91����

“Mine is not the typical path taken by a TAC graduate, though whose ever is?” asks Dr. Michael Zepp (’17), a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he studies novel ways of measuring high-temperature plasma. After many years of perseverance and study, he duly reaps the rewards of a fulfilling career in an emerging scientific field. 

Foundations in Physics 

Early in life, Dr. Zepp fostered a love of physics and engineering, which grew even greater during high school, when he and his robotics team won an award for their programming and design. Rather than attend a STEM-focused university, however, he chose 91���� for its authentic Catholic community and Socratic seminars. It was there that he also met his future wife, Cecilia (Washburn ’17). The couple has welcomed three daughters into their home, with a fourth on the way. 

He quickly discovered the College’s mathematics and natural science courses were just what he was looking for, admiring their ordered, discovery-driven nature — a format he missed while taking additional classes at another university after his junior year. “The classes there felt inverted,” he recalls, explaining that they began by showing a mathematical concept’s use before discussing why it made sense. “A formula that you've worked to get to is actually more useful.” 

While he was studying at the College, he organized a small group of students who would meet regularly to discuss quantum mechanics. Occasionally, the group received guidance from tutors Dr. Sean Collins and Dr. Carol Day, but they typically parsed through pioneering texts in quantum mechanics on their own. 

“I wanted to study quantum mechanics more actively, and nuclear physics emerged as a possible field in which I could pursue this study,” he says. “I was especially drawn to nuclear fusion — the process of combining two atoms to form a single atom, which can occur in a plasma — because it is a technology that will likely be ready for a completely new type of nuclear reactor in the coming years.”

From Liberal Arts to STEM Research

Hoping to enter graduate school to continue studying plasma physics, Dr. Zepp researched relevant programs, but found they all required a degree in physics, engineering, or a related field for admission. “I contacted the chair of the Department of Nuclear Engineering at UW–Madison’s College of Engineering, and he told me the degree was not strictly required, but that it was unlikely that a student would be accepted into the program without having either funding for a research project or a strong physics or engineering-related background.” 

Undeterred, Dr. Zepp took post-baccalaureate classes in math, engineering, and physics at UW–Madison, strategically choosing four courses that were specifically recommended as prerequisites for his program of choice. Within a year after his TAC graduation, he was accepted as a master’s student in the nuclear engineering program. For his first two semesters, he worked as a teaching assistant.

“All my experience demonstrating Euclidean propositions at TAC helped prepare me for that job, during which I would go through dynamics engineering problems on a whiteboard and help students through homework and practice problems,” Dr. Zepp shares. “The content was different, but the demonstration method was similar to what I had been through dozens of times already, and the logic necessary to understand the dynamics problems was, of course, the same as in TAC classes.”

He also began working alongside a nuclear engineering professor, assembling a vacuum chamber that would eventually be used to make plasma. He later inherited research projects from a graduating doctoral student on a plasma device and worked with laser and probe diagnostics for measuring various plasma parameters. After a successful first year in the master’s program, he transferred to the doctoral program. 

Work Worth the Journey

Just over six years after starting as a graduate student, Dr. Zepp defended his dissertation, entitled “Ionization and Density Studies in a Helicon Plasma for Wakefield Accelerator Applications,” in 2024. Two weeks later, he began his current job as a postdoctoral research associate at UW–Madison. He now focuses on developing quantum-enhanced, laser-aided plasma diagnostics. Through his measurements, he has been able to identify methods that could be used to make plasma suitable for use in particle accelerators that could bring electrons up to 99.99999999999987 percent of the speed of light. “I have described my day job as shooting a laser at a lightsaber, which I think would qualify as a dream job for most kids,” he jokes.

Even as he researches states of matter well beyond what most authors in the 91���� curriculum had access to, Dr. Zepp still gives much credit to the foundational physics he learned during his undergraduate career. “I wrote about light in my TAC thesis, considering, among other things, whether light is a particle or wave, which still relates to my work today: As a wave, you consider the light in a laser to all have the same wavelength, and as a particle, you consider every particle, or photon, to have the same energy,” he notes. “And some of the most important equations of plasma physics are Maxwell’s equations, which we derive in Senior Natural Science at TAC.”

In particular, Dr. Zepp lauds the College’s mathematics and natural science programs for providing an opportunity to understand the fundamentals of modern physics, particularly relativity, in a way that most physics students never do. “The TAC programs prepared me well for my career,” he says. “A TAC education helps prepare you for anything, so long as you have the motivation and the necessary graces from God to accomplish it.”