Summer 2009
In this Issue:
Infrastructure for the 21st Century
Jeffery Brownson
Jeffrey Brownson is a materials scientist with degrees in geoscience and environmental chemistry. This background gives him an unusual awareness of how his materials systems relate to the environment, both in where the materials come from and how they are likely to perform once they are deployed in the field.
He performed his Ph.D. work within an interdisciplinary program called Environmental Chemistry and Technology at Wisconsin-Madison. Surrounded by water chemists and air chemists, he learned why and when the systems he worked on would turn toxic when they encountered conditions outside of the lab. From his earlier geosciences field research, especially fieldwork on a Canadian glacier, he came to understand that the material systems he built would need to be far more robust when all of his technology broke down in the harsh environment. “That was the context I brought to materials science,” Brownson recalls.
His interest in nanoscale systems led him to pursue photoelectric chemistry and to learn the tools of photovoltaic research. A postdoctoral year at the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) in Thais, France, showed him the major laboratory resources the French government and industry were pouring into photovoltaic research.
Brownson’s research focuses on nanoparticles synthesis and nano-structured deposition of extremely thin absorber (eta) solar cells, a third generation solar cell technology for high efficiency, reduced cost solar electricity. He is also committed to promoting and researching environmental technologies that will provide sustainable materials design for energy, clean water, clean air, and waste treatment.
Jeffrey Brownson, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in the Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering and the faculty director for the 2009 Penn State Solar Decathlon entry, Natural Fusion. He is a member of the EMS Energy Institute and the Materials Research Institute.
