JUNE 16-21, 2013 • TAMPA, FLORIDA
9
THIS YEAR THE WILLIAM R. CHERRY AWARD
WILL BE PRESENTED TO:
KEITH EMERY
Keith Emery is currently a Principal
Engineer and Manager of the PV
Cell and Module Performance
Characterization Group in the
National Center for Photovoltaics
at the National Renewable Energy
Laboratory (NREL). He has
collaborated with PV researchers
at NREL and around the world in
modeling and characterizing one-
sun and concentrator terrestrial and
space photovoltaics.
Keith received his M.S. in Electrical Engineering at
Michigan State University in 1979, with a thesis on “A
Theoretical Investigation of Rotational Nonequilibrium
Phenomena in the Pulsed Hydrogen Fluoride Laser
System.” While working on a Ph.D. at Colorado State
University, he focused on two different projects—ion-
beam-sputtered indium-doped tin oxide on silicon solar
cells, and also, laser and electron-beam chemical vapor
deposition of silicon nitride, silicon dioxide, and aluminum
oxide films.
In 1980, he joined the Solar Energy Research Institute
(
SERI, nowNREL) and established the PV cell performance
characterization laboratory. He designed, developed,
and implemented the first generation of hardware,
software, and procedures to measure current-vs-voltage
characteristics as a function of temperature, spectrum, and
intensity for single- and multijunction cells and modules.
He currently reviews and approves all hardware, software,
and procedural changes and is the technical manager of
the laboratory. The laboratory is ISO 17025-accredited
by A2LA as a calibration laboratory for primary reference
cells, secondary reference cells, and secondary modules.
In support of the terrestrial PV community, his group
averages about 200 cell calibrations and 250 module
measurements per month.
Emery provides consulting expertise on PV measurements
and solar simulation to hundreds of individuals and groups
each year, both internal to NREL as well as within the
PV community at large. He has collaborated with several
groups in modeling solar spectra, PV sensitivity to solar
spectra derived from resource data, and modeling
multijunction one-sun and concentrator PV devices for
optimal bandgap for maximum energy or efficiency.
Worldwide, Keith Emery is recognized as an expert
in efficiency measurements and performance
characterization of photovoltaics. He has garnered
numerous awards as an individual and as part of a team,
including two R&D 100 awards in 2007 and 2011, the 2007
Paul Rapport Award, and the 2012 World Renewable
Energy Congress Award.
WILLIAM R. CHERRY AWARD
