Tobin Munsat
PI
Tobin received his PhD in Plasma Physics from Princeton University. He is the PI of IMPACT and a professor in the Physics Department at the University of Colorado, Boulder.
Mihály Horányi
Deputy PI
Mihály Horányi received his PhD in Space Physics from the Lorand Eötvös University in Budapest, Hungary. He is professor of physics at the University of Colorado, Boulder and was the PI of IMPACT from 2008-2022.
Angel Abbud-Madrid
CO-I
Angel Abbud-Madrid recieved his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Colorado, Boulder. Angel is the director for the Center for Space Resources at the Colorado School on Mines.
Dan Baker
CO-I
Dan Baker recieved his PhD from the University of Iowa and is currently the director of the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP).
Jordy Bouwman
CO-I
Jordy Bouwman is a professor of chemistry at CU Boulder and IMPACT researcher. His research explores the formation and dissociation mechanisms of interstellar Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) as well as other organic compounds in the ISM.
David Brain
CO-I
David Brain recieved his PhD in Astrophysical, Planetary, and Atmospheric Sciences from the University of Colorado, Boulder. He is an assistant professor at the University of Colorado, Boulder.
Jan Deca
Research Associate
Jan received his PhD from the Centre for mathematical Plasma Astrophysics (KULeuven), Belgium. Currently he is a research associate at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP).
Christopher B. Dreyer
CO-I
Christopher Dreyer received his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Colorado, Boulder. Currently, he is a research scientist at the Center for Space Resources at the Colorado School of Mines.
John Fontanese
Research Associate
John is the dust accelerator lead engineer working on the large and small accelerators at DAL.
George Gilmer
CO-I
George Gilmer recieved his PhD in Physics from the University of Virginia. He is a research scientist at the Center for Space Resources at the Colorado School of Mines.
Vladimir Gorokhovsky
CO-I
Vladimir Gorokhovsky has research interests in plasma processing technologies, plasma synthesis of nanomaterials, coating and functionalization of micro-and nano-powders, and arc plasma physics.
Eberhard Grün
CO-I
Eberhard Grün recieved his PhD from the University of Heidelberg. He is a research associate at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP).
Brendan Hermalyn
CO-I
Brendan Hermalyn received his PhD in Planetary Science from Brown University. Brendan is an assistant researcher (SOEST Young Investigator) at the University of Hawaii, Manoa, and a researcher at NASA Ames Research Center.
Hsiang-Wen Hsu
CO-I
Hsiang-Wen (Sean) Hsu received his PhD from the Max-Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg. He is a research associate at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP).
Sascha Kempf
CO-I
Sascha Kempf is the deputy PI of the Cassini dust detector CDA and develops instrumentation for compositional analysis of comsic dust. He is also an assistant professor at the University of Colorado, Boulder.
Scott Robertson
CO-I
Scott Robertson received his PhD in Applied Physics from Cornell University. He was a professor at the University of Colorado, Boulder.
Daniel J. Scheeres
CO-I
Daniel Scheeres received a PhD from the University of Michigan. He is a professor in the Aerospace Engineering Sciences Department at the University of Colorado, Boulder.
Alan Stern
CO-I
Alan Stern received his PhD in Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences from the University of Colorado, Boulder. He is the associate vice-president of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado.
Zoltan Sternovsky
CO-I
Zoltan Sternovsky received his PhD from Charles University in Prague. He is an assistant professor at the University of Colorado, Boulder.
Stein Sture
CO-I
Stein Sture received a PhD in Civil Engineering from the University of Colorado, Boulder. He is the vice chancellor for research and dean of the graduate school at the University of Colorado, Boulder.
Xu Wang
CO-I
Xu Wang received his PhD in Engineering Physics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Xu is a research scientist for the Laboratory of Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP).
Greg Werner
CO-I
Greg Werner received his PhD in Experimental Physics from Cornell University. He is a research scientist for the Center for Integrated Plasma Studies (CIPS), Boulder, Colorado.
Jürgen Blum
Jürgen Blum received his PhD from the University of Heidelberg. He is professor for physics at the University of Braunschweig in Germany.
Margaret Campbell-Brown
Margaret Campbell-Brown recieved her PhD in Physics and Astronomy from the University of Western Ontario. She is an associate professor in the Physics and Astronomy Department at the University of Western Ontario.
Mark J. Cintala
Mark Cintala received his PhD in Geological Sciences from Brown University. He is a researcher at NASA's Johnson Space Center.
