About

Professor Alec D. Gallimore

Dr. Alec D. Gallimore is the Robert J. Vlasic Dean of Engineering, the Richard F. and Eleanor A. Towner Professor of Engineering and an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Michigan where he directs the Plasmadynamics and Electric Propulsion Laboratory. Previously, Dr. Gallimore served as associate dean for academic affairs and associate dean for research and graduate education for Michigan Engineering and associate dean at the Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies, is on the faculty of the Applied Physics program at Michigan and is the director of the NASA-funded Michigan Space Grant Consortium. He received his B.S. in Aeronautical Engineering from Rensselaer, and his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Aerospace Engineering from Princeton. His primary research interests include electric propulsion and plasma diagnostics. He has experience with a wide array of electric propulsion technologies including Hall thrusters, ion thrusters, arcjets, RF plasma sources, 100-kW-class steady MPD thrusters, and MW-level quasi-steady MPD thrusters. Dr. Gallimore has implemented a variety of probe, microwave, and optical/laser plasma diagnostics and is the author of over 300 journal and conference papers on electric propulsion and plasma physics. He has graduated 39 Ph.D. students and 14 Master’s students. He has served on a number of advisory boards for NASA and the Department of Defense, including the United States Air Force Scientific Advisory Board (AFSAB). He was awarded the Decoration for Meritorious Civilian Service in 2005 for his AFSAB work. In 2010, he was elected a fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA).