Thomas Marks

Hi, I'm Thomas! I'm currently working on applying high performance computing to the simulation of non-equilibrium plasmas as a postdoctoral researcher in the Computational Autonomy Group at the University of Michigan. In particular, I am leveraging particle-based kinetic methods to investigate anomalous cross-field momentum and energy transport in low temperature magnetized plasmas for space propulsion and materials processing applications. I also conduct predictive Hall thruster modelling efforts as part of the Joint Advanced Propulsion Institute (JANUS).

I did my Ph.D. work in the University of Michigan's Plasmadynamics and Electric Propulsion Laboratory (PEPL) where I focused on the development and evaluation of closure models for anomalous electron transport in Hall effect thrusters.

If that all sounds jargony, take a look at this short educational video I made about my research!

Ph.D. thesis

• (PDF) Thomas A. Marks, 2023. Modelling Anomalous Electron Transport in a Fluid Hall Thruster Code. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Michigan. doi:10.7302/22318.

Journal publications

• (PDF) Thomas. A. Marks and Benjamin. A. Jorns, 2023. Evaluation of algebraic models of anomalous transport in a multi-fluid Hall thruster code. Journal of Applied Physics 134, 15301. doi:10.1063/5.017824.
• (PDF) Thomas. A. Marks and Benjamin. A. Jorns, 2023. Challenges with the self consistent implementation of closure models for anomalous electron transport in fluid simulations of Hall thrusters. Plasma Sources Science and Technology 32, 045016. doi:10.1088/1361-6595/accd18.
• (PDF) Thomas. A. Marks, Paul Schedler, and Benjamin. A. Jorns, 2023. HallThruster.jl: a Julia Package for 1D Hall thruster discharge simulation Journal of Open Source Software 8 (86), 4672 doi:10.21105/joss.04672.