STEMoirs

Professor Sarah Kurtz, former senior research fellow at the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) and now a professor at the University of California Merced, sits down with guest host Rebecca Saive and Sebastian Husein to chat about all-things energy related. Listen to her take on what the "coolest" photovoltaic tech is, how she feels about her electric car, and how we need to challenge our conventional ways of thinking in multiple areas, including world population growth and even the relationship between renewable advocates and fossil fuel companies. Extra watching: A New Era for Solar by Sarah KurtzExtra reading: Main Figure comparing maintenance costs of "light duty vehicles" (LDV): Internal Combustion Engine Vehicles (ICEV)Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HV, electric motor assists combustion engine)Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEV, can be driven fully by the electric motor for a limited range,

Dr. Parikhit Sinha from First Solar—the only solar manufacturer to bring thin-film solar panels to the gigawatt scale (so far...looking at you, perovskite-enthusiasts)—joins STEMoirs to share about the winding path of his scientific career.We hear about his start at Harvard University, his transition into a science degree, moving to Seattle and how he found himself flying over wildfires in Africa taking air samples, and ending up in Arizona. We also touch on life cycle assessments and discuss what ultra-low carbon photovoltaics are.Check out First Solar's Youtube channel.Though a bit dated in the rapidly changing world of solar energy, many of the comparisons of First Solar to other manufacturing methods hold true: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HPFKcsgNrkThere's also a short look at First Solar's cadmium telluride manufacturing process hereThis episode was not sponsored by First Solar. The opinions stated in the episode do not necessarily reflect the positions or opinions of First Solar or others mentioned. Music credits:RetroFuture Clean and Furious Freak by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Lisa Fischer of E3G—Third Generation Environmentalism—joins STEMoirs. We  look back at the influences that brought her to work on climate economics and policy, and hear about the urgent work being done at E3G to accelerate the transition to climate safety across all levels of society. Lisa's insights point to keeping people at the core of innovation and climate change solutions to frame effective policy solutions. Stay up to date on Lisa's work by following her on Twitter @FactFisching and reading E3G's latest releases on their website. In particular, check out Lisa and Eleonora Moro's March 2021 briefing of 6 key design principles for shaping policy for a climate neutral energy sector: Closing the Gap to Climate Neutrality Music credits:RetroFuture Clean and Furious Freak by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Professor Anna Fontcuberta i Morral from the Laboratory of Semiconductor Materials at EPFL in Switzerland joins STEMoirs. We hear about her journey from growing up in the outskirts of Barcelona, her time in Paris and Pasadena, and now about her work in Lausanne, Switzerland. Follow her on Twitter: https://twitter.com/i_morraland find her publications at:  http://scholar.google.com/citations?user=6XS-jxc&user=6XS-jxcAAAAJ 

Dr. Camilla Jensen joins STEMoirs. She is the founder of InterPlay, LLC where she uses her background in industrial design engineering, Lean Startup methods, and expertise in LEGO® Serious Play® facilitation to enable organizations to secure growth through venture-based innovation principles. Her work studying play has revealed that a play mindset can be crucial for enhancing group cohesion and dynamics, as well as effective knowledge sharing in cross-disciplinary teams. If you're interested in LEGO® Serious Play® and utilizing these methods to increase your teams creativity, flexibility, and ability to generate value, reach out to Dr. Jensen at:linkedin.com/in/camilla-nørgaard-jensen-phd/Music credits:RetroFuture Clean and Furious Freak by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Dr. Albert Polman, professor of photonic materials for photovoltaics at the University of Amsterdam, joins STEMoirs. We hear about his scientific journey, the thoughtful questions he asked himself on setting up and maintaining a meaningful scientific career, what he has found most rewarding, a bit about nanophotonics, and what is possibly his favorite rare earth element.You can find more of his work through his group's website: www.erbium.nlor by looking him up on Google Scholar. Music credits:RetroFuture Clean and Furious Freak by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Eva Pettinato, a guidance, navigation, and controls aerospace engineer, joins STEMoirs. She tells us about her path becoming a rocket scientist and engineer—which started with her belief that engineers only drive trains, but led to her double checking components of a 90+ foot long rocket she helped build while lying on a launch pad at Kennedy Space Center. We also hear about her love of 70's & 80's metal, her secret to winning 15+ concert tickets, perspectives on science outreach and women in STEM, and how playing poker has influenced her life.Music credits:RetroFuture Clean and Furious Freak by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

On this episode of STEMoirs, Dr. Amanda Youssef talks about her journey from Lebanon to MIT, the cultural differences of working in Germany and France (hint: may involve sunbathing after work and hiking on weekends), and now living on the west coast of the US.We hear about oxygen complexes and crystal defects in silicon solar cells, how she navigated the fast-paced environment of MIT, the amazing support of her family, and about women standing up for themselves in the workplace.Music credits:RetroFuture Clean and Furious Freak by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

We're back! For now. Here's a quick update about what's been happening over this past year for me, the host, Sebastian Husein. New episodes coming out soon :)Music credits:RetroFuture Clean and Furious Freak by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Back in August of 2020, Professor Giulia Tagliabue sat down with Sebastian to discuss her life as a scientist, including her time at Caltech, her work in photocatalysis, her thoughts on diversity, and her love of rock climbing. Professor Tagliabue was recently presented with 1st place in the Rising Stars of Light Award by the Nature journal, Light: Science & Applications.You can find more of her work linked to at her institute's page.Music credits:RetroFuture Clean and Furious Freak by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Sebastian sits down with Rebecca Saive, assistant professor at the University of Twente and Co-founder and CTO of Effectively Transparent Contacts (ETC) Solar. We hear how her first interactions with kitchen experiments and solar cells as a child shaped her science journey, what it's like to found a solar startup company, her passion for dance, the outdoors and horse riding, and perspectives on being a woman in science.

