128th Distinguished Research Lectureship: Michael McGehee
Michael McGehee, Patten Chair Professor in Chemical and Biological Engineering, and RASEI Fellow, has been selected as a CU Boulder 2026-2027 Distinguished Research Lecturer.
The Distinguished Research Lectureship is among the highest honors bestowed by the faculty of CU Boulder upon a faculty member. The selection is made based on the scholarship, research, and creative achievement of the nominee, in this case recognizing McGehee’s mission to use materials science to mitigate and combat the impacts of climate change.
Research in the McGehee group has deep roots in using nanoscience to solve big problems. Earning his undergraduate degree in Physics from Princeton University in 1994, Mike moved across the country to the University of California at Santa Barbara to pursue his graduate studies. Working in the lab of Alan Heeger (Nobel Laureate in Chemistry in 2000 with Alan MacDiarmid for “their discovery and development of conductive polymers”), Mike designed and built a polymer-based laser, triggering a fascination with how materials emit and absorb light. Completing his Ph.D. studies in 1999, Mike moved north, joining the faculty of Stanford University in 2000 where he began his independent research career. The McGehee group moved to CU Boulder in 2018.
Research in the McGehee group set out with one ‘simple’ mission statement, to use materials science to prevent climate change. This has provided a rich space for scientific investigation, delivering an excellent forum for group members to explore new directions and ideas and for the team to build successful collaborations across academia and industry, as well as address some of the most pressing challenges. Two key areas have emerged in recent years that will form the basis of this year’s lecture, one focused on how we harvest energy from light, the other on how we regulate light. While the lecture is built around these scientific challenges, McGehee emphasizes that the main thread of the talk, that is foundational to the science, is the culture and approach to research that his team has established.
Early work in the McGehee group set out with the aim of creating a solar technology that would provide at least 20 % of the world’s energy. The goal was to use organic molecules to harvest the energy, replacing the conventional silicon-based cells. Solar cells based on these organic molecules offer several benefits, being flexible instead of rigid makes manufacturing more affordable (taking advantage of printing approaches), producing a more robust device, and offering new form factors. Though the promise of organic solar cells has yet to be realized, McGehee’s team identified a promising approach along the way, inventing perovskite tandem solar cell technology. This device architecture stacks a layer of new material, so-called perovskites, on top of the silicon layers present in conventional solar cells. One might think that by adding a layer on top of solar cell you would decrease the efficiency of how it absorbs light, (like putting on sunglasses over the absorber), but in this case the opposite is true. Sunlight is made up of a range of wavelengths, think about the rainbow going from the low energy reds through to the high energy violets. Silicon absorbs best at the low energy end, essentially absorbing the red and orange wavelengths. The perovskite materials absorb at the higher wavelengths, harvesting the energy of the blue and violet wavelengths. By stacking these on top of each other more energy from the sun is collected overall and less is lost to waste heat. The McGehee group has developed tandem perovskite-silicon solar cells that are 30 % more efficient than current conventional silicon solar cells. This technology is now being advanced by more than a dozen companies, including spinouts from the McGehee group Swift Solar and Tandem PV working to manufacture the next generation of solar panels in the United States. McGehee now leads the DOE-funded TEAMUP consortium of academic, national lab and industrial partners focused on solving the challenges associated with scaling and commercializing this technology.
The environmental impacts of energy can be mitigated not just by changing how we generate electricity, but also how we use it. Improving the efficiency of technologies reduces the consumption, cost, and impact of their energy use. Buildings account for around 30 % of global energy demand. In advanced economies this is primarily used for heating and cooling the air. The McGehee group focused on how they could control sunlight, in this case regulating how it enters buildings. Occupants want the insulation of a wall but with the transparency of glass – no one wants to live in a dark box! The group explored the use of electrochromic materials, materials that change their light transmission characteristics upon the application of a voltage. The group invented windows with adjustable tinting that can reduce heating, cooling, and lighting costs in buildings by an estimated 20 %. Tynt Technologies, founded in 2020, is commercializing this smart window technology, demonstrating an industry-leading light transmission range, from 0.01 % - 90 % transmission.
Talk to McGehee about his research and you find someone who is passionate and excited to solve big problems and apply new scientific ideas in making an impact on society. Rapidly the conversation turns to talk about his current and former team members and all of the great work they are doing. There is an enormous sense of pride in their achievements. Students who have worked in the McGehee group have now founded 22 companies, making an impact across a wide range of technologies. The scope of them is broad, manufacturing everything from solar cells and thermal storage materials, through circuits that connect batteries in electric vehicles and electrodes in batteries, to energy efficient windows, flexible OLED displays and microLED displays for augmented reality eyewear. This breadth of exploration is testament to a training that encourages the development of a problem-solving approach that can be leveraged to work on many different problems. As part of this lecture McGehee will explain what he has learned about what the startup founders he has mentored do that makes them successful, especially when they turn their attention to problems that are unrelated to the ones they addressed as students. These lessons are the basis of what McGehee teaches in the new Boulder Climate Ventures course at CU Boulder.
Mike McGehee and Kevin Coakley at CelLink
Outside of work Mike makes the most of what the Front Range has to offer. With a love of the outdoors he can most often be found hiking, biking, or teaching his kids to rock climb.
The CU Boulder Distinguished Research Lectureship has recognized some incredible talent from across the university. Mike McGehee will deliver the 128th Distinguished Research Lecture at 4 PM November 18, 2026, we suggest you make plans to attend to find out more about this pioneer materials research for environmental challenges, and how to foster a collaborative and entrepreneurial culture.