 | Dr.
Christine Hartzell hartzell at umd.edu Office: 3178
Martin Hall Phone: 301-405-4647 Christine Hartzell joined
the Department of Aerospace
Engineering at the University of Maryland as Assistant Professor
in February 2014 and was promoted to Associate Professor in July
2020. She completed her PhD in Aerospace Engineering at the
University of Colorado at Boulder, under the direction of Dan
Scheeres. Her thesis research topic was electrostatic dust levitation
above asteroids and the Moon. Prior to coming to UMD, she was a Keck
Institute for Space Studies Postdoctoral Fellow at Caltech, where she
studied granular mechanics. She completed her undergraduate work in
Aerospace Engineering at Georgia Tech. In her spare time, Dr.
Hartzell enjoys riding horses, downhill skiing (on the West coast),
traveling, cooking and spending time with her cat. |
Postdoctoral Researchers |
 | Dr. Yun Zhang
Awards: Asteroid (53537) Zhangyun was named in
recognition of her contributions to small body science by IAU;
1st Place of Research Student Competition of 5th IAA Planetary
Defense Conference; Best Ph.D. Thesis Award of Tsinghua
University. Bio: Yun received her Ph.D. degree in
Aerospace Engineering from Tsinghua University in 2018. After
graduation, she worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the
Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur in France. Her research expertise
includes the theoretical analysis and numerical modeling of
geophysical evolution of small bodies. Currently, Yun’s research
focuses on understanding some fundamental physical mechanisms
that play important roles in the surface processes of airless
bodies, i.e., triboelectric charging and rarefied gas drag. In
her spare time, Yun enjoys hiking, jogging, and playing
piano. |
 | Dr. Cecily Sunday Awards: Zonta
International Amelia Earhart Fellowship, ISAE-SUPAERO Best Ph.D.
Thesis Bio: Cecily completed her Ph.D. at the Institut
Supérieur de l'Aéronautique et de l'Espace (ISAE-SUPAERO) in 2022.
She received a M.S. in Aeronautical and Space Systems from
ISAE-SUPAERO and a B.S. Mechanical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon
University. Cecily also worked as a Robotics Engineer at the NASA Jet
Propulsion Laboratory designing and testing sampling systems for
planetary exploration missions. Her current research focuses on dust
entrainement in lunar lander plumes. In her free time, Cecily enjoys
traveling, reading and cooking with her husband and son. |
Graduate
Students |
 | Melissa Buys
2nd Year PhD Student Awards: Fulbright Fellow,
South Africa Bio: Melissa completed her B.S. in
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of
Pretoria. Her current research focuses on understanding
triboelectric charging of rovers on the Moon. Melissa enjoys
hiking, writing poetry and finding obscure coffee shops in her
free time. |
 | Ian DesJardin 3nd Year PhD Student
Awards: DOE Computational Science Graduate Fellowship, UMD
Flagship Fellowship Bio: Ian Completed a B.S. in
Aerospace Engineering and a B.A. in Math at SUNY-Buffalo. Ian's
research focuses on computational simulations of the plasma
signature produced by small orbital debris, enabling new
detection methods. Ian enjoys hiking, trivia, and hanging out
with his cat. |
 | Eric Frizzell
6th Year PhD Student Awards: NSF Graduate
Research Fellowship, 2017 SSPI Award, Clark Fellowship
Bio: Eric completed a B.S. in Economics from the
University of Michigan and worked for a few years prior to
pursuing his passion for aerospace. Eric completed a second
B.S. in Aerospace Engineering at UMD and decided to stay for
his PhD. Eric's research focuses on using LIGGGHTS to
computationally model granular dilation surrounding lunar
craters. Eric's hobbies include reading, running and learning
to play the guitar. |
 | Siti Nur Hannany Md
Salehuddin 2nd Year MS Student Bio: Born
and raised in Malaysia, Hannany completed her B.S. in
Aerospace Engineering at The Pennsylvania State University.
