Massachusetts Institute of Technology, PhD in Aeronautics and Astronautics (Current)

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Masters in Aeronautics and Astronautics

University of Tulsa, B.S. Physics, B.S. Applied Mathematics, 2022

Education

  • NASA Kennedy Space Center, Visiting Researcher (Summer 2024) - Utilized chemical diagnostic suite to test and develop an NRP-DBD plasma reactor prototype and contribute to ongoing efforts in developing a plasma catalytic reactor for spacecraft atmospheric revitalization under a NASA Space Act Agreement. (In the fields of Plasma Physics, Space Technology)

  • MIT Masters Thesis (2022-2024), “Plasma-based CO2 Conversion for Mars ISRU” - Developed a 0D chemical kinetic model that predicts the performance of a plasma CO2 conversion reactor for Mars in-situ resource utilization, where particular emphasis is placed on informing future designs with flight readiness criteria in mind. (In the fields of Plasma Physics, Space Technology)

  • MARTEMIS — NASA RASC-AL (2023-2024) - Lead System Architect for a large, but demonstrably affordable multi-mission architecture that supports a series of long-duration human missions on the Moon designed as “analogs” to robustly mitigate the risk of human missions to Mars. (In the fields of Systems Engineering, Space Mission Architecture)

  • PALE RED DOT — NASA RASC-AL (2022-2023) - A two-village, 32-crew mission architecture for 10 years of continuous habitation on Mars with limited resupply, enabled by bioregenerative life-support and food production, and an industrial ecosystem with manufacturing capabilities from local resources. Lanie’s contributions include the evaluation and selection of chemical conversion technologies for life-support and the industrial ecosystem as well as the design of Mars-manufacturable life-support components. Several relevant publications are below. (In the fields of Systems Engineering, Space Mission Architecture)

  • Senior Thesis (2022) -  Determining conditions and allowed values of scattering lengths for having bound states in a universe with arbitrary (fractional) dimensions using a shape-independent regularized pseudopotential for two cold atoms in a harmonic trap. This thesis resulted in a publication listed below. (In the field of atomic, molecular, and optical physics)

  • CU Boulder Research Experience for Undergraduates (2021) - Investigated electrostatic dust charging, caused by incident, low-density, non-thermal plasma, at variable pressures using plasma diagnostics, in order to simulate dust effects on airless planetary bodies and explore semiconductor manufacturing applications. (In the field of Plasma Physics)

  • Tulsa Undergraduate Research Challenge (2019) - Investigated the material properties of perovskite CsSnI3 for solar cell applications. This research resulted in a publication that is listed below. (In the field of condensed matter physics)

Research & Projects

Selected Publications

“Leveraging Economies of Scale and Gains from Specialization for Robust Crewed Mars Architectures.” G. Lordos, M. Hoying, L. McKinney, O. de Weck, and J. A. Hoffman. IEEE Aerospace 2024.

"A Numerical Model for Plasma Reactor Design: Application to CO2 Conversion for Mars In-Situ Resource Utilization." L. McKinney, T. Silva, V. Guerra, and C. Guerra-Garcia. AIAA SCITECH 2024.

"Pale Red Dot: a Large, Robust Architecture for Human Settlements on Mars." V. M. O'Leary, G. Lordos, M. Hoying, Y. AlSadah, L. Arias, I. Arzuaga Garcia, H Azzouz, J. Beilstein, W. L. Chan, E. Eyre, D. Gleason, M. Ikinci, D. Krishnan, Y. Lin, E. Martin, L. McKinney, D. Miller, C. O'Neill, O. Orozco, P. Patel, E. Romero, F. Sepulveda, D. Villegas, A. N. Webb, K. Latyshev, C. Gentgen, A. Lordos, O. De Weck and J. A. Hoffman. AIAA ASCEND 2023.

“MARTEMIS: Mars Architecture Research using Taguchi Experiments on the Moon with International Solidarity.” L. McKinney, P.B. Patel, M. Johnson, et al. International Astronautical Congress 2024, IAC–24–B3.8.10x84235.

“Conditions for bound states of the pseudopotential with harmonic confinement in arbitrary dimensions.” L. McKinney and B. A. McKinney 2023 Phys. Scr. 98 015404.

