Richard Wirz

Richard Wirz is in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department at UCLA and holds a joint appointment in JPL’s Electric Propulsion Group at JPL. He is the Director of the UCLA Plasma & Space Propulsion Laboratory and the UCLA Energy Innovation Laboratory. His plasma and space related research focuses on advance propulsion concepts and the plasma science relevant to these devices. His energy research currently focuses on new approaches to fusion energy, solar thermal energy storage, and wind energy capture. Prof. Wirz received a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering and a B.S. in Ocean Engineering from Virginia Tech and an M.S. and Ph.D. degree in Aeronautics and Applied Sciences from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).