Rodney L. Williamson received his BA degree in chemistry from Brigham Young University in 1976 and his Ph.D. in physical chemistry from the University of Washington in 1983. He did post-doctoral research at the Air Force Weapons Laboratory working on spectroscopic gain diagnostics for chemical laser systems from 1983 to 1984, and was hired at Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) as a member of the technical staff in September of 1984. At SNL he teamed with Dr. Frank J. Zanner to help form the Specialty Metals Processing Consortium (SMPC) in 1989, an organization bringing together engineers and scientists from the specialty metals industry, universities, and U.S. national laboratories to perform pre-competitive research in the field of process metallurgy controls and diagnostic techniques. In 2007, Dr. Williamson left SNL and went to work at the University of Texas in the Center for Advanced Manufacturing with Dr. Joseph J. Beaman. At the same time, he did research for the SMPC as an independent contractor. Over the years he has conducted and published scientific and engineering research in the areas of optical and magnetic resonance spectroscopy, chemical laser diagnostics, metal vapor arc physics, process metallurgy and control technology applied to vacuum arc remelting, thermal spray diagnostics and controls, and chemical sensor technology based on magnetic field-structured composite materials. In 2005 he received a Career Achievement Award from ASM International. He also received two Lockheed-Martin Employee Recognition Awards (1994, 2003) for his work at SNL, as well as seven Awards for Excellence for work leading to patents. He received a Best Paper Award for a paper presented at the International Symposium on Liquid Metals Processing and Casting in 2001. Dr. Williamson retired from active research in 2016 but still does consulting work for both SNL and the SMPC.