Title: 1) Owner and Chief Technical Officer; 2) Research Professor
Company: 1) Lakewood Semiconductors; 2) Colorado School of Mines
Location: Lakewood, Colorado, United States
Richard K. Ahrenkiel, PhD, Owner and Chief Technical Officer at Lakewood Semiconductors, and Research Professor at Colorado School of Mines, has been recognized by Marquis Who’s Who Top Scientists for dedication, achievements, and leadership in information technology.
An expert in semiconductor diagnostics with decades of experience to his credit, Dr. Ahrenkiel has excelled as the owner and chief technical officer of Lakewood Semiconductors since 2013. In this position, he provides government agencies, academic institutions, and private industries with custom measurements of minority carrier lifetime. He has also held the designation of research fellow emeritus with The National Renewable Energy Laboratory since 2006, having previously been associated with the aforementioned laboratory for 25 years. Likewise, Dr. Ahrenkiel has been active as a research professor in metallurgical and materials engineering with the Colorado School of Mines since 2007 and an adjunct professor of electrical, computer, and energy engineering at the University of Colorado in Boulder since 2013.
Dr. Ahrenkiel began his career with the Eastman Kodak Company between 1964 and 1976. During this time, he worked in a small team that directly contributed to the invention of the digital camera, which he cites among his proudest accomplishments. Moreover, Dr. Ahrenkiel has served as an adjunct professor of physics and astronomy at Denver University from 1990 to 2005, an adjunct professor of physics at the Colorado School of Mines from 1990 to 2000, an adjunct professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado from 1982 to 2005, and an associate professor of optics and materials science at the Institute of Optics at The University of Rochester from 1970 to 1974.
Before embarking on his professional path, Dr. Ahrenkiel pursued an education at The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he initially completed undergraduate coursework in liberal arts prior to earning a Bachelor of Science in engineering physics in 1959. He continued his academic efforts at the aforementioned university with a Master of Science in physics in 1960. Dr. Ahrenkiel concluded his studies at The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 1964, graduating with a Doctor of Philosophy in solid state physics.
Beyond his primary responsibilities, Dr. Ahrenkiel was appointed as a physics advisory board member at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign from 2005 to 2015. He found much success with his written works, having co-authored “Materials and Energy – Vol. 13, Theory and Methods of Photovoltaic Material Characterization, Optical and Electrical Measurement Techniques” in 2019 and authored an article for Optica Magazine in 2023 highlighting Roger S. Van Heyningen’s invention of the digital camera. Furthermore, Dr. Ahrenkiel has been affiliated with the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, The American Physical Society, and The Optical Society of America as a lifetime fellow.
In light of his impressive undertakings, Dr. Ahrenkiel has accrued several accolades throughout his career. Recognized as a fellow of the American Vacuum Society in 1995, he was subsequently selected for inclusion on the Wall of Fame for Athens Community High School in 2003. He was further presented with an Outstanding Contributions Award from the Los Alamos Optical Society and The Optical Society of America in 1979, an Outstanding Achievement Award from The National Renewable Energy Laboratory in 1982, The Hubbard Award for Outstanding Contributions to Photovoltaics from The National Renewable Energy Laboratory in 1998, and the Alumni of the Year Award from The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2018.
Dr. Ahrenkiel fondly recalls his tenure in a team led by Dr. Mark Wanlos with The National Renewable Energy Laboratory as a highlight of his career. During this time, he helped to develop materials specifically designed for electrifying satellites and successfully developed new cell materials that combined three semiconductor components. Dr. Ahrenkiel also notably collaborated with colleagues to devise a novel contactless technique that revolutionized how particle lifetime diagnostics were performed, for which he filed a patent in the 1990s.
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