Dr. Schmidt's research focuses on industrial thermal processes, particularly the application of microwave and radio-frequency heating to industrial heating and drying. He has written over 75 articles in the research literature and is the author or co-author of three books and several book chapters. In addition to several years as an aerodynamics research engineer for Bell Helicopter Company, Dr. Schmidt has been a consultant to a number of corporations, national laboratories and government and private organizations, including the Electric Power Research Institute and the Gas Research Institute. He was Chairman of the Joint U.S.-Soviet Symposium on Efficient Electricity Use in 1986, a member of the Committee on the Future of Central-Station Electric Power of the National Academy of Engineering, and a member of the Electricity Utilization Working Group for the Office of Technology Assessment of the Congress. Dr. Schmidt teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in thermodynamics, heat transfer, energy conversion and introductory mechanical engineering, as well as a series of industrial short-courses on eletrotechnology applications and a summer engineering design institute for high school science honor students. A nationally-recognized leader in the application of electronic media to engineering instruction, Dr. Schmidt is the founder and former Director of the College of Engineering Instructional Media Laboratory and chaired the University's Multimedia Instruction Committee.