Personnel
![](https://pepl.engin.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/DSC_0766.jpg)
Graduate students, faculty, and laboratory staff inside PEPL’s Large Vacuum Test Facility (November 2021).
Faculty & Staff
![Professor Benjamin A. Jorns](https://pepl.engin.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/benjorns.jpg)
![Dr. Tim Smith](https://pepl.engin.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/TimothyBSmith.png)
![Dr. John Foster](https://pepl.engin.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/john-foster-headshot.jpg)
Doctoral Students
![Tate Gill](https://pepl.engin.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/tg_hsc.jpg)
Tate Gill
PhD Candidate
NASA Space Technology Research Fellow
Tate Gill graduated from Boston University with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering in May 2018. From there, he came to Ann Arbor and in December 2019 received an M.S.E in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Michigan. Now, as a Ph.D. candidate with PEPL, his work focuses on understanding efficiency losses within inductive pulsed plasma thrusters using both conventional and novel plasma diagnostic techniques.
email: tategill@umich.edu
![Collin B. Whittaker](https://pepl.engin.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/IMG-3613-scaled-e1694180601296.jpg)
Collin B. Whittaker
PhD Candidate
NASA Space Technology Graduate Research Opportunity Fellow
Collin received his BS in Aerospace Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in the Spring of 2019, where he worked with the High-Power Electric Propulsion Laboratory. He joined PEPL as a PhD student in Aerospace Engineering that Fall. His research focuses on electrospray propulsion, with a goal of developing sub-kilowatt class arrays for SmallSat applications. email: cbwhitt@umich.edu
![Parker Roberts](https://pepl.engin.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/PXL_20211105_154818165.PORTRAIT-1-e1662056900452.jpg)
Parker Roberts
PhD Candidate
NASA Space Technology Graduate Research Opportunity Fellow
Parker graduated from Berry College in May 2020 with a B.S. in Physics and Mathematics. He joined PEPL in the fall of 2020 as a Ph.D. student in Aerospace Engineering. He spent two summers working with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory on validation testing of the Hall-Effect Rocket with Magnetic Shielding (HERMeS) for the Lunar Gateway spacecraft. His current research focuses on investigating particle transport, oscillations, and facility effects in high-power Hall thrusters using non-invasive laser plasma diagnostics including Laser-Induced Fluorescence and Incoherent Thomson Scattering.
email: pjrob@umich.edu
![Will Hurley](https://pepl.engin.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/PXL_20211105_154835114.PORTRAIT-1-e1652972174411.jpg)
Will Hurley
PhD Candidate
NASA Space Technology Graduate Research Opportunity Fellow
Will graduated from Washington University in St. Louis in May 2021 with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering. He joined PEPL in the fall of 2021 as a PhD student in Aerospace Engineering. His current research interest is in high powered high current density Hall Thrusters.
email: wjhurley@umich.edu
![Madison Allen](https://pepl.engin.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/PXL_20211105_155315173.PORTRAIT-1-e1650379342784.jpg)
Madison Allen
PhD Candidate
NASA Space Technology Graduate Research Opportunity Fellow
Madison Allen graduated in May 2021 with a B.S. in Physics and a minor in mathematics. She joined PEPL in the fall of 2021 as a Ph.D. student in Aerospace Engineering. Her interest is in high power hall thrusters for deep space flight and understanding their facility effects.
email: mgallen@umich.edu
![Declan Brick](https://pepl.engin.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/declan.jpg)
Declan Brick
PhD Candidate
National Science Foundation Fellow
Declan graduated from the University of Alabama in Huntsville with a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering and a B.S. in Physics in 2022. There, he performed research on computational characterization of atmospheric pressure plasma jets. He joined PEPL in the fall of 2022 as a Ph.D. student in Aerospace Engineering. His current research is in developing predictive numerical models for Hall-effect thrusters.
email: brickd@umich.edu
![Grace Zoppi](https://pepl.engin.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/grace_square.jpg)
Grace Zoppi
PhD Candidate
Grace graduated from the University of Washington in 2022 with a B.S. in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering and a minor in Italian Language and Culture. There she worked on the development of an ECR thruster and conducted research on the characterization of exhaust plumes of a Z-pinch plasma formation. She joined PEPL in the Fall of 2022 as an Aerospace Engineering Ph.D. student. Her research focuses on the development of Rotating Magnetic Field (RMF) thrusters.
email: gzoppi@umich.edu
![Braden Oh](https://pepl.engin.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/IMG-3609-scaled-e1694180633430.jpg)
Braden Oh
PhD Pre-Candidate
National Science Foundation Fellow
Braden graduated from Olin College of Engineering with a B.S. in Engineering Physics and a minor in vocal performance. There he founded the Olin Plasma Engineering Lab which demonstrated the first steady state Hall thruster built by a fully undergraduate team. He joined PEPL in the fall of 2023 as an Aerospace Engineering Ph.D. student. His current research focuses on using condensible propellants to achieve ultrahigh current densities in Hall thrusters.
email: bradenoh@umich.edu
![Ari Eckhaus](https://pepl.engin.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/IMG-3608-scaled-e1694180658921.jpg)
Ari Eckhaus
PhD Pre-Candidate
email: aeckhaus@umich.edu
![Miron Liu](https://pepl.engin.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/IMG-3616-scaled-e1694180544653.jpg)
Miron Liu
PhD Pre-Candidate
email: mironliu@umich.edu
Postdoctoral Researchers
![Chris Sercel](https://pepl.engin.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/cs_hsc.jpg)
Chris Sercel
PhD Candidate
NASA Space Technology Research Fellow
Chris graduated from PEPL in January 2024 and continued on as a post doctoral researcher. In his post doc, he is focusing on the design of a high current density Hall thruster.
email: csercel@umich.edu