For five months in 2006, Danielle Kumpf worked to prove a scientific hypothesis.

Every day from July through November, she measured the voltage emitted by six solar lamps placed outside her home in Pine.

	Danielle Kumpf won first prize at the state final competition of the Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Sciences and a $500 prize from the Astrophysics Society. Click photo for larger image.

Danielle, 14, who was in eighth grade at Providence Heights Alpha School, thought her science-fair project would prove that the design and cleanliness of the lamps would affect the amount of energy they generated.

She was wrong. And for her work, she won first prize at the state final competition of the Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Sciences and a $500 prize from the Astrophysics Society.

"When they called my name, I was very, very excited," Danielle said. "I was nervous but I knew I had done the best I could."

She credits her science teacher, Linda Pessar, for supporting her throughout the lengthy project, and her father, Robert Kumpf, for encouraging her to continue her project even when the results did not go as planned.

Mr. Kumpf is chief administrative officer for Bayer MaterialScience and holds a doctorate from the Materials Science and Engineering Department at Penn State University.

"He's always had me interested in science," Danielle said. "I think it's a wonderful thing."

The project originated because Danielle's school encouraged students to participate in science competitions. Her decision to study solar energy was based partly on the world's interest in energy, and partly on convenience.

"I remember watching gas prices creep up, and in science classes we're always talking about alternative energy," she said.

Because solar energy holds promise as an alternative to fossil fuels, and because her dad had recently bought solar landscape lamps, she decided to focus on solar power with a project called "Effect of Design and Cleaning on the Power of Solar Cells."

She was sure that her work would prove that if solar cells were cleaned, they would generate more power. And she had at her disposal two different designs of the solar lamps, one with a photovoltaic cell on the top, and the other with the cell on the side.

Danielle thought one of those designs would likely be more efficient.

After months of data collection and long hours of calculating results, she learned she was wrong on both counts, and a bit discouraged with the outcome.

But her father's experience helped her to forge ahead and present her findings.

"My dad has always taught me that even if your hypothesis is proven incorrect, you should display your data as you found it to be," Danielle said.

She got an inkling that the completed project was successful when it won a first prize at the 68th Pittsburgh Regional Science & Engineering Fair in March.

So when she entered the Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Science competition, she was feeling somewhat confident in the quality of her work. To win both a first place and the Astrophysics Society award, however, was an unexpected honor, she said.

Her mother, Cheryl, was understandably proud to see her daughter's long hours of study rewarded with awards, cash, and perhaps even better, a show of respect from a scientific society.

"It's nice to watch when they work really hard and it does pay off," she said.