Editor-in-Chief and Editors

Chih-hung Chang is currently a Professor in the School of Chemical, Biological, and Environmental Engineering at the Oregon State University (OSU). He received his B.S. degree in chemical engineering from National Taiwan University (1991), and Ph.D. degree in chemical engineering from the University of Florida (1999). His PhD research is focused on CIGS thin film photovoltaics. Since joining OSU in 2000, his research group has studied thin film electronics, solution-based thin film deposition, ink jet printing, microreaction technology, and nanomaterials. His research group was among the first to report inkjet printing amorphous oxide TFTs and CIGS solar cells. Microreactor-Assisted Nanomaterial Deposition, MAND, a technique that was developed by his group, was recognized by the Society of Manufacturing Engineers as the 2011 SME “Innovations That Could Change the Way You Manufacture” Watch List. Chih-hung is a SHARP Labs of America scholar, an Intel Faculty Fellow, and a recipient of OSU Faculty Innovator Award, OSU COE Research Award, 2015 TechConnect National Innovation Award, AVS Graduate Research award, National Science Foundation’s CAREER award, and awardees of W.M. Keck Foundation. He is the founder and Director of Oregon Process Innovation Center, an Oregon BEST signature research lab. He is the founder of a start-up venture, CSD Nano Inc. which is commercializing a retrofit AR coating technology for solar photovoltaics. He has more than 110 refereed publications, 11 issued patents, and 5 pending patents.

Dr. Dalal is Whitney Chair Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Iowa State University. He received his B.E. degree in Electrical Engineering from University of Bombay in India in 1964, and Ph.D. from Princeton University, also in EE, in 1969. He also holds a M.P.A. with focus on Economics from Princeton. Dr. Dalal has extensive research experience in both academia and industry, having worked as a research scientist at RCA Laboratories, and at several small companies. His academic experience includes working as a research scientist at University of Delaware’s Institute of Energy Conversion, and as Professor and Director of Microelectronics Research Center at Iowa State University. His expertise is in R&D on photovoltaic materials and devices. He has published over 180 papers and refereed proceedings articles, and also holds 12 U.S. patents. He is a Fellow of IEEE, American Physical Society and American Association for Advancement of Science.

Lecture Titles

- Photovoltaic energy conversion, solar energy systems, energy systems, energy economics, energy and environment

Seth Hubbard received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Michigan Ann Arbor in 2005 and is currently an Associate Professor of Physics and Microsystems Engineering at the Rochester Institute of Technology. He also holds joint appointment at RIT as graduate faculty in the Carlson Center of Imaging Science and the Golisano Institute for Sustainability. His doctoral research consisted of studying the effects of materials properties and epitaxial device design on high power GaN heterojunction field effect transistors grown using vapor phase epitaxy. Dr. Hubbard currently leads a team of graduate students and research staff working on the epitaxial growth, fabrication and characterization of III-V photovoltaic and electronic devices, with an emphasis on novel materials and nanostructures such as quantum dots. He has authored or co-authored over 70 journal and conference publications on III-V electronic and photovoltaic devices. Prior to RIT, Dr. Hubbard was a National Research Council (NRC) Postdoctoral Research Associate at NASA Glenn Research Center. Dr. Hubbard has also served as Publications Chair for the IEEE Photovoltaics Specialist Conference.

Sylvain Marsillac is a Professor of Electrical Engineering in the ECE Department at Old Dominion University, Norfolk (ODU). He received his Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering (1996) from the University of Nantes (France). After receiving his Ph.D., he worked for the University of Nantes until 2000 as an Assistant Professor. He then worked as a Researcher for the University of Delaware (IEC) and the University of Hawaii from 2000 to 2004, before joining the University of Toledo in 2005. In 2011, he joined Old Dominion University where he is now leading the effort on Photovoltaic Science an Engineering. His current research interests include studying new inorganic materials for renewable energy applications, developing innovative tools for in-situ and real-time analysis, and developing novel architectures and techniques for the fabrication of flexible and high efficiency solar cells. He has published over 140 papers in peer reviewed journals and conference proceedings and has supervised over 20 Ph.D. and Masters students. Sylvain Marsillac has been very active in the organization of the IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, on the Organizing committee as well as on the Technical committee, where he served twice as the Area 2 (chalcogenide thin film solar cells) Chair. For more information, see http://ww2.odu.edu/~smarsill/vipv/

