Olson, Robert A.

Robert A. Olson was an electrical engineer and an administrator for the U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Reclamation. A native of Huron, South Dakota, Olson earned his B.S. in electrical engineering from South Dakota State University and went to work as an electrical engineer for Hughs Aircraft Corporation in 1959. He joined the Bureau of Reclamation's Missouri-Oahe Projects Office as an electrical engineer in 1963 and proceeded to move up through the ranks. He became Chief of Operation and Maintenance, Division of Power for the Lower Colorado Region in 1969 and was named Regional Supervisor of Power for the Pacific Southwest in 1973. Olson moved to the U.S. Department of Energy in 1978 to become Southwest Power Manager for the Western Power Administration. He returned to the Bureau of Reclamation in 1983 as Assistant commissioner for Planning and Operations and was named Acting Commissioner of Reclamation that same year. Robert A. Olson retired from the Bureau of Reclamation in 1985.