Glenn Catlin

gcat84@gmail.com

Glenn received his BS and MS degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Delaware.  His thesis work focused on the modeling and optimization of the geometry of reactant flow channels in a PEM fuel cell for maximum power output of a given cell using a genetic algorithm.  In 2010, Glenn was hired into Central Research & Development at the DuPont Experimental Station in Wilmington, DE as an Associate Investigator. His work at DuPont has included advanced polymer fiber spinning, low adhesion surfaces, and battery separator material, with a focus on material characterization. Glenn’s current work focuses on the characterization of thermally and electronically active materials under the advisement of Dr. Opila.

Jonathan Church

jchurch@udel.edu

Graduated from the University of Illinois at Chicago with a B.Sc. degree in Physics in 2008. Much of his research has focused on the deposition of materials used in nano-devices; mostly relating to rare earth binary oxides. Characterization is an important part of understanding new materials so advanced spectroscopic, microscopic, and electrical methods are fundamental to the research. In partnership with industry he has also traveled to Japan for an extended internship.

Meixi Chen          

macychen@udel.edu

Meixi Chen graduated from Northeastern University, China in applied chemistry in 2012. She is currently pursuing a PhD and working on Hybrid Organic/Si Heterojunctions solar cell. Her studies focused on electrical surface passivation, device fabrication and characterization with a variety of tools, like E-beam vapor deposition, FTIR, SEM-FIB, XPS, ellipsometric porosimetry, Sinton lifetime tester and etc., as well as DFT calculation.

Jimmy Hack                                   

hack@udel.edu

Jimmy Hack received his bachelor’s degree from UC Berkeley in Engineering Physics.  He was a member of the CalSol solar vehicle team and worked in the Sohn Lab at UC Berkeley, where he created software and electrical hardware for biological cell characterization and high resolution imaging.  Jimmy is pursuing a PhD in Materials Science, with interests in photovoltaics and energy efficiency.  In Dr. Opila’s group he is working on low temperature processing techniques for designing low cost Si based solar cells using organic surface passivants.   He is working on applying these passivation techniques to testing for defects in industrial wafers.

Abhishek Iyer

jeetshek@udel.edu

Abhishek Iyer graduated from SRM University, India in Electrical and Electronics Engineering. He is currently pursuing his Masters in Electrical and Computer Engineering. His area of interest is Energy systems focusing on renewable energy. He’s been working with Dr. Opila on the devices group since September 2014. The work, “DEVELOPING NOVEL HYBRID HETEROJUNCTIONS FOR HIGH EFFICIENCY PHOTOVOLTAICS” is an attempt to demonstrate the use of hybrid organic/inorganic device structures as an enabling and commercial technology.

Kevin Jones

kevinjj@udel.edu

Home state: Georgia

Bachelor of Science: Physics – Florida A&M University

Current: PhD candidate in Material Science and Engineering – University of Delaware

Characterization: XPS, UPS, AES

Project: An investigation of the valence regions of Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ and its alloys

Involvement: Integrative Graduate Education Research Technology (IGERT); Quantum Energy and Sustainable Solar Technology (QESST); K-12 Engineering outreach; American Air Liquide

Presentations: AVS 61^st International Symposium and Exhibition Talk; ACS 2014 Colloid and Surface Science Symposium Poster; Material Science and Engineering Student Poster (Dec. 2013, Feb. 2015), Material Science and Engineering Student Talk (Nov. 2013)

Xi Lin

linkseed@udel.edu

I graduated from University of Science and Technology of China in chemistry in 2007, and got a master degree in FJIRSM, Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2010. I’m currently working on atomic layer etching, which is a cooperated project with Air Liquide.

Paul Parsons

pparsons@udel.edu

Paul received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Delaware in Physics and Astronomy. He has worked as a Materials Scientist for the Weapons and Materials Research Directorate for the Army Research Laboratory at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds. His research focuses on magnetic materials for RF and microwave applications. Currently, his work applies towards the miniaturization of electronic devices, such as antenna substrates, and the utilization of additive manufacturing to produce planar inductors and novel structures. These efforts are co-advised by Prof. Mark Mirotznik of the University of Delaware’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in the Electromagnetic Materials Laboratory.

Anita Hastir

anitahastir@gmail.com

Anita Hastir received her M.Sc. Physics (Hon. School) degree from Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, India in 2010. She is pursuing Ph.D. in the field of synthesis and characterization of zinc oxide based materials and their applications as gas sensors from the same institute. Presently, she is working as a Fulbright Doctoral Student (visiting scholar) at University of Delaware.

Akirt Sridharan

akirt@udel.edu

Akirt Sridharan graduated from St. Joseph’s College of Engineering, India in Electrical and Electronics Engineering. He is currently pursuing a dual Master’s Degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering & Business Administration. He joined the Opila group in September 2014 and is currently working on Modelling and Simulation of Organic/Inorganic Heterojunction Solar Cells. The theoretical modeling provides a platform for comparison between real and theoretical device performance.

Bo Yuan                             

byuan@udel.edu

I started my graduate study in University of Delaware in the fall of 2013 and joined Opila group on November of that year. My project focuses on study of high k material as Anti-Reflection Coatings in III-V solar cells. We aim to fabricate subwavelength  structured surfaces on the solar cell to minimize surface reflections and therefore increase light trapping and efficiency of the cells.

Colin Davis

csdavis@udel.edu

I am a Chemcial Engineering Undergraduate student at the University of Delaware. I have been working on 2 subjects of research for Dr. Opila. My 1^stresearch project was to look up and test chemical wet etches to remove and oxide layer from CIGS surfaces. My 2^nd project looks at Cadmium Sulfide paint from a 200 year old painting and attempting to replicate and artificially age the paint recipe and analyzing it under a TEM to determine its make up and properties.

Gina Wong

Hongfeng Wang