His research is focused on understanding and controlling defects in photovoltaic devices. Prof. Buonassisi completed his Ph.D. at UC Berkeley. He then became a crystal growth scientist at the ribbon-silicon-producing Evergreen Solar, Inc., where he was part of the team that developed the next generation crystal growth furnace (the "Quad" platform), and spearheaded cross-team efforts to improve solar cell efficiency and mechanical yield in crystal growth and cell fabrication. Prof. Buonassisi was also a visiting scientist at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems and at the Max-Planck-Institute for Microstructure Physics. His work has been honored with numerous awards, including the European Materials Research Society Young Scientist Presentation Award, the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) Graduate Research Fellowship, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory Graduate Student Award.