Mike Scarpulla is an Associate Professor at the University of Utah in the departments of Materials Science and Engineering and Electrical and Computer Engineering. Prior to joining the U in 2008, he received an Sc.B. with Honors from Brown University in 2000, worked at IBM Almaden from 2000-2001, pursued graduate studies at UC Berkeley from 2001-2006 earning MS and PhD degrees, and was a postdoc in MBE epitaxial integration of rare-earth pnictides with III-V semiconductors at UC Santa Barbara from 2006-2008. Mike’s work in and commitment to advancing the field of photovoltaics began with a project during graduate school using ion implantation and pulsed-laser melting (II-PLM) to synthesize epitaxial films of the world’s first multiband semiconductor: the alloy Zn1-xMnxTe1-yOy in which an intermediate band splits the fundamental band gap in two. The continuation of this work by the LBNL group led to the demonstration of functioning photovoltaic devices based on III-V multiband semiconductors. At Utah his research group focuses nearly exclusively on thin film photovoltaics. With his first student he theoretically investigated the concept of embedded dielectric nanoparticles for light trapping in ultra-thin c-Si cells. This effort also yielded an elucidation and investigation of the exact mode structure in planar waveguides with arbitrary loss in each layer and to the concept of equivalent deflection angle which clearly delineates antireflective from light trapping wavelength regimes of textured or sub-wavelength-structured approaches to light absorption enhancement. Mike’s group has ongoing work in laser annealing of CdTe and CIGSe materials for modifications of properties for device and manufacturing enhancements. They also pursue understanding of structural and electronic defects in CZT(S,Se) using especially electrical spectroscopies such as admittance spectroscopy and DLTS focusing on optical variants. Mike reviews for many journals and agencies, participates regularly in the Hands-On PV Experience for graduate students held at NREL annually, serves on the organizing committees of areas 1&2 of the IEEE PVSC and of SPIE conferences on laser processing for photovoltaics and advanced PV cell concepts. He has published >100 scholarly works with >1500 citations with an h-index of 20.

Jan Schmidt received his Ph.D. degree in physics in 1998 and the Habilitation degree (“venia legendi”) in physics in 2005, both from the Leibniz University of Hanover (LUH), Germany. From 1998 to 2000, he worked as a Humboldt Fellow at the Australian National University, Canberra, Australia, and from 2000 to 2001 at the University of Stuttgart, Germany. Since 2001 he is leader of the Photovoltaics Materials Research group at the Institute for Solar Energy Research in Hamelin (ISFH), Germany, and since 2010 he is heading the Photovoltaics Department at ISFH. Since 2010, he is also a professor in physics at LUH, where he gives courses in semiconductor physics and renewable energies. His current research interests include the development of novel solar cell concepts and fabrication processes, with focus on heterojunctions, surface passivation, new characterization techniques for silicon materials and devices, and the analysis and manipulation of defects in mono- and multicrystalline silicon materials. He has authored and co-authored more than 120 refereed journal papers as well as 100 conference papers. He is scientific committee member for several international conferences and workshops in the field of photovoltaics.

Keith Emery received his M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the Michigan State University in 1979. In 1979 and 1982 he worked at Colorado State University fabricating and characterizing Silicon-oxy-nitride MOS capacitors using laser or electron beam chemical vapor deposition and Ion Beam sputtered ITO films. In 1980 he joined NREL (SERI at the time), where he established the PV cell performance characterization laboratory. He designed, developed, and implemented the hardware, software, and procedures to measure the current-versus-voltage characteristics as a function of temperature, spectrum, and intensity for single- or multijunction cells or modules and the efficiency as accurately as technically possible. The laboratory is ISO 17025-accredited as a calibration laboratory for primary reference cells, secondary reference cells and secondary modules. The group is also ISO 9001 accredited for all released data. The group averages about 200 cell calibrations per month and 250 module measurements per month in support of the terrestrial PV community. The lab is only one of 3 PV cell and module calibration laboratories in world with proven competence in evaluating any existing or new PV technology. The lessons learned, measurement issues, solar simulation and PV performance measurement technology are communicated to individuals, groups and the PV community at large.. The author has also been active in accurate modeling of the solar spectra to extend the spectra outside the measured wavelength range. Emery has been recognized for his research accomplishment and leadership through several awards, including, the 2007 Paul Rappaport Award for contributions to Photovoltaics, 2009 NREL Harold M. Hubbard Award for "Seminal contributions to the measurement science of photovoltaic (PV) devices and modules," the 2012 World Renewable Energy Congress / Network Pioneer Award for "Outstanding contributions to renewable energy over many years and use of renewable energy in their own daily life", and the 2013 IEEE PVSC William R. Cherry Award. He has been listed in 2014 and 2015 by Thomson Reuters as a highly cited researcher. Emery has over 345 peer reviewed papers and published conference presentations and written 4 book chapters and one patent for an automated light beam induced current measurement system. He is co-editor of the journals Progress in Photovoltaics and Renewable Energy. He is active in ASTM and IEC PV standards development and has participated in ISO AM0 standards development and is a senior member of IEEE.

