Biography
Joshua M. Pearce received his Ph.D. in Materials Engineering from the Pennsylvania State University. He then developed the first Sustainability program in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education and helped develop the Applied Sustainability graduate engineering program while at Queen's University, Canada. He currently is a Professor cross-appointed in the Department of Materials Science & Engineering and in the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering at the Michigan Technological University where he runs the Open Sustainability Technology Research Group. His research concentrates on the use of open source appropriate technology to find collaborative solutions to problems in sustainability and poverty reduction. His research spans areas of electronic device physics and materials engineering of solar photovoltaic cells, and RepRap 3-D printing, but also includes applied sustainability and energy policy. His research is regularly covered by the international and national press and it is continually ranked in the top 0.1% on Academia.edu. He is the editor-in-chief of HardwareX, a journal dedicated to open source scientific hardware and the author of the Open-Source Lab:How to Build Your Own Hardware and Reduce Research Costs.
Current teaching:
- ELEC-L3999: 3D Printing of Open Source Hardware for Science
- MY4777/MY5777/EE4777/EE5777 Open-source 3-D printing
- MY5490/EE5490 - Solar Photovoltaic Science and Engineering
- Michigan Tech Open Source Hardware Enterprise
Research Interests
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My research focuses on open and applied sustainability, which is the application of science and innovation to ensure a better quality of life for all, now and into the future, in a just and equitable manner, whilst living within the limits of supporting ecosystems. Specifically I am interested in exploring the way solar energy can be used to provide clean sustainable electricity through photovoltaic devices and how the sharing of open source hardware and software can create sustainable and equitable means of production (e.g. create open source appropriate technology and other free and open source hardware).
Photovoltaic Materials and Electronic Device Physics of Solar Cells:
Photovoltaic electrical production is a technologically feasible, economically viable, environmentally benign, sustainable, and socially equitable solution to society’s future energy requirements. If anyone is still concerned about the energy payback of solar cells please read this. There is currently a big debate in the photovoltaic industry on how to get low cost solar electricity. Is it better to go with high efficiencies and pay more up front -- or really push the costs down with junk materials and accept an efficiency penalty. I don't know which way is better so I do research on both approaches.
Solar installations have grown by more than 600% across both residential and commercial properties in the past 9 years – a compound industry growth rate of 76% [1].
Indium gallium nitride - ultra high efficiency moderate cost
- This research intends to radically reduce the costs of photovoltaic devices by developing an ultra-high efficiency indium gallium nitride (InGaN) solar cell. The primary reason InGaN shows such incredible promise as a photovoltaic material is the ability to modify its band gap by adjusting the ratio of indium and gallium in the film. A multi-layered cell of InGaN can be made with band gaps ranging from 0.7eV (InN) to 3.4eV (GaN) which covers the entire range of the solar spectrum. See some of our latest work here: S. Keating, M.G. Urquhart, D.V.P. McLaughlin and J.M. Pearce, “Effects of Substrate Temperature on Indium Gallium Nitride Nanocolumn Crystal Growth”, Crystal Growth & Design, 11 (2), pp 565–568, 2011. open access
Amorphous silicon - moderate efficiency but low cost
- Amorphous silicon PVT - Hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) based solar cells are the least expensive at a given production level and posses an excellent ecological balance sheet. The ecological and economic promise of a-Si:H solar cells is currently incomplete because of the light induced degradation of its electronic properties known as the Staebler-Wronski Effect (SWE). Numerous theories have been proposed to explain SWE, and my work has focused on the analysis of experimental evidence for a complex SWE mechanism - with an eye on controlling and eliminating the problem. Recent publications on the technical aspects of a-Si:H solar cells.
Current Projects in Applied Sustainability and Green Engineering
Solar Photovoltaic Systems Engineering
- PV and CHP hybrid systems
- Estimating the PV Potential of a Large-Scale Geographical Region
- Effects of snow on photovoltaic performance
Open Source Appropriate Technology and Sustainable development
- Open Source Appropriate Technology
- Waste plastic extruder,Open source controller for polymer extruder, Solar Powered RepRap for OSAT
- Open source rapid prototyping of OSAT
- Passive Solar Device Design: I am currently working on several projects that utilize sunlight passively. In collaboration with Denkenberger Inventing and Consulting LLC, a computer program has been written to simulate the complex heat transfer and optics of solar stills and pasteurizers. In addition I am also looking at methods to improve the geographical range of the SODIS method - Decreasing turbidity to optimize solar water disinfection
Completed projects and publications
Michigan Tech
Category:MOST completed projects and publications/Gallery2017 Category:MOST completed projects and publications/Gallery2016 Category:MOST completed projects and publications/Gallery2015 Category:MOST completed projects and publications/Gallery2014 Category:MOST completed projects and publications/Gallery2013 Category:MOST completed projects and publications/Gallery2012
Teaching
Template:Userboxtop Template:User Service Learning Template:Userboxbottom I am also a strong proponent for service learning in engineering and making change. Utilizing appropriate technology projects to motivate students to learn physics. Also using service learning and commissioned assignments to solve real world environmental problems. Why students should come to MTU [2]
Courses with a service learning component
I have used Appropedia to support the following courses:
- APSC100 - Engineering - First Year Project course
- MECH370 - Materials Processing
- Mech425 - Engineering for Sustainable Development
- MECH820 - Solar Photovoltaic Materials, Cells and Systems Engineering
- MECH836 - Applied Sustainability and CMAS801
- MY3701 - Introduction to Semiconductor Materials Science and Engineering
- MY4777/MY5777/EE4777/EE5777 Open-source 3-D printing
- MY5970 - Solar Hacking
- MY5490/EE5490 - Solar Photovoltaic Science and Engineering
- PH261 - Physics of Energy and the Environment
- PH254 - Introduction to Nanotechnology
Resources for Educating Children
- http://www.ixl.com/ math language arts k-12
- https://www.khanacademy.org/
- http://code.org/
- https://ohs.stanford.edu/ online school, from 7th grade onwards.
The International Journal for Service Learning
I am the manuscript editor for the IJSLE. The International Journal for Service Learning in Engineering (IJSLE) is a peer-reviewed electronic journal offered free, semi-annually, over the World Wide Web. The Journal welcomes manuscripts based on original work of students and researchers with a specific focus or implication for service learning in engineering, engineering entrepreneurship in service, or related service learning pedagogy.
With an increasing number of individuals and institutions of higher education becoming involved in service learning and entrepreneurship in service learning, the IJSLE is an invaluable resources for students, faculty, practicing engineers and local communities. With articles relating to the latest design and research pertinent to local communities, the faculty-reviewed articles in each issue provide the reader with timely information related to:
* Engineering Design Projects as Service * Engineering Research Projects as Service * Engineering-Related Entrepreneurial Projects as Service * Pedagogy in Engineering-Related Service Learning
If you are contributing to Appropedia - you should seriously consider submitting a manuscript once your project has come together