Dr. Eric D. Wachsman, Director of the University of Maryland Energy Research Center, and the William L. Crentz Centennial Chair in Energy Research, at the University of Maryland (UMD). Prior to coming to UMD he was the Director of the Florida Institute for Sustainable Energy at the University of Florida. He received his Ph.D. in Materials Science & Engineering from Stanford University, and his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley. He is a Fellow of The Electrochemical Society (ECS), formerly Chair of the High Temperature Materials Division of ECS, and serves on the Fuel Cell Organizing and Awards Committees of ECS. In addition, he is Editor-in-Chief of Ionics, Editor of Energy Systems, formerly an Associate Editor of Journal of the American Ceramic Society, and has more than 200 publications and 8 patents on ionic and electronic transport in ceramics, their catalytic properties, and device performance.

Dr. Cherie R. Kagan, is co-director of Pennergy: The Penn Center for Energy Innovation at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) and Professor in the departments of Electrical and Systems Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering, and Chemistry. Cherie is also Penn's director to the Energy Commercialization Initiative, a multi-institutional partnership funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to accelerate commercialization of clean, alternative energy technologies. Prior to joining Penn, Cherie spent 8 years at IBM's T. J. Watson Research Center where she most recently managed the "Molecular Assemblies and Devices Group." She earned her Ph.D. in Electronic Materials from MIT in 1996 and her B.S.E. in Materials Science and Engineering and a B.A. in Mathematics from the University of Pennsylvania in 1991. Cherie was selected by the American Chemical Society in 2002 as one of the top 12 Women at the Forefront of Chemistry, featured by the American Physical Society in Physics in Your Future, and in 2000 chosen by the MIT Technology Review TR10. In 2005, she received IBM's Outstanding Technical Achievement award and in April, 2009 gave Stanford University's Distinguished Women in Science Colloquium. She is on the editorial boards of American Chemical Society's journals "Nano Letters" and "Applied Materials and Interfaces," on the editorial board on "NanoToday," and served on the Materials Research Society's Board of Directors from 2007- 2009.

Michael T. Klein started his career at the University of Delaware, where he served as the Elizabeth Inez Kelley Professor of Chemical Engineering as well as Department Chair, Director of the Center for Catalytic Science and Technology, and Associate Dean. He then moved to Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, to become the Dean of Engineering and the Board of Governors Professor of Chemical Engineering. On July 1, 2010, he returned to the University of Delaware to assume his present position as the Director of the University of Delaware Energy Institute and the Dan Rich Chair of Energy.

Professor Klein received a BChE from the University of Delaware in 1977 and a Sc. D. from MIT in 1981, both in Chemical Engineering. The author of over 200 technical papers and the lead author of the text Molecular Modeling in Heavy Hydrocarbon Conversions, he is active in research in the area of chemical reaction engineering, with special emphasis on the kinetics of complex systems. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the ACS journal Energy and Fuels and has received the R. H. Wilhelm Award in Chemical Reaction Engineering from the AIChE, the NSF PYI Award and the ACS Delaware Valley Section Award. In 2011 Professor Klein was elevated to the level of Fellow of the ACS.

John Sanders is a managing partner and EVP of Operations of WhiteOptics, LLC. WhiteOptics is a New Castle, Del., based company focused on developing materials that improve efficiency in LED and fluorescent lighting. Since starting in early 2009, WhiteOptics has launched multiple products that can be found in retail LED lighting and commercial lighting as well as several award winning designs (including a 2010 Illumination Engineering Society Progress Award for innovation). WhiteOptics was selected to receive a research grant by the Department of Energy as part of its Solid State Lighting initiatives focused on improving LED efficiency.

Before joining WhiteOptics, Sanders has spent his career successfully starting and profitably running new business ventures. This includes co-founding Bridgeforce, Inc., a business strategy and technology solutions firm where he had been for 10 years. During that time, his company achieved international presence, attracted several Fortune 50 clients, and was dubbed the premier consultancy in its field in 2007. John also co-founded Collection Marketing Center (CMC), a next generation adaptive software as a service (SAS) company which was spun off of Bridgeforce in January 2008 as part of a successful private equity raise. He has held several management positions in the financial service industry, and holds two bachelor’s degrees in Business Management and Economics from Towson University. He has published articles in a number of industry journals related to risk management.

WhiteOptics, a Delaware-based company, has emerged as a young start-up manufacturer of a unique, highly diffuse reflector technology used in lighting applications to improve energy efficiency and fixture design. John Sanders, Managing Partner, will share the WhiteOptics story, highlighting some of the achievements to date as well as challenges of creating and growing a business in the clean-tech space.

Dr. Al-Sheikhly is a professor of Nuclear Engineering and Materials Engineering at the University of Maryland. He has been the director of the Nuclear Reactor since 1998. Professor Al-Sheikhly is an NRC- licensed Senior Reactor Operator. He has been teaching nuclear and radiation engineering for the last 15 years, and has taught nuclear engineering courses at various nuclear power plants. He has provided NRC employees with intensive nuclear operation nuclear courses. Dr. Al-Sheikhly has been an affiliated scientist at the US-National Institute of Standards and Technology-Radiation Physics Division since October, 1984. Immediately after his earning his PhD degree from the Radiation and Biophysical Chemistry Laboratory at the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne-United Kingdom, he joined Max-Plank Institute Institut für Strahlenchemie, Mülheim, a.d. Ruhr, Germany. He has been a Guest Scientist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) since 1990.

Professor Al-Sheikhly served as a president of the Council on Ionizing Radiation Measurements and Standards, USA 2005-2006. He was also the chairman of the "Ionizing Radiation and Polymers, IRaP 2010, Maryland USA. He has been a consultant for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on the applications of ionizing radiation for the last twenty years. His research activities have covered a wide range of disciplines in the in radiation-nuclear, material, and reliability science and engineering, He has made major contributions in these fields with emphasis on the radiation and materials engineering. He has published numerous papers in the peer reviewed journals in field of the fundamental radiation chemistry and physics, fast kinetics mechanism, and radiation processing. He has delivered more than a hundred invited and keynote presentations at national and international conferences. He has served in many NSF, DOE, and National Academy of Science panels, and organized NSF and ASTM sponsored workshops.

Dr. Al-Sheikhly has extensive experience in research reactor design, maintenance, and operation. His experience also includes selection and development materials for Generation IV Gas-cooled reactor, Westinghouse AP1000 power rector, non-aqueous fuel recycling, radiation field characterization and measurements, instrumentation, regulatory analysis, nuclear reactor security (safeguards), and reactor relicensing. Prof. Al-Sheikhly has managed and been a principal investigator on numerous DOE, NSF, and NRC nuclear research projects.

Nuclear fission has been hailed by many as a panacean source of energy since its discovery in 1938. Following on the heels of the Manhattan Project, the fission chain reaction was first harnessed to generate electricity in the early 1950s. Today, 440 nuclear reactors provide almost 14% of the world's electricity and 6% of the world's total energy. Nuclear power has been praised as an environmentally conscious and CO2-free supply of base load electricity – the use of nuclear power in the United States prevents 650 million metric tons of CO2 emissions annually. However, the recent events in Japan have thrust nuclear energy and its implementation as an environmentally safe commercial power source back into the spotlight. With only 2 of 65 plants constructed in the past 20 years, the US nuclear fleet is aging. The long-lived radioactivity of nuclear waste, immense capital investment required for new plant construction and concerns of nuclear proliferation are all obstacles which must be confronted if the nuclear renaissance is to thrive. Specifically, the prospect of improving the safety and reliability our nuclear power plants relies on Generation III+ and Generation IV reactor design and the affordability of transitioning to these new technologies. Gas cooled reactors, liquid-metal cooled reactors and modular reactors provide exciting options for enhancing safety, minimizing waste and maximizing cost efficiency.

Gregory Kiss has been working to advance the art and technology of environmentally responsible architecture for over 25 years. After receiving a Bachelor of Arts from Yale University and a Master of Architecture from Columbia University, he founded Kiss + Cathcart Architects in 1983. From 1984 to 2004, he was a founder and President of the not-for-profit Native American Photovoltaics, which brought solar power to remote homes and schools on the Navajo Reservation.

Mr. Kiss has designed many ground-breaking high-performance building projects in the Americas, Europe and Asia. His research into the functional and aesthetic improvement of photovoltaics for buildings has led to several new products and systems. He has authored technical manuals for the Department of Energy, and lectures frequently on recent advances in solar technologies and their potential for practical integration into architectural design.

