Achievement

Trainees participated in a solar cell workshop, where five of the students spent a week learning to make silicon solar cells. The sixth student, James LeBeau, a researcher at the Solar Power Labs, assisted in the instruction at the workshop and shared his research project with his fellow IGERT classmates. James was able to inform his colleagues on the fundamental science and processing techniques that are used to generate silicon-based photovoltaic cells. The experience provided him with the opportunity to guide and mentor his peers, as well as gain a refresher on tools he had not used in some time. During the workshop trainees had the opportunity to meet The Quantum Energy and Sustainable Solar Technologies (QESST) Engineering Research Center faculty and students, attend an entrepreneurship workshop and listen to talks by guest speakers about startup and spinoff companies. The highlight of the week of course was making a solar cell from scratch.