Mark VanHorn

Mark was born and raised in Ellwood City, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Grove City College in 2026 with a Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering and a minor in Computer Science. For his senior design project with Astrobotic, Mark and his team designed and built a four-quadrant photodiode sun sensor that determines a spacecraft's orientation relative to the sun, along with a custom testbed to validate the design. Mark joined CEARL in the summer of 2026 and is pursuing his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering under the guidance of Dr. Douglas Werner.

His research interests lean toward time-varying and computational electromagnetics, antenna design and optimization, and metasurfaces. He is particularly drawn to antennas that interact with living tissue, as well as the mathematical frameworks that underpin electromagnetic theory.

Outside the lab, Mark is a lifelong musician, playing alto and tenor saxophone, tuba, guitar, and a handful of other instruments. He also enjoys the outdoors and a good board game night.