everyone.
