A World-Class Team
Konarka's world-class team of scientists and support staff combines talented theorists and practical process specialists, including the inventors of our breakthrough cold-sintering process from the University of Massachusetts and leading scientists from the technology development and engineering divisions of Polaroid.
Our team has extensive expertise in all related fields of technology development - including photonics, photochemistry, physics, organic chemistry, materials science, polymers and fluid mechanics - bringing Konarka a solid technical foundation. Furthermore, our team has the knowledge and experience to bring products from the laboratory into production.
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Bill Beckenbaugh, Ph.D.
President & Chief Executive Officer
Bill Beckenbaugh brings to Konarka Technologies over 28 years of diverse, senior level technical management of electronics manufacturing R&D, most recently with Sanmina-SCI and HADCO prior to their merger. From 1985 until 1999 he was with Motorola, where he served as Vice President and Director of the Corporate Manufacturing Research Center (1987-1994) and Semiconductor Packaging R&D labs in the Motorola Semiconductor Products Sector (1994-99). From 1974 until 1985 he served as a Research Leader at Lucent Technologies Engineering Research Center, Princeton, NJ.
Before joining Konarka Technologies, Bill was Senior Vice President & Chief Technical Marketing Officer, Sanmina-SCI, reporting to the COO & President. There he was chartered with providing technical and marketing leadership to Sanmina-SCI's engineering organizations across the major business divisions' technical councils. In conjunction with the senior management team, he coordinated the strategic technical directions for the company and ensured that all engineering initiatives supported customers' technology priorities and schedules.
Bill holds a B.A. in Chemistry from MacMurray College in Illinois and a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Rice University in Houston, Texas. In addition, Bill has been issued 15 U.S. patents and has been widely published and presented at numerous technical venues.
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Wormser's leadership responsibilities for Konarka include creating a business plan, designing a product roadmap, and exploring and fostering strategic alliances. An accomplished executive, Wormser is highly knowledgeable about the domestic and global opportunities for solar energy in such areas as technology assessment, manufacturing, product development, and marketing and sales. His 20+ years in the energy industry, which includes experience with solar-oriented subsidiaries of Exxon, Mobil and RWE, have helped him build personal relationships with key industry players. Wormser also has served as CEO of Advanced Energy, a supplier of power electronics to the solar and fuel cell industries, and Technology Director for Solar Design, a world leader in the design of solar buildings. He earned his B.A. in Spanish from State University of New York at Albany, a B.S. in mechanical engineering from George Washington University, and his M.B.A. from Northeastern University.
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Dr. Russell Gaudiana, Ph.D.
Vice President, Research and Development
Dr. Gaudiana is responsible for overseeing Konarka's R&D efforts, including development of the technology roadmap, budgeting, staffing and project leadership. He joined Konarka after 27 years at Polaroid, where he managed the Chemical Research Division of R&D, comprised of five departments and more than 75 members of the technical staff. A businessman and scholar, Dr. Gaudiana holds 37 U.S. patents and has authored or co-authored more than 50 publications. He is also the executive editor of the Journal of Macromolecular Science - Pure and Applied Chemistry and Macromolecular Reports. Dr. Gaudiana earned his B.S. in chemistry from Seton Hall University, M.S. in polymer chemistry from Wright State University, and Ph.D. in photochemistry from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
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Dr. Chittibabu has performed extensive research on the design, synthesis, processing and characterization of conjugated polymers. His laboratory experience includes organic, polymer and electrochemical synthesis, sol-gel synthesis and modification and material characterization using thermal analysis instruments and spectroscopic techniques. Active in Small Business Innovation Research since 1996, he has brought in four Phase I and Phase II grants on various aspects of polymeric materials for applications in optics, electronics and optical communication. Dr. Chittibabu received his M.S. in chemistry from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Madras, India; M.S. in polymer science and technology from IIT, Delhi; and Ph.D. in polymer science/plastics engineering from the University of Massachusetts at Lowell. While studying at UMass Lowell, he received the Outstanding Graduate Student Award in Polymer Science for his academic and research performance.
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Dr. Lian Li, Ph.D.
Principal Scientist
Dr. Li is devoted to developing flexible, low-cost photovoltaic (PV) devices for Konarka. Dr. Li's experience includes eight years at Molecular Technologies in Westford, Mass., where he investigated properties of polymeric materials for photonic and electronic applications. Active in Small Business Innovation Research since 1993, he has brought in four Phase I and two Phase II grants on various aspects of polymeric materials for applications in optics, electronics and optical communication. As a researcher, Dr. Li's interests include PV devices as well as electrical and optical properties of polymeric materials. He has authored or co-authored more than 120 scientific publications and holds one U.S. patent. Dr. Li earned his B.S. in physics from Central China Normal University in Wuhan, China; his M.S. in physics from Memphis State University; and a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Massachusetts at Lowell.
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At Konarka, Dr. Balasubramanian designs and develops dye-sensitized, nanocrystalline, semiconductor-based photovoltaic cells for portable power applications. He also has extensive experience synthesizing and processing polymeric materials for optoelectronic and related applications. Prior to joining Konarka, Dr. Balasubramanian spent four years at Molecular Technologies in Westford, Mass., where he worked on the synthesis and processing of polymeric materials. Recipient of numerous awards for his work in polymer science and plastics engineering, he has presented his research across the country and holds a U.S. patent for "Nonlinear Optical Structures and their Methods of Making." Dr. Balasubramanian earned his B.S. in chemistry from the University of Madras in Madras, India; M.S. in chemistry from Case Western Reserve University; and Ph.D. in polymer science/plastics engineering from UMass Lowell.
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Edmund Montello
Director of Engineering and Process Development
Montello is helping to build a high-powered technical team at Konarka. His responsibilities include creating product and process intellectual property, integrating all cell construction operations into a continuous web-converting process, and determining cell-patterning requirements from starting substrate to final cell configuration. Montello brings over 30 years experience in imaging R&D at Polaroid, where he was involved with product and process development, technical operations management, technology development and people development. Among his areas of expertise are product and process scale-up protocols, thin film-coating technology, fluid technology, and cycle-time reduction. Montello earned his B.S. in engineering science from Boston University and A.S. in biochemistry from Northeastern University.
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David Waller
Director of Organic Chemistry
Waller, who is in charge of designing new, efficient, sensitizing dyes for nanocrystalline TiO2 cells, has extensive knowledge in organic and dye chemistry. He spent 26 years at Polaroid, culminating as senior research manager for the Organic Chemistry Department and chemical leader/strategist for major product development programs. Among his accomplishments at Polaroid were designing and developing opacification dyes used in all their major film products, as well as designing and commercializing new, light, stable ink-jet dyes. Waller, who holds 36 U.S. patents, also authored a chapter in Elsevier's Colorants for Non-textile Applications. He earned his B.S. in chemistry from Texas Christian University and M.S. in chemistry from Northeastern University.
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Bill Beckenbaugh, Ph.D.
President and Chief Executive Officer
Paul Wormser
Chief Operating Officer
Dr. Russell Gaudiana, Ph.D.
Vice President, Research and Development
Dr. Kethinni Chittibabu, Ph.D.
Principal Scientist
Dr. Lian Li, Ph.D.
Principal Scientist
Dr. Srinivasan Balasubramanian, Ph.D.
Principal Scientist
Edmund Montello
Director of Engineering and
Process Development
David Waller
Director of Organic Chemistry
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