A fifty-year career at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has positioned Larry Seiber at the forefront of a technological breakthrough in wireless electric vehicle charging. According to ORNL, Seiber's work in designing and assembling inverters has been central to the lab's achievement of wirelessly transferring 270 kilowatts of power to an electric vehicle, a world-record-setting feat.
Seiber reached his half-century milestone at ORNL last Monday. Throughout his tenure, he has remained a constant figure amid the evolution of the Department of Energy's research objectives, even predating the department itself which was established in 1977. ORNL Laboratory Director Stephen Streiffer told ORNL, "While we’ve had a few other staff members achieve 50 years with ORNL, it’s a very small group, and they all have an extraordinary level of dedication to the mission of this lab." Despite the significant time spent, Seiber shows no sign of retiring, saying "As long as I have the work environment, the people, I'll probably work until my health says you have to stop."
Born in Lake City, Tennessee, Seiber was familiar with ORNL from a young age due to his father's role as a pipefitter for the lab. Influenced by his father's suggestion, Seiber pursued electrical engineering and subsequently carved a path that saw him contribute to various projects over the decades. He began his career as a laboratory technician at the K-25 plant, where he distinguished himself by resolving software issues related to centrifuge machine performance, an achievement largely uncelebrated due to the abrupt end of the program, as he recounted to ORNL.
Seiber's move to another facility, the Y-12 National Security Complex, in 1985 marked his deeper engagement with computers and electronic design. He was later recruited back to ORNL to work on the power electronics and electric machinery group, which led him into the nascent field of sustainable transportation. Seiber's talent for building and testing electronic devices was critical to ORNL's participation in DOE's FreedomCAR program, which sought the development of emissions-free vehicles. His work necessitated creating protocols for testing prototype capacitors for hybrid electric vehicle drive systems, earning him, and his team, one of the first patents in this area.
Seiber has been steadfast in the pursuit of innovation, which has culminated in multiple contributions to the developing field of wireless charging technology. Omer Onar, Seiber’s group leader at ORNL, in a statement obtained by ORNL, lauded Seiber's capabilities, saying, "Any task we’ve given Larry, he follows through, on time and under budget, and it’s precise and right the first time." Seiber was also involved in pitching the wireless power transfer capability to defense-related projects, securing significant funding for ORNL’s program after impressing with his ability to articulate the lab's capabilities and answer questions with ease.
However, it’s not just the lab that benefits from Seiber’s dedication — his private life also reflects a commitment to challenge and service. Seiber is a private pilot and scuba diver, with accomplishments such as safe emergency landings and diving in exotic locations under his belt. Moreover, his humanitarian efforts extend from local pursuits of feeding the homeless to international mission trips to Nicaragua. "I just enjoy helping others, I don’t see myself ever sitting down and doing nothing because there’s always something to learn, something to do, something that you can do that helps another person," Seiber told ORNL.
