SPIE Fellow Rajendra Singh of Clemson University, recipient of the 2014 SPIE Technology Achievement Award, was recently honored by US President Barack Obama as a "Champion of Change" for his role in advancing solar energy with photovoltaic (PV) technology.
The Obama White House honored 10 "local heroes" in the US for their efforts to promote and expand solar-generated electricity in the residential, commercial, and industrial sectors.
Singh was recognized at a White House Solar Summit 17 April for "doing extraordinary things to empower and inspire" members of his community in South Carolina and for mentoring students at all educational levels to transform global electricity infrastructure with solar technologies.
Singh serves as the D. Houser Banks Professor in the Holcombe Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Clemson University. He has served as conference and session chair at SPIE events and has published in the SPIE Journal of Nanophotonics.
The White House noted that Singh is a leader who encourages the use of PV as the source of local direct current (DC) electricity across the globe and works to bring legislation and regulations in South Carolina that will lead to the growth of solar-energy deployment.
SPIE awarded Singh the 2014 Technology Achievement Award in recognition of his efforts in the elucidation and exploitation of photonic effects in rapid thermal processing (RTP) for semiconductor manufacturing and for his technical leadership with PV technology.
Singh has worked for some 30 years on semiconductor materials and PV devices. His RTP technique for silicon has been critical to reducing the thermal budgets of furnace processing, reducing costs and production timelines.
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