Dr. Sandra Biedron is one of four former Moraine Valley Community College students inducted into the college’s 2020 Alumni Hall of Fame.
Biedron, a longtime resident of Chicago’s Beverly area, is a research professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of New Mexico and a managing member of Element Aero in Chicago, a technological consulting company.
Upon completing classes at Moraine Valley in 1992, Biedron earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in chemistry and biology from Trinity Christian College in Palos Heights, and a doctorate in accelerator physics from Lund University in Sweden.
She has made significant contributions to several areas of science and engineering in accelerator science and technology, theory, simulation and experiment of several genres of particle accelerators. Biedron, who holds a patent in the field and has several patents pending, has participated in research and development, and the build-up and operation of facilities around the globe, including at Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois, for the U.S. Navy, and in Australia and in Italy.
While at Argonne National Laboratory, she was an associate director of the Argonne Accelerator Institute as a senior physicist and director of the Department of Defense Project. Biedron is a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, has held leadership roles at Sincrotrone Trieste in Italy, and is a member of the administrative committee for the Nuclear Plasma and Sciences Society.
Biedron was an invited delegate and speaker for the U.S. State Department’s dialogue on U.S.-European extreme light infrastructure; received a Particle Accelerator and Science and Technology Award from the Nuclear and Plasma Sciences Society; was appointed as Government Relations chair for the Department of Energy’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory of the User Executive Committee; and received the George T. Abell Outstanding Mid-Career Faculty Award in the College of Engineering at Colorado State University. She also was a District 230 Foundation Legacy Hall Inductee for her contributions to science and technology, a Fellow of the American Physical Society, Fellow of the International Society for Optics and Photonics, member of the Directed Energy Professional Society, senior member of the Optical Society of America, and continues to mentor students.
“Sandra’s contributions to the world of science are a significant factor in her international reputation as an extraordinary physicist,” said Patti Friend, director of Alumni and Annual Programs for the Moraine Valley Foundation. “Her work continues to be a driving force in research and will be for years to come. We are proud Sandra chose to begin her education at Moraine Valley and honored to include her in the 2020 Alumni Hall of Fame.”
Biedron was inducted into the Alumni Hall of Fame along with Forest Reeder, of Tinley Park; Suzanne Akhras Sahloul, of Burr Ridge; and Michael Leonard, of Lemont.