Recently he has been developing integrated biological systems for buildings, for energy, habitat, and aesthetic benefits, and has extended this work to architecturally integrated food production.

Current projects include Bushwick Inlet Park, in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and the Bronx River Greenway River House, both of which have won awards from the New York City Public Design Commission. Other projects include the photovoltaic glass train shed for New York City Transit's Stillwell Avenue Terminal in Coney Island, solar and sustainable housing in the Netherlands, the Bocas del Toro Station for the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama, the PV system at 4 Times Square, and a photovoltaic manufacturing facility for Heliodomi in Greece.

The talk will examine the sun's potential for powering truly sustainable in buildings and cities in terms of energy, water, and food. The productive city will require buildings that generate all their energy from renewable sources in a technically and economically realistic way. Examples will be given from buildings built or under construction, hypothetical projects and research studies.

Dr. Steve Dentel is a professor in the Civil and Environmental Engineering department at UD, where he founded one of the first undergraduate degree program in Environmental Engineering. His research in water and wastewater processes has led to 3 patents, over 120 publications, and over 120 conference and academic presentations. Since 2006 he has served as faculty advisor for UD's Engineers Without Borders, and as Project Mentor for their project in Cameroon. Although Steve has earned awards for his research, teaching, and student advisement, perhaps his most unusual recognition has been as an "oumbé" or "village notable" in the village of Bakang in Cameroon. In January, he'll be traveling with UD students to that same village for the tenth time, to complete the solar-powered water project he'll describe in this talk.

Cameroon, in central Africa, is one of many countries in the developing world that lacks safe drinking water for many of its inhabitants. The situation is particularly dire at higher elevations where there are few sources of dependable water. The lack of an electrical infrastructure also limits what can be done in rural areas. Since 2007, UD's student chapter of Engineers Without Borders has been working in this area, installing borehole wells, solar-powered pumps, and water storage facilities. These components are being integrated into a water distribution system to serve up to 3,000 people in the Bamendjou region.

This talk provides a journey through the phases of our project, illustrating how engineering challenges have been met, while also addressing the broader issues of equity and sustain¬ability. The role of solar energy in providing sustainable solutions is considered in a developing world context.

Allen Barnett is Professor of Advanced Photovoltaics, School of Photovoltaics and Renewable Energy Engineering, The University of New South Wales, Sydney NSW 2057 Australia. He was previously Executive Director, Solar Power Program; Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering; and Senior Policy Fellow, Center for Energy and Environmental Policy at the University of Delaware, Newark Delaware, USA. His research is based on the creation of innovative concepts for sustainable electricity generation based on rigorous, quantitative, and predictive models. Specific work includes the design, fabrication, and analysis of high efficiency solar cells, modules, and systems.

He is a Principal Investigator for the $100 million DARPA Very High Efficiency Solar Cell program, which is developing a 40% efficient solar cell module based on the progress made on the earlier phases of the DARPA project ($53 million), for which he was the program manager. He founded AstroPower in 1983 to develop and market the world's most cost effective solar cell. AstroPower became the world's largest independent manufacturer of solar electric power products and a leading provider of solar electric home power systems for the mainstream residential market, including the establishment of the first solar electric home systems sold through The Home Depot.

Barnett received his M.S. and B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois, and his Ph. D. in Electrical Engineering from Carnegie-Mellon University. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE). He received the IEEE William R. Cherry Award for outstanding contributions to the advancement of photovoltaic science and technology and the Karl W. Böer Solar Energy Medal of Merit. He is on committees for the two largest photovoltaic conferences. He has more than 280 publications, 28 U.S. patents, and 7 R&D 100 Awards for new industrial products. He actively consults for government agencies, institutional investors, and private companies.

Allen Barnett and Xiaoting Wang

Adopting photovoltaics (PV) as one of the major electricity sources for terrestrial applications requires that it has a reduced energy cost. The value of PV module efficiency is analyzed using levelized cost of energy (LCOE) as a metric. It is concluded that, under the same baseline conditions and with the module price (in units of $/Wp) remaining constant, higher module efficiency leads to lower LCOE. Moreover, comparing LCOE between flat plate PV and concentrating photovoltaics (CPV) leads to the conclusion that, in order to be competitive with flat plate PV, CPV must perform with module efficiency higher than 30%.

