Where would be the best place to get an update of solar energy conversion, and photovoltaics in particular? That would be in a classroom, where you can ask questions and sort through the multiple topics of materials, sources of photovoltaic action (drift, diffusion, electrokinetic phenomena), and the difference between a cell, module, and an array. You would also be able to see that PV is only a tiny segment of an otherwise broad portfolio of technologies to make use of the sun for heating, cooling, making chemicals, making electricity from turbines, and so on. I offer two core courses at Penn State that deal with these subjects, but obviously there is a larger audience out there that would like information. Thankfully, we will be producing a web-based course dealing with photovoltaics, but that will be about a year off.

Let’s talk about light interacting with a semiconductor to yield electricity. Today’s topic is to distinguish between low levels of irradiance and high levels of irradiance. Effectively, we are asking for an estimate of the concentration of photons being delivered from a high energy source to a low energy absorber/collector.

In just a few years since returning from France in 2006, I have noticed some significant improvements in the world of PV within the United States. In fact, it seems that there is a wave of solar development and deployment that is rolling across the country!

Let me preface this glowing remark by commenting that not all was so great even two or three years ago. I had been working for a year in a laboratory

Quick question: would you interpret quantum dots as disruptive technology for light absorbing solar energy, or concentrating solar power (CSP)? One is a fairly recent topic in the photovoltaic world, and the other has been around for over one hundred years.

Maybe it’s just a result of lifting my head up after the flurry of semester grading has finished, but I’m noticing another wave of interest in photovoltaics from students, colleagues, and industry. The word of mouth report is that the PV phenom has surged through Wall Street and left investors dissatisfied. This should be expected; the ratio of experts in PV systems (the whole package deployed in the rigors of the outdoor environment) to researchers who have recently synthesized a component material that may somehow be integrated into a vapor-ware system of the far flung future: quite low. Even so, out of that dissatisfaction, individuals are rising up beyond the band wagon effect. The field is searching for better BS detectors to minimize risk in investing and long term resarch and education.

It has been a very busy semester at Penn State. I’ve served as the faculty director for the Solar Decathlon 2009 effort (Natural Fusion project), I’m developing a course in solar energy conversion, I’m establishing my materials research laboratory, and I’m the outreach and recruiting coordinator for my department. Even so, one of the fun aspects of my job is that so many things overlap each other, and there seems to be an unusually high rate of “moments of synchronicity”. The class overlaps with the project, and the project helps with recruiting, and I’ve gotten to know more people on campus than I ever would have hoped for in my first year at University Park. What a blast!

In the Natural Fusion project, I have 15 amazing students serving as project managers from multiple…

It’s been a while since I reported in last. Reflecting upon the past few weeks and months, I can really say it: wow.

As a first-year faculty member in a large engineering department, inside of a large and research-intensive university, my experience is pretty much as I expected—truly overwhelming. There are times that I feel almost crushed by the weight of too much of a good thing. I’m now directing a huge project in which students to design, build, and operate a solar powered home. I’ve met so many interesting people from all of the diverse components of the project: fundraising, integrated design, solar energy conversion, communications between colleges and university offices to arrange a University-wide effort, and even the occasional meeting with a Dean.

And now, on the tail of the 2007 Decathlon completion, the Department of Energy has announced the next teams in the 2009 competition. You can also see the list at the Solar Decathlon web site.

As a member of the faculty at the Pennsylvania State University and as the Faculty Director of the 2009 PSU team, I am pleased to announce that Penn State will compete for a second time in the upcoming challenge. The Solar Decathlon is an international competition…

The Solar Decathlon is a progressive competition, offered to selected universities across the nation and outside of the USA every other year, in which students from multiple disciplines design and build a home completely powered by the sun. The focus of the competition is to combine BIPV (Building Integrated PhotoVoltaics) with new energy efficient architecture and its engineering systems. The competition was initiated in 2002 by NREL/DOE in conjunction with major sponsorship by British Petroleum, and the official two-year cycle was continued as of 2005 (SD2005).

The Decathlon operates within the general goals of the Solar America Initiative of the DOE, to make photovoltaic solar energy cost-competitive with

In today’s research society, there is value in we. I don’t really know that this premise has changed over the years, but the message seemed to have been lost or mixed up in the pressures for making an independent name of your research in university life. Young researchers are fed information from senior researchers that they need to stay focused—and maybe it gets misinterpreted as staying isolated.

We’ve been told that “once upon a time”, someone starting out into the academic world was open to develop one’s personal, independent ideas. Funding was talked about as plentiful (or at least more probable to acquire by writing a grant proposal than today). But now we know, those of us trying to break upward into a stable research program. It’s just not a good strategy for a newcomer in grant writing and fund-seeking. Today’s research is cut-throat competitive, and even more so if you try to go it on your own. Working alone is an invitation to blow out your tire before you even get rolling.

You can’t know everything, even regarding a particular subject like solar energy (especially with solar energy). Help from others is needed to strengthen your research. It is important to build a network of skeptical, critical thinking colleagues who can look at your goals from unusual angles. You want a collective of shared interests, because there is power in numbers. They have the same urgent goals for support as you do.

So how does one make unique contributions while maintaining a source of funding? Work in bigger circles. Be open to defining your colleagues by a broader set of criteria. Communicate outside of your discipline and be positive of your own abilities.

It’s scary to look out across that void between disciplines, to reach out and communicate with someone you don’t know when you’re not even remotely an expert. But in order to support modern research, we need to span that void as another form of exploration. Because it very possible that we’re not even aware of the potential from the expert on the other side.