People

Prof. Baalrud received his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2010. Afterward, he visited the Space Plasma Power and Propulsion group at the Australian National University, then was a postdoc at the University of New Hampshire and at Los Alamos National Laboratory before joining the Physics and Astronomy Department at the University of Iowa in the fall of 2013. His research focuses on fundamental and applied theoretical plasma physics. Active research topics include strongly coupled plasmas, warm dense matter, plasma-boundary interactions, kinetic theory of plasmas far from equilibrium and magnetic reconnection.

Louis Jose received his Master’s in Physics with a minor in Chemistry from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Thiruvananthapuram. He obtained his Ph.D in Applied Physics from the University of Michigan in 2023.  His research is focused on developing a plasma kinetic theory for strongly magnetized plasmas characterized by gyrofrequency larger than the plasma frequency. 

Mika graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics and Applied Math from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She earned a Master’s degree from Georgia Tech in Aerospace Engineering. She is now beginning her work at the Plasma Group this fall. At this fresh start, she is leaning toward research in strongly magnetized plasmas, but she is happy with any changes as she progresses.

I am a second year graduate student studying plasma chemical kinetics. I am interested in developing particle codes which use Monte Carlo methods to simulate collisions, and developing new methods which capture the physics of strongly-coupled plasmas. I grew up in Newton, MA, went to undergrad at Tulane University (Roll Wave), and studied chemical engineering & computer science. I worked at Los Alamos National Lab for one year between degrees. I love to play music and cook. Ask me about my vim setup.

I am currently a PhD student in the NERS department here at the University of Michigan. I am not originally from Michigan, I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and received my BS in physics from UC Santa Barbara in 2022. 
 
Since then, I’ve been studying the transport properties of Warm Dense Matter, which is an exotic high energy density plasma and sits on the cold side of plasma physics but usually at solid densities. It occurs all across the universe on the interior of stars and possibly in white dwarf atmospheres. It is also important in understanding implosions on experiments at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) and the Z Machine. So far I have been looking at how to apply standard plasma physics and kinetic theory to these exotic plasmas and comparing what I find to other theories and experiments. 
 
Outside of physics I am an avid sports fan, specifically soccer where my favorite team is Manchester United.  

Julian grew up in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia and received his Bachelor’s degree in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Michigan in 2022. Julian’s current research focuses on developing theoretical models for bremsstrahlung emission in strongly coupled plasmas. Outside of work, he enjoys reading, eating sour cream donuts, and playing Geoguessr.

Born and raised in Indianapolis, IN. Attended undergrad at Purdue University and received a bachelor’s in Nuclear Engineering and a minor in Physics. Studying strongly magnetized, antimatter plasmas. Hobbies include rock climbing and board games!

I am a third year PhD student in NERS and am interested in kinetic instabilities and how they affect macroscopic transport in low-temperature plasmas as well as statistical physics in general. I’m originally from northern Virginia where I did my undergrad in mechanical engineering at George Mason University 5 minutes away from DC. Prior to joining the Plasma Theory group, I worked on my MS in aerospace engineering at the University of Illinois (I-L-L!). When I’m not working, you will find me at the NCRB, playing chess, or hanging out with my dog Suki.

I am an undergraduate majoring in engineering physics and minoring in mathematics. I am from South Jersey, just outside of Philadelphia. I am currently researching bulk viscosity, a historically neglected transport coefficient, in strongly coupled plasmas.   

Dr. Acciarri successfully defended his PhD thesis “Strong Correlation Effects in Atmospheric Pressure Plasmas” in 2024. After graduating, he moved to Helion Energy as a Research Scientist.

Julia Marshall was an undergraduate researcher in our group from 2021-2023 studying molecular dynamics simulations of strongly magnetized plasmas. After this, she moved to the PhD program in the Engineering Physics Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Dr. Beving successfully defended his PhD thesis “Testing Models of Sheaths and Instabilities with Particle-In-Cell Simulations,” in 2023. After graduating, he moved to Sandia National Laboratory as a Postdoctoral Research Scientist.

Dr. Bernstein successfully defended his PhD thesis “Friction in Strongly Coupled and Strongly Magnetized Plasmas” in 2021. After graduating, he moved to Los Alamos National Laboratory as a Postdoctoral Research Scientist.

Dr. Shaffer successfully defended his PhD thesis “Theory of Collisional Transport in Ultracold Neutral Plasmas” in 2018. After graduating, he moved to Los Alamos National Laboratory as a Postdoctoral Research Scientist. He is currently a Research Scientist at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics in Rochester, NY.

Dr. Scheiner successfully defended his PhD thesis “Theory and Simulation of Electron Sheaths and Anode Spots in Low Pressure Laboratory Plasmas” in 2017. After graduating, he moved to Los Alamos National Laboratory as a Postdoctoral Research Scientist. He is currently a Research Scientist at Lam Research in Portland, OR.

Dr. Tiwari was a postdoctoral researcher in our group from 2016-2018 at the University of Iowa studying classical strongly coupled neutral plasmas. After this, he moved to the Department of Physics at IIT Jammu as an Assistant Professor.

Dr. Rightley was a postdoctoral researcher in our group from 2017-2020 at the University of Iowa studying quantum effects in the transport properties in dense plasmas. After this, he moved to Sandia National Laboratory as a Postdoctoral Research Scientist.

Dr. Vidal was an MS student in our group at the University of Iowa, studying transport properties of strongly magnetized plasmas using molecular dynamics simulations. After this, he continued with the Jaynes group at the University of Iowa for his PhD studies.

Dr. Hood successfully defended his PhD thesis “Study of the Plasma Boundary Using Laser Induced Fluorescence” in 2020, with Prof. Frederick Skiff as the primary advisor and Prof. Baalrud as a co-advisor. After graduating, he moved to Sandia National Laboratories as a Postdoctoral Research Scientist.

Patrick Adrian was an undergraduate researcher in our group at the University of Iowa from 2014-2016 studying sheaths in plasmas containing a mixture of ion species using particle-in-cell simulations. After graduating, he joined MIT as a PhD student. He has since finished his PhD and is now a Postdoctoral Scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory.