PHOTOVOLTAICS - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Associate Director of Development
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- Communications and Advancement Manager
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- Member of the Technical Tools Team
- Web Development and Programming
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- Development Operations Coordinator
Job Titles:
- Associate Director of Development
Education: B.S. + M.S. Mechanical Engineering - Colorado State University
MS Thesis: "Computational modeling of cadmium sulfide deposition in the CdS/CdTe solar cell manufacturing process"
Research summary: In 2011, Davis R. Hemenway began work on monumental task of revolutionizing the photovoltaic manufacturing paradigm through the use of well-defined Computational Fluid Dynamics research tools. The vision was to understand and optimize solar cell manufacturing for efficiency and reproducible quality. In the past years, Mr. Hemenway has investigated and eliminated obstacles to the mass production of thin-film Photovoltaics. His accomplishments include:
Job Titles:
- Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Job Titles:
- Dean
- Dean of the Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering
Robinson joins CSU from Carnegie Mellon University where he is the Director of Carnegie Mellon University-Africa in Rwanda and Associate Dean for International Programs in Africa for the College of Engineering. He is the Director of the EPA-funded Center for Air, Climate, and Energy Solutions, and a professor in the Departments of Mechanical Engineering and Engineering and Public Policy.
He began his appointment on October 1. Ken Reardon, Associate Dean for Research and professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, served as Interim Dean prior to Robinson's arrival.
Job Titles:
- Director, Center for Laser Sensing and Diagnostics
Dr. Yalin joined the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Colorado State University (CSU) in 2002 and is currently a Full Professor.
He received his undergraduate degree in Engineering Physics from Queen's University in 1995, his MA and PhD degrees from the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Princeton University in 1997 and 2000 respectively, and held a post-doctoral position at Stanford University from 2000-2002.
At CSU, he serves as the Director of the Center for Laser Sensing and Diagnostics which includes approximately 10 students researchers. He is also the Director of the CSU NASA Space Grant program.
Education
Ph.D. 2000, Princeton University-Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering
M.A. 1997, Princeton University-Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering
B.S. 1995, Queen's University-Engineering Physics
Job Titles:
- Interim Associate Dean for Academic Affairs / Engineering
Job Titles:
- Member of the American Institute of Aeronautics
- Member of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at CSU
Dr. Windom has been a member of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at CSU since August 2016.
After receiving his Ph.D. from the University of Florida in August 2009, Dr. Windom worked at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Boulder, CO carrying out experiments to measure key physical properties of fuels important in their energy conversion process. Following his appointment at NIST, Dr. Windom performed a roving postdoctoral fellowship as part of the Combustion Energy Frontier Research Center at the University of Southern California and Princeton University where he studied high pressure and turbulent flame dynamics. In 2013, Dr. Windom began an Assistant Professorship in the Mechanical and Aerospace Department at the University of Colorado - Colorado Springs (UCCS).
Dr. Windom's research encompasses applied and fundamental topics ranging from the physiochemical characterization of alternative fuels to the analysis of reacting flow systems using advanced diagnostics and state of the art CFD tools.
Dr. Windom is a member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), the Society for Automotive Engineers and the Combustion Institute.
Education
Ph.D. 2009, University of Florida-Mechanical Engineering
M.S. 2006, University of Florida-Mechanical Engineering
B.S. 2004, University of Florida-Mechanical Engineering
Job Titles:
- Director, Composite Materials, Manufacture and Structures Laboratory
Education: B.S., Mechanical Engineering and Business Economics & Management, California
Job Titles:
- Director, Electric Propulsion & Plasma Engineering Laboratory
Dr. Williams's research interests include modeling of erosion phenomena of ion thruster components such as ion extraction grids and hollow cathodes, as well as experimental evaluation of plasma and ion beam interactions with materials for both aerospace and terrestrial applications. Recent work has been in fabricating superlattice quantum well structures for high figure of merit thermoelectics and producing plasmas in confined pockets to enhance thin film deposition processes for solar cells.
Education
Ph.D. 1991, Colorado State University-Mechanical Engineering
B.S. 1986, Colorado State University-Mechanical Engineering
Job Titles:
- Associate Dean for Research
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor
- Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering
- Professor
Mahdi Nikdast is an Associate Professor and Endowed Rockwell-Anderson Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Colorado State University (CSU), Fort Collins, where he is directing the Electronic-PhotoniC System Design (ECSyD) Laboratory. He received his Ph.D. in Electronic and Computer Engineering from The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), Hong Kong, in 2014. From 2014 to 2017, he was a postdoctoral fellow at McGill University and Polytechnique Montreal, Quebec, Canada. His research interests are at the intersection of integrated photonics, emerging technologies, and high-performance computing. Prof. Nikdast and his students have published numerous papers in refereed journals and international conference publications, and across different areas of VLSI, EDA, Photonics, Embedded Systems, Systems-on-Chip (SoCs), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Computer Architecture. He has edited a book on Silicon Photonics for High-Performance Computing and Beyond, published by Taylor and Francis Group in 2022, and another book on Photonic Interconnects for Computing Systems: Understanding and Pushing Design Challenges, published by River Publishers in 2017. Prof. Nikdast currently serves as an Associate Editor for IEEE Transactions on Very Large Scale Integration Systems (IEEE TVLSI), and has served on the TPC of various international conferences, including DAC, OFC, DATE, ICCAD, ESWEEK, NOCS, etc. He is a co-founder of the International Workshop on Optical/Photonic Interconnects for Computing Systems (OPTICS workshop) and the North American Workshop on Silicon Photonics for High-Performance Computing (SPHPC Workshop). Prof. Nikdast and his team were the recipient of various awards, including the Second Best Project Award at the AMD Technical Forum and Exhibition (AMD-TFE 2010, Taiwan), the Best Paper Award at the Asia Communications and Photonics Conference (ACP 2015, Hong Kong), the Best Paper Award at the Design, Automation, and Test in Europe (DATE) Conference (DATE 2016 - Test Track, Dresden), the Best Paper Award Candidate at ACM Great Lake Symposium on VLSI (GLSVLSI 2018, USA), and the Best Paper Honorable Mention Award at ACM Great Lake Symposium on VLSI (GLSVLSI 2020, China). Prof. Nikdast received the prestigious NSF CAREER Award (2021), the George T. Abell Award for Outstanding Early-Career Faculty (2022), the Rockwell-Anderson Professorship (2022), and the George T. Abell Award for Teaching and Mentoring (2023). He is a Senior Member of the IEEE.
Job Titles:
- Associate Dean for Graduate Programs
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- Associate Dean for Diversity and Inclusion / Interim Associate Dean for Student Affairs
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- Assistant Professor at Department of Chemistry
Milind currently serves as Assistant Professor at Department of Chemistry, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Amrita School of Arts and Sciences, Amritapuri, India. He completed his Ph. D. from University of Milan, Italy (2009) where he synthesized Sulfoquinovosylacylglycerol as New Molecule for Tumor Treatment and Post Doctorals from University of Milano-Bicocca and University of Milan. Prior to Amrita, Milind worked as Senior Post Doc. at the Institute of Molecular Sciences and Technologies of the National Research Council, Milan, Italy. He got initial training with Insecticides and residue testing wing, CSIR's National Chemical Laboratory, Pune and industrial exposure with Hikal and LeedsKem in R&D Division.
Dr. Guzik began his career as a postdoctoral researcher at the Center for Applied Scientific Computing at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Dr. Guzik joined Mechanical Engineering faculty in August 2015 as an assistant professor and co-directs the CFD & Propulsion Laboratory. In his spare time, Dr. Guzik enjoys road cycling and hiking in Colorado and developing open-source software.
Education
Ph.D. 2010, University of Toronto-Aerospace Engineering
M.S. 2003, Laval University-Mechanical Engineering
B.E. 1998, Royal Military College of Canada-Mechanical Engineering
Job Titles:
- Director, Communications and Strategic Marketing
Job Titles:
- Assistant Director of Development
Job Titles:
- Member of the Technical Tools Team
- Director, Data Analytics and Technical Infrastructure
Job Titles:
- Graduate Student Advisor / Education
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- Research Associate / Lab MGr -
Education: US Navy Tech School including:
Radioman "A" School, Enlisted Basic Submarine School, Teletype Maintenance & Repair School, Satalline Communication (SATCOM) School, Submarine Damage Control School, Firefighting School, Aims Community College General Aviation Pilot Ground School
Red Rocks Community College - B.S. in Business Administration with Double Major in Management, University of Phoenix.
Research Interest: 30 years' experience in vacuum technology and process including: Flight hardware Space Simulation Testing, Thin Film Lithium Battery R&D as well as RF, AC and DC power supply testing. Current interest mostly towards development in the field of alternate energy.
Job Titles:
- Marketing & Communications Coordinator
Job Titles:
- Associate Director -
- Research Interest
has extensive experience in CdTe PV materials science, strategic planning, program management, product development, entrepreneurship and thin film photovoltaic R&D. Mr. Barth brings significant strategic leadership experience. As founder and Board member of Abound Solar, a CdTe solar photovoltaics manufacturer, he developed the initial business plan, obtained major equity financing (eventually totaling over $300M) and provided leadership for company growth. As VP of Product Development, Mr. Barth, drove the product from conceptualization through deployment and achieved IEC and UL certifications in one of the shortest times in the industry. While at Colorado State University, he was an inventor of foundational semiconductor fabrication process technology and hardware and made significant scientific contributions to the thin film solar research field. Mr. Barth has served as Project Director or Co-Project director on 9 federally sponsored programs with a total funding of over $18 million
Job Titles:
- Financial Business Manager
Job Titles:
- Executive Assistant to the Dean
Job Titles:
- Program Development, Communications, & Department Administrator
Job Titles:
- Assistant Dean of Operations
Job Titles:
- Managing Director of Development
Job Titles:
- Research Associate III, Education and Outreach Coordinator
Job Titles:
- Member of the Technical Tools Team
Job Titles:
- Communications and Marketing Manager
- Web Content Specialist
Education: B.E. Mechanical Engineering from Osmania University, Telangana, India.
Current Research: My research is based on the calculation of Emissivity of Graphite (G330 purified to <5ppm) when it is coated with the vapors of Cadmium Sulphide (CdS) and Cadmium Telluride (CdTe ) in the wavelength range of 2-10 microns and in the thickness range of 1-10 microns. Trying to check for the thermal changes (Emissivity vs. Thickness) that takes place when coatings (both thin and thick) are deposited on the Graphite using the Advanced Research Deposition System (ARDS) in the Photovoltaic Manufacturing Laboratory.
M.S. Thesis Topic: Study of the behavior of emissivity of graphite substrates inside the production machine when it is coated with the CdS and CdTe film vapors.
Tejas Khetani
MS Mechanical Engineer (Materials)