Jean Pierre Murenzi

Hometown: Butare, Rwanda

Age: 23

Major: Physics

What are your plans post-Southwestern?

Graduate school in electrical engineering

When do you feel most like a scientist?

I feel most like a scientist when results I predicted theoretically occur experimentally!

My capstone…

…is going to be about a microchip called a “buck-boost”. It is a voltage regulator that I am going to use in order to regulate the voltage produced by a solar panel while charging a lead acid battery. A stable voltage is vital for such batteries because, on one hand, the heat that results from high voltages reduces the batteries’ lives, and, on the other hand, these batteries do not charge at all unless a certain threshold voltage is reached. I got the idea from Dr. Alexander, my research advisor, because he knew I was interested in electrical engineering [because I have worked] with him for almost three years. [In order] to accomplish this project I am going to have to learn new more advanced electronics material than what we covered in the…electronic class [I took before].

Caroline Weston

Caroline’s story coming shortly!