Dr. W. Jud Ready

Sunlight has never really caught fire as a power source, mostly because generating electricity with solar cells is more expensive and less efficient than some conventional sources.
 
But a new solar panel unveiled by the Georgia Tech Research Institute hopes to brighten the future of the energy source.
 
The difference is in the design. Traditional solar panels are often flat and bulky. The new design features an array of nano-towers — like microscopic blades of grass — that add surface area and trap more sunlight.
 
“It allows more opportunities for the photon to hit the part of the cell that creates electricity,” said Jud Ready, the senior research engineer who invented the panel.

W. Jud Ready, Ph.D. is Senior Research Engineer, Adjunct Professor, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI). Prior to joining GTRI, he worked for a major military contractor (General Dynamics) and a small business (MicroCoating Technologies). He earned a Ph.D. in materials science with a minor in electrical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2000 and he holds an active security clearance.
 
Jud has published numerous refereed publications on electronic materials, and his research developments have been presented at more than a dozen international conferences. He was awarded a patent for Electrically resistive material including platinum and from about 5 and about 70 molar percent or iridium, ruthenium or mixtures thereof, calculated based on platinum as 100%, are disclosed and has several patents pending in the U.S. and abroad.
 
He authored God Speed, John Glenn, and coauthored Carbon-Nanotube-Based Electrochemical Double-Layer Capacitor Technologies for Spaceflight Applications, Carbon Nanotube Arrays for Photovoltaic Applications, The Effect of Flux Chemistry, Applied Voltage, Conductor Spacing, and Temperature on Conductive Anodic Filament Formation, A Novel Test Circuit for Detecting Electrochemical Migration and Conductive Anodic Filament, Factors which enhanced conductive anodic filament formation, and Carbon Nanotube-Based Supercapacitors: Technologies and Markets. Read the full list of his publications!
 
Jud also holds a master of science in metallurgical engineering and bachelor of materials engineering, both from Georgia Tech earned in 1997 and 1994, respectively. The TMS Electronic, Magnetic & Photonic Materials Division (EMPMD) named him as a 2002 Young Leader, and he recently served as the chair of the TMS Young Leaders Committee. He is also a member of the EMPMD Council and currently serves as the TMS Education Committee chair and the TMS Nanomaterials Committee vice chair. In 2002, he was appointed to the TMS Strategic Planning Advisory Committee that reports directly to the Board of Directors.
 
In 2003, Jud was appointed as a TMS Trustee to the Federation of Materials Societies (FMS) and simultaneously named as the TMS representative to the FMS Education Committee. Also in 2003, he was named a Georgia Tech Teaching Fellow. He has been and continues to be a session organizer for numerous symposia/conferences and also serves on the TMS Public & Governmental Affairs Committee, the TMS Electronic Packaging and Interconnect Materials Committee, and the TMS Membership Development Committee. He has also been involved in a variety of peer review activities for archival journals, scholarships, and federal research funding agencies. He is a member of ASM International, where he serves on the board-appointed Membership Development Committee. He is also a member of the Materials Research Society, International Microelectronics and Packaging Society, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.