Research Projects

Availability of Research Positions:

Formal applications to the Aerospace Engineering Department for graduate research positions are reviewed each Spring and any available positions will be filled upon a comprehensive review of all interested applicants without regard to order of receipt.  For best consideration, submit your application before March 1st.  Any offers will be extended prior to April 1st.  At the current time, due to lab size and available resources it is not anticipated that new positions will be available for Fall 2024.  Any update to this will be posted here by February 1st. 

Undergraduate research is typically limited to Juniors and Seniors due to the nature of the research and the required background course material.  Due to limited availability, priority is given to students seeking the honors citation through the Aerospace Engineering Honors Program.  These positions are typically allocated in late Spring for a Fall semester start.  Summer positions are available between Junior and Senior year for students that conducted research during their Junior year and plan to continue into their Senior year.

Current Research Projects:

  1. Superconducting Helicon Thruster (SHT)
  2. Direct-Drive Centrifugal Confinement Fusion Propulsion

Previous Research Projects:

  1. Icy-Moon Cryo Enviroment Penetrating Ice Claw (ICE-PIC)
  2. Multi-grid Inertial Electrostatic Confinement Fusion (IECF)
  3. Ion Plume Impact Damage
  4. Decomposing Nitrous Thruster
  5. PIV Analysis of Plasma Actuators
  6. Resonant Inductive Near-field Generation System (RINGS)
  7. The Walker: A Pneumatic Walking Rover
  8. Nanoparticle Generation Using Helicon Plasma
  9. Superconducting Wireless Power Transfer (WPT)
  10. Flexible Cryogenic Thermal Control
  11. Dusty Plasma Generation
  12. Space Debris Remediation