Mohan
Misra Ph.D., – Founder, President & CEO
Dr. Mohan Misra founded ITN Energy Systems
after serving 19 years with Martin Marietta
in the area of materials research, development
and manufacturing. Dr. Misra's position
at Martin Marietta carried all the responsibilities
for materials Research and Development
directed toward advanced programs. He
served as the manager of Research and
Technology for 15 years and was the Corporate
Strategic Technologist in charge of developing
long-term technology strategies. Dr.
Misra developed and implemented several
key technologies for aerospace applications
including thin-film photovoltaics, smart
materials and structures, advanced composites,
lightweight structures, etc. From 1975
to 1978, he directed a successful titanium
and aluminum casting development program
for the space shuttle external fuel tank.
Dr. Misra also managed several other
major DoD-funded Research and Development
projects such as metal matrix composites
for lightweight satellites, lightweight
solar array, and lightweight dimensionally
stable structures. Dr. Misra has received
Martin Marietta's Jefferson Cup — the
Corporation's highest award for outstanding
technical achievement — in 1984
and in 1987; Martin Marietta's Inventor
of the Year Award in 1982; and the American
Foundrymen's Society award for Outstanding
Technical Achievement in 1980. Education:
BS, Metallurgical Engineering, Benaras
Hindu University – India; MS, Metallurgical
Engineering, University of Washington – Seattle;
and Ph.D., Metallurgical Engineering,
Colorado School of Mines.
Ashutosh Misra – Executive
Vice President
In this role, Mr. Misra is responsible
for day to day Business Operations of
ITN. Mr. Misra joined ITN in 1998 and
has served as Project Manager, Operations
Manager and General Manager and has played
an integral part in growing ITN and its
spin-offs companies since then. From
2002 until March 2005, Mr. Misra also
served as the President and Chief Executive
officer of DataAccess America Inc., a
wholly owned subsidiary of Data Access
(India) Limited, a Tier 1 Telecommunications
carrier based in India. At DataAccess
America, Mr. Misra was responsible for
establishing and managing American and
European operations. Prior to joining
ITN Mr. Misra worked for MTI International
from 1991-1997 as Operations Manager
and was responsible for setting up electronic
manufacturing and related facilities
in the US, Mexico, Singapore, Indonesia,
and India. Mr. Misra holds a Bachelor
of Engineering Degree in Electronics
and Telecommunications from Bangalore
University in India (1987), and a M.S.
degree in Electrical Engineering from the
University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee (1992).
Ammi Amarnath – Director,
Business Development
Prior to joining ITN, Ammi was
the President and Chief Executive Officer
of Advanced Material Sciences, Inc. (AMS),
a subsidiary of Acacia Research Corporation.
In this position, he was responsible
for development and growth of the AMS’ high-throughput
materials screening technology for
the energy and process industries, including
technology development, mergers and acquisitions,
business alliances, strategic partnerships,
and government programs.
Prior to this, Ammi was the Manager
of Hydrogen & Fuel Cell Program
within the Distributed Energy Resources
Business Area at the Electric Power Research
Institute (EPRI), in Palo Alto, California. Activities
included the development and deployment
of fuel cell technologies in the residential,
commercial, industrial, transportation,
and related areas. He was also
involved in establishing strategic relationships
between EPRI, the technology developers,
and government organizations such as
the DOE, the energy supply/service providers
and the end-use customers they serve.
At EPRI, Ammi also managed the Energy
Efficiency Program for end-use applications,
especially in industrial processes. He
was responsible for the program’s
activities in Chemicals, Petroleum, Food
Processing, Textiles, Pulp & Paper,
and Natural Gas areas. Management
emphasis included the strategic development & deployment
of advanced technologies for a) process
energy efficiency improvements, b) quality
and productivity enhancements, and c)
pollution abatement for these industrial
sectors. In this position, he established
EPRI’s external Centers and Offices
for these industries. A major focus of
these Centers was to transfer new technologies
to the energy supply/service providers
and the process industry customers they
serve. He also helped to build strategic
relationships between the energy companies
and the industrial customers.
He also has experience in the process
industry-engineering field, having worked
as the Director of Business Development
for engineering and construction companies
in Houston and India. He has received
several awards for the development and
deployment of cutting-edge technologies.
Ammi received his Bachelor’s Degree
in Chemical Engineering from Karnataka
Regional Engineering College in India.
He subsequently received a Master’s
degree in Chemical Engineering from the
University of California, Santa Barbara,
and an M.B.A. degree from the University
of Houston.
