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Eric Tervo

Eric Tervo

Assistant Professor

Dr. Eric Tervo is an Assistant Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering and of Mechanical Engineering. He also holds a joint appointment at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. His research focuses on developing semiconductor materials and devices for energy conversion and thermal management through the study of combined heat, light, and charge transfer processes. This includes thermal energy conversion devices such as thermophotovoltaic cells, solid-state refrigeration processes, and approaches for active control of heat transfer in nanoengineered materials. Through this research, he works to address global energy challenges and help create efficient and sustainable energy infrastructure for a broad variety of applications.

Prior to joining UW-Madison, he was the Nozik Postdoctoral Fellow at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, where he designed, fabricated, and characterized thermal energy conversion devices including thermophotovoltaic cells and thermoradiative cells. He completed his Ph.D. at the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he developed theoretical and computational methods to study thermal radiation in nanoscale materials. He also worked as an engineer at Southwest Research Institute, where he conducted fluid dynamics research for oil and gas industry applications.

Department

Electrical & Computer Engineering

Contact

4619, Engineering Hall
1415 Engineering Dr
Madison, WI

Professor Eric Tervo - Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at UW–Madison

  • PhD 2019, Georgia Institute of Technology
  • BS 2012, Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison

  • Semiconductor materials and devices
  • Thermal and luminescent electromagnetic radiation
  • Solid-state thermal energy conversion devices
  • Solar energy conversion
  • Energy policy and economics

  • 2022 13th World Conference on Thermophotovoltaic Generation of Electricity, Young Scientist Award
  • 2020 Georgia Institute of Technology, Sigma Xi Best Ph.D. Thesis Award
  • 2018 National Science Foundation, Travel Award, 16th International Heat Transfer Conference
  • 2017 National Science Foundation, Travel Award, 2017 ASME IMECE
  • 2015 Georgia Institute of Technology, IEN User Facility Seed Grant
  • 2015 National Science Foundation, Graduate Research Fellowship Program Awardee (DGE-1650044)
  • 2014 National Science Foundation, IGERT: Nanomaterials for Energy Storage & Conversion

  • Schulte, K. L., Friedman, D. J., Dada, T., Guthrey, H. L., Costa, E. W., Tervo, E., France, R. M., Geisz, J. F., & Steiner, M. A. (2024). Sub-0.6 eV Inverted Metamorphic GaInAs Cells Grown on Inp and GaAs Substrates for Thermophotovoltaics and Laser Power Conversion. Advanced Energy Materials, 14(10), 2303367.
  • Schulte, K. L., Friedman, D. J., Dada, T., Guthrey, H. L., da Costa, E. W., Tervo, E., France, R. M., Geisz, J. F., & Steiner, M. A. (2024). InP-and GaAs-Based 0.6 eV GaInAs Devices for Thermophotovoltaics and Laser Power Conversion. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States).
  • Walter, L. P., Tervo, E., & Francoeur, M. (2023). The thermal discrete dipole approximation and the discrete system Green's function methods for computational near-field radiative heat transfer. In Light, Plasmonics and Particles (pp. 223–247). Elsevier.
  • Tervo, E., Ferguson, A. J., Selvidge, J., Steiner, M. A., & France, R. M. (2023). Demonstration of Thermoradiative Energy Conversion with InAs Cells. In 2023 IEEE 50th Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC) (pp. 1–1).
  • Tervo, E., Ferguson, A. J., Steiner, M. A., & France, R. M. (2022). InAs Thermophotovoltaic Cells with Low Reverse Saturation Current. In 2022 IEEE 49th Photovoltaics Specialists Conference (PVSC) (pp. 1283–1283).
  • Tervo, E., France, R. M., Friedman, D. J., Arulanandam, M. K., King, R. R., Narayan, T. C., Luciano, C., Nizamian, D. P., Johnson, B. A., Young, A. R., & others, (2022). Efficient and scalable GaInAs thermophotovoltaic devices. Joule, 6(11), 2566--2584.
  • Arulanandam, M. K., Steiner, M. A., Tervo, E., Young, A. R., Kuritzky, L. Y., Perl, E. E., Narayan, T. C., Kayes, B. M., Briggs, J. A., & King, R. R. (2022). Fabrication methods for high reflectance dielectric-metal point contact rear mirror for optoelectronic devices. MethodsX, 9, 101898.
  • Arulanandam, M. K., Steiner, M. A., Tervo, E., Young, A. R., Kuritzky, L. Y., Perl, E. E., Narayan, T. C., Kayes, B. M., Briggs, J. A., & King, R. R. (2022). GaAs thermophotovoltaic patterned dielectric back contact devices with improved sub-bandgap reflectance. Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, 238, 111545.
  • Walter, L. P., Tervo, E., & Francoeur, M. (2022). Near-field radiative heat transfer between irregularly shaped dielectric particles modeled with the discrete system Green's function method. Physical Review B, 106(19), 195417.
  • Tervo, E., & Steiner, M. A. (2022). Semiconductor-dielectric-metal solar absorbers with high spectral selectivity. Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, 240, 111735.

  • E C E 399 - Independent Study (Spring 2025)
  • E C E 489 - Honors in Research (Spring 2025)
  • E C E 890 - Pre-Dissertator's Research (Spring 2025)
  • E C E 901 - Special Topics in Electrical and Computer Engineering (Spring 2025)
  • E C E 990 - Dissertator's Research (Spring 2025)
  • M E 489 - Honors in Research (Spring 2025)
  • M E 790 - Master's Research and Thesis (Spring 2025)
  • M E 964 - Special Advanced Topics in Mechanical Engineering (Spring 2025)
  • E C E 399 - Independent Study (Fall 2024)
  • E C E 610 - Seminar in Electrical and Computer Engineering (Fall 2024)
  • E C E 890 - Pre-Dissertator's Research (Fall 2024)
  • M E 489 - Honors in Research (Fall 2024)
  • M E 790 - Master's Research and Thesis (Fall 2024)
  • E C E 890 - Pre-Dissertator's Research (Summer 2024)
  • E C E 399 - Independent Study (Spring 2024)
  • E C E 434 - Photonics (Spring 2024)
  • E C E 890 - Pre-Dissertator's Research (Spring 2024)
  • M E 489 - Honors in Research (Spring 2024)
  • M E 790 - Master's Research and Thesis (Spring 2024)
  • E C E 220 - Electrodynamics I (Fall 2023)
  • E C E 399 - Independent Study (Fall 2023)
  • E C E 790 - Master's Research (Fall 2023)
  • E C E 890 - Pre-Dissertator's Research (Fall 2023)
  • M E 790 - Master's Research and Thesis (Fall 2023)
  • E C E 890 - Pre-Dissertator's Research (Summer 2023)
  • M E 790 - Master's Research and Thesis (Summer 2023)