When I was a student at Keyser High Schoo­l, my hometown hero Congressman Harley O. Staggers Sr was the Chair of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.  I watched him and President Carter lead us through The Energy Crises of the 1970’s. 

In 1973, OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) imposed an oil embargo on the United States for arming Israel with advanced military equipment.  Gas prices immediately doubled because of the shortage of oil.  I remember gas stations with signs saying “Sorry NO Gas” and cars waiting in line for hours at gas stations.

Harley O. Staggers Sr with the President of Egypt Anwar Sadat and the Prime  Minister of Israel Menachem Begin at the Camp David Peace Accords

Congressman Harley O. Staggers Sr. introducing his son, Attorney Harley O. Staggers Jr.,
to President Carter in 1978.

In 1977, President Jimmy Carter and Congressman Staggers Sr

founded and funded the United States Department of Energy. 

First Lady Rosalyn Carter, President Jimmy Carter, Congressman Staggers Sr. and his wife Mary Casey Staggers at the White House in 1978.

The mission of the USDOE is   to ensure America's security and prosperity by addressing its energy, environmental, and nuclear challenges through transformative science and technology solutions.

Congressman Harley O. Staggers Sr. introducing his son, Attorney Harley O. Staggers Jr.,
to President Carter in 1978.

In 1952, Congressman Harley O. Staggers Sr and the West Virginia delegation created the US Bureau of Mines
Appalachian Experiment Station in Morgantown, WV .  

With support from my behind-the-scenes sponsor Attorney Congressman Harley O. Staggers Jr,  I had the largest, best-equipped, best-staffed laboratory in the world for the visualization and measurement of multiphase flows (mixtures of two or more of phases: gas, liquid and solid).

I also had an Atomic Vapor Laser custom built for me by the engineer who built 200 of them for Los Alamos to “pump” tunable dye lasers in the AVLIS process (Atomic Vapor Laser Isotope Separation) to produce weapons grade uranium. 

I used my Atomic Vapor Laser only for civilian applications, namely high-speed visualization of particle flows.  As far as I know, mine was the first built by Los Alamos only for civilian applications.

Attorney Congressman Harley O. “Buckey” Staggers Jr.

The Particle Flow Research Lab I had at the USDOE Pittsburgh Energy Technology Center,
what is now the Pittsburgh site of the USDOE National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL).

My copper-vapor “Atomic Vapor Laser” from the USDOE Los Alamos National Laboratory
Follow this link for more about my Particle Flow Analysis Lab
and my Atomic Vapor Laser

In 1990, while working with Distinguished Professor Harvey Borovetz in my Particle Flow Research Lab at the US Department of Energy’s Pittsburgh Energy Technology Center, I invented and in 1994 patented (US Patent 5,333,044) an imaging technology to visualize and measure the flow of blood cells in artificial hearts and lungs. 

Harvey, now my colleague and friend for more than 30 years, tells me that technology has saved thousands of lives. 

I could not have done that without the steadfast behind-the-scenes support of Attorney Congressman Harley O. “Buckey” Staggers Jr. 

Distinguished Professor of Bioengineering,
Dr. Harvey S. Borovetz.    

Click here info about my bioengineering work
with Distinguished Professor of Bioengineering Dr Harvey S. Borovetz.

In 2007, I invented a flow imaging technology for flows of very high particle concentrations.  In 2011 independent experts reviewed the technology I invented and judged it to be “ a huge breakthrough .” 

Dr. Ray Cocco, the President and CEO of PSRI, a research consortium of the world’s largest and wealthiest petrochemical companies, sent me a letter in which he declared the technology I invented to be
“ something the petrochemical industry sought for 50 years”

Dr. Ray Cocco

On March 5, 2013, the United States Patent & Trademark Office
protected the technology I invented with US Patent 8,391,552.

The Honorable Attorney Congressman Harley O. Staggers Jr deserves credit for Patent 8,391,552.  Without his support, that technology would not exist.

ABOUT MY WORK ON THE LEAD TEAM
RESPONDING TO THE DEEPWATER HORIZON OIL SPILL CRISIS

In 2010, I was on the lead team -- the Plume Team of the Flow Rate Technical Group of the National Incident Command -- responding to the most dangerous environmental threat our country has faced: the Deepwater Horizon oil leak. 

I had DOE Patent Attorney James “Jay” Potts submit the patent application two days after the Deepwater Horizon exploded.

The technology I invented, what would become Patent 8,391,552, is one of the tools I used to take the lead in stopping the damage being done to the shoreline of five Gulf States. I generated the first accurate measure of the flow rate of crude oil discharging into the Gulf of Mexico a mile deep below the exploded British Petroleum Deepwater Horizon oil rig. 

I could not have done that without the steadfast, behind-the-scenes support of The Honorable Attorney Congressman Harley O. Staggers, Jr.   He also deserves credit for stopping the damage to 1000 miles of US shoreline by the most dangerous environmental threat our country has faced since we declared independence from the British in 1776.

Below is a photo of our team taken at the NOAA Command Center in Seattle on June 13, 2010.  I am on the far right in the photo. Our team was led by the first woman to be the Director of the US Geological Survey, Dr. Marcia McNutt.  Marcia is now the first woman to be the President of the National Academy of Sciences -- an organization founded by Abraham Lincoln in 1863 to serve as pro bono “Advisors to the Nation.”

October 5, 2015, The Honorable US District Court Judge Carl J. Barbier (US District Court for Eastern Louisiana) ordered British Petroleum to deposit $20.8 billion dollars in the US Treasury (Multi District Litigation 2179, Eastern District, Louisiana).  It remains to be the largest single fine of a single entity in US history.

Those funds went to the people of five Gulf states to rebuild their lives and 1000 miles of shoreline.   Congressman Buckey deserves s ome credit for that too.

I can be contacted at  FDShaffer@Gmail.com  or 412-320-0510