Bruce Lanning Ph.D., – Director,
Thin-Film Technologies
Dr. Lanning has over twenty five years
of professional experience in materials
research with particular emphasis in
the area of phase transformation/thermodynamics
of thin-film surface and interfacial
sciences. His particular area of
interest is in the atomic level engineering
of solid surface/interfacial properties
for applications such as semiconductor/electronic
device structures, sensors, opto-electronics,
energy storage and harvesting, catalysis,
and corrosion. Dr Lanning’s
technical strength is not only in his
diverse, interdisciplinary experience,
but in his ability to define and optimize
robust processes for the production of
thin film (sub-micron) device structures
with a number of publications and patents
related to this area. In his current position
at ITN, Dr. Lanning is responsible for
program development in solid state lithium
batteries/electrochromics, wireless sensors/actuators,
and inorganic membranes and catalysts
for gas separation and activation respectively.
At SwRI, Dr. Lanning was the principal
investigator in the development of a
wireless, thin-film magnetostrictive
sensor system, for detection and monitoring
of fatigue damage in high-value military
assets, such as turbine engines and was
co-PI on two DOE-sponsored programs: 1)
the design and installation of a pilot
plant for the high-volume production
of ultra-low Pt-loaded polymer electrolyte
fuel cell electrodes, and 2) engineering
of a stable, conductive scale on a metal
interconnect material, such as FeCrAlY,
for solid oxide fuel cells. In
the area of hydrogen separation, Dr.
Lanning successfully managed a DOE/NETL-sponsored
effort to develop un-supported, thin-film
palladium alloy membranes for the production
of hydrogen; with a demonstrated output
flux that met 2010 DOE goals.
In his role as program manager at Lockheed
Martin Astronautics (LMA), Dr. Lanning
developed a 3-D, photonically controlled,
multi-functional antenna aperture for
navy topside and airborne platforms as
well as a sub-micron scale model for
the simulation of third phase formation
at a two-solute interface. He was
actively involved in the development,
at both the process and device levels,
of thin-film polycrystalline materials
(i.e., CIS and CdTe) for flexible solar
cell applications. Early in his
career, Dr. Lanning was involved in the
research and development, including failure
analysis, of material corrosion mechanisms
in the pulp and paper industry; both
at the fundamental and technical support
level with International Paper Company. His
activities covered a broad range of material-related
issues, from stress corrosion cracking
of pressure vessels to tube fatigue failures
in power boilers.
Pawan Bhat Ph.D., – Director
Operations, Thin-Films Tools Division
Dr. Bhat joined ITN Energy Systems
in 2004, to lead “Thin Film Tools” Division.
Prior to joining ITN, Dr. Bhat was Director
of Operations at Infinite Power Solutions,
a spin-off from ITN to manufacture and
commercialize thin film solid state battery.
As Director of Operations at Infinite
Power Solutions from 2000 – 2004,
Dr. Bhat was responsible for developing
and managing production plans for prototype,
pilot and full-scale manufacturing of
the Lithium based thin film solid-state
batteries. Dr. Bhat was founder and President
of Materials Research Group, Inc. From
1974 to 1984, Dr Bhat worked at leading
research institutions such as Indian
Institute of Sciences, Bangalore, Indian
Institute of Technology, Delhi, Boltzman
Institute, Vienna, University of Sheffield,
Sheffield, National Research Council,
Ottawa. Dr. Bhat brings to ITN Energy
Systems extensive experience in the area
of thin film materials research, development
and manufacturing gained over the last
30 years. Some specific areas of
expertise include thin-film photovoltaics,
optical effects in chalcogenide thin
films, thin film growth (PECVD, sputtering,
pulse laser evaporation), thin film metal
alloys, etc. Dr Bhat has unique experience
in all phases of thin film vacuum deposition
manufacturing systems and production
plants, from equipment design and construction
to process development and product acceptance.
Dr. Bhat has managed and led contract
negotiations with several major funded
Research and Development organizations
such as DOD, DARPA, DOE, NREL, NSF; companies
such as Ashai Glass, Central Glass, Samsung
Corning, Shimadzu Corporation, etc. Education: BSc,
Physics, Punjab University, India; MSc,
Punjab University, India and Ph.D., Physics,
University of Kurukshetra, India.
Brian Berland Ph.D., – Manager,
Thin Film Electronics
Dr. Berland has 15 years experience in
thin-film technologies including the
development of advanced deposition and
patterning technologies for the fabrication
of multi-layered electrical devices.
