Research Directors

Joshua L. Rovey

Professor and Director of the
EPLab Illinois Space Grant Consortium GAANN Fellowship Program
PhD: University of Michigan
rovey@illinois.edu
Curriculum Vitae APLab Archive

Rodney L. Burton

Professor Emeritus

Co-Director of the
EPLab
PhD: Princeton University
rburton@illinois.edu

Lab manager

David Attig

dnattig2@illinois.edu

Postdocs

Chris Lyne

clyne2@illinois.edu NASA Space Technology Research Fellow Postdoc Focus: Investigating monopropellant-electrospray multimode propulsion systems for CubeSats. Performing experiments to characterize electrospray behavior of a multimode microthruster.

Ph.D. Candidates

Joshua Tompkins

jrt8@illinois.edu Research Assistant
PhD Focus: Microwave ECR ion thruster development for alternative propellants

Reed Thompson

reedkt2@illinois.edu Research Assistant
PhD Focus: Exploration of volumetrically complex materials effects on ground-based facility contamination of electric propulsion system testing

Michael Harrigan

meh4@illinois.edu Research Assistant
PhD Focus:

Hussein Al-Rashdan

halras3@illinois.edu GAANN Fellow
PhD Focus: Plume-surface interactions of high-speed supersonic jets impinging on granular surfaces with application to Lunar and Martian landers.

Toyofumi Yamauchi

ty20@illinois.edu GAANN Fellow
Illinois Space Grant Fellow
PhD Focus: Plasma and sheath physics with multiple reactive ion species.

Bryan Cline

bcline3@illinois.edu
GAANN Fellow
Mavis Future Faculty Fellow
PhD Focus: Multimode monopropellant-electrospray propulsion mission analysis

Nicolas Rasmont

rasmont2@illinois.edu NASA FINESST Fellow 2022 Kenneth Lee Herrick Memorial Award PhD Focus: Plume-surface interactions of high-speed supersonic jets impinging on granular surfaces with application to Lunar and Martian landers

Rohan Puri

rohanp5@illinois.edu Research Assistant
PhD Focus: Helicon Injected Inertial Plasma Electrostatic Rocket (HIIPER)

Sean Clark

saclark5@illinois.edu Research Assistant
PhD Focus: Hall thruster carbon erosion and transport

Allison Timm

aetimm2@illinois.edu National Defense Science and Engineering Fellow 2023 Class PhD Focus: Facility Effects Investigation with Standardized Plume Probe Package

Ally Leeming

leeming3@illinois.edu Research Assistant
PhD Focus:

Cody Myers

codym3@illinois.edu Research Assistant
PhD Focus:

M.S. Students

Scott Nguyen

scottn3@illinois.edu Research Assistant
MS Focus:

Justin Shell

jkshell2@illinois.edu Research Assistant
MS Focus:

Undergraduates

Richeek Dutta

richeek2@illinois.edu Research Assistant

Myles Gong

mylesyg2@illinois.edu Research Assistant

Elisheva Gross

elgross2@illinois.edu Research Assistant

Sanyu Kumaran

sanyuk2@illinois.edu Research Assistant

Khanh Le

khanhle2@illinois.edu Research Assistant

Marshall Lee White

mlwhite2@illinois.edu Research Assistant

Doctorate Alumni

Name	Graduation Date	Advisor	Now
Christopher Lyne	Ph.D. May 2024	Rovey	Postdoc in the UIUC EPLab
Matthew Paliwoda	Ph.D. Dec 2022	Rovey	Plasma Research Engineer, Naval Research Lab, Washington D.C.
Mitchell Wainwright	Ph.D. May 2020	Rovey (Missouri)	Nuclear Safety, Sandia National Lab, Albuquerque, NM.
Jaykob Maser	Ph.D. Dec. 2019	Rovey (Missouri)	Space Environment Engineer, Lockheed Martin, Palo Alto, CA.
Matthew Glascock	Ph.D. Aug. 2019	Rovey (Missouri)	Research Engineer, ExoTerra Corp., Littleton, CO.
Steven Berg	Ph.D. Dec. 2015	Rovey (Missouri)	CEO, Froberg Aerospace LLC, Tenure-track Assistant Professor, Rutgers MAE Department, New Jersey
Warner Meeks	Ph.D. July 2015	Rovey (Missouri)	Assistant Teaching Professor, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Missouri University of Science and Technology
Shawn Miller	Ph.D. May 2015	Rovey (Missouri)	Research Engineer at AFRL Kirtland AFB, Albuquerque NM.
Ryan Pahl	Ph.D. Dec 2014	Rovey (Missouri)	Research Engineer at Raytheon, Albuquerque NM.
Hu Jing	Ph.D. Dec 2012	Rovey (Missouri)	Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong Univ., Shanghai
Robert Thomas	Ph.D., 2010	Burton	Research Engineer, NASA Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, OH.
Filip Rysanek	Ph.D., 2007	Burton	Aerospace Corporation
Jennifer Hargens Rysanek	Ph.D., 2006	Burton	Boeing
John W. Hartman	Ph.D., 2005	Burton
Erik L. Antonsen	Ph.D., 2004	Burton	Element Scientist, NASA Johnson Space Center, Assistant Professor of Emergency and Space Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX.
Robert Foelsche	Ph.D., 1997	Burton	ATK, New York
Nicholas Tiliakos	Ph.D., 1997	Burton	Innoveering LLC, NY.
Gary Willmes	Ph.D., 1997	Burton
Scott Bufton	Ph.D., 1996	Burton	Wood Consulting, TX.
Thomas W. Megli	Ph.D., 1995	Burton

