WWU to Host Seminar and Reception to Honor P3 Winners on May 6

Western Washington University will host a seminar to honor the award-wining Smart Solar Window student team and its faculty advisors at 4:15 p.m. on Wednesday, May 6 in Communication Facility room 120, followed by a reception at 5 p.m. in Environmental Science Building room 128.

The event is free and open to the public.

The seminar is titled “Materials After Dark” and will celebrate the success of the students team and its mentors who recently won a $75,000 first-place at the Environmental Protection Agency “P3: People, Prosperity and the Planet” on April 11 in Washington, D.C. There will be an opportunity to meet the team and learn more about their project.  

The team is made up of seven Western students and one University of Washington student. They won the competition by designing the Smart Solar Window, which is the first completely transparent solar panel that harnesses energy from the sun, converts it to electricity on cuts down on building’s heating, ventilation and air conditioning by 10 to 30 percent.

This event is co-sponsored by Western’s Advanced Materials Science and Engineering Center (AMSEC) and the Institute of Energy Studies (IES); information will be available at the reception for students who are interested in the AMSEC and the IES programs.

For more information contact Mark Bussell, director of AMSEC and professor of Chemistry, at (360) 650-3145 or mark.bussell@wwu.edu.