Advisory Board
DR. ABA EBONG, PH.D., UNC CHARLOTTE PROFESSOR AND HEAD OF THE PV LAB
Abasifreke Ebong received a PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of New South Wales, Australia in 1995. His PhD dissertation dealt with low-cost, double-sided buried contact silicon solar cells. Dr. Ebong served as a Postdoctoral Fellow at Samsung Electronics, South Korea. In September 1997, he joined the University Center of Excellence for Photovoltaic Research and Education (UCEP), Georgia Tech., Atlanta, as a Research Faculty member, where he worked on the development, design, modeling, fabrication, and characterization of low-cost, high-efficiency belt line multicrystalline, Cz, and Fz silicon solar cells. In 2001 he joined GE Global Research as Electrical Engineer, working on Solid State Lighting (LED-light emitting diodes) based on III-V semiconductors. In 2004 he returned to the University Center of Excellence at Georgia Tech as the Assistant Director, responsible for sponsored research in crystalline and amorphous silicon solar cells.
Dr. Ebong joined the Faculty of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte at full Professor in February 2011. He has published over 140 papers in the field of Photovoltaics. His current research interests include: high throughput, low-cost and high efficiency silicon solar cells based on comprehension of fired-through contacts (screen-printed, inkjets, etc.) on homogeneous high sheet resistance emitters. He is the Director of the Photovoltaic Research Laboratory at UNC Charlotte, which is supported by industrial partners from all over the world.
DR. FRANK FALLER, PhD, STRATEGIC TECHNOLOGY PLANNER at EDP RENEWABLES
Frank is a solar PV industry veteran with over 25 years of experience in research, manufacturing, sales, business development and management across the PV value chain, including crystalline-silicon wafer, solar cell and PV module technology, starting with industry pioneers like Astropower and Shell Solar.
Over the past 13 years, Frank worked for industry leaders including Deutsche Solar, Centrotherm, and SCHMID in wafer supply and manufacturing equipment. Frank also ran his own independent consultancy for 4 years and is active in the field of PV module reliability. He is a member of the International Photovoltaic Quality Assurance Task Force (PVQAT), which leads global efforts to craft quality and reliability standards for solar energy technologies.
Frank is a physicist by training and holds a Ph.D. from the University of Freiburg, in conjunction with the renowned Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy, ISE in Freiburg, Germany. Prior to his career in PV, he was also a researcher at two laboratories for “elementary particle research” at Fermilab near Chicago and CERN near Geneva, Switzerland.
BILL LAFONTAINE, GENERAL MANAGER OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND VP, RESEARCH BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT at IBM
Bill leads IBM's Intellectual Property business globally, including patent licensing and sales, technology licensing, and partnerships between industry and IBM's Research division. IBM holds one of the world’s largest patent portfolios.
Bill’s additional responsibilities include assisting in the divestiture and source code licensing of software assets, Intellectual Property strategy and best practices in monetizing select technology investments.
ANDY KLUMP, CEO of CLEAN ENERGY ASSOCIATES
Andy Klump has over 20 years of high-tech and renewable energy sector experience, with 12 years in solar PV. He founded Clean Energy Associates (CEA), one of the world’s leading solar consultancies in the areas of quality assurance, supply chain management, and engineering services, in 2008. CEA is based in Shanghai, China, with operations across eight other countries including the U.S., over 60 experts on staff, and clients in 35 countries.
Andy was previously Vice President of Business Development for Trina Solar, supported US$500 million of debt and equity financing through IPO and post-public offerings, and led a supply chain and operation strategy team to develop Trina’s supplier co-location park in Changzhou, China.
He had management roles in sales and business development in China for Dell and Intel. He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, and a BA in Economics from Northwestern University.