ASU creates Solar Power Laboratory to boost renewable energy industry, improve environment

"ASU and the state of Arizona have a number of exciting economic development and research opportunities associated with renewable energy," he said. "These three new faculty members will play key roles in making sure that these efforts are successful."

Honsberg is considered a pioneer in photovoltaics – the solar cells that convert sunlight into energy. She helped establish the Center for Photovoltaic Engineering at the University of Delaware, which developed the first undergraduate degree in photovoltaic engineering.

Delaware's photovoltaics center also won the largest solar energy research grant in the country – $50 million from the U.S. Department of Defense.

Bowden has been working at the University of Delaware's Institute of Energy Conversion. He is credited with helping make major strides in improving the efficiency of silicon and crystalline silicon solar cells and the cell manufacturing process.

Honsberg and Bowden previously were at the University of New South Wales, Australia, working in one of the strongest academic solar energy programs in the world.

Maracas is returning to ASU after leaving 14 years ago to work with Motorola Inc., where he founded the company's Molecular Technology Lab and Motorola Life Sciences, and held director positions in Motorola's advanced technologies and nanotechnology research operations. He had 30 patents issued during his time with the company.

Maracas also has been president of two companies providing technical and management consulting services to industry and government in nanotechnology, medical diagnostic devices and biotechnology.

Honsberg will be a professor and Bowden an associate research professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering. Maracas will be a professor in electrical engineering and ASU's School of Sustainability. He had previously been an electrical engineering faculty member at ASU for about 10 years before leaving for private industry in 1994.

Through their work in the new laboratory, "We hope to unify the various solar energy-related research efforts throughout the university and to develop industry collaborations," explained Stephen Goodnick, ASU's associate vice president of Research and Economic Affairs.

Solar power groups such as the university's Advanced Photovoltaics Center and Photovoltaic Testing Laboratory will be affiliated with the new lab under the Global Institute of Sustainability.

The lab "will bring together other ASU researchers, from materials engineering, physics, chemistry, electrical engineering and architecture" to collaborate on projects, Goodnick said.