Richard Dee
Richard Dee received his PhD in Low Temperature Solid State Physics from the University of Lancaster, England. Currently he is an Affiliate to the Department of Physics and CIPS assisting in the design of cryogenic targets for the dust accelerator.
Giovanni Lapenta
Giovanni Lapenta received a PhD in Plasma Physics from the Polytechnic University of Turin. He is a professor in the Mathematics Department at University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
Ralf Srama
Ralf Srama recieved a PhD in Aerospace Engineering from the Technical University of Munich. He is a research scientist for the Institute of Space Systems at the University of Stuttgart in Stuttgart, Germany
Alexander Zakharov
Alexander Zakharov is a researcher in space physics and works at the Space Research Institute, Moscow. His main science interests are space plasmas, space dust, Mars and its moons. He has been a member of the International Academy of Astronautics since 1994.
Ethan Ayari
Ethan Ayari is a graduate student in Physics working with Mihály Horányi and Zoltan Sternovsky on designing and analyzing data from the Interstellar Dust Experiment (IDEX) instrument aboard NASA's Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) mission.
Thomas Corbett
Thomas Corbett is an undergraduate in physics working with John Fontanese on the dust accelerators at DAL. He is also working with Mihály Horányi on simulating interplanetary dust production in the Kuiper belt.
Michael Creager
Michael Creager is a graduate from CU with a bachelor's in engineering physics and currenlty plans to return to CU to obtain his Master's in Aerospace Engineering. Michael has been working under Sascha Kempf, and has been responsible for designing, simulating and manufacturing an experimental prototype TOF linear mass spectrometer (chemical sensor) with a high mass resolution optimized to obtain mass spectra in dust rich environments with water in space.
Erick Diaz
Erick Diaz is an undergraduate student in Engineering Physics and Mechanical Engineering working with Tobin Munsat and Vladimir Gorokhovsky on developing methods of coating micron scale particles with thin metal layers for use in the dust accelerator.
Alexander Doner
Alex Doner is a graduate student working under the advisement of Mihály Horányi as the student lead on the Student Dust Counter (SDC) instrument on-board the New Horizons spacecraft. He is also part of the team developing a lunar-based PVDF dust detector called the Lunar Meteoroid Monitor (LMM) for future missions.
Rebecca Mikula
Rebecca Mikula is a PhD student at IMPACT. Her background is in astrophysics and chemistry. She currently works on collecting and analyzing dust impact ionization mass spectra of organic particles.
José H. Pagán Muñoz
José is a graduate student in the Department of Physics working with Xu Wang on understanding the charging mechanisms of dust within plasmas and working with industry collaborators in mitigating dust mobility.
Austin Smith
Austin is a graduate student working under Dr. Zoltan Sternovsky on characterizing the dust impact waveforms from the STEREO spacecraft missions. He is also an aerospace engineering major at CU Boulder with an emphasis in remote sensing, earth, and space sciences.
Kelyan Taylor
Kelyan Taylor is an undergraduate student in the Aerospace Engineering department. Kelyan is working with Xu Wang on the physics behind dust charging and lofting in particle accelerators and potential mitigation avenues.
Sean Gopalakrishnan
Sean Gopalakrishnan is a graduate student in Physics working with Xu Wang on dust charging within plasmas and with industry collaborators in mitigating dust mobility. Sean and Xu Wang also work with Hsiang-Wen Hsu on investigating secondary electron emission from solar wind ions and energetic neutral particles.
Chris Anaya
Chris Anaya graduated from the University of Colorado, Boulder with a degree in physics. Chris is now a graduate student at Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon.
Forrest Barnes
Forrest Barnes was an undergraduate student at the university of Colorado at Boulder working under Tobin Munsat on control and data visualization software for the accelerator. Forrest is now a software engineer at Lockheed Martin.
Robert Beadles
Robert Beadless was an undergraduate student at the University of Colorado working under Xu Wang. Robert is now working at Sierra Space as a sr. mechanical test lead.
Nicholaus Beaty
Nicholaus Beaty worked under Mihály Horányi with Anthony Shu trying to optimize and improve the efficiency of the accelerator. He also helped to characterize the different types of dust that can be used. Nicholaus now works for Epic.
Nick Boschert
Nick Boschert was an interning high school student and entered CU-Boulder as a Physics major.
Jessica Burnett
Jessica Burnett was an incoming undergraduate at CU-Boulder studying computer engineering. She worked under Mihály Horányi on simulating magnetic field anomalies found on the Moon.
