Lansing S. Horan IV is currently a PhD candidate in the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering (NSE) at MIT, with his first four years funded by the DOE NNSA Stewardship Science Graduate Fellowship (SSGF). Together with his advisor Prof. Jack D. Hare (Cornell University), he conducts laboratory astrophysics experiments at Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) on the Z Machine, the world’s most-powerful pulsed-power device. Lansing’s doctoral thesis area is in radiatively-cooled magnetic reconnection, a fundamental and ubiquitous plasma process. His research has focused on how a laser shadowgraphy diagnostic can estimate the time-varying density and width of the reconnection layer as the plasma emits X-rays, which is of particular interest for validating theoretical models and simulations.

From 2020-2022, Lansing worked as a civilian research scientist for the U.S. Air Force (USAF) at the Air Force Technical Applications Center (AFTAC); he developed analysis tools to process GPS satellite radiation sensor data for the global nuclear treaty monitoring mission. In 2020, Lansing received a MS in Nuclear Engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. He attended AFIT as a civilian with funding awarded by the DoD SMART Scholarship, and his master’s research on asteroid deflection by means of nuclear explosives is published in Acta Astronautica. In 2018, Lansing earned a BS in Nuclear Engineering from Texas A&M University. Previously in the summers of 2017 and 2018, he interned in the high-energy-density physics group at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL).

Lansing’s scientific interests include nuclear explosive design, effects, and policy, as well as astrophysics and fusion/plasmas. Outside of work, he enjoys playing board/card games, watching NFL football and TV shows, exercising inside the gym and outside biking, and generally being a whimsical person.

• MS, Nuclear Engineering, Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT), 2020
• BS, Nuclear Engineering, Texas A&M University (TAMU), 2018