Graduate research assistants:
- Emily C. Fossum
- Jason D. Sommerville
- Jerry L. Ross
- Jason M. Makela
- Carrie S. Niemela
- Rob L. Washeleski
Undergraduate research assistants:
Master Machinist:
Isp Lab Alumni:
Professor Lyon B. King joined Michigan Tech's faculty in
the fall of 2000. Dr. King earned his PhD in Aerospace Engineering from the
University of Michigan in 1998 and, resulting from his doctoral research,
shared the AIAA Outstanding Paper in Electric Space Propulsion in 1999 with
co-author, Dr. Alec Gallimore, for studies of particle transport in Hall Thrusters.
King is an experimentalist with expertise in non-neutral plasmas, charged particle traps and electric space propulsion systems. King was an employee of the NASA-Johnson Space Center and earned a National Research Council (NRC) appointment for postdoctoral research at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). During his two-year NRC tenure, King studied the dynamics of trapped charged particles in the Ion Storage Group of the NIST Time and Frequency Division. While at NIST, King's experiments included laser cooling of ions confined in a crossed field Penning trap, phase studies of non-neutral plasmas, and positrons.
King is a Fellow of the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC) and is a member of the NASA Nuclear Space Propulsion Technology Assessment Group. King is a recipient of the National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Award as well as the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE - DoD nomination).
Emily Fossum completed her B.S. with a dual degree in Mechanical
Engineering and Business Administration from Michigan Tech in December of
2002. She joined the Isp Lab research team for the first time as an undergraduate
in the summer of 2001 focusing on quadrupole mass spectrometry. She joined
the research team again in January of 2003 while pursuing her PhD in Mechanical
Engineering at Michigan Tech. Fossum's current research interests include plasma
diagnostics, non-neutral plasma confinement and electron mobility in hall
thrusters.
Jason Sommerville graduated from Ohio State University
with a B.S. In Physics in 1998. During his time at Ohio State he researched
properties of magnetic thin films, his work culminating in an undergraduate
honors thesis. Following his graduation Sommerville was employed at National
Instruments in Austin, Tex. During his tenure there, he served one year
in the technical support and customer education department and four years
as a software developer working with LabView and other NI products. Jason
returned to school in August of 2003 to pursue his PhD in Mechanical Engineering
at Michigan Tech.
Jerry Ross completed a B.S. In Physics, a B.S. In Mathematics
and a B.A. in Theater at Alma College (Mich.) in the Spring of 2003. Jerry
began his graduate work at Michigan Tech in the physics department for
the 2003-04 school year and joined the Isp Lab team in January of 2004.
As of Fall 2004 Ross is now a full time PhD candidate in the Mechanical
Engineering department and Isp Lab researcher. His current research interests
include low voltage Hall thrusters.
Jason Makela completed his B.S. In Mechanical Engineering
at Michigan Technological University in 2004. As an undergraduate Makela
was involved with MTU's Aerospace Enterprise whose main purpose was to
design a satellite, HuskySat, for the Nanosat-3 competition. He was on
the KC-135 team that conducted a modal analysis of the HuskySat boom while
in zero gravity on NASA's KC-135. Makela joined
the Isp Lab research team in May 2004 as a PhD student in Mechanical Engineering.
His current research interests include
cathode construction for bismuth Hall thrusters and field emission cathodes and liquid metal ion sources.
Carrie Niemela completed her B.S. in Mechanical Engineering at Michigan Tech in December 2005. She started working in the Isp Lab as an undergraduate research assistant in the spring of 2005 focusing on electric and magnetic field analysis and particle trajectories. In the spring of 2006, Niemela was an intern at the Air Force Research Lab at Edwards Air Force Base focusing on modeling and simulation of the plume environment of a Hall thruster. Niemela began her graduate career as a PhD candidate in the Isp Lab in the fall of 2006. She returned to AFRL in the summer of 2007 to work on a translation experiment for field reversed configuration plasma. Her current research interests include annular field reversed configuration plasma and laser Thomson scattering.
Rob Washeleski completed his B.S. in Electrical Engineering at Michigan Technological University in 2006. As an undergraduate Washeleski was involved with MTU's Aerospace Enterprise, whose main purpose was to design a satellite for the Nanosat-3 competition. Washeleski joined the Isp Lab research team in August of 2006 as a PhD student in Mechanical Engineering. His current research interests include field-reversed configuration thrusters, magnetic plasma confinement, and helicon plasma sources.
Aaron J. Wendzel, Undergraduate Research
Aaron Wendzel is currently a Michigan Tech undergraduate pursuing dual degrees in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering with an anticipated graduation of May 2010. He officially joined the lab in 2006 but has been participating in the lab activities since the fall of 2005. Wendzel’s research focuses are on systems integration of Hall thrusters and supporting technologies.
Marty R. Toth,
Master Machinist
Marty Toth joined the Mechanical Engineering Department in the winter of 2006 as the in-house master machinst for the department. He has dedicated countless hours to Isp Lab thrusters, test beds and equipment. Toth is credited with the fabrication of two laboratory Hall thrusters, including a 1.5 kW Xenon thruster and a prototype of a Bismuth thruster, a 24" diameter electron trapping apparatus and a number of Lab6 laboratory cathodes, including a cathode dedicated for use with bismuth propellant.
Isp Lab Alumni:
Dean Massey completed his B.S. In Electrical Engineering
with a minor in Physics at Michigan Technological University in 2003.
Massey joined the Isp Lab research team in May of 2003 as a PhD student
in Mechanical Engineering. His current research interests include bismuth
Hall thrusters, electromagnetic optimization, electrical systems integration,
computational quantum physics, and powder metallurgy. Massey joined the staff at ElectroDynamics Applications, Inc. in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the spring of 2008 while completing work for his PhD at Michigan Tech.
Alex Kieckhafer graduated with a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Michigan Tech in May of 2007. He began research at the Isp Lab
in the summer of 2001 while pursuing his PhD, focusing on segmented anode thrusters. Kieckhafer was awarded the Winnikow fellowship for the 2002 calendar
year and was awarded a Michigan Space Grant Consortium fellowship in the summer
of 2002. Kieckhafer graduated with a B.S. in Physics from the
University of Nebraska, Lincoln in the spring of 2001. (Click here to view Kieckhafer's PhD Dissertation)
Brian J. Sikkema, Undergraduate Research
Brian Sikkema graduated with a B.S. Degree in Mechanical Engineering
at Michigan Tech with an Aerospace Studies minor
in May of 2006. He officially joined the Isp Lab research team in the fall
of 2002 but has been involved with the lab unofficially since his first semester
at Michigan Tech in the fall of 2001. Sikkema's research efforts focused
on low power Hall thruster development.
