ESC EMCH 514- Innovative Methods for Production Breakthroughs: Emerging Thin-Film Photovoltaics

Wednesday, August 26, 2026; 3:35-4:25 pm
102 ECORE
Speaker: Ivy Mawusi Asuo from

Abstract
Organic-inorganic metal halide perovskite solar cells have emerged as a rapidly growing field in 
recent years, as they require more sustainable materials while demonstrating solar efficiency 
comparable to traditional silicon solar cells. Their unique semiconductor properties, including high 
absorption coefficients, ambipolar charge transport, low exciton binding energies, and ferroelectric 
characteristics, also make them suitable for optoelectronic applications. The crystal structures that 
enable these properties depend on manufacturing methods. Additionally, some solution deposition 
methods use antisolvents like chlorobenzene to facilitate the crystallization of thin films. However, 
halide perovskite materials degrade due to moisture, heat, and light. Consequently, the formation of 
metal halide perovskite thin films presents challenges for solution-processed devices, particularly 
under ambient conditions. This talk emphasizes a method for fabricating perovskites under ambient 
conditions by tuning their chemical, optical, and microstructural properties. The crucial role of 
additives and solvent treatment in fabricating perovskite thin films and enhancing their device 
performance will be discussed. It examines the influence of antisolvents on the quality of perovskite 
thin films processed and device performance, providing insights for cost-effective and reliable 
commercial applications. 

Biography
Dr. Ivy M. Asuo is an assistant professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at 
Pennsylvania State University. She earned a PhD in Energy and Materials Science from the Institut 
National de la Recherche Scientifique (INRS-EMT) in Canada. Prior to her PhD, she earned a double 
master's in Functionalized Advanced Materials Engineering under the Erasmus Mundus Scholarship 
from the University of Augsburg, Germany, and the Grenoble Institute for Technology, France. She 
also holds an MSc in Materials Science and Engineering from the African University of Science and 
Technology, Nigeria, and a BSc in Physics from the University of Cape Coast, Ghana. She is a cofounder of Pi-Sol Technologies Inc., now WattByWatt Inc., Canada, a spin-off from her graduate 
research. Her research group at Penn State focuses on the synthesis of energy materials, especially 
the solution processing of halide perovskite thin films for optoelectronic devices and photocatalysis.

Hosted by: Lana Fulton,  lub18@psu.edu

Piezoelectric Films for Microelectromechanical Systems

Wednesday, September 2, 2026; 3:35-4:25 pm
102 ECORE
Speaker: SUSAN TROILER-MCKINSTRY from

Piezoelectric thin films are of increasing interest in low voltage microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) for sensing, actuation, and energy harvesting. This seminar will discuss how materials are optimized for these applications, as well as examples of the use of piezoelectric films over a wide range of length scales. The key figures of merit for actuators and energy harvesting will be discussed, with emphasis on how to achieve these on practical substrates. For example, control of the domain structure of the ferroelectric material allows the energy harvesting figure of merit for the piezoelectric layer to be increased by factors of 4 – 10. Likewise, control of crystallographic orientation and substrate clamping enables large increases in the figure of merit for actuators. To illustrate the functionality of these films, examples of integration into MEMS structures will also be discussed, including miniaturized ultrasound systems for imaging and particle manipulation, low frequency and non-resonant piezoelectric energy harvesting devices, and adjustable optics for X-ray space telescopes.

 

Susan Trolier-McKinstry is an Evan Pugh University Professor and Steward S. Flaschen Professor of Ceramic Science and Engineering, and Professor of Electrical Engineering.  Her main research interests include thin films for dielectric and piezoelectric applications.  She directs both the Center for Dielectrics and Piezoelectrics and the Center for Three-Dimensional Ferroelectric Microelectronics. She is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, a fellow of the American Ceramic Society, IEEE, and the Materials Research Society, and an academician of the World Academy of Ceramics. She currently serves as an associate editor for Applied Physics Letters.  She was 2017 President of the Materials Research Society; previously she served as president of the IEEE Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control Society, as well as Keramos. 

Hosted by: Lana Fulton,  lub18@psu.edu

How Safe Is Safe Enough? Ensuring Safety and Resilience in Critical Infrastructure Control Systems

Wednesday, September 16, 2026; 3:35-4:25 pm
102 ECORE
Speaker: ROMULO MEIRA GOES from

Abstract: Critical infrastructure control systems (CIS), such as energy, transportation, and manufacturing, are expected to operate safely despite uncertain environments, unexpected failures, cyberattacks, and AI-enabled decision-making. Although modern control and verification techniques can provide safety guarantees, these guarantees are only as reliable as the assumptions on which they are built. In this talk, we focus on three questions: (1) How safe is a system when its environment deviates from the assumptions used during design? (2) Can a system recover safe operation after a disruption while continuing to function? (3) How can we leverage emerging AI technologies without sacrificing safety guarantees?

To address these questions, we use supervisory control theory of discrete-event systems to develop new methodologies for robustness analysis of controllers, recovery strategy synthesis, and AI-assisted decision verification. These methodologies enable engineers to characterize safe operating envelopes of controllers, identify realistic vulnerabilities, design controllers that restore safe operation, and formally validate AI-generated plans before deployment. We demonstrate how these methods enhance the safety and resilience of CIS through case studies in manufacturing systems.

 

Bio: Rômulo Meira-Góes is an Assistant Professor in the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the Pennsylvania State University. Previously, he was a postdoctoral researcher working with Eunsuk Kang, Stavros Tripakis, and Stéphane Lafortune at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Michigan. In 2022, he received the CPS Rising Stars Award from the University of Virginia. He received his Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Michigan in 2020, working with Stéphane Lafortune. Prior to the University of Michigan, he earned his B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from the Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná - Curitiba in 2015.

Hosted by: Lana Fulton,  lub18@psu.edu