Robert A. Metzger (born 1956) is an American

electrical engineer Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

and science fiction author. He was a

Nebula Award The Nebula Awards annually recognize the best works of science fiction or fantasy published in the United States. The awards are organized and awarded by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), a nonprofit association of profe ...

finalist in the novel category in 2002 for his second novel, '' Picoverse''. Metzger began writing science fiction stories as a child, but it was not until 1987 that he sold his first science fiction short story. He published his first novel, '' Quad World'', in 1991. It was not until 2002 that he published '' Picoverse''; he published his third and most recent novel, '' Cusp'', in 2005. Metzger's works are widely considered hard science fiction. Greg Bear called him "one of our most ambitious writers of high-tech, hard physics science fiction." Metzger holds a B.S., an M.S., and a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from UCLA. He is co-founder of the technical journal '' Compound Semiconductor'', and has authored over a hundred professional research papers. He has also written several articles on science for a popular audience for '' Wired'' magazine, and has published speculative studies involving climate engineering and space propulsion, co-authored with fellow scientist/science fiction novelists Gregory Benford and

Geoffrey Landis Geoffrey Alan Landis (; born May 28, 1955) is an American aerospace engineer and author, working for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on planetary exploration, interstellar propulsion, solar power and photovoltaics. He ...

, respectively. Metzger is also active with the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA). Metzger is currently the Chief Technical Officer (CTO) at Kyma Technologies in Raleigh, NC. He works in the areas of equipment development and crystal growth of GaN and

AlN Aluminium nitride ( Al N) is a solid nitride of aluminium. It has a high thermal conductivity of up to 321 W/(m·K) and is an electrical insulator. Its wurtzite phase (w-AlN) has a band gap of ~6 eV at room temperature and has a potent ...

alloys by

hydride vapour phase epitaxy Hydride vapour phase epitaxy (HVPE) is an epitaxial growth technique often employed to produce semiconductors such as GaN, GaAs, InP and their related compounds, in which hydrogen chloride is reacted at elevated temperature with the group-III meta ...

(HVPE) and Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD), as well as the development of photoconductive semiconductor switches (PCSS) used for pulsed power applications, generation of high power microwaves (HPM) and

electromagnetic pulses An electromagnetic pulse (EMP), also a transient electromagnetic disturbance (TED), is a brief burst of electromagnetic energy. Depending upon the source, the origin of an EMP can be natural or artificial, and can occur as an electromagnetic fi ...

(EMP).

Works

* '' Cusp'' (Science Fiction). Published by Ace, 2005. . * '' Picoverse'' (Science Fiction). Published by Ace, 2002. . * '' Quad World'' (Science Fiction). Published by New American Library, 1991. .

External links

2002 Nebula Award finalists
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Metzger, Robert 1956 births Living people 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists American male novelists American science fiction writers University of California, Los Angeles alumni American electrical engineers American male short story writers 20th-century American short story writers 21st-century American short story writers 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American male writers