Masters Degree Alumni

Name	Graduation Date	Advisor
Avinash Rao	M.S. Dec 2023	Rovey
Anthony Adduci	M.S. May 2023	Rovey
Jacob Eisen	M.S. Dec 2022	Rovey
Emil Broemmelsiek	M.S. Dec 2021	Rovey
Matthew Klosterman	M.S. May 2021	Rovey
Nicolas Rasmont	M.S. Dec 2019	Rovey
Zachary Gill	M.S. Dec 2018	Rovey (Missouri)
Andrew Taylor	M.S. Dec 2018	Rovey (Missouri)
Alex Mundahl	M.S. Dec 2017	Rovey (Missouri)
Jeremiah Hanna	M.S. May 2017	Rovey (Missouri)
Matthew Glascock	M.S. Dec 2016	Rovey (Missouri)
Matthew Paliwoda	M.S. Aug 2016	Rovey (Missouri)
Paul Friz	M.S. May 2014	Rovey (Missouri)
Alex Satonik	M.S. May 2013	Rovey (Missouri)
Drew Ahern	M.S. 2013	Burton
Steve Berg	M.S. May 2012	Rovey (Missouri)
Andrew Heckman	M.S. May 2012	Rovey (Missouri)
Timothy Nichols	M.S. May 2012	Rovey (Missouri)
Mark Emanuel	M.S. Dec 2012	Rovey (Missouri)
Warner Meeks	M.S. Dec 2012	Rovey (Missouri)
Mark De Chadenedes	M.S. 2011	Burton
David Zidar	M.S. May 2011	Rovey (Missouri)
John Ben Gaither	M.S. May 2011	Rovey (Missouri)
Brian Donius	M.S. May 2010	Rovey (Missouri)
Joseph Ferry	M.S. May 2010	Rovey (Missouri)
K. Ertmer	M.S. 2006	Burton
T. Botter	M.S. 2006	Burton
Robert Thomas	M.S. 2005	Burton
E. Sklyanskiy	M.S. 2004	Burton
Julia Laystrom	M.S. 2003	Burton
S. Jaeger	M.S. 2003	Burton
Filip Rysanek	M.S. 2002	Burton
Erik Antonsen	M.S. 2001	Burton
S. Bushman	M.S. 1999	Burton
J. Lu	M.S. 1997	Burton
Nicholas Tiliakos	M.S. 1993	Burton
Thomas Megli	M.S. 1993	Burton

EPLab Staff photos

2022-2023 EPLab Staff

Spring 2023 Left to right, top to bottom: Toyofumi Yamauchi, Nick Rasmont, Josh Tompkins, Sean Clark, Chris Lyne
Allison Timm, Ally Leeming, Anthony Adduci, Avinash Rao, Bryan Cline
Josh Rovey, Rohan Puri
Not pictured: Tim Plomin, John Kim, Hussein Al-Rashdan, Miron Liu, Isaac Pedroza, Thinh Nguyen, Dr. Burton

Fall 2022 EPLab Staff

Fall 2022 Left to right, top to bottom: Matt Paliwoda, Nick Rasmont, Toyofumi Yamauchi, Josh Tompkins,
Avinash Rao, Chris Lyne, Anthony Adduci, Allison Timm, Sean Clark,
Josh Rovey, Rohan Puri, Ally Leeming, Bryan Cline
Not pictured: Tim Plomin, John Kim, Hussein Al-Rashdan, Jake Eisen, Miron Liu, Isaac Pedroza, Dr. Burton

