Logan Ramanathan

// 01 — Who

About

I'm Logan — a physicist interested in space science, energy science, and engineering. I study Physics (Sc.B.) at Brown University, graduating in 2028.

This summer I'm at the Stanford Plasma Physics Lab working on plasma diagnostics for space propulsion applications. I also do research with Professor Jim Head at Brown University on Moon and Mars mission design. I was previously an integration & test engineer at Rocket Lab, in the space systems division.

I'm also a guitar player, scuba diver, training to get a private pilot's license at West Valley Flying Club, and learning Russian.

↳ Providence, RI · Stanford, CA

Core Skills

SIMULATE + ANALYZE

PythonOpenCVscikit-learnLangChainMATLABROpenFOAM CFD

MEASURE + TEST

OscilloscopesVNALabVIEW DAQPlasma diagnosticsRF / impedance matchingVacuum systems

DESIGN + FABRICATE

Fusion 360Siemens NX/TeamcenterQGIS / JMARSCNC / millsTIG / MIG welding3D printingGD&T

// 02 — Where I've been

Experience

JUN 2026 — AUG 2026● CURRENT

Research Intern

Stanford Plasma Physics Lab · Stanford, CA

Designing and building a self-compensating Langmuir probe to measure electron density, temperature, and EEDFs across an RF ICP discharge. Building an optical emission spectroscopy workflow (Ar collisional-radiative model) and VNA-based microwave interferometry for cross-validation.

AUG 2025 — PRESENT

Research Fellow

Head Group, Brown University · Providence, RI

Mission engineering for the NASA NIAC-funded Hadley Max 500-day Design Reference Mission. Built a Python electro-thermal power-transmission model for candidate lunar base configurations. Sized power grid layouts with LROC QuickMap terrain data, designing nuclear reactor siting, redundancy, and energy storage across a 500-day mission. Presented findings at the 57th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference.

OCT 2024 — AUG 2025

Research Fellow

Daubar Group, Brown University · Providence, RI

Built a database of 500+ Martian impact sites with QGIS, JMARS, and Python; developed and statistically analyzed a directional-impact model linking ejecta-streak orientation to oblique-impact dynamics.

JUN 2023 — AUG 2023

Integration & Test Engineering Intern

Rocket Lab · Long Beach, CA

Designed the thermal, mechanical, and electrical systems for the Pioneer series spacecraft camera module in Siemens NX. Took the sub-system from inception to design review in under six weeks, integrated in under eight.

// 03 — What I build

Projects

01 / SPACECRAFTIn orbit

Pioneer spacecraft camera module

Rocket Lab · Integration & Test Engineering

Designed the thermal, mechanical, and electrical systems for the camera module of Rocket Lab's Pioneer series spacecraft, then carried it from design to orbit.

Project details →

02 / COMPUTATIONPHYS 1600

Hydrogen collisional-radiative model

Computational Physics · Final Project

A collisional-radiative model of atomic hydrogen that maps where Balmer-line spectroscopy gives reliable plasma diagnostics — extended to a time-dependent mode to find where the steady-state assumption breaks down.

Project details →

Sensitivity maps from the collisional-radiative model

03 / SOFTWAREOpen source

Providence Café Search

Side Project · Semantic Search

A semantic search engine over 110 Providence cafés — natural-language queries like "quiet café for studying," ranked with OpenAI embeddings, FAISS retrieval, sentiment-aware weighting, and top-K attention pooling.

Project details →

Brown University campus green in autumn, Providence

04 / LUTHIERYHand-built

Hand-built electric guitar

Things I Build · Woodworking · Electronics

A single-cut electric built from a Warmoth flame-maple-capped mahogany body and rosewood-board neck — fretwork, hand-soldered 50s-style wiring, and a full setup.

Project details →