Skills                                                                                                                                       

·      Communication: Results communication through scientific papers and oral presentations at conferences in Asia, Europe and North America. Experience interacting with academics, research staff, students, subcontractors, suppliers and customers on a multitude of levels. Intermediate French reading and writing.

·      Analytical Skills: Theoretical analysis of plasma physics, microfluidics, electrodynamics and electrochemical systems. Verification and extension of analyses to practical applications using numerical simulations and statistical analysis.

·      Laboratory Management:Health and safety supervision, user training, laboratory design and logistics, equipment procurement and maintenance.

·      Experimental R&D: Vacuum system operation and installation, automated control and data acquisition systems, test and manufacturing jig design, digital and analog circuit design and evaluation, analog and digital signal processing, manual and CNC machining, fibre optics systems, application software design.

·      Microfabrication: Silicon and metal (solid and porous) processing within class 100 and 10,000 clean rooms. Photolithography, silicon and metal wafer epoxy bonding, physical, chemical and electrochemical etching, and thin film deposition techniques.

·      Programming Tools: MATLAB, Maple, TCL, AWK, LabView, Visual Basic, C/C++

·      Visualization and Design Tools: SolidWorks, AutoCAD, Ansoft Maxwell, Adobe Illustrator/Photoshop.

Education                                                                                                                                           

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)                   Cambridge, MA, USA                        2011

Doctor of Philosophy in Space Propulsion

Thesis: Ionic liquid ion source emitter arrays fabricated on bulk porous substrates for spacecraft propulsion.

Supervisor: Prof. P. Lozano

Massachusetts Institute of Technology                               Cambridge, MA, USA                        2008   

Master of Science in Aeronautics and Astronautics

Thesis: Design and testing of a plasma based spacecraft thruster and a hollow cathode.

Supervisor: Prof. M. Martìnez-Sànchez. GPA: 4.9/5.0

Queen's University                                                                Kingston, ON, Canada                       2006

Bachelor of Science (Hons.) in Engineering Physics, MechanicalOption (ranked 1st in graduating class)

Graduating average: 90/100

Research and Professional Experience                                                                                     

Guardian Mobility                                                               Ottawa, ON, Canada                         2011-Present

Engineer:

·      Mobile satellite data terminal and tracking device product development, manufacturing supervision and testing.

MIT, Aeronautics and Astronautics Department             Cambridge, MA, USA                        2008 - 2011

Research Assistant:

·      Development of a unique electrochemical microfabrication station for etching porous metal substrates.

·      Application of this microfabrication system within a research team to produce scalable ion emitter arrays for micro/nano satellite electric propulsion systems.

·      Direct supervision of 3 undergraduate student projects.

MIT, Aeronautics and Astronautics Department             Cambridge, MA, USA                        2008 - 2011

Laboratory Manager:

·      Responsible for laboratory maintenance, scheduling, equipment procurement and installation, health/safety and general supervision of all experiments for the MIT Space Propulsion Laboratory.

·      Designed and equipped a major expansion of the laboratory to support new experiments.

EMS Technologies, SatCom Division                                  Ottawa, ON, Canada                        2008   

Engineer

·      Hardware and software verification, test rig and software design, intensive sub-system and system debugging and integration for a new mobile Iridium satellite vehicle tracking and data terminal product.

MIT, Aeronautics and Astronautics Department              Cambridge, MA, USA                       2006 - 2008

Graduate Researcher:

·      Materials and operational analysis integrated into design and manufacture of a novel plasma thruster and a miniaturized lanthanum hexaboride hollow cathode.

MIT, Aeronautics and Astronautics Department              Cambridge, MA, USA                        2007 - 2008

Teaching Assistant:

·      Course management and teaching for a third year undergraduate course on computational modelling using numerical methods for aerospace engineering, and a second year undergraduate course covering core aerospace thermodynamics, structures/materials, signals analysis and fluid mechanics topics.

Queen's University, Chemistry Department                       Kingston, ON, Canada                       2005               

Research Assistant:

·      Assisted in the development of Fibre Loop Ring Down Spectroscopy as an effective micro fluidic and environmental sensor.

Publications and Presentations (detailed list follows)                                                           

·      1 peer reviewed journal paper.

·      6 first author, full conference papers presented in person at conferences in North America, Europe and Asia.

