Department of Materials Science and Engineering

The Department of Materials Science and Engineering announces the appointment of Professor Michael Graetzel of Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne as the Upson Visiting Professor for the 2007-08 academic year.

The Upson Visiting Professorship is an endowed position, which enables distinguished scholars to come to Cornell for stays of up to one year. The Upson Visiting Professorship was established in 1966 through the bequest of the widow of the late Maxwell M. Upson.

Professor Graetzel is currently the Director of the Laboratory of Photonics and Interfaces at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Lausanne, Switzerland. Among his many considerable research accomplishments, Professor Graetzel’s groundbreaking work on nanocrystalline semiconductors has revolutionized research efforts on new solar cells. He is the inventor of a new type of cell – known as the Graetzel cell – which is based on oxide semiconductors and offers dramatic cost, efficiency, stability, availability, and environmental compatibility advantages over conventional solar cells.

Over the course of his exemplary career, Professor Graetzel has received a number of prestigious awards including the European Millennium Award, the World Technology Award for Materials, the Faraday Medal of the British Royal Society of Chemistry, the Dutch Havinga Award, the Italgas Prize and the Gerischer Award. In 2006, he was selected by Scientific American as one of the 50 top researchers in the world. In addition, he has authored more than 500 scientific papers, two books, and holds more than 50 patents.

Professor Graetzel will spend part of the spring 2008 semester in Ithaca.