Oklahoma Photovoltaic Research Institute

About Oklahoma Photovoltaic Research Institute

Institute charter, objectives, and goals

• To design, model, and fabricate the new generation of cost-effective photovoltaic (PV) cells
• To foster interdisciplinary research between faculty and students in physics, chemistry, and engineering disciplines at UTulsa, OU, OSU, NSU, and other universities and colleges across Oklahoma
• To share resources between major research universities on PV research
• To collaborate on PV research to attract funding from private, state, and federal agencies
• To promote PV technology in Oklahoma
• Develop outreach activities to involve underrepresented minorities in PV research
• To pool resources and develop joint projects between major research universities in Oklahoma: OU (University of Oklahoma), OSU (Oklahoma State University), NSU (Northeastern State University), UCO (University of Central Oklahoma), and UTulsa (University of Tulsa)

Date of formation

April 2016

Institute Forcast

1. 10% increase in collaborative research between OU, OSU, NSU, and UTulsa
2. Double grad students enrolled at The University of Tulsa in physics and chemistry
3. 10% increase in publications consistent with R1 level
4. 10% enhancement in conference presentations
5. Double the funding level in physics research on PV at UTulsa

Funding

Sources and uses of funding

• NASA EPSCoR
• AF-SBIR
• AF-STTR
• DOE-ARPA-E
• NSF

Funding is used for instrumentation acquisition, support of students, annual symposium, and travel to conferences.

Committees

Steering Committee

• Parameswar Hari, Ph.D. (Department of Physics, The University of Tulsa), Director
• Nathan Green, Ph.D. (NSU, Broken Arrow, Chemistry)
• Mario Borunda, Ph.D. (OSU Physics Department), LSAMP outreach coordinator
• Bayram Saparov, Ph.D. (OU, Chemistry)

Advisory Committee

• Ian Sellers, Ph.D. (University of Buffalo, NY)
• Louise C. Hirst, Ph.D., U.S. Naval Research Laboratory
  Hirst was awarded a National Research Council associateship position to continue her work on hot-carrier solar cell development. She now works on a variety of novel device concepts and materials for solar cell applications. Dr. Hirst has a specific interest in ultra-thin III-V photovoltaics with integrated nanophotonic structures, for radiation tolerance and space applications.
• Nick Shumaker (OEC)
• Jeremiah McNatt (NASA Glenn Research)

Members of the Institute by Affiliation

The University of Tulsa

• Parameswar Hari, Ph.D. (Physics)
• Gabriel LeBlanc, Ph.D. (Chemistry)
• Kenneth Roberts, Ph.D. (Chemistry)

University of Oklahoma

• Bayram Saparov, Ph.D. (Chemistry)
• Bin Wang, Ph.D. (Electrical Engineering)
• BinBin Weng, Ph.D. (Chemical Engineering)
• Yitong Dong Ph.D. (Chemistry)
• Mike Santos (Physics)

Oklahoma State University

• Mario F. Borunda, Ph.D. (Physics)
• Do Young Kim, Ph.D. (Materials Engineering)
• Dave McIlroy, Ph.D. (Physics)

Northeastern State University

• Nathan Green, Ph.D. (Chemistry)

University of Central Oklahoma

• Ben Tayo, Ph.D. (Physics)

Amethyst Corporation

• Khalid Hossain