RET Site: Collaborative Research: Sonoran Photovoltaics Laboratory: Energizing the STEM Pipeline through Citizen Science

Advancing solutions to sustainable energy transitions, creating an informed citizenry, and building a highly skilled STEM workforce are all elements of successful energy system transitions for rural and urban communities. Addressing this grand challenge requires significant and balanced investments in solar energy research and education alike. Arizona State University and the University of Arizona will partner to create the Sonoran Photovoltaics Laboratory (SPV Lab) in order to inspire and enable educators.

SPV Lab will promote the progress of science and engineering through this Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) Site which will position teachers to advance the energy revolution in two ways. First, they will directly contribute to research efforts that increase photovoltaic (PV) performance and resiliency. Second, these educators will develop and provide educational opportunities about solar energy that, in turn, inspire and enable the next generation of researchers and knowledgeable citizens.

In relation to research and education, SPV Lab will also (a) broaden participation in engineering by students from a multitude of backgrounds by engaging them in meaningful STEM learning; (b) create a sustainable, scalable model of teaching-learning focused on educating students’ understanding of the world’s current energy situation and associated socio-technical challenges; (c) build prototypes for standardized PV products implementable in diverse educational settings and data platforms sharable across school sites; and (d) foster university, school, and industry partnerships to support and expand K-12 education in photovoltaic systems. Together, these activities create a pathway to expand access to solar energy.

Energy security remains a national priority, and the Sonoran Photovoltaics Laboratory (SPV Lab) RET aims to contribute to a national energy transition by increasing PV performance and educating the next generation of energy researchers and knowledgeable citizens, thereby creating a pathway to expand access to solar energy and to STEM education and career pathways. The SPV Lab RET will organize a regional approach to create an interconnected set of site-specific and use-inspired photovoltaic (PV) research projects for 4th-12th grade STEM teachers located in the Sonoran Desert region of the United States.

SPV Lab faculty and graduate students will partner with teachers to sustain and spread PV research experiences to schools serving students from all backgrounds using shared PV data platforms and teacher-developed curriculum modules that engage students in PV citizen science. Each summer’s RET will begin with a 1-week, cohort orientation and PV bootcamp, followed by 5-week participation in integrated research projects at one of three laboratory site hosts: ASU’s Solar Power Lab (SPL), UA’s AzRISE/TEP PV test yard, and the agrivoltaics research center at Biosphere 2.

The SPV program will embed teachers in research projects that seek to better monitor, characterize, predict, or optimize the performance of PV. These concerted research experiences will directly engage teachers in research with the potential to critically impact local investment in renewable energy generation. Video-conferencing will enable cross-site industry webinars and virtual lab tours, pedagogical workshops, and co-development of curriculum modules that transfer research to the classroom using a Citizen Science model.

Modules will be shared broadly (open source) at an annual mid-year professional development workshop, at professional conferences, and on a project website. Faculty, students, and industry partners will mentor teachers and students across the year, helping them contribute to research and develop related community energy engineering projects that demonstrate the social value of improving PV performance for their local neighborhoods.

The SPV Lab will: (a) advance the science, technology and sustainability of PV through research projects in which teachers participate, (b) function as a pilot for a sustainable, scalable model of teacher professional development in PV engineering education, and (c) foster a culture of citizen science in which student are active contributors to PV engineering research promoting critical, connected and collective engagement using theories and practices that support transformative learning.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.