Steve Syracuse might run a thriving startup technology firm today, but he admits that his path has been lengthy, circuitous and not without setbacks. As the founder, president and CTO of Promethean Devices — a Fort Mill, South Carolina, U.S.-based company that offers an innovative overhead transmission line monitoring system — Syracuse draws on his education in physics and his experience in biomedical R&D to help enhance the safe and reliable operation of the electrical grid.

“It took me a long time, but I finally figured out how to make something that somebody would find value with,” he laughed.

That “something” is a ground-based, non-contact sensor system that provides transmission line operators with an overhead conductor's temperature, clearance-to-ground, phase current and the ampacity available above the static rating. “Basically, the technology enables utilities to push more power through their existing transmission lines without compromising safety or reliability,” Syracuse explained. “It also helps them determine whether or not a line needs to be replaced.”

How exactly does a physicist with a biomedical background become involved in the electric power industry? The answer is as complex as the man himself.

“Growing up in New Jersey in the 1960s, I frequently found and dragged home things the neighbors left on the curb for the garbage truck: TVs, radios and chemistry sets,” he recalled. “I enjoyed taking things apart, and I must have combined every chemical in all those chemistry sets in every way. That's where my fascination with science and technology began.”

This childhood fascination led Syracuse to enroll in Northwestern University's School of Engineering, where he soon realized that engineering was not his forte. “It took me nine years to get my degree because I was interested in everything,” he said. “I took neuroscience, anthropology, nuclear engineering and history classes at Cornell, Northwestern, Seton Hall and Drew University before ending up majoring in physics at the University of Arizona.”

After earning his BS degree, Syracuse joined a biomedical startup in Houston, working to find a way to place chemical sensors inside the human body for days at a time. “My job was to figure out how to keep the body from attacking the sensors, which isn't easy to do, and I made some significant progress there,” he noted. “This experience ultimately led to what we're doing now at Promethean Devices, as far as the sensor being the basis for the real-time line monitoring system.”

The next phase of Syracuse's career took him to California, where he spent six years working in sensor R&D. During this time, he stumbled upon a “solution wanted” ad placed in a trade journal by someone looking for a way to measure the temperature of operating high-voltage substation equipment.

“It hit me that the all-dielectric fiber-optic temperature sensor technology I was working on could be applied to high-voltage electric power equipment,” he said. “We integrated the temperature sensor and a suspension insulator into a monolithic structure that could be coupled readily to bus bars. Reliant Energy in Texas was interested enough to send the device to the high-voltage test lab at Mississippi State University. It passed all the tests, and we patented it. We then modified the fixture so the device could hang off of a transmission tower in parallel with a suspension insulator, and it would tell you the temperature of the overhead conductor.”

According to Syracuse, it eventually became clear that the installation would be cost prohibitive because of required line outages, and the idea was abandoned. Undeterred, he returned to the drawing board in 2003 to find a way to gather transmission line data without making physical contact with the conductors or towers.

“We wrote proposals and received funding from the Department of Energy three times running to build, develop, deploy and demonstrate four systems with Duke Energy, Allegheny Power, Southern Company and Bonneville Power,” he said.

Founded in 2004, Promethean Devices has grown to 12 employees and its customer base is beginning to expand.

“One part of my definition of success is being in a position to hire such people that one becomes the dumbest person in the room,” he said. “That way, you are always learning the most, and it's everyone else's job to advise you and stay ahead of you. For a long time, I felt that success was far off but, considering some of the people I now work with, I think I'm close.”

In his spare time, the entrepreneur enjoys camping, hiking, tennis and biking with his wife and 11-year-old son. He also indulges his passion for travel, with the goal of visiting every National Park in the United States. In addition, Syracuse would like to earn an MBA.

“If you're going to achieve anything, you have to keep challenging yourself and those that work with you,” he said. “You'll almost certainly fail a few times, but you must work as if you are never going to.”