Dr. Robert Birkmire

Dr. Robert W. Birkmire is Director of the Institute of Energy
Conversion, a United States Department of Energy Center of Excellence
for Photovoltaic Research and Education, as well as Professor of
Materials Science and Engineering with a secondary appointment as
Professor of Physics.  He previously served as manager of the
Electronic Materials Laboratory and as Acting Director of IEC from
January 1993 to December 1993 and was appointed Director in January of
1996.  He has been principal investigator on numerous government and
industrial contracts on amorphous and polycrystalline thin film solar
cells.  Dr. Birkmire advises undergraduate and graduate students in
Chemical, Electrical and Mechanical Engineering, Physics &
Astronomy, and Materials Science and Engineering departments.  His
current research efforts are growth and characterization of thin film
semiconductors for photovoltaic and opto-electronic devices and the
relationship of the growth process to film properties and device
performance.  He is actively involved in developing effective
mechanisms to transfer laboratory results to commercial processes with
particular emphasis on implementing model-based process control schemes
using advanced sensor technologies.  Dr. Birkmire is author of over 165
technical publications and is inventor on eight U.S. patents.