Spenser Burrows
Spenser Burrows graduated from the University of Colorado, Boulder with a degree in Engineering Physics and chemistry. Spencer is now a graduate research assistant at Auburn University.
Brandon Cage
Brandon Cage was an undergraduate student in the Physics department working with Jan Deca on simulations of attractive regimes between dust grains in plasma. Brandon since went on to obtain a Master of Science degree in physics from Rice University.
David Chaparro
David Chaparro is a current graduate student at the CU Physics Department. He completed his BS in Physics at the University of Texas at Dallas. He now works with Tobin Munsat and Sascha Kempf continuing research on dust impacts on icy planets.
Mark Coffman
Mark graduated from the University of Colorado, Boulder with an aerospace engineering degree. Mark now works as a structural engineering consultant for Answer Engineering Inc.
Akaxia Cruz
Akaxia Cruz was an undergraduate student at the University of Colorado, Boulder studying Physics and Mathematics. Akaxia is currently a presidential postdoctoral fellow at Princeton University.
Brandon Cyrus
Brandon Cyrus was an undergraduate student in Mechanical Engineering working with Zoltan Sternovsky and Mihály Horányi on designing an ultra-high vacuum (UHV) chamber and supporting structure to be incorporated with a Time of Flight Mass Spectrometer and tested on the dust accelerator. Brandon has since founded Delta Horizons, and now works as a fabrication design engineer for eps-Doublet.
Michael DeLuca
Michael DeLuca worked with Zoltan Sternovsky and completed his PhD on meteoric ablation in April of 2020. He is currently a postdocteral researcher at Princeton University interested in the development of spacecraft instruments.
Shannon Dickson
Shannon Dickson graduated from CU with a degree in engineering physics and a minor in astronomy. Shannon now works at Blue Origin.
Adrienne Dove
Adrienne Dove received her PhD in Astrophysical and Planetary Sciencees from the University of Colorado. Adrienne now works at The Universuty of Central Florida as an assistant professor.
Nicole Duncan
Nicole Duncan received her B.A. in Engineering Physics from the University of Colorado and worked on the Dust Trajectory Sensor (DTS) project. Nicole has since recieved a physics PhD from The University of California, Berkeley, and is now a strategic planning manager at Ball Aerospace.
Chad Eberl
Chad Eberl worked with Sascha Kempf on SUDA testing and calibration. Chad currently works for Lockheed Martin.
Luke Eberwein
Luke Eberwein was an undergraduate in Physics working with Xu Wang on studying electrostatic dust charging and lofting on surfaces of airless planetary bodies.
Ben Farr
Ben Farr completed his undergraduate Physics degree in May 2020 and continued his work with Xu Wang on a project to develop and test new methods for mitigating dust on the Lunar surface. Ben currently works for Boulder Engineering Studio as an engineering technician.
Connor Flexman
Connor participated in a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program at IMPACT. He worked with Mihály Horányi developing the spatial variability of detectors for the dust accelerator at DAL. Connor is now a researcher at Alvea.
AJ Gemer
AJ Gemer worked with Zoltan Sternovsky on the development of the Hyperdust, Dust Trajectory Sensor (DTS), Electrostatic Lunar Dust Analyzer (ELDA), and Nano-Dust Analyzer (NDA) instruments. After graduation, he co-founded Lunar Outpost Inc. and is currently serving as the Chief Technology Officer.
Michael Gerard
Michael Gerrard was an undergrauate studying Physics and Applied Mathematics. He worked on simulations dealing with lunar swirl morphology and is now an Engineering Physics grad student at The University of Wisconsin at Madison.
Bill Goode
Bill Goode was a graduate student working for Sascha Kempf on SUDA science development. Bill now works for Blue Origin as a trajectory analyst.
Elliot Gorokhovsky
Elliot was a high school student from Fairview HS working under Andrew Collette on the motion control system for the accelerator chamber. Elliot then went on to obtain a Bachelor's degree in mathematics from Arizona State University, and now works as a software engineer for Facebook.
Erik Gustafson
Erik Gustafson was an undergraduate student in Physics and Mechanical Engineering and worked with Sascha Kempf on designing and machining the SUDA prototype. Erik is the founder of Hairspring Watches.
Liam Hoffmeister
Liam Hoffmeister completed his bachelor's degrees in Math, Physics, and Computer Science in May of 2020. He worked with Tobin Munsat on development of an improved FPGA for the accelerator's particle selection unit. He is currently a Phd student and graduate research assistant at Yale University.
