Sandia Energy > Programs > Renewable Energy > Photovoltaic Solar Energy > Staff > James Hartley, PhD James Hartley, PhD Mechanical Engineer James Hartley is a mechanical engineer working with the Photovoltaics (PV) and Materials Technology Program at Sandia National Laboratories. His research interests include computational analysis using finite element methods in applications ranging from thermal analysis of complex systems to structural analysis of mechanically loaded assemblies. His current research focuses on developing multi-physics, multi-scale computational modeling methods towards understanding PV module packaging degradation. Mr. Hartley received both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering from the University of Southern California and is currently pursuing a PhD from the University of New Mexico.