Team | My Site

Faculty and Staff

Prof. Elaine Petro | Lab Director | Assistant Professor

(461 Upson Hall)

Elaine Petro is an Assistant Professor in the Cornell Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and the Director of the Cornell ASTRA lab. Her research interests include spacecraft electric propulsion, sustainable space exploration through in-situ resource utilization, and plasma science. Petro received her Ph.D. from the University of Maryland, College Park, where she studied water-based plasma propulsion. Prior to joining the faculty in Cornell MAE, she spent time as post-doctoral researcher in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Space Propulsion Laboratory, studying electrospray thrusters for small satellite propulsion. (Google Scholar, LinkedIn, Email)

Doctoral Students

Abu Taqui Md Tahsin | Ph.D. Candidate

Abu Taqui Md Tahsin is a Ph.D. candidate at Cornell Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. His research interests include Spacecraft Propulsion, Molecular Dynamics, and Astrodynamics. He received his bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, in Bangladesh. His current research is focused on the Molecular Dynamics simulations of inter-propellant interactions in the electrospray plume. (LinkedIn, ResearchGate, Google Scholar)

hofheins_headshot - Giuliana Hofheins.jpeg

Giuliana Hofheins | Ph.D. Candidate

Giuliana Hofheins is a Ph.D. candidate at Cornell Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and a NASA Space Technologies Graduate Research Opportunity (NSTGRO) Fellow. Her research interests include electric space propulsion, space mission design, and design optimization. She received her bachelor's degree from Rhodes College in Memphis, TN where she studied Physics with a minor in mathematics. Her current research focuses on electrospray plume-surface interactions.

IMG_7370 (1) - Kaylin Borders_edited.jpg

Kaylin Borders | Ph.D. Student

Kaylin Borders is a Ph.D. student at Cornell Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and a NASA Space Technologies Graduate Research Opportunity (NSTGRO) fellow. Her research interests include thermal management for high-power electric propulsion thrusters and space nuclear propulsion. She received her bachelor's degree from San Diego State University where she conducted research in the computational guidance, navigation, and control lab under Dr. Ping Lu. Before coming to ASTRA lab she has worked on space-based solar power and wireless power beaming experiments at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, powered ascent guidance at NASA Johnson Space Center and thermoelectric device optimization for radioisotope thermoelectric generators at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Her current research is investigating and implementing cooling techniques for hall effect thrusters.

Sophie Gessman | Ph.D. Student

Sophie Gessman is a Ph.D. student at Cornell Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. Her research interests include electric propulsion plume physics, with an emphasis on charge transport and neutralization in space environments. She received her B.S. from the University of Vermont, where she studied mechanical engineering with a minor in pure mathematics. As a undergraduate researcher, she conducted experiments to measure snow particle velocities in changing topographies using mixed reality goggles and 3D particle tracking velocimetry. She also received her M.S. from UVM, supported by a Vermont Space Grant Consortium Fellowship studying particle agglomeration on Electric Curtains for space applications under Dr. Jeffrey Marshall.

E455EE4C-58D9-4ECB-B669-A27F44A160B0 - Benjamin DesRoberts.jpeg

Ben DesRoberts | Ph.D. Student

Ben DesRoberts is a Ph.D. student at Cornell Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. His research interests are rooted in fluid mechanics and have evolved toward broader aerospace applications. His current research focuses on the design and implementation of a materials test facility for simulating material behavior in orbital environments, as well as the development of non-intrusive diagnostics for electrospray plumes using Laser-Induced Fluorescence (LIF). He received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Vermont, where he was the recipient of the NASA/Vermont Space Grant Consortium Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) and Graduate Research Fellowship to support his M.S. research, where he studied lunar dust mitigation using a novel fluid-mechanics-based approach. He also has industry experience in HVAC, manufacturing, and aerospace.

Nicholas Laws | Post-baccalaureate Researcher

Nick Laws is a post-baccalaureate researcher at Cornell Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. His research interests include molecular dynamics and ion chemistry. He received his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Harvard College. Before joining ASTRALab, he conducted research in plasma-assisted combustion at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under Professor Carmen Guerra-Garcia and at NASA-Jet Propulsion Laboratory in high-power electric propulsion thrust stand design under Dr. Jay Polk. His current research focus is in molecular dynamics simulations of inter-propellant collisional interactions in the plume of electrospray thrusters.

Master of Engineering and Undergraduate Students

Anna Schaldenbrand | M. Eng. Student

Anna is a Master of Engineering student studying mechanical engineering in the Cornell Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. Her interests include electric propulsion and space exploration. She has assisted with research on electrospray plume-surface interactions since joining AstraLab in 2023 as an undergraduate. Her past internships include working at NASA Glenn Research Center on electric aircraft propulsion.

Hannah Sherman| Undergraduate Student

Hannah is a senior studying Mechanical Engineering at Cornell University. She is passionate about sustainable space exploration and the future of space as the next frontier. Hannah is the former president of Cornell's chapter of Women of Aeronautics and Astronautics (WOAA), is on the Structures & Payloads sub-team of CUAir, and dances with Cornell's Pandora Dance Troupe. Hannah is also a 2024 Brooke Owens Fellow and former intern at Northrop Grumman and SpaceX.

Emily Radzio | Undergraduate Student

Emily Radzio is a junior studying mechanical and aerospace engineering at Cornell. Her interests include space propulsion technology, mission architecture, and integration of molecular biology to deep-space exploration. Before joining ASTRAlab as an undergraduate research assistant, Emily gained technical lab experience in both biological and mechanical engineering applications at Weill Cornell Medicine’s Davis Lab and Rockefeller University’s Tuschl Lab. She is currently assisting in heat pipe testing under vacuum for NASA-ESI’s AdVECT