Dr. William McMurray

1978 William E. Newell Power Electronics Award Recipient



The committee's choice for the 1978 award is William McMurray, Electrical Engineer in the Solid State Power control Branch, Power Electronics Laboratory, Corporate Research and Development Division, General Electronic Company, Schenectady, New York. He is well-known and respected for his original work in power electronics and was confirmed as one who best represents the criterion for this award.

 

Bill McMurray's citation is for his outstanding circuit work in power electronics, especially the well-known "McMurray Commutation Circuit", his many patents and publications in professional journals, his book, The Theory and Design of Cycloconverters, published by MIT Press in 1972, and for his many contributions and service to the Power Electronics Specialists Conference as session chairman, for technical paper reviews, and his liaison with the Industry Applications Society's Static Power Converter Committee.

 

After his early education in Los Angeles, Bill's collegiate education was international in scope, as he received the Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering from Battersea Polytechnic in London, England, in 1950, and his Master of Science degree from Union College in Schenectady, New York, 1956.

 

McMurray first joined the General Electric Company Corporate Research and Development Division in 1953. He is presently Electrical Engineer in the Solid State Power control Branch of the Power Electronics Laboratory. He has been responsible for the development of solid-state power control and conversion circuits, including inverters, dc/dc converters, power supplies and regulators with thyristors and transistors, as well as electromagnetic control devices. He also worked in the areas of advanced power systems, motor drives, and computer simulation of converter circuits.

 

Bill McMurray is the holder of 14 U.S. Patents and has published many technical papers. He is the author of the book, The Theory and Design of Cycloconverters, and was a major contributor to the book, Principles of Inverter Circuits. A Senior Member of IEEE, he is chairman for Technical Paper Reviews for the Static Power Converter Committee of the IEEE Industry Applications Society. He is an Associate Member of the Institution of Electrical Engineers in England and is a Licensed Professional Engineer in the State of New York.

 

The 1978 Power Electronics Specialists Conference salutes William McMurray as the second recipient of the William E. Newell Power Electronics Award, and expresses appreciation to the Westinghouse Electric Corporation for its generous sponsorship of the award for 1978.

Source: IEEE Power Electronics Specialist Conference - 1978 Record