BY JENNA V. WRAY | MARCH 5, 2025
Schmidt has been recognized for his contributions to mechanical engineering and beamline science.
Oliver Schmidt was born in Hanau, Germany. When he was four, his father’s company relocated his family to the United States. Although the move was supposed to be temporary, Schmidt’s parents fell in love with Chicago, so they stayed.
After high school, Schmidt studied automotive and collision/refinishing technology at Wyoming Technical Institute. Thinking of the school’s location in Laramie, Wyoming, Schmidt joked, “It wasn’t the end of the world, but you could see it from there.”
He spent his twenties repairing cars, working with his hands and developing a keen understanding of how mechanical parts come together to form a functioning machine. A point of pride for Schmidt is that several street rods he painted were featured in the Chicago World of Wheels.
“We have an outstanding group of engineers, designers and technicians, many of whom are much smarter than me, who bring a diverse set of expertise to the team.” — Oliver Schmidt, Argonne mechanical engineer
Car repair was interesting and challenging, but Schmidt realized it wasn’t what he wanted to do for the rest of his life. To change his path, he began pursuing engineering at the College of DuPage and eventually transferred to the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT).
While finishing his degree at IIT and raising three kids, Schmidt began collaborating with the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory. He took a position with Argonne’s Advanced Photon Source (APS) mechanical engineering group and found his place there. The APS is a DOE Office of Science user facility.
“I just celebrated 25 years here at Argonne,” Schmidt said with pride. “Although my path wasn’t the most direct route, I greatly appreciate the hands-on mechanical engineering experience I gained along the way. I am a much better engineer because of it.”
During his long career at Argonne, Schmidt has designed many photon delivery systems and various scientific instruments for experiment stations at the APS, called beamlines. He specializes in overall beamline design and integration. For his outstanding contributions, he has received a handful of Argonne Pacesetter Awards, a Director’s Award and four U.S. patents.
Currently, Schmidt is the beamline engineering lead for the APS Upgrade (APS-U), a comprehensive upgrade to the accelerator and beamlines at the heart of the facility. He is responsible for coordinating the efforts of the many experts working on this project.
“We have an outstanding group of engineers, designers and technicians, many of whom are much smarter than me, who bring a diverse set of expertise to the team,” said Schmidt. “Our team is fully equipped to take on any engineering challenge. My job is to promote consistency in our designs and processes, but I’m also still a regular engineer down in the weeds designing beamlines.”
His team is now in the final installation and commissioning phase of the APS-U beamlines. Most days, Schmidt is onsite following up on issues that arise.
“The APS-U scope is massive,” Schmidt explained. “We are building nine completely new feature beamlines, designed for ‘best in class performance.’ An additional 17 beamlines will be upgraded with new optics, instruments and/or operating modes. We are also reviewing and updating all the remaining beamlines to be compatible with the new storage ring. We are striving to bring all the beamlines back online safely and as soon as possible.”
Schmidt’s favorite part about working as an engineer at the APS is the variety of projects he gets to work on. He finds it very rewarding to use his experience and imagination to find practical solutions to engineering challenges and see them through to operation.
“Most of which, so far, have worked!” he added with a smile.