Program overview
Solar energy technology use is expanding rapidly. The Solar Photovoltaic (PV) sector is the largest and fastest growing renewable energy employer worldwide with an increasing need for experts that can support this growth.
In this MicroMasters program you will gain the knowledge and skills needed to pursue a career in the solar energy field and become a successful solar energy professional. This program will teach you what is expected from solar experts, and will prepare you for employment in various capacities including:
- Systems design and engineering
- Solar systems installation
- Device fabrication and characterization
- QA and reliability testing
- Project management and consultancy as well as (technical) sales
What will you learn
- The physics of and how to model all aspects of a working solar cell: performance, efficiency limits and design rules.
- Design concepts and fabrication processes of various photovoltaic (PV) technologies and applications.
- How to evaluate components of a PV system: PV modules, inverters, DC-DC converters, batteries, charge controllers and cables.
- Application techniques for designing a PV system ranging from a residential rooftop system to a utility scale solar farm.
- Design concepts of microgrids that include PV systems.
- How to assess the economics and ecology of PV systems and communicate these accordingly.
Program Class List
1Solar Energy: Photovoltaic (PV) Energy Conversion
Course Details
1
Learn how solar cells generate electricity, and about the semiconductor physics and optics required to design and manufacture solar cells.
2Solar Energy: Photovoltaic (PV) Technologies
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2
Explore the main PV technologies in the current market, to gain in-depth knowledge on the design and processing methods of solar cells.
3Solar Energy: Photovoltaic (PV) Systems
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3
Explore the wide range of solar energy applications and learn to design a real PV installation with excellent performance and reliability.
4Solar Energy: Integration of Photovoltaic Systems in Microgrids
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4
Learn how to integrate a photovoltaic system into a microgrid of your design.
5Solar Energy Engineering: Comprehensive Exams
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5
Finalize the Solar Energy Engineering program to become a MicroMasters graduate.
Meet Your Instructors
Arno Smets
Professor, Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science at Delft University of Technology
Dr. Arno H.M. Smets is Professor in Solar Energy in the Photovoltaics Material and Devices group at the faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science, Delft University of Technology. From 2005-2010 he worked at the Research Center for Photovoltaics at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) in Tsukuba Japan. His research work is focused on processing of thin silicon films, innovative materials and new concepts for photovoltaic applications. He is lecturer for BSc and MSc courses on Photovoltaics and Sustainable Energy at TU Delft. His online edX course on Solar Energy attracted over 150,000 students worldwide. He is co-author of the book “Solar Energy. The physics and engineering of photovoltaic conversion technologies and systems.”
Professor Smets was awarded the first ever edX Prize for Exceptional Contributions to Online Teaching and Learning for his Solar Energy course. To learn more, visit here.
Miro Zeman
Head of the Electrical Sustainable Energy department at TU Delft
Professor Miro Zeman is the head of the Electrical Sustainable Energy department at the TU Delft faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science. His research interests encompass the development of novel materials and concepts for the improvement of thin-film silicon solar cell performance and modeling of devices based on amorphous semiconductors. Since receiving his PhD in 1989 he was in charge of more than 30 Dutch and 6 European projects dealing with the development of thin-film solar cells and technology for their fabrication. He has authored and co-authored more than 270 scientific publications; he contributed to 3 scientific books. He acts as a reviewer for several scientific journals. He regularly attends world conferences on advanced materials and photovoltaics in Europe, USA, Japan and China, where he contributed with more than 80 presentations. He is co-author of the book “Solar Energy. The physics and engineering of photovoltaic conversion technologies and systems.”
René van Swaaij
Associate Professor, Photovoltaics Material and Devices at TU Delft
Dr. René van Swaaij is associate professor in the Photovoltaics Material and Devices group at the TU Delft faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science. He is the programme director of the master programme Sustainable Energy Technology. His research interests lie mainly with the processing of silicon based solar cells and the physics underlying the operation of these cells. He is in charge of several projects in the field of thin-film silicon solar cells and lectures on semiconductor device physics in BSc and MSc courses. René has authored and co-authored more than 100 journal and conference papers is and is co-author of the book “Solar Energy. The physics and engineering of photovoltaic conversion technologies and systems.”
