FOR MORE INFORMATION                                             FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Robert Fullerton at (303) 275-2700                                        February 3, 1998

e-mail: fullerton@wapa.gov

Western employee named IEEE Fellow

GOLDEN, Colo.—The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers elected Duane R. Torgerson, an electrical engineer with Western Area Power Administration, as an IEEE Fellow. Torgerson was recognized today at IEEE's Power Engineering Society winter meeting for leadership in the application and development of power electronics to a power transmission network and for increasing international understanding.

Each year, following a rigorous evaluation, a select group of recipients is recommended to the Board of Directors for one of the Institute's most prestigious honors—election to IEEE Fellow. Less than one in a thousand members of IEEE will receive this honor in 1998.

At Western, Torgerson has served as a technical expert and project manager for solid state technology applications on Western's transmission system in the areas of high voltage direct current, static compensators and flexible alternating current transmission systems. He is recognized as an international expert and has made technical presentations on the subject throughout the world.

A native of Onalaska, Wis., Torgerson completed a bachelor of science degree in electronic engineering at California State Polytechnic University and a masters degree in electrical engineering at Purdue University. Prior to working at Western, he worked for Hughes Aircraft Company designing power systems and high-voltage power transformers including a 200 kilo-Volt 1800 ampere HVDC mercury arc valve test facility.

Western Area Power Administration, based in Golden, Colo., markets and transmits reliable, low-cost hydroelectric power from 55 powerplants operated by the Bureau of Reclamation, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the International Boundary and Water Commission. Additionally, Western markets the United States' 24.3 percent entitlement (547 megawatts) from the coal-fired Navajo Generating Station near Page, Ariz. Current maximum operating capability is nearly 10,600 megawatts in a service area that covers 1.3 million square miles in 15 western states.

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