João Gabriel Moreira Hooks
João Hooks worked with Sascha Kempf on Cassini Time of Flight (TOF) mass spectroscopy for the Jovian and Saturnian systems. He worked on PDS data analysis and preparation. He now works as a blockchain integration consultant.
Calvin Howes
Calvin Howes was an undergraduate student working under Xu Wang. Calvin is now pursuing a doctoral degree in atmospheric sciences and modeling from The University of California, Los Angeles.
Jack Hunsaker
Jack Hunsaker was a high school intern working with David James developing the Argon Plasma Undergraduate Laboratory. Jack recieved a Bachelor of Arts in Astrophysics from Whitman College.
Eric Junkins
Eric Junkins was an undergraduate student in Mechanical Engineering. He worked on fabiraction and design of test equipment for SUDA and GOLD. He now works at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory as a robotics engineer.
Maximilian Kempf
Max Kempf studies Industrial Engineering in Berlin and came to Boulder to do an internship for five months.
Huy Le
Huy Le was an undergraduate student in the Aerospace Engineering and Electrical Engineering departments. Huy now works for Lockheed Martin.
Spencer LeBlanc
Spencer LeBlanc worked as an undergraduate student with IMPACT.
Zuni Levin
Zuni Levin is an undergraduate student of Physics working with Sascha Kempf on the computational modeling of the Lunar Dust Experiment in its operating environment orbiting around the moon.
Sean Metzger
Sean Metzger was an interning high school student from Fairview High School in Boulder. Sean has since recieved a masters degree in electrical engineering from Stanford university, and is now a PhD candidate at The University of California, Berkeley.
Georg Meyer
Georg Meyer was a visiting graduate student from Stuttgart, Germany. Georg worked with Zoltan Sternovsky developing the PVDF electronics at DAL. Georg now works for Siemens Gamesa.
Destry Monk
Destry is an undergraduate at CU working for Tobin Munsat, and majoring in physics, computer science, and mathematics. His project entailed coding for the Vacuum Interlock System master control interface. Destry is currently a graduate research assistant at The University of New Mexico.
Rudy Namikis
Rudy Namikis studied Chemical Engineering and worked with Sascha Kempf on calibrations of mass analyzers.
Oak Nelson
Oak Nelson was an undergraduate student in Engineering Physics and worked under Tobin Munsat on initial experiments in the ice chamber. Oak is currently a postdoctoral research fellow at Columbia University.
Paige Northway
Paige Northway graduated from the University of Colorado with a degree in Engineering Physics and a minor in German. Paige is now a systems engineer at First Mode.
Leela O'Brien
Leela O'Brien was a graduate student in Aerospace Engineering and worked with Zoltan Sternovsky. Her focus was on the development of space instruments including the Nano Dust Analyzer, which is a linear time-of-flight mass spectrometer.
Alexandra Okeson
Alexandra Okeson was an undergraduate student in Computer Science. She worked under Mihály Horányi developing software for the student dust counter. Alex is now a senior research engineer at iRhythm technologies.
Juliet Pilewskie
Juliet Pilewskie was an undergraduate student and worked under Mihály Horányi developing computational models for IMPACT. Juliet is now a graduate student studying atmospheric science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Marcus Piquette
Marcus Piquette completed his PhD in the Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences department working with Mihály Horányi on simulations of photoelectron sheaths and dust dynamics on the lunar surface. He now works at Mission Ops at LASP.
Andrew Poppe
Andrew Poppe received his PhD in physics from the University of Colorado. Andrew is currently an Associate Research Scientist at the Space Sciences Laboratory at the University of California at Berkeley.
Steven Priddy
Steven Priddy was pursing a master's degree in aerospace engineering with an emphasis on bioastronautics. He was working with Zoltan Sternovsky on new experimental setups. Steven is now a systems engineer at Northrop Grunman.
Emily Randall
Emily Randall graduated from Fairview High School, and entered CU Boulder as a high school intern. They are now a Senior Software Engineer at Indigov.
Anthony Rasca
Anthony Rasca received his PhD from the Applied Mathematics Department at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Anthony is now a NASA Postdoctoral Fellow at NASA Goddard Flight Center.
JR Rocha
JR Rocha was a graduate student in Aerospace Engineering and worked under Zoltan Sternovsky on the STEREO project. JR is currently a System Engineer at Sierra Space.
