Inside The Innovations

Stacey Whaley

Stacey Whaley

Radio Frequency Technician

Spallation Neutron Source

Stacey Whaley is a radio frequency technician at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), designing and maintaining equipment vital to operating the Spallation Neutron Source’s linear accelerator. In her spare time, Whaley and her husband build classic cars. Whaley has worked at ORNL for twelve years.

What I’m doing right now really excites me. It’s like a big puzzle. The engineers from other groups will give me a schematic and say, ‘Can you do this layout? I want it to go in this box, and I want it to have these functions.’ So, it’s like when you’re young and playing with puzzles, except much bigger!”

“I’m a gSTEM mentor at Vine Middle School, and it’s great to be able to teach the next generation of girls to get involved in science. With me having a prosthetic leg, my ankle is actually controlled with my phone. I let the girls play with my phone and the app, and then when I walk they can see the difference. This helps them see how programming and electronics can play a big part in real life experience.”

–Stacey Whaley