Richard Hofer

Richard Hofer has a diverse work experience in the field of electric propulsion. Richard started working at the Plasmadynamics and Electric Propulsion Laboratory at the University of Michigan as a Graduate Student Researcher from September 1998 to January 2004. During this time, they focused on the development and characterization of high-efficiency, high-specific impulse xenon Hall thrusters.

In August 2000, Richard joined the NASA Glenn Research Center as a Research Engineer in Electric Propulsion. Richard worked as a NASA support service contractor and was responsible for designing, fabricating, and testing several xenon and krypton Hall thrusters of different power ranges. Richard also developed a suite of plasma diagnostics for electric thruster plumes.

Richard's career at NASA continued as they transitioned to the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in April 2005 as an Electric Propulsion Technologist V. Richard later became the Group Technical Lead for Electric Propulsion in December 2015, supervising the team in this field. Richard'smost recent role at NASA JPL is the Supervisor of Electric Propulsion, a position they have held since April 2017. As of August 2020, Richard is currently serving as the Principal Engineer in Electric Propulsion at NASA JPL.

Richard Hofer earned a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering, with a major in Mechanical Engineering, from the University of Michigan in 1998. Richard then pursued a Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering at the same institution, completing it in 2000. Continuing their education, Richard went on to earn a PhD in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Michigan in 2004.