Olindo Isabella
Assistant Professor, Photovoltaics Material and Devices at TU Delft
Dr. Olindo Isabella is assistant professor in the Photovoltaics Material and Devices group at the TU Delft faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science. Between 2011 and 2012 he was visiting researcher at AIST (Tsukuba, Japan) working on high performance thin-film a-SiGe:H absorber for multi-junction thin-film silicon solar cells. He received his PhD (cum laude) from Delft University of Technology in 2013 for his research on light management in thin-film silicon solar cells, overseeing activities on c-Si solar cells and PV systems. He has contributed to two scientific books, has 3 patent applications and is co-author of the book “Solar Energy. The physics and engineering of photovoltaic conversion technologies and systems.” He developed and manages the Lab course on photovoltaics offering students hands-on experience with all aspects of photovoltaic systems.
Ravi Vasudevan
Postdoctoral Researcher with the Photovoltaic Materials and Devices at TU Delft
Dr. Ravi Vasudevan obtained his MSc and PhD from the Delft University of Technology. He has researched solar energy and is an expert in silicon heterojunction solar cells. He also is experienced in solar energy education. He has given many lecturers at the BSc and MSc level for various solar-based courses at TU Delft. He also helped to develop the MSc course in PV Systems taught at TU Delft and is in charge of managing the creation of the Solar Energy Engineering ProfEd series hosted on the edX platform.
Seyedmahdi Izadkhast
Postdoctoral fellow researcher, DC Systems, Energy Conversion and Storage at TU Delft
Seyedmahdi Izadkhast received PhD degrees within SETS doctorate from Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands; Comillas Pontifical University, Spain; KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden. Since January 2016, Dr. S. Izadkhast has been working as a postdoctoral research fellow with DC Systems, Energy Conversion and Storage (DCE&S) at the Delft University of Technology, where he is also the lecturer of "AC & DC Microgrids" course, and OnlineSolar and instructor/project leader of "Systems Engineering" course. Moreover, he has been involved in numerous international research projects like GRID4EU, NICE GRID, CSGriP, and DCSMART ERA-Net SG+.
Laura Ramirez
Assistant Professor of Energy Conversion at TU Delft
Laura Ramirez is an Assistant Professor of Energy Conversion with the Department of Electrical Sustainable Energy of Delft University of Technology and DC Systems, Energy Conversion and Storage group (Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science). In 2003, she earned her Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering and her Bachelor’s degree in Music with a major in Piano at the Universidad de Costa Rica (but she cannot improvise). She graduated with honors from her M.Sc. studies in Electrical Power Engineering at Delft University of Technology in 2007. Laura worked on her PhD project from September 2007 to December 2011. In 2013, she was awarded with the Erasmus Energy Science Award.
Pavol Bauer
Full Professor, Department of Electrical Sustainable Energy at TU Delft
Pavol Bauer is a full Professor in the Department of Electrical Sustainable Energy of Delft University of Technology and head of DC Systems, Energy Conversion and Storage group. He earned his Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering at the Technical University of Kosice (‘85) and Ph.D. from Delft University of Technology (’95). He has worked on many projects for industry, focusing on solar wind and wave energy, power electronic applications for power systems and electric mobility. He is a Senior Member of the IEEE (’97), former chairman of Benelux IEEE Joint Industry Applications Society, Power Electronics and Power Engineering Society chapter, chairman of the Power Electronics and Motion Control (PEMC) council, member of the Executive Committee of European Power Electronics Association (EPE).
Program overview
Want to learn about circuits and electronics? Wondering how the electronics behind sensors and actuators works, or how to make computers run faster, or your mobile phone battery last longer? This series of circuits and electronics courses taught by edX CEO and MIT Professor Anant Agarwal and colleagues is for you.
These online Circuits & Electronics courses are taken by all MIT Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) majors.
Topics covered include: circuit abstraction, circuit elements such as resistors and sources, signals, and networks; circuit design and circuit analysis methods; digital abstraction, digital logic, and basic digital design; electronic devices including MOSFETs, digital switches, amplifiers; Energy storage elements like capacitors and inductors; dynamics of first-order and second-order networks and circuit speed; design in the time and frequency domains; op-amps, filters, and analog and digital circuits, signal processing, and applications. Design and lab exercises are also significant components of the XSeries program.
Weekly coursework includes interactive video sequences, readings from the textbook, homework, fun online laboratories, and optional tutorials. Each course will also have a final exam.
These are self-paced courses, so there are no weekly deadlines.