He joined ITN Energy Systems, Inc. in
1998 to develop advanced materials and
processes to produce next generation
electronic devices (terahertz). Over
the last 7 years, he has been active
in the development of advanced electrical
and electrochemical devices, including
high-speed diodes for energy harvesting
and infrared imaging applications, solid-state
batteries, environmental barrier coatings,
thin film coatings on fibers, solid oxide
fuel cells, and hydrogen separation membranes.
Prior to joining ITN, Dr. Berland was
a postdoctoral research associate at
the University of Colorado, where he
developed monolayer controlled growth
techniques for the optimization of nanoporous
materials for gas separation membranes.
He received his Ph.D. from the University
of Colorado in physical chemistry (1996)
and a B.A. in chemistry from Carleton
College in Northfield, MN (1991). He
has extensive experience in thin-film
processing and surface chemistry.
Russell Hollingsworth Ph.D.,
– Manager Optics
Dr. Hollingsworth joined ITN as a senior
scientist in May 2000, following ITN’s
purchase of the research portion of Materials
Research Group, Inc. Dr. Hollingsworth
was a co-founder of MRG and manager of
R&D from the inception of the company
in 1991. He has 20 years experience in
process development of a-silicon alloy
based materials and devices grown by
PECVD. His accomplishments include one
of the first reports of amorphous solar
cells using silicon carbide as the absorber,
the first a-silicon pin diode high energy
particle detector capable of direct detection
of minimum ionizing electrons, and the
development of a-silicon as a vacuum
photoresist. He led the development of thin
film materials for microbolometer
infrared cameras, resulting in an uncooled
LWIR camera with 30mK NETD. This
Army phase II effort was nominated for
a 2005 DOD SBIR Quality Award. He has
extensive experience in all phases of
thin film photovoltaic manufacturing,
from equipment design, construction,
and control software to process development
and device characterization. He has over
40 publications and 1 patent on semiconductor
devices and materials.
D. Garth Jensen Ph.D., – Senior
Scientist
Dr. Jensen has worked as a Senior Scientist
at ITN Energy Systems since May 2001. His
expertise is in the fields of thin-film
photovoltaics, thin-film optics, and
vacuum deposition of thin-films. While
at ITN, he has served as Principal Investigator
of several research projects related
to Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) solar cells including
a program funded by a NASA Broad Agency
Announcement (BAA) to develop monolithically
integrated CIGS-based modules on polyimide
substrates specifically for space applications. Over
$1.3M was awarded for the first Phase
(one year) of this program. Also
at while at ITN, Dr. Jensen has supported
photovoltaic manufacturing efforts at
ITN’s spin-off company, Global
Solar Energy, by providing assistance
with identifying new process equipment,
experimental design, and data analysis. Prior
to joining ITN, he worked since 1997
at Optical Coating Laboratory, Inc. (OCLI)
in Santa Rosa, CA, where he served as
the photovoltaics expert in OCLI’s
effort to establish a production facility
for fabricating CIGS-based photovoltaic
modules on thin glass for the Teledesic
satellite constellation.
Education:
BS, Physics, Reed College, 1988 (Phi
Beta Kappa); Ph.D., Physics, Stanford
University, 1997.
Lawrence M.
Woods Ph.D., – Senior Scientist
Dr. Woods joined ITN’s
photovoltaic spin-off, Global Solar Energy
(GSE) in February 1999 as a senior engineer.
He transferred over to the R&D Company,
ITN Energy Systems, Inc., at the beginning
of 2000. He is currently a senior
scientist at ITN and has been the principal
investigator/program manager on seven
thin-film photovoltaic (TFPV) related
projects. His primary responsibility
for these projects has been the development
and implementation of thin-film technologies
toward wide-bandgap TFPV devices and
tandem junction TFPV devices for commercial,
terrestrial and space application. These
responsibilities included materials and
device development and characterization
for durable low bandgap cells, transparent
back contacts and monolithic interconnects,
and wide-bandgap thin-films based on
CdSe, CuInAlSe2 (CIAS) and CuInGaSe2
(CIGS) alloys for tandem photovoltaics. Previous
projects also involved CdTe thin-film
based photovoltaics, novel lightweight
and flexible substrates, and CIGS based
thin-film transistors and diodes. Most
recently, Dr. Woods has been overseeing
the development of the novel silicone
substrate, in conjunction with Dow Corning
Corp., enabling high-efficiency thin-film
photovoltaics.
