Front End

Welcome

To those of you who attended the 43rd IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference in Portland Oregon June 5th through 10th my thanks for making the conference highly successful.ï¿½ You presented a great variety of excellent works and made it hard to decide which to attend.ï¿½ Registered attendees can find the conference papers on the web site here.

To those who did not attend I encourage you to view the proceedings when they are available later this year and hope that you will join us in Washington DC in 2017.ï¿½ You can find short summaries of the highlights of the conference here.

Some of the things of note about the conference include the following.ï¿½ Over 1240 people attended the conference this year and over 1000 papers were presented.ï¿½ Sunday was a day of tutorial lectures with a combined attendance of over 345.ï¿½ That evening 200 students enjoyed a fun-filled evening at the PunchBowl Social sponsored by the Electron Device Society of the IEEE.ï¿½ Monday included a reception sponsored by the vendors and Tuesday the Cheery Award Reception celebrated Winner Pierre Verlinden.ï¿½ Plenary talks were given on a wide range of topics and outstanding technical talks were presented in 12 different technical areas.ï¿½ Thursday evening the conference banquet was different, being held at the Timbers soccer stadium.ï¿½ Food, dancing, and a casino provided entertainment for those attending.ï¿½ Bram Hoex received the Young Professional Award and presented an excellent talk on passivation of Si solar cells.ï¿½ All around it was a great conference.

I also want to thank my excellent organizing and program committees for their hard work preparing for and running the meeting.ï¿½ Their efforts made everything run smoothly with fewer issues than any conference I have been involved with previously.ï¿½ It was an outstanding effort.

I look forward to seeing you next year in Washington DC.

Warmest regards,
Angus Rockett
IEEE PVSC-43 General Chair