Personnel

Graduate students, faculty, and laboratory staff inside PEPL’s Large Vacuum Test Facility (November 2021).

Faculty & Staff

Professor Benjamin A. Jorns

Professor Benjamin A. Jorns

Laboratory Director

Bio

Dr. Tim Smith

Dr. Tim Smith

Lecturer

Bio

Dr. John Foster

Dr. John Foster

Affiliated Faculty

Bio

Professor Brian Gilchrist

Professor Brian Gilchrist

Affiliated Faculty

SPRL

Eric Viges

Eric Viges

Lead Test Engineer

EDA

Professor Alex Gorodetsky

Professor Alex Gorodetsky

Affiliated faculty

BIO

Doctoral Students

Tate Gill

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Braden Oh

PhD Pre-Candidate

National Science Foundation Fellow

email: bradenoh@umich.edu

Ari Eckhaus

Ari Eckhaus

PhD Pre-Candidate

email: aeckhaus@umich.edu

Miron Liu

Miron Liu

PhD Pre-Candidate

email: mironliu@umich.edu

Postdoctoral Researchers

Chris Sercel

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

Master’s Students