Pete Sheldon is a senior research advisor in the Materials, Chemical and Computational Science (MCCS) Directorate. In this capacity, he is responsible for strategic space and equipment planning. Prior to his current role, Pete served as center director for NREL's Research Operations Group.

He has nearly 40 years of research experience in a wide variety of photovoltaic materials and device technologies. Previously, he served as Deputy Director of the National Center for Photovoltaics (NCPV) at NREL. He also served as Manager of NREL’s Measurements and Characterization Division, where he oversaw materials and device characterization R&D in the areas of surface analysis, electro-optical characterization, analytical microscopy, and standardized cell/module measurements for the photovoltaic community. He was the Group Leader of the CdTe thin-film program, developing high-performance, transparent conducting oxides and polycrystalline CdS/CdTe materials for photovoltaic device applications. He has held Senior and Staff Scientist positions in the III-V Device Development Group, investigating the properties of materials and devices grown by molecular-beam epitaxy, including studying growth, nucleation, and electro-optical properties of lattice-mismatched semiconductors (III-Vs on Si) and the properties of interfaces grown by atomic layer epitaxy.

He has authored more than 90 publications and has nine patents. In 2001, he was named a Fellow of the American Vacuum Society (AVS). 

Education

M.S. Electrical Engineering, University of Colorado at Boulder

B.S. Electrical Engineering, University of Maine