Allen Barnett
Allen M. Barnett | |
|---|---|
| Born | June 20, 1940 |
| Occupation(s) | Electrical engineer, research professor, CEO |
| Years active | 1980s–2010s |
| Known for | Founder and CEO of AstroPower, Inc.; DARPA Very High Efficiency Solar Cell program |
Allen M. Barnett (born June 20, 1940) was a distinguished American research professor specializing in electrical engineering at the University of Delaware. He spearheaded the DARPA-sponsored Consortium for Very High Efficiency Solar cells, driving significant progress in solar technology innovation. Barnett established and served as CEO of Astropower, Inc., a solar-cell manufacturing company that played a key role in expanding the U.S. solar export sector. Additionally, he held a professorship in Advanced Photovoltaics at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering (SPREE) located in Sydney, Australia.
Education
Barnett completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign in 1963 and obtained his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Carnegie Mellon University in 1966. He was recognized as a fellow by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
Career
Barnett began his tenure at the University of Delaware (UD) as Director of the Institute of Energy Conversion and Professor of Electrical Engineering. In 1993, he departed UD to concentrate on AstroPower Inc., which he had founded during the early 1980s. He returned to UD in 2003, taking on roles including Executive Director of the Solar Power Program, Research Professor in Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering, and Senior Policy Fellow at the Center for Energy and Environmental Policy.
In 2005, Barnett led and co-authored the successful $100 million DARPA Very High Efficiency Solar Cell (VHESC) program proposal. He co-developed a solar cell module that achieved 38.5 percent efficiency, building upon innovations from an earlier $53 million DARPA VHESC initiative. This milestone was highlighted in the March 2010 edition of Progress in Photovoltaics as “likely the highest efficiency recorded for experimental sunlight-to-electricity conversion.”
Barnett joined the UNSW School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering faculty in 2011.
Publications
Barnett contributed extensively to scientific literature through numerous research papers and was a contributor to the book Renewable Energy: Sources for Fuels and Electricity.
Recognition
Among his honors, Barnett was awarded the Boer Medal and was listed among "The 50 Most Influential Delawareans of the Past 50 Years" by Delaware Today in 2012. In 2001, he and his wife Marsha received the inaugural United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation Humanitarian Award. Additional distinctions include:
- IEEE William R. Cherry Award
- IEEE Fellow Award
- Karl W. Böer Solar Energy Medal of Merit
- P. Merriott W.H.O. Philanthropist of the Year 2004
The AstroPower Case
While serving as CEO of AstroPower Inc., Barnett became involved in a financial misconduct case with CFO Thomas Stiner. The SEC initiated a settled civil fraud proceeding accusing them of engaging in deceptive accounting practices and submitting materially false financial reports.
During their management, AstroPower improperly recorded approximately $4 million in revenues across Q2 and Q3 of 2002, inflating net income by roughly $160,000 (80%) in Q2 and $440,000 (113%) in Q3. Both Barnett and Stiner consented to permanent injunctions and paid civil fines amounting to $65,000 and $40,000 respectively.
In 2007, the AstroPower Liquidating Trust filed suit against auditor KPMG LLP, asserting that KPMG directed the company’s accounting methods. The court permitted claims such as breach of contract and professional negligence to move forward, rejecting KPMG’s motion to dismiss.