Rick Schwerdtfeger, Phd Email & Phone Number

Managing consulting projects in the photovoltaics, semiconductor, and materials sectors. Initial focus is on helping establish a geographically diverse supply chain for companies in the PV ingot, wafer, cell, and module businesses. We design factories from the ground up, identify facilities requirements, specify turn-key tool sets for each line, provide.

Developing silicon wafers for high performance solar cells manufactured in the US and still globally cost-competitive.

Victor, NY, US

Assisting company is business development, and energy strategy.

Alexandria, VA, US

Funding small businesses and start-ups to solve the problems of the world one project at a time. Topics I manage include IoT (devices/integrated systems - not just software), Photonics, Instrumentation & Hardware, Space, and occasionally Semiconductors and Medical Devices. Managed over 110 portfolio companies with $60M in tax-payer investment.

Focused on customer technical support, sales and business development for new CHES®500 sapphire crystal growth furnaces capable of growing 300+kg sapphire boules for mobile phone screens, large industrial windows and LED substrates. Continue to spearhead prototype design and testing of next generation sapphire crystal growth technologies.Lived in Shanghai.

Technology evaluation, collaborative publication, and business develop of Professor Karl Böer's patent pending high-field domain solar cells with no p-n junction.

Work with Pica Solar team to develop new hydrogen super emitter technology to improve PV solar cell efficiencies, reduce silver usage, and increase module outputs.

Jacksonville, FL, US

Manage research and commercialization projects in photovoltaics, wind, fuel cells, hydrogen storage and utility grid optimization. Projects are funded through various state, federal, and private funding mechanisms. Personal proposal statistics: 50% success rate on publicly funded proposals.

Mechanical design and thermal analysis (modeling and IR imaging) of equipment for manufacture of large optical crystals. Experimentation for process optimization in complex multi-variable processes. Internal consulting to other plants within division.

Built crystal growth production furnaces and facility. Developed crystal growth process for Sodium Iodide scintillation crystals.

Golden, CO, US

Built and upgraded crystal growth furnaces. Design and conducted experiments on growth techniques and material properties for semiconducting and superconducting crystals using float zone, Czochralski, vertical bridgman, liquid-encapsulated directional solidification, MOCVD, and casting techniques. Performed optical microscopy, Hall effect, SEM, EDAX, X-ray.

Ph.D., Materials Science

Certificate, Finance For Managers

M.S., Applied Physics/Solar Thermal Engineering

B.S., Physics, Science Education

Aerospace Engineering

Education record