Ben Kroposki is the Director of the Power Systems Engineering Center at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) where he leads NREL’s strategic research in the design, planning and operations of electrical power systems. He received his BS and MS in Electrical Engineering from Virginia Tech and PhD from the Colorado School of Mines. His expertise is in the design, testing, and integration of renewable and distributed power systems and has more than 100 publications in these areas. As an IEEE Fellow, Dr. Kroposki was recognized for his leadership in renewable and distributed energy systems integration. He has served on a number of IEEE technical standards working groups and chaired IEEE 1547.4, the first international standard on microgrids. He has also served as an editor for IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, IEEE Transactions on Sustainable Energy, and IEEE Power & Energy Magazine.

Rommel Noufi received his Ph.D. in Analytical/Physical chemistry from the University of Texas, at Austin in 1978. He joined the Rockwell international Science Center for two years as a member of the technical staff. In 1980 he joined NREL (SERI at the time) as a senior scientist, where he is currently serving as a principal scientist and group manger in thin film Photovoltaics. He has established a leading position in the interdisciplinary field of material science of thin film electronic materials and devices, with emphasis on thin film PV solar cells. He has developed synergism of skills in the field of PV device physics, thin film fabrication and characterization, vacuum technology, photoelectrochemistry, electrodeposition, and conducting polymer. He has lead a team of scientists, engineers, in the design and fabrication of polycrystalline thin film solar cells based on CIGS and CdTe which holds world record conversion efficiency. He also, spent 15 months sabbatical with a CIGS thin film PV start-up company in Silicon Valley serving as the VP for R&D and help the company move the technology from development to manufacturing. Currently he has Consulting Professor appointment in the material science and engineering department, at Stanford University. He also has extensive experience in project management of a number of CRADA and WFO projects through his career at NREL, as well as Technology Transfer and collaboration with Industry. Rommel has been recognized for his research accomplishment and leadership through several awards, including, “Distinguished Innovator Award 2010” at NREL, H.M. Hubbard Award in recognition of outstanding leadership and initiative in science and technology management, and in furthering NREL as the nation’s foremost renewable energy laboratory. Rommel has over 170 papers in interdisciplinary. He is co-editor of five (5) professional society conference proceedings, 8 issued NREL Patents, of which 6 are licensed to industry, and numerous invited talks/ lectures in the US and abroad on the subject of Thin Film PV.

Christopher Wronski received a B.Sc in Physics in 1960 and Ph.D in 1963 from Imperial College, London University. He is currentlyLeonhard Professor Emeritus in the Department of Electrical Engineering, Pennsylvania State University from 1987 to 2005. His contributions to photovoltaics began in 1974 at RCA David Sarnoff Research Laboratories, with work carried out with David Carlson that led to the invention and development of thin film amorphous silicon solar cells. In 1976, he discovered with David Staebler, the reversible, light-induced changes in the optoelectronic properties in amorphous silicon known as the Staebler-Wronksi Effect. This effect, which results from the introduction of metastable defects, is still not only of great technological but also scientific interest. While at RCA and subsequently at Exxon Research Laboratories he continued to make contributions to the development of efficient solar cells, understanding of their device physics and the nature of the defects in hydrogenated amorphous silicon. This included his collaboration in demonstrating and quantifying the large improvements possible in short cicuit currents from the optical enhancement obtained with texturized surfaces. At Penn State he developed several novel techniques for characterization of the optoelectronic properties hydrogenated amorphous silicon solar cells and clearly established the contributions of multiple defects to the Staebler-Wronski effect. The collaborative research with Professor Rob Collins, where for the first time the characterization of growth and microstructure is carried out in real-time, has enabled materials and solar cells to be significantly improved. This understanding and control of the more ordered structure in “protocrystalline” amorphous materials has been applied in a more systematic development of improved solar cells. Professor Wronski has over 300 publications on amorphous materials and their devices. In 1984 Professor Wronksi received the IEEE Morris N. Liebmann Memorial Award for “crucial contributions to the use of amorphous silicon in low cost, high performance photovoltaic solar cells.” In 2000 he received the IEEE W Cherry Award for “Outstanding contributions to photovoltaic science and technology”. Since his retirement he has continued to visit and present lectures at industrial, government, and university laboratories as well as participate in their research activities.