Personnel

Laboratory Director

Dr. Xu is a Professor in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department at The University of Alabama in Huntsville. He received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. from the Georgia Institute of Technology in Aerospace Engineering. His research has included electric propulsion for spacecrafts, basic plasma science, RF plasmas, atmospheric pressure plasma, plasma biological treatment, plasma assisted combustion, laser produced plasma, plasma interactions with magnetic fields, and rotating detonation engines. Dr. Xu is an Associate Fellow of AIAA, and member of IEEE, and APS. 

Email: gabe.xu@uah.edu

Staff

Kirk Boehm, Ph.D.

Dr. Boehm is a Research Engineer at PERL studying 3D magnetic reconnetion under a DOE grant. He obtained his Diplom-Ingenieur in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Technical University Dresden in Germany, M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Colorado State University, and Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics from the University of Alabama. His Ph.D. focused on energy exchange mechanisms in hollow cathodes.

Email: kb0135@uah.edu

Zachary White

Zachary is a Research Engineer working on studying laser produced plasma behavior in magnetic fields. He obtained his B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from Mississippi State University. He was an NSTRF Fellow conducting his PhD research on magnetic nozzles for pulsed fusion propulsion. He has also worked on plasma striations and laser collision induced fluorescence with Sandia National Laboratory.

 Email:  zw0015@uah.edu

Andrew Walsten

Andrew is a Research Engineer at PERL. He obtained dual B.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Physics from Kansas State University. His PhD research was on the study of a microwave resonator plasma source for miniature Hall effect thruster. He has also worked on high pressure microplasma source for diode pumped rare gas lasers, and laser diagnostics at Sandia National Laboratory. His work has been supported by DoD, NSF, and NASA.

 Email: atw0034@uah.edu

Graduate Students

 Michaela Hemming

Michaela graduated with a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from Iowa State University and M.S. in Aerospace Systems Engineering From UAH. She is a NASA NSTGRO fellow conducting her PhD research on liquid-gas injectors for rotating detonation rocket engines.

 Email: mrs0044@uah.edu

Nageshwar Nagarajan

Nageshwar received his undergraduate degree in Aerospace Engineering from SASTRA Deemed University in 2019, and his M.S. in Aerospace Systems Engineering from UAH. His M.S. thesis research focused on studying multi-ring microwave resonators for miniature electric propulsion. His PhD research focuses on atmospheric pressure plasma interactions with water droplets for biological applications. His work is supported by the ALGRSP fellowship.

 Email: nn0036@uah.edu

Ian Wagner

Ian graduated with a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from Penn State University in 2021. His research focuses on plasma and advanced space propulsion, more specifically experimental study of power generating magnetic nozzles using flux compression. His works is supported by NASA and the NSF FTPP CERIF fellowship.

 Email: irw0004@uah.edu 

Neil Laya

Neil graduated in 2022 with a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from UAH where he conducted undergraduate reesarch at PERL on split ring resonator plasmas. His graduate research focuses on lab scale experimental magnetic reconnection propulsion. He was previously supported by the Alabama Space Grant Graduate Fellowship and is now a NASA NSTGRO fellow.

Email: npl0004@uah.edu

Monica Salunkhe

Monica recieved her B.S. in Aeronautics and Astronautics Engineering from Purdue University in 2017, and M.S. in Aerospace Engineering from University of Michigan in 2019. She is pursuing a PhD in Aerospace Engineering at UAH in nuclear electric propulsion mission analysis and vehicle modeling. Her work is funded by NASA.

Email: ms0277@uah.edu

Olivia DeCaro

Olivia completed her B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from San Diego State University in 2023. At UAH, she is pursing graduate research in rotating detonation engines, specifically on a miniature RDE. Her work is supported by DoD.

oad0001@uah.edu

Aaron Applegate

Aaron received his B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from University of San Diego in 2021. Before joining PERL, he conducted research with the UAH Multiphysics Flow Research Group. At PERL, his research focused on ultra-short pulsed laser and plasma interactions and diagnostics. His work is supported by the DoD.

aaa0054@uah.edu

Allison Lentz

Allison obtained her BS in Aerospace Engineering from UAH in 2022. She went to work for Rubicon Space Systems as a Propulsion Systems Engineer. She returned to UAH to compelte her MS degree in 2024 and is currently working on solid fueled rotating detonation ramjet engine design and testing. Her work is funded by the DoD.

abl0012@uah.edu

Rachel Reuben

Rachel obtained her BS in Mechanical Engineering from NIMNS in 2022, and her MS in Aerospace Engineering from Virginia Tech in 2024. She is currently pursuing her PhD working on the design and testing of a staged coaxial plasma gun.

rr1422@uah.edu

Undergraduate Student Researchers

Tetiana Tymoshevska - coaxial plasma gun

Issac Stewart - B-dot probes

Ruby Sharrard - RDE

Alumni