Patrick O'Shea

Dr. Patrick O'Shea is an Irish-born American scientist and academic leader. He was educated at University College Cork, Ireland, and the University of Maryland. He is currently a professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Maryland, with affiliate appointments in the Institute for Research in Electronics and Applied Physics and the Department of Physics. He has previously served as:

• President of University College Cork
• Vice President for Research and Chief Research Office of the University of Maryland
• Chair of the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering at the University of Maryland’s A. James Clark School of Engineering
• Director of the Institute for Research in Electronics and Applied Physics at the University of Maryland
• A faculty member in the Department of Physics at Duke University
• Project Leader at the University of California Los Alamos National Laboratory.

His expertise is in electromagnetics, and he is best known for his work on particle accelerators and free-electron lasers. He led several large experimental programs and supervised the research of numerous doctoral and master’s graduates and undergraduates. His current research projects generally relate to developing brighter and more intense light sources and beams so that we might better see, communicate, measure, process, and cure. Current projects include x-ray free-electron lasers, superpower terahertz sources, electric ivy dielectric discharge, intense electron beam dynamics, and electron photoemission.

Dr. O’Shea is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Physical Society, the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, the Irish Academy of Engineering, and the Royal Society for the Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce. He has also been honored as a Distinguished Scholar-Teacher of the University of Maryland and as President Emeritus of University College Cork. For many years he was cited as one of the leading researchers for externally sponsored research funding at the University of Maryland.

His hobbies and interests include running, cycling, orienteering, geography, and history.