ASU business school recognized for learning labs


April 21, 2020

Today, AACSB International — the world’s largest business education network — recognizes Arizona State University's W. P. Carey School of Business among 25 business schools as a highlight of its Innovations That Inspire member challenge.

An annual initiative, the challenge recognizes institutions from around the world that serve as champions of change in the business education landscape. This year’s theme, “Catalysts for Innovation,” emphasizes business education’s efforts to elevate entrepreneurial thinking and new business creation. Interdisciplinary Applied Learning Lab Download Full Image

The W. P. Carey School of Business is recognized for its Interdisciplinary Applied Learning Labs, which is an immersive course that pairs full-time MBA students and non-business graduate students with local organizations to solve real-world problems in fields such as biomedical engineering, mechanical engineering, social work and public school financing.

“I’m so proud this course has been recognized,” W. P. Carey School Dean Amy Hillman said. “It represents the ingenuity and innovation that makes this university great — and it reminds us of the enormous impact a few good ideas can have when these creative qualities are put together in an entrepreneurial environment, in the hands of students with diverse backgrounds and experience.” 

Now in its fifth year, the Innovations That Inspire challenge has highlighted more than 120 business school efforts that exemplify forward-looking approaches to education, research, community engagement or outreach, and leadership. To date, members of AACSB’s Business Education Alliance have shared nearly 1,000 innovations, creating a robust repository in AACSB’s DataDirect system to inform and inspire fellow members and the industry.

“The demand for innovation that engages experts across disciplines and addresses the needs of both local and global communities has never been more apparent than in these unprecedented times,” said Thomas R. Robinson, president and CEO of AACSB. "We are honored to feature the W. P. Carey School of Business for its valuable role in elevating entrepreneurship through research, teaching and community engagement.” 

Shay Moser

Managing Editor, W. P. Carey School of Business

480-965-3963

Researchers develop new process to up solar cell performance


April 21, 2020

Experimental condensed matter physicists in the Department of Physics at the University of Oklahoma and an electrical engineering professor at Arizona State University have developed an approach to circumvent a major loss process that currently limits the efficiency of commercial solar cells.

Solar cells convert the sun’s energy into electricity and are the main component of solar panels and many types of electrical devices as broad-ranging as satellites and calculators. New solar energy approach Download Full Image

Members of the Photovoltaic Materials and Devices Group, led by Ian Sellers, University of Oklahoma associate professor in the Homer L. Dodge Department of Physics and Astronomy, along with theorists at Arizona State University led by David K. Ferry have demonstrated a breakthrough toward the development of a hot carrier solar cell.

A hot carrier solar cell is a device that would increase the efficiency of solar cells by more than 20%, which Sellers said would be a significant breakthrough for solar energy.

“Although this device has been the source of a considerable amount of research over the last 10 to 15 years, the realization of a practical solution has thus far eluded researchers with proof-of-principle demonstrations only presented under unrealistic conditions or in materials and structures not relevant for solar cell operation,” Sellers said.

Sellers says this new approach, recently published in the journal Nature Energy, demonstrates “significant progress in the realization of the hot carrier solar cell and the potential for ultrahigh-efficiency single junction semiconductor devices, which would revolutionize the field of photovoltaics and renewable energy generation.”

"The new approach arises from using an interdisciplinary approach where we bring proven ideas from other fields of semiconductor devices and use them in the solar cell arena," said Ferry, an emeritus engineering professor in ASU's School of Electrical, Computer and Electrical Engineering. "Working with the Oklahoma group has allowed us to move quickly toward the realization of these ideas."

Terry Grant

Media Relations Officer, Media Relations and Strategic Communications

520-907-2248