Peter Bermel
Associate Professor
Purdue University
Electrical & Computer Engineering
Birck Nanotechnology Center


Curriculum Vitae (last updated January 2023)


One page summary of key research accomplishments (as of January 2020)

One page summary of key teaching accomplishments (as of January 2020)


Brief Bio:

DR. PETER BERMEL is the Elmore Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Purdue University. His research focuses on improving the performance of photovoltaic, thermophotovoltaic, and microelectronic systems using the principles of nanophotonics. Key enabling techniques for his work include electromagnetic and electronic theory, modeling, simulation, fabrication, and characterization.


Dr. Bermel is widely published in scientific peer-reviewed journals, and his work has been a recurring topic in international educational activities as well as publications geared towards the general public. His work, which has been cited over 9000 times, for an h-index value of 39, includes the following topics:


Dr. Bermel and his colleagues have built and made available on nanoHUB several widely used electromagnetic simulation tools, including the TPV efficiency simulation and TPXsim to simulate the efficiency of thermophotovoltaic systems; MEEPPV, a Finite-Difference Time Domain (FDTD) simulation for photovoltaic cells; and S4sim: a GUI to the Stanford Stratified Structure Solver, a frequency domain code to solve layered periodic structures.


Selected Publications:

Education:

BSMay 2000University of North CarolinaPhysics
MPhilJune 2002Cambridge UniversityPhysics
PhDMay 2007Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyPhysics

Professional and Honorary Society Memberships:

Phi Beta Kappa1999-present
Materials Research Society2011-present
Optical Society of America2013-present
Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers2014-present
SPIE-International Society for Optical Engineering2015-present

Honors and Awards

Winston Churchill Foundation Scholar2000-2001
Compton Fellow, Massachusetts Institute of Technology2001-2003
NSF Graduate Research Fellow2001-2004
NSF CAREER Awardee2015-2020

Professional Experience

Postdoctoral AssociateMassachusetts Institute of TechnologyJune 2007-May 2011
Research ScientistMassachusetts Institute of TechnologyJune 2011-December 2011
Assistant ProfessorPurdue UniversityJanuary 2012-August 13,2017
Associate ProfessorPurdue UniversityAugust 14,2017-present

Research Grants and Contracts Received

Principal Investigator (with Prof. Minghao Qi), Private Foundation Grant, "Improving thin-film crystalline silicon solar cell efficiencies with photonic crystals," February 2008 - January 2011, $600,000 (MIT and Purdue)
Co-principal Investigator (with John D. Joannopoulos, PI), NSF, "Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment," Grant No. OCI-10535, August 2011 - April 2013, Subcontract for 3.3 million service units.
Principal Investigator, PRF Research Grant, "Modeling Nonlinear Comb Generation with Coupled Mode Theory," Grant No. 205957, July 2012 - June 2013, $17,241.
Principal Investigator, SRC, "Designing and fabricating thermophotovoltaic systems for improved performanceand reliability," Grant No. P15383, October 2012 - September 2015, $255,000.
Principal Investigator, Bay Area PV Consortium, "Exploratory > Photovoltaic Modeling and Simulation: An End-to-End Technology Agnostic Approach," Grant No. 13011422, January 2013- December 2015, $600,000. Directly responsible for $158,706.
Principal Investigator, PRF Research Grant, "Multiphysics design and optimization of earth-abundant solar cells made from copper zinc tin sulfide (CZTS)," Grant No. 205958, July 2013 - June 2014, $17,241.
Principal Investigator, NREL Non-proprietary Partnering Opportunity, September 2014-June 2015.
Principal Investigator, Bay Area PV Consortium Grant, "Integrated approach to fundamental challenges in high-performance thin-film photovoltaics," January 2016 - June 2016, $125,000. Directly responsible for $48,000.
Principal Investigator, NSF CAREER Award, "Thermophotonics for efficient harvesting of waste heat as electricity," February 15, 2015 - January 31, 2020, $500,000.
Principal investigator, "Ultra-thin metasurfaces for redirecting light and managing thermal emission," Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems, June 1, 2015 - May 31, 2016. $40,000.
Co-principal investigator, Center for Integrated Thermal Management of Aerospace Vehicles (CITMAV), August 15, 2015 - July 31, 2017. Directly responsible for $129,000.
Co-principal investigator, NEPTUNE Center, "GaN interface engineering," Office of Naval Research, September 1, 2015 - August 31, 2017, $2,000,000. Directly responsible for $280,000.
Co-principal investigator, NSF PRIME Award, "Evaluation Framework for Advanced STEM MOOCs," November 1, 2015 - October 31, 2018, $799,923. Directly responsible for $180,000.
Principal Investigator, NEC Corporation Award, "Characterization & filter design of high-performance rare earth-based thermophotovoltaics," December 1, 2015 - March 21, 2016, $31,284.

