Dr. Louise Willingale

Associate Professor

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Biography

Louise Willingale received her PhD in Plasma Physics from Imperial College, London. She joined the University of Michigan's Department of Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences in 2008, initially as a Postdoctoral Researcher, and was promoted to Assistant Research Scientist in 2011. By 2014, she became an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, earning tenure and the title of Associate Professor in 2022. Her research focuses on intense laser-plasma interactions, including laser-driven ion acceleration, relativistic laser propagation, and the study of electric and magnetic fields generated by laser-plasma interactions. Louise is affiliated with the High Field Science group and the Gérard Mourou Center for Ultrafast Optical Science (CUOS). She is also the Associate Director of the NSF-funded laser facility ZEUS and utilizes external facilities such as the OMEGA EP facility and the Laboratory for Laser Energetics for her experiments. Her contributions have been recognized with several awards, including being elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 2022 and receiving the NSF CAREER Award for her work on relativistic electron-driven magnetic reconnection.

Research Interests

Awards

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Fellow

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Kavli Fellow

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NSF CAREER Award: Relativistic electron driven magnetic reconnection

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Outstanding poster

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John Dawson Thesis Prize (Worldwide)

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European Physical Society–Plasma Physics Division PhD Research Award

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Culham Thesis Prize (UK & Ireland)

Requirements for University of Michigan

Master Program
Requirements
GPA Requirement
Required:3.5
TOEFL
Total
Required:84
GRE General
Verbal
Required:155
Verbal Percentile
Required:50
Quantitative
Required:168
Quantitative Percentile
Required:50
Analytical Writing
Required:3.6
Writing Percentile
Required:50
Prerequisites
Bachelor degree in engineering, physics, or mathematics Calculus Physics
Application Checklist
  • Rackham Graduate School Application
  • Official Transcripts
  • 3 Letters of Recommendation
  • Academic Statement of Purpose
  • Personal Statement
  • CV/Resume
Specialization Notes

Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science