In this interview, David Zierler, Oral Historian for AIP, interviews Michael Buric, staff scientist at the National Energy Technology Laboratory. Buric describes how machine learning and AI have allowed him to maintain his productivity during the pandemic. He recounts his childhood in Pittsburgh in a family of Croatian-Americans and he describes his early interests in electricity and lasers. Buric explains his decision to attend the University of Pittsburgh, where he majored in electrical engineering, and where he completed his PhD in the same department under the direction of Joel Falk. He explains his research focus on developing gas Raman sensors and how this served as an entrée to his subsequent work at NETL. Buric discusses the applications of Raman spectroscopy in the modern energy infrastructure system, both in terms of generating power and capturing emissions. He provides an overview of the entire operational structure at NETL, and how the Lab partners with corporate partners both in basic science and applied energy research. Buric explains some of the financial and proprietary considerations as an inventor working in a government infrastructure, and he describes his contributions to NETL’s carbon sequestration program with the sensors he builds. He contextualizes NETL’s role within international energy collaborations. At the end of the interview, Buric discusses his current research creating detectors to study the viability of gas pipelines, and he shares his strategies to maintain ties to laboratory work even has his administrative responsibilities grow with seniority.
