Lafayette DeRamus, a junior physics and geoloy major at UALR, has written an abstract that has been accepted for presentation during the 2014 Emerging Researchers National (ERN) Conference in STEM.

The conference will be held in Washington, D.C. in February and comes with a travel award, which will cover all the associated costs of attendance.

“This is an example of the great success of our undergraduate research,” said faculty advisor Jingbiao Cui, an associate professor in UALR’s Department of Physics.

“Lafayette participated in this research for about six months. He is a very curious student and always eager to learn and to explore. I believe he will be a successful researcher in the future, if he chooses this career path,” Cui added.

DeRamus’ research involves use of a simulation program to replicate different solar cell models.

“The program gives me the freedom to alter key variables of the solar cell such as recombination, absorption, and thickness, to name a few,” DeRamus said. “The overall goal is to increase its efficiency by altering the variables of the solar cell.”

DeRamus said he has been passionate about science since his childhood and is honored to communicate the results of his research to a broader audience. His research is supported by the Arkansas GREEN Research Center.

He is a member of two programs sponsored by the National Science Foundation–the University Science Scholars and Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation. Both are programs designed to increase the numbers of students preparing for degrees and careers in STEM.

In October, DeRamus attended Arkansas IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence Conference in Fayetteville, where he earned a second place award in the physics section.