Danielle W. Merfeld, Ph.D.
Global Chief Technology Officer, Qcells

 As Global Chief Technology Officer, Danielle leads Qcells’ research and development for advanced solar products. She is focused on accelerating the company’s efforts to enhance technology capability as it embarks on building the United States’ first fully integrated solar supply chain.

Prior to this role, Danielle led technical efforts in GE Renewable Energy to develop differentiated products and services across the broadest renewable energy portfolio in the industry, including onshore wind, offshore wind, solar PV, batteries, hydro and grid solutions. She has been a consistent champion for sustainability and diversity and is a regular lecturer on Energy Transition topics.

Danielle was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2021. She received her B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Notre Dame, and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Northwestern University. Danielle is on the Board of Trustees at the University of Notre Dame and an Ambassador to the Clean Energy, Education and Empowerment (C3E) initiative representing the United States. She also leads the National Academy of Engineering’s Energy Working Group, serves on the NAE President’s Business Advisory Committee, and is on the National Science Foundation’s Engineering Advisory Council.