What you will learn
- How to design and analyze circuits using both intuition and mathematical analysis
- How to construct simple digital circuits and improve their speed
- How to construct and analyze filters and their frequency response using capacitors and inductors
- Design circuits applications using MOS transistors and operational amplifiers
- How to measure circuit variables using tools such as virtual oscilloscopes, virtual multimeters, virtual frequency analyzers, and virtual signal generators
- Compare the measurements of the circuit variables with the behavior predicted by mathematical models and explain the discrepancies
Program Class List
1Circuits and Electronics 1: Basic Circuit Analysis
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1
Learn techniques that are foundational to the design of microchips used in smartphones, self-driving cars, computers, and the Internet.
2Circuits and Electronics 2: Amplification, Speed, and Delay
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2
Learn how to speed up digital circuits and build amplifiers in the design of microchips used in smartphones, self-driving cars, computers, and the Internet.
3Circuits and Electronics 3: Applications
Course Details
3
Learn about cool applications, op-amps and filters in the design of microchips used in smartphones, self-driving cars, computers, and the internet.
Meet Your Instructors
Anant Agarwal
CEO and Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, MIT at edX
CEO of edX and Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT. His research focus is in parallel computer architectures and cloud software systems, and he is a founder of several successful startups, including Tilera, a company that produces scalable multicore processors. Prof. Anant won the Maurice Wilkes prize for computer architecture, and MIT's Smullin and Jamieson prizes for teaching. He is also the 2016 recipient of the Harold W. McGraw, Jr. Prize for Higher Education, which recognized his work in advancing the MOOC movement. Additionally, he is a recipient of the Padma Shri award from the President of India and was named the Yidan Prize for Education Development Laureate in 2018. He holds a Guinness World Record for the largest microphone array, and is an author of the textbook "Foundations of Analog and Digital Electronic Circuits."
Gerald Sussman
Professor, Electrical Engineering at MIT
Professor of Electrical Engineering at MIT. He is a well known educator in the computer science community, perhaps best known as the author of "Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs," which is universally acknowledged as one of the top ten textbooks in computer science, and as the creator of Scheme, a popular teaching language. His research spans a range of topics, from artificial intelligence, to physics and chaotic systems, to supercomputer design.
Piotr Mitros
Former Chief Scientist at edX
Chief Scientist of edX and Research Scientist at MIT. His research focus is in finding ways to apply techniques from control systems to optimizing the learning process. He has worked as an analog designer at Texas Instruments, Talking Lights, and most recently, designed the analog front end for a novel medical imaging modality for Rhythmia Medical.
Chris Terman
Senior Lecturer, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT
A Senior Lecturer in the MIT Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Chris has been an award-winning lecturer for this course on campus since 1995. He has four decades of experience as a teacher, digital systems designer and courseware developer. Chris’ recent research is focused on educational technologies for teaching design skills.
Bonnie Lam
Graduate student, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT
Graduate student in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT. Her research interests are digital design methodologies for low-power applications, and she is currently studying low-power techniques for ultrasound imaging. She received her Bachelor of Applied Science (B.A.Sc.) degree in Engineering Physics (Electrical Engineering Option) at the University of British Columbia in 2008 and her Masters of Science (S.M.) degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2010.
Program Overview
Develop the fundamental skills needed for global excellence in manufacturing and competitiveness with the Principles of Manufacturing MicroMasters Credential, designed and delivered by MIT’s #1-world ranked Mechanical Engineering department.
This program provides students with a fundamental basis for understanding and controlling rate, quality and cost in a manufacturing enterprise.
The Principles of Manufacturing are a set of elements common to all manufacturing industries that revolve around the concepts of flow and variations. These principles have emerged from working closely with manufacturing industries at both the research and operational levels.
Targeted towards graduate-level engineers, product designers, and technology developers with an interest in a career in advanced manufacturing, the program will help learners understand and apply these principles to product and process design, factory and supply chain design, and factory operations.
This curriculum focusses on the analysis, characterization and control of flow and variation at different levels of the enterprise through the following subject areas:
- Unit Process Variation and Control: Modeling and controlling temporal and spatial variation in unit processes
- Factory Level System Variation and Control: Modeling and controlling flows in manufacturing systems with stochastic elements and inputs.
- Supply Chain – System Variation and Control: How to operate and design optimal manufacturing-centered supply chains.
- Business Flows: Understanding the uses and flow of business information to start up, scale up and operate a manufacturing facility.
