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Solar and Energy Science

	Sayantani Ghosh Professor, Physics Professor Ghosh's research interests span traditional topics in condensed matter physics such as correlated magnetic phases and coupled quantum systems, as well as emerging multi-disciplinary themes such as hybrid solar cells and plasmonics-based opto-electronic devices. Her group focuses on the physics of new materials and using ultra-fast time resolved spectroscopy, develops techniques and protocols to manipulate their properties for applications in energy storage and information processing devices. The current research topics in her group include: Cooperative energy transfer dynamics in self-assembled nanostructured materials Directed assembly of metallic, magnetic and semiconducting nanostructures using liquid crystal based electro-optically active matrices Hybrid photovoltaic devices including solar cells and luminescent solar concentrators Exotic magnetic phases originating from geometric frustration in doped and undoped systems In addition, Professor Ghosh is also the founding faculty and advisor of UC Merced Women in Science and Engineering (WiSE@UCM).	sghosh@ucmerced.edu (209) 228-4055 Full Profile
	Roland Winston Professor, Physics Solar power and renewable energy Elementary particle physics Non-imaging optics	rwinston@ucmerced.edu (209) 228-4346 Full Profile
	Linda S. Hirst Professor, Physics Professor Hirst's research interests focus on soft-condensed matter physics, with interests in both biophysics and liquid crystal materials. In general, her research group uses experimental techniques to characterize molecular assemblies and to understand the physics behind why they form. In a wider context, her group tries to uncover the common principles of how self-organization at a molecular level can transfer physical properties across length scales to define complex structures in real biological systems and soft phases. Professor Hirst's group uses a wide variety of experimental techniques, with significant focus on: X-ray diffraction and scattering (both synchrotron and in-house) Confocal microscopy Atomic force microscopy Transmission electron microscopy Current research projects include the: Influence of cholesterol and polyunsaturated lipids on cell membrane structure. Controlling Lipid phase behavior and raft formation for "soft microfluidics" Biopolymer networks Bent-core and novel ferroelectric liquid crystal materials In addition to her research interests Prof. Hirst is also the creator of softmatterworld.org, a new educational networking site for the soft matter community around the world.	lhirst@ucmerced.edu (209) 228-4569 Full Profile
	David Strubbe Associate Professor, Physics Theoretical condensed-matter physics and materials science, amorphous materials, photovoltaics, thermoelectrics, scientific code development for high-performance computing	dstrubbe@ucmerced.edu (209) 228-4481 Full Profile