·      4 co-author full conference papers.

·      Session co-chair at the 2007 International Electric Propulsion Conference (Florence, Italy) and the 2010 Joint Propulsion Conference (Nashville, USA)

Honours and Awards                                                                                                             

·      Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarship - Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council  of Canada (NSERC), 2008-2011.

·      Aeronautics and Astronautics Teaching Assistantship Award - MIT, 2008.

·      Engineering Physics Medal for highest standing in graduating class and top department thesis - Queen's University, 2006.

·      Awarded Canada Graduate Scholarship - NSERC, 2006.

·      Highest standing in class and R. W. Leonard Penultimate, Susan Near, J. H. Rattray Memorial and Dean's Awards - Queen's University, 2005.

·      Dean's Awards - Queen's University, 2002, 2004, 2005.

Activities and Hobbies                                                                                                            

·  Licensed Visual Flight Rules (VFR) private pilot.

·  Amateur astronomer and astrophotographer.

·  Coordinator of the MIT Aero/Astro intramural ice hockey teams (2009-2011).

·  Avid soccer, hockey, bicycling and snowboarding enthusiast.
 

Publications                                                                                                                                 

·Coffman C., Courtney DG., Hicks F., Jamil S.,. Li H. and Lozano P, “Progress Toward a Variable Specific Impulse Electrospray Propulsion System” 47^th Joint Propulsion Conference and Exhibit, San Diego, CA, USA, July 2011, AIAA-2011-5591.

·Courtney DG., Lozano P. “Characterization of Conical Ionic Liquid Sources for 2-D Electrospray Thruster Arrays on Porous Substrates”, Peer reviewed paper, Transactions of the Japan Society for Aeronautical and Space Sciences, Aerospace Technology Japan, Vol. 8, 2010, pp.73-78.

·Li H., Courtney DG, Gomez Maqueo PD., Lozano P. “Fabrication and Testing of an Ionic Electrospray Propulsion System Device with a Porous Ni Tip Array”,  Transducers 2011 the 16^th International Conference on Solid-State Sensors, Actuators and Microsystems, Beijing China, June 2011. Poster presented in person.

·Courtney DG., Li H., Gomez Maqueo PD., Fedkiw TP., and Lozano P. "On the Validation of Nickel as Substrate Material for Electrospray Ion Propulsion", 46th Joint Propulsion Conference and Exhibit, Nashville, TN, USA, July 2010, AIAA-2010-7020. Paper presented in person.

·  Courtney DG., Lozano P. "Porous Ionic Liquid Ion Source Thrusters for Small Satellite Propulsion”, 15th Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute Astronautics Conference, Toronto, ON, Canada, May 2010, #74. Paper presented in person.

·  Lozano P. and Courtney D. “On the Development of High Specific Impulse Electric Propulsion Thrusters for Small Satellites”, Small Satellites Systems and Services – The 4s Symposium, Funchal, Portugal, May 2010

·  Courtney DG., Lozano P. "Porous Ionic Liquid Ion Source Fabrication Refinements and Variable Beam Energy Experiments", 45th Joint Propulsion Conference and Exhibit, Denver, CO, USA, August 2009, AIAA-2009-5087. Paper presented in person.

·  Courtney DG., Lozano P. "Development of Ionic Liquid Electrospray Thrusters Using Porous Emitters Substrates", 27th International Symposium on Space Technology and Science, Tsukuba, Japan, July 2009, ISTS-2009-b-51. Paper presented in person.

·  Courtney DG., Lozano P., Martìnez-Sànchez M. "Continued Investigation of the  Diverging Cusped Field Thruster",44th Joint Propulsion Conference and Exhibit, Hartford, CT, USA, July 2008, AIAA-2008-4631. Paper presented in person.

·  Courtney DG., Martìnez-Sànchez M. "Diverging Cusped-field Hall Thruster (DCHT)", 30th International Electric Propulsion Conference, Florence, Italy, September 2007, IEPC-2007-039. Paper presented in person.

·  Trefiak NR., Barnes J., Rask F., Courtney DG., Walford R., Li R., Oleschuk RD., Loock HP. "Absorption Measurements in Microfluidic Devices Using Ring Down Spectroscopy", SPIE Conference Proceedings, October 2005, # 59690O.