Walter Skuggevig

Founding Member, William Henry Merrill Society
UL Corporate Fellow

Prior to his retirement from Underwriters Laboratories, Inc., Walter Skuggevig was a senior research engineer in Melville, N.Y. He has a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, and is a licensed Professional Engineer in New York state.

Mr. Skuggevig began his career with UL in 1963. He worked on projects involving industrial control equipment, electronic data processing equipment, and a number of other categories of products until 1969, when he was assigned to the Electrical Division Research. In Research, he worked mainly on the subject of electric shock as it applies to many different product categories, and contributed to the development of requirements for many UL and International Electrotechnical Commission standards.

Mr. Skuggevig served as an investigator for UL under contract with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission in the project "Development of Test Equipment and Methods for Measuring Potentially Lethal and Otherwise Damaging Current Levels." He participated in the development of new requirements covering electric shock for telephone equipment, electric vehicle charging circuits, power distribution equipment, ground-fault circuit-interrupters, and others. He conducted seminars for UL engineers and for UL customers to share technical information about electric shock.

As part of international standards committees, Mr. Skuggevig developed working relationships with experts around the world through his IEC committee work. These relationships facilitated the development of methods to resolve more complex problems involved in evaluating today's more complex circuitry. Working with experts from other countries promoted harmonization with the other countries. The exchange of ideas and information resulted in wider understanding of the rationale for North America's systems, and a better understanding at UL of systems used in other countries.

Mr. Skuggevig was active on technical committees and in advisory groups serving a number of professional associations, including the International Electrotechnical Commission, the National Fire Protection Association, the American National Standards Institute, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers. He also is a member of the National Society of Professional Engineers and the International Association of Electrical Inspectors. He has authored or co-authored more than 30 technical papers published in a variety of publications.