Bio
Dr. Sweeney is R&D Staff in the Advanced Fuel Fabrication and Instrumentation Group where his work centers on extracting more, higher-fidelity measurements in extreme conditions. Dr. Sweeney is focused on developing optical fiber sensors and electrical sensing instruments for use in nuclear facilities to preserve signal integrity and decrease measurement uncertainty with specific research interests in optical fiber sensors, graph signal processing, optical reflectometry, and distributed measurements. The results of his work provide granular, actionable feedback to inform operational decisions and advance the design of nuclear systems. Dr. Sweeney received his Ph.D. (2018) in Biomedical Engineering from Virginia Tech and his B.S. (2013) in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Arizona, both of which were focused on developing medical sensors and instrumentation. He was also part of an engineering team selected as one of the top 10 finalists for the 2013 Engibous Prize in the Texas Instruments Analog Design Contest for their design of a low power glucose meter.
Awards
IEEE Senior Member (2024)
Education
B.S., Biomedical Engineering, University of Arizona (2013)
Ph.D., Biomedical Engineering, Virginia Tech (2018)
Specialized Equipment
- Optical frequency-domain reflectometry (OFRD)
- Optical time-domain reflectometry (OTDR)
- Distributed acoustic sensing (DAS)
- Swept wavelength interferometry
- Low-coherence interferometry
- Fiber Bragg gratings
Trademarks and Patents
Petrie, Christian M., Daniel C. Sweeney, and Yun Liu. "Metal-embedded optical fibers for monitoring pressure or corrosion at high temperatures." U.S. Patent 11,525,750, issued December 13, 2022.