Ready for launch: Engineering grad poised to expand horizons of space research

KALAMAZOO, Mich.—From a mechanical-minded undergrad with stars in her eyes to a sought-after aerospace engineer, Margaret Mooney, B.S.'18, has seen her career trajectory take off at Western Michigan University. 

Propelled by a multitude of Experience-Driven Learning opportunities, the soon-to-be Ph.D. in mechanical engineering has amassed a body of work that has taken her from coast to coast and even overseas for internships and experiences with researchers at the world's top space and science agencies. And after graduation, she'll be joining the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) in Washington, D.C.

She credits Dr. Kristina Lemmer, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, for opening doors and igniting the spark that put her dreams of having an impact on space exploration in motion.

Meteoric rise

Mooney arrived on campus in 2013 without a real plan for the future.

"I knew I was pretty good at math and physics, so I figured I would give engineering a shot," she remembers, starting out on a mechanical engineering path before considering chemical and aerospace. "It wasn't until I started working for Dr. Lemmer that I really hit my stride."

The mentorship started almost on a whim. Mooney responded to an email about opportunities in Lemmer's Aerospace Laboratory for Plasma Experiments (ALPE). Little did she know her choice of footwear would be the extra boost she needed to get her foot in the door.

"I showed up to her office with these shoes that I had painted galaxy-themed, and later she told me, 'I knew when I saw those shoes I was going to hire you,'" Mooney says.

She used those shoes to hit the ground running in Lemmer's lab, helping conduct research with high altitude balloons for the Airborne Microbiome Project. A collaboration between Lemmer and Dr. Kathryn Docherty, professor of biological sciences, the project involved sampling microbes in the atmosphere and determining how metropolitan life impacts microbial life.

"We went all over the country, from New Mexico to Massachusetts to Northern Michigan and Colorado," Mooney says. "Chasing balloons was a blast! We would come back to the lab and see the graduate students running these plasma experiments in the chamber, and I thought that was the coolest thing ever. I fell in love with plasma then and went from there."

Carving a space in the field

Mooney's undergraduate and graduate research work revolves around electric propulsion: adding energy to gas to create a charged plasma that can propel spacecraft beyond Earth's orbit. Specifically, she's studied the physics of hollow cathodes, which power Hall and ion thrusters that propel rockets, satellites and other objects in space.

"Hollow cathodes are like the heart of these propulsion systems, and they're actually the biggest failure mechanisms. So figuring out what drives those failure mechanisms is really important," she says.

With the support of Lemmer, Mooney landed multiple internships related to electric propulsion, first at NRL for two summers then at NASA's Glenn Research Center before earning the honor of becoming a NASA Space Technology Graduate Research Opportunity (NSTGRO) fellow.

"When I got my NSTGRO fellowship, I probably could have written my ticket to go anywhere for grad school. But I chose to stay at Western because of Dr. Lemmer."

Through the fellowship, Mooney completed four internships at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and worked on propulsion research. One project focused on components for the Psyche Mission, which launched in late 2023 and is currently using electric propulsion technology to explore an asteroid belt. Another project was for the Gateway Mission, which will orbit the moon and become a jump point for the first human missions to Mars and beyond.

"The research I do is one of the main components in the future of space travel, because the highly efficient electric propulsion systems will carry us for long-term space missions and deep space exploration," says Mooney.

From internships to scholarships to impactful trips, Mooney attributes much of her steep career trajectory to Lemmer's willingness to go to bat for her and open doors of opportunity.

"If it wasn't for Dr. Lemmer's recommendation, I never would have gotten my first internship at the Naval Research Laboratory. She has a multitude of contacts throughout the whole country, so anywhere I wanted to go was possible. NASA? Sure. JPL? Absolutely," says Mooney. 

"There's no reason I, as a first year graduate student, should have gone to Vienna to present at a conference. But she pushed for that. We presented research related to a cathode we had gotten, and the person who created the cathode was there. He was watching my talk and was impressed with the work we had done."

Now, as she prepares to launch into the next phase of her career, she's thinking about the full-circle moment she'll feel walking across the stage at Miller Auditorium on April 26 for spring commencement.

"Western has lived in a special place in my heart my whole life. My dad went here, so we would come and see shows at Gilmore and Dalton growing up. I never thought I would perform on those same stages with the choir," says Mooney, who also studied vocal performance at Western. "The people here are incredible. Having Dr. Lemmer mentor me the past 10 years has been incredible. It's hard to overstate the impact she's had on me, and I am forever grateful."

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