Dr. Joseph Beno

Function: Associate Director and Research Program Manager

Biography

Dr. Beno has served as program manager of CEM’s Electric Vehicle, Space Power, and Off-road Mobility Programs since 1993 and is currently an Associate Director for CEM.  During this time, he served as PI or co-PI on research programs totaling over $50M from numerous Government and commercial sponsors to address major technology thrust areas in advanced controls, high performance magnetic bearings, high-speed rotating machines, high speed composite flywheel energy storage systems off-road mobility, and active suspension systems.  His typical programs include both Government and non-Government applications and combine users, manufacturers, research organizations, and Governmental organizations to develop prototype hardware transferred to industry and/or the military.  Some program development achievements are listed below:

• Expanded UT-CEM’s existing composite materials expertise into a major new research thrust on highly stressed flywheel safety and burst containment.
• Develop a 12-ton precision robotic system to position the primary optical sensor package at the McDonald Observatory Hobby-Eberly Telescope (part of a Dark Energy exploration project)
• Transitioned two major technologies (military vehicle off-road high-performance active suspension systems and high-speed motor controls) to industry, with  licenses for the University of Texas.
• Developed and successfully tested an advanced flywheel energy storage system for electric transit buses (featuring 40,000 rpm rotor in vacuum, rotor supported on magnetic bearings, and low-loss permanent magnet motor).
• Developed controls approach, control algorithms, and energy management approach for vehicle active suspension systems.  Demonstrated six-fold reductions in vehicle body vibrations, with simultaneous increases in cross-country speed, compared with performance of conventional military vehicles, in military testing at Yuma Proving Grounds.

In recent years, Dr. Beno has transitioned from full-time to hourly service for CEM, on an as-needed basis.

Prior to joining CEM, Dr. Beno served for 22 years as a career Army Officer and retired as a Lieutenant Colonel.  Early military assignments included traditional troop leadership and staff positions in Armor and Missile Maintenance positions.  Later assignments included serving as a Research Coordinator for the U.S. Army Electromagnetic (EM) Gun program; teaching physics at the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, N.Y; and an assignment at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in programs involving advanced diesel engines, electromagnetic guns and projectiles, armor/anti-armor material modeling, and target identification and discrimination.  While at DARPA, Dr. Beno also served as the stateside assistant to the Science and Technology Advisor for the U.S. negotiation team on armament reductions for Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) in 1991-92. 

Research Areas of Interest

Dr. Beno’s primary areas of expertise involve controlled actuation systems, high precision motion control systems, electromechanical system analysis/simulation, active suspension system technology, flywheel energy storage system technology, and program management.  In recent years, Dr. Beno has focused on Brushless Doubly Fed Motors (BDFM) for electric aircraft, funded by NASA.

Dr. Beno has authored or co-authored over 50 refereed/archival publications and holds three patents.

Education

Ph.D. Electrical Engineering, 1989, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas

M.S. Physics, University of Alabama, 1979, Huntsville, Alabama

B.S. Engineering Physics, 1971, U.S. Military Academy, West Point, NY