This is an archived episode of STEMoirs, previously called PodQESST. Sebastian and Joe meet with Pablo Guimera Coll from the Canary Islands in Spain, winner of the 2015 National Science Foundation "Perfect Pitch" competition, co-founder of semiconductor startup company Crystal Sonic, and Ph.D. student at Arizona State University. They discuss how Pablo got into solar energy research in the U.S., his experience presenting before U.S. Congress, and running around lost in the tunnels beneath Capitol Hill. 

STEMoirs

Eps. 4: Pablo Guimera Coll

On this episode of STEMoirs, Dr. Amanda Youssef talks about her journey from Lebanon to MIT, the cultural differences of working in Germany and France (hint: may involve sunbathing after work and hiking on weekends), and now living on the west coast of the US.We hear about oxygen complexes and crystal defects in silicon solar cells, how she navigated the fast-paced environment of MIT, the amazing support of her family, and about women standing up for themselves in the workplace.Music credits:RetroFuture Clean and Furious Freak by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Eps. 16: Dr. Amanda Youssef

We're back! For now. Here's a quick update about what's been happening over this past year for me, the host, Sebastian Husein. New episodes coming out soon :)Music credits:RetroFuture Clean and Furious Freak by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Eps. 14: 2020 update!

Back in August of 2020, Professor Giulia Tagliabue sat down with Sebastian to discuss her life as a scientist, including her time at Caltech, her work in photocatalysis, her thoughts on diversity, and her love of rock climbing. Professor Tagliabue was recently presented with 1st place in the Rising Stars of Light Award by the Nature journal, Light: Science & Applications.You can find more of her work linked to at her institute's page.Music credits:RetroFuture Clean and Furious Freak by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Eps. 15: Professor Giulia Tagliabue

Sebastian sits down with Rebecca Saive, assistant professor at the University of Twente and Co-founder and CTO of Effectively Transparent Contacts (ETC) Solar. We hear how her first interactions with kitchen experiments and solar cells as a child shaped her science journey, what it's like to found a solar startup company, her passion for dance, the outdoors and horse riding, and perspectives on being a woman in science. 

Eps. 13: Professor Rebecca Saive

Sebastian is joined by the notorious M.I.B. - Mariana I. Bertoni, a professor at Arizona State University in the School of Electrical, Computer, and Energy Engineering. We hear why she owns a brewery in Minnesota, the influences that guided her on this professorship path, how she handles the pressures, and her views on the duties of scientists to society. We rant a bit about duck curves and solar energy, chat about where solar manufacturing might be heading, and finally, why she finds it all worth it.Why the duck curve isn't a big issue (yet):https://energytransition.org/2016/07/the-duck-is-safely-afloat-in-california/The history of the duck curve:  https://www.nrel.gov/news/program/2018/10-years-duck-curve.htmlA less technical explanation, but take what is said about why the duck is an issue with a grain of salt:https://www.suaoki.com/blogs/news/the-duck-curve-how-is-a-hindrance-for-solar-panel-market

Eps. 12: Professor Mariana Bertoni

Professor Zak Holman from Arizona State University joins Sebastian to talk about his cats, his research in photovoltaic devices and solar energy, and his time as a post-doc in Switzerland. With special guest appearance from "El Chapo". 

Eps. 11: Professor Zachary Holman

A "quick" update about the future of the podcast and what we hope to accomplish. Moving forward, the podcast will mainly be hosted by Sebastian Husein. Guests on the show will still be mostly from the solar energy research community for now, but STEMoirs will branch out to talk to researchers in all other fields of science, tech, engineering, and math. You can email the show at stemoirs@gmail.com, Tweet us @stemoirs, and like our page at facebook.com/stemoirspodcast. New episodes will be available soon on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, and wherever else you listen to your favorite podcasts. Thank you again for your support and encouragement!

Eps. 10: A podcast update

Sebastian Husein and Joe Karas talk to Professor Alex Freundlich from the University of Houston about solar cells made from moon dust, cutting frozen chickens with sunlight, and why flies in your vacuum deposition chambers can make your results a little buggy.

Eps. 9: Professor Alex Freundlich

This is an archived episode of STEMoirs, previously called PodQESST. Sebastian Husein speaks with Abhishek Iyer, Ph.D. candidate from the University of Delaware and co-founder of solar energy startup SHIO, winner of the 2018 LaunchR clean technology innovation competition. Abhishek explains how he prepares for pitching competitions, and how important it is to still make time for English Premier League football.

Eps. 8: Abhishek Iyer

Sebastian Husein talks to David Needell at the California Institute of Technology about tiny, luminscent balls for solar cells, the 2018 World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion held in Hawaii, and how David might be inadvertently causing volcanoes to erupt all over the globe.

Eps. 7: David Needell

This is an archived episode of STEMoirs, previously called PodQESST. Joe and Sebastian interview Simone Bernardini, Ph.D. in Materials Science at Arizona State University. They discuss electron lifetimes in silicon for solar cell applications, the process of publishing in academic journals, and Simone's enjoyment of the sun.The work discussed can, in part, be found at: ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8288645/

Eps. 6: Simone Bernardini

This is an archived episode of STEMoirs, previously called PodQESST.Joe and Sebastian chat with April Jeffries, a Ph.D. in Materials Science at Arizona State University, and Chief Technical Officer and co-founder of start-up company Reactive Inks, LLC. In this episode, they discuss her work in metal contact innovations for solar cells and getting outside of her comfort zone to do customer discovery in the NSF iCorps program, while Sebastian and Joe struggle to do mental math.

Eps. 5: April Jeffries

This is an archived episode of STEMoirs, previously called PodQESST.Sebastian and Joe are joined by Tara Nietzold, who discusses her work as a Ph.D. student using synchrotron x-rays on CIGS solar cells, what it's like working at a national lab facility, and how she's gotten to travel the world with her work. Sebastian and Joe experience technical difficulties, and fail at figuring out how to un-distort the audio. But the show must go on!

Eps. 3: Tara Nietzold

This is an archived episode of STEMoirs, previously called PodQESST. Sebastian and Joe meet with Rebecca Glaudell, Ph.D. candidate at the California Institute of Technology. She discusses how she got started in graduate school, her work developing II-VI semiconductors to improve solar cell efficiency, and her involvement as president of the student leadership council in QESST, a solar energy engineering research center formed between 8 U.S. universities.

Eps. 2: Rebecca Glaudell

Stories from the people behind the science.

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Eps. 4: Pablo Guimera Coll

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