During her studies, Hannany was a research volunteer as she
assisted in the validation of anti-phase rotor-noise
suppression technology developed by NASA Ames. Besides all
things space, skies, and cats, she enjoys travelling,
reading, watching movies, and writing her journal. |
 | Charles Pett
5th Year PhD Student Awards: 2021 SSPI Award
for Most Innovative Technology, NASA Pathways Bio:
Charles completed his B.S. in Aerospace Engineering at the
University of Florida. As an undergrad, Charles worked on
clearing dust off of solar panels on Earth. Now, he's
applying his dust knowledge to planetary science applications
- developing a new method to measure cohesion on asteroids.
In his spare time, Charles enjoys gardening, trying new
foods, dancing and spending time with his cat and
dog. |
 | Anmol Sikka 3rd Year PhD Student
Bio: Anmol completed his B.Tech and M.Tech in Aerospace
Engineering from IIT Bombay, India, where he also led the student
satellite team. He uses LIGGGHTS (an open-source DEM code) to make
predictions about the effect of magnetic forces in avalanching of
granular materials. In his spare time, Anmol likes writing his blog, reading
fiction and watching movies. |
 | Connor Wilson 2nd
Year MS Student Bio: Connor completed his B.S. in
Aerospace Engineering at Penn State. After graduating, Connor worked
at Raytheon for 5 years prior to pursuing his MS. Connor's thesis
focuses on looking for evidence of plasma solitons produced by
orbital debris in existing, ground-based ionospheric plasma density
observations. Connor spends his free time cooking, practicing music,
playing board games, and hiking. |
 | Grace Zimmerman 2nd
Year MS Student Awards: National Science Foundation
Fellowship Bio: Grace completed her B.S. in Physics at the
University of Central Arkansas. As an undergrad, she completed two
NASA internships, one in planetary science and the other in
simulation modeling. Now she is combining her undergraduate research
to design trajectories aerogravity assists at the outer planets. In
her spare time, Grace enjoys reading, playing her flute and cello,
and spending time with her cat. |
Lab Alumni -
PhD |
Thomas Leps PhD, Dec
2021, Defended from the South Pole Thesis Title:
Simulation of Magnetic Granular Media Using Open Source Soft Sphere
Discrete Element Method Current Position: NSF Overwinter
Lead for BICEP Array at South Pole |
Jackson Shannon PhD, May 2021,
NASA Space Technology Research Fellowship Thesis Title:
Selected Problems in Many-Revolution Trajectory Optimization Using
Q-Law Current Position: Trajectory Design Engineer, Johns
Hopkins Applied Physics Lab |
Alexis Truitt PhD, May 2020,
Director of National Intelligence Science and Technology
Fellowship Thesis Title: Characteristics of Plasma
Solitons Produced by Small Orbital Debris Current
Position: Department of Defense |
Dylan Carter PhD, Dec 2019, NASA
Space Technology Research Fellowship Thesis Title:
Modeling and Experimental Measurement of Triboelectric Charging in
Dielectric Granular Mixtures Current Position: Systems
Engineer, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab |
Anthony DeCicco PhD,
July 2018, NASA Space Technology Research Fellowship
Thesis Title: Asteroid Control via Neutral Beam Emitting
Spacecraft Current Position: Future Technical
Leaders Program, Northrup Grumman |
Lab Alumni -
MS with Thesis |
Anand Patel MS, May
2020 Thesis Title: A Model to Predict the Size of 3D
Regolith Clumps on Planetary Bodies Current Position:
Lunar Gateway Spacecraft Autonomous Systems - Planning and
Optimization Engineer, CACI (NASA Johnson) |
Teddy Levine MS, Dec
2016 Thesis Title: The Effects of Tidal Forces
on the Minimum Energy Configurations of the Full Three-Body
Problem Link to
Thesis Current Position: Controls Engineer,
Relative Dynamics (NASA Goddard) |