Sarah R. Kurtz is an American materials scientist known for her research on

solar energy Solar energy is radiant light and heat from the Sun that is harnessed using a range of technologies such as solar power to generate electricity, solar thermal energy (including solar water heating), and solar architecture. It is an essenti ...

and photovoltaics, including the application of multi-junction solar cells in

robotic spacecraft A robotic spacecraft is an uncrewed spacecraft, usually under telerobotic control. A robotic spacecraft designed to make scientific research measurements is often called a space probe. Many space missions are more suited to telerobotic rather t ...

. Formerly a research fellow at the National Center for Photovoltaics and principal scientist at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, she is a professor of materials science and engineering at the

University of California, Merced The University of California, Merced (UC Merced) is a public land-grant research university and Hispanic-serving institution located in Merced, California, and is the tenth and newest of the University of California (UC) campuses. Established ...

Education and career

Kurtz attended public schools in her hometown of Defiance, Ohio, and graduated in 1979 from

Manchester College Manchester College might refer to: England * Manchester College, a former name of Harris Manchester College, Oxford *Manchester Metropolitan University, formerly Manchester Polytechnic, formed in 1977 by a merger between Manchester College of Art ...

, majoring in chemistry and physics. She earned a Ph.D. in chemical physics in 1985 from Harvard University; her dissertation was ''Atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition of hydrogenated amorphous silicon, titanium nitride, and titanium dioxide thin films''. She joined the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in 1985 as a post-doctoral researcher. She moved to the University of California, Merced in 2017.

Recognition

Kurtz and fellow NREL scientist Jerry Olson won one of the 2007 Dan David Prizes "for their exceptional and profound contributions to the field of photovoltaic energy". In 2012 the

IEEE Electron Devices Society The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a 501(c)(3) professional association for electronic engineering and electrical engineering (and associated disciplines) with its corporate office in New York City and its operation ...

gave her their William R. Cherry Award for her work on multi-junction cells. The US Clean Energy Education & Empowerment (C3E) Initiative gave her their 2016 Lifetime Achievement Award. She was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2020, "for contributions to the development of GaInP/GaAs photovoltaic cells and leadership in solar cell reliability and quality". She became the first faculty member at UC Merced to be elected to the academy.

References

External links

Home page
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kurtz, Sarah Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American materials scientists American women engineers Women materials scientists and engineers Manchester University (Indiana) alumni Harvard University alumni University of California, Merced faculty Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering 21st-century American women