William N. Shafarman, a University of Delaware scientist with more than 30 years of experience developing solar energy technologies and research partnerships, is a professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and director of UD’s Institute of Energy Conversion. Founded in 1972, IEC is believed to be the oldest continuously operating solar research institute in the world. Over the years, in addition to leading projects as the principal investigator on government and industry contracts, he has organized numerous international conferences and symposia on photovoltaic science and engineering, taught tutorials on solar cells for conferences and companies, and served as team leader for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s Thin-Film Partnership Program.