National Renewable Energy Specialist to Receive UMaine Engineering Award
Contact: Vicky Blanchette, 581-2204
ORONO — The University of Maine College of Engineering has selected former faculty member Lawrence L. Kazmerski, now the executive director of the Science and Technology Partnerships at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colo., to receive the 2010 the Edward T. Bryand Distinguished Engineering Award.
The highest award for career excellence and accomplishment from the college, the Edward Bryand award was established in 1979 to recognize an individual outside the university who has, by his or her activities, achievements and scholarship brought distinction to the profession of engineering.
Kazmerski will receive the award at the annual Edward T. Bryand Recognition Banquet being held Friday at 5 p.m. at the Wells Conference Center.
Kazmerski served on the electrical engineering faculty at the University of Maine, where he performed pioneering research on the first thin-film copper-indium-dieselenide solar cell until 1977. He has contributed annually to a UMaine fund to build quality academic and research programs in solid state and semiconductors at the university. In April 2009, he gave the keynote speech on solar and renewable energy at the Haskell Energy Conference in Bangor. After leaving UMaine, he joined NREL and later served as its director of the Center of Photovoltaics from 1999 to 2008.
Kazmerski received a B.S., an MS and a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of Notre Dame, and served in a postdoctoral position at the Notre Dame Radiation Research Laboratory in 1971. He has taught at the University of Colorado, Colorado School of Mines, and the University of Denver, and has published more than 320 refereed journal papers in the general area of solar cells. In addition, he is the author or editor of four books, serves on the editorial board of several journals. He has made more than 160 invited presentations at international conferences, workshops or seminars. Kazmerski was co-founder and editor of the journal SOLAR CELLS, published by Elsevier-Sequoia (1979-1991) and is currently editor-in-chief of the Elsevier Journal’s, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews.
For his contributions to science and leadership in technology development, Kazmerski has received several prestigious awards and has been featured in many newspapers, magazines, and in a NOVA TV series.
“In recognition of his significant contributions to solar energy science and technology, it is with genuine pride and appreciation that the College of Engineering recognizes Dr. Lawrence L. Kazmerski with its highest honor, the Edward Bryand Distinguished Engineer Award,” says college Dean Dana Humphrey.