After identifying the value of PV module efficiency, especially for CPV, the efficiency losses of currently dominant high-concentration (high-X) CPV in real operating conditions are discussed. To avoid or reduce these losses, middle concentration (mid-X) Lateral spectrum splitting (LSS) CPV is proposed as a high efficiency approach and the high performance has been demonstrated by a prototype submodule at the University of Delaware with a certified record module efficiency of 36.7%. LSS concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) of high module efficiency is presented as an approach to low energy cost PV. Further measurements and analyses lead to a pathway to submodule efficiency higher than 40%. This pathway has been partially demonstrated by a variation design that is measured to have a new record submodule efficiency of 38.5%.

Steven Hegedus has been involved in solar cell research for 30 years. He received a BSEE from Case Western Reserve in 1977, worked at IBM then got a MSEE from Cornell in 1981 where he studied GaAs solar cells. In 1982, he joined the research staff of the Institute of Energy Conversion at the University of Delaware, the world's oldest photovoltaic research laboratory. He has worked on nearly all of the commercially relevant solar cell technologies – a-Si, CdTe, CuInGaSe2, organic PV, and a-Si/c-Si back contact heterojunctions. Areas of active research include high deposition rate amorphous and nanocrystalline Si cells, thin film device analysis and characterization, using laser mapping to evaluate thin film module uniformity, a-Si/c-Si heterojunction device optimization, and stability under accelerated degradation conditions. While at the IEC, he earned a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from UD. He has contracts with the US Dept of Energy and is actively collaborating with many US companies, large and small, to assist their development of thin film and crystalline Si PV products. Dr. Hegedus has been first author of nearly 50 papers in the field of solar cell device analysis, processing, reliability and measurements. He co-edited and contributed chapters to the 1st and 2nd editions of "Handbook of Photovoltaic Science and Engineering" (Wiley 2003 and 2011) and he is a co-editor of the journal "Progress in Photovoltaics". He teaches a graduate class at in the Electrical Engineering Dept in Solar Electric Systems. Dr Hegedus is keenly aware of the impact of policy on solar energy commercialization and was appointed a Policy Fellow by UD's Center for Energy and Environmental Policy in 2006. He was the first Newark resident to install a rooftop PV system.

The great majority of solar cells made in research and development are far from ideal. The PV scientist or engineer needs to be able to routinely apply some basic characterization methods to determine what limits each batch of cells they make. Based on examples from 30 years of device research on thin film and crystalline Si solar cells, the speaker will show how to apply standard light and dark current - voltage (I-V) and quantum efficiency (QE) measurements to diagnose common problems. These include shunt and series resistance, voltage dependent collection, photoconductivity, and various recombination mechanisms. Examples will include CdTe, CIGS, a-Si, and organic devices as-fabricated as well as those intentionally degraded using accelerated life testing.

Jingguang Chen is the Claire D. LeClaire Professor of chemical engineering and co-director of Energy Frontier Research Center at the University of Delaware. He received his B.S. degree from Nanjing University and his Ph.D. degree from the University of Pittsburgh. He spent one year in Germany as a Humboldt Postdoctoral Fellow before starting his career at the Exxon Corporate Research Laboratories in 1989. He moved to the University of Delaware in 1998 and served as the Director of the Center for Catalytic Science and Technology (CCST) during 2000 – 2007 and the Interim Director of the University of Delaware Energy Institute (UDEI) during 2008 – 2010. He has over 230 journal publications and 16 US patents. He is very active in serving the catalysis and energy communities, including responsibilities as the Chair of the Gordon Research Conference on Catalysis in 2002, the Chair of the Philadelphia Catalysis Club in 2004, the Catalysis Secretariat of the American Chemical Society, and the Board of Directors for the North American Catalysis Society.

The Catalysis Center for Energy Conversion (CCEI) was funded by the Department of Energy in the Energy Frontier Research Center initiative. The research activities of CCEI focus primarily on the conversion of biomass-derived molecules to fuels and chemicals, using a combination of quantum modeling, synthesis, characterization, and reactor evaluation. The center consists of over 20 faculty members from 10 research institutions. In the current talk we will provide an overview of the overall research approaches and a few recent highlights of discoveries.