PVSC Awards

2019 IEEE William Cherry Award to be presented at the 46th IEEE PVSC to

Professor Harry Atwater

Prof. Harry Atwater, Howard Hughes Professor of Applied Physics and Materials Science at the California Institute of Technology, will receive the 2019 IEEE William Cherry Award in recognition of his many and outstanding contributions to photovoltaic science and technology.

Over more than 35 years, Harry Atwater’s research topics have shown his passion for PV from his first paper forming silicon absorbers via zone-melt crystallization (1982) to his most recent on optics for spectral-splitting to achieve ultrahigh efficient modules. His contributions to both the science and technology of photovoltaics, as disseminated through PVSC and EDS, and his creativity are widely recognized and seemingly unbounded, evident in more than 450 publications. Equally remarkable, he co-founded six companies including ETC Solar (commercializing effectively transparent contacts), Luminescent Energy, and Alta Devices.

Harry Atwater’s scientific interests have two themes: photovoltaic solar energy conversion and light-matter interactions in materials. He has created new high efficiency solar cell designs and has pioneered principles for light management in solar cells. Atwater is the co-founder of Alta Devices, a solar photovoltaics company in Santa Clara, CA, that holds the current world records for one-Sun single-junction solar cell efficiency and module efficiency. Atwater is also an early pioneer in nanophotonics and plasmonics.

He is the founding Editor in Chief for the journal ACS Photonics, and is Associate Editor for the IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics. In 2006, he founded the Gordon Research Conference on Plasmonics, where he served as chair in 2008. He is also the founding Director of the Resnick Sustainability Institute at Caltech, and he currently serves as Director of the DOE Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis, and as the Strategic Director for the QESST ERC program.

Professor Atwater received his B. S., M. S. and Ph.D. degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology respectively in 1981, 1983 and 1987. He held the IBM Postdoctoral Fellowship at Harvard University from 1987-1988 and has been a member of the Caltech faculty since 1988.

 

About the Award

This award is named in honor of William R. Cherry, a founder of the photovoltaic community. In the 1950's, he was instrumental in establishing solar cells as the ideal power source for space satellites and for recognizing, advocating, and nurturing the use of photovoltaic systems for terrestrial applications. The William R. Cherry award was instituted in l980, shortly after his death. The purpose of the award is to recognize an individual engineer or scientist who devoted a part of their professional life to the advancement of the science and technology of photovoltaic energy conversion. The nominee must have made significant contributions to the science and/or technology of PV energy conversion, with dissemination by substantial publications and presentations. Professional society activities, promotional and/or organizational efforts and achievements are not considerations in the election for the award.

Award Package

The award consists of a plaque, monetary award, recognition at the PVSC Opening Ceremony and a dedicated Cherry Award Talk during the Opening Ceremony. In addition, a reception is held in honor of the Cherry Award winner during the PVSC.

Rules & Eligibility

• Nominee must be a scientist or engineer who has made significant contributions to the science and/or technology of PV energy conversion, with dissemination by substantial publications and presentations.
• Nominee must have had an extended period of activity in PV, contributions to the PVSC, and the expectation of continued activity.  Single outstanding contributions are not sufficient.
  
• Professional and/or organizational efforts and achievements are not considerations for this award.
  
• Nominees are not required to be members of IEEE or EDS.
  
• Nominees from any country and institution are eligible. 
  
• Previous recipients of the Cherry Award are not eligible.
  
• Self-nominations will not be accepted.
  
• Nominations may be re-submitted in subsequent years.

Nomination Package Requirements

• Complete Electronic Nomination Form with name of nominee, and his/her current affiliation and contact information.
• Nominator's name, address, phone number and e-mail address.
• A rationale (less than 150 words) of the nominee's contributions to the advancement of the PV field.
• A citation (less that 40 words) listing the nominee's specific contributions to make them deserving of the award.
• A list of the nominee's activities in the field.
• A current CV for the nominee.
• Give a personal view of the work and contributions of the candidate. Quality is better than quantity: Multiple nominations for the same candidate are accepted as long as each nomination represents the personal view of the nominator and not just a copy of another nomination form.

• Submit a Cherry Award Nomination

Questions? Contact the Cherry Committee Awards Chair, Pierre Verlinden at [email protected]

 

WILLIAM R. CHERRY COMMITTEE

David Carlson Cherry Committee Chair BP Solar Pierre Verlinden Cherry Award Chair Trina Solar Tim Anderson University of Massachusetts, Amherst Sheila G. Bailey NASA Glenn Research Center Allen M. Barnett University of New South Wales Paul Basore PV Specialist Services LLC John Benner Stanford University Henry W. Brandhorst, Jr. Auburn University Timothy Coutts National Renewable Energy Laboratory Keith Emery National Renewable Energy Laboratory Dennis J. Flood North Coast Initiatives Ltd.

Americo F. Forestieri MOE Consulting Alex Freundlich University of Houston Vasilis Fthenakis Columbia University Martin A. Green University of New South Wales Christiana Honsberg Arizona State University Lawrence L. Kazmerski National Renewable Energy Laboratory Richard R. King Arizona State University Sarah Kurtz National Renewable Energy Laboratory John D. Meakin University of Delaware Ryne Raffaelle Rochester Institute of Technology Eugene Ralph PV Consulting Angus Rockett Colorado School of Mines

Angele Reinders University of Twente Ajeet Rohatgi Georgia Institute of Technology Steve Ringel Ohio State University BJ Stanbery Helios Corporation Ronald A. Sinton Sinton Instruments Dick Swanson SunPower Robert J. Walters Naval Research Laboratory Stuart Wenham University of New South Wales David Wilt Cherry Award Co-Chair U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory Christopher R. Wronski Pennsylvania State University Masafumi Yamaguchi Toyota Technological Institute Eli Yablonovitch UC Berkeley

Previous Recipients

Dr. Paul Rappaport 1980 Dr. Joseph L. Loferski 1981 Prof. Martin Wolf 1982 Dr. Henry W. Brandhorst 1984 Mr. Eugene L. Ralph 1985 Dr. Charles E. Backus 1987 Dr. David E. Carlson 1988 Dr. Martin A. Green 1990 Mr. Peter A. Iles 1991

Dr. Lawrence L. Kazmerski 1993 Prof. Yoshihiro Hamakawa 1994 Dr. Allen M. Barnett 1996 Dr. Adolf Goetzberger 1997 Dr. Richard J. Schwartz 1998 Dr. Christopher R. Wronski 2000 Dr. Richard M. Swanson 2002 Dr. Ajeet Rohatgi 2003 Dr. Timothy J. Coutts 2005

Dr. Antonio Luque 2006 Dr. Masafumi Yamaguchi 2008 Dr. Stuart Wenham 2009 Dr. Richard R. King 2010 Dr. Jerry M. Olson 2011 Dr. Sarah Kurtz 2012 Dr. Keith Emery 2013 Dr. Ronald A. Sinton 2014 Dr. Christiana Honsberg 2015

Dr. Pierre Verlinden 2016 Prof. Eli Yablonovitch 2017 Prof. Vasilis Fthenakis 2018