2021 IEEE William Cherry Award to be presented at the 48th IEEE PVSC to
Professor Thorsten Trupke

Thorsten Trupke is a Professor at the School for Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering at the University of New South Wales where he leads a team of approximately 15 PhD students, Postdoctoral Fellows and staff. He is also Chief Technology Officer and co-founder of Sydney based company BT imaging and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering.

Thorsten holds a PhD in Physics from the University of Karlsruhe, Germany, which he completed under the supervision and guidance of Professor Peter Würfel. In 2001 he moved with his family (Thorsten is married with four children) from Germany to Australia, to join Prof Martin Green’s new Centre for Third Generation Photovoltaics at UNSW, supported by a Feodor Lynen Fellowship provided by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. He proposed the concepts of combining conventional solar cells with up and/or down-conversion including limiting efficiency calculations and experimental proof of concept studies. In 2004 Thorsten joined forces with Dr Robert Bardos to develop novel luminescence-based characterisation methods and systems, including QSS-Photoluminescence lifetime measurements and Suns-Photoluminescence. His most impactful contribution to date has arguably been the development of photoluminescence imaging for silicon wafers and solar cells, first demonstrated by Thorsten and Robert at UNSW in 2005. This measurement principle, and a large number of associated analysis methods, have since then become standard tools used by researchers and in PV production on a daily basis. The ability to detect a wide range of device and material defects accurately and quickly from PL images has contributed substantially to the rapid improvement and cost reduction of silicon solar cell technology over the last ten years. His team at UNSW continues to drive this technology and the associated fundamental device physics forward, recently with emphasis on downstream applications for outdoor module testing.

Thorsten co-founded BT imaging in 2008, the company provides PL imaging systems to the R&D community and to wafer and solar cell manufacturers. PL tools by BT imaging are found in most R&D labs and in high volume manufacturing worldwide. He enjoys his dual roles in academia and in the industry and the resulting opportunities to work with optimistic colleagues and friends to turn fundamental and innovative research into real world applications and products.

In his private life Thorsten’s favourite pastime is ocean swimming, he spends considerable time in the waters surrounding the beautiful coastline around Sydney.

About the Award

This award is named in honor of William R. Cherry, a founder of the photovoltaic community. In the 1950's, he was instrumental in establishing solar cells as the ideal power source for space satellites and for recognizing, advocating, and nurturing the use of photovoltaic systems for terrestrial applications. The William R. Cherry award was instituted in 1980, shortly after his death. The purpose of the award is to recognize an individual engineer or scientist who devoted a part of their professional life to the advancement of the science and technology of photovoltaic energy conversion. The nominee must have made significant contributions to the science and/or technology of PV energy conversion, with dissemination by substantial publications and presentations. Professional society activities, promotional and/or organizational efforts and achievements are not considerations in the election for the award.

Award Package

The award consists of a plaque, monetary award, recognition at the IEEE PVSC Opening Ceremony and a dedicated Cherry Award Talk during the Opening Ceremony.

Rules & Eligibility

• Nominee must be a scientist or engineer who has made significant contributions to the science and/or technology of PV energy conversion, with dissemination by substantial publications and presentations.
• Nominee must have had an extended period of activity in PV, contributions to the PVSC, and the expectation of continued activity.  Single outstanding contributions are not sufficient.
  
• Professional and/or organizational efforts and achievements are not considerations for this award.
  
• Nominees are not required to be members of IEEE or EDS.
  
• Nominees from any country and institution are eligible. 
  
• Previous recipients of the Cherry Award are not eligible.
  
• Self-nominations will not be accepted.
  
• Nominations may be re-submitted in subsequent years.

Nomination Package Requirements (Deadline: January 15th)

• Complete Electronic Nomination Form with name of nominee, and his/her current affiliation and contact information.
• Nominator's name, address, phone number and e-mail address.
• A rationale (less than 150 words) of the nominee's contributions to the advancement of the PV field.
• A citation (less than 40 words) listing the nominee's specific contributions to make them deserving of the award.
• A list of the nominee's activities in the field.
• A current CV for the nominee.
• Give a personal view of the work and contributions of the candidate. Professional society activities, promotional and/or organizational efforts and achievements are not considerations in the election for the award. Quality is better than quantity: Multiple nominations for the same candidate are accepted as long as each nomination represents the personal view of the nominator and not just a copy of another nomination form.

• Submit a Cherry Award Nomination

Questions? Contact the Cherry Committee Awards Chair, Vasilis Fthenakis at vmf5@columbia.edu

 

WILLIAM R. CHERRY COMMITTEE

Vasilis Fthenakis Cherry Award Chair Columbia University Harry Atwater Cherry Award Co-Chair California Institute of Technology Tim Anderson University of Massachusetts, Amherst Sheila G. Bailey NASA Glenn Research Center Allen M. Barnett University of New South Wales Paul Basore PV Specialist Services LLC John Benner Stanford University Henry W. Brandhorst, Jr. Auburn University Timothy Coutts National Renewable Energy Laboratory Keith Emery National Renewable Energy Laboratory Dennis J. Flood North Coast Initiatives Ltd.

Americo F. Forestieri MOE Consulting Alex Freundlich University of Houston Martin A. Green University of New South Wales Christiana Honsberg Arizona State University Lawrence L. Kazmerski National Renewable Energy Laboratory Richard R. King Arizona State University Sarah Kurtz National Renewable Energy Laboratory John D. Meakin University of Delaware Ryne Raffaelle Rochester Institute of Technology Eugene Ralph PV Consulting Angus Rockett Colorado School of Mines

Angele Reinders University of Twente Ajeet Rohatgi Georgia Institute of Technology Steve Ringel Ohio State University BJ Stanbery Helios Corporation Ronald A. Sinton Sinton Instruments Dick Swanson SunPower Pierre Verlinden Trina Solar Robert J. Walters Naval Research Laboratory David Wilt U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory Masafumi Yamaguchi Toyota Technological Institute

Previous Recipients

Dr. Paul Rappaport 1980 Dr. Joseph L. Loferski 1981 Prof. Martin Wolf 1982 Dr. Henry W. Brandhorst 1984 Mr. Eugene L. Ralph 1985 Dr. Charles E. Backus 1987 Dr. David E. Carlson 1988 Dr. Martin A. Green 1990 Mr. Peter A. Iles 1991

Dr. Lawrence L. Kazmerski 1993 Prof. Yoshihiro Hamakawa 1994 Dr. Allen M. Barnett 1996 Dr. Adolf Goetzberger 1997 Dr. Richard J. Schwartz 1998 Dr. Christopher R. Wronski 2000 Dr. Richard M. Swanson 2002 Dr. Ajeet Rohatgi 2003 Dr. Timothy J. Coutts 2005

Dr. Antonio Luque 2006 Dr. Masafumi Yamaguchi 2008 Dr. Stuart Wenham 2009 Dr. Richard R. King 2010 Dr. Jerry M. Olson 2011 Dr. Sarah Kurtz 2012 Dr. Keith Emery 2013 Dr. Ronald A. Sinton 2014 Dr. Christiana Honsberg 2015

Dr. Pierre Verlinden 2016 Prof. Eli Yablonovitch 2017 Prof. Vasilis Fthenakis 2018 Dr. Harry Atwater 2019 Prof. James Sites 2020