Robert L. Merlino is an Emeritus Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Iowa. His research activities are in experimental plasma physics, where he has concentrated on performing experiments investigating processes of relevance to space plasma physics, and on the physics of dusty plasmas. His research has been funded by the Cottrell Research Corporation, the Office of Naval Research, NASA, NSF and DOE. 

Research interests

• Experimental plasma physics

Research

• Basic plasma physics problems, including laboratory simulations of space plasma phenomena, dusty plasmas
• Facilities include two lab rooms with three plasma chambers
• Major equipment includes two Q-machines with magnetic field up to 0.5 T; each machine is dedicated to a single graduate student
• Students develop skills including: vacuum, electronics, data acquisition, image analysis, instrument fabrication
• Employment opportunities include industry, government labs and universities