Sebastian is joined by the notorious M.I.B. - Mariana I. Bertoni, a professor at Arizona State University in the School of Electrical, Computer, and Energy Engineering. We hear why she owns a brewery in Minnesota, the influences that guided her on this professorship path, how she handles the pressures, and her views on the duties of scientists to society. We rant a bit about duck curves and solar energy, chat about where solar manufacturing might be heading, and finally, why she finds it all worth it.Why the duck curve isn't a big issue (yet):https://energytransition.org/2016/07/the-duck-is-safely-afloat-in-california/The history of the duck curve: https://www.nrel.gov/news/program/2018/10-years-duck-curve.htmlA less technical explanation, but take what is said about why the duck is an issue with a grain of salt:https://www.suaoki.com/blogs/news/the-duck-curve-how-is-a-hindrance-for-solar-panel-market

Professor Zak Holman from Arizona State University joins Sebastian to talk about his cats, his research in photovoltaic devices and solar energy, and his time as a post-doc in Switzerland. With special guest appearance from "El Chapo".

A "quick" update about the future of the podcast and what we hope to accomplish. Moving forward, the podcast will mainly be hosted by Sebastian Husein. Guests on the show will still be mostly from the solar energy research community for now, but STEMoirs will branch out to talk to researchers in all other fields of science, tech, engineering, and math. You can email the show at stemoirs@gmail.com, Tweet us @stemoirs, and like our page at facebook.com/stemoirspodcast. New episodes will be available soon on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, and wherever else you listen to your favorite podcasts. Thank you again for your support and encouragement!

Sebastian Husein and Joe Karas talk to Professor Alex Freundlich from the University of Houston about solar cells made from moon dust, cutting frozen chickens with sunlight, and why flies in your vacuum deposition chambers can make your results a little buggy.

This is an archived episode of STEMoirs, previously called PodQESST. Sebastian Husein speaks with Abhishek Iyer, Ph.D. candidate from the University of Delaware and co-founder of solar energy startup SHIO, winner of the 2018 LaunchR clean technology innovation competition. Abhishek explains how he prepares for pitching competitions, and how important it is to still make time for English Premier League football.

Sebastian Husein talks to David Needell at the California Institute of Technology about tiny, luminscent balls for solar cells, the 2018 World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion held in Hawaii, and how David might be inadvertently causing volcanoes to erupt all over the globe.

This is an archived episode of STEMoirs, previously called PodQESST. Joe and Sebastian interview Simone Bernardini, Ph.D. in Materials Science at Arizona State University. They discuss electron lifetimes in silicon for solar cell applications, the process of publishing in academic journals, and Simone's enjoyment of the sun.The work discussed can, in part, be found at: ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8288645/

This is an archived episode of STEMoirs, previously called PodQESST.Joe and Sebastian chat with April Jeffries, a Ph.D. in Materials Science at Arizona State University, and Chief Technical Officer and co-founder of start-up company Reactive Inks, LLC. In this episode, they discuss her work in metal contact innovations for solar cells and getting outside of her comfort zone to do customer discovery in the NSF iCorps program, while Sebastian and Joe struggle to do mental math.

This is an archived episode of STEMoirs, previously called PodQESST. Sebastian and Joe meet with Pablo Guimera Coll from the Canary Islands in Spain, winner of the 2015 National Science Foundation "Perfect Pitch" competition, co-founder of semiconductor startup company Crystal Sonic, and Ph.D. student at Arizona State University. They discuss how Pablo got into solar energy research in the U.S., his experience presenting before U.S. Congress, and running around lost in the tunnels beneath Capitol Hill.

This is an archived episode of STEMoirs, previously called PodQESST.Sebastian and Joe are joined by Tara Nietzold, who discusses her work as a Ph.D. student using synchrotron x-rays on CIGS solar cells, what it's like working at a national lab facility, and how she's gotten to travel the world with her work. Sebastian and Joe experience technical difficulties, and fail at figuring out how to un-distort the audio. But the show must go on!

This is an archived episode of STEMoirs, previously called PodQESST. Sebastian and Joe meet with Rebecca Glaudell, Ph.D. candidate at the California Institute of Technology. She discusses how she got started in graduate school, her work developing II-VI semiconductors to improve solar cell efficiency, and her involvement as president of the student leadership council in QESST, a solar energy engineering research center formed between 8 U.S. universities.

This is an archived episode of STEMoirs, previously called PodQESST. Meet the podcast hosts! Sebastian Husein and Joe Karas, Ph.D. candidates at Arizona State University, sit down to chat about how they got into graduate school and their research projects. Joe's work is in replacing silver contacts on solar cells with copper to reduce solar panel costs, while Sebastian develops and tests transparent conducting oxides, a unique material that will enable next-generation solar panels.