2016 Kraus Memorial Poster Competition Winners

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Kraus Memorial Poster Competition winner Dan Chmielewski (right) explains his research to professor Lee Potter.
With the judges’ results tallied, the winners of the 2016 Kraus Memorial Poster Competition were announced Friday.

Out of 15 total presenters, student Dan Chmielewski won first place for his project, “III-V/Active-Si Integration for Low-Cost High-Performance Concentrator Photovoltaics.”

Chmielewski earns $500 and the prestige of winning the ECE department’s sole poster event of the year. He is a graduate research associate at the Electronic Materials and Devices Lab. His advisors are Steve Ringel and Tyler Grassman.

According to Chmielewski’s abstract, his solar power project addresses the primary cost and efficiency barriers that present a challenge for III-V concentrator photovoltaics based on Ge and GaAs growth substrates. He uses Si substrates as the key innovation, allowing for “low-cost, large-area, alternative growth substrates for II-V epitaxy and monolithically integrated, high performance subcells for the creation of II-V/Si multijunction solar cells with inherently ideal bandgaps for dramatic efficiency improvement and cost reduction. The latest progress includes the demonstration of both a tandem and triple junction III-V/Si solar cell.”

Earning second place and winning $300 is student Luke Duncan with his poster, “A DC-21 GHz Radio-Frequency Digital-to-Analog Convert for Direct RF Synthesis.” He is a graduate research associate at the ElectroScience Lab. His advisor is Waleed Khalil.

Winning third place and $100 is student Matt Buchanan with his research poster, “Design of a Ground-Based Beacon Signal for Calibration of Spaceborne GNSS Remote Sensing Instruments.” He is a graduate research associate at the ElectroScience lab and his advisor is Inderjeet Gupta.