What you will learn
- A new perspective for design and operational decision making at all levels of manufacturing, in the context of volume manufacturing, where rate, quality, cost and flexibility are the key metrics
- How to operate and control unit processes to ensure maximum quality using basic and advanced statistical and feedback control methods
- How to design and operate systems of processes with optimal capacity, resilience and inventory
- How to design and operate optimal supply chain systems
- The financial underpinnings of a manufacturing enterprise, including new ventures
Program Class List
1Manufacturing Process Control I
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1
Learn how to model variations in manufacturing processes and develop methods to reduce and control deterministic variations to achieve consistent process quality.
2Manufacturing Systems I
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2
Learn about manufacturing systems and ways to analyze them in terms of material flow and storage, information flow, capacities, and times and durations of events, especially random events.
3Management in Engineering: Accounting and Planning
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3
Experience what it is like to manage within an engineering enterprise. Develop the business skills you need to take on the variety of challenges facing managers in the field. This course was formerly known as Management in Engineering I.
4Supply Chains for Manufacturing: Inventory Analytics
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4
Learn about effective supply chain strategies for companies that operate globally, with emphasis on how to plan and integrate supply chain components into a coordinated system. This course was formerly known as Supply Chains for Manufacturing I.
5Manufacturing Process Control II
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5
Learn how to control process variation, including methods to design experiments that capture process behavior and understand means to control variability.
6Supply Chains for Manufacturing: Capacity Analytics
Course Details
6
Learn about various models, methods and software tools to help make better decisions for system design in manufacturing systems and supply chains.. This course was formerly known as Supply Chains for Manufacturing II.
7Manufacturing Systems II
Course Details
7
Learn how to analyze manufacturing systems to optimize performance and control costs and better understand the flow of material and information.
8Management in Engineering: Strategy and Leadership
Course Details
8
Analyze challenging real-life business cases that engineering managers face on a variety of topics. Apply management tools and relevant skills to manage innovation. This course was formerly known as Management in Engineering II
Meet Your Instructors
Stanley B. Gershwin
Senior Research Scientist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Stanley B. Gershwin is a Senior Research Scientist at the MIT Department of Mechanical Engineering. He received the B.S. degree in Engineering Mathematics from Columbia University, New York, New York, in 1966; and the M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Applied Mathematics from Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1967 and 1971.
Sean Willems
Haslam Chair in Supply Chain Analytics at University of Tennessee
Sean Willems is the Haslam Chair in Supply Chain Analytics at the University of Tennessee's Haslam College of Business. In 2000, he co-founded Optiant, a provider of multi-echelon inventory optimization tools, which was later acquired by Logility, Inc. He has been a visiting professor of operations management at the MIT Sloan School of Management since 2016. His work with companies such as Hewlett Packard, Proctor & Gamble, and Intel has led to finalist selections for the 2003, 2010, and 2017 Franz Edelman Award for Achievement in Operations Research and the Management Sciences.
Jung-Hoon Chun
Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Jung-Hoon Chun is director of the Laboratory for Manufacturing and Productivity and a professor of mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He has been a member of the MIT Mechanical Engineering faculty since 1989, and has over 100 publications and patents to his credit.
Stephen Graves
Abraham J. Siegel Professor of Management at Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Stephen Graves is the Abraham J. Siegel Professor of Management and a Professor of Operations Management at the MIT Sloan School of Management. He has a joint appoitnemnt with the MIT Department of Mechanical Engineering. Graves develops and applies operations research models and methods to solve problems in manufacturing and distribution systems and in service operations. Graves holds an AB in mathematics and social sciences and an MBA from Dartmouth College, and an MS and a PhD from the University of Rochester.
Duane Boning
Co-Director, MIT Leaders for Global Operations Program at Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Dr. Duane S. Boning is the Clarence J. LeBel Professor in Electrical Engineering, and Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science in the EECS Department at MIT. He is currently Director of the MIT/Masdar Institute Cooperative Program. Dr. Boning received his S.B. degrees in electrical engineering and in computer science in 1984, and his S.M. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering in 1986 and 1991, respectively, all from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
David Hardt
Ralph E. and Evelyn F. Cross Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Professor Hardt is a graduate of Lafayette College (BSME, 1972) and MIT (SM, PhD, 1978). He has been a member of the Mechanical Engineering faculty at MIT since 1979. His disciplinary focus is system dynamics and control as applied to manufacturing.
Abbott Weiss
Senior Lecturer, Supply Chain Management at Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Throughout his career, Abbott Weiss has been on the leading edge of supply chain thinking and practice--designing and executing powerful business solutions integrating multi-billion dollar global transportation, logistics, order fulfillment, manufacturing, customer services, planning, and materials systems. He is currently a consultant and a Senior Lecturer at MIT in supply chain management.
