At the start of 2006, a small group of graduate student researchers with a shared interest in developing a new generation of low cost photovoltaic solar cell (pv) technologies began meeting twice a month to present their work, share ideas, discuss relevant literature, and to consider more ambitious collaborations.
Today, the PV Idea Lab has over 25 participants from Lawrence Berkeley and 9 different research labs from three different colleges, and it has become an important forum for accelerating progress in PV research.
This competition is designed to encourage outgoing and entrepreneurial students to propose and build their own Idea Labs. We are interested in supporting like minded groups in a wide range of areas, including groups that might bring together students in science, engineering, social sciences, humanities, etc.
The PV Idea Lab has served primarily as a venue for students sharing the results of their research and learning from each other, but we are also interested in the Idea Labs to act as the student voice for suggesting future directions in UC Berkeley’s research, research infrastructure, education, service, and external collaborations in a particular area or field.