“First-principles investigation of stable lead-free halide perovskite materials CsSnClxBryI3−x−y for solar cell applications.” Y. Li, L. McKinney, Y. He, S.-Y Liu, & S. Wang (2023). J. of Phys: Condensed Matter, 35(43), 435501.

“Plasma Chemical Conversion and Resource Generation Beyond Low-Earth Orbit.” L. McKinney, R. Pitts, K. Engeling, & C. Guerra-Garcia. 75th International Astronautical Congress (IAC) 2024, IAC–24–D3.IP.18x84293.

National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, Plasma Physics - 2022

International Astronautical Conference, Student Presenter Travel Award, NASA O-STEM, 2024

Gaseous Electronics Conference, Student Presenter Travel Award, 2024

Best Conference Paper Award, Track 13, IEEE Aerospace, 2024

1st Place at NASA RASC-AL Competition, PALE RED DOT, 2023

Ralph Veatch Award, University of Tulsa Mathematics Department, 2022

Sigma Pi Sigma, Physics Honor Society Member, 2022

Honors Graduate, University of Tulsa, 2022

University of Tulsa Presidential Scholar, 2018-2022

Outstanding Scholar, TU Panhellenic Council - 2022

Mortar Board, Honor Society Member, 2021

Tulsa Undergraduate Research Challenge Scholar - 2019, 2020

University of Tulsa Top 10 Freshman, 2019

Phi Eta Sigma, Honor Society Member, 2019

Rising Leader Award, Panhellenic Council, 2019

Awards & Honors

I’ve worked with varied electrical systems, power supplies, tools, and diagnostics to create and measure Atmospheric Pressure Plasmas and Low-pressure Dusty Plasmas including:

  • High-voltage pulsed power systems

  • Pulsed power electrical measurements

  • Atmospheric Pressure Plasma Jets

  • Dielectric Barrier Discharges

  • Optical Emission Spectroscopy

  • Mass Spectrometry

  • Gas Chromatography

  • Vacuum and high pressure gas systesms

  • Langmuir, Emissive Probes

  • Iron Soldering and Spot Welding

  • MIT Makerworkshop Mentor

  • Machining (MachineShop Technology Class Graduate, University of Colorado at Boulder, 2021)

Laboratory Skills

  • Numerical Methods for ordinary and partial differential equations

  • 0D plasma chemical kinetic modeling

  • Languages: Julia, Python, MATLAB, Java, R, Fortran, C#, Mathematica, Linux

  • Packages & Programs: ZDPlasKin (Plasma Chemical Kinetics), ChemKin, VASP (Density Functional Theory), LabVIEW, OriginLab

Computational Skills

Charitable Organizations

  1. Tulsa Girls Math Circle, Math Mentor (2018- 2022) - Encouraged and mentored middle-school girls in math and STEM through weekly meetings focused on solving interesting math problems.

  2. Tulsa STEM Alliance (2020-2022) -

    • Assembled 100 experiment-at-home kits for Tulsa Public School students during the pandemic

    • Served as SEAPERCH science fair judge for middle school-aged students

    • Space Week volunteer

  3. Northwest Tulsa Hub, Math Tutor (2020)Assisted with distance learning outcomes in math by providing tutoring to Tulsa Public Schools students.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  1. Vice President, MIT-Sloan Space Industry Club (2024- current)

  2. Space Resources Workshop Project Leader (2023-current)

  3. Graduate Resident Assistant, MacGregor House (2024- current)

  4. Makerworkshop Machineshop Mentor (2024- current)

University of Tulsa

Physics Department

  1. Society of Women in Physics, Founder & President, (2019-2021)

  2. General Physics 1, Teaching Assistant (2021)

  3. Society of Physics Students, Treasurer (2019-2021)

  4. TU Physics Journal Club Organizer & Presenter (2018-2022)

Student Government Association

  1. Student Body Vice President, Executive Committee (2021-2022)

  2. Secretary, Executive Committee (2019-2020) 

  3. Senator, Engineering & Natural Sciences (2018-2019, 2020-2021)

Orientation Leader, University of Tulsa (2019 – 2022)    

Community Engagement, Education, & Leadership