Seth Hubbard - Featured Faculty 2024
Seth Hubbard
College of Science
Seth Hubbard is a Professor in the School of Physics and Astronomy with joint appointments in Microsystems Engineering and the Golisano Institute of Sustainability. His background is in electronic materials, semiconductor devices and optoelectronics. He is leading a team of postdoctoral researchers and students exploring how novel materials and device architecture can improve efficiency and lower the cost of energy generation, management and distribution in satellite systems and terrestrially.
Prof. Hubbard received his BS in Physics from Drexel University, MS in Electrical Engineering and Applied Physics from Case Western Reserve University and PhD in Electrical Engineering from the University of Michigan, in the area of high-power heterojunction field effect transistors. He then spent two years as a National Research Council Postdoctoral Research Associate, working at NASA Glenn Research Center on space power systems. Since joining RIT, Prof. Hubbard has been appointed as Director of the NanoPower Research Laboratories, Director of the new Physics PhD Program and recently as Head of the School of Physics and Astronomy.
There is an ever-growing demand for increased power and sophistication in the satellite systems orbiting our planet, driven by the increasing proliferation and commercialization of near-Earth space necessary for high-speed communication and data links. Prof. Hubbard’s team studies the conversion of light into electrical energy, using photovoltaics, as one avenue that can be explored to meet these challenges both terrestrially and in space. The core research being done by his group involves new materials synthesis using both vapor phase epitaxy of crystalline semiconductors as well as solution based processing of metal halide perovskites, device fabrication, modeling and simulation as well as detailed space radiation effects characterization, and demonstrating proof-of-principle of devices that could deliver low cost, highly resilient power conversion systems. His team has set multiple records including a quantum well based solar cell with a power conversion efficiency near 28% in earth orbit conditions, as well as a recent record for laser power beaming demonstrating over 800Watts of power delivered over a distance of nearly 9km in the New Mexico desert! His work is funded by various agencies including NASA, Air Force, DARPA and a recent prestigious US Space Force Space Strategic Technology Institute (SSTI-3), headquartered at RIT, of which he serves as Director.
Seth Hubbard
Professor
School of Physics and Astronomy
College of Science