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, now NREL) 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.