Susan Lepri

Susan Lepri is an American space scientist and is currently Professor of Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering at the University of Michigan. She led development of portions of the Heavy Ion Sensor (HIS) which was launched onboard the European Space Agency's Solar Orbiter mission in February 2020. She has been director of the University of Michigan Space Physics Research Laboratory (SPRL) since 2021.

Background and scientific career Lepri was born and raised in Michigan and studied for her undergraduate in Physics, Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Michigan. She subsequently pursued her PhD in Atmospheric and Space Sciences at the University of Michigan. and was promoted to Full Professor later that same year.

In 2018, Lepri was awarded the Claudia Joan Alexander Trailblazer award for innovation in STEM curricula.

Research interests Lepri's primary scientific interest is in the measurement and study of heavy ions in the solar wind to reveal the physics of the solar wind and coronal mass ejections. To this end, she has developed space-based ion mass spectrometers, most recently portions of the Heavy Ion Sensor (HIS) onboard the European Space Agency’s Solar Orbiter mission.