Professional Society Activities

MRSSession Chair, Photonic and Plasmonic Materials for Enhanced Photovoltaic Performance, MRS Fall Meeting, November 28-December 2, 2011
SPIESession Chair, SPIE Optics + Photonics Conference, San Diego, CA, August 28-30, 2013
OSASession Chair, OSA Renewable Energy & Environment Conference, Optical Nanostructures and Advanced Materials for Photovoltaics Session PM4C, Tucson, AZ, November 3-6, 2013
MRSSession Chair, MRS Fall 2014 Meeting, Symposium L on Metamaterials Session L7, Boston, MA, December 1-5, 2014
SPIESession Chair, Infrared Remote Sensing and Instrumentation XXII, SPIE Optics + Photonics Conference, San Diego, CA, August 9-13, 2015
OSACommittee Member, Optical Nanostructures and Advanced Materials for Photovoltaics (PV), November 2-5, 2015
IEEEProgram Committee Member (Deputy PV Jobs Chair) and Session Chair, IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, June 5-10, 2016
SPIESession Chair, SPIE Optics+Photonics Conference, August 29-September 1, 2016

Graduate Students Currently Supervised

NameEmailDegreeThesis topicCo-chair
Geoff MacRaegmacraesPhDAgricultural photovoltaics
Changkyun Leelee2864PhDThermophotovoltaics and photovoltaics
David KortgedkortgePhDTrusted microelectronics
Jie Zhuzhu797PhDQuantum opto-electronicsWeng Chew

Former Graduate Students

NameEmailDegreeYearThesis topicCurrent position
Oluseye AkomoledeoakomolePhDQuantum nanophotonics and trusted microelectronics
Ze Wangwang3617PhDSelective thermal emitters
Xufeng Wangwang159@purdue.eduPhD2014Photon recycling in high-performance PVTechnical Director of NSF NEEDS
James E. Moorejemoore113@gmail.comPhDPhotovoltaic characterization and modeling2015NRC Postdoctoral Fellow, Naval Research Laboratory
Chao Zhouzhouchao424@qq.comMS2015Photovoltaic multiphysics simulation
Dan Konopakokomokono@gmail.comMS2016Opto-thermal characterization of laser diodes
Haejun ChungPhD2017Computational design for next-generation solar cells
Roman ShugayevPhD2017Analysis and design of novel nanophotonic structures
Enas SakrPhD2018Spectral and Directional Control of Thermal Emission with Nanophotonics
Zhiguang ZhouPhD2019Enhancing thermophotovoltaics via selective thermal emitters and radiative thermal management
PhD

Visiting Students / Postdocs

NameEmailStatusResearch topicChair
Hassan ImranhimranVisiting Ph.D. student from LUMSAglectric farm modelingNauman Butt
Daniela De LucaVisiting Ph.D. student from Naples UniversitySelective solar absorbersRoberto Russo

Undergraduate Research Projects

Aglectric farm modeling
NameDatesResearch topicSponsoring Program
Yujie GuoSummer 2012Microresonator comb simulations on nanoHUBSURF (through NCN)
Jiarui KangFall 2012 - Spring 2013RCWA optical simulations on nanoHUB 
Chang LiuSummer 2013S4sim: a simulation tool on nanoHUBSURF (through NCN)
Qinshuang ChenSummer 2013 - presentTPV system simulationsSURF (through NCN)
Xin Tze Joyce TeeSummer 2013 - Spring 2014Thin-film PV simulations in MEEP on nanoHUBSURF (through NCN)
Anubha MathurSummer 2014TPXsimSURF (through NCN)
Dalton ChaffeeSummer-Fall 2014Full-wave light trapping in photovoltaics
Evan SchlenkerSummer 2015TPV Experiment SimulationSURF (through NCN)
Dominic JareckiSummer 2015Delamination in photovoltaic encapsulants
Jacob DuritschSummer 2015Realistic material dispersion in photovoltaics
Shailja DhakaSummer 2015-presentDirect Thermal Emission SimulationSURF (through NCN) and DURI
Tianran LiuFall 2015-presentDirect Thermal Emission MeasurementDURI
Namrata RaghavanSummer 2016-presentTPV experimentally feasible selective emittersSURF (through NCN)
Sattwik Deb MishraSummer 2016Quantum photonic designBose Scholarship
Cindy KarinaSummer 2016TPV characterization and modeling
Hans TorsinaSummer-Fall 2019NCN Undergraduate Research Experience
Chankyun LeeSummer-Fall 2019Selective thermal emitter modelingDURI Fellowship

 

Last updated: February 21, 2023.