Emmett Perl received a Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of San Diego in 2011, an M.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) in 2013, and a Ph.D in Electrical and Computer Engineering from UCSB in 2016. His graduate research included 3 years of work at UCSB and 3 years at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado.
His work at UCSB focused on light management and the development of novel light coupling structures for multijunction photovoltaic devices. At NREL, Emmett worked on developing high efficiency solar cells that can be operated at 400°C for use with hybrid solar thermal/photovoltaic energy systems. Emmett was named an NSF Graduate Research Fellow in 2011 and a Frenkel Fellow in 2015. He also worked on projects with Engineering a Brighter Sudan, the IEEE Community Solutions Initiative, and Unite to Light to help bring electricity to rural areas throughout the world.