Prior to joining GSE, Dr. Woods performed
research on thin-film CdTe photovoltaic
materials and devices at the National
Renewable Energy Laboratory as part of
a doctoral fellowship. Prior work
at Golden Photon involved research and
development of CdTe based thin-film photovoltaic
devices where his research team helped
to develop high-efficiency solar cell
modules and devices. Prior to graduate
work, Dr. Woods worked at Lockheed Missiles & Space
Co. helping to design some of the first
flexible solar arrays for space (Space
Station Solar Array).
Dr. Woods has authored and co-authored
over 32 technical publications, 1 patent,
and has five invention disclosures related
to the wide-bandgap and tandem-photovoltaic
devices.
Education: BS,
Electrical Engineering, Univ. of California,
Berkeley, (1987);
MS, Electrical Engineering, Colorado
State Univ.,(1994);
Ph.D., Electrical Engineering, Colorado
State Univ., (2000).
Mr. Nicholas Gomez – Senior
Project Engineer
Mr. Gomez joined ITN Energy Systems in
March 1998. He is currently involved
in developing monolithic interconnects
for high efficiency PV, developing sensor
networks with fault detection and integrating
Li batteries in satellite substructures.
Mr. Gomez was integral to improving
thin film PV manufacturing yields from
5% to greater than 90%. During the same
time, PV efficiencies also improved greater
than 300% with an average efficiency
of >11%. Task included in these accomplishments
were developing control systems, controller
algorithm implementation, developing
and implementing fault tolerance algorithms,
software development, CIGS process development,
intelligent processing, and sensor integration.
This includes design and development
of traditional and intelligent control
systems for thin-film deposition.
Prior to joining ITN Energy Systems,
Mr. Gomez was a software developer and
process engineer for a manufacturing
consulting company.
Education
M.S., Metallurgical Engineering, Colorado
School of Mines, 1990
B.S., Chemistry, Colorado School of Mines,
1987
Mr. Gregory J. Nuebel – Senior
Project Engineer
Mr. Nuebel is currently a senior project
engineer and manager of e-beam and photolithography
process development at ITN. He
is also part of the ITN Energy’s
Product Development Team and has thirty-one
years of product and process development
experience. Prior to joining ITN
Energy Systems in August of 1998, he
held engineering project management positions
with three other companies. From
1993 to 1998, Mr. Nuebel engineered mechanical
and electrical products for clients at
Design Development Advantage, a contract-engineering
firm. Some of the products he designed
there include a Fluid Infusion System
for kidney dialysis systems, a commercial
check reader, a credit card manufacturing
system, and a large document scanner.
Mr. Nuebel worked at BTI Communications
from 1989 until 1992. There he
performed high frequency electrical design
and mechanical enclosure design work
for terrestrial point-to-point microwave
transmitting and receiving systems in
the 11-23 GHz frequency range. From
1975 until 1989, he worked at the Winegard
Company R&D laboratory. Work
there included electrical design for
TRVO satellite systems, CATV equipment,
and professional audio equipment. He
also conducted research on the future
of C and Ku Band Satellite Technology.
Mr. Nuebel has over seven years of
experience at ITN in the design of antennas
coupled with diodes and bolometers at
30 THz (Far IR) for Direct Energy Conversion
and Infrared sensors. He has also
designed, developed, and fabricated laser
processing equipment, an Infrared Laser
Test System, and various rectenna arrays
in the 400-2300 MHz range. Throughout
this career, he has successfully transitioned
many engineering designs into manufacturing
environments. Mr. Nuebel received his
A.A.S in Electronic Engineering Technology
from Hawkeye Institute of Technology
(Waterloo, IA) in 1973.
Mr. Brian Emerson – Manager,
Thin Film Laboratory Operations
Mr. Emerson joined
ITN Energy Systems, Inc. in 1998 to develop
ITN’s thin-film, rechargeable lithium
battery program and support the photovoltaic
device R&D efforts. He has
extensive experience in thin film deposition
and characterization, analytical method
development, laboratory management, and
equipment and test design. He was
instrumental in the set up and operation
of ITN’s state of the art thin-film
deposition laboratory that includes capabilities
in RF & DC sputtering, e-beam and
thermal evaporation, ion beam deposition
and wet chemical bath depositions. Mr.
Emerson has also been active in support
of the Nanotechnology and the thin films
on fibers programs.
Prior to joining ITN, Mr. Emerson was
a senior R&D engineer at the Chemical
Technology Laboratory of Lockheed Martin
Astronautics. He was actively involved
in the development, of thin-film polycrystalline
materials (CIS and CdTe) for flexible
solar cell applications.
Education
B.A Chemistry, 1991.
B.S Biology, 1977. |