Joseph Isaac Samaniego
Joseph completed his PhD in Physics working with Xu Wang and Mihály Horányi on upgrades to Langmuir Probes. Jospeh now works as a staff scientist for HelicitySpace.
Joseph Schwan
Joseph Schwan was an undergraduate student in Mechanical Engineering and worked under Xu Wang researching dust dynamics in plasmas. Joseph is currenlty working as a research scientist for Soane Technologies.
Andy Seracuse
Andy was an undergraduate student working under Tobin Munsat developing the dust coordinate sensor used by the dust accelerator at DAL. Andy is now a software engineer at Amazon.
Ming-Hsueh Shen
Ming-Hsueh Shen completed his PhD in Aerospace Engineering Sciences working with Zoltan Sternovsky on dust detection by antenna instruments: modeling and laboratory measurements. Mitchell is now an associate research scholar at Princeton University.
Anthony Shu
Anthony Shu received his PhD in 2015 for impact cratering experiments. He is now a PTD Process Engineer at Intel Corporation.
Tanya Shultz
Tanya Shultz was an undergratuate student researching lunar swirls.
Jonas Simolka
Jonas Simolka was a visiting graduate student from Stuttgart, Germany. Jonas worked with Zoltan Sternovsky on the gas target chamber at DAL.
Ben Southworth
Ben Southworth was a graduate student in the Applied Math Department working with Sascha Kempf and Mihály Horányi developing computational models of dust plumes. Ben is currently works at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Jared Stanley
Jared Stanley was an undergrauate student developing theoretical support for the SUDA instrument. Jared is now the CEO and founder of Adinkra.
Jordan Stern
Jordan Stern graduated from Niwot High School, and entered CU Boulder in the Engineering Physics Program. Jordan is currenlty working as a data scientist for Shopify.
Jamey Szalay
Jamey Szalay received his PhD in 2015 for work with the LDEX mission studying the Moon's dust cloud. He accepted a Post Doc at SwRI, San Antonio. He is now a research scholar at Princeton University.
Evan Thomas
Evan Thomas received his PhD in Physics and worked under Tobin Munsat and Mihály Horányi designing the FPGA-based particle selection unit used on the accelerator. Additionally, Evan worked on a gas target experiment to investigate the ablation of micrometeoroids in the laboratory. Evan is now the costar of HGTV's series Bargain Block.
Zach Ulibarri
Zach Ulibarri is a graduate student in physics working with Tobin Munsat and Mihály Horányi on dust impacts into ice surfaces. Zach is currently a postdoctoral associate at Cornell University.
Michelle Villeneuve
Michelle Villeneuve worked with Sascha Kempf and David James developing a program to analyze mass spectroscopy data without human manipulation for Cassini. Michelle is now the Deputy Chief Engineer of the Space Vehicles Directorate (RV) at the Air Force Research Laboratory.
Michael Wagner
Michael Wagner was an undergraduate student in Engineering Physics and worked on the Dust Particle Accelerator. Michael recieved a JD from the University of Colorado School of Law and is now a partner at Lewis Roca.
Christopher Warren
Chris Warren graduated from CU with a bachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering with minors in Quantitative Economics and General Applied Mathematics. Christopher is currently working at Amazon as a senior structural analysis engineer.
Thomas Watts
Thomas Watts was a Physics major at CU Boulder who worked under Xu Wang. He is the author of the honors thesis "Simulation of Cold Cathode Discharge Tube Glow Profiles: An MCC Approach".
Ethan Williams
Ethan Que Williams was an undergraduate Physics major at CU. He worked under the guidance of Zoltan Sternovsky and Sascha Kempf simulating ion trajectories in SIMION in the effort to optimize the design of the Large Area Mass Analyzer (LAMA) dust telescope. Ethan went on to purusue a PhD at Dartmouth College.
Tyler Wingfield
Tyler Wingfield worked with IMPACT as a Junior pursuing a degree in Engineering Physics. Tyler is currently a Senior System Engineer at First Mode.
Jianfeng Xie
Jianfeng Xie graduated from CU with a PhD in physics. He used the Zemax to analyze the effect of ultraviolet light from the sun on detectors. Jianfeng is now a software engineer working on autonomous driving.
Li Hsia Yeo
Li Hsia is a graduate student in the Department of Physics working with Xu Wang and Mihály Horányi on the Colorado Solar Wind Experiment (CSWE). She is currently a NASA Postdoctoral Fellow at NASA Goddard Flight Center.