2020-2021 Electric Propulsion Lab (EPLab) Staff

Spring 2021 (COVID19) Left to right, top to bottom: Jacob Eisen, Josh Rovey, Anthony Adduci, Chris Lyne, Hussein Al-Rashdan,
Avinash Rao, Bryan Cline, Emil Broemmelsiek, Matt Paliwoda, Animesh Sharma, Rohan Puri, Dassou Nagassou
Not pictured: Toyofumi Yamauchi, Matt Klosterman, Nick Navarro, Nick Rasmont, Dr. Burton

2019-2020 Electric Propulsion Lab (EPLab) Staff

Spring 2020 (COVID19) Left to right, top to bottom: Chris Lyne, Dr. Rovey, Toyofumi Yamauchi, Vignesh Sella,
Andrew Larkey, Magda Parta, Emil Broemmelsiek, Josh Super, Hussein Al-Rashdan, Matt Paliwoda, Dassou Nagassou
Not pictured: Matt Klosterman, Kentaro Taniguchi, Dr. Burton

2018-2019 Electric Propulsion Lab (EPLab) Staff

Spring 2019 Left to right: (front row) Dr. Rovey, Noel Brindise, Matt Klosterman, Chris Lyne, Hussein Al-Rashdan
(back row) Emilio Gordon, Alex Mundahl, Matt Glascock, Matt Paliwoda, Nicolas Rasmont
Not pictured: Dr. Burton, Emil Broemmelsiek

2016-2017 Aerospace Plasma Lab (APLab) Staff

Spring 2017 Left to right: (front row) Matt Glascock, Zach Gill, Dr. Rovey, Mitchell Wainwright, Andrew Taylor
(back row) Jeremiah Hanna, Paul Friz, Alex Mundahl, Jaykob Maser
Not pictured: Steve Berg

2015-2016 APLab Staff

Spring 2016 Left to right: (front row) Matt Glascock, Dr. Rovey, Mitch Wainwright,
(back row) Steve Berg, Matt Paliwoda, Jeremiah Hanna, Alex Mundahl
Not pictured: Paul Friz, Jaykob Maser, Zach Gill

2014-2015 APLab Staff

Spring 2015 Left to right: (front row) Jaykob Maser, Joe Hakanson, Dr. Rovey, Warner Meeks,
(back row) Alex Mundahl, Matt Paliwoda, Steve Berg, Matt Glascock, John Sumpter
Not pictured: Paul Friz, Shawn Miller

2013-2014 APLab Staff

Spring 2014 Left to right: Ryan Pahl, Dr. Rovey, Steve Berg, Brynne Coleman, Paul Friz, Matt Glascock
Not pictured: Shawn Miller, Warner Meeks

2012-2013 APLab Staff

Spring 2013 Left to right: Warner Meeks, Steve Berg, Ryan Pahl, Paul Friz, Matt Glascock, Dr. Josh Rovey
Not pictured: Shawn Miller, Alex Satonik

2011-2012 APLab Staff

Spring 2012 Left to right: (back row): Alex Satonik, Andrew Heckman, Steve Berg
(thrid row): Mark Emanuel, Timothy Nichols, Jason Stumfoll, Warner Meeks
(second row): Ryan Pahl, Tim Collard, Sam Pomeroy, Dr. Josh Rovey
(front row): Andrea Els, Jing Hu
Not pictured: Scott Replogle, Shawn Miller

2010-2011 APLab Staff

Spring 2011 Left to right: (back) Dr. Rovey, Mark Emanuel, Ben Gaither, Alex Satonik, Timothy Nichols, David Zidar, Andrew Heckman, Shawn Miller, Warner Meeks
(front) Jing Hu, Whitney Lewis, Tom Hulsey, Ryan Pahl, and Mike Solari
Not pictured: Steve Berg, Maggie Mawhiney, Rebecca Miller

2009-2010 APLab Staff

Spring 2010 Left to right: (back) Andrew Heckman, Warner Meeks, Ryan Pahl, Joe Ferry, Brian Donius
(front) Dr. Rovey, Jason Thrasher, Ben Gaither, Shawn Miller, and David Zidar
Not pictured: Jocelyn Bailey, Jing Hu, Thea Tadlock

2008-2009 APLab Staff

Spring 2009 Left to right: (back) Andrew Heckman, Joe Ferry, Brian Donius, Ben Gaither
(front) Shawn Miller, Chris White, Dr. Rovey, and Jing Hu

Personnel